South Africa: SA explains abstention from Ukraine resolution vote

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) says South Africa continues to express its deep regret that the war in Ukraine, which marks its first anniversary, continues to destroy innocent lives and critical infrastructure, as well as displacement of millions of people.

This is a war whose impact has resonated across the globe, affecting the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and heightening the current debilitating global food, fuel and financial crisis, the department said in a statement on Friday.

South Africa, according to DIRCO, wishes to stress its unwavering belief in the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations Charter (UN Charter).

However, the department said South Africa believes that sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all States should be sacrosanct and this also applies to the Ukraine.

This comes after 32 countries on Thursday abstained during the vote on a motion put forward by Germany calling for peace in the Ukraine immediately.

According to Germany's international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), China, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and much of Africa and Central Asia were among those who abstained.

In addition, 141 Member States voted in favour of the motion, and seven opposed it, including Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Syria, Mali, Eritrea and Nicaragua.

South Africa said it was firm in its resolve that urgent action is needed to end the war.

However, it is a sad indictment on our efforts that we, as the international community, have been unable to come up with concrete proposals to create the conditions to do so. As South Africa has stated before in this Assembly, diplomacy and dialogue is the only path that will lead to a sustainable and peaceful resolution of the conflict.

This resolution on the war in the Ukraine comes amidst an influx of arms to the region, perpetuating greater acts of violence and increased human suffering. This, together with the threat of nuclear war, makes peace seem less attainable, DIRCO said.

Over the last year, DIRCO said, the UN General Assembly has adopted a series of resolutions on the Ukraine.

As we have asked the Assembly before, are our words and actions focused on the maintenance of peace or creating further divisions that make the attainment of immediate peace less likely?

While the department said it supports the present resolutions focus on the principles of the Charter and international law, it sadly brings us no closer to laying the foundations for a durable peace and bringing an end to the devastation and destruction.

What we need is a firm unequivocal commitment to peace, from all parties. A resolution calling for peace without firm action will ring hollow, DIRCO said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-02-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese, Belarusian FMs hold phone talks on ties, Ukraine crisis

Xinhua) 09:44, February 25, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Friday held phone talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Aleinik, on bilateral ties and the Ukraine crisis.

Qin noted that bilateral relations realized a historic leap as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko jointly announced the elevation of China-Belarus relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand last September.

China is ready to work with Belarus to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, maintain high-level exchanges, take the head-of-state diplomacy as the strategic guidance, deepen political mutual trust and push for more fruitful cooperation, Qin said.

China will continue to support Belarus in its efforts to safeguard national stability and development, and oppose external interference in Belarus's internal affairs and illegal unilateral sanctions against the country, he said.

For his part, Aleinik said Belarus always takes its relations with China as a diplomatic priority, firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and firmly supports China on issues concerning its core interests.

He calls for further deepening practical cooperation with China in various fields, and pushing forward the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership between Belarus and China in an all-round way.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis and other issues of common concern.

Qin briefed Aleinik on a paper stating China's position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, stressing that China always stands on the side of peace, supports efforts in promoting talks for peace, and calls on relevant parties to stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid escalation and expansion of the crisis, resume negotiations at an early date, respect each other, accommodate each other's legitimate concerns and build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture.

Aleinik said Belarus fully agrees with and supports the Chinese document, adding that China's relevant proposals are of great significance to resolving the crisis.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Tacloban City (CNN Philippines, February 25)  The first ever Margielyn Didal skatepark in Eastern Visayas officially opened to the public on Saturday.

The Olympian herself witnessed the blessing and inauguration of the establishment - which is located along Baybay Boulevard in Borongan City, Samar.

The ceremony was led by Borongan officials, including Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda.

The skatepark was conceptualized last year when Didal visited the city. The athlete also helped in crafting the design.

"We hope that this would motivate the youth to be like you because you are an inspiration to all of us," Agda told Didal during the event.

Didal, for her part, thanked the Borogan government for creating a "safe place" for skaters like her.

She also gave a reminder for fellow skateboarders.

"Don't forget to wear your safety gears para na rin ito sa sariling kapakanan (for our own safety) and let us follow and implement the rules like stop, look, listen and respect then have fun sa skatepark na ito (in this skatepark)," Didal said.
BLOOMINGTON  Among the inspirational posters and quotes adorning the walls in Andre Hurseys office, the one above his door stands out.

A gift from his mother, it reads: 100 years from now, it will not matter what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had, nor what my clothes were like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child.

I thought that was really what I need in this office, said Hursey, 50, who founded the nonprofit Jule Foundation with his wife, Jade, in 2017. Operating out of Eastview Christian Church, 401 W. Union in Bloomington, the organization aims to offer development and enrichment for local youth.

Its mission, as emblazoned on the front page of its website: Serving and assisting our youth to realize their potential and become successful adults. To that end, Jule offers bi-weekly mentorship and tutoring, special events, volunteer opportunities, scholarship guidance and trips to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

I just believe that gives us young, Black men a lot of opportunities and connections, said Takendrick Griffin, 17. We can build off that and get more scholarships and better jobs. Were all grateful for it.

Everybody looks like you

Earlier this month, the organization took 10 young members to Atlanta, Georgia, where their activities included exploring opportunities at HBCUs.

The trip also offered a chance to experience a larger community with very different racial demographics. More than a million people live in Fulton County, Georgia, where Atlanta is located, and the population is roughly 45% Black, according to U.S. Census data. In contrast, McLean Countys population of roughly 170,000 is about 9% Black.

When we went to go speak to Morehouse (College), it really was like we were talking to our big brothers, said BJ Dumas, 16. Founded in 1867, Morehouse is a private historically Black mens liberal arts college in Atlanta.

They were providing so much information, so much perspective on what the school was about and how HBCUs are, he continued. It just made me want to go to an HBCU even more.

Kamrynn Smith, 17, found the different perspective valuable. It just felt good to see something different than what you usually see.

Everywhere the group went, and almost everyone they met, was extremely welcoming, she said.

Youre around more people you want to be around, Smith said. They all act like family to you, no matter where you came from.

She said the feeling was like you already knew each other from a long time ago.

Chance French, 15, said Atlantas Cascade Skating rink was a particular highlight. The attraction was featured prominently in the 2006 coming-of-age film ATL, starring hip-hop artist T.I.

We dont see this at our skating rink, French said. It was full of African Americans who were just having fun. They were dancing, skating  jumping over people. I think that was a very nice experience.

The group also toured the birth home of Martin Luther King, Jr.

That was probably my favorite part because I got to see the conditions that he lived in, Griffin said.

Hurseys daughter, Amaya, 17, described the demographics of Atlanta as a culture shock.

Everybody looks like you, she said. Theres like, police officers that look like you. Theres firefighters that look like you, nurses and everything like that that look like you. Here (in Bloomington) I may see one or two Black officers. But, like, Atlanta, thats majority.

Dumas said the whole trip felt like a breath of fresh air, for real.

Griffin said, Im just grateful for everything.

How it started

Hursey said he never really thought that this would be the work that I would be into.

Growing up in Bloomingtons Wood Hill Towers public housing, he said, he wished there was a mentorship program when he was young. By the time he was in junior high, his mother was a single parent to two children.

The only outlet Hursey had was sports, he said.

We had the Lawrence Irvin (Neighborhood) Center, he said, referring to the facility at 1615 Illinois St., and that was  it kept us out of trouble for those few hours or whatever.

But there were no stable after-school programs or professional development opportunities in those days, Hursey said. We didnt have programs like this.

Hursey credits several people with the inspiration to start Jule, but two names are particularly significant: Dodie Dunson Sr. and Gloria Jelks Hursey, his mother.

Dunson, he said, was the one to look up to outside of home. He was the one that stayed out of trouble, always looking to give a helping hand, Hursey said. It kind of resonated with me as a kid, watching Dodie and how he moved and how he did things.

He said Dunson, no matter the circumstances, was always smiling  thats a great attitude to have, man.

Hursey said his mother, though, was the well from which sprung his desire to help others.

My mother was that person that I respected, he said. I watched her raise me and my sister. I knew things werent always easy for her. And she didnt mind giving back and helping others. And so, for whatever reason, I watched her.

Hursey said at first, as a young man in a struggling home, he was frustrated with how much his mother gave to other children, pouring into them.

But then, as I looked over time, (I realized) thats amazing. Anytime you can pour into others, like theyre your own, and you truly care about their well-being and for them to be successful, and showing them the right ways to be successful, how to act  thats amazing  you dont get a lot of people doing that.

I want to do that, he said.

How its going

Every Tuesday and Thursday around 5:30 p.m., Hursey can be found at EastView Church on Union Street in Bloomington.

He sits in his office and welcomes the couple dozen teenagers currently participating in Jule programming as they sign in, grab a snack and a drink and head to their mentors.

I get a chance to see their faces, Hursey said. See how theyre doing, a little bit of conversation. But they know they need to report right to the youth development leaders for the first 30 minutes.

Hursey said, The important piece is our leaders getting to know these kids on a one-on-one basis. And then just making sure that their grades are up to par.

He said Jule partners with both Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State universities to bring in tutors.

I think thats really the need right now is these tutors, Hursey said. But everything else is kind of falling into place.

That everything else is quite a bit.

Jule Foundation is so much bigger than Bloomington, Hursey said.

These kids need to see the world. They need to see people from different places, getting their perspectives on things  life, in general.

To do that, Jule has enlisted an arsenal of partners, like the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation.

We partnered up with Steve Harvey a couple years ago, Hursey said, referring to the television host, actor and comedian. Its a mentoring session, a Zoom (session) every first Saturday of the month.

These sessions have hundreds of youth worldwide engaging with mentors like Steve Harvey, Hursey said.

If this is all they (young people) see, theyre not opening up their minds to anything else, Hursey said.

Jule also partners with 100 Black Men of Central Illinois, a chapter of the national nonprofit that aims to help African American youth create the life theyve always wanted. The chapter brings in mentors every Thursday for the foundations young men.

The only way we opt them out of that is if they have a task or some homework they need to finish, Hursey said.

Jule also has a special partnership with Robert Redding Menswear.

Hursey said, I spoke to (Redding) about what I was doing  and I thought it would be an awesome look, a great opportunity for these kids to see what it feels like to get custom suits.

Hursey said Redding was all in, did not look back. (Redding said) Im in. Every year, as long as Jule exists, were going to do these suits for them.

Custom-fit suits are something unique, something different that benefit the youth, he said.

Thats definitely a blessing to be able to continue to do that, he said. And Im thankful, thankful to (Redding).

More developments are on the horizon. Starting this year, two counselors  Dr. Cedric Williams and Genesis Hall  plan to start volunteering their professional services, Hursey said. They visited on Thursday to share some background information with the youth and answer questions.

More importantly, Hursey said, they are making themselves available throughout the school year to the youth as well.

Its important, not only for the kids to have that in the schools, but I think its important to have it right here at Jule, he said.

Takes a village

In Wood Hill (Towers) housing project, Hursey said. Everybody knew everybody.

It was nothing for you to get checked (for bad behavior)  it was nothing for somebody elses parents to kind of say Hey, youre not supposed to be doing that. We respected that.

Hursey said thats the same mentality Jule requires: accountability and respect.

If youre not going to be here, he said, you report to your youth development leaders and let them know. Have common courtesy and communicate.

And program participants have responded well.

I feel like the mentors that we have  and all the staff, its easy to talk to them, French said.

Chris Taylor, 18, said he feels genuinely supported by the nonprofit.

If we need anything, Mr. Dre, all the other mentors, they all  just want to be there for us, and they want us to succeed, he said.

Thats the mission, according to Hursey. His goal, his staffs goal, the purpose of Jule Foundation, is to build up African American youth through community, mentorship and guidance for a better future.

There is another inspirational poster in Hurseys office that embodies the aim of his work. It makes reference to several civil rights icons: Rosa Parks, best known for her role in the Montgomery bus boycott; King, who helped lead the 1963 March on Washington; and Barack Obama, the first Black president.

The poster reads: Rosa sat in 55, Martin walked in 63, and Barack ran in 2008 that our children might fly.

Historic sites commemorating Black history in every state Historic sites commemorating Black history in every state Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin
An Accra-based legal practitioner has joined the calls for the countrys constitution to be reviewed for people elected as presidents to pay taxes.



According to the legal luminary, he cannot understand why presidents are shielded by the constitution from paying taxes.



Why should the ordinary Ghanaian be saddled with the payment of tax and the president whose Executive Instrument is used to introduce the tax is barred from doing same? he argued.



This is just not fair hence the need for some aspects of the constitution to be amended to rope the president into the tax net, he said.



Mr Twum Barimah said this on Accra 100.5 FMs mid-day news, Thursday, February 23, 2023, while speaking about the 30th anniversary of the existence of the 1992 Constitution.



He also called for the aspects of the Constitution that make it mandatory for 60 per cent of Members of Parliament (MPs) to be appointed Ministers of State to be scrapped.



He explained this has made the Legislature somehow subservient to the Executive arm of government over the years.



He said the MPs have lost their oversight responsibility of holding the Executive in check.



He mentioned that many of the MPs instead of holding the executive accountable to the people spend their time trying to catch the eye of the president to be appointed ministers.



This, he notes, must change for MPs to do their work as MPs for others to be appointed ministers to ensure checks and balances in the government.





Source: class fm









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ghana on Saturday, January 7, 2023, commemorated her 30th anniversary of democracy.



The country experienced multiple coup d'etats during the 1960s and 1970s before late Ex-President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings ushered in Ghanas Fourth Republic.



The determination of the citizenry to live in freedom and uphold democratic rule paved way for the 1992 Constitution which has since become the legal foundation on which the country's democracy thrives.



The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has also launched a year-long celebration of 30 years of Ghana's parliamentary democracy under the Fourth Republic under the theme "Thirty years of Parliamentary democracy under the Fourth Republic: The journey thus far".



A Planning Committee chaired by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, has been constituted.



Recollecting on the country's journey into democracy, there have been calls for a constitutional review but seasoned journalist, Kwesi Pratt has dissented to these calls.



Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Kwesi Pratt stated categorically that what is pressing to Ghanaians currently is not a constitutional amendment but rather they need proper management of the country.



He stated that the citizens want improvement in their lives and looking on the leaders to address the economic crises.



"Currently, when I look at Ghana, what is really important to us is not constitutional amendment because we are not indebted because of constitutional amendment or the constitution. The price of kenkey hasn't gone up three times because of the constitution and so on. So, for me, we should place aside the constitutional amendment", he told host Nana Yaw Kesseh.



Further reminiscing about the dark days of military rule in Ghana, Mr. Pratt advised the youth of today to stop fanning statements that seek to call for a return of the military rule.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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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:

The European Space Agency's Euclid spacecraft, which launches in July on a mission to probe dark matter and dark energy.

For now, Europe's Euclid spacecraft sits quietly in a sterilized room in the south of France, its golden trim gleaming under the fluorescent light.

But in a few months the space telescope will blast off on history's first mission to search for two of the universe's greatest mysteries: dark matter and dark energy.

Though together they make up 95 percent of the universe, almost nothing is known about eithera glaring hole in scientific understanding that Euclid project manager Giuseppe Racca dubbed a "cosmic embarrassment".

Aiming to shed light on these dark secrets, the European Space Agency's mission will chart a 3D map of the universe encompassing two billion galaxies across more than a third of the sky.

The third dimension of this map will be timebecause Euclid's gaze will stretch out to 10 billion light years away, it will offer new insight into how the 13.8-billion-year-old universe evolved.

The two-ton spacecraft, which is 4.7 meters (15 feet) tall and 3.5 meters (11 feet) wide, was unveiled to the media for the first time this week in a clean room of the Thales Alenia Space company in the southeastern French city of Cannes.

Only a few final tests remain before it heads to Cape Canaveral in the United States for a launch scheduled between July 1 and 30 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Euclid was originally planned to get a ride into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket, but last year Moscow withdrew its launchers in response to European sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, delaying the launch.

Euclid will hover at the second Lagrangian Point, where it can keep its solar panel-covered back permanently to the Sun.

Taking a wider view

Euclid will join fellow space telescope James Webb at a stable hovering spot around 1.5 million kilometers from Earth called the second Lagrangian Point, where it can keep its solar panel-covered back permanently to the Sun.

The first images are expected to roll in quickly once scientific operations start in October, but for larger discoveries it will likely take scientists months or years to sift through the "unprecedented amount of data", Racca said.

The 1.4-billion-euro ($1.5 billion) European mission is planned to last until 2029, though "if nothing strange happens" it could be extended a couple more years, Racca told a press conference.

How will Euclid, which is named after the ancient Greek founder of the field of geometry, observe something that cannot be seen? By searching for its absence.

The light coming from billions of years in the past is slightly distorted by the mass of visible and dark matter along the way, a phenomenon known as weak gravitational lensing.

"By subtracting the visible matter, we can calculate the presence of the dark matter which is in between," Racca said.

To do this, Euclid has two main instruments, a 1.2-meter (four-foot) diameter telescope and the Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP), which can split infrared wavelengths not visible to the eye.

The spacecraft is unveiled to media in a clean room of the Thales Alenia Space company in the French city of Cannes.

'Unique tool'

Partly what sets Euclid apart from other space telescopes is its field of view, which takes in an area equivalent to "two full moons", said David Elbaz, an astrophysicist at the French Atomic Energy Commission.

This wide view will enable Euclid to locate massive structures like black holes that the Webb telescope cannot hope to find because its "field of view is too small", Euclid's project scientist Rene Laureijs told AFP.

But Euclid's universe-spanning survey will be able to point Webb in the right direction for closer inspection, said Laureijs, who has been working on the project since the proposal stage in 2007.

The mission comes amid increasing signs that there are some serious inconsistencies in our understanding of how the universe works.

Two very precise measurements give two significantly different answers for the rate at which the universe is expandinga problem called the Hubble tension in which dark energy is thought to play a major role.

And just this week, the Webb telescope spotted six galaxies in the early universe that seemingly defy cosmological theory because they are far too massive to have formed so quickly after the Big Bang.

Euclid will be a "unique tool" in the quest to find answers to such questions, Elbaz said.

 2023 AFP
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Red-breasted geese breed mainly on Russias Taymyr Peninsula and migrate to areas adjacent to the Black Sea in Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria. Credit: Daniel Mitev, CC BY-ND

The Russian invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has sent economic, social and political shock waves around the world. In a newly published policy brief, we and other researchers and conservation scientists describe how these effects extend to biodiversity conservation efforts far beyond Ukraine.

Animals, plants and ecosystems don't recognize political boundaries, so protecting them often requires international cooperation. Over many decades, countries have developed a network of international agreements and arrangements for protecting biodiversity. Now, however, the war at Russia's hands is delaying a number of those efforts, stopping others, and even sending some into reverse.

War and the spoon-billed sandpiper

As one example, efforts to save the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) from extinction are now at risk as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Russia's treeless tundra, in the high Arctic, is the summer home of countless birds that arrive from as far as Africa, southern Asia, Australasia and even South America. Among them is the tiny spoon-billed sandpiper, which weighs in at about 1 ounce (28 grams).

These petite birds nest in the Russian Far East and migrate during the Northern Hemisphere winter to Southeast Asia. Owing to hunting and habitat loss, fewer than 600 of the birds remain.

The spoon-billed sandpiper is a wetland-dependent species that breeds in the treeless tundra of the Russian Far East. Their total population is estimated at about 600. Credit: Sayam Chowdhury, CC BY-ND

Since 2012, a multinational team of researchers and conservationists has been conducting a "headstart" breeding program that collects spoon-billed sandpiper eggs from the wild, incubates them and raises chicks in a custom-built aviary on the Russian tundra. This strategy protects chicks from predators, giving them a better chance to reach maturity and reproduce.

Restrictions on international travel to and from Russia have halted this program, which is vital to the sandpiper's survival, by preventing collaborators from traveling to the site from abroad. Russia has also been suspended from the SWIFT interbank systemthe main system that powers secure international fund transfers between financial institutions around the world. This has blocked transfers of much-needed international funds for on-the-ground conservation work.

The Russian invasion is also delaying the potential for conserving critical habitats. For example, important wetlands along China's coastline that are part of the spoon-billed sandpiper's migration route have been designated as World Heritage Sites. There is a proposal to expand habitat protection under the World Heritage Convention to other areas along the migratory route, which is also vital for other bird species.

At the time of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russia chaired the United Nations committee that oversees the designation of new sites. Other countries that are signatories to the World Heritage Convention boycotted the process, refusing to operate either in Russia or under Russia's leadership. Russia has since resigned as the committee chair, but the site designation process has been delayed for over a year.

Russia's vast lands and waters

Russia has the largest surface area of any country in the world, covering more than 6.6 million square miles (17 million square kilometers). This sheer expanse makes Russia a vital place for biodiversity.

Multiple global migratory waterbird flyways intersect Russia (shaded in dark gray). Conserving areas that migratory birds use while they are in Russia is a critical strategy for protecting the species. Credit: Brad K. Woodworth, adapted from Wetlands International, CC BY-ND

Beyond the spoon-billed sandpiper, birds that visit Russia from other countries include the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis), which migrates to areas near the Black Sea, and the gray-cheeked thrush (Catharus minimus), which migrates to South America. In total, Russia is the breeding stronghold for over 500 migratory bird species, of which 52 are threatened with extinction.

Other species also move through Russian territory as they migrate. They include hoofed mammals, such as the wild forest caribou (Rangifer tarandus fennicus), and the critically endangered saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica). Russia's waters are home to numerous fish species, including commercially valuable ones like salmon and sturgeon.

In terms of ecosystems, Russia has the world's largest and most well-preserved forests. They provide vital habitats for many species and contain enormous stores of carbon, so protecting them has global implications for addressing climate change. Farther north, about half of the Arctic Ocean's coastline, including locations that have experienced relatively little human impact, lies within Russia.

A link in global conservation networks

Russia has been involved in international efforts to manage and conserve species for over a century, starting in 1911 when it signed the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention. Since then, Russia has joined more than 50 international agreements for biodiversity conservation, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership and the China-Russia Bilateral Migratory Bird Agreement.

Now Russia's diplomatic isolation is hampering work under multilateral arrangements like the Arctic Council, which includes the eight countries with Arctic territory and a half-dozen regional Indigenous organizations. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the council has halted its operations, although it aims to resume some on a limited scale that excludes Russia. The Arctic Council has a working group on biodiversity conservation, including specific initiatives to conserve migratory birds. Russia has more than one-fifth of the worlds forests, but badly managed logging and illegal timber harvesting threaten their health and ability to store carbon.

Russia also has been an important participant in transnational collaborative research on wildlife and biodiversity issues. For example, to conserve migratory animals, researchers need to understand their movements. This makes it possible to identify and protect the animals' key habitats.

Icarus, a collaborative research initiative for understanding animal migration, has relied on data sharing by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. This partnership has now been suspended, leaving Icarus in search of an alternative solution.

The war in Ukraine has also created an imperative for countries to prioritize some issues over biodiversity conservation. For example, Russian attacks on Ukrainian farms and related infrastructure, and Russian naval blockades of grain exports, have contributed to global food shortages. In response, the European Union has sought to increase agricultural output by rolling back some of its biodiversity-friendly farming policies.

For as long as the war in Ukraine lasts, we believe it is imperative for other countries to increase their efforts to strengthen and expand the international system for biodiversity conservation in the rest of the world. In our view, this should happen even as governments rightly assist Ukraine's valiant efforts to regain full control over all of its territory, including its wetlands, forests and other important habitats currently occupied by Russian forces.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Shippee, who now lives in Greenfield, and two other residents of a house at 109 Comstock Road in Corinth were arrested on Dec. 6 after a lengthy investigation by the Saratoga County Sheriffs Office Narcotics Unit into drug trafficking within Saratoga County. Police seized scales, packaging materials and quantities of crack cocaine from the residence.
MOREAU  What do a farmer, a former town worker and a sitting councilman all have in common? Theyre all joining forces to form an independent affiliated party in the town of Moreau.

It was just the idea of people stepping forward and wanting to change things up on the board, said Councilman John Donohue, who is spearheading the effort, which has been dubbed Moreau United.

Around 30 concerned citizens crowded into the banquet room of Humbuggs Restaurant on Thursday night for an introduction with the candidates who intend to run under the new flag  Donohue, the incumbent councilman; Pat Killian, the farmer, who was unable to attend due to a family emergency; and Jesse Fish, the former town worker.

Donohue had previously announced that he will seek reelection for his seat on the Town Board on the Democratic ticket. His name will also appear on the independent line.

Killian will look to win the spot currently occupied by Alan VanTassel on the board, who has also said he will run again as a Republican.

Fish has his sights set on town supervisor, a role that is currently filled by Theodore Kusnierz Jr., serving in his second term. Kusnierz ran unopposed in 2021.

Speaking on behalf of the group as a whole, Donohue bemoaned the current state and political climate of the governing board.

We dont have a sharing of ideas right now, we have a one-man show up there, and its gotta stop, Donohue said. The morale of the workforce in the town of Moreau is the lowest Ive ever seen it.

Although Donohues words were far from minced, he insisted that the formation of the group is not meant to stack the board with politicians from the right or left side of the aisle, but to create a more balanced representation of the town as a whole.

Not one of us is a politician. Were public servants. We didnt come up from the sewer in Albany, to come up here and feather our nests and build war chests to (climb) further up the political chain. Were here to serve the people, he said. Because you know what, people, weve got problems at the top. And nothing changes, if nothing changes.

The way things are

One of the first specific issues Donohue addressed was his desire to see the public comment portion of each board meeting moved to take place before the executive session section.

For you people who dont know what that means, thats big for people who wanna share, he explained.

Right now, if the board determines its necessary to enter into an executive session to discuss legally sensitive matters, citizens wishing to address the board have to be excused out of the chambers and wait for the executive session to end.

Its disrespectful to our residents to put that after executive session, Donohue suggested. Executive session can last anywhere from five minutes to five hours depending on what business were doing  so it discourages people, Ive seen it.

Donohue said hes tried to get the privilege of the floor moved up in the meeting, but setting the agenda is a function of the town supervisors discretion.

I was told one time, If you wanna change the agenda, run for supervisor, that was his answer, Donohue said. When we get elected, not if we get elected, when we get elected, the privilege of the floor will be moved up to before the executive session.

But it wasnt just Donohue who expressed his concerns over the way the town government has been functioning in recent years. Several residents voiced their displeasure and directed its source directly at Kusnierz.

We can all point to the different cast of characters that have occupied that seat over the years  good, bad, mediocre  but this is the most egregious one of disrespect. It comes from arrogance, it comes from an uncivility, one citizen said. Were starting to mirror big-time Washington politics in the little town of Moreau. ... We can do better than that.

Donohue said he and the other members of the group have been accused of wanting to raise taxes, and of being anti-commercial development. Donohue stressed that his well-documented opposition to the sewer extension project along Route 9 as well as the Saratoga Biochar contract at the industrial park were not indicators that hes anti-commercial growth, but that he disagreed with the justification for the projects.

It shouldnt be, commercial development at any cost, especially when that cost could be human life, he said.

Donohues personal disdain for the Biochar project notwithstanding, he said his stance on the matter as a councilman comes from his mandate as an elected official.

The people of the town of Moreau came out overwhelmingly against Biochar, he said. The people of the town of Moreau elected me to do a job. They dont want it; I dont want it. Its as simple as that.

Regardless of how the election in November swings, Donohue said the Route 9 sewer extension and the Biochar contact are issues the new board will inherit. And although those wheels are in motion, he adamantly declared that the fight would not be over.

If theres anything we can do, after we get elected, to stop (Biochar) from coming into the town of Moreau, we will do it, he said.

A look at what could come

Donohue then introduced Fish to address the group.

To my right here, is the next supervisor of the town of Moreau, Jesse Fish, Donohue said.

Some of you know me, some of you dont. Some of you probably wish you didnt, Fish started with a self-deprecating chuckle.

Fish, who worked 10 years as an assistant infrastructure worker with the village of South Glens Falls, and for the past 13 years as the water department superintendent for the town of Moreau, said he agreed with much of what Donohue had said about the specific projects that are already underway, but quickly pivoted to how hed like to approach the role of town supervisor moving forward.

Id really like to base my campaign on three letters, H.I.T.: honesty, integrity, and transparency, its what we need in the town, its what we dont have, he said.

Fish said hed like to restore an open-door protocol to Town Hall, strictly asserting that the current administrations lack thereof has contributed to a detrimental loss of confidence by the people in their government.

I know numerous people who have gone to speak with (Kusnierz) about something, and the door gets shut. Ill take the door off the hinges, come and see me, he said. All the publicity and everything is negative. Itd be nice to hear somebody say (of Moreau), Gee, thats a nice place to live.

Fish also said hed like to look into requiring department heads to attend public meetings in order to give better access of information to people.

If you come to a meeting and you have a question and one of us cant answer that question, well get the answer for you, he said. The next week, at the next meeting, even if youre not there, well answer your question, or Ill call you and give you an answer to that question. You deserve that.

Fish said his time in the town as a resident has given him an appreciation for the community, and his time working with town government has given him the perspective to show that appreciation.

I would find it an honor to serve the town for a couple years and see if we can right the ship, get it going in the right direction anyway, he said.

Kusnierzs response

No formal paperwork concerning any of the board elections has been filed with the county as of yet, but with candidates already announcing their intentions, it looks to be long and interesting road to November.

Without addressing any specific claims made during the meeting, Kusnierz responded to the announcement by touting his accomplishments thus far and affirming his record working with the board as a public official.

With the help of my colleagues on the Town Board, we eliminated the fire protection tax, which has resulted in a direct savings of $2.7M for our taxpayers. Weve cut the town tax rate by over 7% over the past 3 years and secured over $418,000 in grants that have resulted in the construction of a Universal Playground at our Recreation Park, and this spring, a multi-use paved trail along the Hudson River, he said in an email to The Post-Star. I intend to continue this great momentum with my colleagues moving forward with more water and sewer infrastructure, expansion of our recreation facilities, and protection and enhancement of our quality of life that will position the town nicely for generations to come.

Moreau United will host another rally from 1 to 3 p.m. March 11 at the Moreau Community Center, located at 144 Main St. in South Glans Falls.
HAGUE  A sewage leak was reported in Lake George originating in the town of Hague on Tuesday.

Shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, an alert was issued from New York state indicating sewage was leaking into the lake from a point on Lake Shore Drive in the town of Hague, at an estimated rate of 20 gallons per minute.

Operator of the wastewater treatment plant, John Sheehan, said on Friday that the leak was stopped within 15 minutes of discovery.

The alert, which was initiated by Sheehan, stated the crew did "not have clear evidence of why" the untreated sewage was discharging into the water.

According to the alert, an industrial vacuum truck was used to clear a manhole in order to clear the blockage.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
HADDONFIELD  Mayor Colleen Bianco Bezich was walking in a neighborhood where a well-maintained house signifies her affluent communitys willingness  after years of opposition, contention and reluctance  to embrace affordable housing as a public good.

Historically, Haddonfield hasnt done a good job with affordable housing, the mayor said, pausing at a two-bedroom Fowler Avenue home the borough bought for about $350,000 to reserve for income-eligible tenants.

You cant point the finger at any one commissioner or administration, but weve had enough not in my backyard, said Bianco Bezich, who has been mayor since 2021. To my mind, scattered affordable housing sites are a new and exciting way for Haddonfield to have more housing options and opportunities for everyone. The vision is each neighborhood being home to a family that couldnt necessarily afford market-rate housing.

Overseen by a nonprofit the borough set up and managed by a division of Triad Associates, a private firm it hired last year, the scattered site program will include eight properties in neighborhoods across Haddonfield. A first round of applications closed Jan. 31 after attracting 1,169 prospective tenants for Fowler Avenue and two other currently available properties, and Triad is continuing to accept applications for a waiting list, township officials said.

The mayor and the two other members of the borough Board of Commissioners expect the scattered-site approach to help the tree-lined Camden County suburb known for its strong schools and lively downtown at last begin to meet its court-ordered affordable housing requirements.

We understand we have an obligation to do whats right, Commissioner Kevin Roche said.

But for a community of less than three square miles and more than 12,000 residents, with little available land and residential real estate prices rising beyond the reach of many, theres no single formula for success with affordable housing, he said. Scattered sites are one of a variety of actions we have to take.

Said Commissioner Frank Troy: The three of us [commissioners] are fully committed to meeting our Fair Share obligations and thinking creatively about how we can do so. We are looking across the borough as properties become available to see if anything would be a good fit. And scattered sites help remove any stigma associated with affordable housing.

A complicated history

In 2019, Haddonfield signed a legally binding agreement with the Fair Share Housing Center to meet the boroughs affordable housing obligations under the Mount Laurel doctrine. Named after four successive New Jersey Supreme Court decisions beginning in 1975 that outlawed local zoning regulations that discriminate against disadvantaged buyers and renters, the doctrine set up a mechanism for municipalities to provide affordable housing under lower court supervision.

The 2019 agreement directs Haddonfield to provide for 83 affordable units by 2025. These are to include the 20 townhouses of Snowden Commons, a development set to rise on a vacant, 1.5-acre site behind Borough Hall on East Kings Highway.

Conceived as a 28-unit complex, Snowden was downsized to 20 townhouses after some neighbors raised questions about the impact of the density on parking and traffic. Bianco Bezich and other borough officials devised the scattered-site strategy as a way to make up for the eight units lost at Snowden. According to Fair Share, about 40 communities statewide, including Cherry Hill, are using similar approaches.

Construction of the $5.4 million Snowden complex also has been delayed since last year due to an ongoing review by New Jerseys Historic Preservation Office, which got involved because parts of the site are within the boroughs historic district.

Opponents had hoped the preservation concerns would permanently scuttle Snowden Commons. But officials said the borough had received conditional approval from the preservation office and that the developer, Community Investment Strategies, of Lawrenceville, Mercer County, is ready to proceed pending final approval.

It will not look like what people think of when they think of affordable housing, Bianco Bezich said. Every townhouse will have its own address and private entrance.

The saga continues

The 2019 agreement also calls for 10 more affordable units to be built on the former Bancroft school site on Kings Highway at Hopkins Lane as part of a townhouse community proposed by developer J. Brian ONeill, who is also the founder of Recovery Centers of America. ONeills proposal to build one of his addiction treatment facilities on a portion of the property outraged many local residents in 2015.

Founded in 1883 by special education pioneer Margaret Bancroft, the school had outgrown its park-like Haddonfield campus by the turn of the 21st century. The borough Board of Education proposed buying the property for $12.3 million, but a 2013 ballot question to authorize the sale failed. In 2014, Bancroft announced it would build a new campus in Mount Laurel and moved there in 2017.

Following the furor over the proposed rehab facility, the borough bought the Bancroft site for $12.9 million in 2016. ONeill retained an option to buy back 8.2 of those acres, and in 2019 he and the borough entered into an agreement in which his development firm was to build 80 market-rate townhouses as well as the 10 affordable townhouses there.

But last December, ONeill sued the borough in federal court, claiming Haddonfields primary intention all along was not to develop townhouses but to thwart development of a residential treatment facility for people living with alcohol and drug addiction  which the suit alleged is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The developer also is seeking the courts permission to build either a treatment facility or a townhouse development with as few as 90 or as many as 400 units on the site.

Haddonfield has asked the court to dismiss the suit. In a separate and public statement, the borough contended ONeills surprise move came despite multiple attempts by [Haddonfield] to engage in a collaborative process [and] negotiate in good faith over the last three years.

The statement goes on to say that the borough remains committed to complying with its constitutional obligation to provide affordable housing while the litigation progresses.

Speaking for Fair Share, Esme Devenney, a New Jersey Housing Justice Corps fellow, said: Our feeling is Haddonfield needs to build the 10 units it has agreed to build [and] it would be a violation of our settlement agreement if the 10 units are not built there.

Fair Share also is happy that Haddonfield was able to find a new way to meet its Mount Laurel obligation using the scattered-site approach, she said.

The mayor, who grew up in Pennsauken and lives with her husband and their young son in a section of Haddonfield that abuts Haddon Township, said affordable housing is a key element of her administration. The houses are being purchased with money from the states Affordable Housing Trust Fund, not by borough funds.

When I first took office, it became apparent to me that the Snowden development, which was in the works for a decade, was in limbo, and I felt a real impetus to make it happen, said Bianco Bezich, a lawyer with a background in land use.

Its not just about meeting court obligations or settlement terms, she said. We need more affordable housing in Haddonfield. I will move proactively and aggressively to make it happen.
(CNN)  The US Navy reconnaissance jet flies at 21,500 feet over the South China Sea, 30 miles from the contested Paracel Islands, a group of about 130 small atolls, the biggest of which are home to Chinese military bases.

A voice, saying it's coming from a People's Liberation Army (PLA) airport, crackles over the radio of the US Navy P-8 Poseidon as a CNN crew, given rare access aboard the US flight, listens in.

"American aircraft. Chinese airspace is 12 nautical miles. Not approaching any more or you bear all responsibility," it says.

In a few minutes, a Chinese fighter jet armed with air-to-air missiles intercepts the US plane, nestling in just 500 feet off its port side.

The Chinese fighter jet was so close, the CNN crew could see the pilots turning their heads to look at them -- and could make out the red star on the tail fins and the missiles it was armed with.

Lt. Nikki Slaughter, the pilot of the American plane, hails the twin-seat, twin-engine PLA aircraft.

"PLA fighter aircraft, this is US Navy P-8A ... I have you off my left wing and I intend to proceed to the west. I request that you do the same, over."

There's no reply from the Chinese fighter jet, which escorted the US plane for 15 minutes before turning away.

To a CNN crew aboard the American jet, it's stark evidence of the tensions brewing in the South China Sea, and between the US and China.

The commander of this US Navy mission has a different take.

"I'd say its another Friday afternoon in the South China Sea," Navy Cmdr. Marc Hines tells the CNN crew.

Potential flashpoint

Over the past several years, the South China Sea has emerged as a major potential flashpoint in the Asia Pacific. Islands in it, like the Paracels near which the US Navy plane was intercepted Friday, are the subject of overlapping territorial claims in part from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Not only does the strategic waterway hold vast resources of fish, oil and gas, but about a third of global shipping passes through it -- worth about $3.4 trillion in 2016, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) China Power Project.

China claims historic jurisdiction over almost the entirety of the vast sea, and since 2014 has built up tiny reefs and sandbars into artificial islands heavily fortified with missiles, runways and weapons systems -- sparking outcry from the other claimants.

The Paracel Islands, called the Xisha Islands by China, are in the northern part of the South China Sea, east of Da Nang, Vietnam, and south of China's Hainan Island.

Named by 16th century Portuguese mapmakers, they have no indigenous population to speak of, only Chinese military garrisons amounting to 1,400 people, according to the CIA Factbook.

Surrounding them is 12 nautical miles of airspace that China was claiming as its own Friday -- a claim Washington doesn't recognize.

Far to the southeast sits the Spratly Islands chain, just 186 miles from the Philippine island of Palawan.

In 2016, in a case brought by the Philippines, an international tribunal in the Hague ruled that China's claim to historic rights to the bulk of the sea had no legal basis.

But Beijing has rejected the tribunal's ruling and continued its military buildup, building bases in the Spratlys, which it calls the Nansha Islands.

China also conducts regular military exercises in much of the South China Sea and maintains a large presence of coast guard and fishing vessels in the disputed waters -- which has frequently stoked tensions with its neighbors.

On Friday, while flying close to the Philippines, the US Navy P-8 spotted a PLA Navy guided-missile destroyer and descended to around 1,000 feet to get a closer look -- bringing more warnings from the PLA.

"US aircraft. US aircraft. This is Chinese naval warship 173. You are approaching to me at low altitude. State your intention over," a voice comes over the US plane's radio.

PLA warship 173 is the destroyer Changsha, likely armed with dozens of surface-to-air missiles.

The US plane will keep a safe distance, its pilot, Lt. Slaughter, replies.

"US aircraft. US aircraft. This is Chinese naval warship 173. You are clearly endangering my safety. You are clearly endangering my safety," the Chinese ship says.

"I am a United States military aircraft. I will maintain a safe distance from your unit," Slaughter replies, and the US mission continues.

The US Navy says these missions are routine.

US vessels and aircraft operate regularly where international law allows, the Pentagon says. But China claims the US presence in the South China Sea is what's fueling the tensions.

When a US guided-missile cruiser steamed near the Spratly Islands in November, the PLA said such action "seriously infringes on China's sovereignty and security" and is "hard proof is that the US is seeking maritime hegemony and militarizing the South China Sea."

The US Navy said the US cruiser conducted the operation "in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in waters where high seas freedoms apply."

For Hines, the US commander of Friday's mission, the tensions are always less when he's talking with the Chinese side.

Silence brings uncertainty, he says.

"Whenever there's no response, it leaves questions. Do they understand what were saying? Do they understand our intentions? Do they understand we don't mean any harm?" he says.

For the most part Friday, the answers were there. And the encounters were "professional," Hines says. And he wants to keep it that way.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Chinese fighter jet confronts US Navy plane with CNN crew aboard as tensions simmer in the South China Sea"
SEA ISLE CITY  Two workers were injured and emergency personnel were searching for another worker who was trapped Friday afternoon after an eighth-floor balcony collapsed onto the deck below at the Spinnaker condominium.

Three people from an outside company were working on separate balconies of the building, located at 37th Street and the Promenade, at the time of the collapse, police said.

The buildings north side eighth-floor balcony collapsed, falling down onto the seventh-floor balcony and creating a stacked pile of railing and concrete.

Officials said one person was working on the seventh-floor balcony when the balcony above collapsed.

Police Lt. James McQuillen could not confirm Friday evening the status of the trapped worker, but officials referred to the current operation as a recovery.

First calls about the collapse came in about 2:20 p.m., McQuillen said.

Wildwood Fire Capt. Matt Johnson said the recovery effort could take several hours. Officials feared the seventh-floor balcony was unstable because of the debris and added weight, choosing instead to cut through a wall to reach the trapped worker, Johnson said.

Citing juvenile problems, Lower Township plans to start enforcing curfew LOWER TOWNSHIP  Nothing good happens after midnight, at least according to Police Chief Kev

The seventh-floor balcony held but was showing signs of stress, so crews were taking precautions to reach the worker, he said.

Were figuring that those balconies weigh between 11,000 and 15,000 pounds a piece, so its a lot of material, Johnson said.

The property was built in the 1970s.

"As of right now, we had five units that were being lived in currently," McQuillen said.

Caution tape sealed off the scene from bystanders watching crews work. First responders closed off 35th through 38th streets. Portions of the Promenade were also blocked off, McQuillen said.

Crowds began to gather outside the condo building between 3 and 4 p.m., watching as workers walked up and down the building and near units adjacent to the collapsed balcony.

Several asked each other whether they had seen the collapse happen.

Steve Metcalf, who has a unit at the building, said he heard a loud bang, and shortly after, police started evacuating everyone.

I had just thought it had sounded like something had dropped on the floor above me, Metcalf, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, said beside the building Friday afternoon.

Nearby residents said they heard the slamming balcony followed by a man screaming for help. One resident said there were workers left on the eighth-floor area when they saw the aftermath.

By nightfall, a spotlight was brought out while crews continued their efforts to reach the trapped worker. No one had been able to make contact with the worker during the operation, Johnson said.

Neither Johnson nor McQuillen could say whether the building had any poor inspection grades prior to the accident.

Staff Writer Bill Barlow contributed to this report.

#BREAKING A police department official confirmed there was a balcony collapse in Sea Isle City this afternoon. The scene is being investigated by authorities @ThePressofAC @ACPressHuba https://t.co/IVjhrLeiz9  Eric Conklin (@ACPressConklin) February 24, 2023
ATLANTIC CITY  Two men were sentenced to prison as a result of two violent incidents that occurred at a bar in the resort, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Frank Torres-Lopez, 27, of Katy, Texas, received 25 years in prison for a shooting death that occurred in 2021. Alejandro Navarette-Gonzalez, 25, of Pleasantville, received 10 years for a stabbing that occurred in 2022.

Torres-Lopez admitted in December to shooting a person, identified only as J.F., outside Los Compadres Bar in Atlantic City, then fleeing to Puerto Rico, where he dyed his hair orange and obtained a fake Puerto Rican ID.

Torres-Lopez pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and hindering apprehension. He is required to serve at least 85% of his sentence before being eligible for parole, the Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.

The shooting occurred about 3 a.m. Aug. 1, 2021, near the bar at California and Arctic avenues. Officers found a 42-year-old man who had been fatally shot, according to the initial report from police.

Fatal shooting reported in Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY  An early morning shooting left a 42-year-old man dead Sunday.

Torres-Lopez was located and apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service in October 2021.

The Prosecutor's Office and Atlantic City police led the investigation with help from the U.S. Marshals and the Atlantic County Sherriff's Office.

Navarette-Gonzalez admitted in January to stabbing a victim, identified only as D.A., at the same bar April 3, 2022. The stabbing occurred during a multi-person brawl in which Navarette-Gonzalez stabbed D.A. multiple times while the victim was being assaulted by several other people. D.A. has since recovered from his injuries.

Navarette-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to attempted murder. He will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

Atlantic City police led the investigation.
Workers are beginning repairs at the Spinnaker in Sea Isle City where a balcony collapsed yesterday, trapping one worker and injuring two others. Mayor Leonard Desiderio said there will be a news release from police today to update the status of the recovery mission. pic.twitter.com/feGyWv323K  John Russo (@ACPress_Russo) February 25, 2023

SEA ISLE CITY  A Philadelphia man working for a private contractor has died as a result of Fridays balcony collapse at the Spinnaker condominium complex, city officials said Saturday.

Jose Pereira, 43, was pronounced dead at 9:52 p.m. Friday, city officials said in a news release. He was then transported to the Cape May County Medical Examiners Office.

Pereira was employed by Ferguson Contracting Inc. of Yardley, Pennsylvania. A request for comment from the company went unanswered Saturday afternoon.

The release shed more light on Fridays incident, in which two other workers were injured.

At 2:20 p.m. Friday, police received a 911 call in reference to the balcony collapse at the complex at 35003700 Boardwalk. The eighth-floor balcony on the north side of the Spinnakers South Tower had collapsed onto the seventh-floor balcony at Unit 712, trapping Pereira under an approximately 30-foot-long concrete slab, the city said. Pereira was doing exterior work on the building.

Sea Isle police, fire and EMS attempted to reach Pereira but observed significant cracks in the surrounding area and a slope to the balcony, and it was determined the side of the building was unsafe, the city said. At that point, requests were made for additional rescue personnel and equipment, and the building was evacuated.

2 injured, 1 trapped in Sea Isle City balcony collapse SEA ISLE CITY  Two workers were injured and emergency personnel were searching for another 

The Cape May County and Camden County Regional Urban Search and Rescue teams responded, along with Strathmere, Ocean City, Marmora, Stone Harbor and Wildwood firefighters.

As a result of the victims location, first responders developed a plan to breach the outside wall of the building near the victim by cutting through about 12 inches of reinforced concrete after the seventh-floor balcony was temporarily stabilized from underneath, the city said. Once an opening was created in the wall, the concrete slab was lifted by heavy-lift air bags, and responders were able to recover Pereiras body.

Police are still investigating, with assistance from the Cape May County Prosecutors Office and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

All of the decks on the exterior of the Spinnakers South Tower, near where the incident occurred, are being stabilized, the city said. Once the building is considered safe, further evaluations on both Spinnaker buildings will be conducted by private engineers.

Mayor Leonard Desiderio declined to comment further, deferring to the citys news release. Police at the scene Saturday would not comment.

Workers late Saturday morning were beginning repairs at the condo complex. They were sending supplies up to the third-floor pool deck that rests between two of the condos buildings, which were built in the 1970s.

Citing juvenile problems, Lower Township plans to start enforcing curfew LOWER TOWNSHIP  Nothing good happens after midnight, at least according to Police Chief Kev

The Promenade was blocked off by police vehicles at 35th and 38th streets, and another was doing detail near the worksite on 37th Street. EMTs were also on hand.

Few bystanders stopped to look at the work being done on a blustery morning along the Promenade.

Nancy and Pete Bates, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, have owned a vacation home on 44th Street for 33 years. They came down to the shore Friday for the weekend.

The two walked up 37th street to check out the scene. Nancy said the couple didnt hear the collapse from their home but heard about it shortly after.

Nancy said she heard a woman on one of the news stations talk about how she could hear a man screaming after the collapse.

That would be horrible, she said. I couldnt imagine that, just listening. Oh, God.

Pete said the concrete had to be compromised, because the rebar was still visibly intact where the eighth-floor balcony was, he said.

I wouldnt feel safe on any of those balconies, he said.

The Bateses wondered what kind of work was being done that would have caused the collapse. They were also shocked the seventh-floor balcony hadnt given way yet from the weight, causing a domino effect down the side of the building.

Steve and Karen Klagholz, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, walked up 35th Street to see the building from the beach. The two had just arrived in the city to visit their vacation home.

Steve has been coming to Sea Isle since he was a kid, and he said the Spinnaker had seemed to be well-maintained. He noted they were doing external work on the building the last time they visited about two weeks ago, saying it looked like they were giving the building a fresh coat of paint.

Theyre always doing projects out here. They replaced all these windows, he said, pointing to the units on the north side of the North Tower.

He called the accident tragic, adding hed never think something like this would happen.

You dont want to see anybody get hurt here. Its sad stuff, he said. This is a pretty local community, pretty tight, and people are just shocked, including myself.

GALLERY: Sea Isle City balcony collapse
A Davenport man on parole until 2025 for a methamphetamine conviction is being charged again with selling the drug.

Agents from the Scott County Sheriffs Department's Special Operations Unit arrested Timothy Ryan Smead, 30, on Thursday. He is charged with one count of possession with the intent to deliver not more than 5 grams of methamphetamine. The charge is a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

Smead also is charged with possession with the intent to deliver marijuana, a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years. He also is charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to 30 days.

At 10:55 a.m. Thursday, agents with the Special Operations Unit served a search warrant at Smeads apartment in the 400 block of E. 7th St., according to arrest affidavits.

In the bedroom, agents seized 3.1 grams of methamphetamine. Police have said a typical dose of meth is one-tenth of a gram, meaning that agents seized about 31 doses.

Also seized was 25 grams of unpackaged marijuana and 12.6 grams of marijuana packaged in five separate plastic bags.

There also was drug paraphernalia, packaging materials and a digital scale, police said.

The search warrant included Smeads cell phone, but he refused to give agents his password and stated he needed a lawyer, records show.

During a first appearance on the charges Friday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Christine Frederick scheduled a preliminary hearing on the charges for March 3.

Smead remained in the custody of the Scott Count Sheriff's Department on a $5,000 bond, cash or surety. He was being housed out of county Monday night.

According to electronic records of the Iowa Department of Corrections, Smead is on parole until Aug. 3, 2025.

On April 20, 2018, Davenport Police arrested him on a charge of possession with intent to deliver not more than 5 grams of meth and possession of a controlled substance-marijuana-first offense. According to the arrest affidavit, officers arrested Smead on active warrants. In an Altoids peppermint hard candy tin, officers located 3.65 grams of methamphetamine, equivalent to 36.5 doses of meth.

On Sept. 14, 2018, Smead pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced by District Court Judge Henry Latham to serve three years on supervised release.

Smead violated his probation, which was revoked March 15, 2019, and he was sentenced to 10 years in the Iowa Department of Corrections. He was paroled on Feb. 27, 2020.

He was sent back to prison May 12, 2021, after he violated his parole by being arrested by Bettendorf Police on April 26, 2021, on charges of domestic abuse, interference with official acts and possession of a controlled substance/third offense during an incident at the City Center Motel.

Smead pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of five years on the possession-third offense charge, two years on the domestic abuse charge and one year on the interference charge. That prison term was to run consecutive to his prison term on the parole violation on the meth conviction.

Smead was released from prison and placed on parole on Sept. 19, 2022. His parole could once again be revoked for the new drug charges, and he could be sent back to prison.
Davenports Hilltop Campus Village board is searching for a new executive director.

It is the second time in as many years the nonprofit dedicated to maintaining and improving the Hilltop area of central Davenport has embarked on a search for a leader.

Scott Tunnicliff, the organizations first executive director, retired in June 2021.

The board then selected Molly Otting Carlson, a former Visit Quad-Cities vice president.

Cheryl Riley-Hayles, the interim executive director, wrote in an email that Carlson resigned her position in 2022 for personal reasons. She made the decision to provide full-time care for her aging parents, Riley-Hayles said.

According to a job description, the executive director reports to the board of directors, and works to create and execute strategic plans as devised and approved by the HCV Board of Directors.

The executive director also serves as a liaison to partners, such as the Davenport City Council, mayor and city departments, while maintaining requirements set by the National Main Street Center as well as working with state organization Main Street Iowa.

Duties include composing reports, grants, overseeing daily administration, marketing and preparing the annual budget, according to the job description.

In 2022, national revitalization nonprofit Main Street America met with and advised the Hilltop Campus Village on strategic planning and rebranding.

Interested applicants may apply by sending resumes with cover letters to cheryl@hilltopcampusvillage.org before March 3. Learn more by visiting hilltopcampusvillage.org
A Davenport man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a 2021 shooting in Davenport.

During a hearing Dec. 6, 2022, in Scott County District Court, Brett Landon Bonjour, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of the lesser included charge of intimidation with a dangerous weapon and one count of going armed with intent.

Each of the charges is a Class D felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of five years.

Bonjour had been charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon, a Class C felony that carries a 10-year prison sentence before pleading guilty to the lesser charge.

During a sentencing hearing Thursday in District Court, District Judge Patrick McElyea sentenced BonJour to five years in the Iowa Department of Corrections on each count. Each of the sentences is to run consecutively, or back-to-back, making the total sentence 10 years.

The shooting occurred on Oct. 12, 2021, in the 1800 block of Kirkwood Boulevard.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Davenport Police Officer Joseph Dorton, and a search warrant by Officer Donnie Pridemore, Bonjour was driving a Green Chevrolet Tahoe that was registered to another person.

At 7:13 p.m. on Oct. 12, Bonjour got into a verbal and physical fight with another man at a home in the 1800 block of Kirkwood Boulevard. Bonjour was forced to leave the property.

Bonjour drove away in the Tahoe but returned about five minutes later and fired four to five shots from the vehicle. Bullets struck the house, and two unoccupied vehicles parked in the driveway of the Kirkwood Boulevard address. People were standing in the back yard and on the front porch. There were four children on the porch of the home when it was struck by gunfire.

When officers arrived on the scene they located one spent .380-caliber Aguila Ammunition shell casing in the roadway.

At about 11:57 p.m., officers found the Tahoe parked in the 1500 block of Arlington Avenue, less than a block away from Bonjours residence.

A residential security camera videoed Bonjour get out of the vehicle and walk east.

When officers looked in the vehicle they could see in plain view spent shell casings.

After obtaining a search warrant, officers towed the vehicle for processing and to search it for evidence.

From the vehicle they seized three spent .380-caliber Aguila Ammunition shell casings, a holster for a .380-caliber pistol and a shipping box with a label on which was Bonjours name and address.

Officers also found a bullet hole in the passenger-side door. The round had been fired from inside the vehicle and struck the door. A bullet fragment also was located in the door.

Bonjour was being held Friday night in the Scott County Jail pending transfer to the Iowa Department of Corrections.
Davenport schools will host High School Apprentice Signing Day from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 10, at the Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State St. in Bettendorf.

Guests can expect to see 55 Davenport students signing apprenticeships with area employers at the even, according to a district news release. Davenport leads for Iowas 240 total apprenticeships statewide.

The apprenticeships are a chance for high school students to gain real-world work experience. They learn technical and professional skills through related training with Davenport Schools and on-the-job learning with a partner company, the news release states. We are so proud of our students for taking part in this incredible opportunity and showcasing how the Davenport Community School District is Growing Excellence.
Part brainstorming and part borrowing, local high schoolers are exchanging ideas.

Members of the Bettendorf High School Student Council hosted their first "High School Exchange" event in four years Thursday, inviting other area student leaders to brainstorm ideas on leadership and other topics.

"The event is geared toward fostering togetherness in the Quad-Cities and bringing leadership to a wider pool," said Bettendorf senior Sam Barnes, Student Council president. "The No. 1 thing I'd like people to take away about leadership in general is that you can't prepare for everything, expect the unexpected in any event that you do and that no style of leadership is perfect."

Students from Davenport, Camanche and Muscatine school districts were present at the event, which Barnes said was open to all interested students, not just those in student council.

"We're not confining this to people who are already leaders to learn about these things," he said. "Every single person has their individual strengths, and they can bring something different to the table ... and we're just trying to bring everybody to the table today."

After beginning with a few "energizer" games and icebreaker exercises, students spent the day rotating between breakout sessions. Every element of the day was student-led.

They included:

Time Management and Burnout.

Bonding and Communication.

Hunger Drive and Hoco.

Fundraisers.

Pros and Improvements ... Pep Assemblies.

Leadership Lessons in Games.

Davenport North junior Maggie McCullough hopes to serve as Student Council president next year. She said learning more about advertising was her biggest takeaway from the High School Exchange.

"I think our school's participation isn't as good, and I think by advertising more and getting on different platforms will help gain excitement from the older crowd, like parents, plus get the students involved," McCullough said, adding that student council is her favorite extra-curricular activity. "I'm hoping to get more excitement and participation in our school, as well as collaborating with other schools to gain that sense of community."

Camanche senior Ella Blinkinsop enjoyed learning more about time management, burnout and Student Hunger Drive strategies during the breakout sessions.

"I learned a lot about how to manage that (burnout), because I personally have gone through that a lot, so that definitely helped," she said.

Blinkinsop said she'd like to emulate Bettendorf events, such as "Capture the Can" and other contests for Camanche's efforts on the hunger drive.

"It's fun (the event), and it's good to talk to people from other schools and see the different perspectives of student council," she said.

Bettendorf junior and Student Council member Catalina Fernandez organized this year's High School Exchange. To her, events like it allow schools to "grow and improve off each other."

"It betters both the school and their communities, and we learn how to communicate with one another," Fernandez said. "Some of the schools (attending) we haven't reached out to before with Student Council, so it's great to get those schools together so we can all learn from each other. I'm really excited."

She wished to thank BHS Student Council advisers Kaitlin Mahoney and Christina Burroughs for their support.
(CNN)  Mexico is rethinking its approach toward asylum seekers after the Biden administration unveiled a controversial new proposal to limit asylum eligibility in the United States.

Mexico's refugee assistance agency, known as COMAR, launched a pilot program in southern Mexico on Monday to explore expediting asylum denials to those it deems likely to travel onward to the US.

The aim is to deter those migrants from accessing temporary documents issued by COMAR while their cases are being evaluated, which they might use to travel north -- a common phenomenon, according to COMAR's head Andres Ramirez.

But after the Biden administration announced its proposed new asylum rules on Tuesday, COMAR plans to abandon the strategy and use what it learned from the pilot program to come up with a different solution, Ramirez said.

The US proposal -- which has been panned by human rights advocates and immigration experts -- largely bars migrants who have not taken a legal pathway and instead traveled through other countries on their way to the US southern border from applying for asylum in the US. It would take effect in May.

Among its proposed new conditions on eligibility for US asylum: being denied protection in a third country through which they traveled.

Ramirez now worries that accelerating asylum denials could actually increase Mexico's attractiveness as a pit stop for those ultimately aiming to request asylum in the US.

"The new policy that was recently announced [by the United States] changes the whole thing. We need to rethink it," Ramirez said.

Migrant numbers at the US-Mexico border have been on the rise since last year, with increasing numbers of people from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Colombia -- many fleeing repressive government and stark economic pressures.

Passing through Mexico

Though the one-week pilot program did not include actually issuing swift denials, it studied behaviors of individuals from nationalities deemed by COMAR most likely to be traveling for economic reasons rather than for international protection -- Senegalese and Angolan migrants in particular, according to Ramirez.

By Mexican law, asylum seekers are required to stay in the state where they filed for asylum to see the process through.

Once registered with COMAR, asylum seekers are provided with deportation protection, access to the public health care system and work eligibility.

Ramirez says that his agency recently noticed that many migrants who began the asylum process in the city of Tapachula, in southern Mexico, later abandoned the process. They used a preliminary COMAR document to travel within the country toward its northern border.

"They are abusing the system," said Ramirez. "That shows us that many of these people are not really interested in (Mexico's) refugee system and the asylum procedure."

He estimated that in Tapachula, Mexico about 70% of the individuals from countries other than Haiti were abusing the system.

Haitians, he said, have been continuing with the local asylum process there at a higher rate.

A record number of applications

Mexico has received a surge of asylum applications in recent years, Ramirez says.

In January 2023, nearly 13,000 people signed up to seek asylum in Mexico, according to COMAR data. That's more than double the number of asylum registrations from one year ago in January 2022, the data shows.

If applications continue at this pace, 2023 could be on track to becoming the refugee agency's busiest year ever.

The record for most applications ever was set in 2021, he said, when COMAR received nearly 130,000 asylum applications.

"We were at the risk of collapsing. It was terrible," Ramirez said.

His priority now is to figure out a way to prevent the asylum system in Mexico from being overwhelmed, he says.

After the results of this week's experiment documenting the behaviors of individuals who likely qualified for expedited denials is analyzed, his team will submit proposals with new solutions to combat what they see as abuses of the system -- an approach that Ramirez says will ultimately allow COMAR to prioritize asylum seekers who intend to make Mexico home.

"For us it's very important to take care of the asylum system in Mexico," Ramirez said. "If the asylum system is collapsed, then we're done."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Mexico rethinks asylum initiative after controversial US announcement"
Senators for the Illinois Quad-Cities want to build on economic growth to attract new residents.

"We have everything here in the state of Illinois to be one of the greatest states in the nation," Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, said Friday. "River, rail, roads  we are the hub for the United States. We have a lot of opportunity."

Held at the Vibrant Arena at The MARK in downtown Moline, the Quad Cities Chamber hosted the state senate legislative forum Friday. Democratic Sen. Mike Halpin and Republican Sens. Anderson and Win Stoller were asked about their goals.

All three honed in on the importance of economic growth.

A new face representing a portion of Rock Island County, Stoller previously represented a majority of central Illinois around the Peoria area. Since redistricting, he now represents a portion of Northern Rock Island County, Bureau, Marshall, Henry, Lee, Stark and Whiteside counties.

Addressing workforce needs

Halpin said addressing workforce needs could be accomplished by finding more ways to work with Illinois colleges.

The workforce and higher education, he said, are tied together, and legislators can find ways to creatively work with higher education institutions to find solutions to worker gaps.

"We are putting together different methods to create lists of which positions and which fields are most needed in the state," he said.

In order to properly address workforce needs, Stoller said, the state must find ways to "attract talent from all over the place to come and work here."

About that high-speed rail

One of the the hottest questions of the morning: When will Moline get the "choo-choo" to Chicago?

A passenger rail project that has been in the works for more than a decade was first delayed during the state's budget crisis, and then-Gov. Bruce Rauner froze new projects. It then was revived when the state allocated $225 million in addition to the $177 million Illinois received in federal funds from 2010.

But negotiations between the Illinois Department of Transportation and the railroad company have stalled the progress on the Moline train.

"This is an area where Democrats, Republicans, state, federal and local officials have all been behind," Halpin said. "There's just one common denominator that has not been supportive of the effort (referring to the railroad)."

Education

In Gov. J.B. Pritzker's fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, $2.47 billion would be infused into addressing higher education needs  a $219 million increase from the 2023 budget. It includes a $100 million boost for the Monetary Award Program, known as MAP grants.

The proposed increase would appropriate a total of $701 million for MAP.

Halpin said the increase in MAP grants could help boost enrollment and provide more opportunity for low-income students to afford college.

It also proposes a $19.4 million increase for community colleges, an $80.5 million increase for public universities, and a $2.8 million increase to the Minority Teachers Scholarship Program to recruit and retain minority teachers.

But even with the increases in higher education, the state is barely getting back to where it was before the budget impasse from 2015 to 2017, Halpin said.

With years of deferred maintenance and operations costs that piled up during the budget impasse, they only got more expensive. In a perfect world, he said, the state would steadily increase as the needs increase.

"This is a great investment, but what I hope it does is gets us into a place where we're a little bit more caught up and we can start doing things on a gradual and more reliable basis," Halpin said.

But continuing education beyond high school isn't on the list for some individuals.

Anderson, who also serves as a firefighter and paramedic for the Moline Fire Department, said the state must also focus on investing in trade, skilled-labor jobs. Not everyone, he said, wishes to continue their education after high school.

Since the state passed the Clean Energy Job Act in 2021, which overhauled the energy industry with a focus on carbon reduction, the state has a huge opportunity to attract and retain new businesses, Anderson said.

The fiscal year 2024 budget proposes investing more than $18 million in workforce training at community colleges for current and emerging job industries.

The big picture

With Democrats having a super majority in both the Senate and House, Anderson said it can be difficult for the minority, especially when they are not consulted on legislation. It's important, he said, to consider legislation in a bipartisan manner.

Everyone is going to have different views, he said, whether they are across the aisle or on the same side. But everyone shares the same end goal in wanting what is best for the state and its constituents.

When going about the job, Stoller said, he thinks of the people.

"I think in terms of my district  the people I have encountered, the businesses and business owners, the small towns, the mayor and all these people that are working so hard," he said. "I think that's reason enough to say we need to invest back into our state."
The end may be near for the once-friendly tug-of-war competition across the Mississippi River between LeClaire and Port Byron.

For 35 years, the Great River Tug Fest has featured tug teams, pulling 680 pounds of rope across 2,700 feet of the river as thousands cheered.

At the beginning of February, the LeClaire Tug Fest Board and Committee announced negotiations with Port Byron Tug Fest had broken down and both groups were prepared to go on with separate tug-of-war festivals.

Barry Long, the director of public relations for LeClaire Tug Fest, said attendance "on both sides of the river is down" and "we need to breathe new life into this event."

There's been no further dialogue between the two sides, Long said.

"We gave them to March 15 to come up with an alternate plan for Tug Fest, and they responded by saying they wanted to have it this year and to end it," he said. "We said there was no way we would agree to that.

"We feel like it is their way or no way. We will have a festival this year and going forward but, right now, I don't think we will see the tug across the river."

Port Byron Tug Fest President Tammy Knapp did not respond to multiple attempts to reach her for comment.

The controversy, however, played out in early February new releases from committees on both side of the Mississippi.

The first was from the LeClaire Tug Fest Board and Committee, which claimed Port Byron has an advantage because, " ... vastly different currents on each side of the Mississippi River make it impossible to have a fair and even competition."

The current, according to the statement, accounts for the fact Illinois has won 24 years to Iowa's 11. Barry Long estimated the Iowa side has won just "four or five pulls in the last two years."

During the last two Tug Fests, 11 teams represented each side of the river.

Kari Long (related by marriage to Barry Long), president of the LeClaire Tug Fest Board, explained more of Iowa's stance in a news release: "Of course we all want to win ... thats the nature of this beast but most importantly we want this event to keep going for the next 36 plus years.

"We want to pass this over to our grandchildren and watch them have as much fun planning and preparing for this as we have. If we continue on as we have been, I fear that Tug Fest, as we know it, will die. We need to reignite the excitement in this event and make it better for both cities. This festival cannot continue as a one-sided competition or we will all end up losing in the long run."

LeClaire suggested the teams from Iowa and Illinois switch sides.

"We were thinking about home and away games, like there are in most sports," Barry Long said. "We think it would make the competition a little more even and make it more fun for the people who come to watch the event."

In a reply posted to social media, Knapp rejected the idea of switching sides as well as the notion that the Mississippi River's current near LeClaire impacts the tug.

Knapp pointed to the tug pit on the LeClaire side and the training regime followed by the Illinois teams.

"The Iowa tug pit has been totally changed multiple times. Their tug pit material is made up of lime, that is what we've been told. This is not good for tuggers to pull on. It ends up being like pulling on gravel, which can be seen in the pictures they post," she wrote.

She went on to claim "Illinois tuggers have been training better and better every year."

Barry Long rejected the criticism.

"We have moved our tug pit multiple times, and no one from the Illinois side has even seen our tug pit or knows anything about it," he said. "As far as training goes, we have 50 to 60 tuggers training two times a week.

"What was said was, what do you call it  fake news?"

A Tug Fest of some form will be held on the LeClaire side with tug-of-war competitions on land, he said, adding that other activities will fill out the event.

Cindy Bruhn, LeClaire's tourism manager, pointed out the "positive impact" Tug Fest has on the city's economy, " ... with increased visitors and revenue for most of the businesses."

"It takes about a week to set up, have the three-day event, and tear down, so there are extra people in town all week, utilizing our restaurants, lodging, gas stations, and more," she said. "The retail shops might see a slight drop in business on the Saturday of Tug Fest, but any exposure is good. Sometimes a person's first exposure to our community is from attending an event, and many people return after discovering LeClaire."

Bruhn said "several committee members" told her attendance at Tug Fest has dropped. She said she did not know if any drop in recent attendance was related to the pandemic.

The annual event paused in 2020 during the pandemic. It returned in 2021 and enjoyed considerable crowd sizes in 2022.
Oleksandr Krutko arrived at the corner of Elmore Circle and 53rd Street wearing a zip-up hoodie and Nike sweatpants.

It was a little after 10 a.m. Friday in Davenport and the temperature on the breezy grass-and-concrete peninsula in front of Starbucks hadn't reached 20 degrees.

The chilling cold didn't bother Krutko.

He and about a dozen other people were on the corner to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Krutko lived in Kherson, Ukraine until Russian bombs drove him and his family from their home last year. He held a sign that read, "Thank you USA."

"I have lived in Davenport for two months," Krutko said. "I am here today to say thank you to the United States for taking me and my family. My city (Kherson) was bombed and then the Russian occupied it for a time."

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent up to 200,000 soldiers into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 in the biggest invasion in Europe since the end of World War II.

The year of fighting throughout Ukraine has killed an estimated 7,200 civilians, according to the United Nations, though many Ukrainian officials say the number is much higher. Earlier this week, five people were killed in Kherson as bombs fell on apartment buildings.

"Just before we left, we stopped at a gas station for gas," Krutko said. "Ten minutes later, that gas station was gone. The bombs fell on it. Russian bombs. The Russians, they bomb civilian areas  places where people live and work.

"There are terrible things going on. What is happening is Russian terrorism. So I am here also to remind people of the terroristic acts of the Russian military."

Ukrainian officials allege Russian forces have committed mass executions in the city of Mariupol, where the mayor reported 21,000 were killed in April 2022.

"We are here to remind people that it has been a year and the conflict in Ukraine is still ongoing. The Russians are using terrorism and people must know that," said Lyudmyla Lyashenko, who moved from Ukraine 20 years ago and is one of the founders of the Ukrainian Society of Eastern Iowa. The group organized Friday's rally.

"We are here to stand with Ukraine's defenders, the soldiers fighting to keep the country free," Lyashenko, 42, said. "And we want to encourage other countries to stand with Ukraine. There are things we can send  first-aid supplies, things like that. But there are things we cannot, like weapons."

Erin Hergert came across the Mississippi River from Rock Island to join the rally. She's been a part of a number of gatherings protesting the Russian invasion.

"My husband, Mark, and I have wanted to show our support for the Ukrainian people," she said. "Mark couldn't be here today because of work, but I can. And if all I can do is sit on a corner and wave a flag, I will. I think people have to know what is going on."

Hergert is dismayed by some of the support shown to Putin and his policies by politicians and people throughout the U.S.

"A lot of people are misguided, easily influenced by what they are presented in the media," she said. "I was raised to always question authority. This war scares me. And if there are people who think Russia is justified, that scares me, too."

Xenya Mucha drove to the rally from her home in LeClaire. She echoed Hergert.

"I'm disturbed when I hear politicians supporting Putin," the 67-year-old said. "We don't support terrorists or negotiate with them. Putin stands for terrorism. Why is it anyone would possibly support that kind of leader?

"If we haven't learned anything from history, shame on us."
BELVIDERE  When the whistle blows at the Belvidere Assembly Plant on Tuesday, it may signal the end of an era.

For nearly six decades, the massive auto plant has been the economic engine of the small river city near Rockford, churning out everything from the Plymouth Fury and the Chrysler New Yorker to the Dodge Dart.

But after several years of downsizing and dwindling demand for its current product, the Jeep Cherokee, Stellantis is idling the plant indefinitely, laying off the last 1,200 workers and perhaps closing it for good.

Everyones on edge, said Kevin Logan, president of UAW Local 1268, which represents the remaining plant workers about to be laid off. Its going to be catastrophic for this community.

The Belvidere plant became the exclusive home for the Jeep Cherokee in 2017. The regions largest employer at its zenith, the plant had 5,464 workers on three shifts at the start of 2019, after building 270,000 of the SUVs during the previous year. But the plant has been in dramatic decline since then, slashing jobs and eliminating shifts as demand for its sole product waned.

Last year, Jeep Cherokee sales fell 55% to 40,322 vehicles, according to Stellantis.

Stellantis was created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot of France in January 2021. Like many automakers, Stellantis is gearing up to convert from combustion engines to electric vehicles. It is aiming to have EVs account for 50% of all U.S. sales by 2030.

Sources said Belvidere was lined up to transition to an electric vehicle plant, specifically the new STLA large EV platform for the next generation Charger and Challenger. Instead, Stellantis announced in June the vehicles will be built in Windsor, Ontario, dashing the hopes of Belvidere boosters and dealing a major blow to the states EV manufacturing ambitions.

Stellantis is also building a $5 billion battery plant in Windsor.

It was a big slap in the face, said Logan, a lifelong Belvidere resident and 29-year plant veteran. They were dangling the carrot in front of us and pulled it away. I rack my brain several times every day, driving myself crazy trying to figure out what is the fate of this facility, why is the company doing this and what is their endgame.

In December, Stellantis announced the indefinite layoffs and the plant idling. The final shift is scheduled to punch out Feb. 28, the 5-million-square-foot auto plant will go dark and Belvidere will face an uncertain future.

For Belvidere, a city of 25,000 rising up from farm fields about 75 miles northwest of Chicago, the fear is palpable.

Everyones talking, is it going to be a ghost town in Belvidere?  said Patty Ibraimi, owner of Uncle Johns Family Restaurant, a longtime local gathering spot. Its definitely going to be an issue if they dont reopen.

Most of the workers at the Belvidere plant are hourly employees who could be eligible for a combination of state unemployment and supplemental unemployment benefits. There will be no severance package, but Stellantis will make every effort to place indefinitely laid off employees in open full-time positions as they become available, Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in an email.

That could mean uprooting for plants in Ohio, Michigan or points more distant. Workers who decline the transfer offer lose all their unemployment benefits, retaining only their seniority if Belvidere reopens under Stellantis, Logan said.

Those terms were part of a four-year UAW contract set to expire in September. Stellantis cant permanently close the Belvidere plant until then, potentially leaving the laid-off workforce in limbo until the automaker decides its fate.

Stellantis could use Belvidere as a bargaining chip in union negotiations by agreeing to put a product back in the plant in return for other concessions, according to industry analysts. That vehicle is unlikely to be the next-generation Jeep Cherokee, which is headed to the Stellantis plant in Toluca, Mexico, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, a Pennsylvania-based research firm.

The Toluca plant is also home to the Jeep Compass, which moved there from Belvidere in 2017 to make way for the Cherokee. Stellantis would not confirm where the Cherokee will be built going forward.

We will make an announcement regarding the next generation Jeep Cherokee in due course, Tinson said.

Fiorani said Belvidere will likely remain idle until at least September. Down the road, Fiorani sees a dearth of products that could go to the Belvidere plant after it missed out on the STLA EV platform.

Belvidere is the only one of a dozen Stellantis plants in North America without a product in the pipeline, Fiorani said. All of the plants, he said, will eventually produce EVs.

Stellantis provided a glimpse of that EV future at the Chicago Auto Show in February, where the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT EV concept car was on display along with the last of Charger and Challenger gas-powered muscle cars.

The Illinois auto manufacturing industry also includes Fords Chicago Assembly Plant, the Rivian EV plant in Normal and Lion Electric, a startup building EV buses and trucks in Joliet, as well as a handful of parts suppliers.

The state has been aggressively pursuing EV development, enacting legislation in an effort to get manufacturers and suppliers to locate in Illinois, with decidedly mixed results. It has been lobbying hard for Stellantis to electrify the Belvidere plant.

Seeing the Stellantis EV platform, thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment head to Canada while Belvidere sits idle was not part of the states development playbook.

I certainly dont like the idea of an indefinitely idled plant, said Dan Seals, CEO of Intersect Illinois, the states public-private economic development arm. I want them to be able to retool it and use it for EVs. Just having it sit there out of use, thats the worst outcome from my perspective.

Seals said Stellantis is still trying to figure out if theres an option to power up the Belvidere plant after it closes in March. He cited the existing workforce, infrastructure and cost efficiencies of converting it to an EV plant as a compelling case for Stellantis, or another automaker.

The state has already received an inquiry from a site consultant, Seals said.

I think youre going to find a lot of interest in that site, Seals said. Theres a lot of demand for sites just like the one that weve got in Belvidere.

Illinois is beefing up its financial incentives to lure or keep automakers in the state in the wake of Stellantis decision to idle the plant.

In February, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Invest in Illinois Act, which created a $400 million closing fund to incentivize EV manufacturers and other businesses to locate, expand or remain in the state through favorable financing.

The 2021 Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act incentivizes EV manufacturers to locate in the state through tax credits. The legislation was amended in December  10 days after Stellantis announced it was idling the Belvidere plant  upping the incentive to 75% of state income tax for automakers that retain employees as they transition to EV production.

Last month, the legislation was renamed the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles in Illinois Act and expanded to incorporate renewable energy projects.

Illinois is still lagging behind neighboring states such as Michigan, which approved a $1 billion economic incentive fund in December 2021 aimed at EV manufacturing development. Last year, Michigan attracted more than $14 billion in electric vehicle and battery investments, according to the state.

The incentive conversation is one place where were at a disadvantage, Seals said. But at the end of the day, incentives are just one of many factors about why a company locates.

The center of the Illinois EV ecosystem is Rivian, which bought an idled Mitsubishi plant for $16 million in 2017, completed a $1.2 billion renovation and breathed new life into Normal, a college town about 130 miles south of Chicago.

California-based Rivian launched production in September 2021. It now has 7,000 employees building an electric pickup truck, SUV and Amazon delivery van in a formerly vacant, 3.3 million-square-foot auto plant.

Rivian has struggled to ramp up production, narrowly missing a downwardly revised target of 25,000 vehicles last year. It had 114,000 electric pickup trucks and SUVs on back order as of November.

Canadian EV truck manufacturer Lion Electric invested $70 million to convert a 900,000-square-foot Joliet warehouse into a factory to produce up to 20,000 electric commercial trucks and buses a year. The first EV school bus rolled off the line in November, and the company has more than 2,000 on order, Lion spokesman Brian Alexander said.

Lion, which is in line to receive $7.9 million in state tax credits if it meets investment and job creation goals, has about 100 employees, with plans to hire 1,000 workers as it ramps up to full capacity over the next four years, Alexander said.

We expect it to be the largest dedicated medium- and heavy-duty EV truck manufacturing facility in the country, Alexander said.

It remains to be seen whether the Belvidere Assembly Plant will undergo a similar EV transformation under Stellantis  or another automaker  after the factory goes dark in March.

For Belvidere, industrial roots run as deep as the abundant farm fields that surround it. Beyond a quaint downtown straddling the Kishwaukee River, where colorful murals adorn the sides of its brick buildings, a factory has long loomed large.

Belvideres previous manufacturing giant, the National Sewing Machine Co., set up shop in 1886 and was one of the regions largest employers for more than half a century, with about 2,000 workers at its peak. It closed in 1957 and most of the expansive factory, which took up 26 acres, including an iconic tower and foundry, was demolished.

The factory was huge, said Anna Pivoras, executive director of the Boone County Museum of History in downtown Belvidere. Theres only just a couple of vestiges left of it.

In 1965, Chrysler turned Belvidere into an auto town when it opened the assembly plant, with a white Plymouth Fury II sedan the first vehicle to roll off the line. Over the years, the plant was retooled several times, making everything from the compact Dodge Neon to the full-size Chrysler New Yorker.

During Chryslers bankruptcy in 2009, the plant was down to 200 employees before Fiat and a government bailout rescued it and the company.

By 2012, fresh off a $700 million investment to gear up for production of the Dodge Dart, Fiat Chryslers chairman, Sergio Marchionne, visited the plant to announce the addition of a third shift and 1,800 workers.

The plants future seemed secure when it became the exclusive home for the Jeep Cherokee in 2017. It was soon hitting on all cylinders, with more than 5,000 workers building 270,000 of the SUVs in 2018.

But Fiat Chrysler eliminated the third shift in 2019, downsizing 1,400 workers out of a job amid declining demand for the Cherokee. Then the pandemic hit, disrupting production with closures and supply chain issues.

Stellantis took the keys to the factory at the start of 2021. The plant was mostly closed from March through October of that year due to the semiconductor shortage. When production resumed in November, the plant was down to one shift and about 2,100 employees.

The ranks were thinned by smaller cuts last year, dwindling to 1,350 workers before Stellantis announced the indefinite idling in December.

Within days, that employee count will be zero.

Pam Lopez-Fettes, executive director of Growth Dimensions, the economic development organization for Belvidere and Boone County, said about 2,000 jobs will be lost from the plants idling, including layoffs at nearby suppliers such as Syncreon.

The impact, she said, will stretch far beyond Belvidere, with the workforce coming from a 70-mile radius.

While she is hopeful that Stellantis, or another automaker, will restart the auto plant, she believes the area is less dependent on the plant than it used to be.

Belvidere, Boone County has diversified, Lopez-Fettes said. We have very strong distribution and logistics thats growing, and we also have food processing that is growing.

In the broader Rockford region, the aerospace industry is now the largest employer, followed by logistics and advanced manufacturing. Lopez-Fettes said she has already been contacted by a number of area manufacturing businesses looking to hire displaced autoworkers.

The imminent plant idling is nonetheless causing some anxiety at Uncle Johns Family Restaurant, a Belvidere fixture since 1992.

We all thrive on that huge plant, said Ibraimi, 46, who grew up in Belvidere and began working at her family-owned restaurant when she was a teenager. Theyre a big part of the community, we have a lot of people that work there. When theyre working, theyre eating, theyre going out. And for them to close completely, its devastation for the town and the businesses.

The restaurant launched just before the Plymouth and Dodge Neon in 1994, which boosted employment and created a steady base of customers for the restaurant. Business slowed during the Great Recession, and whenever the plant was down for retooling

The arrival of the Jeep Cherokee in 2017 was a boon for Boone County and the restaurant, which completed an extensive remodeling last summer. Then came the December plant idling announcement from Stellantis.

Were already feeling it a little bit because theyre getting ready to close, Ibraimi said. We have regulars that work there, but youre not seeing them as much. They know theyre getting ready to get laid off.

One of those getting laid off is Ibraimis brother, a 20-year plant veteran who left the family restaurant business for a job on the assembly line. In a city of 25,000, its hard to find someone who isnt related to a current or former worker at the auto plant.

While Belvidere and the states economic development organizations continue to make the case for Stellantis to turn the lights back on at the plant, the company remains noncommittal.

The company is working to identify other opportunities to repurpose the Belvidere facility, Tinson said. We have nothing to announce at this time.

Inside the Boone County Museum of History is a white, four-door Plymouth Fury II sedan. Cordoned off by a white chain stanchion, a large sign proudly proclaims the rear-wheel drive sedan the 1st Car Built Here.

The car, which carried a sticker price of $3,206.90  including extras such as an AM radio, an electric clock and undercoating  was minted July 7, 1965.

The Plymouth Fury is the first car off the assembly line, said museum director Pivoras. It is the most popular artifact in our entire museum  weve had people travel here just to see it. Itll always be here.

Many locals are hoping it wont be joined by a Jeep Cherokee circa February 28, 2023, as the last vehicle built in Belvidere.

Inside Rivian's test drive operation in Normal
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade is a hobby club with a couple dozen members  some adults, some children  who like to watch balloons circle the globe.

For $12 apiece, they buy balloons from a California manufacturer, rig them with radio transmitters and send them skyward, Aviation Week reported. One of their projects has circled the globe seven times.

But the U.S. Air Force may have this group of Land of Lincoln nerds in its crosshairs.

It seems one of the clubs projects disappeared off the coast of Alaska, the same day the U.S. Government announced shooting down an unknown object in the same area.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the object had been traveling at an altitude of 40,000 feet and was about the size of a car.

But they didnt know what the object was, its origin or purpose. President Joe Biden ordered it shot down.

So, a $216 million F22 jet loaded with $433,000 missiles was sent to intercept the object and send it crashing to the Earth.

When I read this, I couldnt help but wonder, Why are we shooting at things if we dont know what they are?

It would be like if I saw something running across my backyard in the middle of the night and I pulled out my gun and started blasting away.

I could be arrested  and rightly so. After all, its stupid to shoot at something if you dont know what it is. But our government didnt do it just once. It did it three times  in a weeks time  in the airspace over Alaska and Canada.

Each time the Pentagon reported not knowing what they destroyed. If you are going to fire a $433,000 missile at something, shouldnt you at least find out what it is first?

For the price of those three missiles, we could have bought more than 338,000 school lunches, 75,882 library books or provided a years tuition for 258 community college students.

Talk about money going up in smoke.

A White House spokesperson felt the need to say that none of the unidentified flying objects, UFOs, are believed to be extraterrestrial in origin.

Of course, what launched this stratospheric level of stupidity is the previous week a Chinese balloon carrying a payload the size of two school buses was allowed to drift across the continental United States.

The Pentagon said it was a spy balloon. China says it was an off-course weather balloon.

Republicans in Congress were quick to condemn Biden for allowing China to violate our national sovereignty. The president responded to the ballooning controversy by ordering it shot down - after it had already crossed the entire country.

Pieces are still being pulled from the ocean.

Back on the farm, wed call that shutting the gate after the hog ran out.

But in all seriousness, our nation sends spy satellites over China and they send them over our country. Is a balloon in the upper reaches of the atmosphere all that different?

And even if it were, does it justify shooting down three other objects that dont appear to pose any military threat? In fact, one may well be from Illinois.

But what of the Illinois youngsters who launched their balloon aloft?

Instead of learning about wind currents and radio waves, these junior scientists got a lesson in international politics.

If they want their $12 back, they should send a bill to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Gymnasts from five states will compete this weekend in the largest home gymnastics meet in western South Dakota. The public is invited to cheer on competitors in the 40th annual Rushmore Invitational Gymnastics Meet.

The Rushmore Invitational Gymnastics Meet takes place Saturday and Sunday at Barnett Fieldhouse at The Monument in Rapid City. Doors open each day at 7:30 a.m. Hosted by Just Jymnastics and Gym Stars Booster Club, 450 gymnasts ages 5 to 18 will compete in balance beam, vault, uneven bars and floor exercise events.

Our club does seven meets per year  and this is one of the seven, said Tracy Ponto, owner of Just Jymnastics in Rapid City. The kids train year-round between 12 and 20 hours per week. Our goal is to have kids compete collegiately.

This invitational is bringing 19 clubs from South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska to the Black Hills. About 130 gymnasts from West River will compete, including kids and teens representing Just Jymnastics and the Rapid City Gymnastics Academy, Northern Hills Gymnastics in Sturgis, and the Spearfish Gymnastics Academy.

The Rushmore Invitational Gymnastics Meet schedule for Saturday is:

Session 1, 8:30 a.m. -- 72 gymnasts in Level 3

Session 2, 11:45 a.m. -- 58 gymnasts in Level 4

Session 3, 2:15 p.m. -- 54 gymnasts in Levels 5, 6 and 7

Session 4, 6:15 p.m. -- 61 gymnasts in Levels 8, 9, 10 and Xcel Platinum and Diamond

Sundays schedule is:

Session 5, 8:30 a.m. -- 59 gymnasts in Xcel Gold

Session 6, 11:15 a.m. -- 55 gymnasts in Xcel Silver

Session 7, 1:30 p.m. -- 89 gymnasts in Xcel Bronze and Level 2

Admission to the Rushmore Invitational Gymnastics Meet is $20 for adults and $5 for kids per session, or $35 for a weekend pass.
Adrienne Fritze says she still suffers from the traumatic events that occurred as the youngest of 11 people taken hostage during the 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee.

We were hostages the entire time we were there, said Fritze, now 62 and the only one of the original eleven hostages still living. I can't remember what report it was, but there was one person who had said, Well, you know, they were coerced when they were in front of the news camera.

The leaders of the American Indian Movement were known as being able to captivate listeners and knew how to get their message out through the media, according to Sean Flynn, chair of the History Department at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell.

That wasnt the case for Fritze and her family.

We had no power and we certainly had no voice at all, said Fritze, who is a part of the Ojibwa tribe from the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. My grandfather and my great uncle and my great aunts, they weren't sophisticated when it comes to media. They were just people of the earth.

That lack of media savvy and ability to share their story is why Fritze says the story about what happened during the 71-day occupation is lacking.

It's not a balanced story that's out there, for sure. It's not balanced I totally get why it was so one-sided in terms of the storytelling, she said. They had the power.

It has been 50 years since members of the American Indian Movement occupied the small South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee with the goal of changing the way the Oglala Sioux Tribe governed themselves from an American-style government to a more traditional way of Tribal governance.

But the group also sought to raise the profile of Native American Civil Rights through the symbolic occupation of Wounded Knee  the scene of one of the nations worst massacres of Sioux children, women and men at the hands of cavalry soldiers near the end of the 19th Century.

Years of government failure

America is going through what you might call a collective public guilt in the late '60s about the treatment of American Indians, said Flynn, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. For the first time the white American public has kind of awakened to this idea of these, the millions of Americans who've died because of diseases, the military campaigns against American Indians, the seizure of Indian lands and a trail of broken treaties.

Robert Warrior, the Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kansas and a member/citizen of the Osage Nation, said that multiple attempts by the government to address Native American issues would often fail and be met with resistance.

I think certainly the history of various forms of resistance on the Great Sioux Nation, reservations, going back to the 19th century were very strong and, in many ways, certainly challenged at various times, said Warrior, co-author of the book, Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. People were trying to come up with what they hoped were sophisticated responses to what was being proposed to them.

In trying to give Native Americans greater self-governance with their own independent governments, the federal government forced the Tribes to do so in a way that modeled constitutionalism, according to Flynn.

This created a rift among Native American communities between holding onto traditional ways of life or giving in to colonialism, which meant losing some of their cultural ways such as language and traditions, according to Warrior.

Flynn said its fair to say that regardless of whether the people believed in the new form of government or the traditional style, what was happening wasnt working.

That led to events such as the 19-month Alcatraz Occupation in 1969 seeking to raise the profile of Native American rights.

Around the same time in Minneapolis, the American Indian Movement was formed by George Mitchell, Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt, then later Russell Means.

(AIM) was committed to cultural nationalism. In other words, advancing and raising awareness about traditional American Indian values, traditional American Indian institutions, raising awareness about the American Indian consciousness and view of world affairs, Flynn said.

AIM established patrols, which monitored how police and the courts treated Native Americans to help curb racial profiling in Minneapolis. They took to protests and other occupations such as seizing a replica of the Mayflower on Thanksgiving in 1970 in Boston Harbor, which they declared a national day of mourning.

In 1970 and 1971, protesters camped at and occupied Mount Rushmore, in protest of the seizure of the sacred land left with the Lakota people in the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

All of the dysfunction that was happening around us as children on the reservation, that was a direct result of the destruction of many people's (lives), Fritze said. And the American Indian Movement came up out of that as its only response.

Unequal justice

Then came the death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, of Kyle, South Dakota, who was murdered in Gordon, Nebraska, on Feb. 13, 1972, by two white men who had allegedly bragged earlier in the day about beating a Native American.

Yellow Thunder had been kidnapped, beaten, stripped, humiliated, left for dead and died a couple of days later due to a brain hemorrhage. His murder sparked outrage across the Native American community.

Brothers Leslie and Melvin Hare admitted to everything except the beating which led to Yellow Thunders death.

Leslie would serve two years in prison; Melvin would serve eight months after each was found guilty of manslaughter. Bernard 'Butch' Lutter, who was also a part of the kidnapping, turned states evidence and testified against the Hare brothers according to Stew Magnuson in his book, 'The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder.'

Members of AIM called for a new investigation and more severe charges through protests and boycotts, thrusting the racial tensions and inequalities of the time into the national spotlight.

(The protests) kind of legitimized the organization, Flynn said. It was seen as a mainstream civil rights organization practicing nonviolent civil disobedience, protests and boycotts.

Following the protests over Yellow Thunders murder, AIM led a march of approximately 500-800 people to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. Called the march the Trail of Broken Treaties, it lasted six days.

The march was meant to bring attention to the failures of the U.S. government in honoring past treaties with Native Americans.

We wanted them to know the conditions we lived in. We wanted them to know the downright blatant persecution of the government of Native Americans, said Sid Mills, one of the leaders of the takeover of the bureau in 1972, according to the Washington Post.

A little over a year after Yellow Thunders death, 20-year-old Wesley Bad Heart Bull, of Pine Ridge, was stabbed and killed by Darld Schmitz in Buffalo Gap after Schmitz and a friend visited an area bar, according to reports from 1973.

Three days after Bad Heart Bulls death, Schmitz was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, the lowest degree of murder a person could be charged with in South Dakota at the time.

Custer County State's Attorney Hobart Gates told the Associated Press he would "prosecute to my fullest ability" on the charges of second-degree murder.

AIM and many others demanded a first-degree murder charge arguing some witness accounts said Schmitz made comments earlier in the day he was going to kill a Native American and therefore met the criteria for premeditated murder.

Schmitz was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 6. AIM leaders including Dennis Banks and Russell Means organized a demonstration outside the Custer County Courthouse to sway Gates to increase the charges.

Banks told the press at the time, if the roles had been reversed and a Native American murdered a white man, he would be charged with first-degree murder. "There is no justice for Indians in South Dakota," he told the Associated Press ahead of the demonstration.

Several eyewitnesses, including Trina Bad Heart Bull, Eddy Clifford and Francis Means, all of whom were present in Buffalo Gap the night Wesley Bad Heart Bull was murdered, tried to convince Gates.

But Gates said he didnt have the evidence to increase the charges.

While the initial cause is unknown, the protesters clashed with law enforcement at the courthouse which resulted in the Custer County Chamber of Commerce burning down, other buildings being damaged, and even gasoline bombs being thrown.

Three demonstrators and eight officers were injured in the chaos, according to reports from the time.

Rallies, protests and riots continued to take place mostly in Rapid City until one night they just stopped.

Close Hundreds of people on site at Wounded Knee. Protestors show up for the arrival of a bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. People gather inside a gym during the Wounded Knee occupation including Dick Wilson, right, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Federal officials check vehicles at the blockade coming in and out of Wounded Knee. Federal officials check vehicles at the blockade coming in and out of Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, second from left, and George McGovern, fourth from left, speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. Federal officials block the road coming in and out of Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, front, and George McGovern deplane after landing at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1, 1973. Richard 'Dick' Wilson, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe visits with reporters. Richard 'Dick' Wilson, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe visits with reporters. People gathered inside the church. People gathered inside the church. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, and George McGovern speak with the media on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, right, and George McGovern speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. A perimeter was built around the church at Wounded Knee. A look at the inside of the Trading Post at Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, right, and George McGovern speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. A perimeter was built around the church at Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, second from right, and George McGovern speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. Oglala Sioux Tribe Chairman Dick Wilson speaking with the press. A look inside the museum at Wounded Knee. A look inside the museum at Wounded Knee. Federal officials check vehicles at the blockade coming in and out of Wounded Knee. Federal officials check vehicles in and out of Wounded Knee. Bullet holes cover a car windshield at Wounded Knee following the 1973 Occupation. A bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. A bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Law enforcement guides a bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 into court on May 9. Protestors show up for the arrival of a bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Members of AIM speak to the press after people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Members of AIM speak to the press after people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. A bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Bullet holes cover a car windshield at Wounded Knee following the 1973 Occupation. At right, the Rapid City Journal's Marcia Mitchell, Marcia Doonan at the time, interviews a woman while seeing Wounded Knee for the first time since the Occupation in 1973. Rev. Orville Lansberry and his wife Emma, view rubble of burned out parsonage which held all their possession. Rev. Orville Lansberry and his wife Emma, view rubble of burned out parsonage which held all their possession. The American Red Cross Disaster Emergency Service bus on hand at Wounded Knee. Directions about wounds and infection written on a wall inside a home at Wounded Knee. Rev. Charlie Moose shows golden cross from church riddled with bullets. Rev. Orville Lansberry and his wife Emma, view rubble of burned out parsonage which held all their possession. Directions about legal defense contacts written on a wall inside a home at Wounded Knee. Directions about checking vital signs written on a wall inside a home at Wounded Knee. A recess which held a cross at Messiah Episcopal Church used for target practice during the occupation. The church at Wounded Knee. Members of the press visit with the occupants at Wounded Knee. Richard 'Dick' Wilson, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe visits with reporters. Damage at Wounded Knee on May 10. Damage at Wounded Knee on May 10. An aerial view of the church at Wounded Knee a couple days following the Feb. 27 takeover. Buildings in Wounded Knee following the occupation. PHOTOS: Wounded Knee archival photos from the Rapid City Journal Hundreds of people on site at Wounded Knee. Protestors show up for the arrival of a bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. People gather inside a gym during the Wounded Knee occupation including Dick Wilson, right, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Federal officials check vehicles at the blockade coming in and out of Wounded Knee. Federal officials check vehicles at the blockade coming in and out of Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, second from left, and George McGovern, fourth from left, speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. Federal officials block the road coming in and out of Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, front, and George McGovern deplane after landing at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1, 1973. Richard 'Dick' Wilson, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe visits with reporters. Richard 'Dick' Wilson, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe visits with reporters. People gathered inside the church. People gathered inside the church. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, and George McGovern speak with the media on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, right, and George McGovern speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. A perimeter was built around the church at Wounded Knee. A look at the inside of the Trading Post at Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, right, and George McGovern speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. A perimeter was built around the church at Wounded Knee. U.S. Senators James Abourezk, second from right, and George McGovern speak with the media while arriving at Ellsworth Air Force Base on March 1st about the Occupation at Wounded Knee. Oglala Sioux Tribe Chairman Dick Wilson speaking with the press. A look inside the museum at Wounded Knee. A look inside the museum at Wounded Knee. Federal officials check vehicles at the blockade coming in and out of Wounded Knee. Federal officials check vehicles in and out of Wounded Knee. Bullet holes cover a car windshield at Wounded Knee following the 1973 Occupation. A bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. A bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Law enforcement guides a bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 into court on May 9. Protestors show up for the arrival of a bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Members of AIM speak to the press after people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Members of AIM speak to the press after people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. A bus bringing the people who surrender from Wounded Knee on May 8 head into court on May 9. Bullet holes cover a car windshield at Wounded Knee following the 1973 Occupation. At right, the Rapid City Journal's Marcia Mitchell, Marcia Doonan at the time, interviews a woman while seeing Wounded Knee for the first time since the Occupation in 1973. Rev. Orville Lansberry and his wife Emma, view rubble of burned out parsonage which held all their possession. Rev. Orville Lansberry and his wife Emma, view rubble of burned out parsonage which held all their possession. The American Red Cross Disaster Emergency Service bus on hand at Wounded Knee. Directions about wounds and infection written on a wall inside a home at Wounded Knee. Rev. Charlie Moose shows golden cross from church riddled with bullets. Rev. Orville Lansberry and his wife Emma, view rubble of burned out parsonage which held all their possession. Directions about legal defense contacts written on a wall inside a home at Wounded Knee. Directions about checking vital signs written on a wall inside a home at Wounded Knee. A recess which held a cross at Messiah Episcopal Church used for target practice during the occupation. The church at Wounded Knee. Members of the press visit with the occupants at Wounded Knee. Richard 'Dick' Wilson, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe visits with reporters. Damage at Wounded Knee on May 10. Damage at Wounded Knee on May 10. An aerial view of the church at Wounded Knee a couple days following the Feb. 27 takeover. Buildings in Wounded Knee following the occupation.

Demands for change

Richard Dick Wilson was elected Chairman (also called President) of the Oglala Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1972.

Wilson is one of the figures that come along, he's particularly polarizing, and also definitely has a personality that, in many ways, comes to compete with the larger-than-life presence of people like Russell Means, whose family's from Pine Ridge, Warrior said. This becomes part of a battle royale between those like Russell Means and the people like Richard Wilson, who reject (each others) form of politics.

Quickly into Wilsons term accusations of nepotism and suppressing political opponents began.

As a result of the BIA takeover in Washington, D.C., Wilson was granted authority by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council "to take whatever action he felt would be necessary to protect the lives and property and to ensure the peace and dignity of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation."

Wilson created the Guardians of the Oglala Nation, which many considered a private militia for the chairman and came to be dubbed the GOON squad.

The accusations against Wilson would lead to an impeachment effort that ultimately failed.

In fact, the reason AIM is invited to the Pine Ridge reservation is a group called the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization or OSCRO. They invite AIM there to help them in their effort to impeach Dick Wilson, for nepotism, for corruption, for allowing his police to use roughhouse tactics, police brutality, and things of this nature. And they fail, Flynn said. And Wilson's government becomes even more determined not to allow anything like that to happen.

Some of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council members filed impeachment charges against Wilson for nepotism and misappropriation among other charges.

On Feb. 22, after the hearing began, the presiding officer declined to allow the prosecution more charges. This caused much of the audience and several council members to walk out in protest.

The remaining council voted 14-0 to close the hearings and leave Wilson as council chairman.

Several hundred people protested the decision and Wilson was placed in protective custody by U.S. Marshals.

The occupation

On Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1973, frustrated with a lack of results in trying to remove Wilson from office, a group of anti-Wilson supporters met in Calico. There they decided more needed to be done.

And from Calico a convoy went north to the village of Wounded Knee.

I really thought that the meaning of Calico Hall, where people decide that they would go to Wounded Knee, I think people got a really strong sense from those traditional Oglala, Lakota people, who were debating and deliberating on what do we do next, Warrior said. They decided we're going to go to Wounded Knee. That was just an incredibly dramatic moment, because it wasn't just symbolic, it was dangerous.

This is an armed standoff between different people this didn't have nearly the sort of romantic moments of some of the earlier things that had happened where gunfire was almost non-existent.

Arriving in town, the protesters began to take over. The trading post was raided for guns, ammunition, food and other supplies and hostages were taken.

In his book Wounded Knee 1973: Still Bleeding, Magnuson said Russell Means attempted to halt the raid on the trading post but by the time he arrived it was too late.

In a March 1, 1973 article, Walter Fisk  who had been in South Dakota since the death of Bad Heart Bull for the U.S. News Service  gave a first-hand account of what he had seen as he had tagged along with those protesters seeking the removal of Wilson.

Fisk said he observed preparations made by those that had taken over the village to be that of a defensive measure.

A total of 11 hostages, ranging in age from 12 to 82, were taken in the town of Wounded Knee: Rev. Paul Manhart, Clive Gildersleeve, Agnes Gildersleeve, Wilbur Riegert, Girlie Clark, Bill Cole, Mary Pike, Adrienne Fritze, Jean Fritze, Guy Fritze and Annie Hunts Horse.

My grandfather, mom and I were able to stay in my uncle's cabin. But they took the rest of the family up to the church in the basement, and they were threatened, Fritze said. And I don't know that there was physical abuse per se, except for people in their faces spitting on them, yelling, pointing guns and knives at them.

While at the small church, Fisk talked with AIM leader Russell Means about why they had taken over the village.

Means told Fisk that AIM and the Oglala people on the reservation decided to occupy Wounded Knee after consulting with and getting the support of several chiefs and medicine men of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Liberties Association, an all-Oglala organization on the reservation.

Fisk asked Means what caused AIM to declare war on the United States. Means replied, There has always been a state of war existing between the federal government and the Indians because of broken treaties. We are here in Wounded Knee today because of the 1868 treaty which states western South Dakota from the east bank of the Missouri River to all of western South Dakota, including parts of North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska, belong to the Teton Sioux of which the Oglala Sioux are a part.

The day after the Wounded Knee occupation began, the first gunfire broke out between AIM and federal agents.

Russell Means began negotiations for the release of the hostages, demanding that the U.S. Senate launch an investigation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and all Sioux reservations in South Dakota, and that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hold hearings on the scores of Indian treaties broken by the U.S. government.

A national spotlight

Wounded Knee. Those two words meant something, Flynn said. The average American knew enough about the events surrounding the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee to know that it had symbolic significance and Wounded Knee becomes a media event because it's already symbolic of what the public is thinking about in terms of the failure of American Indian policy.

The morning following the takeover, South Dakota Sen. James Abourezk caught wind of the hostage situation. He called a home in Wounded Knee which turned out to be a house where members of AIM had set up. Abourezk convinced his fellow congressional leader and senior Senator George McGovern to join him in trying to negotiate the release of the hostages.

Members of AIM told the press they had no intentions of hurting the hostages.

While Abourezk and McGovern met with AIM leadership on March 1, they claimed they had secured the release of the 11 hostages that same day, but stated "the 11 were staying because their homes are in the tiny hamlet," according to a March 2, 1973 New York Times article.

That's what they reported. But that's not what happened, Fritz said. The reason my family didn't want to leave is they'd spent their entire life there. So no, we did not  not become hostages, we were still subjected to violence.

Fritz said she, her mom and grandfather were allowed to leave around the seventh day of the takeover and the rest a couple days later.

At the beginning of the siege, it's an international news event. It's not just a national news event. It's an international news event. Because people in Europe, in many ways, are more interested about our Native American heritage than we are, Flynn said. Neil Young and John Lennon are talking about Wounded Knee. It's the '70s, we're still in the midst of the anti-establishment, grassroots, minority consciousness, feminist consciousness movement of you stand up to the establishment. So, they have that kind of sympathy. They had sympathy from editors, they had sympathy from journalists, they had sympathy from liberal activists, they had sympathy from entertainers.

And despite attempts by the federal officers on site, members of AIM would sneak the press past the roadblocks to get their messages out.

Actor Marlon Brando refused to accept his Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Godfather in protest of Hollywoods treatment of Native Americans. Instead, Brando sent a Native American civil rights activist named Sacheen Littlefeather to decline it on his behalf.

71 days

As the weeks passed, attempts to broker a cease-fire failed repeatedly, and calls for Wilsons ousting continued.

Wilson refused to budge and announced he would run for re-election in 1974.

Its my opposition thats out there hiding behind the skirts of civil rights. This is primarily what they are after, to get me out. Unfortunately, my vice president (David Long) is a member of the American Indian Movement and those people need a governing body to operate through. If they could oust me then theyd have it, Wilson told the Journals Lyn Gladstone in a March 8, 1973 article.

A March 19 petition led by AIM garnered a reported 1,400 signatures from residents of Pine Ridge asking for a new election to dissolve the present Tribal Constitution and select a new form of government for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, a March 20 Associated Press article said.

As a result, the relationship between AIM and Wilson remained tense.

In Magnuson's book, he explains FBI Special Agent in Charge Joe Trimbach, who by his own admission was in over his head, saw himself at times as the only thing standing between Wilson and those in the village.

The different federal branches on scene, the FBI and U.S. Marshals, struggled to agree as to who was in charge of the governments position.

In Washington, D.C., members of the Nixon Administration knew the historical significance of Wounded Knee and the implications of what might have been if an attack was ordered upon the small village.

AIM attorney and primary negotiator Ramon Roubideaux said the failure of the talks was because the government didn't realize action at Wounded Knee wasnt simply just a takeover of land but a symbol of the demand by all Native Americans for national reform, according to a March 10 Associated Press article.

In their attempts to force an end to the occupation, federal officials implemented a blockade that was largely successful in preventing supplies and food from reaching the camp.

While talks continued but failed, gunfire would break out and each side would blame the other. The residence of an AIM supporter in Pine Ridge was firebombed on Thursday, March 1, according to reports.

Until March 26, the most severe injury was one Native American man shot in the hand.

But on that Monday afternoon, in a gunfight to regain control of the main road into Wounded Knee, U.S. Marshal Lloyd Grimm was shot and paralyzed in what was described as the heaviest exchange of fire between the two sides since the confrontation started, according to the New York Times.

While the government continued its blockade, interest from national media began to fade.

The idea was, wait them out, it's cold, they only have so much food, they're going to get tired of being in the situation after a while. Let them make their political points, Flynn said. But that ran its course and different news stories begin to appear. This whole thing about Watergate, people start to become a little bit more interested and all of a sudden, Wounded Knee, it's page two, it's page three, it's page five, it's page seven.

On April 17, Frank Clearwater would be shot during a confrontation with federal authorities at Wounded Knee and would be airlifted to Rapid City where he later died on April 25.

The next day, Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont was shot and killed by federal agents.

The death of Lamont is said to have spurred those at the camp to find a resolution to the stand-off.

The occupation officially ended on May 8, 1973 with some of the occupiers surrendering to federal officials while others managed to escape the town before arrest.

Warrior, whose book 'Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee' was published in 1996, said for those who took part in activism the reason why often came down to their own stories.

It often came to personal stories of grandparents, parents being involved in what you could think back on as activism in their own time, Warrior said. Whether it was 30 years before or 40 years before, taking up some sort of protest or some sort of resistance to what was basically being dished up for them.

Afterwards

My brother had gotten a U-Haul and came in and we got what we could in a little U-Haul. Just what few possessions the family could gather together, but by and large, we lost everything, Fritze said. There really was nothing to go back to after they were done after those 71 days.

They burned down the store. Our houses were trashed. I mean, it was just, it was horrible. Everything was destroyed and desecrated.

Most of those who had been arrested for their involvement in the occupation were acquitted due to prosecutorial misconduct.

Confrontations between Wilson and those who were pro-AIM continued for several years even after Wilsons successful re-election campaign in 1974.

The actions of both federal agencies and those in the occupation have been met with mixed criticisms but there is a general consensus that AIM brought attention to the struggles and mistreatment of Native Americans to a global audience, Flynn said.

I grew up in a home where we took an enormous amount of pride in our South Dakota history, but also in the great, rich, Native American contribution to that history. But I grew up here and ugly things were said about Native Americans that you don't hear said today, said Flynn who is a direct descendant of Lakota Chief Spotted Tail. I grew up hearing ugly stereotypes about American Indians, not my home by God, we'd get our mouth washed out with soap. But I heard my friends and elders say these things.

And just a generation of young people today, they don't talk that way. They don't see things that way. And that is a lasting legacy you might say of the American Indian Movement  trying to shape a different narrative about who American Indian people are so that whites would see American Indian people the way American Indian people see themselves.
WOUNDED KNEE, South Dakota  Madonna Thunder Hawk remembers the firefights.

As a medic during the occupation of Wounded Knee in early 1973, Thunder Hawk was stationed each night in a frontline bunker in the combat zone between Native activists and government agents.

I would crawl out there every night, and we'd just be out there in case anybody got hit, said Thunder Hawk, Oohenumpa band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, one of four women assigned to the bunkers.

Memories of the Wounded Knee occupation  one in a string of protests from 1969 to 1973 that pushed the American Indian Movement to the forefront of Native activism  still run deep within people like Thunder Hawk who were there.

Thunder Hawk, now 83, is careful about what she says today about AIM and the occupation, but she cant forget that tribal elders in 1973 had been raised by grandparents who still remembered the 1890 slaughter of hundreds of Lakota people at Wounded Knee by U.S. soldiers.

That's how close we are to our history, she told ICT recently. So anything that goes on, anything we do, even today with the land-back issue, all of that is just a continuation. It's nothing new.

Other feelings linger, too, over the tensions that emerged in Lakota communities after Wounded Knee and the virtual destruction of the small community. Many still dont want to talk about it.

But the legacy of activism lives on among those who have followed in their footsteps, including the new generations of Native people who turned out at Standing Rock beginning in 2016 for the pipeline protests.

For me, it's important to acknowledge the generation before us  to acknowledge their risk, said Nick Tilsen, founder of NDN Collective and a leader in the Standing Rock protests, whose parents were AIM activists.

It's important for us to honor them. It's important for us to thank them.

Akim D. Reinhardt, who wrote the book, Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics from the IRA to Wounded Knee, said the AIM protests had powerful social and cultural impacts.

Collectively, they helped establish a sense of the permanence of Red Power in much the way that Black Power had for African-Americans, a permanent legacy, said Reinhardt, a history professor at Towson University in Towson, Maryland.

It was the cultural legacy that racism isnt okay and people dont need to be quiet and accept it anymore. That its okay to be proud of who you are.

A series of events is planned in South Dakota to recognize the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Wounded Knee, starting on Friday, Feb. 24, in Rapid City, and building to a 50th anniversary pow wow on Sunday, Feb. 26, in Porcupine, South Dakota, and a Four Direction Walk and Ride on the actual anniversary, on Monday, Feb. 27.

The women of Wounded Knee will also be honored on Saturday, Feb. 25, in Porcupine, and another pow wow is set for Saturday in Rapid City. The documentary film, From Wounded Knee to Standing Rock, will be shown on Sunday, Feb. 26, in Kyle, South Dakota.

Thunderbolt of protest

The occupation began on the night of Feb. 27, 1973, when a group of warriors led by Oklahoma AIM leader Carter Camp, Ponca, moved into the small town of Wounded Knee. They took over the trading post and established a base of operations along with AIM leaders Russell Means, Oglala Lakota; Dennis Banks, Ojibwe; and Clyde Bellecourt, White Earth Nation.

Within days, hundreds of activists had joined them for what became a 71-day standoff with the U.S. government and other law enforcement.

It was the fourth protest in as many years for AIM. The organization formed in the late 1960s and drew international attention with the occupation of Alcatraz from 1969-1971. In 1972, the Trail of Broken Treaties brought a cross-country caravan of hundreds of Indigenous activists to Washington, D.C., where they occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters for six days.

Then, on Feb. 6, 1973, AIM members and others gathered at the courthouse in Custer County, South Dakota, to protest the murder of Wesley Bad Heart Bull, Oglala Lakota, and the lenient sentences given to some perpetrators against Native Americans. When they were denied access into the courthouse, the protest turned violent, with the burning of the Chamber of Commerce Building and damage to other buildings and vehicles.

Three weeks later, AIM leaders took over Wounded Knee.

It had been waiting to happen for generations, said Kevin McKiernan, who covered the Wounded Knee occupation as a journalist in his late 20s and who later directed the 2019 documentary film, From Wounded Knee to Standing Rock.

If you look at it as a storm, the storm had been building through abuse, land theft, genocide, religious intoleration, for generations and generations, he said. The storm built up, and built up and built up. The American Indian Movement was simply the thunderbolt.

The takeover at Wounded Knee grew out of a dispute with Oglala Sioux tribal leader Richard Wilson but also put a spotlight on demands that the U.S. government uphold its treaty obligations to the Lakota people.

By March 8, the occupation leaders had declared the Wounded Knee territory to be the Independent Oglala Nation, granting citizenship papers to those who wanted them and demanding recognition as a sovereign nation.

The stand-off was often violent, and supplies became scarce within the occupied territory as the U.S. government worked to cut off support for those behind the lines. Discussions were ongoing throughout much of the occupation, with several government officials working with AIM leaders to try and resolve the issues.

The siege finally ended on May 8 with an agreement to disarm and to further discuss the treaty obligations. By then, at least three people had been killed and more than a dozen wounded, according to reports.

Two Native men died: Frank Clearwater, identified as Cherokee and Apache, who was shot on April 17, 1973, and died eight days later; and Lawrence Buddy LaMont, Oglala, who was shot and killed on April 26, 1973.

Another man, Black activist Ray Robinson, who had been working with the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization, went missing during the siege.The FBI confirmed in 2014 that he had died at Wounded Knee, but his body was never recovered. A U.S. marshal was also shot and paralyzed, but died many years later.

Camp was later convicted of abducting and beating four postal inspectors during the occupation, and served three years in federal prison. Banks and Means were indicted on charges related to the events, but their cases were dismissed by a federal court for prosecutorial misconduct.

Today, the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark identifies the site of the 1890 massacre, most of which is now under joint ownership of the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux.

The tribes agreed in 2022 to purchase 40 acres of land that included the area where most of the carnage took place in 1890, the ravine where victims fled, and the area where the trading post was located.

The purchase, from a descendant of the original owners of the trading post, included a covenant requiring the land to be preserved as a sacred site and memorial without commercial development.

And though internal tensions emerged in the AIM organization in the years after the Wounded Knee occupation, AIM continues to operate throughout the U.S. in tribal communities and urban areas.

In recent years, members participated in the Standing Rock protests and have persisted in pushing for the release from prison of former AIM leader Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of first-degree murder despite inconsistencies in the evidence in the deaths of two FBI agents during a shootout in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

A new generation

Tilsen, now president and chief executive of NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led organization centered around building Indigenous power, traces the roots of his activism to Wounded Knee.

His parents, JoAnn Tall and Mark Tilsen, met at Wounded Knee, and he praises the women of the movement who sustained the traditional matriarchal system during the occupation.

I grew up in the American Indian Movement, said Tilsen, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. It wasn't a question about what you were fighting for. You were raised up in it. In fact, if you didnt fight, you werent going to live.

Tilsen credits AIM, and those who werent part of the movement, for most of the rights Indigenous people have today, including Indian gaming, tribal colleges, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.

He said the movement showed the world that tribes were sovereign nations and their treaties were being violated. And when AIM and spiritual leaders such as Henry Crow Dog, Leonard Crow Dog and Matthew King joined the fight, it became intergenerational.

It became a spiritual revolution, he said. It also became a fight that was about human rights. It became a fight that was about where Indigenous people aren't just within the political system of America, but within the broader context of the system, of the world.

Tilsen appreciates that his parents were willing to participate in an armed revolution to achieve one of their dreams of establishing KILI radio station, known as the Voice of the Lakota Nation, which began operating in 1983 as the first Indigenous-owned radio station in the United States.

They wanted to communicate and organize with the people as well as create transparency in tribal government, he said.

His own organization, NDN Collective, is based on what the American Indian Movement achieved, he said.

It's why NDN has the balanced approach that it does, Tilsen said. We defend, develop and decolonize.

The Dakota Access Pipeline protest in 2016 came to be a defining moment for him and his brother. They had wondered, he said, what would be their Wounded Knee?

But though Standing Rock grew from the Wounded Knee occupation, it also had its differences, he said.

What made it so powerful and what made it different was that you actually had grassroots organizers and revolutionaries and official tribal governments coming together, too, Tilsen said. I think that Standing Rock in particular actually reached way further than Wounded Knee because of how the issue was framed around water is life.

AIM is the catalyst that started it all, however, he said. He wants the 50th anniversary of Wounded Knee to be a time to reflect on what still needs to be learned about the movement and to know more about the people who werent in the spotlight at the time.

[It] created the pressure, he said. It held the mirror up to the United States government in a very powerful way.

Alex Fire Thunder, deputy director of the Lakota Language Consortium, said the occupation of Wounded Knee and other activism helped revitalize Indigenous language and culture. His mother was too young to have participated in the occupation but he said she remembered visits from AIM members in the community.

The whole point of AIM, the American Indian Movement, was to bring back a sense of pride in our culture, Fire Thunder, Oglala Lakota, told ICT.

A huge aspect of our culture and essence of our whole cultural identity is in the language, he said. A lot of language programs, educational programs, and the element of language in education itself and the whole status of the language, improved as a result of the awareness of the value of culture and the sense of pride that our people had.

Fire Thunder, who now teaches the Lakota language, said he owes a debt of gratitude to AIM and the warriors at Wounded Knee.

I show respect to anybody and everybody that stands up for our way of life, our culture, our language, our spiritual ways, our philosophies and worldviews, he said.  We've been oppressed, we've been silenced

We've been pushed aside and overlooked, I guess invisible to the mainstream American society, he said. And so, I like to pay respect and acknowledge anybody and everybody that stands up for our people in that way.

Future generations

For Thunder Hawk, the issues became her lifelong work rather than momentary activism.

She joined AIM in 1968 and participated in the occupation at Alcatraz, the BIA headquarters, the Custer County Courthouse and Wounded Knee, as well as the Standing Rock pipeline protest in 2016.

She said work being done today by a new generation is a continuation of the work her ancestors did.

That's why we were successful in Indian Country, because we were a movement of families, she said. It wasn't just an age group, a bunch of young people carrying on.

She hopes her legacy will live on, that her great-great-grandchildren will see not just a photo of her but know what she sounded like and the person she seemed to be.

Its something that she cant have when she looks at a photo of her paternal great-grandparents.

Hopefully that's what my descendants will see, you know? she said. And with the technology nowadays, they can press a button, maybe, and it'll come up.

Frank Star Comes Out, the current president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, also believes its time for the previous generations work to be recognized.

He will be at the 50th anniversary events and will speak at the Wounded Knee site. He is aware of the irony that he now leads a government created through the Indian Reorganization Act and opposed by AIM.

But he has family members who were strong supporters of AIM, including his mother and father. He said its important to fight for his people who survived genocide.

That's why I support AIM, not only on a family level, he said. I have a lot of pride in who I am as a Lakota  Times [have] changed. Now I'm using my leadership to help our people rise, to give them a voice. And I believe that's important for Indian Country.

ICT producer Stewart Huntington contributed to this report.
They are the lynchpin between those who need help and those who provide help.

And on Friday, Richmonds 911 dispatchers got some help themselves.

A class of 13 graduates joined the ranks of the Richmond Department of Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response. The 40th & 41st Basic Dispatch Academy is the largest number of new 911 recruits to join in more than seven years, according to the department.

Theyve actually started answering 911 calls last week under the supervision of a trainer, said Stephen Willoughby, director of Richmonds DECPR. Were already seeing the impacts that 13 additional individuals provide to our call center.

Public safety staffing, including dispatchers, were hard hit nationwide by the COVID-19 pandemic and civil protests triggered by George Floyds murder.

The National Emergency Number Association described the drain on manpower as a 911 staffing crisis that took its toll on Richmond.

Although Richmond remains the second-busiest 911 emergency call center in the commonwealth, the citys call center was operating with around 28 vacancies prior to Fridays graduation ceremony.

The 13 new recruits bring the departments staffing from 56.5 to 69.5, but it still falls far short of the authorized 85 positions. Still, Richmonds emergency call center remains the cream of the crop compared to other departments in the state.

Richmonds call center is only one of the few emergency call centers accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, and it is on track again to earn accreditation this year.

The department also fielded as many as 298,665 calls for service as recently as 2022 and up to 23,994 calls in January of this year.

Were one of the busiest 911 centers to work at, but we have some great folks that work with us, Willoughby said. Part of that is selecting the right candidates, training them the right way and instituting a culture of service in our organization.

The department also worked to alleviate its staffing challenges through adopting a 15% salary increase for a starting wage of $22.78 per hour. It also increased recruiting, accelerated its training and updated its technology, such as remote call-taking and systems to help reduce the number of incoming calls.

Graduate TishLara Jarvis, a mother of four looking for a career change, said working as a 911 dispatcher was a big career change after working 13 years as a dispatcher for public transportation, but the community she gained was worth the challenge.

We all helped each other, you know, pick each other up when we needed to, pushed each other to the next level because this is not an easy job, Jarvis said.

Julia Horrocks, a longtime Richmond resident, said shes glad to hear 911 dispatchers are getting the support they need. Horrocks said she was put on hold after calling 911 while reporting a shooting in her neighborhood a few days ago.

Horrocks said she has been living in the city for about 18 years and is no stranger to petty crime in her Church Hill community, but when she and her neighbors heard gunfire and found bullet holes in her garage door, she knew it was time to call the police.

This is not my first issue with crime, but this is the first time Im scared and I didnt have anyone answer the phone, said Horrocks, adding that an officer was eventually dispatched to the scene after a long wait.

Although his department is not fully staffed at the moment, Willoughby said instances like Horrocks are far from the norm.

Ive had the opportunity to build a very great team, Willoughby said. Theyre compassionate. They care about what is happening. It pains us when a caller gets a recording, but trust me theres lots of going on behind the scenes so we can answer the next call.

This is only the beginning, he added, as the department plans to advertise for the next academy class in July.

From the Archives: Richmond buildings that are no longer around
Richmond Public Schools sent its final budget proposal to the city on Thursday, asking for an additional $28.3 million in funding, up from last years $200.3 million appropriation from the city.

Following discussions at a joint meeting earlier this month, the City Council did not show strong opposition or support for an earlier version of the budget proposed in January, which was $713,000 less than the final proposed budget sent over this week.

School Board members amended the budget on Monday to save a position that oversees the divisions gifted program, which the administration had proposed cutting. The board also amended the budget to include several positions recommended by the English learner task force.

Most of the budget increase covers raises for teachers and other school staff that the school division must provide because of new labor union contracts that members voted to approve in December. RPS staff are the first public school employees in Virginia to gain collective bargaining rights since the ban on local government workers unionizing was repealed in 2020.

The contracts will cost the school division an additional $24.2 million to cover provisions including a 40% raise for instructional assistants and a 25% raise for food service assistants over three years.

Superintendent Jason Kamras, whose administration has increased teacher salaries by about 30% under his leadership, said the budget proposal is strong.

It honors our collective bargaining agreements with teachers, with instructional assistants, with school nutrition staff, and with care and safety staff, Kamras said Monday evening. It is also a budget that invests in student wellness. It invests in our English learner students, and it helps us preserve some critical positions like bus drivers, custodians and nurses.

The board approved its final budget proposal on Monday evening with near-unanimous approval but with strong opposition from member Jonathan Young, who represents the 4th District. He said the budget has grown exponentially without doing anything to address the divisions shortcomings.

The next step is for Mayor Levar Stoney to incorporate the RPS budget into his proposal to City Council.

Last year, Stoney proposed increasing funding for the division by $15 million  $1 million less than what the school division had requested from the city. At the time, he had threatened to keep funding flat if the School Board missed its deadline to approve a budget, and said he was frustrated with the boards ongoing dysfunction.

One year later, the boards dynamics are similar. RPS Chief of Staff Michelle Hudacsko resigned from her post Wednesday amid ongoing tensions between school division administration and some members of the School Board.

Hudacsko, who negotiated collective bargaining agreements and managed the school divisions budget, said in her resignation letter that, the frequent actions that some Board Members take to dismantle progress and intentionally set the Administration up to fail, along with the mean-spirited personal attacks, threats, and unfounded accusations have made doing this work nearly impossible.

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A rare blizzard warning remains in effect for parts of Southern California -- including the Los Angeles region -- Saturday as some areas endure heavy snow and record rainfall that has delivered dangerous flooding.

An onset of severe weather across the West Coast has spawned unfamiliar wintry conditions at higher elevations, particularly over mountainous areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, where up to a foot of snow may pair with 80 mph winds, the National Weather Service said.

Blizzard warnings are set to continue through Saturday afternoon. The National Weather Service's Los Angeles office had not issued a blizzard warning since 1989.

At the same time, torrential rain is expected to continue lashing the Los Angeles metro area Saturday after the area experienced flooding a day prior.

"A cold, strong, and potentially dangerous winter storm will bring periods of heavy rain and mountain snow with gusty southerly winds to most of Southwest California through Saturday," according to the weather service.

The warning comes as this week's severe weather across the state triggered numerous power outages, which persisted for more than 100,000 homes and businesses in several counties early Saturday as temperatures are expected to plummet, with Northern California possibly seeing below-freezing temperatures.

By Friday, snow had already coated the Santa Cruz Mountains, a sight that was a surprise to resident Ngugi Kihara.

"(We've) never seen this much snow up here," Kihara told CNN on Friday. "We woke up to it. It started yesterday but picked up a lot overnight. Lots of trees are falling and all the roads around us are closed. Power is out and has been mostly gone since Tuesday."

And the threat of even more power outages persists Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

The heavy snow and strong winds can ultimately result in near zero visibility for those in the area, even when snow stops falling because high winds can blow the flakes off the ground. Weather alerts have urged extreme caution when traveling.

High elevations at Big Bear Lake in Southern California saw between 20 to 40 inches of snow over the course of three days as of Friday evening, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency also reported that many vehicles were stuck Friday morning, prompting state officials to close roads.

In addition to the snow, some Los Angeles-area roads turned into rivers on Friday after bouts of heavy rain, prompting the weather service to issue a flash flood warning.

Motorists and vehicles were seen stranded after water levels rose and some roads became impassable.

During the late night hours, a flash flood warning remained for around 1 million people in Los Angeles, Glendale and Santa Clarita through Saturday morning.

California to see more rain this weekend

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue through the weekend over areas at lower elevations as overnight flash flooding was ongoing north and west of Los Angeles, the Weather Prediction Center said early Saturday.

The region can expect widespread rainfall of 2 to 4 inches Saturday, likely leading to flooding problems in areas south and east of Los Angeles, the prediction center added.

San Diego is also forecast to receive up to 2.5 inches of precipitation, and portions of southwestern California remain in a flood watch through Saturday evening.

Saturday's rain will hit already soaked grounds, exacerbating impacts of possible flooding as the region faces back-to-back storms this week. In late December into January, much the state was thrashed with rounds of deadly flooding.

On Friday, the rainfall broke several California daily records as of around 5:30 p.m. local time:

Los Angeles International Airport saw a record rainfall of 1.23 inches. This breaks the previous record of 0.75 inch set in 2008.

Lancaster was hit with 0.26 inch of rain, breaking the previous record of 0.25 inch set in 1987.

Camarillo collected 0.74 inch of rain. The previous record was 0.66 inch set in 1941.

Michigan outages won't fully return before Sunday

The aftermath of the same weather system that struck California and numerous states spanning the country earlier this week is still affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the Midwest.

Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses in Michigan were still in the dark Saturday following a powerful winter storm created dangerous icing conditions, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us. Wayne County accounted for the most outages at more than 150,000.

DTE, one of Michigan's largest electric providers, is restoring power to stricken areas but cautioned it will not be able to return service to most customers before Sunday.

The storm battered multiple western states and the Great Lakes region, delivering batches of snow over several days.

Crews in Wyoming were in search-and-rescue mode after more than 40 inches of snow fell in the southern parts of the state over the course of several days and motorists were trapped in heavy snow, the state highway patrol said on Twitter.

In Minnesota, Minneapolis officials declared a one-day snow emergency Friday due to heavy snow, and city crews have been plowing and treating streets. The city was hammered with more than 13 inches in a three-day period this week.

Since the storm began Monday evening, cumulative snowfall reached dozens of inches in some cities, including 48 inches in Battle Lake, Wyoming, 32 inches in Dupuyer, Montana, and 29 inches in Park City, Utah.

In New England, icy conditions likely contributed to a massive 15-vehicle pileup on the Massachusetts Turnpike Thursday night, according to a tweet by the Massachusetts State Police.

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The family of a nuclear physicist who died by suicide in a Virginia jail is suing the U.S. government after his psychotropic medicine was discontinued and he was denied admission to a federal medical prison.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court on behalf of Christopher Lapps 16-year-old daughter alleges that a series of errors by prison officials, federal marshals, prosecutors and physicians contributed to Lapps 2021 death.

Lapp was being held at the Alexandria jail awaiting sentencing on a federal bank robbery charge when he died, even though a judge had ordered that he be sent to the federal medical prison center in Butner, North Carolina, to continue receiving care there that had restored his mental health.

Lapp, who was 62 when he died, had multiple degrees, including a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His father, Ralph Lapp, was a scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project.

He lived in a wealthy Great Falls neighborhood and owned a $1.3 million home at the time of his arrest. Prosecutors said in court papers that Lapp had multiple romantic interests, including a Playboy model, and that he was working to keep his romantic love interests happy with additional money.

Lapp was charged with entering a Wells Fargo Bank in Great Falls in November 2018 and taking money from a teller at gunpoint. He then carjacked a vehicle to get away, prosecutors said. He was arrested when a K-9 officer tracked Lapp to his home.

The robbery occurred during what the judge called a manic episode and what the Lapp familys lawyer described as a psychotic break. He was initially found incompetent to stand trial but was restored to competency after being sent to Butner.

After his competency was restored, Lapp decided to plead guilty to the bank robbery charge. The judge, T.S. Ellis III, accepted the guilty plea but ordered at the plea hearing that Lapp return to Butner while he awaited sentencing so he could continue the treatment that had restored his competency.

That never happened. Butner officials refused to accept him, saying their policy barred them from taking an inmate who had not yet been sentenced for continuity of care purposes.

So Lapp remained at the Alexandria jail, and a physician who evaluated him there ended his medications after Lapp insisted he did not need them. The physician also said Butner failed to send over Lapps full medical record.

Lapp hanged himself in his jail cell in May 2021, roughly a month after he had pleaded guilty. He left a behind a note for his daughter, writing that some bad people have been after me for a while. I have been trying to determine who they are but things are not good. It is better for everyone if I am not around so they cant harm others.

A month after the suicide, Ellis convened a hearing in which he excoriated Butner officials for disregarding his order. He also accepted a measure of blame himself  Lapps defense lawyer had filed notice to the court in late April that Butner refused to admit Lapp, but Ellis said he was unaware that Lapp had not been transferred.

The Lapp familys lawyer, Victor Glasberg, said he was disappointed that a lawsuit was necessary. Numerous public employees manifestly failed to act properly, and a man died, he said. Now, his 16-year-old daughter has to take them to court, he added.

A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The suit comes a month after the Sheriffs Office in neighboring Arlington County reached a settlement with the family of an inmate who died there in 2020 from what a coroner determined was heart disease complicated by opiate withdrawal.

The family alleged that jail officials failed to treat his withdrawal symptoms and showed deliberate indifference to his medical needs. That proposed settlement hit a snag, though, when the jails former health care contractor filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
A Pittsylvania County woman was sentenced in federal court last week on charges related to stealing $170,000 in Social Security benefits belonging to her grandmother, who was serving a prison sentence in the death of her husband.

Christy Bowling, 38, of Hurt, pleaded guilty in November to concealment of bankruptcy assets and theft of government money. She was sentenced last week to serve two months in federal prison followed by a year of home detention.

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia and Gail S. Ennis, inspector general for the Social Security Administration, made the announcement via news release Wednesday.

Bowling's mother, 58-year-old Judith Cash, of Shipman, pleaded guilty in May to theft of public money, a charge related to the same theft of Social Security benefits, the release stated. Cash received a year of home detention when she was sentenced.

It all came to light in August 2020, according to court documents, when Betty Gowen contacted the Social Security Administration to apply for retirement benefits. Federal authorities said Gowen, of Nelson County, was in prison serving a sentence in the death of her husband.

Online court records show she was sentenced to 20 years in April 2002 after a jury found her guilty in the 2001 murder of 62-year-old Jack Tunstall Gowen.

She contacted Social Security in 2020 to apply for benefits upon her release from prison.

"When SSA officials received Gowens application, it was revealed that her daughter, Judith Cash, and granddaughter, Christy Bowling, had already applied for and had been receiving Gowens SSA Retirement Benefits since 2010," federal officials wrote in the release.

The daughter and granddaughter used a shared bankcard to access the funds.

After an investigation, the Social Security Administration found out the pair stole $172,952 in benefits. In addition to prison time, the court has ordered them to pay back the money as restitution.
Democrats have eliminated one of the five polling places for Sundays primary to pick a nominee to run for the Senate seat of Congresswoman-elect Jennifer McClellan.

The change comes after IBEW 666 at 1400 East Nine Mile Road, which was to have been a polling site, endorsed Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, one of the candidates for the Democratic nomination. Bagby is in a contest with Del. Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, and Alexsis Rodgers, the 4th Congressional District Democratic Committee chair.

The Democratic Party of Virginia said people will be present at IBEW 666 on Sunday to redirect anyone who needs it.

The remaining polling locations are:

Ashland Municipal Building  121 Thompson St.

Charles City County Administration Building  10900 Courthouse Road

Eastern Henrico Government Center  3820 Nine Mile Road

Virginia Union University Living and Learning Center  1500 N. Lombardy St., Richmond

From the Archives: Scenes from Church Hill Church Hill 0313_POD_hurricanehazel002 0528_POD_Church Hill 1020_POD_Church Hill Cycling Jefferson Park Hill old trinity methodist Patrick Henry carriages Noldes Bread Historic Richmond Church Hill Christmas 20170204_FEA_POD_snowDONE.JPG WRVA Horse Church Hill Church Hill Church Hill POD_0906_Church Hill
IN THE NEWS

Henrietta Lacks Day approved

State lawmakers have approved Oct. 4 being designated as Henrietta Lacks Day to honor the Black woman whose cells played a pivotal role in the history of medical research. Lacks was born in Roanoke in 1920. Living in Maryland, she was treated for a tumor at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, the only facility that would accept Black patients. Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951 at 31, but her cells have been used in numerous scientific projects, from the polio vaccine to AIDS research to various cancer projects.

Exactly 72 years after her death, on Oct. 4 this year, we will be able to recognize and celebrate all that she has done for medicine, said Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, who sponsored the legislation. Yes, we will be able to recognize this woman, a Black woman, Henrietta Lacks, a true daughter of the commonwealth.

FUNDING: The Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Norfolk is one of 35 houses of worship to receive grant money to preserve historic Black churches nationwide. The church, which was built in 1858 and recently underwent a nearly $7 million restoration after years of neglect, received $150,000.

We plan to hire somebody on staff whos going to be able to maintain the church, said parish priest Jim Curran. The reason why the church was in such dire need was because there was nobody who was able to look and say, Thats a bigger problem, we need to fix that.

We dont want that to ever happen again.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation granted $4 million across the country through its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. It is the first phase of a $20 million investment into the fund by the Lilly Endowment to preserve Black churches.

THEY SAID ...

I totally understand people would like to have a case open and shut  thats just not what we have here."

 Steve Drew, police chief in Newport News, where authorities have finished their criminal investigation into a 6-year-old student shooting his teacher at Richneck Elementary last month.

I dont think people understand the extent of what law enforcement has to do when these threats are called in."

 Del. Wendell Walker, R-Lynchburg, who sponsored legislation to boost penalties for calling in a false threat to law enforcement, also known as swatting."

ODDS & ENDS

BLAST: A small military explosive was found at a waste transfer station in Charlottesville. The device was found Feb. 18 at the Ivy Material Utilization Center. Two controlled detonations took place. The person who dropped off the mortar has been not identified, but no charges have been filed.

VOTE: What's the most endangered artifact in Virginia? The Virginia Association of Museums is asking for feedback to that question to determine where to direct grant funding to help preserve artifacts. Among the 10 pieces in the running are Patrick Henrys law book, an 1833 portrait of President James Madison and an 1848 image of Edgar Allan Poe. You can vote now at vamuseums.org.

MEETING: Family members of four people fatally shot in Virginia Beach municipal offices in May 2019 met with lawmakers, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. A disgruntled public utility employee killed 12 people in the shooting. State lawmakers are considering a budget proposal with $10 million for a Virginia Mass Violence Care Fund to assist with out-of-pocket expenses that insurance does not cover.

BY THE NUMBERS

2,430

Crashes involving big trucks and commercial vehicles in Virginia last year, a 9% increase from the year before, according to state Transportation Department data.

22

States that had elected a Black woman to Congress before Tuesday. Virginia became the 23rd with the election of state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, to fill the U.S. House seat left vacant after the death of Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th.

IN THE NEWS

Another threat made at Newport News school

A fifth-grader at the same Newport News school where a first-grade student shot his teacher last month texted classmates that he would pop some bullets and tell someone to shoot up the class, a school official said.

A Richneck Elementary School administrator wrote in an email to parents that several fifth-grade students were texting when one allegedly made the threat. Another student told their parent, who contacted the teacher of the student who made the threat, the administrator wrote. The teacher then notified administrators.

On Jan. 6, a 6-year-old student at Richneck brought a loaded 9 mm handgun to school and shot his teacher, Abby Zwerner, seriously wounding her. Local police have handed the investigation over to prosecutors in that case.

Newport News school officials also have moved to install a new metal detector system at high schools.

SISTER CITIES: The Roanoke Valley Sister Cities group is hitting pause on its affiliation with a city in Russia. The group has "sister cities" with seven communities on four continents, with the goal of promoting cross-cultural understanding. The one with Pskov, in northwestern Russia, dates back about three decades, long before the current concern about Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The Roanoke City Council voted to support the move last week. The Russian flag that flies in Pearl Fu Plaza in the city will be removed as well.
On Monday, Virginia Commonwealth University will install a plaque in its student center recognizing Adam Oakes and marking the two-year anniversary of his death in a fraternity hazing incident.

Since Oakes death, VCU has made numerous changes to fraternity and sorority life, limiting when alcohol can be consumed and controlling how it is purchased.

And a new state law named for Oakes requires universities to train student members on the dangers of hazing and to publish student group violations.

But VCU declined recommendations to overhaul Greek life. The university chose not to ban alcohol at all fraternity events, to eliminate the big brother night that experts call dangerous, or to attempt to erase the power dynamic between senior members and new members.

Its unclear why VCU chose to make some changes and not others. A spokesperson from the university did not directly address the question.

The university does not shoulder all the blame, said two former members of Oakes fraternity. Fraternity members often behave recklessly, and the fraternity headquarters provided little leadership, they said. Those groups are culpable, too.

Universities do not have absolute authority over fraternities and sororities, which often consider their traditions hallowed. VCU does not own the roughly 35 organizations, which have more than 600 student members, or their off-campus houses.

Still, VCU did not do enough to keep student members safe, said one recent graduate who worked on fraternity reform at the school.

Making big-little night less treacherous

Perhaps the most significant change VCU implemented was to ban alcohol at any fraternity or sorority event that new members attend. A student is considered a new member for roughly one month and is most likely to be hazed during this period.

Experts have identified big-little night as one of the most dangerous nights in the fraternity calendar. Its the night when a new member is introduced to his big brother or her big sister.

The night Oakes died, he attended a big-little party for his fraternity, Delta Chi. The fraternity assigned Andrew White as his big brother. Chapter tradition dictated they share a family drink  in this case, Jack Daniels whiskey splashed with Coca-Cola. White told Oakes it was tradition that Oakes consume the entire 1-liter bottle.

Another change was to restrict how student groups purchase alcohol. No longer can a student visit a grocery or liquor store to stock up. Now, groups must buy alcohol from approved third-party vendors so the university can track purchases.

VCU also added a rule that students cannot join fraternities and sororities until after they have been on campus for a semester, when they are slightly older and more familiar with their community. Students now must have a minimum 2.7 grade-point average to join.

After Oakes death, VCU contracted a firm, Dyad Strategies, to investigate the universitys Greek culture. The investigation determined VCUs office of Fraternity and Sorority Life suffered from frequent turnover, struggled to investigate claims of hazing consistently and did not respond to student emails for days.

In response, VCU hired three new employees, including a director of Fraternity and Sorority Life and a hazing prevention coordinator. It contracted a new software provider called Maxient, which tracks student conduct at colleges.

VCU moved the investigation of violations to its Student Conduct and Academic Integrity office, so that employees tasked with connecting to student organizations were no longer the same ones punishing them. VCU says it now has better communication and accountability between employees and student leaders.

In 2021, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed Adams Law, which requires students in Greek organizations throughout the state to undergo hazing prevention training. It also requires universities to publish on their websites the violations of its student organizations.

Since the fall of 2021, VCU has cited 24 organizations for misconduct, including hazing, underage drinking and damaging neighborhood property. Nearly every violation involved alcohol.

Five groups were found responsible for hazing, including giving new members alcohol and making them do pushups and wear blindfolds. Punishments ranged from disallowing new members to multiyear suspensions.

The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, which gave new members alcohol and instructed them to run and wear blindfolds, was suspended four years. Fraternity Phi Kappa Psi, which was found responsible for similar violations, received a two-year suspension.

The Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity, whose violations did not include hazing, hosted an event with underage drinking where a partygoer urinated on a neighbors door. The fraternity received the harshest suspension of all  eight years.

At VCU, misconduct by student organizations has gone up.

While reports of hazing or concerning organizational behavior have increased, reporting is a goal of increased awareness, said VCU spokesperson Michael Porter. More reporting is viewed as a sign that training surrounding reporting has been effective.

Before Oakes death, VCU did not keep a comprehensive record of fraternity violations, making it difficult to quantify the increase in bad behavior.

A Band-Aid on a cut that requires stitches

Matt Wixted, a 2021 VCU graduate who was chapter president of Theta Delta Chi, said these changes were not enough. Wixted served on a workgroup in 2021 that proposed fixes to Greek life.

Adding the required training is like putting a Band-Aid on a cut that requires stitches, Wixted said.

VCU conducted its own investigation and recommended banning alcohol from all fraternity and sorority events. Greek life had become too much about the parties and not enough about student development, the report stated. And most members are younger than 21.

But VCU convened five workgroups of employees, students and others to suggest improvements, and one workgroup determined that dangerous activity was not happening at registered events such as formals and date nights.

High-risk behavior occurred in informal settings, the workgroup said. In other words, students were more likely to drink dangerously at unregistered parties.

Too often, Wixted said, senior members of fraternities are irresponsible and do not take care of younger members inexperience with alcohol.

Another workgroup suggestion was to eliminate the big-little night altogether. The workgroup said these events create opportunities for high-risk behavior and involve a power dynamic when they occur during the pledging process.

A separate workgroup suggested eliminating the words that reinforce those power dynamics between old and new members, such as pledge, colonies and rush. Wixteds fraternity removed pledge from its lexicon and replaced it with new member.

But VCU did not take either suggestion.

Theres a lot of blame to go around

Jason Mulgrew, who was chapter president of Delta Chi, said the blame goes beyond VCU.

Last year, Mulgrew pleaded no contest to a charge of misdemeanor hazing. He received no jail time but is required to speak at 10 hazing prevention seminars.

Mulgrew acknowledged he is partly responsible for Oakes death. But other members of the fraternity, the university and the fraternity headquarters are at fault, too, he said.

A 19-year-old not waking up, the next morning dead, theres a lot of blame to go around, he said in an interview. A lot.

The Oakes family settled with VCU for nearly $1 million. It has sued the fraternity, 12 members of the local chapter and its adviser for $28 million.

After he became chapter president, Mulgrew received no guidance on how to lead a fraternity, he said. He communicated regularly with a university employee, but the conversation usually centered around filling out paperwork and completing tasks.

The Delta Chi headquarters was unprepared for handling an emergency, he said. The morning Oakes was found dead, Mulgrew called the leadership of the fraternity, which is headquartered in Indianapolis.

The employee on the other end of the phone told Mulgrew to take the chapter out of the public eye  dont wear the fraternitys letters, take down the letters anywhere theyre visible and delete the chapters social media accounts.

Delta Chi does not exist at VCU right now, said the staffer, whom Mulgrew did not identify. The executive director of Delta Chi fraternity did not respond to a request for comment.

Student members, who are almost all adults, need to take responsibility and break the cycle of traditions, Mulgrew said. Instead of older members telling new members to finish a bottle of alcohol, maybe new members should choose the activity.

Andrew White, who was Oakes big brother, said the problem is bigger than universities and fraternities. Teenage and young-adult males are too reckless, too interested in acting tough and too likely to consume drugs and alcohol.

We think were invincible, White said in an interview. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hazing and was sentenced to community service and speaking at five hazing prevention events.

Susan Lipkins, a psychologist and author of a book about hazing, said ending hazing will require a wide grassroots movement, similar to Black Lives Matter or #MeToo.

Ultimately, a universitys ability to police fraternities and sororities is limited. VCU does not own the organizations, their houses are off campus, and VCU does not have the ability to disband them.

VCU can expel them from campus, but that does not stop the organizations from going rogue and operating away from the university. Thats why Dyad Strategies suggested VCU take either an all in or all out approach to enforcement.

According to Dyads report, VCU was in the awkward position of being half in  invested enough to be aware of the risks fraternities pose but not invested enough to fully manage those risks.

For years, VCU tried to rein in Delta Chi. The university issued the fraternity a four-year suspension in 2018, but Delta Chi hired a lawyer to fight back. VCU relented and reduced the suspension to one year.

Since Oakes death, VCU has moved in the direction of all in.

Wixted, the former chapter president of Theta Delta Chi, said that while fraternities at VCU are beginning to be held accountable for their actions, fewer students have shown interest in joining.

The number of VCU students in fraternities and sororities has dropped from about 1,200 in 2021 to more than 600 last month. That number likely will grow this semester as new students are allowed to join.

If VCU wants to keep Greek life afloat, they need to start working on how to change the stigma around Greek life and show that we are a non-hazing school that focuses on the development of young men and women, Wixted said.

Oakes family focuses on reform

The Oakes family continues to focus on education and reform. It started a nonprofit called the Love Like Adam Foundation determined to prevent another hazing death.

Adams father, Eric Oakes, and his cousin, Courtney White, have traveled across Virginia giving presentations to college students. Courtney White, a doctoral student at Marymount University in Arlington, is writing a dissertation on hazing prevention.

At a recent hazing prevention seminar, White shared her cousins story and explained why hazing happens  often, older members believe that because they were hazed, the new members should be hazed, too. Plus, hazing weeds out the weak, and it bonds together the members who persevere.

She explained the signs of alcohol intoxication  vomiting, slow breathing, blue skin and inability to wake up. And she encouraged the students not to be bystanders.

Dont let fear stop you from saving someones life, she said.

Alongside Courtney White were Mulgrew and Andrew White, who attended as part of their plea agreements, answered questions from students and spoke candidly about their roles in a hazing death.

After the event, a group of female students approached Courtney White. The students had never talked about hazing in such a meaningful and personal way, they said.

On Monday, the Oakes family will return to the VCU campus for the unveiling of Adams memorial. VCU has designated Feb. 27 as an annual day for preventing hazing and remembering Adam Oakes.

PHOTOS: Vigil for Adam Oakes
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A page out of the Ron DeSantis playbook to sanitize African American Studies has been adopted by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Youngkin is asking his education secretary, Aimee Guidera, to review a College Board pilot Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course that DeSantis, the governor of Florida, attacked as if it were a seminar on nuclear bombmaking.

The Education Secretariat will review the AP African American Studies Course  as we do with all policies, programs, training, and curricula  to ensure that our students are being taught how to think, and not what to think, Guidera said in a statement sent via email.

Here I will note that this measuring stick appears to apply only to African American Studies, which has been singled out nationally by conservatives for intense scrutiny. The Youngkin administration, which solicited K-12 history standards from Michigans Hillsdale College, a proponent of patriotic education, is fine with teaching students what to think, as long as the subject matter conforms with a right-wing ethos and doesnt dwell on systemic racism.

Our hope is that the College Boards revisions to the pilot have addressed national concerns around the African American Studies pilot so that we can offer a college-level, rigorous course in Virginias schools, Guidera said. Neither Governor Youngkin nor I will apologize for having high expectations and taking the time to ensure that our course offerings prepare every Virginia student for success in life.

In January, the Florida Department of Education banned the course. The states education commissioner described it as woke indoctrination masquerading as education.

The College Board appeared to have capitulated to Floridas concerns with modifications that at first glance seemed to purge the course of contemporary Black scholars. Amid a backlash, the College Board responded by saying: We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Educations slander, magnified by the DeSantis administrations subsequent comments, that African American Studies lacks educational value. Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.

Youngkin, on this issue, lacks the ability to flex like DeSantis, who like our governor is presumed to be a presidential aspirant.

Asked where state control of this AP course ends and local control begins, Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, said in an email: Absent Board of Education approval, a student could earn an elective credit toward graduation by successfully completing the course, provided the local school board has approved it for the awarding of an elective credit.

VBOE would have to approve the course for a student to earn a required credit in history, Pyle said. The process would be for VDOE staff to review the final course and then the state superintendent would make a recommendation to the board. The department review would occur after the two-year pilot is over and the course is finalized by the College Board. This would be after the 2023-2024 school year, which is the final year of the pilot.

Youngkins control of the Virginia Board of Education is less ironclad than that of DeSantis in Florida. Youngkin appointees make up a majority of the VBOE, but that didnt stop the board from rejecting the administrations initial K-12 history standards. The board ultimately approved a draft of the history standards in early February, despite overwhelming opposition from speakers at the meeting.

As it stands, at least two Virginia counties, Caroline and Fairfax, plan to participate this fall in the pilot AP course by the College Board. Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras says that school district hopes to add the course to its offerings once its finalized.

Youngkin, who has already made his stance on Black history clear, gains little by following DeSantis contemptible course on this College Board matter. It looks performative, petty and derivative.

The churlish, scowling shtick of the Florida governor doesnt wear well on Youngkin, whose electoral brand  however misleading  is as the smiling affable everyman of conservative politics. DeSantis  to his discredit and disgrace  owns this AP course issue.

America has a long history of sanitizing its past. Our problem isnt wokeness; its that too many people are content to remain in the slumber of ignorance.

Youngkin cannot out-DeSantis DeSantis.

The playbook of educational bigotry has become boilerplate in the GOP. If Youngkin wants to stand out, he needs to toss it aside.

From the archives: In 1960, The Richmond 34 were arrested during a sit-in at the Thalhimers lunch counter
Colombian diplomats visit INM facilities at Mexico City International

Mexico City, Mexico  Colombian diplomats paid a visit to the Mexico City airport INM facilities to receive information on migration filters, the admission process, second review and non-admission process.

They made the visit Wednesday. The National Institute of Migration (INM) of the Ministry of the Interior accompanied diplomatic representatives of Colombia in the country to learn about migration operations at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM).

INM executives accompanied the delegation of authorities from the Consulate General of Colombia to tour the institutes AICM facilities.

Immigration authorities informed and explained the admission process, based on the Migration Law and its regulations, as well as the care and service provided within a framework of respect and safeguarding the rights of foreign visitors.

In the same way, they learned about the operation of the migratory filters on the process of passing to the second review and the provisions that lead to determining the non-admission of a foreign person to the country.

Francisco Garduno Yanez, the Commissioner of the National Institute of Migration (INM) said that more than 200 INM officers have been discharged in the state of Quintana Roo during his six-year term due to complaints.

Garduno Yanez defended the work carried out by immigration agents at the Cancun International Airport, but did say that problems exist due to complaints of ill-treatment.

We were with the accredited diplomatic corps in Mexico City from Colombia, Wednesday at the airport and there are no complaints. They were shown that sometimes one, and another, and another and another complaint is reproduced he said during his visit to Cancun for the inauguration of the new SRE office.

He also said that migration agents are only complying with the Migration Law, which establishes that it is a regular, orderly and safe regulation and that everyone who wants to enter the country has to register, to define whether or not they meet the requirements to be able to enter the country, adding that more than 40 million travelers entered Mexico last year, 14 million of which, entered at the Cancun airport.
Fugitive wanted in Nevada since 2007 handed over to U.S. authorities

Mexico City, Mexico  The Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) handed over a fugitive who had been wanted in the U.S. since 2007. On Thursday, Pascual R was delivered to American authorities from the Mexico City International Airport from where he was transferred to the state of Nevada.

Pascual R was wanted by New River Churchill County, Nevada court for rape charges dating back to 2007. According to the FGE, in August of 2007, Pascual R sexually abused a minor under his care.

The Government of Mexico granted the extradition of the defendant to the Government of the United States after he was located and detained in Xalisco, Nayarit.
Puerto Morelos begins anchor line installation to place anti-sargassum barriers

Puerto Morelos, Q.R.  Puerto Morelos has begun the first stage of anti-sargassum barriers due to its ongoing arrival. On Thursday, Zofemat personnel began the placements of the anchor lines on the sea bed off the coast of the town of Puerto Morelos.

The anchor lines are what will hold the buoys in place for the anti-sargassum barriers.

Gerardo Rosas Garcia, the Director of Puerto Morelos Zofemat (Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone) says they began the installation as part of the actions to reduce the impact of sargassum on the coast of Puerto Morelos.

Garcia says the barriers are being installed by Zofemat and the Secretary of Ecology and Environment (SEMA) of the State government and the Secretary of the Navy (Semar), who on Thursday, started with the placement of anchor lines and buoys for the barriers.

Before the anticipated arrival of sargassum, we are holding meetings with the areas of the federal and state governments in charge of dealing with the fight against sargassum and we have agreed to place the barriers to contain, as much as possible, the arrival of the macroalgae to the beaches, he explained.

The official said that they will install 1.9 kilometers of barrier, which will serve public beaches from The Fives Hotel to the fiscal pier, a stretch that includes beaches such as Ventana al Mar, Ojo de Agua, Playa Sol, Pelicanos, Cayuse, Arrecife and that of the Technical High School No. 7, in which constant monitoring of the arrival of sargassum is maintained.

Machinery is being used to remove the washed up sargassum more quickly.

Photo: Ayuntamiento de Puerto Morelos February 24, 2023.

The director of Municipal Public Services, Leonel Salazar Trejo, indicated that very early each day, the beach cleaning brigades sweep and remove the macroalgae with the sweeper and tractor to more quickly remove it from the areas where it ends up, and thus, avoid its decomposition in the sand.

Currently there is a moderate landing of sargassum on our beaches although high peaks are observed. We will intensify the cleaning work on our beaches so that both tourists and residents can enjoy them, he said.

Salazar indicated that during the month of February, between 25 and 30 tons are being collected on average per day.

Mahahual in the south, has also begun with the installation of anti-sargassum barriers due to the early and ongoing arrival. While Cozumel has not announced the installation of barriers, they did report collecting 7 tons already this year.

Cancun, on the other hand, reported collecting 71 tons of sargassum from its public beaches during the month of January. Cancun mayor Ana Patricia Peralta, said that thanks to city workers and Zofemat efforts, the sargassum is being removed from city beaches on a daily basis.
State Secretary says Uber could be legal by end of March

Cancun, Q.R.  Progress continues in the agreements between the State Secretary, Uber and taxi drivers in Quintana Roo. State officials are moving forward, albeit slowly, with the modification of state mobility laws that will allow digital platforms like Uber to operate in Quintana Roo.

The manager of Public Policies for Uber in Mexico, Julia Ortiz Rios, said that there has been an openness on the part of the state government to work on the safety of Uber users.

The support has been absolute, expressing here the openness at all times of the Government Secretary (Cristina Torres) for providing us with attention, for giving us the possibility of presenting our points of view and obviously what is happening regarding the service we are providing.

It is important to note that one of the central points we are working on is to collaborate to provide security at all times for all users as well as those people who are providing the service, Ortiz Rios explained.

Cristina Torres said they are hoping to have the new regulations in place by the end of next month.

Work is underway to have the law and regulations by the end of March, Torres said. Today, there are fourteen proposals that allow citizen participation, she said.

As part of the agreed talks headed by the State Government, transport representatives from the digital platform Uber and Didi, as well as taxi driver unions, businessmen, business chambers, executive authorities, security, deputies and members of the Institute of Mobility of Quintana Roo, are working to create an agreement and guarantee transportation as well as the safety of visitors and tourists.
Thanks almost entirely to the killing of George Floyd, Black Lives Matters approval rating has more than doubled from where it stood four years ago, surging from 27% in 2016 to 57% today. While the slogan wins public support, the racially tinged socialism espoused by the organization Black Lives Matter should concern everyone who cherishes freedom.

BLM proudly proclaims its belief that all black Americans should receive a guaranteed minimum income and free healthcare, schooling, food, real estate, gender reassignment surgery, and abortion; bring an an end to all jails as we know them; disrupt the traditional family; demand reparations on behalf of foreign nations; and form a global liberation movement that will overturn US imperialism [and] capitalism.

Americans could be excused for not knowing that BLM is a political organization with an agenda no less comprehensive than reshaping the entire world. The media have not reported its aims  at least, not in context of the recent riots. In the public imagination, Black Lives Matter is nothing more than a ubiquitous black square on social media platforms. Americans rightly outraged by incidents like the indefensible killing of George Floyd by a police officer with a long history of complaints adopted the slogan to demand proper treatment under the law  one of cornerstones of Western civilization. They often protest to this end and, as long as those protests are peaceful, they are exercising the first freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

However, they have no inkling that Black Lives Matter is not just a maxim or a graphic to be posted online. It is a radical pressure group that embraces a vista of controversial, extremist positions. Those who march under its banner are unwittingly putting themselves in a position to be identified by BLMs activists as endorsing these beliefs.

BLM activists have made no secret of their views. When we started Black Lives Matter, it wasnt solely about police brutality and extrajudicial killing, one of BLMs three co-founders, Opal Tometi, confessed to The New Yorker. The issue was just a spark point to begin calling for the defunding of police, a moratorium on rent, a moratorium on mortgages and utilities and issuing demands relating to housing and education and health-care systems.

To present their demands more completely, the Black Lives Matter Network joined dozens of like-minded groups to found the Movement for Black Lives, sit on its united front, and adopt its policy platform.

[T]he U.S. is a country that does not support, protect or preserve [b]lack life, the M4BL original statement says. And so we seek not reform but transformation. While the planks often amount to little more than platitudes, replete with grammatical errors, the platform offers a clear demand for socialism under the cover of racial reconciliation. The steps the organizations propose include:

Reparations through racial socialism: The M4BL platform, which BLM endorses, states, We demand reparations for past and continuing harms, including both corporate and government reparations for a litany of ills that include food apartheid and racialized capitalism. Government reparations will take the form of a guaranteed minimum livable income for all Black people. M4BL/BLMs universal health care policy mandates that wealthy residents pay for a portion of their services while low-income and working class folks receive free services. The new system will be modeled on France or Germany. Black Americans will also receive government-funded control of food sources, housing and land. Robust reparations programs will include full and free access for all Black people (including undocumented and currently and formerly incarcerated people) to lifetime education at any university, community college, or technical education facility, as well as retroactive forgiveness of student loans.

Replacing education with agitprop and welfare services: Under the M4BL/BLM manifesto, public schools would be transformed from centers of education to the delivery points of intersectional/multicultural studies and comprehensive welfare programs, including free abortion for minors (without specifying a minimum age):

A constitutional right at the state and federal level to a fully-funded education which includes a clear articulation of the right to: a free education for all, special protections for queer and trans students, wrap around services, social workers, free health services (including reproductive body autonomy), a curriculum that acknowledges and addresses students material and cultural needs, physical activity and recreation, high quality food, free daycare, and freedom from unwarranted search, seizure or arrest.

To ensure an intersectional approach, the group continues, the public school budgeting process must include representation from specific populations of people, including formerly and currently incarcerated people.

Defunding the police and ending prisons: BLMs best-known demand is to defund the police. M4BL also proposes an end to arrests of any black students, and an end to all jails, detention centers, youth facilities and prisons as we know them. House arrest would be promoted equally with imprisonment. The government would also expand Pell grant funding to educate inmates and [a]llow access to gender affirming surgeries in penitentiaries at taxpayers expense.

Dismantling the family: Black Lives Matter endorses two contradictory policies: We make our spaces family-friendly, it states. It then looks forward to the destruction of the traditional family:

We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.

Children raised in fatherless homes are more likely to drop out of school, abuse drugs or alcohol, be victims or perpetrators of physical and sexual abuse, live in poverty, commit other crimes, and go to prison than those raised in intact, two-parent householdsthe nuclear family structure BLM is warring against. Two out of every three black children live in single-parent families, making them 271% more likely to do so than non-Hispanic white children. To leave this out of racial disparities calculations is reckless, as Thomas Sowell has noted. Without loving families, no society can long govern itself, says Jennifer Roback Morse, the founder of the Ruth Institute and a frequent collaborator with the Acton Institute. BLM agrees but chooses to outsource much of the parents responsibilities to the government.

Start a global liberation movement to overthrow capitalism: The interlinked systems of white supremacy, imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy shape the violence we face, the M4BL/BLM platform states. As oppressed people living in the US, the belly of global empire, we are in a critical position to build the necessary connections for a global liberation movement. Until we are able to overturn US imperialism, capitalism and white supremacy, our brothers and sisters around the world will continue to live in chains.

The BLM-endorsed document adds that its struggle is strengthened by our connections to the resistance of peoples around the world fighting for their liberation.  The movement for [b]lack lives must be tied to liberation movements around the world. It does not list the foreign liberation movements with which it wishes to align. However, they will hold the United States and Israel in contempt.

America is an empire, and American wars are unjust, the M4BL manifesto states baldly. And Israel is an apartheid state. Americas alliance with Israel makes the U.S. complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people.it makes US citizens complicit in the abuses committed by the Israeli government. BLM does not state what punishment it would mete out to civilians complicit in genocide. However, it demands lawmakers cut the US military budget by 50%, which will lead to the closure of the over 800 U.S. military bases the U.S. [operates] around the world and the return of troops deployed overseas  a move many Americans, especially libertarians, support.

Higher taxes, with a specifically racial focus: The group writes confusingly that governments have increasingly decreased the use of progressive taxation. As a result, the wealthiest Americans and powerful corporations continue to evade their fair share of taxes, it says. The top 1% of U.S. income earners pay 37% of federal income taxes, and the top 10% pay 47% of all taxes, while the bottom 44% pay nothing. Begin by raising the top marginal rate first to 50 percent and then gradually up to 80 percent, M4BL suggests.

The federal government should focus on taxing bads not goods. BLM would increase the death tax, the capital gains tax, impose new taxes on real estate transfers and financial speculation, and create a national wealth tax. Each state would follow suit by imposing a heavily progressive state income tax on individuals and corporations and 50 state wealth taxes. All tax reform legislation must be drawn up in accordance with racial equity goals to help build the wealth of households of color.

Reparations for drug dealers: M4BL/BLM would legalize prostitution and the possession and sale of all drugs, no matter the quantity. Prisoners convicted of these crimes would be released and their records retroactively expunged. But thats not far enough for Black Lives Matter: Any government savings must be invested into reparations to all people who have been adversely impacted by the drug war and enforcement of prostitution laws. The government must also ensure that people criminalized by the war on drugs are able to participate in legal drug markets where decriminalization has already taken place. Many libertarians support decriminalizing some or all drugs (and prostitution), but they typically envision government regulations on the manufacture and sale of narcotics. One of their most resonant selling points is that repeal of drug prohibition will take the drug business out of the cartels hands. BLM would guarantee the Medellin cartel a piece of the action.

Reparations for foreign nations and terrorist states: The M4BL/BLMs thirst for racialized wealth redistribution doesnt stop at the waters edge. Their manifesto demands reparations for foreign nations, as well. The group insists the U.S. make reparations to countries and communities devastated by American warmaking, such as Somalia, Iraq, Libya and Honduras.

Let incarcerated prisoners, illegal immigrants, and felons vote: The M4BLs voting reforms demand universal voter registration, as well as preregistration for 16-year-olds, enfranchisement of formerly and currently incarcerated people, local and state resident voting for undocumented people, and a ban on all disenfranchisement laws. Felon disenfranchisement laws date back to ancient Greece. M4BLs drive to expand the range of eligible voters sleights the rule of law while favoring core Democratic Party constituencies, which favor more expensive government welfare policies.

This list of policy proposals is far from comprehensive. If anything, BLMs demands are more expansive and government-expanding yet. However, this gives an accurate flavor of the platform Black Lives Matter would implement if given the opportunity. It is not one that should be shared by people of faith or supporters of limited government, unalienable rights, and equal justice under the law.

(Photo credit: Shutterstock)
The spirit of Ukraine was evident in downtown Roanoke on Friday evening, during a rally to support the Eastern European country, one year after the Russian invasion began.

More than 60 Ukrainian-Americans, friends, family and supporters gathered outside Roanoke Public Library for the rally and march that lasted almost two hours and ended at Freedom Plaza.

They expressed thanks for the local support and shared personal stories of their war-torn country.

Olena Kuhfahul, a Ukraninan-American who has lived in Roanoke for seven years, spoke about her brother, who has fought on the front lines throughout the war. Kuhfahul said she worries constantly about his survival.

Ihor Mostovyi and his wife, Anzhelika Didkivska came to Fincastle as refugees two months ago with their 9-year-old son, through President Joe Bidens Uniting for Ukraine program. Holding a large blue and yellow Ukrainian flag supported on his shoulder, Mostovyi spoke to teary-eyed people who were also sporting colors of the Ukrainian and American flags.

We are from Bucha, he said. I think a lot of you know the place. The war was started from there and we are the luckiest family in the world, because during that period we were abroad, we were not in Ukraine.

Mostovyi and Didkivska were on vacation when Russia invaded. Construction workers were putting the final touches on what was supposed to be their new home.

It was the house of our dreams and we spent a life to build it, Mostovyi said.

Days after they left, the war broke out, and he received a call from a worker.

They said, Unfortunately, you dont have nothing. You dont have house, cars, business, everything destroyed  We was smashed, Mostovyi said of how he and his family felt. We was just lucky to stay alive.

Mostovyi said he wanted to get a gun and go to Ukraine to fight in the war but his wife talked him out of it. They never made it back home. They never said goodbye.

Everyday we talk to our families because they are still there. I lost more than 350 people who I know personally, Mostovyi said.

Inna Payne, a Ukrainian American who has lived in Roanoke for more than 13 years and still has family in Ukraine, spoke during the gathering.

Together we can win, and together we can have freedom in Ukraine, Payne said. Payne thanked Roanokes residents and city council for all their support over the past year.

Mayer Sherman Lea and city council member Joe Cobb also spoke at the event.

Days earlier, the city announced that it had joined with Roanoke Valley Sister Cities Inc. in putting a hold on its relationship with its sister city in Pskov, Russia. City council also voted to bring down the Russian Flag flying downtown. A military unit from Pskov has been linked to war crimes against Ukranian civilians.

After the rally, the group held a candlelight vigil in Market Square, with 365 seconds for each day of the war. The sound of a heartbeat played on a portable speaker with a somber voice echoing atrocities of the war through the year.

As the sun set, the crowd marched through downtown to Freedom Plaza. This time, the portable speaker bumped Ukrainian dance music. A handful of beeping sounds came from cars passing by the marchers. The yellow daffodils sprouting around town and the glowing blue, dusk sky matched the Ukrainian flags that the marchers held.

Mostovyi said that he likes America, Botetourt County, Roanoke and the people here, but heart and soul stay [in Ukraine].

Photos: Rally in Roanoke marks on year of the war in Ukraine
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 92F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A mostly clear sky. Low 58F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph.
A judge ruled on Thursday that former president Donald Trump will have to answer questions from attorneys representing two former FBI employees who are seeking redress for what they characterise as unfair retaliation against them for having investigated alleged ties between Mr Trumps 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

In a short, 277 word ruling issued through the US District Court for the District of Columbias electronic filing system, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said attorneys for former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page can depose Mr Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath and declined to grant Department of Justice motions to quash subpoenas for testimony from both the FBI director and the twice-impeached ex-president.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has officially moved to ask a federal judge to force former Vice President Mike Pence to submit testimony for the agencys probe into January 6 and Donald Trumps effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Trump spent the day Wednesday visiting the site of the Ohio train derailment in East Palestine on Wednesday, meeting with local officials and members of the community and assuring them they would not be forgotten while attacking the Biden administrations indifferent response to the disastrous chemical spill in their town.

Key Points

Trump visits East Palestine and assures residents they will not be forgotten

Ex-president rebukes Biden for indifference towards disaster

Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

DoJ moves to force Mike Pence to testify

Judge orders Trump to testify in case brought by two ex-FBI agents

14:05 , Joe Sommerlad

The aforementioned US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday - one day after Mr Trump - to inspect the cleanup after the 3 February Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical spill.

It was not an entirely comfortable encounter, with Mr Buttigiegs team forced at one point to ask a group of conservative media workers to stop acting aggressive towards him and to stop filming their interactions.

Story continues

Graig Graziosi has more.

Pete Buttigiegs team calls right-wing activists in Ohio aggressive during visit

Jan 6 rioter who posted assassinate AOC after storming Capitol sentenced to three years in prison

13:35 , Joe Sommerlad

A man who looked forward to combating soft people in Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021 and called to assassinate New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to three years in prison for charges connected to the attack on the US Capitol.

Garret Miller of Richardson, Texas, was sentenced to 38 months in prison on 22 February after pleading guilty in December to nine counts, including assaulting a police officer, three counts of interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder and making an interstate threat to injure or kidnap.

Miller  who was obsessed with bogus 2020 presidential election conspiracy theories  brought a rope, a grappling hook and other materials he called riot gear when he traveled to Washington, according to the US Department of Justice.

He posted threats to multiple people on his social media accounts targeting New York senator Chuck Schumer, Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg and now-former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, according to court documents.

Alex Woodward has more.

Jan 6 rioter who posted assassinate AOC sentenced to three years in prison

Tucker Carlson echoes Kremlin propaganda on Crimea

13:05 , Joe Sommerlad

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson attacked the Biden administration while parroting Russian propaganda on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Calling the peninsula the Russian port of Crimea, the host suggested the US governments goal has changed to taking the port back from Moscow.

The world is laughing, the adults are laughing. and in this country its a measure of our medias total corruption that no one ever asks anyone in the Biden administration what the United States is hoping to accomplish in Ukraine, he said.

Now, the original answer was, well, to push Russia back to where it was a year ago before it invaded Ukraine and that seemed like a reasonable and measurable objective. The public seemed behind that.

Then, without fanfare or even official notice, the goal changed and became taking the Russian port of Crimea just because it would be nice to have that. Always, wanted it. Why not take it now.

Urgh. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has more.

Tucker Carlson confusingly tries to echo Kremlin propaganda

Republicans set opening presidential debate for August

12:35 , Joe Sommerlad

The opening Republican presidential debate of the 2024 election season will take place in Milwaukee this August, the Republican National Committee announced on Thursday.

Heres what else we know about the event at this stage.

Republicans set opening presidential debate for August

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

12:05 , John Bowden

The presidents approval rating is the highest it has been in almost a year while Mr Trump is falling in the estimation of Republicans, a new poll has found.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted last week following Joe Bidens State of the Union address and included more than 1,300 people.

The survey reveals not just Mr Bidens improved performance but also that a majority of potential GOP primary voters would prefer someone other than Mr Trump as their nominee, so far only Nikki Haley has confirmed she will run but Florida governor Ron DeSantis is thought to be waiting in the wings.

Heres more from Gustaf Kilander.

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Don Jr hit for unvarnished homophobia in comments about Pete Buttigieg

11:35 , Joe Sommerlad

The former presidents eldest and loudest son, Donald Trump Jr, joined the chorus of left and right voices criticising transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg this week over the Ohio train derailment but, unlike others, found himself fixated on the secretarys sexuality.

During a Newsmax interview this week, Don Jr went on a tirade against Mr Buttigieg and insisted that the former South Bend mayor was named to his position as a diversity hire.

"He's the gay guy, so we gotta give him something, let's make him Transportation Secretary" -- unvarnished homophobia from Donald Trump Jr on Newsmax pic.twitter.com/L4VuGQANi8  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2023

Heres John Bowden on the inevitable (and deserved) backlash.

Don Jr under fire for unvarnished homophobia in comments about Pete Buttigieg

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

11:05 , John Bowden

Steven Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist turned convicted felon and conservative podcaster, has been sued by the law firm that represented him in numerous state and federal proceedings over the last few years over unpaid legal fees totaling more than $480,000.

Mr Bannon was accused in a civil complaint filed last week of only paying $375,000 of the $855,487.87 in legal fees he racked up while defending himself from fraud charges stemming from a privately-funded campaign to build stretches of border fencing along the US-Mexico border. The case was dismissed upon Mr Bannons last-minute pardon by Donald Trump.

Read more from Andrew Feinberg:

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run as Trump allies grow concerned over 2024 rival

10:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the top Republican contender to take on Donald Trump for the partys 2024 nomination, but another high-profile GOP state leader is advising Mr DeSantis to hold off for now.

Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin says Mr DeSantis should wait a bit longer and stay out of the 2024 race.

Its a sign of the growing panic among allies of Donald Trump who fear that Ron DeSantis will be able to do what Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich failed to do in 2016: Defeat Donald Turmp in a GOP primary.

Read more:

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run in 2024 as Trump camp wobbles

Trump claims Kyiv air raid sirens during Biden visit were staged

10:05 , Joe Sommerlad

Heres a little more fresh lunacy courtesy of the Big Man over on the Truth Social.

The sirens that went off in Ukraine during Bidens speech were STAGED, FAKE, PHONY. He knew it, and so did everyone else. Scam!, he writes, utterly baselessly.

Trump rages at extremely energetic Georgia grand jury foreperson over Media rampage

09:41 , Joe Sommerlad

Donald Trump has been busy raging away on his Truth Social app about Emily Kohrs, the foreperson of the Georgia grand jury that investigated his election subversion attempts, calling her an extremely energetic young woman going on a Media rampage as part of a strictly political continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt of all time, dismissing her interview tour as ridiculous.

In an initial post, he wrote: This Georgia case is ridiculous, a strictly political continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt of all time. Now you have an extremely energetic young woman, the (get this!) foreperson of the Racist D.A.s Special Grand Jury, going around and doing a Media Tour revealing, incredibly, the Grand Jurys inner workings & thoughts. This is not JUSTICE, this is an illegal Kangaroo Court. Atlanta is leading the Nation in Murder and other Violent Crimes. All I did is make TWO PERFECT PHONE CALLS!!!

The veteran keyboard warrior then returned to the matter (unable, as ever, to let anything go), writing: Just to make every one of those people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome feel better, it doesnt really matter that the jury foreperson went on a Media rampage, thereby badly tainting the case and making it impossible to bring, because I did absolutely NOTHING WRONG! Two perfect phone calls on Election Integrity, thats it! The D.A. should go after the murderers and other violent criminals in Atlanta, one of the most dangerous cities in the World, and leave honest people alone!

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

09:05 , John Bowden

The DoJ on Thursday moved to ask a judge to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before a grand jury impaneled in Washington DC to hear evidence related to the January 6 attack and the effort by Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Pence has indicated that he will resist requests for his testimony, citing his privilege as president of the Senate, one of the roles of the former vice president. The Justice Department has for months been collecting evidence related to the White Houses role in January 6 and recently appointed a special counsel to determine if Mr Trump, who is once again running for president, will face any criminal charges.

Read more in The Independent:

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

Judge rules Trump must offer testimony in case brought by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page

08:05 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump will have to answer questions from attorneys representing two former FBI employees who are seeking redress for what they characterise as unfair retaliation against them for having investigated alleged ties between Mr Trumps 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

In a short, 277 word ruling issued through the US District Court for the District of Columbias electronic filing system, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said attorneys for former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page can depose Mr Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath and declined to grant Department of Justice motions to quash subpoenas for testimony from both the FBI director and the twice-impeached ex-president.

Follow along with The Independent for more updates.

Trump ordered to give evidence in lawsuit by ex-FBI figures he targeted

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

07:05 , John Bowden

The massive war chest Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hoarded during his successful bid for reelection last year would catapult him into a significant fundraising lead were he to announce his candidacy for president in the coming weeks.

The Florida governor reportedly has roughly $75m squirreled away in a bank account belonging to his state-level campaign committee, according to HuffPost.

That number is far more than two potential rivals for the GOP nomination, ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It could even be a sum with the power to challenge the fundraising juggernaut that Donald Trump amassed between 2016-2020 and has maintained since leaving office.

Read more:

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

Biden attacks, McDonald's and gaffes galore: Inside Trumps tour of Ohios tragic derailment site

06:05 , Joe Sommerlad

Heres Andrew Feinbergs account of Wednesdays events, from an inevitable trip to McDonalds during a solemn visit to a disaster site to the former commander-in-chief handing out branded mineral water bottles from the springs of Mar-a-Lago.

Biden attacks, McDonalds and gaffes: Trump tours Ohios tragic train derailment site

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

05:05 , John Bowden

The members of a grand jury impaneled to investigate Donald Trumps attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia new early on that their case was a big freaking deal.

Dive in to the behind-the-scenes and read this exclusive interview with Emily Kohrs, the grand jury foreperson:

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

New questions raised about Herschel Walkers fundraising

04:05 , John Bowden

The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Trump-endorsed failed Senate candidate Herschel Walker may have violated the law by soliciting campaign donations for a recount effort that never took place.

Mr Walker was propped up by the former president throughout 2022 despite it being clear that he had little understanding of political issues and his troubled past, which included abuse allegations.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims hes been exonerated

03:05 , John Bowden

We think that headline speaks volumes, but heres Maroosha Muzaffar with the details.

Asked about the former presidents exoneration claims by CNN, Emily Kohrs answered: Did he really say that? Oh, thats fantastic. Thats phenomenal. I love it.

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims hes been exonerated

Has Trumps giggling Georgia grand jury foreperson blown the case?

02:05 , John Bowden

Emily Kohrs raised more than a few eyebrows with a surprise media tour in the wake of her service on Fulton Countys grand jury investigating Donald Trumps election interference in the state.

Ms Kohrs found herself the subject of surprising criticism this week after she gave a series of interviews to journalists at major media outlets around the country, all regarding her service as foreperson on the grand jury hearing evidence in the case of Mr Trumps effort to overturn his 2020 defeat in Georgia.

But legal experts who spoke to The Independents John Bowden say theres more to the story than the whinging of cable news:

Has Trumps giggling Georgia grand jury foreperson blown the case?

Pure political theater: Lincoln Project overshadow Trumps Ohio visit with video highlighting rail safety hypocrisy

01:05 , John Bowden

The conservative anti-Trump group Lincoln Project hit Donald Trump over his administrations record on freigh rail safety this week as the former president attempted to capitalise on growing calls for Joe Biden or other top administration officials to visit the site of a major train derailment in Ohio.

Donald Trump spent four years demolishing rail safety protections at the expense of the health and safety of average Americans. His trip to East Palestine, Ohio today is pure political theatre & a sad attempt to mask his failures as a President. We wont let him, the group wrote in the videos caption.

Watch the ad below, and read more about the former presidents visit to Ohio in The Independent:

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

00:05 , John Bowden

Well come back to Ohio in a moment but yesterdays other big news from Trumpworld was that Mr Trumps favourite daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith investigating the events of 6 January 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters raided the US Capitol wrongly believing the 2020 election to have been rigged against the Republican.

Eric Garcia has the latest on this one:

Special counsel subpoenas Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Thursday 23 February 2023 23:05 , John Bowden

For Indy Voices, Andrew Buncombe says that the current occupant of the Oval Office should indeed have been looking on with concern.

A day after Biden earned widespread plaudits for covertly travelling to Kyiv and appearing with Ukraines wartime leader ahead of the anniversary of Russias invasion, he and Democrats were reminded again both of Mr Trumps opportunism and his skills as a pugilistic on-the-ground campaigner.

Read more:

Why Joe Biden should be worried about Trumps trip to Ohio

Biden attacks, McDonald's and gaffes galore: Inside Trumps tour of Ohios tragic derailment site

Thursday 23 February 2023 22:35 , John Bowden

Heres Andrew Feinbergs account of Wednesdays events, from an inevitable trip to McDonalds during a solemn visit to a disaster site to the former commander-in-chief handing out branded minerla water bottles from the springs of Mar-a-Lago.

Biden attacks, McDonalds and gaffes: Trump tours Ohios tragic train derailment site

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Thursday 23 February 2023 22:05 , John Bowden

The presidents approval rating is the highest it has been in almost a year while Mr Trump is falling in the estimation of Republicans, a new poll has found.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted last week following Joe Bidens State of the Union address and included more than 1,300 people.

The survey reveals not just Mr Bidens improved performance but also that a majority of potential GOP primary voters would prefer someone other than Mr Trump as their nominee, so far only Nikki Haley has confirmed she will run but Florida governor Ron DeSantis is thought to be waiting in the wings.

Heres more from Gustaf Kilander.

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Judge rules Trump must offer testimony in case brought by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page

Thursday 23 February 2023 21:26 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump will have to answer questions from attorneys representing two former FBI employees who are seeking redress for what they characterise as unfair retaliation against them for having investigated alleged ties between Mr Trumps 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

In a short, 277 word ruling issued through the US District Court for the District of Columbias electronic filing system, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said attorneys for former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page can depose Mr Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath and declined to grant Department of Justice motions to quash subpoenas for testimony from both the FBI director and the twice-impeached ex-president.

Follow along with The Independent for more updates.

Trump ordered to give evidence in lawsuit by ex-FBI figures he targeted

Trump returns to Rust Belt to fire up his 2024 battle plan

Thursday 23 February 2023 21:05 , John Bowden

The growing conservatism of Rust Belt America, the heartland of the countrys manufacturing power, has often been overlooked as an important factor explaining Mr Trumps election win in 2016, with liberal analysts more inclined to dwell on Hillary Clintons failings or the role of Russian election meddling, both of which no doubt also played their part.

But it was here where progressives and MAGA Republicans diagnosed the same problem: an entire region, spurned once too often by the shuttering of massive plants and the resulting regional economic collapses that followed, had turned towards the only politician unwilling to dismiss them as flyover country  Donald Trump.

Heres John Bowden on the former presidents latest attempt to revive the old fervour.

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:35 , John Bowden

Well come back to Ohio in a moment but yesterdays other big news from Trumpworld was that Mr Trumps favourite daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith investigating the events of 6 January 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters raided the US Capitol wrongly believing the 2020 election to have been rigged against the Republican.

Eric Garcia has the latest on this one too.

Special counsel subpoenas Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Trump vows that East Palestine residents will not be forgotten'

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:04 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump visited the site of the train derailment in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on Wednesday, meeting with local officials and members of the community and assuring them they would not be forgotten.

Mr Trump also donated thousands of gallons of cleaning supplies and water to support the cleanup effort and bought a McDonalds lunch for firefighters

Heres a recap from IndyTV.

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

Thursday 23 February 2023 19:18 , John Bowden

The DoJ on Thursday moved to ask a judge to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before a grand jury impaneled in Washington DC to hear evidence related to the January 6 attack and the effort by Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Pence has indicated that he will resist requests for his testimony, citing his privilege as president of the Senate, one of the roles of the former vice president. The Justice Department has for months been collecting evidence related to the White Houses role in January 6 and recently appointed a special counsel to determine if Mr Trump, who is once again running for president, will face any criminal charges.

Read more in The Independent:

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run as Trump allies grow concerned over 2024 rival

Thursday 23 February 2023 18:05 , John Bowden

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the top Republican contender to take on Donald Trump for the partys 2024 nomination, but another high-profile GOP state leader is advising Mr DeSantis to hold off for now.

Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin says Mr DeSantis should wait a bit longer and stay out of the 2024 race.

Its a sign of the growing panic among allies of Donald Trump who fear that Ron DeSantis will be able to do what Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich failed to do in 2016: Defeat Donald Turmp in a GOP primary.

Read more:

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run in 2024 as Trump camp wobbles

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:37 , John Bowden

Steven Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist turned convicted felon and conservative podcaster, has been sued by the law firm that represented him in numerous state and federal proceedings over the last few years over unpaid legal fees totaling more than $480,000.

Mr Bannon was accused in a civil complaint filed last week of only paying $375,000 of the $855,487.87 in legal fees he racked up while defending himself from fraud charges stemming from a privately-funded campaign to build stretches of border fencing along the US-Mexico border. The case was dismissed upon Mr Bannons last-minute pardon by Donald Trump.

Read more from Andrew Feinberg:

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:06 , John Bowden

The massive war chest Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hoarded during his successful bid for reelection last year would catapult him into a significant fundraising lead were he to announce his candidacy for president in the coming weeks.

The Florida governor reportedly has roughly $75m squirreled away in a bank account belonging to his state-level campaign committee, according to HuffPost.

That number is far more than two potential rivals for the GOP nomination, ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It could even be a sum with the power to challenge the fundraising juggernaut that Donald Trump amassed between 2016-2020 and has maintained since leaving office.

Read more:

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

New questions raised about Herschel Walkers fundraising

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:35 , John Bowden

The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Trump-endorsed failed Senate candidate Herschel Walker may have violated the law by soliciting campaign donations for a recount effort that never took place.

Mr Walker was propped up by the former president throughout 2022 despite it being clear that he had little understanding of political issues and his troubled past, which included abuse allegations.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Pure political theater: Lincoln Project overshadow Trumps Ohio visit with video highlighting rail safety hypocrisy

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:05 , John Bowden

The conservative anti-Trump group Lincoln Project hit Donald Trump over his administrations record on freigh rail safety this week as the former president attempted to capitalise on growing calls for Joe Biden or other top administration officials to visit the site of a major train derailment in Ohio.

Donald Trump spent four years demolishing rail safety protections at the expense of the health and safety of average Americans. His trip to East Palestine, Ohio today is pure political theatre & a sad attempt to mask his failures as a President. We wont let him, the group wrote in the videos caption.

Watch the ad below, and read more about the former presidents visit to Ohio in The Independent:

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

Thursday 23 February 2023 15:28 , John Bowden

The members of a grand jury impaneled to investigate Donald Trumps attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia new early on that their case was a big freaking deal.

Dive in to the behind-the-scenes and read this exclusive interview with Emily Kohrs, the grand jury foreperson:

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Thursday 23 February 2023 14:15 , Joe Sommerlad

The presidents approval rating is the highest it has been in almost a year while Mr Trump is falling in the estimation of Republicans, a new poll has found.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted last week following Joe Bidens State of the Union address and included more than 1,300 people.

The survey reveals not just Mr Bidens improved performance but also that a majority of potential GOP primary voters would prefer someone other than Mr Trump as their nominee, so far only Nikki Haley has confirmed she will run but Florida governor Ron DeSantis is thought to be waiting in the wings.

Heres more from Gustaf Kilander.

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims hes been exonerated

Thursday 23 February 2023 13:45 , Joe Sommerlad

I think that headline speaks volumes but heres Maroosha Muzaffar with the details.

Asked about the former presidents exoneration claims by CNN, Emily Kohrs answered: Did he really say that? Oh, thats fantastic. Thats phenomenal. I love it.

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims hes been exonerated

The Donald brags about bringing Trump water to families affected by derailment disaster

Thursday 23 February 2023 13:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Burger expertise was not all he was boasting about in East Palestine.

Heres John Bowden on a man who has never knowingly missed an opportunity for self-publicity.

Trump brags about bringing Trump water to families affected by Ohio derailment

Trump boasts about his knowledge of McDonalds menu on Ohio tour

Thursday 23 February 2023 12:45 , Joe Sommerlad

President Trump was no stranger to feeding professional athletes Big Macs during his time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and he was at it again in Ohio on Wednesday.

President Trump buying lunch for all the firefighters and first responders in East Palestine, Ohio pic.twitter.com/5D6ba1BmjD  Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 22, 2023

Heres Shweta Sharma on his cure for all ills.

Trump boasts about his knowledge of the McDonalds menu on Ohio tour

Trump returns to Rust Belt to fire up his 2024 battle plan

Thursday 23 February 2023 12:15 , Joe Sommerlad

The growing conservatism of Rust Belt America, the heartland of the countrys manufacturing power, has often been overlooked as an important factor explaining Mr Trumps election win in 2016, with liberal analysts more inclined to dwell on Hillary Clintons failings or the role of Russian election meddling, both of which no doubt also played their part.

But it was here where progressives and MAGA Republicans diagnosed the same problem: an entire region, spurned once too often by the shuttering of massive plants and the resulting regional economic collapses that followed, had turned towards the only politician unwilling to dismiss them as flyover country  Donald Trump.

Heres John Bowden on the former presidents latest attempt to revive the old fervour.

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

Should Joe Biden be worried by Trumps trip to Ohio?

Thursday 23 February 2023 11:45 , Joe Sommerlad

For Indy Voices, Andrew Buncombe says that the current occupant of the Oval Office should indeed have been looking on with concern.

A day after Biden earned widespread plaudits for covertly travelling to Kyiv and appearing with Ukraines wartime leader ahead of the anniversary of Russias invasion, he and Democrats were reminded again both of Mr Trumps opportunism and his skills as a pugilistic on-the-ground campaigner.

Why Joe Biden should be worried about Trumps trip to Ohio

Biden attacks, McDonald's and gaffes galore: Inside Trumps tour of Ohios tragic derailment site

Thursday 23 February 2023 11:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Heres Andrew Feinbergs account of Wednesdays events, from an inevitable trip to McDonalds during a solemn visit to a disaster site to the former commander-in-chief handing out branded minerla water bottles from the springs of Mar-a-Lago.

Biden attacks, McDonalds and gaffes: Trump tours Ohios tragic train derailment site

Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

Thursday 23 February 2023 10:45 , Joe Sommerlad

Well come back to Ohio in a moment but yesterdays other big news from Trumpworld was that Mr Trumps favourite daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith investigating the events of 6 January 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters raided the US Capitol wrongly believing the 2020 election to have been rigged against the Republican.

Eric Garcia has the latest on this one too.

Special counsel subpoenas Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Trump accused of feigning concern for residents

Thursday 23 February 2023 10:15 , Joe Sommerlad

For all his efforts, Mr Trump himself was accused of feigning concern for the East Palestine locals by Sara Chieffo of the League of Conservative Voters, who called his arrival the height of hypocrisy after years of openly mocking and rolling back environmental safeguards.

"Its the height of hypocrisy for Trump to feign concern for the community of East Palestine after years of openly mocking and rolling back environmental safeguards." LCV's @SaraChieffo



Trump put communities like East Palestine in harm's way. Period.https://t.co/vgv85CLEUz  LCV  League of Conservation Voters  (@LCVoters) February 22, 2023

His appearance was also derided as pure political theatre by the anti-Trump Republican collective the Lincoln Project.

Heres Eric Garcia on the latters efforts to undermine Mr Trump.

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Ex-president rebukes Biden for indifference towards disaster

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:45 , Joe Sommerlad

The former president could not resist launching an attack on his successor in the White House, of course, calling on Joe Biden to get over here and said his failure to do so since the accident took place on 3 February had been a sign of indifference and a betrayal.

You can watch Mr Trumps speech below.

Trump meets with East Palentine residents impacted by Ohio train derailment

Trump visits East Palestine and assures residents they will not be forgotten

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:25 , Joe Sommerlad

Former president Donald Trump visited the site of the train derailment in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on Wednesday, meeting with local officials and members of the community and assuring them they would not be forgotten.

Mr Trump also donated thousands of gallons of cleaning supplies and water to support the cleanup effort and bought a McDonalds lunch for firefighters

Heres a recap from IndyTV.

Trump accuses government of indifference and betrayal after Ohio train derailment

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:04 , Joe Sommerlad

Good morning and welcome to The Independents live coverage of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, plotting a return to the White House in 2024.
With less than two years remaining until US voters will decide who will serve as president of the United States from January 2025 to January 2029, former Republican government officials are starting to jockey for position in the coming fight for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, while at least one prominent Democrat (California governor Gavin Newsom) has reportedly pledged not to challenge President Joe Biden in a Democratic primary.

As the 2024 campaign takes shape, here are the names you need to know:

Joe Biden

Mr Biden is the current president of the United States and has said on multiple occasions that he intends to run for reelection in 2024.

The only US president in recent memory to forgo a run for a second term was the 37th occupant of that office, President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson declined to seek a second term amid upheaval over the Vietnam War despite having won a massive landslide over Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964, just one year after the Texas native assumed the presidency after President John F Kennedy was murdered by an assassin.

Although Mr Biden has never suggested that he would follow Johnsons example, his status as the oldest person to ever serve as president and his lacklustre approval ratings have fuelled speculation that he might stand down so a younger candidate could take up the Democratic Party mantle. But the Democrats better-than-expected results in the 2022 midterms appear to have put new wind in Mr Bidens sails, and he has said he expects to have made a final decision on seeking a second term after consultations with his family over the holidays.

Donald Trump

Of the more than 12 people who the Federal Election Commission lists as declared candidates for 2024, the only one whose name is well-known to the public is also the first former Trump administration figure to throw a hat into the ring, former president Donald J Trump.

Mr Trump, the only US president to face two separate impeachment trials  one after fomenting a violent attack on the US Capitol in hopes of remaining in power despite losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden  officially filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to declare himself a candidate in the 2024 election on 15 November, just minutes before he announced his candidacy at the same Palm Beach, Florida location where FBI agents had conducted a search for stolen classified documents just three months earlier.

Story continues

Donald Trump. (AP)

Now based in Florida, the ex-real estate developer turned television presenter turned politician is hoping he can become the first ex-US chief executive to reclaim the White House since Grover Cleveland accomplished that feat more than a century ago. But he faces a series of obstacles on what was once assumed to be a smooth glide path to the GOP nomination, including several of his former top aides and at least one governor he once endorsed.

Marianne Williamson

The self-help author and former spiritual adviser to television mogul Oprah Winfrey, who participated in several Democratic primary debates during the 2020 election, has said she will enter the 2024 race to challenge Mr Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In an interview with Northwestern Universitys Medill News Service, Ms Williamson confirmed her intention to run next year.

I wouldnt be running for president if I didnt believe I could contribute to harnessing the collective sensibility that I feel is our greatest hope at this time, she said.

During her aborted 2020 presidential run, she garnered a measure of notoriety for making statements widely considered bizarre, such as a vow to make then-New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern the first head of government she would call as president, and an assertion that she would win the election by "harness[ing] love for political purposes" against Mr Trump.

Nikki Haley

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley spent two years as Mr Trumps ambassador to the United Nations, and during that time garnered at least a measure of media attention for the way she avoided engaging with the myriad controversies engulfing his administration while staying in the then-presidents good graces.

Although the former governor turned diplomat previously pledged not to throw her hat into the ring for 2024 if Mr Trump was still running, she appears to have thrown that non-campaign promise away.

On 15 February, Ms Haley announced that she was indeed entering the race.

In a video released by her campaign, she even went so far as to take a veiled swipe at Mr Trump by noting that seven out of the last eight presidential elections have seen the GOP candidate lose the popular vote. She also said it is time for a new generation of leadership who will rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose.

Kanye West

When recently cancelled ex-fashion mogul and noted antisemite Kanye West (or Ye, as he prefers to be called these days) showed up with a notorious white nationalist for dinner at Mr Trumps Mar-a-Lago club, it appeared to be the first time the two men had met since Mr West appeared alongside the then-president during a bizarre Oval Office meeting in late 2018.

At the time, Mr Trump said the rapper very well could be a future presidential candidate, and two years later that prediction came true when Mr West launched an independent bid for the presidency that was widely perceived as a cynical Maga-backed ploy meant to split Black voters from the Democratic Party and deliver key swing states to Mr Trump.

In the years since his first quixotic foray into presidential politics, Mr West has ended his marriage to reality TV star Kim Kardashian, lost billions of dollars from his net worth after Adidas ended its relationship with him after he appeared at Fashion Week in Paris wearing a White Lives Matter shirt and later made a series of antisemitic statements on social media, and announced plans to purchase Parler, the far-right Twitter clone which was widely used by participants in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

But Mr Wests interest in running for the highest office in the land does not appear to have faded. Although he has not yet filed a statement of candidacy for 2024, he has announced his intention to run for president in the next general election, and according to videos he posted to social media, he angered Mr Trump by asking him to accept the number-two spot on a ticket with him.

Mike Pence

Once Mr Trumps most loyal defender and steadfast right-hand man, former vice president Mike Pences relationship with the man who led the GOP ticket in 2020 was irrevocably upended by his decision not to unlawfully hijack Congress certification of Electoral College votes in an attempt to keep himself and Mr Trump in power against the wishes of American voters.

Mr Pence has not officially declared his intent to run for president against Mr Trump in 2024, but since leaving office he has kept up a steady stream of appearances in key primary states (hello, New Hampshire!) and campaigned for numerous GOP candidates in the midterm elections earlier this month. He also appeared at the Republican Jewish Coalitions annual convention in Las Vegas, a traditional cattle call for potential GOP presidential contenders.

Mike Pence. (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

While the former vice president has taken pains not to criticise Mr Trump in the way some anti-Trump Republicans have in recent months, he has also made clear that he would not do things the way the ex-president did during their four years in office.

Mr Pence has also begun to build out the beginnings of a 2024 campaign operation by bringing on former Ben Sasse spokesperson Ali Kjergaard to his Advancing American Freedom nonprofit. Ms Kjergaard joins other former Pence White House mainstays, including his former chief of staff, Marc Short, and his former press secretary, Devin OMalley.

Mike Pompeo

Another ex-Trump administration official who is widely reported to be considering a 2024 bid is Mr Trumps former CIA Director turned Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

The ex-Kansas congressman recently appeared at the RJC convention and has kept his face in the public consciousness through a steady stream of appearances on Fox News, where he is a paid contributor. Like Mr Pence, he has also kept up a schedule of public appearances that has included trips to early primary states.

Ron DeSantis

The current governor of Florida is thought by many in the GOP to be the perfect successor to Mr Trump.

Ron DeSantis. (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Mr DeSantis, a former Florida congressman who won his 2018 gubernatorial campaign after receiving a coveted endorsement from the then-president, is viewed by Republican pundits as a worthy avatar of the current anti-woke GOP who is hated by all the right people, and his star has been on the rise in conservative circles since he made a show of ending any and all pandemic-related restrictions and mandates in the Sunshine State.

When Mr DeSantis took the stage at his 2022 election victory party, supporters even chanted two more years in a nod to his potential status as a GOP presidential contender. And Florida legislators are reportedly considering changing state law to make it easier for him to seek his partys nomination while running for governor.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump debuted a derogatory nickname  Ron DeSanctimonious  for his onetime ally, a sure sign that the Florida native is considered to be a serious adversary by the New York transplant.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Mr Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotechnology entrepreneur and conservative activist, announced his intention to compete in the 2024 Republican primary during an appearance on Tucker Carlsons eponymous Fox News programme.

The Yale Law School graduate has become somewhat of a celebrity in right-wing circles for his denunciations of stakeholder capitalism, big tech censorship, and critical race theory.

Last year, he founded Strive Asset Management, an anti-woke investment firm opposed to businesses that use environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) practices.
SIOUX CITY  Two forensic psychologists agreed Dwight Evans poses a high risk for future violent behavior, yet they differed in their assessment whether he can be rehabilitated.

Found guilty in August of first-degree murder and going armed with intent for the May 1, 2021, shooting death of Martez Harrison, Evans faces a sentence of life in prison.

Because Evans was 17 and a juvenile at the time of the shooting, a judge must decide if and/or when he could be eligible for parole. Had Evans, who's now 18, been an adult, he would automatically have been ineligible for parole.

Both psychologists interviewed Evans, administered psychological tests and reviewed court and other health records and were asked about their findings in a Friday hearing in which they gave their opinions on factors District Judge Roger Sailer must consider when making his sentencing decision.

Retained by the prosecution, Dr. Tracy Thomas said she found Evans had little remorse for his actions and diagnosed him with anti-social personality disorder. He was a willing participant in the shooting, she said, armed with a handgun and accompanying others to Uncle Dave's Bar early that morning to confront Harrison.

In and out of trouble as a juvenile, past treatment programs were largely unsuccessful in changing Evans' behavior, Thomas said.

"I believe it's low," she said of his chances for rehabilitation.

Dr. Tricia Aiken, who was retained by the defense, said Evans' ADHD likely played a role in Evans' involvement in the shooting, leading him to make an impulsive decision to go along to the bar to confront Harrison.

"I believe, based on the evidence I've seen, that it was not necessarily planned. Dwight is an impulsive person," Aiken said.

Not going as far as Thomas in her diagnosis, Aiken said Evans has conduct disorder and other drug use disorders with signs of depression and anxiety. Evans expressed remorse to her for the shooting, Aiken said, has talked about his need for drug abuse treatment, severing his affiliation with gang members and obtaining his GED and a barber's certificate.

"In my opinion, Dwight can be rehabilitated, or he at least has a chance," Aiken said.

Both psychologists said Evans' tumultuous childhood, in which he had little parental supervision, led to developmental and anger issues.

Sailer will review the psychologists' full reports and findings before sentencing, which is scheduled for March 17 in Woodbury County District Court.

Evans approached Harrison, who was fighting with Lawrence Canady, outside the bar at 1427 W. Third St. and shot him in the left flank and chest, apparently as revenge for Harrison striking a friend's girlfriend days earlier. Harrison, 22, died a short time later at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center.

At trial, Evans' attorneys didn't deny Evans shot Harrison, but sought to convince jurors he was intoxicated at the time and was defending himself and others.

Police searching his home while investigating the shooting found marijuana and a scale in his bedroom in his Sioux City home. A month after his murder trial, Evans pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver marijuana and was sentenced to five years in prison, which will be served concurrently, or at the same time, as his pending murder sentence.

A jury in December 2021 found Canady, 22, of Sioux City, guilty of voluntary manslaughter, willful injury causing bodily injury and serious assault. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
SIOUX CITY  The Sioux City Community School District and school board members named in former Superintendent Paul Gausmans lawsuit request references to removing them from their elected positions be removed.

Gausman filed a lawsuit in Woodbury County District Court in January claiming school board members Dan Greenwell, Jan George, Taylor Goodvin and Bob Michaelson violated Iowa Open Meetings laws.

The motion to strike filed in Woodbury County District Court on Thursday also requests documents and references to current and former complaints filed to the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners be removed.

According to the lawsuit, board members held two illegal meetings citing the wrong Iowa code sections in order to avoid notifying Gausman or the public of their discussion of him and the following board decision to file a complaint against him with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.

Gausman is seeking the removal of the four school board members from their elected positions as well as monetary damages and attorney fees. He is also asking the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners to dismiss the complaints filed by both the district and Greenwell personally against him.

The motion to strike was filed Thursday by the defendants to remove evidence and references to the Board of Educational Examiners' complaints as well as possible removal by the court of the elected officials.

We believe our Motion to Strike serves to remove the theatrics from Dr. Gausmans claim, Greenwell said. We believe the heart of the matter is the [Board of Educational Examiners] investigation by the State of Iowa. We are hopeful that the [Board of Educational Examiners] will proceed in normal course and look forward to receiving those findings.

The motion to strike states an elected official can be removed from office by the court if that individual has had prior open meeting violations and damages were assessed against the member during the members term.

Dr. Paul Gausman press conference Dr. Paul Gausman, Superintendent of Sioux City Community Schools, speaks during a press conference Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, at the district's

It states none of the defendants have had prior open meeting law violations, and therefore the references to removal should be removed from the lawsuit.

The motion also states the references to complaints filed against Gausman with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners are not admissible as evidence in the lawsuit according to Iowa Code.

Therefore, all references to pending and former complaints before the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, information related to the complaints, and the complaints themselves all should be struck from the Plaintiffs Petition, according to court documents.

The school board voted in November 2022 to file a complaint regarding Gausman with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.

Greenwell filed the complaint on Dec. 2, 2022.

The complaint claims Gausman attempted to bribe Michaelson and George on Nov. 17, 2021, before their official swearing-in on Nov. 22, 2022. Greenwell claimed it was an attempt to solicit their support to re-elect Alarcon-Flory to board president, in the letter sent to the Iowa Board of Education Examiners.

Dr. Gausman directly offered to allow Mr. Michaelson (board member-elect) and Mr. George (board member-elect) to make any of their desired changes in school operations, programs, activities, and other matters in exchange for their vote for Ms. Alarcon-Flory as president of the board, Greenwell said in the letter.

Greenwell claims the conversation took place at a public place in Des Moines with Gausman, Michaelson, George and Alarcon-Flory present. Greenwell states the pair objected to Gausmans offer multiple times.

Ms. Alarcon-Flory remained silent regarding the bribery offer during the discussions at the table, he said in the letter.

Greenwells letter claims Gausman admitted to the bribery at a meeting on Jan. 27, 2022, with Greenwell and Goodvin present, as well as in a separate discussion with Scarlett.

The letter to the examiner's office also claims Gausman disclosed confidential closed board meeting information to staff members. It states Gausman acquired information from the closed session from Alarcon-Flory and shared it with cabinet members.

Greenwells letter claims Gausman admitted to Greenwell and Goodvin that he shared the information with the cabinet members. He states cabinet members have confirmed the information was shared with them.

The complaint is pending and is meritless and made false claims, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also states Greenwell himself filed a complaint against Gausman on Aug. 1, 2022, with the same claims in a similarly worded letter, without board support.

The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners requires complaints to be from the district, and the one filed in August was not approved by the school board. Gausman requested Greenwell's complaint be dismissed due to for lack of jurisdiction, but Greenwell had withdrawn his complaint prior to any ruling.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes gave birth to a second child as she seeks to delay her impending imprisonment for felony fraud, according to a court filing this past week.

Holmes, 39, had a first child  a son  in July 2021 as she awaited trial on charges of defrauding investors and patients in connection with her now-defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup.

Between her conviction in January 2022 for defrauding investors out of more than $144 million, and her sentencing 10 months later to more than 11 years in prison, Holmes became pregnant again, according to a court filing.

Judge Edward Davila, in passing sentence, delayed her incarceration until April 27, with legal experts saying he likely imposed the delay so Holmes could give birth before imprisonment. Holmes appealed her conviction and sentence.

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 as a Stanford University dropout. Her claims that her technology could conduct a full range of tests using just a few drops of blood from a finger-stick helped drive its valuation as high as $9 billion before a series of Wall Street Journal exposes led to federal investigations, criminal charges and the demise of the startup in 2018.

The court record does not reveal when Holmes delivered her second child. She appeared pregnant at an October court hearing in U.S. District Court in San Jose, and her fiance Billy Evans  the father of Holmes' first child  confirmed her pregnancy in a November court filing. Her legal team in a court filing Thursday said she now has "two young children."

The filing came amid a back-and-forth fight between Holmes' legal team and prosecutors that followed her motion in December asking Davila to extend her freedom until her appeal is finished, a process that could take a year or more.

Davila recommended that Holmes be sent to a minimum-security women's prison camp in Texas, but federal prison officials will decide where she serves time.

Last month, prosecutors argued that Holmes should not remain free after April 27. They accused her of posing a flight risk and claimed she tried to flee the country on a one-way ticket to Mexico after her conviction.

Holmes only canceled the trip after a prosecutor contacted her lawyers about the ticket, the prosecution said. Holmes' partner Billy Evans, prosecutors claimed, flew to Mexico, not returning for nearly six weeks, and then from South Africa.

Holmes' lawyers fired back, arguing that the prosecution had "recklessly and incorrectly" alleged she sought to escape accountability. Her legal team claimed in a court filing that before Holmes was convicted that she hoped to be acquitted and wanted to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico in late January 2022.

"Once the verdict was issued, Ms. Holmes did not intend to make the trip," her lawyers claimed. Evans, who described himself for the first time as Holmes' fiance in a declaration included with the filing, returned to the U.S. through Tijuana four days after he flew to Mexico, before flying to South Africa three weeks later on a two-week trip, according to Holmes' lawyers.

Holmes' lawyers also questioned why prosecutors waited until December to make their claim despite knowing about the Mexico booking for a year, and did not mention it when Davila was making decisions about whether Holmes could remain free.

But prosecutors in a counter-filing noted that Holmes failed to explain why her ticket to Mexico was only one way.

"Noticeably absent from (Holmes') filing is a declaration from the person whose mental state matters  (Holmes) herself  asserting that she did not intend to nor attempt to flee in January 2022," the filing said.

This week's court filing from Holmes' legal team repeated denials that she planned to flee the country, but did not include a direct explanation from Holmes about her Mexico plans, and made no mention of her lack of a return ticket.
WASHINGTON  Some of the nations top cybersecurity leaders are warning state and local election officials of ongoing foreign and domestic national security threats to election systems, urging them to upgrade their defenses ahead of next years presidential election.

At separate conferences this month, federal officials warned gatherings of the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors that they must be vigilant in securing their states elections systems and building resilience to prevent attacks.

Many election officials, overworked and frightened by personal threats, left the field following President Donald Trumps loss in 2020. In light of that turnover, national security officials wanted to emphasize that local election officials can use federal resources to build defenses and educate front-line staff.

Although foreign cyberattacks did not disrupt Novembers midterm elections, China, Iran, North Korea and Russia remain threats to U.S. election systems, said Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director of the FBIs Cyber Division.

We have no evidence that a foreign government or other actors compromised election infrastructure or manipulated election results during the 2022 elections, Kaiser told the secretaries of state. Still, she added, We need to remain vigilant.

A year into Russias invasion of Ukraine, for example, national security officials remain concerned Russia may attack critical U.S. infrastructure, including elections, said Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, also known as CISA.

That has not, thankfully, manifested in any significant way, Easterly told the secretaries of state. Weve not seen anything here, but Id like to end with the word yet.

She emphasized that preparation is key in preventing malicious efforts such as so-called denial of service attacks, which made a handful of state and local government websites unavailable in the weeks before the midterms.

To run safe and secure elections, Easterly recommended that state and local election officials train staff to use multi-factor authentication and to avoid clicking on suspicious email links. She also advised them to replace outdated software and use available federal resources.

There was sophisticated activity from foreign governments before and on the day of the 2022 midterms that should be a cause for concern, Kim Wyman, senior election security adviser at CISA, told a nearby conference of the National Association of State Election Directors.

Foreign actors scanned state and local government websites, even though election systems werent targeted, she said. While scanning a system doesnt necessarily compromise it, she said, it could be preparation for a future attack. Local election offices can be target-rich, cyber-poor entities, she said, warning that cybersecurity still is not a top priority for many small- and medium-sized jurisdictions.

The 2024 election for president is fast approaching, Wyman said, and this year is really that window of opportunity that you all have to gear up and make strides in reducing your risk.

In addition to cybersecurity, national security officials stressed the importance of protecting the physical security of voting system storage locations and election offices by, for example, using locks that only a limited number of people can open.

Layering an approach that considers both physical and cybersecurity is challenging, said Bill Ekblad, Minnesotas election security cyber navigator, who through the secretary of states office coordinates an election security strategy with local election offices.

We continue to see threats compound, he told Stateline after one session. We have to take those two concerns with us and be ready for whatever else comes. Everything we heard from our federal partners shores up that perspective that its all about readiness, communications, preparing to react and planning, because we cant predict what the trends will be.

Explainer: Threats to US election security grow more complex Increasingly challenging Threats from within Threats from abroad Attacks from foreign adversaries Threats, disinformation, conspiracies hit US midterms
The creator of the Dilbert comic strip faced a backlash of cancellations Saturday while defending remarks describing people who are Black as members of "a hate group" from which white people should "get away."

Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments by Dilbert creator Scott Adams as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.

Andrews McMeel Syndication, which distributes Dilbert, did not immediately respond Saturday to requests for comment. But Adams defended himself on social media against those who he said "hate me and are canceling me."

Dilbert is a long-running comic that pokes fun at office-place culture.

The backlash began following an episode this past week of the YouTube show "Real Coffee with Scott Adams." Among other topics, Adams referenced a Rasmussen Reports survey that asked whether people agreed with the statement "It's OK to be white."

Most agreed, but Adams noted 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren't sure.

The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan but then some white supremacists started using it.

Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a "hate group" or a "racist hate group" and said he would no longer "help Black Americans."

"Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people," Adams said on his Wednesday show.

In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he was making a point that "everyone should be treated as an individual" without discrimination.

"But you should also avoid any group that doesn't respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine," Adams said.

The Los Angeles Times cited Adams' racist comments while announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most editions and that its final run in the Sunday comics  which are printed in advance  will be March 12.

The San Antonio Express-News, which is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday that it will drop the Dilbert comic strip effective Monday, "because of hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator."

The USA Today Network tweeted Friday that it also will stop publishing Dilbert "due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator."

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and other publications that are part of Advance Local media also announced they are dropping Dilbert.

"This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve," wrote Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer. '"We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support."

Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for NJ Advance Media, wrote that the news organization believes in "the free and fair exchange of ideas."

"But when those ideas cross into hate speech," he wrote, "a line must be drawn."
A slight drop in state tax receipts was not enough to convince the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board to adjust its optimistic revenue forecast from four months ago.

The board voted unanimously Friday to maintain its October revenue forecast, which increased Nebraska's revenue projections for the next two fiscal years by roughly $1.8 billion, bringing the anticipated revenue for both years to more than $13 billion. Members indicated they would rather wait for their next meeting in April to get more information. That April meeting is the board's final one before the Legislature sets the state's two-year budget.

Officials from the State Department of Revenue and the Legislative Fiscal Office projected a slight drop in general fund revenues of about 1% for the current fiscal year, amounting to about a $100 million decrease. Legislative Fiscal Analyst Keisha Patent said the dip is largely due to a decline in sales and individual income tax revenues, which were responsible for state tax collections between November and January being roughly 1.5% lower than projections.

Patent said she expects February's tax receipts will show a slight bounce back in revenue, although the month's receipts were still lower than projections as of Friday.

Despite the drop, multiple board members said they were optimistic that Nebraska was in good shape to handle the slight downturn.

"I think we'll be able to weather this storm," said board member Leslie Andersen.

The board's October projections would add more than $620 million to the states cash reserve, bringing it to a record-breaking $2.3 billion. At the time, the board's projections were higher than the projections made by the Department of Revenue and the Legislative Fiscal Office, though the forecasting board anticipated slower growth through 2024 and 2025.

The lack of change came as no surprise to state Sen. Robert Clements of Elmwood, chair of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, who said he expected the projections would remain flat. He said the numbers indicate the economy is holding steady.

It also means the Appropriations Committee will not have to change course as it considers a combined 87 legislative bills proposing different spending proposals. The forecasting board's April meeting will come around the same time the committee finalizes its budget plan, which then must be approved by the full Legislature.

The committee released its preliminary budget plan last week. It would increase state spending at twice the rate proposed by Gov. Jim Pillen, who has put forth a combined $457 million in potential tax cuts. Clements said the difference between the two budget proposals largely lies in the committee's decision to include those pending funding requests in its plan.

Clements said the committee will continue holding public hearings on the remaining budget bills for the next month. The committee will try to balance the funding requests with Pillen's repeated calls for tax cuts.

"Everybody thinks we have a lot of money," Clements said. "But the governor would prefer tax cuts, and he has a veto pen."

Legislative rules require the committee to get its final budget plan to the full Legislature by May 2, the 70th day of the session. The budget must be passed by May 18, the 80th day.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session 010523-owh-new-lege-em01.jpg 010523-owh-new-lege-em02.jpg 010523-owh-new-lege-em04.jpg 010523-owh-new-lege-em05.jpg 010523-owh-new-lege-em06.jpg 010523-owh-new-lege-em65 010523-owh-new-lege-em37 010523-owh-new-lege-em38 010523-owh-new-lege-em49 010523-owh-new-lege-em60 010523-owh-new-lege-em45 010523-owh-new-lege-em39 010523-owh-new-lege-em48 010523-owh-new-lege-em55 010523-owh-new-lege-em59 010523-owh-new-lege-em43 010523-owh-new-lege-em42 010523-owh-new-lege-em50 010523-owh-new-lege-em53 010523-owh-new-lege-em46 010523-owh-new-lege-em47 010523-owh-new-lege-em51 010523-owh-new-lege-em61 010523-owh-new-lege-em64 010523-owh-new-lege-em52 010523-owh-new-lege-em56 010523-owh-new-lege-em62 010523-owh-new-lege-em63 010523-owh-new-lege-em58 010523-owh-new-lege-em44 010523-owh-new-lege-em41 010523-owh-new-lege-em54 010523-owh-new-lege-em36 010523-owh-new-lege-em31 010523-owh-new-lege-em30 010523-owh-new-lege-em32 010523-owh-new-lege-em33 010523-owh-new-lege-em35 010523-owh-new-lege-em24 010523-owh-new-lege-em27 010523-owh-new-lege-em26 010523-owh-new-lege-em28 010523-owh-new-lege-em25 010523-owh-new-lege-em29 010523-owh-new-lege-em23 010523-owh-new-lege-em18 010523-owh-new-lege-em21 010523-owh-new-lege-em15 010523-owh-new-lege-em22 010523-owh-new-lege-em19 010523-owh-new-lege-em16 010523-owh-new-lege-em20 010523-owh-new-lege-em12 010523-owh-new-lege-em09 010523-owh-new-lege-em07 010523-owh-new-lege-em11 010523-owh-new-lege-em08 010523-owh-new-lege-em03 010523-owh-new-lege-em10 010523-owh-new-lege-em03.jpg
A journalist who covers DNA tech responds to Meg Charltons Intangible Variation.

A few days ago, a woman sent an email to a listserv Im on, asking if anyone had navigated meeting their childs dibling. Dibling, for those who dont know, is a term sometimes used to describe children who share a sperm donor, but live in different households. (Some prefer the term half sibling.) In her case, she found the person through a donor sibling registry. In other cases, parents and children might find relatives through DNA databases.

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I honestly dont know what Im asking for in posting herejust wondering what folks experiences have been, in what ways you prepared (yourselves/your kids) for the moment, she wrote. It was a vague request, but it still cut beautifully to the heart of a broader question that has consumed millions of Americans over the past decade: How should we think about the people who share a lot of our DNAor in this case, her childs DNAbut arent family in the traditional sense? Twenty years ago, it was rare for such a person to pop into our lives. But for better and sometimes worse, the rise of consumer genetic testing sites like 23andMe have made it difficult to keep genetic secrets. And so reunions are quite common.

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Each one creates dilemmas. Some are relatively simple: Do you want to Zoom with the newfound cousin? Some are more complicated: Your father is not who your mother told you he was, its this other guy who is dead. That means your mother cheated on your father, but you never got along with him. Do you want to contact your biological fathers children?

Intangible Variation, a fascinating new fiction story by Meg Charlton, explores a comparably tricky scenario to illustrate something I believe is true no matter who the newly discovered relative is: Its best not to expect too much from the meeting. The tale of Daren, whose encounter with his younger genetic twin goes terribly awry, becomes a parable about the risks of assigning too much meaning to shared DNA. Though the story is scientifically implausible in some ways, it is eerily familiar in others. More than 26 million people have sent in their spit to consumer genetic companies to learn about their ancestry, find relatives, and better understand their health. Frequently in the process of trying to answer one question, customers will discover something that challenges the narrative of who they thought they were. Meanwhile, tons of companies have emerged making all kinds of difficult-to-verify promises about what DNA can and cannot actually tell us about how we should live.

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For those who have not read the story: GENMatch, a genealogy and DNA analysis site, connects 49-year-old Daren, a depressed wealth management specialist, to TJ, a man who looks uncannily similar to him. Daren is obsessed with GENMatch because he is obsessed with epigenetics, an area of scientific research focused on how behaviors and environment affect the expression of genes. Though GEDmatch, the real-life site that the story seems to be referencing, is primarily focused on helping people understand their ancestry, this futuristic GENmatch is heavily focused on gene optimization. But just like the real GEDmatch, the site compares customers DNA. And thats how the site leads Daren to TJ, who is 10 years younger and shares 98 percent of his DNAeven though they do not seem to share any close relatives. Daren turns to a research paper to make sense of the discovery. There are only so many ways to put together a human being, and so at some point youre bound to get a duplicate, it says.

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This is the implausible part. Identical twins share 100 percent of their DNA; fraternal twins only share around 50 percent, the same amount shared by other full biological siblings. Half siblings share about 25 percent. Indeed, in recent years, researchers have demonstrated that doppelgangers, people who look uncannily like one another though they are not closely related, may share genesand the more they look alike, the more genes they seem to share. But the percentage of overlap is still quite small.

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Sylia Wilson, an investigator at the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research, which runs studies on genetic and environmental influences in the development of substance abuse and other psychological disorders, didnt want to say it would be impossible to get genetic twins, born of different parents.* In theory, if random variation in genes shook out that way, it could happenbut that would be an awfully big coincidence she said. Meaning if a genealogy site ever gives you such a result, its probably incorrect. Misleading DNA results do emerge. They may be caused by an issue with the original spit sample that the person sends to the DNA testing company, or by contamination, a lab mix-up, or a computer programs miscategorization of results. Daren, in his eagerness to understand his miserable self through another person, fails to consider any of these possibilities. TJ, on the other hand, acknowledges that the genetic matching sites are pretty janky.

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Still, its totally plausible that someone could end up on a trip with a newly discovered doppelganger or relative they found through GEDmatch. Its also realistic to imagine that one or both people would place a lot of expectations on that meeting. Many assume that getting to know a biological sibling or parent will help them make sense of their life, said Leeanne R. Hay, author of NPE* A Story Guide for Unexpected DNA Discoveries. Sometimes it does. But Hay has also observed a less helpful tendency to get caught up in the what-if cycle, she said. What if Id grown up in a house with all that money and those opportunities? What if Id grown up with a person like that in my life? Breaking out of that cycle is a real challenge for some, she said. In Charltons story, that loop has devastating results.

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Alas, Darens belief that the differences separating him from TJ were all down to nurture rather than nature is false. Identical twins, who grow up together, tend to be extremely similar in terms of things like interests and abilities, said Nancy Segal, a psychologist who has written several books on twin studies, including Deliberately Divided: Inside the Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Raised Apart. But even they have their differences. For one twin, their moms criticalness can really influence them to feel badly about themselves, but for the other twin it might influence them to excel in school, Wilson, of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research, told me.

Darens somewhat contradictory assumption that just because hes an unemployed alcoholic, struggling with suicidal thoughts, TJ is destined to the same fate is also false. Genetics undeniably impact many aspects of life. But the research shows that, in tandem with nurture, nature plays a more probabilistic than deterministic role, Segal said. This is true, even with something that is heavily influenced by genes, such as depression or alcoholism, Wilson said.

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This does not undermine the potential to learn from newly discovered relatives. Their medical and mental health history can alert us to what to watch out for. And spotting physical similarities and shared personality quirks can be revelatory and fun, said Peter J. Boni, the author of Uprooted: Family Trauma, Unknown Origins, and the Secretive History of Artificial Insemination. Until he met two of his donor-conceived half siblings, I took my DNA for granted, he said.

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There is a tension wrapped up in trying to understand what our genes doand dontmean, and as medical providers, tech companies, and government agencies turn to DNA to inform more areas of life, people are going to be swarmed with even more conflicting messages. Companies will try to sell us new ways to maximize our genetics. A.I. will be used to map out connections between profiles of people on sites like GEDmatch and people who have never even taken a test. There will be many more reunions, some bad, some good. Through them all, removing the idea that one is looking at an alternate or future version of ourselves can eliminate pressure. For the woman on the listserv who was meeting with her childs dibling, that approach seems to have made the event more enjoyable. My kid seems pretty uninterested in our connection with this other family and was just excited to play, she wrote me when I followed up. They played hard, indeed.

Correction, March 27, 2023: This piece originally misspelled Sylia Wilsons name as Sylvia Wilson.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
The Slovak Spectator recaps the Kuciak murder trial.

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In Slovakias modern history, the end of February marks a bitter anniversary: the killings of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova.

They were murdered in their home in Velka Maca, a small town located about 60 kilometres away from Bratislava, on February 21, 2018.

Though the police were quick to detain and charge not just the persons who they believed had fired the shots, but also those alleged to have ordered Kuciaks murder, the families of the murdered couple have not learned the final verdict to date.

Weve been waiting for the culprits who murdered our children to be punished for five years already, said Jozef Kuciak, father of the murdered journalist, at the For a Decent Slovakia gathering on February 21. Time has passed, pain has slightly changed in form, but it remains. A fair trial and punishment for the offenders is the minimum we can ask for our children.

While several people involved in the killings have already pled guilty, those considered the masterminds of the double murder, Marian Kocner and Alena Zsuzsova, continue being tried in what is now a retrial. This was after the Specialised Criminal Court acquitted the pair in 2020, but was ordered to retry the pair by the Supreme Court almost a year later.

Today, the court is handling two different criminal cases in the retrial; apart from the two murders, judges will also decide on Kocner and Zsuzsova allegedly plotting the murders of three prosecutors in 2017 and 2018.

Following Specialised Criminal Court Judge Ruzena Sabovas earlier statement that the verdict could be delivered in April 2023, hopes that the retrial will come to an end after five years and justice may be served are high in Slovakia.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230224/he-says-hes-not-done-us-first-lady-says-biden-ready-to-run-for-reelection-in-2024-1107783829.html

'He Says He's Not Done': US First Lady Says Biden Ready to Run for Reelection in 2024

'He Says He's Not Done': US First Lady Says Biden Ready to Run for Reelection in 2024

Jill Biden, wife of US President Joe Biden, during an exclusive interview with the news agency, hinted unequivocally that her husband is preparing to run in the US presidential election 2024.

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Asked by a journalist about her role in her husband's decision, the first lady Jill Biden said, "Of course he'll listen to me, because we're a married couple... but he makes up his own mind, believe me."Her granddaughter Naomi Biden in her social media blog, briefly commented on her grandmother's remarks, "Preach nana."Should Biden run for president, he will be doing so as an 82-year-old contender, and if he manages to clinch the Oval Office for a second term, he'll be 86 by the time his second stint in office comes to a close.Biden's aides report, according to the media outlet, that he may announce his decision in April, after the first round of campaign fundraising is due to be completed.To date, Biden has only one Democratic challenger in his midst, with Marianne Williamson, 70, having confirmed her bid on Thursday. Williamson earlier ran for the nomination in the 2020 election, but ultimately withdrew and backed then-candidate Bernie Sanders.Jill gave her interview in Nairobi, the last city she visited as part of her five-day tour of Africa. During the speaking engagement, the first lady also spoke about:

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/after-hellish-ukrainian-rule-kherson-refugees-find-new-life-in-russia-1107711622.html

After 'Hellish' Ukrainian Rule, Kherson Refugees Find New Life in Russia

After 'Hellish' Ukrainian Rule, Kherson Refugees Find New Life in Russia

As civilians from Kherson are jump-starting their lives in southern Russia's Krasnodar region after fleeing from Ukrainian troops, many of them say that only Russia has given them the chance to survive.

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ukraine

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Konstantin Kushakevich, a longtime resident of Kherson, felt an enormous sense of relief when Russian troops entered his home city last March. He told Sputnik that under Ukrainian rule, Khersons Russian-speaking residents experienced systematic discrimination. The Russian language was prohibited, we had to pay bribes for everything, and when it comes to food, we couldnt even afford sausages, he says.According to Konstantin, the quality of life of Kherson visibly improved in the eight months after the city was liberated by Russian forces. Unsurprisingly, many local residents expressed dismay when Kiev regime troops began moving closer to the outskirts of Kherson in November 2022.When they were given a chance to evacuate Kherson because of safety concerns, the Kushakevich family, as well as many others, knew for sure where they were going. Konstantins relative Irina says that people were purposely choosing Russia as their destination. Everyone we know  our relatives and acquaintances went here. Nobody went to the other side.The family was evacuated to the resort town of Anapa in southern Russias Krasondar region and settled in a local hotel. Irinas eight-year-old son Maksim started learning the Russian curriculum at the local school, just like his two neighbors living in the same hotel  sixth-grader Maksim Kozak, and his brother Timofey, whos in the eighth grade.The father of the two Kozak boys, Roman Kozak, says that it was impossible to follow Russian traditions in their home region of Kherson under Ukrainian rule:In 2014, Ukrainian authorities banned the celebration of Victory Day, May 9. So when the special military operation began, the people of our town Genichesk rose to join the parade and to visit the [Great Patriotic War] memorial. Genichesk is a Russian town, just as the whole Kherson region is Russia.The Kozaks, a family of five, say they were very happy to move to the Krasnodar region, as with Kiev in charge of their home city they were struggling to make ends meet - earning around 5,000 hryvnias ($136) and having to spend up to 8,000 on housing bills, with no help from the state.In Anapa, they have already received a housing certificate from the Russian government, which they are now planning to use to buy real estate.According to the deputy head of Anapa's administration, Vitaly Voronov, the town has already provided accommodation to 10,000 newcomers, such as the Kozak and Kushakevich families. Their stories are different, and not all of them would like to move to other Russian cities, some would like to go home once Russia regains full control of the new regions such as Kherson. But, as per Voronov, the opportunities for those who dont want to go back and would like to start anew in the Krasnodar region or elsewhere in Russia are virtually unlimited:As per Vitaly Voronov, many Anapa residents, including those from Kuban Cossack formations, are currently serving in the conflict zone, with local businesses, political parties, and private individuals sending a total of 200 tons of humanitarian aid to Russian soldiers who are taking part in the special military operation in Ukraine. Voronov is positive that the goals of the operation will be successfully completed, just as he has no doubt about positive developments in the lives of the evacuees.A total of 6,000 housing certificates, which are already being dubbed Kherson certificates, have been issued by local authorities. Some real estate agents interviewed by Krasnodar media say that around 95% of newcomers from Kherson have chosen to stay in the Krasnodar region, with the local real estate market experiencing a boom in purchases with the use of government-issued housing certificates. A single person is eligible to use the certificate to purchase a 33-square-meter apartment or a house. A family of two can count on a 42-square meter property, with bigger families receiving 18 square meters per person.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221021/russian-forces-help-people-of-kherson-evacuate-across-dnepr-amid-ukraine-strikes-1102494156.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/biden-says-he-wont-visit-ohio-despite-outrage-over-federal-response-to-toxic-spill-1107790319.html

Biden Says He Won't Visit Ohio Despite Outrage Over Federal Response to Toxic Spill

Biden Says He Won't Visit Ohio Despite Outrage Over Federal Response to Toxic Spill

The Biden administration is under fire over their response to the February 3 Ohio train wreck

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US President Joe Biden has said "at this moment" he doesnt plan to visit the site of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which occurred in early February and resulted in a spill of toxic chemicals across the area.The 46th president also said that he had directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine to check on families affected by the train derailment.Under Bidens order, the so-called "walk teams" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency will visit homes in East Palestine to ask how residents are doing, see what they need and connect them with appropriate resources.This followed Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), telling reporters that the agencys report found that the Ohio train derailment might have been avoided if crews had been given an earlier warning that the axle bearing was overheated, and that the wreck was "100% preventable."The remarks came after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured the site of the wreckage on Thursday after the Biden administration was slammed for their response. Some GOP members chastised POTUS for making a surprise visit to Kiev earlier this week instead of sending a cabinet official or making a trip himself to the East Palestine site as soon as possible.Buttigieg visited the town following a trip by former US President Donald Trump to the community on Wednesday. During his visit, Trump said it was "terrible" for Biden not to visit East Palestine himself in the wake of the disaster.POTUS, for his part, said in a tweet on Tuesday that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had ordered rail operator, Norfolk Southern, to clean up and dispose of hazardous materials in East Palestine.On February 3, a Norfolk Southern train hauling 20 cars with hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine. A massive fire erupted due to the wreck, prompting officials to burn vinyl chloride inside five of the tanker cars to avoid a catastrophic explosion. The accident released toxic chemicals, including hydrogen chloride, phosgene, butyl acrylate, and ethylene, into the environment.Despite the authorities repeated assurances that the air and water are safe, local activists told Sputnik of recent health impacts, including headaches, burning skin, and irritated eyes, as well as concerns over long-term health risks. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has meanwhile said almost 44,000 aquatic creatures had died in waterways near the wreckage site.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/biden-says-sees-no-benefit-in-chinas-ukraine-peace-plan-doubts-beijing-will-arm-russia-1107796346.html

Biden Says Sees No Benefit in China's Ukraine Peace Plan, Doubts Beijing Will Arm Russia

Biden Says Sees No Benefit in China's Ukraine Peace Plan, Doubts Beijing Will Arm Russia

US President Joe Biden said he sees nothing in Chinas proposed peace plan for Ukraine that would benefit any country but Russia.

2023-02-25T11:14+0000

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Earlier, China released a 12-point document titled "Chinas Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis," promoting, among other things, respect of the sovereignty of all countries, the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. The Russian Foreign Ministry in response to the proposal said Russia values China's sincere desire to contribute to the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. Biden also said he does not anticipate a major initiative on the part of China providing weaponry to Russia. In addition, the US president said Crimea is a matter for Ukraine to decide.In a clip of the same interview posted earlier in the day, Biden said Ukraine does not need F-16 fighter jets and, for now, was ruling out the possibility of Washington providing them to Kiev. The Kremlin has repeatedly emphasized its readiness to negotiate, while the government in Kiev has ruled out any talks as long as Vladimir Putin remains President of Russia.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/eu-announces-10th-package-of-sanctions-against-russia-1107807841.html

EU Announces 10th Package of Sanctions Against Russia

EU Announces 10th Package of Sanctions Against Russia

The European Union published on Saturday its 10th package of sanctions targeting 87 Russian nationals and 34 entities over the conflict in Ukraine.

2023-02-25T19:06+0000

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2023-02-26T05:09+0000

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This brings the total number of blacklisted entities up to 205, while 1,473 people face travel bans and asset freezes under the fresh round of restrictions that the EU hopes will add pressure on the country. At the political and institutional level, the Council has designated 19 deputy ministers and a number of Russian government officials, including heads of federal agencies, four lawmakers, and the All-Russia Peoples Front campaign. In the Russian military sector, sanctions were brought against the Russian Defense Ministry and intelligence agency SVR, as well as against Khrunichev state space research center and rocket maker for its contribution to the Defense Ministrys military satellite launches. Sanctions were also imposed on several defense manufacturers affiliated with Russia's Rosatom nuclear agency. Russian military commanders Alexei Avdeyev, Mikhail Teplinsky and Sergei Karakayev were targeted by individual travel bans and asset freezes. Prosecutors in the four regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Donetsk Peoples' Republic were also blacklisted as "proxy authorities." Economic actors covered in the new sanctions package include banks such as:as well as the Russian National Reinsurance Company and Russias top commercial vehicle maker Gaz. It also sanctioned Rosatomflot, the operator of the Russian fleet of nuclear icebreakers, for helping unlock the lucrative Northern Sea Route in the Arctic. Continuing its crackdown on freedom of speech, the Council imposed sanctions on media organizations, such as Rossiya Segodnya media group, and individual journalists, including its executive director Kirill Vyshinsky, and Regnum chief editor Marina Akhmedova. They are accused of "polluting the public space with disinformation." It also sanctioned Vadim Subbotin, deputy head of Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor, who is accused of limiting Russians access to information. In the social affairs and human rights area, the EU sanctioned head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's outreach agency Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov, Russian human rights ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova, head of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Valery Fadeyev, and the president of the Foundation for the Defense of National Values, Maxim Shugalei. The EU also sanctioned foreign nationals and entities over their alleged ties to Russia. These include Vyacheslav Boguslayev, former Ukrainian lawmaker and head of Ukrainian aircraft engine maker Motor Sich, who is in custody in Ukraine on charges of allegedly providing military equipment to Russian troops. Several Central African Republic companies were targeted over their alleged connections to the Wagner private military firm. They include Lobaye Invest Sarlu, Diamville, Lengo Sengo radio station, and Sudans Meroe Gold LTD and M-Invest companies.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230224/why-western-sanctions-against-russia-failed-1107713475.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/new-eu-sanctions-against-russia-target-121-individuals-legal-entities-1107795474.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/g20-finance-leaders-statement-adopted-without-position-on-ukrainian-crisis-1107806575.html

G20 Finance Leaders' Statement Adopted Without Position on Ukrainian Crisis

G20 Finance Leaders' Statement Adopted Without Position on Ukrainian Crisis

The final document on the meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors has been adopted without condemning Russia's special military operation in Ukraine due to the objections of Beijing and Moscow, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Saturday.

2023-02-25T17:35+0000

2023-02-25T17:35+0000

2023-02-25T18:36+0000

world

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Earlier in the day, the G20 finance ministers failed to agree on the meeting's joint communique and instead issued a "chair's summary" and an "outcome document," which noted differences in approach on the Ukraine issue. The statement of the finance leaders' meeting noted that "all G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed to paragraphs 1, 2 and paragraphs 5 to 17 along with Annexes 1 and 2." Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the outcome document condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine and were not endorsed by Moscow and Beijing. "Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this document, as taken from the G20 Bali Leaders Declaration [15-16 November 2022], were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China," the statement read. The Russian Foreign Ministry in turn accused the West on Saturday of undermining G20 decision-making after the meeting of finance ministers and central bankers wrapped up in Indias Bengaluru without a joint statement being issued.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/ghanas-ex-president-gathers-support-for-2024-election-race-1107796793.html

Ghana's Ex-President Gathers Support for 2024 Election Race

Ghana's Ex-President Gathers Support for 2024 Election Race

Former Ghanian President John Mahama is going to get nomination from his party National Democratic Congress to become its presidential candidate in general elections scheduled to be held next year.

2023-02-25T12:11+0000

2023-02-25T12:11+0000

2023-02-25T12:11+0000

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Former Ghanaian President John Mahama is to be nominated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party as its presidential candidate for the general elections next year, local media has reported. The country's ex-leader expressed his intention to lead the party in the upcoming elections during a meeting at his office in Cantonments, Akkra. Earlier this week, his supporters collected nomination forms on his behalf from the party's offices. The party is expected to choose its nominee at a conference later this year. His main rival in the party's presidential primaries is Kwabena Duffuor, who served as a central bank governor and finance minister in the previous NDC government.Before becoming Ghana's president in 2012, Mahama served as vice president from January 2009 to July 2012. During elections in 2016 and 2020, Mahama won the National Democratic Congress presidential primaries, securing over 95% of the total valid votes cast. However, he failed to reclaim the presidency, losing to incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo from the New Patriotic Party (NPP). In the upcoming elections, if Mahama is chosen as NDC's presidential candidate, he will be vying for the position with the ruling party's candidate who is yet to be selected. President Akufo-Addo will step down completing his second and final term in office.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/kenya-to-build-mombasa-lpg-plant-to-eliminate-firewood-use-by-2025-1107792504.html

Kenya to Build Mombasa LPG Plant to Eliminate Firewood Use by 2025

Kenya to Build Mombasa LPG Plant to Eliminate Firewood Use by 2025

Kenyan President William Ruto launched the construction of a re-filling plant for LPG, a project that is aimed at lowering the cost of cooking gas in the country, as well as serving other states in the East African region.

2023-02-25T09:32+0000

2023-02-25T09:32+0000

2023-02-25T09:32+0000

africa

east africa

kenya

lpg

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Kenyan President William Ruto has launched the construction of a liquefied petroleum gas re-filling plant in Mombasa. The project looks to lower the cost of cooking gas as well as serve other states in the East African region. According to local media reports, the project costs $130.5 million. It is owned by Tanzanias largest LPG supply company Taifa Gas, run by Tanzanian businessman Rostam Aziz. The company has the largest distribution, storage and filling plants across Tanzania and is actively expanding and penetrating into other countries in the region.Earlier this week, Taifa Gas received a license from Kenya to establish an LPG plant and storage facilities at Mombasa port. The project, which includes the building of a 30,000 metric tonne storage facility, will be set up in the Special Economic Zone in Dongo Kundu. The company will build a terminal with 12 LPG spheres, each with a capacity of 2,500 tonnes. According to the company's Managing Director Veneranda Masoum, the project is expected to create 90,000 direct and indirect jobs. Taifa Gas is also going to invest in other LPG facilities and distribution networks across the country at a cost of $55 million. President Ruto, who delivered a speech during the ground-breaking ceremony, stated that increasing investment in LPG plants and facilities is crucial to driving consumer prices in a sustainable way, especially at a time when gas prices hit record highs. He also noted that the country has set the objective to reduce households' reliance on firewood, kerosene and charcoal, and accelerate their transition to gas. According to Ruto, the government's plan is to cut the use of dirtier fuels that harm the environment, and embrace "environmentally friendly alternatives."Therefore, he underlined, public institutions and schools that use firewood as their cooking fuel should switch to LPG by 2025. This plan also includes regulating cooking gas prices aimed at stabilizing the market and lowering costs. In particular, the LPG terminal is expected to eliminate road transport fees, as well as create increased supplier competition. According to Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, demand for LPG has been maintaining an upward trend for several years with consumption hitting 373,856 metric tonnes in 2021, an increase of 13.7 % from the previous year. A total number of 120 bulk LPG storage facilities are distributed across 25 counties of the country. This increase from the eight facilities in 2012 that can be considered "a reflection of efforts made to improve LPG access to consumers."

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/malian-pm-calls-on-burkina-faso-not-to-rely-on-foreign-troops-to-fight-terrorists-1107798752.html

Malian PM Calls on Burkina Faso Not to Rely on Foreign Troops to Fight Terrorists

Malian PM Calls on Burkina Faso Not to Rely on Foreign Troops to Fight Terrorists

The terrorist groups that are present in Mali and Burkina Faso, according to the Malian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga, should not be fought by foreign militaries, as he reaffirmed the commitment to overcome the struggle while on a visit to the southern neibor.

2023-02-25T15:18+0000

2023-02-25T15:18+0000

2023-02-25T15:18+0000

africa

mali

burkina faso

terrorism

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Terrorist groups in Mali and Burkina Faso should not be fought by foreign militaries, according to Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga.Maiga's statement follows an attack in northern Burkina on Wednesday in which at least 12 army auxiliary members of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland force were killed. A few days prior, two other strikes in the north, close to Mali, resulted in the deaths of 70 soldiers.On Friday, local authorities in central Mali said that at least 13 civilians had been killed in a jihadist attack on Kani-Bonzon town not far from the border with northern Burkina Faso. What is happening to you today is to demoralize you. It is so that you doubt your army, Maiga said, since the jihadist groups operating in the country put the pressure so that you doubt yourselves, [and] we found the same things in Mali.Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took control of Burkina Faso following a coup in September 2022, ordered the French special troops to leave the nation after denouncing the bilateral military agreements in mid-January. Following the decision, France recalled its envoy to Burkina Faso for "consultations." Traore, however, noted later that diplomatic relations with Paris were not severed.Earlier this month, Burkina Faso's Prime Minister Tambela stated that Ouagadougou is looking to create a federation with Mali in order to pool resources in addressing the shared problems the two countries face and increase their economic potential.According to a recent UN study, armed groups in the country's center are still taking advantage of intercommunity tensions to grow their influence and attract new members.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230224/burkina-faso-to-enlist-5000-soldiers-to-bolster-fight-against-terrorism-1107769358.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/military-aid--chinas-peace-plan-biden-breaks-down-us-intentions-on-ukraine-conflict-1107787619.html

Military Aid & China's Peace Plan: POTUS Breaks Down US Intentions on Ukraine Conflict

Military Aid & China's Peace Plan: POTUS Breaks Down US Intentions on Ukraine Conflict

US President Joe Biden touched on a variety of hot-button topics both foreign and domestic in an exclusive interview with ABC News on Friday, weighing in on matters related to the ongoing Ukraine conflict and the recent balloon fiasco that stole US headlines for weeks.

2023-02-25T05:11+0000

2023-02-25T05:11+0000

2023-02-25T05:54+0000

joe biden

us-china relations

world

ukraine crisis

peace plan

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US President Joe Biden touched on a variety of hot-button topics both foreign and domestic in an exclusive interview with ABC News on Friday, weighing in on matters related to the ongoing Ukraine conflict and the recent balloon fiasco that stole US headlines for weeks.The interview briefly saw the president discuss his 2024 presidential bid, on which he has yet to confirm and instead ensure the public that he "intends" to run for a second term. Ukraine, Crimea & Military AidThe US president in a sit-down interview with ABC's David Muir remarked he was ruling out "for now" the possibility of Washington providing Ukraine with any F-16 fighter jets, explaining that the Kiev regime "doesn't need F-16s now."Asked whether that means if Ukraine is "never" receiving the fighter jets, Biden remarked that he was of the mindset that it simply wasn't the time for such a shipment."There's things [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] needs now that we're sending him to put them in a position to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall," he continued, referring to arms such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.Biden's statement comes following multiple requests by the Kiev regime to be supplied F-16 fighter jets in order to bolster its military strength against Russia. Biden has previously noted that it would not be providing the fourth-generation supersonic fighter. Momentarily weighing on the future of Crimea, the commander-in-chief stated it was ultimately up to Ukrainians to "decide that."Since the start of Russia's special military operation Crimea has remained under the spotlight and more recently after US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland stated Crimea was a legitimate target of Ukrainian strikes. The comment itself drew condemnation from Moscow, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stating it proved US' role "as the main instigator of the international tension that we have."Balloon Heard Around the WorldAfter weeks of heightened tensions, Biden conceded that China may not have been aware that the alleged spy balloon flown over the United States was on course to transit the country.Earlier this month, the US shot down the alleged surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, despite China having stressed that the balloon was part of a civilian weather research initiative.Just days after the Chinese balloon was downed off the coast of South Carolina, the US announced it had shot down three additional "objects" it perceived as a threat. No Benefit in China's Ukraine Peace Plan, Doubts Beijing Will Arm RussiaTouching on the recent release of China's position paper on the Ukraine conflict, Biden said he sees nothing in Chinas proposed plan for Ukraine that would benefit any country but Russia.The president further noted that the "idea that China would is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war ... is just not rational."However, the president did go on to state that the US "would respond" if it determined China had in fact provided any form of lethal arms to aid Russia in its operation. He did not elaborate on what the US response would look like, simply referring to its sanctions campaign already underway."It would be the same line everyone else would have crossed. In other words, we've imposed severe sanctions on anyone who has done that," Biden said.It's worth noting that the European Union earlier emphasized that no evidence whatsoever has been found to suggest that Beijing has supplied weapons.Earlier, China released a 12-point document titled "Chinas Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis," promoting, among other things, respect of the sovereignty of all countries, the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.The Russian Foreign Ministry in response to the proposal said Russia values China's sincere desire to contribute to the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. The Kremlin has repeatedly emphasized its readiness to negotiate, while the government in Kiev has ruled out any talks as long as Vladimir Putin remains president of Russia.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230224/new-2bln-ukraine-aid-package-includes-himars-ammo-switchblade-drones-pentagon-says-1107765980.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230221/us-military-uses-balloons-disguises-recon-aircraft-as-civilian-planes-to-spy-on-china-gt-report-1107662122.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230224/forget-cold-war-stance--politicization-what-did-china-say-in-its-position-paper-on-ukraine-crisis-1107754814.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/new-level-harassment-alex-jones-claims-doj-wants-to-give-his-cat-to-sandy-hook-families-1107787452.html

'New Level Harassment': Alex Jones Claims DOJ Wants to Give His Cat to Sandy Hook Families

'New Level Harassment': Alex Jones Claims DOJ Wants to Give His Cat to Sandy Hook Families

Infowars host Alex Jones claimed that the US Department of Justice is trying to tries to take his cat as payment for part of the Sandy Hook shooting victims' families lawsuit, US media reports.

2023-02-25T04:09+0000

2023-02-25T04:09+0000

2023-02-25T04:09+0000

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Infowars host Alex Jones has claimed the US Department of Justice is trying to take his cat as payment for the settlement stemming from the lawsuit filed by Sandy Hook shooting victims' families. According to Jones, the DOJ have suggested he is using cat to hid money, US media reports.In a video shared by attorney Ron Filipkowski on Friday, Jones is seen holding a large Ragdoll cat while he talks about a nearly three-hour meeting that focused on his company's bankruptcy proceedings and the payout from his settlements.Jones has repeatedly claimed the events of the 2012 school shooting were faked by the US government to take away the right to own guns from US citizens, and that some of the victims were hired actors. The victim's relatives sued him for making such statements."You guys aren't getting the cat," Jones said. "This is next level. This is harassment. No one has ever heard of this. My lawyer has never heard of this. This is just insane."The Sandy Hook massacre ended with the murder of 20 children and six adults at the hands of shooter Adam Lanza, who later committed suicide. In total, 27 people were killed as Lanza had preceded the shooting by killing his mother.In October, a Connecticut court ordered Jones to pay $965 million in compensation to the families and survivors of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, as well as $473mln in punitive damages.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/perus-president-recalls-ambassador-to-mexico-downgrades-relations-1107796193.html

Perus President Recalls Ambassador to Mexico, Downgrades Relations

Perus President Recalls Ambassador to Mexico, Downgrades Relations

The President of Peru, Dina Boluarte has announced her decision to recall the Peruvian ambassador to Mexico and reduce the level of relations with that country following criticism from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

2023-02-25T10:56+0000

2023-02-25T10:56+0000

2023-02-25T10:57+0000

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peru

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Earlier on Friday, the Mexican president described Boluarte as a "false" president, pointing out that Boluarte only has 15% support, while 90% of Peruvians reject members of parliament. In December of last year, Obrador's statements about the situation in Peru led to the expulsion of Mexican Ambassador to Peru Pablo Monroy Conesa from Lima. Pablo Monroy was declared persona non-grata. Earlier this month, the Peruvian parliament approved a motion to declare Colombian President Gustavo Petro persona non grata in response to his statements comparing the Peru police to Nazis. In December 2022, Peru's parliament impeached former President Pedro Castillo. Then-Prime Minister Dina Boluarte took an oath as the country's new president within two hours of the impeachment vote, vowing to serve out the rest of Castillo's term, which runs until July 2026. Castillo, who had tried to dissolve the parliament before the vote, was arrested after the impeachment procedure and the Peruvian prosecutor's office launched a criminal case against him on charges of a coup attempt and crimes against the state. The cascade of events sparked a wave of protests across the country. Demonstrators have denounced the post-impeachment government, calling for an immediate presidential election and dissolution of the country's parliament.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230218/perus-parliament-declares-colombian-president-persona-non-grata-over-remarks-on-police-1107567723.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/rossiya-segodnya-chief-calls-eu-sanctions-an-act-of-self-destruction-1107808438.html

Rossiya Segodnya Chief Calls EU Sanctions An Act of Self-Destruction

Rossiya Segodnya Chief Calls EU Sanctions An Act of Self-Destruction

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Dmitry Kiselev, chief editor of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, which was blacklisted on Saturday in a new EU sanctions package against... 25.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-25T20:20+0000

2023-02-25T20:20+0000

2023-02-25T20:20+0000

world

media censorship

european union (eu)

rossiya segodnya

sanctions

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"The United States has not yet announced sanctions against our media group and is pushing Europe forward. It is another step toward self-destruction made by Europe and it benefits no one," he said. The European Union accused Rossiya Segodnya of "disseminating false information" about the conflict in Ukraine and the spillover effect of Western sanctions imposed on Russia on poorer countries. It also added the companys executive director, Kirill Vyshinsky, to its blacklist.Timur Shafir, senior official at the Russian Union of Journalists, said the EU's newest round of sanctions was an attempt to limit Europes access to information from Russia.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/russia-not-leaving-new-start-very-important-ex-pentagon-advisor-says-1107791681.html

Russia Not Leaving New START 'Very Important', Ex-Pentagon Advisor Says

Russia Not Leaving New START 'Very Important', Ex-Pentagon Advisor Says

Russian parliament approved a bill to suspend Russia's participation in the New START Treaty, a decision that was announced by President Vladimir Putin during his address to the Federal Assembly earlier this week.

2023-02-25T08:11+0000

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2023-02-25T10:20+0000

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The fact that Russia has suspended its participation in the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) instead of withdrawing from it is very important, retired US Army colonel Douglas Macgregor said in a YouTube interview. The ex-US army colonel, who served as Pentagon advisor under former President Donald Trump, added that its in our interest to restore the treaty at some point and I think he [Putin]s made that point. According to Macgregor, we have enough explosive power between the United States and Russia to destroy the planet; end of discussion.Macgregor spoke a day after the Russian president announced the suspension of his countrys participation in the new START Treaty during his address to the Federal Assembly on February 21. Putin cited Washingtons efforts to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow and help Ukraine launch drone attacks against Russias strategic deterrent while absurdly calling for more nuclear inspections.The Russian Foreign Ministry pledged that Moscow would continue to comply with quantitative restrictions on strategic offensive arms despite the new STARTs suspension.The New START, in effect since February 5, 2011, is the last remaining legally binding agreement between the US and Russia. Under the document, Moscow and Washington have been required to reduce their nuclear arsenal to a total of 700 missiles, 800 launchers and 1,550 deployed warheads. The treaty was set to expire last year, but both sides managed to find common ground to approve a prolongation of the accord for five more years without renegotiating any of its terms.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230221/whats-new-start-treaty-and-why-did-russia-suspend-it-1107667839.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/scholz-and-macron-reportedly-tell-zelensky-to-start-considering-peace-talks-with-russia-1107803187.html

Scholz and Macron Reportedly Tell Zelensky to Start Considering Peace Talks With Russia

Scholz and Macron Reportedly Tell Zelensky to Start Considering Peace Talks With Russia

Moscow earlier emphasized its readiness to sit down with Kiev without preliminary conditions, while Ukrainian authorities rule out any talks as long as Vladimir Putin remains President of Russia.

2023-02-25T14:58+0000

2023-02-25T14:58+0000

2023-02-25T14:58+0000

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French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to start considering peace talks with Russia, a US newspaper has cited unnamed sources as saying.According to the insiders, the French president also said that even though Zelensky "had been a great war leader," he "would eventually have to shift into political statesmanship and make difficult decisions."The newspaper reported that the sources "were careful to say that any decision on when and under what conditions any peace talks start is entirely up to Ukraine." The paper quoted UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as claiming that the West should give Ukraine arms that would give it a "decisive advantage" on the battlefield, including warplanes, to prompt Kiev to sit at the negotiating table.The report comes as Beijing released a 12-point document titled "Chinas Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis," promoting, among other things, respect of the sovereignty of all countries, the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, said that he plans to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to discuss Beijing's proposals. Zelensky previously stated that Kiev would not negotiate with Moscow as long as Vladimir Putin remains the Russian president. The Russian Foreign Ministry underscored earlier this month that Moscow is ready for peace negotiations with Ukraine, but without preliminary conditions and "on the basis of the reality that currently exists."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/beating-war-drums-us-claims-china-considering-russian-military-aid-despite-beijings-peace-calls-1107787816.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/shallow-53-magnitude-quake-hits-central-turkey-afad-says-1107799318.html

Shallow 5.3-Magnitude Quake Hits Central Turkiye

Shallow 5.3-Magnitude Quake Hits Central Turkiye

A shallow 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck the province of Nigde in central Turkiye on Saturday afternoon, causing no apparent damage, the head of the Turkish disaster management authority AFAD said.

2023-02-25T13:16+0000

2023-02-25T13:16+0000

2023-02-25T13:24+0000

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The quake occurred at the depth of 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) in Bor, a town with some 60,000 residents. The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said it happened 40 kilometers south of Aksaray, a city with a population of over 150,000. The mayor of Bor was quoted as saying by Turkish broadcaster that no notable damage had been immediately reported, besides small cracks in the asphalt. A devastating 7.8-magnitude quake followed by thousands of aftershocks rocked Turkiye on February 6, killing more than 44,000 and displacing hundreds of thousands. The death toll in neighboring Syria exceeds 1,500, according to official figures.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230221/turkish-authorities-dismiss-rumors-about-mysterious-flashes-causing-earthquakes-1107667623.html

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Russian Ombudswoman Says EU Sanctions Violate Universal Declaration of Human Rights



Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova has called her inclusion on the new EU sanctions list a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

On Saturday, the European Union published its latest list of sanctions targeting 87 Russian nationals and 34 entities over the conflict in Ukraine. The 10th package of restrictions includes Moskalkova among the sanctioned individuals.

"Basically, as a human rights ombudsman in the Russian Federation, I was denied the right to personally convey our human rights position to the European ombudsmen, to fight for the rights of compatriots, including the right to free movement, the right to use their native language, their property, freedom of speech, and so on. ... These actions violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other international human rights instruments," Moskalkova told reporters.

The Russian ombudswoman said that democratic dialogue and human rights diplomacy, which had allowed Russia to "actually help people," have been erased by the sanctions and expressed regret that "the humanitarian bridges built with such difficulty by the Ombudsmen have been burned for the sake of the political trends."

Moskalkova argued that EU leaders are doing everything to hide the truth about the genocide of the people of Donbas from European citizens, so that they do not find out about the torture of Russian soldiers, the fate of millions of people who have fled to Russia from Ukraine, afraid of Ukrainian shelling.

Nonetheless, the Russian ombudswoman said, sanctions have not had the desired effect and Russias achievements in various spheres have helped educate the Western public.

She added that Western sanctions against Russia are another evidence of the "impotence" of Washington and EU countries and their desire to escalate the Ukraine conflict.

The 10th package of sanctions against Russia officially announced by the EU on Saturday brings the total number of blacklisted entities to 205, while 1,473 people face travel bans and asset freezes. EU sanctions include financial and trade restrictions, as well as individual sanctions.

Russia has been able to largely withstand the sanctions pressure that the European Union and its allies have been piling on it since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine in February, 2022. The United Nations estimated in its January World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report that the Russian economy contracted by just around 3% last year (versus the projected 15%).

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the policy of containing and weakening Moscow is part of the West's long-term strategy, while sanctions have instead hit the entire global economy and worsened the lives of millions of people.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/us-nuclear-submarine-makes-port-call-in-south-korea--1107804672.html

US Nuclear Submarine Makes Port Call in South Korea

US Nuclear Submarine Makes Port Call in South Korea

The US 7th Fleet announced on Saturday the arrival of its fast-attack submarine USS Springfield at the naval base in the South Korean port city of Busan, in an apparent show of force aimed at the North.

2023-02-25T14:38+0000

2023-02-25T14:38+0000

2023-02-25T14:38+0000

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Los Angeles-class submarines make routine port calls in South Korea as part of the US navy's forward-deployed submarine force in the Indo-Pacific. The length of the submarine's stay was not revealed. USS Springfield is billed as one of the most capable ships in the entire US navy. Its homeport is in Guam, in the western Pacific. The US Indo-Pacific Command said this week that it would maintain close cooperation with South Korean forces in light of North Koreas "recent aggressive nuclear policy and advancements in nuclear capabilities." North Korea has repeatedly warned the allies against building up military presence near the Korean peninsula and has criticized US-South Korean joint drills as a preparation for invasion. It has launched several ballistic missiles off the eastern coast since the start of the year.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230220/skorean-ruling-party-head-calls-for-development-of-national-nuclear-arms-media-reports-1107615010.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/weekly-news-wrap-up-putin-and-biden-give-speeches-un-nord-stream-hearing-china-russia-alliance-1107784357.html

Weekly News Wrap-Up: Putin and Biden Give Speeches; UN Nord Stream Hearing; China Russia Alliance

Weekly News Wrap-Up: Putin and Biden Give Speeches; UN Nord Stream Hearing; China Russia Alliance

Presidents Putin and Biden gave speeches this week marking the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine conflict, and the Strategic Alliance between China and... 25.02.2023, Sputnik International

2023-02-25T04:07+0000

2023-02-25T04:07+0000

2023-02-25T09:50+0000

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Weekly News Wrap-Up: Putin and Biden Give Speeches; UN Nord Stream Hearing; China Russia Alliance Presidents Putin and Biden gave speeches this week marking the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine conflict, and the Strategic Alliance between China and Russia is expanding.

Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss this week's important economic news stories. Jamie Dimon says the US economy is facing some "scary stuff" ahead. Also, the EU has destroyed its economy for NATO's proxy war against Russia, and the Biden DOJ is backing Norfolk Southern in a major lawsuit.Caleb Maupin, journalist, and political analyst, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. The US ongress has passed an anti-socialism resolution. Also, the relationship between China and Iran is growing, the Seymour Hersh Nord Stream article has been released in the Washington Post, and China has removed a blistering expose on US foreign policy.Dr. Gerald Horne, Professor of History at the University of Houston, TX, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. Presidents Putin and Biden gave speeches this week marking the first anniversary of the Ukraine conflict, and the Strategic Alliance between China and Russia is expanding. Also, the Global South is rejecting US dictates on foreign policy.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, and Jim Kavanagh, whose work can be found at Jim Kavanagh's Substack, thepolemicist.net, and Counterpunch, come together to discuss this week's important news stories. The UN Security Council has convened a hearing on the Nord Stream attacks. Also, Donald Trump is making his moves to win in 2024, Congress is going to Taiwan, and Israel is becoming unstable.Ajamu Baraka, 2016 US vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, and Netfa Freeman, Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM Pan-Africanist and internationalist organizer, come together to discuss this week's important news stories. We discuss the connections between the US empire's internal and external colonialist/imperialist policies.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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Peacefully surrounded by his loving family at Jessicas House, James "Gary" Keays of Ailsa Craig, Ont. passed away on Feb. 23, 2023, at the age of 76.

Gary enjoyed the many different roles he had in the Standardbred industry. After moving to Manitoba from Ontario to participate in harness racing industry there with his own stable, he worked as a race secretary and that led to becoming a judge. After moving back to Ontario and working in a different field, he realized he still wanted to be involved with harness racing. He then became a judge for the Ontario Racing Commission, where he retired in 2009.

Gary had a love for trotters. One of Gary's highlights of his career was setting the Rideau Carleton Raceway track record with trotter High Lightning on May 7, 1978 with a career best time of 2:02.3.

Gary's passion for horses will live on through his daughter Sarah, who you could often find tagging along Gary to the track. Fifty-six years ago he married his sweetheart Verda, who was also involved in the Manitoba fair circuit.

He was an active member in his community serving on the Ailsa Craig Council, Community Policing, and Gala Days. Gary developed many close relationships throughout his amazing career.

Gary was the beloved husband of Verda for 56 wonderful years. Proud father of Sarah (grand-pup Winston), and Dawnna, Dawnna who he proudly walked down the aisle to marry Joe Circelli. Gary was the dedicated, supportive, and caring Pa of Anthony and Dante Circelli, who he supported wholeheartedly. Gary is survived by his sister and brother-in-law Karen and Ron Core and sister-in-law Gwen Shantz. Predeceased by his parents Howard and Helen Keays, second wife Doris, brother-in-law Ron Shantz, and mother-in-law and father-in-law Wilma and Harry Shantz. Gary will be missed dearly by his extended family, friends, and community.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m., at Denning's of Ailsa Craig. A funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at 1 p.m., with visitation one hour prior beginning at 12 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

In memory of Gary, donations may be made to Jessicas House in Exeter or to a charity of your choice.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to all of the volunteers and staff at Jessicas House, Dr. Leger, and PSW Della for their compassionate care.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Gary Keays.
A 21-year-old Lincoln man was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly picked up a teenage girl from her school during her lunch period last May, bought her fast food and then demanded sex for payment, police said in new court filings.

Justin Nicholson was 20 years old when he drove to the school on May 5, 2022, and picked up a 15-year-old girl before buying her lunch at Chick-fil-A near 48th and O streets, Lincoln Police Investigator Chris Champoux said in the affidavit for Nicholson's arrest.

The girl told police Nicholson drove her back toward her school after lunch but stopped his car in a residential area near the building and insisted she repay him for the lunch with sex, Champoux said in the affidavit.

The teen told Nicholson she wasn't interested, but he persisted, she told police. Nicholson allegedly removed her clothes and sexually assaulted her in the back seat of his car, Champoux said.

Police did not name the school nor describe its location in court records.

A nurse examined the girl after the alleged assault and collected DNA samples that were later matched to Nicholson, according to the affidavit.

Police arrested the 21-year-old near his house at 17th and South streets Tuesday and took him to the Lancaster County jail.

Prosecutors charged him Thursday with first-degree sexual assault of a minor.

Most popular boy names in the '00s in Nebraska Most popular boy names in the '00s in Nebraska #50. Cameron #49. Jayden #48. Landon #47. Owen #46. Blake #45. Thomas #44. Luke #43. Wyatt #42. Jonathan #41. Brandon #40. Christopher #39. Evan #38. Cole #37. Elijah #36. David #35. Christian #34. Isaac #33. Gabriel #32. Carter #31. John #30. Connor #29. Jack #28. James #27. Daniel #26. Gavin #25. Hunter #24. Mason #23. Anthony #22. Nicholas #21. Austin #20. Ryan #19. Nathan #18. Dylan #17. Caleb #16. Matthew #15. Benjamin #14. Joseph #13. Jackson #12. Michael #11. Zachary #10. William #9. Noah #8. Logan #7. Andrew #6. Tyler #5. Joshua #4. Samuel #3. Alexander #2. Ethan #1. Jacob
Theres a knot in Bethany Ostroms stomach as the Cessna 180 airplane soars closer to the bridge over the Platte River near Chapman.

Thats where Ostrom begins her new job: estimating crane numbers from the sky for the Crane Trust. Shes taken over this spring after spending 1 years as the data recorder.

Its an exhausting few hours of work, but its also an experience she wouldnt want to pass up.

Its pretty awesome, she said. It really is quite beautiful up there, especially with the sunrise over the river. I just love it.

Ostrom, 26, has moved into the counters spot in the second row of the four-seater plane after the departure of lead biologist Andy Caven, who had done it the previous 10 years. Paul Dunning is the pilot and Matthew Schaaf sits next to him up front recording the data from Ostrom.

Last Friday, in her first report of the year, Ostrom estimated there were 6,400 cranes on the river. That number will grow to more than 600,000 at the peak of the spring migration, usually in the middle of March to early April.

Her seat alone in the second row gives Ostrom plenty of space as she shifts from window to window counting the number of birds migrating through the state on their way north to their breeding grounds.

I have a camera and binoculars ready at all times, Ostrom said. Im constantly scanning the entire landscape but mostly the river.

The plane follows the river 80 miles to Overton. Ostrom starts with a small flock or roost of 10 birds and uses that size to estimate numbers. Counting starts at first light before the birds disperse for the day.

The hardest part of the quick journey, Ostrom said, is the pressure she feels to get the numbers right. Stressful, but fun, is how she sums it up.

Audubons Rowe Sanctuary, as well as other entities in the area, rely on her estimates.

Rowe Director Bill Taddicken said the counts are a good resource for guests.

Its nice for the visitors experience as people are coming from all over the country and all over the world, he said.

Its also important, he said, for historical data so scientists can spot migratory trends with the birds.

Ostrom is not done when the plane lands. It takes her about a day to analyze the data collected by the science team each week. Shell even count each bird individually to make sure numbers are correct when released each Friday from Feb. 15 to April 15.

The Crane Trusts Matt Fong also shares the numbers on the organizations social media accounts. Engagement skyrockets when the birds arrive.

Its amazing to see the number of people who are curious, he said. It goes through the roof. Its a valuable bit of information we can provide.

Ostrom expects numbers to grow again this week, but its determined by the weather here in Nebraska and at the breeding grounds throughout Canada, Alaska, and as far north as Siberia.

Her first count of 6,400 was average for this time of year. It can vary from 4,000 to 10,000 the first week.

If the winds are blowing in the right direction, there might be a big push, she said. If the weather is bad, they might not come through as quickly.

Photos: Majestic sandhill cranes in Nebraska Flying in a clear blue sky Pair of sandhill cranes at sunset near Gibbon, Nebraska Sandhill cranes on and above a field near Gibbon Sandhill cranes Cranes Cranes Sandhill cranes Cranes Cranes Cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes flying high Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes The Nebraska Project cranes The Nebraska Project The Nebraska Project Sandhill Cranes Sandhill crane Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Rowe Bird Sancutary Cranes in January Cranes in January Cranes in January Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Cranes at sunset Cranes in the water Cranes fly in waves over trees at sunset Sandhill cranes begin to roost at sunset Sandhill cranes glide in for a landing to roost for the night Viewing sandhill cranes from Richard Plautz viewing site A sandhill crane flies above a field south of Gibbon Sandhill cranes silhouetted against the evening sky Sandhill cranes fly over a field Sandhill cranes flock near an irrigation pivot Sandhill cranes forage for food in a field A pair of sandhill cranes glide in a clear blue sky Sandhill cranes gather near farm machinery Sandhill cranes on the Platte River in Nebraska
The state attorney general's office and Democratic lawmakers are arming themselves for potential conflict with anti-abortion states, pursuing tactics aimed at fending off attempts to use laws elsewhere to prosecute or sue people in Washington involved in terminating pregnancies.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Thursday his office recruited several Washington law firms to participate in a national network providing free legal aid to abortion patients, providers and others helping those wanting to end their pregnancies.

Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are moving forward with a proposed "shield law" that would block abortion-related warrants, subpoenas, extradition requests and court orders from getting traction in Washington.

Whether such legal action is forthcoming is unclear.

"I don't understand the need," said Julie Barrett, founder and president of Conservative Ladies of Washington. "I haven't heard of anybody having issues accessing abortion care in Washington."

But the legal landscape around abortion has dramatically changed since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June, leaving a dizzying patchwork of opposing laws around the country.

Some state laws, like Washington's, make abortion a right. Legislation in other states make it a crime: Texas abortion providers, for example, can get up to life in prison, and performing or facilitating an abortion can leave someone there vulnerable to a civil lawsuit.

"The concern is that we'll start to see those states attempt to apply their laws beyond their own borders," said Kristin Beneski, Washington's first assistant attorney general.

Anti-abortion activists and lawmakers have floated that possibility as increasing numbers of people are crossing state lines to end their pregnancies. Washington is seeing abortion patients from all over the country, including Texas and other Southern states  though the influx so far has not been as large as predicted, according to several providers.

"A lot of these issues remain untested in the courts," Beneski said. Adding to the cloudiness, hundreds of abortion bills are pending around the country, most seeking further restrictions.

James Bopp, the Indiana-based general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, said a state with anti-abortion laws could only reach beyond its borders in limited circumstances. "As long as the conduct is in Washington, Texas law wouldn't reach it," he said.

Yet Bopp illustrates creative ways of meeting that standard, contemplating a scenario in which a Washingtonian arranges a flight for someone seeking an abortion.

"The plane takes off in Texas," he said. "That might be enough."

Bopp also added he wasn't sure whether a state could stop someone from traveling elsewhere for an abortion despite what many interpret as a constitutional right to interstate travel  noted by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a concurring opinion on Roe. U.S. Senate Republicans last year blocked a bill that would protect such interstate travel.

Washington's official position, laid out in a "know your rights" document prepared by Ferguson's office, is that state law allows people from elsewhere to come here for an abortion.

No lawyers in Ferguson's office are participating in the pro bono service, as the office's mission is to represent the state, not individuals, Beneski said. Nor will taxpayer money be used, according to an office spokesperson. A national reproductive rights group called The Lawyering Project is managing the initiative.

State Rep. Drew Hansen, a Bainbridge Island Democrat, said he believes his proposed shield law, House Bill 1469, would give the new legal service "some extremely powerful tools."

The bill requires out-of-state entities looking to enforce abortion laws to say so when sending warrants and other legal mechanisms to Washington  and requires local officials to not honor such requests. The bill similarly protects gender-affirming care.

The proposed legislation would also create a counterclaim for those targeted by anti-abortion legal action, who could receive up to $10,000 plus damages, including attorney fees.

Proponents of the bill met with Republican opposition last month in the House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee. Ranking minority member Jim Walsh, of Aberdeen, said he worried about "an abortion tourism industry" and, more specifically to this bill, setting up a tit-for-tat scenario.

"If we don't honor the actions of courts, of law enforcement agencies from other states, we run the risk of other states not honoring ours," Walsh said.

The bill nevertheless passed easily out of committee and waits a vote on the House floor.
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:

A car passes Facebook's new Meta logo on a sign at the company headquarters on Oct. 28, 2021, in Menlo Park, Calif. The latest folding smartphones, immersive metaverse experiences, AI-powered chatbot avatars and other eye-catching technology are set to wow visitors at the annual MWC wireless trade fair. The four-day show, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicks off Monday in a vast Barcelona conference center. It's the worlds biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. Credit: AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File

The latest folding-screen smartphones, immersive metaverse experiences, AI-powered chatbot avatars and other eye-catching technology are set to wow visitors at the annual MWC wireless trade fair that kicks off Monday.

The four-day show, held in a vast Barcelona conference center, is the world's biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. The range of technology set to go on display illustrates how the show, also known as Mobile World Congress, has evolved from a forum for mobile phone standards into a showcase for new wireless tech.

Organizers are expecting as many as 80,000 visitors from as many as 200 countries and territories as the event resumes at full strength after several years of pandemic disruptions.

Here's a look at what to expect:

METAVERSE

There was a lot of buzz around the metaverse at last year's MWC and at other recent tech fairs like last month's CES in Las Vegas. Expect even more at this event.

A slew of companies are planning to show off their metaverse experiences that will allow users to connect with each other, attend events far away or enter fantastical new online worlds.

Software company Amdocs will use virtual and augmented reality to give users a "metatour" of Dubai. Other tech and telecom companies promise metaverse demos to help with physical rehab, virtually try on clothes or learn how to fix aircraft landing gear.

The Microsoft Bing logo and the website's page are shown in this photo taken in New York on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. The latest folding smartphones, immersive metaverse experiences, AI-powered chatbot avatars and other eye-catching technology are set to wow visitors at the annual MWC wireless trade fair. The four-day show, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicks off Monday in a vast Barcelona conference center. It's the worlds biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. Credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

The metaverse's popularity exploded after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in late 2021 exalted it as the next big thing for the internet and his company. Lately, though, doubts have started to creep in.

"All the business models around the metaverse are a big question mark right now," said John Strand, a veteran telecom industry consultant.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI has caught the tech world's attention thanks to the dramatic advances in new tools like ChatGPT that can hold conversations and generate readable text. Expect artificial intelligence to be deployed as an "overused buzzword" at MWC, said Ben Wood, principal analyst at CCS Insight.

Companies are promising to show how they're using AI to make home Wi-Fi networks more energy efficient or sniff out fakes.

Microsoft's press representatives have hinted that they might have a demonstration of ChatGPT but haven't provided any details. The company added AI chatbot technology to its Bing search engine but scrambled to make fixes after it responded with insults or wrong answers to some users who got early access.

Startups will demo their own AI-powered chat technology: D-ID will show off their eerie "digital human" avatars, while Botslovers says its service promises to "free humans from boring tasks."

A ChatGPT prompt is shown on a device near a public school in Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. The latest folding smartphones, immersive metaverse experiences, AI-powered chatbot avatars and other eye-catching technology are set to wow visitors at the annual MWC wireless trade fair. The four-day show, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicks off Monday in a vast Barcelona conference center. It's the worlds biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. Credit: AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File

NOT JUST SMARTPHONES

MWC hit its stride in the previous decade as the smartphone era boomed, with device makers competing for attention with glitzy product launches. Nowadays, smartphone innovation has hit a plateau and companies are increasingly debuting phones in other ways.

Attention at the show is focusing on potential uses for 5G, the next generation of ultrafast wireless technology that promises to unlock a wave of innovation beyond just smartphones, such as automated factories, driverless cars and smart cities.

"Mobile phones will still be a hot topic at MWC, but they've become a mature, iterative and almost boring category," Wood said. "The only excitement will come from the slew of foldable designs and prototypes, but the real size of the market for these premium products remains unclear."

Device launches will be dominated by a slew of lesser known Chinese brands such as OnePlus, Xiaomi, ZTE and Honor looking to take market share from the market leaders, Apple and Samsung.

Text from the ChatGPT page of the OpenAI website is shown in this photo, in New York, Feb. 2, 2023. The latest folding smartphones, immersive metaverse experiences, AI-powered chatbot avatars and other eye-catching technology are set to wow visitors at the annual MWC wireless trade fair. The four-day show, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicks off Monday in a vast Barcelona conference center. It's the worlds biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. Credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

CHINESE PRESENCE

Chinese technology giant Huawei will have a major presence at MWC, despite being blacklisted by the Western governments as part of a broader geopolitical battle between Washington and Beijing over technology and security.

Organizers say Huawei will have the biggest presence at the show among some 2,000 exhibitors. That's even after the U.S. pushed allies to get their mobile phone companies to block or restrict Huawei's networking equipment over concerns Beijing could induce the company to carry out cybersnooping or sabotage critical communications infrastructure.

Huawei, which has repeatedly denied those allegations, also has been squeezed by Western sanctions aimed at starving it of components like microchips.

Analysts say one message that Huawei could be sending with its oversized display is defiance to the West.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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China to continue to play responsible, constructive role in addressing Ukraine crisis: envoy

Xinhua) 10:09, February 25, 2023

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to continue to play a responsible and constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis, a Chinese envoy said Friday, while expounding China's position on the political settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.

Addressing a high-level Security Council briefing on Ukraine, Dai Bing, charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, said that China issued earlier Friday a paper stating its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

"We have always taken an objective and impartial stance based on the merits of the issue," he said.

Dai stressed that when handling and solving international disputes, universally recognized international law, including the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, must be upheld.

The sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively guaranteed. Observing universally recognized international law and the basic norms governing international relations bears on the stability of the international system and international fairness and justice. They should be equally and uniformly applied in every place and on every issue without exception, he said.

"Some country, while stressing sovereignty and territorial integrity on the Ukraine issue, is blatantly interfering in other countries' internal affairs and undermining their sovereignty and territorial integrity," Dai said. "This reveals its double standard at full display. The international community is clear-eyed about this."

He underscored the need to pursue common security to facilitate a political solution to the Ukraine crisis, saying security is not an exclusive right enjoyed only by some countries.

The security of one country should not be pursued at the expense of others. Strengthening or even expanding military blocs will only undermine regional security and will never bring about peace, he said.

Russia, Ukraine and European countries are neighbors that cannot be physically moved away. To realize lasting peace and stability in Europe, the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation must be abandoned, and the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously and addressed properly, so as to build a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture, said Dai.

Highlighting diplomatic negotiations as the only right way to solve the Ukraine crisis, he said "conflicts have no winners" and called on the international community to promote peace talks with the highest sense of urgency and work to create enabling factors and platforms for the resumption of negotiation.

Bringing parties to the conflict back to the negotiating table is not going to be easy, but it is the first step toward a political solution, he said.

"We call on Russia and Ukraine to resume negotiations without any preconditions," the envoy said. "Ukraine is not an arena for fights between major countries. No one should seek to benefit from the conflict at the cost of the Ukrainian people."

Dai emphasized that it is imperative to never cross the red line of nuclear security under any circumstances.

Nuclear weapons must never be used, and nuclear war must never be fought. Faced with the risk that the Ukraine crisis could lead to an escalation of the conflict, major countries bear special and important responsibilities to maintain communication and coordination and to do everything they can to prevent a nuclear crisis, he said.

The international community should jointly oppose armed attacks against nuclear power plants or other peaceful nuclear facilities, ensure strict compliance with the Convention on Nuclear Safety, among others, and support the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in playing a constructive role in promoting the safety and security of peaceful nuclear facilities, he added.

The humanitarian crisis is worsening and should be proactively and properly addressed, Dai said.

The international humanitarian law is a code of conduct that must be strictly observed in conflict situations. Relevant parties should avoid attacking civilians or civilian facilities, protect the vulnerable, including women and children, ensure humanitarian access, and respect the basic rights of prisoners of war, he said.

The international community should increase humanitarian assistance, help restore civilian infrastructure, and ensure the basic livelihood of refugees and displaced persons, with a view to preventing a humanitarian crisis on a larger scale, Dai said.

"At the same time, humanitarian operations should earnestly follow the principles of neutrality and impartiality and avoid politicization," he stressed.

The envoy also urged efforts to be made to manage the spillovers of the Ukraine crisis, which he said has far-reaching impacts, noting that developing countries that are not parties to this conflict should not pay an excessively high price for it.

Some relevant parties have been resorting to unilateral sanctions and maximum pressure, which cannot solve any issue, and can only undermine the stability of the global industrial and supply chains and exacerbate the global food, energy and financial crises, he said.

"We hope that the relevant parties will take responsible actions and stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction," said Dai.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United Nations and Russia on the export of food products and fertilizers have great significance for ensuring global food security and should be implemented fully and effectively in a balanced manner, he said.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Heres a look at area fish fry events:

St. Marys Catholic Church will host its fish fries of the Lenten season beginning Feb. 24 and will continue every Friday through March 24.

The Knights of Columbus and Cathedral Ladies will serve the meals from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Cathedral Square, 112 S. Cedar St. in Grand Island.

The meal includes fish, mac and cheese, potatoes, a vegetable, desserts and drinks.

Freewill offerings will be accepted.

CENTRAL CITY  The Central City Knights of Columbus Lenten fish fries began Feb. 17 and will continue every Friday through March 31.

Meals will be served from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at St. Michaels Parish Hall, 2004 24th St. in Central City. The all-you-can-eat dinners will include fried or baked fish, coleslaw, potatoes, dessert and a drink.

The cost is $15 for adults and $8 for children ages 4-11; children 3 and younger eat for free.

For the carry-out option, call 308-946-2214, and use the drive-through on the south side of parish hall.

Everyone is welcome.

ALBION  St. Michaels Knights of Columbus began its fish fries for Lent on Feb. 17 and they will continue every Friday through April 7.

The meals will be serve from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the KC Hall, 521 W. Church in Albion.

The menu includes fried fish, baked potato, french fries, green beans, coleslaw, dinner roll, drinks and ice cream for dessert.

There is a suggested donation of $15.

HASTINGS  St. Cecilias Knights of Columbus will have its Lenten fish fries beginning on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, followed by every Friday from Feb. 24 to March 31.

Meals will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. at Centennial Hall, 301 W. Seventh St. Take out is available upon request. The cost is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, $8 for children 4-12; free for children under 3. The maximum family price will be $50.

The all-you-can-eat meals include fried and baked pollock fish, a vegetable, mac and cheese, hush puppies and fries, tea, water and coffee.

For dessert, pies will be available at a separate cost.

DONIPHAN  The St. Anns Knights of Columbus will host its Lenten fish fry Friday, Feb. 24.

Meals will be served from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and take-out is available at the church, 202 N. Fifth St. in Doniphan.

The menu includes fish, fish sticks, green beans, coleslaw, dessert and drinks.

The cost is $10 for adults; $5 for children within the family group and those ages 3 and under eating for free.

ST. PAUL  The Howard County Catholics, representing the communities of St. Paul, Elba and Farewell, will host fish fries during Lent beginning Feb. 24, in addition to March 10 and 24.

The meals will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish Life Center, 713 Elm St. in St. Paul.

The menu includes baked and fried fish, potatoes, green beans, salad, dinner roll, dessert and drinks.

The cost is $12 for adults, $5 for children 6-12; free for children 5 and under.

ORD  The Knights of Columbus for Our Lady of Perpetual Help is having Lenten fish fries beginning Feb. 24 and also March 10 and 31.

The meals will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. at the gymnasium at St. Marys Catholic School, 527 N. 20th St. in Ord.

The menu includes fish, potato salad, mac and cheese, green beans, hush puppies, garlic bread, dessert and drinks.

The cost is $12 for adults and $5 for children ages 12 and under.

The Knights of Columbus for Spalding and Ericson has scheduled its Lenten fish fries from 5:30 to 7 p.m. every Friday beginning Feb. 24.

The meal includes deep fat-fried pollock, coleslaw, salad, drinks and ice cream for dessert.

The cost is $13 for adults with a discount for families.

Meals will be at served St. Michaels Parish Center, 150 Marguerite St. in Spalding, on Feb. 24 and March 3, 10 and 31.

On March 17 and 24, the meals will be served at St. Theresas Community Hall, 201 Chesapeake St. in Ericson.

GREELEY  Sacred Hearts Knights of Columbus fish fries every Friday beginning Feb. 24 and continue through March 31.

Meals will be served from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 302 W. Wicklow Ave., in Greeley.

The menu includes deep fried fish, baked beans, french fries, mac & cheese, salad, desserts and drinks.

Adults are $12.50, children 6 and older are $8, family of four (two adults and two children) is $40; children 5 and under are free.

KEARNEY  The Knights of Columbus will have its annual Lenten fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. every Friday during Lent, Feb. 24 to March 31, at the Old Town Hall, 1900 Central Ave. in Kearney.

The menu includes fried and baked fish, shrimp, baked potatoes, coleslaw, dinner roll, tea, lemonade or coffee for $15. A mac & cheese side or kids meal can be obtained for $4. Beer will also be available.

This Lenten season, Knights of Columbus No. 2388 will be hosting its annual fish fries beginning Feb. 24 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The local Knights of Columbus has organized the Lenten fish fry events with a menu of fried fish, fried shrimp, potato salad, coleslaw, desserts, coffee, tea, water, and bread and butter. All are welcome to attend.

The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-12; free for 5 and under.

The dates and locations:

* Feb 24: Merna  Merna Community Center, 428 E. Center Ave.

* March 3: Broken Bow  St. Joseph Parish Center, 1407 South E St.

* March 10: Callaway  Callaway Community Center, 203 W. Kimball

* March 17: Anselmo  Winters Memorial Library, 101 N. Dorr St.

* March 24: Sargent  Sargent Community Center, 314 W. Main St.

* March 31: Ansley  Ansley Municipal Auditorium, 720 Douglas St.

BURWELL  The Knights of Columbus will host its Lenten fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. March 3 at Sacred Hearts Parish Center, 747 I St. in Burwell.

The menu includes fish, potato salad, green beans, dessert and drinks.

The cost is $12 for adults and $5 for children ages 12 and under.

The Loup City/Ravenna Knights of Columbus has scheduled its Lenten fish fries beginning March 3 and will continue through Lent on March 17 and March 31.

Meals will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. at St. Josaphats Parish Hall, 709 N. Ninth St. in Loup City.

The meal will include hand-battered fried fish, cheesy potatoes, sauerkraut and dumplings, coleslaw, dinner roll and homemade desserts.

The cost is $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and under.

SHELTON  Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Shelton has scheduled its annual fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 17, at the church, 508 B St. in Shelton

The menu includes beer-battered fish with all the sides including cheesy potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans and dinner rolls, plus desserts made by church ladies.

Cost is $12 for adults and $5 for children ages 4-12; children 3 and younger eat for free.

AURORA  St. Marys Knights of Columbus has scheduled its Lenten fish fry on March 24.

The meal will be served from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the church, 1420 Ninth St. in Aurora.

Pollock fish, french fries and drinks will be served and the Alter Society will be providing desserts.

The all-you-can eat meal costs $10 for adults, $6 for kids and $30 for family.

KENESAW  Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Kenesaw will be having a fish fry fundraiser on March 31.

The meal will be served from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Kenesaw Fire Hall, 115 Maple St.

The meal includes fish with an option of mac and cheese, coleslaw, french fries, dessert and drinks.

The cost is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for children within the family group and those ages 3 and younger are free.

WOOD RIVER  St. Marys Catholic Church in Wood River will host its annual fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 31, at the church, 408 W. 11th St. in Wood River.

The menu will include beer-battered fish with all the sides including cheesy potatoes, coleslaw, green beans and dinner rolls, plus desserts made by church ladies.

Cost is $12 for adults and $6 for children ages 6-12; children 5 and younger eat for free.
During his stay inside St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Thursday morning, Seth Ketelhut allegedly expressed hostility to religion in a graphic way.

The 36-year-old homeless man was found inside the church at about 9 a.m. He was arrested following a standoff at about 10:35 a.m.

In its investigation, Grand Island police found that Ketelhut had "defecated on Bibles, damaged crosses and drew symbols of hate on the walls," says GIPD's Friday media report.

The symbols on the wall included a couple of swastikas, said GIPD Capt. Dean Elliott.

Several windows inside the building were broken. When officers first encountered Ketelhut, he was holding two knives, which came from inside the church.

Police say he refused multiple commands to drop the weapons and eventually walked away from officers while they spoke with him.

He was arrested for burglary, obstructing a police officer, resisting arrest (enhanced because of use of a weapon), criminal mischief (enhanced), possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and first-degree criminal trespassing.

Ketelhut admitted to breaking two windows at The Independent and damaging a truck outside the newspaper. For that crime, he will be charged with criminal mischief.
KEARNEY  The final countdown has begun.

By March 9 John Cervantes and Shelby Parsons expect to be ferrying fare-paying passengers around Kearney as owners of the citys new taxi service, Catch A Ride Taxi and Transportation.

Cervantes said that achieving their dream of launching Catch A Ride required steering through multiple obstacles and roadblocks. Financing, recruiting drivers and state licensing were among the challenges. All of that is in the rear view mirror as Parsons and Cervantes tend to the final details of launching their business venture.

Cervantes has some taxi driving experience in Kearney, so he knows about the need for public transportation. He said it might surprise some to know how many people depend on services such as R.Y.D.E. and Uber to take them to their jobs, medical appointments and other destinations. Kearneys large hotel industry also contributes to the number of passengers who need a lift.

Theres a lot of demand for public transportation, Cervantes said.

People who depend on buses and taxis have been contacting Cervantes and Parsons to ask when their taxis will be running.

So many people need daily rides. They cant wait for us to start, Parsons said.

Obtaining a loan and getting a state license were two of the toughest challenges. Parsons said they visited multiple banks to apply for a startup loan.

We went to five or six banks, Parsons said. The banks told us, Come back after you get started. We didnt need to be turned down, we needed encouragement.

The couples luck changed when they visited FirsTier. The bank agreed to a loan for startup expenses, including the purchase of three vehicles  a Toyota Camry, GMC Acadia and XT4 Cadillac. The three cars have the Catch A Ride logo: a racy-looking car with wings extending from the sides.

Cervantes said he worried that the taxi service dream might be permanently grounded when he applied for a state license.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission thoroughly examines all applications for public transportation licenses, Cervantes said, but Catch A Rides application attracted additional scrutiny.

Cervantes has a criminal record.

He said he was involved in a neighborhood disturbance in 2018 that resulted in three felony charges for terroristic threats and use of a firearm to commit a felony. He said he spent a night in jail and charges were reduced to disturbing the peace.

Cervantes said that prior to the disturbing the peace incident he collected a pile of tickets for driving under suspension, driving without insurance and other vehicular violations.

He said the PSC was extremely careful in reviewing his record before approving his public transportation permit.

During their interview with the Hub, Cervantes and Parsons said they both had been addicted to methamphetamine but are no longer using the drug. Cervantes said he was weary of the drugs many bad effects and realized being a user stood between him and his dreams.

He told Shelby she had to clean up before they could be together.

The couple said they married in 2014, divorced and then fell in love.

They said the financial success of their business wont feel as important as staying drug-free and being contributing members of the community.

Everyone makes mistakes, Cervantes said. What you do afterwards is what sets you apart.

Parsons and Cervantes have to check off a long list before Catch A Ride is ready for its March 9 launch. Topping the list is completing agreements with hotels and other businesses that will want access to taxi service.

The couple also will finish installing meters in their vehicles and having them calibrated by the state.

They said Catch A Ride will operate 24/7. Cervantes and Parsons will drive, plus they are hiring three drivers. Passengers will pay $2.95 for a pick up and $2.50 per mile. The couple plan to use social media to stay in touch with passengers.

Catch A Rides number is 308-293-9264.

Its a big gamble to start this, but we know the more we put into the company the more well get out of it, Cervantes said.

Were excited to serve the community, to be someone people can count on, Parsons said.
Nebraska National Guard members who refused the Pentagon mandate to get COVID-19 vaccinations paid a heavy price for their position, state lawmakers were told Thursday.

At a hearing before the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, some of those members reported spending months with their military status in limbo.

They were not allowed to participate in weekend drills or annual training, which affected pay and career progress. They were not authorized to travel or attend military schools necessary for promotion in their careers. Some faced verbal harassment and pressure.

"The past roughly 18 months have been the worst and most mentally taxing, physically draining and spiritually exhausting of my career," said Master Sgt. Joshua Welter, who has been in the military for more than 15 years.

He joined other guard members in supporting LB642, introduced by Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who retired from the military before running for the Legislature.

The bill would require the Nebraska National Guard to undo any penalties members may have suffered for refusing a COVID vaccination. Members who were discharged would have to be invited to rejoin or have their record upgraded to show they were honorably discharged. The bill also would require the removal of any personnel actions or sanctions related to vaccine refusal.

Welter called the bill "a step in the right direction," although it would not correct everything that guard members have been through.

Like the others who testified, Welter said he sought a religious exemption from the Aug. 24, 2021, requirement to get a COVID vaccination. Some speakers said they had their exemption requests denied, others have not gotten a decision yet.

The mandate was lifted Jan. 10, as required by Congress in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

Matt Downing, who also has spent more than 15 years in the military, spoke in favor of the bill but said it did not go far enough. He said it would not help those who got out of the service because of "oppression" over the vaccine. Nor would it reimburse those who suffered damage to their careers.

One of those who chose to resign was Adam Cassidy, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard. He said he recently resigned his commission rather than continue to serve under Nebraska or federal military leaders.

Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, the Nebraska National Guards adjutant general, testified neutral on the bill. He said the Nebraska National Guard did not discharge any members for refusal to get the vaccination, although the guard had 109 members who had not gotten the shot as of the June 2022 deadline. He said a handful have since gotten the shot.

Of those who left, he said it is difficult to determine how many did so because of the mandate.

But he said the guard is working to try to recruit those former members back and to help others make up some of their losses. For example, he said the guard will try to accommodate members who missed out on school opportunities and will offer extra hours to those who missed out on weekend drills.

At the end of the hearing, Brewer said he wants to hold the bill in committee to give him more time to work with Bohac on the issue.

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Theres a knot in Bethany Ostroms stomach as the Cessna 180 airplane soars closer to the bridge over the Platte River near Chapman.

Thats where Ostrom begins her new job: estimating crane numbers from the sky for the Crane Trust. Shes taken over this spring after spending 1 years as the data recorder.

Its an exhausting few hours of work, but its also an experience she wouldnt want to pass up.

Its pretty awesome, she said. It really is quite beautiful up there, especially with the sunrise over the river. I just love it.

Ostrom, 26, has moved into the counters spot in the second row of the four-seater plane after the departure of lead biologist Andy Caven, who had done it the previous 10 years. Paul Dunning is the pilot and Matthew Schaaf sits next to him up front recording the data from Ostrom.

Last Friday, in her first report of the year, Ostrom estimated there were 6,400 cranes on the river. That number will grow to more than 600,000 at the peak of the spring migration, usually in the middle of March to early April.

Her seat alone in the second row gives Ostrom plenty of space as she shifts from window to window counting the number of birds migrating through the state on their way north to their breeding grounds.

I have a camera and binoculars ready at all times, Ostrom said. Im constantly scanning the entire landscape but mostly the river.

The plane follows the river 80 miles to Overton. Ostrom starts with a small flock or roost of 10 birds and uses that size to estimate numbers. Counting starts at first light before the birds disperse for the day.

The hardest part of the quick journey, Ostrom said, is the pressure she feels to get the numbers right. Stressful, but fun, is how she sums it up.

Audubons Rowe Sanctuary, as well as other entities in the area, rely on her estimates.

Rowe Director Bill Taddicken said the counts are a good resource for guests.

Its nice for the visitors experience as people are coming from all over the country and all over the world, he said.

Its also important, he said, for historical data so scientists can spot migratory trends with the birds.

Ostrom is not done when the plane lands. It takes her about a day to analyze the data collected by the science team each week. Shell even count each bird individually to make sure numbers are correct when released each Friday from Feb. 15 to April 15.

The Crane Trusts Matt Fong also shares the numbers on the organizations social media accounts. Engagement skyrockets when the birds arrive.

Its amazing to see the number of people who are curious, he said. It goes through the roof. Its a valuable bit of information we can provide.

Ostrom expects numbers to grow again this week, but its determined by the weather here in Nebraska and at the breeding grounds throughout Canada, Alaska, and as far north as Siberia.

Her first count of 6,400 was average for this time of year. It can vary from 4,000 to 10,000 the first week.

If the winds are blowing in the right direction, there might be a big push, she said. If the weather is bad, they might not come through as quickly.

Photos: Majestic sandhill cranes in Nebraska Flying in a clear blue sky Pair of sandhill cranes at sunset near Gibbon, Nebraska Sandhill cranes on and above a field near Gibbon Sandhill cranes Cranes Cranes Sandhill cranes Cranes Cranes Cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes flying high Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes The Nebraska Project cranes The Nebraska Project The Nebraska Project Sandhill Cranes Sandhill crane Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Rowe Bird Sancutary Cranes in January Cranes in January Cranes in January Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Sandhill cranes Cranes at sunset Cranes in the water Cranes fly in waves over trees at sunset Sandhill cranes begin to roost at sunset Sandhill cranes glide in for a landing to roost for the night Richard Plautz crane viewing site A sandhill crane flies above a field south of Gibbon Sandhill cranes silhouetted against the evening sky Sandhill cranes fly over a field Sandhill cranes flock near an irrigation pivot Sandhill cranes forage for food in a field A pair of sandhill cranes glide in a clear blue sky Sandhill cranes gather near farm machinery Sandhill cranes on the Platte River in Nebraska
CARBONDALE  Researchers from Southern Illinois University are working on a project that is a spin-off of work the Center for Archaeological Investigations Summer Field School has done at the Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site. They are looking for the original town of Kaskaskia.

The town was home to Native American tribes, French explorers, traders and early American settlers. It was mostly destroyed by flooding 150 years ago, but SIU researchers believe much of the lost community of Kaskaskia can still be found. Locating the town could teach important lessons about the history of the region.

Mark Wagner, professor in the School of Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology and director of SIUs Center for Archaeological Investigations, is leading an investigation of Kaskaskias original site in hopes of finding how much of the historic town still survives. Evidence points to the possibility that more than half of the town is beneath the ground on what is now the west side, the Missouri side, of the Mississippi River.

A major aspect of the research project involves training tomorrows scientists, an important focus at SIU. Wagner and Ryan Campbell, assistant scientist and associate director of the CAI, are training Rebecca Ramey, a senior in anthropology, to use technology and good old-fashioned map work to unlock Kaskaskias mysteries.

Just because something is gone on the surface doesn't mean it is gone in the archaeological context, Ramey said in a press release. Its important to remember our states history and preserve what we can. It could also potentially help the current residents in Kaskaskia by increasing tourism and boosting their local economy as they have been hit hard by floods.

Wagner said the research began with investigations at Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site. The park has portrayed the site of a French fort as the site of two forts. The one built by the French and a second fort built by the Americans.

Through research of the Summer Field School, students have located a second fort, the American fort, up the hill near a cemetery at the park.

Wagner said Kaskaskia Island is visible from the park.

One of the things I did was look for old maps of the town of Kaskaskia, Wagner said.

The search for maps of the town of Kaskaskia led Wagner to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library, where he found a very detailed map created in the 1830s.

People dont use that map. It is so detailed it has the houses in the town, Wagner said, adding that the names of the occupants are also on the map.

They also have older maps that have been used in books about the town and its history, but the map from the 1830s has not been used.

He said Ramey is an undergraduate. They applied for a grant from SIU Foundation to do more investigation.

After completing the map research, they would like to possibly do some GIS work on the island.

This is kind of a long term project, Wagner said.

Ramey is planning to go to graduate school at SIU and wants this to be her thesis.

Wagner said the Illinois State Archaeological Survey decided Friday morning to have its 2023 conference in Carbondale.

He hopes to present preliminary results of the project at that conference and a state historical conference.
CARBONDALE  A local lawyer will continue to serve the Illinois Supreme Court for another term by helping Illinois lawyers be honest, healthy, and happy.

Kathleen Pine, who is a 35-year seasoned attorney, has been reappointed as a Commissioner for the Commission on Professionalism. Pine will work with the Commission to the Illinois Supreme Court by helping to shape professionalism and civic virtues among the lawyers and judges of the state through education and public outreach within the state's legal professionals.

According to 2Civility.org, which furnishes legal professionals with the tools and information to be better lawyers, 65% say the lack of civility and mutual respect today is at its worst in the legal world, and that only 8% of the Americans trust their state court system. Furthermore, almost half of lawyers polled believe the legal industry is in a crisis because of the mental health problems and substance abuse among lawyers. One out of four female lawyers report wanting to leave the profession because of the mental stress involved, and 30% of lawyers report they drink too much. And, finally, over three quarters of attorney disciplinary complaints allege fraudulent or deceptive activity.

People like Commissioner Pine are here to change all that.

Pine was first appointed to the Commission in 2021 after she retired from legal practice with a St. Louis law firm, where she represented health care professionals in malpractice lawsuits.

Commissioners are quality-control persons who oil the moving parts of the state legal machinery by eliminating the bias, division, ignorance, bad lifestyles and just bad manners that oftentimes gunk up the system.

Pine, along with her fellow commissioners, will provide education and mentoring so the people of Illinois will have quick and just legal services. She will ensure that legal professionals who serve in Illinois are well-formed, knowledgeable, mannerly, diverse, healthy, and ethical legal professionals.

Pine's term will end in December 2025.
Attorney and CNN analyst Bakari Sellers had questions for the people attending Denmark Technical Colleges recent Black History Month celebration: How far have you come and where do we go from here?

Sellers, a former state representative, discussed the impact of Black Americans during the course of history up to the current day.

When you wake up sometimes, youll never know that history may find you. When that opportunity may be there, you just have to be prepared for it, Sellers said.

He reflected on history, including the Orangeburg Massacre.

On that night, it left mothers without their sons and left the pages of our state history stained red with blood, Sellers said.

Sellers father, Dr. Cleveland Sellers, was wounded in the Feb. 8, 1968 Orangeburg Massacre. Three students were killed and 28 others were injured when S.C. Highway Patrol troopers opened fire on a crowd of protesters following three nights of escalating racial tension over efforts to desegregate the All-Star Triangle Bowl.

Dr. Sellers was the only person convicted of a crime from the events leading up to and including the massacre. He received a full pardon 25 years after the Orangeburg Massacre but elected to keep the charge on his record as a badge of honor.

Bakari Sellers also reflected on the present during his speech, saying We have made progress, but we still have ways to go.

We still have the Corridor of Shame where people are going to school but their heating doesnt work or their infrastructure is falling apart, Sellers said.

He told those present that although people will doubt them due to their surroundings, they should push through and achieve excellence.

Sometimes there are many people who do not believe you are able to complete that ultimate goal of excellence, Sellers said.

You have to dream with your eyes open.  Your zip code does not have to define your circumstance, Sellers said.

Sellers announced during his speech that he will be giving $25,000 to the school.

Thats the least I can do for an institution that has given me so much in my lifetime. As I continue to do well and do good, I can continue to contribute to institutions like Denmark Tech, Sellers said.

College President Willie L. Todd Jr. said the gift will help the college and its students going forward.

That will allow us to provide scholarships to students who are high-achieving students, but also can allow us to support students last-chance dollars, because we serve three of the poorest counties in rural South Carolina: Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell counties, he said.

This could be the difference in a student attending college or not attending college," Todd said.

SGA President Jauron Pruitt said Sellers speech opened his eyes to not only the possibilities in town but the history there as well.

He (Sellers) told us that you really do have history in Denmark. We should really focus on history in here and pay attention, Pruitt said.

He called it vitally important for Denmark Tech students to see someone of Sellers stature.
The Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties will officially become the fifth division of MUSC Health on March 1 following the RMC board's approval of an affiliation agreement between the two entities.

The RMC board unanimously approved the agreement with the Medical University of South Carolina following an executive session held on Friday.

MUSC trustees unanimously voted Feb. 10 to finalize a 99-year lease with RMC. Under the agreement, the Charleston-based hospital system assumes control of all hospital operations and associated ambulatory practices.

RMC is owned by Calhoun and Orangeburg counties. The county councils have approved the change.

Dr. Patrick Cawley, chief executive officer of MUSC Health; Dr. David Zaas, CEO of the MUSC Health-Charleston Division, and Quinton Tompkins, MUSC's director of governmental and community outreach, were all present at RMCs Friday board meeting.

Following the meeting, Cawley said the MUSC team is excited about the partnership.

We know the potential here, and we know we can work with the team here to help improve things to get things financially set, Cawley said.

I know there were a lot of worries about the finances, but we can get that settled, and we can grow and bring new services to the area, he said.

Cawley said it has been a difficult time for rural hospitals.

It's hard to be a rural hospital these days without support. It's very, very difficult. So by connecting to MUSC, we can help bring lots of support to the team. It was doing a good job, but they just don't have all the means to do certain things, he said.

RMC President and Chief Executive Officer David Southerland said, As everybody knows, we are moving forward with becoming officially a part of MUSC effective March 1. So we have a couple of events that are planned.

The hospital will have an internal celebration among its employees from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 1, on the hospital's back patio.

Southerland said Cawley and Zaas will be there to welcome RMC into the MUSC-Health system.

We'll be sharing T-shirts with our employees. We'll have some refreshments and a time for the leadership at MUSC to meet with our team and our staff, he said.

A larger community celebration that includes elected officials will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, March 3, in the hospital's back parking lot.

We'll probably have some parking issues that day, Southerland said. A meeting will be held to resolve them.

We will have designated parking for our visitors as they come on the campus. So we'll have to be relocating a few employees for that one particular day. That's a big, important day, he said.

Southerland also reported that the MUSC Joint Commission mock survey team was at RMC this week to help the RMC get prepared for a Joint Commission visit.

We were reaccredited with the Joint Commission about a year and a half ago, November of 2021. As a result of our partnership, working with MUSC, we'll have to go through reaccreditation, Southerland said.

So we are anticipating that we'll be surveyed again in about three to four weeks. So they're here and working with our quality department team in getting us ready for that. So we're really grateful for their interaction with us, he said.

Southerland also reported that he's started having Breakfast with the CEO meetings with employees.

We've been doing that every two weeks. So far we've had two sessions, and they have been going quite well. Obviously, a lot of questions about the partnership, about benefits, transitioning from the Regional Medical Center to MUSC.

We're working through all of those items right now. Still a lot of questions, but we'll make the transition very quickly and easily, he said.

He also reminded board members of the upcoming RMC Foundation Gala scheduled for Saturday, March 25, at the Orangeburg County Country Club. He said board members can contact his office for information on how to purchase tickets for a special event.

Southerland also thanked the board for its support following the passing of his father.

Finance

RMC Finance Committee Chairman Steve Tyson said the committee met on Feb. 2.

Most of our discussion was about the wind down. Things are progressing pretty quickly here with MUSC. Recently we did move our board-appropriated funds to cash position, and we'll look to pay down all long-term debt before that time of closing, Tyson said.

He said he appreciated the work RMC staff has done with MUSC and its staff to make the transition as seamless and transparent as possible.

I want to thank them for the work, a lot of different parts as we're winding down here at the end, Tyson said.

In other finance matters, RMC Chief Finance Officer Dennis Pettigrew gave a December financial report, stating, "Gross revenues were about $73 million. That's 15 percent better than budget. That was all due to outpatient activity. That would be pricing and volume. Inpatient activity was flat, trending down.

He continued, Net revenue was under budget by $2.2 million, mostly due to billing and payer issues. ... Expenses were over budget by $1 million, totally due to contract labor and benefits.

He said net income for the month was a loss of $3.8 million.

Pettigrew said year to date, the hospital had a loss of $9.4 million.

That's $7 million under budget due to net revenues and expenses being over budget, the same ones that I had mentioned. Again, even going into January, inpatient revenue is flat, toward down. Admissions are off, observations cases, which are outpatients in effect, are up significantly this year, he said.

Pettigrew said outpatient activity and radiology/laboratory services were up, which I think is a national trend right now.

Quality control

Board Quality Committee Chairman Dr. John Samies said RMC officials had met with MUSC Chief Quality Officer Dr. Danielle Scheurer.

They gave us a nice overview of where were heading in the future with our quality program, Samies said.

He also informed the board that the hospital's annual infection control risk assessment would have to be reviewed and approved by the board before the March 1 transition to MUSC. He said the information will be emailed to each board member for their review.

In other matters, the board approved medical staff recommendations which Samies reported on and that were previously approved by the hospital's credentialing committee and medical executive committee.

The board's approval included two appointments to the hospital's medical staff, and the reappointment of four.

Strategic planning

RMC Strategic Planning Committee Chair Jeannine Kees reported the hospital could play an important role in the local training of community health workers with S.C. State University's receipt of a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration.

S.C. State plans to use the grant to implement a Community Health Worker training program.

They would like to be here in the hospital. It would help with some of our patient population and learning more about our community, etc. It looks like a nice thing that we could do with the community, Kees said.

She said the hospital is also exploring an artificial intelligence-based system for scheduling in the OR. That makes us much more efficient in block time utilization.

Kees also said the committee has learned that the hospital is improving its online presence through Reputation.com, a business-to-business online reputation management and customer experience management company.
Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell spoke of his roots in the community and how those roots inform his job during his keynote speech at 12th Annual South Carolina Heritage and Humanities Festival in Eutawville.

Where I come from and where I am today, I just wanted to say thank you. Putting me on stages all over this country, representing you, I try to let people know that Im from Santee, Orangeburg County. This is where Im from. This is who I am, Ravenell said.

I didnt just take a job that you gave me and run away. Im still in Santee, Ravenell said.

Ravenell was first elected in 2011. Hes currently president of the S.C. Sheriffs Association.

He told the crowd at the festival, as long as Im the sheriff, Ive got your back.

Ravenell discussed the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis in January. Five former police officers pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in connection with his death. They were fired after a police investigation into the Jan. 7 arrest of Nichols.

Foolishness. Its murder. We had some hoodlums in uniform with a gun and a badge that killed someone, Ravenell said.

Ravenell wouldnt say everything is perfect in the sheriffs office, but he said the office continually seeks improvement.

One thing were doing at the sheriffs office is that were reviewing policies and procedures on a weekly basis, Ravenell said.

Were training our people. We have updated bodycams. We pull our weapons, our bodycams come on. When my partner pulls his weapon and Im close to it, mine and his bodycam comes on, Ravenell said.

He noted the sheriffs office is looking to hire people from South Carolina State University, Claflin University and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

The organizer and founder of the festival, Byron Brown, was pleased with the turnout. He calls Eutawville his hometown, but hes currently a professor at Howard University in Washington D.C.

"I think it was absolutely great that people came out and in record number. People are just frustrated with the crimes that are going on in the community and the indignation," Brown said.

"I think it is something that people need an outlet, a positive outlet where they can come and showcase their talents, their brilliance, and ensure that together, we truly can be powerful and move things and shake the nation and make positive things happen," Brown said.

He says it was important to have Ravenell speak, since he is a native of the area.

By him being at the helm of his county, protecting the people and the citizens of this county, I felt that it was good for the people and the citizens of Orangeburg County to hear what he's thinking, Brown said.

This was the first festival after two years of delay caused by the COVID pandemic.

The festival featured poetry readings by Mary E. Jenkins, Hannah Brown and Daniel Brown. Music was provided by Dr. Morris Ravenell, former superintendent of Dorchester School District Four, and also by community choirs, according to a release.

The artwork of Gloria A. Sanders was featured. She painted images of mermaids.

In an emotional moment, Brown added a moment of silence to recognize the contributions that Alice Blanchard made to the Heritage and Humanities Festival before she passed away, the release said. Her son, the Rev. Vernon Blanchard, opened up the festival with a scripture and invocation.

Herbert Sellers shared historical records about the town of Eutawville and Councilman Harry Lee Brown made closing remarks in addition to the benediction he delivered, the release said.
COLUMBIA  A new South Carolina Arts Commission economic impact report using 2021 data estimates an annual $14.1 billion impact is made on the states economy by the arts-related economic cluster.

Like other large sectors of the states economy, arts and creativity form a cluster. The research reviewed 2021 data from the portions of the state economy associated with the performing arts, individual artists and artisans, design arts, crafts and further related activities.

The SCAC engaged Joseph C. Von Nessen, Ph.D., research economist with the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, for the report. He analyzed data from the U.S. census and economic analysis bureaus and commerce department. The research discovered across-the-board increases in the arts-related economic clusters annual economic impact in South Carolina from the previous study released in 2018.

123,550 jobs paying $5.7 billion. That is the total number of local jobs supported by the arts-related cluster. This level of employment represents 5.5 percent of the total employment base in South Carolina, generating $5.7 billion in wages and salaries. It is a 7.5 percent increase from the 2018 study.

$360.2 million in estimated annual tax revenue generated for the state of South Carolina that arises from the arts-related cluster. That is a 33 percent increase from the 2018 study.

A $14.1 billion total economic impact, which represents both the direct and indirect demand generated by the local spending activity of all arts-related businesses, their suppliers, and their employees. This is a 45 percent increase from the 2018 study ($9.7 billion).

This report illustrates clearly the powerful impact of our states investment in the arts, SCAC Executive Director David Platts said. The Arts Commission currently receives an annual appropriation of around $8 million, 70 percent of which is returned directly to artists and arts organizations in communities across the State in the form of grants which fund arts experiences for our citizens, fuel the creativity of emerging and established individual artists, and address pandemic-related learning loss for students. And the resulting economic activity generates more than $360 million in tax revenue which comes back to the state. It is truly a win-win for all South Carolinians.

The SCAC is seeking to increase its recurring base appropriation by $3 million starting in FY2024 to sustain and grow arts learning programs. Much of those are directed by its Arts Grow SC program, a federally-funded partnership with the South Carolina Department of Education. Funding for the three-year partnership will expire after FY24, and additional state funding would allow its work with national, state and local partners to continue.

Since it began, we have been proud of the work accomplished by Arts Grow SC. The arts, and especially arts learning, do so much to help our students learn to be creative problem-solvers. We are especially proud that this work reaches rural and underserved communities because the Arts Commission works to ensure everyone has access to the arts benefits, SCAC Board Chair Dee Crawford said.

The study utilized an economic multiplier model to determine the extent of the arts-related clusters impact. Researchers first analyzed the number of direct jobs in the sector and then assessed its economic impact using a model of South Carolinas economic linkageshow spending in one sector spreads.

The complete report is available from the SCAC website: https://www.southcarolinaarts.com/why-arts-matter/arts-the-economy/.

SC Arts Commission

The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission is to promote equitable access to the arts and support the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina. We envision a South Carolina where the arts are valued and all people benefit from a variety of creative experiences.

A state agency created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the SCAC works to increase public participation in the arts by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in artist development, arts industry, arts learning, creative placemaking, and folklife and traditional arts. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the SCAC is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources. Visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or call 803.734.8696, and follow @scartscomm on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for #Arts4SC and #SCartists content.
Parts of Interstate 80 began to reopen Friday, three days after a blizzard forced it and many other highways around the state to close.

Crews cleared away massive drifts of snow from the highway, taking advantage of special equipment in some cases to deal with the frigid obstacles.

By Friday afternoon, the westbound lanes of the highway were open again, though travel remained treacherous through the area.

Some interchanges, especially rural interchanges, may still be covered in snow and exiting may be impossible, the Wyoming Department of Transportation wrote in a social media post. Photos accompanying the post showed a narrow lane of travel between high mounds of snow. In one image, the snow was higher than a man standing with his arm raised.

The highways eastbound lanes were still closed as of early Friday evening. They were expected to open later that night, according to the department.

An unusually powerful blizzard swept over Wyoming starting Tuesday evening, and by the following day, many of the states highways, schools and businesses were closed. The storm dropped more than a foot of snow over parts of the state. More than two feet of snow fell over higher elevations on Wyomings western side.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol responded to multiple drivers who became stranded, some after illegally going through closure gates, a patrol spokesman told the Star-Tribune. Those rescues diverted resources away from the effort to reopen the highway.

Interstate 80 took the brunt of the blizzards fury. Wyomings other two interstates  25 and 90  reopened Thursday, as did many other highways around the state. Casper schools reopened Friday after two days of virtual classes.

While the blizzard has passed, high winds are forecast through the weekend. That could continue to hamper travel around the state, and the transportation department warned that additional closures were possible on interstates 25 and 80.

PHOTOS: Blizzard batters Casper Blizzard Blizzard Blizzard Blizzard Blizzard Blizzard Blizzard Blizzard Blizzard
Every summer, you see tourists buying novelty Wyoming-themed gifts while walking through town. But they may not realize that some of those items were made by the inmates in the states corrections system.

There were 1,648 Wyoming inmates who worked while incarcerated during the last two years, with an average wage of 56 cents per hour, newly released documents show.

About $2.7 million in state dollars was spent over a two-year period on inmate salaries in 2021, according to records obtained from the Wyoming Department of Corrections. There is a budget of about $3.7 million for the next two-year period.

Inmates only work for one of two entitieseither the corrections department itself or WY Brand Industries, said C.J. Young, a part of the agencys public records team. WY Brand Industries is a division within the department.

Those who work for WDOC do jobs that keep the department functioning such as cooking in the kitchen, cleaning, mowing grass and painting walls.

But 269 inmates work for WY Brand Industries, which makes items that are sold to the public (and sometimes sold back to the department), he said. The profits go back to WY Brand Industries.

Wyoming statute requires all those proceeds be placed in an account, which is to be used only for the establishment, operations and enhancement of the program, said spokesperson Paul Martin.

Most of our equipment is purchased through this fund as well as maintenance of that equipment, he said. We purchase raw materials to make more products from this account as well.

Some of the best-selling inmate-made offerings are novelty gifts and souveneir items. These include helicopters, airplanes, purses, lunch boxes, waste bins, barn stars and bird houses made out of discarded Wyoming license plates.

These items can be found in Lou Talberts Ranch Outfitters in Casper along with 35 other outlets across the state. It is unknown whether those who purchase these products are made aware of where they come from.

Each product we sell has a tag that indicates the products are made in Wyoming prisons. The retailers who purchase from us all know that is the case. I dont know what the retailers tell their customers about our products, Martin said.

At the Wyoming Womens Center in Lusk, inmates can be employed to raise White Nile tilapia, which are sold to wholesalers who prepare and package fish for retail. There are also many other jobs across Wyoming facilities that include translating to braille and sewing garments.

Job skills are taught to the inmates while performing the jobs, Martin said. In fact, this is one of the primary reasons the program exists, to teach offenders marketable skills.

WY Brand Industries is one of 50 correctional industries programs in the United States, said Martin. Each state operates something similar.

The goal of these programs is to better prepare offenders for release back into our communities, Martin said. Many people who come to prison have very little or very poor job-related skills.
Wyoming school choice advocates got a win on Friday as the House advanced a bill that would remake the charter school landscape in the state.

Senate File 174 breezed through the House with an overwhelming majority of House lawmakers supporting the bill in its first vote.

It now must clear one more significant hurdle to pass the House. However, before the bill can land on Gov. Mark Gordons desk, it would likely go back to the Senate since House lawmakers substantially reworked the bill.

Wyoming parents want school choice and they want educational freedom, Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, said when introducing the bill on the House floor. What this bill does is it empowers parents to have more choice and control in their childrens education through the authorization of charter schools.

The newly created Wyoming charter school boards mission would be to authorize high quality public charter schools.

In addition to approving new charter schools, it would also manage the renewal of existing charter agreements and monitor school performance.

Charter schools are public schools that are independent of school districts and operated by nonprofit or for-profit organizations.

In another important step for school choice advocates, Senate File 174 would also boost funding for charter schools.

Under current Wyoming law, charter schools receive 80% of state money that public schools do.

The Wyoming Department of Education uses a metric known as average daily membership, which essentially measures the number of students in a school, to calculate state funding.

Sponsored by Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, with support from more than half the House and nearly a dozen senators, the bill would guarantee charter schools 100% average daily membership, or the same money as public schools.

While a source of optimism for supporters of school choice, Driskills charter school bill cleared its initial vote in the House with significant changes after lawmakers worked to refine the bill in recent days.

The changes proposed by lawmakers were so extensive that they required House members to ultimately vote on a substitute bill.

Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, said the substitute bill was a product of compromise.

Nobody walked away from this entirety of a [revision] process happy with everything, but we all got little pieces that we wanted, he said.

Among the most significant changes was an increase in the size of the charter school board from five members to eight.

The state superintendent of public instruction and the governor would each appoint three members to the board, though the governors picks must be confirmed by the Wyoming Senate.

The chairman of the state board of education and the dean of the University of Wyomings College of Education would also sit on the board.

In the original bill, charter schools would have been exempt from all state and local public school laws and rules, which drew opposition from the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board, the states teacher licensing body, the Wyoming School Boards Association and other groups during public hearings.

However, lawmakers did away with those exemptions.

Most significantly, the new version of the bill would place a moratorium on new charter schools through July 2026.

The moratorium would allow the Legislature to better understand the impacts of charter schools, Brown said.

Last year the State Loan and Investment Board, the predecessor to the proposed board, approved three new charter schools in Wyoming.

Those schools are expected to cost the state an additional $14 million during the next school year, according to an estimate from the Legislative Service Office.

We want to make sure that we understand what those costs actually are, Brown said. Before we authorize anything additional, we want to understand 100% what the effects on not only our block grant model are going to look like, but we also want to understand what these [charter schools] look like as far as attainment  what the students are doing and how theyre learning  and what the impacts to the local school districts are going to be.

Despite objections from some education groups, Driskills charter school bill has drawn broad support, including from some of the most important figures in Wyoming education.

In a January public hearing, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder backed the bill.

Our entire public school system, both the traditional model as well as the additional schools, will benefit. Because competition and increased choices, they raise performance for everyone to the benefit of students, communities and our state, Degenfelder said.
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.
A Waterbury man was sentenced to four years in prison this week for distributing narcotics, according to federal authorities.

Jerrell Jamison, also known as Rell and Big Bro, 30, also was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to four years of supervised release, according to federal authorities.

Authorities, citing court documents and statements made in court, said the case arose as part of an ongoing investigation into gangs, drug trafficking and the illegal possession of firearms in Waterbury.

The Waterbury Police Departments Vice and Intelligence Unit did a court-authorized search of Jamisons residence in April 2019 and seized more than 1,400 individual dose bags of fentanyl/heroin; distribution quantities of cocaine, crack and marijuana; a loaded .40 caliber pistol, and more than 40 rounds of ammunition, federal authorities said in a statement. Jamison fled but was apprehended in the rear yard, federal authorities said.

Authorities said Jamison was identified as a member of the Paybacc Crips street gang and that analysis of the seized firearm via the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network connected it to shell casings recovered from five prior incidents.

After it was determined that Jamison was continuing to engage in criminal activity while released on bond in his state case, his case was adopted for federal prosecution, federal authorities said in the statement.

Jamison has been in custody since his federal arrest in March 2022 and he pleaded guilty in September to possession with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine, cocaine base and 40 grams or more of fentanyl, federal authorities said.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Waterbury Police Department; it was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Natasha M. Freismuth and Jonathan T. Pierpont, Jr.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justices violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

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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.
During an Easter Sunday break from my column, I was forcibly struck by the disconnect between the official messages about Easter from those clothed with high constitutional authority and the grim reality on the ground.

Many persons would have been engaged in pleasurable activities over the Easter weekend. However, the country remains gripped by fear of violent crime, in respect of which the official messages have long ceased to be comforting or inspiring. How can it be otherwise when, in addition to rampant murder, we are frequently confronted with the results of brutal home invasions?
A judge ruled late Friday that the prosecution of a rancher on charges including second-degree murder will proceed to trial in Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

Santa Cruz County Justice of the Peace Emilio G. Velasquez found that the state established probable cause, or adequate evidence, at a hearing Friday in Nogales to prosecute George Alan Kelly on the charges. Both the state and the defense called witnesses at the hearing.

Kelly, 74, was arrested after sheriffs deputies found the body of Gabriel Cuen Buitimea, 48, of Nogales, Sonora, Jan. 30 on the ranchers property near Nogales and close to the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty.

Do I think there was some testimony that there might have been some holes on? Yes. I do, the judge said, according to the Associated Press. But at the end of the day ... the court does find that the offenses were committed by this defendant and I will be binding this over to Superior Court.

Velasquez said Kelly can remain free on $1 million bail pending his March 6 arraignment, with restrictions including no contact with witnesses or Cuen-Buitimeas family and a ban on possessing firearms.

Kelly was initially charged with first-degree murder but prosecutors lowered the charge to second-degree, a lesser offense that doesnt involve premeditation.

Kimberly Hunley, chief deputy county attorney, explained the reduced charge, saying Friday that even if Kelly shot Cuen Buitimea on accident while intending to fire a warning shot, the state can still establish that he committed second-degree murder because of extreme indifference to human life in which he recklessly caused his death.

Judge weighed arguments

Prosecutors allege Kelly opened fire with an AK-47 rifle, without warning or provocation, on a group of seven to eight undocumented migrants traveling north through his land, unarmed, and that he fatally shot Cuen Buitimea in the back as he ran away.

Kellys defense counters that he saw a group of men on his property carrying AK-47s, wearing khakis and camouflaged clothing and carrying large backpacks, and that he fired a warning shot above their heads. His attorney Brenna Larkin has said Kelly feared for his and his wifes safety.

Kelly is also charged with two counts of aggravated assault against two of the migrants, who told authorities Kelly also shot at them but they werent hit and escaped back into Mexico. One of the two testified Friday.

Defense attorney Larkin argued Friday that probable cause could not be established for reasons including that if people shot at Kelly, he would be justified in shooting over their heads; and that the witness testimony was inconsistent during the hearing and contradicts the testimony of the other witness not at the hearing.

Its easy, after the fact, for anybody to come forward and cook up a story, said Larkin. Im only surprised that the stories that were cooked up were so full of holes and so inconsistent with the physical evidence that theyre literally impossible to believe.

Hunley, the prosecutor, said there is probable cause to move forward because even based on Kellys own admission, he went out and shot in the direction of people who were 80 yards or more away.

Theres no justification for running out of your property and shooting at people  There is certainly no justification for shooting an unarmed man in the back, the prosecutor said.

Hunley also said Kellys statements to law enforcement about the incident were inconsistent and that witness testimony insinuates Kelly was closer to Cuen Buitimea than he says when the victim was shot.

Kelly posted bond and was released from jail Wednesday afternoon, after Velasquez agreed to change his $1 million cash bond to a surety bond of the same amount, which allowed Kelly to put up his ranch and home as collateral rather than come up with the cash.

Held his chest and said Im hit

The migrant who testified Friday was only identified by the initials D.R.-R. Hunley has said her office, the court and the sheriffs department have all received disturbing communications, some threatening in nature, that seem to indicate an ongoing threat to the safety of the victims.

D.R.-R., speaking through a Spanish-language interpreter, said he and Cuen Buitimea were crossing into the U.S. that day to find work in Phoenix. They were in a group of seven men total, and no one was armed, he said.

D.R.-R. said hes a field worker in Sonora and has crossed into the U.S. undocumented about a half-dozen times, getting caught by authorities every time. He has been convicted of illegal entry and spent some time incarcerated for it.

Not much has been released about Cuen Buitimea, but federal court records show someone with the same name and age pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering the country at or near Nogales in 2016 and had been either denied entry or deported several times in previous years.

D.R.-R. said at the hearing that he and Cuen Buitimea worked together and were friends.

When they crossed the border on Jan. 30, they walked to where the border wall ends outside Nogales and entered the U.S. near the Kino Springs area, , he said, which is near Kellys ranch.

D.R.-R said he arranged with someone he met at work to cross the border and agreed to pay $2,500. He paid half up front and planned to pay the rest with money he hoped to make working in Phoenix, he said.

They were resting close to a dirt road when suddenly they were being shot at, D.R.-R. said.

I saw Gabriel, he said. He held his chest and said Im hit. He rolled his eyes and fell down. D.R.-R. said he could see he was dead.

He ran and when he turned around, he saw Kelly, he said. He said he saw there was something in Kellys hands, but he did not know what it was.

Detectives describe scene

A detective testified he found bullet casings around the property that fit an AK-47 and match ammunition connected to Kelly.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office discovered a bullet casing on Kellys back porch, while executing a search warrant, that can be used in an AK-47, as well as eight additional casings on the property, said the lead detective in the case, Jorge Ainza.

Officers who responded to the incident earlier in the day, before Cuen Buitimeas body was discovered, saw Kelly with an AK-47, he said.

The place detectives found the casings was consistent with shots being fired toward where the body was found behind the house, Ainza said. He also found numerous rounds of ammunition matching the casings found on the property as well as a number of other weapons.

Ainza also said the accounts Kelly gave to law enforcement were inconsistent, including changing his statement on whether he shot his gun and how many people he saw, which was part of why Ainza decided to arrest him on suspicion of murder.

Ainza also said Border Patrol agents told him the area of Kellys ranch is a high crime area. One agent told him he had encountered armed people out there before, with both handguns and rifles and that there had been an increased amount of drug trafficking in the area, Ainza said at the hearing.

Sheriffs detective Joseph Bonting also testified.

There is a lot of brush from mesquite trees between Kellys house and where the body was found, he said. Shooting someone from that distance, about 120 yards, and through the brush would be a hard shot, he said in response to questions from the defense.
In early December, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos stood before the Board of Supervisors pleading for help improving jail conditions that he called a full-blown crisis.

The Pima County Adult Detention Center is unlivable for inmates, he told supervisors. And a worsening staffing shortage is creating serious safety concerns, he continued. Nanos floated the idea of building an entirely new facility, contending the detention complex at West Silverlake and South Mission roads beyond repair.

While the board has discussed the jails deteriorating conditions since then, its latest response was approving the creation of a blue ribbon commission tasked with assessing the need for a new detention center and determining how to pay for it.

In a 4-1 vote on Tuesday, the board approved the new jail commissions membership, charter and work timeline. The board gave the 10-member group 180 days to report back with its findings in September.

County Administrator Jan Lesher recommended the formation of the commission to answer the key questions: How serious is the current problem? And what do we need to do (to address it)?

The sheriff has been very clear about believing he needs a new jail  Im not an expert to understand whether theres work that can be done on the current jail, or whether were better off with a new jail, she said.

The commissions members have varying backgrounds in law enforcement, criminal justice, construction and social services. Three vice chairs within the group will lead efforts on assessing the structural status of the facility, operations within it and ways to finance potential changes.

We need a new jail. How that happens, and whether its brand new or remodeled, whatever, Nanos said. But somebodys got to do something here because I cant do it myself. And I certainly cant have my staff in that kind of situation.

Jail literally falling apart

The detention facility has largely been funded by voter-approved bond packages passed in 1997 and 2004. The 1997 funds were used to construct a new maximum-security adult detention facility, the juvenile detention facility and communication tower. The 2004 dollars funded security enhancements. Initial estimates place the construction of a new jail at about $250 to $380 million.

Now, Nanos claims the jail complex is literally falling apart and has frequent flooding issues, mold and deteriorating concrete. While some repairs have been done, the sheriff likened it to putting lipstick on a pig.

A third-party contractor conducted structural assessments of certain problem areas on the property in June, July and October 2021. They found issues such as cracking masonry on the exterior of the jail and spalling concrete throughout walkways inside the facility but did not report significant structural issues. According to the assessments, the repairs of the identified issues were completed by the countys facilities management department.

A full-scale, engineer-based assessment of the entire jail would be a much lengthier, and more costly, process.

While the new commission will look into the jails physical conditions, itll also be tasked with reviewing the facilitys operations.

In recent years, the Pima County jail has dealt with a growing population of inmates and a dwindling number of corrections officers to oversee them.

Nanos said corrections officers, or COs, are falling asleep on the job, being tasked with supervising more than one section of the jail at a time, and forced to work overtime.

The jail has a 68% vacancy rate of COs, and in the last three months alone, the county spent $1,266,703 in overtime costs at the jail, according to the Sheriffs Department,

After Nanos brought his concerns to the Board of Supervisors in December, the board granted his request to dole out $1.7 million a year to give 7.5% raises to corrections workers. The sheriff said the raises help get people in the door but dont address the ongoing need of retaining staff.

Underscoring the need for reform at the jail is an elevated number of inmates dying in it. The jail saw a decade-high number of deaths after 10 deaths were reported at the facility in 2021. In 2022, 12 deaths were reported at the jail, according to the county.

Of those 12 deaths, 5 were related to fentanyl use, 3 were ruled suicides, one was due to medical complications after an inmate consumed a plastic spork and one was ruled a homicide after an inmate was tased repeatedly in an altercation with corrections officers, according to reports from the Pima County Medical Examiners office. Two inmates died at a nearby hospital after being granted compassionate release.

While corrections officers are supposed to conduct routine rounds of inmates at least every 15 minutes, Nanos said, the reality is inmate check-ins happen about every 40 minutes.

Theyre locked in the little room, and we walk by and peek in a little, tiny window thats about four inches wide and maybe two feet tall. We look in there and see, Yeah, hes there. And we walk on by, Nanos said. How is that safe and secure?

According to the sheriff, inmates receive maybe one to two hours in the general dayroom area outside their cells every day.

And while the jail has the capacity for about 2,100 people, the actual population the jail can efficiently hold is much smaller than that, as each inmate must be classified based on their alleged offenses. Throughout the last four months, the population has hovered at about 1,800.

The reality is 90% of those in our jails are still innocent, they havent gone to trial, Nanos said. I dont think any of our jails today are designed for any type of compassion, any type of dignity, its just designed to lock you up, keep you away from everybody. Its almost punitive.

The sheriff has expressed concerns that the alarming lack of officers overseeing the jail population could lead to further deaths or violent outbreaks.

The jail has already seen some close calls, including when corrections officers faced a very dangerous situation when 90 inmates refused to lockdown in their cells until an hour-long negotiation deescalated the situation, Nanos said. On Dec. 1, an inmate choked a corrections officer who was rendered unconscious for 24 minutes until medical personnel revived her, according to the sheriff.

One of the responsibilities of the blue ribbon commission is to assess Best practices and standards and other factors impacting operations given industry changes since the county facility was built.

According to Lesher, this could be a chance to develop a more modern jail or detention facility in which case the term new describes enhanced programming and/or operational efficiencies.

A new jail

Daniel Sharp, who served as Oro Valleys police chief for 20 years before retiring in 2020, will lead the commission. While hes heard Nanos concerns about the jail, he said hell approach leading the commission with an open mind.

The exact timeline of the commissions meetings has yet to be determined, but Sharp said the group will take public input into consideration and utilize the knowledge of county staff while making recommendations on the fate of the jail, and ultimately, how any changes would be funded.

I always believe that the publics money belongs to the public, so we need to make sure that were spending it wisely and doing the right thing, Sharp said.

When addressing the board in December, Nanos asked the countys supervisors to consider supporting a Jail District Excise Tax, which Lesher has looked into as a possible funding option.

Eight of Arizonas 15 counties have some sort of tax to fund their jails, but such a tax requires voter approval. If Pima County were to approve a jail tax, it would be capped at a quarter-cent sales tax for residents, non-residents and visitors to the area.

Ultimately, the commission will examine all potential financing options for any changes to the jail and make a recommendation to Lesher, who will pass that recommendation to the board for approval.

When I talk about a new jail, new is not just new as in we just built it. Its new in terms of concepts and operations. There are ways to look at how the population is served within a jail, theres new ways of approaching that service, Lesher said.

Blue ribbon commission members Daniel Sharp, chair, former chief of the Oro Valley Police Department

India Davis, former director of county corrections

Frank Hecht, member of the Sheriff Department's civilian advisory board, retired corrections captain

Jack OBrien, Pima County Public Defenders Office

David Olanik, Sundt Construction

Wendy Petersen, former director of county Justice Services

Grady Scott, pastor at Grace Temple and Missionary Baptist Church

Chris Scheafe, real estate development, Rio Nuevo board member

Roberto Villasenor, former chief of the Tucson Police Department

Paul Wilson, former Sheriff's Department bureau chief
When Logan Sandlin first tried using ChatGPT  the new artificial intelligence software that can write essays, formulate code and assist users in a conversational way  he was worried.

It scared me because my first thought was Oh my God, Im not going to have a job,  said Sandlin, a junior computer science and math major at the University of Arizona. But then I learned more about it, and I was like OK, theres still a job for me. Its making more things like this.

Before hes ready to look for a job in the rapidly changing field of computer science, Sandlin still has some coursework to finish to get his degree. And hes using ChatGPT to help him get there.

Its always involved when Im doing homework. It makes things so much more streamlined, he said. Before ChatGPT, Sandlin said that if a homework problem stumped him, hed spend some time searching Google for help from computer science message boards. That could be a time-consuming process with no guarantee of finding a solution.

Or you can ask ChatGPT and it comes up with an answer right away, he said. And even if its not a perfect answer it always puts me on the right path to finding the answer.

30% of college students use it

Sandlin is far from the only student whos tapped ChatGPT for homework help.

Since San Francisco-based company OpenAI debuted ChatGPT last November, 30% of American college students say they have used the technology to help with assignments; 60% of those students used it to help with at least half of their workload, according to a survey of 1,000 people the online magazine Intelligent produced.

In two recent experiments, ChatGPT was able to pass written exams (though its scores werent better than the average human students) at the University of Minnesota Law School and the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business, CNN reported last month.

The emergence of this powerful new technology has some education leaders sounding alarms about a new era of academic dishonesty.

Several public school districts, including in Seattle, Oakland and New York City, have banned or limited the use of the software, citing concerns about cheating.

In the higher education world, however, the reaction has been more tempered, and most colleges and universities in the U.S. are leaving it up to individual professors and instructors to decide how they want to handle the use of ChatGPT in the classroom.

UA: Dont fight against it

Thats the approach the UA, whose academic integrity code prohibits students from using any tool to plagiarize, is taking.

The wrong thing to do is to try and fight against the technology, said Greg Heileman, an electrical and computer engineering professor and vice provost of undergraduate education at the UA.

The right thing to do is to develop exercises that account for the fact that students may be using (ChatGPT), he said. The people who employ our students will be expecting them to use these types of tools, so we should make that part of what we teach them as well.

According to the UAs dean of students, there have been no reports of academic integrity violations involving ChatGPT or other AI software at the university to date.

The real challenge with ChatGPT, Heileman said, is in detecting this prohibited conduct.

But because it can be so difficult to tell the difference between a research paper written by ChatGPT and one by a student with mediocre writing ability, Heileman said that should be enough of a nudge for professors to develop assignments that require higher-level critical thinking.

Im not advocating for anyone to cheat, said Heileman, who has personally used other AI software to assist him with his work for years. If a student becomes reliant on this and it allows them to avoid learning, then thats a huge problem.

But the current panic about ChatGPT  that its coming for our jobs and will undermine our education institutions  follows a historical pattern of humans reacting to new technology that disrupts the status quo.

How Arizona's other universities are responding to ChatGPT At Arizona State University in Tempe, the university is taking a similar approach to the UA. "Generative AI technologies offer both challenges to academic integrity and opportunities to improve teaching and learning," the ASU provost's office told the Arizona Daily Star in an emailed statement. "ASU is cognizant of both sides of this rapidly evolving debate and developing a framework of policies and recommendations to positively employ these powerful technologies to enhance learner outcomes." As for ChatGPT's potential to be used as a cheating tool, "The ASU academic integrity policy already applies to the use of any unauthorized materials, including, when relevant, ChatGPT or other generative AI technologies," the provost continued. "ASU faculty are encouraged to collaborate with their academic units to implement this policy most effectively in their courses." At Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, there have been a few isolated incidents of prohibited ChatGPT use, and the university is "working with faculty to ensure that our current academic integrity policies explicitly address generative artificial intelligence technologies as potentially prohibited assistance," according to an NAU spokesperson. "More importantly, were actively exploring ... ways of assessing student learning can accommodate and even integrate technologies like ChatGPT. And, looking further into the future, how our curricula can better prepare students for the use of such tools in their professions and careers." This sidebar was updated to include Arizona State University's comment.

Human creativity is key

Recall that the calculator was supposed to make everyone bad at math, Heileman said. But in fact, we can teach people better now because they dont have to spend time doing mundane calculations.

Now, almost 60 years after the modern calculator struck fear into the hearts of math teachers, ChatGPTs ability to do basic coding and write a C-quality research paper frees the human to do (even) more creative work, he said.

That creativity  which could be something as simple as being able to recognize that a wooden box can be repurposed into a chair  is something only humans have a mastery of for now. But ChatGPT has the power to help humans refine and better communicate their ideas.

In Heilemans view, that means, at the very least, there arent many excuses left for turning in poorly written assignments and job applications.

For international students especially, ChatGPT is a quick reference tool to help make sure their English language writing is correct in its use of grammar and colloquialisms before they turn in an assignment or submit a resume.

It helps me organize my thoughts in a better manner, said Bhavya Sharma, a computer science graduate student who moved to Tucson from India and uses the technology about four times a week.

Shed used another writing software called Grammarly to help, but said ChatGPT is far more powerful and interactive. Previously, I had to figure out (English writing) mostly by myself. It was challenging, she said. Now, I have an assistant.

And thats where the line on academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT is drawn.

Students like Sharma and Sandlin  the junior computer science major who uses ChatGPT to brainstorm  are using the AI software like an assistant who is there to answer basic questions or help write a passable first draft of a paper or coding assignment.

Stopping there and pretending like they wrote that paper entirely on their own is obviously cheating. But when students take ChatGPTs first draft and push themselves to edit it into something much more sophisticated, thats what learning in the 21st century looks like now.

Every field will be touched by this, Sandlin said. But focusing on creative idea generation is where humans still have AI beat.
Staff from the University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography traveled to London last year to sift through the Linda McCartney photo archives.

They werent searching for the rock star photos that defined much of her prolific 30-year photography career.

They were looking for Tucson among the thousands of photographs, images of Sonoran Desert critters, private family moments from their east-side ranch and scenic landscape snapshots that demonstrate her deep love for her adopted home.

We had the opportunity to go to London last year and work in the archive and create a show for Tucson from an existing retrospective that was really tailored to Tucson and the things that our audience might be interested (in), said the CCPs Chief Curator Becky Senf.

The Tucson-based CCP, one of the countrys most prestigious photography museums and home to co-founder Ansel Adams archives, is hosting the North American premiere of The Linda McCartney Retrospective.

The exhibit, which runs through Aug. 5, features 180 of McCartneys photographs separated into three distinctive areas of her life and photography: Artist, including photographs of her husband, Paul McCartney, and his Beatles bandmates as well as other notable music giants of 1960s-70s; experimentation, which looks at her photographic innovations; and family, including photos she took of her and Paul and their four kids throughout their 29-year marriage.

We sort of leaned into the ties to Tucson in the family and artist sections, Senf said, describing the collection as including self portraits and portraits of her family, many of them taken from their Redington Road home where they spent several months a year for nearly 20 years. Linda McCartney died at the home in 1998 after battling breast cancer.

Paul and Linda bought the two-story house, sitting on 151 acres in the shadow of the Rincon Mountains, in 1979, and for years, they spent winter and spring breaks in Tucson with their four children.

Her love of Tucson stemmed from her years studying art history at the University of Arizona. She left school after two years and married her first husband, Joseph Melville See Jr., with whom she had daughter Heather. The couple divorced two years later.

During her time at the UA, McCartney, who grew up in New York, took photography classes with Hazel Larson Archer, who taught at the Tucson Museum of Art.

Archer was a renowned photographer and educator who influenced a whole generation of female photographers, and her impact on McCartney set her off on a journey that started in earnest when she photographed the Rolling Stones at a promotional event aboard a yacht. The photos were published in Town & Country magazine, where she was initially employed as receptionist and editorial assistant.

The Stones photos launched her on a career that had her photographing big-name musicians Todd Rundgren, Aretha Franklin, Grace Slick, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, Simon & Garfunkel, the Who, the Doors, the Animals, John Lennon and Neil Young as an unofficial house photographer at Bill Grahams Fillmore East concert hall.

She also became the the first female photographer to land a cover of Rolling Stone magazine with her 1968 portrait of Eric Clapton.

Linda met Paul when she was on assignment in London in 1967. Two years later, the couple married in a small town hall civil ceremony in London.

Linda McCartney also was interested in nature photography, something inspired by her time studying with Archer. Photos in the exhibits innovation section include several never-before-seen images on stained glass, landscapes and botanicals made in Tucson.

McCartneys introduction to photography is represented in a twin exhibit of 40 of Archers photographs.

It creates this deep focus on how Linda learned photography, Senf said.

A third part of The Linda McCartney Retrospective is 8-Track, a series of live performances by Tucson artists at the gallery. Arizona Arts Live, the UAs arts presenting arm, is collaborating with the CCP for the performances, which reflect the spirit of Tucson against the backdrop of McCartneys photography and her love of music.

Each of the artists has written a song inspired by one of the centers archived images of the Southwest.
TUSD has paused plans to add a taller fence around the entrance of Sam Hughes Elementary School, following complaints from residents that it would interfere with the neighborhoods historic nature and the quality of the kids school experiences.

Tucson Unified School Districts plan for taller fencing is part of a broader initiative to improve safety features at all campuses. At Sam Hughes Elementary in particular, it also stems from an incident last year in which police say a man climbed the shorter fence and intruded into a classroom full of students.

A couple of residents spoke during the districts Jan. 24 governing board meeting to ask officials to consider the communitys concerns before moving forward with the plan for an eight-foot-tall chain-link fence.

Then, last Tuesday, several TUSD officials attended the Sam Hughes Neighborhood Associations monthly board meeting to discuss a possible compromise.

I certainly understand the concerns and the predicament, said Gayle Hartmann, president of the neighborhood association. I think it wouldve been helpful to have a little better communication there from the district, she added.

District Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo told the association, I wanted to reassure everybody that, until we collaborate, talk and discuss the issue, this project has been put on hold. Our goal is to strike a balance between school and student safety, but also maintaining the spirit and the aesthetics of the Sam Hughes neighborhood and culture.

Historic architecture

The midtown neighborhood, immediately east of the University of Arizona main campus, was established in 1877 and designated as a national historic district in 1994. It is named for Samuel C. Hughes, who helped incorporate Tucson in the early 1870s and served on its first city council.

The neighborhood stretches from Speedway to Broadway and from Campbell Avenue to Country Club Road. The average home value there was more than $337,000 in 2019, compared with an average of $221,000 in the city as a whole, according to city-data.com.

Sixteen architectural styles are represented but the majority of Sam Hughes homes were built in the Spanish eclectic style, many of them during a construction boom from 1923 to 1932, Star archives show. Prominent local architect Roy O. Place designed the elementary school, which opened in 1927.

Sam Hughes Elementary now serves about 370 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, its website says.

Need for security improvements

There is currently a four-foot tall chain-link fence on the schools west side. The districts safety improvement plan called for adding another four feet to the existing fence, said Greg Meier, TUSD facilities management director.

TUSD School Safety Director Joseph Hallums told board members the purpose of the fence is not to keep bullets from going in, but to restrict access for potential intruders.

He noted that most TUSD schools were built more than 60 years ago with the intention of making campuses welcoming, rather than keeping intruders out. And while the district wants to continue respecting the Sam Hughes history and culture, its also responsible for the safety of students and staff, he noted.

Hallums said adding a taller fence isnt foolproof and wouldnt entirely prevent intruders from trespassing, but would slow them down, adding crucial seconds or minutes for employees to react and address a security situation.

Unfortunately, theres been numerous events around the country and even at Sam Hughes individually that highlight the need for security improvements at our school, he said.

Eye-opening incident last year

Principal Kathryn Bolasky said Sam Hughes Elementary dealt with an intruder on campus on Feb. 14, 2022.

Bolasky said she initially received notice of a disgruntled individual standing on Wilson Avenue, on the west side of campus. After seeing that the man wasnt in the right frame of mind, she immediately called for the school to go on lockdown, but as she did, he climbed the fence and entered a classroom full of about 25 students.

She said she was able to convince the intruder to leave the classroom, and stayed with him for about 15 minutes before law enforcement arrived. During that time, she said, the intruder scaled the fence back and forth multiple times, peered through windows and banged on classroom doors.

It was just very eye opening to see how easily someone could get into our school, onto our campus, Bolasky said. It was something that couldve had a very, very different outcome.

Public Information Officer Frank Magos of the Tucson Police Department confirmed that officers detained a 39-year-old man for trespassing on the campus. He was arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors, including disorderly conduct, and was released that day.

The officers did say that he had very erratic behavior, but we dont know if it was a mental crisis that he was going through or if it was drug-induced, Magos said.

Trujillo said its not uncommon in the district for people to enter school property without authorization, but that higher fences have helped in some cases.

For example, he said, the district struggled with homeless people setting up camps at the Bioenvironmental Learning Lab of Borton Elementary Magnet School on 22nd Street, where students use the desert ecosystem for learning experiences.

He said a grant from the Pascua Yaqui Tribe helped cover the cost of putting up a wrought-iron fence that effectively keeps people off of the property if not authorized to be there.

Penitentiary yard image

For his part, Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association board member Vytas Sakalas said he fully supports TUSD in its efforts to make the school as safe and secure as possible.

I dont think its up to any neighborhood group to try to impinge on that responsibility, he said. We need to support the school administrators, the teachers and the parents.

But one Sam Hughes parent who identified himself as Erik and participated virtually in the neighborhood meeting said that, while he believes the aesthetics of the neighborhood matter, hes more concerned about how a taller fence will affect the students experiences at the school.

He noted that the schools playground is very small and said he worries about how students will feel when that small space is surrounded by a towering fence.

So theyre going to be in a penitentiary yard? Thats a bit of a charged version, but nonetheless it gets the point across, Erik said.

Jacob Bricca, another neighborhood resident, said he agreed the taller fence would be a burden for the children.

There are people who are parents who are concerned about safety, but are equally concerned that  we cant just build ourselves bigger and bigger walls to get out of these situations, Bricca said.

Hartmann added: I think you can sense that theres a lot of neighborhood concern. I think all of us want children to be safe, but we dont like the idea of the school looking like a fortress.

More attractive option sought

I dont see any reason why we couldnt work out some kind of a solution where the school is fenced, I hope aesthetically (and) not too tall, but that the playground is left somewhat more accessible to the community, Hartmann said.

Meier said a wrought-iron fence could be a more aesthetically pleasing alternative to the chain-link fence.

But, he noted, the cost would increase substantially, from $25,000, which the district currently has on hand for the school, up to $78,000 to cover just the west side of the campus, where the intrusion occurred last year.

A board member asked if the $25,000 now earmarked for the Sam Hughes fencing could instead be used to invest in technology that could also help keep intruders off campus. Meier said thats an option that can be explored, but that some technologies might be more expensive than a fence.

Hartmann asked the TUSD officials if they could create another, more aesthetically pleasing proposal with the funding the district has available. Trujillo agreed and said the issue will be taken to the governing board for further discussion.

Sakalas suggested looking at other funding sources.

Is there any way that we could possibly help with the finances by doing a fundraiser to pay for the more expensive wrought-iron fence, rather than the chain-link fence? Sakalas asked.

That would definitely help, Meier said.

Photos: Sam Hughes neighborhood in Tucson
Tucson Water will work this year to get water use reduced by nearly 8,000 households  almost half of them in the Catalina Foothills  that each consume more than 250% of an average household's annual use.

It will mostly do so by encouraging water-use "self-audits" and voluntary conservation.

But the utility is also evaluating the possibility and feasibility of imposing a "drought surcharge" on water bills. Probably in the next few months and definitely this year, its officials say they will provide surcharge options to the City Council.

"For instance, should a drought surcharge be something that is broadly applied to all customers, or should it be a fee for customers with especially high water use?" said James MacAdam, administrator of Tucson Water's conservation and stormwater resources division.

"We're not ready to say which one we favor," he said.

A city drought response plan says that at Lake Mead's current, precariously low water levels, customers who use significantly more water than the citywide average can get audits of their water use. But while the city has employees trained to come to homes to conduct in-person audits, the vast majority of high-water-using households this year will likely be encouraged to conduct self-audits.

Tucson Water staffers say that's due to a lack of available staff, although they plan to hire later this year. Some City Council members say the utility needs to get more staffers out in the field, given the need to conserve during difficult times for the city's Colorado River drinking water supply.

For people using excessive amounts of water, "I think they oughta get a real audit," Vice Mayor Steve Kozachik said. "There oughta be a stick involved for not complying, either a higher water rate or a surcharge. We can't have people using excessive amounts of water."

Councilman Kevin Dahl, however, said the utility staff wasn't clear about the surcharges' purpose when they discussed the issue at last week's council meeting. For now, "we have no plans to do surcharges  not at this level of drought," he said.

Council backs ban on ornamental grass

In the past few weeks, Tucson Water has sent about 7,800 letters to the high-water-using residents, "for your awareness and to offer resources to help you save."

That's a very small percentage of the utility's total customer base. But city officials say they want to target the heaviest users because such households could have larger amounts of what they call "discretionary" water use, including lusher landscapes and unidentified leaks of plumbing fixtures.

The average household of about 2.5 persons uses about 74,000 gallons of water annually, the utility says; 250% of that is 185,000 gallons.

Forty-five percent of the letters went to residents of the Catalina Foothills, and including foothills residents, 62% went to households in unincorporated areas of Pima County that are Tucson Water customers, utility statistics show. City residents made up about 32% of the letter recipients. Most of the rest are households in Marana, Oro Valley and South Tucson. A total of three letters went to households on the Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O'odham reservations.

City officials assume the foothills have so many high-water-using households because many have lusher, larger landscapes on larger lots and are more likely to have swimming pools than people living inside the city, MacAdam said. He also cited a generally accepted correlation, or link, between households' wealth and how much water they use.

Last week, as anticipated, the council took a step toward a major water conservation policy  a ban on ornamental grass planting, otherwise known as nonfunctional turf. It directed Tucson Water to "move forward" in banning such turf in new developments and to phase out all existing nonfunctional grass plantings by June 2026.

The utility must now prepare a formal ordinance for the City Planning Commission, which will hold a public hearing and make a formal recommendation to the council. The ordinance should be to the council in three to five months, MacAdam said.

At meetings of interest groups the city held to gauge public sentiment about a ban, there was little or no opposition voiced. Asked if he thinks that means people understand the nature of the water problem that would justify such a ban, MacAdam said "Yes."

Helping people learn to save water

For in-person audits, the utility sends to peoples' homes what it calls zanjeros, or water managers. The zanjeros have "extensive training in indoor and outdoor water conservation and efficiency," a Tucson Water website says.

But there are only four of them, although the utility plans to hire two more by the end of 2023 as part of a staff reorganization.

Last year, the city sent zanjeros to 1,016 homes. This year, until those hires, "I think we'll probably be able to shoot for 1,200 with current staffing  trying to do more with the same staff," MacAdam said.

"A zanjero audit includes checking for excessive water consumption, measuring flow rates of shower heads and faucets, looking for special water uses such as spas, pools, or misting systems, and analyzing the efficiency of an irrigation system. During an audit, new low-flow fixtures, faucet aerators, or other water-saving devices may be provided," says a Tucson Water website.

Zanjeros are quite busy, MacAdam said. They also do audits of businesses and multi-family residents, homeowners' associations and city government facilities. They also enforce the city's water waste ordinance, which forbids people from letting water run down the street.

"And the word audit doesn't quite capture it. They are really helping customers learn about how to save water, troubleshooting, educating," MacAdam said.

For now, Tucson Water doesn't have an exact threshold of water use for which a homeowner can get a one-on-one audit from a zanjero, he said. The drought plan says the city will offer audits for customers "significantly exceeding their annual water budget."

The utility's current definition of significantly exceeding water use averages is more than 250% of average, but "that's definitely subject to change."

Colorado River shortage

The drought plan's audit provision kicks in when federal officials declare what they call a Tier 2 shortage on the Colorado River.

That level of shortage began this year, after Lake Mead fell below 1,050 feet elevation at the end of 2022. In a Tier 2 shortage, the Central Arizona Project, which delivers Tucson's drinking water supply, loses 592,000 acre-feet of water out of an approximate total of 1.5 million acre-feet.

That total amounts to about 15 years worth of total annual consumption by Tucson Water customers. As of Saturday, Mead's water level stood at about 1,047 feet. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projects Mead will fall to 1,033 feet by the end of 2023 and to 1,017 feet by the end of 2024.

If Mead falls below 1,025 feet at the end of a calendar year, federal officials are required under an earlier, regional drought plan to declare a Tier 3 shortage. If that happens, and water consumption in Tucson doesn't decrease due to measures taken in earlier drought tiers, the city's mayor and council may consider actual water-use restrictions for customers continuing to exceed city usage guidelines, the drought plan says.

As part of the city drought plan, Tucson Water is developing what it calls a "suite" of self-audit tools, including a self-directed, online water use calculator to help customers understand their water use and behaviors on their property and to receive water conservation suggestions. The utility will have what it calls an online resource library of "how-to" audit videos and checklists for a Smart Home water use guide.

Those tools are "all in development," MacAdam said. The series of videos and the online water use calculator should be done in a month or two, he said.

'We just have to be vigilant'

Councilman Dahl said the city needs to do more to make in-home audits more available.

"They're so much more effective than trying to learn about it on a website," Dahl said. "I'm hoping we can staff up and really fulfill what our drought preparedness plan purports to be."

"It's not the council's job to get things done. It's to set policy direction. We're in a drought and the drought isn't likely to get better anytime soon," he said. "We need to get serious about water conservation."

Kozachik said, "We have been talking about hiring more staff for far too long. Some of the outreach work we should be doing is not done."

Councilman Paul Cunningham said he's not overly concerned about the city's staffing problems that limit the conducting of in-person audits. The 7,700 customers using excessive water represent less than 2% of all the utility's household customers, he said.

But he does believe the city's efforts to get these users to voluntarily conserve "will be a really good indicator of how we can encourage our highest water users to consider other practices. That's a good way to go about it."
TheaterWorks Hartfords politically charged 2020 virtual theater production Russian Troll Farm has won an Obie Award, one of the highest American theater honors.

The dark comedy by Sarah Gancher was conceived as a virtual project timed to be seen prior to the Presidential election of 2020. It dramatizes the lives of office workers charged with writing and disseminating misinformation that could affect the election.

The show was co-directed by Elizabeth Williamson, who had then recently left her position as associate artistic director of Hartford Stage, and digital theater artist Jared Mezzocchi, who returned to TheaterWorks in 2022 with his solo virtual show Someone Elses House.

The award will be presented Monday in a ceremony at the music club Terminal 5 in New York City. It comes just as Russian Troll Farm is achieving new life in a different format. Williamson is now the artistic director of the Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York, and is staging a live version of Russian Troll Farm from Feb. 28 through March 26. This new version will be directed by Darko Tresnjak, who was Hartford Stages artistic director from 2011 to 2019.

The original show was named one of the top 10 theater events of 2020 by the New York Times.

The Courant wrote in its Magical Moments of Connecticut theater in 2020? that Russian Troll Farm showed how online theater can rise to the occasion.  The show deliberately shifted styles and paces to make its point that the Russian interference was some sort of epic theater. But the production also knew how to build in power gradually, then hit you with a dizzying array of images and sounds for a psychological tornado of an ending.

Russian Troll Farm was originally broadcast from Oct. 20 through Nov. 2, 2020, while theater buildings were still closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first five performances were performed live on camera, then a pre-recorded version was shown for the rest of the run.

Russian Troll Farm playwright Sarah Gancher wanted the play to be seen before the 2020 election, so an innovative Zoom production was conceived.

A Connecticut theater production would not ordinarily be eligible for the Obies, which honor works presented Off-Broadway in New York City. But Russian Troll Farm was a co-production of three theaters, one of which is New York-based. TheaterWorks Hartford worked on the show with TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the New York City-based theater company Civilians.

Also unusual: a show that happened in 2020 won an Obie in 2023. Due to COVID, the Obies have not been held live in several years. The organization decided to use this years ceremony to acknowledge notable works staged from 2020 through 2022. Over 400 productions were considered. The winners were announced in advance so that Mondays ceremony could be a celebration without the anxiety of surprise announcements.

The widened requirements for eligibility are in keeping with the Obie Awards reputation as an informal, open-minded event that understands that to properly celebrate the ever-changing world of progressive small theater it needs to be flexible. The awards are not competitive, in the sense that nominees are not announced or placed in contention against each other. Awards are given for single projects but also for sustained achievement if an actor or director or designer has done exceptional work in more than one production.

There is always a long list of Special Citations, many of which fall outside the usual categories found at awards ceremonies. Among this years special citations are one for Richard Nelson, a former chair of the graduate playwriting program at Yale, for the completion and producing of The Rhinebeck Panorama,' his series of real-time, in-the-moment conversations of a contemporary American family. Another is for Laurie Woolery and Shaina Taub, the director and songwriter of the recent New York Public Theater production of As You Like It. Woolery directed Dream House at the Long Wharf Theatre last year and is back in New Haven now directing Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles for the Yale Repertory Theatre, where it runs March 10 through April 1.

It is in the Special Citations category that Russian Troll Farm is honored with one of two Obies given this year for Digital+Virtual+Hybrid Production.

One of the many other 2023 Obie winners with Connecticut connections is the Sol Project, an initiative promoting the works of Latinx playwrights, founded by current Long Wharf Theatre artistic director Jacob Padron. Playwright Martyna Majok, who has an MFA in playwriting from Yale, is receiving an Obie for her play Sanctuary City. There are innumerable connections between the Off-Broadway scene and Connecticuts regional theaters, which often employ the same talent and share in the development of new projects.

The Obies were founded in 1956 by the Village Voice newspaper, which helped spur the growth of the Off-Broadway theater movement through its reviews and support. In 2015, when the Voice was having trouble surviving as a newspaper (it ceased publication as a weekly paper in 2017 and was relaunched in 2021), the American Theatre Wing, which runs the Tony Awards for Broadway-based theater productions, joined the Voice in organizing and presenting the Obies.

Reach reporter Christopher Arnott at carnott@courant.com.
KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines leader pledged Friday to push for victory in 2023 as he and other Ukrainians marked the somber anniversary of the Russian invasion that upended their lives and Europes security.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the countrys dogged resistance a year on has proven that every tomorrow is worth fighting for.

On a day of commemorations, reflection and tears, the Ukrainian presidents defiant tone captured the national mood of resilience in the face of Europes biggest and deadliest war since World War II. Zelenskyy, who became a symbol of Ukraines refusal to bow to Moscow, said Ukrainians proved to be invincible during a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.

We have been standing for exactly one year, Zelenskyy said. Feb. 24, 2022, he said, was the longest day of our lives. The hardest day of our modern history. We woke up early and havent fallen asleep since.

Ukrainians wept at memorials for their tens of thousands of dead. Though Friday marked the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, combat between Russian-backed forces and Ukrainian troops has raged in the countrys east since 2014. New drone footage showed the town of Marinka was razed, along with others.

Russian shelling killed another three civilians and wounded 19 others in the most recent 24-hour spell, Ukraines presidential office said.

Ukrainians looked back at a year that changed their lives and at the clouded future.

I can sum up the last year in three words: Fear, love, hope, said Oleksandr Hranyk, a school director in Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city.

Lining up in the capital, Kyiv, to buy anniversary commemorative postage stamps, Tetiana Klimkova said this day has become a symbol for me that we have survived for a whole year and will continue to live.

On this day, she said, our children and grandchildren will remember how strong Ukrainians are mentally, physically and spiritually.

China on Friday called for a cease-fire but peace was nowhere in sight.

Zelenskyy gave qualified support to Chinas apparent new interest in playing a diplomatic role, saying: The fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad.

But the question is what follows the words, he said during a wide-ranging news conference. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to. Ukraine previously rejected a pause in the fighting for fear it would allow Russia to regroup militarily after bruising battlefield setbacks.

A 12-point paper issued by Chinas Foreign Ministry also urged an end to sanctions that aim to squeeze Russias economy.

That suggestion looked like a nonstarter. The U.S., in coordination with Group of Seven allies, announced a new sanctions on Russian firms, banks, manufacturers and people Friday, aiming them at entities that helped Russia evade sanctions earlier in the war.

The U.S. announced a new, $2 billion package of assistance for Ukraine on Friday. It includes weapons to counter Russias unmanned systems and several types of drones, as well as electronic warfare detection equipment.

Ukraine is readying another military push to roll back Russian forces with the help of weaponry that has poured in from the West.

NATO member Poland said Friday it delivered four advanced Leopard 2A4 tanks, the first country to hand the German-made armored vehicles to Ukraine. The prime minister of Poland said on a visit to Kyiv that more Leopards are coming.

Ukraine is entering a new period, with a new task  to win, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

It will not be easy. But we will manage, he added. There is rage and a desire to avenge the fallen.

Air raid alarms didnt sound Friday in Kyiv, alleviating concerns that Russia might unleash another barrage of missiles on the anniversary.

Tributes to Ukraines resilience took place in other countries.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Colosseum in Rome were among monuments illuminated in Ukraines colors  yellow and blue. In Berlin, a wrecked Russian tank was put on display.

Anti-war activists in Belgrade, Serbia, left a cake covered with red icing representing blood and a skull on top on a pavement near the Russian Embassy.

In Russia, media and rights groups reported more police arrests of protesters who took to the streets with anti-war slogans and flowers in various parts of the country.

The wars one-year mark kept Ukraines president exceptionally busy. Zelenskyy kicked off the day with an early morning tweet that promised: We know that 2023 will be the year of our victory!

He also addressed troops on a Kyiv square and handed out honors, including to the widow and daughter of a fallen soldier, telling them: We will never forget. In a Kyiv hospital, he decorated wounded fighters.

Unable to fly by plane from Ukraine because of the war, Zelenskyy did the next best thing at his news conference, spending nearly 2 hours with journalists from around the world. He thanked country after country for its support.

The news conference was televised live, which was unusual. Generally, Zelenskyys speeches and comments are broadcast with a delay until he has left a location to protect him from a possible attack.
A past COVID-19 infection offers durable, temporary protection against getting severely sick with the coronavirus  no matter the variant, a new study has found.

Though natural immunity against COVID-19 offers protections, the findings dont discourage vaccination, which is still the top method of preventing serious illness, experts involved in the research say.

University of Washington researchers call their study, published Feb. 16 in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet, the most comprehensive to date when it comes to showing evidence of natural immunity protection against COVID-19.

Natural immunity protected against COVID-19 hospitalization and death lasts for nearly a year, the study found. Specifically, a persons risk of needing hospital treatment for the coronavirus or dying from it was 88% lower for at least 10 months.

Catching COVID-19 was also shown to guard against reinfections, symptoms while a person is infected and severe illness when it came to the ancestral virus variants  meaning the alpha, delta and original omicron strains, the study found.

The work suggests that the level and duration of protection against reinfection, symptomatic disease and severe illness is at least on a par with that provided by two doses of the mRNA vaccines (Moderna, Pfizer-BioNtech) for ancestral, Alpha, Delta and Omicron BA.1 variants, a news release on the study said.

The findings are based on a meta-analysis of 65 studies from 19 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, India and Norway, to assess the effectiveness of a prior COVID-19 infection in protecting a person. It included studies examining COVID-19 reinfections of people who werent vaccinated.

The research didnt examine data on the newer omicron XBB variant or its sublineages. The omicron XBB.1.5 variant is the most dominant in the U.S., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows.

Vaccination is the safest way to acquire immunity, whereas acquiring natural immunity must be weighed against the risks of severe illness and death associated with the initial infection, Dr. Stephen Lim, lead study author and a professor at the University of Washingtons Department of Health Metrics Sciences, said in a statement.

If a person was previously infected with a coronavirus variant other than omicron, the protection against a subsequent omicron infection was significantly lower, the research noted.

However, if a person was previously infected with omicron, there was a higher chance of being protected against a future omicron infection  but not for the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, researchers wrote. This confirms the greater immune escape linked with these particular subvariants.

To fully understand a persons immunity profile and risks for COVID-19, those in charge of making decisions related to public health should take both natural immunity and vaccination status into consideration, Dr. Caroline Stein, a study co-author, said in a statement.

Such decisions, according to the researchers, refer to guidelines for when people should get COVID-19 vaccine doses, including booster shots, the researchers wrote.

Some limitations of the study include how fewer studies the authors included had data on the original omicron variant and its sublineages.

The work calls for further studies examining protection offered by both COVID-19 vaccination and infection. It emphasizes how more research has been published analyzing vaccine efficacy compared with COVID-19 infection.

The study received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Photos: Schools across US face post-pandemic reading challenges
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes gave birth to a second child as she seeks to delay her impending imprisonment for felony fraud, according to a court filing this past week.

Holmes, 39, had a first child  a son  in July 2021 as she awaited trial on charges of defrauding investors and patients in connection with her now-defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup.

Between her conviction in January 2022 for defrauding investors out of more than $144 million, and her sentencing 10 months later to more than 11 years in prison, Holmes became pregnant again, according to a court filing.

Judge Edward Davila, in passing sentence, delayed her incarceration until April 27, with legal experts saying he likely imposed the delay so Holmes could give birth before imprisonment. Holmes appealed her conviction and sentence.

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 as a Stanford University dropout. Her claims that her technology could conduct a full range of tests using just a few drops of blood from a finger-stick helped drive its valuation as high as $9 billion before a series of Wall Street Journal exposes led to federal investigations, criminal charges and the demise of the startup in 2018.

The court record does not reveal when Holmes delivered her second child. She appeared pregnant at an October court hearing in U.S. District Court in San Jose, and her fiance Billy Evans  the father of Holmes' first child  confirmed her pregnancy in a November court filing. Her legal team in a court filing Thursday said she now has "two young children."

The filing came amid a back-and-forth fight between Holmes' legal team and prosecutors that followed her motion in December asking Davila to extend her freedom until her appeal is finished, a process that could take a year or more.

Davila recommended that Holmes be sent to a minimum-security women's prison camp in Texas, but federal prison officials will decide where she serves time.

Last month, prosecutors argued that Holmes should not remain free after April 27. They accused her of posing a flight risk and claimed she tried to flee the country on a one-way ticket to Mexico after her conviction.

Holmes only canceled the trip after a prosecutor contacted her lawyers about the ticket, the prosecution said. Holmes' partner Billy Evans, prosecutors claimed, flew to Mexico, not returning for nearly six weeks, and then from South Africa.

Holmes' lawyers fired back, arguing that the prosecution had "recklessly and incorrectly" alleged she sought to escape accountability. Her legal team claimed in a court filing that before Holmes was convicted that she hoped to be acquitted and wanted to attend the wedding of close friends in Mexico in late January 2022.

"Once the verdict was issued, Ms. Holmes did not intend to make the trip," her lawyers claimed. Evans, who described himself for the first time as Holmes' fiance in a declaration included with the filing, returned to the U.S. through Tijuana four days after he flew to Mexico, before flying to South Africa three weeks later on a two-week trip, according to Holmes' lawyers.

Holmes' lawyers also questioned why prosecutors waited until December to make their claim despite knowing about the Mexico booking for a year, and did not mention it when Davila was making decisions about whether Holmes could remain free.

But prosecutors in a counter-filing noted that Holmes failed to explain why her ticket to Mexico was only one way.

"Noticeably absent from (Holmes') filing is a declaration from the person whose mental state matters  (Holmes) herself  asserting that she did not intend to nor attempt to flee in January 2022," the filing said.
BANGKOK  The 3-year-old boy had taken only two steps from his mothers lap when a deafening explosion rang out. The blast caught the woman in the face, blurring her vision. She forced her eyes open and searched for her son around the jetty where theyd been waiting for a ferry, near their small village in south-central Myanmar.

Through the smoke, she spotted him. His body lay on the ground, his feet and legs mangled with flesh peeled away, shattered bones exposed.

He was crying and telling me that it hurt so much, she said. He didnt know what just happened.

But she did.

The boy had detonated a landmine, an explosive device designed to mutilate or destroy whatever comes into its path.

Landmines have been banned for decades by most countries, since the U.N. Mine Ban Treaty was adopted in 1997. But in Myanmar, which isnt party to the treaty, the use of mines has soared since the military seized power from the democratically elected government in February 2021 and armed resistance has skyrocketed.

Landmines are planted by all sides of the conflict in Myanmar, and theyre responsible for surging civilian casualties, including an alarming number of children as victims, according to an AP analysis based on data and reports from nonprofit and humanitarian organizations, interviews with civilian victims, families, local aid workers, military defectors and monitoring groups.

In 2022, U.N. figures show, civilian casualties from landmine and unexploded ordnance spiked by nearly 40%. Experts say this and other official tallies are vastly undercounted, largely due to difficulties monitoring and reporting during the conflict.

Despite incomplete numbers, experts agree the increase in Myanmar is the largest ever recorded.

Virtually no area is immune to the threat. Over the past two years, mine contamination has spread to every state and region except for the capital city, Naypyitaw, according to Landmine Monitor, a group that tracks global landmine use.

The military also uses civilians as human shields, a practice widespread in the country for decades but raising alarms with increasing mine incidents. APs analysis found the military, known as the Tatmadaw, forced people to walk ahead of troops to detonate potential landmines in their path, protecting their own troops.

The Myanmar military, which has acknowledged mine use in the past, didnt respond to a list of questions AP sent to their official spokespersons email.

When the fighting moves on, landmines dont. Mines left behind can indiscriminately maim or kill those who happen upon them, years later.

It raises the specter of casualties for years to come. In countries including Egypt and Cambodia, people continue to die from millions of mines left behind long after conflicts has ended.

Leaving an activated mine like this is the same as releasing a monster, said a 26-year-old military defector who worked as a combat engineer platoon commander in Myanmar.

Like most who were interviewed by AP, the defector spoke on condition of anonymity to protect himself and his family from military retaliation.

Landmines and unexploded ordnance have been a persistent issue in Myanmar for more than four decades. The problem has grown exponentially since the military takeover, with heavier use of landmines in more parts of the country, said Kim Warren, a U.N. landmine specialist.

In 2022, 390 people were victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Myanmar, more than a 37% increase from 2021, according to figures compiled by UNICEF. Overall, 102 people were killed and 288 were wounded, with children making up some 34% of the victims, compared with 26% in 2021.

Still, Warren said, incidents are underreported.

Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, Landmine Monitors Myanmar expert, said his group counts only casualties it can confirm with confidence: Weve always been undercounting.

Experts concede the total number of casualties may seem small, with Myanmars population of about 56 million, but say the rapid increase is distressing nonetheless.

Many civilian victims encounter landmines during daily routines, and many of them wont know who was responsible for the blasts  the Tatmadaw or anti-military groups.

A member of a militia that operates in Sagaing said his group has removed nearly 100 mines thought to be planted by the military and plans to reuse them to augment its arsenal of homemade devices.

A mine is an indispensable weapon to attack the enemy, said the member, who spoke by phone on condition of anonymity.

Myanmar and Russia were the only states documented to have used mines in 2022, according to Landmine Monitor.

The group also confirmed the military has been increasingly mining infrastructure such as mobile phone towers and power lines to deter attacks. Military-planted mines also are protecting at least two major Chinese-backed projects  a copper mine in Sagaing and a pipeline pumping station in northeastern Shan state that is part of Chinas Belt and Road initiative, Moser-Puangsuwan said.

We are not aware of the situation you mentioned, a spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to the AP in a fax. The cooperation project between China and Myanmar is in line with the common interests of both sides and has brought tangible benefits to the people of Myanmar.

It made no reference to any of those whod been maimed.
LONDON  From Major Tom to Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, the many faces and inspirations of David Bowie are getting a permanent home in London.

Britains Victoria & Albert Museum announced Thursday that it has acquired Bowies archive of more than 80,000 items as a gift from the late musicians estate. The trove of costumes, musical instruments, letters, lyrics, photos and more will be opened to the public at a new arts center dedicated to the chameleonlike pop icon.

The David Bowie Center for the Study of Performing Arts is due to open in 2025 as part of V&A East Storehouse, an offshoot of the U.K.s national museum of art, design and performance that is being built in east Londons Olympic Park.

The V&A said the center will let fans and researchers gain insights into the creative process of Bowie, who died in 2016 at the age of 69.

Kate Bailey, the museums senior curator of theater and performance, said the archive was an extraordinary record of a creator whose life was art.

Bowies a polymath, hes multifaceted. He was inspired by all genres and disciplines, she said. Hes an artist who was working really in 360  drawing from literature, but also drawing from art history ... (and) the places that hed been to.

The musician  born plain old David Jones in the London suburbs in 1947  reinvented himself restlessly, creating and shedding personas as he moved through musical styles from folk-rock to glam to soul to electronica.

He created a series of larger-than-life stage characters, mining influences ranging from German Expressionist cinema to Japanese Kabuki theater. In turn he has influenced musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers and advertisers.

Some of the items in the archive formed part of David Bowie Is, a multimedia exhibition that toured the world after a sold-out run at the V&A in London in 2013.

Some items are iconic, such as a multicolored quilted jumpsuit designed by Freddie Burretti for Bowies alien rock star creation Ziggy Stardust, Kansai Yamamotos futuristic creations for the Aladdin Sane tour in 1973 or the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the cover of 1997s Earthling album.

Others are more personal, including letters, handwritten lyrics for songs including the anthem Heroes, and notebooks that Bowie kept throughout his life. The archives also contain more than 70,000 photographs, slides and images.

The museum secured the archive from the Bowie estate and also received a 10 million pound ($12 million) donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group to house and display it at V&A East, part of a new culture and technology quarter rising on the site of the 2012 London Olympics.

The David Bowie Estate said that with Davids lifes work becoming part of the U.K.s national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses.

V&A director Tristram Hunt called Bowie one of the greatest musicians and performers of all time.

Bowies radical innovations across music, theatre, film, fashion, and style  from Berlin to Tokyo to London  continue to influence design and visual culture and inspire creatives from Janelle Monae to Lady Gaga to Tilda Swinton and Raf Simons, he said.
The city has granted the development team behind the Evans-Fintube mixed-use project until June 1 to shore up the groups composition in light of recent alterations.

Three weeks ago, the Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity revealed that real estate development consultant Michael Collins and J.E. Dunn Capital Partners no longer have predevelopment roles with Team Alchemy, which was awarded the Evans-Fintube project in the spring.

At that time, Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity Executive Director Kian Kamas said the organization would take the next 30 days to understand the state of Team Alchemy and determine whether it has the capability and financing capacity to carry through with the project.

Collins, formerly with J.E. Dunn Capital Partners and now with Grayson Capital, has completed more than $3.8 billion worth of public finance, real estate investment and development projects, according to information contained in Team Alchemys proposal. The Dunn business, which is listed as a general partner/equity partner in the Tulsa project, has invested at least $152 million in design-build-finance projects totaling $1.25 billion, documents indicate.

The $30 million-plus Phase 1 of the Tulsa proposal involves reimagining the Oklahoma Iron Works building on the 22-acre Evans-Fintube property north of downtown.

Headed by Franchell Abdalla, Team Alchemy is led by locally based Be Good Development Partners, for whom Abdalla serves as principal, and includes local, state and national architects, engineers and preservation specialists.

Team Alchemy was selected for the project after a yearlong, community-driven process and a request for proposals.

Abdalla spoke with Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity leaders this week, and Kamas relayed the news of Team Alchemys extension to the boards trustees Thursday at their regular monthly meeting.

Following notification of shifts in the development team for Team Alchemy due to the exit of J.E. Dunn Capital Partners and Michael Collins and Grayson Capital, PartnerTulsa (Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity) has provided a 120-day window for the project team to provide documentation on experience, qualifications and financial capability as defined in the original Request for Proposals issued on September 8, 2021, Kamas said in a statement. We expect to evaluate all documentation following the June 1, 2023 deadline and will determine next steps based upon information received.

Abdalla attended Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity and Tulsa Development Authority meetings Thursday.

Their want from me is to find a co-development partner that can pass similar thresholds to what J.E. Dunn Capital Partners and Michael Collins did, she said by phone this week. What I want the community to understand is that this project still has the financial capacity to be delivered. Everything that has been leveraged to this point wasnt as a result of Michael Collins. So any concerns around not being able to get the money to do the development were always within my role as project lead. I will continue, in partnership with community and others, to raise the funding.

Any co-developer that comes into the mix is definitely going to help support that. But it was always within my role to put together the team, cast the vision and raise the money. The project will be funded, and it will get built.

Collins founded Kansas City, Missouri-based Grayson Capital last spring after leaving J.E. Dunn, also headquartered in Kansas City.

We did not come to terms on project direction and delivery, he wrote to the Tulsa World in an email, referring to the Evans-Fintube project. The community deserves nothing but the best development to bolster economic vitality.

In interviews with the Tulsa World, Abdalla has taken issue with the Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunitys labeling of J.E. Dunn Capital Partners and Collins as previous co-developers in the Evans-Fintube project.

She said she asked Collins late last month to exit his role as a predevelopment consultant, adding that J.E. Dunn Construction remains a building partner. The city of Tulsa and TAEO are equity partners in the project.

While I know it is difficult to fully capture the changes in the project, the team that was awarded the project was always led by me as the developer, Abdalla emphasized. There have been no changes in my team, except for the removal of Michael Collins from the project.

The community should not be concerned. The team is intact. The people that are missing in the project are people who can be hired. Mr. Collins was an employee at the time that capacity was being leveraged.

In a December 2021 email from Abdalla to people associated with the project, she presents J.E. Dunn as a co-developer. Earlier this month, Kamas sought clarification from Todd Navrat, vice president and general counsel for J.E. Dunn Construction.

He wrote that J.E. Dunn Construction remains committed to Evans-Fintube as a building partner, adding that J.E. Dunn Capital Partners will not be involved in the pre-development stage of the project. Should the project progress to a point where vertical (construction) financing is being pursued and should J.E. Dunn Construction be the builder of the project, J.E. Dunn Capital Partners would seriously consider assisting the development team with vertical financing, should such assistance be needed.

Emily Gallagher is vice president of communications for J.E. Dunn Construction and its subsidiaries.

J.E. Dunn Capital Partners primary business is arranging financing and investing in real estate development projects built by our parent company, J.E. Dunn Construction Company, once those projects are ready to start construction, Gallagher wrote in a statement. Unfortunately, Evans-Fintube is too early in the development cycle and needs resources that J.E. Dunn Capital Partners is not able to provide. J.E. Dunn Capital Partners and J.E. Dunn Construction Company remain supportive of the Evans-Fintube development.

The proposed Phase 1 of Evans-Fintube includes the renovation of historic structures at the city-owned site with a mix of retail, restaurant and office uses, Kamas said.

Highlighted in Phase 2 of Team Alchemys proposal is The Beacon, a 42-story, mixed-use structure. As proposed, the building could include rooftop dining, a hotel, a performance theater, studio space, first-floor retail and mixed-income multifamily housing.

May 2022 video: Evans-Fintube project includes saving Oklahoma Iron Works Building
Daily marijuana use can raise a persons risk of coronary artery disease by a third, according to a recent study lead by Dr. Ishan Paranjpe, a resident physician at Stanford University.

A growing body of evidence suggests that cannabis is not entirely without harm and may actually cause cardiovascular disease, Paranjpe told CNN. Thus, the decision to use cannabis must be carefully weighed against the potential for serious heart disease.

The study has not yet been published and will be presented on Sunday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers utilized data from the All of Us Research Program to determine that daily cannabis users were 34% more likely to be diagnosed with coronary artery disease than those that have never used cannabis. Those that used the drug once a month or less were found to be at no significant risk.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart disease within the U.S. and sometimes goes unnoticed until the affected suffers a heart attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overweight, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, and smoking tobacco are all risk factors for CAD, which often comes with symptoms of chest pain, nausea, light headedness, shortness of breath and pain in the arms or shoulders.

The study utilized a method often unused on the topic of marijuana and heart health, Mendelian randomization (MR)  which measures gene variations with a relation to modifiable risk factors.

While other work has also linked cannabis with CAD, there are several potential confounders that may explain this relationship, Paranjpe said. Our MR analysis suggests this relationship may be directly causal.

The researchers argued that future research should investigate how the various marijuana usage methods affect heart health, as the study was unable to prove whether different types of usage alter a users risk of developing CAD.
Nine new Tulsa County Sheriffs Office deputies were sworn into office Friday at the offices first academy classs graduation.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the keynote speaker, spoke to the graduates about their future roles and about their place in history.

The new deputies will be working not only in Tulsa County but across our state. Youll be called on to join my agents to abate the plague of illegal (marijuana) grows, Drummond said.

We have to reclaim Oklahoma from criminal activity in our communities, he said. We have to do that year by year, month by month and day by day.

In speaking about their membership in the academys first class, he told the graduates: You are a part of history.

The Tulsa County Sheriffs Office Academy, which provides Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training certification, has been in development for three years.

Drummond advised the new deputies that doing the right thing is the best guidance they can receive.

We are going to be the very best public servants and be faithful leaders of the community, he said.

Sheriff Vic Regalado echoed those remarks in his own speech as he mentioned that the academys goal was to instill the values, mission and expectations of the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office.

In order to do this, the cadets must remember that they will now be in the unique position to save lives and change them for the better, he said.

Steve Allen, the class leader, said that from the very beginning of the academy, the goal wasnt just training us to be certified deputies but to be men and women of courage, commitment, integrity and honor.

There were many moments when the recruits wondered, Why? Why am I here? he said.

That question should be our driving motivation for our entire career, and when our last days come, well know that our lives matter, he said. Every day that you get up, remind yourself of your why.

Regalado told the new deputies to remember what you have chosen to do is a calling.

The power behind the badge transcends not only our agency but every agency in Oklahoma and into the community, Sheriffs Office Capt. Mike Houston said.

In your creed you say, Im a peacekeeper. Im a sheepdog. Im a Tulsa County deputy, but you are also keepers of the trust, and trust we must have if were going to be effective in law enforcement, he said.

Featured video:

Close Light peaks through a window at the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Light peaks through a window at the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Light peaks through a window at the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The roof of the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Deputy Chris Pierce walks through the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shooting targets sit at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Deputy Chris Pierce walks through the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Bullet holes in a rusted out shooting target at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Trailers used for mobile command operations sit in the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Light peaks through a window at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriffs training center on July 28. IAN MAULE/Tulsa A sheriff's truck sits outside the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa A makeshift walk way covering mud sits at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Deputy Chris Pierce opens a door to the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Caution tape sits wrapped around a pole at the Tulsa County Sheriffs training center on July 28. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Targets sit at a shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shooting targets sit in the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Targets sit in front of airplane seats in a mock cabin at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The training center remains just a shell with an empty interior at 6094 E. 66th St. North. IAN MAULE/Tulsa World A mock airplane cabin sits at the shooting range of the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office training center on Friday. IAN MAULE/Tulsa World The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Caution tape sits wrapped around a pole at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shells sit on the floor of the shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Wires ready for power hook ups sit in the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shells sit on the floor of the shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Caution tape sits wrapped around a pole at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa A mock airplane cabin sits at the shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Journalism worth your time and money. Try a digital subscription for only $0.99. Go to tulsaworld.com/subscribe. July 28, 2017, photos: Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center was a long time coming Photo gallery: The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center project is estimated to cost $4.3 million on top of the $1.5 million already spent, and Sheriff Vic Regalado is exploring partnerships to potentially help get it done. The entire project's tab is estimated at $7.6 million after calculating in the $1.6 million bond  and its $200,000 in interest  to purchase the land and do preliminary infrastructure work. Light peaks through a window at the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Light peaks through a window at the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Light peaks through a window at the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The roof of the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Deputy Chris Pierce walks through the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shooting targets sit at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Deputy Chris Pierce walks through the empty Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Bullet holes in a rusted out shooting target at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Trailers used for mobile command operations sit in the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Light peaks through a window at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriffs training center on July 28. IAN MAULE/Tulsa A sheriff's truck sits outside the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa A makeshift walk way covering mud sits at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Deputy Chris Pierce opens a door to the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Caution tape sits wrapped around a pole at the Tulsa County Sheriffs training center on July 28. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Targets sit at a shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shooting targets sit in the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Targets sit in front of airplane seats in a mock cabin at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The training center remains just a shell with an empty interior at 6094 E. 66th St. North. IAN MAULE/Tulsa World A mock airplane cabin sits at the shooting range of the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office training center on Friday. IAN MAULE/Tulsa World The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Caution tape sits wrapped around a pole at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shells sit on the floor of the shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Wires ready for power hook ups sit in the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Shells sit on the floor of the shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Caution tape sits wrapped around a pole at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa A mock airplane cabin sits at the shooting range at the Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa The Tulsa County Sheriff's training center on Friday, July 28, 2017. IAN MAULE/Tulsa Journalism worth your time and money. Try a digital subscription for only $0.99. Go to tulsaworld.com/subscribe.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Competing legal opinions on whether Oklahoma can allow for the creation of taxpayer-funded religious charter schools means the issue likely will be decided in court, former state Attorney General John OConnor said Friday.

His comments came one day after Attorney General Gentner Drummond withdrew an advisory opinion from OConnor that could open the door for the Catholic Church in Oklahoma to establish the countrys first religious charter school.

Whether a school is chartered will be up to the virtual charter board, said OConnor, who was appointed to the position by Gov. Kevin Stitt and lost to Drummond in his bid to be elected. If they charter one, then I suspect the opponents will sue. If they dont charter one, I suspect the applicant will sue.

The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board could decide as soon as March whether to green light plans from the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa to open a religious charter school. A spokesman for the archdiocese declined to comment on Drummonds move.

In a letter to the board, Drummond wrote that approval of a charter school of one faith could open the floodgates for the approval of charter schools of all faiths, even those most Oklahomans would consider reprehensible and unworthy of public spending.

Stitt on Friday said he disagrees with Drummonds decision but recognizes Drummonds authority to reverse legal opinions issued by his predecessor.

The freedom of religion is foundational to this country, and religious liberties are the key to all other freedoms, Stitt said in a news conference.

Am I supportive of the Catholics choosing and going out and setting up a Catholic charter school? 100%, Stitt said. I think thats great. The governor said he would feel the same way if Jews or Muslims wanted to launch their own charter schools.

Drummond has a different take on religious liberty.

Religious liberty is one of our most fundamental freedoms, Drummond wrote in his letter to the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. It allows us to worship according to our faith, and to be free from any duty that may conflict with our faith. The Opinion as issued by my predecessor misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion.

Drummonds other main legal contention is that state law defines and the Attorney Generals Office has previously recognized charter schools only as public schools, not as private schools, which is what Catholic leaders have proposed for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.

Oklahoma Catholic leaders have applied for government sanctioning and taxpayer funding for the new school, which could enroll as many as 500 students at the outset and 1,500 by the fifth year of operation if approved.

The proposed new Catholic school would serve students in areas without Catholic schools and expand online course offerings to students in existing Catholic schools, proponents have said.

The five-seat Statewide Virtual Charter School Board currently has two vacancies that could be filled at any time  one person to be appointed by Stitt and the other by House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

AG Drummond exercised the power of his office to withdraw an opinion handed down by his predecessor regarding state funding for religious schools. Among other reasons for withdrawal, the attorney general stated that the opinion misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion, McCall said in a Thursday press statement.

Todays action shows how critical it is to provide Oklahomans with a well-thought-out, logical approach to school choice that will benefit everyone equally and limit the potential for waste, fraud and abuse. The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act does all of those things, and more, and will allow parents affected by todays decision to continue providing the education of their choosing for their children.

One of the national groups that has appealed in letters and memos to the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to reject the application celebrated Drummonds move. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has argued that OConnors legal advice was contrary to the U.S. Constitution, the Oklahoma Constitution and the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act and would result in the governments forcing taxpayers of no religious faith or differing religious beliefs to fund Catholic religious teachings.

The Rev. Lori Walke, a member of Americans Uniteds Faith Advisory Council and senior minister at Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, said Drummonds withdrawal of the OConnor opinion and new statements of caution to the virtual charter school board advanced true religious freedom for every Oklahoman.

If religion and religious liberty are to flourish, we must have a strong separation between church and state. As a faith leader, I understand that when the state taxes my fellow Oklahomans of any faith or none to fund houses of worship and religious schools, it has violated the conscience and religious freedom of all of us, Walke said. Thank you, Attorney General Drummond.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who also serves in Stitts Cabinet as secretary of education, took the opposite stance Friday.

Its disappointing that the AG opinion has reversed a needed and positive direction to allow religious charter schools in Oklahoma, he said in a written statement. My administration will do everything possible to promote the freedom of choice that parents should have in choosing their childs education.
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Members of the Congressional Black Caucus will come to Tulsa for a town hall-style event Saturday to discuss racial issues on both a national and a local level.

Part of a series of similar events nationwide under the Caucus National Racial Equity Initiative for Social Justice, the discussion will focus especially on the future of the city and building power in Black Tulsa: What it means and how we get there, organizers said.

Speakers and panelists will include at least three members of Congress, as well as Oklahoma activists and politicians such as state Rep. Regina Goodwin and City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper.

Other local participants will include Tiffany Crutcher, executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation; Damario Solomon-Simmons, executive director of the Justice for Greenwood Foundation; and Carlisha Williams Bradley, executive director of Women Empowering Nations.

Several topics will be addressed, from economic prosperity to education, to housing and food disparities, Williams Bradley said. But really well be taking a look at Black Tulsa and what it takes from our past, our present and our future to move towards equity, resilience and empowerment.

Tulsa history, with the prosperous Greenwood District largely destroyed by the infamous events of June 1921, gives the city a unique perspective, Williams Bradley said.

Tulsa was once the face of Black prosperity, she said. And we can look back at the devastating impact of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the continued conversations around equity. What does the past look like, and how has that impacted where we are today?

Sessions will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Booker T. Washington High School, 1514 E. Zion St.

The discussions will be hosted by Congressional Black Caucus members U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev.; Rep. Terri Sewell, A-Ala.; and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

Video: Oklahoma students talk about learning Tulsa Race Massacre, Black Wall Street history in schools
OKLAHOMA CITY  At the University of Oklahoma, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives range from Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations and faculty workshops on how to foster an inclusive campus environment to a summit for Black student athletes and a unity march on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Oklahoma State University counts support services for minority, LGBTQ and veteran undergraduates as well as those who are first-generation college students as part of its diversity programs.

At some of Oklahomas smaller colleges and universities, diversity, equity and inclusion programs take the form of disability awareness events, aid for international students, bringing diverse speakers to campus and bias training for campus law enforcement officers.

These initiatives take many forms, according to a review of programs at Oklahomas colleges and universities. But these policies have recently drawn criticism from some of the states conservative leaders.

Gov. Kevin Stitt disparaged universities focus on diversity initiatives in his State of the State address. State Superintendent Ryan Walters recently demanded records of how much Oklahoma colleges spent on these programs and suggested universities are more concerned with ideology than educating students.

It gives me great concern and makes me question whether we should continue to be recommending young people go into these universities, he said at Thursdays State Board of Education meeting.

But a local diversity, equity and inclusion expert said the programs and practices are often misunderstood. And a Democratic state lawmaker said criticism of diversity initiatives is politics at its worst.

Political rhetoric ramps up

Walters said he is trying to eliminate radical, left-wing ideology from all of the states education settings, including colleges and universities.

Several GOP lawmakers recently took Walters to task for his criticism of the states higher education institutions. They said Walters has no authority over Oklahoma colleges and universities because that oversight belongs solely to the State Regents for Higher Education.

In an interview earlier this month, Walters said he is working with his staff to review how much public higher education institutions spend on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and what kind of materials are associated with those programs.

In response to the 10-year review of campus, diversity, equity and inclusion spending Walters requested, the state regents determined $10.2 million, or just 0.29%, of all higher education spending this year is going to those programs. Only $3.7 million, or 0.11%, of all higher education diversity funding comes from state appropriations.

Without citing specific examples, Walters said the Biden administration is pushing liberal indoctrination on college campuses through federal grants and programs that have strings attached.

Weve seen examples of DEI having curriculum and lessons that are inherently meant to tell individuals that based on the color of their skin, they are a racist or they are not a racist or they must atone for the sins of their ancestors, he said. Walters did not say where this curriculum is occurring.

The Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws require diversity, equity and inclusion practices, Higher Education Chancellor Allison Garrett told Walters in a letter. National accreditation groups also require institutions to demonstrate diversity practices, policies and curriculum to maintain accreditation, she wrote.

In his State of the State speech this month, Stitt said parents send their children to college expecting their tuition dollars to fund education, not indoctrination.

I want our universities to have less DEI officers and more career placement counselors, he said.

Tulsa Democratic Rep. Monroe Nichols, who is Black, chalked up Stitt and Walters focus on diversity initiatives to dog whistle politics. Diversity, equity and inclusion work is not about assigning blame, its about bridging the gaps to bring people together, he said.

If anything, the review of campus spending on these initiatives show diversity programs are woefully understaffed and under-resourced, Nichols said.

I think what Gov. Stitt and Ryan Walters figured out is that they can attack these diversity programs, they can attack the accurate teaching of history, not because it is the right thing to do from a public policy standpoint, but because its the most politically expedient thing to do, he said.

The criticism of diversity programs comes after GOP lawmakers and Stitt approved legislation two years ago to limit K-12 teachings on race and gender. The so-called ban on critical race theory bars educators from teaching concepts that any person should feel discomfort or guilt due to their race or gender.

What is diversity, equity and inclusion?

The idea behind diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives starts by recognizing diversity is inherent across college campuses and the country. Diversity can refer to people of color, marginalized populations, international students, rural Oklahomans, first-generation college students or students, faculty and staff that have different cultural identities, said Kelli McLoud-Schingen, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Tulsa.

The next step is fostering an environment of inclusion and belonging so everyone feels valued, seen and heard, said McLoud-Schingen, who started her career in 1989 as a college diversity trainer.

Diversity initiatives are not an attack on anyone based on their race, gender, religion or political ideology, but it can involve difficult conversations about the nations complex and, at times, dark history, she said.

This work isnt intended to make anyone feel bad, McLoud-Schingen said. But the truth makes people feel bad because the truth is an ugly truth.

Its not directed at any individual person. But the truth is about how particular communities have done really terrible things intentionally and, oftentimes, unintentionally through laws, policy, procedures and behaviors.

Early diversity programs started on college campuses in the 1960s as an extension of minority student services and African American studies and Hispanic studies programs. More recently, diversity programs began to incorporate notions of inclusion and equity, she said.

The killing of of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers ignited a nationwide reckoning on race and a growing interest in diversity, equity and inclusion programs, McLoud-Schingen said

But as more colleges, nonprofits and businesses have implemented diversity programs, the pushback has grown.

Many of the critics of DEI initiatives just simply dont know what exactly it is, she said.

OU is committed to cultivating an inclusive community where all students, faculty and staff feel a sense of belonging that they are seen, heard, valued and respected, according to information provided by a spokeswoman.

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts help prepare students to succeed in the professional world, according to the university.

As OU prepares its students for the workforce, we know that diverse engagement and civility are skills that our students will need to impact and change the world, according to OU. Our students success is about preparedness and their ability to engage with the broader world in a way that is understanding of all people and perspectives.

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The Oklahoma House set a dangerous precedent that would fundamentally change education funding by circumventing the school equalization formula.

House Bill 2775, approved by a 78-20 vote Wednesday, would allocate $300 million outside the formula based on weighted student enrollments. Only, it caps it at $2 million per district, giving a serious short shrift to students in larger districts. About 55 districts will hit that limit.

That means Tulsa and Oklahoma City Public Schools get about $62 per student per year while rural areas get up to $745 per student annually. Suburban areas hover around $100 a student per year.

Its a blatant ploy that bought votes from rural lawmakers for private school tax credits and withholds millions from larger districts.

Lawmakers are justifying the vote with disingenuous criticisms about how the school funding formula works or misrepresenting the bill as a compromise. Or, they inflate the total by adding money set aside for teacher raises.

The funding would go toward per-pupil expenditures, which ranks last in a seven-state region and 46th nationally. Using district size to pick and choose winners is the most unfair way to improve that measure.

Students and staff in larger districts face the same needs and underfunding as those in small towns, making this bill inherently biased.

Lawmakers approved the bill along party lines. The only Republicans voting against the measure were Rep. Mark Vancuren of Owasso and Judd Strom of Copan. We appreciate their courage standing up to bad legislation pushed by their party.

Dont be fooled by the falsehood that large districts get a disproportionate amount from the formula, which is entirely underfunded.

The formula was developed decades ago as a balancing mechanism. It provides funding based on student needs and district wealth.

It is meant to ensure that districts educating bigger numbers of students with challenges such as poverty, disability, English language learning or gifted/talented get a boost for extra resources. It also takes into account local contributions: As local funding increases, state aid decreases.

The formula isnt perfect, but its been the best way to even out the differences between districts. If some districts get higher than average, its because they educate more students with weighted needs.

HB 2775 tosses all that aside. If the formula is to be ignored long-term, it will create significant funding imbalances, especially for students with special needs in larger districts.

This bill shortchanges suburban districts such as Broken Arrow and Owasso the most. Those districts dont have high numbers of students with qualifying weights and will hit the cap.

Tulsa-area Republican lawmakers who voted for the bill voted against their public schools.

Also passing was House Bill 1935 that gives unlimited refundable tax credits of up to $5,000 per private school student per year and $2,500 to homeschool students. That will cost the state at least $270 million.

Details such as financial oversight are not in place, and nothing tracks academic accountability.

If this is what lawmakers call a compromise for the betterment of education, they made a bad business deal.
Vietnamese could do well in foreign markets, but first they must meet sustainable development requirements, quality standards, and pricing expectations, representatives from large foreign distributors said at a conference on Wednesday. The conference, hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, was held to discuss the implementation of the prime ministers resolution to boost the entry of Vietnamese enterprises in foreign distribution networks until 2030. Representatives from large foreign distributors used the conference as a platform to advise Vietnamese exporters that they must ensure the volume, quality, and pricing of their products, as well as meet all environmental protection requirements. Regarding sustainable development criteria, Yuichiro Shiotani, general manager of Aeon Topvalu Vietnam, shared that his company imports tens of thousands of fresh bananas valued at a combined US$100 million each year. However, nearly 70 percent of Aeon Topvalus total volume of bananas came from the Philippines, where pricing and quality were more stable. Aeon entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2018 to import fresh Vietnamese bananas to Japan. Last year, the proportion of fresh Vietnamese banana exports to Japan has surged to over half of the countrys total banana imports. We choose suppliers with a circular production model. Our suppliers, besides cultivating banana trees, are farming seafood and breeding cows. Livestock waste is used to fertilize banana trees and bananas unqualified for export are used as feed for cattle. There is almost no waste, so we hope that model spreads, Shiotani explained. In addition to quality and pricing, suppliers must meet sustainable development and environmental protection requirements if they want their products on foreign shelves. Similarly, Aly Ansari, a senior director at Walmart Global Sourcing, said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as political tensions, have caused distributors to change their strategies. They have expanded their supplier networks in order to reduce their reliance on certain markets. However, Ansari noted that Walmart prefers suppliers which focus on sustainable development, in addition to quality and pricing. We prefer products made by virtuous suppliers that pay fair salaries to workers and appreciate their laborers dignity. Agricultural products must meet food safety standards. If Vietnam employs climate change adaptation solutions in farming, its agro-fishery products will get the priority, Ansari said. Pledging support Sale through cross-border e-commerce platforms plays a major role in exporting Vietnamese goods through foreign distributors. Do Hong Hanh from Amazon Global Selling Vietnam said Vietnams exports through Amazon soared 80 percent last year, mainly through products produced by small and medium enterprises. In particular, nearly 10 million Vietnamese products were exported via e-commerce platforms, with the export value rising 45 percent over the previous year. These products were mainly household utensils, garments, healthcare products, and consumer goods. Do Thang Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said that high-quality products from Vietnam, such as agricultural products, food, household utensils, garments, footwear, and furniture, have been provided to millions of consumers through international distribution systems. As foreign retail groups have become effective and sustainable export channels, it has become necessary to promote the distribution of Vietnamese goods to foreign markets in a bid to support local enterprises hoping to participate in global production, supply, and distribution chains, as well as exploit the competitive advantages of Vietnamese exports. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will develop a network of strategic partners from the project, particularly inclusive of retailers who operating in Vietnam or seek to shift their supply chains to the Vietnamese market. The ministry will also enhance cooperation with localities and associations in order to select core enterprises to support the implementation of the project, as well as study, develop and propose appropriate policies to encourage Vietnamese enterprises to directly export their products. We will support Vietnamese enterprises in selling goods on e-commerce platforms and call on banks to support exporting enterprises with various financial solutions, Hai added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnamese could do well in foreign markets, but first they must meet sustainable development requirements, quality standards, and pricing expectations, representatives from large foreign distributors said at a conference on Wednesday.

The conference, hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, was held to discuss the implementation of the prime ministers resolution to boost the entry of Vietnamese enterprises in foreign distribution networks until 2030.

Representatives from large foreign distributors used the conference as a platform to advise Vietnamese exporters that they must ensure the volume, quality, and pricing of their products, as well as meet all environmental protection requirements.

Regarding sustainable development criteria, Yuichiro Shiotani, general manager of Aeon Topvalu Vietnam, shared that his company imports tens of thousands of fresh bananas valued at a combined US$100 million each year.

However, nearly 70 percent of Aeon Topvalus total volume of bananas came from the Philippines, where pricing and quality were more stable.

Aeon entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2018 to import fresh Vietnamese bananas to Japan.

Last year, the proportion of fresh Vietnamese banana exports to Japan has surged to over half of the countrys total banana imports.

We choose suppliers with a circular production model. Our suppliers, besides cultivating banana trees, are farming seafood and breeding cows.

Livestock waste is used to fertilize banana trees and bananas unqualified for export are used as feed for cattle. There is almost no waste, so we hope that model spreads, Shiotani explained.

In addition to quality and pricing, suppliers must meet sustainable development and environmental protection requirements if they want their products on foreign shelves.

Similarly, Aly Ansari, a senior director at Walmart Global Sourcing, said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as political tensions, have caused distributors to change their strategies. They have expanded their supplier networks in order to reduce their reliance on certain markets.

However, Ansari noted that Walmart prefers suppliers which focus on sustainable development, in addition to quality and pricing.

We prefer products made by virtuous suppliers that pay fair salaries to workers and appreciate their laborers dignity.

Agricultural products must meet food safety standards. If Vietnam employs climate change adaptation solutions in farming, its agro-fishery products will get the priority, Ansari said.

Pledging support

Sale through cross-border e-commerce platforms plays a major role in exporting Vietnamese goods through foreign distributors.

Do Hong Hanh from Amazon Global Selling Vietnam said Vietnams exports through Amazon soared 80 percent last year, mainly through products produced by small and medium enterprises.

In particular, nearly 10 million Vietnamese products were exported via e-commerce platforms, with the export value rising 45 percent over the previous year. These products were mainly household utensils, garments, healthcare products, and consumer goods.

Do Thang Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said that high-quality products from Vietnam, such as agricultural products, food, household utensils, garments, footwear, and furniture, have been provided to millions of consumers through international distribution systems.

As foreign retail groups have become effective and sustainable export channels, it has become necessary to promote the distribution of Vietnamese goods to foreign markets in a bid to support local enterprises hoping to participate in global production, supply, and distribution chains, as well as exploit the competitive advantages of Vietnamese exports.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will develop a network of strategic partners from the project, particularly inclusive of retailers who operating in Vietnam or seek to shift their supply chains to the Vietnamese market.

The ministry will also enhance cooperation with localities and associations in order to select core enterprises to support the implementation of the project, as well as study, develop and propose appropriate policies to encourage Vietnamese enterprises to directly export their products.

We will support Vietnamese enterprises in selling goods on e-commerce platforms and call on banks to support exporting enterprises with various financial solutions, Hai added.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Check out the news you should not miss today: Politics -- Ho Chi Minh City has attached great importance to and highly evaluated the good relationship between Vietnam and Japan and always defined its important role in enhancing the two countries bilateral ties, a municipal official has said, according to the Vietnam News Agency on Friday. -- A ceremony marking the 50 years bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Australia was held on Friday morning at the Saigon Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City. Society -- The Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City has sent a dispatch to the directors of health departments in 20 southern provinces and cities, urging them to strengthen surveillance of severe pneumonia caused by the H5N1 flu, after Prey Veng Province in Cambodia, which borders Vietnam, recorded two positive cases. -- Police in Thanh Hoa Province, northern Vietnam arrested on Friday eight suspects who had been found stealing underground cables, causing damage of billions of dong. (VND1 billion = US$42,025) -- Police in Buon Ma Thuot City, Dak Lak Province, Vietnams Central Highlands said on Friday that they are searching for the vice-president of a bank who has gone missing for three months after he caused a traffic accident with a sleeper bus last year. -- The Vietnamese Ministry of Health on Friday proposed to the government solutions to the scarcity of medical supplies and equipment at hospitals across the country. -- Police in Quang Ngai Province, central Vietnam said on Friday that they had arrested a suspect who broke into a karaoke parlor and murdered a staff member over a conflict last week. World News -- Ukrainians paid tribute to fallen loved ones on Friday and vowed to fight on to victory, while Russia said its forces were making gains in battle in the east as its invasion entered a second year with no end in sight, Reuters reported. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Check out the news you should not miss today:

Politics

-- Ho Chi Minh City has attached great importance to and highly evaluated the good relationship between Vietnam and Japan and always defined its important role in enhancing the two countries bilateral ties, a municipal official has said, according to the Vietnam News Agency on Friday.

-- A ceremony marking the 50 years bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Australia was held on Friday morning at the Saigon Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City.

Society

-- The Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City has sent a dispatch to the directors of health departments in 20 southern provinces and cities, urging them to strengthen surveillance of severe pneumonia caused by the H5N1 flu, after Prey Veng Province in Cambodia, which borders Vietnam, recorded two positive cases.

-- Police in Thanh Hoa Province, northern Vietnam arrested on Friday eight suspects who had been found stealing underground cables, causing damage of billions of dong. (VND1 billion = US$42,025)

-- Police in Buon Ma Thuot City, Dak Lak Province, Vietnams Central Highlands said on Friday that they are searching for the vice-president of a bank who has gone missing for three months after he caused a traffic accident with a sleeper bus last year.

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Health on Friday proposed to the government solutions to the scarcity of medical supplies and equipment at hospitals across the country.

-- Police in Quang Ngai Province, central Vietnam said on Friday that they had arrested a suspect who broke into a karaoke parlor and murdered a staff member over a conflict last week.

World News

-- Ukrainians paid tribute to fallen loved ones on Friday and vowed to fight on to victory, while Russia said its forces were making gains in battle in the east as its invasion entered a second year with no end in sight, Reuters reported.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
The foreperson of a special grand jury that investigated whether former President Donald Trump and his allies illegally interfered in the 2020 election in Georgia raised some eyebrows this week when she gave interviews about a process that is typically cloaked in secrecy.

But a special grand jury is different from a regular grand jury, and its an investigative tool that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis chose to help evaluate the facts in the case.

What is a special grand jury?

A special grand jury, or special purpose grand jury, is impaneled specifically to investigate any alleged violation of the laws of the state of Georgia.

How is it different from a regular grand jury?

A regular grand jury in Georgia is seated for a limited duration, one term of court  in Fulton County thats two months. Grand jurors hear everything from felony shoplifting to murder cases and then decide whether to issue an indictment.

A special grand jury has no set term and focuses on a single topic. Unlike a regular grand jury, a special grand jury can subpoena the target of an investigation to appear before it, former Gwinnett County district attorney Danny Porter said. When the investigation is done, a special grand jury produces a report on its findings but cant issue an indictment.

Why use a special grand jury?

Special grand juries are used for an expansive topic that takes longer than a single term of court to investigate and often has to do with public corruption, Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia executive director Pete Skandalakis said.

Its usually because its a very labor-intensive investigation thats going to take a while to do, he said, adding the investigation could involve calling witnesses, poring over documents and consulting experts.

The election case would be an ideal case for a special purpose grand jury, Porter said.

Thats because its likely a complex case with a lot of witnesses and potential logistical concerns that will take more time and focus than a regular grand jury is able to spend, he said.

What is the process?

An elected public official in a county or a municipality within a county can ask the chief judge of the superior court in that county to impanel a special grand jury. Its generally requested by a district attorney.

After receiving the request, the chief judge submits it to the judges of the superior court for a vote. If a majority of the judges vote in favor, the special grand jury is seated. It is made up of between 16 and 23 people who are summoned from the county master jury list.

A special grand jury can compel evidence and subpoena witnesses for questioning. It can inspect records, documents and correspondence of state or local government officials and their offices, and can require any person or company to produce records, documents or correspondence related to the subject it is investigating.

When the special grand jury finished its investigation, it issued a final report of its findings and also recommended action. The judge has said the report includes a roster of who should (or should not) be indicted, and for what, in relation to the conduct (and aftermath) of the 2020 general election in Georgia. But its up to the district attorney to decide whether to pursue an indictment. If the district attorney wants to seek an indictment, the case must be presented to a regular grand jury.

Are special grand juries common?

No. Skandalakis said there have probably only been a handful of special grand juries used in the entire state of Georgia in recent decades and its very uncommon for a district attorney to ask that one be impaneled.

What did the foreperson reveal about the process?

Emily Kohrs, a 30-year-old Fulton County resident, described some of what happened behind the closed doors of the jury room  including how some witnesses behaved, how prosecutors interacted with witnesses and how some witnesses invoked their rights not to answer certain questions.

She told The Associated Press that prosecutors told the grand jurors they could read and watch the news but urged them to keep an open mind.

The judge overseeing the special grand jury, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, told the grand jurors they could discuss what witnesses said and what is in the report but could not talk about deliberations.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has worked with 15 enterprises in the same sector with Taiwanese-invested shoemaker PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd., the largest employer in the city, to find jobs for some 2,500 workers who will be laid off by the company this month. At a press conference on the citys socio-economic performance held on Thursday afternoon, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Van Lam said the department had worked with PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd. located in Binh Tan District about its plan to fire 3,000 workers due to a decline in orders. In particular, the company will not renew its employment contracts with 2,500 workers in March, while the remaining 500 will get the sack until the end of the year. As for the first 2,500 laid-off employees, the department has established a team to support these workers, Lam said. In addition, the department has worked with job placement centers in Ho Chi Minh Citys neighboring provinces of Long An and Tien Giang to introduce jobs and offer unemployment insurance policy consultancy for workers living in their precincts. Lam assessed the labor market in Ho Chi Minh City is stable. However, some enterprises are facing a shortage of orders due to the impacts of the global economic uncertainties. Therefore, the municipal Employment Service Center will hold over 120 job matching sessions for laborers. PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Pou Chen Group, employs 50,500 workers to manufacture footwear on a contractual basis for major global brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Reebok. Under the prevailing regulations, when an employment contract expires and is not extended, the employee will receive benefits from the unemployment insurance fund. In November last year, the company gave nearly 20,000 workers a day off alternately every week due to a shortage of orders. Workers received a salary of VND180,000 (US$7.6) per day each. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has worked with 15 enterprises in the same sector with Taiwanese-invested shoemaker PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd., the largest employer in the city, to find jobs for some 2,500 workers who will be laid off by the company this month.

At a press conference on the citys socio-economic performance held on Thursday afternoon, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Van Lam said the department had worked with PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd. located in Binh Tan District about its plan to fire 3,000 workers due to a decline in orders.

In particular, the company will not renew its employment contracts with 2,500 workers in March, while the remaining 500 will get the sack until the end of the year.

As for the first 2,500 laid-off employees, the department has established a team to support these workers, Lam said.

In addition, the department has worked with job placement centers in Ho Chi Minh Citys neighboring provinces of Long An and Tien Giang to introduce jobs and offer unemployment insurance policy consultancy for workers living in their precincts.

Lam assessed the labor market in Ho Chi Minh City is stable. However, some enterprises are facing a shortage of orders due to the impacts of the global economic uncertainties.

Therefore, the municipal Employment Service Center will hold over 120 job matching sessions for laborers.

PouYuen Vietnam Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Pou Chen Group, employs 50,500 workers to manufacture footwear on a contractual basis for major global brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Reebok.

Under the prevailing regulations, when an employment contract expires and is not extended, the employee will receive benefits from the unemployment insurance fund.

In November last year, the company gave nearly 20,000 workers a day off alternately every week due to a shortage of orders.

Workers received a salary of VND180,000 (US$7.6) per day each.

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An old lady who got lost for over 700km from Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province in southern Vietnam to Quang Ngai Province in the central region has received help from the people and police in the latter locality to reunite with her relatives. Nguyen Thi Anh, 78, was taken to a house of her relatives in Quang Ngai at around 11:00 pm on Thursday. Some residents of Quang Ngais Tu Nghia District found Anh wandering on National Highway 1 in the districts La Ha Town at around 8:00 pm on the same day and reported the case to the local police. Nguyen Thi Anh, 78, is found along National Highway 1 in La Ha Town, Tu Nghia District, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre The old lady appeared to be mentally unstable and did not bring any identification papers along, so we took her to the town police headquarters, said Major Duong Thi Kim Phuong, deputy chief of the La Ha Town police department. At the police office, as Anh repeatedly asked to leave, police officers tried to start conversation with the woman to help her feel comfortable. We asked where her house is, but she replied with one different address every time, said Major Phuong. Nguyen Thi Anh, 78, is seen at the police headquarters in La Ha Town, Tu Nghia District, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre It took a long time for the old woman to remember her name is Nguyen Thi Anh and she was born in 1945 in Binh Son District, Quang Ngai. Anh said her hometown is Binh Son, but her entire family relocated to Ba Ria-Vung Tau a long time ago. The old woman said she was going for a walk in Vung Tau, the capital city of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and insisted that she was still in Vung Tau despite people telling her she was in Quang Ngai then. Nguyen Thi Anh (L, 2nd), 78, reunites with her relatives in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre Anh said she has a daughter named Le Thi Hoang Hoa and a son named Vu Quoc Thanh, both of whom live in Vung Tau. I went out the other day, but now I dont remember the way back home, she said. The police of La Ha Town said it might be the case that the old woman got lost in Vung Tau and got on a bus to Quang Ngai because her mind was unstable and she missed her hometown. Major Phuong shared Anhs case on some Facebook groups in order to look for the old womans family. Relatives react upon the reunion with 78-year-old Nguyen Thi Anh in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre A resident of La Ha Town then realized Anh and claimed to be her relative. After verification, the towns police determined Anhs hometown was exactly Binh Son District and her family moved to Vung Tau many years ago. Her children have been looking for since the day she got lost in the southern beach city. Police in La Ha Town returned Anh to her relative in the province on the same night. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

An old lady who got lost for over 700km from Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province in southern Vietnam to Quang Ngai Province in the central region has received help from the people and police in the latter locality to reunite with her relatives.

Nguyen Thi Anh, 78, was taken to a house of her relatives in Quang Ngai at around 11:00 pm on Thursday.

Some residents of Quang Ngais Tu Nghia District found Anh wandering on National Highway 1 in the districts La Ha Town at around 8:00 pm on the same day and reported the case to the local police.

Nguyen Thi Anh, 78, is found along National Highway 1 in La Ha Town, Tu Nghia District, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre

The old lady appeared to be mentally unstable and did not bring any identification papers along, so we took her to the town police headquarters, said Major Duong Thi Kim Phuong, deputy chief of the La Ha Town police department.

At the police office, as Anh repeatedly asked to leave, police officers tried to start conversation with the woman to help her feel comfortable.

We asked where her house is, but she replied with one different address every time, said Major Phuong.

Nguyen Thi Anh, 78, is seen at the police headquarters in La Ha Town, Tu Nghia District, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre

It took a long time for the old woman to remember her name is Nguyen Thi Anh and she was born in 1945 in Binh Son District, Quang Ngai.

Anh said her hometown is Binh Son, but her entire family relocated to Ba Ria-Vung Tau a long time ago.

The old woman said she was going for a walk in Vung Tau, the capital city of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and insisted that she was still in Vung Tau despite people telling her she was in Quang Ngai then.

Nguyen Thi Anh (L, 2nd), 78, reunites with her relatives in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre

Anh said she has a daughter named Le Thi Hoang Hoa and a son named Vu Quoc Thanh, both of whom live in Vung Tau.

I went out the other day, but now I dont remember the way back home, she said.

The police of La Ha Town said it might be the case that the old woman got lost in Vung Tau and got on a bus to Quang Ngai because her mind was unstable and she missed her hometown.

Major Phuong shared Anhs case on some Facebook groups in order to look for the old womans family.

Relatives react upon the reunion with 78-year-old Nguyen Thi Anh in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, February 23, 2023. Photo: K.P. / Tuoi Tre

A resident of La Ha Town then realized Anh and claimed to be her relative.

After verification, the towns police determined Anhs hometown was exactly Binh Son District and her family moved to Vung Tau many years ago.

Her children have been looking for since the day she got lost in the southern beach city.

Police in La Ha Town returned Anh to her relative in the province on the same night.

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Hit UK mystery Death in Paradise has been recommissioned for two more seasons and two feature-length Christmas special episodes by the BBC.

The series starring Ralf Little as DI Neville Parker is also a huge export for the broadcaster, filmed on the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe. BBC Studios over the past ten years has successfully distributed the show to over 240 territories around the world.

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama says: With its sparkling blend of mystery, humour and heart, Death In Paradise continues to delight the millions of us who make the return trip to Saint Marie with every sun-drenched episode. It is a programme that goes from strength to strength, and I could not be happier that it will return for another two series and specials on BBC One and iPlayer.

Tim Key, Executive Producer, Red Planet Pictures says: The response to series 12 has been incredible, so were delighted that well be heading back to Guadeloupe for at least two more series! Weve got an amazing and joyful Christmas special in store, and then series 13 begins with our 100th episode, so weve got plenty of surprises ready to celebrate that milestone. Weve got huge plans for the future and cant wait to get going again.

It screens in Australia on BBC First and ABC.
EXCLUSIVE:

Sam Armytage will be the new host of Farmer Wants a Wife for Seven in 2023.

Long term host Natalie Gruzlewski will be a co-host this season, understood to be keen to scale back her duties.

Brook Hall, Director of Scheduling told TV Tonight, Theyre both in the show still. (Previously) Nat was front and centre and Sam was advising on dates.

But if Im being honest, theyve kind of slightly flipped. Nat has Nats Getaway so shell be co-host, shell be opening the start. Its more blended, with one front and one appearing. But yes, Samantha Armytage is taking more centerestage.

Seven has been keen to get the series to air soon following the most successful coupling the show has seen.

Last month Hall said, As it stands at the moment, theyre all still together. Its quite amazing. When you look at a lot of these shows, it can be hard. People are cynical about these things. But theres five couples and the show finished filming three months ago!

Farmer is our play in the dating space. Everyone says, Theres so much dating.theres a lot of Love Island, MAFS, Bachelor and theyre all amping it up. Were always pulling Farmer back to keep it true to its nature and thats been a directive in this one.

This years farmers include:

Farmer Brad, 32  Cootamundra, NSW

Farmer David, 29  Pozieres, Queensland

Farmer Brenton, 26  Darriman, Victoria

Farmer Matt, 23  Bookham, NSW

Farmer Andrew, 41  Narromine, NSW
Channel 5

Neighbours actor Tim Kano has hinted that he could return as Leo Tanaka when the soap is revived later this year, teasing that we should be getting some concrete details about the show very soon.

During Australia's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrations, Kano spoke with News.com and opened up about Neighbours' future.

"I am tightly lipped about it, but it is really exciting," he said of his possible return as Leo.

"There will be a few announcements next week about what is happening, the new cast and the future of the show. It is just awesome."

Channel 5

Related: Why soaps like Neighbours, Brookside and EastEnders are finally making a splash on streaming

Given that most of the cast didn't even know that Neighbours was getting revived until it was announced, it seems likely that Kano is going to be in the revival since he's privy to that announcement info.

Speaking about the soap's impact on LGBTQ+ Australians, Kano added: "It was groundbreaking and on the fore of Australian television in terms of inclusion, which is why it is so great to a part of in terms of diversity and sexuality.

"It is iconic and it is really important that it is coming back."

Related: How to watch classic Neighbours on Amazon Freevee and Prime Video

He's not the only person star hinting that they'll be in the revival.

Jodi Gordon has confirmed she has been in talks, while confirmed returning cast member Ryan Moloney has stated that there might be a time jump when Neighbours is back on our screens.

It'll be interesting to see if Kano's on-screen brother, David Tanaka actor Takaya Honda, will be involved since he's started landing other roles.

All will be revealed next week, we hope.

Neighbours returns in the second half of 2023 with new episodes streaming free on Amazon Freevee in the UK and US. Network 10 will retain first-run rights in Australia for the new series.

Read more Neighbours coverage on our dedicated homepage

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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.

Story continues

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
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Romanian authorities have since denied any Russian missiles entered Romanian airspace, saying the closest they came was 35 kilometers. Two Romanian jets on a training flight were diverted to the area when the Russian cruise missiles were detected, Romanian authorities said.

Read also: EU ambassador in Kyiv says Russian mass missile strike is response to Zelenskyy's successful Europe Trip

Moldovas Defense Ministry said it tracked a Russian missile flying over its territory, without mentioning whether it flew over Romania.

Zelenskyy said Russias targets were people and civilian infrastructure, as a result there were hits and casualties.

He called on the world to stop the terror.

Several Russian missiles crossed the airspace of Moldova and Romania, the Ukrainian president said.

Read also: Russian missiles cross airspace of Moldova and Romania amid attack on Ukraine  Zaluzhnyi

This is yet more proof that terror doesnt know and will never know any boundaries. This is yet another proof that the protection of Ukraine is the protection of the whole of Europe and the world, of every country that simply wants to live. Todays missiles are a challenge to NATO, to collective security.

During the night and morning attacks on Feb. 10, Russia launched 71 missiles at Ukraine, 61 of which were shot down by air defense forces.

Read also:

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said that 10 missiles had been shot down over the capital city, resulting in damage to power lines, two cars and a house.

Meanwhile, 13 missiles were shot down over Odesa Oblast. Energy facilities were reportedly hit in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya and Khmelnytskyi oblasts.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said that Russian missiles had been detected in the airspace of Moldova and NATO member state Romania during the Russian massive missile strike against Ukraine on Feb. 10.

Story continues

The spokesperson for the Air Force Command of Ukraines Armed Forces, Yuriy Ihnat, said that Ukraine had the ability to shoot down the missiles. However, it did not do so for fear of endangering civilians in foreign countries.

Read also: Missile fragments damage house, power grids, cars in Kyiv

Moldovas Foreign Ministry has summoned Russias ambassador after the incident in which Kyiv says Russian cruise missiles crossed parts of Moldovan and Romanian airspace before entering western Ukraine.

At the same time, Romanias Foreign Ministry has denied the information, stating that the missile flew 35 kilometers from the border.



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Thor the wandering walrus has arrived in Iceland after a temporary stop in the UK.

The giant mammal had last been seen stretching in Blyth harbour, Northumberland, during a break following his epic 3,000-mile journey.

A spokesperson for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue confirmed that he was spotted in Breidalsvik in Iceland on Friday.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue said it could confirm from markings that it was Thor.

"After Thors visit to the UK we wondered if we would ever see him again," a spokesman said.

"We are delighted to have been informed that he is in Iceland."

Thor became an internet sensation and attracted huge crowds during his UK tour. However, his whereabouts has been largely unknown since he dived into the North Sea and swam away in January.

The half-tonne marine animal is thought to be about eight years old.

He left his home waters of the Arctic Circle late last year and may have travelled as far as Canada before being spotted in Zeeland, in the south-east corner of the Netherlands, on November 6.

He pulled in at Dieppe, Normandy, France, on November 19 and Calshot beach, Hampshire, in early December, before spending New Years Eve in Scarborough, North Yorks.

Celebratory fireworks in the town were cancelled so the massive creature would not be alarmed by the noise. He then swam a further 100 miles to Blyth.

Walruses are becoming increasingly common in European waters.

Experts believe a loss of sea ice - which they use to rest upon - caused by climate change may be to blame.
DETROIT (AP)  A federal judge has sentenced a Detroit woman to more than four years in prison for her role in a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and six states out of about $28 million in tax returns.

U.S. Attorney Dawn Isons office announced that U.S. District Judge Linda Parker sentenced 42-year-old Sameerah Marrell to four-and-a-half years behind bars and three years on supervised release.

Isons office said Marrell pleaded guilty on Jan 23 to mail fraud, wire fraud and committing an offense on bond.

According to court records, Marrell and accomplices filed false claims for income tax refunds with the IRS and the Minnesota, Georgia, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut and Colorado state treasuries between 2014 and 2022. The claims sought about $13.7 million from the IRS and about $14.7 million from the states.

The IRS and the states paid out about $8.5 million combined before the claims before the claims were discovered to be fraudulent. Isons office said Marrell continued to file false claims even after she was arrested.
HA NOI  Around 90 per cent of deforestation in the world is currently provoked by the expansion of agricultural land, according to a report from the European Union.

This is one of the main reasons why the EU is enforcing regulations on trade in legal and "deforestation-free" commodities and products.

Viet Nam, one of the EU's main importers of forestry-based products, is facing great challenges in adapting to these new policies.

This information was disclosed in a technical workshop titled "Workshop on Deforestation-free Coffee Production and Commercialization" organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union (EU) Delegation, and the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Friday.

The main forestry product of the workshop's focus is coffee - one of Viet Nam's most famous export products.

Many world-leading producers in coffee such as Lavazza, the Italian leading roster coffee company, also participated in the workshop to share their experiences.

"The EU, among other big consumer countries, contributes to it by consuming a significant share of products associated with deforestation and forest degradation," said Jesus Lavina, Deputy Head of Cooperation, EU Delegates in Viet Nam.

"Therefore, The EU has the responsibility to contribute to ending it."

According to Lavina, the EU Deforestation Regulation, proposed on November 2021, recently reached a provisional political agreement on December 2022 by the European Parliament and the European Council and is going to be adopted in mid-2023.

The Regulation sets mandatory due diligence rules for companies that want to place these commodities on the EU market with the aim of ensuring that only deforestation-free and legal products are allowed onto the EU market.

The European Commission will use a benchmarking system to assess countries and their deforestation risk levels and forest degradation driven by the commodities in the scope of the regulation.

Lavina added: "This regulation comes in addition to many other international action and cooperation instruments that we continue to pursue, in line with the EU Communication on Stepping up Action to Restore and Protect the Worlds Forests, and we hope it will raise the global level of ambition in halting deforestation."

The regulation also complements and reinforces trade agreements and makes sure that increasing trade does not lead to increased deforestation.

Goods predicted to be affected by the regulation includes palm oil, soy, wood, cattle, cacao, coffee, rubber and rubber-related products.

Lavina also added that the regulations would affect all producers both inside and outside the EU and all related participants must be ready for the upcoming implementation of the regulation in 2024.

"The European Union will not import any products or goods within the regulation that originated from deforested areas after December 31, 2020," said Lavina.

Viet Nam is taking steps to solve the deforestation issue and get ready for the new regulations in the EU.

ak Nong and Lam ong localities are closely working with the UNDP and the MARD to implement the landscape project.

The project aims to enhance the active participation of different stakeholders in land use planning and monitoring, identify and further develop ecologically sound agricultural practices, provide technical support and promote the multi-stakeholder partnership between governments, farmers, and international companies to leverage their respective roles and means, supports sustainability and deforestation-free commodity criteria and sustainable production models, which are crucial in meeting the new global regulations.

Patrick Haverman, Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP in Viet Nam, said: "With the recent global context and regulations on sustainable production and commercialisation, and deforestation-free supply chains, UNDP is ready to work with government partners and the private sector to create an enabling environment for sustainable deforestation-free agricultural product supply chain and to support the deforestation-free production and commercialization model.

"I hope together we can make a difference to the forests and livelihoods of people in Viet Nam and also in other places."

Tran Quang Bao, Deputy Director General of the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry, said that Viet Nam's agricultural exports in the near future would be impacted by this law, particularly coffee, which is the largest export commodity of Viet Nam's agricultural, forestry, and aquatic sector to the European market.

"The Central Highlands, which is not only known as the coffee capital but has also been developing other agricultural products such as rubber, black pepper, and fruit trees in recent years, is an important area for agricultural production and a key part of Viet Nam's agricultural development strategy.

"At this workshop, through sharing EU regulations and experiences of businesses and international friends in developing forest-friendly industries, we expect to exchange, discuss and learn from our international partners to build a roadmap for developing Viet Nam's agricultural export sectors that comply with EU regulations," said Bao.  VNS
THUA THIEN-HUE  The Forest Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in coordination with the Department of Forest Inspection of Laos, organised a conference in the central city of Hue on Friday to review their cooperation in the last five years and discuss coordination activities in the 2023-28 period.

The event brought together representatives of forest management and protection units in 10 provinces of Viet Nam and Laos.

The two agencies agreed to exchange information on new regulations and policies in managing and protecting forests, and timber and wildlife trade; continue mutual support at international forums; share experience in formulating mechanisms, policies and laws; strengthen cooperation in preventing and controlling forest fire along the border areas shared between the two countries; and coordinate to build a system for early detecting and monitoring forest changes.

They will also coordinate in deploying many activities to respond to changes in wood and wood products in the international market, especially large ones; improving sustainable forest management ability; and creating favourable conditions for businesses to expand investment in producing and processing forest products in accordance with current laws of the two countries.

The two agencies will work closely to supervise and promote trade in forest products; enhance coordination in preventing illegal cross-border transportation and trade of rare animals and plants; and boost communication and education activities to raise public awareness on forest protection and biodiversity preservation.

They will also coordinate in proposing bilateral programmes and projects and mobilising resources from international organisations to build a cross-border biosphere reserve; monitoring the conservation and restoration of endangered species; and searching for, breeding and restoring the saola (an endangered bovine, scientifically known as pseudoryx nghetinhensis) population in the central area of Truong Son Mountain Range between the two countries.

Viet Nam and Laos share a 2,340 km borderline, sketching through 10 Vietnamese provinces which adjoin 10 Lao provinces. The two countries share seven international border gates, and six main border gates.  VNS
Millions of borrowers in Connecticut and across the country are in limbo as the fate of President Joe Bidens plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt remains unclear amid legal challenges that will go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The program  providing between $10,000 to $20,000 depending on income  was announced in August, fulfilling one of Bidens campaign promises and offering a scaled-back version of a progressive priority. The application period was open for about a month before a federal appeals court halted the program last fall. Since then, borrowers have been waiting to see if the relief will come to fruition.

Cristher Estrada-Perez, executive director of New Haven-based nonprofit Student Loan Fund, said the situation over debt relief has been confusing on all angles, including an unpredictable timeline for when the years-long freeze on student loan repayments will end. She noted Connecticut ranks as the fifth-highest state when it comes to students graduating with debt, with an average of $35,000.

A lot of borrowers find themselves not knowing what the status of their applications are, not knowing when theyre going to have to start repayment, Estrada-Perez said. They find themselves sort of just in the waiting game, which has been really overwhelming for borrowers.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about two cases on the matter on Tuesday, with a decision expected this summer that will have significant ramifications. Borrowers expecting relief could get long-awaited support from the federal government as other relief stemming from the pandemic phases out. But if the court strikes it down, many will lose that assistance, especially low-income borrowers and people of color who typically take out more loans.

On top of that looming decision, borrowers will need to resume making loan repayments when the moratorium  which has been extended over the course of three years  ends some time this year. Biden has tied restarting those payments and interest accrual to the timing of the high courts ruling.

Who is eligible for federal debt relief?

Under the plan, borrowers could have $10,000 forgiven in federal student loan debt and qualify depending on their annual income. The amount doubles to $20,000 specifically for those who received a Pell Grant.

They are eligible if an individual earned less than $125,000 a year during the pandemic or under $250,000 for married couples who jointly file taxes. Most Pell Grant recipients are from families who earn less than $60,000 a year and require greater financial assistance to attend school.

Data from the White House shows overall that nearly 71% of Black undergraduate borrowers and 65% of Latino undergraduate borrowers received a Pell Grant.

But as the program started to come under legal scrutiny, Bidens administration modified who qualifies for debt forgiveness and largely excluded those who have Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) or Perkins loans that are commercially held  borrowers whose loans were guaranteed by the federal government but a private bank served as the lender.

Some of those, however, could still qualify if they consolidated their loans into the Direct Loan program before Sept. 29, 2022.

Who could benefit in Connecticut?

More than 321,000 borrowers in Connecticut applied for the relief or were automatically eligible, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. Of that number, over 208,000 were fully approved for their debt to be discharged. The number would have been higher if lawsuits filed against Bidens order did not stop the department from accepting applications.

That data was further broken down by congressional district. Of the states five districts, Connecticuts 3rd District  which is based in New Haven and home to Yale, Quinnipiac, Southern Connecticut State University, Albertus Magnus and Wesleyan  had the highest number of people in the state who applied or automatically qualified as well as the largest amount of applications that were approved for a loan discharge.

Overall, 13.8% of Connecticut residents have student loan debt, according to 2022 data from the Education Data Initiative. There are 497,700 borrowers that have about $17.5 billion in debt with the average for each borrower around $35,162. The state also has more than 77,000 Pell Grant recipients.

While more than half of borrowers in the state are under the age of 35, Estrada-Perez pointed out that student debt cuts across multiple generations, including for seniors, whether it is their own to pay for school or loans to help afford their childrens education.

Supreme Court to rule on programs fate

After a federal appeals court blocked the nationwide implementation of the program while the lawsuits were ongoing, the Supreme Court agreed to take up two cases last year and leave in place the injunction.

Tuesdays hearing will consolidate the pair of cases  one brought by two individual borrowers from Texas and the other by six GOP-led states in opposition to the broad debt relief. The justices will examine whether the respondents have standing to sue and whether the program exceeds the secretarys statutory authority or is arbitrary and capricious.

Attorneys representing the Biden administration argue that the groups and individuals that filed the lawsuit have no standing, which is the ability to bring about a lawsuit and show injury or harm.

They are leaning on the executive branchs authority to cancel debt, pointing to a law called the HEROES Act of 2003 that they argue allows the Education secretary  in this case Miguel Cardona  to alter student loans during national emergencies.

Opponents of the plan, meanwhile, believe Biden did not have the ability to unilaterally cancel student debt without action from Congress. They argued that the administration was unlawfully invoking COVID-19? when implementing and making the case for the program.

In one of the cases, GOP officials argued that they have standing to sue because the policy would hurt certain tax revenues in their states as well as the revenues of major loan authority agencies that support higher education in their areas.

Canceling hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans  through a decree that extends to nearly all borrowers  is a breathtaking assertion of power and a matter of great economic and political significance, the Republican state officials wrote in a brief to the high court.

The Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act)  which the secretary has never used to cancel student loans  does not authorize the program, much less with the clarity this Courts precedent requires, the brief continued.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined two dozen other attorneys general in support of the administrations forgiveness policy. They argued that the biggest implication of not following through on broad relief would cause more students to default on their debt, especially coming out of a pandemic, and have a ripple effect of harm in other parts of their lives.

Defaulting on federal student loans causes borrowers credit scores to crater and remain depressed for years, with long-lasting consequences that tend to compound, Tong and the other Democratic state attorneys general wrote in a brief. Defaulted borrowers are more likely to face housing and employment insecurity due to their low credit scores and may also be unable to obtain a car loan, set up utilities, purchase insurance, or secure an affordable line of credit for emergency expenditures.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the administration, whether on standing or the substance of the program, eligible borrowers would once again receive relief, and many of them likely quickly, since millions of applications have already been approved. That ruling would also prompt the reopening of the application process.

But a ruling against the program means it would be shuttered. It is unclear how the Biden administration would proceed and if it would find another way to enact broad relief or further defer repayments.

Unless Biden changes his mind, payments toward student loans will resume 60 days after the courts ruling. If a decision comes in late June, they will restart by the end of August.

Where else can borrowers seek relief and support?

Bidens student debt plan has not been the only form of federal relief available to those paying off their loans.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program has been in place for years to give major relief to those who work in the public sector. Those workers can have the remainder of their debt erased  no matter the amount  if they have made payments for 10 years. The waiver has now expired, but some permanent changes will go into effect in July that aim to broaden eligibility for some relief.

In the past, the program has had a high rejection until the Biden administration established a one-year waiver that expanded eligibility through the end of last October. More than 110,000 borrowers in Connecticut were estimated to qualify for the expansion.

Estrada-Perezs Student Loan Fund nonprofit, which is run by educators who also have their own debt, helps provide information on loan cancellation, especially for the PSLF program. The organization backs full student debt cancellation, which is something Biden does not support.

Another form of federal assistance includes a new proposed regulation from the Education Department that would lower the cost of income-driven loan repayment plans by cutting it in half for many undergraduate borrowers while also preventing unpaid interest from accruing.

At the state level, advocates insist that more needs to be done to at least help borrowers navigate a tricky process of applying for relief and loan support.

Connecticut passed the first borrower bill of rights in 2015, but organizers like Estrada-Perez are pushing for the state to fund a student loan ombudsman that would act as an advocate for them.

Student debt is a racial justice issue, its an economic justice issue, but its also a mental health issue. We know the student debt crisis is a big deal, Estrada-Perez said. And in the meantime, Connecticut needs to be able to provide more resources to borrowers, to access reliable information, to access more grants so that they dont have to take out as many loans.

The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation and Engage CT.
Since its first recognition in 2019, the resort has persistently achieved its goals of excellence in service and meeting the demands of the top-notch inspection standards of the Forbes Travel Guide. This year, the resort is one of two hotels in Vietnam to receive a 5-star rating from the renowned travel compendium.

Forbes Travel Guide's 5-star award is the pinnacle achievement for any hotel, and we are proud to receive this prestigious award for the fifth time," said Marcel Oostenbrink, general manager of the resort. "This triumph is an honourable accolade awarded to the team who has shown great effort and a deep commitment to excellence, respecting and providing each and every guest with a positive experience through their exceptional drive, said Oostenbrink. It is a true reflection of warm Vietnamese hospitality coupled with Four Seasons luxury.

Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, is an all-villa beach front resort located on Vietnams culturally rich central coast, boasting three cascading pools with an undisturbed horizon of the East Sea and uniquely designed architecture by world-class architect Reda Amalou, based on the Feng Shui with natural landscaping for expansive privacy.

With its strong cultural influences, the 5-star Resort offers authentic local and multicultural culinary delights, inspiring wellness programming that embodies the teachings of the great Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and exciting cultural activities and rituals for all guests. The resort is also a gateway to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Hoi An, Hue, and My Son Sanctuary.

Celebrate New Year at Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai Blending holistic health with heartfelt luxury, Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, the all-villa resort has announced a highly-anticipated reopening on January 15, 2022.

Brilliant New Year at Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, Hoi an The all-villa Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, Hoi An is ready to reopen on January 14, with attractive specials and savings for its guests to welcome a brighter New Year. Que Chi reviews.
After 30 years, authors are still finding plenty to say about the failed, deadly Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms raid on the Branch Davidian complex outside Waco on Feb. 28, 1993, the ensuing 51-day siege overseen by the FBI and the April 19 fire that brought it to a horrifying end, killing 76 adults and children.

At least four new books are adding to the mountain of material on the episode that has developed over three decades, including multiple federal investigations, congressional hearings, more than a dozen books including some by surviving Branch Davidians and FBI negotiators, several documentaries, a television docudrama and unending internet discussions.

There is no question about why it has fascinated people, given its elements of religion, sex, guns, violence and an enigmatic leader at its center. Who was David Koresh, the name Texas native Vernon Howell gave himself as a prophetic indicator? Who were the Branch Davidians and what did they believe? What triggered the armed ATF attempt to serve a warrant and could it have been avoided? Who started the fire that killed so many and was government tear gas to blame? Why Waco, which thousands of Wacoans have wondered ever since?

The new material arriving in this anniversary year attempts to fill in missing pieces to the sprawling complex story.

Thirty years have found some participants willing to talk freely for the first time, new angles to explore and, with some anti-government citizen militias still active after Waco became a rallying cry, more current events to connect.

The books feature dozens of individuals, whose accounts will blur some hard-edged viewpoints for some, and capture not only the complexity of the story, but its scale: more than 100 Branch Davidians living at Mount Carmel and more than 800 federal and state agents and law enforcement officers stationed in Waco during the siege, with some 200 media reporters trying to cover it.

Heres a quick look at whats new on the Waco/Koresh/Branch Davidian bookshelf:

Book: Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage. 400 pages. Simon & Schuster. Published Jan. 24, 2023

Author: Jeff Guinn. Fort Worth. Author of best-selling The Road to Jonestown, Manson, Go Down Together and more. Former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter.

Why another book? In researching his book The Vagabonds in Florida, Guinn came across a 19th century Branch Davidian prophet named Cyrus Teed, whose End Time prophecies uncannily preceded those Koresh would preach a century later. Further investigation found a book of those prophecies, Koreshanity, in the Waco-McLennan County Library.

On top of this new discovery, Guinn found many federal agents willing to talk for the first time about their involvement.

Worth noting: Guinns tracking of the rise of the Branch Davidians, the evolution of their beliefs and prophets explain how Koreshs followers were not deceived by his charisma, but genuinely thought his command of the Bible and its prophecies were worthy of their loyalty. He weaves the multiple, varied strands of the story into a compelling narrative and his account of the raid as it unfolded is a page-turner.

  

Book: Waco Rising: David Koresh, the FBI, and the Birth of Americas Modern Militias. 288 pages. Henry Holt and Co. Published Jan. 31, 2023

Author: Kevin Cook. Northhampton, Massachusetts. Author of The Burning Blue: the Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe, Kitty Genovese, Electric October, Ten Innings at Wrigley and more. Has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine and other publications.

Cook will come to Waco in several weeks to talk about his book, at 7 p.m. April 18 at Fabled Bookshop and Cafe.

Why another book? Cook had been in Texas before to research his book on the Challenger disaster, The Burning Blue. Years after watching on television the fire destroying the Davidian building, he found his curiosity into what happened had only increased, amplified by the rise of citizen militias since then that used Waco as a rallying cry.

It seems to me this story is at the crux of so many things going on today, he said.

Cook interviewed multiple ATF and FBI agents, some on record for the first time, surviving Branch Davidians, and children, now adults, released during the siege to supplement academic research and government documents. The author found many good and sincere people, from Branch Davidians to federal law enforcement agents, caught up in events beyond their control.

Worth noting: Cooks account of the siege fleshes out Koresh and other Branch Davidians as individuals, showing the play of personalities and perceptions in their talks. He also connects the events in Waco to Timothy McVeighs radicalization leading to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and casts them as a catalyst for citizen militias, including one with members who recently were convicted of plotting in 2020 to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The books appendix has names of the ATF agents and Branch Davidians killed in the raid, the Branch Davidian children released during the siege, the Davidians who survived the fire and the 76 killed in it. It also has a floor plan of the Branch Davidian compound.

  

Book: Koresh: The True Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco. 464 pages. Mariner Books. To be published April 11, 2023

Author: Stephan Talty. Montauk, New Jersey. Author of The Good Assassin, Empire of Blue Water, The Black Hand, Agent Garbo and others. His book with Brendan McDonough My Lost Brothers insprired the film Only the Brave, and his book with Richard Phillips A Captains Duty was made into the film Captain Phillips.

Why another book? After books on Charles Manson and Jim Jones, both charismatic men who led their followers to disaster, Talty wondered what was behind Vernon Howell, later David Koresh, that drew Branch Davidians to him, even as his behavior and teachings began to turn in disturbing directions.

Inspired by Norman Mailers The Executioners Song, which follows convicted murderer Gary Gilmore who requested his own execution, Talty set out to get a sense of what shaped then-Vernon Howell before he took on the name and prophetic mantle of Koresh.

He found two personas: an abused, confused Vernon Howell who wanted to do good and a controlling, self-centered David Koresh with a sexual appetite for young girls.

Worth noting: Interviews with Sandy, a former Tyler girlfriend of Howell before his Davidian days, helped shape Taltys view of Koreshs personality as did those of Branch Davidians Marc Breault and David Bunds, early opponents of Koresh. Talty also has a detailed account of the raid and covers the interplay between Attorney General Janet Reno and President Bill Clinton during the siege and after the fire.

The author also tracks what happened to more than a dozen players and observers in the years after the nearly two-month event.

Nobody walked away from Waco looking good, he said, although he noted both the ATF and FBI learned from the hard lessons of Waco, allowing time for negotiations to resolve armed standoffs and hostage situations rather than force.

  

Book: Ranch Apocalypse: 51 Days In Waco: The Untold Story. 326 pages. Self-published. Published Dec. 1, 2022

Author: Dan Morris, Tyler. A veteran U.S. Department of the Treasury agent who was on an arrest support team during the ATF raid on the Branch Davidian complex. Morris served 26 years with the Treasury Department, including a years stint in Baghdad, Iraq, as special agent with the U.S. Embassy there. Author of Danbaghdad.

Why another book? Morris said he tired of the false narratives and claims spinning out of the 1993 raid, siege and fire and resolved to set the record straight on the reasons for the raid, what happened and where it went wrong.

I think this book shows David Koresh took his followers into a doctrine far away from the Branch Davidian church, he said.

Morris documents that the government had reason to believe Koresh and his followers had illegally modified weapons and explosives as well as reports Koresh had had sex with underaged girls, claims proven in the aftermath of the fire and in accounts by surviving Branch Davidians.

Worth noting: The retired Treasury agent interviewed some 30 federal and law enforcement agents, a federal prosecutor and a firefighter on the scene after the fire. He also details the original search warrant, the extensive raid plan, negotiation transcripts, autopsy reports and findings of the FBI and Justice Department investigations, with a chapter in his book devoted to mistakes the government made.

Morris also debunks specific myths and conspiracy theories that have lingered over the years, from allegations the government deliberately started the fatal fire to President Clinton arranged the ATF raid to kill agents assigned to his protection because they knew too much.
Free pet microchip event

The public is invited to attend a free microchip event from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday in North Waco Park, 2128 Edna Ave.

Pets belonging to McLennan County residents can receive a free microchip and a free vaccination for distemper, adenovirus, parvo and parainfluenza. Pets belonging to city of Waco residents can also receive free rabies vaccinations, providing the pet is spayed or neutered.

The rabies vaccine is $10 for people who do not live in Waco or whose pet is not spayed or neutered. Participants should bring a water bill for proof of residence.

Kease House presentation

Susan Fulwiler will share the story of her and her husbands restoration of an 1880s Victorian house, the Keas House of Bosqueville, during a Central Texas Genealogical Society meeting from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday at the West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd.

Fulwiler will discuss the two-year process that reveals mysteries about the house and family that lived there.

Kids in the Kitchen

The Greater Waco YMCA, 6800 Harvey Drive, will offer its Kids in the Kitchen event from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday during spring break, starting March 6.

The class is open to ages 5-12. Cost is $75 for YMCA members and $95 for nonmembers. Deadline to register is Monday.

For more information, contact Crystal Hernandez at chernandez@ymcactx.org or 254-776-6612.

Greenwashing screening

Waco Friends of the Climate will screen the documentary Greenwashing during its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th St.

Greenwashing is the false or deceptive claim of climate action by corporations, organizations or governments. Vegan refreshments will be served.

The event is free and open to everyone. For more information, email anorthc@aol.com.

Historic Waco lecture

Historic Waco will have its spring lecture, History and Heritage of Latin American Music, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Lee Lockwood Library, 2801 W. Waco Drive.

Cost is $5, but members and students with ID get in free.

The panel will include professors from Baylor Universitys music department and Baylor Mariachi.

For more information, call 254-753-5166.
HASTINGS  Hastings College is hosting an awards ceremony March 3 to recognize 39 outstanding young writers from across Nebraska as an affiliate of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Nebraska state poet Matt Mason will be the keynote speaker, and winners will also have the opportunity to participate in workshops that day led by Mason and Hastings College faculty and staff.

This was the biggest year yet for the Nebraska Scholastic Writing Awards, with 131 entries, said Dr. Patricia Oman, associate professor of English, director of the Hastings College Press and chair of the Department of Languages and Literatures. There are many talented young writers in Nebraska, and we are excited to recognize 39 students who received honors, the most students recognized since we began sponsoring the program in 2019. Were looking forward to recognizing them and also being creative with them in workshops held before the ceremony.

The 16 Gold Key and 23 Silver Key entries will be published by Hastings College Press in a book titled Best Nebraska Teen Writing 2023. Students will receive a copy of the book, as well as certificates, scholarships and other items during the event.

For the 12 students who received Gold Key awards, and in some cases multiple Gold Key awards, the opportunity for further recognition continues as their pieces will be sent to the national competition, where they will be judged by a panel of leading creative professionals. Five pieces were also nominated for the American Voices Award, which recognizes students with an original, authentic voice. National jurors will select one nominee from each region for the American Voices Award.

Students from all 93 counties of Nebraska and age 13 and above are invited to submit original work in any of the Awards writing categories. Works are then judged by a panel of Hastings College faculty, staff and students.

Students receiving awards include Morgan Lahm of Ceresco, Poetry, Honorable Mention; Logan Sylliaasen of Wahoo, Writing Portfolio, Gold Key; Science Fiction and Fantasy, Gold Key; Personal Essay and Memoir, Honorable Mention.
DES MOINES  In a bout of deja vu, lawmakers again took to the floor of the Iowa Senate to debate capping cash awards by juries for pain, suffering and other non-economic complications  this time in lawsuits against the owner or operator of a commercial vehicle for incidents resulting in personal injury or death.

The Iowa Senate voted largely along party lines, with Democrats opposed, to cap non-economic damages at $2 million in such cases. The bill does not cap jury awards for economic or punitive damages and allows all punitive damages to be paid directly to plaintiffs.

The measure also shields trucking companies from liability over an employees harmful conduct due to direct negligence in hiring, training, supervising, or trusting the employee, excluding cases where the driver is under the influence of drugs, alcohol or other substances.

Republicans said the bill will help Iowa businesses that rely on the trucking industry by preventing overzealous and crippling verdicts that award tens of millions of dollars in injury and wrongful death lawsuits against trucking companies. They also argued the bill would keep insurance rates for businesses down and provide predictability to commercial vehicle owners on their level of liability.

Opponents, including trial lawyers, the Iowa State Bar Association and justice-based groups, said high-dollar verdicts are not an issue in Iowa, which they said has the nations fourth-lowest commercial vehicle insurance rates.

Senate Democrats argued there is little evidence that Iowa is plagued by overzealous damage awards in these cases. And they said the right of Iowans to have their day in court and seek just damages for harm caused by a tragic accident vastly outweighs the desire of trucking companies to keep their insurance rates down and make their liability levels more predictable.

The bill, Senate File 228, now heads to the Iowa House, where it failed to pass last year.

GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION: Gov. Kim Reynolds proposal to realign state government passed out of the Senates state government committee on a 12-6 vote.

Under Reynolds proposal, the number of state agency directors who report directly to the Iowa governor would be reduced from 37 to 16. The proposal streamlines the executive branch of state government by consolidating existing agencies and programs.

Reynolds and her staff have said the reorganization will be done without laying off any state workers, and will save the state more than $200 million. She notes such a sweeping reorganization of state government has not been conducted in 40 years, and that it is necessary in order to streamline government services to make them work better and more efficiently for Iowans.

Some critics have expressed concerns about some of the proposed changes and some have charged that the proposal gives too much authority to the governor.

Senate Study Bill 1123 is now eligible for debate by the full Senate. Lawmakers in the House this week started their legislative process on the proposal.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY REPEAL: Iowa law would have no energy efficiency requirements for new buildings under a bill that advanced in the Senate.

Senate File 334 repeals a number of provisions in Iowa law that require buildings and residential housing to comply with standards to reduce the amount of heating and lighting that buildings use.

Lobbyists representing homebuilders and realtors backed the bill during a subcommittee hearing. They said energy efficiency standards drive prices for new homes up, which in turn drives up the cost of existing housing. But representatives for architects and environmental groups said energy efficiency standards keep energy costs low for homeowners and the savings outweigh the costs over enough years.

The bill passed the subcommittee with only Republican support. Rep. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Ottumwa, said she thinks the bill would bring down housing costs and increase availability in the state.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME: Iowa would be in permanent daylight saving time if a bill lawmakers advanced becomes law.

House File 242, which would require federal approval to take effect, would mean Iowa would permanently spring forward and not switch between daylight saving time and standard time. Two other states, Arizona and Hawaii, are in permanent standard time, but federal law does not allow a state to make daylight saving time permanent.

Last year, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to make daylight saving time the permanent time nationwide but it did not pass in the House.

Rep. Jacob Bossman, a Republican from Sioux City, introduced the bill and said he chose daylight savings as the permanent time because it would provide more light in the evenings. He also cited difficulties children have in adjusting sleep schedules to the time change.

The bill advanced out of the subcommittee with only Republican support.

COMPENSATION BOARDS: Counties would have the option to get rid of their compensation board under a bill House lawmakers passed through the chamber.

Iowa law currently requires counties to have compensation boards that set the salaries of elected officials. Under the bill, if a county board of supervisors decides to get rid of the compensation board, the supervisors would perform that duty.

House File 314 also requires compensation boards to provide data on how they decide salaries. If a county has a compensation board, the board of supervisors could lower the recommended salary for an elected official individually rather than across the board, and could also choose to increase salaries beyond the recommendation. Salaries could not be set lower than the previous year.

The bill was amended to require a board of supervisors that does not have a compensation board to make the salary for the county sheriff comparable to salaries paid to police administrators and police chiefs in cities of similar size.

The bill passed the House mostly along party lines, 62-33.
WATERLOO  A social media content creator sentenced to jail on allegations he hampered police when they arrested his neighbor in April lashed out at a Waterloo city councilman who sat on the jury.

Hours after Beau James Bish, 31, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for misdemeanor interference, he released a six-minute video rehashing the case, calling the court corrupt and calling for action.

Maybe its time to take this to where they live and peacefully protest outside of their homes, Bish said. Do you think an army of armed patriots can make real change? Lets see.

He also took aim at John Chiles, a Waterloo City Council member who served on the jury  posting his phone number and email address with a screen shot showing it on the city website. In the video, Bish said Chiles had said he would be hesitant to side against the same police he works with.

Chiles, who didnt attend the sentencing, said his phone and email began blowing up Friday afternoon with what he said were Bishs followers threatening him.

The messages included typical racist attacks, said Chiles, who is Black. He said he reported the harassment to court officials.

Chiles said he didnt want to be on the jury and had mentioned his City Council position and the possible conflict it could create at least six times during voir dire. The defense could have stricken Chiles during jury selection for those very reasons but chose to let him remain on the panel for the trial.

I dont understand why I was on that jury, he said.

Even so, Chiles said, he put aside his feelings and decided the verdict, along with the other jurors, based on the testimony.

Thats what the evidence showed.  We gave him a fair trial, Chiles said.

He said he was frustrated that the defense allowed him to remain on the jury, and then Bish criticized the fact he was on the jury.

Chiles said he is worried about others on the jury who may now be targeted.

The incident started April 1 when Bishs neighbor on Adams Street was being arrested on sexual abuse and false imprisonment charges, according to court records.

Police said officers needed to secure the area for their safety and the safety of others.

Authorities said officers told Bish to back up when he was standing on the sidewalk filming police struggling with the neighbor in front of the neighbors residence.

When Bish didnt move, officers twice pushed him back, leading him across the street. He continued filming from other positions and hurled insults at officers until he was detained.

At sentencing, Judge Brook Jacobsen followed the states recommendations and sentenced Bish to 30 days in jail suspended to 10 days in jail and a year of self-probation on a charge of misdemeanor interference. He also imposed a $250 fine plus court costs and surcharges.

The jail time can be served in 48-hour increments, and the probation terms allow Bish to leave the state. He indicated he plans to return to Colorado to live near family.

During the sentencing hearing, Bish, an Army combat veteran, talked about his service in Afghanistan and the resulting post-traumatic stress disorder.

I take the sacrifices of those who fought for our country seriously, Bish said.

Bish said he plans to appeal the verdict and the sentence.

Photos: House fire, Evansdale, Feb. 24, 2023 022423jr-woo-nws-fire-evansdale-3 022423jr-woo-nws-fire-evansdale-4 022423jr-woo-nws-fire-evansdale-2 022423jr-woo-nws-fire-evansdale-1
Unloved during the pandemic as their businesses were incapacitated almost overnight, airlines that cut back to survive the crisis are now blowing through profit forecasts and luring back investors.

Virgin Australia, so financially frail when COVID-19 hit in 2020 that it folded in weeks, underwent a remarkable transformation under new owner Bain Capital. Free of much of its debt and with a scaled down fleet, the airline is making money for the first time in years.

The International Civil Aviation Organization expects passenger demand to recover to pre-COVID levels on most routes this quarter and then to about 3% higher than 2019 levels by year-end.

A Bloomberg gauge of 29 airlines from around the world climbed almost 30% since the end of September.

The reopening of China, the largest outbound travel market before the pandemic, should drive a fresh traffic rebound in and out of favored destinations like the U.S., Japan and Singapore. In Hong Kong, hammered by Chinas shutdown, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. will this year make its first profit since 2019, according to analyst forecasts.

Its an extraordinary turnaround for an industry that suffered losses approaching $200 billion over the past three years. Tens of thousands of pilots, flight crew, ground workers and back-office staff lost their jobs, while facilities in Californian and central Australian deserts filled up with unwanted aircraft.

Carriers will generate profits of $4.7 billion in 2023, according to the International Air Transport Association. While thats a fraction of the $26.4 billion airlines made in 2019, key financial ratios indicate the industry is on its soundest footing in years.

The ability to repay debt using earnings, for example, is back to pre-pandemic levels and will strengthen through 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The rejuvenation hasnt been uniform. Norways Flyr AS this month filed for bankruptcy less than two years after starting flying. Days earlier, British low-cost carrier Flybe ceased operations after collapsing.

The failures are more closely aligned with Warren Buffetts assessment of the industry more than a decade ago.

The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman wrote in an annual investor letter. Think airlines.

Whats different now is the huge gulf between limited available seats on aircraft and the publics strong appetite for travel, which is allowing airlines to supercharge fares.

The supply-demand dynamics are as different than theyve ever been in my career, United Airlines Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said on an earnings call last month. Every data point keeps demonstrating it over and over again. I think margins across the board are going to be higher.

Reporting record fourth-quarter revenue last month, American Airlines Group Inc. CEO Robert Isom said navigating the pandemic made the carrier more efficient  its fleet is simpler and the network focuses on the most profitable flights.

This is our best-ever post-holiday booking period, he said. We expect the strong demand environment to continue in 2023.

The demand surge coincides with constrained labor supply. For many passengers, that translated into long lines at understaffed check-in counters or lengthy waits at baggage carousels. For investors, it means some of the airlines they own are generating more than twice as much revenue per worker than they were two years ago.

Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europes largest discount airline, returned to profit in the quarter through December and sees no end to its lucrative run.

We will deliver record profits in the current financial year and we would expect to continue to grow profitably into next year and beyond, said Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan.

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LISBON, Portugal (AP)  World landmarks were lit up in the colors of Ukraine's national flag as people across the globe threw their support behind the country Friday on the anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.

The Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House gleamed in yellow and blue in solemn remembrance of the outbreak of the war on Feb. 24, 2022.

The conflict has affected economies worldwide, bringing shortages of energy, grain and fertilizer, and the date drew people to peace rallies and other events in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, as well as Europe.

Among the memorials, stunts and ceremonies, a wrecked Russian tank was put on display in Berlin, a bloody cake with a skull on top of it was left in a Belgrade street, Ukraine's flag was held aloft amid tears in the sizzling Bangkok sun, and Japanese monks prayed for the dead.

Keep scrolling for more photos of events marking the one-year anniversary of war in Ukraine.

A rusting T-72 tank was placed outside the prominent Russian Embassy building on the German capital's Unter den Linden boulevard.

The tank was struck in the Kyiv region in the early stages of the war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. It was taken to Berlin by a private group, which said that the Ukrainian defense ministry's Military History Museum loaned it. Destroyed Russian armor litters parts of Ukraine after months of battlefield setbacks for the Kremlin's forces.

"The whole world should see that there are many people in Germany who stand behind Ukraine, so that's why we're putting the Russians' scrap tank in front of their door," said Wieland Giebel of the Berlin Story group, who was one of the exhibit's organizers.

In Serbia, whose government has maintained friendly relations with Russia and has refused to join Western sanctions designed to punish Moscow for its invasion, police moved in to stop a group of anti-war activists from reaching the Russian Embassy in the capital, Belgrade.

The activists wanted to hand over a demand for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be put on trial for genocide in Ukraine. They left a cake, covered with red icing representing blood and with a skull on top of it, on the pavement near the embassy.

Read about more memorials around the world and the latest updates from Ukraine:

Photos: People across the world gather to mark war anniversary
Chips of lead paint are falling off hundreds of bridges in Connecticut at such a rate that the state Department of Transportation has put out an alert to municipalities and intends to hire contractors to clean it up.

Bridge structures statewide have been experiencing a sudden, unexpected release of lead-based paint chips, which is believed to be related to the recent extreme swings in temperature, said the DOT alert first issued to its own employees on Feb. 17.

The DOTs bridge maintenance unit spent last weekend inspecting more than 2,100 bridges across the state and determined that lead paint was cracking and falling off hundreds of them.

This discovery is not unique to Connecticut, said DOT spokesman Josh Morgan. Although paint chips on the ground pose little danger, members of the public should not touch any debris seen under bridges or on roadways. The flaking paint also does not pose a safety hazard for those crossing these structures.

After that discovery, Mary Baker, the principal engineer for bridge safety and evaluation at the DOT, sent an alert to municipalities, warning them that they should inspect their local bridges.

Last week, the Department of Transportation experienced a sudden failure of the paint coating on many steel bridges, Baker said. In response to the coating failures, the Departments Environmental Compliance unit began remediation efforts to address the paint chips that had fallen.

Workers clean lead paint chips from a bridge taking Route 2 over Griswold Street in Glastonbury. COURTESY / CT DOT

Bakers memo to municipal officials said paint chips are suspected of containing lead, [and] the remediation efforts are initially focused on areas that are accessible to the public, such as those near bike paths and walking trails.

Cleanup efforts are already in progress, and a larger statewide mitigation plan is in development, the alert said. In the coming weeks, the Department intends to utilize contractors to remove failed paint that still remains on the bridge beams.

The alert directs employees to take a series of steps if they encounter fallen paint chips, including warnings not to handle them and to avoid walking through debris on the ground because of the risk of tracking the contamination elsewhere.

It wasnt clear Thursday night how many Connecticut bridges were painted with lead paint or for how long that paint type has been used.

Dave Altimari is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror (ctmirror.org). Copyright 2022 (c) The Connecticut Mirror.
Weather Alert

.Warming temperatures this weekend will bring renewed snowmelt and streamflow rises, especially for snow covered terrain below about 7000 feet. Creeks that brought impacts this past week are likely to be problematic again and potentially reach higher levels, especially by late Sunday. ...FLOOD WATCH FOR SNOWMELT REMAINS IN EFFECT 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...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. &&
516 Arts is the recipient of a grant from a consortium of national funders comprised of Mellon, Ford, Getty, and Terra Foundations.

The five-year grant of $500,000 is for a new initiative titled Advancing Latinx Art in Museums (ALAM).

The initiative is intended to bolster museums and visual art organizations that have shown a commitment to engaging with Latinx art and artists, says Suzanne Sbarge, 516 Arts executive director. 516 ARTS is honored to be among the 48 museums and visual arts organizations that were invited to apply, and among the 10 selected which span much larger institutions in major cities nationwide.

The ALAM grant supports curating and presenting of Latinx artists, defined as creatives of Latin American or Caribbean descent who live and work in the United States. The initiative is intended to bolster museums and visual art organizations that have shown a commitment to engaging with Latinx art and artists.

Founded in 2006, 516 ARTS is a noncollecting contemporary art museum in Albuquerque, which has a strong history of putting Latinx artists and curators front and center in its programming. It is committed to making contemporary art accessible for everyone and contributing to systemic change in our field.

The fact that our small museum was selected among much larger museums and organizations we greatly admire represents meaningful recognition of the work we have been doing for the past 17 years, Sbarge says. (We) focus on the intersectional nature of Latinx and Indigenous artists in our particular place and time here in New Mexico, a U.S.-Mexico border state with deep Spanish and other colonial roots intermixed with even deeper Indigenous histories.

Sbarge says the grant funds will be used for Latinx and Indigenous curating and programming 2023 through 2027.
A 25-year-old man was found dead at West Rock Ridge State Park late Friday after conservation police responded to a report of a fall there, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said.

The DEEP spokesman said Environmental Conservation Police were dispatched to West Rock Ridge State Park at about 6 p.m. Feb. 24, after receiving a Hamden Police Department report of a fall victim.

Following a search, the 25-year-old man was found and was declared deceased on the scene, the spokesman said.

EnCon Police are investigating, the spokesman said.

The cause and manner of the mans death will be determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the spokesman said.

Identification of the man was being withheld pending notification of his next of kin,
New Mexico is full of talented artists; its a characteristic current and past residents love about the state. NMCO Creative Studio and Visit Las Cruces are giving musicians a chance to show just how much love they have.

The collaboration is launching its pilot project, the Love Song for Las Cruces contest. Musicians are given the opportunity to submit their best song that exemplifies an appreciation for the states second-largest city.

Christina Ballew, co-founder and chief creative officer of NMCO, had somewhat of an epiphany while sifting through old Visit Las Cruces commercials.

I was listening to the stock music, it had someone singing about waves crashing along the beach, and I was like, wait a minute, somethings not lining up here, she said. Maybe if we had something that was more focused on our region, our area and especially the things that are unique to Las Cruces and to New Mexico, I thought that would be a great solution for some of the commercial work we had to do.

Musicians are asked to submit their original work to NMCO by March 31, and the grand prize includes $1,000 and for their song to be featured in Visit Las Cruces commercials, campaigns and other promotions.

Guidelines include:

 Songs must be submitted at nmcostudio.com/lovesonglc.

 Songs must be between 1:30 and 4 minutes in length.

 Submissions must be in MP3 or MP4 format; audio and video files of the performance are both accepted.

 Submission must include a PDF of lyrics typed out.

The contest is open to everyone and is not limited to just Las Cruces locals, and not necessarily current New Mexico residents either. Visitors who have enjoyed their stay in Las Cruces can enter, and some former residents who have moved away still have the ability to capture the admiration for the city they once called home.

We thought there were people who lived here, who were inspired by this place, but eventually moved away. We didnt want to limit them from applying too, said Ballew.

Submissions dont have to be expertly produced. Visit Las Cruces will master the chosen song and get it ready for commercial use.

The submissions weve had are just people recording themselves with their phone, said Katrina Chandler, creative director at NMCO. Or they have some sort of equipment on their computer  but its nothing thats professionally done.

Ballew added, Were actually very impressed with the quality of the submissions that were getting.

There is no set timeline for when the winner is announced, but both Ballew and Chandler are aiming for a quick turnaround.

I dont think we have a firm timeline  because were not sure how many submissions, but the Amira! Festival is at the end of April, so we definitely want to have something figured out well before then, said Chandler.

The Amira! Festival is a spring event in Las Cruces highlighting art, culture, cuisine, music and outdoor recreation, and will be headlined by country music artist Frank Ray.

This is such a cool opportunity if youre a musician, Ballew said. Were already surprised at how quickly people are submitting.

Musicians are encouraged to chronicle their process on social media by tagging Visit Las Cruces and using the hashtag #vlclovesong.
Detectives released the names of a man and woman stabbed to death Thursday morning at a home in Northwest Albuquerque.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said Danay Morales-Hernandez, 36, and Omar Rodriguez-Hechemendia, 25, were slain at a home in the 1100 block of Griegos NW, near 12th.

Gallegos did not identify a third man found at the home. He said that man died of a gunshot wound and his name will be released when next of kin is located and notified.

An off-duty State Police officer came upon the scene Thursday morning after finding Rodriguez-Hechemendia in the street outside the home.

Police responded and found Morales-Hernandez and the unidentified man dead inside the home. There was also a girl, about 2-years-old, found at the scene.

Gallegos had said there were no suspects being sought in the case. He gave no other details.

APDs Homicide Unit will continue to investigate the deaths, Gallegos said.
The New Mexico Environment Department reached a $100,000 settlement with Rust Movie Productions related to safety citations issued after the fatal shooting on the films set in 2021.

Environment Department spokesman Matthew Maez said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration penalty is the largest in New Mexico since 2010.

In April 2022, the department leveled a $136,793 civil penalty, the maximum allowable under state law, against the production company for its failure to keep employees safe.

This settlement resolves (the Occupational Health and Safety Bureaus) investigation and citation related to this incident, Maez said Friday.

The OHSB opened its investigation following an October 2021 incident in which actor Alec Baldwin discharged a live round from a Colt .45, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Maez said OHSB found that the production company violated workplace safety laws by exposing employees to being struck by discharged rounds or projectiles when guns were used on the set.

The production company initially contested the citations but, by the terms of the settlement, will withdraw its contest and pay the fine.

The shooting on the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set outside Santa Fe captured international headlines and led to a number of lawsuits, many of which are still pending.
In an initial hearing for the fatal Rust shooting on Friday, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed requested she be able to have a gun for self-defense.

Her lawyer Jason Bowles said the 25-year-old had received threats, and even had a stalker, since her home address was revealed during the investigation.

First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies adamantly opposed the request due to the armorers sloppy mishandling of guns.

She suggested Gutierrez-Reed move somewhere else, or have pepper spray or a bat for protection.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer released Gutierrez-Reed, who was not in custody, on her own recognizance pending trial, and sided with Bowles.

Marlowe Sommer told Gutierrez-Reed, I am going to allow you to have a firearm for self-defense at your residence.

The hearing came weeks after Gutierrez-Reed and movie star Alec Baldwin were each charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Oct. 21, 2021, death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set outside of Santa Fe.

Bowles has said previously that the prosecution has completely misunderstood the facts and has reached the wrong conclusions.

Prosecutors contend Gutierrez-Reed bore responsibility in the shooting, alleging she did not follow safety protocols, allowed live rounds onto the set, and did not insist on proper training for Baldwin.

Baldwin was rehearsing a cross draw with a Colt .45 when he discharged a live bullet from the gun, striking Hutchins and the films director Joel Souza, according to authorities. Gutierrez-Reed reportedly loaded the prop gun with dummy rounds and live ammunition, and gave it to assistant director Dave Halls, who declared the firearm cold before handing it to Baldwin.

Halls has pleaded guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon in the case. He faces a suspended sentence and six months of probation.

Baldwins first appearance was supposed to be Friday, but the actor waived the hearing and pleaded not guilty in the case.

Like Gutierrez-Reed, Marlowe Sommer allowed Baldwin to remain out of custody, ordering the actor not to consume alcohol or possess firearms as a condition of release ahead of trial.

Carmack-Altwies initially charged Baldwin with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, one of which was more serious and carried a mandatory five-year prison sentence.

However, on Monday, prosecutors downgraded the charges against Baldwin, getting rid of the possibility of a mandatory five-year sentence.

Prosecutors allege that Baldwin, who served as both an actor and producer, allowed a climate of recklessness on set before the fatal shooting.

The first hearing for Gutierrez-Reed began around 10:15 a.m. Friday and took less than 10 minutes.

Marlowe Sommer explained to Gutierrez-Reed that the hearing was simply a time where she would be told her rights and possible penalties. Gutierrez-Reed did not enter a plea during the hearing.

Carmack-Altwies said, if convicted, Gutierrez-Reed faces up to 18 months behind bars, a possible $5,000 fine and a year of parole if there is a prison term.

Before Marlowe Sommer set conditions of release for Gutierrez-Reed, Bowles requested she be able to have a gun in her home only, an exclusion to standard conditions.

Bowles said his clients phone numbers and address was not redacted in released reports and she had numerous threats  voicemails that were very, very bad and had to take out a restraining order on a stalker.

I just dont think its appropriate for her to have firearms, Carmack-Altwies said. There are other ways of dealing with this, she can move, she can have pepper spray, a bat, something else in her house.

Bowles objected, saying theres no allegation that she is a danger to anyone having a firearm within her home.

Its for self-protection because of actions that the state took in releasing private information, that is the reason for that request, he said.

Marlowe Sommer granted the request.

A date for the next hearing has not yet been set.
Police are looking for a suspect in the death of a Texas man who was fatally shot while visiting Santa Fe late last year.

Mark Delgado, 29, is charged in the killing of 55-year-old James Towle, who was found fatally shot on Dec. 30 in front of a muffler shop in Santa Fe.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Delgado, who is known to drive a 2002 silver Mercury Sable with New Mexico license plates and faded paint on the passengers side.

Delgados cousin, 30-year-old Jose Delgado, is charged with tampering with evidence, harboring or aiding a felon and conspiracy in the case.

Officers responded around 12:30 a.m. to the shooting in the 2900 block of Rufina and found Towle dead from a gunshot wound to the chest outside Daves Muffler Shop, according to an arrest warrant filed in Magistrate Court. Witnesses told police they saw and heard two men arguing, followed by a gunshot.

Police said one witness told police he heard one of the men say Oh my god I cant believe you made me do it. The owner of the muffler shop and Jose Delgado, who lives above the business, were interviewed by police.

Delgado told police his cousin, Mark Jr Delgado, drove a similar vehicle and that he was known to hang out at the parking lot, according to the warrant. Delgado showed them surveillance video of his own  which showed the street view where the shooting occurred  but police noticed some files had been tampered with and some videos were thought to have been deleted.

Police said they seized Delgados video recorder and cellphone and sent them to a forensic lab to retrieve the missing files. They said several videos containing key evidence were recovered.

In one of the recovered videos, a person is seen exiting a sedan around 12:30 a.m. and appeared to fire a gun toward where Towles body was found, according to the warrant. Police say another recovered video showed Towle attempting to open the mailbox at the muffler shop and, soon after, he falls to the ground.

Police said a contact in Jose Delgados cellphone named Dave, believed to be the owner of the muffler shop, sent him a message saying I only showed them one camera not the other one and I told them I didnt know who that car was. Other text messages were found between Jose Delgado and a contact named JR, believed to be Mark Delgado Jr., in which Jose Delgado wrote Hide prim for real.

A text message written by Jose Delagdo but not sent read, Turn this phone off and call me back somehow, according to the warrant.
Attorneys for three men on trial in the beating and shooting deaths of two teenage boys told jurors Friday that an older man who admitted to burying the bodies is the most likely killer.

Attorneys made closing arguments Friday in the trial of Stephen Goldman Jr., 23, Jimmie Atkins, 26, and Julio Almentero, 18, who are each charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killings.

The 2nd Judicial District Court jury in Albuquerque began deliberating Friday. District Judge Stan Whitaker is presiding.

Each is also charged with three counts of kidnapping, two counts of armed robbery and other charges in the deaths of Ahmed Lateef, 14, and Collin Romero, 15, who were found buried in Sandoval County about two weeks after their disappearance in December 2018.

Prosecutors told jurors throughout the trial that the two boys appear to have been tortured before they were killed.

Lateef was shot 19 times and Romero at least nine times, and not all of the gunshot were fatal wounds, prosecutor Natalie Lyon told jurors Friday. Autopsies also revealed numerous cuts, scrapes and bruises on the boys bodies.

Their bodies are sprayed with bullets, Lyon said during her closing arguments. Their bodies are tortured  thats what happens on the West Mesa.

Defense attorneys suggested that the boys most likely were killed by Anthony Aragon, who testified last week that he helped bury their bodies in a remote area west of Rio Rancho after they were killed.

Collin (Romero) and Ahmed (Lateef) were alive when Anthony Aragon took them, Goldmans attorney, Pamela Sullivan, told jurors Friday.

Anthony is not credible, Sullivan said in her closing arguments. He wasnt credible when he was on the stand before you during this trial and he certainly wasnt reliable back in 2018 when he was doing meth every day and drinking every day.

Aragon, 39, pleaded guilty Dec. 7 to two counts of tampering with evidence and one count of conspiracy. A judge last year sentenced Aragon  Almenteros uncle  to six years in prison.

Aragon testified last week that he received a call on Dec. 16, 2018, to meet Goldman, Atkins and Almentero at a West Side motel where he was asked to conceal two bodies in the trunk of a white Buick. Aragon also told jurors he was using methamphetamine and drinking every day at that time, and that he became violent when using meth.

Prosecutors alleged that the events that led to the boys deaths began when Lateef arranged to buy a firearm from Goldman. When Goldman asked why Lateef needed a gun, the boy responded that he had been robbed by that white boy Flex  a nickname for Atkins, who was a close friend of Goldmans.

Goldman, Atkins and Almentero then conspired to take revenge against Lateef and picked up the two boys with that intention, prosecutors told jurors.

When Collin (Romero) showed up, they plan to kidnap both of them and take them to the West Mesa, Lyon said in her closing arguments. They beat them both bloody in the car.

Jurors were repeatedly shown Snapchat videos taken by Atkins from the front seat of the car as Almentero beat the two boys in the back seat as they drove west on Interstate 40.

Defense attorneys told jurors that the Snapchat video shows a hazing or initiation ritual, but do not prove that the three co-defendants killed the boys.

Nobody wants to hear about hazing  nobody wants to hear about initiations, Almenteros attorney, Richard Pugh, told jurors Friday. Take a closer look at (the video) as to whats really going on, and I think that your analysis will lean you more towards this was an initiation to run with a crew.

In response, Lyon told jurors that the two boys appear terrified in the video.

Calling this hazing is absolutely absurd, Lyon told jurors. When you look at the faces of Collin and Ahmed and compare that to the faces of Mr. Amentero and Mr. Atkins, they are very different. Mr. Atkins and Mr. Amentero are not bloodied. Theyre not getting beaten up.

Defense attorneys also noted that police never identified the location on the West Mesa where the two boys were killed.

Albuquerque police detective Jessie Carter testified this week that he visited the area north of Double Eagle II airport on four occasions searching for the site where the boys were killed but found no evidence of a crime scene.

None of this idea that theres a secret crime scene that nobody found out there makes any sense, Pugh said.
New Mexicos governor has stepped into the fight over how federal land managers are eradicating wild cows in the Gila Wilderness.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a statement Friday saying she was disappointed by what she described as the U.S. Forest Services lack of meaningful, long-term engagement with stakeholders on a controversial issue.

The Forest Service is currently conducting an aerial shooting operation to kill as many as 150 unauthorized cows in a vast area of steep rugged valleys and mountainsides blanketed with trees.

The operation has been the source of legal wrangling and protests by the agricultural community in southwestern New Mexico.

Federal officials and environmentalists contend the animals are trampling stream banks and damaging habitat for other species. Ranchers argue the operation amounts to animal cruelty and that the cows could have been rounded up and removed instead of letting their carcasses rot in the wilderness.

A federal judge cleared the way for the operation Wednesday when he denied a request by ranchers for a delay.

The governor said she has shared her concerns with federal officials and asked them to do better.

Whether debating prescribed burns or wildlife management, it is imperative that New Mexicans who live and work in and near impacted areas are allowed the time to be meaningfully involved in these decisions, Lujan Grisham said. When that does not occur, it fosters a continued climate of distrust and hinders progress toward our shared goals of a healthy environment and a thriving rural economy.

As it stands, they are failing New Mexicans, she said.

The Forest Service said Friday it shares the governors values when it comes to conservation and public engagement and will remain committed to transparency.

Agency spokesperson Ivan Diego Knudsen said there have been extensive discussions with stakeholders over the past several years and the agency has tried to address concerns. He said those discussions with the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, the New Mexico Livestock Board and the ranching community will continue.

Our hope is to work with cattle producers so that we can achieve more effective operations than have occurred in the past, Knudsen said in a statement.

The agency said it supports an integrated approach that may include both gathers and aerial removals to best meet our shared vision for the wilderness area.

Ranchers in court documents had argued that the agency was skipping the steps of rounding up the cattle and impounding them, opting instead for the last resort of gunning them down. Their attorney said in court that the operation had the potential to result in an estimated 65 tons (59 metric tons) of dead animals being left in the wilderness for months until they decompose or are eaten by scavengers.

The Gila National Forest issued its final decision to gun down the wayward cattle last week amid pressure from environmental groups that have raised concerns about unchecked grazing in sensitive areas.

Todd Schulke, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity, said his group believes the Forest Service has done its best to address the damage done by feral cattle in the least impactful way possible.

The cattle in question are the descendants of cows that legally grazed the area in the 1970s before the owner went out of business. Federal officials have made several attempts over the last couple of decades to remove the animals, including a similar shooting operation in 2022 that took out 65 cows in two days.

The Forest Service said it would release results early next week once the operation is concluded.
SANTA FE  The state House adopted legislation late Friday that would establish a new division in the Economic Development Department to support artists and creative entrepreneurs.

The proposal, House Bill 8, won approval 56-10 and now heads to the Senate.

The proposed Creative Industries Division, however, isnt in line to get as much funding as supporters had hoped.

The proposal initially called for making $67 million available to operate the agency and award grants on a competitive basis to projects or programs with the potential to grow the arts economy

But a $9.4 billion spending plan approved this month by the House included just $2 million for the effort, contingent on passage of the bill.

House Majority Whip Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, said the money is still enough to make a real impact, especially for projects in rural areas that could be an economic catalyst.

Its a great start, she said.

Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, suggested a new division isnt necessary to carry out the work. He voted no.

This, to me, just seems to be another level of bureaucracy, he said.

The legislation is jointly sponsored by Szczepanski and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  It was a Saturday of learning for U.S. first lady Jill Biden in Kenya.

She praised young adults for learning about safe sex and dating practices, attended a meeting of women who created their own banking system and chatted with local entrepreneurs who have been helped by a program that connects tractor owners and farmers.

All three programs aim to help women and young people take control of their lives so they can support themselves and their families. Biden has been highlighting U.S.-backed efforts to empower these groups during a five-day, two-country visit to Africa this week.

These are issues that really all people need to talk about and yet, somehow, they dont, and the consequences of not talking about it are so dire, Biden told dozens of young people after talking with them about safe sex, condom use and birth control at the Shujaaz Konnect Festival, a local youth empowerment event. So I love seeing the young people here.

At a tent where young people were having networking-like conversations, they showed her a questionnaire they use to spur discussion. The first question: What would you say if I told you I had a condom in my pocket right now?

Biden laughed. And this is the first time theyre meeting? she asked.

A Shujaaz representative said such blunt propositions help teenagers and young adults overcome shyness, saying that its sometimes easier to ask strangers these types of questions.

Im surprised you dont start with like, Whats your biggest achievement? rather than, I have a condom in my pocket,' the first lady said.

The festival is a collaboration with MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which works with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to help teach young Kenyans how to avoid becoming infected with HIV, which causes AIDS.

Biden, who is on the fourth day of her five-day trip to Namibia and Kenya, has spent the week promoting HIV/AIDS education programs and initiatives that teach woman and young people skills they need to find jobs or start businesses.

Her visit is part of a commitment by President Joe Biden to deepen U.S. engagement with the nations of Africa, many of which feel overlooked by the United States. Part of that effort is also about countering Chinas influence on the continent that Beijing has achieved through increased trade and spending on roads and other public works projects.

Biden was scheduled to cap her visit by traveling on Sunday to an area near Kenyas border with Tanzania to raise awareness about a severe drought that is endangering lives and livelihoods.

Earlier Saturday, the first lady went to a government community center in Kibera, an informal settlement in Nairobi, to attend a meeting of women small-business owners who participate in the Joyful Women program. Founded in 2009 by Rachel Ruto, Kenyas first lady, the program promotes womens economic empowerment and financial inclusion.

Participants create table banking groups, pooling their resources so they can lend each other money they cannot get from traditional banks. Some of the women have used the loans to start businesses. One woman said she opened a day care center.

Its pretty ingenious that women found a way to support other women, to lift them up and to increase economic prosperity for families, right? said Biden, who visited a different empowerment program on a 2010 stop at Kibera.

Ive always taught my own daughter and my granddaughter the importance of being financially independent and, so now, here, youve found a way to do your own banking system, which is pretty incredible, Biden said. Her granddaughter, Naomi, 29, sat nearby.

Before taking her seat at the table, Biden was wrapped from the waist down in an apron-like cloth known as a leso or kanga that women wear in the home.

At a separate event, Biden chatted with local entrepreneurs, small farmers and others who have been helped by Hello Tractor, which connects tractor owners and farmers who need the machinery.

The first lady also laid a wreath at August 7th Memorial Park to honor those who were killed the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. More than 200 people were killed, including 12 Americans. More than 4,500 people were wounded.
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Although he doesn't eat fast food for more than 20 years now, the 'Sucker for Pain' hitmaker makes it clear in a new interview that he is not a gym rat either.

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - Lil Wayne is clearly not a big fan of junk food. Revealing that he has stopped eating fast food since he was 19, the "Sucker for Pain" rapper admitted that he doesn't even know what McDonald's smells like.

The 40-year-old made the revelation when appearing on Zane Lowe's Apple Music radio show. "When I was 19 I moved to Miami and my mom is a chef and she was very happy for the move because New Orleans is crazy. One thing she really wanted me to do was get a personal chef," he first said.

"So from the age of 19 to now, I've always had a personal chef. I haven't eaten any fast food forever," the emcee, born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., added. "I don't know what McDonalds smell like."

Although he doesn't eat unhealthy food, the "Lollipop" spitter made it clear that he is not a gym rat either. "Only Gyms I know is Jim Jones. I can't lift a weight. I don't do no workout," he shared.

Wayne's interview arrived more than two months after his former personal chef, Morghan Medlock, decided to sue him. In the lawsuit suit, Morghan accused the rap star of wrongful termination, retaliation and multiple illegal labor practices linked to more than a year of employment for the entertainer. She claimed that Wayne fired her earlier in 2022 just because she went to tend to her injured son.

Morghan revealed in the legal documents, which were obtained by TMZ, that she accompanied Wayne during his trip to Las Vegas over the Memorial Day weekend as a chef for the rapper. She shared that she first began working for Wayne in October 2020 and had been assigned to organize his "menus on a daily basis to meet his particular requests."

Wayne begged to differ though. A source from the rapper's camp said that Morghan was let go due to privacy issues. She allegedly breached the star's privacy by actively posting things related to him on social media platforms such as TikTok.

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EU agrees on 10th package of sanctions against Russia

Xinhua) 10:21, February 25, 2023

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) has agreed on the 10th package of sanctions against Russia, said the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU on Twitter Friday night.

"The package includes, e.g. tighter export restrictions regarding dual-use goods and technologies," the Swedish Presidency said.

It said the package also includes "targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities" that have supported Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and delivered drones for Russia to be used in the military operation.

The EU member states have imposed "the most forceful and far-reaching sanctions ever" to support Ukraine, it added.

Final approval of the sanctions is expected on Saturday when the details will be published by the EU.

The proposed package, announced in mid-February, indicated export bans of critical technology and industrial goods worth 11 billion euros (11.6 billion U.S. dollars) to Russia. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollar)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Our lives are filled with festivities that mark important milestones: Most people celebrate their birthdays, toast to turning 21, or look ahead to a renewed sense of purpose that follows a retirement party. Here in 2023, parents honor another significant occasion: The moment when they can finally stop paying out-of-pocket costs for child care because their child enters kindergarten. It might sound silly, but Ive been to three of these bashes so far. Make no mistake: Not having to pay for child care is a big deal in a parents life.

Consider my friend Anca. Shes in her mid-30s, a single mother of an 8-year-old and a 2-year-old. Like many parents, Anca works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so her eldest needs care before and after school. With no family nearby to help, her 2-year-old son needs full-time child care. Even though Anca qualifies for the states Care4Kids program, she still has to pay more than $10,000 a year for child care, an amount far more expensive than she can afford until her child gets into public school. Anca is counting the days when child care turns into after-school care only. In the decade I have been advocating for the early education industry, stories like Ancas have become typical. Without support from the professional educators who care for her children every day, Anca couldnt keep her job.

It shouldnt be this way. The child care industry here in Connecticut and around the country is on the verge of collapsing. But instead of giving child care providers and working parents the support they so desperately need, Gov. Ned Lamonts budget proposal reduces the number of families getting the Care4Kids child care subsidies and does nothing to address chronically low pay for child care providers. While parents around the state are worrying about how to pay their child care bills and giving up saving for retirement, college, or buying a house, the governors budget proposal fell painfully short of the real relief our state needs.

The outlook for child care would soon get worse. A day after the governor released his budget proposal, legislators agreed on imposing another decade of a firm spending cap that makes it harder to use surplus funds in creative manners. That means transformational change for Connecticuts early education industry will be stuck in bureaucratic limbo until our political leadership finds the will to make it a priority. Our elected leaders are hurting parents and children in the name of fiscal discipline.

These poorly designed proposals come at a time when the need for affordable child care options has never been more obvious. The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood recently released the findings of a survey of nearly 6,000 parents, showing that many families across the state pay between 8-19% of their annual income on child care and significantly above the national average. Nearly four in 10 families said they work less to stay home and care for their kids, and lose pay for the working hours they miss. As a first step Connecticut families need an increase to levels of enrollment in all state subsidy programs, retaining Care4Kids eligibility at 60% of state median income and raising reimbursement rates to the 75th percentile.

Worries about a potential recession are no excuse for legislative inaction to solve our states child care crisis. We need reforms now. Thats why the Child Care for Connecticuts Future coalition, which I co-chair, is calling for real investments in the early care industry, to the tune of $700 million. Were also calling on the legislature to approve an immediate wage increase of $7,500 for all early educators, to put their pay in line with what public school teachers typically earn. Eventually, no family in Connecticut should have to spend more than 7% of their income on child care costs, and compensation enhancements for educators should match those of their peers.

This session, several child care bills will work their way through our legislative process. Its time for legislators to recognize all of the benefits that flow from supporting child care providers and educators: Teachers can earn a livable wage, parents can go back to work, and families will have more spending power. Supporting our child care industry is common sense  its good for our economy and good for our kids. Another Band-Aid solution wont cut it. Without the child care industry, there is no workforce to power Connecticuts economy.

Legislators need to seize the moment with bold solutions for Connecticuts families and child care providers. If they listen, maybe parents could go back to celebrating only the usual: a birthday here, a promotion there. They could even save for retirement and then finally enjoy that party.

Eva Bermudez Zimmerman is co-chair of the Child Care for Connecticuts Future coalition, CSEA SEIUs Child Care Director and has served on the Governors Early Childhood Cabinet since 2018.
Movie

Fresh off his critically-acclaimed adaptation of 'Pinocchio' on Netflix, the famed filmmaker is now looking forward to helming another movie for the streaming giant.

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - Guillermo del Toro is attached to direct "The Buried Giant". The Oscar-winning filmmaker will helm and produce the animated movie for Netflix, with the project coming hot on the heels of his stop-motion take on "Pinocchio".

Del Toro has co-penned the script for the project with "Matilda the Musical" writer Dennis Kelly. Based on the fantasy novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, "The Buried Giant" follows an elderly British couple, Axl and Beatrice, living in a fictional England where nobody can retain long-term memories.

Del Toro said in a statement, " 'The Buried Giant' continues my animation partnership with Netflix and our pursuit of stop-motion as a medium to tell complex stories and build limitless worlds. It is a great honour and greater responsibility for me to direct this screenplay which Dennis Kelly and I are adapting from Kazuo Ishiguro's profound and imaginative novel."

Netflix film boss Scott Stuber added, "Guillermo del Toro is a visionary filmmaker and master of his craft. We couldn't be more proud of the prestigious recognition for his 'Pinocchio', and we're pleased to continue our creative partnership as he develops his next project with Netflix."

Meanwhile, Del Toro recently insisted that the future of cinema "will define itself in the coming decade" after a period of change amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 58-year-old director said, "Everybody wants a definition when we're in the middle of a transition, a change and a crisis all at the same time."

"We just survived the transformation of delivery, the arrival of a pandemic and everybody thinks that we should be able to define where we're going in a year or two. We will not. It will define itself in the incoming decade. And the most important thing is to keep the size of the idea big."

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Instagram/Cover Images/ROGER WONG Celebrity

The 42-year-old 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' alum is seen rocking a plunging vest top in the new pictures, which are shared on the SKIMS' Instagram page.

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kim Kardashian looks different in new photos for her SKIMS campaign. Many online users were wondering if the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" alum had work done to her face as they mistook her for Megan Fox.

On Friday, February 24, the Instagram account for SKIMS shared pictures of the 42-year-old rocking a plunging vest top. In the post, the reality star's lips were noticeably fuller.

"Dressed to rest. Sexy, new silhouettes made from our comfy, coveted Cotton Jersey fabric drop tomorrow at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. Join the waitlist for early access to shop Cotton Sleep," so read the caption. "@KimKardashian wears the Cotton Sleep Scoop Dress, size XS, in Onyx."

While some people were enthusiastic to buy the new piece, others focused on Kim's face. "@kimkardashian can barely recognize you here. Still love you though! I love your brain the most xoxo!" one person wrote, while another pointed out, "Her face looks so different."

Someone else asked, "@meganfox is that you?" A different individual, in the meantime, opined, "It's giving Monica Bellucci." Another questioned, "How many faces has she had??"

Kim has remained mum despite facing plastic surgery accusations over the years. However, in January, Cardi B got candid about the TV personality's long-kept plastic surgery secrets when discussing her nose job and butt lift.

In the first episode of "The Jason Lee Podcast", the Bronx hip-hop star claimed that the SKKN founder gave her a list of her most trusted doctors in town. "Okay, so how do you decide who you're going to go to and trust to touch your face and your body?" Jason questioned the "Money" rapper.

" 'Cause I remember the time we were at Kris' [Jenner] house and Kim gave you a list of people you could call and get help. You didn't call none of those people, you just did it at home?" Jason continued. In response, Cardi said, "No, I called a couple of people that she gave me." However, she didn't dive into detail.

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According to Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office records, the 28-year-old was arrested in Utah on suspicion of three misdemeanor charges, assault, criminal mischief and domestic violence in the presence of a child.

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - TikTok star Taylor Frankie Paul faces legal trouble. According to Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office records, the 28-year-old was arrested in Utah on February 17 on suspicion of three misdemeanor charges, assault, criminal mischief and domestic violence in the presence of a child.

The police booking affidavit revealed that Taylor, who has 4 million followers on the video-sharing platform, had a confrontation with an unnamed man. Around 11 P.M., a neighbor reported hearing screaming and yelling coming from inside a home. The neighbor also claimed that they saw a "female walking back and forth between the house and a white truck parked outside on the street."

When the cops arrived at the home, Taylor answered the door with a man, who lives with her. "Both started talking to me at the doorway. When I inquired about the circumstances and (the man) started to explain, I observed (Taylor) lunge at (the man) and began pushing/hitting him," the officer wrote.

The police separated the two and determined that Taylor was intoxicated and was the "primary aggressor" of the argument. She allegedly had hit the man "multiple times and threw several household objects at him, including metal chairs and a wooden child playset." It was additionally stated that Taylor's 5-year-old daughter was on the living room couch during the argument.

The mom of two was later freed from jail on February 18 morning on a pre-trial supervised release. However, she could also face an additional charge over the incident as Herriman police revealed in a news release on Friday, February 24 that they received "additional video evidence" in the case and referred it to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office for "for screening of felony assault charges" against Taylor.

"Following her jail booking, detectives received additional video evidence related to this case that resulted in the case being referred to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office for screening of felony assault charges against Ms. Paul," the Herriman City Police Department said in a statement. "This evidence also suggests that during the incident, Ms. Paul's minor child was injured by an action of Ms. Paul. Subsequently, our investigators are also screening a misdemeanor charge of reckless child abuse with the District Attorney's Office."

Herriman police also stressed in a statement that Taylor's status as a social media influencer will have "no bearing or impact on the investigation or outcome of the case." The statement read in part, "All allegations of domestic violence are investigated thoroughly and in accordance with state law and established criminal justice best practices to protect victims and ensure accountability."

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In a message marking the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, the 74-year-old British monarch has hailed the courage and resilience of the people of Ukraine.

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - King Charles has hailed the "truly remarkable courage" of the Ukrainian people. In a message marking the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, the new British monarch has praised the courage and resilience of the people of Ukraine.

The 74-year-old, who met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this month, said, "It has now been a year that the people of Ukraine have suffered unimaginably from an unprovoked full-scale attack on their nation. They have shown truly remarkable courage and resilience in the face of such human tragedy. The world has watched in horror at all the unnecessary suffering inflicted upon Ukrainians, many of whom I have had the great pleasure of meeting here in the U.K. and, indeed, across the world, from Romania to Canada."

"It is heartening that the United Kingdom, along with its allies, is doing everything possible to help at this most difficult time. Therefore, I can only hope the outpouring of solidarity from across the globe may bring not only practical aid, but also strength from the knowledge that, together, we stand united," he continued.

Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy delivered a speech to Parliament in the U.K. in 2022. During his speech, the 45-year-old politician made reference to one of Sir Winston Churchill's wartime rallying calls.

Speaking to Parliament via a video link, he said, "I would like to remind you the words that the United Kingdom have already heard, which are important again. We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets."

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According to a new report, the German sportswear brand has made a new deal with the 45-year-old controversial rapper's Yeezy to sell $500 million USD worth of its unsold Yeezy sneakers.

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kanye West has reportedly reached some sort of agreement with Adidas following their fallout last year. According to a new report, the German sportswear brand has made a new deal with Ye's Yeezy to sell $500 million USD worth of its unsold Yeezy sneakers.

It's said that the deal will start to take place this year. The renewed deal allegedly only focuses on existing inventory which was left after Adidas cut ties with the controversial rapper over his anti-Semitic remarks and White Lives Matter controversy.

As for now, neither Adidas nor Ye has commented on the reported deal.

The reports of the new agreement between Adidas and Ye come after news that Adidas could lose up to $1.3 billion dollars in unsold Yeezy sneakers. Prior to this, it was reported that Adidas planned to spend millions to continue using Yeezy designs under a new name.

"Going forward, we will leverage the existing inventory with the exact plans being developed as we speak. It should refrain from relaunching items under its own brand, as they will always be synonymous with West, and this would likely result in muted customer demand," Adidas Chief Financial Officer Harm Ohlmeyer said during a Q3 earnings call back on November 9.

The Adidas boss previously explained that Adidas was the "sole owner" of all rights to the Yeezy brand after launching the first pair of Air Yeezy sneakers in 2013. He said, "Adidas is the sole owner of all design rights registered to existing products. We intend to make use of these rights as early as 2023. We own all the versions and new colourways. It's our IP. We are working through all the options. When the time is right we will be more specific."

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According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, the arrest took place on Friday, February 24 after Nathan allegedly told his brother-in-law, William, over the phone that he had 'lost it.'

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - Jenelle Evans' ex has been arrested. It was unveiled that Nathan Griffith was taken into custody for domestic battery after allegedly choking a woman.



According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, the arrest took place on Friday, February 24 after Nathan allegedly told his brother-in-law, William, over the phone that he had "lost it." He said he choked a woman and dragged her up the stairs.

William further informed police that he later texted Nathan's girlfriend, who told him she was not okay. When cops arrived at Nathan's house in Delray Beach, Florida, he was allegedly uncooperative and even told the officers that William wasn't a reliable source since he was "on drugs."

Police claimed they noticed several scratches on Nathan's neck and back, but he told them they came from having sex with his girlfriend. As for the woman, she was also uncooperative at first but eventually told the officers that the former reality star "had been physically aggressive with her."

Nathan's girlfriend additionally noted that she couldn't explain the specifics because she "blacked out." She later shouted, "I'm 100 some pounds and he's 250 how in the hell am I supposed to get him off me."

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The 'Ant-Man' actor and his actress wife who is a huge fan of the British royal family are rumored to stay at the royal palace when they are visiting the UK capital.

Feb 25, 2023

AceShowbiz - Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas are allegedly staying in St James' Palace. The Hollywood couple are rumored to be residing in an apartment at the palace in London, where King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, and Princesses Anne and Beatrice also live.

"It's just perfect for their requirements when they're visiting the capital," an insider told the Daily Mail's Eden Confidential column.

Rentals at the palace first became available in 2015 and a source said at the time, "In theory, anyone can apply but all prospective tenants will be subject to security and background checks."

Catherine, 53, and Michael, 78, have son Dylan, 22, and daughter, Carys, 19, together. They split their time between Irvington, New York state and Majorca. They also own properties in Bermuda and Canada.

Speaking previously about her admiration for the Royal Family, Catherine said, "I'm a massive royalist. In our family, we'll dress up on royal occasions. My son will wear a top hat and tails and have scones. I had a wonderful lunch with Camilla and Lady Astor in New York years ago, before they were even married, and I loved her. What you see is what you get with Camilla."

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The 'Sherlock' actor has blasted BAFTA as he complains about a lot of issues following the most-recent BAFTA film awards which was hosted by Richard E. Grant in London.

Feb 26, 2023

AceShowbiz - Phil Davis has rescinded his Bafta membership after the "toe-curling" 2023 film awards ceremony. Branding last weekend's BAFTA awards show an "embarrassing travesty," the "Sherlock" star, 69, was not happy with the organization's decision to have "This Morning" presenter Alison Hammond interviewing stars backstage while Richard E. Grant hosted.

It meant that the likes of Lesley Patterson, who co-wrote the most awarded movie of the night, "All Quiet on the Western Front", had her speech cut.

Besides not being impressed with the "non-interviews," the "Quadrophenia" star took issue with the host's arrival to London's Royal Festival Hall in a fake Batmobile, and he also slammed the ceremony for not including legendary actor Bernard Cribbins - who died last July aged 93 - in the In Memoriam segment.

He tweeted this week, "The Bafta awards were an embarrassing travesty. Cutting deserving winners speeches for toe curling non interviews. Poor Richard E Grant pretending to arrive in a Batmobile and no Bernard Cribbins in memorium (sic)." Phil added, "I resigned my membership."

As well as his notable movie roles, Bernard was best known for TV roles in "Doctor Who", "The Wombles", and "Fawlty Towers", to name a few.

Bafta has responded to the criticism it faced for omitting the "Railway Children" star from the memorial and insisted he will be part of the next BAFTA Television Awards In Memoriam.

The academy tweeted, "With limited time in our broadcast it isn't possible to honour all those who have sadly passed away. Bernard features in our online records at http,//bafta.org/heritage/in-memory-of and given his influential work in TV, he will be considered for inclusion in the next Television Awards broadcast."

The latter awards take place on May 14.

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The 'Empire of the Sun' actor has spoken out for the first time about the disappearance of his former 'Killing Fields' co-star, describing it as a 'great loss.'

Feb 26, 2023

AceShowbiz - John Malkovich found solace knowing the fact his "closest friend," Julian Sands, went missing doing something he loved. The "A Room with the View" actor hasn't been found since he went hiking in Mount Baldy over a month ago and his pal - who he met on the set of "The Killing Fields" in 1983 - believes his adventurer buddy made a "choice" in putting himself at risk of a "catastrophic and immediate error," and suggested he doesn't think he will be found alive.

"I haven't really talked about what happened with Jules. But, in a way, it's a choice, because he was an inveterate mountain climber/hiker," John, who can next be seen on screen with Julian in "Seneca - On the Creation of Earthquakes", told The Guardian newspaper.

"He was always tramping off to Kilimanjaro, or Antarctica, or the Andes, or the Alps - a very experienced climber who'd been through very hairy experiences. I suppose the particular conditions on the ground that day on Mount Baldy must have led to some sort of catastrophic and immediate error that was irreversible."

"That was my instinct upon hearing it. But he knew what the conditions were, and that's what he loved to do. He found great solace in the solitude of that. But I certainly don't think all people choose their deaths. Some die horribly from myeloid leukemia when they're three years old. I don't think that's a choice; I think that's a pretty grotesque notion. Death, we finally meet up with it by chance on the hazardous path from one light to another and we say to ourselves, so that's all it is?"

The 69-year-old actor regrets never visiting Julian's native Yorkshire with him over the years. He added, "I love Jules. He was someone who was very, very clever. I know his ex-wife, Sarah terribly well and their son, Henry, is my godson. And I introduced Jules to Evgenia [his wife], who's an old, old friend. I know their daughters well. But I unfortunately never got to go up to Yorkshire with him. It's a great loss."

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"Unity of the people is more important than unity of the opposition to address public issues, and the people are looking forward to change," said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The Chief Minister of Delhi spoke at the second edition of ABP Networks "Ideas of India" Summit 2023 on the topic "Citizen First: The Extraordinary Journey of the Aam Aadmi." The summit witnessed industry stalwarts, experts, policymakers, cultural ambassadors, celebrities, and business leaders talking about the critical role of India during the global churn and changing dynamics.

Giving a snapshot of key takeaways from the Anna Andolan and how the Aam Aadmi Party formed the Delhi government in a year, Kejriwal said, "We think for the betterment of people, and further observing children from underprivileged families, they are rising for a better tomorrow."

Arvind Kejriwal further expressed gratitude towards his wife for her support and backing of his decision to move forward in life. He further elaborated about his idea of a "gifted and resource-rich" India and how he sees India leading the world in the future.

The ABP Networks "Ideas of India" Summit 2023 is being held on the theme "Naya India: Looking Inward, Reaching Out." Along with the global leaders, 60 eminent policymakers, cultural ambassadors, industry experts, celebrities, and business leaders will discuss their perceptions of India and the changing dynamics of world order, as well as India's role in it. The two-day event primarily addresses Indias stand as a burgeoning economy and global leader in shaping the future.
Brookfield First Selectwoman Tara Carr condemned readers of her social media posts this week in an angry and incoherent statement. The first-term Republicans perpetual alarm was on display in a series of Twitter posts that included an incendiary response to praise of President Joe Biden by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Carr commented on a Republican National Committee clip of Harris praising Biden, by allegedly posting, Hes aiding & abetting the enemy. Ready. Aim. Fire. One shot, one kill. That simple Carr claims she was referring to the Chinese balloon that was floating over the United States at the time. Her first two posts on Saturday, Feb. 4, referring to the balloon, were: Aiding & abetting the enemy. Ready. Aim. Fire. One shot, one kill. That simple

Carrs vile third post that day was not in response to the balloon. There was no reference to it. This time, warming to her theme, Carr edited her previous wording to add He, a clear reference to Biden, who she was accusing of the serious offense of aiding & abetting the enemy, China. Carr on Tuesday accused critics of fabricating their own truths. Carr herself was immune to any reasonable explanation of why the Biden administration waited until the balloon was over the Atlantic Ocean to destroy it.

Defense analysts suggested that as the balloons altitude rose, it allowed U.S. military and intelligence services to gather significant information on its capabilities and purpose before destroying it when it reached the Atlantic Ocean. That sounds more plausible than Carrs loaded claim that Biden was helping China. As one analyst suggested, we likely learned more about Chinese capabilities and intentions from the balloon than China did about us.

Anyone reading Carrs response to Harris praise would have seen no reference to the balloon, just her call to violence, One shot, one kill. That simple I was alerted to Carrs online spewing last weekend by Alphonse Robinson, a progressive blogger. Robinson had seen and criticized the tweets on Feb. 18. Carrs tweets were still on her personal Twitter account the next day, though she appeared to have tried to remove them. I wrote about them on my website, DailyRuctions.com. Not long after, Twitter suspended Carrs account.

Carr ranted in her Tuesday screed that critics of her tweets reside on the fringe of the political spectrum.These individuals, she continued, are more intent on twisting the meaning of my words, simply to foment hatred and discord against political opponents during an election year. Reading what Carr wrote about Biden did not foment hatred and discord, but that appears to have been her intent in writing them.

In this image released by the Department of Defense on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, a U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the United States on Feb. 3, 2023.

Only the day before issuing her One shot, one kill message, Carr used Twitter to scold U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, for his tweet criticizing House Republicans for putting U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on a committee that oversees school safety. Murphy wrote that Greene has said the Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings were staged. Carr replied Murphys staff should do better in running his social media. These statements cant be your own.

Carrs inexhaustible anger was on display at the end of January, when she highlighted her apocalyptic view of Biden and our times. He is a pathetic excuse of a Commander in Chief,  she wrote on Twitter. He is eroding the fabric of our nation. Once its gone there is nothing worth fighting for. And once there is nothing worth fighting for, there goes the United States of America.

Carr claimed Tuesday that her political opponents will not succeed in smearing their political opponents and engaging in smoke and mirror tactics directed at any town official. The meaning of Carrs words were clear. The smoke and mirrors come from her scramble to save herself. The people of Brookfield and many others beyond the towns borders are alarmed and bewildered by Carrs poisonous creed.

Carr says her focus is on the business of Brookfield, that is far more important than engaging small-minded individuals. Maybe now that Twitter has shut her down, but not before. Many of Carrs tweets had nothing to do with Brookfield. In one, she complained about Murphy obtaining a grant for children in low income families to receive free swimming lessons in Waterbury.

President Joe Biden on Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia.

Last week, Carr was mocking Harris for attending the Munich Security Conference, suggesting Biden was too feeble to make the trip. A few days later, Biden made a historic visit to Kyiv to show his commitment to Ukraines struggle against Russian invaders.

Biden went to the frontline of the battle between freedom and servitude. His words were unmistakable. So were Carrs  and no amount of huffing, puffing and blaming others make them less abhorrent.

Kevin F. Rennie of South Windsor is a lawyer and a former Republican state senator and representative.
Asian Paints ColourNext, the most authoritative voice in the Indian subcontinent for trends and material forecasting completed 20 years this year. Renowned for their exemplary insights, ColourNext continues to share design directions for the year inspired by the cultural and social influences on colour and decor trends. ColourNext revealed the four forecast design directions for 2023  Gothilicious, Edge of the Forest, Sleep Sense and Shroom, the stories of which address sociocultural topics ranging from how we express ourselves, to a newfound urgency for wellness, and forming deeper connections with others and the world around us. The forecast also launched Wallpaper of the Year  AION, breakthrough natural and earth-safe paint - Nilaya Naturals, and imaginative palette of wall finishes called Material Finishes by Royale Play.

ColourNexts forecast for 2023 is all about building a better future, embracing the past and present and creating with joy, hope and intention. The year is the silver lining everyone waited for, after the dark clouds of the past few years and the colour of the year 'Silver Escapade' encapsulates the optimism with which we are going forward. On the occasion of ColourNexts 20th edition, Asian Paints has also launched the new logo for ColourNext.

Mr. Amit Syngle, Managing Director and CEO, of Asian Paints Ltd. commented, As we celebrate 20 years of ColourNext with pride & zest, we look ahead to share with the world, the colour and material forecast for the year. The design directions for the year - Gothilicious, Edge of the Forest, Sleep Sense and Shroom highlight self-expression, wellness, fantasy and connecting with the world, addressing socio-cultural and consumer shifts which have emerged from getting out of a rather difficult and tough phase of the last two years. The Wallpaper of the Year- Aion speaks about time and eternity through art and design and Nilaya Naturals along with Material Finishes by Royale Play align perfectly with our forecasted themes for the year. We are excited to see the multitude of interpretations of our directions across landscape and medium. It is definitely going to be an interesting year where we see the application of our forecast and our colour and material intelligence behind them come to life.

The dazzling and enchanting Wallpaper of the Year, AION (pronounced Ahee-ohn) has a mesmerizing visual palette with deft use of tones in different sections of the design. In the foreground, strong powerful and modern graphic lines, blaze with a white intensity. Receding totem silhouettes signal the way back into myth and mist, hanging chandelier-like against a soft wash of colour. AION offers more than the eye can see and tells a tale of the universes greatest puzzle: Time.

Each of the forecast stories outline a narrative that connects with individuals differently.

Gothilicious is the trend of self-expression and being unapologetically bold and sensual. It can be seen as challenging the traditional ideas of dark and nebulous and exploring the intensity of pensive and powerful human emotion. There is a shift towards an understated gothic essence with colours like charcoal warm matt black, deepest dark skies, blackest black pigment, deep dark forest olive greens, dark reds, sheen & shimmer of mother of pearl and molten metal.

Edge of the Forest is a life-affirming and a restorative forecast story. When the pandemic hit we were clouded with loneliness, people found themselves turning to nature for answers, as per big data reports. This is because people know from instinct that nature allows them to connect to a world larger than themselves. Inspired by unfiltered forests, woods and its many enchanting creatures, this forecast story includes deep forest greens, mud, moss browns and mystical fluorescence inspired by wildflowers, rare bees, bugs and worms, along with the magical sheen and shimmer of gleaming lake waters. This trend signifies reconnecting with nature and its joy and vitality and a new kind of inland living at the edge of the forest.

Sleep Sense refers to a new frontier in wellness  a sleep revolution i.e. prioritizing good quality sleep and rest of mind as the movement towards health, wellness and slow living gains ground. There is a renewed focus on breathable, handcrafted fabrics and locally sourced natural materials. The overall colour palette is a collection of broken whites that give a feeling of stillness and lightness. Comforting, nourishing, soft adaptive, familiar, and tranquility are the colour and material qualities of this forecast story.

Shroom is a story of revival and rebirth. It involves taking all that is dead and turning it back to life, in many ways mirroring the year itself, as people come out of the biggest health scare this generation has witnessed. It seems simple from the outside but has complex layers of ecological memory. A palette of profound tones combined with luminous and saturated hues with mesmeric quality make up this forecast story.

Earlier this year, Colour of the Year - Silver Escapade was unveiled as a representative colour of the times we live in. Wellness and hope for the future have emerged as the two most important design trends this year which inspire silver, a ubiquitous colour of hope, festivities and glamour. Silver has been the colour of auspicious new beginnings in India for centuries. Given the hybrid lifestyles we live, the colour is timeless and expansive transcending physical and digital realms, the past, present and the future.

Having been in existence for 20 years, Asian Paints ColourNext has evolved as the subcontinent's most-awaited and one-of-its-kind, intelligence in colour and material. The entire forecast takes into account the impact of the socio-political-economic climate backed by the science of research tools and colour psychology. It is put together based on comprehensive research involving the countrys prominent tastemakers from the fields of architecture, art, interiors, fashion, sociology, media and FMCG. Over 20 years, ColourNext has grown its influence and manifestation having immensely contributed to and shaped the world of colour and design.

Along with ColourNext, Asian Paints has revealed its new breakthrough product, Nilaya Naturals, a uniquely luxurious earth-safe, lime-based paint. Nilaya Naturals is made with 90% earth-positive ingredients making it robust and breathable, with a clean, fresh smell. Its tonally perfect palette with a vintage, flawlessly matte finish, has a beauty that only grows deeper with time. For projects which require an artistic colour, this will prove to be a perfect choice.

Material Finishes by Royale Play which are designer plaster solutions will showcase textures, styles and decor effects inspired by the colour of the year and forecast stories. This dynamic product offers a variety of options to fit evolving consumer tastes, such as The Archi Argilla, an imitation of nature with natural clay and lime composition; fit for houses with a trendy-chic rustic style, or W2F Decorative for differentiated luxury spaces. Some other options include Opaco Matts complete matt styling, and Marmorinos marble like effect among others.
In-depth Part 1: How metaverse-ready Indian brands really are?

The metaverse presents a sea of opportunities for marketers and brands to engage with and target their TG in novel and exciting ways. By staying on top of emerging trends and technologies, brands can create innovative and immersive experiences that help them stand out in a crowded marketplace.

In-depth Part 2: Devising the perfect metaverse marketing gameplan

Are brands and marketers prepared for marketing in the metaverse? Marketers and experts are unanimous in their view that brands are yet to comprehend the full potential of the metaverse. It is important that marketers need to have the right understanding of the metaverse and the Web3 ecosystem before they venture into marketing in this brand-new territory.

We are building the agency of the future: Ajay Gupte

2022 was the first full year out of COVID and it was interesting in many ways, remarked Ajay Gupte, CEO - South Asia, Wavemaker, in a conversation with Adgully. He further noted, A lot of transformations have been happening. A lot of new businesses came to us in terms of new services like E-commerce, Performance and Content. We were able to create a good team. The last 5-odd months have fairly come down as compared to the first 7 months.

I do not have the ability to become sentient: Adgully interviews ChatGPT

ChatGPT is being used for a mindboggling range of things  from students getting it to do their class assignment to business executives even planning future strategies with it to coders using it to create computer programs, and beyond.

Zakka Jacob demystifies CNN-News18s YouTube success story

CNN-News18 has been witnessing tremendous growth on YouTube. In January, it registered 173 million views on YouTube, and 135 million on Facebook. I think its been staggering, says Zakka Jacob, Managing Editor, CNN-News18.

Content creators welcome Meta Verified, say it will protect ideas and identity

Following the steps of Twitter, Meta Platforms on Sunday announced that it is testing a paid monthly subscription service called Meta Verified, which will allow users to verify their accounts with a government ID and earn a blue badge, as it aims to help content creators grow and build communities.

Licious lessons in creating a new category - UnCrave done right

In conversation with Adgully, Simeran Bhasin, Business Head - Alternative Protein, Licious, speaks at length about the newly launched product, their TG, USP, campaigns planned and much more.

AIDCF vs broadcasters: KCCL signs agreement under NTO 3.0

After UCN, MSO Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL) has signed the interconnection subscription agreement with the broadcasters as per the TRAI-mandated NTO 3.0.

Zee Cine Awards 2023 plans to take the entertainment quotient to a whole new level

In conversation with Adgully, Ruchir Tiwari, Chief Cluster Officer, Hindi Movie channels, Film Licensing & Syndication, ZEEL, shares some details about how this year Zee Cine Awards is coming up with all new talents and performances. This year, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan are the face of Zee Cine Awards.

How Escape Velocitys collab with Viacom18 for IPL can be game-changer for advertisers

Raghu Seelamsetty, CEO, Escape Velocity, a digital media technology services company, says that this is a great opportunity for brands to be a part of sporting history. In this interview with Adgully, Raghu Seelamsetty speaks about how Escape Velocity will work with Viacom18 for the IPL tournament, how this partnership with Viacom18 is a game-changer for advertisers, the great opportunity for brands, etc. Excerpts:

PR is getting more outcome-focused and delivering measurable results: Arneeta Vasudeva

In this interaction with Adgully as part of the PR Conversation, Arneeta Vasudeva, National Head, PR and Influence, Ogilvy India, speaks at length about the evolution in the Public Relations business, key PR trends in 2023, the digital transformation taking in place in PR, and much more.

Women are natural leaders and used to taking charge when situations escalate: Jyoti Dabas

In conversation with Adgully, Jyoti Dabas, Co-Founder of Fittr, speaks about her mantra for a successful work-life balance, effective leadership lessons that she has learnt, crisis management, women leadership in the contemporary market ecosystem, gender sensitivity, and more.

Influence of women leaders has gone up dramatically in contemporary market environment"

In conversation with Adgully, Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, Serial Entrepreneur & CEO, Great Place to Work India, speaks about importance of gender diversity, the significance of having an unobstructed vision, Team work, inclusive and diverse work culture and more.

Vinay Tamboli on how digital transformation is changing the face of marketing

500 clients in different verticals for the sole purpose of making digital marketing operations management more efficient and effective for businesses of all sizes. In this interaction with Adgully, Vinay Tamboli speaks about digital transformation taking place in marketing, predictive analysis, creating data lakes, and more.

Learning and evolving is the key to start-up success: Vipul Gupta, Re'equil India

In conversation with Adgully, Vipul Gupta, Founder and Director, Re'equil India, shares his journey as an entrepreneur and the Reequil ecosystem. He also shares his key insights and takes on the upcoming trends for 2023 and how the company became the top-notch brand in the industry of Skin and Body Care Products.

Amritesh Bakshi on how Perfectly Yours is becoming an exemplar for modern couples

In an interaction with Adgully, Amritesh Bakshi, Director of Brands and Field Marketing, Hyatt India Consultancy, shares his insights into the campaign and how it is becoming an exemplar for modern couples, and perfectly matches the sentiments to resonate with these modern couples.
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It is said that President John F. Kennedy gave the most important speech of his presidency before the graduating class at the American University in Washington, D.C., in June 1963. The occasion was five months before his death and eight months after he had confronted Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev over the deployment of Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis would later be seen as a defining moment in U.S.-Russian relations. It was the closest approach of the two Cold War antagonists to a nuclear confrontation.

After the crisis subsided, Kennedy thought deeply about how to avoid a situation like that again and how the two great nuclear powers could find a way to live together. He wanted to say something about it publicly. In his speech, Kennedy signaled U.S. readiness to join with Russia in banning the future tests of nuclear weapons and he opened the prospect for peaceful coexistence. The speech is admired for Kennedys eloquence and for the initiative he took in conceiving it, but there is a passage in it that is relevant today as we look at the war unfolding in Ukraine.

Nuclear powers, Kennedy said, must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy -- or of a collective death-wish for the world.

Kennedy was 47 years old when he passed along that wise counsel to those who would manage Americas future relations with other nuclear powers. Today it is not taken as a maxim for guiding current American policy towards Russia. President Biden refutes Kennedy. His foreign policy team would hold that Kennedy raised a false dichotomy, and that it is not the case that the only alternatives in an American confrontation with another nuclear-armed power is either a humiliating retreat or nuclear war. Rather, they would say, it is possible to calibrate a vigorous response within a range of policy options short of approaching a nuclear show down. This is the great game the United States and its NATO allies are now playing with Russia. It is a game where the bid is being continually raised.

Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never, President Biden said in Poland on February 21. The words are confrontational and far removed from the spirit in Kennedys speech. They are part of a long record of American words and deeds showing that Washington is willing to risk a direct military confrontation with Russia. Todays policy hawks would have to admit that Kennedy got the part about avoiding humiliating another nuclear power wrong. They are not shy about talking about humiliating Russia. Humiliation is seen as an aspect of policy. That stems partly from the Wests sense of maddened outrage over Russias behavior and partly from deliberate calculation. Humiliating Russia is built into the logic of NATOs military response on the battlefield.

NATO wants to keep the Ukrainian army up and fighting. Its escalatory moves are aimed at raising the costs Russia must pay while denying it tangible gains. The fight in Ukraine goes on but neither the United States nor its allies have made an explicit announcement about their war aims. In fact, there are no concrete war aims, apart from the abstract notion of victory itself, which is presumably defined as a battlefield check on Russian military advance, brought about by a combination of NATO weaponry and Ukrainian manpower. Victory is the war aim, and not something else. When its achieved, it would be evident to all parties; we would know it when we see it. It might be accompanied by a Russian change of heart, an acknowledgment of war guilt, and offers to make amends. Swapping out a whole new set of leaders in Moscow, which has long been a policy hawk dream, would be in the cards. Sum up these things and the logic of NATOs battlefield gambits amounts to a humiliating retreat for Russia.

French president Emmanuel Macron sometimes says things that put him at odds with the more hawkish voices in Europe. Apparently wanting to have it both ways, he said a few days ago that Russia must be defeated in Ukraine, but not crushed. That may sound like a distinction without a difference, but Macron was signaling his opposition to allowing the desire to humiliate Russia from commandeering the course of NATO war policy. He has also ruled out regime change in Russia.

Kennedys caution against humiliating another nuclear-armed power in a dispute does not exactly equate to the U.S. and its allies finding an off-ramp for Russia. The expression off-ramp pops up in talk about Ukraine. Typically, the speaker means that Russia is in over its head, its looking for a way out, and the collective West ought to respond with an accommodative gesture. Kennedys intent was different. From the context of the speech, he puts the burden on American behavior before a crisis arises, and not merely on creatively helping our opponent find a way out during the heat of a crisis. Kennedy meant that restraint should be the proscriptive guide to policy-making, and not merely an expedient for defusing tension. From this it would follow that the United States should never follow a course where temporary and imperfect solutions are removed from the table, leaving behind the residual choice of humiliation or nuclear war. The U.S. has done exactly that in Ukraine. Looking at the chain of events in the run-up to the war, it is hard to see how restraint shaped Americas whole-hearted support for NATOs bold expansion right up to Russias fence; nor is it evident how restraint plays in the gamblers game of war by proxy.

If the reader wants a take-away from this dismal state of affairs, then let him take some comfort in the thought that Divine Providence foreordained from all eternity that not one of the practitioners of American policy towards Russia today was in the White House cabinet room when John Kennedy drafted his responses to Nikita Khrushchev sixty-one years ago.

JAMES SORIANO is a retired foreign service officer. He has previously written for the American Thinker on the war in Ukraine.

Image: USAF
The CDC, Medicare, and Medicaid have introduced ICD (International Classification of Diseases) diagnosis codes for being unvaccinated or partially vaccinated for COVID-19, and also for other under-immunization status. These new codes, designated ICD-10, quietly went into effect on April 1, 2022, and were broadly adopted nationwide by January 2023, but we are just learning about them now.

Diagnosis is a word to designate disease. Is being unvaccinated now considered a disease?

Will medical and health services provided by insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid be affected by the patients vaccination status?

This new move cannot be entirely for health reasons. Recent science shows that natural immunity is more robust than that conferred by vaccines. The reality of breakthrough infections demonstrates that a persons vaccination status is not predictive of whether they will contract or spread the disease. If the tracking were for health reasons alone, they would exclude those who are covid-recovered and have natural immunity.

Even more disturbing, why do the new codes track the reason for being unvaccinated, or being in Delinquent Immunization Status, for COVID-19? Some of the reasons include patient refusal, or belief or group pressure. Will parents who choose not to get the many booster shots now being required for children be penalized for that? Will their children be penalized?

In my opinion, tracking the COVID-19 unvaccinated is a way to identify "resisters," people who don't just go along with the government narrative, who are unmoved by heavy propaganda, who think for themselves and who are willing to take the heat for going against the flow. Many of these people are conservatives and pro-life Christians, some of whom refused the jab because the injections were made using the cells of an aborted fetus. Is the government identifying the unvaxxed in order to characterize them as somehow "unclean," or selfish, or even grandma killers. Will these codes be used to separate the unjabbed from society and ultimately, to persecute them?

For example, according to a report by Teachers for Choice, unvaccinated teachers in New York City have had their fingerprints and problem codes (indicating misconduct) in their personnel files sent to the FBI and the New York Criminal Justice Services. Are they -- and others who have refused vaccination and express their reasons for doing so  being set up as purveyors of disinformation (a term coined by Stalin) or worse, as domestic threat actors? Tracking immunization status is nothing new, but have those who lack a vaccination other than COVID-19 been treated this way?

ICD-10 codes were created by the World Health Organization (WHO), and are maintained by the CDC under WHO authorization. Will WHO receive this information? Will it be shared internationally, including with China? Ultimately, tracking vaccination status could be used as the pretext for requiring internationally interoperable vaccine passports, smart health cards, or other digital IDs.

The idea for a good Digital ID was developed with globalist NGOs like George Soross , and the Rockefeller Foundation. Indeed, the World Bank is promoting a digital ID to assess corporate compliance with the U.N Agenda 2030 17 Sustainable Development Goals. SDG 16.9 calls for, by 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration.

At the November 2022 G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the Declaration, published on the White House website, stated:

23. We acknowledge the importance of shared technical standards and verification methods, under the framework of IHR (2005), to facilitate seamless international travel, interoperability, and recognizing digital solutions and non-digital solutions, including proof of vaccinations. We support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks as part of the efforts to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics, that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standards and digital COVID-19 certificates.

In addition, the WHO is pressing for international vaccine passports. It has already contracted with Deutsche Telekom to create these.

Any mandatory digital ID can give rise to a social credit system, a tool the Chinese Communist Party uses for mass surveillance and totalitarian control. Is that the goal? It sure looks that way. According to reports, Chinas social credit system has already been used to restrict travel, loans, purchases, applying for jobs, even getting a date. And worse, it provides a means for others to make unsolicited comments about you. In some areas of China, if you call a blacklisted person, you will hear a siren, followed by a warning that the person being called is on the blacklist. In Beijing, a blacklisted person driving through certain intersections may reportedly be identified by facial recognition software and their photo and ID will appear on a large digital billboard. Do we want this dystopian nightmare to come to an intersection near us?

Vaccine passports are one of the major vehicles to create an international digital ID. And that effort is well on the way. Indeed, Research and Markets has estimated that the Worldwide Social Credit Infrastructure represents a $16.1 billion business opportunity by 2026.

We must stand against vaccine passports, digital IDs, social credit systems and Central Bank Digital Currencies.

Reggie Littlejohn is President of Womens Rights Without Frontiers and Co-Chair of the Stop Vaccine Passports Task Force.

Image: Marco Verch Professional Photographer
Forget about the stories about the Israeli judicial reforms. Its critics are exaggerating, but now we have another exaggeration about Israel floating up to the top of the news.

Some Israelis  supposedly affiliated with a firm called Team Jorge  have been caught rigging elections.

My first reaction to that was to remember that line in Casablanca where Captain Renault tells Rick, Im shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here, just as a waiter comes up to the captain, and says, Your winnings, sir.

This groundbreaking expose from The Guardian, in Britain, uncovered an Israeli firm hacking elections.

Three journalists  Gur Megiddo of TheMarker, Frederic Metezeau of Radio France, and Omer Benjakob of Haaretz  had been on the tails of Jorge for more than six months, posing as consultants working on behalf of a businessman who wanted to delay an election in a large and unstable country in Africa. -- The Guardian

I have no doubt that something was going on. But the fact that it was exposed leads me to believe that the firm was not that competent, or it would not have been exposed.

When it comes to hacking, it is a signature of teenage hackers to brag about their exploits.

The student from Montreal's West Island ... was caught because he boasted about his hacking in Internet chat groups.  The Globe and Mail

Bragging! And this firm made the same mistake.

According to the video, the firms director says that the team engaged in ...

Thirty-three presidential level campaigns, we have completed. Twenty seven of them which were successful  The Guardian (video)

I dont doubt that hacking elections is a common occurrence. It might explain how President Trump got ten million more voters in 2020 than he did in 2016, and still lost his re-election.

But the idiocy of this expose was making such a hacking enterprise look expensive and professional. The firm claimed to run 30,000 bots.

But is that really impressive?

For example, Team Jorge said it can generate false faces.

Big deal. You can do that online for free at: https://this-person-does-not-exist.com/en

True, generating 30,000 fake faces would take time, but some inexpensive software could get it done fast.

And there are websites with pricing packages. See this site: https://www.unite.ai/random-face-generators/ (Some on this list are free)

If you know Linux (which is free), you can get an MIT tool, such as this one: https://snapcraft.io/random-face-generator

An average 15-year-old techie could master that.

Hootsuite helps you to manage Twitter accounts. There are other packages.

A simple VPN service (some of which can be free) can hide your IP. Theyll think you are posting from Brazil.

Now, the expose does mention that the firm is using a secret tool called AIMS, but rather than being secret, AIMS is a commercial software package designed to make media access easy and manageable. It operates on Microsofts Azure Cloud Platform.

Azure is a public cloud computing platformwith solutions including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) that can be used for services such as analytics, virtual computing, storage, networking, and much more. It can be used to replace or supplement your on-premise servers. -- CCBTechnology

A lightbulb should go on in someones head.

Do you seriously believe that a truly covert operation wants its data on any cloud server managed by Microsoft?

No true covert professional  or 15-year-old techie for that matter  would touch it. They would operate under the assumption that any all-in-one-easy-to-use software is put out by the CIA, MI5, FBI, Mossad, etc. in order to spy on hackers. Real professionals would use a lot of open-source software, which could be erased and altered regularly.

And they certainly would not trust a Microsoft platform.

But what about the multilayered bots, which masquerade as real people with accounts on social media? You can buy fake accounts on the Dark Web. Pay for it with BitCoin. Some come cheap.

And none of this is news.

Elon Musk Wants to Rid Twitter of 'Spam Bots.' Nearly Half His Followers Are Fake -- Time

None of this should be done in an office, though. Such firms would run out of laptops.

You meet the company president in a coffee shop. The CEO should be wearing eyeglasses. If you really want to save money, instead of paying $400,000 for such services, you could find a competent high school junior.

The techie should be running a slightly older laptop  which he bought on Craigslist, so it cant be traced. The laptop should be running on Linux, with a kill switch, and which he reformats to re-install a different distro of Linux regularly. His database should be on a USB stick, not the cloud.

He should be accessing the internet in libraries, malls, and anywhere with open hot spots. The gold mine is when he accesses the internet in a pizza shop, but the signal is coming from the adjacent barbershop. He logs on to his VPN  which is either free or paid for via BitCoin  to make it look like he is logging in from Nigeria. Then he begins to work.

No rent. No overhead. Most of the software is freeware on Linux, which is itself free. If he is really good, he can use the terminal to write his own code.

But what about the timed automation? Those tweets have to be spaced out.

He could stay a few hours in the local library. They almost always have wi-fi. Or he could rent a server at a colocation office, paid for by BitCoin.

What do you bet this student could produce similar results for say  a tenth of the price, which is just what he needs to pay his car insurance, and next semesters tuition?

The idiocy of the report is that what the Guardian exposed is news. It is last decades news. This has been going on since the internet started. And I seriously wonder if what Team Jorge did was illegal. Spreading election disinformation has been going on since the printing press was invented.

But supposedly, this team had connections to Western power brokers, such as Roger Noriega, who worked for George W. Bush. Doesnt that mean anything?

A biography of Hanan [Team Jorges group leader] had appeared on Vision Americas, Noriegas Washington DC consulting firm, which also listed him as an associate. -- The Guardian

This means nothing! Noriega denied any knowledge of hacking. This wouldnt be the first time that Washington was taken in by flim-flam men. Name-dropping in D.C. is as common as in Hollywood.

I suspect Team Jorge thought they had a sucker they could overcharge for minimal services, and were pretending to be experts. And the news fell for it. Had the services of Team Jorge been engaged, they would have farmed out the work to some teenagers  and that would have been the real story.

Ive been getting spam from Nigeria for decades alerting me to the millions of dollars left to me in the bank. Now, if the Guardian would track down those Nigerians who are holding my money, that would be impressive.

Mike Konrad is a full-stack web developer.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License
The horrific shooting at Michigan State University last Monday, which left three students dead and five seriously wounded, was met with understandable grief and anger across the political divide. The suspected shooter, Anthony McRae, killed himself before police could arrest him, and his uncle described him as struggl[ing] with paranoid schizophrenia. Predictably, the Left channeled its grief into one of those familiar mass rallies on the MSU campus, a setting for soppy Democrat speeches blaming the murders on the nations failure to pass more gun control. An allegedly furious Michigan House Majority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D), tweeted a statement, on official letterhead, with the bold opening sentence, "F--- your thoughts and prayers," demanding instead the action and change of passing common sense gun reform immediately.

There was also grief and empathy for the victims and their families among conservatives, and understandable resentment of Democrats once more blaming legal gun ownership for the latest notorious gun crime. Once details emerged that McRae had a prior firearm felony dismissed and pleaded to a misdemeanor, conservatives turned their outrage on the woke prosecutor; if she hadnt refused to apply the common sense law on the books, McRae could have imprisoned and disqualified him from possessing a firearm. A typical comment is, If McRae had been charged as any other person caught illegally carrying a concealed firearm without a permit, the shooting at MSU might not have happened.

Its true that when McRae was arrested in 2019 for carrying a handgun without a concealed pistol license (CPL), the Ingham County prosecutor was a Soros-linked progressive who imposed irrational woke policies clearly meant to favor criminals. Significantly, Carol Siemon made it her offices official policy in August 2021 to drop mandatory prison sentences for felony firearms charges, because, In Michigan, about 80 percent of people who are incarcerated on a felony firearm charge are Black, even though our statewide population for that race is only 14 percent. Siemons equity agenda was such a disaster she stepped down as prosecutor under a torrent of criticism from judges and law enforcement officials over her soft-on-crime policies.

But the prevailing idea among conservatives, that except for Siemons office dismissing McRaes felony charge he would have been barred from owning a firearm at the time of the shooting, or safely behind bars last Monday, needs a second look: not because the man who stole three students lives of deserves a posthumous defense, but because the argument that McRae should have been subjected to a zero-tolerance standard for his 2019 concealed-weapon offense goes too far. It also fails to make some important distinctions.

To start with, theres a difference between a firearm felony charge and a firearm violation that is a felony, because a firearm felony means possessing a firearm while committing or attempting to commit another felony, like carjacking or burglary. In an effort to discourage career criminals from carrying guns, Michigan passed a mandatory sentencing law to make sure that, even if a convicted criminal faced only a light or suspended sentence for his underlying felony, a judge had no choice but to give a prison sentence if a gun was involved. Siemons office issued 205 felony firearms charges in 2020, 67% of which were against black people, so she decided to reduce that number by simply refusing to issue the additional gun charge against black offenders, a policy the county sheriff described as garbage.

Garbage, indeed. But it wouldnt have applied to McRae, anyway, because the reason for his arrest, carrying a concealed weapon, was a standalone felony. The penalties for that arent mandatory, ranging anywhere from a fine to up to five years in prison, but even probation within the courts discretion. At McRaes trial in October 2019, prosecutors added an additional misdemeanor count of possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, probably as an incentive for a plea deal. McRae pleaded to the misdemeanor, the felony charge was dropped, and McRae was given two years probation.

All of which makes it unlikely McRae would have gone to jail, regardless of who the prosecutor was. John Dewane, who replaced Siemon as prosecutor, explained that sentencing guidelines for both charges were similar, and both would have resulted in a recommendation against incarceration. A former prosecutor, Detroit-area criminal attorney Todd Flood, stressed that each case must be considered on its facts, and viewed McRaes misdemeanor plea as not an uncommon deal. If a zero tolerance approach demanding the maximum penalty were applied in every case, plea deals would end, massively overcrowd prisons, and causing the justice system to grind to a halt.

Nor can we apply the facts of last weeks carnage to condemn McRaes treatment four years ago. In 2019 he hadnt murdered anyone, had a clean record, and nothing on the body cam indicates he was mentally unfit to own a gun. If it helps, we can imagine any law-abiding John Smith who carried his legally owned and registered handgun for protection in a bad neighborhood, but without the license required by Michigan statute. That makes it a crime in Michigan, but malum prohibitum cant turn self-defense into malum in se, and in the 25 other states that have no permit requirement, it would be no crime at all. Even law-and-order prosecutors distinguish between obvious criminals and people with no criminal intent. In separate cases last year in Michigan, two prominent college athletes were arrested for essentially the same concealed-weapon offense, and both had their felony charges dismissed, were able to plead to a misdemeanor, and received probation.

The point here isnt to rehabilitate a woke prosecutor or vindicate a dead, demented killer. Criminals who use guns to commit crimes should absolutely get mandatory jail, and were well rid of prosecutors like Siemon who keep criminals at liberty solely because of their race. But conservatives outraged that progressive policies left McRae at liberty and able to buy a firearm are attacking a straw man. Theyre arguing that otherwise lawful gun owners, even for minor or technical gun-possession violations, should be subject to a zero-tolerance, maximum-penalty standard, including automatic prison time and permanent loss of gun rights. Not only is this not justice, but it gives too much power to a criminal justice system badly compromised right now by partisan actors who hold the rule of law in contempt. Or havent we witnessed enough misconduct under color of law from rogues like Mike Nifong, Eric Holder, Kim Gardner, Emmett Sullivan, Merrick Garland, D.C. juries, and the squads of FBI conducting terror raids on pro-lifers, outspoken parents, and Capitol protesters? Progressive law enforcement needs fewer arrows in its quiver, not more.

[T]odays liberalism cannot deal with the reality of evil, wrote William McGurn in the Wall Street Journal, so they inveigh against the instruments the evil use rather than the evil that motivates them. The ultimate blame for last weeks heinous murders lies with Anthony McRaes madness -- and whatever malevolent power lies behind that. The Left blames McRaes gun for the MSU tragedy, but theyre blaming yours, too, and your freedom to possess it. They dont need our help in their campaign to take that freedom away.

T.R. Clancy looks at the world from Dearborn, Michigan. You can email him at trclancy@yahoo.com.

Image: Public Domain Pictures
President Joe Biden and others of his ilk pimp the word "equity" to earn political profits for themselves. They have prostituted a good word by giving it a new and illegitimate meaning.

President Biden has just imposed on our federal government an executive order on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity that mandates using racism to determine government actions and selection of its public servants. This executive order violates the norm of equity set forth by Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Common Law.

The basis for equity is showing personal responsibly to deserve individualized consideration, rewarding our character and good faith. Equity is not an entitlement, but something to be earned and well deserved.

The word that should be used by President Biden and those who advocate DIE discrimination is compassion  compassion for those who have drawn the short straw in humanity's age-old war of all against all, where the "strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."

Aristotle asked long ago, how is equity different from justice but nonetheless still linked to justice?

Equity, he says, is better than being just but is not superior to justice. He means that, while being just is following the law, sometimes enforcing the law to the letter is not justice. In those cases, the law must be corrected by mercy in special cases, where individuals deserve unique consideration of their personal situation.

For Aristotle, a rule of law is universal when there are some circumstances that do not completely fall within the rule. Imposing a general law in unusual cases can lead to injustice. For example, the law says you must fulfill your contract obligations. But what if, in your case, you were deceived when you agreed to the contract? To force you to keep your promise under those circumstances is not justice, but oppression of your personhood.

Aristotle argues that when a case arises that is not covered by a law, then it is right  because the law-giver has fallen short in predicting the facts of that case and has over-generalized in writing the law  to correct the oversight by deciding what the law-giver would have decided had he known the facts of the case.

Thus, not every just outcome can be determined in advance by law; for some circumstances, it is impossible to lay down a law in advance that will be just in those unusual and unpredictable circumstances (Nicomachean Ethics, Ch. V, 10).

Thomas Aquinas followed Aristotle's understanding of equity:

[W]hen we were treating of laws, since human actions, with which laws are concerned, are composed of contingent singulars and are innumerable in their diversity, it was not possible to lay down rules of law that would apply to every single case. Legislators in framing laws attend to what commonly happens: although if the law be applied to certain cases it will frustrate the equality of justice and be injurious to the common good, which the law has in view. Thus the law requires deposits to be restored, because in the majority of cases this is just. Yet it happens sometimes to be injurious  for instance, if a madman were to put his sword in deposit, and demand its delivery while in a state of madness, or if a man were to seek the return of his deposit in order to fight against his country. In these and like cases it is bad to follow the law, and it is good to set aside the letter of the law and to follow the dictates of justice and the common good. It would be passing judgment on a law to say that it was not well made; but to say that the letter of the law is not to be observed in some particular case is passing judgment not on the law, but on some particular contingency.

It is the function of equity "to moderate something, namely, the observance of the letter of the law" (Summa Theologica, II-II, Q. 120).

Following Aquinas, in England, special courts, called Courts of Equity, were established to "correct" the king's law on a case-by-case basis with judicial decisions based on equity. If a person felt that the law was being misapplied in his case, he could ask that the case be taken away from the law court and decided by a judge in a Court of Equity.

Now, in the United States, courts of equity have mostly been merged with law courts so that here, any judge is empowered to decide a case based on the law or the law as modified by considerations of equity.

But to have equity applied to your case is not a right; it was and still is a privilege, which must be earned with good behavior. The requirement in equity is that you must come to equity with clean hands, which means that to demand equity, you must first do equity.

This means that any person asking for special treatment must do something special to be worthy of being so well treated, something that merits special consideration, something based on the goodness and honesty of his work or intentions.

He who asks for equity must have done everything that in good conscience he could have or should have done to merit special consideration. If one asks for fair outcomes but has not taken advantage of opportunities to earn those outcomes  become educated, work hard, develop the right skills  then one has no claim in equity to have the government gift him what he asks for.

Grifters and free-riders, those who are negligent or manipulative, don't qualify for equity. Nor will asking for equity as a personal favor or as charity qualify you for special treatment in equity.

Equity was not invented to provide the same life outcomes in status, education, income, and wealth accumulation for different people. Equity can only modify a law to help deserving individuals in special cases.

But contrary to this, Section 10 (A) of President Biden's order says:

The term "equity" means the consistent and systematic treatment of all individuals in a fair, just, and impartial manner, including individuals who belong to communities that often have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander persons and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; women and girls; LGBTQI+ persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; persons who live in United States Territories; persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality; and individuals who belong to multiple such communities.

This is not equity; this is government dictating favorable allocation of employment and access to government benefits for some groups of people, regardless of how deserving the individuals belonging to those groups are. This is tyranny of the few over the many.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
One of the things leftists have done very successfully over the decades is to use the federal judiciary to impose leftist policies that Americans dont want (which is why legislatures don't pass them) or that violate the Constitution. Nothing more clearly reflects this fact than Roe v. Wade, which found an imaginary right to abortion under the Constitution. During his four years in the White House, Trump was able to slow this abuse of our judicial system but, as with everything else Trump did, Joe Biden has entirely undone it. Hes appointing record numbers of judges to the federal system, and his latest pick for the Second Circuit shows just how bad this is.

Article III of the Constitution creates the judiciary and its barebones stuff. Section 1 provides, The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. Section 2 lists the types of cases the Founders envisioned coming before the federal system:

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;to Controversies between two or more States;between a State and Citizens of another State,between Citizens of different States,between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

Nowhere does it give the federal courts the overarching power over constitutional interpretation. Instead, that started with Chief Justice John Marshall, who, in Marbury v. Madison (1803), made up out of whole cloth the newly discovered right to determine what is and is not constitutional. Since then, its been endless mission creep, with the federal judiciary arrogating to itself more and more power and, essentially, taking on the role of an unelected legislature that always leans left.

Image: Maria Araujo Kahn. Public domain.

The Founders should have known better. In Antifederalist Paper 17, the author (now identified as Robert Yates) warned against an unfettered federal judiciary. He was prescient. Sadly, when it comes to an uncontrolled judiciary, thats the way leftists like it.

Since entering the White House only two years ago, Biden has confirmed 105 judicial nominees, leaving in the dust the records of the last three presidents at this point in their administrations. These confirmations include Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has an affinity for the travails of pedophiles but has no idea what constitutes a woman.

When it comes to these elusive women creatures, though, the Biden administration and the media want them on the bench, especially if theyre not white:

More than three-quarters of Biden's confirmed nominees are women and more than two-thirds of them are non-white, according to Senate Democrats, who also tout how Biden's choices for the judiciary stretch beyond prosecutors to include public defenders, civil rights attorneys and more.

Education, intelligence, and judicial temperament are irrelevant.

In January, Sen. John Kennedy (R. LA) asked questions revealing that Spokane County Superior Court Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, whom Biden wanted for the Eastern District of Washington, had no idea what is in the Constitution. With Maria Araujo Kahn, whom Biden has nominated for the Second Circuit (encompassing New York), Biden has taken it one step further: Kahn doesnt care about the Constitution, which she clearly views as defective and in need of a judges unilateral amendment.

The bee in Kahns bonnet is speech. She really hates microaggressions (that is, nonexistent insults that offend hypersensitive people trained to view themselves as victims) and believes that the narrow limitations on fighting words should be expanded dramatically to words that offend only a hypersensitive auditor. Shes also obsessed with racial identity (a given). A less judicial temperament and less reverence for the Constitution its impossible to imagine. Ive included below a chilling Twitter thread exposing just how bad Kahn is.

Our federal judiciary has way too much power. Since at least Franklin Roosevelts presidency, unelected leftists have been making decisions that have ripped America apart by completely bypassing our representative government. Its to be hoped that Kahns racial radicalism and open hostility to the Constitution is a bridge too far even for the leftist-controlled Senate, but Im not optimistic. The greatest likelihood is that shell perjure herself by taking an oath swearing to uphold the Constitution she disdains.

Now an associate justice on the Connecticut State Supreme Court, Maria Araujo Kahn suggested in a 2020 opinion that courts should criminalize speech that offends "oppressed groups."  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

To prepare for one of those trainings, participants were instructed to watch an animated video, "How Microaggressions Are Like Mosquito Bites," that depicts a man-sized mosquito telling a dark-hued college student to "try a less challenging major" and then sucking him dry. pic.twitter.com/JWo5ZEseTP  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

The video then cuts to a mosquito holding a gun next to a dead body. "I felt threatened," the insect tells officers at the scene of the crime. "It looked like he was up to trouble, ok?" pic.twitter.com/ZjDxLhBQny  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

The revelations could prove a last minute stumbling block for Kahn, who in September sailed through the Senate judiciary committee with little pushback. A final vote on her nomination could come as soon as next week.  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

In a 2020 opinion, Kahn argued for broadening the "fighting words" exception to the First Amendmentwhich bans speech likely to spark violenceon the grounds that some groups are unlikely or unable to physically retaliate against insults.https://t.co/2CcJy5Y098  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

Though Kahn is vague on how exactly she would reform First Amendment law, the opinion laments that bigots can "verbally assault certain oppressed groups"especially women and the disabled"without fear of criminal prosecution."  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

In 2019, it ruled on 1A grounds that Donald Trump could not block critics from his personal Twitter account. If Kahn joins the Second Circuit, she could hear challenges to NYs controversial social media law, which requires platforms to report "hateful conduct" to the state.  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

Last year, for example, the Washington State Supreme Court flipped the burden of proof for claims of racial bias in civil trials, forcing attorneys accused of stereotyping to show that their language did not activate any jurors "implicit bias." https://t.co/KSJrNKlM93  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023

Kahn isnt the only radical Biden nom. Rebecca Slaughter, whom Biden this month renominated to the FTC, suggested the United States take a page from South Africa and integrate "racial equity" into antitrust law, going after businesses with "racially skewed" ownership.  Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) February 24, 2023
On Tuesday, February 21, Vivek Ramaswamy threw his hat into the ring early in the race for the 2024 nomination, becoming the third Republican to enter the presidential primary, after Donald trump and a still-in-her-prime Nikki Haley.

A president in his prime and on his game is a good thing for him and the country.

Here's some important trivia: when Theodore Roosevelt (26th president of the United States) took the oath of office in 1901, he became the youngest person (age 42) ever sworn in as president. When Joseph Biden, Jr. (46th president) took the oath in 2021, he became the oldest (age 78).

Thirty-seven-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy could become the youngest president ever.

Roosevelt spoke softly and carried a big stick. He is known for charging up Kettle Hill in Cuba and for hunting big game  you have to go to Africa to shoot elephants.

Biden is known for walking stiffly. His big shtick is touching women inappropriately. Working diligently to strengthen the hand of credit card firms against consumers for much of his career in the Senate, it's little wonder that credit card giant MBNA was his largest contributor. Biden was a pauper for much of his career in politics, unlike Roosevelt, whose dad died when he was 20, leaving him $65,000 (equivalent to $1,825,155 in 2021). "Here's How Much Joe Biden Is Worth (2021): "an estimated 8 million." How did he acquire $8 million? Speaking engagements? He's no Obama, no Clinton.

The truism "you can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook," mostly attributed to President Harry S. Truman, makes me wonder.

Biden was not a hunter per se, but he named his second son Hunter. Could it be that he sent him out into the world  ultimately, China, Russia, Ukraine, etc.  to bag big money, by selling influence over Joseph for the good of his family, if not his country?

Ramaswamy is a multimillionaire. How did Vivek Ramaswamy make his money? The answer is outside politics and fair and square, apparently. This bodes well for an honorable career in politics. More power to him.

In an editorial, Ramaswamy called for making the border secure, eliminating affirmative action "across the American economy," and establishing economic independence from China, "the greatest external threat to America."

To put America first, we need to rediscover what America is. That's why I am running for president. I am launching not only a political campaign but a cultural movement to create a new American Dream  one that is not only about money but about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence[.] ... [I]t is about reviving a national identity.

He hopes to end ESG and diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) and put merit back in America.

Is a revival on a gigantic scale (from Kentucky to the White House) too much to hope for? Probably. The only men fit to captain the ship of state  benevolent, powerful men "who have access to the Form of the Good," or God  don't exist in Washington. There are only men spouting the state-sponsored orthodoxy of wokeism, via protected categories in state and federal "non-discrimination" laws, which include gender self-identification.

Looking for arguments for and against DIE, I found a bad one "for" online. Here it is:

Some have said that instituting the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, out of compulsion, results in mediocrity, not meritocracy. However, in the absence of diversity and inclusion, it is exceedingly difficult in most human endeavors to proclaim that someone or something merits designation as 'the best.' In other words, without diversity and inclusion, meritocracy itself is a meritless myth, and any merit bestowed cannot be deemed equitable.

I take issue with "any merit bestowed cannot be deemed equitable." A smile can be bestowed, but the idea that merit can be bestowed is ridiculous. Merit, by definition the quality of being particularly good or worthy, is earned. Being particularly good at something  composing and playing music, for instance  makes a person worthy of receiving honor. For his particularly good "services to music," Paul McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. This is a great honor indeed. How did he become so good, so deserving? Practice, practice, practice. For years. There's no other way to make beautiful music.

Imagine President Ramaswamy asking an adviser to help him fill his Cabinet with the best candidates possible. He starts with secretary of transportation. I see the adviser giving the president a list of light-skinned gay men. Then I see an annoyed president asking for a longer list. So the adviser comes back with a list of light-skinned gay men who can fill potholes. And then I see the president saying "you're fired" and making it clear to a prospective adviser that he is looking for a list of the best candidates, without regard to sex, skin color, race, or sexual orientation because it's an important job, and we don't discriminate or make a distinction on the basis of one group, rather than according to merit only in A-MERIT-CA.

Trump made leftists explode with anger; they will collapse inward and self-destruct over a whiz of an intellectual.

It's going to take a miracle or another Reagan. Stranger things have happened. "Tear down this wall," and by God, the Soviet Union went out where it belonged  into the ash heap of history. To my utter amazement.

Let's send Biden and wokeism into the ash heap of history. May the best man win.

Image: Vivek Ramaswamy. Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Across America, parents and educators express concern about how schools are teaching the history of slavery in America, whether it's via The 1619 Project or Critical Race Theory. The obsessive focus on the fact that it was Blacks in America who were slaves (after failed experiments enslaving the Irish and Native Americans) has obscured the totality of the slave experience in America, which saw people of all races participate in a practice as old as humanity itself.

Though the slaves were Black, from Africa to America, the fact that the slave owners, traders, and escaped slave bounty hunters were Blacks, Arabs, Native Americans, and Whites puts the lie to the left's insistence that only Whites are culpable. Teaching such inaccurate facts and falsehoods, whether intentional or not, encourages White children to be ashamed of their race and Blacks to perceive themselves as permanently victimized. Teaching history selectively omits substantial historical facts, which balance and temper politically driven historical narratives.

Black slaves originated in Black Africa, when Blacks from other tribes captured, enslaved, and sold them to Muslim slave traders. It was profitable commerce for many African tribal leaders. Not only were millions sold to be sent to the Americas or Europe, but millions more were also sold to be sent to the Middle East. In fact, the latter continued into the 20th century.

In America's South, there were literally thousands of Black slave owners  over 3,000 in New Orleans alone and many in the Carolinas. Some became quite wealthy, such as an alleged Black slave owner in Louisiana reported to be the wealthiest person with the most slaves.



Image: Muslim slave traders in 19th-century Africa. Public domain.

According to some Black historians and scholars, those Blacks who owned slaves treated them every bit as badly as White slave owners treated their slaves. Besides slave owners, Blacks were also slave traders and bounty hunters of escaped slaves.

Five Native American tribes also owned Black slaves: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. Three tribes refused to emancipate their slaves following the Civil War and later had to be forced to when signing a treaty with the United States. Today, many Black descendants of Cherokee slaves who became known as Freedmen have fought for equal status in the Cherokee nation because they can benefit from that connection.

None of the above facts denies or dismisses that America was a White-majority nation that, in some regions, legalized slavery. What must be considered, however, is that races are not monolithic. In other words, not everyone in any given race is good or bad, oppressed or oppressor. To paint any entire race and every individual in that race as evil or oppressor is a grave error, both historically and racially.

The above facts simply and truthfully balance America's history with ancient and world histories wherein evil is present in all nations and all races historically. Look at Africa, for instance. Slavery and the slave trade remained legal well into the mid-twentieth century (and are still practiced covertly). Slavery remains legal in much of the Islamic Middle East. Look at Asia and some of the historic horrors against various ethnic groups that are well recorded. America's history is a mixed bag of good and evil, as is the history of most nations and most people groups.

Importantly, children should never be taught to be ashamed of their color. How can we forget Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s eloquent words relating to "content of character" mattering most? As a nation that proclaims equality and has steadily worked toward ensuring it, we should not inculcate or indoctrinate children with false histories that abet and foment racial divisions, causing animosity or ill will. We can assume that Black or Native American children would be shamed to learn that people sharing their race oppressed others. Why do we impose that shame only on White children?

As mature and fair American adults, are we not responsible to teach children that good and evil come in different colors as they did in history? Teaching accurate and balanced history will go a long way in ensuring children grow up to be united Americans, which is a worthy goal for us all.
Trump Derangement Syndrome affects people in different ways. Sometimes it drives a news network so far into the anti-Trump corner that it loses its viewers  say, CNN. Often it is reflected in the lunatic things that people say, such as Joy Behar and her sidekick Asuncion.

This is how Joy described the derailment in Ohio:

Joy Behar shocked audience members of "The View" on Thursday when she implied that Donald Trumpvoting residents of East Palestine, Ohio, have nobody to blame but themselves for the toxic train derailment that's rocked the small town. Gasps could be heard from the crowd after the comment by Behar, who also insinuated that the devastating Feb. 3 derailment was a result of the former president's actions in the White House. "I don't know why they would ever vote for him, for somebody who, by the way, he placed someone with deep ties to the chemical industry in charge of the EPA's chemical safety office," said Behar, 80.

What an irresponsible person.

Derailments are a part of life, just like airplanes crashing. They've happened before and will happen again. To connect this derailment with a Trump policy or campaign contribution is beyond irresponsible. Does everything have to be about Trump? I guess yes, if you are infected with Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Another woman, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy, responded to the politics and told everyone to calm down. She added this:

"There's a lot of misinformation on what would have prevented this," she said. "Everyone is guessing. I saw it all over media, which was driving me nuts. Those solutions, all of the ones I heard of, are not the solutions." She hinted at an article that circulated soon after the derailment blaming it on a rule that would have mandated faster brakes on some trains, which was withdrawn in 2017. She said those brakes would not have prevented this derailment or even have significantly reduced its severity.

Last, but not least, "Scranton Joe" was in Kiev handing out dollars. I'm not against supporting Ukraine against Putin. However, Air Force One could have made a quick stop in Ohio and put the president in touch with people hurting from the derailment. The first lady could have visited the area before going on her Africa mission.

So we are left with no presidential visit, more horrible comments from Joy Behar, and residents in Ohio wondering why.

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

Image: Steve Shook.
The U.K.'s "Prevent" program, ostensibly in place to protect Great Britain from terrorism, has instead been tasked with hunting down "far-right extremists" (much like the U.S.'s FBI, DOJ, and military). What's more, Prevent recently published a helpful guide to spotting those dangerous right-wingers. Apparently, crazy conservatives can be easily identified by their choice of literature. You see, those people read books like Beowulf and 1984, and also ones by Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton. Who knew that works such as these could be "key texts" for "white nationalists/supremacists"?

The U.K.'s Daily Mail recently reported that the television comedies Yes Minister and The Thick of It were also among the "potential signs of far-Right extremism" that Prevent flagged, as was the epic 1955 war film The Dam Busters  and even "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare." (That's coming down hard on The Bard.)

But that's not all: a report by Prevent's Research Information and Communications Unit (RICU) noted that far-right extremists went so far as to promote reading lists on online bulletin boards. My God! And some of these diabolical lists purportedly include books such as The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Paradise Lost by John Milton, the aforementioned 1984 by George Orwell, and  brace yourselves  the poems of G.K. Chesterton. Moreover, Prevent's RICU also placed films including The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Great Escape, and Zulu on its "You Just Might Be a Radical Right-Wing Terror Threat if You Watch These Flicks" list.

For my money, Prevent didn't go far enough. I suggest the following books, television shows, and movies be added to the list of things that likely finger one as an ultra-far-right-wing whack job fascist/terrorist: The Wealth of Nations, Animal Farm, The Federalist Papers, the Bible, The Meat Lover's Slow Cooker Cookbook, Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Gunsmoke, The Lives of Others, Maverick, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

The books Prevent listed would constitute a list for someone who wants a civilized, liberal, cultured education  and society  not that of a domestic terrorist. Maybe that is its intent.

The Prevent program is effectively saying that the entire Western canon is problematic or offensive.

And that is offensive...and insane.

Image: Movidagrafica Barcelona via Pexels, Pexels License.
Woodrow Wilson, a progressive Democrat, segregated the United States government. The Civil Rights Act ended this pernicious, racist nonsense, but Joe Biden is bringing it backonly this time, the colors are reversed, and white people are on the receiving end of unconstitutional and illegal discrimination. Indeed, across America, wherever Democrats and other leftists have control, illegal discrimination is in vogue. However, Prof. William A. Jacobsons newly created Equal Protection Project (EPP) may be the one thing that stands in the way of this reinvigorated stain on Americas promise.

Joe Biden, who governs via increasingly dictatorial executive orders that shape Americas economy, national security, and workplaces, just dropped a new executive order, this one mandating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as the new principles for every government agency. Christopher Rufo summarizes whats in the document:

The order, titled Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, relies on three key strategies: creating internal cadres and power centers through the deployment of Agency Equity Teams; funding third-party political activism through grants to community[-based] organizations; and weaponizing civil rights law by requiring federal agencies to use artificial intelligence in a manner that advances equity.

In other words, the federal government will now be forced into functioning like a college campus or U.S. military base (under the woke Pentagons aegis), complete with endless programs and oversight intended to limit the power that evil whites (especially men) have over perpetually victimized minorities. Our already bloated, biased, dysfunctional federal government is about to get a whole lot worse. That kind of thing spells the end of nations.

Image: Home page of the Equal Protection Project (cropped).

However, all is not lost. (As long as we breathe and fight, all is never lost, of course.) William Jacobson, the founder of and a contributor to Legal Insurrection, as well as being a lawyer and law professor, has created an organization called the Equal Protection Project. Its mission is simple:

The Equal Protection Project is devoted to the fair treatment of all persons without regard to race or ethnicity.

Our guiding principle is that there is no good form of racism. The remedy for racism never is more racism.

We will INVESTIGATE wrongdoing, EDUCATE the public, and LITIGATE when necessary.

Those are laudable principles and goals. All liberty-loving Americans know that our country can thrive (indeed, survive) only if we stop defining people by immutable racial characteristics.

During an appearance on Tucker Carlsons show, Prof. Jacobson expanded on both the principles and the way the EPP will function:

Given the speed with which Democrats are reverting to their founding principles (that is, that all people are not created equal and its up to the Democrat party to allocate political spoils and liberty to people based upon race), it is incumbent upon us to respond with equal speed and greater ferocity. That doesnt mean violence, of course. It means using all legal means to oppose the way American leftists are taking a deep dive into the toxic racism that led this country to a shooting Civil War in 1861.

In addition to calling for lawyers to sign up to help, the EPP also needs money (of course). I already donated. The donation page is here. I sincerely hope this organization lives up to its promise.
In 1973, Historian Richard B. Morris wrote the seminal work Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries. The book details a series of biographical sketches of the seven most influential leaders of the American Revolution along with a detailed chronology of the events that led to their commitment to the American cause. Mr. Morris refers to the men as passing the "triple tests" of leadership, longevity, and statesmanship.

All these men played indispensable roles in the formation of the United States of America. Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin were members of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. The Federalist Papers, which advocated the ratification of the Constitution, were written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. And last but not least, George Washington was commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, and our first president.

Franklin, Jay, and Adams also negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which recognized American independence, bringing an end to the American Revolutionary War. Of the seven men, four went on to serve as president of the United States. Many of their written works are often quoted and repeated in legal decisions today. Their respective legacies have stood the test of time long after their deaths and still shape who we are as Americans.

In addition to their individual successes, these men shared a common bond of courage, along with their fellow representatives from the thirteen colonies, signing the Declaration of Independence while knowing and recognizing that this would be seen as an act of treason punishable by imprisonment and death had the Revolutionary War been lost. Anything worth fighting for takes the fortitude and commitment to follow through to the end. These men risked it all for the nascent idea of a free civil society, where citizens were at liberty to create a new sense of community and assume the responsibility to labor together and to solve their problems despite their diverse backgrounds.

In creating our constitutional republic, the Founding Fathers were not perfect, nor did they pretend to be. They were neither gods nor angels, but rather complex, prejudiced, yet visionary men who dared to create this great experiment that we know today as the United States at the risk of losing their lives and all possessions. They also knew that they were in a race against time because the window of opportunity to launch such an endeavor rarely comes in history and quickly closes.

They were ordinary men who carried out extraordinary acts while serving the people and not the government they represented. None thought he was better than the common man, yet they set out to do the will of the people, providing the foundation for each of us as individuals to build upon. In this partisan and highly politicized environment, let's hope we can find those who possess the qualities of leadership, longevity, and statesmanship to move our broken country forward within the Founders' ethos of the "triple test."

Image: DonkeyHotey.
Look out, everyone  North Carolina could be the next constitutional carry state.

The race is on to see who will be the next state to implement constitutional carry.

Raleigh, N.C. rep. Keith Kidwell filed H.B. 189, the N.C. Constitutional Carry Act, on Wednesday, opening up the possibility that the Tar Heel State will be the next in line to implement this life-saving legislation. He was joined by Reps. Jay Adams, Ben Moss, and Mark Pless in sponsoring the legislation. As other permitless carry bills have done in the past, H.B. 189 keeps our current permit system intact for use in bypassing the NICS on gun purchases and for reciprocity with other states.

GRNC Guns Politics and Freedom February 24, 2023 Special  Constitutional Carry Act Introduced

Commonsense legislation so that people can defend themselves without the need for a government permission slip is sweeping the country  with an accompanying amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth from the anti-freedom authoritarians.

Each time this happens, leftists falsely forecast "wild west" shootouts in the street that never come to fruition. This is because the ghouls who exploit crime statistics never distinguish between the innocent and the guilty and absurdly lump all violence together as the "work" of inanimate objects. The last we checked, guns are incapable of being violent, no matter what you do. Their only enemies are rust, dust, and political opportunists who want to see them melted down.

We know there is a vast difference between an innocent person carrying a gun to defend himself or his family and a criminal out to commit havoc on society. We also know that the same people who use evidence of almost every crime as a "mass shooting" are trying to lie with language and only want to take guns from the innocent.

They don't seem to care about the true killers in our society: the criminals they release in a revolving door of justice.

When it comes to crime  whether it's theft or a mass shooting  we the people are the first responders and we can save lives if we have the ability to stop the threat. Silly signs don't mean anything to a miscreant bent on mass murder, and the police can't be everywhere. So it's up to us, and constitutional carry is the best option. Besides, it scares the dickens out of the gun-grabbers.

D Parker is an engineer, inventor, wordsmith, and student of history, the director of communications for a civil rights organization, and a long-time contributor to conservative websites. Find him on Substack.

Image via Pxhere.
If youre like me, you thought our federal politicians couldnt be more of a joke then in strutted Rep.-elect Jennifer McClellan, with a display of solidarity from academics and media lapdogs to prove me wrong.

From a Politico article titled Congress has a diversity problem and published yesterday:

In 2005, Rep.-elect Jennifer McClellan first began working in public service, representing Richmond in the Virginia House of Delegates. It was a space where McClellan, a Black woman who was 32 at the time, saw several stark differences between herself and the other delegates: It was mostly white Republican men over 50, McClellan told Women Rule.  McClellan is no stranger to letting her identity shape her politics: shes done it before as a state senator.

No you dont say.

Per Sophie Gardner, the writer of the article, some of the lack of diversity McClellan noticed in state government in 2005 might also plague the 118th Congress. But to Gardner and McClellan, lack of diversity apparently just means there arent enough non-White Democrats. After all, McClellan cant actually care about Black and Brown representation as she fights for abortion, which targets and destroys minority families at a disproportionate rate. Furthermore, if electeds who are white men over 50 are such an affront to diversity, how can she smile and pose with countless White male politicians over 50? See below:

Big congrats to @JennMcClellanVA! I cant wait to serve Virginians with you in Congress. You are going to be a fantastic representative for VA04. pic.twitter.com/UjPpBcqtr8  Tim Kaine (@timkaine) February 22, 2023

A historic victory!! Huge congratulations tonight to CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT @JennMcClellanVA, her family, her team, and her constituents! A great moment for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Can't wait to serve with you in the House!

[Kyle Richardson] pic.twitter.com/V4Jinmxlmd  Don Beyer (@DonBeyerVA) February 22, 2023

Truly one for the history books! @JennMcClellanVA will make a tremendous Congresswoman and undoubtedly carry on Donald McEachins incredible legacy. Great night for the entire Commonwealth  pic.twitter.com/vH4OOxqCGd  Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) February 22, 2023

Congratulations to @JennMcClellanVA on her overwhelming victory! I cant wait to start working together for all Virginians. pic.twitter.com/hXkSEC1qHr  Gerry Connolly (@ElectConnolly) February 22, 2023

Did McClellan vote for Joe Biden? I bet she did, and I doubt she complained  Biden is the stereotypical WASP and is the oldest man (and it shows) to ever occupy the Oval Office.

Also from the article:

What continues to surprise me is how slow the progress has been, said Drew DeSilver, a senior writer at Pew Research Center who researches women in Congress.

Slow? Maybe for the Democrats! Let me brief DeSilver on some history. In 1865, the Confederacy died when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union officers in Appomattox. Just five short years later, Mississippi voters elected the first Black man to the federal Congress; Hiram Rhodes Revels was a Republican.

To close, Gardner notes that McClellan plans to keep bringing her unique perspective  including her parents experiences living through Jim Crow. With Democrats, the jokes just write themselves.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 24 - ANSA has signed a new partnership deal with Mauritania agency AMI as it expands its international collaboration network after similar recent deals with Dutch agency ANP, India's PTI, Argentina's TELAM, Uruguay's Uypress, Filipino press agency PNA, Tanjug of Serbia, Moldovan agency Moldpres and Vietnamese agency VTA.

Like the others, the accord with the Nouakchott-based agency envisages an exchange of content and forging an enriched offering of international news for clients as well as developing joint commercial offers to boost the communication of institutions and businesses in their respective countries.

Italian Ambassador to Marocco and Mauritania, attending the signing via videolink, stressed how the agreement is a great step forward between the two countries.

"This is a crucial moment in the history of relations between Mauritania and Italy," he said.

"Ever since I was installed I have worked to develop ties between our two countries; we consider Mauritania an important partner in the region, also for the fundamental role it plays in the stability of the area, and strong cooperation is necessary between the two press agencies ANSA and AMI, also within the framework of collaboration between Rome and Nouakchott".

Mauritanian Ambassador to Italy Zeineb Ely Salem, present at the signing at ANSA HQ in Rome, said "information is vital and the accord signed today boosts relations between Mauritania and Italy. As an embassy we are ready to support this cooperation that we deem decidedly important." AMI Director General Mohamed Fall Oumeir Beye stressed that the accord was the first agreement of its kind between the the Agence Mauritanienne d'Information and ANSA, saying "this will enable both agencies to benefit from mutual experience in their respective working fields; thanks to this accord, both parties will be able to benefit from the information services provided by each partner in their respective countries and in the other geographic zones covered by their journalists".

He also said the deal would enhance the communication of businesses and institutions in both countries, and stressed its importance for bilateral cooperation and cooperation "between our country and the ambits in which Italy plays a leading role, such as the European Union, the 5+5 Dialogue, and the Sahel Alliance".

ANSA Managing Director Stefano De Alessandri said "I'm happy to sign this accord through which we will start the exchange of news on Italy and Mauritania which will help improve the mutual knowledge of our two countries," and added "I consider this accord an important starting point for substantive collaboration which I hope will soon produce communication projects in support of businesses and institutions in the two countries". (ANSA).


An artist and gallery owner who survived the Bucha massacre has recalled returning to her home only to find that everything had been stolen.

Alina Kosenko is selling paintings depicting the atrocities seen from her basement during the occupation by Russian soldiers.

Bucha is on the outskirts of Kyiv and is an area where war crimes were allegedly carried out by the Kremlins occupying forces.

Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered across the city after Russian troops withdrew from the area.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN Security Council last April that Russian forces in Bucha had gang-raped women, including in front of their children.

Speaking to the PA news agency in Ukraine with the help of a translator, Ms Kosenko said she had lived in Bucha all her life.

She said she remembers in the early days seeing lots of smoke from her window and then realising there were lots of planes and helicopters in the sky.

Artworks created by Alina Kosenko (Aaron Chown/PA)

Ms Kosenko said: Every night Ive heard rockets, Ive heard airplanes and helicopters, and we called with my close people every day to check if theyre fine.

She recalled seeing Russian tanks near her building. It was terrible, she said.

So already on first day there was no heating, no water, it was really, really cold. But I tried to do my work, and Ive made some artworks, but it was really, really hard to continue, but I continued working.

Ms Kosenko added: When it was quiet enough I went up from my basement to see that all my windows were broken, and on the sixth day there was a missile which hit my roof.

She said the tanks left on the seventh day and she went to her brothers house and stayed in the basement.

It was safer there for me, she said.

Ms Kosenko returned home on the eighth day to get food which she shared with others.

But when I went back home I saw that all my stuff was stolen. There was nothing inside. No money, no credit cards, even pottery.

Theyve stolen everything. And my neighbours saw how Russians took everything with them, she said.
The mother of a woman killed by her husband has said her family is fearful about the prospect of his release, and is calling on the Justice Secretary to look at the case.

British Airways captain Robert Brown bludgeoned his 46-year-old wife Joanna to death with a claw hammer in their family home in October 2010 as their two young children cowered in a playroom.

He dumped her body in a makeshift coffin in Windsor Great Park.

Brown, who believed he was stitched up by a prenuptial agreement, was acquitted of murder by a jury at Reading Crown Court in May 2011.

He had previously admitted manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility.

Robert Brown admitted manslaughter (Thames Valley Police/PA)

Brown, formerly of North Street, Winkfield, Berkshire, was sentenced to 24 years for manslaughter and a further two years for an offence of obstructing a coroner in the execution of his duty.

Joannas mother Diana Parkes, 83, is concerned about Browns release from prison, which she says is expected to take place in November this year.

Our family is very fearful. Not only our family, but my daughters friends and indeed the public at large. I fear for women that he might come into contact with, she told the PA news agency.

Ms Parkes wants to talk to Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, and said: I would ask him to check our case very carefully and see how absolutely nonsensical it is that Brown is bring released halfway through his sentence when the Probation Service is so understaffed.

Police in High Standing Hill just outside Windsor, where officers searched for Joanna Simpsons body (PA)

And I ask who is going to monitor him for 13 years of his licence?

I really have no faith in the Probation Service being able to do this.

The Joanna Simpson Foundation is calling on people to send a letter to their MP asking for Browns release to be stopped.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: This was an appalling crime and our thoughts remain with Joanna Simpsons family and friends.

The Deputy Prime Minister will do everything in his power to keep the most dangerous offenders behind bars and has pledged to give this case his closest personal attention.

The Joanna Simpson Foundation is holding an event in Westminster this week to launch its campaign and urge Mr Raab to use his powers to help prevent Browns release.

Speakers are expected to include Ms Parkes, Robert Buckland, Priti Patel, Carrie Johnson and Joannas friend Hetti Barkworth-Nanton.
The Duke of Sussex will discuss living with loss and the importance of personal healing during a livestreamed event which follows the publication of his controversial memoir.

Tickets for the March 4 event, which cost 17 plus a 2.12 fee for UK customers, include a copy of Spare which became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began following its release in January.

Those who book tickets can also submit a question, with a selection to be put to the duke by a moderator during the live event which will see Harry speaking with Dr Gabor Mate, author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture.

Harry (centre) and his brother William, now the Prince of Wales, pictured in 1990 with their late mother Diana, the Princess of Wales (Rebecca Naden/PA)

Harrys late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 when the duke was just 12 years old.

In Spare, he described how difficult it was to deal with her death and he described the princess as his guardian angel and said she is with him all the time.

Harrys grandmother, the late Queen, died in September 2022, the year after the death of his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with Harrys grandmother, the late Queen, during a group photo at the Queens Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 2018 (John Stillwell/PA)

The duke and his wife, Meghan, have also spoken about the baby they lost when the duchess suffered a miscarriage in the summer of 2020, a year after her first son Archie was born.

The couple also have a daughter Lilibet, known as Lili, who will be two in June and has Diana as a middle name in tribute to Harrys mother. Lilibet was the Queens family nickname.

Harrys ghost-written tell-all autobiography laid bare his frustrations with his family.

William and Harry at the unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales in 2021, on what would have been her 60th birthday (Yui Mok/PA)

He claimed his brother William, now the Prince of Wales, had knocked him to the floor at Harrys then home Nottingham Cottage after calling the Duchess of Sussex difficult, rude and abrasive.

The duke claimed his father, now the King, put his own interests above Harrys and was jealous of Meghan and the Princess of Wales, and that the Queen Consort sacrificed him on her personal PR altar.

The duke, who lives in California after moving to the US in 2020, has revealed he has enough material for two books, but held back because he does not think his father and brother would ever forgive him.

It has not yet been confirmed whether Harry will be invited to attend his fathers coronation in May.

 Ticket information and more details about the livestream event, produced by Penguin Random House in partnership with Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and Indigo Books & Music, can be found at PrinceHarryMemoir.com
Labour is calling for ministers to proscribe a Russian mercenary group involved in Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine as a terrorist organisation.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper have jointly demanded the UK Government formally label the Wagner Group a terror outfit after accusing it of committing appalling atrocities.

Labour said the move would make it a criminal offence to belong to the private military company, attend its meetings, encourage support or carry its logo in public.

The Wagner Group, led by warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been fighting bloody battles alongside the Russian Presidents armed forced in areas of eastern Ukraine.

The mercenaries, made up of contractors and recruited convicts, have battled to take the town of Soledar, a salt-mining town, and is currently involved in a casualty-heavy fight for the town of Bakhmut, also in the Donetsk region.

Labour wants ministers to follow the USs lead after Washington last month designated Wagner a significant transnational criminal organisation.

In a joint statement, Mr Lammy and Ms Cooper said: The Wagner Group is responsible for the appalling atrocities in Ukraine and across the world.

No-one in the UK should be allowed to belong to the Wagner Group, support it or promote it.

The push for Wagner to be proscribed comes after a Government department reportedly helped its millionaire owner Mr Prigozhin to circumvent UK sanctions to take a British journalist to court.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has jointly made the call alongside shadow foreign secretary David Lammy (Victoria Jones/PA)

The Treasury is currently investigating how the department reportedly issued licences to allow lawyers to help Mr Prigozhin launch legal action against a Bellingcat journalist in the UK in 2021 while the Russian oligarch was subject to sanctions.

Labour last month pressed for Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be proscribed as a terror group following the execution of a dual British-Iranian national, Alireza Akbari.

A report in the Telegraph has since suggested the US is keen for Britain not to slap such a label on the special branch of Irans armed forces in order to serve as a diplomatic go-between for the White House and Tehran.

Mr Lammy and Ms Cooper continued: One year on from Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine, we need to hold those responsible for supporting its barbaric agenda to account.

The Government should now proscribe the Wagner Group as terrorists  alongside finally taking action on the IRGC.

Mr Prigozhin, a millionaire with close ties to Mr Putin, has been vocally critical of the Kremlin in its treatment of his company of recruits.

The group has been involved in operations in Syria, across Africa, and was reportedly involved in a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the opening months of the conflict.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former restaurateur an Wagner Group owner, has been dubbed Putins chef (AP Photo/Pool, File)

Sometimes dubbed Putins chef, Mr Prigozhin has been alleging for weeks that the Russian military does not provide his group with enough ammunition.

It comes after Wagners push to take over Bakhmut, a key target city for Moscow in the partially-occupied Donetsk region, stalled and turned into a grinding battle.

In an emotional audio statement released through his spokesman this week, Mr Prigozhin said the lack of support can be likened to high treason in the very moment when Wagner is fighting for Bakhmut, losing hundreds of its fighters every day.

It is the latest sign of tensions between Wagner, which has an unclear legal status as Russian law prohibits collaboration with private military companies, and the Kremlins military.

Labours demands come a week after leader Sir Keir Starmer visited Kyiv and met with Mr Zelensky.

He vowed that, should there be a change of Government after the next election, that UK support for Ukraine in its fight against the Kremlin would remain steadfast under his premiership.

A UK Government spokesman said: The UK already has considerable powers to sanction Russian entities, which we have used with our allies to significant effect, including designating Wagner Group in March 2022.

The UK has sanctioned over 1,500 individuals since the invasion, including over 120 oligarchs with an estimated global net worth of over 140 billion, in response to Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Home Office officials said they would not comment on organisations being considered for proscription.
The widow of poisoned dissident Alexander Litvinenko has said she is very proud of hundreds of Russians who marched on their own countrys embassy in central London to mark the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

Marina Litvinenko said the anti-war protest proved that not all Russians supported the actions of President Vladimir Putin, who she called a war criminal.

The demonstrators chanted: Victory for Ukraine, freedom for Russia, and: Stop Putin, stop the war as they walked from Marble Arch to the embassy in Kensington to protest against the war in Ukraine.

Mrs Litvinenko told the PA news agency: Im very proud to see this big crowd of Russian people. Theyve all been very loud in saying how they support Ukraine and how they hate Putin because he is why they might need to have left the country.

When we talk about Putin now we are talking about a person who started a war but he has committed a lot of crimes against individuals, countries and people.

Right now we're marching from Marble Arch to the Embassy of Russia. Join us to show your solidarity with people in Ukraine and disagreement with Putin's criminal regime! pic.twitter.com/ktebFDKinQ  Russian Democratic Society UK (@rusdemsoc) February 25, 2023

He killed my husband Alexander. I believe he gave the order and he has now killed a lot of innocent Ukrainians.

She added: We need to be proud to speak the Russian language. We need to use the Russian language to say Slava Ukraini  glory to Ukraine  and say in Russian: Putin is a criminal. This is very important. Not all of Russia supports this war.

The story of Mr Litvinenkos death was depicted in the ITV mini-series Litvinenko in December last year, with Mark Bonnar and David Tennant starring alongside Russian-America actress Margarita Levieva, who played Mrs Litvinenko.

The road outside the embassy remains stained in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag after activist group Led by Donkeys poured 170 litres of paint on it on Thursday.

Demonstrations are taking place across the UK on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Lesley Martin/PA)

One man held a poster mocking a packet of cigarettes that read: Putin kills, while another cardboard placard that carried pictures of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny read: Without victory there can be no survival.

The crowd then heard speeches from Mrs Litvinenko, opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky and financier Bill Browder, among others.

Mr Browder, who leads the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, which is seeking democracy in Russia, told PA the number of Russians present at the demonstration was unprecedented.

Russian Embassy, London pic.twitter.com/99mFy6Gx5k  Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) February 23, 2023

He said: Everybody talks about how the Russians are brainwashed. These people arent brainwashed. These are Russian citizens and Russian emigres who are saying that Putins murderous war in Ukraine is not OK.

What it tells you is that Putins brainwashing doesnt work outside of his own propaganda bubble inside Russia. These people know the truth and they know the truth is horrific.

What Putin is doing is criminal, murderous and disgusting, and they dont want it in their name.

He added: I think the number of people here is absolutely unprecedented. There were a number of Russians before who may have been upset about Putin but didnt want to come out on the streets. But what hes doing in Ukraine requires people to come out on the street.

Demonstrators gather outside the Russian embassy in London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The protesters flew the flags of Ukraine and the Russian democracy movement, which replaces the bottom red stripe of the Russian flag with a white stripe.

Placards on display read: No to bloody Russian imperialism, while one showed the face of Russian president Vladimir Putin captioned with: War criminal.

The protesters also chanted Russians against the war, hands off Ukraine and jets for Ukraine as they walked.

Ksenia Maximova, the founder of the Russian Democratic Society (RDS), which organised the protest, said in her speech: This is a time for action and time to come together. Putins government spent years instilling hate in peoples hearts.

We are more united than ever. We are now in nearly every country and growing stronger by the day.

The RDS was founded in the aftermath of the invasion and has raised more than 18,000 to send generators to Ukraine to limit the impact of blackouts.

It has also donated more than 10,000 to refugee shelters in Kazakhstan, Armenia and Montenegro.
Luciana Berger is rejoining the Labour Party after leaving four years ago due to concerns about antisemitism.

Ms Berger, originally from Wembley in north-west London and the Liverpool Wavertree MP for almost a decade, walked out on Labour in the spring of 2019, becoming one of several disillusioned MPs fleeing mainstream parties to form The Independent Group.

She cited a sea of cases of antisemitism within Labour, accusing its top brass of choosing to brush under the carpet any complaints.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he is delighted that Ms Berger has accepted his invitation to rejoin the party.

He wrote on Twitter: My test for change was whether those who were rightly appalled by how far we had fallen believe this is their party again.

I know weve more to do but were unrecognisable from the party that forced her out.

Ms Berger tweeted: The Labour Party has turned a significant corner under Keirs leadership. Im pleased to be returning to my political home.

Sir Keir posted images of letters exchanged with Ms Berger in which she writes: I am looking forward to rejoining the party and working with you to continue what you have started.

It is time to replace this reckless and divisive government and ultimately make the difference our country so desperately deserves.

In her letter she said it was a grim journey from 2015 to 2019 during which the party fell into the depths of the abyss under Jeremy Corbyns reign.

The Labour Party has turned a significant corner under Keirs leadership. Im pleased to be returning to my political home. @UKLabour https://t.co/U3mSHol2PX  Luciana Berger  (@lucianaberger) February 25, 2023

She said it was agonising to be put in a position in which she had no other choice but to leave her political home.

She said: I never expected to bear witness to the volume and toxicity of anti-Jewish racism espoused by people who had been allowed to join Labour, and to experience a leadership that treated antisemitism within the partys ranks differently to every other kind of racism  and that by refusing to condemn it, encouraged it.

But that is exactly what happened.

Sir Keir said in his letter to Ms Berger that she left the party because she was forced out by intimidation, thuggery and racism, adding: Yours was a principled and brave move.

But it was one you should never have been forced to take. That day will forever be a stain on Labours history.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (Ben Birchall/PA)

He wrote: Before you were forced out of the party, you were an outstanding Member of Parliament.

He said the party and British politics are poorer places without her, and apologised to her for the intolerable and unacceptable experience she had.

The abuse you suffered was disgusting. You were left isolated and exposed. Shamefully, those who should have defended you stood by.

The Labour Party  our party  has always prided itself on being a party of equality, collectivism, solidarity and anti-racism.

But during those dark days we were none of those things, Sir Keir wrote.

The human rights watchdog found the party broke equality law over its handling of antisemitism complaints.

Ms Berger lambasted Jeremy Corbyns time as Labour leader (James Speakman/PA)

A damning report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in 2020 found the party was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.

Mr Corbyn rejected some of the reports findings and claimed the issue had been dramatically overstated for political reasons by his critics.

His comments led to Labours headquarters suspending him from the party.

Sir Keir said the findings of the EHRC investigation were hard to read, adding that it was a day of shame for the Labour Party.

Meanwhile, in another boost for Labour, Lord Sainsbury has confirmed his return and a donation, understood to be 2 million.

In a statement published by The Observer newspaper, he said: I believe that Keir Starmer has the leadership skills and ability to deal with the economic difficulties we currently face.

Im delighted Luciana has accepted my invitation to rejoin Labour. My test for change was whether those who were rightly appalled by how far we had fallen believe this is their party again. I know weve more to do but were unrecognisable from the party that forced her out. pic.twitter.com/MmmoyYk2HE  Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) February 25, 2023

He also wants to reunite the country around an agenda of economic growth and social justice, which is one I strongly support.

I am, therefore, helping the Labour party financially, as I dont think democratic elections should be decided by which party is able to raise the most money, and because I want to see Keir Starmer become prime minister as soon as possible.

A Labour Party spokesman said: Donors are coming back to Labour because they can see we are a changed party that is serious about getting into government and building a fairer, greener, more dynamic Britain.

We are very grateful for all support, large or small, as we gear up to fight the next general election.

Thanks to Keir Starmers leadership, the Labour Party is in a strong and positive financial position, having experienced significant growth in income throughout 2022, leaving us debt and deficit-free.
Milla Jovovich has announced the auction of a special one-of-a-kind gown to raise money for charity in Ukraine.

The Resident Evil star is working with Ukrainian designer Lever Couture on the dress which will feature love letters to Ukraine sewn onto it.

In a post marking the one-year anniversary of the conflict in her homeland, the actress shared pictures of the process as well as her own poem which will feature.



The gown will be sold at auction, with all proceeds going to the Olena Zelenska Foundation, a charity set up by the First Lady of Ukraine.

Jovovich, who was born in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was one of many Hollywood stars to share heartfelt messages online following the outbreak of the war last year.

Other famous faces including Madonna, Kylie Jenner and Pink sent thoughts and prayers to the thousands displaced by the conflict.

Today marks the one year anniversary of the war on Ukraine, Jovovich wrote on Instagram.

I am working with an exceptional Ukrainian designer @lever_couture who is taking love letters for Ukraine and sewing them by hand on a couture gown which will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to @zelenskafoundation.

Here are some pics of the amazing process of making this one of a kind gown!

Jovovich was born in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv (Ian West/PA)

Sharing her poem in the posts caption she continued: My motherland cries tears of smoke and ashes. Her men fight with the ingenuity of true belief.

So many hearts, so many women torn in pieces. Of husbands, children, cats and curtains, blown out flats. Windows, plates and tea cups, ethics and ideals bombarded by the sounds of missiles landing at the door.

I love you Ukraina. I love you as my ears explode.

At least 100,000 soldiers on both sides of the war are estimated to have been killed or injured, since Russian president Vladimir Putins renewed invasion began on February 24, 2022.

Thousands more civilians have died and more than 13 million people have been made refugees or displaced inside Ukraine.

On Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Ukraine would do everything in its power to defeat the invasion before another anniversary can be marked.
Newcastle United supporters have gathered in central Londons Trafalgar Square ahead of the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

Fans of the Magpies have travelled down from the North East in large numbers for the match, their first appearance in the final of a major cup since losing 2-0 to United in the 1998/99 FA Cup final.

The 32,761 tickets allocated to the club at the 90,000-seater Wembley Stadium sold out within a week and the travelling fans have wasted no time getting acquainted with the capital.

Supporters congregated in Trafalgar Square as the sun set, singing terrace chants together, drinking cans of beer and letting off smoke bombs in the clubs black and white colours.

Newcastle fans gather in Trafalgar Square, London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Mehrdad Ghodoussi, the clubs co-owner, posted a picture on social media of him and fellow director Jamie Reuben enjoying the festivities with their hoods up.

One middle-aged fan even stripped to his boxers to enjoy a dip in one of the squares two fountains.

Other fans congregated around Nelsons Column in the centre of the square, which commemorates Admiral Horatio Nelsons victory over the Spanish and French navies at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

One of the songs the supporters were singing was, Tell me ma, me ma, I wont be home for tea, were going to Wembley to the tune of 1950s hit Que Sera, Sera.

Newcastle fans singing and chanting in Trafalgar Square (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Another chant saw an alternative rendition of gospel hymn When the Saints Go Marching In, with Saints replaced by Mags.

Newcastle have enjoyed a rapid rise up the Premier League table since the arrival of Mr Ghodoussi, Mr Reuben and other new investors.

Their Saudi Arabia-led consortium has funded more than 210 million of new signings since taking over the club in October 2021.

Managed by Eddie Howe, Newcastle sit fifth in the Premier League, just one point behind Tottenham Hotspur in the final Champions League qualification spot.

Victory over Manchester United in tomorrows final would secure the club a play-off place in next seasons Europa Conference League.

It would be the first time Newcastle have played in Europe since the 2012/13 campaign, when they reached the quarter-final stage of the Europa League.
Pro-Ukraine counter-protesters led by campaigner Peter Tatchell have clashed in central London with activists demanding Britain stops supplying weapons to the country.

Mr Tatchell shouted Chamberlain  a reference to prime minister Neville Chamberlains policy of appeasing Adolf Hitlers Nazi regime  in reply to protesters who angrily accused him of being an American stooge.

He was one of a group of 30 who interrupted a rally by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Stop the War coalition outside the BBCs Broadcasting House.

Peter Tatchell and pro-Ukraine supporters (Timothy Sigsworth/PA)

His fellow protesters chanted arm, arm, arm Ukraine, put an end to (Russian President Vladimir) Putins reign and self-defence is no offence.

Mr Tatchell told the PA news agency: Were here to protest Stop the War over its opposition to Ukraine. Their stance would leave Ukraine defenceless and result in Russia occupying and annexing all of Ukraine.

Russia is a fascist, imperialist state, and all progressive people should oppose the Putin regime and Russias war of aggression.

We should arm Ukraine in the same way that we armed anti-Nazi resistance during the Second World War. This is a war between Ukrainian democracy and Russian fascism.

His group held a banner reading Victory to Ukraine, arm Ukraine to defeat Russian imperialism.

CND and Stop the War claim Russias invasion was partially caused by Nato expansion in eastern Europe.

Their protesters held placards saying Peace now!, No to War and Wages not Weapons, with one man flying an inflatable anvil that read: Is this anvil really cast iron? Are the Biden gangs alibis?

Stop the War organiser Terina Hine, 54, said Ukraine would become the Afghanistan of Europe if it and its supporters did not stop backing Putin into a corner.

She told PA: If we carry on backing Putin into a corner, theres a very high chance that it will escalate on a nuclear level.

Its likely the war will be very long and very drawn out and if it carries on the way that it has been doing so far, it will lead to thousands upon thousands of deaths and Ukraine becoming the Afghanistan of Europe.

The war will eventually end by peace negotiations. So why not do that now?

Anybody who has even dared mentioned anything along those lines has been accused of being a traitor, or an appeaser or any of those other terms that are used as an attack line against people who just want peace.

Tom Unterrainer, 42, chairman of the CND, said negotiations were inevitable and claimed there is no reason to delay them.

He told PA: Everybody knows that this will end with negotiations. Everybody knows that this will end with diplomacy.

So the only question on the table now is how much destruction will there be in Ukraine, how many Ukrainians will die and how much closer will we get to the nightmare of nuclear use.

Given that theres a wide recognition that this conflict will end in negotiation, given that theres such a sharply posed nuclear threat, then now is the time to negotiate. We do not have the time to wait.
Rishi Sunak said his administration is giving it everything weve got to finalise a deal to fix issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol but insists a pact has not yet been secured.

The Prime Minister said he is hopeful of a positive outcome in the talks with the European Union as Westminster braces for a new-look protocol to be unveiled.

The British leader is keen to ensure the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is on side with his final agreement as he looks to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.

The DUP is refusing to take part in Stormonts cross-community devolved government alongside Sinn Fein in protest at the impact the Brexit treaty is having on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

The party has issued seven tests that Mr Sunaks pact will have to meet in order to win its backing, including addressing what it calls the democratic deficit of Northern Ireland being subject to EU rules while not having a say on them.

Mr Sunak, speaking to The Sunday Times newspaper, pledged that anything that we do will tick all of those boxes in terms of Unionist concerns.

A protocol deal has looked close to being announced for almost a week.

And after No 10 said good progress was made during a Friday call between the Prime Minister and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, a breakthrough seemed imminent.

However, a plan for Ms von der Leyen to travel to Britain on Saturday to meet Mr Sunak and then have afternoon tea with the King at Windsor Castle was scrapped on Friday evening.

Downing Street has since said that intensive discussions remain underway between London and Brussels.

Irish premier Leo Varadkar said on Saturday that talks between the UK and the EU were inching towards conclusion as he called on all sides to go the extra mile to sign off on negotiations.

Ursula von der Leyen, right, was due to meet the King at Windsor on Saturday (Dan Charity/PA)

The Prime Minister told The Sunday Times that he was continuing to push for a final agreement with the bloc.

Im here all weekend trying to get it done, he told the newspaper.

Were giving it everything weve got.

He admitted that there were examples of where it feels that Northern Ireland is not part of the Union and that the protocol had unbalanced the Good Friday Agreement that helped end the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Citing the example of not being able to apply reforms to alcohol duty in Northern Ireland when he was chancellor  as the protocol dictates that it falls under EU single market rules for duties  Mr Sunak pledged to work to satisfy Unionist demands with any deal he secures.

Im a Conservative, Im a Brexiteer and Im a unionist and anything that we do will tick all of those boxes, otherwise it wouldnt make sense to me, let alone anyone else, he told The Sunday Times.

Several reports have suggested a deal between the UK and the EU is all but done  with Mr Sunak delaying an announcement until he is confident it will be accepted.

No 10 denies that but reports suggest Mr Sunak has secured concessions that will ease the flow of trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain  a major bugbear for Unionists.

Trusted traders from GB into Northern Ireland will reportedly not need to undergo checks as part of the plans, while VAT rates, taxes and state aid policy will all be set by Westminster rather than Brussels as part of the offer on the table.

Rishi Sunak said he wants to secure a deal that improves trade flows between Northern Ireland and Great Britain (Niall Carson/PA)

The Prime Minister has also reportedly negotiated a means by which the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast will be given pre-legislative scrutiny over new EU laws in a bid to remove the so-called democratic deficit.

According to The Sun On Sunday, Mr Sunak will invite Cabinet ministers into No 10 on Sunday to brief them on the details of what he has secured so far.

Downing Street will be anxiously waiting for Boris Johnsons view on the new terms, with the former prime minister recently imploring Mr Sunak not to drop his Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would unilaterally overwrite parts of the treaty.

The Sunday Times reported that Mr Johnson, called to back what Mr Sunak comes back with in order to appease the White House, replied saying: F*** the Americans.

A source close to Mr Johnson told PA: This was a jocular conversation in the chamber that someone evidently misunderstood.

That is not the sort of language he would use.

Fresh speculation about a new pact comes after Downing Street came in for criticism for the proposed meeting between EU leader Ms von der Leyen and the King.

It is said that No 10 envisaged branding Mr Sunaks deal the Windsor Agreement if the German politician had been content to sign off on a deal while in Britain.

Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, accused the Prime Minister of dragging the King into a hugely controversial political issue.

A UK Government source said it would not have been improper for the King to have met a visiting European leader.

The source told PA news agency it was wrong to suggest the King would be involved in anything remotely political.

Buckingham Palace would not comment.
The Prime Ministers political judgement has been criticised after a meeting between the King and the leader of the European Union was cancelled.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had been expected to travel to Britain on Saturday amid speculation a deal to fix issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol is near.

The German politician was also due to meet the King at Windsor Castle, Sky News said.

There were talks about calling a potential protocol pact the Windsor Agreement after a meeting with Charles, the broadcaster said.

UK Government sources confirmed Ms von der Leyens trip was called off but it is likely Downing Street and Buckingham Palace worked together on the reported arrangements.

Rishi Sunaks critics said the scheduled meeting brought into question his handling of the protocol negotiations.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary and senior member of the Tory Eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG), told the PA news agency: If there were a plan to bring the King in before there is domestic political agreement, it would border on constitutional impropriety.

Mr Sunak is keen to secure the backing of not only his Tory MPs but also the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for any protocol reform as he looks to restore powersharing in Belfast.

The DUP is refusing to take part in Stormonts cross-community devolved government in protest at the impact the Brexit treaty is having on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson said Rishi Sunak was naive to consider setting up a meeting between the King and Ursula von der Leyen (UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA)

Former DUP deputy leader Lord Dodds said meeting Ms von der Leyen would have politicised the monarch, and argued the reports reinforce the questions about No 10s political judgment over the protocol.

Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, said any Windsor rendezvous with the EU leader would have been a cynical use of the Kings position and seen in Unionist circles as the sovereign endorsing the deal.

He branded the Prime Minister naive and accused him of dragging the King into a hugely controversial political issue.

The only conclusion we can come to is he knows that in these negotiations he hasnt achieved the objectives he set out for himself and his own party, Mr Wilson said on Sky News of Mr Sunak.

Nor has he achieved the promises that he had made to ourselves and was now trying to get the King to pull the thing over the line for him.

Baroness Hoey, a Northern Irish Brexit supporter and former Labour MP, said any such meeting would have been outrageous.

UK Government sources said that, while Ms von der Leyens trip was no longer going ahead, it would not have been improper for the King, as head of state, to meet a visiting European leader.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyens trip to Britain was cancelled, UK Government sources confirmed (Steve Reigate/Daily Express/PA)

It would be wrong to suggest the King would be involved in anything remotely political, a Government source told PA.

Buckingham Palace would not comment.

Labours shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle said Downing Street should have realised utilising the King would have constitutional implications and been highly insensitive to the politics of Northern Ireland.

It certainly is nothing we should be involving His Majesty in, he told Sky.

No 10 said Mr Sunak will be spending the weekend speaking to relevant stakeholders as he looks to get a protocol deal over the line.

Downing Street said intensive negotiations with Brussels are still taking place.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who has had regular meetings with commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, said talks with the EU have been tough and complicated but were entered into in good spirits, with good faith.

He told GB News on Saturday: I really hope that we can get this resolved, but we will resolve this when we have addressed all the issues that we are seeking to resolve rather than (working to) some arbitrary deadline.

Multiple reports suggest the deal between the UK and the EU is all but done  with Mr Sunak delaying an announcement until he is confident it will be accepted.

The protocol, signed by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020, was designed to prevent a hard border with Ireland after Brexit by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the EUs single market.

The Northern Ireland Protocol has created trade barriers within the UK and sparked Unionist tensions (Liam McBurney/PA)

But the treaty has incensed unionists due to the trade barriers it created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

According to The Times, the current offer on the table would mean an overhauled protocol, which would remove almost all checks and most paperwork on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

The newspaper said the agreement would also mean control over the rate of VAT and state aid policy will fall to Westminster rather than Brussels for the first time since Brexit was enacted.

Speculation that No 10 is preparing to confirm a deal to fix the protocol intensified on Friday after a Downing Street source said good progress was made during a phone call between the Prime Minister and the commission president.

Any announcement of a deal is expected to set up a possible clash with Conservative Brexit hardliners, with the Prime Minister promising MPs will be given the chance to express their views on the new terms.

The DUP has issued seven tests to win its backing for any deal, including addressing what it calls the democratic deficit of Northern Ireland being subject to EU rules while not having a say on them.

The Daily Telegraph, which said a breakthrough could come over the weekend, said it was understood the DUP is set to be granted a place at the negotiating table when the EU is considering new laws applicable in Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister will keep working towards securing a post-Brexit deal after plans for an in-person meeting with the European Commission president was called off.

After having positive discussions with Rishi Sunak on Friday, Ursula von der Leyen was expected to arrive in Britain on Saturday for further talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

But UK Government sources confirmed Ms von der Leyen was no longer scheduled to make the journey to the UK.

Some reports suggested Downing Street had hoped she would shake hands on a revised pact while visiting, while Sky News reported that she was also scheduled to meet the King at Windsor Castle on Saturday.

The broadcasters report said the meeting could have been interpreted as Charles endorsing the deal that the Prime Minister is attempting to negotiate with the European Union in order to solve Brexit-related issues.

Baroness Hoey, a Northern Irish Brexit supporter and former Labour MP, tweeted: If true, I cannot believe that even the advisers around Rishi Sunak, who clearly dont understand Northern Ireland, could have even contemplated this.

Would be outrageous and I believe King Charles would not have agreed to it.

UK Government sources said that, while Ms von der Leyens trip was no longer going ahead, it would not have been improper for the King, as head of state, to have met a visiting European leader.

It would be wrong to suggest the King would be involved in anything remotely political, a Government source told the PA news agency.

Buckingham Palace said it would not comment.

The King was said to be due to meet the European Commission president at Windsor before it was called off (Victoria Jones/PA)

No 10 said further talks between Mr Sunak and Ms von der Leyen would occur within the coming days, without being more exact on timings.

Speculation that No 10 is preparing to confirm a deal to fix the protocol intensified on Friday after a Downing Street source said good progress had been made during a phone call between the Prime Minister and the president.

The pair have spoken three times in the past week, including holding face-to-face conversations on the fringes of the Munich security conference last Saturday.

Unusually, Downing Street declined to set out Mr Sunaks plans for the weekend.

With Cabinet ministers reportedly on alert for a possible conference call over the weekend and Tory MPs being ordered into Parliament on a three-line whip on Monday, Westminster has been braced for a No 10 protocol announcement.

The protocol, signed by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020, was designed to prevent a hard border with Ireland after Brexit by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the European Unions single market.

But the treaty has incensed unionists due to the trade barriers it has created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Friday (Steve Reigate/Daily Express/PA)

Mr Sunak had reportedly been keen to announce a deal this week but No 10 said on Friday that intensive negotiations with Brussels were still under way.

According to The Times, the current offer on the table would mean an overhauled protocol that would remove almost all checks and most paperwork on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

Any announcement of a deal is expected to set up a possible clash with Conservative Brexit hardliners.

Mr Sunak has promised the House of Commons will be able to express its view on his fresh protocol terms, which he hopes will get the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.

The DUP has issued seven tests to win its backing for any deal, including addressing what it calls the democratic deficit of Northern Ireland being subject to EU rules while not having a say on them.

The Daily Telegraph, which reported that a breakthrough could come over the weekend, said it was understood the DUP is set to be granted a place at the negotiating table when new EU laws that are applicable in Northern Ireland are being written.
Industrial action in different sectors will continue to cause disruption across the UK in the coming weeks.

Services from health to education to transport are set to be hit by walkouts this month and beyond.

(PA Graphics)

Here are some of the strikes planned:

 February 24

Contracted-out staff working for ISS on the Docklands Light Railway will stage a 48-hour strike, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has said.

 February 28

National Education Union (NEU) strike action in England and Wales is due to take place on February 28, March 1 and 2  but the union has suggested these could be paused if real progress is made in negotiations over pay.

NEU members in the Northern, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber regions in England are due to strike.

Teachers from the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) will start a fresh wave of strikes.

More than 350 Amazon workers at the West Midland fulfilment centre in Coventry will walk out, the GMB union has said.

The University and College Union (UCU) has paused a further seven days of strikes, which were due to start from February 21, after real progress was made in talks with employers over pay, conditions and pensions.

 March 1

Teachers from the NEU in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Eastern regions in England will strike.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has called off a 48-hour strike by members at 128 NHS employers in England that was due to start at 6am on March 1 after the Government agreed to enter pay talks.

Teachers from the EIS will strike.

 March 2

Teachers from the NEU in the London, South East and South West regions in England will strike and members of the NEU Cymru are also due to walk out in schools across Wales.

Amazon workers in Coventry who are members of the GMB union are to strike again.

  !  100,000++ Public and Commercial Services (PCS) members in 123 government departments will walk out on   as strike action escalates More to follow.#PCSonStrike #BlameTheGovt #RightToStrike pic.twitter.com/Vogt4yAVdF  PCS Union (@pcs_union) February 7, 2023

 March 6

Ambulance workers will strike in a dispute over pay and staffing, after GMB said more than 10,000 of its members, including paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff, will walk out.

Unite members employed by different ambulance trusts will be striking in the West Midlands; the North East; the East Midlands; the North West and Wales.

Driving test examiners will take the first of 10 days of strike action across England, Scotland and Wales, with more than 1,600 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) employed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency set to take rolling days of industrial action from March 6 to 28.

Unite members within the Welsh Ambulance Service are to strike.

Teachers from the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union take part in a rally earlier this month (Jane Barlow/PA)

 March 7

EIS members will take targeted strike action in Glasgow Southside, Dunfermline, Perthshire North, the part of Clydebank and Milngavie constituency that lies within the East Dunbartonshire Council area and Mid Galloway & Wigtown West from March 7 to 9 in a dispute over pay.

 March 8

Unison health workers in England including blood collection staff, nurses, healthcare assistants, cleaners and porters and other health workers at a number of NHS organisations, such as NHS Blood and Transport and Great Ormond Street Hospital, will strike

Unison members working for ambulance services in London, Yorkshire, the North East, North West, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, South East Coast and South West will also walk out

 March 10

Welsh ambulance workers who are members of Unite to strike again.

 March 13

Teachers from the EIS will begin a rolling programme of strikes for 20 days from March 13 until April 21.

Junior doctors in England will strike for three days from March 13 in a dispute over pay, the British Medical Association announced.

Amazon workers in Coventry are to take further industrial action for one week from March 13 to 17.

 March 15

Some 100,000 members of the PCS union, and London Underground workers in Aslef will strike on Budget day in separate disputes.

Teachers from the NEU in England and Wales are due to stage the final two days of walkouts.

 March 16

RMT members will take nationwide strike action across the railways in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Teachers from the NEU in England and Wales will strike in a final day of walkouts.

 March 18

Members of the RMT union at train operators strike again.

 March 20

GMB and Unite ambulance workers will strike in a dispute over pay and staffing.

 March 30

RMT members walk out.

 April 1

RMT members strike again.
FILE - Books by Roald Dahl are displayed at the Barney's store on East 60th Street in New York on Monday, Nov. 21, 2011. Critics are accusing the publisher of Roald Dahls classic childrens books of censorship after it removed colorful language from stories such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda to make them more acceptable to modern readers. (AP Photo/Andrew Burton, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

LONDON (AP)  Publisher Penguin Random House announced Friday it will publish classic unexpurgated versions of Roald Dahls childrens novels after it received criticism for cuts and rewrites that were intended to make the books suitable for modern readers.

Along with the new editions, the company said 17 of Dahls books would be published in their original form later this year as The Roald Dahl Classic Collection so readers will be free to choose which version of Dahls stories they prefer.

The move comes after criticism of scores of changes made to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other much-loved classics for recent editions published under the companys Puffin childrens label, in which passages relating to weight, mental health, gender and race were altered.

Augustus Gloop, Charlies gluttonous antagonist in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory  originally published in 1964  became enormous rather than enormously fat. In Witches, an old hag became an old crow, and a supernatural female posing as an ordinary woman may be a top scientist or running a business instead of a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman.

In Fantastic Mr. Fox," the word black was removed from a description of the murderous, brutal-looking tractors.

The Roald Dahl Story Company, which controls the rights to the books, said it had worked with Puffin to review and revise the texts because it wanted to ensure that Dahls wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today.

While tweaking old books for modern sensibilities is not a new phenomenon in publishing, the scale of the edits drew strong criticism from free-speech groups such as writers organization PEN America, and from authors including Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie, who lived under threat of death from Iran's Islamic regime for years because of the alleged blasphemy of his novel The Satanic Verses, called the revisions absurd censorship.

Rushdie, who was attacked and seriously injured last year at an event in New York state, tweeted news of Penguin's change of heart on Friday with the words Penguin Books back down after Roald Dahl backlash!

PEN America chief executive Suzanne Nossel wrote on Twitter: "I applaud Penguin for hearing out critics, taking the time to rethink this, and coming to the right place.

Camilla, Britain's queen consort, appeared to offer her view at a literary reception on Thursday. She urged writers to remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.

Dahls books, with their mischievous children, strange beasts and often beastly adults, have sold more than 300 million copies and continue to be read by children around the world. Their multiple stage and screen adaptations include Matilda the Musical and two Willy Wonka films based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with a third in the works.

But Dahl, who died in 1990, is also a controversial figure because of antisemitic comments made throughout his life. His family apologized in 2020.

In 2021, Dahl's estate sold the rights to the books to Netflix, which plans to produce a new generation of films based on the stories.

Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House Childrens, said the publisher had listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahls books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation.

Roald Dahls fantastic books are often the first stories young children will read independently, and taking care for the imaginations and fast-developing minds of young readers is both a privilege and a responsibility," she said.

We also recognize the importance of keeping Dahls classic texts in print," Dow said. "By making both Puffin and Penguin versions available, we are offering readers the choice to decide how they experience Roald Dahls magical, marvelous stories.
The Kansas Highway Patrol has identified the woman killed in a wreck Friday afternoon after she collided with a semi on I-135 in Park City.

Rebecca Shields of Newton was headed south on I-135 when for (an) unknown reason she crossed the median and hit a northbound semi, a KHP trooper wrote in the crash log. The wreck was reported at 3:13 p.m. and happened just south of 101st Street North.

The 26-year-old, who was driving a 2007 Saturn Ion car, died at the scene.

The 58-year-old Tennessee man driving the semi wasnt injured.

Shields posted on Facebook on Thursday that she had just gotten a Saturn Ion. She worked at a Newton daycare, according to Facebook.
At a busy McDonald's drive-thru in East Palestine, Ohio, a team of epidemiologists, environmental health scientists and others stood outside Saturday handing out flyers. Each flyer has a survey with a QR code giving information on how to contact health officials.

Three weeks after a massive train derailment spewed toxic, cancer-causing fumes across the area, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun canvassing high-traffic areas of the Ohio town, encouraging residents to talk about their symptoms and long-term health fears.

"We really want to make sure that we target any resident who is potentially impacted," Jill Shugart, a senior environmental health specialist with the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said in an exclusive interview with NBC News. Shugart is leading the agency's response in East Palestine.

As cleanup from the disaster continues, people who live in and around the small town that borders Pennsylvania remain terrified that the chemicals that blanketed the area in a thick plume of smoke are harming their health. Some have been diagnosed with bronchitis or reporting otherwise unexplained nausea, rashes, irritated eyes and other symptoms.

"I've had a scratchy throat like everybody else," Mike Zelenak, an East Palestine business owner, told NBC News. "I get headaches." Zelenak owns property near the crash site, and he worries about risks for long-term illness.

Stories such as Zelenak's are exactly the kind of information the CDC is there to collect  but on a much larger scale.

The CDC staffers, along with representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, FEMA, the federal Department of Health and Human Services and local government, are working to connect with and learn from anyone whose health may have been affected by the derailment's fallout.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train (Gene J. Puskar / AP file)

Surveys include "questions like demographics, where the residents are living, what type of health effects they might be experiencing, and trying to come up with a timeline of when they might have been in the area when the incident happened," Shugart said. "It's sort of like putting a puzzle together."

Response so far, the CDC said, has been positive.

The outreach is expected to move into Pennsylvania in the coming days, and the agency will also focus on the health of first responders at the derailment scene. The questionnaires are expected to take about 30 minutes per person. Data collection could continue for up to two weeks.

That suggests the first answers from the CDC likely won't be available until more than a month after the derailment.

What are health risks from chemical exposure?

When the Norfolk Southern train derailed on Feb. 3, a highly flammable chemical called vinyl chloride caught fire and began spewing from the scene. It is used to make polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, pipes and packaging materials. It has also been used in the manufacture of vehicle upholstery, giving off that "new car smell."

The EPA says when inhaled in large quantities, vinyl chloride raises the risk for liver cancer.

The CDC can only deploy to areas of the country when states formally ask for help from the agency. Shugart said her team received the requests from both the Ohio and Pennsylvania departments of health two weeks after the derailment and mobilized within days.

CDC staffers said they haven't taken any unusual safety precautions in the area  yet. The team is staying in a hotel 30 miles away from East Palestine, in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. They say they are drinking the tap water at the hotel.

Mayor Trent Conaway, center, takes questions about the ongoing cleanup from the derailment during a town hall meeting in East Palestine, Ohio (Gene J. Puskar / AP)

Meanwhile, "people are anxious and very worried," said Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Lichtveld, who previously worked with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said that it's critical for the public health teams at the disaster site to engage the community by listening to residents' concerns and being clear about their plans of action.

Community members should be "part of any action that we take, part of how to design that action, how to implement that action, and disseminate the information," Lichtveld said. "That is a tremendously important step to decrease the stress that's currently there."

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Protesters confront officers as they try to break through a fence into People's Park in Berkeley in August 2022. (Stuart Leavenworth / Los Angeles Times)

A state appellate court has issued a final ruling that stops UC Berkeley from building badly needed student housing at People's Park and opens controversial new paths to block development using the state's environmental law.

UC Berkeley said it would appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court and reiterated its commitment to reshape the park into a space for student dorms and supportive housing for low-income residents. The plan also includes the creation of a commemorative display honoring the park's iconic legacy of free speech and civil rights and an open space with landscaping and trees.

In a decision issued Friday evening, the court said University of California regents need not abandon the Peoples Park project but must return to the trial court and "fix the errors" in the environmental review.

Two nonprofits hadfiled a lawsuit to stop the plan, saying it would rob neighbors of green space, damage the park's historic value and bring more noise and other disruptions to the area.

The legal controversy marks the latest struggle over the historic park, which became a national symbol of people power in 1969, when hundreds objected to university plans to develop it and claimed it as their own space. After UC fenced the public out a few weeks later, thousands of protesters marched to the site and a bloody battle ensued when law enforcement pushed them back with tear gas and buckshot.But over the decades the once vibrant community gathering spot deteriorated, marred by trash, rats and crime.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ unveiled a plan in 2018 to redesign the park to provide about 1,100 student beds, along with 125 beds for lower-income and formerly unhoused people. The Berkeley campus houses only 23% of its students, by far the lowest percentage in the 10-campus UC system. Berkeley is a stark example of the acute shortage of affordable campus housing, a crisis of homelessness and instability for students throughout the state.

But the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco has now halted the People's Park project.

It ruled that the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA, required developers to analyze and mitigate a projects potential noise  in this case the noise generated by students who may drink, yell and hold unruly parties, as some neighbors have complained in documents submitted to the court.

UC Berkeley "failed to assess potential noise impacts from loud student parties in residential neighborhoods near the campus, a longstanding problem that the [environmental review] improperly dismissed as speculative," the final ruling said.

The appellate court also ruled that the campus failed to justify its decision not to consider alternative locations to the Peoples Park project. UC attorneys had argued that because the project's aim was to repurpose the park itself, no alternative would suffice.

The court did reject the project opponents' argument that UC should have analyzed how its projected population growth could drive up housing prices, displace residents, increase homelessness and affect the environment.

UC Berkeley, in its long-range development plan, projected population growth through 2036-37. Itestimated that it would add about 13,900 students, faculty and staff who would live in campus housing and about 8,200 more without it.

"The theory may appeal to common sense, and it may ring true in a region with crazy housing costs and rampant homelessness," the court said. But it found that opponents failed to present evidence or expert opinion that their feared outcomes would occur.

UC Berkeley denounced the ruling.

"The campus is dismayed by this unprecedented and dangerous decision to dramatically expand CEQA, and the campus will ask the California Supreme Court to overturn it," the school said in a statement.

"Left in place, this decision will indefinitely delay all of UC Berkeley's planned student housing, which is desperately needed by our students and fully supported by the City of Berkeley's mayor and other elected representatives," the statement said. "This decision has the potential to prevent colleges and universities across the State of California from providing students with the housing they need and deserve."

The campus also said the ruling "bestows new privileges and power to the privileged and powerful by arming NIMBY neighbors with additional weapons to obstruct the development of all new urban housing, impeding the construction of housing not just for students but also for the unhoused and low-income families."

Thomas Lippe, attorney for the two nonprofit groups that brought the lawsuit against UC, could not immediately be reached for comment. Make UC a Good Neighbor was founded in 2019 by local preservationists and the Peoples Park Historic District Advocacy Group was formed to keep the park's open space and the historic character of the neighborhood, organizers said.

Earlier this year, Lippe told The Times that criticism that the ruling will allow project opponents to weaponize CEQA to keep out people deemed undesirable was overblown rhetoric, not based in reality. He also said that state laws protect against housing discrimination and that state environmental law offered a democratic way for people to know the environmental consequences of their governments decisions on them before they are made.

Harvey Smith, president of the Peoples Park Historic District Advocacy Group, praised the court decision. He said his members are not "privileged and powerful" NIMBY neighbors but advocates from throughout Berkeley and beyond who want to maintain open space in the dense city and preserve a vital historic and cultural site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He blamed UC Berkeley for letting the park deteriorate and said the campus should never have selected the site for housing, knowing it would unleash passionate opposition.

"We want UC to build student housing, just not in a totally inappropriate location," Smith said in an email Saturday.

Lippe added that the ruling would not stop the Peoples Park project but only delay it until UC did the analyses he argued should have been done in the first place.

The noise issue had become one of the case's biggest flash points. Though the law requires an analysis of potential noise generated by a stadium project, for instance, the ruling marked the first time a court held that the behavior of a particular group of people whom a housing development might bring into a neighborhood must be assessed, according to University of California attorneys.

UC and others, including student leaders, lawmakers and progressive law professors, had argued that such a ruling could be used by residents to stop people seen as undesirable from moving into their neighborhoods.

This would make CEQA a dangerous and powerful tool for any neighbor that does not like the social habits and customs of potential new residents, Nicole Gordon of the Sohagi Law Group, which is representing UC, argued in a Jan. 3 letter to the court. It is unfortunately easy to imagine this new CEQA impact being applied to perpetuate prejudice and stereotypes.

In its ruling, the court said it agreed that legislators never intended the environmental law to be used as a "redlining weapon by neighbors who oppose projects based on prejudice rather than environmental concerns."

But it took UC officials to task for failing to analyze how much noise hundreds of students living in People's Park might generate. The ruling said project opponents had submitted substantial evidence that loud parties and other disruptions had been a longtime problem and that UC Berkeley itself had worked with the city to try to mitigate it.

"The Regents must analyze the potential noise impacts relating to loud student parties. Their decision to skip the issue, based on the unfounded notion that the impacts are speculative, was a prejudicial abuse of discretion and requires them now to do the analysis that they should have done at the outset," the court said.

As UC Berkeley appeals the ruling, one state legislator has introduced a bill to prevent the use of the state environmental law to block housing developments on the same grounds as used with the People's Park project. AB 1700 would specify that population growth and noise impacts of a housing project are not an "effect on the environment for purposes of the state environmental law."

"CEQA is being abused to block student housing. Ive introduced #AB1700 to make sure this doesnt happen again," Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) said in a tweet about the court decision Friday night.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Fantasist New York Congressman George Santos claimed AR-15s save lives on a daily basis while justifying his support for a bill that would declare the assault rifle the National Gun of America.

Mr Santos is co-sponsoring a bill brought forward by Alabama GOP Representative Barry Moore to enshrine the semi-automatic weapon used in countless mass shootings under federal law.

Mr Santos, who is facing multiple federal, state and local law enforcement investigations, told ABC7 in an interview this week that the bill was about recognition.

This is a gun manufactured in the United States, creates jobs in the United States, its a made-in-America gun. We have national everything, why not have a national gun? he said. It saves lives on a daily basis, and its not reported. And I think its good to have that contrast.

The demonstrably false claim was condemned by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who called the New York lawmakers actions outrageous and appalling in a statement.

This weapon of war has been used in mass shootings across the United States  from my hometown of Buffalo, where the shooter used a modified AR-15 to murder ten people in a despicable act of white supremacist terrorism, to Parkland, Florida, where the shooter killed seventeen innocent people with an AR-15-style weapon, Gov. Hochul said. This bill, which attempts to glorify the weapons that have been part of such horrific tragedies, adds unforgivable insult to injury for those families. It should never become law, and Congressman Santos should immediately remove his name from it, if he has any respect for New Yorkers.

AR-15-style assault weapons were used in school shootings including Uvalde, Texas, in 2022, Parkland, Florida, in 2018, and Sandy Hook in 2012.

The bill to see it recognised as Americas National Gun is being co-sponsored by Lauren Boebert, who owns a gun-themed restaurant in Colorado, and Georgia Congressman Andrew Clyde, a gun store proprietor from Georgia.

Mr Santos and other Republicans have been seen wearing AR-15-style lapels in Congress.

Since his election in New Yorks third congressional district in November, the 34-year-old has been unmasked as a serial fabricator who invented most of his resume, educational history and family background.
The first lady opened her trip earlier this week in Namibia, a young democracy, where on Friday she delivered a rousing speech to more than 1,000 students.

U.S. first lady Jill Biden said Friday that she feels a kinship with Africans during her sixth visit to the continent, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that she wants to support nations fighting for democracy  just like I feel were doing in the United States.

We cannot take things for granted, because its such a precious system of government, she said. We cant be complacent. We have to keep fighting for it.

The first lady opened her trip earlier this week in Namibia, a young democracy, where on Friday she delivered a rousing speech to more than 1,000 students. She told them the democracy their parents and grandparents fought for is now theirs to defend and protect.

U.S. First lady Jill Biden, right, greets students while on a visit to the University of Science and Technology in Windhoek, Namibia, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Biden told the young people that the democracy their parents and grandparents fought for is now theirs to defend and protect. (AP Photo/Dirk Heinrich)

In the interview, Biden said that when first lady Monica Geingos invited her to visit, I thought theres no better place to go than to go to Namibia to encourage the youth to get involved, stay involved, fight for their democracy, just like I feel were doing in the United States.

Africas 54 countries are a mix of sometimes fragile democracies in places like Nigeria, which has an election this weekend; and more troubled nations like Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Chad and Sudan that have seen coups in recent years; or Uganda, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, where presidents have been clinging to power for decades. Namibia gained its independence from South Africa in 1990.

American democracy was severely tested after President Joe Bidens election in 2020 when the incumbent, Donald Trump, repeatedly told lies about the election being stolen from him. Hundreds of his supporters who believed his conspiracy theories rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a violent attempt to block Congress from certifying Biden as the new president in an unprecedented effort to thwart the customary peaceful transfer of power.

U.S. First lady Jill Biden, left, greets students while on a visit to the University of Science and Technology in Windhoek, Namibia, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Biden told the young people that the democracy their parents and grandparents fought for is now theirs to defend and protect. (AP Photo/Dirk Heinrich)

In her speech, Biden said womens and girls voices need to be more prominent in the debate about democracy.

As the first generation to be born into a free Namibia, the legacy that your parents and grandparents created is now yours  yours to defend and protect, Biden told a largely student audience at Namibia University of Science and Technology.

Yours to grow. And as we look forward, we must remember that the fight for democracy has no end.

Biden later Friday moved on to Kenya, the second and final stop on her trip.

She highlighted the plight of women and girls on her earlier stops in Namibia. In Kenya, she plans to use her stature to draw attention to a devastating drought across the Horn of Africa that is leaving people hungry and jeopardizing millions of lives. She had visited in 2011 during a severe famine.

Im hoping that, you know, that people do pay attention, Biden said in the AP interview. To see the drought and what I saw before with, just, children who have no food and they cant have livestock, they cant grow crops and to be starving, and so Im trying to really create awareness and, and just see how far things have come in the 10 years, really, that Ive been gone.

US First Lady Jill Biden arrives in Nairobi, Kenya, for a three-day visit to the country, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

The first lady, who has spent time in more than a half dozen of Africas countries, said she feels really comfortable on the continent.

One thing Ive learned is that each country is so different  the people are different, the culture is different, the religion is different, the language, she said. But, you know, we all share so many of the same values.

And I think thats important, that were looking for stability, a stable government. Were looking for, you know, representation of the people. Were looking for leaders who have character and integrity, and thats what I think we want to foster. And they do, too.

She said the Biden administration is not isolationist like we were becoming in the last administration, a reference to Trump and his America-first posture.

We are reaching out and saying, Hey, were a global society. Take our hands. Lets do this together, she said of the current administration.

First Lady of the United States Jill Biden speaks during an interview with Associated Press White House reporter Darlene Superville in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Biden told The Associated Press in the exclusive interview that she feels a kinship with Africa during her sixth visit to the continent. She says she wants to support nations fighting for democracy  just like I feel were doing in the United States. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Biden has worked with young people throughout a 30-year-long teaching career and said in her address to the students that they must exercise their rights to disagree and to dissent, to speak up when they see injustice and support leaders who listen to their concerns.

She noted that, in the United States, we are still defending and strengthening our democracy, almost 250 years after our founding.

Its not easy. Democracy isnt easy. It takes work, she said during the rousing, rally-style speech. But its worth it, because democracy delivers.

Afterward, she worked her way around the courtyard in a way that she rarely do to shake hands and pose for selfies with scores of excited students. They cheered at one point when she danced briefly to a drum-heavy African beat.

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The post Jill Biden voices kinship with Africans fight for democracy appeared first on TheGrio.
Former President Jimmy Carter leans on a wall as he helps build a Habitat for Humanity house in Violet, La., in 2007. (Alex Brandon/AP)

In 2019, just hours after being released from a Georgia hospital following a fall that resulted in a pelvic fracture, former President Jimmy Carter, who had just turned 95, headed to Nashville to continue the volunteer work that had become an abiding passion of his life.

I fell down and hit my forehead on a sharp edge and had to go to the hospital. And they took 14 stitches in my forehead and my eye is black, as youve noticed, Carter told reporters gathered at the event organized by Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit whose goal is to provide decent and affordable housing for families in need. But I had a No. 1 priority, and that was to come to Nashville and build houses.

For journalist and documentary filmmaker Jonathan Alter, author of the 2020 book His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, the episode epitomized the former presidents legacy.

So he fell and he was hospitalized and he insisted on going and working on the Habitat site. It was his last such work, and, you know, there's that famous photograph of him with the bruises on his face, Alter told Yahoo News. That picture is in some ways very characteristic of Carter, because it showed his extraordinary grit and determination, but also his habit of sometimes overdoing it.

Carter at the site of a future Habitat for Humanity home in Nashville in 2019. Prior to the event, he had a fall, causing a black eye. (Erika Boyce/Habitat for Humanity)

In the week following his hospital stay, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, the former first lady, chipped in to construct 21 new Habitat for Humanity houses and helped raise funding for an additional 21 new single-family homes and 26 new townhomes, according to a Habitat press release in 2019.

Carter famously came from humble beginnings, growing up on a farm in Plains, Ga., that was without running water and electricity. Following his decision last week to forgo further medical treatment and enter hospice care, Carter, 98, returned to his hometown, where he will spend his remaining time at home with his family, the Carter Center said in a statement.

Well, it's sad. I mean, his age, it's not tragic, because he's led a long and productive life  and my understanding was that he just didn't want to be apart from Mrs. Carter anymore, said Alter, who spent time with the former president on a Habitat build in Memphis in 2016.

And he didn't want to die in the hospital alone. There's a kind of an interesting closure to it. He was the first American president born in a hospital, but you don't want to die in a hospital, and he wants to do it on his own terms. You have to respect that.

Carter works alongside other volunteers constructing a home in San Pedro, Calif., in 2007. (Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Working on a Habitat for Humanity house in Atlanta in 1988. (Margaret Miller/Photo Researchers History/Getty Images)

The former president and his wife first volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in March 1984, a little over three years after he departed the White House. Later that same year, they traveled to New York Citys Lower East Side to join other volunteers from the group in renovating an abandoned building. And that trip provided the impetus for the first Jimmy Carter Work Project with Habitat (later renamed the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project).

Carter and a bunch of his neighbors got on an overnight bus and they rode from Plains, Ga., to New York City, said Alter. So this is a former president of the United States, and he's on the bus like anybody else. I guess a Secret Service agent was with them. And they take the overnight bus. They arrive in New York City, and there's a really grungy-looking exterior of a church right when you enter the Lincoln Tunnel, and at that church they had a kind of a dormitory, and they had one private room that was going to be for the Carters. The Carters found out that there was a couple that was honeymooning, and so they gave that couple the room and they slept in the dorm. This is a former president and a former first lady.

The next day they started work on rehabbing this building and the New York Times learned about it and did a front-page story, and Habitat was on the map. That's how it took off. And every year from then until 2019 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter devoted one week to building a house somewhere in the world.

For the next 35 years, the Carters worked alongside more than 100,000 volunteers across the U.S. and 14 countries to build, renovate and repair more than 4,300 homes, according to Habitat.

Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, at a work project in Mishawaka, Ind., in 2018. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP)

All of us at Habitat for Humanity are lifting up President and Mrs. Carter in prayer as he enters hospice care, Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, said in a statement. We pray for his comfort and for their peace, and that the Carter family experiences the joy of their relationships with each other and with God in this time.

With the Carter Center, the former presidents volunteer work extended beyond Habitat for Humanity, focusing on three different areas, Alter noted.

Global health, where they've led to the near eradication of two major diseases, guinea worm disease and river blindness, he said. Democracy promotion is their second big area, and they have supervised elections in more than 100 countries. Then they're also involved in peacemaking  and that's harder to do. But you know, he's had some success over the years, particularly in the year 1994 in preventing wars in Haiti and North Korea.

All in all, not a bad legacy for a guy who grew up in Plains, Ga.  even one who went on to become president.
A Ukrainian family who fled Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 24, 2022, wait with their luggage before being allowed to cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry into the United States to seek asylum on March 22, 2022 in Tijuana, Mexico. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The Biden administration this week unveiled a plan to impose new restrictions on who can seek asylum in the United States, by penalizing migrants who cross the border without authorization or fail to apply for protections in another country if they pass through one en route.

The proposed regulation, which will make it easier to quickly deport asylum seekers who are disqualified under the new rule, was widely condemned by immigration and human rights advocates. They compared it to a 2019 Trump administration measure known as the asylum transit ban, a policy that required asylum seekers from anywhere but Mexico to request asylum in one of the other countries they traveled through before reaching the United States.

Instead of reversing the previous administrations cruel attacks on the immigration system, the Biden administration is now leading its own shameful assault on refugees seeking safety, said Laurie Ball Cooper, U.S. legal services director at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Kimiko Hirota, a policy adviser at the Womens Refugee Commission, said in a statement that she and her colleagues are horrified by this updated version of President Trumps transit ban, calling the proposal a slap in the face to families seeking safety and to U.S. and international law.

Speaking to reporters on background Tuesday, Biden administration officials rejected comparisons to the Trump transit ban, which was eventually struck down in federal court, insisting that the proposal is not a categorical bar on asylum eligibility.

Rather, officials said the Biden administration is trying to discourage vulnerable migrants from relying on dangerous routes and ruthless smugglers to help them cross the border illegally, by offering them safe and legal pathways to the U.S.

As we have seen time and time again, individuals who are provided a safe, orderly, and lawful path to the United States are less likely to risk their lives traversing thousands of miles in the hands of ruthless smugglers, only to arrive at our southern border and face the legal consequences of unlawful entry, the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, said in a statement.

Administration officials framed the proposal as the best option for preventing what they predict will be a surge in migration to the southern border after the end of Title 42, the pandemic-era public health restriction that has been used to turn away migrants, including asylum seekers, at the southern border more than 2 million times since March 2020. The termination of Title 42 has been repeatedly delayed, due to multiple ongoing lawsuits from Republican-led states who want to keep it in place. Its currently expected to be lifted on May 11, the day the new asylum rule is slated to take effect.

But first, the government has opened the proposed rule to a 30-day public comment period. So far, the proposal hasnt yielded public support from Republicans, who have tried to frame Bidens immigration policies as a wedge issue ahead of the upcoming 2024 elections.

Heres what you should know about the new proposal, and some of the key questions surrounding it.

Former President Donald Trump addresses the New Hampshire Republican State Committee's annual meeting on Jan. 28 in Salem, N.H. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

What was the Trump transit ban?

Throughout his time in the White House, former President Donald Trump set out to put in place a number of policies to block access to asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border  policies, which advocates point out, that Biden promised to reverse as president.

Among those policies was a rule introduced in 2019 that, with limited exceptions, made anyone who had to pass through another country to get to the U.S. (i.e., everyone except Mexican nationals) ineligible for asylum if they had not applied for and been denied safe harbor in another country along the way.

Advocacy groups successfully sued to block implementation of the transit ban, arguing that it violated U.S. law, which guarantees the right to seek asylum for anyone on U.S. soil who expresses a credible fear of persecution in their home country, regardless of how they reached the country. It has since been repeatedlystruck down in federal court.

President Biden gives a speech in the Royal Castle Arcades in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb. 21. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

How is Bidens plan different?

On a call with reporters this week, Biden administration officials pushed back on the suggestion that the new asylum proposal is simply a continuation of Trumps policies, insisting that This is definitely different.

The purpose of this is not to cut off people from seeking asylum the way the Trump administration was trying to do, said one official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

For one thing, the officials also noted that the Biden administration proposal does not apply to unaccompanied children, and allows for various humanitarian exemptions, including for migrants with acute medical conditions, human trafficking victims and those fleeing "imminent and extreme" danger. They also emphasized that the presumption of asylum ineligibility created by the new rule is rebuttable, meaning that migrants can overcome that presumption by proving that they were denied refuge in another country before reaching the U.S. or were unable to schedule an appointment at an official port of entry before arriving at the border.

Advocates and attorneys who work with asylum seekers have said that while they welcome the exceptions outlined in the Biden proposal, they remain skeptical how easy it will be for those who qualify to access those exceptions.

The problem with the exceptions is that most of them are legally complex, and you're dealing with an area of the law where literally 99% of these folks do not have representation, said Jeremy McKinney, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

McKinney told Yahoo News that even with the exceptions, the Biden administration is opening itself up to the kind of legal challenges that the Trump ban faced, by restricting asylum in a way that, he said, clearly violates federal law.

It's just creating a complicating factor on asylum seekers that is not present in the statute, McKinney said. And that, ultimately, is the problem.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks for identification of immigrants as they wait to be processed after crossing the border from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2022, in Yuma, Ariz. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

What 'legal pathways' are the Biden administration providing for asylum seekers at the border?

Central to the Biden administrations new asylum rule  and the argument that its different from the earlier Trump bans  is the promise that the new restrictions will be offset by expanded access to legal, orderly pathways to the United States, and specifically, the ability to request asylum at an official port of entry along the southern border.

Where Trumps transit ban applied to migrants who tried to seek asylum anywhere along the southwest border, under the proposed Biden rule, migrants who fail to seek protection in a third country would only be considered ineligible for asylum in the U.S. if they tried to cross the border unlawfully, between ports of entry.

Those who present themselves at an official port of entry, on the other hand, would only be considered ineligible for asylum if they failed to schedule an appointment in advance through a smartphone app called CBP One.

Originally introduced two years ago, to help commercial truckers schedule cargo inspections, the CBP One app is now being used by migrants requesting exemptions to Title 42 restrictions, as well as those who have been granted temporary humanitarian parole under a new program that promises to welcome up to 30,000 migrants a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Under the proposed rule published this week, the administration soon plans to expand implementation of the app to allow an increasing number of migrants who may wish to claim asylum to request an available time and location to present and be inspected and processed at certain ports of entry.

Advocates and attorneys who work with migrants along the southern border, however, have raised concerns about the plans reliance on the CBP One app, which they criticize as exclusionary and riddled with glitches.

While the Biden administration has launched a smartphone app for asylum appointments and expanded a temporary parole option for an extremely limited subset of four nationalities, these measures are no substitute for the legal right to seek asylum, regardless of manner of entry, Krish OMara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement Tuesday. It is generally the most vulnerable asylum seekers who are least likely to be able to navigate a complex app plagued by technical issues, language barriers and overwhelming demand.

Internal CBP reports obtained by Yahoo News provide further detail on the problems with the CPB One app.

Thousands of migrants in northern Mexico were unable to schedule CBP One appointments for Title 42 exceptions due to lack of availability, migration stakeholders reported, states the CBP Indications and Warnings Daily report dated Feb 12.

The same report notes that some migrants were using auto-clicker applications to get appointments as soon as they become available, and slots filled within minutes every morning. The platforms process for scheduling appointments also put families at a disadvantage compared to single adults.

The Feb. 4 version of the same CBP daily report says that migrants are increasingly frustrated with the app, citing error messages and issues with connectivity and photo uploads.

The report also notes that Shelter activists are continuing to warn these issues are leaving migrants susceptible to extortion by actors attempting to monetize the application process.

Hours before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice announced the release of the proposed asylum rule on Tuesday, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter to DHS urging that it shelve the CBP One app immediately, writing that This expanded use of the CBP One app raises troubling issues of inequitable access to  and impermissible limits on  asylum, and has been plagued by significant technical problems and privacy concerns.

Rather than mandating use of an app that is inaccessible to many migrants, and violates both their privacy and international law, DHS should instead implement a compassionate, lawful, and human rights centered approach for those seeking asylum in the United States, Markey wrote.

A CBP spokesperson referred Yahoo Newss request for comment to DHS, which declined to address the specific issues with the app highlighted in the internal CBP reports, citing a policy against commenting on leaked documents.

Instead, DHS provided a general statement on the use of the app.

CBP continues to make improvements to the app based on stakeholder feedback, including updates this week that are specifically intended to make it easier for family units to secure appointments as a group, a DHS spokesperson told Yahoo News. The CBP One app is a transparent and publicly accessible way to schedule appointments for migrants seeking to arrive at a land Port of Entry, which disincentivizes illegal crossing in between ports.

While DHS officials acknowledged that users may experience delays due to the fact that demand for appointments is far greater than the slots available, theyve also pushed back on claims that the apps facial recognition technology or language features put any one group at a disadvantage. A DHS official told Yahoo News that even before a Haitian Creole version of the app was launched last week, 40% of migrants who applied for Title 42 exceptions through the CBP One app were Haitian.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks immigrants' ID as they wait to be processed after crossing the border from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2022, in Yuma, Ariz. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

'The implementation is going to be really key'

In addition to addressing the problems with the CBP One app, McKinney, of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said the Biden administration will have to drastically increase staffing, operating hours and physical capacity at ports of entry, to accommodate the increased demand this new rule is going to create.

Right now, he said, the demand for people seeking the protection and safety of the United States is relatively spread out, because people can seek asylum in between ports of entry. But, he warned, that will change when everyone who wants to seek asylum is being funneled to the ports.

At the end of the day, Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said: What this rule really means for access to asylum at the border completely depends on how possible it will be to get an appointment at a port of entry.

If those appointments are really restricted, and then, everyone who can't get an appointment (and comes between ports of entry or comes to the port without an appointment) has a really tough road to asylum, then that's really restricting access to asylum, she added. If the appointments are easy to get, they keep improving the app, making it available in more languages, fixing the bugs, making the error messages be not in English, but in the language the person is using, all of those things, that could be quite an expansive pathway through which many people can come to into the United States and seek asylum.

The implementation is going to be really key, she said.
A Los Angeles man was arrested and charged on suspicion of hacking into Instagram accounts belonging to female influencers and trying to extort money and sexual favors, federal prosecutors said. (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A Los Angeles man has been arrested and charged on suspicion of hacking into Instagram accounts belonging to female influencers in an effort to extort money and engage in sexual video chats during a nearly four-year period, federal prosecutors said.

Amir Hossein Golshan, 24, was charged Thursday with two counts of wire fraud, one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, one count of accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of threatening to damage a protected computer, prosecutors from the U.S. attorneys office for the Central District of California said in a statement.

The indictment says Golshan would use SIM swapping, a technique by which a cellphone number associated with one SIM card is fraudulently reassigned to a different SIM card, to send the influencers Instagram password reset codes to a phone in his possession. Once logged into the accounts of his alleged targets, he would impersonate them and ask their friends for money, collecting $15,000 from friends of one account, the indictment says.

In other instances, he extorted the victims for money and sexually explicit chats to return the victims social media accounts, according to the indictment.

Golshan allegedly demanded a $5,000 payment from one victim and told her that she would regain control of her Instagram account if she initiated a video call and stripped for him.

He also allegedly charged other victims hundreds of dollars for verified badges, knowing that he could not provide the verified badges he purported to sell, the indictment claims.

If convicted, Golshans maximum sentence would be 20 years in federal prison for each of the two counts of wire fraud against him. The other four charges carry additional shorter sentences.

At his arraignment hearing Friday in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Golshan pleaded not guilty, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. His trial was scheduled for April 18.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Matt Arledge, center, of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's urban search-and-rescue team, uses a hyper-sensitive microphone to listen for signs of life in Adiyaman, Turkey, on Feb. 10. (Tom Nicholson / For The Times)

Search-and-rescue workers from Los Angeles have returned from Turkey after spending weeks assisting in the aftermath of the regions massive earthquake, which killed tens of thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

More than 80 Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel were dispatched Feb. 6 as part of the U.S. Agency for International Developments Disaster Assistance Response Team, which included a search-and-rescue squad from Fairfax, Va., after the magnitude 7.8 quake that devastated Turkey and northern Syria that day.

The L.A. County and Virginia crews are the only such teams in the country that qualify under the USAID program to assist in international disaster response.

DART led the effort to search for survivors in Adiyaman [Turkey] and surrounding areas by using sensitive cameras, listening devices, search-and-rescue canines, and other specialized equipment, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a news release Tuesday announcing the teams return.

The crew assessed more than 6,000 buildings, including hospitals and homes, surveying dozens of structures a day to determine whether they were safe for residents to move back inside.

Its a major psychological challenge, Joshua Svensson, a civil engineer with the L.A. County Department of Public Works who was dispatched to the region, recently told The Times. Its a heavy responsibility, but we will go to these houses and say, I would sleep here. Offering people that peace of mind is a big deal.

They also performed hours of tunneling work at buildings where they detected signs of life and consulted with local personnel on rescue attempts.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department also deployed seven members of its search-and-rescue program, who arrived in Turkey on Feb. 10, according to a news release.

They worked mainly in Antakya in Hatay province, one of the regions hit hardest by the quake, which has killed more than 47,000 people in the two countries. The workers returned to the U.S. on Feb. 15.

Mike Leum, assistant director for the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, has been a search-and-rescue reserve deputy for 30 years.

It was a week of triumph and tragedy, Leum said. The team, he said, rescued three people: a 52-year-old mother and her 18-year-old son, as well as a 17-year-old boy. There were deceased people, but having three live finds were worth it, he said.

The Sheriffs Department search-and-rescue team worked with about 150 other personnel from Turkey and other countries, Leum said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center is slated to open a new unit at its hospital building in Boise. But its not just any unit. It will be the first neuro, surgical, trauma intensive care unit in Idaho.

That means patients who might have needed to travel to Washington or Utah for advanced critical care will soon be able to get it in the Treasure Valley. The unit, which has 35 patient rooms, occupies an existing floor of the hospital thats been fully remodeled and outfitted with the latest medical technology.

The unit expands Saint Als ability to care for critically ill patients who suffer from the most common to the most complex neurological disorders, from spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries to seizures, strokes and tumors.

It also brings the number of ICU beds at the hospital to 77 during a time when a shortage of such beds has been felt across the region.

The hospital plans to bring the first patients into the unit on March 1.

This is going to allow us to make enormous improvements in peoples lives, said Dr. Parker Fillmore, trauma medical director at the Boise hospital, during a walk-through of the new unit with reporters on Friday. This is a magnet. Its going to draw up talent, and the whole community will benefit.

Dr. Spencer Craven, left, co-medical director of the new neuro, surgical, trauma ICU; and Dr. Parker Fillmore, right, trauma medical director at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, answer questions about new technology and resources the unit will bring to the Boise area.

Already, the unit has attracted talent from outside the state. Dr. Spencer Craven, neuro-intensivist and co-director of the new ICU, will help lead a team of neurosurgeons and other specialists working the floor.

Craven completed his fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center in California. His colleagues call him a trailblazer.

I am something that exists in (Idaho) that didnt exist before. It takes a lot of uncertainty off the table, Craven told reporters of himself.

A neuro-intensivist is a physician who cares for patients in a neurological ICU. According to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, studies show that specialized care in a neurological or neurosurgical ICU led by a neuro-intensivist is associated with improved outcomes, lower mortality rates and shorter length of stay.

Once these projects start, we attract an enormous talent pool, Fillmore said. You have people throughout the country who are doing these specialty fellowships and training, but they wont look at the Boise market because we dont have the space for them to practice their skill set.

The new unit is located on the third floor of the south tower of the original hospital building. The floor was previously occupied by inpatient rehabilitation services.

We dont like the idea of having to send a patient to another institution just because theres a thing here that we cant do, Craven said. Prior to the launch of this nest, if somebody needed subspecialty, neurocritical care, they were being flown to Salt Lake City or Seattle. Thats a long distance away.

Of the 35 new patient rooms, 18 are acute ICU rooms and 17 are stepdown rooms. A stepdown room accommodates an intermediate level of care between ICU and medical-surgical units, according to the hospital.

Claire Jones, neurosciences service line leader at Saint Als, said the unit will make patient care more seamless.

The 18 acute ICU rooms, each 398 square feet, have portable brain-monitoring systems and ceiling booms that allow for 360-degree access around patients.

Every room has private bathrooms, family areas with sofas that pull out into beds, and ceiling-mounted lifts to help move patients around. Workstations outside the rooms allow staff members to observe patients at all times.

Shared among the unit is a portable CT (computed tomography) scanner that can be brought to patients bedsides to avoid the risks associated with moving them. Previously, staff members would have to transport critically ill patients for imaging.

The CT scanner was purchased with proceeds from the 2022 Saint Alphonsus Festival of Trees.

A mobile CT scanner in the hallway.

The No. 1 place of risk for a patient is a handoff, Jones said. Its where errors happen. Its where distortion occurs and the story is lost. The more that we can be seamless and clear in whats happening with that patient, the better for our patients.

The new unit also has elevator access to the emergency and operating rooms and the helicopter landing pad on the hospital roof.

And as much as it can be, the floor is an uplifting space. Large illustrations of monarch butterflies printed onto maple wood adorn the walls. Murals from local artists and images captured by Idaho photographers of the Boise Foothills, Boise River and Sawtooth Mountains bring the outside landscape inside the sterile unit.

Inspirational quotes from Socrates to Ronald Reagan to Winnie the Pooh are plastered along the hallways. One read, Our greatest transformation happens through our toughest times.

The hospitals goal is to bring a sense of optimism to the space and help patients feel comfortable despite their circumstances, according to Joe Kane, Saint Alphonsus project manager.

The sickest of the sickest can come to St. Alphonsus, David McFadyen, president of Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, told reporters. And we have the capabilities to care for those patients.

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A nursing home employee sexually assaulted an 86-year-old resident multiple times, according to South Carolina police.

Police got an anonymous report on Oct. 28 of a sexual assault that occurred in July at Patewood Post-Acute, a nursing home facility in Greenville, according to an arrest warrant from the Greenville Police Department.

The person told police that they feared the administration would retaliate against anyone who tried to report it, according to an incident report.

An 86-year-old resident told investigators that an employee, who police identified as James Thomas Woodward, had sexually assaulted her between May and July, according to the report. She said he inappropriately touched and kissed her multiple times, the report says.

A message left at Patewood Post-Acute by McClatchy News was not returned.

A police report dated Feb. 21 identifies Woodward as a former employee. Police said in an email to McClatchy News that he was employed at the nursing home during the time of the incidents.

Woodward, 76, was charged on Feb. 23 with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to Greenville County Jail records.

Information for an attorney who could comment on his behalf was not listed.

He is being held on a $10,000 cash bond, jail records show.

Greenville is about 100 miles northwest of Columbia.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday warned that it would be wrong to think Russian President Vladimir Putin would stop at trying to take control of Ukraine, a direct break with comments made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

Pence delivered an address at the University of Texas at Austin in which he argued for the importance of U.S. support for Ukraine on the first anniversary of the war, cautioning that Russian victory in Ukraine could draw the U.S. into a broader conflict and threaten the sovereignty of NATO allies.

In an interview with NBC News after the speech, Pence was asked about DeSantiss views: Earlier this week, the Florida governor expressed opposition to open-ended support for Ukraine while casting doubt on the prospect that Russia would seek to invade other countries.

The fear of Russia going into NATO countries and all that and steamrolling, you know, that has not even come close to happening, DeSantis said on Fox News.

I would say anyone that thinks that Vladimir Putin will stop at Ukraine is wrong, Pence told NBC News, referring to DeSantiss earlier remarks.

We need to understand the real long-term threat of renewed Russian aggression in Europe, he continued. And I hold the view that it will not stop there.

Pence in Fridays speech said Putin bore responsibility for the war, and he cautioned that there can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin.

Make no mistake: This is not Americas war. But if we falter in our commitment to providing the support to help people of Ukraine to defend their freedom, our sons and daughters may soon be called upon to defend ours, Pence said. If we surrender to the siren song of those in this country who argue that America has no interest in freedoms cause, history teaches we may soon send our own into harms way.

The former Indiana governors speech  meant to showcase his foreign policy credentials  comes as he is mulling a possible 2024 presidential bid, with a decision expected in the coming weeks. He has frequently visited early voting states like Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire.

Trump and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley have already announced their candidacies, with other GOP officials such as DeSantis, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) expected to make decisions about whether to run in the coming months.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio urged President Joe Biden on Friday to immediately cancel a trip by members of the Cuban Border Guard and diplomats from the island to visit the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington and tour port facilities in North Carolina next week.

In a letter sent Friday, the Florida senator highlighted that the Cuban Border Guard, which acts as the countrys coast guard, is part of Cubas Ministry of the Interior, which is under U.S. sanctions for human-rights violations.

Rubio, a senior member of the Senates Foreign Affairs committee and vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, also suggested the delegation might include Cuban spies.

There is also a high likelihood that the delegation will include members of Cubas intelligence agencies, he wrote, adding that the invitation to Cuban intelligence operatives into sensitive national security facilities in order to share with them our nations coastal and maritime security protocols is an egregious dereliction of duty that betrays one of the most fundamental tenets of the oath you have sworn, to protect America from foreign enemies.

You must cancel this visit immediately, and explain to the American people how this was allowed to happen on your watch, he added.

Rubio said Congress was notified that the visit had been planned by the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. A State Department spokesperson told the Miami Herald: We have nothing to confirm at this time.

The Biden administration resumed migration talks and law enforcement cooperation dialogues with Cuba, prompted by the largest mass migration event from the island in several decades. While most of the more than 300,000 Cubans who came to the United States in 2022 crossed the border with Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard also had to respond to a dramatic increase of Cuban migrants trying to reach South Florida shores.

Over the decades, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Cuban border guard have forged a strong cooperation that has been kept below the radar at times of diplomatic tension to avoid criticism. In moments of crisis, the relationship has served as a communication channel between the two governments, according to the account of a former U.S. State Department official who asked not to be identified to speak of the sensitive matter.

Several reports sent to Congress by the State Department on the compliance of Cuban migration accords, written between 2017 and 2021 and reviewed by the Herald, include a line stating that the two coast guards routinely cooperate in all aspects of Cuban maritime migration. That includes active target hand-off operations in which the Cuban Border Guard pursues a vessel until it leaves Cubas territorial waters and then allows the USCG to interdict the vessel. Such incidents are common, according to an October 2017 report. Between October 2016 and September 2017, the Cuban Border Guard conducted 37 such operations.

While the Biden administration is keen on addressing the migration crisis, inviting Cuban officials to tour the U.S. might trigger criticism from Cuban exiles, especially after recent events in which survivors of a collision at sea say their boat was rammed by a Cuban coast guard vessel.

Cuban authorities have said the collision was an accident, while some survivors told the media that they were pressed to change their initial statements.
Police stop the youths who were protesting in front of Nims hospital (R Pavan/DC)

HYDERABAD: As Dr Dharavathi Preethi continued to battle for her life, the demand for justice for her and stringent action against Dr Mohammad Saif, accused of harassing her, grew louder on Friday. Scores of members of tribal unions thronged the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) Hospital in a show of support.

Her father, D. Narender, an ASI with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), demanded that he only wanted his daughter to return to good health, and action should be taken against those responsible for her suicide attempt. "But I know she will not come back," he told Deccan Chronicle.

Nims hospital in a bulletin said Dr Preethi was being maintained on the ECMO, ventilator and dialysis (continuous renal replacement therapy ). "Patient shows some improvement in terms of heart and kidney function. Cardiac output and contractility are improving," it said in the morning.

Reacting sharply to minister Satyavathi Rathod's reported statement that Dr Preethi had opened her eyes when she visited her, Narender said when the whole family was by her side wailing but she had not responded.

He said Dr Preethi had been complaining to him about the harassment. "I was on leave for my younger daughters wedding. When I met her last on February 20, she broke down and that is when I realised she was in deep pain. In less than 36 hours, I was informed that she became unconscious and is in ICU," Narender added.

Meanwhile, tribal unions questioned the delay in taking action against the accused in the case. They demanded a high power commission to inquire into the incidents that led to Dr Preethis alleged suicide attempt.

Kethavath Gopi Singh Naik of the Banjara Vikas Samithi demanded action on the HoD and Principal at KMC and also on the police who did not act on time on her fathers complaint.

Dr Preethis cousin B. Deepika Naik said if she belonged to an upper-class community, there would have been a beeline of VIPs. "They do not even have the time to have a word with the parents and assure justice," she said. "They might be of the thought that tribals are helpless and cannot do anything. If justice is not served, we will agitate and tandas from across the state will come together," she said.
Veronica Ojeda, left, and Efren Dominguez throw snowballs along Angeles Crest Highway on Jan. 30, 2023. (Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

Dense fog covered snow-capped mountains and desert hills of the Antelope Valley as a storm pounded the region with rain and threatened more snow.

The parking lot of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, a popular tourist attraction at this time of year, was almost empty.

One family visiting from Guadalajara, Mexico, said the rain wouldn't stop them from driving to see the sights in town, but they remained in the car, safe from the pellets of rain that melted pockets of snow on the ground nearby.

Parents in neighboring Lancaster, which was projected to see snow Saturday, rushed to grab their children from a line at Monte Vista Elementary School.

With umbrellas in hand, bundled in beanies and puffy jackets, families scattered to the gate and back to their vehicles to avoid the sprinkles.

Obie Garza, father of 6-year-old Alina and 5-year-old Nathan, said its pretty rare for the area to witness a snowstorm and he and his and children were excited at the possibility, particularly since Nathan will celebrate his birthday on Saturday.

Its weird to think of it snowing here, but its happened before and theyre excited about it happening tomorrow, Garza said.

While their peers had plans to stay indoors or head to Chuck E. Cheese, the Garza family intends to visit Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood to celebrate Nathans big day.

The soon-to-be 6-year-old said he will commemorate his birthday with a snowman. His sister hopes to toss a snowball or two at her father.

It will be the place to be, Garza said, noting the area has plenty of activities for children. Its convenient because its local and right up the road, and I think well all enjoy it.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Sandi Nelson takes a photo as her husband, Tim, and daughter, Sarah, play in freshly fallen snow in Rancho Cucamonga. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A storm system for the ages passed through Southern California on Saturday, dumping piles of snow in lower-elevation communities, closing key roads and leaving residents used to the regions dry, warm climate with a rare sense of icy wonder.

The frigid conditions dropped the snow level to 1,500 or less on Saturday, enough for snowball fights, snowman building and the unusual sight of foothills covered with a white dusting. Mountain communities were slammed by intense snowfall.

As of Sunday morning, Interstate 5 through the Grapevine was still closed due to snow, along with many mountain roads.

Cold, unsettled conditions were expected to continue, with more rain possible Sunday night and through Wednesday due to weak storm activity, according to the National Weather Service. Total rainfall was predicted to be between a half inch to one inch, with snow levels falling to 3,500-4,500 feet.

That is nothing compared to the storm that moved out Saturday. It left dramatic vistas of snow-capped mountains Sunday morning as the sun came out.

This has been one of the more impressive storms in the last few years here in Southern California, said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, particularly because of its rainfall records and low-snow levels, including reports of flurries at the Hollywood sign Thursday. Its a storm we havent seen very often in our careers here so far.

And that was fine for many.

Heavy snow was still falling in Acton on Saturday afternoon, where 40-year-old Edgar Corona brought his two kids to enjoy the day playing in the snow.

Olivia Wightman, 10, left, and her sister Lucy, 7, step outside their home to check out the snow falling in Glendale. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Its something weve never really experienced, he said as white powder coated the hood and rooftop of his black Honda Civic. So I brought them here, its been pretty great.

Reports of power outages, grounded flights and road closures rang out through the Southland as the plume of frigid moisture traveled a southeastern path. Lightning prompted the closure of several beaches from Los Angeles to San Diego  including all beaches in L.A. County  where officials warned of potential strikes along the coast and over the ocean through midnight Saturday.

Rescue crews came to the aid of several people, including a 61-year-old man hoisted to safety from a dirt island in the Tujunga wash Saturday morning and two homeless men stranded amid water that had risen in Hansen Dam, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Vehicles are partially submerged as Caltrans crews work to pump stormwater from Interstate 5 at Lankershim Boulevard in Sun Valley. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Four homeless people, along with four dogs and a cat, were also rescued from a remote area of land within the heavily flooded Sepulveda Basin late Friday night, LAFD said. Two of the people were suffering from hypothermia and taken to a hospital.

Quite a remarkable storm the last few days with historic amounts of precipitation and snow down to elevations that rarely see snow, the National Weather Service said of the winter rarity, which dropped fresh powder at elevations even lower than 1,500 feet over the course of its run, including in Sunland-Tujunga.

The storm, which had already dumped snow on Northern California, set multiple records in and around Los Angeles on Friday, including 4.61 inches of rain near Hollywood Burbank Airport  its fifth wettest day ever, according to Thompson.

Daily rainfall records were also set at Los Angeles International Airport, which received 2.04 inches, and in Lancaster with 0.78 of an inch, Camarillo with 1.43 inches, Oxnard with 2.04 inches and Santa Maria with 2.61 inches, Thompson said, calling it very impressive stuff.

The unusual system also dropped heavy snow on mountain areas, especially elevations above 4,500 feet. Mountain High resort in Wrightwood received 65 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours, Thompson said, with the potential for an additional foot Saturday.

However, the brunt of the storm had passed the Los Angeles area by Saturday morning, Thompson said, with lighter showers in the forecast heading into Sunday.

The weakening system spurred a number of dramatic rescues and dangerous situations during its run. In Ojai, a rescue helicopter roared over Ladera Ridge Road at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, when a woman was trapped in a dip in the road amid rapidly rushing water.

Video shared by the Ventura County Fire Department shows a rescue swimmer dropping down from the helicopter via a long cable, landing on the roof of the car, and guiding the woman out from the drivers side. She held on tight as the helicopter swung both of them over to dry land, where other firefighters helped receive them.

A call for help went out again 30 minutes later, at about 11 p.m., this time at the mouth of the Ventura River. Two men were stuck on an island that had formed in the middle of the river mouth, as rushing water rose on all sides.

A team of firefighters was able to rescue them with a long ladder, said Jeremy Henderson, battalion chief for the city of Venturas Fire Department. He urged the public on Saturday to remain alert for rising water.

Dont go through any moving water, its extremely dangerous, he said. Just 12 inches can take your vehicle off the road.

Still, some Southern Californians reveled in the novel appearance of wintry weather. On a snow-covered hilltop in the Ana Verdes Hills neighborhood, Steven Lopez, 10, constructed a snowman as tall as himself while his siblings, Chelsea and Brandon, took turns sledding through desert shrubs. Their father, Arnan Lopez, took in the beauty of the snow-covered hilltops.

Back then we had to drive two hours to Big Bear. Now, its our backyard, Lopez said, describing Saturday as a perfect day.

Lusin Torosyan, left, and her child Shant Yedigaryan, 12, build a snowman in Dunsmore Park in Glendale. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Some ski resorts similarly celebrated the snowfall  even as the storm made getting to them difficult or impossible. The roads to and from Big Bear mountain resorts were closed Saturday, but the Bear Mountain and Snow Summit properties were open to visitors who were in town before the closures.

Things were quieter than usual, with snow falling steadily through the morning, said spokesman Justin Kanton.

Its kind of a bubble right now, he said. Were kind of in our own little snow globe.

Similarly, in Mammoth Lakes, U.S. Route 395 has been closed in both directions for two days. But Mammoth Mountain resort was open Saturday.

The storm snarled traffic too. Interstate 5 remained closed in the Grapevine area from Tejon Pass to Parker Road due to wintry conditions Saturday, the California Department of Transportation said. In the city, the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 were closed around Laurel Canyon Boulevard because of flooding.

Other closures in the area include portions of State Route 138, as well as State Routes 2 and 39 in the Angeles National Forest, Caltrans said. The storm also brought arriving flights to LAX to a halt late Friday night and into Saturday, airport officials said.

Between midnight and noon Saturday, 37 flights were canceled and 182 flights were on a major delay, spokeswoman Victoria Spilabotte said Saturday afternoon.

The storm also prompted power outages affecting North Hollywood, Crenshaw, Baldwin Hills, Jefferson Park and other areas, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said, with tens of thousands of customers still without service Saturday afternoon. The agency said it could take up to 48 hours to respond and make repairs in some areas.

While we know this is an extended period of time and a significant inconvenience for our customers, we want to assure everyone affected that were working hard to get power restored, DWP senior assistant general manager Brian Wilbur said in a statement. The weather, crew safety and the complexity of some repairs related to downed trees will largely determine how quickly we are able to get power restored.

Southern California Edisons outage map also showed more than 10,000 customers without power in Southern California, including about 5,500 in L.A. County.

This storm is widespread and impacting many of SCEs customers and communities, from Catalina Island to Lake Arrowhead and from the Grapevine to Mammoth, spokesman Reggie Kumar said.

Another series of weaker storms is due to hit the area beginning Monday, forecasters said. And while the current system is weakening, officials warned residents to remain vigilant as soggy, snowy and potentially dangerous conditions could persist.

In San Diego, two people were rescued Saturday morning from a partially submerged vehicle just north of the San Diego International Airport, where lifeguards helped pull the pair to safety.

In Castaic, two motor homes in an RV park were swept into the Santa Clara River shortly after midnight Saturday when an embankment collapsed, according to Sgt. Keith Greene of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriffs Station. Large chunks of land were still seen crumbling into the swollen river Saturday morning, and the area was without power because an electric cable along the embankment had washed away.

No one was injured, and the area along the riverbank was evacuated, Greene said, but water levels remained too high to try to recover the two trailer homes.

In other areas, however, conditions were already beginning to change.

Caroline Brown, a 73-year-old Lancaster resident, said she was hoping for heavy rain to spare her from having to go out in the cold and walk her Jack Russell terrier, Luna.

But the monster storm was beginning to break, revealing a blue sky.

It was wonderful, Brown said of the storm. We need more of it.

Times staff writers Paloma Esquivel and Roger Vincent contributed to this report.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
For a state thats more accustomed to 72F and sunny, California is buckling up for a punishing weekend of heavy snow, torrential rain and bitterly-cold temperatures.

The state had its first blizzard warning since 1989 with record snowfall forecast in some mountainous areas and the National Weather Service (NWS) reporting that travel would be very difficult, if not impossible.

It comes only weeks after parts of California received half the annual rainfall when the state was bombarded by a relentless parade of atmospheric rivers.

The latest storm system was described as cold and dangerous by NWS, and beginning to bare its teeth on Friday while heading south.

Alerts were issued for ocean water spouts and land-based tornadoes in southeast Santa Barbara and southern Ventura counties outside of Los Angeles.

Above LA, the iconic Hollywood sign received a light but exceptionally rare sprinkling of snow, ABC7 reported. Sightseers gathered below the hills to snap pictures of the famous lettering which was also shrouded in a dense fog.

Heavy bands of rains were expected across southern California, ranging from two to five inches, and up to six inches in the foothills and mountains below where snow was falling.

Simply put, this will be a historic event for the amount of snow over the higher peaks and lower elevation snow, said the NWS regional office.

In the next 24 hours, snowfall of six to 12 inches is possible at elevations of 2,500-4,000 feet, and three to five feet at higher elevations. Isolated amounts of up to eight feet are possible nearer to peaks, according to NWS.

Strong, gusty winds of 60-75 mph will howl through southern Californias mountains and foothills and at 30-50mph along the coasts and valleys.

Temperatures will be 10-20 degrees colder than usual, and as much as 25 degrees below normal in places while wind chills will bring it down to -5F in the mountains, forecasters said.

Public officials warned residents to prepare for possible road closures, delays and be especially careful due to whiteout and blizzard conditions, along with the increased threat of avalanches. Interstate 5, the major north-south highway running down the west coast, was shut south of the Oregon border.

Due to the heavy rainfall, there is risk of flash floods and river flooding along with mud and debris flows in the burn scars of recent wildfires.

On Friday afternoon, flooding potential was increasing in Santa Barbara and LA counties due to persistent, slow moving rain bands, NWS warned, urging drivers to take extreme caution.

#BREAKING Avoid Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood next to Hollywood Burbank Airport because of street flooding that trapped at least 5 cars, drivers were able to get out on their own per @LAFD @ABC7 Road closed. Airport operations not disrupted yet, but flooding is near runway. pic.twitter.com/pVffmgXIT3  Josh Haskell (@abc7JoshHaskell) February 24, 2023

Due to the strong winds, downed trees and power lines are also a threat. More than 114,000 people were in blackout in the state on Friday afternoon, according to utility tracker Poweroutage.us.

Most of the outages were in the northern half of the state with Lake County and Del Norte County, on the Oregon border, the worst impacted.

Both Los Angeles and San Francisco airports were experiencing dozens of delays, according to the travel tracking site FlightAware.

Some 358 flights had been cancelled in the US today overall due to the severe weather conditions from coast to coast and more than 4,500 flights were delayed.

Over the border in Oregon, the city of Portland was largely shuttered on Friday due to thick ice that wouldnt thaw out until Saturday. The city received close to 11 inches of snow this week, the second highest amount on record.

From coast-to-coast, Winter Storm Olive has pummeled much of the western and northern United States this week, styming travel plans and leaving nearly 1million people without power.

By Friday, that was down to under 700,000 residents, mostly in Michigan and centered around Detroit.

A Michigan firefighter died on Wednesday after coming in contact with a downed power line in Paw Paw,The Associated Press reported. He was named as Ethan Quillen, a father and volunteer firefighter since 2019, by local station News Channel 3.

But despite the bitter cold in many places, the US was a landscape of climate extremes. While deep Arctic air caused temperatures to plummet as much as 30 to 40 degrees below average in parts of the West and Plains, the US also experienced its first 100-degree day of 2023.

Falcon Lake in Texas hit 100F on Wednesday as temperature records were broken across the Southwest.
A St. Helena couple has been charged for allegedly disciplining their teenage daughter with extension cords, according to the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office.

Virginia Nava, 33, and Melchor Nava, 38, were each charged Thursday evening with unlawful conduct toward a child, jail records show.

The parents called police to their home on Seaside Road Thursday afternoon due to their teenage daughters behavioral issues, according to Maj. Angela Viens, a spokesperson for the Sheriffs Office.

When deputies arrived, the daughter told them her parents had whipped her with extension cords as punishment. Police later found markings on the girls arms, legs and feet that appeared to confirm her accusation, Viens said. This evidence allowed police to obtain arrest warrants for the couple.

Following the parents arrests, their four children were taken into custody by the Department of Social Services. Viens said police do not yet know whether this alleged form of abuse happened more than once or with more than one child, but all four children will be interviewed as the part of the standard investigation process for potential child abuse.

Under South Carolina law, unlawful conduct toward a child is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

As of Friday afternoon, Virginia and Melchor Nava were each being held on a $5,000 bond at the Beaufort County Detention Center.

If you or someone you know has been affected by child abuse, help can be found by calling Hopeful Horizons 24-hour Support Line at 843-770-1070.

When we publish mugshots

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

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

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

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

Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
Joseph "Joe Exotic" Maldonado-Passage, pictured in 2013, has reportedly refused treatment for his prostate cancer. (Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)

Joe Exotic, the controversial star of Netflix's "Tiger King," is reportedly not seeking any treatment for his prostate cancer, more than a year after his diagnosis.

Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, said in a letter obtained by TMZ that his cancer has worsened and that his doctors believe it has spread to his bladder.

According TMZ, the television star has had "a lot of blood in his urine" and experienced "a lot" of bleeding during his prostate cancer treatments.

Imprisoned at the Federal Medical Center Fort Worth in Texas, the 59-year-old Exotic reportedly said he'll pass on treatment despite his medical team's desire to conduct more tests.

"I want to stay here and just let it take its course," Exotic wrote, according to TMZ.

The former zookeeper, who gained popularity in the early-pandemic Netflix docuseries "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness," was convicted in 2019 on federal charges of animal cruelty and murder-for-hire against rival Carole Baskin.

In January 2022, a federal judge reduced Exotic's sentence from 22 years to 21 years despite his pleas for leniency because of his cancer diagnosis.

In November 2021, Exotic wrote in a letter shared with The Times that he was diagnosed with "an aggressive" cancer, but wasn't seeking any support.

"Right now, I don't want anyone's pitty[sic]," he wrote.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
by Sumon Corraya

This years edition of the Ekusha Boi Mela (21-28 February) at the Bangla Academy includes Christian stands. Some Muslim visitors have had negative comments, while others have taken the opportunity to buy the Bible and learn about the life of Jesus. Members of the Bangladesh Christian Writers Forum are present.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  The annual Ekusha Boi Mela national book fair is underway at the Bangla Academy in Dhaka until 28 February.

Opened by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last Tuesday, the event includes Christian exhibition stands to bear witness to the Gospel, promote Christian literature and reach out to Muslims, despite the few who shun them, proffer the occasional insult, or warn their children, Dont touch the Bible.

More than 800 exhibitors are present at the 2023 edition, including the Bangladesh Bible Society (BBS), at the stall 789.

For Shuvro Falia, head of BBS marketing, the atmosphere is generally positive even though "Some Muslims have expressed negative comments about Christians, some saying not to touch the books, even to children.

The book fair, which is dedicated to the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement who were killed on 21 February 1952, provides an opportunity to spread the word of God and faith among people, many of them non-Christians, who come to us and buy copies of the Bible, Falia, a Protestant woman, told AsiaNews.

We bear witness to Jesus Christ with our presence and remember the British missionary William Carey, who first translated the Bible into the local language.

This year, for the first time, the Bangladesh Christian Writers Forum (BCWF) set up its own exhibition stand, with the aim of "sharing our literature with others" as its chairman, Khokon Corraya, put it.

Their presence at the fair has favoured sales, with thousands of Christian books and magazines sold to readers who otherwise would not have learnt about this kind of literature.

Even among Muslims, some "welcome the presence of a stand dedicated to the Bible, Falia said.

One of them, Hassan Mahamud, told AsiaNews that he bought a copy despite being Muslim to "learn more about Christianity" and its sacred texts.

Rev James Jipu Roy, of the House Church of Bangladesh community, says he is a deep admirer of the initiative and hopes to see other Christian publishers at the forum, so that "our values find greater echo.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with senior party leader Sonia Gandhi during the 85th Plenary Session of the Indian National Congress, in Raipur (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday virtually signalled the end to her active political career by saying her "innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo yatra".

Speaking at the 85th plenary session of the Congress she said, "I had the honour of being party president in 1998. Over these 25 years, our party has seen achievements and disappointments. Our victory in 2004 and 2009 (Lok Sabha polls), along with the able leadership of (former prime minister) Manmohan Singh, gives me personal satisfaction. But what gratifies me the most is that my innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which came at a crucial point."

Congress is not just a political party, Mrs Gandhi said, but reflects the voices of people of all religions, castes and genders. She asserted that the party will fulfil all their dreams.

She urged the Congress workers to achieve the goal of defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls under the leadership Kharge.

"We must tackle this regime with vigour. We must reach out to people and convey our message with clarity. We must be ready to put aside our personal ambitions," she said.

The former Congress chief also alleged that the government's actions show contempt for the values enshrined in the Constitution. "The situation today reminds me of the time when I first entered Parliament," she said.
A recent survey found that more than 60 per cent say they are willing to fight. According to recent wargames, the US and Japan could avert a Chinese attack, but at a very high cost. China's military are learning from Russias mistakes in Ukraine. Taiwan trusts the natural obstacle of the Taiwan Strait.

Taipei (AsiaNews)  More than 60 per cent of Taiwanese are ready to fight in case of an invasion by China, this according to a study by Josh Wenger, a postdoctoral research associate at the Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology.

This is one of the highest levels in the last 30 years based on surveys designed to measure the willingness of the Taiwanese population to defend their homeland against a foreign threat.

This result contradicts the prevailing narrative that the Taiwanese would not risk their lives in case of a Chinese attack.

It also belies the potential attitudes among the Taiwanese compared to that of the Ukrainians who have shown almost total unity in wanting to repel Russian aggression.

According to mainland China, Taiwan is a rebel province to be taken by force if necessary.

Under the Taiwan Relations Act, the United States is committed to the defence of Taiwan.

Based on recent wargames involving a Chinese invasion of the island in 2026, Japans Sasakawa Peace Foundation concluded that US and Japanese forces could stop the Chinese, but at very high costs for Japan and the United States.

Conversely, Taiwan News reports that Chieh Chung, a security analyst with the National Policy Foundation in Taipei, argues that the Chinese are learning from the mistakes made by the Russians in Ukraine and that they could achieve a quick victory in the event of an attack.

For his part, Taiwans Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng, replied that the countrys armed forces would fight to the bitter end, and that to win the Chinese will first have to overcome the imposing obstacle of the Taiwan Strait.
SUV

PHEV

The 2024 Toyota GR Corolla Circuit Edition hot hatchback was just confirmed, thus expanding the versions production run beyond the introductory model year, for example. The 2024 Grand Highlander three-row seven or eight-seat crossoverwas just introduced in response to the all-new Honda Pilot, and smaller stuff like the 2023 Prius Primeor Corolla Cross Hybrid are slated for arrival at dealerships this year, along with nastier ideas such as the rugged Trailhunter series.But perhaps Toyota still needs a few reinforcements in the truck area where the best-selling Tacoma is starting to grow long in the tooth and the fresh Tundra faces an uphill battle of epic i-Force MAX proportions against the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, Ram 1500, or Nissan Titan. And the rumor mill is keen on whispering the news that the company may be mulling a more compact pickup truck to be slotted below the Tacoma.Of course, that can only mean one thing  a potential return to life of the Toyota Stout nameplate in a bid to fight the posh Hyundai Santa Cruz and electrified Ford Maverick across North America. The light-duty truck was produced by the Rising Sun carmaker between 1954 and 1989  with the United States fans having access to the second generation during the 1960s. The model paved the way for the Hilux and Tacoma, so its return to the market would have the benefit of reconnecting the dots and basically coming full circle.And, naturally, this is all due to the incredible success of the Ford Maverick, which was entitled to the unibody pickup truck throne last year thanks to a combination of good looks, a modern platform, affordable trims, and the standard availability of an efficient hybrid powertrain plus a turbo flagship. Logic dictates that rivals will not lay dormant for too long but even before Toyota starts the OEMs gigantic procedures for a Stout revival, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators is all ready to take care of the CGI business.The latest unofficial comeback attempt at Stout greatness comes from Dimas Ramadhan, the virtual automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, who has taken up the task of revealing an all-new, fourth-generation Toyota Stout - in CGI, and without much respect for what a unibody compact truck should look like. As such, instead of the sleek looks portrayed by the ritzier Hyundai Santa Cruz or the minimalist atmosphere promoted by the Ford Maverick, this hypothetical Stout is as rugged as it can be. And, frankly, that is really not a bad thing!
Photo: NestSeekers

Photo: NestSeekers

Photo: NestSeekers

Carchitecture, or car-centric architecture, has seen an incredible boost in recent years, as modern design evolved to embrace and integrate the most outrageous whims and desires of the rich. After all, the rich may be a lot of things, and many of them are bad, but theyre the ones signing the check. So, whatever they want, they get.Roman James and his Roman James Design studio know all about that. The West Coast mega-mansion builder whose clients include Markus Peerson of Minecraft fame, and Reinout Oerlemans, the creator of the reality series The Biggest Loser, is warming up for his first East Coast project, which, as it so happens, is also a very car-centric mansion.Its beautiful, its outrageous, and its outrageously luxurious. Its also gigantic, and very expensive , with a current asking price of $50 million. As of the time of press, it is also non-existent.Called Eagles Point, the property has a 2024 timeline for completion but its been looking for a potential buyer since last summer. It sits on a large piece of land on top of a hill in the neighborhood of Water Mill in the Hamptons, New York, with commanding views of the surrounding area all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.Theres currently a mansion at the location, famously rented by diva Mariah Carey as her summer retreat. The developer plans to tear it down to build what will become Eagles Point, the hidden gem of the Hamptons and the dream mansion for a passionate  and rich  car collector.In theory at least, the home will be one of our dreams in all regards, but the planned 15-car display is whats more relevant to our interests. Renders published by Roman James Design show a space dedicated to the owners automotive love, with seven lifts and at least one turntable, in order to show off the favorite car of the moment.The display room  since were led to believe this is not the only garage available on site  is swathed in glossy marble, with accent lighting on the walls and the ceiling, and elegant finishes. The place looks elegant and very, and because of it, imposing and intimidating, and maybe a tad overwhelming as well. Most car-centric real estate also features adjacent lounges and even game rooms, but this display room will probably work best pared down. One render also shows a small and minimalist sitting area by the central staircase, and that seems to be the only lounge-like area available.The display room is located below ground level, and features additional parking outside.Designed for entertaining, Eagles Point would also get resort-style facilities, like a spa-inspired wellness area with a fitness center, sauna and massage room, an outdoor pool and a jacuzzi. In fact, it would have every conceivable luxury, from a bowling alley and two different private cinemas, one indoors and one outside by the pool, an outdoor kitchen specifically designed for pool parties, and a handbag room for the Birkins and the Hermeses in your life. After all, if you get an entire area for the cars , you might as well splurge and add a climate-controlled room for your designer handbags, right? Theyre investment pieces, too.With a total living surface of 15,000 square feet (1,394 square meters), the mansion will have 6 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, so more than enough space for the family of the owner and whatever guests they have around. Everything will be custom-made and brought in especially for this project, from the stones to the finishes and the furnishes, the builder assures.Of course, since you can afford to spend $50 million and at least a couple of years of your time waiting for the perfect home, you can always switch things up a bit. If youre not happy with the current proposition, you can meet with the builder and customize the home whichever way you like. Theres also the possibility of buying the land only for $20 million and building on it with another team, or you can keep the existing mansion. If it was good enough for Mariah , it can work for any other mortal out there.Jokes aside, this is ultra-luxury real estate, and a whole different ball game from our daily lives, where our daily drivers highest selling points are not its exclusiveness or exorbitant price tag, but good fuel efficiency and reliability. Every once in a while, though, it doesnt hurt to peek over to the side of the one-percenters, and whisper what if.This is one of those times: a mansion thats tailored-made for a car collector looking to put his rides on display, inside a space that will get his collector friends green with envy. It doesnt hurt that said car display comes packaged with a gorgeous mansion oozing luxury.
Despite having some of the hottest vehicles on the market, Ford still struggles to make ends meet, according to the 2022 financial results. CEO Jim Farley apologized for the lackluster performance and blamed it on the ongoing quality problems. Indeed, Ford was the most recalled car brand in the U.S. for the second year in 2022, and all those recalls surely took their toll on the bottom line.The Blue Oval was trying to avoid another potentially costly recall in the case of the F-150 Lightning when it decided to stop production earlier this month. The decision was prompted by what the company called a potential battery issue that later was confirmed to be a battery fire. According to several accounts, an F-150 Lightning caught fire in a holding lot that stored vehicles awaiting quality review before shipment to dealers. Ford had to admit to that without offering other details. The carmaker issued a Stop-Build and In-Transit Stop Ship order, although it fell short of issuing a stop-sales order.Based on initial estimates, production shouldve resumed by February 23, but Ford decided to take another week off. The decision is unusual considering that Fords battery supplier SK On has restarted battery cell production at its plant in Georgia. Ford said on Friday that the production is still suspended until the carmaker ensures SK On is back to building high-quality cells.The teams worked quickly to identify the root cause of the issue, Ford said in a statement to CNBC. We agree with SKs recommended changes in their equipment and processes for SKs cell production lines.Considering the production was stopped around February 6 and will not resume until March, this doesnt sound like working quickly. According to sources consulted by Detroit Free Press, the fire was caused by a battery cell problem, so there wasnt much Ford could do to speed things up. Still, extending the production halt after the carmaker agreed with SK Ons proposed solution indicates that Ford is not that eager to resume production.One of the reasons could be that Ford doesnt trust the solution and is waiting to see if it indeed works. Unless another truck catches fire in the meantime, this would be hard to test. Another reason could be that Ford is not that comfortable with restarting F-150 Lightning production. The carmaker is actually losing money with every F-150 Lightning truck it builds. The fewer units Ford makes, the less money it loses, so there is an incentive to produce fewer electric trucks. Not to mention that it can blame SK On for freezing production this time.
Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion

Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion

Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion

HP

Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion

ICE

And Im not talking about high-end engineering that would make NASA geeks extend their hands out for an approbatory high-five. The race in todays report is a Nissan-exclusive event, with a 2023 Nissan Z and a 2000 Skyline R34 GT-T. Thats T, as in Turbo, and not R, as in Godzilla.There isnt an R in Godzilla? Tell that to the Nissan fans, and then well talk. In the meantime, lets see what this middle-class face-off is about. Sam Carlegion, the car YouTuber from Canada, went out to his local dragstrip for a quick run.Armed with a 2023 Nissan Z , as mentioned, the vlogger had a contest against a tuned but still old Skyline. The owner claims some 415 hp at the wheel  the rear ones, if anyone needs clarifications on the drivetrain architecture. This isnt the mythological monster, but a pompous Grand Tourer; only the back rubbers are used for traction.Nonetheless, 415 hp (421 PS) is more than the Z, which only offers 400 hp (406 PS), also democratically divided among the aft wheels. Transmission-wise, the balance is broken abruptly  a five-speed manual from 23 years ago rubbing elbows with a nine-speed automatic? How fast of a reflex would a driver need to possess to beat the shift times of a computer-dominated high-tech clockwork assembly?Still, car racing has taught us a thing or two about underdogs coming out on top at the end of the 440-yard clash, so lets not throw out the baby with the bath water just yet. Prejudice is a false advocate, especially when cars are concerned.2.5 liters arranged in six equally sized and straight-line organized cylinders is another sector in which the Skyline loses the battle against the Z. Although the piston headcount is the same, the architecture spells a big V. The displacement is an even three liters, with two turbines to blow cold air into the combustion chambers.The aging R34 borrowed a turbocharger from a Dodge Cummins engine to boost power by around 200 hp. Where is this value coming from? A bit of fun crankshaft math should help  but please allow for a safe margin of error.The Skyline driver states a 415-hp rating on the ground. If we admit the drivetrain loss to be a rounded 15%, the flywheel value is roughly 477 hp. Bone stock, a GT Turbo, came off the assembly line with a 276 hp Apgar score. Basic primary school arithmetic solves for X.To make matters worse  on paper  for the Z, if we reverse-equate the same formula, we end up with a tire-horsepower index of 340 (345 PS). However, the old GTT has an advantage of 3,100 lb or thereabout (1,400 kg, give or take).On the other hand, the 2023 Zs lightest trim is a 3.550 lb (1.6 tons) car. But this model is a performance version (the paddle shifters give it away), weighing 3,600 lb (1,633 kg). So, in absolute values, the Skyline drops the power-to-weight hammer on its younger half-brother.Alright, papers aside, car racing is about metal and rubber. And electronics, if I may, mainly because these two contenders come from a country that loves to put electronics on everything. Without further ado: 3, 2, 1  hit it!Remember that 415 RW-firepower claimed by the R34 GTT Skyline? That extra 200 hp we mathematically determined must have ended up on the spare wheel. The Z shoots off the line, leaving the old but cool-looking adversary in the dust.The 2023 karate kid has the Downshift Rev Matching feature, while the clunky clutch and the long-travel shifter from 23 years ago cant do any good. The Skyline becomes a speck in the Zs rearview mirrors  watch Sam lean over to see where he lost his opponents.Skyline radicals might argue the turbo lag disadvantage that discredits their beloved R34. Well, I have news  and when has any news been good? The drag race failed to provide any drama, but the roll race is no different. From 32 mph  50 kph  the Nissan Z axes the GTT without remorse, shaming it without consideration for the common emblem on their grilles.Even at 50 mph (80 kph), with the turbo in full swing  hopefully  the Skyline isnt able to show the rear spoiler to its counterpart. It puts up a fight, but its far too little and too late to matter. Also, the catastrophically bouncy suspension didnt help  look at the driver jolting up and down like its spring-loaded.Sometimes, old cars should avoid a fight; alternatively, they should pick on somebody their size . After all, its a sad moment for theas it is; we dont need to be reminded of how immensely obsolete they are on the efficiency leaderboards.
Possible fixes

The voice command feature integrated into the app allows users to interact with Android Auto hands-free. As such, the distraction behind the wheel is significantly reduced, letting users access apps like navigation and music players without the need for touch input.A recent update seems to have broken down the voice command support in Android Auto , with users now provided with an unusual message when trying to launch a certain feature.Users are told to enable personal results in settings, something that doesnt seem to be immediately available on the Android device. The error message is generated when trying to make calls with a voice command.The issue was first spotted in January. An update to the Google app appears to be the culprit, as users of the latest version are most often encountering the glitch. The latest version at the time of writing is 14.7.14, but in late January, the build that may have triggered the bug was 14.4.6.The Google app is in charge of powering the voice command integration in Android Auto via Google Assistant . As such, an app update is believed to have caused the problem for select users.No workaround is known to exist right now, but if an update for the Google app is indeed the one to blame, a downgrade could help.Going back to an earlier version of this app could help get rid of the bug. Any build released before the late-January update may not include the glitch, but you could also try to uninstall all new versions and start from scratch. This is possible by going to Google app settings and uninstalling all updates.At this point, theres no indication that Android Auto is causing voice command problems.Another possible workaround is clearing the cache and the data of the Google app. This should also help correct potentially corrupted files, eventually allowing Google Assistant to process voice commands correctly.A Google Community Specialist says the reports have already been submitted to the Android Auto team. Its not yet known when a fix could be released, especially because the investigation is currently in the early phases. Bringing things back to normal could take anywhere from one week to several months, especially if the glitch is harder to diagnose. The more widespread it gets, the bigger the chances for the company to figure out what happens.In the meantime, the software giant says users can help with phone logs. To do this, head over to the discussion thread on the Google forums and chime in if you struggle with this error.
UN chief calls for peace on anniversary of conflict in Ukraine

Xinhua) 10:44, February 25, 2023

The UN Security Council holds a high-level meeting on Ukraine at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 24, 2023. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for preventing further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and giving peace "a chance." (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for preventing further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and giving peace "a chance."

"We must prevent further escalation," he told a Security Council high-level meeting on Ukraine, which was convened on the first anniversary of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and attended by about 30 foreign ministers and diplomats.

"We must all encourage every meaningful effort to end the bloodshed and, at long last, give peace a chance," said Guterres.

Noting the Security Council has held more than 40 debates on Ukraine over the past year, he said that "the guns are talking now, but in the end we all know that the path of diplomacy and accountability is the road to a just and sustainable peace."

"Protection of civilians must remain the top priority," Guterres stressed, also calling for actions to ensure safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, invest in Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction, as well as to avoid nuclear risks.

He gave an update on the progress made under the Black Sea Grain Initiative and renewed calls for the deal's extension.

On July 22, 2022, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with Trkiye and the United Nations on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict.

The deal, due to expire on Nov. 19, 2022, was extended for another 120 days.

Under the deal, more than 20 million metric tons of foodstuffs have now been safely reconnected to global supply chains on more than 700 ships, helping to bring down prices around the world, Guterres said.

"I want to underscore the importance of all parties remaining engaged in this initiative, and reiterate our call for it to be extended beyond March 2023," he said.

Guterres added that the United Nations is firmly committed to working to remove remaining obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer exports, including ammonia.

These efforts demonstrated that international cooperation is essential, valuable and possible, "even in the midst of conflict," the UN chief said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C, Front) speaks at a high-level meeting on Ukraine at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 24, 2023. Guterres on Friday called for preventing further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and giving peace "a chance." (Xinhua/Xie E)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (File Photo: PTI)

Purnea (Bihar): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday asserted that the BJP will be restricted to under 100 seats if all the opposition parties, including the Congress, fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly.

Addressing a Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) rally in Purnea, the JD(U) supremo said the Congress will have to take a quick decision in this regard.

"If all the opposition parties, including the Congress, come together and fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly, the BJP will be restricted to under 100 seats," he said.

"But the Congress will have to take a quick decision in this regard. If you (Congress) accept my suggestion, we can restrict the saffron party to under 100 seats. If you don't, you know what will happen," Kumar said.

The CM further claimed his only goal was to work for unifying the opposition to unseat the saffron party from power.

"I will keep trying to make it a reality. The BJP needs to be wiped out from the entire country," he added.
5. APOLLO SPACE SHUTTLE

Photo: Hazegrayart

4. DC-3

Photo: Hazegrayart

3. SASSTO

Photo: Hazegrayart

2. HYPERION

Photo: Hazegrayart

1. STAR CLIPPER

Photo: Hazegrayart

Humans have been going to space since early 1961, when Russian Yuri Gagarin flew past what we today know as the Karman line aboard a spacecraft called Vostok 1. Once in orbit, he circled the planet below just once, going at speeds of 27,400 kph (17,000 mph). He landed 108 minutes after lift-off, opening perhaps the most exciting chapter in human history: the space race.It was thanks to this bitter competition between the U.S. and Soviet Russia that we humans landed on the Moon, sent spacecraft into the far reaches of the cosmos in search of life, landed machines on Mars, and built a laboratory in Earth orbit. In fact, everything you see going on today in space exploration, from the Artemis Moon exploration program to Elon Musks Starship, is partially happening because of the space race.For all our successes, though, there have been many failures as well, some of them tragically ending in the loss of human life. But this insane race to be the first to do something also had a different kind of casualties: the rockets and spacecraft that were designed, but for various reasons, never came to be made.Believe it or not, there have been plenty of spaceship concepts designed over the years, but very few actually got to be made. Most of the other remained in concept stage and never left the drawing boards, despite some of them promising to revolutionize space. That means in most cases we have no way of imagining what these ships might have looked like and behaved when in use.Luckily, modern technology allows us to render these things, so we can get at least an idea of how our world would have looked had designs the likes of the National Launch System or the Boeing Leo made it into production.Using these virtual recreations, many of which weve detailed extensively over the past couple of years, we decided its time to rank five of the best spaceship concepts of the 1960s that never made it into production. And by best I mean the ones with the greatest potential of revolutionizing the industry had they been made.The Apollo program is perhaps the most successful space exploration effort ever undertaken. It landed human boots on the Moon a number of times, and should have marked the beginning of our species expansion into the solar system.The main tools that helped astronauts of the era do that were the Saturn rocket and the Apollo modules, the spaceships themselves. Like all other such technologies back then, they were all single-use machines that had to be discarded after use.But even in those early years, people working in this industry were considering reusable spaceships as cheaper ways to leave our planet. One of them was the Apollo Space Shuttle , born over at North American Aviation.It was a strange mix between one-use capsules and the Space Shuttle that would arrive in the 1970s, with a small and fat body boasting a couple of wings and landing gear. Inside, there would be the crew compartment and a service module.The thing was suitable for launch on top of Saturn rockets, but unlike all other spaceships of the era, it would land on runways, to be refurbished and used again.Unlike the other concepts discussed here, this spacecraft got to be made, even if only as a 1/10 scale model. But then the Air Force made a request for the machine to be capable of landing at strips located 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from its re-entry point, and that was too much for the engineers of the time to be able to do.An idea that predated the Space Shuttle, but was of about the same variety was the DC-3. Sure, it kind of looks like a flying shark carrying another flying shark on its back, but it is actually something the space engineers of the 1960s considered.It was a concept put together by NASAs Manned Spacecraft Center Maxime Faget and should have been developed by North American Aviation. It remained, however, just a NASA idea that never came to be, for reasons that are lost to history.The DC-3 would have taken off strapped to a booster, just like the actual Space Shuttle eventually did. Only this time, both the spaceship and its rocket as well were equipped with wings.Thats because both of them, booster included, would eventually glide down to a runway, to be used for subsequent missions. You know, reusable space hardware just like Elon Musks, only thought of before the man was even born.SASSTO is short for Saturn Application Single Stage to Orbit, and its name says it all, really. It came about in 1967, at about the same time the Saturn rocket was to establish itself as the workhorse of the Apollo program, and it was generated by the brilliant mind of a Douglas Aircraft Company engineer named Philip Bono.You see, the Saturn V that launched us humans to the Moon came in three stages, each igniting at different times to help the Apollo modules defeat Earths gravity and enter a lunar trajectory.Such a design, of course, has its advantages (lifting power being among the most important), and thats why this type of rocket is still the most widespread globally. But what if you could pack a similar lifting power into a single-stage rocket and send it on its merry way?That is what the SASSTO is. In essence, a modified upper stage of a Saturn rocket, it was meant to launch Gemini capsules, and perhaps other cargo, in Earth orbit with ease. What was extremely important for the time, and the main reason it entered our list, the SASSTO was reusable, meaning it had the capability of landing itself after completing the mission.As you all know, spaceships can leave the ground in one of two ways: either by launching straight up on top of a rocket from a launch pad, or by shooting into the sky horizontally, with the help of a carrier aircraft that lifts it to a certain altitude. But there was a time back in the 1960s when engineers were pondering a totally different idea: launching off a ramp.Such an idea would have required a lot of real estate, of course, on which a track to be laid. Also, some sort of mountain, or at least a decently-sized hill would have been required at one end of the track to help the spaceship lift off.The same Philip Bono responsible for SASSTO came up with this design here, the Hyperion . Conically shaped, like most others that ever were, the thing had one nozzle engine at one end and a sled of some sort fitted underneath. The engine would accelerate the spacecraft down the track and up the ramp, with the sled helping it move on a cushion of air. Once it reached 1,100 kph (684 mph) and the top of the ramp, the sled would detach and let the spacecraft climb to orbit.The reason this one (and others like it) didnt make it is, obviously, cost. At the time of its inception, the Hyperion would have needed $1.5 billion to be made, which is about $10 billion today.Of all the spaceships that ever were, I personally like the Space Shuttle the most. Thats probably because it actually looked like a proper spaceship, and not the tip of an ICBM. Sadly, no similar design has been put to civilian space exploration use since its demise.The Shuttle came about in the late 1970s, but it used ideas developed by engineers much earlier. And there was no shortage of them.One of the most exciting pre-Shuttle Shuttle designs was the Star Clipper . It was imagined by Lockheed, and had one weird trait about it: the fuel tank was not attached to the space machine to one side, but wrapped around it, kind of like the tip of an arrow.The spacecraft itself, designed as a lifting-body airplane, was powered by three jet engines that would draw fuel from the said tanks. That made it a sort of stage-and-a-half design, as the entire contraption, with the exception of the fuel tanks that would detach and fall to the ground, was reusable.It too died in the development stage, and never got to fly in the real world. The reasons for that: money, of course, probably sprinkled with a touch of fear caused by the designs strangeness.All of the above are five of the craziest spaceship concepts of the 1960s. There are many more, from different decades, to talk about, and well try to cover as many of them as possible in the months ahead. After all, what better time for space enthusiasts to be alive and remember the past?
The largest rocket ever designed

Photo: Astro Bidules

So massive only the sea can contain it

Photo: Zzubnik - Own work

Step aside Starship, here's your daddy

Photo: Apple TV

The scene starts with what looks like a tiny Apollo Command Module jutting out just above the surface of the Pacific Ocean. But as the countdown reaches zero, massive and unsettling groaning noises surge from beneath the water, causing the greater mass of what lurks beneath to start emerging. Slowly at first, then steadily more rapidly, that tiny command module is borne aloft by a nearly 500-foot tall leviathan of a machine powered by a single, massive main rocket booster sending the craft into the sky.The rocket in question? It's called Sea Dragon, and it's not just another product of Hollywood trying to make rocket science more entertaining than it was in real life. It was a very real-world design study that took place even before the Apollo program had gotten off the ground. Today, let's take a deep dive into the real-life and fictional exploits of Sea Dragon, the most ludicrous design for a booster rocket that never jumped off the drawing board.Because claims like this are nothing without numbers, let's take a look at a tale of the tape. We're gonna need some extra long tape measures this time around. With a diameter of 75 feet (23 m) and a projected height of a staggering 490 feet (150 m), and weighing in at just under 40 million lb (18,143 tons), Sea Dragon was designed like a freight train with a rocket engine.Its potential to bring 550 metric tons (1,210,000 lb) to low-Earth orbit (LEO) certainly sounds like freight train numbers. That was essentially the idea when the Sea Dragon's lead engineer Robert Traux finalized the blueprints for the design in 1962. Under the employment of the Aerojet company that'd one day merge with Rocketdyne , Traux proposed an alternative to conventional super-heavy booster rockets with lots of complicated engines.In some ways, the Big Dumb Booster (BDB) design philosophy is nothing short of admirable. As a stark contrast to how modern rockets are designed with sometimes dozens of individual engines, BDBs aim to make the same power with one colossal but simple main engine. Because Sea Dragon would have smashed through the ceiling at NASA 's Vehicle Assembly Building, the rocket was to be manufactured sea-side by bespoke shipbuilders and rocket engineers out of cheap 8-mm sheet steel.The whole shebang would then be towed by upwards of four ship tugs to a safe distance away from dry land or civilization. From there, Sea Dragon would be stood upright and submerged up to its eyeballs underneath the water. When the time to boogaloo was at hand, ballast tanks attached to the rocket's underside would release, allowing the first stage to ignite. Had Sea Dragon's main engine been manufactured, its first stage would have run on a potent cocktail of RP-1 refined kerosene and LOX (liquid oxygen) as an oxidizer.When the countdown hit zero, as it did in For All Mankind, the propellant and oxidizer would be forced into the main combustion chamber at roughly 32 atm (3,200 kPa; 470 psi) and 17 atm (1,700 kPa; 250 psi), respectively. All those boring numbers equated to one far larger and more interesting number, a total of 79 million lb (350 mN) of launch thrust from the Sea Dragon's first stage. For some context, the SLS rocket that launched Artemis I back in 2022 jetted 8.8 million lb (39 mN) of thrust at launch.By the time the first stage fuel in Sea Dragon was expended, the vehicle would be roughly 25 miles (40 km) in altitude at 20 miles (32 km) downrange, flying upwards of 4,000 mph (6,400 km/h; 1.8 km/s). From there, a smaller second stage would take over and separate from the gargantuan first stage. If you can believe it, Robert Traux even mulled the idea of stage recovery and re-use. Considering this was 60 years before SpaceX's Starship and almost a decade before Elon Musk was even born, that's very forward-thinking for the day.The second stage would have likely used cryogenic liquid hydrogen instead of refined kerosene. Even on its own, the second stage would have beaten the modern SLS in thrust by 4.2 million lbs (18.68 mN). Where the payload in this second stage could have gone is anybody's guess. It's often theorized that the end goal for Sea Dragon was mass cargo transportation to the Moon and possibly even to Mars.Plans were even put in place between Aerojet, NASA, and the West Coast-based Todd Shipyards to start work on the project. But sadly, NASA's titanic 2.5 percent share of national GDP during the Apollo program still wasn't enough to fund their human-crewed Moon landing ambitions and this flight-of-fancy space vehicle simultaneously. In the end, an outside adjudication by the aerospace firm TRW Inc confirmed Sea Dragon wasn't in the cards financially.Thus, the Sea Dragon fizzled into vaporware before the Saturn V was even finished. But in the For All Mankind universe, the Sea Dragon did manage to leap from blueprints to our mortal reality. In the show, the first Sea Dragon launched in 1977 and supplied bulk equipment and recourses to the Jamestown Moon Base located at Shackelton Crater near the lunar South Pole.In 1983, the Soviets believed the Sea Dragon 17 mission was carrying a nuclear warhead to the lunar surface. The crew aboard the fictional Pathfinder spacecraft, commanded by Edward Baldwin, launched missiles at the craft to signal the Soviet Buran crew that the payload wasn't a weapon. By 1995, Sea Dragon was ferrying parts to construct the Sojourner 1 human-crewed Mars landing vehicle, which made it to the Red Planet in season 3.For what was supposed to be a long-forgotten idea on a drawing board that never saw the light of day, the Sea Dragon made some visual fireworks on Apple TV. If only we lived in the For All Mankind timeline where the Sea Dragon came to life. It sounds like a far more interesting universe to live in.
10. Jeep Gladiator J series

Photo: Jeep

9. Jeep Gladiator JT series

Photo: Jeep

8. Willys-Overland Truck

Photo: Darin Schnabel, Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

4WD

7. Jeep Wagoneer SJ series

Photo: Jeep

SUV

6. Jeep Wrangler 4xe

Photo: Jeep

kWh

WLTP

5. Jeep Wrangler YJ

Photo: Jeep

4. Jeep Wrangler TJ

Photo: Jeep

3. Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ series

Photo: Jeep

2. Jeep Avenger

Photo: Jeep

ICE

1. Willys MB

Photo: Jeep

The first commercially successful Civilian Jeep ranks 11th in our Top 20 Best Jeep Models of All Time two-part special because it singlehandedly brought this iconic nameplate into the mainstream. Nearly 215,000 units were produced, and the CJ series would ultimately top more than 1.5 million examples until 1986, the year of the Space Shuttle Challenger and Chernobyl disasters.The February 20th, 1941 issue of the Washington Daily News features the first documented application of the 4x4 brands name in the guise of a headline. Jeep Creeps Up Capitol Steps read the headline because Willys-Overland test driver Irving Red Hausmann told Washington Daily News reporter Katherine Hillyer that hes demonstrating a Jeep rather than the Willys Quad.Currently owned by FCA US LLC, the American half of the Stellantis cross-border merger with Groupe PSA, the 80-odd-year-old 4x4 specialist originating from Toledo gave us plenty of memorable trucks, utility vehicles, and crossovers over the years. The following list contains the cream of the crop, handpicked by autoevolution.com.Sharing its body-on-frame platform with the Wagoneer SJ, the Gladiator launched in 1962 to much critical acclaim. Produced by Willys, Kaiser, AMC, as well as Chrysler through 1988, the J series  or simply Pickup  was replaced by the compact-sized Jeep Comanche.Introduced for the 1963 model year, the Gladiator sported a Dana 20 transfer case plus Dana 44 front and rear axles. Available in 120- and 126-inch wheelbases, then extended to 132 and 165 inches, the Gladiator was offered in wide box (a.k.a. Townside), narrow box (Thriftside), wrecker, chassis, cab, and camper flavors. Dana 44 IFS independent front suspension was offered by the Kaiser-Jeep in half-ton pickup trucks until 1965, with few examples specified with said optional extra.Military versions including the M715 and M725 were also produced. The most lavish of the bunch is  no surprises here  the Gladiator Laredo introduced in 1980 for 1981 with leather-wrapped bucket seats, leather on the steering wheel, Alpine audio, and chrome garnish.Resurrected as a mid-size pickup at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show for the 2020 model year, the Gladiator of the modern era is more akin to the Scrambler CJ-8 rather than the Gladiator from the good ol days. Essentially a truck-bodied Wrangler Unlimited, the JT features Ram 1500-like coil springs for the rear axle.Jeep threw down the gauntlet with the JT series with off-road capability, challenging the likes of the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison off the beaten path. The companys first Trail Rated truck is available with a choice of six-cylinder powerplants, as well as two gearbox choices.The standard Pentastar V6 and optional EcoDiesel V6 are the powertrains in question, with the gasoline-fed mill rocking a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic. The EcoDiesel V6 is an auto-only affair, and chances are that Jeep will replace it with the 4xe plug-in hybrid for the 2024 model year or 2025 model year.Also known as the Willys Jeep Truck, the Willys-Overland Truck is closely related to the CJ-2A and Willys Wagon. Targeting the modern farmer of the 1940s, the Brooks Stevens-designed workhorse was originally available in one-tonconfiguration as a pickup, stake truck, chassis cab, or bare chassis.Willys introduced a -ton variant with rear-wheel drive in 1949, then the Toledo-based automaker applied a small facelift in 1950. More than 200,000 examples of the breed were produced from 1947 through 1965, with the Willys Truck receiving the Hurricane F4-134 in 1950 to the detriment of the Go Devil L4-134 side valve.The later Super Hurricane 6226 and Tornado 6230 were also paired to a three-speed manual supplied by BorgWarner, a transmission shared by all four engines. Had it not been for the commercially successful Willys Truck, the Gladiator might not have happened at all.Theres a common misconception about the first luxury-oriented. Then owned by British Leyland, Land Rover finalized the Ranger Rover in 1969, then launched its 4x4 sport utility vehicle in 1970. Kaiser-Jeep rolled out the Wagoneer in 1962 for the 1963 model year, after which the Super Wagoneer launched in 65 for 66.Four-wheeled blueprints for all future luxury-oriented SUVs, the Wagoneer and better-equipped Super Wagoneer were vehicles of many firsts, beginning with the first automatic transmission fitted in a series-production 4x4 vehicle. The first four-wheel-drive vehicle with independent front suspension, first automatic full-time 4x4 system, and first overhead-cam six-cylinder truck engine also need to be mentioned.Chrysler ended production of the SJ-based Wagoneer in 1991, although this nameplate would be used on the ZJ-series Grand Cherokee for a highly-specd grade. Later still, Stellantis revived the Wagoneer under the WS codename with half-ton pickup truck underpinnings. 4xe is the Jeep way of saying plug-in hybrid. The first-ever Wrangler to feature plug-in assistance is the only Wrangler available in Europe at press time (February 2023). Dont expect Toyota RAV4 Prime-like electric driving range because Jeep developed the Wrangler-specific system with one eye on off-road capability.First and foremost, a 2.0-liter turbo hides under the hood, connected to an eight-speed transmission. A transmission-integrated electric motor replaces the torque converter and supplies electric power through the automatic transmission. Theres another electric motor up front, which applies power to the engines crank.The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 21 miles (34 kilometers) of all-electric range in the combined test cycle, coming courtesy of a 17.3-battery located under the rear seats of the four-door-only Wrangler 4xe. Thecombined ratings for the European market are 53 kilometers (33 miles) for the Sahara and 45 kilometers (28 miles) for the Rubicon.The YJ series holds a special place in the pantheon of great Jeeps because its the first one to be called Wrangler . It succeeded the long-running CJ series, with the first-generation Wrangler produced through 1995.It lived on until 2001 in Iran, where Pars Khodro also manufactured the CJ series, SJ-based Wagoneer, as well as the Gladiator under license. More similar to the Cherokee of that era than the CJ-7, the YJ was designed from day one to be more comfortable in regular driving conditions. Although it features leaf springs, the leaves are wider than those of the CJ. The American Motors Corporation further sweetened the deal with anti-roll bars and trackbar suspension links for better stability.Easily identifiable thanks to rectangular headlights, the first-generation Wrangler came with three AMC-designed engines. In the order of displacement, said engines are a 2.5-liter four-cylinder, a 4.2-liter sixer of the inline variety, and a 4.0-liter inline-six powerplant.TJ was a return to form, with the Wrangler adopting round headlights a la CJ-7. It also marked a tremendous mechanical change with the introduction of coil springs both fore and aft, a setup marketed as the Quadra-Coil.Chrysler didnt make the Wrangler soft, though. More ground clearance, better approach and departure angles, and increased axle articulation made the TJ a proper off-road machine. Chrysler also offered a fold-down windshield, a redesigned interior with driver and passenger airbags, a sport bar, removable doors, as well as the choice of a soft top or a removable hard top.The TJ is all the more important to the Wranglers history thanks to introducing the Rubicon off-road trim level with Dana 44 axles, Tru-Lok front and rear lockers, the Rock-Track 4x4 system, and 31-inch tires from Goodyear. It also paved the way for the four-door Wrangler with the introduction of the long-wheelbase Unlimited specification, internally referred to as LJ.Chrysler introduced the Grand Cherokee as if the ZJ was the rock star of the sport utility vehicle genre. The mid-size SUV was driven up the steps of the Cobo Hall convention center by Bob Lutz, with Detroit mayor Coleman Young in the passenger seat. The ZJ crashed through a plate-glass window to make its way to the 1992 Detroit Auto Show, leaving everyone flabbergasted.Export vehicles manufactured in Graz, Austria under contract were designated ZG. Designed by Larry Shinoda of Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang fame, the ZJ/ZG replaced the SJ-series Wagoneer. It was the first sport utility vehicle to feature a driver side airbag. It originally came in three grades: the Base, Laredo, and range-topping Limited. The Grand Wagoneer was offered exclusively for 1993 as a separate model even though its nothing more than a luxury-oriented pack.The Grand Cherokee in Grand Wagoneer format came with the Magnum high-output V8, a computerized 4x4 system dubbed Quadra-Trac, faux woodgrain, a color-keyed leather steering wheel, quilted leather seats, and many more. Very few units were sold because few peeps were prepared to pony up so much money for a Jeep.Technically not the first-ever electric Jeep, the Avenger is the first electric Jeep to reach series production. Not available in North America, the subcompact-sized crossover is positioned below the Renegade and manufactured in Poland alongside the combustion-engined Fiat 500 and the Italy-only Lancia Ypsilon.The500 and Ypsilon will be dropped in 2024 at the latest because Fiat and Alfa Romeo siblings are due to join the Jeep Avenger at the Tychy plant. Available in either combustion or electric versions, the small crossover is the smallest Jeep currently in production.Just over 160 inches long, the Avenger is built around the STLA Small platform, an evolution of the Common Module Platform developed by Groupe PSA. Despite being more at home in the urban jungle, the Avenger offers the most ground clearance in the segment, a 20-degree approach angle, and a 32-degree departure angle. Jeep wouldnt even be here today without the MB, the successor of the MA variant and Quad prototypes. Willys and Ford eventually produced more than 637,000 units during World War II, with Fords version of the MB called the GPW. The Dearborn-based automakers original submission to the U.S. Army was the GP, meaning Government Pygmy.The precursor to the Civilian Jeep saw action on the heavily contested beaches of Normandy in France and in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The Guadalcanal campaign comes to mind, the first major land offensive carried out by the Allies against the Empire of Japan.Shelled by a Japanese battleship on Guadalcanal, a certain MB had its windshield damaged by shrapnel. It was the first MB to land on Guadalcanal, it survived the Bougainville invasion as well, served four Marine generals, and was awarded the Purple Heart for its battle scars. Nicknamed Old Faithful, the first American vehicle to be so decorated served 18 months, during which it racked up 11,000 miles (17,703 kilometers).
Photo: Lukas Jungmann/ Ufogel

Photo: Lukas Jungmann/ Ufogel

Photo: Lukas Jungmann/ Ufogel

As the tiny movement took over the world, standard, mass-produced tiny house models started flooding the market, so finding a stylish custom build became more difficult. However, there are still valuable gems hidden in the crowd, and the Ufogel is a total standout.Located in Debant, Austria, the Ufogel can be best described as a wooden sculpture to live in. Thats because it features an intricate design that makes it resemble a UFO. Looking at it from different angles will make you wonder what it actually looks like. Some have said it reminisces a prehistoric bird, but the majority agrees it looks like an extraterrestrial home This is how its name was formed, blending the acronym UFO with vogel, which is the word for bird in German.Designed by architects Peter and Lukas Jungmann, it is actually a two-story tiny house built on stilts in the East Tyrolean village of Nussdorf and is surrounded by traditional Austrian chalets. The unusually shaped cabin is perched on a hill and appears to be floating above a meadow, almost like some kind of unidentified alien object. It is a mash-up of contemporary and minimalist design and incorporates huge panoramic windows that allow inhabitants to enjoy the stunning view of the Lienz Dolomites.The small dwelling features an asymmetrical shape with sharp angles that give it a futuristic look. It is covered in rustic Austrian-style shingles, and sturdy stilts allow it to stand at a height above the ground. Access inside the house is made through some wide steps that form a bridge-like connection to the building.Though it has a compact footprint, this stunning cabin offers 485 square feet (45 square meters) of multi-functional living space, which is more than what some small city apartments can offer.The interiors of the curved structure are built out of waterproof larch plywood, which, along with the wood stove, creates a warm, cozy ambiance. The large angled windows allow plenty of natural light to flood the house during the day and help warm it up on colder days.As mentioned, Ufogel is a two-story structure and features an open plan design, with a lounge and dining space, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two sleeping areas. In total, the cabin can accommodate up to five people.The main living area is on the lower level of the house. It is a bright space that includes a cantilevered table with a built-in bench that can seat eight people. A set of slim stairs leads to the upper level and creates a nice, flat nook where you can enjoy the panoramic views of the Tyrolean Alps, as the entire side of the lounge area boasts elongated glass windows. This is the perfect place to unwind with a glass of wine or a hot chocolate in hand and a good book to keep you entertained.The small kitchen is fully functional with a modern, almost industrial look. It features stainless steel appliances, a sink, an electric cooktop, and a refrigerator. There is also a wood-burning stove that contrasts a bit with the overall modern look but brings warmth, coziness, and a rustic character to the entire place.The upper level houses two sleeping areas separated by a slim plywood wall and the bathroom. One of them has a huge double bed, while the other includes a twin one. A domed roof creates a nice feeling of security, while an angled half-wall creates some privacy from the rest of the house . The beautiful views of the mountains surround you everywhere in this cabin, even when you are in bed or in the shower.The bathroom is as modern as youd expect, with tile floors, a sink and generous cabinets, a mirror, and a full shower with glass door. It overlooks the mountains of East Tyrol, so there isnt any chance of escaping the beautiful views in this house.Defying architectural norms, Ufogel is both a modern art sculpture and a cozy, rustic cabin that has a deep connection with its surroundings. It perfectly blends functionality with style and is truly a gem of small-scale architecture.Obviously, this intricate abode is a one-off building, but if you want to experience living in a seemingly floating house overlooking the Alps, you can book your next holiday there, as Ufogel is a vacation rental cabin, and a nights stay starts at $215. The gorgeous location, the out-of-this-world design, and the cozy interior atmosphere make Ufogel ideal for people who what to unwind and find inner peace.
UPDATE

SUV

- Both the police and Volkswagen provided some much-needed clarifications here Looking like a budget-friendly and redesigned copy of a Bentley Bentayga, the three-row VW Atlas is a midsizeby American standards but its the brands largest vehicle thats currently on offer in the U.S. Given that the SUV category is very popular with buyers thanks to these cars having a higher driving position, improved visibility because of bigger glass surfaces, and generous cabin space, its not surprising that many sedan and hatchback owners are jumping ship. That's also why Ford gave up on almost every car, apart from the wildly popular Mustang.Thats what this unlucky VW Atlas owner from Libertyville, Illinois might have done as well. The woman parked the made-in-Tennessee vehicle in her driveway, got out to bring one of her two kids and some groceries inside the house, and then returned for the other one.As she was getting ready to bring the two-year-old inside the home, a suspect came out of nowhere. The unidentified perpetrator hurt the pregnant woman with a considerable amount of force that resulted in her being hospitalized. Then, they stole the car with the little kid inside and ran the victim over while driving away in the VW.According to the preliminary investigation, at least two people were involved in this carjacking. The suspect was seen on a security camera recording leaving a sedan while somebody else was driving what appeared to be a slightly damaged white BMW 5 Series which had parts of its rear bumper missing.The police immediately responded, and their first idea was to find a quick way to track the SUV because time was of the essence. Fortunately, the stolen Atlas was equipped with the German brands Car-Net suite of services. But the owner did not pay to have it enabled.VW offers qualifying owners six months to try the comprehensive system out. Afterward, they can pay $17.99 per month, $199 per year, $378 for two years, or $540 for a three-year contract. In exchange, the owners get access to a couple of nifty features like anti-theft alerts, crash notifications, stolen vehicle locators, and much more. This is known as Car-Net and the offer is available in multiple markets.According to the local source Lake & McHenry County Scanner, the officers were met with a flat refusal at first. Deputy Sheriff Christopher Covelli pointed out that they had to face a delay until the payment situation was resolved. The police did not say if how the situation with VW was resolved, but they were eventually able to track down the car.The officers confirmed that they eventually found the abducted child and the stolen Atlas in a nearby area. The pregnant mother remained in the hospital. Now, the search for the white BMW and the two suspects is underway.Finally, its worth mentioning that the police might have gotten in touch with customer service representatives who do not have the required prerogatives to overrun the manufacturers systems. That could be an explanation for that "delay."
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Nearly 4,500 registrations done so far out of the expected 5,000 participants. (Image: Twitter)

Vijayawada: APs two-day global investor summit scheduled for March 3 and 4 in Visakhapatnam, is getting an "overwhelming response", with nearly 4,500 registrations done so far out of the expected 5,000 participants.

The organisers are expecting to surpass the targeted number of registrations as more industries are showing their interest to step in. The state government has developed an app for industries to join the summit by registering in it from across the globe.

Sources privy to the developments say that from the time Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy extended an open invite to the diplomats at a meeting he held in Delhi, the response was tremendous.

Meanwhile, ministers started conducting a series of roadshows in metros like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai etc to draw the attention of industrialists desirous of coming to AP for starting their units.

Arrangements for the event are going on in a brisk manner in a 25-acre land on Andhra University campus. Four large German hangars are being set up for use as lounges for VIPs and other delegates. Huge platforms are also coming up for stalls that would exhibit various products. Big halls are being set up for the conduct of workshops with sufficient space to accommodate nearly 200 delegates at a time.

A senior official from the industries department said, "We are getting a very good response from the industrialists of both national and international." Meanwhile, the police are beefing up the security arrangements.
https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/why-skinny-fish.html

Fish Facts

Image The fish on the right is 13 years old and declining. The fish on our left is healthy.

Have you ever caught a fish from your favorite fishing hole, took one look, and just gawked at how skinny it was?

Then, on the next cast, you get one that, in the words of famous B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott, "Looks like an Alabama deputy sheriff." No offense to our law enforcement family out there; it's just a cool visual...all that buffed-up, muscle-bound bass tugging at the end of YOUR line.

What gives?

That can be a complicated issue. For example, it's easy to assume that a skinny bass has run out of food and is starving. That's the simplest, easiest-to-understand phenomenon. Or, maybe it's just "old" and on its last legs.

This reminds me of a story, 'er a lesson learned many years ago. It seems there was a man from Houston had recently bought a piece of property. Getting up in years a little bit, he seemed to have a sense of urgency. I'll always remember the phone call. "Son, I'm building a lake here, west of Houston."

I countered, "Yessir."

He said, "I know you fish people like to stock them finger-length fish and wait for them to grow up."

"Yessir," I countered again.

"Son, I don't even buy green bananas. I ain't sure I'll be around when they get ripe."

I chuckled out loud.

"I don't want to wait for fish to grow up," he said. "Can you handle that?"

I said, "Yessir." Then, I added my first real words, "That's gonna be pretty expensive,

buying enough baitfish and large bass to fill a lake."

"Son," he said, "don't worry about the mule going blind. Load the wagon!"

I knew I was going to like this guy.

As I learned what he was up to, this project became more fun. He ended up building a nine-acre lake wrapped around the base of a hill. It was shaped somewhat like a sliver of a quarter moon. When it didn't rain for a month, he drilled a well. Eight weeks later, he was ready for fish.

Of course, he was.

By then, I'd already been shopping. One of my clients had several lakes where we'd grown some pretty good fish. He also held an aquaculture license. I called him to ask if he'd part with a double-digit bass or two.

His answer was clear and decisive, "No." He'd been babying those Florida bass for seven or eight years and didn't want to part with them.

So, I called the ripe banana-buying new client and told him the news.

His response?

"Money whip him!"

I chuckled again and called back client number two, the one with some good bass.

I asked him again. "Would you sell a double-digit bass?"

"No! I've already told you that.

"Will you take $200 for one?"

"No!"

"How about $300?"

"I'm gonna hang up on you!"

"How about $500?"

He paused. We had just established a principle. Now we just needed to negotiate the price.

Client number two asked, "Would he buy two of them at that price?"

I said, "Yessir, plus he'll buy some smaller bass if you want to part with some of your extras."

We made a deal and ended up moving 450 adult bass from this little ranch/licensed fish farm back in 1987 into the new nine-acre lake west of Houston.

As we prepared to harvest bass, we needed to set the stage for those high-dollar babies to have plenty to eat in their new digs.

So, in this brand-spanking new lake, we stocked 25,000 small bluegills, 10,000 medium bluegills, 500 pounds of fathead minnows, 500 pounds of golden shiners, and 10,000 threadfin shad. All a lucky bass had to do was turn its head, open its mouth, make a sucking sound, and fill its prime little belly with food.

We had great expectations.

When the bass arrived, we weighed and measured each fish, made copious notes, and wished them luck as we stocked them into their new home. (We didn't tag them back in the 80s like we do nowdidn't realize we could).

Over time, those fat, healthy bass changed.

In year two, the biggest bass, stocked at a paltry 13 pounds 7 ounces, was gathered via electrofishing and weighed. It had skyrocketed to 12 pounds 4 ounces. The following year, we captured it again. It had ballooned to 10 pounds 2 ounces. I was shocked. My ripe banana client asked me, "What gives?" He had never hooked either of his monster bass and had only seen this one when we initially released it.

I saw a trend as we reweighed and measured at this two-year mark. About 20-30 percent of the bass were losing weight. Even with a pond full of all the food they could possibly inhale. About 40-50 percent maintained the same weight as when stocked. The rest did quite well. They grew exceptionally fast.

Over the years, I've seen this situation repeatedly. The best explanation is that a bass makes a living based on two essential conceptsinstincts and conditioning. When a bass is conditioned to one environment, grows into adulthood, and then is moved to another habitat or environment, it can't think, reason, or adjust. It's stuck in Pavlov's dog state of mind and simply can't make the transition. So it was heartbreaking to watch a majestic bass in its prime of life deteriorate.

That fish might have surpassed 15 years of ageif we'd left it where it had learned to play its game of life.

That fish became skinny, even with all the food it could possibly eat.

What are other reasons a bass may be skinny?

Keep this in mind: For a bass to grow to 18 inches, it MUST weigh 3 pounds 4 ounces. It must. That means if you have an 18-inch bass that weighs less than that...it has lost weight.

Bass can be skinny because they don't have enough food. That's true. They can also be skinny because they are oldbass only have a given number of heartbeats. Several other factors can define their years on the earth, depending upon which part of the planet your bass live. The most essential being they get to live those years as most are eaten before they are a month into life. Beyond surviving its youth, it deteriorates as a bass matures and reaches the end of its heartbeats. As it deteriorates, it loses weight.

Another reason a bass might be skinny is because its digestive system is blocked. I've seen that several times, usually because a piece of soft plastic bait is wedged between the stomach and the intestines. Don't throw your used plastic baits overboard.

Another reason a bass might be skinny is that it has too many hungry parasites inside its gut cavity. While this isn't likely, it's certainly possible.

One final reason a bass can be skinny is that it grew up down the road in a big public lake or someone else's pond and was transferred into your lake and just couldn't make the change.

So, the next time you catch a skinny fish, give it a hard look and try to figure out why. You may have a fisheries problem, or you may have an individual fish with issues. Either way, try to figure it out. Go ahead and sacrifice that fish. It's okay. After a fish loses so much weight, the odds of it regaining are slim, and its growth potential is now limited.

If you can learn from it, take the opportunity.

After all, there are lots more bass coming up your pond's life cycle, and what you learn now can make a difference in how you manage the rest of the group.

Reprinted with permission from Pond Boss Magazine
Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inspects the damaged and gutted cars at the Gannavaram party office in Krishna district on Friday. (Photo by arrangement)

VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu has challenged the YSR Congress, saying, "We are ready for a combat. Bring the Psycho (Jagan) without police and security to face us."

Naidu on Friday visited the TD office damaged in the attack by YSRC men at Gannavaram and stated that YSRC leaders acted like terrorists. He claimed that the destruction at Gannavaram was pre-planned and whoever was behind it would have to face the consequences.

Naidu also visited the family members of Donthu Chinna, the TD activist who was injured in the attack. Naidu dared the assailants to fix a date and time for another attack anywhere in the state. ''Now you have resorted to this destruction with the cooperation of the police. If you are daring enough fix a date and time, I am ready to face you.''

Naidu said that a large police force was present at the Gannavaram airport on learning about his arrival there. ''Is Gannavaram in Pakistan,'' he asked. "Had the police acted in time, soon after the TD lodged a complaint, this incident would not have happened," he said and asked how the provisions of the SC,ST Atrocities Act were invoked when the local inspector belonged to the BC community?
Daphne Clarke dying (1988)

Elaine Smyths Daphne was the first regular character to die onscreen. Introduced as a saucy stripper with a heart of gold, Daphne was smart, savvy and independent. Her sharp haircut and bright clothing, her no-nonsense approach to life  and her lack of embarrassment about her work  endeared her to viewers. She later gave up her career to run the coffee shop, becoming a sort of confidante for the younger members of Erinsborough including a certain Mike Young (Guy Pearce), later becoming his guardian. She also found love with Des Clarke, whom she first met when hired to strip at his stag party. That wedding was called off and in the first season finale, Daphne proposed, hastily breaking up with Shane Ramsay. The wedding day, well, didnt work and thus began a love triangle but she married Des, had son Jamie  the first baby to be born in the soap  but was critically injured en route to her fathers funeral. She regained consciousness long enough to say, I love you, Clarkey. Sob.

Scott and Charlenes wedding (1988)

In a Radio Times poll in July 2022, this happy occasion was named the best Ramsay Street moment of all time. Praise indeed given the entertaining antics to which readers welcomed. Erinsborough sweethearts Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell (Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue) said their vows in front of millions in 1987  an estimated two million watched in Australia  while the episode was aired over a year later in the UK, with 20 million tuning in. Step back Karl and Susan, this is the original golden couple. Though Scott was initially panicking about getting wed, Charlenes mum Madge urges her son Henry not to race up the altar. Not to worry, the couple say, I do, Mrs Mangel catches the bouquet and the happy couple leave happy. Its rumoured Kylie walked up and down the aisle 20 times. And the song! Angry Andersons Suddenly reached number three in the UK singles charts.

Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue as Neighbours' Kylie and Jason   Getty Images

Bouncers dream (1991)

Ramsay Streets Bouncer walked so EastEnders Wellard and Willy could run. During his six-year stint on the Street, he lived at three addresses and survived a house fire and being poisoned by mushrooms. But his most famous storyline was him dreaming that he was marrying Rosie, Clarrie McLachlans Border Collie. Talk about the girl next door While it may have pleased fans  after all its still being talked about decades later  not all the cast were on board. Anne Charleston (Madge) said, The whole cast was mortified about that! It reduced it to a three-year-olds programme. It was very strange. Fun facts: the canine actor was also called Bouncer and the production team got more requests for signed photos of him than any other character.

Harold Bishop cliffgate (1991)

Oh, Harold, we could write a whole feature about you. From his arrival to Erinsborough and reigniting a relationship with old flame Madge, Harold holds a place in many soap lovers hearts. All was reasonably well  bar almost becoming The Earl of Doon thanks to being 25% Scottish  until he and Madge went for a holiday on the coast. Sadly, Harold was washed out to sea though his body was never found. But he hadnt gone away in fact, he was picked up by a passing trawler to taken to Tasmania. Poor Harold suffered from amnesia and forgot that he was Harold, assuming the name Ted. Five years after disappearing, he was back in Ramsay Street but didnt know why. Cue a scramble for residents to help him remember who he was and he did! Hurrah! Though Madge died in his arms (mega sob) in 2001, he later marries Carolyn Johnstone before separating. His last appearance prior to the finale detailed him seeing visions of Madge.

Anne Charleston and Ian Smith as Madge and Harold Bishop in Neighbours

Toadie and Dees wedding (2003)

Its rare that a Soapland wedding runs smoothly it certainly didnt for Toadie and Dee. After their nuptials, the groom accidentally drove the happy couple off a cliff (cliffs are big business in Neighbours) en route to the reception. The course of true love never did run smooth, and all that. But while Toadie had to accept that his new wife was gone, so began a long-running storyline which saw Dee back in the Street, then her twin sister Andrea, pretending to be Dee. Confused? We were too, but thats why it made such watchable telly.

David and Aarons wedding (2018)

The first same-sex marriage on Australian television after its legalisation, never let it be said that Neighbours didnt move with the times. Surely as memorable as Scott and Charlenes, David Tanaka and Aaron Brennan walked down the aisle. There were a few ups and downs but nevertheless, it was branded one of the shows best ever episodes. Lovely touch that marriage equality campaigner Maga Szubanski played the couples celebrant Jemima Davies-Smythe. As for the wedding scene tune? Kylie and Jasons duet Especially For You, naturally.

Helen Daniels death (1997)

It seems were choosing quite a few morbid episodes but this one really was important. She was the sort of mother figure of the Street, Erinsboroughs problem solver, wise woman and general matriarch. If you didnt cry when she died in her sleep on her sofa while watching a 10-year-old video of grandson Scott marrying his true love, did you even watch the episode? For the first time in the shows history, no credits followed the final scene. Helen was the woman capable of whatever life threw at her, and that included her daughters death in childbirth and the fact that her husband of over 30 years had another child following an affair with Helens best friend. Mind you, she had a dalliance with her daughters fiance, withstood a kidnapping, an eviction and depression. After becoming increasingly frail she came home from hospital on her birthday and silently passed away. Her ashes were laid at Lassiters lake. No, youre crying, were not crying.

Drews accident (2002)

Yes, another death, this time the lovely Drew who fell off a horse and died from internal injuries. Wife Libby Kennedy was devastated. During his funeral, she sings Wild Mountain Thyme, remembering her late husband singing it to her at their wedding the previous year. Cruel, so cruel. The actor Dan Paris had starred in over 1,000 episodes and later explained his decision to leave the soap involved wanting to continue travelling around Australia with his partner and spending more time outside the studio. He said he didnt watch his characters funeral when it aired. But we did, Dan, we did.

That plane crash (2005)

Airing as part of the shows 20th anniversary, the crash was the catalyst for several lead stories that featured over the following year. A plane carrying several characters crashed in Bass Strait after a bomb was detonated during the journey. It should have been a chance to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Lassiters complex but afraid not. Several regulars were given tickets for a 1940s-style flight to Tasmania. Some gave them away and theres plenty of swapping of names before they finally board. Six hours before the flight, someone attaches a bomb to the planes engine (and a picture of Izzy and Paul, who are a couple). David, Liljana and Serena were killed, though the latter two bodies were never found. Scenes featuring the flight were shot inside a real plane, while post-crash scenes were filmed in a purpose-built swimming pool at a Melbourne studio. The plot received mixed reviews, from the most controversial story arc in the soaps history to incredible and that previous disastrous events pale in comparison.

Anything Mrs Mangel did

From striking Madge with her newspaper when tensions boiled over to secretly holding a torch for Harold Bishop (the two got memorably tipsy over cider they thought was apple juice), just about anything the formidable Mrs Mangel did would warrant being mentioned. Shed mellowed somewhat when left the Street to move to Britain but she couldnt resist one final round of antagonising with Madge.
Theres a lovely little book of cocktails inspired by classic works of literature that goes by the charming title of Tequila Mockingbird. With recipe names like The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose, The Last of the Mojitos and Vermouth the Bell Tolls, this tongue-in-cheek collection is an affectionate nod to alcohols long relationship with the novel. Indeed, its remarkable just how often the two go together  think of Raymond Chandlers private eyes with a pint of rye in their pocket, Hemingways wild nights in The Sun Also Rises, or The Great Gatsbywith its Gin Rickeys.

Some writers have gone one step further than just mentioning drinks in their books. Theyve invented their own. And since next Thursday is World Book Day, it seems an appropriate time to delve into the world of fiction to find drinks that would never have existed if an author hadnt dreamed them up. Some have since made the transition to reality, although what their creators would think of them is anybodys guess.

Lacasa The Road to Oz (1909)

In the fifth instalment of L. Frank Baums fantasy series, Lacasa was a special drink served at the birthday party held for Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of the land of Oz. At the grand banquet Dorothy attends, each guest is served a crystal goblet filled with Lacasa, which is a sort of nectar famous in Oz and nicer to drink than soda-water or lemonade.

In the 114 years since its first mention, no one, it seems, has ever tried to replicate the drink, not even the Spanish confectionery firm that also calls itself Lacasa.

VictoryGin NineteenEighty-Four(1949)

The central character in George Orwells dystopian classic, Winston Smith, despises the states foul synthetic gin, which tastes like nitric acid and leaves drinkers with the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club.

So youd think no one would be keen to produce Victory Gin for real, yet Victory London Distillery has had a go, using botanicals like liquorice root, angelica and cardamom to create their distinctive yet utilitarian spirit that sells for around 32.

Moloko AClockwork Orange(1962)

Moloko is the Russian word for milk, and in Anthony Burgess controversial novel, it came spiked with various drugs to make those who downed it ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.

Written against a background of gang fights on Brightons seafront, the random brutality of A Clockwork Orange proved unpalatable for many, and the book caused outrage on its release, although now its acclaimed as a classic. Its notoriety inspired the creation of quite a few Moloko cocktails, including one featuring rum, Benedictine and cardamom milk, and another pairing absinthe with Irish cream liqueur.

Fizzy Lifting Drink Charlieand the Chocolate Factory(1964)

Willy Wonkas bubbling mixture sends those whose drink it floating high into the air, leaving only one way to get down  by producing a serious burp. In Roald Dahls tale, one of the Oompa Loompas takes a slurp outdoors and floats away, never to be seen again, because hes too polite to burp.

A real-life alcoholic version of the drink is based on bubblegum-flavoured vodka and gets its fizz from Champagne, while the non-alcoholic version combines soda water, ginger ale and lemonade concentrate. Neither are likely to lift you off the ground.

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster HitchhikersGuide to the Galaxy(1979)

Never drink more than two Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters unless you are a thirty-ton mega-elephant with bronchial pneumonia, advised the drinks inventor, two-headed space traveller Zaphod Beeblebrox, whose potent cocktail delivers a kick like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. Douglas Adams original recipe required non-existent ingredients like the tooth of an Algolian Suntiger and Arcturan Mega-Gin, but a few years ago, the usually quite sober publication for boffins, New Scientist, came up with a version that could actually be made  providing you have patchouli oil, pickled almonds and food-grade birch oil.

Frobscottle TheBFG(1982)

This pale green drink favoured by Roald Dahls Big Friendly Giant has bubbles that sink to the bottom of the glass rather than rising up, resulting in fits of whizzpopping  you can probably guess what that is. Despite its gaseous side effects, Frobscottle is sweet and refreshing, tasting of vanilla and cream, with just the faintest trace of raspberries.

You can make your own Frobscottle by blitzing kiwi fruits with lime juice, raspberry yoghurt and lemonade, adding an effervescent vitamin C tablet at the end to produce a final fizzy flourish.

Butterbeer HarryPotter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(1999)

Emma Watson as Hermione sampling Butterbeer in the Harry Potter movies

A popular beverage in the inns at Hogsmeade, Butterbeer was mostly served cold in bottles or hot in foaming tankards. In the third instalment of JK Rowlings fantasy series, Ron and Hermione sample Butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks without Harry, who later describes the drink as being a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch when he finally gets to try it.

Butterbeer is now regularly served at Harry Potter theme parks and you can also order the mixture of sugar, pear juice concentrate and ginger extract from the online Harry Potter shop.

Making a Powers mirror  reflections of a craftsman

Mark Justin

Strangford furniture-maker Mark Justin has been commissioned by Powers to create the frame for a new promotional mirror for the famous whiskey brand. Powers mirrors have been a fixture in pubs here and around the world for over 200 years and Marks latest collaboration with the distiller follows on from a project last year when he turned a whiskey barrel into a range of display cases, wooden coasters and whiskey flights. Mark can be seen talking about his work with Midleton Distillerys Carol Quinn and whiskey blogger Ronan Collins in the latest Powering Conversations interview, available to view on the Powers Whiskey NI YouTube and Facebook pages.

Patricia Maginns bottle of the week  Pour Le Vin Bonne Mine Rose

Pour Le Vin Bonne Mine Rose

The French phrase bonne mine roughly translates as looking good and this pretty pink rose from the Languedoc region is a great reminder that outstanding dry rose doesnt have to come from Provence. Grenache Noir grapes are gently pressed to capture the finer aromas and flavours located just under the skins, resulting in a smooth, round and juicy wine that is refreshing on its own or a perfect partner for delicate white meats, fish and salads. RRP 9.99, available from all good independent wine merchants.
A minutes applause for highly respected journalist Henry McDonald before todays Cliftonville v Glentoran game at Solitude in Belfast. Pic by Pacemaker/Colm Lenaghan

Everton and Cliftonville football clubs have paid tribute to Belfast journalist and writer Henry McDonald.

An image of the lifelong Toffee lit up the big screen at Goodison Park where a half-time message was displayed in honour of the 57-year-old during Saturdays game against Aston Villa.

Meanwhile a minute of applause for Mr McDonald took place at Solitude during Cliftonvilles fixture against Glentoran.

The political editor of the News Letter, who was from the Markets area of the city, died peacefully in hospital last Sunday following a short illness.

In a previous tribute Cliftonville FC said the respected journalist and author was a regular spectator for decades and didnt let his deteriorating health stop him from supporting his beloved reds.

Mr McDonald was a respected Ireland correspondent for The Guardian and Observer and previously wrote for the Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News.

He also did a stint as security correspondent for BBC NI.

The renowned author enjoyed success with multiple books about the INLA, UVF, UDA and the Troubles including biographies of David Trimble and Martin McGuinness.

Journalist Henry McDonald

Mr McDonald also wrote two fiction novels; The Swinging Detective and Two Souls.

The father-of-three lived and worked in England for much of his life, but returned home in 2021.

People from across the political divide have paid glowing tributes to the late journalist.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson described Mr McDonald as an excellent journalist and one of the most knowledgeable commentators on Northern Ireland politics."

Alliance leader Naomi Long hailed him as a tenacious and perceptive journalist who had a quick wit.

The Guardians editor in chief, Katharine Viner, said Mr McDonald had been an authoritative voice on NI for many years and broke countless stories.

"[He] told them with integrity, eloquence and empathy, she added.

Mr McDonald will be laid to rest at Roselawn Cemetery on Tuesday following a funeral service at the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast.

He is survived by his daughters Lauren and Ellen, son Patrick and partner Charlotte.
A meeting between King Charles and the European Commission President, which was due to take place today, has been cancelled.

According to Sky News, the King was due to meet with Ursula von der Leyen in the final part of the Northern Ireland Protocol negotiations.

A deal between the UK and EU over Northern Irelands post-Brexit agreement is expected within days.

Securing a deal would set up a possible showdown with Conservative Brexit hardliners as Tory MPs have been ordered to be in Parliament on a three-line whip on Monday.

Rishi Sunak has promised that Parliament will be able to express its view over any deal, which he hopes will encourage the DUP to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.

However, he would come under intense pressure if he does not give them an explicit vote, amid fears there could be a rebellion.

The BBC reported yesterday that Mr Sunak was meeting major GB retailers to brief them on the protocol deal.

One supermarket said it was their understanding that a deal between the UK and the EU had been reached, but the Prime Minister wanted to be sure he had the backing of retailers.

Meanwhile, the King could have played a major role in the final part of the protocol negotiations if his meeting with Ms von der Leyen had gone ahead, it has been reported.

Sky News has said discussions took place about calling the deal the Windsor Agreement.

Involvement of the King in negotiations would likely be controversial, attracting allegations that he is being dragged into politics.

The decision to arrange the meeting would have been agreed by Downing Street and Buckingham Palace jointly.

However, its believed by some that the Kings involvement could have encouraged support from unionists who have been incensed by the trade barriers Brexit has created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

UK politicians and official and senior EU figures were aware of the event that had been due to take place at Windsor today but no formal invitation was ever offered.

Number 10 and Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly indicated that ministers will not sign off on a deal over the protocol with Brussels until the DUPs concerns are addressed.

However, when asked again whether the Government would not press ahead with a deal not backed by the DUP, he said: No, what Ive said is weve got to make sure that the issues theyve highlighted are addressed.

Mr Sunak is expected to hold further talks with the DUP and Ms von der Leyden ahead of any announcement.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

No 10 sources confirmed that Mr Sunak yesterday also had constructive engagement with supermarket bosses and fast parcel operators, along with other businesses, about the protocol and the issues he is attempting to fix.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has in recent days called on the Prime Minister to deal with the fundamental constitutional issues caused by the protocol in addition to ensuring its legal replacement.

The Northern Ireland Protocol has caused huge economic and constitutional damage to Northern Ireland. It has also fractured the cross-community consent necessary for the stable operation of devolution, he said.

It is clear that progress has been made over recent days, and this must be built upon to secure an outcome that delivers arrangements that are acceptable to both unionists and nationalists and which restore our place in the UK internal market.

The constitutional and democratic issues raised by the protocol are of fundamental importance.

Sir Jeffrey added: It is unacceptable that EU laws are imposed on Northern Ireland with no democratic scrutiny or consent.

The Prime Minister did recognise the need to put in place new arrangements that secure Northern Irelands place within the United Kingdom.

Delivering upon that vision and securing the legal replacement of the failed protocol is vital if we are to return the focus to building a more peaceful and prosperous future in Northern Ireland.

The DUP has issued seven tests to win its backing for any deal, including addressing what it calls the democratic deficit meaning the nation is subject to EU rules.

Elsewhere, Boris Johnson declined to say whether he would back any new deal negotiated by his successor Mr Sunak in the latest sign he could face a rebellion on the Tory backbenches.

Instead, the former prime minister backed as the best solution his Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which could effectively rip up parts of the agreement he brokered.

Mr Johnson told Sky News: I think that it is important to wait and see what there may be but I think the best way forward, as I said when I was running the Government, is the Northern Ireland Bill, which cleared the Commons very comfortably, I think unamended, when I was in office and only a few months ago.

So, I think that is the best way forward.

The Downing Street spokesman responded: Negotiations are continuing so there isnt a finalised deal for people to take a judgment on.
Newcastle fans gather in Trafalgar Square, London, ahead of the of the Carabao Cup final between Manchester United and Newcastle United at Wembley on Sunday (Stefan Rousseau/PA)   Stefan Rousseau

Newcastle United supporters have gathered in central Londons Trafalgar Square ahead of the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

Fans of the Magpies have travelled down from the North East in large numbers for the match, their first appearance in the final of a major cup since losing 2-0 to United in the 1998/99 FA Cup final.

The 32,761 tickets allocated to the club at the 90,000-seater Wembley Stadium sold out within a week and the travelling fans have wasted no time getting acquainted with the capital.

Supporters congregated in Trafalgar Square as the sun set, singing terrace chants together, drinking cans of beer and letting off smoke bombs in the clubs black and white colours.

Newcastle fans gather in Trafalgar Square, London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)   Stefan Rousseau

Mehrdad Ghodoussi, the clubs co-owner, posted a picture on social media of him and fellow director Jamie Reuben enjoying the festivities with their hoods up.

One middle-aged fan even stripped to his boxers to enjoy a dip in one of the squares two fountains.

Other fans congregated around Nelsons Column in the centre of the square, which commemorates Admiral Horatio Nelsons victory over the Spanish and French navies at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

One of the songs the supporters were singing was, Tell me ma, me ma, I wont be home for tea, were going to Wembley to the tune of 1950s hit Que Sera, Sera.

Newcastle fans singing and chanting in Trafalgar Square (Stefan Rousseau/PA)   Stefan Rousseau

Another chant saw an alternative rendition of gospel hymn When the Saints Go Marching In, with Saints replaced by Mags.

Newcastle have enjoyed a rapid rise up the Premier League table since the arrival of Mr Ghodoussi, Mr Reuben and other new investors.

Their Saudi Arabia-led consortium has funded more than 210 million of new signings since taking over the club in October 2021.

Managed by Eddie Howe, Newcastle sit fifth in the Premier League, just one point behind Tottenham Hotspur in the final Champions League qualification spot.

Victory over Manchester United in tomorrows final would secure the club a play-off place in next seasons Europa Conference League.

It would be the first time Newcastle have played in Europe since the 2012/13 campaign, when they reached the quarter-final stage of the Europa League.
Peter Tatchell and pro-Ukraine supporters during a demonstration where they are calling to arm Ukraine for their fight against Russia (Timothy Sigsworth/PA)   Timothy Sigsworth

Pro-Ukraine counter-protesters led by campaigner Peter Tatchell have clashed in central London with activists demanding Britain stops supplying weapons to the country.

Mr Tatchell shouted Chamberlain  a reference to prime minister Neville Chamberlains policy of appeasing Adolf Hitlers Nazi regime  in reply to protesters who angrily accused him of being an American stooge.

He was one of a group of 30 who interrupted a rally by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Stop the War coalition outside the BBCs Broadcasting House.

Peter Tatchell and pro-Ukraine supporters (Timothy Sigsworth/PA)   Timothy Sigsworth

His fellow protesters chanted arm, arm, arm Ukraine, put an end to (Russian President Vladimir) Putins reign and self-defence is no offence.

Mr Tatchell told the PA news agency: Were here to protest Stop the War over its opposition to Ukraine. Their stance would leave Ukraine defenceless and result in Russia occupying and annexing all of Ukraine.

Russia is a fascist, imperialist state, and all progressive people should oppose the Putin regime and Russias war of aggression.

We should arm Ukraine in the same way that we armed anti-Nazi resistance during the Second World War. This is a war between Ukrainian democracy and Russian fascism.

His group held a banner reading Victory to Ukraine, arm Ukraine to defeat Russian imperialism.

CND and Stop the War claim Russias invasion was partially caused by Nato expansion in eastern Europe.

Their protesters held placards saying Peace now!, No to War and Wages not Weapons, with one man flying an inflatable anvil that read: Is this anvil really cast iron? Are the Biden gangs alibis?

Stop the War organiser Terina Hine, 54, said Ukraine would become the Afghanistan of Europe if it and its supporters did not stop backing Putin into a corner.

She told PA: If we carry on backing Putin into a corner, theres a very high chance that it will escalate on a nuclear level.

Its likely the war will be very long and very drawn out and if it carries on the way that it has been doing so far, it will lead to thousands upon thousands of deaths and Ukraine becoming the Afghanistan of Europe.

The war will eventually end by peace negotiations. So why not do that now?

Anybody who has even dared mentioned anything along those lines has been accused of being a traitor, or an appeaser or any of those other terms that are used as an attack line against people who just want peace.

Tom Unterrainer, 42, chairman of the CND, said negotiations were inevitable and claimed there is no reason to delay them.

He told PA: Everybody knows that this will end with negotiations. Everybody knows that this will end with diplomacy.

So the only question on the table now is how much destruction will there be in Ukraine, how many Ukrainians will die and how much closer will we get to the nightmare of nuclear use.

Given that theres a wide recognition that this conflict will end in negotiation, given that theres such a sharply posed nuclear threat, then now is the time to negotiate. We do not have the time to wait.
An Ajax Ares tank, an armoured personnel carrier, on the training range at Bovington Camp, a British Army military base in Dorset, during a visit by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. Picture date: Wednesday February 22, 2023.   Ben Birchall

Better seat cushions and ear defenders are among improvements being hailed by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace as turning the corner for the troubled 5.5 billion programme to build the Armys new Ajax fighting vehicle.

The Ministry of Defence project to build 589 of the state-of-the-art vehicles has prompted severe criticism having been running for nearly 13 years without yet providing a single deployable vehicle.

An Ajax Ares tank on the training range at Bovington Camp, a British Army military base in Dorset, during a visit by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)   Ben Birchall

Originally intended to enter service in 2017, it has been repeatedly delayed, with problems including noise and vibration issues which injured soldiers testing the vehicles.

The early trial versions also faced criticism for not being allowed to travel faster than 20mph or to fire its cannon while moving.

Speaking in Parliament in December, former head of the Royal Navy Lord West of Spithead said: The Ajax programme, no matter how much one dresses it up, has been a complete and utter disaster. It has been a real shambles.

The Ministry of Defence agreed a fixed-price contract with General Dynamics for 589 Ajax armoured vehicles with 37 taking part in the current trials with another 143 having already been built for earlier trials.

A total of 414 hulls have been built with 116 turrets ready to be fitted once the trials are completed.

The Ajax variants have now completed user validation trials which it is understood to mean they have overcome the issues that have dogged the vehicle and they are now undergoing reliability growth trials to prepare them for the battlefield although a finish date has not yet been confirmed.

During a visit earlier this week to Bovington Camp in Dorset, Mr Wallace was shown the Ajax being put through its paces at the training ground including the armoured vehicle heading over a knife-edge ramp aimed at pushing the vehicles to their limits.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace speaks to the crew inside an Ajax armoured personnel at Bovington Camp (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)   Ben Birchall

Mr Wallace said: I have been clear this was a troubled programme, it was started in March 2010, I inherited a troubled programme, I was determined I was going to put this right, I get a weekly update.

We think the remedies are in place, we are now going through the normal trials, can it go after the hill fast enough, does it do these things? It is showing great signs and we will keep on it.

I am confident we have turned the corner on this troubled programme.

Mr Wallace said the aim is for the Ajax vehicles to be active in military units soon after the testing programme is completed in about 16 months time.

He said: They are already training with it now, all these things take time to train how to use it, we have over 100 assembled so when we get through these trials we will get these into the units and be back on track.

It is understood that despite the production being described by Mr Wallace as troubled, the MoD considers some of the early problems to be development issues which have now been overcome in updated versions.

The issues of travelling at speed and the capability to fire while on the move were only to be tested in later models.

But a redesign of contact points for the soldiers using the tanks has been carried out to overcome issues of vibration and noise.

These improvements include new ear defenders with incorporated hearing piece for better communication, remounted seating with better cushioning and improved joysticks and controls.

The testing so far has covered 120,000km of journeys, with 9,000 rounds of ammunition fired and 50 tonnes of armour shot at to test the correct level of protection for the vehicles.

The Ajax, which will be supplied to the 3rd (UK) Division, the main war-fighting division of the British Army, come in six different variants including the workhorse Ares people carrier.

The Ajax itself is the turreted version fitted with a 40mm cannon with other variants designed as command, repair and recovery vehicles.
Rao family was grabbing precious lands in the name of development of temples. He has done the same in Yadadri and now, he is eyeing lands in Kondagattu, Said State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar. (File Photo: Twitter)

Hyderabad: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that he was ready to resign if Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao could prove that 24x7 power was being supplied. If not, Rao should resign as Chief Minister, he said.

He pointed out that BRS leaders were claiming that round-the-clock power was not available even in the US and the UK. Sanjay was speaking at Praja Gosa-BJP Bharosa street corner meeting held at Alair on Saturday.

On the pretext of free power to the agriculture sector, BRS government had increased other charges and was collecting hiked bills from the domestic sector. The BRS government had failed to clear Rs 60,000 crore to distribution companies, which would be the burden for next government,

Sanjay pooh-poohed the claim of minister K.T. Rama Rao that the value of life sciences industry in Hyderabad would go up to $250 billion (Rs 20 lakh crore) by 2030.

"This is just a humbug, If the BRS is pulled down from power, the value of life sciences industry would go up to Rs 50 lakh crore. In fact, foreign industrialists are scared of investing in the state because of the land scams involving KCRs family and kickbacks they are demanding," Sanjay said,

The TS BJP president said whatever investments India had been getting in the last eight years were because of the credibility of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. He said 150 countries had come forward to invest in India. "More than 50 per cent of all the foreign investments India had received in the last 75 years have come only during the Modi regime," he said.

He said the BRS government had not been able to attract even half of the investments received by Karnataka. "Despite having a city like Hyderabad, Telangana has not received even 5 per cent of the countrys investments. It shows how atrocious KCR regime is," he alleged. Sanjay reiterated that Rama Rao had achieved his position due to his father.

Sanjay listed out alleged failures of the KCR government, including lack of completion of double-bedroom houses, failure to supply of drinking water to every household under Mission Bhagiratha, fill up vacancies of government jobs, pay unemployment allowance, implement crop loan waiver and provide round-the-clock power supply to farm sector.

"While the Modi government sanctioned 2.5 lakh houses for the houseless poor in Telangana, KCR has not taken it up only to deny credit to Modi," he criticised.

Sanjay alleged that the Rao family was grabbing precious lands in the name of development of temples. "He has done the same in Yadadri and now, he is eyeing lands in Kondagattu," he criticised.
A forensics team combing the scene of the John Caldwell shooting for clues

Like a malevolent time machine, Northern Ireland gives us glimpses of a brighter future, then throws us right back 40 years to the hatefulness of the Troubles.
Brandon Rainey (27), from Corcreeny Place in Lurgan, appeared before Lisburn Magistrates Court via video-link. Stock Image.

A DANGEROUS rapist appeared in court on Saturday accused of breaching the sex offenders register.

Lisburn Magistrates Court heard that Brandon Raineys father alerted police when he failed to reside at home for two days with no contact, so officers found and arrested him.

Rainey (27), from Corcreeny Place in Lurgan, appeared at the hearing by video-link from police custody.

He is charged with breaching the terms of the sex offenders register on February 24 by failing to notify police or his risk manager of any new address.

The court heard that in an argument over alcohol, his father had withdrawn the address, but defence solicitor Stewart Ballentine said that since the arrest theres been a change of heart and the father, who acted very responsibly, is willing to have him back.

Granting bail in the sum of 250, District Judge Anne Marshall barred Rainey from alcohol and warned him to be in no doubt that if you breach again, theres a very real risk you will be in Maghaberry until you are dealt with.

Rainey sparked a province-wide hunt when he fled a secure mental health clinic around this time last year.

Held at the Shannon Clinic in south Belfast, the category-three sex offender went out for a cigarette on February 12 last year but staff at the Covid-testing centre at the entrance to Knockbracken Healthcare Centre saw him getting into a taxi that drove off.

When he was arrested, he told officers he was aware of the terms of his sexual offences prevention order (Sopo) but had wanted to visit his brother in Ballymena.

The court heard the 10-year Sopo was imposed in 2015 at Downpatrick Crown Court.

In that case, Rainey was jailed for rape and sexual assault after the mother of a 12-year-old girl caught him in bed with her daughter.

Within hours of being freed in 2016, he was re-arrested after a probation officer told a court Rainey planned to get off his head and have sex on the day of his release.

In court yesterday, the judge adjourned the case to March 14.
A pervert who left a teenage girl shaking with terror after he asked her to perform a sex act on him in a church has walked free from court.

Stanley Richmond pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication with a child ahead of a hearing at Antrim Crown Court.

The 14-year-old victim was on her way to the toilet during a Sunday service in April last year when 60-year-old Richmond, who she did not know, asked her about her sex life.

A prosecution lawyer told an earlier hearing: She walked past him, into the corridor that leads to the toilets. He followed and asked her to [perform a sex act on him].

Instead of going to the toilet, the girl returned to her family, raised the alarm and pointed out Richmond as the culprit.

Arrested and interviewed by the police, the defendant denied asking about her sex life and said he did not remember anything else.

He was freed on bail but forced to leave his home on Kilmakevit Crescent in Cullybackey after he was attacked by a hammer-wielding vigilante who left him with a badly bruised head and legs.

His lawyer described the incident as a revenge attack and told the court his client was in the process of selling the property.

They stressed Richmond had already lived a somewhat isolated life and that the assault had exacerbated that.

Appealing for a suspended sentence rather than jail, the lawyer told the court the pervert had pleaded guilty, had no previous convictions for sexual offending and had been assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending.

However, the judge noted a number of aggravating factors in the case.

These included the disparity in ages between the offender and his victim, the location where he committed the crimes and the persistence he showed in following the girl after initially speaking to her.

As well as praising the victims bravery in coming forward, the judge criticised the vigilante behind the attack on Richmond for thinking it is acceptable to take the law into [their] own hands.

Concluding, he told the court it was not without some hesitation that he was imposing a two-year probation order.

He also handed the defendant a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered him to sign the sex offender register for five years.

Richmond was warned that if he breached the terms of his sentence, he would be back before the courts and facing a custodial sentence.
An alcoholic drug user who bludgeoned a puppy to death with a hammer has been handed a two-month jail sentence for breaching a court order.

Having heard that Kyle Keegan had missed numerous probation appointments and had not done any of his 80 hours of community service, Judge Peter Irvine KC said there was absolutely no merit whatsoever in this appeal.

Craigavon County Appeal Court heard that 28-year-old Keegan was given the combination order last September for a drugs offence.

In that case Keegan, from Gilpins Manor in Lurgan, admitted possessing class C Pregabalin, a prescription only painkiller, on July 16, 2021.

The charge arose after puppy killer Keegan was caught with a handful of tablets in his pocket when cops stopped a car in which he was a passenger.

Sentencing Keegan at the time, judge Bernie Kelly warned him: This is the last chance you are going to get to rehabilitate yourself in the community so I suggest you grab it with both hands.

As a result of breaching the order Keegan appeared before her last Friday and making good on her promise, she revoked the order and replaced it with a two-month jail sentence.

Defence counsel David McKeown lodged an appeal against that jail sentence on Wednesday but Judge Irvine dismissed it and affirmed the jail sentence.

Keegan hit the headlines four years ago when he was jailed for 15 months after a judge heard that while Keegan was drunk and high, he bludgeoned 11-week-old cross-breed puppy Sparky to death with a claw hammer in February 2018.

The attack happened at a party in Ailsbury Park, Lurgan.

Caught through DNA evidence, he admitted causing unnecessary suffering to little Sparky whose body lay undiscovered, wrapped in a plastic bag, in a black wheelie bin for two days before his distraught owner found him.

Jailing Keegan for 15 months and ordering him to spend a further 15 months under supervised licence conditions, the judge told Keegan his crime was vile, violent and savage.
Platinum-selling Swedish superstar Zara Larsson wants to play more festivals in Northern Ireland.

Returning with the upbeat single Cant Tame Her, the Brit, MTV award and Grammy winner told Cool FMs John Kearns she was thrilled to be releasing new music.

On production duties for the track was Danja, who has worked with the likes of Madonna, Missy Elliott and Britney Spears.

Zara said: You have to work hard if you want to be a success.

With this song, Im happy to say that I put the hard work in and am delighted with the result.

I love what I do and feel so lucky to find myself in a position where the work I do happens to also be the best thing in the world.

Playing live is the best part of my job.

Zara is particularly fond of the Northern Irish accent and loves having a go at doing one.

She said :Its a great accent. Sometimes people hear me doing it and theyre like, Whats that voice youre doing?. I want to get better at it. I love it.

Ive always had a great time when Ive performed in Northern Ireland. The audiences know how to have a good time and they sing so loudly with every song.

Whether its been when Ive performed on a festival bill or a smaller gig, it was such fun.

I met so many nice people and had a really great time on and off the stage.

Zara hopes to return to Belfast in the near future to perform and, of course, to work on that local accent.

She said: Further down the line with my release schedule, I hope to announce a full tour and maybe get festival dates in the diary. Im looking forward to getting back.
It's a question that's plagued theologians for millennia: did Judas go to Heaven?

Judas is one of the most notorious figures in the Bible. He was one of the 12 disciples (Matthew 10:2-4) and was chosen as one of Jesus' closest followers. Unfortunately, Judas wasn't a faithful follower of Jesus in the end. Judas is most known for betraying Jesus Christ. We all know his story: In the Bible, Judas sold out Jesus to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver. This led to the trial, conviction, and crucifixion of Jesus.

Did Judas go to Heaven or Hell?

The lingering question we're left with is complex. Was Judas still allowed to enter Heaven despite his ultimate betrayal? Or did Judas's sins mean he was forever doomed to burn in Hell? Some believe he went to Hell because he betrayed Christ and committed suicide. Others believe Judas repented before dying and was saved by God's grace. Judas's fate after his betrayal has been the subject of much debate.

To this day, we're still conflicted by the actions of Judas and question the outcome of his life after death. Was Judas welcome through Heaven's gates, or we he banished to Hell? Let's explore both sides of the argument.

Did Judas go to Hell?

To determine if Judas went to Hell, we must first explore his act of betrayal and the proper penance for his sin.

A few different ideas exist suggesting why Judas betrayed Jesus in the first place. The first is that he was motivated to betray him in exchange for money. Another popular idea is that as one of Jesus's disciples, Judas believed his teacher was going to lead a violent revolution against Romea belief he held even though Jesus repeatedly preached that His Kingdom was not of this world. It's possible Judas wanted to speed up the process by turning Him over to the authorities.

In the end, Judas knowingly identified Jesus to the Roman. This act sent Jesus on a dangerous and dark path that would eventually culminate in His death.

Upon realizing what he did, Judas was remorseful, hanging himself after returning the money he received for selling out Jesus to the high priests. His guilt motivated him to return the money and hang himself out of remorse. He knew he had sinned by betraying Jesus, and he wanted to receive punishment from God in the form of his own death.

Upon reflection of Judas's actions, his sins are considered some of the worst in the Bible. Causing the acts that led to the death of the son of God stands out as the ultimate betrayal, which leads us to consider that Judas was sent to Hell. However, our God is a forgiving one. He is a God of mercy. This mercy applies to everyone, even Judas. He was Jesus's disciple, and Jesus was always forgiving those who wronged Him. So, if Judas betrayed him and then died (which he did), Jesus would have forgiven him.

Even though Judas betrayed Jesus, everyone has sinned. God forgives you, even if you betray Him, when you repent for your sins. Did Judas repent before he died? Did he repent after his death? There's no way to know for sure, but this is the key to contemplating if Judas went to Heaven or Hell.

Did Judas go to Heaven?

This is a question Christians have pondered for centuries. While we might not have a definitive answer, we do know one thing: God loves us, no matter what we've done. The same love applies to Judas, suggesting there's a possibility that he did go to Heaven.

In the Book of Acts, the Apostle Peter tells us that Judas died by hanging himself in remorse over betraying Jesus (Acts 1:18). God forgives our sins, but forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean that you get into Heaven. You must also repent and turn to God. Did Judas repent? If he did, God would have forgiven him just as He forgives you when you ask. God forgives those who ask and cleanses them from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

It's important to remember that Judas was a human being, and he had the same free will as you. It's also true that Jesus knew what Judas was going to do and didn't stop it. This could mean that God had a plan for Judas's actions all along, or that God allowed him to make his own choices even though he knew they would result in this betrayal. Either way, we can see that Judas wasn't some supernatural being with no moral compass, but rather a person just like you. Judas was human, and he made a choice to betray someone he once loved.

We're not told much about Judas's life before he started following Jesus, so we don't know much about his character other than this defining choice. Maybe he didn't realize until it was too late just how much damage his actions had caused. Regardless of the intensity of his sins, if Judas asked for God's forgiveness and repented, he indeed went to Heaven.

We don't know what happened to Judas after he betrayed Christ. Some believe he went to Hell while others believe he turned back to God and received salvation after repenting for his sins. There are many different theories about whether Judas went to Heaven or Hell. However, we know that God is forgiving and merciful. Jesus said that "whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Did Judas go to Heaven?

We will never know for sure, but we do know that God's love is greater than any sin we could ever commit! If Judas repented of his sins before dying by hanging himself in remorse over betraying Jesus, then God would have forgiven him just as he forgives us when we ask forgiveness from Him.
Confetti flies in suburban Quezon City, north of Manila, to mark the 37th anniversary of the people power revolution, Feb. 25, 2023.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pushed for reconciliation Saturday as hundreds of Filipinos gathered in Metro Manila to mark the 37th anniversary of the people power revolution that toppled the regime of his dictator-father and namesake.

But while Marcos told the Southeast Asian nation that he was one with them in remembering the February 1986 uprising, he sidestepped demands to apologize for Ferdinand E. Marcos excess that had allowed him and his family to amass billions of U.S. dollars in stolen wealth.

As we look back at this fateful moment in our countrys history, we remind ourselves that despite the polarizing and divisive nature of our politics, it is our capacity for peace, unity and reconciliation that made us great and worthy of global acclaim as a people, Marcos said in a statement.

I hope that we will always take to heart that democracy is only truly possible when we resign from our individualism for the sake of the common good and embrace our infinite love for humanity.

Marcos, who did not attend the commemoration, reminded Filipinos that the world matures and ages in fortitude, when people are free to speak their minds and challenge the realities that shake their convictions and beliefs.

If we truly stand for democracy, let us face the future by making our sense of community and patriotism the defining cornerstones of our society and the overarching goals of all our efforts in nation-building, he said.

Nuns carry flowers and notes calling for a continued revolution during the 37th anniversary commemoration of the people power revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986, Feb. 25, 2023. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

On Thursday, Marcos signed Proclamation 157, declaring Feb. 24, 2023, as a special non-working day to enable Filipinos to enjoy the benefits of holiday economics.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines held a small event on Saturday, the first day after the holiday, at the EDSA People Power Monument in Quezon City with the theme, unity toward peace and recovery.

Without much fanfare, the occasion was marked by flag raising and wreath laying ceremonies led by the commission and local government officials. A holy mass was then held at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace at the nearby EDSA Shrine.

Hundreds of people joined the commemoration while several groups held protests against the new Marcos administration and called for justice for the victims of his fathers regime.

Marcos was in his hometown in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte in northern Philippines, to attend a festival on the eve of the anniversary.

It was not the first time a president did not attend the commemoration. Former President Rodrigo Duterte, who had repeatedly criticized the uprising and supported the Marcos family, had skipped all similar events during his six-year term.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte (second from right) releases white birds during a commemoration ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the people power revolution, Feb. 25, 2023. [Aaron Favila/AP]

The family of the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino, the elder Marcos political nemesis who was assassinated upon his return from exile, paid tribute to the heroism of the Filipino people that led to the restoration of Philippine democracy.

[It] showed the world that it was possible for a courageous and truly unified people to reclaim the freedom that a dictatorship had denied them. We believe that the indomitable spirit exemplified by one Filipino nation 37 years ago remains alive to this day, the family said in a statement.

We are one with the people who oppose the return of dictatorship and the revision of our shared memory, they said. No doubt: the spirit of EDSA is alive.

Judy Taguiwalo, a spokeswoman for the Campaign against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, noted that before taking office, President Marcos had often heaped ridicule on the celebrations.

The younger Marcos career only proves that tyrants and dictators will do anything to regain power, protect their wealth and distort history to manipulate the peoples hearts and minds, she said. But we strongly believe that the spirit of people power did not fizzle out with their return.

Anti-Marcos demonstrators hold signs to mark the 37th anniversary of the people power revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986, Feb. 25, 2023. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

History

Leading up to the commemoration, the president stopped short of acknowledging the sins of his father amid demands by rights groups representing the thousands who died during the elder Marcos regime. Aided by his wife, Imelda Marcos, the dictator is believed to have plundered up to U.S. $10 billion during his two-decade rule.

In 1986, thousands of Filipinos gathered along Manilas EDSA highway in response to a call from the politically influential Catholic Church to protect two of Marcos top men who had broken away from his regime. It snowballed into a relatively peaceful uprising that forced Marcos into exile in Hawaii, where he died in 1989.

Amnesty International estimated that about 70,000 people were jailed during the elder Marcos time and about 34,000 others were tortured. The official death toll is 3,200, although many other activists and opposition figures went missing.

Marcos, his mother, Imelda, and his two sisters were allowed to return home where they once against established their political base. After becoming senator, Marcos ran and lost the race for vice president in 2016 only to be elected president last year.
IMIM President Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi along with MP Aurangabad, Imtiyaz Jaleel, and Working President Dr. Gaffar Quadri addresses Press Conference Before the commencement of the 1st National Convention in Mumbai. (Photo: By Arrangement)

Hyderabad: Seeking credit for keeping the BJP out of power in Telangana, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that the national party won't be able to make it even this time in the state.

"BJP has lost in 2014 and then 2018 in Telangana. You know how BJP has lost the elections. It won't win in December this year either. You should give little credit to us, at least like a pinch of salt which is added in wheat flour," he said.

He was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the partys first-ever national convention which is being held in Mumbai.

Owaisi asked MIMs Maharashtra president Imtiaz Jaleel, the MP from Aurangabad, to react to the change of names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad to Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv

Condemning the state government decision, Jaleel said that the majority of citizenry had been opposing the move. The matter was 'sub-judice', he said, and was being dealt with in the Bombay High Court.

"This present government is sending a strong message that it is above law and supreme. The Congress and NCP are equally responsible as they were part of the decision making process earlier. You may remove its name but not its history, as Aurangabad is the only city which has two important heritage monuments," Jaleel said.

"This decision will have financial repercussions. I would like to ask what kind of package will the government offer for development or will changing the name change everything," Jaleel said.

On the first day of convention, a closed door meeting of state presidents, MPs and MLAs was organised.They presented reports and discussed strengthening of the party under present political climate in their respective places.

About 1,200 office-bearers will attend the events on the second day on Sunday. After deliberations, the party will come up with a resolution. The second day will also witness a workshop on social media.
LENOX  Patience is a virtue, especially for a composer waiting decades to hear a work receive its first live performance. For Williamstown composer Stephen Dankner, a choral work he wrote some 21 years ago has finally come of age.

Dankners Isaiah 44: 21-23 will receive its world premiere performance at Trinity Church on March 5 as part of an "All-Inclusive Jazz Service" led by the Rev. Michael Tuck. The Mass will be accompanied by musical selections sung by the 18-member Cantilena Chamber Choir led by director Andrea Goodman, plus a trio of well-known Berkshires Jazz musicians led by pianist John Sauer with Jon Suters on bass and Bill Chapman on drums.

If You Go Cantilena Chamber Choir: Chilcotts Jazz Mass What: The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present an all-inclusive jazz service with special guest musicians from Berkshires Jazz. The concert includes "A Little Jazz Mass" by Bob Chilcott, "All My Hope" by Dave Brubeck, and a world premiere of "Isaiah 44: 21-23" by Williamstown composer Stephen Dankner. Who: Cantilena Chamber Choir, directed by Andrea Goodman, and Berkshires Jazz musicians, John Sauer, piano; Jon Suters, bass; and Bill Chapman, drums. Where: Trinity Episcopal Church, 88 Walker St., Lenox When: 3 p.m., March 5 Tickets: Free, goodwill offering suggested. More information: 518-791-0185 cantilenachoir.org

The service is structured around Bob Chilcotts 2004 work A Little Jazz Mass, divided into sections. As well as Dankners piece, it also features Dave Brubecks 1979 composition All my Hope, excerpted from his larger Mass, To Hope! A Celebration.

With a liturgical reading from the Prophet Isaiah and accompanying homily reflection, theres going to be a real in-depth look at Isaiah, Goodman said, noting this is the first Dankner work performed by the choir.

A prolific composer of some 150 works from symphonies to solo voice, Dankner wrote Isaiah 44: 21-23 in 2001 for piano and chorus. The American Composers Forum commissioned him to compose six short 5- to 10-minute choral pieces, two each for three Jackson, Miss., churches  Roman Catholic, Methodist and Baptist  using biblical texts their music ministers selected.

I had written a lot of religious music at that time, [including] four Biblical symphonies," Dankner said. I was trying to reawaken my religious convictions, compositionally speaking. I was in a choral frame of mind, so the idea of doing a simpler version for just chorus appealed to me.

Only four of the commissioned works were ever performed.

Dankner describes Isaiah 44: 21-23 as having a jazz quality, a gospel quality embedded in the harmonies and the rhythms of the piece. Its kind of a rare bird.

With the chorus clapping hands on the offbeat during the fast first and third sections, plus a more serious, pensive middle section and two brief piano solos, the piece is joyous and exuberant, Dankner said.

Dankner taught music at Williams College in the 1970s before moving to New Orleans, where Louisiana Philharmonic premiered seven of his eight symphonies from 1998 to 2012; he was their composer-in-residence from 2004 to 2007.

In 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, he relocated to a condo in Williamstown where he had escaped the southern summer heat since 2000. His works have since been performed locally over the years, including at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and Williams College, and by Northern Berkshire Chorale. His compositions have reached widely across the United States and also into Europe.

Now 78, Dankner has established archives at two schools where he taught: Loyola University in New Orleans, and The Juilliard School, where he received his doctorate.

While gathering compositions together during the pandemic shutdown, Dankner asked Goodman if she would be interested in performing his earlier choral works. She was drawn to the prospect of presenting a world premiere, he noted.

It had a populist element which I thought would be really audience-friendly," Dankner said, it really has a punch to it.

The work has come full circle, as Dankner wrote it during a summer stay in the Berkshires. I had access to a piano in the Williams music department, so I used to compose there. Any quiet place you can close off is inspiring to me, it all comes from inside.

I dont like writing music that repeats itself, I try and find a different expression for each one of the pieces. My music is across the spectrum, from the lightest music to the most serious and in-depth.

His work has been recorded on a dozen CDs, with a double CD of four violin and piano sonatas due for release this year.

Acknowledging the contextual shift of the presentation, Dankner doesnt expect the piece to sound like it would have in Jackson, Miss.; its coming from a different time and place, he said. But with spirited clapping and its gospel feel, it should rattle the rafters, he said.

Goodman met Brubeck when she and his son Chris both taught at Skidmore College. ['All My Hope'] is quite simple, musically speaking, its what you do with it thats tricky for musicians like myself that rely on a score, she explained. Youve got to stop the choir for the jazz ensemble and come back in. They do a lot of improv and change keys often. Its not written down, this is all stuff that Dave Brubeck told me.

When Brubeck died, Goodman performed the work with Saratoga Choral Festival at his memorial.

Cantilena typically performs jazz-inspired pieces at its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day concert. In 2019, they sang selections from Duke Ellingtons Sacred Concert.

Its all jazz with a jazz combo, it was fabulous, Goodman said.

The Trinity service will last around 75 minutes altogether, Goodman said. Its really for anybody, you wont hear this [anywhere else] in the county.

Cantilena has performed at Trinity for the past two decades.

This concert is a thank you to Trinity Church for allowing us to be part of their music series, offering us a home and a place to rehearse [free of charge], Goodman said. Its a beautiful, acoustically perfect church.

IF YOU GO

Cantilena Chamber Choir: Chilcotts Jazz Mass

What: The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present an all-inclusive jazz service with special guest musicians from Berkshires Jazz. The concert includes "A Little Jazz Mass" by Bob Chilcott, "All My Hope" by Dave Brubeck, and a world premiere of "Isaiah 44: 21-23" by Williamstown composer Stephen Dankner.

Who: Cantilena Chamber Choir, directed by Andrea Goodman, and Berkshires Jazz musicians, John Sauer, piano; Jon Suters, bass; and Bill Chapman, drums.

Where: Trinity Church, 88 Walker St., Lenox

When: 3 p.m., March 5

Tickets: Free, goodwill offering suggested.

More information: 518-791-0185 cantilenachoir.org
Business writer

Tony Dobrowolski's main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
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Williamstown fire chief makes one more plea to voters for new station before town meeting
Telugu Desam leader Nara Lokesh had welcomed his maternal cousin and Tollywood actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popular as Junior NTR, to enter active politics through Telugu Desam while interacting with autorickshaw drivers and party cadre in Tirupati. (File Photo: Twitter)

Vijayawada: Former minister and YSR Congress MLA Kodali Venkateswara Rao alias Nani, who has produced films with Junior NTR, advised Chandrababu Naidu and Lokesh to hand over Telugu Desam to Jr. NTR.

Kodali Nanis advice came after an uproar by fans of Junior NTR after TD national general-secretary Nara Lokesh extended an invitation to Jr. NTR to join the TD. "Telugu Desam belongs to Junior NTRs grandfather N.T. Rama Rao. Who is Lokesh to invite Jr. NTR into the TD," the film producer and former minister asked. He maintained that Chandrababu Naidu had, in fact, snatched TD from NTR through backstabbing.

Lokesh had welcomed his maternal cousin and Tollywood actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popular as Junior NTR, to enter active politics through Telugu Desam while interacting with autorickshaw drivers and party cadre in Tirupati. They had asked Lokesh whether he would welcome Jr. NTR into active politics.

"Hundred per cent," the TD national general-secretary responded, maintaining that all those who wish to see Andhra Pradesh change and be again at the top rank in development should enter politics.

Responding to the statement of Lokesh asking people to bring a change in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Kodali Nani retorted that there is a dire need to bring a change in TD. He said Naidu and Lokesh should be shown the exit and the party handed over to Junior NTR.

Supporters and fans of Junior NTR created a storm on social media platforms objecting to the invitation of Lokesh to Jr. NTR into the latters own party. The fans said they cannot forget the cruel way Naidu and other family members treated Junior NTR and his father Harikrishna when the latter wanted TD to be handed over to Jr. NTR, treating him as the real successor of TD founder NTR.

Former minister Nani asked: "Didn't Chandrababu insult Junior NTR's father Harikrishna? He spread propaganda that Harikrishna is a drunkard and a renegade. He had been removed from his minister and MP posts.

Nani pointed out that even after insulting Harikrishna, Naidu had taken the support of Jr. NTR in 2014 elections; but cast the popular actor aside after winning the assembly general elections. "During the oath-taking ceremony, Junior NTR had not been given any priority, but forced to sit in the gallery," he pointed out.

The former minister claimed that Chandrababu and Lokesh have no confidence in garnering votes on their own. That is why they are craving for Junior NTRs presence, so that they can take advantage of his image in the 2024 elections once again.

Nani went on to demand that Naidu organise Mahanadu of Telugu Desam and let Telugu Desam workers decide whether Lokesh or Junior NTR should lead TD in future.
Eight years is a long time to be mayor, and it came as no surprise last week when Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer announced she would not seek a third four-year term.

Voters grow restless and want a change after awhile, and two experienced city officials who have largely been Tyer allies didnt wait for the incumbents official decision before getting in the race. It is time.

Tyers political career testifies to the long-term impact of WHEN (Women Helping Empower Neighborhoods), the group that successfully got more women involved in city politics and government, Tyer and state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier prominent among them. Tyer was elected as a ward councilor amid a voter backlash against a dysfunctional City Council and after two terms took an unusual detour to serve as city clerk.

Tyers timing was right when she ran for mayor in 2015, as residents of lower-income and minority neighborhoods who believed they had been overlooked by city government formed a natural constituency for the progressive candidate. Her victory over incumbent Dan Bianchi made her the first Pittsfield mayor to be elected to the newly instituted four-year term.

Tyer was buoyed by considerable good will when she took office and won points with a collaborative approach to government. She reached outside the county to bring in businesses, but established businesses felt neglected.

This and the persistent crime problem fueled a backlash against her when she ran for a second term, and the political cognoscenti largely believed that then-City Councilor Melissa Mazzeo, a Bianchi ally from the citys conservative wing, would defeat her. Mazzeo nearly did  but Tyer showed political savvy in squeezing out a narrow victory.

COVID-19 greeted Tyer at the start of her second term, and the mayors aggressive, collaborative approach to the pandemic stood out while elected officials across the nation, beginning in the White House, dithered and spread misinformation. There were mistakes of aggression, most notably in closing the citys restaurants to indoor dining, but Tyer heeded the concerns of restaurateurs and reached a compromise. Generally, Tyer has acknowledged shortcomings, listened to legitimate complaints and responded.

Problems of crime and violence, in particular on the west side, continue to plague the city, and last years killing of 22-year-old Miguel Estrella by a city police officer while Estrella was in the midst of a mental health crisis undermined the mayor with many of her constituents. Tyer responded with efforts to improve mental health care, but this is one of many areas where a mayor is limited in his or her ability to address a crisis.

How well are the mayors of nearby Albany, Schenectady and Troy doing with similar problems on a grander scale? Crime, drugs and violence are complex socioeconomic issues compounded by the ready availability of guns. A citys expectations of a mayor have to be tempered by realism.

One area where a mayor is cut no slack, however, is roads. The perception of Pittsfields roads as cracked, crumbling and pothole-strewn is a major hurdle for a mayor nearing the end of a term.

This perception was compounded by the Christmas holiday storm that sent drivers slipping, sliding and crashing on the frozen tundra of Pittsfield streets. When holiday travelers reported from all four points of the compass that the roads were fine if not excellent until they reached the Pittsfield city line the anger of residents was compounded. The state of the citys roads might have been the major obstacle to Tyers reelection.

City Council charter objection throws speed bump in the progress of a ballot question on North Street bike lanes Residents who came to the City Council meeting to show their support for North Street bike lanes, didnt see the saving of the bike lanes  instead they saw a longstanding city issue get mired further in council bureaucracy.

A portion of the mayors road-related legacy  the bike lane along North Street  could be on the ballot along with the mayoral candidates this November. That is unless the City Council reserves the issue for itself, as it should. The issue got bogged down over wording and procedural objections at the last City Council meeting. The confusion was predictable as ballot questions are a poor way to solve complex, nuanced problems.

Referendums clog the state election ballot every two years, in part because lawmakers cant bring themselves to act on tough issues like legalizing gambling or cannabis. When approved by voters, it can take a year or longer to draft the legislation to make the required new laws. This is a backwards way to run a state  or a city.

A highly unscientific survey suggests that the lane doesnt get a lot of use, probably not enough to justify eliminating traffic lanes and making it a challenge for drivers of large vehicles to turn right onto side streets.

The argument that slowing traffic on North Street will persuade drivers to notice and patronize businesses is an old one and not particularly sound. Its more likely that frustrated drivers will bail on constricted, sign-choked and traffic light-riddled North Street in favor of First Street.

In the citys republican form, it is the role of elected officials to make decisions. Whatever is done or not done about the North Street bike lane is up to those officials, and on Tuesday councilors should begin that process and end a referendum distraction that will only cause delay and sow confusion.

Peter Marchetti, the current City Council president who was narrowly defeated by Bianchi in a previous run for mayor, and former City Council Vice President John Krol are in the race for mayor. It would be surprising if the field doesnt expand and include a candidate or candidates from the right side of the spectrum.

Pittsfield mayoral races are usually close, often heated and always critical to the citys future. The race to succeed Linda Tyer will likely be all three.
Israelis protest Feb. 13 against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the judicial system, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Ralph Gardner Jr. is a journalist whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and The New Yorker. He can be reached at ralph@ralphgardner.com. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of The Berkshire Eagle.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo: AFP)

February 24 marked the first anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Gen. Mark Millay, chairperson of the US joint chiefs of staff, stated in November 2022 that the number of combatants killed as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine could well be in the range of 200,000 with the number split evenly down the middle between Russia and Ukraine. Over 40,000 Ukrainian civilians or even a higher number were perhaps also dead.

The rape, torture and other atrocities ostensibly perpetrated by the invaders is another grisly fact that warrants an impartial international criminal investigation to establish the truth and prosecute the perpetrators at some point in time.

About five hundred thousand or perhaps even a higher number of people have also left Russia either because of their opposition to the aggression or to escape being mobilised and sent to fight a war that they do not believe in.

It would be instructive to recall that Ukraine was once a part of the erstwhile Soviet Union from December 30, 1922, till August 24, 1991, when the Soviet Republic started unravelling and the constituent units went their own separate ways.

Ukraines independence unfortunately became problematic for the Soviet Unions successor state Russia from the day go itself. First it was defanged by the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 when it was stripped of its nuclear arsenal. Ironically, one of the guarantors of Ukraines territorial sovergnity when it acceded to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty was Russia. The very first article of the Memorandum on Security Assurances, known as the Budapest Memorandum, in connection with Ukraines accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, stated as follows:

"The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE [Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe] Final Act, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine."

The second article solemnly undertook "the United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations".

The battering of Ukraines sovereignty has unfortunately been now an aggression in continuum since 2014 commencing with the illegal occupation of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.

In 2014 and 2015, another set of agreements known as the Minsk Protocol and Minsk-2 were signed to end fighting between Russian backed separatist groups aided and abetted by the Russian state and the Ukrainian military in the Donbas region where the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk are situated. One of the salient terms of the Minsk-2 agreement was the "restoration of full control over the state border of Ukraine by Ukraines government throughout the whole conflict area". This, of course, was to be based upon certain prerequisites to be implemented by Ukraine. Unfortunately, continued support for the Russian-backed separatist elements by the Russian military and deep state became an impediment leading to the collapse of the Minsk Process.

There was, of course, not even an explanation offered by Russia for the forcible annexation of Crimea in February-March 2014 that could be viewed with any kind of legitimacy vis-a-vis the annexation in the court of either international jurisprudence or public opinion.

Coming back to the current situation at hand the aggression has actually tilted the balance of power against Russia. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) has consolidated as never before. The deep chasm that had emerged following President Donald Trumps repeated demands from Nato members to pony up and pay their dues have been healed by the Russian action on Ukraine. Weapons, finances, logistical support and other supplies are freely and openly flowing to Ukraine from the Nato countries.

The Bucharest-9, the group of nine countries that form the eastern flank of Nato consisting of Romania, Poland Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, are the most impacted and insecure about the invasion of Ukraine. Their defences are being strengthened and consolidated with Nato troop deployment and weapon systems being upgraded. Finland and Sweden that were neutral during the Cold War with Swedens ostensible neutrality extending even further back to World War-2 have both applied to join Nato.

In fact, throughout the Cold War, Finlands foreign policy was in congruence with the erstwhile Soviet Unions in terms of the Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Treaty Soviet Treaty signed between the two nations on April 6, 1948. Though the treaty was repudiated by a political one signed between Russia and Finland on January 20, 1992, Finland was still mindful of Russias concerns notwithstanding its diminished standing after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. However, the invasion of Ukraine has forced both of them over the edge. Thus Russia is boxed in by Nato allies from all sides.

Even Russias other allies and friends in that order, and nations traditionally antagonistic to the American-controlled status quo, have been hedging their bets, including and not limited to China and India. There is a general sense of consternation with the Russian aggression and even the most charitable "friend" of Russia finds it impossible to rationalise, much less justify, Russian actions.

With President Bidens latest visit to Kyiv and even other European leaders standing firm behind Ukraine, it does not seem that European unity would crack anytime soon. In fact, the battlefield itself is now a mixed bag with many non-state combatants in action on both sides.

What then has the Kremlin or specifically President Vladimir Putin really achieved by this year long aggression and transgression into Ukraine? Have any of the strategic or even tactical objectives with regard to the security of Russia been fulfilled by the senseless human suffering that this unprovoked assault on Ukraines sovereignty has unleashed? The answer is emphatically in the negative.

President Vladimir Putin would do well to reflect back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 that paved the way for the eventual collapse of not only the Soviet Union but the Soviet empire itself. Is there a danger of history repeating itself all over again?
Charles Dickens masterful book, A Tale of Two Cities ends with intense emotion seldom seen in modern novels. Two of the characters (Carton and Darnay) looked so much alike they appeared as twins, and they both fell in love with the same woman, Lucie. In the denouement, Darnay, now married to Lucie, is condemned to death by members of the French Revolution. Carton takes Darnays place so Darnay may enjoy the rest of his life with Lucie and their daughter. As Carton is led to the guillotine, a priest utters, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live (John 11:25). Cartons last words before death are, It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

One innocent man took the place of a condemned, guilty man. The Bible tells us Jesus was and is an innocent man, completely pure and sinless. Yet He suffered and died in our place. One innocent man took the place of all of historys sinful souls. The emotion we experience is because of our shame and gratitude. What Jesus did is greater than any novelists plot ever written because we are the guilty ones for whom our Lord Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, died. His suffering and death are outlined in the words of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote of the Suffering Servant 700 years before Jesus the Messiahs birth.

It is fitting Isaiahs very name means The Lord is salvation. Isaiah is often referred to as the fifth Gospel because of its many references to the Lord Jesus and to salvation. Aside from the Psalms, Isaiah is the most quoted book in the New Testament, especially about Jesus.

Isaiah 55:3 says,

But He was pierced for our transgressions;

He was crushed for our iniquities;

upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with His wounds we are healed.

What Is the Context of Isaiah 53?

Isaiah 53 is a message about the suffering Servant  the Lord Jesus Christ. This passage is part of Isaiahs servant songs (Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12). The servant song to which this verse belongs begins in Isaiah 52:13, and its an essential section of the book, for here the work of Gods Servant is defined.

The people had just been told in the beginning verses of chapter 42 that they will see the Lord return to Zion, but that part of the promise is geographic and is only a portion of what God had planned. The people have been rebellious and looked elsewhere for their hope. They had been lax in their observance of the sacrificial laws and had lived unholy lives. Everlasting forgiveness and fidelity to Gods covenant was needed, and these songs look forward to the way of deliverance, which comes only in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. Pastor Chuck Swindoll says The book of Isaiah provides us with the most comprehensive prophetic picture of Jesus Christ in the entire Old Testament.

In his book, the prophet Isaiah speaks to the southern kingdom of Judah during a time when Judah and Israel were divided. As we have seen, it is a time of great apostasy, for the people have fallen away from the Lord. God used Isaiah to warn the people of coming judgment and also promise a future hope. Isaiah 53 is entirely about the suffering servant.

What Does This Verse Mean?

Isaiah was a prophet of God. As such (and as true for every writer of Scripture), Isaiah penned what the Lord God inspired him to. This, the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, is all about Jesus Christ and is a theological powerhouse in its incorporation of sin and Christs atoning sacrifice for sin.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.

Isaiah says the servant will be wounded and crushed for our sins.

The punishment that brought us peace was on Him,

Our peace (reconciliation) with God comes through the punishment wrought on the servant.

And by His wounds we are healed.

Here Isaiah anticipates the sins of Gods people as being absolved through the redeeming act of Gods servant. He would stand before God as both the representative and substitute for Gods people and bear the guilt and punishment for their sin so they might have peace with God. His death from the wounds heals us spiritually. Because the servant was crushed for our sins, the healing He brings is for the sins and the spiritual death wrought by Adam and charged to every human since.

The Apostle Peter explicitly teaches this as he refers to Isaiah 53:4-5 in 1 Peter 2:24, When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

In an earlier chapter, Isaiah prophesied about the sign the Lord would provide, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). How would Isaiah have understood this? Did he know this was about Jesus? Two scholars address this issue:

Darrell Bock, (Dallas Theological Seminary) says His [Isaiahs] text anticipates a decisive delivering figure of the end who suffers and then is exalted.

Steve Ham of Answers in Genesis offers this thought: The prophets were given amazing revelation from God, and it is hard to know what they must have been thinking when communicating this revelation to the people.

In what is called Isaiahs commission (Isaiah 6), the Lord gave Isaiah an astonishing view of the throne room of heaven, where he saw a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ. The text reads, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne (Isaiah 6:1). Twice in John 12, the Gospel writer (and beloved friend of Jesus) speaks of Isaiah. Verse 41 is where John discloses Isaiah truly saw Jesus Christ in the vision he describes in Isaiah 6:1. Again, this was hundreds of years before Jesus came as a baby.

Why Did Jesus Have to Be Broken on Our Behalf?

The answer to this question has its roots in Genesis 3, and from it springs the Gospel. Gods creation was good, until sin entered when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. And now, we are all born sinners (Psalm 51:5), both in Adam, the first man as our representative head, and by our own personal actions (Romans 3:23; 5:12). We all deserve death, and in fact are already darkness. Not in darkness but darkness itself (Ephesians 5:8). We are utterly helpless in our sin (Romans 5:6-8), and our only way to life is from God.

Hebrews 9:22b assures us without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Because Adam was a human, a human would have to shed his blood to atone for mans sins, according to Gods righteous standards and laws. But God sent Jesus (John 3:16)  fully God and fully man (Philippians 2:5-11) to die the death we fully deserved  to be persecuted, and endure a horrific death on the cross of crucifixion. God raised Jesus to justify us, and therefore proved He was and is Gods Son.

To have Jesus perfect righteousness imputed to us and our sins assigned to Him, we must repent of our sins and believe in Jesus. It is wholly His grace which saves us and nothing we do saves us (Ephesians 2:5-8). Salvation is from God; its the Gospel. Living a good life is never enough because we are commanded to share the good news (the Gospel) which includes the horrifying implications of rejecting the only One who can save us.

Why Did His "Chastisement" Bring Us Peace?

Until we as humans are exonerated from our sin, we live in a hopeless state, our only end being total separation from goodness (God). Gods perfect plan for our peace is the only solution. Because a human (Adam) sinned, a sinless man must suffer and die to atone for that sin. Jesus as fully God and fully man brought us peace through His death and resurrection. The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), therefore, His punishment for our sins required death. God cannot look upon or overlook sin because to do so would be to deny Himself (Exodus 34:6-7). Death satisfies Gods holy justice. Because our Prince of Peace lives, so do those who surrender to Him as Lord and Savior.

What Does This Mean for Us Today?

People who do not know the Lord Jesus exist in a world of hopelessness, which leaves them wanting for a peace they try to gain from the world. But the world is empty apart from Christ and the peace they desperately need is godly peace. The void unbelievers have in their hearts can only be filled by a Savior. An unsaved person tries everything the world says will bring them peace, including illusions of a grand self-image, dependence on self or on idols claiming to make one happy (money, sex, glory, fame, etc.). And when none of these things work, they cling to psychology, thinking a look into self will help. But the end of that road leads to a cliff. What then?

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ know peace through Him. In the midst of the most trying circumstances  even persecution or the death of a saved loved one  a Christian knows an eternity of peace in the presence of Christ awaits him. This life on earth is enjoyed as kingdom ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), making much of Jesus, and manifesting His name by sharing the Gospel. All of this is made possible because Jesus was pierced for us. Hallelujah!

A dip into the Old testament is not enough to gain the full reward that comes from deep study of its thirty-nine books. There exists in the Old Covenant a vast richness of Gods movement in history and our redemption, highlighted of course by the prophecies concerning the coming of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.

Alec Motyer gives us encouragement. Never tire, then, of reading and re-reading the prophets. If a passage seems at first sight puzzling, ask the question, why did the prophet say this? The journeys we are privileged to take through the pages of Scripture will reap treasure the world can never offer, much less fulfill. I pray you dive in and see Jesus throughout the Old Testament. As you do, pray for your unbelieving loved ones to come to a saving faith in Jesus.

Photo credit: Getty Images/gabrielabertolini

Lisa Loraine Baker is the multiple award-winning author of Someplace to be Somebody. She writes fiction and nonfiction. In addition to writing for the Salem Web Network, Lisa serves as a Word Weavers mentor and is part of a critique group. She also is a member of BRRC. Lisa and her husband, Stephen, a pastor, live in a small Ohio village with their crazy cat, Lewis.
Billions of dollars are accumulating in Moscow beyond the reach of its foreign owners.

Stock dividends, interest payments on bonds and anything else that Western investors didnt sell before the war  its all part of the pile of money thats been trapped by sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to attend the Glory to the Defenders of the Fatherland concert this week. Credit: AP

The accounts are remnants of whats left of Russias ties to the world of international finance, and another marker of its growing isolation. As Russias invasion of Ukraine begins a second year and anti-war demonstrations take place this week, questions remain about what will happen to the cash stuck in Moscow.

Legally, the money belongs to some of the biggest investment houses, like JPMorgan Asset Management and Schroders, but privately most acknowledge theres no hope of recovery. At least, not while Vladimir Putin remains leader.
Neo Nazis call for a 'White Australia' group in Adelaide

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Two teenagers have been charged with murder after a man was stabbed in an early morning brawl in Brisbanes south-east.

Queensland police on Saturday said two boys  aged 15 and 16  had been arrested and charged following the deadly confrontation between two groups at Underwood just after 1am on Friday.

Police believe the 20-year-olds death was the result of a chance meeting and was not gang related.

Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said the 20-year-old mans death was the result of a chance meeting between the groups, and he was convinced the violent incident had no connection to gang activities.

The two teenagers were arrested on Friday afternoon, when one was located at a Helensvale shopping centre.
Police say they can detect as many as 100 identification features on a single print. Often theyre partial, and among many other non-relevant prints that would cover any home in Melbourne. Could an enterprising crook analyse the picture, produce a copy of my print, and implicate me in some crime? Were trained for that, says Ballantyne. She wont tell me how, not wanting to give their advantage away. Its possible to fake a fingerprint in different ways. Its a strange thought, printing a fake hand, planting evidence. But even then, Ballantyne says, the team can still tell the difference. On May 11, 2020, Abdul Hakim Naurozi, 31, refused to hand over the drugs he was delivering to two Melbourne men in Endeavour Hills, and they threatened to shoot him.

Blake Wynne, armed with a sawn-off shotgun and out of prison just six days, hit Naurozi across the back of the head with the gun when he refused. Abdul Hakim Naurozi was killed in Endeavour Hills on May 11, 2020. Wynnes finger hit the trigger and the gun went off. Naurozi was shot in the face. As part of the investigation, officers recovered a sawn-off shotgun they suspected was linked to Naurozis death, and brought it here. Developing good latent fingerprints off wood is more challenging than a glass bottle or steering wheel. The gun Wynne used to shoot Naurozi had a wooden handle, which didnt hold a latent print well. At first, forensic officers treated the gun with vaporised superglue  similar to the stuff youd find at Bunnings. The process is called cyanoacrylate fuming: superglue is heated to the point that it evaporates and settles on natural oils or sweat that might mark a print.

Its quite funny to think of a household item that everybody uses that can do that with humidity and a bit of heat and off you go, says Tracie Gould, the manager of the fingerprint sciences group. Its a cheap and effective technique to draw prints, but it doesnt work as well on porous surfaces such as wood. Fingerprint expert Bree Harris examines a knife. Credit: Wayne Taylor Fingerprint examiner Bree Harris, bathed in blue fluorescent light, explains that to get a better print, investigators treated the sawn-off shotgun with a process called vacuum metal deposition. This works in two parts: first gold is evaporated in a vacuum to form a microscopic layer on the surface being examined. Every time this process is done, examiners use up a small bit of gold, about the size of half a match. Then they evaporate zinc to form a corresponding layer on the surface, revealing the print. The print ridges are left transparent while the background is painted with a thin layer of zinc.

Police put the print that emerged from the handle of the shotgun into the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System. This matched the print to Wynne, who later pleaded guilty to a murder charge. He was jailed this month for 19 years and seven months. Forensic officer Craig Hewitson sets a gun in place with a series of magnets. Credit: Wayne Taylor As of December 2021, the identification system held 4.5 million fingerprints. Last year the team searched 95,923 latent fingerprints on the system  more than 250 per day. We have had instances where the same latent has been found at 20 different [crime] scenes, Nichol said. We send those results to the intelligence unit, and they may have other intelligence, whether it be DNA or other pieces of information, that they can use to piece together who this person may be that has been at multiple crime scenes.

Fingerprint latent unit leader Katie Nichol. Credit: Wayne Taylor Last year, police analysed 3271 exhibits and identified 8934 separate individuals, though they were not all persons of interest. Victorias forensics unit has just celebrated its 120th year. Over that time, much has changed: the team grew from two original forensic officers to more than 90, the department is now composed primarily of women, and there are more people with masters degrees wandering the halls. The practice of using fingerprints for identification dates back thousands of years. Prints have been found on ancient clay tablets and seals, on the walls of Egyptian tombs, and on Minoan, Greek, and Chinese pottery. In China, workers unable to read or write would pick up paychecks with their fingerprint. Chinese authorities would validate government documents with a finger. The fingerprints of Patrick Dunn linked him to a 1905 tobacco robbery. Credit: Wayne Taylor
Australia has breached an international treaty on human rights by holding a former US military pilot in degrading conditions next to convicted violent offenders, his lawyers claim in a complaint to the United Nations.

The UN Human Rights Committee is being urged to investigate the treatment of Daniel Duggan in a NSW prison after he was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in October at the request of American authorities who accuse him of helping to train Chinese military pilots to fly fighter jets.

Daniel Duggan, who has six children, has been imprisoned in Australia for more than four months. Credit:

The complaint comes after Australias domestic spy chief, Mike Burgess, this week said his agency had been tracking a small but concerning number of military insiders willing to put cash before country.

Duggan, a 54-year-old Australian citizen who lives on a farm outside Orange in NSW with his wife and six children, denies the allegations and claims the United States is trying to make a political example of him.
Dumped Liberal MP Andrew Laming has accused Scott Morrison of making him a scapegoat for the Coalition governments unpopularity among women, saying the former prime minister failed every gender test he ever encountered.

In a new book to be published next month that unloads on a number of his ex-colleagues, Laming  who was ordered into empathy training by the then-prime minister in 2021  suggests Morrison punished him because of his own failings.

Andrew Laming says Scott Morrison had a woman problem and he was made the scapegoat. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Morrison failed every gender test he ever encountered, and the worst of them coincided with low-level policy failures that he might otherwise have negotiated unscathed, Laming writes in Political COVID: How Australias Leadership Played the Pandemic, to be published by Brisbane-based Connor Court Publishing, which specialises in conservative authors.

Voters only need to be mildly annoyed with a leader to contemplate the alternative. Voters were more than mildly annoyed with him, and gender made it deeply personal for the nations largest and most influential minority, female voters.
China is considering sending Russia lethal military aid in the form of artillery shells as President Vladimir Putins army rapidly depletes its supply of ammunition a year into his invasion of Ukraine, US officials said, a prospect that has alarmed those in the Biden administration who believe Beijing has the ability to transform the wars trajectory.

Russian artillery shells prepared to be fired at Ukrainian troops at an undisclosed location in the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic, eastern Ukraine in October. Credit: AP

There is no evidence that any weapons transfers have occurred, these officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the US governments assessment.

But if China does move ahead, it would mark the first time Beijing has provided lethal aid in the conflict despite repeated warnings by the United States not to provide such support. It would also violate the spirit of a peace plan Chinese leaders proposed Friday.

The aid being contemplated consists of 122-millimetre and 152-millimetre rounds, which Russia has in dwindling supply as it prosecutes a war largely fought with artillery, the officials said.
Uber Technologies Inc said on Friday plans by the local government in India's Delhi city to only allow electric vehicles to function as bike taxis would risk "finishing off the sector" and impact the mobility needs of millions.

Delhi's plans, part of a new policy to regulate vehicles used by ride-hailing companies like Uber and rival Ola, are being finalised and will be rolled out soon, the Economic Times reported earlier this week.

Reuters could not immediately confirm those plans.

If implemented, this would mark an aggressive step towards the country's ambitions to ramp up the transition to vehicles that run on clean energy to reduce oil imports and curb pollution.

Uber, in a blogpost, said any such move would put at risk the livelihood of over 100,000 drivers in the city.

"Steep and infeasible EV mandates risk finishing off the sector as we know it. The impact of such a decision on the livelihoods and mobility needs of millions of Delhiites is clear," San Francisco-headquartered Uber said, urging the government to initiate industry dialogue.

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Uber has set a 2040 target for 100% of its rides to be in zero-emission vehicles, public transport or with micro-mobility, including in India.

Earlier this month, Uber announced plans to introduce 25,000 EVs over three years in India. Electric cars will however still be a fraction of Uber's current overall active fleet of 300,000 vehicles in India.

On Sunday, the Delhi government in newspaper ads said digital platforms offering two-wheeler bike taxi rides should not do so as it violates certain existing transport rules.

Uber, which offers bike rides in Delhi and many other states in India, did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment on the advertisement.
Hours after the municipal House was rocked by fresh clashes between the councillors of the BJP and the AAP, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Friday alleged that a few members of the saffron party inflicted life-threatening attack on her.

At a press conference here, she alleged that her colleague Ashu Thakur was also attacked by another BJP councillor.

There was no immediate reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Shortly before the media interaction held at the Civic Centre, the mayor adjourned the House and announced that the election to six members of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held afresh on February 27 at 11 am.

AAP MLA Atishi alleged Thakur was held by her scarf and dragged from the dais to one of the exit gates of the House.

"We will go to the Kamla Market Police Station and lodge a case of life-threatening attack on Mayor Shelly Oberoi and our other women councillors," Atishi said.

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Scenes of uproar and high-decibel protests by BJP councillors were witnessed in the House after Oberoi declared that one vote cast during the election to the standing committee of MCD on Friday, was "invalid".

The bedlam in the House turned into a full-bown pandemonium and violent clashes broke out between many councillors of the AAP and the BJP.

Mayor Oberoi had barely started to announce the results when the ruckus began. One councillor even ripped off the mayor's mike on the dais.

"When I was announcing the standing committee election result, they (BJP councillors) pushed my chair and attacked me. BJP councillors Ravi Negi, Arjun Marwah, Chandan Choudhary and others inflicted life-threatening attack on me," she alleged.

She said ballot papers used on Friday have been "torn" and lost so as a moral responsibility, fresh election will be held for picking the six members of the MCD panel.

In a tweet late Friday night, the mayor said, "Requested an urgent appointment with the @DelhiPolice Commissioner tomorrow regarding the attack on me by BJP Councillors in the MCD House!"



Responding to the request, a senior officer of the Delhi Police said they have received the mayor's complaint and that further action will be taken accordingly.

"When women are not safe inside the municipal House, how can they be safe in Delhi? I have filed a complaint against three BJP councillors and others, and sought police protection," Oberoi told reporters.

Atishi alleged that what BJP members did on Friday was akin to "booth capturing".

"The BJP must accept its defeat in the MCD polls. They should not try to use violence to get back door entry into (MCD) governance," she said.

The mayor also alleged that the ruckus on Friday amounted to disrespect of the House and the chair of the mayor, and was "sheer hooliganism".

Ashu Thakur, later talking to reporters, said her scarf was wrapped around her neck. "I was dragged by the scarf from the dais to an exit door, and if the cloth had tightened longer, it could have suffocated me to death," she added.

Later, AAP supporters held a protest outside the Kamla Market Police Station.

AAP leader Durgesh Pathak denied any confrontation with the city police. He, however, accused Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena of being the "sutradar" (conspirator) of the ruckus in the municipal House.
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Grand Alliance are all set to demonstrate their political strength in Bihar on Saturday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is arriving in Bihar today on a day-long visit.

During his visit, Shah will address a public meeting in Lauria under Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha Constituency in Bihar to strengthen the party activities.

On the other hand, the Grand Alliance is preparing to answer Union Home Minister Amit Shah through a mega rally in Purnia where Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Congress State President Akhilesh Prasad Singh, and other leaders of Grand Alliance are likely to be present.

Shah will address a public rally in the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat. He will then chair the Core Committee meeting of Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat. State BJP President Sanjay Jaiswal, Union Minister for State Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, senior BJP leaders of Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha, local MP, MLAs, and district BJP president to be present in the meeting.

Home Minister Amit Shah will then go to Lauria Nandangarh, where Prince Siddhartha (Mahatma Buddha) shed his royal robes and went out searching for knowledge.

Also Read Bihar Board releases DElEd result for first and second year exams DU decides to increase batch strength in lectures amid dissensions Shah in Bihar to prepare for 2024 LS Polls as BJP comes up with new slogan Bihar oppn leader Vijay Sinha to hold 'Janta Darbar' every Tuesday in Patna Aiming to unite Oppn, Nitish, Lalu to meet Sonia Gandhi in Delhi today Olaf Scholz heads to India to deepen ties on green energy, defence Congress plenary session day 2: Kharge, Sonia Gandhi to deliver addresses Law and order under control: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on Ajnala incident India ranks 42 in 55 countries on International IP Index, shows data LIVE: Sonia Gandhi, Kharge to address Congress plenary session on Day 2

After that Union Home Minister will head towards the capital Patna to address a Kisan Mazdoor Samagam at Bapu Sabhagar in honour of Swami Sahjanand Saraswati, who was one of the top farmer leaders in the country.

While talking to ANI, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai who is at Lauria for Shah's program said, "There is tremendous enthusiasm among people for today's public meeting of Home Minister Amit Shah ji. A large number of people want to listen to the Home Minister. The welfare work that is being done in the entire country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the people of Valmiki Nagar are enthusiastic about it and want to listen to Home Minister Amit Shah."

On the Grand Alliance Rally in Purnia on the same day when Union Home Minister Amit Shah is visiting Bihar for Public Meeting, Rai said, "It is not right to compare BJP's public meeting with Grand Alliance's rally. The public meeting of the BJP will be held with the resolution of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Prayas. The rally of the Grand Alliance is a rally of appeasement. Grand Alliance is holding a rally in Purnia today to give the message of appeasement politics. There is no comparison between that rally and this BJP public meeting. BJP's program is just a program for one Lok Sabha seat."

"There is no answer to the name and work of PM Modi. The result of his work is visible in every house, and every village in the Country. The public meeting of Valmiki Nagar will be massive. The Home Minister will speak about development. He will talk about peace and security while the Grand Alliance rally is a rally of appeasement," Rai added.

On being asked if the Grand Alliance is holding a rally in Bihar on the same day to give a political message to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Kumar Jha said, "You have to first find out whose rally was first decided. Our rally was already fixed. The Home Minister is going to participate in a small rally, ours is a mega rally. This is a big difference. Amit Shah ji is the Home Minister of the country, he is free to go anywhere, but he is coming to Bihar. He has to answer two questions and one is special. After the Prime Minister spoke about the special state status of Bihar we will expect the Home Minister to speak on this issue and Bihar should get its right."

"My second question is that the Home Minister is the Home Minister of the country so he should make efforts so that his statement increases the social harmony of the country and not decrease it. I am sure that he will accept my request," the RJD MP added.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Lok Janta Dal chief spokesperson Madhaw Anand, while speaking to ANI about the Grand Alliance rally at Purnia, said, "The rally is to divert the attention of the people from the infighting going on between RJD and JDU. Through this rally, there will be neither progress of the public nor any welfare of the people. Just the fight going on inside RJD and JDU for CM's chair will intensify in the coming days."

"Through this rally, both RJD and JDU are trying to test their strength internally. It will be interesting to see how long Nitish Kumar can retain his chair and how long Tejashwi Yadav can distance himself from the magic chair," Anand added.

Notably, this would be Amit Shah's fourth trip to Bihar since the BJP and Janata Dal (U) ended their partnership and the JD(U) formed the Grand Alliance in the state last year in the month of August.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that BJP has shut its door forever for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"Kumar is a person who dreams about the prime minister's chair every three years and resorts to 'paltimar' tactics. He did the same in August last year and went to those whom our NDA was opposed to right from the start. We have now decided never to open our doors for Nitish Kumar in BJP," Shah said while addressing the media persons in Loharia village of West Champaran district.

"During the 2020 Assembly elections, the people of the state had made BJP a single largest party in the state. But we honoured our promise and gave the chief minister's chair to Nitish Kumar but he has the habit of changing the goal post," Shah said.

Nitish Kumar, always vocal against Jungle Raj, is now sitting in the lap of its progenitor. BJP will form a full majority government in Bihar in 2025 and the process will start in 2024. I urge the people of the state to bring in BJP and throw out those who brought Jungle Raj," Shah said.

"Nitish Kumar promised Lalu Yadav to make his son Tejashwi Yadav the chief minister but is not specifying the date. If he has promised it, then he should reveal the date of offering the CM post to Tejashwi. RJD leaders are demanding every day. If Tejashwi Yadav becomes the chief minister, there would be complete Jungle Raj," Shah said.

Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar had objected to the removal of article 370 in Rajya Sabha saying there would be blood shed in the Kashmir valley if it happens. Article 370 was removed from Kashmir. Leave aside the river, no one even dared to throw a stone in Kashmir. PM Modi managed to handle everything so meticulously and made the country proud," Shah said.

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The alliance of RJD and JD(U) is like oil and water which cannot ever combine. Nitish Kumar went with RJD and Congress to achieve the post of prime minister and split Bihar. They are purchasing aircraft worth crores of rupees but I want to tell them that seats are not vacant in the centre. Narendra Modi will again become the prime minister of the country," Shah said.

There are many projects funded by the central government in Bihar, including three highway projects worth Rs 15 thousand crore.

During the UPA government, the Centre had granted Rs 50,000 crore to Bihar while the Narendra Modi government has provided a grant of Rs 1.09 lakh crore since 2014.

--IANS

ajk/shb/
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his India visit next week would attend the crucial foreign ministers meeting of G-20 group and that of Quad in addition to participation in the Raisina dialogue followed by bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, officials here said.

India has taken over the Presidency of the G20 on December 1, last year.

The top American diplomat is travelling to New Delhi on a three-day official visit from March 1 to 3.

Blinken looks forward to going to Delhi as part of India's G20 presidency year. We look forward to doing everything we can to support India's work to make its G20 presidency a success. There is no shortage of common challenges, and we want to deepen our partnership with other G-20 countries to address these challenges, Ramin Toloui, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, told reporters here.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu said the Secretary will be meeting, while in New Delhi, with his counterpart, the Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.

They'll talk about our strategic partner partnership but really focus on how we're working together in the Asian Quad, in the G20, what we're doing on defense cooperation, and the Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies that is being run out of the White House and the prime minister's office, he said.

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On March 3rd, the Secretary will also participate in a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Asian Quad, which is the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, Lu said, adding that immediately following the Quad ministerial meeting Blinken will participate in a panel at the Raisina Dialogue.

Lu said several crucial matters would be taken up during the Quad meeting.

And what will be interesting about this I'm not aware that they've ever had an hour-long public event where the four foreign ministers have had a chance to talk about the Quad, and to demonstrate how it is getting tangible and concrete things done in the Indo-Pacific, Lu said.

I think we're going to hear about what we're doing on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief. We'll hear about what we're doing to improve security in the Indo-Pacific, in the Maritime Domain Awareness space. We will talk about achievements on vaccine diplomacy, and then you'll hear about the launch of the Quad fellows programme, and a recent business and investment forum, he said.

Giving a preview of the trip, Toloui said the purpose of the G20 is to bring together the major economies of the world to tackle common challenges.

We will be discussing food security, energy security, health security, the climate crisis, development, humanitarian challenges, and other issues that require international coordination, like the proliferation of illicit synthetic drugs, he said.

Blinken will discuss the range of things that the United States is doing to address these global challenges that includes the USD 13.5 billion that the US committed last year to address emergency food needs, as well as strengthen food systems for the medium term.

It includes actions like the USD 450 million that the United States has pledged to the pandemic fund, as well as USD 1.3 billion per year the US will invest under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to support health care workers fighting HIV/AIDS, and it will include many other things, he said.

It is also an unfortunate reality that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not only itself a threat to sovereignty and territorial integrity of states Russia's invasion also makes so many of these critical global challenges, from food insecurity to energy insecurity, worse, he said.

Responding to a question on India-Russia relationship, Lu hoped India will use its influence with Russia to support an end to this conflict, and as Foreign Minister Jaishankar has said, end to the conflict according to the principles of the UN Charter: territorial integrity and sovereignty.

We have said before, the Secretary has said India has had a long and complicated history with Russia going back to the Cold War days, that is a deep and sustained relationship over many decades, Lu said.
In a special hearing on Saturday, the Delhi High Court stayed a notice issued by the newly-elected Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Shelly Oberoi, directing re-election of the six members of the MCD Standing Committee.

The court said no purpose will be served by conducting a fresh elections on February 27.

Justice Gaurang Kanth said that prima facie, the notice is in violation of Regulation 51 of New Delhi Municipal Council (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1997, as the returning officer or Mayor is conducting re-elections without declaring the results of the elections conducted on February 24.

The court observed that from a perusal of Regulation 51, it is nowhere reflected that the returning officer or Mayor has the authority to declare an election of Standing Committee as null and void.

"It is not out of place to mention that admittedly, the counting of votes and further duty casted upon the Mayor as in declaring the results of the elections held on February 24 shall culminate into final results," said the court.

On Friday, BJP councillor Sharad Kapoor had moved the Delhi High Court, alleging that Mayor Shelly Oberoi did not stick to the rules of not using mobile phones and pens during voting to elect the MCD Standing Committee members on Wednesday.

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Kapoor, in his petition, said that the Mayor "defied every constitutional and statutory norm" and "betrayed the mandate of the Constitution by allowing mobile phones and pens in the election proceedings".

The petitioner also sought to declare the February 22 polls as null and void.

The court listed the matter for next hearing on February 27.

Following ruckus for the third straight day, the MCD House was on Friday adjourned till Monday morning with Oberoi announcing that re-election to pick the Standing Committee members will be held at 11 am on February 27.

All hell broke loose on Friday after Oberoi stalled the recounting of votes for electing the members of the all-powerful MCD Standing Committee following objections raised by AAP.

It was free for all in the MCD House with BJP and AAP councillors trading blows at each other, showing scant disregard for the sanctity of the House.

Protesting against the Mayor's decision to stall the recounting process, BJP councillors started breaking mikes, tearing ballot papers and even damaged the polling booths amid sloganeering.

--IANS

spr/arm
The Karnataka government has ordered a departmental inquiry against IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri and IPS officer D. Roopa Moudgil over their public spat, sources said on Saturday.

The sources confirmed that the inquiry has been ordered by Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma as per the orders of the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

The government had taken serious note of the public spat which continued between two senior officers despite warnings issued by the Chief Minister and state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.

The sources explained that the matters of issuing a public statement, posting of private photos on social media would be probed against Roopa.

The allegations against Sindhuri of construction of swimming pool, violating heritage structure and carrying out construction activities during Covid pandemic and a bag purchase scam would be investigated.

The probe will also look into the violation of service laws and guidelines.

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Both officers have been transferred from their present postings and were not allotted any new posts yet.

The two had engaged in the public spat regarding corruption and personal matters in the wake of which they were given gag orders by the state government.

The two public servants have been given strict instructions not to speak to the media or use any social media platforms.

Sindhuri had also approached the court and got orders against Roopa for not issuing any damaging statements against her and not to post any material on social media handles.

The court, however, has adjourned the matter to March 7 while allowing Roopa to file her objections.

--IANS

mka/ksk/
A special court in Lucknow convicted eight suspected ISIS operatives in a terror conspiracy case, an official of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Saturday, adding their conviction was a "big shot" in the arm of the agency in its nationwide crackdown on members of the global terror group.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced by the special NIA court on Monday, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.

The convicts were also involved in an explosion on board the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train on March 7, 2017, which hed left 10 people injured. The train explosion case is currently under trial, the spokesperson said.

The eight convicts were arrested in 2017 in the "Kanpur conspiracy" case pertaining to planning of terror acts. The case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act.

The case was initially registered on March 8 at ATS Police Station in Lucknow and re-registered by NIA six days later.

The NIA investigation revealed that they had prepared and tested some improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unsuccessfully tried to plant them at various locations in Uttar Pradesh.

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A notebook seized from a hideout of the group in the Haji Colony area of Lucknow was found to contain handwritten notes about potential targets and details about bomb making, the spokesperson said, adding the investigation also led to the discovery of several photographs of the accused making IEDs and even with weapons, ammunition and ISIS flag.

The spokesperson said the group had reportedly collected illegal weapons and explosives from various places.

One of the convicts, Atif Muzaffar, disclosed that he had compiled information on techniques to fabricate IEDs after collecting materials from various internet sources, the spokesperson said.

The investigation also revealed that Muzaffar and three others -- Mohd Danish, Syed Meer Hasan and Mohd Saifulla -- had been responsible for fabricating the IED that was planted on the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train.

The official said the breakthrough in the ISIS-backed criminal conspiracy case came when the main accused, Mohd Faisal of Kanpur Nagar, was arrested for his involvement in the train explosion, the official said, adding disclosures made by him led to the arrest of two of his associates -- Gauss Mohammad Khan alias Karan Khatri and Azhar Khan alias Azhar Khalifa -- on March 9 and Asif Iqbal alias Rocky. All of them are residents of Uttar Pradesh.

The NIA filed a charge sheet in the criminal conspiracy case against all the eight persons on August 31, 2017, the spokesperson said.

According to the NIA spokesperson, investigations in the case had clearly shown that the accused were members of ISIS and had sworn bayat' (allegiance) to the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

"Muzaffar was the group's Emir (leader) and was influenced by the propaganda of (Islamic preacher) Zakir Naik. He was found to be a frequent visitor to IS-related websites, from where he was downloading contents and videos and sharing it with the others in his group, the spokesperson said.

The NIA said all eight had come together to propagate ISIS ideology and promote its activities in India.

"In pursuit of this objective, Faisal, Gauss Khan, Muzaffar, Danish and Saifulla had explored land routes. They had visited several key cities across the country, including Kolkata, Sundarbans, Srinagar, Amritsar, Wagah Border, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Mumbai, and Kozhikode, for undertaking hijrah' (migration).

Khan and Muzaffar had, in fact, explored a route to cross over to Bangladesh via Sundarbans, as per the investigations. Faisal, Atif and Saifulla had also travelled to Kashmir in March 2016 in a bid to contact some terrorist groups that could help them to cross over to Pakistan, from where they could migrate to ISIS controlled territories in Syria, the spokesperson said.

Another accused, Saifulla, was killed during an exchange of fire with the ATS UP on March 7, 2017, in Haji Colony. The police had seized several weapons and incriminating documents from the group's hideout in Haji Colony.

These seizures included a huge cache of arms, ammunition, electronic gadgets and other materials required to fabricate IEDs, and documents including an ISIS flag, eight pistols, five gold coins and cash worth Rs 62,055, the spokesperson said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday held a roundtable with the heads of the World Bank and the IMF and discussed the issue of debt restructuring faced by some of the countries.

The roundtable with World Bank President David Malpass and IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva held on the sidelines of the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting here discussed the issue of debt restructuring challenges and debt vulnerabilities.

"Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman flagged the need to acknowledge today's diverse creditor landscape and build a common understanding of challenges and ways to address them," a tweet from the Finance Ministry said.

She called for the voices of the vulnerable and under-represented debtor countries to be heard through the G20.

"Ms@KGeorgieva, MD, IMF@IMFNews and Mr@DavidMalpassWBG, President @WorldBank called for faster debt restructuring processes and noted the debt forum was an opportunity to work together and help vulnerable countries," another tweet said.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, many countries were pushed into debt distress. There have been small steps on debt restructuring side.

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Creditor committees have been established for some of the worst-off debtorsZambia, Chad, and Ethiopiawith varied results. Committees for Ghana and Sri Lanka are likely to follow suit.

The scale and depth of debt issues faced in particular by many African countries require a multilateral approach from all classes of creditors, experts said.
The United States is looking forward to continue to develop and foster its relationship with the Indian military, the Pentagon has said.

The US and India enjoy a good partnership. We look forward to continuing to develop and foster our relationship with the Indian military, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig Gen Pat Ryder told reporters at a news conference here on Friday.

In 1997, defence trade between India and the US was almost negligible, today it stands above USD 20 billion.

Last month during a press conference, Ryder said that India is a "great example" of countries who are choosing security assistance from the US, underlining that it was ready for any response to wean them away from Russia.

India has faced flak from US lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, for choosing to abstain from a UN vote to rebuke Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

US officials have expressed concern over India's purchase of the S-400 missile systems by Russia.

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In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems to ramp up its air defence, despite a warning from the then-Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to chair a review meeting on Monday for the speedy disposal of public grievances, an official said.

Banerjee is likely to meet officials of departments concerned and district magistrates, he said.

"The chief minister is likely to direct officials to speed up the administrative works before the panchayat elections. There may be discussions on complaints received through the 'Didir Doot' programme," the official said on Friday.
The new National Education Policy (NEP) has reoriented education and skilling according to the aptitude of youngsters and demands of the future, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.

Lamenting the lack of flexibility in the education system over the years, the prime minister said the sector has been "rigid".

"Education and skilling have been reoriented according to the aptitude of the youngsters and demands of the future. Equal emphasis is being given to both education and skilling as part of the NEP. The move encourages the government to undertake further reforms in the education and skilling sectors while unburdening our students from the regulations of the past," he said while addressing a post-budget webinar on "Harnessing Youth Power -- Skilling and Education".

The webinar was the third in a series of 12 post-budget webinars organised by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023-24.

Taking note of the experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the prime minister underlined that new technology is helping create new types of classrooms.

"The government is focusing on tools that ensure 'anywhere access to knowledge'. Such futuristic steps are going to change the entire space of our education, skills and knowledge-science.

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"Now, the role of our teachers will not be limited only to the classroom. More varieties of teaching material will be available to our educational institutions all over the country, which will open new doors of opportunities for the teachers while filling the gap between village and city schools," he said.

Throwing light on "on-the-job learning", Modi noted the special emphasis given to it by several countries and highlighted the efforts of his government in providing focused internships and apprenticeships to ensure "outside-the-classroom exposure" for youngsters.

"Today, there are about 75,000 employers on the National Internship Portal, where the requirements for 25 lakh internships have been posted so far," he informed. The prime minister urged the industry and educational institutions to make maximum use of the portal and further expand the culture of internship in the country.

He expressed the belief that apprenticeships will make the country's youngsters future-ready and help the industries identify the workforce with the right skills.

Talking about the Union Budget, the prime minister highlighted a provision for a stipend that has been made available for about 50 lakh youngsters under the National Apprenticeship Promotion scheme.

"It is creating an environment for apprenticeships and also helping the industry in payments. The world is looking at India as a manufacturing hub and there is enthusiasm in the world about investing in the country. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will skill, re-skill and upskill lakhs of youngsters in the coming years. Tailor-made programmes are being made according to the needs of tribals, differently-abled people and women through this scheme.

"The focus is on creating a skilled workforce for industry 4.0 sectors, such as AI (artificial intelligence), robotics, IoT and drones, thereby making it easier for international investors to scout talent, without having to spend much energy and resources on re-skilling," he said.

Modi highlighted the importance of the role and partnership of academia and industry in bringing rapid changes in the country's education sector.

"Research will be made possible according to the needs of the market while also creating room for adequate funding from the research industry. The private sector should take maximum advantage of every such step to strengthen the research and development ecosystem in the country," he said.

In her budget speech in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that three centres of excellence for artificial intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions, besides 100 laboratories in engineering institutions for developing applications using 5G services.
Russia holds grand ceremony to welcome return of Chinese tourists

Xinhua) 11:06, February 25, 2023

Chinese tourists pose for a group photo near the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 24, 2023. Russia on Thursday greeted the first group of Chinese tourists with grand ceremony here, after three years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chinese group is made up of 33 tourists and one tour guide. They flew to Moscow from Shenzhen, a city in south China's Guangdong Province, and will have a 9-day tour in the Russian capital city and St. Petersburg.(Xinhua/Meng Jing)

MOSCOW, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Thursday greeted the first group of Chinese tourists with grand ceremony here, after three years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russian performers donning traditional costumes sang songs and danced around the Chinese tourists, who were presented with bread and salt, a sign of a friendly welcome in the Russian tradition.

The Chinese group is made up of 33 tourists and one tour guide. They flew to Moscow from Shenzhen, a city in south China's Guangdong Province, and will have a 9-day tour in the Russian capital city and St. Petersburg.

"It was so joyful to meet up with the Russian people's hospitality," said traveller Qiu, who only gave his family name.

At the airport, a Russian woman held up a banner writing "Welcome Chinese friends to Russia; Friendship between Russia and China lasts forever."

The return of the Chinese tourists has attracted great attention of Russian media and Russian tourism. Executives of Russian tour agencies and representatives from local authorities in charge of tourism also welcome the Chinese tour group at the airport.

"In respect to receive foreign visitors, the Russian tourism is holding great expectation for Chinese tourists," said Alexander Osaulenko, vice president of Russian Tourism Alliance.

Chinese tourists take photos at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 24, 2023. Russia on Thursday greeted the first group of Chinese tourists with grand ceremony here, after three years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chinese group is made up of 33 tourists and one tour guide. They flew to Moscow from Shenzhen, a city in south China's Guangdong Province, and will have a 9-day tour in the Russian capital city and St. Petersburg.(Xinhua/Meng Jing)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)


Scholz also plans to discuss Russias war on Ukraine with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a time when Europe and its allies are struggling to maintain economic pressure on the Kremlin and isolate President Vladimir Putin. Olaf Scholz wants to use his first visit to India as German chancellor this weekend to strengthen business ties with the worlds most populous democracy and deepen cooperation in areas including green energy, climate protection and defense.



Modis government, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 nations this year, has nonetheless backed joint language condemning Russias war and Germany is keen to make sure that the wording is not watered down, according to a senior government official in Berlin, who asked not to be identified in line with briefing rules. While Germany and its European Union partners have imposed tough sanctions on Russia, including a ban or restrictions on its oil and coal, India has continued to import Russian fossil fuels, partly at a steep discount.



Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems is one of two international contenders for a planned German-Indian project worth around $5 billion to build six submarines in India and it will be discussed during Scholzs visit, Germanys ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, told reporters on Wednesday, though he said its too early for announcements. Scholz is taking a large business delegation with him to New Delhi and Bengaluru, including senior managers from German corporate heavyweights such as Siemens AG, ThyssenKrupp AG and SAP SE.

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The war in Ukraine has made both sides realize the need to explore opportunities and partnerships outside their traditional comfort zones and friends, said Swasti Rao, an associate fellow at the Europe and Eurasia Center at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses. The government in New Delhi has a long-standing dependence on Russian defense contractors and Germany wants to help it find alternative suppliers.



Scholz and Modi will be present during a ceremony Saturday in which executives will sign memorandums of understanding aimed at broadening cooperation on green hydrogen and ammonia, as well as energy infrastructure and climate protection. New Delhi is keen to deepen defense cooperation with Germany because it understands that Russia may no longer be able to meet its strategic needs, Rao said. There is enormous scope for cooperation in this area between the two countries and I would be surprised if substantial progress is not achieved.



There is huge potential for intensified cooperation, in sectors such as renewables, hydrogen, mobility, pharma, digital economy and many more, Scholz said in an interview with The Times of India published Friday. We can learn a lot from each other. Germany is supporting Indias transition to renewable energies and has extended loans amounting to $1.3 billion over the next six years. German companies are ready to share technology and know-how with Indian counterparts to help the Asian country on its path to climate neutrality.



German businesses view high tariffs and other trade barriers such as local-content requirements as the biggest hurdles for more investment in India, according to a survey of the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad. Scholz also wants to discuss closer trade ties between the EU and India, and hopes to make progress on opening ways for more IT specialists and other skilled workers to come and work in Germany as growth in Europes largest economy is held back by labor shortages in many sectors.



Scholz wants to broach a more controversial issue with Modi, Ackermann told reporters: the rising incidence of hate crimes against Muslims. They dont expect a breakthrough on a long-sought trade and investment agreement between the EU and India by the end of this year, as initially planned when talks resumed in June last year.

I am sure there will be talk on the internal situation in India, he said, adding that the chancellor will make his concerns clear to Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held talks on Saturday.

"The strong ties which India and Germany share are based on shared democratic values, and a deep understanding of each other's interests. The two countries also share a long history of cultural and economic exchanges between them. Along with being our largest trading partner in Europe, Germany is also an important source of investment in India," PM Modi said during the joint press meet.

He said "apart from being our largest trading partner in Europe", Germany is also an important source of investment in India.

Modi said that due to "Make in India" and "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" campaign, new opportunities are opening up in all sectors in India.

"The interest shown by Germany in these opportunities is very encouraging for us," he said after holding delegation-level talks with the German Chancellor.

The Prime Minister further said: "The business delegation that came today with Chancellor Scholz, and Indian business leaders had a successful meeting, and some good and important agreements were also signed. We also got to hear useful thoughts and suggestions from industry leaders of both countries, on topics such as digital transformation, FinTech, IT, telecom, and diversification of supply chains."

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"Since the beginning of the developments in Ukraine, India has insisted on resolving this dispute through dialogue and diplomacy. India is ready to contribute to any peace process. We have also agreed that reform of multi-lateral institutions is necessary to reflect global realities in a better way. This is evident from our active participation within the G4 to reform the UN Security Council," the Prime Minister said.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "India has undertaken an enormous rise and that is very good for the relations between both countries. The world is suffering because of the consequences of Russia's aggression. Ensuring food and energy supplies right now."

"A lot has changed since I visited India last time. India is indeed developing. I and PM Modi have similar ideas. We have been cooperative; we have been discussing matters. I am pleased that India has the presidency of G20 this year," he added.

The German Chancellor called the Russia-Ukraine war a major catastrophe which violated economic principles.

"About 1,800 German companies are active in India and have given thousands of jobs," said the German Chancellor.
In his bypoll campaign here, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday said that an announcement on the proposed date of launch of Rs 1,000 monthly assistance scheme for women heads of families would be made in the Budget to be presented next month in the Assembly.

The hectic campaign by parties that stretched over a month for the February 27 Erode (East) bypoll ended at 6 PM and Stalin and AIADMK top leader K Palaniswami addressed people at a string of locations here seeking their votes.

A day after Palaniswami targeted the ruling DMK over the so far unfulfilled promise of monthly assistance to women, Stalin said the date from which the assistance scheme would be implemented shall be made known in the Budget.

The main opposition AIADMK swiftly flagged Stalin's announcement as a violation of the model code of conduct and wrote to the Returning Officer seeking appropriate action.

In his subsequent address at another neighbourhood, Stalin said there was no violation of any rule. "You went to the people and campaigned and demanded to know about the scheme's implementation. We have answered you," he said.

The assistance plan would have been rolled out long ago if the AIADMK regime had not emptied the State government coffers, he added.

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This first bypoll in Tamil Nadu after the DMK assumed power in 2021 would see a direct fight between EVKS Elangovan, Congress candidate fielded on behalf of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and the main opposition AIADMK's former legislator, K S Thennarasu. Naam Tamilar Katchi's Meneka Navaneethan is among the total 77 candidates in the poll fray.

Hitting the campaign trail for the bypoll on the last day of canvassing votes, Stalin, also the president of DMK appealed to the voters to give Elangovan such a great victory that would mean Thennarasu losing his deposit.

He asserted that getting exemption to Tamil Nadu from the ambit of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is his goal. All efforts are being made to achieve it, he said and hit out at Governor R N Ravi and the Centre for not bothering about State Bills adopted twice in the Assembly to ensure it.

He said his party never failed to execute its promises. Assurances --to the extent of 85 per cent-- given to the electorate ahead of the 2021 Assembly election has been fulfilled. In the past about two years, more than what is possible has been implemented.

This has been done despite financial constraints since the previous AIADMK regime has left the 'coffers empty,' engaged in 'plunder,' and has also passed on debt burden, he said.

The Chief Minister said the remaining assurances would be honoured by the end of this year. He gave an extensive account of developmental initiatives and welfare schemes that have been implemented and it includes fare-free travel scheme for women in State-run buses and free breakfast to students in government schools.

He urged voters to consider the bypoll as an opportunity to evaluate the excellent work and good governance of his nearly two-year old party-led regime.

The DMK chief said the AIADMK leaders hid from public even the health status of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa when she was battling for her life in a hospital in 2016. Former Chief Minister O Pannerselvam had even carried out a 'Dharma Yudham.' It was only the AIADMK leaders who had claimed that there was 'mystery' in Jayalalithaa's death. Only after the DMK assumed power, the status of inquiry by a panel over her death was made known to the people.

When the AIADMK was in power for a decade it did not fulfill promises. "You had said you will provide mobile phones. Did you do that? he asked. In some places, Stalin walked across to voters and sought support for Elangovan.

Palaniswami, in his campaign said the DMK had promised to get Tamil Nadu exempted from NEET's purview as soon as it assumed power. However, it has not been done. He urged the people to 'punish' them in the bypoll as they had uttered lie and deceived them.

On Stalin's announcement on Rs 1,000 assistance, he said the Chief Minister owed women Rs 22,000 each. The DMK is in power for the past 22 months and Rs 1,000 per month assistance now meant an accrual of Rs 22,000. He wondered if what was not done in the past 22 months would be implemented now.

The AIADMK campaign witnessed screening of Stalin's public addresses on several issues when he was in the opposition. Referring to one of them, Palaniswami said when the AIADMK regime provided Rs 2,500 to people as assistance for the Pongal festival, Stalin had demanded Rs 5,000.

However, after assuming power the DMK regime only provided Rs 1,000 for the harvest festival after the AIADMK took up the issue. The DMK took a particular stand when it was in the opposition and changed tack after capturing power, he said and listed several issues like electricity tariff increase to corner the ruling party.

Slamming the government over 'deterioration' in law and order front, the former Chief Minister said people had 'no safety' and urged voters to teach a fitting lesson in the bypoll to the ruling party.

Palaniswami claimed that DMK government was only inaugurating schemes that were launched during the AIADMK regime. He mocked at the government over a proposed Rs 80 crore 'pen' memorial project for late Chief Minister M Karuandnidhi inside the sea, off the shores of Marina in Chennai. Such a monument inside of the sea would impact ecology, he said.

Such a pen could not also be 'used for writing' and instead of doing that, pens may be gifted to students. A pen-model may be set up on the premises of Karunanidhi's memorial at the Marina beachfront or at DMK headquarters 'Anna Arivalayam,' to honour him, he said.

The counting of votes would be on March 2.
Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik on Saturday alleged that supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress attacked his car at Dinhata in West Bengal's Coochbehar district.

The TMC supporters allegedly pelted stones at the car carrying the minister. The front windshield of the car also cracked.

Black flags were also shown to the minister.

Pramanik said, "the police are acting as mere spectators and shielding the perpetrators of violence. People of the state are witnessing what is being done by TMC supporters in the state".

Pramanik alleged that TMC was sheltering miscreants.

BJP West Bengal spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said "if a central minister's car is attacked in this manner, then think about the security of the common people in the state".

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Bhattacharya said the Governor should initiate steps for the imposition of Article 355 in the state.

Trinamool Congress leader Jaiprakash Majumdar, while reacting to this, said BJP leaders like Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari are instigating the saffron party workers to disrupt peace in West Bengal. "These leaders should be brought to task first", he stated.
The surprising discovery of 5.9 million tonnes of high-quality lithium reserves in Jammu and Kashmir has ignited the debate whether India can utlise this huge find sooner to challenge the dominance of countries like China in the world of EVs, smartphones, and other consumer electronics items.

To date, India has been heavily relying on imported lithium-ion batteries because of a lack of raw materials to make the battery cells. The country imports about 70 per cent of its battery-cell requirements from China and Hong Kong, according to the international management consulting firm Arthur D. Little.

"A virtuous cycle seems to have set off with the massive growth envisaged in electronics manufacturing, solar equipment, advanced chemistry cells (ACC), EVs etc," said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).

"Lithium is a critical raw material and its vast discovery is very good news. We have about 1-2 years to put the discovery into commercial production. That is when our processing and ACC industry will mature and start using lithium directly," Mohindroo told IANS.

ACC batteries are the new generation of advanced storage technologies which store electric energy as electrochemical and convert it back to electric energy as and when required.

The ACC covers major sectors, which are consumer electronics, mobiles, electric vehicles, advanced electricity grids, solar rooftop etc.

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According to industry experts, now comes the hard part to convert this reserve into a commercially-viable resource after mining and refining it, which is a daunting task and the government will need to infuse a lot of money and expertise in achieving this.

"With the increased adoption of electric mobility in recent years, there is a huge demand for Li-ion batteries. The recent finding of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium in Jammu & Kashmir will significantly boost the sector," said Pratik Kamdar, Co-Founder, Neuron Energy.

"Currently, India is also progressing into cell manufacturing of batteries and it will provide the much-needed impetus to the sector as it will reduce the dependence on imports while also solving the supply-chain challenges as the country will have its own reserves of lithium," he said.

There will also be a cost impact as the cells, when manufactured indigenously, will become cheaper.

Coupled with a favourable announcement by the government during the Union Budget 2023 on the exemption of customs duty on imports of capital goods and machinery for manufacturing of li-ion cells for EV batteries, this indigenous supply of lithium reserves will help the EV eco-system reach the masses at reasonable and affordable costs.

"Additionally, this will also support the government's vision of EV mass adoption by 2030," said Kamdar.

The government intends to grow EV sales in India to capture the markets of 30 per cent of private cars, 70 per cent of commercial vehicles and 80 per cent of two and three-wheelers by 2030.

The find could enhance India's aspirations of becoming a green industrial power and change the medium- and long-term outlook for lithium availability, helping avoid a lithium access race between the US and China, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"The discovery would place India sixth in terms of lithium resources, just behind leading producer Australia and ahead of China, the largest raw lithium importer and producer of lithium-ion batteries," the institute added.

Lithium reserves have, thus far been limited to a few countries globally, and India is dependent on importing lithium from them.

"For India to realise its transition to green energy, it is imperative to attain self-reliance across the entire end-to-end EV supply chain ecosystem, including having access to lithium for battery manufacturing. This is why the discovery of lithium reserves in India is a major development," Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, told IANS.

According to industry experts, it may take some years for India to reap the benefits but the future looks promising for the country to cut its dependency on countries like China.

(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS

na/vd


Addressing the webinar 'Harnessing Youth Power- Skilling and Education', the PM Modi lamented on the lack of flexibility in the education system over the years and said that the sector has been "rigid". The new National Education Policy (NEP) has reoriented and placed emphasis on both education and skilling according to the aptitude and demands of the youngsters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post-budget webinar on Saturday.



Learning from the experiences of the pandemic, Modi said that the government is creating futuristic tools along the lines of 'anywhere access to knowledge' that will open the door for new opportunities and reduce the gap between village and city schools. "Education and skilling have been reoriented according to the aptitude of the youngsters and demands of the future. Equal emphasis is being given to both education and skilling as part of the NEP. The move encourages the government to undertake further reforms in the education and skilling sectors while unburdening our students from the regulations of the past", the prime minister said.



Throwing light on the role of apprenticeships in making the youth future ready, he highlighted the central government's efforts to ensure "outside-the-classroom exposure" for youngsters like providing a stipend to around 50 lakh youth under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and creating a National Internship Portal. "The government is focusing on tools that ensure anywhere access to knowledge. Now, the role of our teachers will not be limited only to the classroom. More varieties of teaching material will be available to our educational institutions all over the country, which will open new doors of opportunities for the teachers while filling the gap between village and city schools", he added.

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Modi also highlighted the importance of the role and partnership of academia and industry in bringing rapid changes in the country's education sector. "The focus is on creating a skilled workforce for industry 4.0 sectors, such as AI (artificial intelligence), robotics, IoT and drones, thereby making it easier for international investors to scout talent, without having to spend much energy and resources on re-skilling," he said.

"Research will be made possible according to the needs of the market while also creating room for adequate funding from the research industry. The private sector should take maximum advantage of every such step to strengthen the research and development ecosystem in the country," he said.
Finance leaders of the world's top economies sought on Friday to bridge differences over how to deal with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine a year ago, as the West stepped up sanctions against Moscow.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen accused Russian officials at the two-day Group of Twenty (G20) meeting in the Indian city of Bengaluru of being "complicit" in war atrocities.

But, underlining the split with those nations which have not joined efforts to isolate the Russian economy, meeting host India avoided mention of the year-old war in inaugural remarks and said the global economy faced a range of other challenges.

"I would urge that your discussions should focus on the most vulnerable citizens of the world," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, adding that stability, confidence and growth had to be brought back to the world economy.

Modi cited the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, rising debt levels, disruptions to supply chains and threats to food and energy security as key concerns.

India does not want the bloc to discuss sanctions on Russia and is also pressing to avoid using the word "war" in any communique, G20 officials told Reuters.

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But French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there was no way the group could step back from a joint statement agreed at a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November, which noted that "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine".

"Either we have the same language or we do not sign on the final communique," Le Maire told reporters.

Such stand-offs have become increasingly common in the G20, a forum created over 20 years ago in response to past economic crises but which has recently been hobbled by differences between Western nations and others including China and Russia.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, Yellen urged G20 economies to redouble efforts to support Ukraine and restrict Russia's capacity to wage war.

"I urge the Russian officials here at the G20 to understand that their continued work for the Kremlin makes them complicit in Putin's atrocities," Yellen said in remarks to the meeting.

Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland also rebuked the Russians personally, according to a Western official familiar with her remarks.

Speaking in Russian, she said: "You are apparatchiks, you are economists - you are not soldiers. But, all the same, you also bear personal responsibility for this criminal war. We know who you are, and we will not forget," said Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina did not attend, with Moscow represented by deputies. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation".

G7 deepens Russia sanctions



Leaders of the wealthy G7 democracies issued a statement pledging to continually deepen sanctions against those aiding Russia's war effort after they had a virtual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"We will maintain, fully implement and expand the economic measures we have already imposed," the statement released by current G7 president Japan said, noting that it would be working on how to deprive Russia of revenues from diamond exports.

Separately, Washington released details of new measures it was taking that not only targeted Russia but also "third-country actors" across Europe, Asia and the Middle East that are supporting Russia's war effort.

"We will sanction additional actors tied to Russia's defence and technology industry, including those responsible for backfilling Russian stocks of sanctioned items or enabling Russian sanctions evasion," it said.

Britain also issued more sanctions against Russia, including export bans on every item it has used on the battlefield and import bans on iron and steel goods.

But European Union countries were still struggling to overcome disagreements on a new set of EU sanctions against Russia, diplomatic sources told Reuters. They were making a new bid on Friday after talks ended in failure late on Thursday.

The G20 bloc includes the G7 countries, as well as Russia, China, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, among others.

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt told reporters that focusing G20 discussions on Ukraine did not mean neglecting other issues.

"In the end, unless we resolve the global security threats, there can be no progress on these other areas," he said.

Both China and India have seen trade with Russia surge in the wake of sanctions, with New Delhi vastly increasing its purchases of cheaper Russian oil.

The meeting comes amid signs that the global outlook has improved from the last G20 summit in October, when a number of economies were teetering on the brink of recession amid energy and food price spikes.

The G20 meeting is also expected to hold talks on debt relief for distressed countries, with pressure building on China, the world's largest bilateral creditor, and other nations to take a large haircut in loans.

In a video address to the meeting, China's finance minister Liu Kun reiterated Beijing's position that the World Bank and other multilateral development banks participate in debt relief by taking haircuts alongside bilateral creditors.
Leaders of the G7 countries on Friday called on Russia to end its ongoing war in Ukraine, which they said is an attack on the fundamental principles of sovereignty of nations, territorial integrity of states and respect for human rights.

G7 comprises seven major world economies Canada, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and the United States.

In a joint statement following a virtual meeting of G7 leaders, convened by the US President Joe Biden, the leaders of the grouping said Russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric is unacceptable, and any use of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons by Moscow would be met with severe consequences.

The G7 leaders also announced the establishment of an Enforcement Coordination Mechanism' to bolster compliance and enforcement of their measures and deny Russia the benefits of the grouping's economies.

We will continue our efforts to ensure Russia pays for Ukraine's long-term reconstruction. Russia bears full responsibility for the war and the damage it has caused, including to Ukraine's critical infrastructure, they said.

They collectively reaffirmed the need for an international mechanism to register the damage Russia has inflicted.

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We are determined, consistent with respective legal systems, that Russia's sovereign assets in their jurisdictions will remain immobilised until there is a resolution to the conflict that addresses Russia's violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and integrity, it said.

Any resolution to the conflict must ensure Russia pays for the damage it has caused. We will work with partners beyond the G7 which hold those Russian sovereign assets to build the broadest coalition possible to advance these objectives, the joint statement said.

United in their determination to hold President Vladimir Putin and those responsible to account, consistent with international law, the G7 leaders deplored that many countries in the world have been severely affected by the repercussions of Russia's war of aggression.

Russia's weaponisation of food has caused global economic hardship and a rise in global food prices, increasing the cost of living of people, compounding the economic vulnerabilities of developing countries, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity around the world, they said.

G7 countries on Friday announced to take additional measures in relation to Russia's financial sector to further undermine its capacity to wage its illegal aggression.

While coordinating to preserve financial channels for essential transactions, we will target additional Russian financial institutions to prevent circumvention of our measures, they said.

The United States on Friday began disbursing USD 9.9 billion in direct budget support to Ukraine. US budgetary assistance will help Ukraine continue to deliver essential services and meet critical needs of its people amidst the Kremlin's brutal war, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said.

This funding allows the government of Ukraine to supply emergency services for internally displaced persons and pay public employees across public institutions from healthcare providers and first responders to education who deliver critical services, it said.
There is no evidence that China would side with Russia in its war against Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has said.

There's no evidence of that so far, Biden told reporters on Friday when asked if he is worried that China will side with Russia in the ongoing war.

Biden said that he had a long conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about this in the summer.

There's no evidence he's done it yet, said the US President.

The Pentagon told reporters that it has not seen China supplying lethal aid to Russia.

Pentagon's Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that China, which clearly has advanced capabilities, munitions, has publicly declared its neutrality, to now take a side and essentially say "we want to be in the camp that's looking to extinguish Ukraine as a nation.

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US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told MSNBC in an interview that the Biden Administration has made it clear to the Chinese that it should not get involved in this war in the sense of providing lethal weapons to the Russians.

They have been told that it would be a game changer and it would be something the US would have serious concerns about.

They've not done that so far, and we hope that the message to them gets through, she said.
Russia and Ukraine faced off at the U.N. Security Council on Friday on the first anniversary of their war, with their confrontation even extending to dueling moments of silence for the dead.

The showdown began before the session formally began, with Russia's ambassador demanding to know why Ukraine sat at the top of the speakers list. Most dramatically, in the middle of the meeting, the two countries even tussled over tributes to the victims of the war.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that, finally, on this tragic day, when we mourn lives, and destinies broken by Russia, I kindly ask everyone to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the aggression.

He rose to his feet. Everyone in the council chamber stood in silence.

Although Moscow and Kyiv keep precise numbers under wraps, Western estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of killed and wounded on both sides.

Even in a moment of respect for the war dead, Ukraine and Russia were at odds.

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As soon as Kuleba sat down, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia asked for the floor, saying: We are getting to our feet to honor the memory of all victims of what has happened in Ukraine starting in 2014 all of those who perished.

Nebenzia's use of 2014 and double emphasis on the word all, were references to Russia's claims that the conflict with Ukraine began that year after Ukraine's Moscow-friendly president was driven from office by mass protests.

Russia responded by annexing Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and then threw its weight behind an insurgency in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine region known as Donbas that continues and which Putin has illegally annexed.

All lives are priceless, and that is why we're rising to honor the memory of them all, Nebenzia said, referring to Russians, pro-Russian Ukrainians in the east as well as Ukrainians elsewhere in the country.

Nebenzia and Russian diplomats then rose to their feet, and slowly, apparently after some thought, other members in the council chamber rose until everyone in the chamber was standing silently for about a minute.

Nebenzia accused Malta, which holds the council's rotating presidency, of giving Ukraine preference in choosing it to speak first just because it is part of your geopolitical project.

He also objected to foreign ministers of 14 European countries on the speakers list along with the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, saying they all have the same EU position and will bring no added value to the debate.

Malta's Foreign Minister Ian Borg responded that the European ministers flew to New York and asked to speak because they feel that their countries have been and are still being directly impacted by this war.

Kuleba told the council that Ukraine will resist as it has done so far, and Ukraine will win. And he declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to lose much sooner than he thinks.

Kuleba then delivered several messages to Russian officials and servicemen: You may think you will get away with what you did but you will end up on trial.

Kuleba urged countries everywhere to implement President Volodymry Zelenskyy's peace plan and the General Assembly resolution adopted Thursday with support from 141 countries demanding that his country's sovereignty and territorial integrity are upheld, as required by the U.N. Charter. The resolution also calls for a cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukraine.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the meeting recalling his plea to the council for peace just before Russian troops and tanks crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, and his warning that war could be the worst since the beginning of the century, with consequences not only for Russia and Ukraine but potentially for the world economy all of which has proven true in the past year.

The U.N. chief lamented that peace has had no chance and war has ruled the day, unleashing widespread death, destruction and displacement and leaving 17.6 million Ukrainians, nearly 40% of the population, in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
Florida prosecutors seek the death penalty for a bodybuilder who killed his ex-wife and was arrested for it. Ian Baunach, an ex-Marine, is accused of slaying his estranged wife and burning her body. He allegedly tried to hide the corpse on his property.

Death Penalty for Accused Ex-Marine Bodybuilder

Based on the details released, the murder is intentional, with the evidence destroyed by the suspect. Other charges against him utilizing a radio device to commit a felony and then burning the victim about 48 hours after killing her. Baunach denied the spouse's death and kept it from the police, as reported by Crime Online.

The suspect denied guilt that his attorney Robert P. Harris gave a defense for, stressing that the state wants to execute the defendant, who is a war hero, noted Naples Daily News.

The defense stated that Baunach served his country well and the treatment he gets from the government is inappropriate. Harris stressed that his client served as a soldier to protect his country and is getting punished severely. He backed up the no-guilty plea in court.

Evidence That Bodybuilder Killed Ex-Wife

Specifics of the case state in September 2022 that, the victim disappeared without a trace. According to reports, Katie Baunach, 39, had left her kids at a friend's house so she could get her stuff but never went back for her children.

A Hendry County deputy checked and found her car in the driveway with her purse inside. The deputy tried to ring the couple's home, but no one was there to talk to. He returned about 45 minutes later to find that Katie's car had been moved and parked on the side of the street, citing Wink News.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: Joe Biden, G7 Send Big Warning to Vladimir Putin

The search warrant revealed the victim's blood was found in her former husband's car, and the hallway showed signs there was an altercation that happened. Other items found that belonged to the victim were wedding and engagement rings in a safe. The officers also discovered multiple weapons and silencers on the property. They also found illegal steroids, which added to building up a case for foul play.

During interrogation, the suspect told the detective that his wife had come to the house, and they argued. He decided to go to sleep to avoid her, and she was gone later when he awoke. He gave no explanation why Katie's car was still in the driveway, ad he even said the lack of a body indicates that Katie was not a missing person since there is no proof.

While enforcing a search warrant that proved the ex-marine had committed foul play in the residence, another warrant was issued that permitted a probe for the whole property, not just the house. Baunach tried his best to prevent the warrant from being carried, but it went through.

A breakthrough in the search is the discovery by officers of a piece of human bone and a tooth found in a burn pile that is believed to belong to Katie. A 50-gallon drum was also found with the stench of decayed flesh with a human bone inside it. The medical examiner traced the bones to be from Katie, which led to the arrest of Baunach last Monday. He remains in jail because no bond was allowed to let him out.

One outlet mentioned that the ex-marine is accused of violence against the victim but never brought to court. She would not have died if a judge did not withhold a protection order and instead told them to sort out their misunderstanding via counseling.

The bodybuilder suspected of killing his ex-wife will be tried for possession of illegal weapons, but Florida prosecution will pursue the death penalty for his crime.

Related Article: North Carolina Police Officer Found Dead Alongside His Wife in Suspected Murder-Suicide Case

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South Korea plans to provide $130 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine on the occasion of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, Seoul's Foreign Ministry has announced.

The government reaffirmed its position through the ministry's statement on Friday that the "sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine must be respected", Yonhap news agency reported.

The latest aid package will include financial aid, humanitarian assistance in demining, aid in the construction of infrastructure, such as the restoration of power grid, as well as in reconstruction efforts through official development assistance (ODA) projects, according to the ministry.

In 2022, South Korea provided Ukraine with a total of $100 million in humanitarian aid.

--IANS

int/sha
The US nominee to lead the World Bank, ex-Mastercard Chief Executive Ajay Banga, gained traction with leading members on Friday, a sign that he will likely have a smooth ride to confirmation by the global lender's executive board.

The finance ministers of France and Germany gave positive reviews to Banga, nominated on Thursday by U.S. President Joe Biden as a surprise choice to lead the World Bank's transformation to fight climate change and other global challenges.

"I think that we have a very good candidate for the World Bank," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said of Banga during a news conference at the G20 finance leaders meeting in India.

"I look forward to meeting the candidate to give a final response to this candidacy. But I think he's a very good one."

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that Banga's nomination was a "very remarkable" proposal because his private-sector experience would be potentially helpful in mobilizing private investment in the fight against climate change and for development projects.

Lindner said Germany would follow the nomination with "great attention" and expressed "sympathy" for the U.S. proposal.

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The comments marked a turnabout from Tuesday, when Germany's international development minister, Svenja Schulze, who represents a different party in Germany's coalition government, said the next World Bank chief should be a woman.

The G20 ministers meeting is being held on the outskirts of the Indian tech hub city of Bengaluru.

India's finance ministry has not made an official comment on the nomination of Banga, an Indian-born U.S. citizen, which played prominently in Indian media on Friday.

But the government was expected to support Banga, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, India's executive director at the International Monetary Fund, told Reuters in Washington.

Subramanian, the former top economic adviser to the Indian government, called the nomination "an elegant solution."

'UNIQUE SET OF SKILLS'

The United States, the lender's dominant shareholder, has chosen every World Bank president since the founding of the institution at the end of World War Two.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she did not know whether there would be other nominees for the job, but said Washington moved quickly with a well qualified candidate to ensure that tradition would continue.

"... we've tried to find a nominee who was really well qualified and brings a unique set of skills to the job that we think will be attractive," she said.

Other countries have until March 29 to nominate an alternative candidate and the World Bank's board intends to announce a choice by early May.

But with the United States and European countries supporting Banga, along with some key emerging markets, a challenger would have almost no chance of succeeding and would represent a largely symbolic effort to protest what is seen by many countries and stakeholders as a non-transparent selection process stacked for too long in Washington's favour.

Many developing countries understood the rapid nomination by the United States as a clear signal not to nominate candidates of their own, said one source familiar briefed on the matter.

Yellen told reporters that Banga has "the right leadership and management skills, experience in emerging markets, and financial expertise" to lead the World Bank and reform it to boost lending on climate change, while maintaining its core anti-poverty mission.

Banga's nomination won praise from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest trade association, calling him "the right choice in steering (the bank) to greater impact, efficiency and agility."

World Bank staff are bracing for Banga to make some management changes at the bank, emboldened by Yellen's repeated calls for "bolder and more imaginative" action by the bank, two bank sources told Reuters.

Banga also won an endorsement from U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee and a harsh critic of Biden's climate agenda.

Banga's "considerable experience in managing international companies and driving investment to developing countries is what the Bank needs at such a precarious time for the global economy," McHenry said in a statement.


Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) in Bengaluru, Georgieva also said that there are some disagreements between the nations on the issue of debt restructuring of low and middle income countries. International Monetary Funds (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, on Saturday, backed Indias stance on private cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, and said that there is a need for a strong push on global regulation for such assets.



Indian officials in the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India have argued that while there is a need for strong global regulations for private crypto assets, banning them should be an option in certain cases. We have to differentiate between central bank digital currencies that are backed by the state and stable coins, and crypto assets that are privately issued. Second, there has to be a very strong push for regulation. And third, if regulation fails, if you're slow to do it, then we should not take off the table or banning those assets, because they may create financial stability risk, she said.



On the issue of debt restructuring, Georgieva said that there were some disagreements, but did not name any country, adding that there is commitment to breach differences, among the nations. Georgieva said that 2023 will be a challenging year because of the expected global growth slowdown, and called the war in Ukraine a grave source of uncertainty.

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Her remarks were echoed later in the day by Spain's Vice President Nadia Calvino, who is also the minister of economy. Georgievas remarks came just after she, outgoing World Bank President David Malpass, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman co-chaired a meeting of the Global Sovereign Debt Round-table on Saturday morning.



Earlier in the week, the IMF chief had said that about 15 per cent of low-income countries are in debt distress and an additional 45 per cent are at a high risk of debt distress. Among emerging economies, about 25 per cent are at high risk and facing default-like borrowing spreads, she said. "There is a broad agreement on debt management and debt relief that these are very important instruments to provide financial support to most vulnerable countries. Discussions are ongoing and I think we are making progress on the communique with a will to ensure the multilateral framework provides clarity and certainty on how the debt management process is going to be conducted," Calvino said.



Yellen meets tech chiefs US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had also stated a few days ago that the US would push for all bilateral official creditors, including China, to participate in meaningful debt treatments for developing countries and emerging markets in distress.



The United States has announced investments in agri-tech to enable climate-smart agricultural production, and in digital payments systems for microentrepreneurs. These stand alongside investments in renewable energy, health, and other infrastructure sectors in India, she said. Meanwhile, Yellen, on Saturday, had a breakfast meeting with chiefs of Indian and US tech companies on the sidelines of the FMCBG meeting. She said that the US is investing in digital technologies in India as part of its $200 billion Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.



Nilekani said that Infosys had opened new centres in six different American states and had hired 25,000 workers there in the last six years. Those present included Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Sandip Patel of IBM, Nivruti Rai of Intel, Rishad Premji of Wipro, Josh Foulger of Foxconn, Vikram Rai of GE and Rekha Menon of Accenture.
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The land was purchased for the purpose of developing premium and luxury residences with a gross sales value of more than Rs 2,300 crore.

The Phoenix Mills announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Palladium Construction (PCPL) has completed the acquisition of a prime land parcel, admeasuring approx. 5.5 acres, in Alipore, Kolkata.

This acquisition marks a significant milestone for PCPL as it expands its footprint in the residential segment with a premium development in the prime and exclusive neighbourhood of Alipore, Kolkata, Phoenix Mills said in a statement.

PCPL has acquired the land parcel at a consideration of Rs. 414.31 crore, including stamp duty. The land is in Alipore and has road connectivity to the key residential and commercial zones of Kolkata. This acquisition provides PCPL with the opportunity to build a world class residential development of more than 1 million square feet of saleable area. Alipore is an established upmarket location with superior infrastructure, connectivity, and reach. It is one of the most premium neighbourhoods in Kolkata, and is home to several iconic monuments, recreational outlets, hospitals, and educational institutions. The land acquired is a part of the upcoming Alipore Green City Development Project at Kolkata.

PCPL plans to begin the development on the site immediately and expect to complete construction of the project by 2028-2029. The project will include 325-350 homes, with approx. 1 million square feet of saleable area and an estimated gross sales value in excess of Rs. 2,300 crore.

Shishir Srivastava, managing director at The Phoenix Mills, said: "We are pleased to expand our footprint in Kolkata, with acquisition of this prime piece of land in the heart of the city at Alipore.

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Earlier in February 2021, we had acquired a land parcel for developing a retail destination on Diamond Harbour Road, which is about 2 kms away from this land parcel. This acquisition allows us to bring out our vision for developments that are truly world-class in quality and infrastructure.

The Phoenix Mills is India's largest retail led mixed-use developer. Its operations span across most aspects of real estate development; planning, execution, marketing, management, maintenance & sales. The group has real estate assets in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Raipur, Agra, Indore, Lucknow, Bareilly & Ahmedabad.

The company had reported 78% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 176.4 crore on a 66% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 683.8 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

The scrip rose 2.09% to end at Rs 1314.55 on the BSE on Friday.

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TI Clean Mobility intends to further raise Rs 1,050 crore by March'24, taking the total fund raising to Rs 3,000 crore.

Tube Investments of India (TII) said that its wholly owned subsidiary TI Clean Mobility has signed definitive documents with TII, Multiples Private Equity Fund III (Multiples), State Bank of India (SBI) along with other co-investors to raise capital up to Rs 1,950 crore in the form of equity and compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS).

The total investment by Multiples, SBI and other Co-investors would aggregate up to Rs 1,200 crore. Tube Investments' (TII's) total investment would be Rs 750 crore, of which TII has already invested Rs 639 crore by way of equity and inter-corporate deposits (ICD).

Further, TI Clean Mobility plans to raise additional funding of Rs 1,050 crore by the end of March 2024, thereby taking the total fund raise to Rs 3,000 crore.

TI Clean Mobility is focused into manufacture and marketing of electric three wheelers and through its subsidiaries into electric tractors and electric heavy commercial vehicles.

TICMPL has already unveiled its passenger 3-wheeler electric vehicle; sales of which are expected to ramp up over the next few quarters. The company, through its subsidiaries, is driving the design and development of electric tractors and electric heavy commercial vehicles.

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M.A.M Arunachalam (known as Arun Murugappan), chairman, TII and TICMPL said, "TICMPL is focused on the productive segment of electric vehicle industry viz., 3-wheelers, tractors and heavy commercial vehicles.

The confidence reposed by esteemed investors such as Multiples and SBI will give TICMPL the necessary impetus to fulfil our ambition by scaling our operations through organic and inorganic means."

S. Vellayan, executive vice chairman, TII, said: "We aim to play a significant role in the electrification of vehicles in the productive segment to enable India's 30% EV penetration target by 2030. Our Group's experience across segments such as auto components, vehicle finance, agri-business and motors will give us the unique ability to build a large EV native OEM.

Tube Investments of India, a Murugappa Group company, manufactures fabricated metal products. The company specializes in cycles, steel tubes, strips, chains, and metal formed items.

The company reported 15.47% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 235.75 crore on a 7.52% increase in sales to Rs 3,538.02 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

The scrip advanced 2.19% to end at Rs 2550.45 on the BSE yesterday.

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In other views:

A common criticism of recent budgets is that their focus has been on capital investment, to the relative neglect of the social sectors. Despite government claims of improvement in outcomes from various programmes, Indias rate of progress on the UNs human development index has slowed down in the second decade of the century, compared to the previous two decades. The country continues to be ranked in the medium category for human development. Crossing the threshold into the high category (which Vietnam has already done) will take the rest of the decade, at the present rate of progress, says. Read it
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Democratic Alliance would retain power at the Centre and in Maharashtra in polls next year on the basis of development work done since 2014.

Speaking at the ABP Network's Ideas of India Summit here, Gadkari, who is the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, also said the NDA government had instilled a sense of confidence in the people through its development work and good governance.

"We will win and once again the BJP and NDA will form the government in both Maharashtra and at the Centre. The good work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will yield good results," Gadkari said.

The performance audit is more important than the financial audit, he said, adding the (five-year) performance (of elected representatives) is reviewed by the public at the time of polls.

"Our performance is our strength and this is what people expect from us as well. We have instilled confidence in people through our good work, which we will take to them," Gadkari said.

Asserting his party keeps a very "positive attitude" and that whatever work it has done on the basis of opportunities provided to it, the Union minister said "the performance rating card of our party, our leadership and our ministers is definitely very important".

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"I can say with confidence the work that has been done in the last (more than) eight years under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi is far more when compared with 60 years of Congress rule," Gadkari said.

On the growth of green transport, the minister said, "Hydrogen is our future fuel and India's future vehicles will run on hydrogen and green fuels."



Though his ministry never spoke about electric vehicle (EV) targets for the year 2030, Gadkari said, in the coming years, India will certainly shift to electric vehicles.

"We import Rs 16 lakh crore worth of fossil fuel every year but pretty soon our farmers will produce green fuel and green hydrogen, he said, adding that Lithium ion batteries will lead the shift from petrol and diesel driven cars.

Reiterating that Lithium ion battery costs will come down in the next year or so, the minister said India will soon become a net exporter of Lithium and become a major global player.

Expressing satisfaction at the development of highways in the country, Gadkari said, "In the coming years, public transport will be revolutionised in the country and the new highways will bring down travel time between key cities drastically.

He, however, said his ministry and the government had failed to curb the accident rate on Indian roads.

We wanted to reduce road accidents by 50 per cent by 2024 but we are not going to achieve it," he said.

For this, he said, human behaviour has to change as people were still not following rules of red lights, car seat belts or two wheeler helmets.

Gadkari sought the introduction of road safety education at the primary level to make Indians aware about this at a young age.
The Congress' aim is to give representation to Dalits, tribals, OBCs, minority communities, women and youth, Rahul Gandhi said on Friday as he joined the party's plenary session here.

Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi arrived in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur Friday afternoon to attend the party's plenary that began here in the morning.

In a Facebook post, Rahul Gandhi said the 85th session of the party is a "glimpse of our shared heritage".

"Our values ??and our culture of giving respect to all is our real strength. Our aim is to give representation to Dalits, tribals, OBCs, minority communities, women and youth," the former Congress chief said.

"We will continue to fight against the environment of hatred and bigotry prevailing in the country," he said.

Rahul Gandhi said the Congress will continue to raise the voice of the poor, farmers, labourers and the underprivileged.

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"We will take this message of Congress to the people," he added.
After Microsoft ChatGPT and Google's Bard, Meta is joining the AI chatbot race with its own state-of-the-art foundational large language model designed to help researchers advance their work in the field of artificial intelligence.

However, Meta's Large Language Model Meta AI (LLaMA) isn't like ChatGPT-driven Bing at the moment as it can't yet talk to humans but will help researchers.

"Smaller, more performant models such as LLaMA enable others in the research community who don't have access to large amounts of infrastructure to study these models, further democratising access in this important, fast-changing field," Meta said in a statement.

Meta is making LLaMA available at several sizes (7 billion, 13 billion, 33 billion, and 65 billion parameters).

Large language models -- natural language processing (NLP) systems with billions of parameters -- have shown new capabilities to generate creative text, solve mathematical theorems, predict protein structures, answer reading comprehension questions, and more.

"They are one of the clearest cases of the substantial potential benefits AI can offer at scale to billions of people," said Meta.

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Smaller models trained on more tokens -- which are pieces of words -- are easier to retrain and fine-tune for specific potential product use cases.

Meta has trained LLaMA 65 billion and LLaMA 33 billion on 1.4 trillion tokens.

"Our smallest model, LLaMA 7B, is trained on one trillion tokens," said the company.

Like other large language models, LLaMA works by taking a sequence of words as an input and predicts a next word to recursively generate text.

"To train our model, we chose text from the 20 languages with the most speakers, focusing on those with Latin and Cyrillic alphabets," Meta informed.

To maintain integrity and prevent misuse, the company said it is releasing the model under a noncommercial license focused on research use cases at the moment.

--IANS

na/ksk/
Serbia looks to acquire the French Dassault Rafale in the next purchase instead of Russian jets like the Mig-29 in its usual inventory. Its objective is to add to its combat capability by purchasing six MiG-29s, with its current units totaling 11 in all.

Serbia Drops Purchase of Russian Mig-29

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has stated that the MiG-29s have maintenance problems. One of the reasons is the Russian sanction affecting its former buyers getting military hardware, reported Bulgarian Military.

One option for Belgrade is to have alternatives to maintain its air force's capability. The French Rafale is a better option, according to Vucic. He will send a direct request to Paris for the French jet, noted Pentapostagma.

It is much preferred by an Eastern European country to avoid buying from the United States. Belgrade has a historical conflict with the US and will not buy anything from American arms suppliers.

The Rafale is the best French combat aircraft, about 22 years old since it was introduced. Many air forces in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East have bought the jet and ignored US jets. Based on sources that did not verify whether armaments will be part of the defense deal that could include the Meteor missile. Many consider the French-built meteor as better than even American air-to-air missiles to date, per Think Defense.

Read Also: Tesla Caught Fire Twice After Crashing Into A Building; Witness Shares Shocking Incident

French Dassault Rafale Characteristics

Options are a single or two-man crew version of the Rafale with dual Snecma M88-4e turbofans capable of 11,250 lbs dry thrust with 17,000 lbs when afterburners are used. Capable of nearly 2,000 km/h with a supercruise of Mach 1.4, which the F-35 lacks.

Another relevant capability is a combat radius of about 1,850 km with a g limit of +9 to -3.6 though it maxes out at +11 for extreme maneuvers. Weapons equipped on it is 30 mm autocannon with 125 for close in a dogfight. A variety of air-to-air missiles (AAMs) are also included for all ranges.

Mounted on the jet is a lethal air-to-ground attack payload for stand-off attacks on ground targets. These missiles, like the MBDA Apache, are excellent and effective ordnance on the jet. One plus for the Rafale is that it can use a nuclear-capable missile, but Belgrade is not opting for it.

Even though Belgrade has had good ties to Moscow in the past, that does not mean it will buy Russian equipment. Some sectors tout that the Kremlin is not as tight, but it's yet to be seen.

How the Serbian MiG-29SM does well in combat has no data yet to quantify it. Like older fighters that need to be maintained when Russia makes weapons for itself. The Ukraine conflict has limited military manufacture at home, not export.

An outlet remarked that it's the first instance that Serbia is opting for a defense deal with another country. Speculation when it first came out said the MiG-35 of the Chinese J-17 was in the running. It was a surprise that Serbia would send a request to buy French Dassault Rafale other than its current Russian jets.

Related Article: Ankara Considers Buying Rafale Fighters Instead of F-16 Defense Deal that Washington Could Block

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The statistics configured by IBEF (Indian Brand Equity Foundation) state that the domestic pharmaceutical market stood at US$ 42 billion in 2021 and is likely to reach US$ 65 billion by 2024 and further expand to reach US$ 120-130 billion by 2030. In the face of this exponential growth, India will take lead as a dependable provider of premium medicines to the world. The Indian pharmaceutical market is fractionated into different therapeutic segments of Anti-Infectives, Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Anti Diabetic, Respiratory, Dermatological, Musculo-Skeletal System, Nervous System, and Others. It can also be bifurcated based on the drug Type (Prescription Drugs and Over Counter Drugs).



A Glimpse at Indian Pharmaceutical Market



As per the stats, Indian Pharmaceutical Market is expected to register a CAGR of 10.7% in the next few years. Although the COVID-19 outbreak stunted the growth of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, the pharma industry bounced back through collaborative initiatives of the government and big pharma giants. To bolster vaccine production, in the year 2021, the department of biotechnology and GOI gave financial aid to many pharma companies to mass producing vaccines to touch the mark of 10 crore vaccine doses per month by September 2021. The public sector pharma companies like Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd., IIL Hyderabad, and BIBCOL, Bulandshahr received assistance from the government. In the current scenario, the Indian pharma industry is all set to witness healthy growth owing to digitalization, colossal demand, and a surge in domestic production. The report of IES 2021, substantiates this claim by stating that the domestic pharma market will grow by 3 times in upcoming years.



The Indian pharmaceutical market has a reputation for manufacturing and delivering high-quality medicines across the globe. As per the data of IBEF IN 2022, India nation is home to the greatest number of US FDA-approved units; 741 as of August 2021. Indian pharma companies manufacture myriad product ranges in segments such as generic drugs, OTC medicines, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), vaccines, contract research and manufacturing, and biosimilars and biologics. As per the sources, the USA is India's primary export market for pharmaceutical products. To boost investment in the pharmaceutical sector, the government has streamlined the approval time for new facilities. The increased export of generic drugs and extensive research and development activities will boost the market growth.



Key Trends to focus on



Promising growth in Respiratory Therapeutic Category Segment: The rise of respiratory issues amid increasing pollution has resulted in exponential demand for medicines addressing respiratory illnesses. The respiratory drugs mainly comprise bronchodilators, corticosteroids, mast cell stabilizers, anti-IgE antibodies, leukotriene receptor antagonists, antivirals, pulmonary surfactants, and respiratory stimulants, among others. Respiratory diseases are those that affect the lungs and respiratory tract. Some prevalent respiratory diseases are asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, pneumonia, and lung cancer. Asthma, reports the highest number of patients followed by COPD, and bronchitis. With such a high burden respiratory diseases creates magnanimous opportunities for growth.



Healthy market growth of Generic Drugs: A generic drug is a medication formulated to be the same as an existing approved brand-name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, and performance characteristics. These drugs do not require extra efforts that go into clinical research and drug discovery. Generic drugs are available at a lower cost; they provide an opportunity for savings in drug expenditure in a country. With so many advantages of generic drugs coupled with low-cost manufacturing in the country, the segment is anticipated to witness tremendous growth.



As per the ICRA report, the government is planning many campaigns to avail free generic medications to half of the Indian population under Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras at an estimated cost of USD 5.4 billion. All the endeavors favor the remarkable growth of generic drugs.



Future predictions about Indian Pharmaceutical market

Indian pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, also known by the sobriquet pharmacy of the world has a substantial share in providing affordable generic medicines. The pharma industry in India is ranked third in the world for pharmaceutical production by volume, covering 20% of the global supply. The domestic pharmaceutical companies of the country, who were earlier known for their affordable manufacturing of generic medicines, are now being acknowledged for quality-oriented research and development activities. The Indian pharma industry is thriving in this new development ecosystem. The outbreak of COVID-19 brought a paradigm shift in India's global image as a volume exporter and shifted it to a value exporter.The statistics configured by IBEF (Indian Brand Equity Foundation) state that the domestic pharmaceutical market stood at US$ 42 billion in 2021 and is likely to reach US$ 65 billion by 2024 and further expand to reach US$ 120-130 billion by 2030. In the face of this exponential growth, India will take lead as a dependable provider of premium medicines to the world. The Indian pharmaceutical market is fractionated into different therapeutic segments of Anti-Infectives, Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Anti Diabetic, Respiratory, Dermatological, Musculo-Skeletal System, Nervous System, and Others. It can also be bifurcated based on the drug Type (Prescription Drugs and Over Counter Drugs).As per the stats, Indian Pharmaceutical Market is expected to register a CAGR of 10.7% in the next few years. Although the COVID-19 outbreak stunted the growth of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, the pharma industry bounced back through collaborative initiatives of the government and big pharma giants. To bolster vaccine production, in the year 2021, the department of biotechnology and GOI gave financial aid to many pharma companies to mass producing vaccines to touch the mark of 10 crore vaccine doses per month by September 2021. The public sector pharma companies like Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd., IIL Hyderabad, and BIBCOL, Bulandshahr received assistance from the government. In the current scenario, the Indian pharma industry is all set to witness healthy growth owing to digitalization, colossal demand, and a surge in domestic production. The report of IES 2021, substantiates this claim by stating that the domestic pharma market will grow by 3 times in upcoming years.The Indian pharmaceutical market has a reputation for manufacturing and delivering high-quality medicines across the globe. As per the data of IBEF IN 2022, India nation is home to the greatest number of US FDA-approved units; 741 as of August 2021. Indian pharma companies manufacture myriad product ranges in segments such as generic drugs, OTC medicines, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), vaccines, contract research and manufacturing, and biosimilars and biologics. As per the sources, the USA is India's primary export market for pharmaceutical products. To boost investment in the pharmaceutical sector, the government has streamlined the approval time for new facilities. The increased export of generic drugs and extensive research and development activities will boost the market growth.Promising growth in Respiratory Therapeutic Category Segment: The rise of respiratory issues amid increasing pollution has resulted in exponential demand for medicines addressing respiratory illnesses. The respiratory drugs mainly comprise bronchodilators, corticosteroids, mast cell stabilizers, anti-IgE antibodies, leukotriene receptor antagonists, antivirals, pulmonary surfactants, and respiratory stimulants, among others. Respiratory diseases are those that affect the lungs and respiratory tract. Some prevalent respiratory diseases are asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, pneumonia, and lung cancer. Asthma, reports the highest number of patients followed by COPD, and bronchitis. With such a high burden respiratory diseases creates magnanimous opportunities for growth.Healthy market growth of Generic Drugs: A generic drug is a medication formulated to be the same as an existing approved brand-name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, and performance characteristics. These drugs do not require extra efforts that go into clinical research and drug discovery. Generic drugs are available at a lower cost; they provide an opportunity for savings in drug expenditure in a country. With so many advantages of generic drugs coupled with low-cost manufacturing in the country, the segment is anticipated to witness tremendous growth.As per the ICRA report, the government is planning many campaigns to avail free generic medications to half of the Indian population under Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras at an estimated cost of USD 5.4 billion. All the endeavors favor the remarkable growth of generic drugs.

As predicted by Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) Secretary General, Sudarshan Jain, the Indian pharma industry is expected to grow to $130 billion by 2030 and become the leading provider of medicines to the world.

In the words of Dr. Viranchi Shah, National President, of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), the production of Linked Incentive Schemes (PLIs) and cluster manufacturing are contributing to the pharma sector's growth. As per him, India is looking ahead to being number one in the next 25 years.



Final Takeaway



The favorable growth conditions and support from the government are paving the way for exponential growth in the Indian pharmaceutical Industry. With the Indian economy becoming the fifth largest in the world, there is no better time for India to take the front seat as a global producer of quality pharmaceutical products.
NATO and its struggle to fall the Russian economy via sanctions is in shambles due to EU countries.These countries realize the US-led military bloc's agenda will only condemn energy and economic security.

Five EU Countries Defy NATO's Sanctions

Most bloc members feel the alliance is doomed, not wanting to listen to Brussels or Washington. Their trade with Russia has increased even after the special operation in Ukraine, reported Express UK.

Disunity in the block is magnified more than ever as Brussels is aghast over punitive measures not accepted by all members. Leaders of these states said they would not support Zelensky at all. Denial of his request has set Zelensky in hysterics that prove futile.

These nations that drew the ire of the military bloc are Slovenia, Bulgaria, Spain, Hungary, and Greece, trading up to 250% more than a year ago from November. One of the outlets has remarked that Hungarian imports from Russia hit a high of 262% over three years, per The Telegraph.

One of these leaders is Hungary's prime minister, the key ally in the European Union with the slightest desire to help Ukraine. Ukrainian leaders have complained to Brussels to force Orban to follow the bloc chiefs.

Dr. Eszter Simon from Nottingham Trent University, an expert on Hungarian politics, said that Budapest had chosen Moscow over the European Union and indicated that Orban has supported Russia since 2010 but keeping the benefits of the bloc.

Read Also: Finland Concludes NATO Bid Without Sweden, Erdogan Says

Sanctions Against the Russian Economy

Other members like Bulgaria and Slovenia have kept economic ties from last year. Brussels is impotent to enforce a ban on Russian gas imports that will sink these members like those suffering from an energy crunch. Spain is destitute for energy as Algeria cut a deal after a dispute in the West Sahara, citing Arab News.

Suppose it was not for the conflict which changed the rules to make Russia the second largest energy provider. The stark contrast between punitive measures for Moscow and billions for Kyiv shows its allegiances.

Defense analyst Michael Clarke stated that the bloc is pushing for independence from Russian energy permanently. He mentions that the Biden administration's presence in European affairs changes everything but not everyone's liking.

The US-led military bloc has convinced members to give Ukraine weapons and has provoked Russia by expanding on its eastern side. Former allies countries of Moscow, like Poland and other countries, are getting inclined to support Russia.

What it means is the push by the US to continue the war against Putin will have a bad result for formerly prosperous Europe. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in 2022 that the Kremlin would be ready to give the west a bloody nose.

If the Ukraine conflict was not ignited by western military support from Ukraine. The bloc would not be begging for expensive natural gas as a result. Oil is coming hard to get as its former benefactor has tightened the nails on the European economy.

It came at the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, with food getting expensive and fertilizer and commodities experiencing shortages due to the conflict. This conflict has made strong players better and weak ones jockeying or being lost.

NATO is undertaking futility by blaming EU countries for not pushing sanctions to affect the Russian economy. These five states have no desire to see the fallout if the west losses.

Related Article: Russia Claims NATO, EU Joint Declaration Pushing Confrontational Approach

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
United States President Joe Biden and the Group of Seven leaders pledged their continued support for Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of the former Soviet ally enters its second year.

The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union warned Putin he would face grave repercussions if he used nuclear weapons.

More Military Aid For Ukraine

During the virtual meeting, the G7's top officials reaffirmed their intention to implement further coordinated economic measures in the following days and weeks, which include restricting Russia's access to military equipment, industrial machinery, and other supplies, USA Today reported.

Moreover, the group is taking action against third-country entities assisting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, the White House announced sanctions on 200 Russian and third-country players in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East that assist Russia's war actions.

The leaders also condemned Putin for suspending Russia's commitment to New START, a deal that limits strategic nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia.

"We reiterate that Russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric is unacceptable, and any use of chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences," the G7 statement reads.

The group also reiterated that the New START agreement reached in Bali by all G20 participants, "including Russia," states that the utilization or threat of nuclear weapons is unacceptable.

Vladimir Putin recently declared that Russia would withdraw from the New START accord, the last major cornerstone of post-Cold War nuclear weapons limitation between Moscow and Washington. Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia must be ready to undertake nuclear testing if the US does, according to a previous HNGN report.

Before the conference, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the G7 would reaffirm a request that other nations did not give military help to Russia, which has taken swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine but failed to overthrow the pro-Western government.

While Russia has utilized Iranian drones in Ukraine and America has recently warned that China is mulling aiding Moscow's war operations, Prime Minister Kishida did not name any countries, per CNA. The Chinese government has refuted the US allegations and even announced its proposals to help end the Russia-Ukraine war.

The G7 announced that it would continue coordinating efforts to satisfy Ukraine's military and defense equipment demands, with an urgent priority on air defense systems, ammunition, and tanks. US President Joe Biden paid a surprise visit to Kyiv and pledged an extra $460 million in security support to the war-torn country. Still, he has refused Volodymyr Zelensky's plea for F-16 fighter fighters.

Read Also: US Judge Orders Donald Trump Deposition

G7 Pledged Support For Nations Impacted by Russia-Ukraine War

The G7 also expressed sympathy to nations suffering from the devastating effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, underscoring that Moscow's food weaponization has created global economic suffering and an increase in global food prices, raising people's cost of living, aggravating developing nations' economic weaknesses, and worsening "humanitarian crises and food insecurity" worldwide.

The coalition of the world's developed economies reaffirmed their commitment to providing immediate assistance, including food aid, to impacted communities and nations amid the Russia-Ukraine war. The G7 also pledged to develop restrictive measures to protect disadvantaged populations from unintended impacts by ensuring food and fertilizer supplies.

"Above all, our solidarity will never waver in standing with Ukraine, in supporting countries and people in need, and in upholding the international order based on the rule of law," the G7 noted.

Related Article: EU Countries Hamper Rule of Law

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Firefighters in Scottsdale, Arizona, had to put out a blaze caused by a Tesla vehicle twice on Friday: first when the car crashed into a structure and again as it was being towed.

One eyewitness said the Tesla car driver was attempting to park at the intersection of Scottsdale Road and Paradise Lane when the vehicle abruptly surged forward and collided with a structure.

Fatal Tesla Car Crash in California

The witness noted that she immediately went to help the individuals trapped inside the car. She helped the mother remove her daughter from the driver's seat, who was bleeding heavily. Once they got her down to the ground, they called 911 immediately, according to Fox 10 News. Injuries are not considered to be life-threatening, according to Scottsdale police.

She noticed the car caught fire below its tires 30 seconds after the Tesla crash. The car's owner, "Prayam," said his wife and daughter were in the vehicle at the time of the incident.

Firefighters and Phoenix HAZMAT teams were summoned to Scottsdale Road and Butherus Drive later that morning when the Tesla again caught fire while being hauled. Prayam noted his Tesla was caught in a second fire on his way to the site.

The tow truck driver was transported to the hospital for a medical examination. Then a dozen fire engines, vehicles, and HAZMAT crews doused the Tesla with water to ensure a third fire would not happen.

The incident happened days after a Tesla Model S slammed into a fire truck that blocked up I-680 while covering another team clearing a different accident in Walnut Creek, CA. A passenger was also taken to the hospital, but the driver was declared dead.

It was not clear to authorities whether the motorist was impaired or if they were using Autopilot during the Tesla crash incident, per TMZ. Tesla might face more troubles if it turns out the driver was making use of the Autopilot, which has recently been under intense scrutiny.

Read Also: TikTok Banned From European Commission Official Devices

NHTSA Launches Investigation on Tesla Crashes

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has initiated hundreds of special crash investigations (SCI) into Tesla accidents in which Autopilot is implicated.

Teslas were engaged in 39 of the 48 SCIs built and closed between June 2016 and July 2022. Just three of the 39 incidents were found to not have used Autopilot. NHTSA is still investigating several tragic accidents involving Teslas. However, the organization did not provide details on ongoing probes.

After authorities warned that the e-car's Full Self-Driving feature (FSD) might lead Tesla automobiles to behave recklessly at and near junctions, Tesla recalled 362,758 vehicles to implement software updates, as per Techcrunch.

The recall came after The Dawn Project ran a Super Bowl commercial urging government agencies to prohibit FSD until serious safety flaws are addressed.

Several levels of government, including those at the federal and state levels, have begun investigating Tesla's ADAS to ensure its reliability and safety. The Justice Department asked Tesla for details on Autopilot and FSD earlier this month, perhaps as part of a criminal probe into the Tesla crash.

Related Article: Tesla To Open US Chargers to Rival Companies

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GATE 2023: The window to challenge the provisional answer key of GATE 2023 will be closed today, February 25. Those who have objections to the preliminary answer key of GATE 2023 can submit it on gate.iitk.ac.in.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur issued Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2023 answer key on February 21 and candidates responses of GATE 2023 on February 15.



How to check GATE 2023 Result

Visit to the official website, gate.iitk.ac.in.

Login to the candidate/application portal by entering the asked details.

Check and download your result.

Save a copy of the result page for future reference.

GATE is held for various undergraduate subjects in Engineering and Technology, Architecture, Science, Commerce, and Arts.

The exam is used for admission and/or financial assistance to Master's and Doctoral programs. Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) use GATE scores for recruitment.
Well, it took Geely Philippines long enough. About two years after we said they needed a sub-compact crossover to penetrate the local market...
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea conducted a test launch of strategic cruise missiles off its eastern coast to display the "war posture of the DPRK nuclear combat force," according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

According to official media, four Hwasal-2 missiles were launched from Kim Chaek City and flew around 1,240 kilometers before crashing into the sea.

North Korea Fires Cruise Missiles

US and South Korean defense officials were conducting a Deterrence Strategy Committee Table-Top Exercise (DSC TTX) at the Pentagon when the launches occurred.

The United States conducted joint military drills with South Korea and Japan on Sunday, drawing condemnation from North Korea. During this exercise, US B-1B bombers were escorted by South Korean fighter jets near the Korean peninsula, Fox News reported.

A day before, North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-15, with Kim Jong Un's sister stating they were "using the Pacific as a shooting range."

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea stated that there were differences between the flight data released by North Korea and the readings of US and South Korean intelligence assets but did not explain. It was stated that the allies continued to evaluate the launches.

The spokesperson for Seoul's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean issues, Lee Hyojung, condemned North Korea for accelerating its nuclear tests amid indications of increasing economic isolation and food shortages.

Per AP News, North Korea conducted its maiden test of a long-range cruise missile system in September 2021 and has hinted that nuclear warheads are being produced for the missiles. Pyongyang also test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday and two short-range missiles on Monday to demonstrate its dual capability to launch nuclear attacks against South Korea and the US mainland.

Read Also: 6 Countries Join Russia in Opposing UN Resolution To Leave Ukraine

US-South Korea Military Drills

North Korea stated that Monday's short-range missile launches were a retaliation to the United States deployment of B-1B bombers to the region on Sunday for joint training with South Korean and Japanese jets as a show of force in response to the North's ICBM test.

Before launching an intercontinental ballistic missile, North Korea threatened "unprecedented" retaliation for a series of military exercises planned by Seoul and Washington. North Korea has labeled the annual US-South Korea exercises as preparations for a future invasion, although the exercises are defensive, according to the allies.

North Korean cruise missiles are meant to be maneuverable in flight to elude defenses, and their quantity of warheads is expanding. After the breakdown of discussions with the United States in 2019, North Korea has accelerated the development of short-range solid-fuel ballistic missiles aimed against South Korea, particularly those with low trajectories that, in theory, would be more difficult to intercept.

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described the Pacific as "our shooting range" earlier this week. Pyongyang has also rejected previous United Nations censure of its missile tests, arguing that the criticism was "unfair and imbalanced" and did not recognize North Korea's right to self-defense.

North Korea continues disregarding international non-proliferation regulations by attempting to develop and mass-produce new missiles. Until 2022, North Korea's official stance on the use of nuclear weapons was that they would "never be abused or used as a means for a preemptive strike."

However, if there is an "attempt to resort to military force against us," it may use its "most powerful offensive strength in advance to punish them." In 2022, the government enacted a new policy mandating that any attack on their senior leadership or nuclear command and control system would automatically launch nuclear weapons against the adversary, as per Mirror.

Related Article: Why South Africa Joins Russia, China Naval Drills?

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The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television has announced the 2023 Canadian Screen Award nominations, dedicated to honoring Canadian productions from cinema, television, and digital media.

Sadly, the Canadian Screen Awards dont have a category for animated features, but this years animated short competition boasts an impressive lineup. The National Film Board of Canada is, as usual, well represented in this years field. The NFB backed three of the five nominated shorts, Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis The Flying Sailor; Germaine Arnattaujuq, Neil Christopher, and Louise Flahertys Arctic Song (produced with Taqqut Productions Inc.); and Marta Pajeks Impossible Figures and other stories I (produced with Animoon). The other nominees are Hajar Moradis The Shadow Of My Life, produced by Vivido Inc., and Marie-Noelle Robidas-Moreaus Triangle of Darkness, produced by Embuscade Film.

The 2023 Canadian Screen Awards will be presented across seven themed awards presentations at Meridian Hall in Toronto from Tuesday, April 11 to Friday, April 14. The Childrens & Animation Awards presented by Shaw Rocket Fund will be held on April 12. CBC and CBC Gem will air a final televised Canadian Screen Awards presentation hosted by Samantha Bee on Sunday, April 16.
Where to start: Lucia (co-directed with Niles Atallah, 2007) Young Lucia remembers a summer of love with Luis that was mysterious and filled with dark secrets. Its an eerie work of creepy beauty. Set in, it seems, Lucias bedroom, the ghosts and voices of the houses past seem to come alive and unveil the troubling history of the building. Is Lucia dead? Was she murdered? Assaulted? Using stop motion with charcoal, dirt, flowers, and assorted objects, Lucia is a haunting ghost story and a reminder that the past is never truly dead.

What to watch next: Luis (2008) was made as part of a series of films along with Lucia. Equally chilling, this time the story is told from Luis possibly psychotic perspective. In a different room, perhaps a basement, Luis recalls his life in the forest and his love for Lucia. You want to look away, but you cant because its too damn beautiful and hypnotic.

Other key works: The Smiles Thin Thing (2022), La Bruja y el Amante (2012), La Casa Lobo (The Wolf House, 2018), Los Huesos (2021)

Influences: David Lynch, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Jan Svankmajer

Says: Almost all of our works begin with jokes. The truth is, I mean this honestly, we always want to do funny things, but the results are always terrifying. We seem to be bad comedians. But we will work on it. We try to have fun working. I am fascinated by artists who manage to combine comedy and horror, like Jordan Peele. I think art is very much about connecting emotions that seem separate.

Currently working on: We are now working on Los Hiperboreos, our first live-action feature. We will shoot it in December and January in a museum in Santiago. It will be an exhibition/shoot, open to the audience. We will work with one actress, Antonia Giesen, and many puppets of different kinds. Everything will be shot in life-size sets built within the museum.
What is Thank You Walt Disney? The organization is dedicated to conserving Walt Disneys Kansas City history and providing a place for art and animation study while encouraging confidence and entrepreneurial individualism. Among its goals, the group is working to:

Restore the Laugh-O-Gram Studio, located on the top floor of Kansas Citys McConahay Building, recreating its offices and exhibits to honor Walt Disney and his fellow artists.

Provide a state-of-the-art teaching facility for the K.C. metropolitan digital media industry in cooperation with Digistory KC.

Operate a theater and lecture hall hosting events focused on animation.

When will the studio open to the public? It could be a while. Efforts to restore the studio have been in the works for two decades, but with the latest funding organizers say theyre beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Added to previously raised funds, the $2 million  plus $500,000 in tax credits that the organization has been granted by the Missouri Development Finance Board  puts Thank You Walt Disney 51% of the way to their fundraising goal. According to the group, they still need another $3.4 million to fully realize their restoration ambitions.

What theyre saying. Upon handing over the $2 million check, Rep. Cleaver said:

I am as happy as a Mahomes at Disney the day after a Chiefs Super Bowl win to have secured this federal funding for the rehabilitation of the historic Laugh-O-Gram Studio. The efforts of Thank You Walt Disney, Inc. to preserve and restore this landmark to its glory for future generations of innovators and entrepreneurs makes a clear statement that Kansas City isnt some Mickey Mouse town, but a city of great historical significance, at the forefront of innovation and community.

On its Facebook page, Thank You Walt Disney posted:
Shortly after graduating from high school, Matsumoto moved to Tokyo with the dream of making a living as a professional artist. There, in 1961, he married Miyako Maki, one of Japans earliest women manga artists and the creator of the dress-up doll Licca-chan, a Japanese figure akin to Barbie. Matsumoto and Maki collaborated numerous times over the years and founded Leijisha Studio together.

After writing under several pen names, Matsumoto finally adopted the name Leiji Matsumoto in 1965 and published under the pseudonym for the rest of his career. His big breakthrough came in 1972 when he published Otoko Oidon, a manga series about a poor young man studying for his university entrance exams in Tokyo.

Matsumoto was a prolific artist and he published hundreds of books over the following decades, several of which were adapted as animated tv series that have become timeless classics. His work frequently explored themes of history, war, and technology, and was usually set in a stylized version of the future. Having grown up in Japan during and after World War II, Matsumotos books and series regularly bore the marks which that conflict left on their creator. More than 150 of his stories depicted the tragedy of war.

According to the Associated Press, Matsumotos father, an elite army pilot, was entirely against the act of war. Speaking to Japanese broadcaster NHK in 2018, Matsumoto remembered watching his father apologize to the mothers of comrades who were lost while serving under his authority.

War destroys your future, Matsumoto told NHK, lamenting the loss of so many young people that might have one day contributed to the civilization of mankind. I was told by my father that any life is born in order to live, not to die. I think we should not be wasting time fighting on the Earth.

Among Matsumotos most popular and enduring animated works were Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999, and Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Despite fantastic scenes of futuristic battles, the series regularly highlighted the terrible cost of the act.

Space Battleship Yamato, perhaps the most enduring of Matsumotos creations, featured a war between humanity and invading alien conquerors. The series received numerous spinoffs, remakes, and a live-action feature adaptation. Its credited as a major influence on popular science fiction franchises including Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

While war was a major theme in much of Matsumotos work, he was equally fascinated by human history and the possible future of the species. Speaking with The Japan Times in 2017 he explained, When I was a child, and indeed throughout my life, I was always thinking and reading about the Earth and sentient beings in the past, present, and future. That fascination is clear throughout most of his work.

Younger generations are likely to recognize the work Matsumoto did for the French electronic music group Daft Punk. The band members were fans of his classic animated series and asked Matsumoto to create several music videos for them, including for the hit song One More Time. Matsumoto was also credited as supervising director on Interstella 5555, an animated feature written by Daft Punk members Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo alongside regular collaborator Cedric Hervet.

Throughout his career, Matsumoto received numerous cultural and art honors awarded by the Japanese government, including the Order of the Rising Sun and the Medal with Purple Ribbon. The French government granted him the honorific Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.

After his passing, Matsumotos daughter Makiko Matsumoto, who leads Studio Leijisha, said in a statement that her father had departed for the sea of stars at a hospital in Tokyo on February 13, 2023, at the age of 85. The farewell ceremony has already been held with close relatives. I think it was a happy life.

She went on, Matsumoto always said, At the point where the wheels of time meet again, we will meet again. We believe in those words and look forward to that day.
When Dimitrov and the Rew Day producers at Miramar film found out that their film was being misrepresented on the festival scene, they reached out to Cartoon Brew, having just read our Snowflake piece a few weeks before.

We realized such cases are more common than one would imagine, and the matter should be addressed, Miramars Mila Voinikova told Cartoon Brew.

The company has since contacted several festivals that have selected Friday to inform them that it is neither a new nor original work. Miramar also reached out to film database websites such as IMDB, which has since removed the page for the retitled knock-off, and Filmfreeway, which was being used to submit the counterfeit version to festivals.

In reaching out, Miramar had two goals: To make sure the fraud with our film is put to an end as soon as possible and to give enough publicity to this case to discourage such attempts with other films, said Voinikova. We have a saying in Bulgarian that roughly translates to A lie has short legs.

Dimitrov added, It is sad that people think that festival success would bring more pleasure than the creative process. Any small thing a person does is more precious than the one that is stolen.

After speaking with the Rew Day team, we reached out to several individuals who screen shorts for festivals and websites and were able to get a hold of the version of Friday that is currently being submitted. Having seen both films, we can confirm that Friday is the exact film as Rew Day with a new title graphic and credits, the latter of which are notably incongruent with the rest of the films aesthetic.

In the interest of transparency and to bolster their case, Miramar film has made Rew Day available to the public on Vimeo. Weve linked the film below, as well as several screenshots we were able to pull from Friday, leaving no doubt that these are in fact same film.

Cartoon Brew reached out to Serajpour through his email and social accounts, but has not received a response. Further, since we started trying to contact him, Serajpour has removed photos from his Linkedin profile and deleted his Instagram account, which had recently uploaded a shot of him holding a prize that he won by resubmitting Rew Day as his own film.

Although his social media profiles have been largely scrubbed clean, Serajpour can be seen in the below Youtube video promoting Box Short Film Festival 2021, where he was listed as the festivals director:

We also contacted Filmfreeway for comment. A site representative replied shortly after our request, thanking us for alerting them to the infraction and saying that they had deactivated the filmmakers account which was associated with the project. No additional comment was offered by the representative.

At the time of this articles publishing, the Filmfreeway page for Friday is still active, although Serajpours information is no longer included.

Finnish director, animator, and illustrator Joni Mannisto recognized Dimitrovs film when he was looking through submissions for the Turku Animated Film Festival. He had previously met Dimitrov at the Odense International Film Festival in 2012, where Rew Day won the Brge Ring Award.

I was quite surprised to see a screenshot from Svilens film with the submitted films after so many years. Except now it had a new name, production year, production country, and it was made by a different director, he told us.

After rewatching Rew Day to make sure his memory was accurate, he started posting about Friday on social media, warning other festival programmers that someone was out there trying to pass off Rew Day as their own film.

I understand I wasnt the first one to notice this, so I wonder why I hadnt heard about it already. For selection committees, this is a very difficult situation because naturally we havent seen all films throughout history, and we cant do background checks for thousands of submitted films every year, he explained. The animation community is small, so word gets around fast when something like this occurs. We need to warn each other. For festivals, this is an unfortunate and frustrating thing, but the original filmmaker is the one that needs to be protected the most.
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Transgender adolescents in Tennessee would be prohibited from obtaining gender-affirming care under a measure presently on its way to the desk of Republican Governor Bill Lee, who has expressed support for the bill.

On Thursday, the bill was approved by a vote of 77 to 16, with three Democrats supporting their Republican colleagues. Civil rights organizations have threatened to file an emergency lawsuit if and when the bill becomes law, creating the prospect of a protracted court struggle in the coming months.

Transgender Teens to be Banned from Gender-Affirming Surgeries

State politicians throughout the United States have submitted bills targeting gender-affirming medical treatment for young people. However, such therapies have been accessible for over a decade and are supported by major medical societies.

Similar legislation has progressed in Nebraska, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. The Republican governor of Utah just enacted a prohibition on transgender medical care.

Meanwhile, the federal judge who halted the restriction on gender-affirming care for kids in Arkansas is weighing whether to declare the legislation unconstitutional. A federal court has also temporarily stopped a similar prohibition in Alabama, according to SFGate.

If approved in Tennessee, doctors would be forbidden from giving gender-affirming therapy to minors, such as prescription puberty blockers and hormones, and might be fined for doing so.

Nevertheless, the legislation specifies exceptions, such as permitting physicians to conduct certain medical services if the patient's treatment began before July 1, 2023, the planned date for the ban's implementation. The measure stipulates that such services shall be discontinued by March 31, 2024.

According to AP News, the measure then authorizes the attorney general to investigate healthcare providers suspected of violating the law, which carries a $25,000 fine. Since a video of a Nashville doctor boasting that gender-affirming surgeries are "big moneymakers" for hospitals appeared on social media last year, Tennessee has been at the epicenter of the debate surrounding transgender kid medical treatment.

The video caused Republican leaders in Tennessee to demand an inquiry of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, although it is still unknown whether any authorities have conducted such an investigation. The private, non-profit hospital reported that it had only performed a handful of gender-affirming operations on adolescents over the years but has temporarily suspended the procedures to examine its practices.

Since its transgender clinic debuted in 2018, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center has performed, on average, five gender-affirming procedures on kids annually. All participants were over 16 years of age and had parental approval; none had received genital operations.

Yet, not every Republican state has enthusiastically embraced such laws. Last week, a bill stalled in a Wyoming legislative committee on concerns that insurers would violate federal law by rejecting coverage for gender-conforming surgeries.

The bill, which had cleared the state Senate, failed in a House committee, 5 to 2 when the restriction on insurance coverage was repealed. To succeed today, it must be reintroduced on the floor of the state House by the Monday deadline, which is a difficult proposition.

Despite having one of the most Republican-dominated legislatures, Wyoming has a lengthy history of opposing culture war legislation.

Read Also: Air Fryer Recall: If You Own These Air Fryers, Stop Using Them Now

Georgia To Implement Similar Bill

Meanwhile, the Georgia state senate has adopted a measure that would prohibit minors from undergoing some transgender treatments and operations. Wednesday, the Georgia Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 10-4 to approve Senate Bill 140.

Per Fox News, this bill would prohibit sex reassignment operations, hormone replacement treatments, and any other medical technique used "to modify main or secondary sexual characteristics."

Sen. Carden Summers, the bill's Republican sponsor, stated that she and others need further study on transgender operations. Jen Slipakoff, a Georgia citizen and dad of a transgender child, stated that he dislikes the involvement of politicians in such medical choices.

In 2018, Slipakoff ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature as a Democrat. If enacted, Georgia would join many states that have banned transgender treatments for kids. On Tuesday, the Mississippi Senate voted to adopt a law prohibiting gender reassignment surgery and other transgender procedures for anyone under 18.

Read Also: Florida Shooting Spree Kills 9-Year-Old Girl, 2 News Crew While Covering Report

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To bring Florida's public colleges in line with the goals of Republican governor Ron DeSantis, a new measure is being proposed that would restrict gender studies and consolidate authority at state institutions in the hands of political appointees.

Conservatives fear that liberals are attempting to force a "woke" agenda on government universities nationwide, and this comprehensive bill is a new front in the GOP fight against this.

What's in the Proposed Legislation?

Ron DeSantis, likely to run for president when Florida's legislative session finishes this spring, has taken the lead in the anti-woke battle. On Monday, Ron DeSantis spoke in front of a law-and-order crowd on Staten Island, where he remarked that he's proud of "Florida doing well," which he also wanted for the entire country.

Desantis said that, in Florida, they "fight the woke" when they attack law enforcers. "We do not surrender to the woke mob. Our state is where woke goes to die," he said, as per a CBS News report.

DeSantis pledged in January to "align core curriculum to the values of liberty and the Western tradition" in Florida schools. The Republican governor appointed a contentious new board at the New College of Florida, a public liberal arts institution, to transform it into his conservative higher education agenda.

Last week, a bill was introduced that would mandate general education classes at state colleges and institutions advance the ideals needed to "preserve the constitutional republic" and prohibit the characterization of American history "as opposed to the foundation of a new country founded on "universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence," per CNN.

The proposed anti-woke legislation also would make it illegal to provide a broad survey course that includes a "curriculum based on unproven, theoretical, or exploratory content."

The legislation carries out Florida Governor DeSantis' campaign to outlaw college and university spending on diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. DeSantis, contemplating a run for president in 2024, spoke out against these types of programs earlier this month, calling them an "ideological filter" and "discriminatory" at a press conference.

When asked on Friday whether or not DeSantis would sign the anti-woke bill, his spokesperson, Jeremy Redfern, indicated that the Republican politician would wait to see the final version before making his decision, as reported by Reuters.

Read Also: Joe Biden, G7 Leaders Issue a Warning Against Putin

Ron DeSantis Blasted by Free Speech Advocates

Alex Andrade, the Republican state representative who introduced the legislation, could not comment. Experts in the field, supporters of free speech, and students all slammed the legislation. PEN America's manager of free speech and education, Jeremy C. Young, on Twitter called it the primary battlefield for the "soul of higher education."

Young said in a statement on Friday, " academic freedom, shared governance, and institutional autonomy would essentially cease" at all Florida colleges and universities. There are almost 400,000 students enrolled in Florida's 12 public colleges.

Generally, the employment of DEI systems in the recruiting process has been met with criticism. Supporters of underrepresented groups argue that such initiatives are necessary to assist and provide previously underprivileged groups equitable footing, while critics contend that such favoritism disproportionately damages others.

Related Article: Biden's New Border Policy's Restrictions

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Lee University is hosting an art exhibition featuring a collection of works from Trisstah Brittany Wagstaff. The exhibition is on display now in the Squires Library Fine Art Gallery until March 17.

Ms. Wagstaff, who lives in Waco, Texas, is an artist who creates abstract paintings and art pieces with mixed media and fiber art, a process she found during her struggle with grief. She received her Master of Fine Arts in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Baylor University.

Her art has been published in many works such as Studio Visit Magazine and the 12th edition of the Dash Literary Journal.

Ms. Wagstaff has shown her paintings in exhibitions all throughout Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York. She has also taught classes at Baylor University and McLennan Community College.

The Wagstaff exhibition presents artwork in the forms of painting and fiber art.

A few of her paintings on display are Lets Float Away Into Forever, Unfolding, The Thrill of Hope, and I Wrote a Love Note in the Sky.

The three fiber art pieces on display are Kindness, Youre Warmer Than Sunlight, and Pour Out Your Spirit.

The exhibition is free and open to the public during regular operating hours of the library which can be found by visiting leeuniversity.libguides.com/homepage. A QR code is in the exhibit area for guests to scan and watch Wagstaff talk while enjoying the exhibit.

For more information about the exhibition or Lees art program, contact Victoria Phillips at

vphillips@leeuniversity.edu.
From left, Cleveland State President Dr. Ty Stone with basketball legend Tamika Catchings and Scott Taylor of the Bank of Cleveland CSCC President Dr. Ty Stone interviews Tamika Catchings photo by Nathan Ball Photography From left, Cindy Pickett, Tamika Catchings and Kristen Pickett Davis photo by Nathan Ball Photography Previous Next

Cleveland State Community College hosted An Evening with Tamika Catchings on Thursday.

Presented by the Bank of Cleveland, 200 community members attended the event which raised $75,000 for the Cleveland State Foundation which provides support for the college and hundreds of scholarships to students each year.
An employee of Dollar General at 728 Market St. told police a man entered the store and grabbed a protein drink from the shelf. The suspect then entered the restroom with the drink, and, after exiting, the protein drink couldnt be found. The employee said the total worth of the drink is approximately $4. The employee believes the suspect also stole items from the back of the store by placing them into his backpack, but there is no proof at this time. The suspect had already left the scene before police arrived. Police asked the employee to call back should the man return to the store. He was described as six feet tall, thin build, dread-locks, wearing all black.

* * *

A woman on Sylvan Drive told police her brother was staying with her for a few days and began causing a scene. He then got into a verbal altercation with his girlfriend. At that point, the woman told him to leave her home and he did.

* * *

A woman on Harbor Hills Road told police money had been stolen from her Truist Bank account. She is the only one who should have access to her account, according to her statements. She was given a complaint card. There were five transactions in question, totaling $40,001.48.

* * *

A woman in apartments at 7310 Standifer Gap Road told police someone entered her car overnight, but there was no damage, so she believes she left it unlocked. The seats had been moved, items were scattered around inside and her wallet was gone. A Discover card had been in her wallet and she found that someone was trying to use it at a Walmart but she was not sure which one. However, no charges went through because she cancelled the card as soon as she discovered it was missing.

* * *

A man was in the parking lot of Family Dollar at 3800 Tennessee Ave., asking patrons for money. He was asked to leave the area. He was cleared of warrants and left without issue.

* * *

The owner of Red Roof Inn at 30 Birmingham Hwy. told police someone had stolen a laser out of the back of a mans Toyota Tacoma. The owner had video evidence of the suspect reaching into the truck bed of the mans truck and grabbing the laser and walking off. Police spoke with the man, who is from South Carolina and is working in Chattanooga on a construction job. The man said the previous night when he returned from working the whole parking lot of the motel was filled with trucks and guys working in construction (he specifically said concrete). The man believes the suspect who stole the laser works in construction too. He believes this because the laser (Bosch) that was taken is a specific tool used for leveling jobs and not everyone would realize that it is valuable. The man showed police the current price to replace his stolen laser is $644 on Amazon. The officer observed the video footage and the suspect appears to be Hispanic with a goatee facial hairstyle, wearing a plaid jacket. The suspect walked by the truck, then took a couple steps back, reached in and grabbed the laser that was in a case but not locked in the truck, and then walked out of the camera frame.

* * *

TDOT called police about a broken-down car occupied by a man with a firearm at 160 Highway 153. Police spoke with the man who was not disabled or under the influence. He confirmed to police that his vehicle was broken down. The man consented to allowing the officer to run the serial number on his firearm and it showed no record. The man was left alone and his firearm was placed in his glovebox.

* * *

The owner of Interior Trim and Supply at 7257 Bonnyshire Dr. told police a theft had occurred at his business. He said a man used a stolen credit card to purchase $4,215.84 worth of construction material from his company. The owner said he then received notice the credit card used had been stolen and he blocked the card after the transaction had been approved. The owner said the mans credit card company was able to recover the funds spent at his business, however, he is at a loss for the money and materials. The owner said the truck that came to pick up the materials had a company name on it and the person supervising the load haul was a man from a towing company. The owner said he would like to prosecute if the suspect is found.

* * *

A woman told police she was driving her vehicle in the area of Lee Highway. and Highway 153 when she hit a pothole which caused her tire to pop. The woman said she only realized the damage that had been done when she stopped at the Midnight Oil gas station. She had the vehicle towed to another location.

* * *



A man on Morris Lane told police he was hired to cut down two trees. One tree would equal out to $4,000 worth of service. The person that hired them, in a text message, agreed to it but also stating it was a lot of money for one tree. There was no contract made. It was a verbal exchange of text messages and phone calls between the two. The person gave the man a $4,000 check and the man went out and cut down one of the trees and then was waiting for the next check to cut down the other. They exchanged words and now the customer refused to pay the man. The man returned the tree mulch and placed it back on the customers property. The man wanted this documented.
Last week, Joe Gorga and Joe Giudice put aside their issues and met in the Bahamas. The allegedly spontaneous meeting was documented on Gorgas Instagram. While the The Real Housewives of New Jersey star seems to have had a change of heart about his former brother-in-law, not everyone is buying it.

Joe Gorga is getting called out on Instagram for a potentially staged video

Joe Gorga and Joe Giudice just happened to be in the same bar at the same time in the Bahamas. At the very least, thats what Joe Gorga wants The Real Housewives of New Jersey fans to believe. A few days ago. Gorga posted a video to his Instagram account that showed him running into Joe Giudice in the Bahamas.

Joe Gorga | Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

In the posts caption, Gorga doubled down on the spontaneous nature of the meetup and video, claiming, We were both happy to see each other and catch up. Glad someone caught it. Not everyone believes Gorga, though, including his niece.

Gia Giudice was quick to call out her uncle

While Gorga is acting like the meeting was serendipitous and a welcomed surprise, not everyone is so sure about that. Gia Giudice, Teresa, and Joes eldest daughter took to the comments section of her uncles post to call him out.

Gia Giudice | Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

The soon-to-be college graduate took to the comments section to call her uncle an opportunist. She reminded him that he had done nothing but speak poorly about her father in the years since his arrest. The eldest Giudice daughter is not wrong. Joe Gorga has spoken out against his former brother-in-law multiple times over the years. During Teresa and Joes divorce, Gorga called Joe Giudice toxic.

Gia also doesnt seem convinced that the meeting between Gorga and her father was as spontaneous as he claims. Gia hinted at the meeting being staged, and most fans seem to agree. So many people have suggested the Gorgas staged the meetup that Melissa Gorga has gone public to defend her husband.

What is Gia Giudice up to now?

Gias life is pretty full when shes not busy calling out her family on Instagram. At 22, she is just a couple of months away from her college graduation and already has a job lined up. In January, Gia took to Instagram to share her plans to join an immigration law firm upon graduation. She will be working as an intern. She plans to attend law school in the future.

Gias interest in immigration law surely stems from her fathers own legal troubles. Following his prison sentence for fraud, Joe Giudice was deported to Italy. The father of four had spent nearly his entire life in the United States but never became a citizen. The former reality TV star spent months fighting the deportation before agreeing to head back to Italy to await an appeal.

Joe Giudice has since moved out of Italy and is residing in the Bahamas, which is an easier trip for his family members to make for visits. Gia appears to visit her father in the Carribean regularly.
The Apple TV+ travel series The Reluctant Traveler sends Eugene Levy to eight exotic locations. The show was so-called because Levy actually said no to it. Thats how reluctant he was. Now that hes done it, Levy admits there are a couple activities he will never do again.

Eugene Levy | Apple TV+

Showbiz Cheat Sheet attended a press conference with Levy in January. Now that The Reluctant Traveler is streaming on Apple TV+, find out which activities Levy has permanently crossed off his list.

The first Reluctant Traveler activity Eugene Levy rules out

After returning home from The Reluctant Traveler, Levy can safely say hes definitely not going back to two activities. Heres one he already ruled out.

Im becoming less reluctant, Levy said. There are things still in my gut, Im saying, Well, do I really truly love doing this? And be honest with yourself and the answer is no, I dont. Would I go on a night hike in Costa Rica again? I dont think I need to do that.

Levy admits hes not an outdoorsman. So just because he experienced the Costa Rican forest doesnt mean it won him over.

I would never want to do that forest thing again, Levy said. Im truly not an outdoorsy person. I probably never will be but the fact that Im trying things I think is a good thing for me.

The second activity he never needs to do again

Some of The Reluctant Traveler destinations were popular vacation spots like Venice or Tokyo. Others were intentionally exotic, like South Africa and Finland in winter. Levy has sworn off future frozen activities too.

#TheReluctantTraveler, @RealEugeneLevy traveled the globe and tried new things so you dont have to  and he sent some postcards along the way, starting with Finland, I gravitate toward a warmer climate but this is kind of a nice change. pic.twitter.com/SRh7VWh4lB  Apple TV+ (@AppleTVPlus) February 23, 2023

Would I go ice fishing in the Arctic? Levy said. No, dont think I need to do that. I didnt truly in my gut love what I was doing but Im glad I did it so I can say yeah, Ive been ice fishing in the arctic. But as a gut level enjoyment factor, I would say I tried it. I didnt care for it.

The Reluctant Traveler helped Eugene Levy open up

Levy did share some activities he enjoyed, like feeding rhinos and dog sledding. But, the greatest benefit he saw to The Reluctant Traveler was helping him socialize with friendly strangers.
Sarah Jessica Parker is many things: a fashion icon, an award-winning actor, and a savvy businesswoman. Shes been a mainstay on the pop culture scene for decades, especially when it comes to one character. Parker has played Carrie Bradshaw in the Sex and the City TV series, as well as two feature-length movies. These days, the actor is back in action as Carrie in the HBO Max series And Just Like That While Parker stays busy with working in New York City most of the year, she likes to get away sometimes. In a Vogue interview from 2015, she revealed her favorite vacation destination.

Sarah Jessica Parker admitted that her favorite country to visit is Greece

Sarah Jessica Parker poses during the unveiling of his dedicated beach locker room on the Promenade des Planches during the 44th Deauville US Film Festival on September 7, 2018 in Deauville, France. | Francois G. Durand/WireImage

Parker became known as a fashion icon in the 90s, after she was cast in Sex and the City. She has retained her reputation as a fashion rebel, always willing to rock an unusual fit  and looking fabulous while doing it. Over the years, Parker has parlayed her influence in the fashion industry into a shoe line and several clothing lines.

Its that much more interesting, considering Parkers status, that her ideal country to visit isnt a fashion mecca like France or Italy. Rather, as Parker told Vogue in 2015, her favorite country to visit is Greece. She also noted that, if given the chance, she would love to explore Vietnam someday. Parker didnt elaborate why she prefers Greece as a vacation destination. But she did open up about one of her favorite things about the country in a 2021 interview.

Sarah Jessica Parker raved about lemon potatoes from Greece

In a Grub Street interview, Parker admitted that lemon potatoes from Greece are one of her all-time favorite delicacies. Lemon potatoes are what I do. Thats me looking for the holy grail. When you have them in Greece, or you have them in Astoria, they taste a certain way, Parker revealed.

Its almost like they were maybe boiled and then baked, because theres a smoothness inside to the potato. She added, Its not that you want it crisp, necessarily, because true Greek lemon potatoes have the skin on the exterior thats not the actual jacket of the potato. Its a very specific thing.

Parker waxed poetic about the perfect amount of seasonings that are to be found on Greek potatoes. Lemon potatoes are me trying to get to Greece, she noted. Parkers obvious affinity for Greek lemon potatoes is really saying something, since she is a well-known foodie who loves everything from pasta to spicy tuna sandwiches, as she revealed to Grub Street.

Sarah Jessica Parker recently visited Greece with her daughters

With as busy as Parker is, the actor doesnt often get a chance to escape the hustle and bustle of New York City. However, in the summer of 2022, she and her twin daughters headed to Greece on a much-deserved vacation.

According to Greek City Times, Parker was spotted by tourists on a ferry that was sailing to Syros, Tinos, and Mykonos. While Parker kept things low-key, disguising her movie star looks behind a large pair of black sunglasses, she was recognized by others in the area.

Reportedly, Parker was able to dodge picture-seekers before heading to an exclusive villa with her daughters, where they likely laid back and soaked up the beautiful sun, sand, and surf that the country is so well known for.
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The woman identified as "Jane Doe 1" in a sexual-assault complaint against Harvey Weinstein has disclosed her identity and made her first public statement. Evgeniya Chernyshova told The Hollywood Reporter she was "tired of hiding" and wanted to come out.

She added, "I want my life back." "I'm Evgeniya, I've been raped. This is my story."

Harvey Weinstein Victim 'Jane Doe 1' Reveals Herself

Chernyshova's case is the only one of the four in Los Angeles County in which Harvey Weinstein was accused of assaulting women that resulted in a conviction. She was the first of 44 witnesses summoned by prosecutors and the only person permitted to speak during Weinstein's sentence on Thursday.

Regarding Chernyshova, the Los Angeles jury found Weinstein guilty of one count of rape, one count of forced oral copulation, and one count of sexual misconduct. He was given a 16-year jail term.

The court ordered Weinstein to serve the Los Angeles term after he completes the 23-year sentence he is now serving for sexual assault in New York in 2020. In essence, Thursday's punishment means Weinstein, who is 70, will spend the rest of his life in jail.

According to Chernyshova's statement to The Hollywood Reporter, her daughter persuaded her to go public. In 2017, when she reported the attack to the police, she requested anonymity because she felt "ashamed and embarrassed."

She stated that being "Jane Doe 1" prevented her from being open with those in her life about what she was experiencing and connecting with other victims.

The former model and actress have a floral design firm in Beverly Hills named Bottega Bouquet. Ten years ago, she informed a few people, including her priest and her children's caregiver, about the rape. After a trial in Los Angeles, Weinstein was sentenced to an additional 16 years in prison yesterday. In New York, he was already serving a 23-year jail sentence.

Chernyshova told the court that Harvey Weinstein raped her in 2013 after entering her Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel room without invitation. Chernyshova was born in Siberia, but by the time of the assault, she and her husband were living in Italy, as per Daily Mail.

She was on a business trip to Los Angeles when Weinstein attacked her. She still resides in Los Angeles and operates a floral shop. Before it, they had only met twice: once in Rome and earlier that day at an event.

Weinstein introduced himself at her hotel room, and she permitted him to enter. Chernyshova and her husband separated after the incident. He died in the past. She relocated to the United States with her children.

In 2017, Maria, who was 16 but is now 21 years old, disclosed that a male had sexually attacked her at school. She pleaded with her to let her go to the police, but the adolescent refused, stating that she "wouldn't comprehend" what she was going through.

They agreed to report their abusers simultaneously. When The New York Times revealed the initial report of Weinstein's mistreatment of women in Hollywood, she began talking with a lawyer.

Chernyshova wanted to stay nameless during the trial to protect her children's privacy. Now, she wishes she had come forward earlier. She saw the New York trial of Harvey Weinstein from afar, anticipating her court appearance, which occurred this year.

She stated that testifying was the "worst experience of her life." Weinstein's attorney questioned why she had uploaded a photo of herself smiling beside Al Pacino at a film festival following the rape. Chernyshova's evidence led to the conviction of her claim, among four others.

The jury acquitted Weinstein on one more claim but could not decide on the other two. She asserts that she believes all of the women who testified and views his conviction as a win for all of them.

Read Also: 'Aquaman 2' Gets Bad Reviews

Harvey Weinstein Trial

At his sentence, Weinstein accused her of lying. The 70-year-old once-powerful media magnate was convicted guilty of rape and two other counts of sexual assault in a Los Angeles courtroom in 2014.

About ninety women have accused Weinstein, whose titles include Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love, of sexual assault in various forms. Several have asserted that the Oscar winner exchanged professional assistance for sexual favors. The claims date back over thirty years.

The allegations against Harvey Weinstein contributed to the #MeToo and Time's Up movements of women coming out against sexual harassment by those in positions of power. In December, when Weinstein was found guilty of assaulting the Italian actress who testified as "Jane Doe #1," jurors cleared him of attacking another woman.

At that time, the jury could not determine whether Weinstein raped or abused two more women. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, an actress and film producer now married to California Governor Gavin Newsom, was one of these ladies.

In a statement to Newsweek on the guilty judgment, Governor Newsom stated he was "so profoundly proud of my wife and all the courageous women who came forward to speak their truth and empower countless survivors who cannot."

Related Article: Harvey Weinstein Gets More Jail Time

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Anne Graham Lotz wonders if Asbury revival sparked last great awakening before Christs return

Is the revival that broke out at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, with continual worship and prayer on campus for weeks that spread to other campuses, a sign of Jesus' return? That is the question pondered by the daughter of legendary evangelist Billy Graham.

In a recent blog post on her website, evangelist and author Anne Graham Lotz asked if the Asbury revival, which has moved to new sites and inspired similar gatherings on other college campuses across the country, could be the Last Great Awakening before the Second Coming.

What began as part of a scheduled chapel service on the morning of Feb. 8 in a small Kentucky town transformed into a constant impromptu gathering, drawing tens of thousands of people to experience what God is doing. The New York Times even deemed it the "Woodstock' for Christians."

Other outpourings have been reported at Cedarville University in Ohio, University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky, Samford University in Alabama, Lee University in Tennessee, Baylor University in Texas and Texas A&M University. Additionally, the moment has motivated groups of Christian college students to travel to major secular college campuses like Ohio State University and Michigan State University to share the Good News of Jesus.

In her post, Lotz says that her nephew Dr. John-Paul Lotz recently visited Asbury before its impromptu gathering was moved off campus this week. Lotz, an associate professor at the Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia, was sent by the university to observe the revival firsthand.

"John-Paul texted me with this description: There was 'no leader, no rival, no envy, no pride, all humility, meekness, gentle hearts, stumbling sinners, tender students serving thousands of curious visitors in their love for mercy without knowing they are doing so!'" Anne Graham Lotz wrote, quoting her nephew.

The professor further texted: "It is legit. GenZ write-offs are graciously allowing us to peek in on this surprising work of God as they serve us like priests, unconsciously dragging us into the presence of the Lord through young, redeemed, romantic hearts for God. Christ is being honored, God is being glorified, the Spirit is at liberty. The real awkward cringe-worthy gawkers are the over fortys like myself who cant put down their phones. The Zs left theirs at home.

Lotz, 74, asks, Could what John-Paul observed be the beginning of the latter rain? An outpouring of Gods Spirit in one last great awakening before Jesus returns?

Latter rain refers to an outpouring of the Holy Spirit before the Second Coming of Christ.

Lotz quotes James 5:7: Therefore, be patient  until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain."

She concludes by praying, Lord God, let it be so  for the glory of Your great name, for the salvation of our nation, for the revival of Your people.

In a recent op-ed for The Christian Post, Greg Laurie, evangelist and pastor of the Harvest Christian Fellowship in California and Hawaii, noted that the last great spiritual awakening happened with young people in 1970.

It was called the Jesus Movement. In a time not unlike our own, God worked a miracle in American history, he wrote.

Jon Erwin, the director of the new film, Jesus Revolution, told CP this week that whats happening in Asbury is unbelievable.

It felt just like the scenes of the movie, like it felt identical, just the emotion of it, which was why we made the movie. I just want it to feel awakening, a little bit; renewal, a little bit. And you felt it in that room. And listening to those college kids talk about their generation, their time, what God's doing  it was so inspiring to me. And I loved it. And the hope is that things like that can spread. That's why we made the movie, Erwin said.

Jesus Revolution follows Laurie in the 1970s as a slew of young people search for truth and meaning on the West Coast, prompting a countercultural movement that continues to impact the Church today.

Were not pastors or politicians, were entertainers. So the best we can do is to just tell the story of the last time this happened in American society as authentically as possible in hopes that people will say, this can happen again. It's going to happen now. It's our turn. It's our time. And that's my hope. So to see that happen, even before the film comes out. It's really, really cool.

Were you there? Use #MyRevivalStoryto share your story.
Homeschool enrollment rose 30% amid decline in public school enrollment amid pandemic: study

Homeschooling saw a 30% increase in 2021-2022 while public school enrollment fell by more than 1.2 million students within the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a recent study has found.

The study from the nonprofit research organization Urban Institute finds that private school enrollment increased by 4.3% between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2021. Data collected between the 2019-2020 school year and the 2021-2022 school year showed that homeschool enrollment rose by 30%.

The study utilized the annual K-12 private school enrollment counts in 33 states and the District of Columbia. The research said these states are where nearly 80% of U.S. school children resided during COVID. The study also uses estimates of the school-age population in each state as well as data on homeschooling for 21 states and Washington, D.C.

The increase in homeschool enrollment persisted even after many schools returned to in-person instruction.

"Notably, this dramatic increase reflects enrollment during the second full school year under the pandemic, when most schools returned to in-person instruction," Thoms S. Dee, the Barnett Family Professor of Education at Stanford University, wrote in the study report. "The sustained increase in homeschool enrollment during the pandemic is also large in absolute terms and not simply as a large percentage increase relative to its low prepandemic base."

"In other words, increased private school enrollment accounts for roughly 14 percent of the decline in public school enrollment, but increased homeschooling accounts for 26 percent," he added. "Stated differently, for every one-student increase in private schooling during the pandemic, homeschooling increased by nearly two students."

Steven F. Duvall, director of research for the Home School Legal Defense Association, told The Christian Post that the findings are consistent with other observations regarding COVID-19's influence on homeschooling.

"We believe that homeschooling is a wonderful way to educate a child and that many hundreds of thousands of families made this same discovery during the pandemic," Duvall wrote in a statement.

The data shows that the rise in homeschooling varied by state. The smallest increase occurred in North Carolina, where homeschool enrollment grew by 8%. States with larger increases included New York (65%), Pennsylvania (53%) and Florida (43%).

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Washington saw private school enrollment increase by 14% between fall 2019 and fall 2021. While the study found that private school enrollment in 27 states appears pandemic-related, enrollment growth was mainly in kindergarten and early elementary grade levels, consistent with the grade-level declines in public schools.

"In particular, the large growth in 202122 private school enrollment in first grade is consistent with the hypothesis that some of the many families who avoided public kindergarten in 202021 instead chose private schools and remained with that choice," the study reads.

Nat Malkus, senior fellow and deputy director of education policy at the center-right think tank American Enterprise Institute, told CP that certain behaviors in addition to the pandemic must be accounted for in the data.

Specifically, he said those variables need to be analyzed to determine if the trend surrounding enrollment numbers will continue in the future.

"The question on the long term is, really, what pushed people out and whether homeschooling was a direct response to remote schooling or whether it was something that's going to be sustainable for a number of families," he said.

The education policy expert pointed out that a parent's decision to homeschool their child in 2018, for example, would not be the same as a parent choosing this option during the pandemic, where the emergency situation might have pressed many parents into the decision. He said the amount of time schools maintained remote learning policies correlated with declining public school enrollment rates.

"So, I think the real question is: Are many of these decisions sustainable now that there are so many options for returning to in-person instruction?" Malkus asked.

The school-age population in the U.S. fell by more than 250,000. The study finds patterns showing states losing and gaining children are consistent with changes in the total population. The study also suggested that factors such as kindergarten skipping, unregistered homeschooling and truancy could play a part in the decline in public school enrollment. The study called for further research on the subject.

Malkus emphasized that these factors must be controlled when analyzing changes over a certain period.

"Those population changes have to be accounted for as you're trying to figure out what changes in actual school enrollments are," he said.

"You have to separate whether the kids are not going back to public schools or move to private or homeschools, or whether there are just not as many kids there," he added.

As CP reported, an August report published by the nonpartisan research organization Education Next found that approximately 2 million students left public schools since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the enactment of remote learning measures.

From 2020-2022, the share of students in public schools declined from 81% to 76.5%, the percentage of students in charter schools increased from 5% to 7.2%, the share of students in private schools rose from 8% to 9.7% and the percentage of homeschooled students rose from 6% to 6.6%.
'Jesus Revolution' red carpet: Greg Laurie, cast share how film will reach 'lost' generation in need of hope

LOS ANGELES  The filmmakers, cast and real-life people behind Jesus Revolution descended on the Chinese Theater last Wednesday to celebrate the film's release and reflect on the story's timeliness  especially for young people today.

Hitting theaters on Friday, Jesus Revolution stars Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), Jonathan Roumie (The Chosen), Joel Courtney (The Kissing Booth) and Anna Grace Barlow. Its directed by Jon Erwin (American Underdog, I Can Only Imagine) and Brent McCorkle.

Based on a true story, the film follows a young Greg Laurie as he searches for purpose and meaning in all the wrong places. After meeting Lonnie Frisbee, a winsome hippie street preacher, he embraces the Gospel, and alongside Pastor Chuck Smith, helps launch a revival that leads to what Time magazine later called the "Jesus Revolution."

Laurie, who today pastors Harvest Christian Fellowship, told The Christian Post that the film will provide hope to todays lost and searching generation  not unlike the climate he grew up in. He shared how the film was delayed for several years, which at the time was discouraging.

And now, as I look back on the schedule and where we're at in this moment in American history, I think this is the exact right moment for this film to be coming out, he said. So now I look back and I see that God had His hand on it all along. Its a true story; its a relevant story. I think we're representative of a generation of young people back then that's very similar to a younger generation, searching for answers now.  This generation needs hope, just like our generation needed it.

Heavily featured in the film is the love story between Laurie and his now-wife, Cathe. They met as rebellious teenagers, casting aside all rules in a bid to find freedom. After embracing the Gospel, both of their lives were radically changed. Today, the couple has been married for 50 years.

Cathe Laurie told CP that as a young woman, she was looking in all the wrong places to find meaning and purpose for living and something beyond myself  until God stepped in. Many of the internal struggles she faced, she said, she sees in young women today.

I feel like today, young people are lost. They're looking at social media, they're looking at their friends and looking in all the wrong places like I did, she said. And what they're really searching for is a truth to stand on, and I know that the Bible is alive, and Jesus wants relationships with anyone who is willing to ask Him into their lives. I believe that today, people want to experience that.

Theyve taken God out of everything; out of classrooms, our government, it seems like everything is pushing down the reality of Jesus Christ, she added. And yet, the hunger and thirst for spiritual truth, a deeper truth, is in every human heart.

Courtney, who plays a young Greg Laurie in the film, shared how his own spiritual journey was impacted as he brought the pastors story to life. Laurie grew up with an alcoholic mother and an absent father, and struggled to find hope and meaning in life. In the film, its a near-death experience that finally causes him to open his heart and mind to the truth of the Gospel.

I had such a fun time filming this movie in that I really took in the grace that is shown to all in Christ, Courtney said. Learning about Greg and taking on his past and the hardship that he really went through and then the excitement to understand that grace was extended to him was incredible. Your life doesnt just become easy once you become a Christian, but there is a foundational strength and power, Gods power, that we can lean on to get through the tough times in life.

Courtney said hes hopeful there will be another revival in his lifetime, adding: Not only do I think that we need it, but Lord willing, I believe it will happen.

My hope for this film is that people will go see it and have conversations afterward, he said. I think art strives to create a conversation. I hope people appreciate it for the story and the art that that it is, and then talk about it, because I think really good conversations can come from it.

To young people who might be struggling to find meaning and purpose today, Courtney offered a word of encouragement: There is a love that lifts that burden off your shoulders  God gives you strength. If you put your faith in Him, there is hope. If youre struggling with youre identity, look to the Bible for strength.

Anna Grace Barlow, who plays a young Cathe, said that getting to know the real-life Cathe Laurie and witnessing her faith firsthand also strengthened her own faith. She expressed hope that viewers, too, will be inspired to find hope and purpose outside themselves.

The reminder that there's something bigger than me and it's guiding me and it loves me and it's keeping me safe  that has taken me through hard times I've had since filming, she said. My hope for this movie is that so many people see it and they're so uplifted and they love the music and they love the clothes and they take home that feeling; a renewed reassurance that everything is taken care of and it's going to be OK.

Jesus Revolution is scripted by Erwin and Jon Gunn. Producers are Kevin Downes, Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin, Daryl Lefever, Joshua Walsh and Jerilyn Esquibel. Lionsgate opens it Friday only in theaters.
Roma Downey releases 'Be an Angel' devotional, encourages believers to 'shine the light of God's love' 'I don't know how to impact the world stage, but I do know how to within my own family, within my own heart, within my own community.'

Emmy-nominated actress and New York Times bestselling author, Roma Downey, is encouraging readers of her new book, Be An Angel, to be a ray of light in people's lives by performing acts of kindness for a family member, a neighbor in need or someone in the community.

Downey shares her own stories, testimony and Bible verses in the 52-week devotional, Be An Angel: Devotions to Inspire and Encourage Love and Light Along the Way. At the end of each chapter, there's a "be an angel" suggestion.

"What might you do to do something for somebody else? To show somebody a little bit of kindness or pay it forward in some way, Downey proposed in a recent video interview with The Christian Post.

Downey was a part of the iconic 90s TV series Touch By An Angel, and after playing an angel for nearly a decade on screen, she has continued to share the hope that arises from her faith in Jesus Christ.

"I think when you have had an experience of God, when you do have a relationship with the Lord, then you want everybody to know about it because it is life-changing. It is the inner sunrise, it is stepping out from the darkness of the not knowing into the light and certainty of the beauty and wonder and awesomeness that is our God and how loving He is, Downey declared.

Coming out of lockdowns, isolation, loneliness and suffering from the pandemic of both lives and livelihood, the filmmaker said people were able to reevaluate who they are.

I think we realize that there's a lot of isolation and a lot of loneliness and heartache out there, she continued. "I feel, if nothing else, I hope my book just reminds us all ... who do you know in your neighborhood? Is there somebody that lives by themselves, some old person by themselves? Could you, when you're on your way home from the grocery shop, stop and pick something up and drop it off?

"They're really simple things. This is not brain surgery. They make a difference, Downey assured.

Downey said she also frequently prays for common decency in discourse, lamenting the negativity and hatefulness she sees on Twitter. "I know it's hard to create, and it's easy to criticize. I just think we have enough critics. We need to be noisier encouragers, Downey posited.

Be An Angel features several quotes from various faith leaders and influencers. In one devotional, Downey quoted the late Della Reese, her co-star on "Touched By An Angel. It was on the set of that program where Downey and Reese often prayed together that God would use them as "catalysts."

"If we're going to be used by God, we need to let go of our expectations and get out of the way, Reads Reese's quote in the book.

Downey added, "If God is going to use us and He's going to come through us," you cannot be "in front of that, stopping the flow of Spirit."

In the book, Downey shares several personal stories from her own life that illustrate how she has been encouraged to give back to others, and how her faith in Jesus had helped her get through challenges, loss and heartache, and show kindness and empathy toward others.

"I never wanted to pretend to be anything I wasn't. I mean, clearly, I'm not an angel. I play one on TV, but I'm not perfect, and I mess up just like everybody else. That's not what I'm suggesting here, that we be perfect. But simply that we allow ourselves to be used for goodness, for kindness. That we allow ourselves to be used to shine the light of God's love, and that we remember that we're all connected and that we all belong to each other. I think that's the thing that we've forgotten.

"We've forgotten that we belong to each other, even in our own country, we see such divided times.

Downey and her husband, Mark Burnett, produced the epic 2013 history-making series The Bible that was seen by over 100 million people. Although the couple has had a great impact on the world, she said it really only takes small gestures of kindness to make a monumental impact.

"I feel if we want change in our world, if we want change to reflect the kind of values and the sorts of people that we are, that we want to be, and the safety that we want our families to live in, the he change has to begin inside each and every one of us. I don't know how to impact the world stage, but I do know how to within my own family, within my own heart, within my own community. That's what I'm responsible for.

"I'm just trying to encourage others through Be An Angelthat if we each did a little bit of something together, that maybe in our togetherness, collectively, we could make the world just a little bit kinder, Downey concluded.

Be An Angel is now available for purchase everywhere books are sold.
Texas pastor goes viral for sermon describing proposition from 'perfect woman'

A Texas megachurch pastor says he is praying for those who were offended by an illustration he shared in a sermon he gave for which he was criticized for describing a womans physique in a moment of temptation.

Jonathan Pokluda, who serves as lead pastor at Harris Creek Baptist Church near Waco, went viral for comments he made while sharing a story about meeting a male college friend for dinner while his wife, Monica, was out of town nearly two decades ago.

In the roughly three-minute clip that was taken from a sermon titled "Fool Proof Love" on Jan. 22, Pokluda described enjoying chips and queso with his friend when he says a physically beautiful woman propositioned him.

She was perfect, physically beautiful, he told the congregation. Everything was in the right place.

After the woman offered to buy Pokluda a drink, he said he responded by holding up his ring finger to show his wedding band.

And she says, Well, is she here? Because I dont care, he recalled, citing the proposition to help illustrate a significant point in his sermon.

Pokluda said he immediately thought of Proverbs 5:6-7, which reads: She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable. So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.

The saving grace in that situation was, I looked at that woman and I thought, Oh, she hates me, she doesnt love me, he said. She wants my wife to hate me, and she wants my in-laws to hate me, and she wants my parents to hate me, and she wants my unborn children to hate me."

For just a few minutes of ecstasy, she wants to take my life and burn it to the ground. And that thought was Gods saving grace in a moment.

One version of the clip posted on Twitter has garnered almost 2.4 million views since Feb. 16.

In addition to his lead pastor role, Pokluda is the author of Welcome to Adulting and is the former leader of The Porch at Watermark Church in Dallas.

In response to a request for comment, Pokluda told The Christian Post that he is sad that my words have stirred up so much bitterness and controversy and said he would be praying for those that have been impacted by my words.

The sermon wasnt the first time Pokluda has publicly shared his struggles with lust.

In an interview last November with accountability app Covenant Eyes, Pokluda said despite being raised in the church, he struggled with drugs and pornography.

I was raised in the church, was raised Catholic. Went to Baptist youth group. I was over-churched. I always called myself a Christian, he was quoted as saying. [But] I was totally addicted to pornography.

Ive wrestled with drugs: cocaine, ecstasy, I smoked weed every day of my life for a season, alcoholism. All of that is part of my journey. Nothing enslaved me like porn.

Since then, he has shared tips for believers on how to overcome lust and porn addiction, including removing or limiting access to content on personal devices and pursuing marriage.
A Christian turned atheist vs. atheist turned Christian

Could two highly intelligent men with two entirely different perspectives possibly help you come to your own personal conclusion concerning the central figure of history? Perhaps. Lets find out.

Historys central figure, of course, is Jesus Christ. And the two men I have in mind are American New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman and Canadian astrophysicist Hugh Ross.

Ehrman professed faith in Christ as a teenager but is now an atheist; whereas Ross grew up in a non-religious home but is now a Christian. One man abandoned Christianity, while the other embraced it.

Ross said, I didnt know any Christians or serious followers of any religion while growing up. Ehrman, on the other hand, said, For most of my life I was a devout and committed Christian.

At age 17, Hugh Ross became the youngest person yet to serve as director of observations for Vancouvers Royal Astronomical Society. And Bart Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ross came to faith in Christ after first investigating the worlds major religions. Ross said, I reasoned that if man invented a religion, it would reflect human error. But, if God communicated, His message would be error free and as consistent as the facts of nature. So, I used the facts of history and science to test each of the holy books.

He stated, One by one each book failed the factuality test, and I gained confidence that my initial skepticism would be affirmed  until I picked up a Bible. He found that the Bible described the 4 fundamental features of big bang cosmology."

The beginning of space and time coincident with the beginning of matter and energy. Continual expansion of the universe from the cosmic beginning. The constancy of physical laws, and The pervasiveness of entropy (decay).

After much personal Bible study, Ross said, I clearly understood that Jesus Christ was the Creator of the universe, that He paid the price only a sinless person could pay for all of my offenses against God, and that eternal life would be mine if I received his pardon and gave Him His rightful place of authority over my life.

Bart Ehrman, on the other hand, reversed course from his earlier profession of faith. Ehrman said, I had solid Christian credentials and knew about the Christian faith from the inside out  but then  I started to lose my faith. I now have lost it altogether. I no longer go to church, no longer believe, no longer consider myself a Christian.

In my recent CP op-ed titled, When Textual Variants are a Convenient Excuse, I quoted Bart Ehrman in explaining what led him to walk away from Christ: It wasnt problems in the Bible I was wrestling with. It was why is there so much suffering in the world? Thats why I left the faith.

Ehrmans attitude toward Jesus became darkened, separating him from the One who said: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).

Ehrman thinks the Bible misquoted Jesus. Hugh Ross disagrees, and says, The fact that there is no historical record of called-out mistakes or corrections to the four Gospels by contemporaries of the gospel writers testifies to the accuracy of Jesus quotes within them.

Bart Ehrman no longer believes Christ rose from the dead. Hugh Ross said, Ehrman is also wrong about the evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus being based on visions alone. There is the empty tomb. The powerful enemies of the emergent Christian faith, the Jewish religious leaders and the Romans, were unable to produce the body of Jesus. Also, it would take more than visions to persuade the 10,000+ Jews living in Jerusalem at that time  more than a third of the total population  to become Christians in the few days that followed Jesus death on the cross.

Bart Ehrman's unanswered questions about suffering in the world spawned his atheism, whereas Hugh Ross discovered that Gods book of nature is in alignment with Gods revelation in Scripture. This remarkable realization led Ross straight into the arms of our Creator.

Dr. John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist. Lennox said, Faith is not a leap in the dark; its the exact opposite. Its a commitment based on evidence  It is irrational to reduce all faith to blind faith and then subject it to ridicule. That provides a very anti-intellectual and convenient way of avoiding intelligent discussion.

English theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking said, Heaven is a fairy tale for people who are afraid of the dark. John Lennox responded, Atheism is a fairy story for those who are afraid of the light."

Hugh Ross has witnessed time and time again how the evidence in nature is fully consistent with the message of the Bible. Dr. Ross established Reasons to Believe in 1986. This ministry helps people discover how scientific research and clear thinking consistently affirm the truth of the Bible and of the Good News it reveals.

Bart Ehrman and Hugh Ross are heading in opposite directions. Jesus identified the wide road to Hell and the narrow road to Heaven in Matthew 7:14,13. You can either believe what Jesus said about these eternal destinations, or what Bart Ehrman says about them.

But know this: Your personal beliefs will not change Gods book of nature, Scripture, the good news of the Gospel, reality, truth, Heaven, Hell, etc. Your beliefs will only change your heart and your eternal destiny.

Bart Ehrman and Hugh Ross provide some context as you investigate the book of nature, the message of Scripture, and the historical facts of Christianity. Thankfully, there is still time for you to base your faith upon the breathtaking evidence God has graciously provided.

(In addition to Dr. Rosss website, you could explore even more reasons to believe in Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell.)
Chicago Tribune's insane attack on pro-lifers

The Chicago Tribune lied its way through a sloppily written op-ed that unapologetically defends the violence of abortion. In Abortion Pill Extremists Are Disingenuous Absolutists, the editorial board sounded like abortion industry spokespeople instead of objective journalists. According to the male-dominated board, abortion ensures the smooth functioning of American society.

Things go soooo smoothly when we kill our children. OK. Got it.

Lincoln once said: Let the people know the facts and the country will be safe. This quote is engraved in the entryway of the Tribunes headquarters. One would think it would be a daily reminder to those working for The Chicago Tribune. Clearly, with this attack piece on pro-life Americans, theyve not only disregarded the facts but the public trust. In the Journalists Creed, it states, in part: I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public. Our country and our posterity are less safe with every printed lie that our gatekeepers allow through.

The editorial board, like most so-called news organizations across the country, paints a dark and cruel picture of pro-life advocates. The anti-abortion activists behind this litigation couldnt care less about the health and welfare of women who want the pill for abortions, the abortion apologists write. These anti-abortion activists are all physicians, many of whom are OB/GYNs. This fact is conveniently omitted by the Tribune. The plaintiffs in the common-sense lawsuit include the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Christian Medical and Dental Association and the American College of Pediatricians.

These medical organizations represent over 20,000 individual members. They daily care for the health and welfare of women. Again, these are more facts never mentioned by the pro-abortion editorial board. Its why one of those plaintiffs in the case, Dr. George Delgado, designed a compassionate recourse for women who want to reverse their chemical abortions. Its called Abortion Pill Reversal, and of course, the abortion industry says its dangerous to women.

No. Its dangerous to a predatory industry that wants to profit from fear and desperation.

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Boards laziness is evident in its unwillingness to acknowledge reality. Its so much easier to vilify than to verify. Their goal is to set up as many roadblocks as possible, no matter the suffering their tactics might cause to those most directly involved. Again, theyre talking about pro-life physicians. What about the suffering of those killed by the pills, both the innocent unborn children and the mothers? What about preventing or eliminating suffering by addressing root causes, providing material assistance, and mentoring unexpectant parents? This happens in our nations 3,000 pregnancy centers. The Chicago Tribune and other pro-abortion news sources want to pretend that abortion is the only option

Chicago Tribune continues the deception: The most cynical aspect of the lawsuit is its false claim that mifepristone is unsafe, and women need to be protected from it. It is unsafe. And its documented. In the last 20 years, over 20 women have died from it. There were 3,197 adverse effects documented from its use where 529 cases were life-threatening, and 1,957 cases were severe  2,243 surgeries were required. That doesnt sound like safety. That sounds like jeopardy. According to researchers, the FDAs reporting mechanism for adverse events was inadequate and significantly underestimates the adverse events of mifepristone.

Since Dobbs, the pro-abortion Left has gone out of its way to push back-alley abortions on women, no matter the collateral damage. Their media allies then point their fingers at those who want to protect every human life and say: See. Theyre the ones who want to harm you! Its almost like Senator Elizabeth Warren penned this Tribune Op-ed. (She wants to shut down every pregnancy resource center nationwide because they  in her absurd words  torture pregnant people.)

I guess if you fail to humanize the unborn, its just as easy to dehumanize those who want to stop them from being killed.

We accept that with Roe gone, each state can take its own path on this divisive issue, with some imposing bans that cruelly endanger the health of pregnant women. Extreme efforts to enforce these bans should worry everyone, no matter their views on abortion, they write in a scathing and contradictory manner. They claim to be OK with states taking their own path but denounce any option taken that doesnt lead to unrestricted abortion.

Extreme lack of scrutiny by journalistic organizations should concern everyone. The only ones who benefit from this are abortionists. When was the last time The Chicago Tribune did any kind of investigation into the abortion industry? Gone are the days when journalism dared to look into the corrupt big business of reproductive violence. The Chicago Sun-Times 1978 expose, The Abortion Profiteers, would never be conducted by todays advocacy news media.

The Tribune asks: Does anybody seriously believe the country would be better off if food and drugs were regulated by Texas or other individual states, instead of the FDA? COVID vaccines, anyone? Or, lets go back even further to this 2013 law journal article from Harvard which declared: Risky Business: Why the FDA Cannot be Trusted. So, yes. There are many people who believe the country would be better off if entities other than a bloated government agency massively funded by Big Pharma (46% of its budget) actually made the publics health a priority and not corporate profits.

Sorry, Chicago Tribune. The Abortion Pill Extremists are the ones who celebrate the new wave of back-alley DIY abortions. The Disingenuous Absolutists are abortion activists posing as journalists who demonize every pro-life effort to protect mothers, their children, and human dignity.
Is the US Constitution 'political opinion' now?

Sir William Gladstone, a British Prime Minister during the time of Queen Victoria, once observed, The American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.

The Constitution needs no defense. Its durability is a testimony to its greatness. However, many Americans today certainly do not appreciate it.

Last year, one commentator said on national television that the U.S. Constitution was trash. Trash? What do we do with trash? We throw it out. Yipes.

Meanwhile, just last week, after a two-year legal battle, a student was finally granted permission to hand out copies of our nations Constitution anywhere on his campus, not just the comparatively tiny free speech zone established by a Los Angeles area college.

After his legal victory, Pierce College student Kevin Shaw remarked, Im thankful to know future students wont have to worry about being harassed for expressing political opinions. Too bad he had to battle for this in the first place, over a course of two years. And is Americas chief governing document a mere political opinion now?

Earlier this month, AmericanWireNews.com reported on how an immigrant was expelled from her post in academia reportedly because of her advocacy of our nations governing document: A Virginia Board of Education member named Suparna Dutta, who was appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, was booted from the board by Senate Democrats because she ardently defended the Constitution and spoke out against socialism to another board member, calling it very destructive.

Ironically, this immigrant from India who supports traditional American values was also accused of supposedly being a white supremacist.

Quite honestly, I dont think the huddled masses at the southern border yearning to breathe free view our nations governing document as trash, or as merely an instrument of white supremacy.

Why do people vote with their feet to try and get a chance to enjoy life here under our Constitution?

Ive been working on a documentary on our nations governing document. Its called, We the People. This is the latest installment of our Providence Forums ongoing series, The Foundation of American Liberty, on the role of Judeo-Christian influence in the settling and founding of America.

We the People not only explains how the Bible played a critical role in the creation of the Constitution, but it also answers important objections  often raised today  such as the issues of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the mistreatment of the Indians.

These are glaring examples of the promises of the Constitution that came late, but came nonetheless. The special points out how the framers built in the means by which injustices could be rectified.

Some of the guests in We the People on America and its Constitution:

Alveda King, niece of MLK: There is still opportunity in America, there is still hope in America, there is still prayer in America, and I continue to pray for America.

Rev. Billy Falling: As a Native American, the Constitution means to me that I have a protection, I have a wall, I have something that covers me, and that is the rule of law.

Father Leon Hutton: As a Catholic, the Constitution has meant to us the opportunity to freely practice faith as we see it.

Dennis Prager: This is the Judeo-Christian country. Christians rooted in Judeo founded the country. Jews knew this ... Jews were in love with this country and for good reason.

Jenna Ellis: As a millennial Christian woman, the Constitution is such a wonderful gift that my generation and the generations after must continue to preserve and protect.

I have been working on this series for some time, and I was able to get an interview with syndicated columnist Dr. Walter Williams, a professor at George Mason University, about a year before his death,

Dr. Williams told me: I think that the United States Constitution has been very valuable just considering the evidence. Number one, we still have the Constitution, although, its not obeyed all the time. But the Constitution has led to the richest and the most powerful nation on the face of this earth and the greatest amount of personal liberty that people enjoy, that is the people try to get to United States, people want to live in United States, they want to become American citizens. And the reason why is the liberty that we have.

I wish some of todays elites on the left would rethink their jaundiced view of this most wonderful work, the Constitution of the United States of America. The irony is that those who rail against the Constitution are able to do so because of the freedoms granted them by that very document.
Russia calls U.S. "non-involvement" in Nord Stream sabotage "a lie"

Xinhua) 11:09, February 25, 2023

MOSCOW, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Americans claim innocence of the blast of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, but "everyone understands that this is a lie," a Russian diplomat has said.

"The Americans are banally lying. I can once again recall the story about the test tube of (former) U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, but if you are tired of hearing about it, then there are plenty of others," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.

"So to what extent was the United States not involved in the Nord Stream blast: in the same way as in the assassination of the President of Haiti or as in the deception with the test tube for the invasion of Iraq?" Zakharova said.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that he intends to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss Beijing's plans to end the Ukraine conflict.

On the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, he stated that the suggestion indicated China's participation in the search for peace. The Chinese strategy asks for peace negotiations and national sovereignty respect.

China's Peace Plan

Nevertheless, the 12-point paper does not explicitly state that Russia must remove its soldiers from Ukraine. It also criticizes the use of "unilateral sanctions," interpreted as a thinly disguised criticism of Ukraine's Western partners.

The Chinese government has not replied publicly to Zelensky's request for a summit with Xi. In the meantime, Moscow praised China's peace initiatives. Moscow's foreign ministry stated, "We share Beijing's views."

China has vehemently refuted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's accusation that Beijing is considering transferring weapons and ammunition to Moscow, which he made earlier this week. On Friday, US media claimed that the Chinese government was contemplating deploying drones and artillery munitions to Moscow.

According to BBC Global Affairs Editor John Simpson, China looks to be siding with Russia. However, it would prefer to find a way to save President Vladimir Putin by orchestrating a face-saving peace agreement.

The Chinese ideas resulted from Wang Yi's Wednesday visit to Moscow, where he spoke with President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Wang was reported by the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua as stating that Beijing was eager to "deepen political trust" and "strengthen strategic coordination" with Moscow following the meetings.

China urged immediate peace negotiations while releasing a proposal to settle the Ukrainian conflict. Some western nations rejected the ideas and warned China about its strong relationship with Moscow. Beijing has endeavored to preserve its status as a "neutral party" in the war while keeping tight ties with its strategic partner Russia.

Yet, Zelensky noted that he was certain that "peace efforts" can only be initiated by a country whose territory is under threat. This occurs on the same day as a historic UN vote urging Russia's immediate withdrawal from Ukraine, per WIO News.

The United States, Australia, and Canada adopted additional sanctions against Russia. In addition to restricting access to semiconductors, the US Departments of Treasury and State would apply "sweeping sanctions" targeting critical revenue-generating industries such as defense and banking.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that Canada imposed fresh measures against 129 persons and 63 entities, including Russian deputy prime ministers and officials, while Australia slapped penalties against 90 individuals and 40 businesses.

Read Also: Idaho College Murders Trial Facing 'Huge Issue' Due to Leaks

NATO Members Seek Russia-Ukraine War Ceasefire

Moreover, Zelensky advised Russia's ally China to refrain from furnishing Moscow with armaments. Meanwhile, Zelensky dismissed the notion of engaging with Putin.

In October, Zelensky said conversations with Putin were "impossible," NY Post reported. Zelensky reaffirmed that any peace negotiations with Russia must be preceded by an immediate cease of all hostilities and a total evacuation of all Russian forces from Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine has maintained that Russia must withdraw its forces from the five territories it illegally invaded in 2014 and accept the country's boundaries from 1991. As a requirement for peace, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Friday that the international community must acknowledge "new geographical realities" in Ukraine, implying that the Kremlin should be allowed to preserve its territorial gains.

Although encountering stiff resistance from outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian forces, Russia has managed to conquer around one-fifth of the nation. It has gradually advanced near the city of Bakhmut in the east, where the worst combat of the conflict has occurred.

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing government sources, that several of the most prominent nations of the NATO alliance, including Germany, France, and Britain, are urging Ukraine to pursue peace negotiations - even if Putin's soldiers continue to occupy swaths of Ukraine's territory.

The leaders of these three nations have publicly pledged to help Ukraine for as long as necessary. The remarks come only weeks after the US-led NATO alliance agreed to provide Ukraine with combat tanks and other high-tech military equipment to enhance its capabilities.

The first batch of Poland's Leopard tanks has already arrived in Ukraine, according to the prime minister of the NATO member nation Poland, who was in Kyiv to commemorate the war's anniversary.

At Friday's press conference, Zelensky was questioned about a remark attributed to US Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who purportedly stated that Ukraine would not be able to expel Russian soldiers from the entirety of the seized region.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Joe Biden, G7 Send Big Warning to Vladimir Putin

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A poster for Netflix's "Physical: 100" / Courtesy of Netflix

By Lee Gyu-lee



A contestant in Netflix's hit reality show, "Physical: 100," is facing allegations of assaulting his girlfriend, according to Seoul Gangnam Police Station.



The police said it received a report from the woman at around 10:50 a.m., Thursday, saying she was beaten by the contestant, whose identity has not been disclosed, but was booked for questioning. He is currently under investigation on charges of assault and battery.



Following the news, Netflix canceled the show's upcoming press conference scheduled for next week.



"Netflix and the production team are still grasping the situation after seeing news reports that one of the cast members of 'Physical 100' is involved in a wrongful incident," the streaming platform said in a release, Friday. "Before we discuss the global success of the show, among others, with the media through the press conference, we felt it is best for us to look into the details of the incident. So we decided to cancel the event."



This is not the first time the show's contestant faced crime-related allegations.



One contestant was accused of bullying a classmate in middle school after an online user claimed that she forcefully took money and assaulted her. Another contestant, a dancer, and a former ballerina, faced charges of making threats to his girlfriend last November.


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Members of NewJeans appear in a poster for 2023 F/W Seoul Fashion Week to be held at DDP in March. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government









By Ko Dong-hwan







It's that time of the year when Korea's fashion designers rummage through their wardrobes to carefully choose their choicest couture. Those picked by their creators will be the outfits representing not just their labels, but also the country in front of fashionistas and industry dealers from over 20 countries.







Seoul Fashion Week is set to put Korean fashion to the catwalk from March 15 to 19, in what stands to be a chance to land a lucrative deal while winning the hearts of dedicated followers of fashion. The event's organizer, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is making moves to add extra luster to the event at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP).







The biggest change to the show compared to its previous settings is the stage. It's no longer linear, but circular. In the 23 years since the city began hosting the show, not once was a circle stage at the center of onlookers' attention. The circle concept, according to the Beauty and Fashion Industry Division under the city government's Economic Policy Office, will offer a more lively experience to the audience. The feature also brings out a more daring and creative stage set-up using giant LED screens, allowing the participating brands to showcase their models in more unique ways.







As another new tool to better satisfy the participating designers in the 2023 F/W Seoul Fashion Week, a more even playing field has been prepared for them to minimize potential complaints about unfairness in presenting their apparel. Except for the opening, the order of designers hitting the stage has been decided through a draw. The city government said it had nothing to do with the sequence of the 30 participating designer brands.







A model walks during the 2022 F/W Seoul Fashion Week "BONBOM" at Seoul Museum of Craft Art in Jongno District, March 18, 2022. Korea Times file





The honor of opening the show went to Ulkin by Lee Seong-dong, who earned the highest point from judges among local designer brands during a pre-evaluation stage to choose which brands will join the event.







Seoul Fashion Week, for the first time, will give foreign and local buyers at the event a chance to vote for the brands they would like to see again in future fashion shows. The "Best Brand Top 5" will be given by the city government privileges including a free pass to appear in the next seasonal fashion show and a financial subsidy.







Alongside the show, a platform for a large-scale trade show between the participating designer brands and buyers from overseas is planned. Over 130 buyers from 27 countries are expected to show up at DDP Design Lab in Seoul representing local department stores and select shops in their respective countries. Some 70 Korean brands of seasoned and rookie designers are lined up for the trade show. Also expected to attend are distributors and investors.







To promote local designers and accelerate their sales overseas, the city government signed a deal with Paris Fashion Week to launch a pavilion dedicated to Seoul Fashion Week in Tranoi, an official trade exhibition for the Parisian fashion show. To be held on March 2 to 5 at Palais Brongniart in Paris, Tranoi will see six of Korea's local women's design brands in the special pavilion. The initiative by the Seoul Metropolitan Government will extend to Tokyo and New York this year, according to the authority.







Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon smiles during a photo call at the 2022 F/W Seoul Fashion Week at Seoul Museum of Craft Art, March 18, 2022. The event was held on a smaller-than-usual scale due to COVID-19. Korea Times file









Aside from designers and buyers, Seoul Fashion Week also invites members of the public interested in fashion.







The celebrity promoting the annual show this year is NewJeans, the hottest K-pop girl group right now. The five-member act, all in their teens, was appointed as Seoul's honorary ambassador on Feb. 16. The group's Seoul Fashion Week appearance is their first official mission as the city's ambassador.







In promotional videos for the event, the artists from K-pop agency ADOR were styled by Ulkin, BLR Bluer and Ajobyajo. The brands, popular particularly among the country's MZ generation, are also participating in Seoul Fashion Week. The event's official Instagram (@SFW_official) on Saturday released the group's promotional video.







Visitors to the show will be able to check out various experience booths on "K-Fashion Street" in front of DDP. Walking up a runway in a virtual world and joining a live-streaming show hosted by fashion influencers are just some of the fun attractions they can expect. Those interested in joining the audience to see a specific brand's presentation can apply online from Feb. 23 to March 6 at

. Those selected will be issued an invitation by the city government starting March 7.







"Through the long tunnel of COVID-19, small- to medium-sized local fashion companies saw their businesses slow down as their competitiveness weakened against larger companies. So we saw an apparent market polarization in the fashion industry," Kim Tae-gyun, the chief of the Economic Policy Office, said. "Seoul Fashion Week is for those small-but-competent fashion brands to find new business opportunities outside the country. They will pump up K-fashion by signing large deals with big buyers overseas, encourage more aspiring fashion designers and bring more members of the public to the fashion scene."


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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv, Feb. 24, on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of his country. AFP-Yonhap





Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said South Korea's military support would be a positive for his country in its war with Russia, expressing the hope that Seoul can find a way to provide the assistance.







Zelenskyy made the remarks during a speech in Kyiv marking the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in response to North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's call for South Korea to provide military aid to the war-torn country, according to a news report Friday by Ukrinform, Ukraine's state news agency.







"We look positively if weapons are supplied to us," Zelenskyy was quoted by the outlet as saying. "I hope that it will find an opportunity to help Ukraine."







Zelenskyy said "details are being discussed" with other countries about South Korea in this vein, without elaborating further.







He also stressed the bilateral relations with South Korea are "very important" and should further develop.







Stoltenberg told a forum in Seoul during his visit in late January that South Korea should "step up on the specific issue of military support."







South Korea has only provided humanitarian aid and other non-military support to Ukraine, citing its position not to supply arms to countries engaged in conflict. (Yonhap)


The USS Springfield nuclear-powered fast attack submarine arrives at a naval base in South Korea's southern port city of Busan in this photo provided by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Feb. 25. Yonhap





A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine has arrived in South Korea for a scheduled visit, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Saturday, in an apparent show of force and a warning to North Korea against provocations.







The 6,000-ton Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Springfield docked at a naval base in the southern port city of Busan for a "scheduled port visit," it said in a social media post, without revealing the timing of the arrival.







The USS Springfield, deployed to Guam, "routinely operates in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, conducting maritime security operations and supporting national security interests," the post read.







The U.S. Pacific Fleet disclosed photos of the naval vessel hanging the national flags of the allies on the wall of the conning tower and crew members of the South Korean Navy welcoming the arrival.







The rare disclosure of the submarine's deployment to the South appears intended to send a stern warning to North Korea following repeated missile provocations.







North Korea has strongly protested the U.S. deployment of its strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula and the allies' combined exercises. (Yonhap)







The USS Springfield nuclear-powered fast attack submarine arrives at a naval base in South Korea's southern port city of Busan in this photo provided by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Feb. 25. Yonhap




The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued an advisory urging organizations to increase cybersecurity vigilance today, the anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine, in the wake of a cyberattack against several Ukrainian government websites.

"The United States and European nations may experience disruptive and defacement attacks against websites in an attempt to sow chaos and societal discord," the CISA advisory said.

The cyberattack in Ukraine, detected yesterday, hit the websites of a number of central and local authorities, "modifying the content of some of their webpages," according to a statement from the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine.

Apparently, on the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Russia is attempting to stay visible in cyberspace where it acts, traditionally, as a terrorist state by attacking civilian targets, the Ukrainian state agency said.

The attack did not cause critical system interruptions, and most of the affected information resources were quickly recovered, the agency said.

The websites were breached using a backdoor planted in December 2021, according to the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) , which discovered the attacks after investigating a web shell on one of the hacked websites that the threat actors used to install malware.

The web shell was used to install several backdoors (dubbed CredPump, HoaxPen, and HoaxApe) a year ago, and created an index.php file in the root web directory, which modified the content of the affected sites, CERT-UA said.

Ukraine cyberattack attributed Russia-aligned Ember Bear group

CERT-UA attributed the cyberattack to the Ember Bear threat group, also known as UAC-0056, or Lorec53. Ember Bear is thought to be a cyberespionage group that has operated organizations in Eastern Europe since early 2021.

Based on the set of signs, we can make a preliminary conclusion that the violation of the normal operation mode of the investigated web resources was carried out by the UAC-0056 group, CERT-UA said.

Russian government-backed attackers ramped up cyberattacks beginning in 2021 during the run-up to the invasion, according to a report from Google's Threat Analysis Group week. In 2022, Russia increased the targeting of users in Ukraine by 250% compared to 2020, and the targeting of users in NATO countries increased over 300% in the same period, Google said.

We assess with high confidence that Russian government-backed attackers will continue to conduct cyberattacks against Ukraine and NATO partners to further Russian strategic objectives, the report said.

The report also said that Moscow will increase disruptive and destructive attacks in response to developments on the battlefield that fundamentally shift the balance toward Ukraine These attacks will primarily target Ukraine, but increasingly expand to include NATO partners, Google said in the report.

Russian or Russia-aligned groups have increasingly been targeting nations that have shown support to Ukraine. On Tuesday this week, Mike Burgess, director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), said in a speech that a Russian spy ring whose members were posing as diplomats in Australia was dismantled. The spies were highly trained and used sophisticated tradecraft to try to disguise their activities, and have been expelled from the country, he said.

A report Friday in the Sydney Morning Herald said that the spy ring had been operating for 18 months before being dismantled.

In its advisory, CISA said that it maintains cybersecurity resources including Shields Up, which it describes as "one-stop webpage that provides resources to increase organizational vigilance and keep the public informed about current cybersecurity threats."
Courtesy of zhang kaiyv





By David A. Tizzard







Korean people (and humans more broadly) evolved to inhabit a certain environment. Our physical, psychological, cultural, and spiritual lives were shaped by, and for, an agricultural existence. The many myths, legends, and tales of yore spoke of seasons, weather, the waning of time, of heroes and villains. The people were well suited to such an environment and thus the language, the food, and the politics grew around them, giving rise to the Korean nation as seen through its culture and art. It was 'the' Korean way of life. Until, that is, it wasn't.







From the farm, we moved to cities and a whole host of new professions previously impossible and unthinkable emerged, brokers, bloggers, break-dancers, and BJs. But how can a people that evolved for one environment over countless centuries then quickly adapt to an entirely different one? It is obvious that such transformation of the physical environment will bring with it huge psychological costs. Not everyone will be suited to the new world into which they are thrust without permission or request.







While it might appear blasphemous to some to compare us to animals, consider a mass transformation of a species' habitat. Take 100,000 cats from the city of Seoul and slap them somewhere in the desert of Africa or the jungles of South America. Many will perish. Some, hopefully, will survive. Those that do will become adaptive; their descendants further adaptive. After time, like the fish that no longer realizes it is swimming in water, the cats will not be able to comprehend life any other way. This is not to suggest that the loss of any human is acceptable or desirable. We're not getting quite into Nietzsche territory here. But it is simply to draw attention to a possible cause of what is known locally as 'bulan' (anxiety).











Most modern analysis depicts mental health conditions as a) individual and b) to be treated through paid treatments and chemicals. This is important for two reasons and is probably linked to the rise of neo-capitalism as a controlling political, economic, and ideological system. This system atomizes us. Paradoxically, it does so through simultaneous nearness and remoteness. Nearness because we live in claustrophobic conditions, shoulder to shoulder and knee to knee with those on the bus and subway. Remoteness because we are but impersonal NPCs in another person's story. Alienation and sociability are two sides of the same coin.







The remoteness is great for watching your own Netflix, choosing your own dinner, and being able to spend the lunar holidays by yourself instead of five hours away at your relatives' house, accompanied by all their unwanted questions about your marriage (or lack thereof), weight and general appearance. However, at the same time, the atomization results in a loss of connection. A connection which, in evolutionary terms, is very important. The use of individual treatment through counselling and medication shifts the focus from systemic causes of mental health cases to individual. It also puts the burden on the individual to put up the money for these drugs and therapy. We are adapting people to a society they are perhaps not evolved for through artificial means rather than looking at the environment itself. In such a sense, perhaps the issue is not the person but rather the world around them.







The city actually rewires our brain. It creates different pathways and connections so that people who live in urban environments experience a greater prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders than those who live in the countryside. Scientific studies have observed that early life exposure to air pollution has adverse effects on cognitive, behavioral, and psychomotor development. Through the use of MRI scans, we have understood that people raised amidst the frenetic social stresses of the city environment actually have less gray matter in the key regions of the brain which manage and regulate stress and emotions. Some suffer. Some survive. Such is the city.











This is Seoul. Our current environment. Such has been the rapid transformation of life here in Korea, psychological trauma is sadly inevitable. Suicide rates remain desperately high among the country's elderly and one can only imagine how little they recognize of the world around them. How unfamiliar, alien, and hostile the environment must seem. And for the youth born here, with emotional regulation seen as an individual duty, to be paid for by credit card, with little acknowledgement of the systemic causes, the fact that Netflix exists might actually be a curse rather than a blessing.







Seoul's giddy economic expansion came with a gnawing anxiety. The showy consumer culture of coffee shops and boutique fashion spots are manifestations of urbane sociability and advanced etiquette, yet at the same time they are creators of a modern Babylon of soul-crushing dimensions. Many pursue survival through external mechanisms such as quiet quitting or a "f*** you face," adopted to manage continual interactions with anonymous strangers who we neither know nor trust. A manifestation of the "untact" hyper-modern: a realm of compulsive consumption and emotional impoverishment.











The city is of course fated to be destroyed by its own existence. It will be consumed by its chaos and a new mode of living will emerge. Just as the temple preceded the farm because a settled population devoted to worship required food and sustenance and so agriculture was established to feed static groups, so will a new form of life follow the city. We build our environments to meet our needs. But, through time, the environment then shapes us. It is a multigenerational process of interaction.







But, despite the fears, the challenges, the struggles, and the loss, there is creation. The bringing together of people, ideas, values, and cultures. The birth of new stories, the fulfillment of infinite individuals, and miracles of existence never once thought possible. The city is both a miracle and a catastrophe. As individuals we may each be fated to die, but through our collective humanity, our stories, our buildings, our cultures, and feelings, we will live on.











Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
While Zero Trust is a term that is often misunderstood as well as misused, it is an approach that has real value in helping to reduce systematic cyber risk and improve resiliency. Organizations of all sizes understand that they require a resilient cybersecurity strategy that can support and enable the business even during a crisis, but when it comes to Zero Trust, most organizations struggle to understand it and figure out the right place to start. Moving to the cloud provides a new chance for Zero Trust architectures.

So What Is and Isnt Zero Trust?

Some vendors will claim that Zero Trust is all about identity and access management. That is, how the business enables authorized users to access resources. While thats a building block of Zero Trust, its only one component of what should be thought of as a larger strategy that takes into account all the risk surfaces the business operates in across identity, infrastructure, product, processes, and supply chain. Every security professional will tell you that trust in technology architectures and networks has historically always been a bad idea. A trusted network connected to your data center network might be compromised, an endpoint hacked, a trusted user with the key to your kingdom turned to an insider, a trusted operating system process hijacked by a trojan, a trusted file being malicious, etc. Consequently, Zero Trust provides a strategic approach to eliminate all implicit trust between technological entities. In simple words: it mandates to deploy not just bouncers at the entrance to your club but also within the club and in the garage, and hire some bodyguards who are escorting your customers outside the club. Wait, is Zero Trust that simple? Is that just a call for more security? Lets be honest, the key question for organizations has always been not if they should embrace Zero Trust, but why would it work this time, and where should they start considering the high cost and little willingness of change?

Zero Trust for Black Swans

From my experience, organizations that embraced Zero Trust successfully have focused their programs on risk management first. Working over a decade for a large financial services organization, I got to know risk management very well. Especially the fact that sometimes small events can cause damage to an entire organization or even industry. Such systematic events, aka black swans, became recently very common within our cybersecurity metaverse as well. Ransomware and supply chain incidents are potentially the most visible symptoms of those risks we see in the news every day. Those risks are a good focus for your Zero Trust program. Looking at the root cause of such technological systematic risk, they come in a few different varieties or, in the worst case, a combination of all:

Single point of failures. These include core infrastructure components that glue your technology stack together. An insecure or improperly architected Active Directory, WebSSO or DNS infrastructure can quickly turn into a nightmare.

Outdated software monocultures. Operating systems, firmware, and software with high organizational adoption rates that are not being patched on a regular basis. A single vulnerability can result in catastrophic ransomware or sabotage risk.

Flat networks effect. An organization without proper segmentation or network controls across IT (think of all your unmanaged devices), OT, and IoT. Easy game for every intruder or virus/ransomware.

Palo Alto Networks

Zero Trust Pyramid

Traditional companies that inherit a combination of those systematic risks are typically kicking off their Zero Trust program based on two building blocks: harmonizing their identity and access management stack and harmonizing their connectivity landscape. This creates a foundation for additional Zero Trust building blocks addressing other systematic risks, such as firmware monocultures, applications, etc.

The Role of a Platform in Zero Trust

If I had to explain cybersecurity resilience, Id go with the following: to create a resilient organization requires us to make security a system and not a component goal. For example, dont put all your focus on testing the effectiveness of your sandbox control. Instead, prioritize how your sandbox is integrated with other security controls across your organizations. Or dont spend millions on pentesting your most critical application if this application is connected in the same network to a million-dollar IoT device and runs some additional exposed services on the server. In a decentralized and fragmented world, where workloads and identities live somewhere on the internet, such a systematic cybersecurity perspective becomes very difficult without harmonizing some core capabilities required to operate your security:

A common identity and policy stack.

A common understanding of actionable threats.

A common protocol/control for enforcing your policy and threat information across your entire system.

A different way to explain this is to take Phil Venabless approach in one of his recent blogs. He wrote, One of the most successful techniques for enterprise security in many organizations is to create a universal baseline of controls that apply everywhereand to then economically increase that baseline by reducing the unit cost of controls (existing and new). In his blog, he refers to the automotive industry as an example, suggesting that commoditization of safety features from racing cars towards everybodys family car can be replicated to cybersecurity. In fact, network security and connectivity is a great example. The way network security worked in the past was that everything that was inside the organization was trusted, and everything outside was untrustedsecurity was applied only at the boundaries of the organization. That model doesnt work anymore with remote workers, cloud, edge, and mobile access requirements. All those environments are connected directly to the internet today. However, they all lack even the most basic controls such as segmentation or intrusion detection. The reason is that testing or deploying individual controls and policies leads to high costs, making most cybersecurity controls unaffordable for organizations. Thats why cybersecurity platforms are becoming the best strategy to deploy Zero Trust strategies and an economical differentiation factor for most cybersecurity programs over time.

Palo Alto Networks

The Cloud Opportunity for Zero Trust

Replacing legacy connectivity or security stack is a big deal and requiresif not triggered by your cloud and remote workforce programssometimes a harsh (ransomware) push to make it happen, but there is a new chance for your Zero Trust program, which shouldnt be overlooked and wasted! As organizations are increasingly moving workloads, applications, and users to the cloud, and adopting DevOps, now is the right time to architect your security right from the beginning and not post-mortem. A systematic approach in this context requires you to consider, besides the security of your production environment, the security of your CI/CD pipeline and integration of security controls as early as possible in the pipeline. Lets formulate a few questions in Zero Trust language, which should be in your Book of Work if you take security in the DevOps and cloud environments seriously:

Do you trust your software engineers device not being compromised?

Do you trust your code repository is not being compromised?

Do you trust the code integrity along the development and deployment process?

Do you trust your third-party infrastructure as code (IaC) template or docker container? Remember, on average, half of them have bad vulnerabilities associated with them.

What about other software application dependencies used in your projects?

Do you trust your identities being assigned to the right privilege rights?

Do you trust your code being checked for security or misconfigurations such as hardcoded credentials, over privileged network settings, etc.?

Do you trust your microservices orchestrator not being compromised, etc.?

There are many other questions to be addressed, but the point is that systematic risks increase in the DevOps environments in both vertical and horizontal directions. Vertically, there are many more risks to be considered compared to more traditional environments. Horizontally, an impact of a single poisoned package can be massive, as seen with many cases such as SolarWinds, etc. Dont waste your opportunity to build Zero Trust at the beginning of your DevOps and cloud journey.
President Joe Biden walks over to speak with reporters before he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Feb. 24, for travel to Wilmington, Del. AP-Yonhap



The United States marked the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Friday, with $2 billion in weaponry for Kyiv and new sanctions against Russia aimed at undermining Moscow's ability to wage war.



U.S. President Joe Biden's administration unveiled the sanctions as the Group of 7 bloc of wealthy nations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy met to discuss more aid.



Among the steps were placing visa restrictions on Russian military members, freezing assets of allies of President Vladimir Putin, effectively banning aluminum imports from Russia, curbing Russian banking and arms-making activity and putting the country's second largest mobile phone company Megafon on a trade blacklist.



Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, said the sanctions would have no impact.



Additional measures could be imposed at a later date, U.S. officials said.



The administration also sent a message to China and other countries that they should not try to help Russia evade sanctions.



"We will sanction additional actors tied to Russia's defense and technology industry, including those responsible for backfilling Russian stocks of sanctioned items or enabling Russian sanctions evasion," the White House said.



The aid to Ukraine fell short of providing the F-16 fighter jets that Kyiv has requested and some U.S. officials are raising doubts about the ability of such measures to slow the increasing hostilities on the battlefield ahead of an anticipated springtime offensive.



Antonov said the new sanctions were "thoughtless" and designed to make Russia suffer.



"Does anyone really think that this is the way to get our country to abandon its independent policies, to force it off its chosen path towards building a multipolar world based on the principle of indivisible security, on international law and the UN Charter?" a post on the embassy's Facebook page quoted him as saying.











Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova greets active duty members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during an event at the Ukrainian House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reuters-Yonhap



New penalties



After the G7 meeting, the leaders issued a statement on "our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes" including with more potential sanctions.



European Union countries later overcome internal disagreements and announced a 10th round of sanctions.



The U.S. State Department's sanctions included Russian Cabinet ministers and dozens of governors and regional chiefs.



The U.S. Treasury Department's new measures hit 22 Russian individuals and 83 entities, adding to more than 2,500 sanctions imposed over the past year.



Increased U.S. tariffs will also be levied on more than 100 Russian metals, minerals and chemical products worth about $2.8 billion to Russia.



The United States also planned to announce $250 million in aid to shore up Ukraine's energy infrastructure in the face of Russian attacks. Ukraine's neighbor Moldova will get $300 million to help wean itself from energy dependence on Russia.



Prosecutors announced steps to charge a Russian national with illegally exporting counterintelligence equipment and to seize the Park Avenue, New York, apartment and other property worth $75 million belonging to Putin associate Viktor Vekselberg, whom Washington imposed sanctions on most recently in 2022.



While multiple rounds of Western sanctions have damaged the Russian economy, Putin can still fund his war. That has prompted officials to focus increasingly on third parties that are helping Russia dodge the sanctions.



Treasury included penalties on more than 30 people and companies from Switzerland, Germany and other nations for helping Moscow finance its war against Ukraine.



The Commerce Department, meanwhile, is imposing export curbs on nearly 90 Russian and third-country companies  including ones in China  for engaging in sanctions evasion in support of Russia's defense sector, and prohibiting them from buying items such as semiconductors. And they are working to prevent components found in Iranian drones from making their way to the Ukraine battlefield, officials said.



Washington has warned, without producing evidence, that China is considering providing weapons to Russia. China has said more weapons would worsen the conflict.



The Biden administration has committed more than $32 billion in military aid over the past year to Ukraine, including providing 8,500 Javelin anti-armor systems and 38 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and a number of different types of drones, according to the Defense Department. (Reuters)




A news release from Lane County Sheriffs Office said the 911 call placed about an armed person on Lane Community Colleges campus on Wednesday was the result of a series of miscommunications.

After the lockdown, which lasted almost two hours and was lifted at 3:30 p.m., the Lane County Sheriffs Office announced it was investigating the initial report of an armed person.

As the deputies were searching the school our detectives started back-tracking the source of the information and were able to interview people that had relayed the message that got confused, Sgt. Tom Speldrich, Lane County Sheriffs Office public information officer, said.

Authorities learned that no armed suspect was actually observed on campus and the information communicated in the initial call was the result of second and third hand information leading people to believe there was an armed subject at the school with intent to harm a student.

The miscommunication was not maliciously made, Speldrich said in the news release.

After it was determined there was no armed suspect on campus, deputies communicated the false alarm with LCC Public Safety, and deputies and Oregon State Police Troopers notified those still on campus of the situation.
Destroyed buildings in the town of Siversk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine amid Russia's invasion, Feb. 20. Reuters-Yonhap





G20 finance chiefs have been unable to reach a consensus on describing the war in Ukraine and are likely to end a meeting in India, Saturday, without a joint communique, according to delegates.







The United States and its allies in the G7 group of nations have been adamant in demands that the communique squarely condemn Russia for the invasion of its neighbor, which has been opposed by the Russian and Chinese delegations, they said.







Russia, which is a member of the G20, refers to its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation," and avoids calling it an invasion or war.







Host India is also pressing the meeting to avoid using the word "war" in any communique, G20 officials have told Reuters. India, which holds the current G20 presidency, has kept a largely neutral stance on the war, declining to blame Russia for the invasion, seeking a diplomatic solution and sharply boosting its purchases of Russian oil.







French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there was no way the group could step back from a joint statement agreed at a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November, which said "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine" but also acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently.







"Either we have the same language or we do not sign on the final communique," Le Maire told reporters Friday.







German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, said the G20 must not fall behind its previous criticism of Russia.







"We need absolute clarity, this is a war initiated by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin," he said.







Such stand-offs have become increasingly common in the G20, a forum created over 20 years ago in response to past economic crises but which has recently been hobbled by differences between Western nations and others including China and Russia.







A senior G20 source said negotiations over the communique were difficult, with Russia and China blocking proposals made by Western countries. "India wants to stick to the Bali wording," the source said.







The source and several other officials said barring a last-minute surprise, a consensus on the communique was unlikely, and that the meeting was likely to end with a statement by the host summarizing the discussions.







"In the absence of a consensus, the option for India would be to issue a chair statement," one of the officials said.







India's foreign, finance and information ministries did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment. (Reuters)






Despondent Red Wall Tory MPs are calling it 'The Southern Comfort' strategy. 'Rishi Sunak's giving up on us,' one told me despairingly. 'He's decided the priority is protecting our traditional base and seats. They're adopting a form of managed decline. They're going to abandon a swathe of the Northern seats we won in 2019 and try to shore things up in the South.'

Another northern backbencher tried to be more upbeat, but failed. 'I can still see a way forward for the party,' he said, 'but part of it has to be winning in the North. This is the key battleground. Nothing Starmer's offering is going to give people in my area a concrete reason to run back to Labour. But Rishi needs to give people a reason to stick with us  and at the moment he's not doing that.'

The belief Sunak has abandoned any hope of saving the Red Wall seats secured by Boris Johnson's dramatic 2019 foray into Labour's heartlands is based on a number of factors. The first is the sudden reversal of his pledge to appoint a Minister for the North.

Sunak promised the backbench Tory Northern Research Group (NRG) he would create the post. But in his recent ministerial reshuffle  one in which he focused on tinkering with the Business Department and establishing a dedicated Cabinet Minister for science  the PM reneged on the commitment.

Despondent Red Wall Tory MPs are calling it 'The Southern Comfort' strategy. 'Rishi Sunak's giving up on us,' one told me despairingly

Added to this disillusionment is the way Sunak has managed  or mismanaged  the allocation of the precious Levelling Up Fund. Dozens of Northern Tory backbenchers were furious as it became apparent their promised allocation of cash wouldn't be forthcoming

Members of the NRG were told this was because Sunak had decided it wouldn't fit with the Government's electoral strategy to be seen to be prioritising one region. An excuse that was immediately exposed when it emerged Sunak had appointed East London MP Julia Lopez as his Ministerial Champion for the Thames Estuary.

As one NRG member said: 'There's already a Minister for London, and now a Minister for the Thames Estuary. But we're not allowed a Minister for the whole of the North. What sort of signal does that send?'

Another issue is the perceived ostracisation of Northern MPs from Sunak's Cabinet.

The departure of Simon Clarke and Jake Berry left Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Sunak himself as the only English Cabinet members with seats north of Birmingham's M6 toll road. And as one Red Waller caustically observed: 'Rishi's seat is Richmond. And Richmond in Yorkshire is even posher than Richmond in London.'

Added to this disillusionment is the way Sunak has managed  or mismanaged  the allocation of the precious Levelling Up Fund. Dozens of Northern Tory backbenchers were furious as it became apparent their promised allocation of cash wouldn't be forthcoming.

'The whole point of the Levelling Up money was it was supposed to see resources going to Northern seats that had been taken for granted or neglected by Labour,' one MP expressed bitterly. 'But under Rishi, it's been thrown around all over the country. Remember when he boasted about funnelling money to deprived areas such as Tunbridge Wells? Well that's precisely what he's been doing.'

Even when resources are allocated, Northern Tory MPs complain that a political gift is being handed to Labour. 'We're not being given any political cover,' one told me. 'Outside of the Levelling Up Fund, the main way Rishi's looking to get any money to the North is via the regional mayors. But with the exception of Ben Houchen in Tees Valley, they're all Labour.

'So Steve Rotherham [Liverpool City] and Andy Burnham [Greater Manchester] are just going, 'Thanks very much', spending it in areas that helps them politically, and taking all the credit for it.'

But the biggest issue Red Wall MPs have with Rishi Sunak is Rishi Sunak himself. They are increasingly coming to the view his political instincts are out of alignment with the people they have been elected to represent. As one said: 'Rishi's decent and he's competent. But he's not connecting with my voters. They don't identify with him and I'm not sure he identifies with them.'

This disconnect is being exacerbated by the political strategy Sunak and his team are trying to implement.

Many Red Wall MPs are looking for bold, aggressive 'wedge issues' that they can use to take the fight to Labour. But inside Downing Street the view is they need to cool down the political temperature, avoid controversy and build up a reputation for quiet competence.

'What we're being told by No 10 is, 'Don't commit news',' one Minister told me, referring to the PM's office 'grid' spreadsheet used to schedule major policy announcements.

'Previously, the message was, 'Don't cut across what's going on the grid'. Now it's, 'For the next couple of weeks, we don't really want anything on the grid at all.' '

Which would be fine if Downing Street stuck to its own advice. But last week, Red Wall MPs were aghast over a succession of own-goals that antagonised their constituents.

First there was the abortive attempt to secure a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland. 'My voters couldn't care less about Northern Irish issues,' one MP complained. 'But they do care about Brexit. And when they see us wrangling over this, all they think is, 'Hang on a second, I thought you told us you'd got Brexit done.' '

The belief Sunak has abandoned any hope of saving the Red Wall seats secured by Boris Johnson's dramatic 2019 foray into Labour's heartlands is based on a number of factors

Then there was the revelation Sunak had, in effect, authorised an amnesty for 20,000 asylum-seekers whose applications had yet to be processed.

'Where's the politics in this?' one Red Waller raged. 'We promised people we would get to grips with the asylum backlog. Not throw open the doors and let everyone in.'

Sunak's allies counter by claiming that under Boris Johnson too much emphasis was placed on appealing to Red Wall voters and not enough on building a politically sustainable national coalition.

'Boris was supposed to be pursuing a Red Wall strategy,' one told me, 'but look what happened in the by-elections. He ended up losing Wakefield on a 13-point swing, and Tiverton on a 30-point swing.'

And there is some truth in that. The big strategic dilemma for the Tories is how to find a message that will simultaneously appeal to their Red Wall and Blue Wall supporters.

But there may also be a more simple explanation for why Sunak is withdrawing from the Red Wall. That deep down he knows he isn't capable of defending it and recognises that his political agenda and instincts really aren't in sync with those of Red Wall voters.

Maybe Sunak sees what everyone else can see. That he genuinely can't identify with life on the other side of the Red Wall  any more than those inside Red Wall Britain can identify with him. In which case, perhaps the Prime Minister should just be true to himself.

He should pursue his technocratic, managerial, safety-first, one-nation strategy. Avoid 'wedge-issues' and culture wars and initiatives that inflame political passions. And plod along, studying his spreadsheets, forming his taskforces and trusting that, when the time comes, the voters of the Thames Estuary will show thanks for their new champion.

No 10 will deny it. But the reality is that Rishi Sunak is walking away from the Red Wall. Or, rather, he's jumping before he's pushed.

No Minister for the whole of the North? What signal does that send?
You may think I am pretty bad now, but you should have seen me when I was 15. I said, did and thought terrible things, which are now hateful to me. The memory of them is pretty much unbearable. I can still shudder at the remembrance of them. But there it is, nasty actions once done cannot be undone, cruel words cannot be cancelled.

Perhaps everyone else is so much better than this, and so pure in heart, that they do not think there is something a bit merciless about the British States vindictive treatment of Shamima Begum. I agree with everyone else, especially my colleague Sue Reid, that her behaviour was idiotic and that she said and did things which she will be ashamed of until the end of her life.

Meanwhile I would think that the deaths of her three infant children, something none of us would wish on anyone, should be punishment enough for anybody.

I dont like the look or sound of her. I suspect her basic problem is that she is not very bright. I hope never to meet her. But if anyone has any evidence that she committed a crime, then let them accuse her of it in a court of law, before an impartial jury. And if she is then found guilty I will cheerfully support the punishment she is awarded according to law.

But this cannot happen, as long as she is condemned to spend the rest of her life in some Syrian slum. This is thanks to a cancellation of her citizenship, which reminds me of the thuggish old Soviet Union at its worst, a despotic Third World measure which this ancient civilisation should be ashamed of wielding.

Perhaps everyone else is so much better than this, and so pure in heart, that they do not think there is something a bit merciless about the British States vindictive treatment of Shamima Begum (pictured)

If anyone has any evidence that she committed a crime, then let them accuse her of it in a court of law, before an impartial jury, says PETER HITCHENS

She has, as is all too common these days, been punished without trial. Maybe Sajid Javid, the politician who first condemned Begum to lifelong exile, has a totally clear conscience about his youth, which he is said to have spent reading the Financial Times and watching Grange Hill on the TV. Maybe he cannot conceive that the lives of any of his children or grandchildren might go so wrong, as life went wrong for Jihadi Jack Letts, another of these idiots.

And maybe the members of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission have likewise lived lives of blameless sweetness from their infancy upwards.

We must, it seems to me, have some really pure and wonderful people doing these jobs. The same, no doubt, goes for all the politicians and journalists who have applauded the decision to confirm the revocation of Begums citizenship.

I would think that the deaths of her three infant children, something none of us would wish on anyone, should be punishment enough for anybody

But all I see is a nasty sort of mob justice. The British Government claims to be so very tough on terror but, in fact, is pretty useless at preventing it, and helped support an Al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, in a cynical operation in Syria.

They claim to be keeping us safe from Begum, who cannot come here again. And yet, if she somehow managed to get on one of those dinghies from France, she could walk ashore on a Kentish beach one afternoon and vanish into our unpoliced cities, along with the thousands of others doing this without hindrance from this supposedly tough government.

This is fake severity, a hunk of meat flung to the angry crowd by a scared and weak state.

And it is also merciless, the lifelong relentless punishment of a lonely, bereaved woman. Is this a thing to be proud of?

Those who have done it should remember the ancient, simple biblical advice to us all: What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God, and ask if they are obeying it.

Welcome to the Republic of Transgendria

Good heavens! Childrens books are being censored to make them more politically correct! Astonishing! A politician is in trouble because she openly avows the Christian faith and says she means it. Where have you all been these past 20 years? All these things have been happening for more than 20 years.

Try to find a modern childrens book which contains a family with two heterosexual parents. Expressions of conservative Christian belief, especially about marriage, have been virtually forbidden in the public sector for ages, and the police have long had a habit of taking stern action against conservative street preachers.

Look, the revolution has happened. For most people, this is normal life. If it hasnt reached you yet, it soon will. Visit my home town, Oxford, this week and you will see, over almost every college in the vast University, the flag of the Republic of Transgendria flying. The new elite, who will march into the political parties, civil service, BBC, the police, law courts and schools in the next few years, all know they must salute this flag if they hope to be employed or promoted. Do wake up, dears. It has happened, and protests against it are tolerated because they make no difference.

Strolling along the banks of the Thames the other day, I came across a notice containing the warning Caution! Loud Bang! There was in fact no bang to be heard. Close by, a sunken vessel of some kind wallowed in the river, rotting gently. Given the current state of our defences, I wondered if I had stumbled on the Royal Navys latest fleet exercises.

Its not enough just to get the clothes right

Can the tiresome rewriters of the recent past leave nothing alone? We cannot see it as it was but must we have our opinions guided by characters who have time-travelled from 2023 to show us how horrible we all used to be.

the new series about the Brinks-Mat gold theft, The Gold, features a militant feminist detective (played by Charlotte Spencer, right) in Scotland Yards Flying Squad in the 1980s

In this case, the new series about the Brinks-Mat gold theft, The Gold, features a militant feminist detective (played by Charlotte Spencer) in Scotland Yards Flying Squad in the 1980s. We also glimpse several strong women who are the wives of gangsters, a favourite Left-wing fantasy.

Senior police officers meanwhile muse about the desirability of locking up people with posh accents, and one criminal is given lines suggesting he is a revolutionary hero, pitted against Englands traditional rulers.

Sooner or later, to enable this stuff to survive, the facts about life as it was actually lived in those times will have to be suppressed.
Am I missing something? A man takes his children to Windsor Great Park, makes a den for them to play in, then digs a hole in which he buries a large plastic box.

Next, he conceals a claw hammer in one of his childrens school bags, drives them to his estranged wifes house and bludgeons her to death within earshot of them.

Afterwards, he drops the children off at his (pregnant) girlfriends place, drives his ex-wifes corpse to the makeshift grave site and buries her.

Despite clear premeditation (I mean, what else is digging your victims grave in advance?) a jury acquitted him of murder and, instead, convicted him of manslaughter, which carries a far less serious punishment. That was not a sentence, it was an insult.

Now, having served just 13 years in jail, this man is eligible for parole. Thirteen years for killing the mother of his children with a claw hammer. People get more for fraud.

Airline pilot Robert Brown battered his estranged wife Joanna Simpson to death with a claw hammer within earshot of their two young children. Pictured: Joanna Simpson with her children Katie and Alex

Robert Brown (pictured) is due for automatic release this year after serving just 13 years of a 26-year sentence for manslaughter

It makes you weep with the injustice of it.

The man is former British Airways pilot Robert Brown. His ex-wife, Joanna, was 46 when he killed her. Their two children, aged just ten and nine, were subsequently raised by Joannas mother and her second husband.

Yesterdays Daily Mail ran a profoundly moving interview with Joannas mother, detailing what her daughter suffered at the hands of a controlling and cruel man.

It started with slights and rudeness, then gradually he became nastier and more abusive, until eventually he threatened her with a knife, prompting her to leave him. He killed her just days before their divorce was due to be finalised.

A charity, the Joanna Simpson Foundation, was set up in Joannas memory and, with the support of the Mail, is lobbying Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to keep Brown behind bars. Joannas mother also has the backing of two influential women who have done much work in this sphere: Camilla and Carrie Symonds, Boris Johnsons wife.

Combating violence against women is a cause close to Camillas heart, and Carrie was instrumental in preventing the early release of rapist cab driver John Worboys, whom police believe may have targeted more than 100 women, including Carrie, who was drugged by him when she was 19.

Mrs Simpson, 46, had filed for divorce from Brown after enduring years of abuse, harassment and intimidation

Given the circumstances of the Brown case, it seems inconceivable that such a man should even be considered for parole.

But we live in a world where serving police officers rape and murder young women such as Sarah Everard and where, increasingly, those charged with dispensing justice seem more on the side of the perpetrators of crime than their victims.

In Browns case, it was claimed during his trial that he had been suffering adjustment disorder because of the divorce proceedings  an excuse which may seem preposterous, but which persuaded the jury to convict him of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

No wonder such cases lead many to believe that its not just the police who have a woman problem, its the entire system of police, courts, judges, lawyers  the whole lot.

Everything about this appalling story feels like a classic case of victim-blaming, a silent collusion with Joannas killer which suggests that, somehow, she brought this terrible fate upon herself by daring to leave him in the first place.

Dominic Raab faces a momentous choice. If he allows Browns release, he would not only be sending a clear signal to women victims of violence that their suffering is of no value, he would also be signalling to all vicious men that the justice system is on their side; that they can commit the most heinous crimes and not get the punishment they deserve.

Because thats what serving 13 years for bludgeoning the mother of your children to death with a claw hammer is in my book: a mere slap on the wrist  and an abhorrent affront to justice.

 Sasha Walpole, AKA the older woman who took Prince Harrys virginity, has been photographed in her job as a digger-driver, shifting lumps of earth. I wonder if hes apologised to her for revealing to the world in his memoir his drunken liaison in a field behind a pub 22 years ago? After all, hes demanding an apology from his brother and father for a lot less...

Im not convinced about The Rolling Stones/Paul McCartney collaboration, as announced last week. To me youre either a Stones fan or a Beatles fan, and never the twain shall meet. Of course, its all nonsense, like the feud between Oasis and Blur. Still, Id take Sympathy For The Devil over All You Need Is Love any day.

 People with a keen sense of smell for unpleasant household pongs may be suffering from stress, scientists say. Apparently, theres a link between high levels of cortisol and sensitivity to bad odours. At first I found this slightly concerning  I have a nose like a retriever. And then I remembered: I live with a teenage boy.

Rods sticking plaster wont save NHS

Rod Stewart, right, rocked up to an NHS hospital in his white Roller to witness a days worth of MRI scans which he paid for in a bid to help cut waiting lists. What next? Adele pays for taxis for workers stuck at home because of train strikes? Sam Smith driving an ambulance? I love you, Sir Rod, but I cant help feeling the NHS would be better off if people like yourself had just stayed in Britain during the 70s and 80s and paid some tax instead of jetting off to sunnier climes. What this country needs now is concrete solutions, not empty  if entertaining  gestures.

I love you, Sir Rod, but I cant help feeling the NHS would be better off if people like yourself had just stayed in Britain during the 70s and 80s and paid some tax instead of jetting off to sunnier climes

 Female contestants on ITVs Love Island have been accused of toxic femininity for making some of the blokes on the show cry. Given the general tone of this tawdry series, that doesnt surprise me. But honestly, men complaining about being bullied by women... Sorry guys, but that really does require the tiniest of tiny violins.

Tess the secret of Vernons success

Then again, Vernon Kay was clever enough to marry Tess Daly, left, undisputed Queen of Strictly, and therefore of the BBC

How has Vernon Kay landed the job as replacement for Radio 2s mighty Ken Bruce? Its like trading in a Jaguar E-Type for a Vauxhall Corsa. Then again, he was clever enough to marry Tess Daly, left, undisputed Queen of Strictly, and therefore of the BBC. A case of behind every B-list presenter theres a great woman desperate to get the blighter out from under her feet

 Dame Joan Collins is spitting tacks having almost been knocked down on a pavement by a masked cyclist with no lights. I almost got hit the other day, and not for the first time. When I told the cyclist there was a cycle superhighway inches away, he told me to f-off. The least they can do is use them. This type of menace is a plague.

V&A tribute shows Bowie was A BIT BETTER than adequate

David Bowies costumes, guitars, hand-written songs and other paraphernalia are to get their own wing at the V&A.

Judging by the ecstatic reaction, there will be queues round the block. Not bad for Bowie, right, a skinny boy from Brixton whose vocal ability was described by teachers as adequate.

David Bowies costumes, guitars, hand-written songs and other paraphernalia are to get their own wing at the V&A

 My inbox is full of emails from outfits such as M&S and the British Heart Foundation. They ask: Prefer not to hear about Mothers Day? No doubt some marketing aide with a 2:1 in Woke Studies from the University of Microaggression, Snowflakeville, has been paid handsomely to dream up this strategy. But dont they realise that by sending such an email they are, of course, telling me about Mothers Day whether I like it or not? Tofu brains!
She documents her life as a mother of four in Demark on TikTok

An American mother who is living in Denmark with her four children has opened up about adjusting to life in Copenhagen, where babies nap outside in strollers and couples sleep with their own duvets.

Annie Samples, 36, from Texas, has more than 200,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents what it's like to raise a family in one of the happiest and safest countries in the world.

The expat, who uses the handle @annieineventyrland, told DailyMail.com that Copenhagen is 'just so peaceful' that you 'really feel the safety straightaway.'

'If you act like it's not peaceful and act more neurotic you kind of stick out like a sore thumb,' she said. 'So I try to just go with the flow.'

Annie Samples, 36, from Texas, was living in Portland, Oregon, and had never left the U.S. when her husband's company opened an office in Denmark and offered him a job

The couple relocated to Copenhagen with their three sons in May 2019, and three years later, they welcomed their daughter, who is now 10 months old

Samples was living in Portland, Oregon, and had never been outside of the U.S. when her designer husband's company opened an office in Denmark and offered him a position.

'My husband had always said that he wanted to live in Copenhagen. He had visited here when he was much younger and just really liked it,' she explained. 'With that said, we didn't really have any plans to move internationally.'

The couple relocated to Copenhagen with their three sons in May 2019, and three years later, they welcomed their daughter, who is now 10 months old.

Samples recalled carrying residual stress from her life in the U.S. for a couple of years after they moved, but it melted away over time.

'You start to realize what things you were stressed out about without even realizing it,' she shared, saying she feels privileged to not have to constantly worry about mass shootings.

'That not being something that I have to think about anytime I enter a public space is just a huge weight off of our shoulders.'

Denmark has more restrictive gun laws and a significantly lower rate of gun violence compared to the U.S., where more than 100 people have already died in mass shootings less than two months into 2023.

Samples has more than 200,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents what it's like to raise a family in one of the happiest and safest countries in the world

Samples is grateful for Denmark's high taxes, which provide free health care. She recently shared how she received a bill for $6,000 after taking her daughter to the ER in Texas

In one of her popular videos, she documented her urgent care appointment in Denmark. She insisted she has never had an issue with long wait times or subpar care

The mom of four explained that she checks in with her yellow health card and never receives a bill. She also uses her health card at the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions

Samples is also grateful for Denmark's progressive taxation, which provides free universal health care and education to residents.

The average Dane pays a tax rate of around 45 percent, but the mother of four said it's worth it for the healthcare alone.

'People are like, "Oh, your taxes are so high. That's horrible," but we are saving money being here with three very active boys,' she said of her sons, who are ages eight, six, and four. 'We have definitely gotten our money's worth.'

When Samples was visiting Texas with her family last month, her daughter had a stomach virus and had to be taken to the emergency room. They received a bill for $6,000 and had to figure out what would be covered by their travel insurance.

Samples told DailyMail.com that if her daughter needed to see a doctor in Denmark, she would call a non-emergency line and have an appointment scheduled. She would scan her yellow health card upon her arrival and wouldn't have to fill out any paperwork.

'When you're finished, you just leave the hospital and that's the last time you think of it,' she said. 'You don't get any bills. Nothing. You just walk out and you're done. It's just all included in the taxes that we pay here.'

The stay-at-home mom believes that living in a country like Denmark, where you don't have to worry about medical bills, 'improves your quality of life.'

Samples was a month pregnant with her daughter when she received life-saving medical care in Copenhagen after an ovarian cyst ruptured. She needed emergency surgery and lost over a liter of blood.

Samples went viral last September when she shared a video about the Nordic tradition of letting babies sleep outside in their strollers year-round

The mother of four included footage of her daughter's stroller parked outside a cafe and on their balcony at home

The tradition has been passed down from generation to generation, and it is common to see strollers with sleeping babies outside houses, apartments, and local businesses in Denmark

In the winter, Samples will put her baby girl in a merino wool body suit, pants, socks, and a hat as a base layer. Depending on how cold it is, she will bundle her up in a fleece snuggle suit

The stay-at-home mom also has a cozy footmuff that attaches to her stroller, which is like a sleeping bag for her daughter

She said that when people hear about giving birth in Denmark, they expect it 'to be very hands off,' but she 'actually had so much care and attention' during her high-risk pregnancy.

'There were definitely less luxuries compared to my American births,' she noted. 'But everyone was lovely. I'd say the biggest difference was that I gave birth at 7PM, and I was in my house sitting on my bed that night at midnight. I was able to give birth and then leave right after, so I thought it was great.'

Through the Danish healthcare system, she received regular visits from a baby nurse who checked on her and her newborn and offered her parenting tips.

Samples said her baby nurse encouraged her to let her daughter sleep in her stroller outside, a common practice in Nordic countries.

'They say it's healthy for the baby,' she explained. 'When you live in a society where your healthcare professional is encouraging you to do this you're like, "Oh, I should do this. I should work on getting comfortable doing this."'

In 1926, Icelandic doctor David Thorsteinsson published a pedagogy book that argued parents should let their children sleep outside in their strollers to get fresh air, even in cold weather, to strengthen their immune systems.

The tradition has been passed down from generation to generation, and it is common to see strollers with sleeping babies parked outside houses, apartments, and even local businesses in countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Iceland.

A 2008 Finnish study found that children 'took longer naps outdoors compared with naps taken indoors.'

'When you live in a society where your healthcare professional is encouraging you to do this you're like, "Oh, I should do this,"' she told DailyMail.com of letting her daughter sleep outside

Samples thinks a lot of people who saw the video assumed she was parking her baby outside of a shopping mall for hours on end when, in reality, she is always keeping an eye on her

She keeps a portable baby monitor inside her daughter's stroller, which has made her feel more comfortable about the practice

Through the Danish healthcare system, she received regular visits from a baby nurse who recommended having her daughter nap outside in her stroller

Samples has adopted the practice and will leave her daughter outside when she visits a cafe or shop, but she is constantly checking on her.

'That part of my American brain has been really difficult for me to let go of, but I'm trying to get more chill about it,' she said. 'They also have these portable baby monitors that are wonderful that are really sensitive so you can hear every single little noise that is made  or not made. So that definitely helps me feel comfortable.'

She added that there is a Danish way of dressing babies in the winter months to keep their body temperature regulated during their outdoor naps.

Samples will put her baby girl in a merino wool body suit, pants, socks, and a hat as a base layer. Depending on how cold it is, she will bundle her up in a fleece snuggle suit and a footmuff that attaches to her stroller, which is like a sleeping bag.

'They seem quite toasty in there, and [the Danish] have certain [safety] guidelines,' she said. 'You are supposed to feel the back of their neck to make sure that they're not getting too sweaty or anything. There's a big emphasis on making sure your baby's not overheated.'

Samples thinks it's a 'great practice,' and unlike most American moms, she doesn't have any concerns about her daughter being abducted because of how safe she feels in Denmark.

She went viral last September when she shared a video about the Nordic tradition, including footage of babies sleeping outside in their strollers and her daughter napping on their balcony at home.

'Parents always keep a close eye or have a baby monitor in the stroller,' she explained in the clip. 'Babies here don't get kidnapped because no one wants the responsibility of someone else's kids.'

Samples and her husband have also become devotees of sleeping with two small duvets instead of one large one, which is another Scandinavian practice

'When we moved into our permanent apartment, we tried the one duvet again, and we were like, "No, absolutely not,"' she recalled. 'So now we do the separate duvets'

Samples can speak and read a little Danish, while her sons have become fluent through immersion. She misses things about the U.S. but hopes to live in Denmark for the rest of her life

'Denmark is very peaceful and relaxing, and I think that's really good for me to be living in a place like that,' she said

The post has been viewed 16 million times and has received more than 73,000 comments, both positive and negative. Some online trolls called it 'child abuse' and claimed she 'should be in jail.'

Samples told DailyMail.com that she thinks a lot of people who saw the video assumed she was parking her daughter outside of a shopping mall for hours on end when, in reality, she is always keeping an eye on her.

'You pop into a little boutique or a small grocery store where you can see them out the window,' she said. 'It's a lot less shocking and more natural than it probably sounds to a lot of people.'

Samples and her husband have also become devotees of sleeping with two small duvets instead of one large one, which is another Scandinavian practice.

She said that when they first moved, they were staying in a furnished apartment and had separate duvets, which she had never seen before. She loved that they no longer had issues about who was hogging the covers at night.

'When we moved into our permanent apartment, we tried the one duvet again, and we were like, "No, absolutely not,"' she recalled. 'So now we do the separate duvets Everyone in the house has their own duvets, including the baby, and it's just very cozy.'

Samples hopes to live in Denmark for the rest of her life. She can speak and read a little Danish, while her sons have become fluent through immersion. However, there are still things she misses about the U.S. in addition to her family and friends.

'There's just so much convenience. There's really so much good food. It's just fun and exciting,' she said of her native country. 'Denmark is very peaceful and relaxing, and I think that's really good for me to be living in a place like that. But sometimes my kids see how life is in the U.S. and they're like, "Oh, we got to go back there."'
Royalists Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas have reportedly moved into a new apartment inside St James's Palace.

The Hollywood superstars, who are ardent monarchists, are understood to have rented a flat at London's oldest palace recently to be their base in the city.

Wednesday's Zeta-Jones, 53, and Fatal Attraction star Douglas, 78, are now a stone's throw from the home of the King and Queen Consort, while Princesses Anne and Beatrice are even closer neighbours.

One insider said: 'It's just perfect for their requirements when they're visiting the capital.'

Here, FEMAIL takes a look inside the palace, built by Henry VIII in the 16th century, as well as the Hollywood couple's new royal neighbours...

Royalists Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas (pictured together in January 2023) have reportedly moved into a new apartment inside St James's Palace

Palace plays ceremonial role in royal life

Princess Charlotte and Prince George hold the hands of their father, Prince William, as they arrive at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, London, for the christening of their brother, Prince Louis, who is being carried by their mother, then the Duchess of Cambridge

St James's Palace has an important ceremonial function and the accession of a new Sovereign is announced from the Proclamation Gallery overlooking Friary Court. Pictured, Prince William and the Queen Consort watch as King Charles sings an oath to uphold the security of the Church in Scotland, during a meeting of the Accession Council inside St James's Palace in London, to proclaim him as the new King

St James's Palace has an important ceremonial function and the accession of a new Sovereign is announced from the Proclamation Gallery overlooking Friary Court.

Family occasions have also been held at St James's Palace over the years - including Prince George's christening and the christening of Prince Louis in 2018 - and The Queen's Guard mounts there daily.

It also hosts up to 100 receptions each year for charities associated with members of the Royal Family.

The State Apartments are also sometimes used for entertaining during in-coming State Visits, according to The Royal Family's website.

Rentals within the palace first became available in 2015. At the time, a source said: 'In theory, anyone can apply but all prospective tenants will be subject to security and background checks.'

Offices based at the palace include the Royal Collection Trust, the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, the Chapel Royal, the Gentlemen at Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard and the Queen's Watermen.

Prince William receives Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni during an audience at St James's Palace in London on January 21, 2020

A general view of the interior of the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace, where Prince George was christened in 2013

Guests are seen at The National Pharmacy Association Reception at St James's Palace on May 04, 2022 in London

Home to Princess Anne, Princess Alexandra and Princess Beatrice

Princess Anne (pictured attending an engagement at the palace, left) - who lives at Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire - uses the palace as her city base when visiting London

Meanwhile, Princess Alexandra - Queen Elizabeth II's first cousin - also has a grace-and-favour apartment within St James's Palace, according to Hello !. Pictured, St James's Palace

Charles and Anne during a ceremony at St James's Palace on February 17, 2022 in London

Princess Anne - who lives at Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire - uses the palace as her city base when visiting London.

Meanwhile, Princess Alexandra - Queen Elizabeth II's first cousin - also has a grace-and-favour apartment within St James's Palace, according to Hello!.

Up until the autumn of 2017, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie shared an apartment within the palace.

In 2018, Eugenie moved to Kensington Palace with her husband Jack Brooksbank, while Beatrice is thought to have continued to live in the palace up until recently.

The 34-year-old royal now lives in a 3.5 million six-bedroom Cotswolds farmhouse with her husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi and their one-year-old daughter Sienna, according to The Express.

It's unclear if Beatrice has kept the palace apartment for a London-base; she reportedly paid just 1,600 a month for the four-bedroom flat, about a fifth of the market rate. But it's behind a security cordon so cannot be commercially let.

In 2021, Beatrice revealed a glimpse into her St James' Palace home, complete with sweet family photos, modern decor and chic artwork.

She showed off her central London home in an interview with parenting blogger Giovanna Fletcher, where she discussed the 'gift' of dyslexia, as well as her relationship with her husband's son Wolfie, who she described as a 'bonus child'.

Princess Beatrice revealed a glimpse into her St James' Palace home, complete with sweet family photos, modern decor and chic artwork. Pictured: 1. Pencil sketch art work 2. Family photos 3. Tasteful neutral walls 4. Photos with her husband Edo 5. Trendy mirror 6. Dresser and trinkets

Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi attend Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse on June 15, 2022

Clearly keeping family close to her heart, the royal's living room was filled with photos of herself and Edo, as well as snaps from her travels across the world.

Images on the wall appeared to show her with her parents Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson as well as her sister Princess Eugenie.

As well as the photos, the white walls were adorned with black and white pencil art.

Interior design expert Benji Lewis, suggested that the glimpse into Beatrice's home shows her 'accessibility' as it 'didn't appear like a 'former royal residence'.

Speaking exclusively to FEMAIL, he explained: 'The backdrop suggests someone with an interest in creating a homely, welcoming interior, who enjoys structure and a sense of calm and who's unbothered by blending contemporary elements with more traditional ones.

'The quatrefoil mirror is a great shape - notably in its chunky modern frame - yet the prints on the left in their simple giltwood frames are more traditional, one in particular being finished with what looks like a detailed mount.

'There's also an accessibility to things, the backdrop doesn't say "formal Royal residence'" on the contrary the room has a gentle, friendly calm feel to it, notably with the inclusion of a multitude of framed photos, likely of friends and family.

'Lighting wise there's seemingly been given thought to the positioning of the overhead spots, to highlight the mirror and the two prints, so we can assume that when the overhead lighting is (likely) dimmed it's a soft effect that's achieved.

'The soft grey walls are gentle and unshowy, an uncomplicated easy canvas for showcasing possessions and unthreatening as a backdrop for virtual appointments'.

A lover of the arts, Beatrice has attended many events at the National Portrait Gallery among others, while her sister Eugenie is the director of London gallery Hauser & Wirth.

Showing she's up to date with interior design trends, Beatrice also opted for a neutral off-white wall, which highlighted her photos which were framed in black wood.

She also added a statement mirror to the room, as well as a dresser which houses more trinkets and framed photos. Reflected in the mirror was long white curtains covered in a red and blue tree print.
She's expecting her second child with her husband Jack Brooksbank - and Princess Eugenie showed off her growing bump after stepping out for dinner in Notting Hill.

The pregnant royal, 32, looked effortlessly chic in a black dress and camel coat as she enjoyed a night out with Mr Brooksbank in London on Thursday.

Putting on a fashionable display, Eugenie added a touch of glitz to her ensemble with a collection of gold necklaces.

The Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson's daughter completed her look with a black handbag and matching ankle boots, while keeping her hair in a stylish bun.

Her outing comes after it was revealed the royal paid a secret visit to California last week amid speculation she and her husband are looking for houses in California.

She's expecting her second child with her husband Jack Brooksbank - and Princess Eugenie showed off her growing bump after stepping out for dinner in Notting Hill

She made an incognito appearance at the Frieze LA VIP art show held at Santa Monica Airport on February 16.

Dressed in a pink jacket and black roll neck, the royal could be seen on her phone as she attended the show.

While it is not known how long Eugenie was in California for, it seems quite likely she caught up with her cousin Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle while visiting the state.

Santa Monica airport is just 90 minutes drive from the exclusive celebrity enclave, Montecito, where the couple live.

Eugenie is known to be close to Harry  she was pictured with her cousin at the Super Bowl last February, and in his memoir, Spare, Harry writes that Eugenie and Jack were the first Royals to meet Meghan.

Of this first meeting, Harry wrote: 'I remember Euge hugging Meg as if they were sisters.'

In the early days of Meghan and Harry's relationship, Eugenie and her now-husband Jack went on double dates with the couple.

They also visited Toronto, Canada, to see the pair after the Prince had travelled to be with Meghan during her time filming legal drama Suits.

The pregnant royal, 32, looked effortlessly chic in a black dress and camel coat as she enjoyed a night out with Mr Brooksbank in London

Putting on a fashionable display, Eugenie added a touch of glitz to her ensemble with a collection of gold necklaces

The Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson's daughter completed her look with a black handbag and matching ankle boots, while keeping her hair in a stylish bun

Eugenie went on to visit Prince Harry and Meghan last February, when she joined her cousin to attend the Super Bowl in Los Angeles.

She was also the only member of the royal family to feature in personal photos shared in Harry's Netflix documentary.

One sweet snap of Prince Andrew's daughter, 32, in the second episode shows the pair out for a bike ride along a palm tree-lined stretch of pavement in California.

A source told MailOnline at the time: 'Harry and Eugenie have always been close ever since they were children. He always makes her laugh. They share a sense of humour.

'She is friends with Meghan too, and was close to his two previous girlfriends Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas. It was Eugenie who helped set up Harry and Cressida. She refuses to abandon him. She is a very loyal lady. She is not one for taking sides.

It comes after an insider told Mail On Sunday Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack could be about to do their own Megxit as they may be considering following Prince Harry and Meghan to sunny California after the birth of their second child.

Her outing comes after it was revealed the royal paid a secret visit to California last week amid speculation she and her husband are looking for houses in California

She made an incognito appearance at the Frieze LA VIP art show held at Santa Monica Airport on February 16

Eugenie went on to visit Prince Harry and Meghan last February, when she joined her cousin to attend the Super Bowl in Los Angeles

It comes after an insider told Mail On Sunday Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack could be about to do their own Megxit as they may be considering following Prince Harry and Meghan to sunny California after the birth of their second child

At the moment Jack and Eugenie, who have just announced they're expecting a sibling for two-year-old August, split their time between the UK and Portugal, where Jack works in high-end property development

The Sussexes have been sending 32-year-old Eugenie, the youngest daughter of Prince Andrew, details of homes close to where they live in Montecito, a source claimed.

According to Emily Prescott, the couple are also looking at homes in the West Hollywood area of Los Angeles, and they plan to rent first before taking the plunge and snapping up a property.

America won't be totally unfamiliar territory for Eugenie, who spent two years living in New York between 2013 and 2015, when she worked for the auction house Paddle8.

At the moment Jack and Eugenie, who have just announced they're expecting a sibling for two-year-old August, split their time between the UK and Portugal, where Jack works in high-end property development.

Although he recently took a job at Discovery Land Company with property tycoon Mike Meldman, a transition is likely to be fairly smooth as the company's core properties are dotted around the United States.

A source said: 'With a growing family, it all feels like it is about new starts. This isn't just a pipe dream.'
An 88-year-old widower has become the 'most famous person in Benidorm' after his friend posted a message on Facebook asking holidaymakers to look out for him.

Retired shoe seller Derek Flynn, from Rhyl, Wales, decided to go on a solo holiday to the Spanish resort to relive his memories of his wife, Maevis, who passed away two years ago.

Worried about his pal, Nigel Hobdey, 61, took to a Benidorm Facebook group to ask anyone who spotted his friend to 'say hello' and look out for him during his 21-day break, according to The Sun.

Now, father-of-five Derek, who has no smartphone, has become an unlikely social media sensation - with fans eagerly sharing beaming selfies with the widower online to reassure his loved ones he's doing OK.

Derek has apparently posed for at least 2,000 selfies, adding: 'I cant walk down the street without someone stopping me. Its blown up. Ive gone from nothing to massive.'

An 88-year-old widower (pictured centre) has become the 'most famous person in Benidorm' after his friend posted a message on Facebook asking holidaymakers to look out for him

Holidaymaker Brenda Atherton, 69, told the publication: 'We were dying to meet him. Hes the most famous person in Benidorm.'

Derek, who enjoys singing Dean Martin songs at the holiday destination's bars and looks like American actor Robert De Niro, according to his fans, paid 1,200 for his break.

He said: 'The ladies start screaming my name and ask me if I want a drink... Id never say no to a selfie. Im having the time of my life.'

Nigel admitted that after his Facebook post, he received thousands of comments, before hundreds of pictures followed.

Mary, who is celebrating her 18th birthday, told the publication that 'legend' Dereck is also 'all over Instagram'.

Retired shoe seller Derek Flynn, from Rhyl, Wales, decided to go on a solo holiday to the Spanish resort to relive his memories of his wife, Maevis, who passed away two years ago

Worried about his pal, Nigel Hobdey, 61, took to a Benidorm Facebook group to ask anyone who spotted his friend to 'say hello' and look out for him during his 21-day break

Derek is due to fly back to the UK on Monday, according to The Mirror, after Nigel helped the pensioner book the holiday and drove him to Manchester Airport on February 5.

Nigel said Derek, who is occasionally forgetful, is of 'sound mind', adding: 'Some people are saying you shouldn't have done it, he's vulnerable blah blah blah.

'With Derek, there's people looking out for him all the time, walking him back to the hotel, he's got eyes and ears out there everywhere. And these hotels are like old people homes, they look out for you.

'There's people out there wishing they were Derek,' concluded Nigel.
A woman who is bullied online because of her 'lazy eye' has revealed how cruel trolls told her to 'stay off the road' after she passed her driving test.

Elley Davies, 19, from Pembrokeshire, Wales, first developed strabismus at the age of four, but after she refused to wear glasses, her eye turn becoming more and more prominent over the years.

She now only has 20 per cent vision in her left eye while her right side is working in overdrive so she can see.

The model, who went viral on TikTok recently, has passed her driving test on her first try after 'dreaming' about being able to drive for 'so long', reported The Daily Star.

However, cruel trolls have commented about her driving after she shared the news that she had passed her test on social media.

Elley Davies, 19, from Pembrokeshire, Wales, first developed strabismus at the age of four, but after she refused to wear glasses, her eye turn becoming more and more prominent over the years

She said: 'When I passed I did a before and after test video, counting down the hours until the test and then the last clip was me holding the certificate.

'The video has over one million views, with people commenting "stay off the road" or the usual eye joke comments and people asking how I can drive, just stupid questions and comments.'

However, Elley added: 'I'm okay with hate because there are people who just don't understand what it's like to have a visible insecurity, we all have them, mine just happens to be out on show, which makes them think they've got the advantage to judge.'

The beauty therapy student has over 221, 000 followers on her TikTok @mselleymay and her videos have gained over 4.9 million likes due to her glam makeup looks while she confidently showcases her condition.

Elley told The Daily Star: 'I have people turn and look the way my eye is facing because they aren't sure if I'm talking to them or the person next to them, it does get challenging. That's my only reason for regretting not wearing glasses.'

The teenager explained how her squint began when she was just four-years-old.

She now only has 20 per cent vision in her left eye while her right side is working in overdrive so she can see

The model, who went viral on TikTok recently, has passed her driving test on her first try after 'dreaming' about being able to drive for 'so long'

Her parents started noticing her eye 'started to get lazy' when she was tired, but it became more prominent with time.

WHAT IS A STRABISMUS? If a person suffers with strabismus, one eye looks directly at the object they are viewing and the other eye is misaligned. It can face inward (esotropia, 'crossed eyes' or 'cross-eyed'), outward (exotropia or 'wall-eyed'), upward (hypertropia) or downward (hypotropia). Strabismus can be constant or intermittent. About one in 20 children have a squint, or strabismus, but exotropia is far less common. Squints usually develop during the first three years of life, but can appear later. It is often spotted in early childhood, sometimes within weeks of a baby being born. Many historical painters suffered with the condition, including: Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas and Rembrandt. Lady Louise Windsor also is believed to have the condition. Advertisement

Her older brother suffered the same condition, however decided to wear glasses - with Elley confessing his turn is now 'pretty much straight.'

She began wearing glasses more during her primary school years, but received some harsh comments from her peers.

When she moved into secondary school, she began receiving 'nasty' comments from boys.

However Elley explained how she learned to deal with it, saying: 'Comments still bothered me but I got better at hiding it by laughing with them and taking the joke on further, that way they could be straightforward to my face without hurting me, because I was laughing with them, and that continued through secondary school too.'

She began making TikTok videos for fun because she 'liked dancing and lip syncing.'

She said she didn't expect to have a big following until she posted a video of herself doing a makeup tutorial.

It quickly wracked up thousands of views, and Elley gained 470,000 followers on the platform.

She even attracted attention from well known influencers including Tana Mongeau and Georgia Louise Harrison.

However despite the positive feedback from some of her fans, Elley still has to deal with online abuse from others.

Luckily Elley has learnt to deal with the negative comments and even replies to some of the trolls in her popular TikTok videos.

The TikToker said she loves making content on the app and a few negative comments wont stop her enjoying it.
While Kate Middleton has recently taken up a new role - as the Princess of Wales - not all her previous occupations have been quite so lofty.

Before joining the Firm in 2011, when she wed Prince William, the future Queen worked in a series of surprisingly normal jobs.

Ahead of going to university, teenage Kate took on some 'back breaking work', earning a pittance as a deckhand in Southampton.

And after leaving education, she famously worked in fashion, taking on a role as an accessory buyer for high street brand Jigsaw. Her final foray into the world of work ahead of joining the royals, was working for her family business, Party Pieces.

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the jobs Kate Middleton took on before she became a royal...

'Back-breaking work' as a deckhand in Southampton

The Princess of Wales' first job was hands on, as a deckhand at the Ocean Village Marina in Southampton. Pictured in Cowes in 2019 after she married Prince William

One of the first jobs the now-Princess of Wales is known to have worked at sounds like a surprisingly hands-on role for the royal.

Ahead of going to university in Scotland (where she famously met her husband-to-be Prince William), like many others her age, Kate took on low-paid work.

Over a four-month period, she worked as a deckhand at the Ocean Village Marina in Southampton.

One of the skippers Kate worked under at the time, Cal Tomlinson, spoke to author Katie Nicholl for her biography Kate: The Future Queen.

He said: 'It was back-breaking work. Kate mucked in and was very professional. She fitted right in, although she did stand out for being so pretty.

'She spoke well, she was very attractive, and she an air about her. She was competent and confident but very unassuming.

'She was polite and respectful to whoever was in charge of her and neat as a pin. She was never wore any make-up; she was naturally beautiful.'

A 'terrible' waitress during her university days

Like many other students, Kate once took on a waitressing job, admitting in 2019 she was 'terrible.' Pictured in London in 2019

These days, Kate has the means to be waited on hand and foot if she likes, but this was not always the case.

Like many other students, Kate took on some waitressing while she was at university.

It was during the 2019 broadcast of Christmas TV special A Berry Royal Christmas, that the princess opened up about her hospitality experience to show host Mary Berry.

During one segment, Mary prepared a non-alcoholic cocktail, which she then passed to Kate to take over to guests.

This prompted Kate to quip: 'Reminds me of my university days when I did a bit of waitressing.'

When Mary asked if she was good at the job, Kate responded very honestly.

She laughed, and replied: 'No, I was terrible!'

First foray into the world of fashion

After leaving university, Kate - who was then the girlfriend of Prince William - landed a job with a major fashion chain.

At the age of 24, she took on a role as an accessory buyer for high street brand Jigsaw around the end of 2006.

Speaking to confirm the appointment, a Jigsaw spokesperson said at the time: 'We can confirm that Kate joined our staff two or three weeks ago as an accessory buyer for Jigsaw and Jigsaw Junior. We can't comment any further.'

According to reports, the future Queen had already helped out the brand at a fashion shoot, where she ran errands, fetching cups of tea and snacks.

When Kate was hired by Jigsaw, it was owned by fashion tycoons John and Belle Robinson - close family friends of the Middleton's.

At the time, the appointment was described as a major coup for Jigsaw, having the woman who was expected to marry the future king among its staff.

Although she left the brand in 2007, to go and work for her family business Party Pieces, the Princess of Wales still appears to be a fan, and has been spotted wearing items of its clothing in recent years.

Working for the family business

The Princess of Wales, pictured with her sister Pippa and her mother Carole Middleton in 2011, also helped out her parents with the family business, Party Pieces, when she was younger

After leaving her role at Jigsaw, Kate went on to work for her parents' business, Party Pieces.

The party decoration supplier is owned by Kate's mother Carole Middleton. It was founded in 1987 when Carole was looking for inspiration for her daughter Kate's fifth birthday party.

She realised there was a gap in the market and set up the company that offers time-pressed parents an easy choice of imaginative parties for their children.

While it may have started as a tiny operation working from the Middletons' kitchen table, it is now a much larger business employing some 40 people and working internationally.

The brands best-selling Party Pieces Collection features products such as plates, napkins, cups, hats, balloons, treat stands and decorations.

All three of her children have worked for it at some point, with Kate joining in 2007, after leaving her job at Jigsaw.

Her role, according to reports, included working as a website designer and photographer for the business.

She left Party Pieces in January 2011, ahead of her April wedding to Prince William.

A royal aide confirmed her departure from the company, saying she was planning to 'concentrate full-time on preparing to become a member of the royal family'.
All of England's worst performing GP practices were today named and shamed by a damning analysis.

MailOnline can reveal that 264 practices across the country are giving patients sub-standard care.

Every single one has now been flagged on our fascinating interactive map that links to all the inspection reports  allowing you to read, for yourself, exactly how they're judged by regulators.

Some 42 GP practices  marked red on our map  were ranked 'inadequate' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

MAILONLINE APP USERS CAN USE THE MAP BY CLICKING HERE

Best areas for GPs Proportion of GP practices rated as 'outstanding' Derbyshire: 19.59% Cumbria: 19.3% Devon: 16.07% Nottinghamshire: 15.2% Northumberland: 15.15% Advertisement

Worst areas for GPs Proportion of GP practices rated as 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement' Bedfordshire: 10.8% Kent: 9.5% East Sussex: 9% North Humberside: 8.7% Cornwall: 8.5% Advertisement

Another 222 were classed as 'requires improvement', according to data. These are shown as orange.

This accounts for roughly 5 per cent of all 6,000-plus GP surgeries in England.

The analysis, by medical negligence solicitor firm Patient Claim Line, looked at the inspection reports published as of the beginning of February.

The CQC watchdog rates each practice as either 'outstanding', 'good', 'requires improvement' or 'inadequate.'

The worst county for GP practice performance was Bedfordshire, where one in ten practices are either 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement.'

Read more: Maybe the receptionist will see you now? Fury as data reveals there are more admin staff than GPs themselves at practices Advertisement

Of the area's 65 surgeries, just one  The Ashcroft Practice in Luton  was rated inadequate, while six require improvement.

In Kent, the proportion was 9.5 per cent  22 of its 231 practices.

It was only marginally better in nearby East Sussex, where 9 per cent of surgeries were 'inadequate' or 'require improvement'.

By contrast, Humberside and Northumberland do not have a single practice rated either 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement'.

Derbyshire and Cumbria also recorded the highest proportion of surgeries rated outstanding, with 19.59 per cent and 19.3 per cent, respectively.

GP surgeries have been plagued with issues throughout the pandemic.

In recent months, patients have continually expressed their frustration over a failure of GP services to return to pre-pandemic levels of access, particularly regarding face-to-face appointments.

But why Britons are struggling with their surgeries is a complicated issue.

GPs say their surgeries are overwhelmed due to the pressures of the rising and ageing population, a lack of government funding and a shortage of doctors.

NHS statistics show there were fewer than 6,500 practices open in England this year down from 8,100 in 2013.

Practice closures put even more pressure on the family doctors that remain, as patients from those that shut their doors join 'soulless' mega-practices.

A growing population and shrinking workforce mean the staffing crisis has worsened in all but one of the 106 health districts in England. In Blackburn with Darwen, there are 2,915 patients per fully qualified GP, making it the worst-served area. The number is up by a quarter since 2016. Portsmouth comes second bottom, with 2,821, and Hull third last with 2,805

According to the latest NHS data published last week, the number of patients registered with a GP in England has also increased by more than four million, or 7 per cent, between December 2016 and December last year. On average, the number of patients per GP increased from 1,981 to 2,273  a rise of 292

According to the latest data GPs now only account of a quarter of the the primary care workforce, outnumbered 2-to-1 by admin staff, of which over half are receptionists

According to the latest NHS data published last week, the number of patients registered with a GP in England has also increased by more than four million, or 7 per cent, between December 2016 and December last year.

Meanwhile, the number of fully qualified full-time equivalent family doctors fell by 1,945, or 7 per cent over the same period.

On average, the number of patients per GP increased from 1,981 to 2,273  a rise of 292.

Many GP bodies now warn that family doctors are responsible for too many patients, with some parts of the country now having over 1,000 patients per doctor.

Experts have said this is both unsafe for patients  who are rushed through appointments by doctors with massive workloads  and also contributes to burnout among GPs.

Many family doctors are choosing to retire in their 50s, move abroad or leave to work in the private sector because of complaints about soaring demand, paperwork and aggressive media coverage.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, told MailOnline: 'It's testament to the hard work and dedication of GP teams that despite the intense workload and workforce pressures they are working under, more than 95 per cent are rated good or outstanding by the CQC.

'Where practices are struggling, they should be supported to improve  their CQC rating shouldn't be used as a stick to beat them with.

'GPs and our teams want to deliver safe, timely and appropriate care to all our patients, wherever they live, but years of underfunding and poor workforce planning means general practice is struggling.

She added: 'Last year, 340m patient consultations were made in general practice, 9 per cent more than in 2019, yet numbers of fully qualified, full time equivalent GPs fell by 754 over the same period.

'We need to see Government devise and implement a new recruitment and retention strategy that goes beyond the target of 6,000 more GPs it pledged in its election manifesto, with initiatives to target under-doctored areas.

'We also want to see steps taken to cut bureaucracy so that GPs have more time to deliver care to the growing numbers of patients who need it, wherever they live.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson also told MailOnline: 'Overall more than 95 per cent of GP practices have been rated as good or outstanding, and we continue to work tirelessly to ensure people get the care they need across the country.

Less than seven in ten GP appointments in England (68.3 per cent) were held face to face in December. It marks the second month in a row that the figure has fallen after peaking at 71.3 per cent in October. Eight in ten consultations were in-person pre-pandemic. But the figure has so far failed to bounce back

GPs say their surgeries are overwhelmed due to the pressures of the rising and ageing population, a lack of government funding and a shortage of doctors. NHS statistics show there were 36,622 individual fully qualified GPs working in the NHS in England, as of December 2022. In Full Time Equivalent terms of 37.5 hours a week, this equates to 27,375 full-time fully qualified GPs

They added: 'We are improving access to general practice with almost 90,000 more appointments every working day of 2022 compared to the previous year.

'The number of doctors in general practice has also risen by almost 500 in 2022 compared to 2021.'

An NHS spokesperson also said: 'The majority of surgeries across the country are rated 'good' or 'outstanding', with the most recent GP patient survey results showing more than seven in 10 people reported having a good overall experience of their GP practice.

'The NHS has invested record amounts in primary care including support to local systems to improve services, with GP teams working flat out to deliver millions more patient appointments compared to before the pandemic.'

Associate solicitor and team leader at Patient Claim Line, Francesca Paul said: 'Following a review of the CQC's most recent inspections to date, we have highlighted that East Sussex is the county with the highest proportion of GP's currently rated as inadequate.

'We are fortunate in this country to have access to an excellent NHS, with many outstanding GPs and healthcare providers.

'But when negligence does occur, it can be devastating; and you are well within your rights to investigate and speak with a professional team to help put it right.'
This week, Sir Chris Witty slammed the 'appalling' actions of vape companies

Pictures taken by MailOnline show the colourful vapes being marketed to kids

You'd be forgiven for thinking these vibrant and colourful displays are inside sweet shops.

But they are, in fact, perfect examples of the predatory marketing tactics which are Britain's child vaping epidemic.

As well as being packaged in an array of eye-catching colours, manufacturers sell e-cigs in child-friendly names and flavours. Some even lure children in using cartoon characters, experts fear.

All of the below displays are paraded in shops on London's Oxford Street or nearby. Yet it's a familiar sight everywhere.

Almost every high street in the country now has a designated vape shop and e-cigs are sold for as little as 5 in virtually all newsagents.

Puff Stuff is one of the vape brands being sold in shops, with child-friendly flavours such as vanilla custard and raspberry slush

The brightly coloured displays are seen in shops on Oxford Street labelled as toy, sweet and gift shops

Unlike tobacco, however, the devices don't need to be hidden away behind shutters, despite some containing as much nicotine as a 50 cigarettes.

Sir Chris Whitty this week called for a major clampdown on firms who get children hooked on e-cigs with their 'appalling' marketing tactics.

Giving evidence to the Commons health and social care committee, he demanded officials do 'everything we can' to reduce vaping among youngsters.

Despite it being illegal to sell e-cigarettes to under-18s, their use has been surging for years. Figures show rates have tripled in less than a decade.

In a stark warning to MPs, England's Chief Medical Officer added: 'I think everyone agrees that marketing vaping... to children is utterly unacceptable.'

And Sir Chris singled out disposable vapes, which include Elf Bars, as being 'clearly the kinds of products which look as if they're being marketed at children'.

Vapes are devices which allow you to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke, which do not burn tobacco and do not produce tar or carbon monoxide.

But, despite health chiefs insisting it is safer than smoking, it is not risk-free.

E-cigarettes still contain harmful toxins, according to a study by researchers at the Medical University of Silesia in Poland.

Pictures taken by MailOnline show London high streets littered with brightly-lit shops full of colourful vaping products.

Products with names such Nasty Salt, Fruity Clouds and Puff Stuff are found sold in gift and sweet shops, alongside CBS gummy worms and a vape cartoon called Cush Man.

And the devices have child-friendly flavours such as cherry berry, vanilla custard and raspberry slush.

Nasty Juice, one of the other vape brands, has flavours called devil teeth, asap grape and fat boy.

Giving evidence to the Commons Health and Social Care Committee on preventing ill health, Sir Chris said officials must do 'everything we can' to reduce vaping among youngsters.

He was asked by Conservative MP Dr Caroline Johnson about vaping becoming a 'fad' among teenagers.

Some even have cartoon characters n the vape products, such as this one called Cush Man

Fluorescent vape products can be seen among CBD products such as gummy worms

Another brand of vape is called Fruit Clouds, which has flavorus such as Cherry Berry and Strawberry Apple

Many of the shop displays are covered in fluorescent lights with shelves full of products that could be mistaken for sweets or toys

Despite their bright and child-friendly colours, some of the products contain more than 600 puffs of nicotine

She said vapes were 'heavily marketed at children, which is developing into a whole generation of teenagers completely addicted to sucking little nicotine coloured pop things'.

Sir Chris replied that there was agreement that existing smokers should switch to vapes because vapes were the healthier option compared with cigarettes.

But he added: 'I think everyone agrees that marketing vaping, an addictive product, with, as you imply, unknown consequences for developing minds, to children is utterly unacceptable.

'Yet it is happening. There's no doubt it's happening because, although from a low base, the rates of vaping have doubled in the last couple of years among children.

'So that is an appalling situation.'

Last month, former health minister and paediatrician Dr Johnson urged MPs to back her bill banning the devices.

She claimed prohibiting the sale of gadgets like the Elf Bar, one Britain's most popular vaping products, would prevent an 'epidemic of teenage nicotine addicts'.

Vapes contain 'known carcinogens' and have been linked with harms similar to those faced by smokers, Dr Johnson told MPs.

'E-cigarettes are very new and some members in this House may recall there was a time when cigarettes themselves were considered safe,' she added.

The gadgets are judged to be much safer than smoking by top experts.

Health officials believe e-cigarettes can play a key role in weaning the remaining 5million smokers in Britain off tobacco and putting an end to the killer habit.

The Government has set an ambition to become the smoke-free by 2030, and sees e-cigarettes as a vital tool to helping people quit.

However, their long-term effect on health remains a mystery and doctors fear a wave of lung disease and even cancer in the coming decades.

Experts also fear the high nicotine content might increase blood pressure and cause other heart problems.

Campaigners have called for vapes to be slapped with graphic cigarette-style warnings  which have been a mainstay of tobacco products in the UK since 2008  to dissuade young people from picking up the habit.

In this shop, vape products are sold alongside water pipes used for smoking cannabis

Other flavours of Puff Stuff include sour apple, watermelon, strawberry, grape and mint

Some products were found in shops advertising themselves as selling sweets, drinks and gifts

Vape products could be seen with names such as Nasty Juice, coming in flavours called devil teeth, asap grape and fat boy

Despite warning signs on the products, the bright colours from far away could suggest they are sweets

Vapes are currently only required to be sold with labels warning that they contain nicotine.

And a Government-commissioned review published last June recommended a review of vape flavours to ensure they don't appeal to young people.

The paper, by former children's charity chief Javed Khan, also recommended that cartoons and images on vaping products be banned.

Nine per cent of pupils aged 11 to 15 vape  the highest rate logged since records began in 2014  according to NHS Digital data released in September.

Girls appear to be driving the trend, with the vape rate doubling among them in the last three years, while it has remained flat among boys for five years.

The rate rises sharply among older pupils. Among 15-year-olds, one in five girls and one in seven boys vape, compared to one in 100 boys and girls aged 11.

Around three-quarters of current vapers are also regular or occasional smokers. Only three per cent have never smoked.

Friends (45 per cent), newsagents (41 per cent) and relatives (35 per cent) are the most likely sources of e-cigarettes for student vapers.

This year, Waitrose became the first major supermarket to stop selling disposable vapes over worries about youngsters using them, along with concerns about the environment.

Earlier this month, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda removed at least some Elf vape bars from sale after a Mail investigation found certain products contained illegal levels of nicotine.

Another shop found selling vape products on Oxford Street claimed to sell gifts and toys

This shop of Edgware Road sells many types of e-cigarettes in pastel and bright colours

One vape brand called Nasty has several different types of products, such as Nasty Juice and Nasty Salt

Elf bars, one of Britain's most-used vapes, could be seen filling shelves in many of the shops visited

Professor Stephen Turner, consultant respiratory paediatrician at Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, told MailOnline last year: 'It's reasonable and proportionate to be really worried about this.

'Whilst we don't know for sure long term effects - it's not going to be healthy because nicotine is addictive and harmful.

'It makes my blood boil You walk down any high street and you will see vaping shops with bright-coloured, child friendly flavours.

'You have to suspect they [companies] are targeting their products - which contain nicotine - to engage people at that critical age to become lifelong addicts.
Doctors are warning about the dangers of vaping during pregnancy after a Texas woman nearly lost her baby and died following a fatal reaction to the device.

The 28-year-old, who was otherwise healthy, was forced to have an emergency C-section at 36 weeks after suffering severe hemorrhaging in her lungs.

The internal bleed is thought to have been caused by repeated damage to the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood to and from the heart.

Long-term and regular use of vapes exposes the lungs to a cocktail of chemicals and volatile compounds that can wreak havoc on our cells.

Regular vaping can spell disaster in pregnant women, carrying myriad risks from lung scarring and other pulmonary injuries to asthma and cardiovascular damage

The woman was severely oxygen deficient and had a rapid heartbeat. When antibiotics failed to work and her condition got worse, doctors had to perform an emergency cesarean section in order to save her unborn baby's life.

Doctors at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo, Texas, detailed the tale in a case study published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences.

They wrote: 'There has been very limited published literature on the adverse effects of electronic cigarettes despite their introduction in 2007.

'The use of vaping has overtaken the standard electronic cigarettes in our current time and it has been a challenge to understand the health risks that they have due to the rapidly changing designs and lack of long-term follow-up.'

The pregnant patient's husband confirmed she had been vaping 'regularly' during her pregnancy and had shortness of breath, though he did not say for how long.

It is the latest case to highlight the dangers of vaping, which is now being linked to heart problems and cancers associated with normal cigarettes.

Vaping and using other smokeless tobacco products during pregnancy can have disastrous consequences even after the baby is born.

Researchers in Sweden recently determined that pregnant women who used snus, a type of smokeless tobacco, increased the risk of their baby dying before its first birthday by 70 percent.

E-cigarettes are laden with mysterious chemicals and volatile organic compounds that coat the lungs in harmful chemicals, causing irritation and potentially irreversible damage.

Vaping also carries many other health risks from lung scarring and other pulmonary injuries to asthma and cardiovascular damage.

Nicotine in e-cigs has been found to directly injure a baby in utero by causing abnormal lung, heart, brain, and immune system development, which carries lifelong consequences.

The pregnant woman, who remained nameless in the case report, appeared at the hospital in Texas complaining of shortness of breath. The doctors did not disclose how long she had been experiencing her symptoms.

It is unclear whether her doctors knew right away that she was an avid vape user or if they only found out about that from her husband later on.

Doctors determined that her heart rate was abnormally high at about 110 to 120 beats per minute. She was hypoxemic, meaning oxygen levels in her blood were lower than normal.

Indeed, her oxygen saturation, that is, the amount of oxygen you have circulating in your blood  was between 80 and 86 percent on room air.

A normal oxygen saturation level for a pregnant woman her age, though, hovers around 95 percent.

Her condition worsened and eventually she needed an emergency C-section.

After the procedure, there was blood in the patients urine. She was also coughing up blood, which convinced doctors to perform a bronchoscopy, a procedure that gives doctors a look at the lungs and air passages.

It was then that they discovered she had a diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH).

A DAH is a type of hemorrhage characterized by bleeding into the small air spaces in the lungs where carbon dioxide leaves the blood and oxygen enters it. This type of hemorrhage can sometimes be linked to an autoimmune disease such as small-vessel vasculitis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

But tests to determine whether the woman was contending with an autoimmune disorder turned up nothing suspicious.

And her prothrombin time, that is, the time it takes for a clot to form in a blood sample, was within normal limits.

It was then that they consulted with her husband who told the doctors that she was a regular vaper. Their conclusion then was that the patient was having vaping-induced platelet dysfunction and strongly advised her to quit.

They wrote: Given that our patient had a negative autoimmune workup, normal platelets, and a normal coagulation profile we are hypothesizing a direct correlation between platelet dysfunction and vaping.

Although our patient may have had a direct inhalational injury from vaping that led to her DAH, it does not completely explain why she was also having hematuria. There were no complications during her cesarean section nor did the patient have abdominal or uterine bleeding that would suggest otherwise.

Despite claims by e-cigarette makers and firms that lobby for their special interests that the devices are a safer alternative to smoking, doctors urge pregnant women to cease all nicotine use entirely.
Women using IVF were twice as likely to suffer preeclampsia, which can be fatal

Women who get IVF are twice as likely to suffer potentially deadly pregnancy complications, a major study suggests.

But the overall risk is still low and researchers say the findings should not put women off having fertility treatment.

Researchers tracked 2.2million pregnancies, including 5,874 that were technology assisted  such as via IVF, intrauterine insemination and other techniques.

They found a much higher risk of preeclampsia  the onset of high blood pressure and possible organ damage  in the IVF group. This put expectant mothers at higher risk of eclampsia, which can lead to seizures, coma and death in serious cases.

Previous research has suggested IVF may pose a higher risk because the egg may implant in a different place in the womb, causing the placenta to grow differently.

Women who get IVF are twice as likely to suffer potentially deadly pregnancy complications compared to those with traditional pregnancies, the study suggested

The prevalence of pre-eclampsia in the United States has remained relatively stable between 1980 and 2010, but severe pre-eclampsia has become more common

The fertility market has boomed in the US as more technologies become available to hopeful couples and it is only predicted to rise

Kim Kardashian and Beyonce both suffered from the condition, which is thought to affect around five percent of pregnancies in the US and UK.

Dr Ahmad Mustafa, a cardiologist at Staten Island University Hospital who led the study, described the results as 'surprising'.

'Few studies have previously looked into cardiovascular complications of technology-assisted pregnancies in such detail, and none of them have assessed these complications at a national level.

'Dedicated cardiovascular care needs to be incorporated into the routine follow-up of patients conceiving through assisted reproductive technologies.'

The study is the latest to show women getting IVF are at higher risk of pregnancy complications.

Another published just in September warned they faced a 74 percent higher risk of pre-eclampsia compared to women with traditional pregnancies.

Scientists are already aware IVF pregnancies may pose a higher risk to mothers, and leave them more likely to suffer gestational diabetes or placenta praevia  where the placenta partially or completely covers the opening of the uterus.

Researchers looked at the rates of cardiovascular complications for more than 5,874 technology-assisted pregnancies and more than 2.2 million traditional pregnancies between 2016 and 2018.

They examined rates of cardiovascular problems in the technology-assisted pregnancies, including preeclampsia, between the two groups.

Women who got pregnant with technological assistance were twice as likely to develop preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia often starts after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and can be fatal for both mother and baby.

There may be no symptoms, but high blood pressure and protein in the urine are key signs.

The condition is common, affecting roughly one in 25 pregnancies in the United States.

It can develop into eclampsia  seizures and/or comas which can be life-threatening.

Having pre-eclampsia once can raise the risk of having it again in a second pregnancy.

The study did not look at the potential reasons behind the association, but researchers said the higher risk could be due to the fetus developing differently.

Women with technology-assisted pregnancies were also found in the study to have a 33 percent longer hospital stay than women who fell pregnant naturally.

Dr Mustafa said: 'Having twice the risk of preeclampsia compared to traditional pregnancy should not discourage people from considering assisted reproductive technologies.

He added: 'However, it is important to follow up with a cardio-obstetrician or maternal fetal medicine specialist for appropriate care and timely management if cardiovascular issues arise.'

The full findings will be presented at The American College of Cardiology conference on March 4-6 in New Orleans.
A leading Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expert panel says people with weakened immune systems do not need more than one annual Covid booster.

The Advisory Committee For Immunization Practices (ACIP) said Friday that there is no reason for the elderly or immunocompromised to receive multiple shots in one year.

This goes against current CDC guidance, which recommends people most vulnerable to the virus to receive shots more often than once a year.

They did recommend the group who are most at risk from the virus receive a dose each fall, just before the winter season where the virus generally surges.

It is yet another setback for America's leading public health agencies, whose trust from the public has fallen dramatically during the Covid pandemic.

The Advisory Committee For Immunization Practices (ACIP) said Friday that there is no reason for the elderly or immunocompromised to receive multiple shots in one year.

In the spring of 2022, the CDC recommended immunocompromised and people over age 50 receive an additional shot if they had received their first booster at least four months earlier.

The CDC advisers did not vote on new recommendations for how the COVID-19 shots should be administered on Friday.

But ACIP advised showing flexibility in recommendations for those with compromised or weakened immune systems to allow more frequent doses for those most vulnerable to severe COVID.

Both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are working on how to best update COVID vaccines to target circulating variants annually, similar to flu vaccine campaigns.

About 53.3million people in the United States - around 16 percent of the US population - have received a Covid booster shot since updated versions of the vaccines were authorized in September.

That compares with 230million people, around 70 percent of the population, that received an initial two-dose series of the Covid vaccines.

The CDC's guidance being shunned by its own panel of experts is another setback for the beleaguered agency.

A report in January led by Julie Gerberding, who served as the CDC's director from 2002 to 2009, said the agency needed a reset and was not fit for purpose.

'The big picture here is, we all see the need for a reset of the agency,' Julie Gerberding, who served at the CDC's director from 2002 to 2009 and now a CSIS member, told CNN.

'Some of the reset has to be structural, some of it needs to be activity that only Congress can really manage and that has to do with how the budget is structured, the size and scope of the budget and the flexibilities or lack thereof.'

Another hindrance the agency faces, according to the report is that it is based in Atlanta, more than 500 miles from the Nation's Capital.

While communication is simplified in the digital age, experts fear the proximity of CDC from the federal government hub adds unnecessary barriers.

An NBC poll last year found that only 44 percent of Americans, and just one-in-five Republicans - trusted the agency on Covid.

Many lost trust in the agency because of its support for school closures, letting mask orders on public transportation last too long, and for its slow reaction to changes in the pandemic landscape.

This is the second major call for an overhaul of America's leading public health agency.

In August, Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the agency, internally told her staff the agency must focus more on public health issues and less on the publishing of research.

She had taken her post in early 2021, mid-way through the pandemic.

Experts said the CDC was slow to recognize how much virus was entering the US from Europe, to recommend people wear masks, to say the virus can spread through the air, and to ramp up systematic testing for new variants.

The decision resulted from a review Walensky ordered in April after the CDC faced heavy criticism for its mixed messaging on the Covid pandemic.

The agency gave muddled and confusing recommendations on masking and other mitigation efforts.

The guidance during the pandemic has been 'confusing and overwhelming,' according to the CDC briefing document provided by the agency to the New York Times.

The review also found that the CDC often takes too long to publish data people needed to make decisions and that the agency should be more transparent about what it does and doesn't know, a CDC official told the Wall Street Journal.

There were staff shortages too with those tasked with leading the CDC's covid team rotating out after a few months.
Chocolate and biscuits are my downfall. And the annoying thing, as many will know, is that when you have a serious craving, it can be incredibly difficult to resist and extremely distracting.

For many people its chocolate, for others its crisps, pizza, biscuits or even something more exotic. Typically that food is sugary, salty and fatty, or combines all three.

Whatever it is, however much youve resolved not to give in to temptation, you find yourself going to the shops, having persuaded yourself you deserve a little treat. Next thing you know, youve scoffed the lot and wondering why you did it.

One big driver of cravings, for women at least, is hormones. As they wont need me to tell them, at certain points in their menstrual cycles, many women may find themselves beset by intense cravings, particularly for carb-rich foods.

Now a new study has identified what triggers these cravings. Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health asked 259 women, aged 18 to 44, to keep track of their cravings over the course of a couple of months. They also underwent blood tests.

At certain points in their menstrual cycles, many women may find themselves beset by intense cravings, particularly for carb-rich foods

More than half of them reported having cravings for sugary or salty foods, which were particularly intense in the week before their periods began.

What was more surprising was that the onset of these food cravings was linked to rising levels of chemicals in their blood that trigger inflammation in the body. The researchers are now exploring whether drugs that reduce inflammation will also reduce cravings.

It is not clear why a rise in inflammatory factors might trigger cravings, but it could be linked to the activity of microbes in our guts.

There is plenty of research showing that gut microbes play a key role in inflammation, with some producing chemicals that boost it, while others dampen it.

There is also mounting evidence that those clever microbes can also influence our behaviour by turning the food we eat into chemicals that travel through the blood to our brains and reward us for eating the sort of foods those particular microbes need to survive.

Dopamine, the feel-good hormone, is produced in large quantities by gut microbes and it is not a huge stretch to imagine that the reason the microbes are producing it is to reward you for doing what they want you to do  such as eat more cake. And the more cake you eat, the more the sugar-loving microbes flourish and encourage you to eat more of it.

Similarly, gut microbes produce mood-controlling chemicals such as serotonin and GABA. Since cravings are often linked to feeling stressed or anxious, this is another way to make you eat more.

How strong is the evidence that all this is happening?

There is plenty of research showing that gut microbes play a key role in inflammation, with some producing chemicals that boost it, while others dampen it

A few years ago, researchers at Arizona State University conducted a review of the scientific literature to try to answer the question: Is eating behaviour manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota [gut bacteria]?

The answer was a resounding yes. They concluded that: Microbes have the capacity to manipulate behaviour and mood through altering the neural signals in the vagus nerve [which runs from the gut to the brain], changing taste receptors, producing toxins to make us feel bad and releasing chemical rewards to make us feel good.

So how can you use this knowledge to your advantage? The trick is to increase your intake of foods that allow the good gut microbes  i.e. the ones that reduce inflammation and dont encourage unhealthy cravings  to flourish.

I recently wrote about research looking at the impact of consuming more of a particular type of fibre, called inulin, on food cravings  the idea being that by doing so you are boosting the good bacteria, such as bifidobacteria.

Dr Evelyn Medawar, a neuroscientist at the Max Planck institute in Germany, told me about a study shed completed where overweight volunteers were given daily supplements containing 3g of inulin.

After two weeks the participants experienced major changes in the mix of microbes in their guts  and brain scans showed their food cravings were greatly reduced when they were shown images of fatty and sugary foods.

You can buy inulin supplements and 3g a day is considered safe  but you may experience side-effects such as bloating, diarrhoea, constipation and cramps from such concentrated doses.

I personally prefer to get inulin from food: garlic, leeks, onions, asparagus, bananas and Jerusalem artichokes are good sources.

After chatting with Dr Medawar, I decided to give it a go and have spent the past couple of months ensuring that most days Im having plenty of inulin-rich foods.

And it seems to be working; I now rarely crave chocolate or sugary biscuits and can quite happily say no to dessert. Long may it last!

Garlic, leeks, onions, asparagus, bananas and Jerusalem artichokes are good sources of inulin

Doing more exercise may also help. In a study published last April, researchers at Washington State University in the U.S. trained a group of rats so that when they pressed a lever, they were rewarded with a tasty, high-fat pellet.

The rats were then divided into two groups: one group was put on a regimen of 30 days of treadmill running, while the others stuck to their regular activity levels.

After 30 days, both groups were put back in the cage with the levers and high-fat pellet dispenser. The rats that had done intense workouts were much less interested in pressing the lever, suggesting that exercising had reduced their craving for the fatty foods.

So next time you feel a craving, instead of going to the shops, try going for a run or brisk walk. Hopefully, by the time you get back, the cravings will have passed.
You don't need to be surrounded by grass to struggle with hay fever as city-dwellers suffer from worse symptoms, a study suggests.

Scientists from the University of Manchester analysed 35,000 reports of symptoms over five years by 700 people.

Participants logged how often they experienced a runny nose, sore eyes and wheeziness on an app, along with where they lived.

The researchers found that all three of these symptoms were twice as severe in urban areas than in rural ones.

Increasing pollution may be to blame, study author Professor Sheena Cruickshank says.

You don't need to be surrounded by grass to struggle with hay fever as city-dwellers suffer from worse symptoms, a study suggests (stock photo)

Cannabis usage a teen 'time-bomb'

Rising cannabis use among British teenagers is a 'ticking time-bomb' for mental health services, one of the UK's most senior psychiatrists has warned.

One in five 16- to 19-year-olds regularly use the Class B drug, according to the ONS.

Dr Shubulade Smith, the incoming president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, tells the BMJ: 'If you start smoking cannabis regularly, your risk of developing a psychotic illness is five times higher by the time you're 25.

'The Government should see this as a potential ticking time-bomb.'

Studies have linked frequent use to psychosis and schizophrenia. Dr Smith has called for a public campaign to inform young people on the harms of cannabis. She says: 'We have lots of education about alcohol, so we know what it does. But that's not the same for cannabis.'

One in five 16- to 19-year-olds regularly use the Class B drug, according to the ONS (stock photo)

Two thirds of people in the UK have avoided the dentist in the last year due to financial concerns.

Older adults were most likely to be impacted, with 81 per cent of over 65s saying they had swerved dental check-ups due to the high costs.

A survey of 2,000 Britons also shows an 83 per cent rise in child tooth extractions in the last year, which dentists say is related to a lack of check-ups.

Meanwhile, the survey, by medical solicitors Patient Claim Line, found that half of respondents avoided opticians and a third didnt buy prescription medication.

A spokesman from the legal firm advised those with financial concerns to visit the NHS website for advice and support with covering medical costs.

The Covid-19 pandemic slowed the development of new diabetes and cancer drugs for eight out of ten of the worlds biggest drug companies.

The focus on creating tests and jabs for the virus caused the delay, according to a poll of 100 pharmaceutical chiefs by medical firm LogiPharma.

Only one in five say they are still on track to launch every drug pipelined for this year. Senior executives at the firms say safety trials of new drugs ground to a halt to help beat the virus.

A 2021 analysis found that Covid-19 had disrupted 1,200 clinical trials of medical treatments worldwide.
Disabled people are being deprived of the chance to live independently because profiteering firms are cynically inflating the prices of medical aids, campaigners claim.

Many crucial disability devices, such as walking aids, specialist beds and wheelchair repairs, are not covered by Government funding schemes or NHS care.

In almost all cases, cash-strapped families are forced to turn to private companies to access these aids and pay for them out of their own pockets, with the price often reaching thousands of pounds.

Campaigners have raised concern over the practices of some firms, which they argue are cruelly hiking the costs of basic medical devices. 'The spiralling costs of disability aid products is a huge issue,' says Rachel Oakes, occupational health services manager at the charity The Disabled Living Foundation.

'Whenever a disability label is put on products, companies add noughts to the end of the price. There's a huge difference between what these devices cost to make and what providers sell them for.

'It's clear that many are realising how profitable this business can be.'

ESSENTIAL: Fraser Simmonds, nine, needed a 15,000 wheelchair to get around as he has the degenerative muscle condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy

This newspaper has learned of a series of cases where firms have attempted to charge well above market rates. One major UK supplier told a family from Essex that the cost of replacing the battery in their disabled nine-year-old son's wheelchair would be 560, when the mother was able to find the same battery on sale for 50.

A disabled 78-year-old from Cheshire was also told by a specialist firm that the wheelchair ramp he needed to get out of his house would cost 6,500, but a local joiner carried out the adaptation for just 900.

In another case, a woman from Northern Ireland with a muscle-wasting disease had to spend 136 on a plastic water bottle  a simple container with an extended straw and an attachment which clips on to a wheelchair  which was triple the price charged in the US.

'Everything is more expensive for disabled people,' says Fazilet Hadi, head of policy at Disability Rights UK. 'There is almost a monopoly within the sector  equipment and adaptations are often procured through a small range of companies, and installed by a smaller range of specialists, often at a higher mark up than conventional home upgrades.

'Companies often claim they are catering to a small, specific group of people. But a fifth of people in the UK are disabled in some way  it's a big market.'

About two million people in the UK with disabilities need their home to be accessible  fitted with ramps, handrails, wide door frames and downstairs shower rooms  so they can move around safely. Just over half of these are wheelchair-users, according to NHS figures.

DISABILITY FACT For a quarter of families with disabled children, extra costs amount to more than 1,000 every month. Advertisement

Most local authorities have a budget to pay for small changes to disabled people's homes, provided they cost under 1,000. But any further costs require what is known as a disabled facilities grant. The means-tested scheme provides up to 30,000 for home adaptations in England. Residents in Wales can receive up to 36,000, while the grant isn't available in Scotland. Most councils won't provide the extra cash if families have savings of more than 6,000.

People are also waiting longer than ever to receive these funds.

Last year, The Bureau Of Investigative Journalism found people were waiting up to 18 months to get a grant signed off. This is largely due to a lack of occupational therapists, who have to visit the property and approve changes before a grant is approved.

'Since the pandemic, we've seen the number of occupational therapists go down and the number of disabled Britons go up,' says Lauren Walker, an adviser to the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. 'People are waiting longer than ever to get a grant, and the effect is that more and more are having to get these changes done privately.'

As a result, Ms Walker says families fork out for housing adaptations which are often inappropriate for their needs. 'I've heard of a number of occasions where someone paid upwards of 10,000 for adaptations, and then went to the council to get it to cover the costs.

'When the council visited, it was discovered that the contractors had fitted something which wasn't at all what they needed, so the council often wouldn't cover it.

'In one case, the company turned a bathroom into a wetroom for someone with mobility issues. But they put in a step, which made it completely pointless as the woman was in a wheelchair.'

Another problem area in terms of financial support is the upkeep of wheelchairs. Although the NHS provides them for free, it won't cover the costs of adjustments.

One patient affected is nine-year-old Fraser Simmonds, who has the degenerative muscle condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

His mother Shelley, 43, says when he was four, the family had to spend 15,000 on a motorised wheelchair after the NHS refused to pay.

'We were told that at that age he could be pushed in a standard wheelchair,' she says. 'We wanted the wheelchair so he could socialise with friends and not rely on someone else's help. But it was denied because apparently social interaction is not a medical need. I couldn't believe how much it cost  we could've got a new car at that price.'

Now Fraser has outgrown the wheelchair, the NHS has agreed to pay for the replacement.

However, only the most basic features are covered by the health service. Important add-ons, including lights so Fraser can see the pavement when out with his parents in the evening, and a riser  an adjustable seat which lets him reach high-up objects  have to be paid for by his parents. The lights cost 250 while the riser was 750.

'It's disappointing we had to pay for simple things that help give him some independence,' says Shelley.

When the battery for Fraser's wheelchair died, the NHS told Shelley there were no funds to repair disability aids. The company which makes the chair informed her that replacing the battery would be 560. But friends were able to find the same battery on Amazon for 50.

'I'm on a group chat with other people in the disabled community, and so much of the conversation is just sharing tips about where to find the cheap stuff,' says Shelley.

Michaela Hollywood from County Down, Northern Ireland, lives with a rare degenerative condition called SMA2 which weakens her muscles. The 32-year-old charity worker requires a wheelchair and struggles to hold items.

Last year Michaela attempted to order a cup which would allow her to drink water unaided. Known as a Giraffe Bottle, it has a long, flexible straw and clips on to a wheelchair.

The product costs roughly 47 in the US, but UK supplier NineLife sells it for 136, which it claims is a markdown from the original price of 224.

NineLife did not respond when approached for a comment.

Giraffe Bottle (pictured) it has a long, flexible straw and clips on to a wheelchair which allows disabled people to drink water unaided

Giraffe Bottle costs roughly 47 in the US, but UK supplier NineLife sells it for 136, which it claims is a markdown from the original price of 224

DISABILITY FACT The total annual spending power of UK families with at least one disabled person is an estimated 274billion. Advertisement

Michaela says that as there was no other option online, she was obliged to pay the high price. 'That much money for a plastic cup? I was flabbergasted,' she says.

In many cases, families are told they must purchase the expensive specialist equipment before a loved one can return home from hospital or a care home.

The family of 98-year-old Trudi Clinton say they had to pay nearly 1,500 for an adjustable bed which was used for only a few months. Her granddaughter Justine Glenton, 57, says the family wanted to remove Trudi from her care home in Yorkshire following the isolation she faced in the pandemic. 'She wasn't allowed outside for a year. It was terrible,' says Justine.

But staff told the family their grandmother could leave only if there was an adjustable bed at home  one which could be raised or lowered so she could safely get in and out. Just one local company could supply it.

'The only option to get her out of the care home was to pay 1,500 for a bed,' says Justine, 'We barely ever used the adjustable feature. These companies have you over a barrel because there is no other choice.

'A few months later, my grandmother fell in the bathroom and broke her hip. The NHS supplied us with another bed for free which had an air mattress to prevent bed sores while she recovered.

'We've decided to keep it and sell the adjustable bed.'

But this, it turns out, isn't simple. Justine says they put it up for sale online but no one has bought it. 'Not even for a few hundred pounds, so it's just sitting unused,' she adds.

Experts say that when people return barely used disability aids to the NHS, a significant amount are thrown away every year, so items such as walking frames and sticks simply go to waste.

'The worry is that if these items get repurposed but they break and injure someone, then the hospital will be held liable, so they don't take any risks,' says Jan D'Arcy, a retired specialist dementia carer who still does volunteer work at care homes. 'I've even seen wheelchairs thrown in the bin, despite the fact that they are perfectly usable. Some of it is even still in its NHS packaging.

'It's heartbreaking when you consider how much money people spend on these things.'
Ali Wheatland, 35, can't get life-extending drug in England but could in Scotland

But it's not available in England as NICE say cost effectiveness is 'uncertain'

Ali Wheatland is living on borrowed time. The 35-year-old has cervical cancer that has spread to the glands in her pelvis.

Last year doctors told her she had run out of options. The only thing they could offer was gruelling chemotherapy, combined with another drug  which is unlikely to keep her tumours at bay for much longer. Yet if Ali, a charity worker from Torquay, Devon, lived at the opposite end of the UK, she'd be granted a glimmer of hope.

Last week health chiefs in Scotland approved the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab for use in patients with advanced cervical cancer who no longer respond to other treatments.

The drug, which helps the body's fighter cells to find and destroy tumours, is used widely in other cancers, including lung, skin, breast and bowel. Recent studies show it can extend the life of cervical cancer patients by an average of eight months  but it's not available in England.

Ali says: 'We don't know when the chemo will stop working  when it does I'm all out of options.

'Yet, I could move to Scotland tomorrow and get pembrolizumab. It seems so unfair.'

OUT OF OPTIONS: Ali Wheatland, 35,m whose cervical cancer has spread

Now campaigners are calling for the rest of the UK to have access to it. Kate Sanger, head of policy at cervical cancer charity Jo's Trust, says: 'Pembrolizumab should be available to all eligible patients across the country.

'Health chiefs are denying thousands of women the chance to not only live longer, but also stay healthier, continue working, looking after their children and contributing to society.'

Huge strides have been made in cervical cancer prevention in recent years. Cases of the disease in British women in their 20s have dropped 87 per cent since 2008. This is largely thanks to a vaccine, offered to girls, which protects against the sexually transmitted infection human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes 95 per cent of cervical cancers.

Jo's Trust say that while prevention is vital, health chiefs too often 'disregard' the 850 patients who die of the disease every year because of ineffective treatment.

'There is so much talk about prevention  which of course is a good thing  but at the same time you've got an entire community of patients who feel they are forgotten about,' says Ms Sanger.

About 3,000 Britons are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, most of whom are in their 30s.

Up to eight in ten people will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives, and it is usually harmless. But 14 of the 150 strains can, in some cases, invade the genital tract where it causes cells to mutate and turn cancerous.

Girls aged 12 or 13 have been vaccinated against these strains of the HPV virus since 2008, and boys of the same age since 2019. It's hoped this will mean the generations to come are all but immune to cervical cancer. However, women now aged 32 or older missed out on the jab during a catch-up programme for then 18-year-olds.

England's cervical screening programme  a check-up every three years for women aged 25 to 50, and every five years aged 50-64, to look for signs of HPV  is a weapon against the disease, preventing 70 per cent of deaths.

Last week health chiefs in Scotland approved the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (pictured) for use in patients with advanced cervical cancer who no longer respond to other treatments

If caught early, cervical cancer can be cured through surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. But when the disease spreads outside the cervix, one in three won't survive five years.

As well as further chemotherapy, patients will be offered operations to remove cancerous parts of the body, including the womb, ovaries and vagina. If this fails, or the cancer returns, there are few options.

In 2015, a therapy called bevacizumab was approved in England as it was shown to help shrink tumours in this set of patients when given alongside further chemotherapy. But it only extends life expectancy by about three months.

Pembrolizumab, given via a drip in hospital, works by blocking a protein on the surface of the body's fighter cells called PD-1 that prevents them from finding the cancer. Once PD-1 is deactivated, the immune system can spot diseased cells and attack.

Potential patients will have tests to ensure they are in the two thirds of cervical cancer sufferers who respond to PD-1 treatment.

International trials, published in the New England Journal Of Medicine in 2021, showed that adding pembrolizumab to chemotherapy can slow the growth of tumours and improve overall survival.

Two years after starting the treatment, half of the pembrolizumab group were still alive, compared to 41 per cent of those with chemotherapy alone. While those who had chemo lived for an average of 16 months, patients on pembrolizumab lived up to two years.

'It might not seem like a huge difference, but, for women who have been told they have no options left, it's massive,' says Ms Sanger.

A recent draft judgment by NHS drugs watchdog The National Institute For Health and Care Excellence (NICE) stated the cost effectiveness of the drug was 'uncertain'. A firm decision is due at the end of next month.

Ms Sanger says: 'How can you hold back a drug that is proven to keep some people alive?'
An article published on 21st February reported that Christopher Emms is in jail in Moscow following reports from Russian media outlets that he had been detained. We have since been contacted by Mr Emms who has confirmed that he is not in fact in detention in Moscow. We are happy to make this clear and have removed the article from our website.

To report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@mailonline.co.uk. To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.mailonline.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form. You can also write to Readers' Editor, MailOnline, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or contact IPSO directly at ipso.co.uk
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

D.C. writes: British Gas refuses to switch me from a prepayment gas meter to a credit meter.

I own a property that used to be tenanted, but I am now the owner-occupier.

British Gas says I have failed its credit check, yet until recently I was a British Gas customer at my previous address where I had a credit meter and never missed a payment.

Tony Hetherington replies: British Gas has been at the centre of huge controversy recently because of its policy of compelling customers to use prepayment meters which charge more than credit meters. Engineers have even forced entry to customers' homes to switch meters.

Your own problem sheds new light on this. You were a customer at your previous address, with no problems over bill payments. Yet as soon as you moved into your new home, British Gas mysteriously decided you were too risky to be allowed a credit meter, so it left the existing prepayment meter in place.

Controversial: Prepayment gas meters were forcibly installed

You contacted the Experian credit agency, which told you that your credit status was excellent. But when you informed British Gas, you were told you had to wait three months before it would allow you to reapply for a credit meter. Well, you waited three months, paying the higher prices it charged, and then you reapplied. The answer from British Gas: 'You have failed our credit check.'

As if this was not bad enough, your electricity supplier is also British Gas, and your electricity account was 190 in credit. You asked for some of this to be transferred to your gas account, but the company refused. You told me: 'British Gas is profiteering during the energy crisis by not transferring eligible customers on to credit meters, and by holding on to large credits.' It is hard to disagree.

I asked British Gas to look into this, and staff admitted they had failed to update their records to show that the property was no longer tenanted. And it was quite simply false to say that you had failed credit checks, unless British Gas automatically regards all tenants as failing them, which I hope is not the case.

British Gas has not explained why it told you that you failed its checks. One official did tell me: 'This was an administration error and we have contacted Mr C to say sorry, and have assured him that we will be completing his request as soon as possible.'

I asked for an assurance that British Gas would not hang on to the extra charges it applied while it wrongly inflicted the prepayment meter on you. It has now moved quickly to switch you to credit metering, and you are also getting 50 to make up for the higher bills you faced.

My parcel is lost... but I can't get through to DPD

M.M. writes: On December 15, I sent a parcel of Christmas gifts by DPD Local.

It was supposed to be delivered to my son and his family by December 19 but it never arrived, so they missed out on their presents, which was particularly upsetting for my grandson.

Tony Hetherington replies: You used the DPD Local service and have a receipt from the local shop which acts as a drop-off point. Staff there assured you the parcel was collected by DPD. You even insured the gifts for 150, and tried very hard to sort this out with DPD.

You telephoned, and after an hour on hold you were told you had to make your complaint online. You tried to use DPD's webchat, but gave up after three hours in an online queue.

Missing: DPD was supposed to deliver a parcel by December 19 but it never arrived

And when you did manage to make your complaint, you followed up with a fresh phone call but DPD's technology recognised your number and played you an automated response saying it was still awaiting your parcel. Weeks after you complained, DPD's website still showed your missing parcel was 'waiting for courier'.

I asked DPD to explain this, and a couple of days later DPD emailed you, apologising for the delay in replying to your claim. It told you: 'Some claims may take a little longer due to the value'.

DPD offered to transfer 150 to your bank account within several days. But it did not include the 6 you paid DPD in the first place, so in effect you would have paid to have your parcel lost. I protested, and DPD has now sent 156 to your bank account.

Debt stalls home swap

Ms M.P. writes: My late husband left the house to me in his will. The house is mortgage-free.

However, six years after his passing, Gamlins Solicitors who are the executors have still not transferred the property into my name.

I want this resolved so I can make a proper will myself.

Stalemate: Estate cannot be finalised nor the house transferred until DWP debt is settled

Tony Hetherington replies: I contacted North Wales solicitors Gamlins, and they quickly explained the problem. They told me: 'Despite our best endeavours, we are unable to finalise the transfer of the property into Ms P's name as there remains a debt owed by the deceased.'

Your late husband owed the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about 8,000. This is now the responsibility of the executors, and the estate cannot be finalised nor the house transferred until that debt is settled. You have been paying the DWP 14 a month. It could register a charge against the property and allow it to be put into your name, but you would still not be able to leave it to your own beneficiaries without the debt being paid.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
Investment fund Amati Strategic Metals is designed to generate returns from the world's march towards net zero. In simple terms, it buys stakes in companies that mine the metals crucial in the manufacture of everything from electric cars, solar panels and giant wind turbines.

It's a compelling investment case, made even more attractive by the fact the 90 million fund is run by two managers who have academic and work backgrounds steeped in metals. They know their onions.

Georges Lequime is a mining engineer who spent time working for the coal and gold business divisions of Anglo American. His compatriot, Mark Smith, is a geologist by training.

Between them, they are able to assess the financial case for the mining companies they are interested in buying for the fund. But their metals industry experience also enables them to analyse the exploration upside of individual mining companies.

This expertise, says Lequime, allows them to buy companies that are not necessarily on the radar of rival fund managers.

It's a risky approach, but if their antennae are in good order, there is the potential to make attractive investment returns. Since launch nearly two years ago, the fund has delivered a modest return of 8 per cent. It currently has 43 holdings, generating revenues from all four corners of the world.

'This is a green energy tilted fund,' says Lequime. 'Whether you are looking at electric vehicles, wind or solar power, they are all metal intensive.

That means demand for everything from lithium batteries to the copper integral to the working of wind turbines. As we go forward, we don't have enough of these metals to satisfy demand, which means new lithium and copper mines need to be brought on stream.'

The bifurcation of the world, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's geopolitical posturing, means access to strategic metals will become increasingly challenging.

It's those companies involved in developing new mines that attract the Amati investment team the most. Top ten fund holdings include Canadian-based Sigma Lithium which is close to starting the mining of lithium in Brazil  and Atlantic Lithium that has a mine in Ghana yet to go into production.

Lequime says Sigma could become a target for a mining giant such as BHP or Rio Tinto. Another holding, Lithium Americas, has just received a $650 million (527 million) investment from American car manufacturer General Motors.

The fund is also an investor in Swedish-based Talga which mines graphite, essential for the manufacture of car battery anodes.

Lequime believes silver prices could move forward in the years ahead. Unlike gold which is traditionally used by investors as a store of value, demand for silver is part driven by industrial need  for example, vital in the generation of solar energy.

A top fund holding is Canadian silver mining company Fortuna.

'Silver is an essential component in many industries apart from solar energy,' he adds. 'Its unique properties make it nearly impossible to substitute and its uses span everything from mobile phones, computers, through to cars.'

Fund management company Amati was set up 13 years ago by former professional violinist Dr Paul Jourdan  and takes its name from the 17th Century violin maker Nicolo Amati, believed to have been the teacher of Antonio Stradivari. The group manages assets of 1 billion and donates 10 per cent of profits to charities.

Annual charges for Amati Strategic Metals are one per cent. Similar funds include Guinness Sustainable Energy, BlackRock World Mining and JPM Natural Resources.
It's been a mixed reporting season for Britain's Big Four banks  NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC.

But forget the profits  City types will be well aware that the lenders have all now released their annual reports and accounts. These are always hefty tomes. This year the award for the longest report  weighing in at a doorstopping 523 pages  goes to Barclays.

Combined, the reports of the four banks add up to a whopping 1,764 pages.

Writing on the wall: This year the award for the longest report goes to Barclays

The page count is longer than Tolstoy's War And Peace. Or more than twice the number of pages in James Joyce's masterpiece, Ulysses.

Or you could instead read JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and still have some pages spare.

Pity the poor retail investors who are keen to find out more about the banks and have to wade through it all. They must wonder where to start.

M&S boss still schmoozing society set

Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Machin is used to schmoozing the society set, but last week he took it up a notch by dining with veteran actors Joan Collins and Christopher Biggins at Rules, London's oldest restaurant.

Whispers wonders whether Joan is having her arm twisted to appear in another M&S ad after starring in the 2002 Christmas commercial alongside celebs including Denise van Outen and Graham Norton.

She already sells her make-up line in M&S stores. Either way, it made for an excellent tweet, eh Stu?

Bad and bizarre news for Petra

More bad and bizarre news last week relating to Petra Diamonds' Tanzanian mining operations.

The firm said it would set aside almost 5 million to pay for damage caused last year by the bursting of a dam holding waste from its Williamson mine.

Fortunately no one died or was seriously injured, but some of the local area is still uninhabitable and Petra is having to fund humanitarian relief.

In a separate piece of dramatic news, Petra said it had got wind that part of a parcel of diamonds that was confiscated in a hoo-ha with the Tanzanian government several years ago has now been sold.

The company is frantically trying to find out more information. The rest of the City is surely keen for an end to the mystery too.

Matt Moulding lifts lid on caffeine addiction

THG founder Matt Moulding has finally set the record straight on his caffeine addiction.

His reputed 20 shots a day rose to 30 after the e-commerce firm's listing  ten triple-shot flat whites.

Some may say it explains why the shares have lost their froth, languishing at a tenth of the float price.

Aside from suffering any ill-effects of excessive consumption  anxiety, irritability, tremors and insomnia  Moulding was clearly spending so much time ordering and guzzling his coffee he had little left for anything else.

He's now ditched his fix. Let's hope that gives the shares a new high.

Contributors: Patrick Tooher and Archie Mitchell
Chinese EV makers help transform Malaysian automotive industry

Xinhua) 11:12, February 25, 2023

Cui Anqi, managing director of Great Wall Motor Sales Malaysia Sdn Bhd, speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 17, 2023. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Mr. Lim, who lives near the city of Kuala Lumpur, was quite satisfied with his recently bought Ora Good Cat electric vehicle (EV).

Ora Good Cat is an electric vehicle model under Great Wall Motor (GWM), China's leading sport utility vehicle and pickup manufacturer. Mr. Lim first saw the model when he was on business in Thailand, took a picture of the car and sent it to his wife.

Later they saw it in a car exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, and ordered it on the spot after checking out and test driving. During the Christmas holidays last year, the car was delivered to them. "My wife likes this car very much. It's powerful and quiet, can accelerate fast," he said.

GWM set up its Malaysian subsidiary in July 2022. According to Cui Anqi, managing director of Great Wall Motor Sales Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian market is very important among ASEAN countries. There are many automobile consumptions in Malaysia, but in terms of new energy vehicles, the market is still a "blue ocean" and has great potential for upgrading.

Data from Malaysian Automotive Association showed that 2,631 EVs were sold in Malaysia in 2022, which represents an 860-percent increase from 274 in 2021.

The skyrocketing increase is closely related with incentive packages adopted by Malaysian government.

"The government is truly walking its policy talk for the EV industry through various measures. This includes offering full import, excise, and sales tax exemptions for locally assembled EVs until Dec. 31, 2025, and full import and excise duty exemptions for imported EVs until Dec. 31, 2023," International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said recently at the launching of Malaysia's Electric Vehicle Industry Conference 2023.

These incentives may be adjusted in the future, however, industry insiders believe that EV is the inevitable trend.

The minister also pointed out that Malaysia aims to achieve at least 15 percent of electrified vehicles including hybrid out of the total industry volume by 2030 and 38 percent by 2040 under the National Energy Policy (2022-2040).

By 2025, the government aims to provide 10,000 public charging facilities, comprising 9,000 units of alternating current type and 1,000 units of direct current type.

Chinese automaker BYD officially launched its electric car model of Atto 3 in Malaysia in December 2022. Tengku Zafrul said at the launching ceremony that participation of the Chinese brand will benefit the development of the EV ecosystem in Malaysia.

"The trend of car consumption upgrading in Malaysia is becoming more and more obvious. We are confident that Malaysia's new energy automobile industry will achieve rapid and high-quality development in the near future," Cui Anqi said.

A customer tries an Ora Good Cat electric vehicle at a showroom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 17, 2023. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)

A customer takes a test drive of an Ora Good Cat electric vehicle in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 17, 2023. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)

An Ora Good Cat electric vehicle is displayed at a showroom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 17, 2023. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
A man was shocked to find a well-preserved animal skeleton lying behind an old cupboard - but it has left people scratching their heads about what creature it belonged to.

Andrew Higginson, who lives in the inner Canberra suburb of Cook, told Daily Mail Australia that he found the skeleton when he moved an old cupboard that had been in the property's horse stables for at least 30 years.

'The people who owned the house had horses that they used to keep up in the paddocks nearby and would bring down on the weekend,' the 68-year-old said.

'We moved the old cabinet and there was that skeleton lying in the straw.

'I thought "what's that?"

Canberran Andrew Higginson was astonished to find this very well preserved animal skeleton when he moved an old cupboard

Mr Higginson took a close up picture of the creature's formidable teeth to aid in identification

'I uncovered it and it was so big. At first I thought it could be a rat, it was very well preserved.'

The 60cm long skeleton has pronounced teeth with a particularly formidable set of bottom incisors, short clawed forearms and longer back legs with a smallish tail.

Mr Higgins posted a picture of the intriguing find on Twitter and asked for people to weigh in on what the mystery creature was.

'Found this. Mate reckons it is a big rat? Any other options?' he tweeted.

Some agreed it was a very large rat but others went with a wallaby, a small kangaroo or a cat.

Other more creative suggestions were a 'small tyrannosaurus' or the mythical drop bear.

Mr Higginson then sent the photo to a vet friend.

'At first he thought it might have been a rat but he took a closer photo of its teeth and he said "no, no it looks like a possum'",' Mr Higginson said.

The Mammals Team from Sydney's Australian Museum also said it was a possum when they were shown photos of the creature.

'It's a most likely a Brushtail Possum, Trichosurus vulpecula but there is also a chance it could be a Mountain Brushtail Possum, T. caninus,' the team said.

'The dentition and skull shape excludes cat (would have a large canine and fewer teeth) and the forelimb to hind limb ratio, excludes macropods. Large premolar excludes Ringtail Possum.'

There have been resident possums in the stables since Mr Higginson bought the property 30 years ago.

'There are still possums living in the shed,' he said.

'There are generations of possums that have taken it as their home. One with a baby we see quite regularly.'

The cupboard that hid the skeleton is being offered by Mr Higginson to anyone who wants to restore it

MrHigginson (pictured) said he was keeping the skeleton for now but hoped to find it a better home than his garage

Originally Mr Higginson was going to dispose of the skeleton but had thought better of it.

'I was going to bin it but if someone wants to take possession of it, given it's so well preserved, I've still got it in my garage at home,' he said.

'I am happy to give it to a better home. It's probably a bit lonely in my garage at the moment.'

He is also looking for anyone who wants to restore the old cupboard it was behind.

Mr Higginson has five adult children with two boys, aged in their 20s, still living at home while they study at university.

'They were quite impressed with the skeleton,' Mr Higginson said.
Mortgage rates are sky-high, rents are worse and even the price of eggs have shot up by 60 percent in a year.

So, maybe it's no wonder more and more Americans are choosing to opt out of mainstream living and are going off-grid.

A 'self-sufficiency' movement is rocketing in popularity across the continent, with fed up families ditching their homes and relocating into the wilderness where they generate their own power and even, in some instances, source all their own food.

The trend has been accelerated not only by rising living costs but also by the pandemic which caused many to reflect on their own resilience in the face of disaster.

'We're not crazy preppers or anything like that,' says Maylin Luke, 36, who moved off-grid to a ranch in Texas which her partner Blakely, 37, last year.

Maylin Luke, 36, and her partner Blakely, 37, sold their three-story home in Dallas, Texas, to move 'off-grid' to a 60-acre plot of land

The couple invested in their own $113,000 'tiny home', building their own water infiltration unit and installing an electricity pole nearby

The couple had their 'tiny home' custom-made by a company and frequently share photos of it on social media

'But lockdown did make us reflect more on what we wanted from life. And how we could be more independent.'

The couple had been living in a three-story home in Dallas, Texas, when they decided to invest in a 60-acre piece of land last year.

They then had a small cabin - or 'tiny home' as they call it - which cost them around $113,000.

They are not entirely 'off-grid' yet as they use an electricity pole and still buy groceries from their nearby town.

But soon they plan to start growing their own fruit and vegetables in a bid to become more self-sufficient.

And they have already slashed their property tax bill from around $10,000 a year to $130 as Texan law means they get an agriculture and wildlife exemption - subject to several conditions.

The couple say it was lockdown that made them reflect on the way they lived

Maylin said: 'We just wanted to get out of the city, get rid of our things and really slow down to minimize our carbon footprint'

Maylin, who quit her job in marketing to set up her own business Resting Plant Face, says: 'Before we just filled with so much stuff.

'We just wanted to get out of the city, get rid of our things and really slow down to minimize our carbon footprint.'

Around 180,000 US citizens were living off-grid in 2020, claims Home Power magazine - though some estimates put this figure as high as 250,000.

And this figure is only growing.

Consulting company Accenture forecasts that 12 percent of American households will be reliant on off-grid energy - including solar power - by 2035.

The trend is being accelerated by global energy insecurity sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

What's more the threat of climate change and more extreme weather has resulted in more power outages.

Analysis from non-profit research group Climate Central last year found that outages had increased by 64 percent between 2000 and 2021.

That revelation has spooked not just consumers but businesses too who are also moving off-grid in their droves.

'Off-grid is becoming huge in America,' says Nick Rosen, founder of Off-grid.net.

'But much of that growth is from big businesses and the military.'

Californian fresh food producer Taylor Farms, manufacturer Bimbo Bakeries and refrigerated cold storage developer Almond World are among several big businesses to have already announced plans to create their own standalone power supplies - or 'micro-grids.'

The system of 'micro-grids' has been deployed for years in the US military, where camps need to minimize power losses.

But the transition is more difficult for the everyday individual.

Danyelle Ellis, 31, and her husband Doug moved to a ranch in Arizona around 18 months ago

The couple are entirely self-sufficient thanks to their solar power system and even homeschool their children

Danyelle and Doug are living in their RV while they build their forever home on the land they own in Arizona

Mother-of-two Danyelle Ellis moved off-grid around 18 months ago and says the transition has not been without its challenges.

But in all she describes the experience as 'freeing.'

'Everything had just gotten so expensive and the world was so chaotic with the pandemic. We wanted a change,' says Danyelle, 31.

She and her husband Doug, 32, ditched their five-bedroom home in New Mexico and moved out to land they already owned in Arizona.

Now they homeschool their children - who are 13 and nine - generate all their own power using a self-built solar system and collect water from the nearest town using their water truck.

Their nearest neighbors are two miles away and, while Doug continues to commute to work in the city as a heavy equipment operator, Danyelle spends her day tending to horses on a nearby ranch.

The pair are currently living in their RV while they build their forever home on the land.

'We're saving at least $3,000 a month,' says Danyelle, 31.

'The solar system cost $25,000 but once that is in place there are no more costs.

'And my children love it. I didn't want them to be like every other kid in the city glued to their mobile phones.'
A Ukrainian refugee who fled to Sydney with her two children has shared what it was like escaping the war a year on from Putin's invasion.

Alla Storozhuk describes February 25, 2022 - the day Russia's military arrived in her home, Kyiv - as 'the worst day of my life'.

She said while Ukrainians had heard warnings an invasion could be on the way, her family had made no plans to leave their home.

'I woke up at five o'clock in the morning to bombs exploding outside my window,' Ms Storozhuk said.

'My husband told me that the war had begun and we had 20 minutes to collect our things and the children. We took one backpack each and bottles for water.

'A siren was roaring on the street, it permeated my whole body and brain with terrible fear. There were huge queues at gas stations and there was no gasoline, there was no money in ATMs.'

Alla Storozhuk (pictured with her two children) fled Kyiv on February 25, 2022, after Russian military arrived in the city

The family had just 20 minutes to gather their things and flee Kyiv after Russia's military arrived in the city on February 25, 2022 (pictured, a military cargo truck in Kyiv on February 24, 2022)

The mother-of-two described waiting three days in a 20km-long queue to cross the Polish border (pictured, the outskirts of Ukraine in April, 2022)

Ms Storozhuk, her husband and their children got in their car and hurried towards Ukraine's border with Poland, who was taking in citizens as war refugees.

She said her family was shocked to see Russian military was already in their beloved city.

'A short way towards the Hostomel Airport we saw Russian helicopters, they were trying to capture the airport. There were military men with weapons and military equipment everywhere,' she said.

'We were delirious, it felt as if everything was in a fog and I will never forget the horrible fear in my children's eyes. As parents, this was the worst thing.'

The Storozhuks drove all day until they finally reached the Polish border and joined a 20km-long queue to reach safety.

'We managed to leave that terrible place and drove all day to the Polish border without stopping,' Ms Storozhuk said.

'By the end of the second day our food had run out. Polish volunteers brought food, blankets and diapers to support the Ukrainians.'

This was where Ms Storozhuk last saw her husband before he left to join the army and help in the war.

The car in front of them also had to say painful goodbyes.

Ms Storozhuk explained: 'The father was taking his children to the border in order to somehow transfer them to his sister in Poland.

'Both he and his wife are military, so the children had to cross the border by themselves - he asked me to take them over for him.'

On the third day, Ms Storozhuk and the four children reached the front of the line to cross into Poland.

Ms Storozhuk (pictured with her daughter) said she and her two children first fled to Poland before Australia opened its Ukrainian refugee visa program

The mum and her two children were separated from her husband (above) at Ukraine's border with Poland so he could go serve in Ukraine's military

Ms Storozhuk (pictured with her daughter in their Sydney home) also helped a stranger's two children cross the border with her family after hearing both their parents were staying behind to fight in Ukraine

'I said goodbye to my husband and moved alone with four children, my two and the two I was carrying for the stranger we met in line,' she said.

'As soon as I and the children crossed the border to Poland, I handed over the other people's children to their aunt.

'(My children and I) went to Wroclaw, to my cousin, where I volunteered until Australia opened visas for Ukrainian refugees.'

CIVILIAN DEATHS IN UKRAINE The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 7,155 Ukrainian civilians deaths from the conflict so far. However, US intelligence believes the figure is much higher and in November estimated the civilian death toll could be as high as 40,000, the BBC reports. On top of that, it believes up to 200,000 Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have died. Advertisement

Ms Storozhuk had a sister already living in Australia and said she was able to obtain a refugee visa with her help.

'I flew with my children to Australia and we arrived in March last year,' she said.

'When we first arrived we lived with my sister's family. I felt a deep depression and anxiety. Crying, crying all the time.

'But thanks to my children - who I have to take care of, my sister, the Ukrainian community, Australians and kind people, I have been able to recover and return to a somewhat normal life and appreciate how important it is to be safe.'

Since arriving in Australia, Ms Storozhuk has worked hard to ensure life is as normal as possible for her children and help them to make the most of their new life in Australia.

Ms Storozkuk and her family posed for photos with Getty Images photographer Lisa Williams to show the peace they had found since fleeing the war-torn nation.

'I feel life goes on,' she said.

'There are many opportunities in Australia if you don't give up and just keep moving forward.

'I am finishing my third level of English at TAFE, my children are studying in Australian schools, my daughter is also studying in a Ukrainian school.

'I often volunteer. I graduated from an entrepreneurship course and presented my business idea at a pitch night, I also found partners that I'm hoping to start a business with for the production of healthy sausages.

'I also plan to get a local education.'

Since moving to Sydney, Ms Storozhuk has began taking English and business courses at her local TAFE and volunteers (pictured, Ms Storozhuk volunteering at St Andrews Ukrainian School in Lidcombe)

Ms Storozhuk said her family are embracing Australian life (pictured, Ms Storozhuk's daughter learning to swim at Bondi Icebergs Swim School)

As for her future, Ms Storozhuk only hopes to see her family together again.

'Now that we are safe, my main hopes for the future are to see an end to the war in Ukraine and the reunion of our family,' she said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 7,155 Ukrainian civilians deaths from the conflict so far.

However, US intelligence believes the figure is much higher and in November estimated the civilian death toll could be as high as 40,000, the BBC reports.

On top of that, it believes up to 200,000 Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have died.

Ms Storozhuk (pictured with her daughter) said she hopes the war will end soon so her family can be reunited
Aiden Rhys Bower-Miles died after being stabbed in Underwood, Qld

Two teens, 15 and 16, arrested over stabbing death of 20-year-old

Two teenagers, 15 and 16, have been arrested and charged over the stabbing death of a 20-year-old man on Friday.

The two teens were charged with the murder of Aiden Rhys Bower-Miles, who was stabbed to death in an early morning brawl that erupted between two groups at Fermont Drive, Underwood in the city of Logan just after 1am on Friday morning.

Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said Bower-Miles died as a result of a chance meeting and believed the violent end to his life wasn't in relation to any gang activities.

Two teenagers, 15 and 16, have been arrested and charged over the stabbing death of Aiden Bower-Miles (pictured), 20, on Friday

Police recovered a black Audi sedan from Helensvale shopping centre, where one of the boys was located after making a public appeal for any information regarding the vehicle (pictured)

'There was a bit of conflict, verbal conflict  (which) turned into a physical altercation,' said Det Supt Smith.

'Just a conflict  who is the tougher group.'

He described the presence of knives during the altercation as 'absolute rubbish, really'.

'A young person has been murdered over no good reason...'

'Theres no valid reason to carry a knife. I dont care what anyone says, you dont carry a knife,' Det Supt Smith said.

Police recovered a black Audi sedan from Helensvale shopping centre, where one of the boys was located, after making a public appeal for any information regarding the vehicle.

'The young ages of the pair in custody is certainly confronting and the community rightfully denounces this type of lethal violence and police stand with them in condemning this alleged horrific act,' Det Supt Smith said.

Police believe Bower-Miles didn't realise he had been seriously injured by a bladed weapon in the melee.

It is understood Bower-Miles began walking to a friend's house 100m down the road after the groups dispersed when he collapsed in the street.

Both teens were denied bail.

Queensland police say the teens were arrested and charged on Friday afternoon, following the deadly confrontation between two groups at Fermont Drive, Underwood in the city of Logan just after 1am on Friday morning

Tributes flooded in for the young man after his loved ones woke to the news he had died on Friday.

'Was not expecting to wake up to that call,' one person wrote on Facebook.

'Rest easy, kid. It's hard to think we will never get the chance to have a rum again or have a laugh at your crazy antics again #forever20.'

The 20-year-old had a love of cars and had been working at a local car workshop owned by a friend's father.

Police believe Bower-Miles didn't realise he had been seriously injured by a bladed weapon in the melee

It is understood Bower-Miles began walking to a friend's house 100m down the road after the groups dispersed when he collapsed in the street

The 20-year-old has been described as the life of the party with a laugh that could be heard from kilometres away.

'Rest in peace to another beautiful soul,' another said.

'You are loved by everyone around you and definitely the life of the party.'

'Didn't think that [Thursday] night would be your last night out, but I'm glad we got to spend it with you.'

Logan detectives at the crime scene on Friday morning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

A number of witnesses around the same age live in the nearby units and had just returned from a social function elsewhere in Brisbane when the alleged incident occurred. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

'Come home, tell us all this is just a dream and for us to stop being silly,' a third friend said.

'Can't believe it's true, this world is so f***ed up, I'm broken into a million pieces,' another wrote.

'Promise I will forever protect your mum and always be there for her. I know that's what you would want me to do.'

A crime scene has been established on Fermont Rd. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

The area around the Fermont Rd address has been made a crime scene. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Two cars were seized from the scene. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Glenn Campbell

When emergency crews arrived at the scene they found the man unresponsive.

Police and emergency services attempted to assist Bower-Miles, but he died at the scene.

'It was quite tragic; he's very young,' Det Supt Smith said.

A number of witnesses around the same age live in the nearby units and had just returned from a social function elsewhere in Brisbane when the alleged incident occurred.

Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said it was a tragedy that a young life was taken so soon. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Logan detectives have launched a homicide investigation into the death. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Two vehicles were towed from the scene, including the deceased's vehicle and a second, which contained blood.

Business owner Abbos Ahmedov told the Courier Mail he didn't think the area was safe for raising children due to the volume of crime in the area.

'Obviously it's not safe when you're raising kids here when someone gets killed out of the blue, it's shocking,' he said

'I think we need more police presence here; there's a lot of crime here.'

Neighbours reported waking up to the sound of screams in the street not longer after the alleged stabbing.

Local residents like Abbos Ahmedov woke up to a crime scene in their neighbourhood on Friday morning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell
Advertisement

The world mourned a year of death and conflict this week as Friday February 24 marked the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin's order for his aggressive Russian Armed Forces to invade Ukraine.

In the space of a year, thousands have been killed and millions have fled their homes - many of which have been destroyed by relentless missile strikes.

Ukraine's capital Kyiv saw some of the most devastating damage in the country.

MailOnline looks at before-and-after images which show how the city has recovered and repaired its buildings and infrastructure.

 Slide me  Left: A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on Vokzal'na street on April 6 2022 in Bucha, near Kyiv. Right: Cars drive on the same street, which was one of the most affected during the Russian occupation, on February 1 2023

 Slide me  Left: A man stands amid debris in front of a residential apartment complex that was heavily damaged by a Russian attack on March 18 2022 in Kyiv. Right: A man walks past a the same building on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: An apartment block in Kyiv which was damaged by a Russian missile on March 17 2022. Right: The same apartment block on February 10 2023

 Slide me  Left: Destroyed houses on Vokzalna street in Bucha town after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army April 2 2022. Right: Vokzalna street with newly built houses on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Destroyed houses on Vokzalna street in Bucha town, near Kyiv, after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on April 2 2022. Right: The same street on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Vokzalna street in Bucha filled with destroyed Russian military machinery after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on April 2 2022. Right: Vokzalna street with normal vehicles and people traffic later on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: A woman sits in a tent as people take shelter in the Dorohozhychi subway station, Kyiv, which was used as a bomb shelter on March 2 2022. Right: People walk in the same station on February 9 2023

 Slide me  Left: Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv destroyed by Russian missiles on March 23 2022. Right: The same spot on February 10 2023

 Slide me  Left: A high-rise apartment block in Kyiv that was hit by shelling on February 26 2022. Right: The same building after renovation works on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Sichovyh Striltsiv Street in Kyiv covered with debris after the area was hit by a Russian missile on March 18 2022. Right: Sichovyh Striltsiv Street on February 10 2023

 Slide me  Left: A building damaged in Russian army shelling on April 29 2022 in Kyiv. Right: The same building undergoing repair works on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Destroyed cars and houses on Yablunska street in Bucha town after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on April 2 2022. Right: Yablunska street on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Ukrainian servicemen are seen by the building which got shelled near Lukyanivska metro station, Kyiv, on March 15 2022. Right: People walk near the station on February 9 2023

 Slide me  Left: The bodies of what Ukrainian forces identified as two Russian soldiers, who were killed in fighting five days earlier on a railway track at a frontline position on March 3 2022 in Irpin. Right: Metal anti-tank barriers known as 'hedgehogs' standon the same railway track on February 7 2023

 Slide me  Left: A building damaged by Russian army shelling on April 29 2022 in Kyiv. Right: The same building after repair works later on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: A house on Vokzalna street in Bucha with destroyed Russian military machinery left nearby after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on April 2 2022. Right: The same house with renovation material in front of it later on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Ukrainians cleaning debris of a building in Kyiv which was shelled by the Russian army on March 14 2022. Right: The same building after repair works later on February 12 2023

 Slide me  Left: Policemen and forensic personnel catalogue fifty eight bodies of civilians killed in and around Bucha before they are transported to the morgue at a cemetery on April 6 2022. Right: The same cemetery on February 18 2023

 Slide me  Left: A destroyed bridge over Irpin River in Stoyanka village after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on April 6 2022. Right: The same bridge during its reconstruction work on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Residential buildings, where Russian soldiers used to be stationed, in Bucha town after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on April 2 2022. Right: The same street on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: Sichovyh Striltsiv Street in Kyiv covered with debris after the area was hit by a Russian missile on March 18 2022. Right: The same street later on February 10 2023

 Slide me  Left: Ukrainian servicemen guard the checkpoint in the Independence Square in Kyiv on March 4 2022. Right: People walk in the square on February 2,2023

 Slide me  Left: People look at the damage on a residential apartment building that was hit by a missile on February 26 2022 in Kyiv. Right: People walk past the same building on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: A makeshift barricade in the Podil neighborhood on February 28 2022 in Kyiv. Right: A man crosses the same road on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: People walk amid destruction as they evacuate from a contested frontline area between Bucha and Irpin on March 10 2022. Right: The same street in Irpin on February 7 2023

 Slide me  Left: Residents of Irpin flee heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces entered the city on March 7 2022. Right: The same bridge on February 7 2023

 Slide me  Left: The 'Friendship of Peoples' monument pictured during its demolition on April 26 2022 in Kyiv. Right: An empty space where the statue once was on February 11 2023

 Slide me  Left: A heavily damaged car on April 4 2022 in Bucha. Right: A person walks next to a car parked on the same road on February 18 2023
A British teacher whose Thai wife, known as the 'Lady of the Hills', was mysteriously murdered 20 years ago has refused to meet with detectives who flew 6,000 miles from Yorkshire to question him.

And in a new twist to the baffling cold case, MailOnline has learned that even though David Armitage decided to snub the North Yorkshire cold case team who had travelled to Thailand, he could soon find himself at the centre of a Thai police investigation into the death of his wife Lamduan Seekanya in 2004.

The case has puzzled police for nearly two decades since Lamduan's semi-naked body was found in a stream at a Yorkshire Dales beauty spot, her murder has remained a riddle.

For 15 years after she was discovered by ramblers, she was unidentified and was buried in a churchyard with only the name 'Lady of the Hills' inscribed on her gravestone.

University lecturer Mr Armitage, 59, who lives in western Thailand, has always denied any part in the killing and told journalists three years ago he would be only too happy to give the British police a statement.

David Armitage, a British university lecturer, refused to meet British detectives who flew to Thailand this week to question him over the death of his Thai wife Lamduan Seekanya

The body of his Thai wife Lamduan Seekanya (pictured), 36, was found semi-naked in a stream at a Yorkshire Dales beauty spot in 2004 - but her identity was unknown for a further 15 years

Lamduan met Mr Armitage in 1990 while he was working as a teacher in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They moved to the UK and were living in Burton-in-Kendal, Cumbria, with his parents when she disappeared. The family are pictured outside their home in Rugby, Warwickshire

Lamduan's body was found at this spot by walkers in the Yorkshire Dales in September 2004. A ripped bra was found hanging off her arm. No one in the UK reported her missing and she was buried in a churchyard with only the name 'Lady of the Hills' inscribed on her gravestone

Covid delayed the British team's trip to Thailand until this month when they worked alongside the Thai police's Department of Special Investigation (DSI), taking detailed statements from Lamduan's family and friends.

But the key witness in the case remains Mr Armitage himself.

Yesterday, the head of the DSI's foreign affairs and international relations division, Udomkann Warotamasikkhadit, said Mr Armitage had also initially agreed to come and give evidence.

But on the appointed day he refused. The police chief added: 'He said he didn't feel well and also had some personal issues.'

So the disappointed British police have headed home, at least for now.

Meanwhile a Thai government source has confirmed to MailOnine that it may launch its own investigation into the puzzling case under a law allowing murders of Thai citizens to be prosecuted wherever in the world the crime took place.

Murder in Thailand still carries a possible death penalty by lethal injection.

'If such an investigation was launched in Thailand, it would be with the collaboration of the British police,' said a Thai police source.

'No decision has yet been made, but nothing has been ruled out.'

In a major development, UK detectives also interviewed Lamduan's parents Joomsri and her husband Buasa in their village in north-east Thailand.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Joomsri, 76, wept quietly when asked about her daughter and said: 'I've answered so many questions about her. The British police were here for two days asking everything about her life and it's very upsetting to bring it all back again.'

Lamduan, 36, was living with David and their two young children at his parents' home in Burton-in-Kendal, Cumbria when she vanished in 2004.

The Seekanyas reported their daughter missing to Thai police a few weeks after her disappearance, but it is not believed that the information was passed onto UK authorities.

Mr Armitage did not apparently file a missing person report about his wife. He told the couple's children that Lamduan had left him for another man, the family say.

Joomsri believes that Mr Armitage could answer questions the family have about their daughter's final days, but say he has not been to visit them.

From what Lamduan told her, she believes the Armitages' marriage was in trouble.

The Seekanyas, Joomsri (right) and Buasa (left), reported their daughter missing to Thai police a few weeks after her disappearance in 2004, but heard nothing about her whereabouts

Joomsri (pictured), 76, spoke to detectives from North Yorkshire who flew to Thailand about the case the case this week. She told MailOnline: 'I've answered so many questions about her'

Lamduan, subject of the mysterious 'Lady of the Hills' case, married Mr Armitage within a few months of meeting him and then moved to Britain, where their two children, George and Charlena, were born. Lamduan already had an older son, Khwan, from a previous relationship

She said: 'David also lives in Thailand - why wouldn't he have come here after she went missing to talk to me and my husband? He never showed his face here.'

Mr Armitage met his wife in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, where he was teaching English in 1990.

They married within a few months and then moved to Britain, where their two children, George and Charlena, were born. Lamduan already had an older son, Khwan, from a previous marriage, who now lives in Belfast.

After Lamduan's disappearance, Mr Armitage returned to Thailand, settling in Kanchanaburi near the Burmese border, where the David Lean classic movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, was set.

He teaches English for business at the city's Rajabhat University and has repeatedly denied any involvement in Lamduan's killing, despite a whispering campaign in some sections of the Thai media.

MailOnline attempted to contact Mr Armitage at his home, where neighbours said he has a new Thai girlfriend, but the gates were padlocked shut.

His daughter Charlena, 23, declined to speak to our reporter and colleagues at the university said he had 'a few days off'.

Speaking to the media in 2019, he insisted: 'I didn't kill my wife. Absolutely not.'

He acknowledged there had been insinuations about his involvement in the case in the Thai media, adding: 'I know the inferences are there but I'm just getting on with my life. It's been a long time.'

He has also previously said he would cooperate with any investigation.

Detectives believe Lamduan, mother of Mr Armitage's two children, was killed up to three weeks before walkers found her on September 20, 2004, on the Pennine Way near the village of Horton in Ribblesdale.

Mr Armitage (pictured) did not apparently file a missing person report about his wife. He told the couple's children that Lamduan had left him for another man, the family say

After Lamduan's disappearance, Mr Armitage (pictured with his daughter Charlena) returned to Thailand, settling in Kanchanaburi near the Burmese border, where the David Lean classic movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, was set

Lamduan's mother Joomsri recalled that in 2016 Mr Armitage's son George (pictured with his father), arrived at her home hoping to make contact with his mother before his marriage. Joomsri said that she had not heard from his mother for years and feared she was dead

She was discovered by walkers face down in a stream wearing just socks and jeans. A ripped bra hung from her left arm. A T-shirt was found nearby and no shoes were ever recovered.

The advanced state of decomposition meant pathologists were unable to establish a cause of death but they did rule out stabbing, blunt force trauma and gunshot wounds.

One possible cause was hypothermia, but despite the fact she was wearing such flimsy clothing and no shoes, police nevertheless decided her death was not suspicious.

Medical experts discovered she was of south-east Asian origin and a coroner returned an open verdict.

Her headstone, paid for by local people in Ribblesdale, reads: 'The Lady of the Hills. Found 20th Sept 2004. Name Not Known. Rest in Peace.'

Detectives believe Lamduan was killed up to three weeks before her body was discovered

Following the new appeal, a relative of hers in the UK said she thought the dead woman might be Lamduan, and the focus then switched to Udon Thani, 350 miles from Bangkok, near the Laos border in north-east Thailand, where her parents provided DNA samples to confirm her identity.

Lamduan and David moved to England in 1991. They lived in Portsmouth and Rugby and photos show display an apparently happy home life. But Lamduan's family insist there were marital problems.

In 2003 they moved from Rugby to live with David's parents. Friends and family were later told that Lamduan had vanished or returned to Thailand. David himself returned to Thailand a few years ago with his two children.

Lamduan's mother Joomsri said her daughter's marriage ran into trouble.

She added: 'He's British and Christian and we're Buddhist. He is a teacher which has a high status in Thailand but we are humble rural people. There were so many differences, but the only time I met him he did seem polite and he was playing with Lamduan's son from her first marriage. '

She said Lamduan made a tearful phone call to her just before she disappeared  calling a neighbour in their village as the family has no phone.

'She said she had no money, not a penny, and so obviously couldn't afford the flight home,' Joomsri recalled.

'She said she missed home so much.

'It was a very short call. We've not heard a word from her since.'

Lamduan would keep in touch regularly with her parents and when, after a few weeks, the letters and phone calls stopped, they reported her missing to the Thai police.

During the visit to Thailand by detectives from the UK, the Seekanyas were given a book to show how their daughter was treated with dignity during the murder investigation in the UK

Joomsri recalled that in 2016 Lamduan and David's son George, now 31, arrived at her home hoping to make contact with his mother. He was marrying a Chinese girl and wanted to invite his mother to the wedding.

Joomsri said: 'He said his father had told him that Lamduan left him and returned to Thailand to marry someone else.

'When I told George my suspicions that she was dead, he burst out crying and refused to believe it. I understand that it's not an easy thing for a son to hear. I have never heard from him again.'

We spoke at the half-finished shell of a house which is intended to be the family home, as their present one is in poor repair.

But the money ran out long ago, not helped by a conman who fleeced the family for 10,000 with false promises to find Lamduan, before she was identified.

Joomsri is clearly tired of the questions and just wants answers, but has little faith she will receive justice from the law.

'I'm not asking the police for anything because I believe in karma,' she said.

'Whatever you have done in this world, you will face the consequences in this life or the next life. I don't want to get involved in other people's karma, it will take care of itself.'

Before she left for Britain all those years ago, Lamduan and her new husband David were blessed in a religious ceremony in the Buddhist temple in her home village of Baan Pone.

Now the only memorial to their lost daughter is a colourful shrine in the same temple's courtyard which her parents asked the monks to dedicate to her.

Mr Armitage (pictured in Kanchanaburi, western Thailand) this week refused to meet with detectives who flew 6,000 miles from Yorkshire to question him

Mr Armitage (pictured with his daughter) had initially agreed to come and give evidence, said the head of the Thailand DSI's foreign affairs and international relations division

But on the day he was due to meet detectives from North Yorkshire police in Thailand, Mr Armitage refused and added: 'He said he didn't feel well and also had some personal issues.'

Mr Armitage (pictured with his daughter) has always denied any part in the killing and told journalists three years ago he would be only too happy to give the British police a statement

Adam Harland, the retired Detective Chief Inspector, now leading North Yorkshire Police's Cold Case Review Unit on its trip to Thailand, said: 'The loss of any family member in circumstances of homicide is a terrible blow, bringing a misery and a sense of loss that so often lasts a lifetime.

'There is, in this case, the additional pain that for 14 years it was not even known that this had been Lamduan's fate.

'We will also be consulting with all the family members about a request that Lamduan's remains be returned to her family in Thailand in accordance with their Buddhist faith.

'This is not a straightforward process to achieve, but they will have our assistance and support in bringing a resolution to this particularly unhappy case. We thank the Thai authorities for their co-operation with the investigation, and for the support we are receiving from law enforcement agencies in Thailand and United Kingdom.'
Marco Pierre White's troubled son has been released from prison vowing never to touch drugs again after spending more than 1 million on rehab - and today he reveals he has converted to Islam to help him stay clean.

Marco Pierre White Jr, 28, was this week released after a year in jail for a spree of shoplifting, possessing a knife, possessing heroin - and racially abusing a supermarket security guard.

But the Celebrity Big Brother star says he is being supported by his celebrity chef father after becoming a Muslim as he battles to 'stay clean' and reform years of drug abuse which began at the age of just 13. And he now plans to become a chef like his famous father.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, heavily tattooed Pierre White Jr confessed: 'More than 1million has wasted because of my addictions. But Islam has helped me get through everything'

He said: 'I have been in rehab 17 times and being in prison has made me realise that enough is enough.

Marco Pierre White's son revealed in an exclusive interview with MailOnline that he had converted to Islam during his time in jail and is now determined to turn his life around

White Jr, pictured leaving HMP Bristol this week, was jailed for a year for shoplifting, racially abusing a supermarket security guard, possession of a knife and heroin possession

Pictured after his release from jail, the heavily tattooed former Celebrity Big Brother star admitted that time locked up in a cell had given him the opportunity to reflect on his mistakes

White Jr told MailOnline that his rehab to get off drugs has cost his famous father more than 1million and that he now wanted to stay clean for the sake of his young daughter, Arabella

'I have been in rehab all over America and in the UK and the only thing that has cured me is being banged up in a cell for 23 hours a day.

'I have realised how lucky I am and have been. I have seen all walks of life in prison and some people don't have a chance in life. I have had every opportunity and I have thrown them all away.

'I could have done anything I wanted to, but instead I did heroin and ended up in prison. I have been an idiot.'

Despite sipping a beer - Islam forbids alcohol - he revealed he now prays to Allah five times a day.

He said: 'In prison I saw the lads going to pray. I would listen to them talking about the Islamic community and the Koran and I thought a lot of it made sense. I had a flick through the Koran and my interest grew.

'When I prayed to Allah I asked for my sins to be forgiven and for him to make me strong and protect me. I asked for my family to be safe - and everything has come true.

'This is crazy how everything works out for me. I do believe it has a lot to do with my prayers and my religion.'

Blaming his crime spree on his drug use, he admitted that without prison and his loving father's intervention, he would have died or spent the rest of his days as an addict and in jail.

Marco was locked up in two prisons, HMP Bristol and Channings Wood in Ogwell, Devon and during his time he was beaten up by a gang of black inmates who found out he was among them for a race hate crime.

He lost three teeth in one punch-up and was eventually moved to a single cell for his own safety.

Over the past years, the former CBB contestant has been in trouble with the police as his life spiralled out of control. He was pictured being arrested in 2020

Despite being offered drugs, including the notorious Spice, in prison, Pierre White Jr says he stayed clean during his time inside

White Jr (right) is the younger son of celebrity chef Marco Pierre White (left). The reality star says his famous father has been his rock during his latest prison spell

One of the charges he pleaded guilty to that landed him in prison related to racially abusing a supermarket security guard. And in 2019 he was said to have used the n-word to a police officer who was arresting him for being drunk.

But he insisted: 'I am not a racist and I didn't use any racist words against the security guard who I got arrested over. I was heavily into drugs, but I would not be racist against anyone. I only pleaded guilty to it because I was fed up and had been on remand for six months and wanted it over with.'

Pulling up his t-shirt to reveal a six-line tattoo across his chest which is a quote from murdered civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, he says: 'He is one of my heroes. How can I be racist when his words and what he stood for goes with me wherever I go?'

The recovering drug addict has a three-year-old daughter Arabella Rose with his ex-partner and he said missing a year of her life while inside has also made him determined never to fall into drug use again.

He said : 'When I was in prison, I'd speak to Arabella every day on the telephone and I always told her I was at work. I didn't allow her to visit me as I didn't want her to see her daddy in jail.

'She would ask me 'Daddy, when are you coming home, please come home' and it would break me. I was in pieces every day crying my eyes out. I told her 'Daddy will never leave you again.'

'But when I got out last week her face lit up when she saw me. She hugged me so tightly and wouldn't let me go.

'She closed her eyes and said, 'Daddy I don't want you going again'. She really is the love of my life. I can't let her suffer any more.

'I wrote to my daughter and her mother every day to tell them how much I loved them.

'I was doing the time, but so were they. They were doing the sentence as much as me. It was worse for them.'

The crimes that finally put him behind bars were the culmination of several years of having brushes with the law, but each time being given his freedom.

His public profile increased after her appeared on the 2016 edition of Celebrity Big Brother - but was evicted after just one week.

Such was his haphazard behaviour while high and his desperation for drugs, he said he sold a Rolex Daytona worth 27,000 for one gram of cocaine worth just 100 to a pusher in Kensington who called herself 'Jackie Brown' after the character in the Quentin Tarantino in the film of the same name.

He said he also traded a 19,000 Hublot watch which he had received for his 16th birthday for an ounce of cocaine.

But during his prison term, he also turned his demons and frustration on himself.

He showed off scars and cuts to his left arm where he had self-harmed and revealed he had been put on suicide watch as the harsh realities of his shattered life sunk in.

'It is crazy that you can be in there for a small petty crime with people who are murderers, rapists and paedophiles. It is terrifying.

Despite being jailed for racially abusing a security guard White Jr (pictured outside Hendon Magistrates' Court) insisted that he was not a racist

The celebrity chef's son pictured doing community service. He was seen clipping hedges and picking up rubbish along the side of the motorway

'When I first went in, I was off methadone and couldn't sleep and people were screaming and shouting all night. It was a madhouse.

'If you had your TV too loud, the next day the guy next to you was going to bang you in the face for keeping him up.

'I was in a terrible situation, something I could never have imagined. I lived in Chelsea and had been spoiled.

'I never had to ask for anything twice when I was younger. My father was always busy and would give me anything to make me happy.

'My dad got me an apartment when I was 13 or 14 on Addison Road and Holland Park Avenue in Kensington. I lived on my own with a minder who did things like the shopping and looked after me. I had private education and home tutoring.

'Before I went to prison I was leading quite a bubbled life. I was brought up in Chelsea, so seeing people in there you do realise for the first time a lot of people don't have a lot.

'I lived in the Beverley Wiltshire hotel in Beverly Hills for three years - and spent three years 'partying' in Ibiza.

'I wanted to meet women and just party, I was out of control as a teenager and had too much money too young.

The CBB star lost three teeth in a fight and was stabbed in the neck after other inmates discovered his of race-hate conviction

'And I didn't exactly conduct myself properly when I first walked into the prison. I was showing off and the clothes I was wearing were too nice. It didn't help my case.

'I sold my Versace dressing gown and my designer shoes and clothes for tabs [cigarettes]. But at the same time I think I was targeted because who I was.

'It was a story for them, they could go round saying 'I battered him that guy off the telly with his famous dad etc'.

'Now I was sharing a small cell with a murderer, him on the top bunk aged 55 and me below him and aged 27.

'There was no privacy. There was an open toilet in the middle of the cell where you had to watch your cellmate and he had to watch you.

'There was always screaming and shouting in the early hours from other cells and it was difficult to sleep. My anxiety even now is still at a high as I have only been out for a few days.

'You couldn't trust no one [sic]. I had about six fights in Bristol prison and yeah I started some of them. Yet I am not a violent man and had never had a fight before.

'There was a prisoner who basically ran the block, and he told them never to touch me again or they'd be dis-respecting him and I was okay from then on.

'But I had to get into fights, got stabbed in the neck and had three teeth knocked out which I will get sorted with some dental work now that I am out.'

He said having been raised on fine food by his celebrity chef father, he hardly ate the prison food particularly when he transferred to the Devon jail.

'The sex abusers and paedophiles worked in the kitchen because it was safer for them. They didn't have to walk through the main wing to work and could go straight from their cells.

'But because they felt threatened the whole time it was widely said that the way they got their own back was to spit in the food.

'So I ate noodle ramen the whole time which came pre packed and sealed. These meals were known as the 'paranoid packs' and you would also get a bag of crisps, coffee sachets and some biscuits.'

He said he was determined to stay off drugs despite being offered Spice [synthetic cannabis] and various pills inside prison.

'When I was in court, I was just happy for it all to be over. I had been in rehab for a year for my addictions and it hadn't worked.

'As I went to jail, I knew that was it. Even though you can get stuff in there, I had enough of it all really.

'I was offered drugs, phones and other stuff like Spice and tobacco. I didn't buy any of it. I wasn't interested.

'I had just had my daughter and that was a big wake up call. Enough was enough.'

White Jr welcomed baby girl Arabella with his girlfriend, who does not share details about her life, after announcing the pregnancy on Instagram

White Jr says that he is determined to be the best possible father he can be for Arabella Rose

Once he had been sentenced to prison, he was given 20 a week by officials which could be spent on cigarettes, phone calls or other essentials.

But on remand, he said, his father sent him 200 a week and he would spend 50 a day on phone calls but he said he spoke to his estranged mother, Mati Conejero, only once while in jail.

He said his father has shown nothing but love for him and before his incarceration he freely forked out to try and save his son from his drugs hell.

'I have been in rehab in Malibu where it was 80,000 a month and in The Priory it was 27,000 a week.

'I was also in one in Kent, in Kensington and Utah. I was away for months at a time, but my addiction to heroin was far too strong.'

He said despite his father's firm belief in him overcoming his addictions, he asked him not to visit him in jail.

He explained: 'It was the same as with my daughter - I didn't want my dad seeing me in prison. I have put him through a lot. He would have come, don't get me wrong. He asked to come to prison to see me and he also asked to pick me up when I came out.

'I didn't want to put him in that position. In prison everyone knew who he was.'

'From day one he has been the biggest supporter. He has never left me even though I have been hard work and put him through a lot.

'Going to prison made me realise what I have put him through.

'Since becoming a father as well, I know how much stress I put on my own father. If my kids ever did that to me, I don't think I'd still be as supportive as my dad has been to me.'

In letters, he said, his father told him that loved and was proud of him. 'Stay strong, please be safe. Look after yourself. Don't worry we will get through this. You can come back to me and I will look after you' he wrote.

Marco added: 'If I hadn't gone to prison, I think that would have been the end of the relationship between me and my dad. I want to stay sober and for him to be proud of me

'I wouldn't my dad to see me coming out of prison and to remember that all his son ever was, was a junkie.

'His are big shoes to fill. 'I think I am judged before people even meet me, they feel my dad is a great success and I am nothing compared to him. People see me as rich little f****r.

'I think I deserved this punishment. The ways I acted was disgusting and the crimes I committed were unreal. I completely forgot who I was when I was on heroin.

'I think this is my last chance to prove to him that I do want to do well. I don't want to f****d around anymore.'

And he revealed he now plans to follow his father's career path: 'I am going to work in the family business as a chef. I can cope. My dad has taught me well when he could.

'I was cooking the meanest curries in prison using the kettle as pots.

'My dad says to me 'If you put your mind to it, you can be better than me' and that I am a wasted talent. He has always said that to me since I was a young boy. He would send me to the kitchens and loved what I would come up with and say 'See . . . a waste of talent'.

'I worked at Wheelers of St James with my dad six hours a day making pastries and I learned a lot from him.

'My dad is amazing. He is the type of guy who if he finds out like one of his chefs is struggling, he is the type of bloke who will do anything to help anyone.'

His brother Luciano Pierre White owns several restaurants and his sister Mirabelle is managing a Michelin star restaurant in Oxford

'I just wish drugs hadn't taken over my life. But right now routine is the most important thing for me. I need the gym, my prayers, and my daughter.

Marco's struggles with crime began four days after his reality show exit from Celebrity Big Brother when he appeared in a magistrate's court to answer a drug driving charge when he was stopped in a BMW X5 and found to have 200mcg of cocaine in his system. .

White Jr, pictured in 2017, says in jail he sold his Versace dressing gown and designer shoes and clothes for cigarettes. He says he was targeted inside because who he is

Bristol Crown Court heard Marco Pierre White Junior had a privileged start in life and was from a good family after he pleaded guilty to 14 offences in August 2022

Marco Pierre White (centre right) leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London in 2019 accompanied by his children Marco White Jr (left) and Luciano White (right)

In 2018, he announced he was attending AA meetings and at his trial which saw him sent to jail, he said he was then in rehab for alcohol addiction and before the incident in November had been sober 'for a year and a half'.

In January 2019, he was convicted and fined after calling police officers 'f*****s' and 'n******s' while they tried to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly in a train station.

In June 2019, he was ordered to pay more than 1,000 for running out on a 27 restaurant bill after his debit card was declined.

The following month, it was reported he had to be dragged 'kicking and screaming' to a police station after being arrested for allegedly smashing windows during a row with his father in Wiltshire.

In July 2019, he appeared in court accused of making off from a cafe without paying the bill after his payment card was declined, loudly proclaiming who his father was.

Marco senior was the youngest ever cook to attain the coveted three Michelin stars and is credited as being a major influence on other leading British chefs, including Gordon Ramsay.
'Ive been shot at by the Russians and by ISIS  but only been threatened with death once, and that was by a KKK cretin who liked Downton Abbey- so thats a good return really.

Those are the words of British danger tourist Andrew Drury, a 56-year-old father of four who has visited some of the worlds most dangerous places and lived to tell his story and others.

Since being chased out of a banana field by a knife-wielding Ugandan farmer when he was 27, Andrews lust for adrenaline has taken him to absurd places.

Hes seen conflict, killing, civil unrest and devastation in countries including Ukraine, Chechnya, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hes befriended soldiers and terrorists  most famously British ISIS exile Shamima Begum  a woman he now considers a manipulative liar, and has ambitions to continue for as long as his luck persists.

Its been mental, admits Andrew, Like everything in life, I got into it by mistake.

Andrew Drury outside the Al-Roj prison camp in Syria where he met ISIS brides including Shamima Begum

Andrew Drury in Mogadishu, Somalia on a visit in 2020

When Andrew was 27-years-old, he drifted away from his group during a 'boring' Gorilla trek and ended up in banana field.

He explained: 'I was just on a normal holiday to Uganda  gorilla trekking- and I thought gorillas were boring. There was a war on in Zaire, now the Congo, and I thought it was worth a go.

'It ended when I was chased by a man with a knife who thought I was stealing his bananas. I was hooked immediately.'

Andrew has become a BAFTA award winning filmmaker for his travels

Following this brush with death, the builder from Surrey plotted more daring trips and soon after ended up being the first tourists inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine - something that puzzles him to this day.

He said: 'I dont know how Chernobyl happened, I booked a trip to Crimea and when we were in Kiev, we thought wed just give it a go.

'I think the people who let us in thought we were researchers and just passed us in.

'We went everywhere that tourists these days aren't allowed to go - stumbling around old hotels and fairground rides. I wasnt concerned by the radiation  were all gonna die sometime.'

However, even Andrew has his limits.

He continued: 'We did meet an old lady on the outskirts of Pripyat who had never left, and she scared me.

'She cooked us some food and we obviously we didnt want to eat it. She had all her human parts and wasnt melting, but it wasnt worth the risk.'

For a man with taste like Andrew's it can be hard to quantify what an acceptable level of risk actually is.

In his pursuit of adventure, Andrew has spent time with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and the Shia militia fighting ISIS and travelled into the bowels of war torn countries like Nigeria, Kosovo, Syria and Pakistan.

Andrew at the crash site of one of the American Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu, Somalia

Andrew with some of the heavily armed entourage of the Sikander Shah

In one memorable trip to Mogadishu in Somalia, he set himself the task of locating the infamous Black Hawk helicopter shot down during the civil war in 1993.

To this day he credits it as one of the most dangerous things he's ever done.

He said: 'I remember landing at the airport and the first thing I saw as locals having a punch up.

'I was given a 50/50 chance of getting back from the Black Hawk Down crash site.

'We did eventually see it and thankfully got back in time. It was a bit underwhelming - it was just in someone's back yard next to a cactus.'

Andrew's long suffering wife, who he previously revealed had stopped speaking to him, has now come around to his trips and is supportive of the work he does in the media.

He explained: 'Looking back, Im ashamed of my voyeuristic nature in my early trips but some of my recent trips to Iraq changed the way I thought about danger tourism.

'I remember I was in a building in Iraq and I met a man who was training a sniper rifle on a house across the road.

'I asked him why he was doing that and he explained that ISIS fighters had seized his house and kept his wife and daughter inside.

'He didn't know if they were still alive.

'That changed me, I was no longer bringing back bragging rights, I was bringing back stories.

'My wife has come round to things since I started doing the media side of things.

'I dont tell my family all the dangers of course, my kids think Im invincible, though obviously Im not.'

Andrew Drury (third from left) with his cousin Nigel (second from left) during their first trip to Mogadishu, Somalia, where they became the first tourists to the Black Hawk Down crash site

It goes without saying that Andrew is patently lucky to be alive given his compulsions.

He's been shot at twice in his career, once by Russian fighters in Ukraine and the other in a terrifying shoot out with ISIS in Kirkuk, Iraq.

He explained that it was a situation he was fortunate to walk away from.

He said: ' We heard there was something going on so we headed down to Kirkuk and asked directions to the frontline. We followed local TV crews in and they let us as they thought we were media.

'We drove until we could hear artillery and gunfire and then it went quiet.

'Suddenly a bullet ripped past and it was clear we were in the midst of a gunfight.

'We were lucky to get out alive, at the end of the day we were able to take them out quicker.'

When he's not roughing it with freedom fighters, Andrew dedicates a portion of his time to helping unfortunate animals including a raging Ukranian circus bear with a Bowell issue.

He explained: 'I flew out to Ukraine last year to help a circus bear Id heard about. I wanted a reason to go and that was it.

'We picked up the bear outside Lviv and sedated it and as we were driving it in the van it woke up.

'It was very scary, theyre ferocious animals. It growled and s**t and p****d itself for two and half days before we got it to the bear sanctuary.'

'It sadly died a few months after we got it too Romania due to stress. How ungrateful!'

Andrew visited the frontline of Ukraine and gave his flak jacket to a soldier

Andrew says the bear was a good excuse for him to go to Ukraine

Sadly Andrew's bear died shortly after it was brought to Romania

Andrew has documented many of his best adventures in a new book

Amazingly for a man whose spent times with some of the most dangerous people in the world, Andrew has very few enemies - except of course Rev Travis Pierce of the Ku Klux Klan.

During his brief dalliance with the clan, Andrew says he demystified what they are all about and was even less impressed than before his visit.

He said: 'I heard Rev Travis Pierce going off on one on the radio and decided to email him.

'It worked and I got to spend a day and a half with the Klan.

'Theyre very strange people, they look inbred, He had a gift shop and lots of literature.

'He was bragging about how hard they were and then told us about all his beef with ethnic people  the usual crap.

As I was leaving, he stopped me and asked what the latest episode of Downton Abbey was like.

'When I spoke to him again, he said hed now done his research and if I ever came back hed kill me.'

And although a return visit to the bookstore of the KKK is off the menu, Andrew claims he has a few more trips up his sleeve including an exclusive interview.

He said: 'Im going into Ukraine again, I may have a Zelensky interview with President Zelensky that may happen in Kiev. I hope to take a few stories back with me.

'Id also like to go to the Russian side to see what their frontline is like.'

Andrew Drurys debut book Trip Hazard featuring his remarkable journeys around the world is out now.
Market traders across Britain are being forced to hike their prices after seeing wholesale costs soar by as much as 166% amid the vegetable supply chain crisis.

Poor weather conditions in Morocco and Spain have hit trading routes hard, resulting in supermarket shelves being left empty and Aldi, Morrisons, Tesco and Asda introducing limits on purchases of certain veg.

The items seeing the most shortages are cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, lettuces and other everyday greens. And even home-grown turnips are in low supply after Environment Secretary Therese Coffey suggested them as a suitable alternative.

The shortages have seen shoppers flock to their local greengrocers and market stalls, who have remained fully stocked. However the spiralling wholesale costs mean they are either making very little profit - if any at all - or passing the increases on to the customers, who in turn are buying far fewer produce.

One market stall owner in Swanage, Dorset said she was 'embarrassed' by how expensive she was forced to sell red peppers for - at 1.85 a pop - joking that people will need to take out a mortgage just to buy one.

Brixton market seller, Tracey, has no choice but to sell single peppers for 1.50 - a 375 per cent increase from previous prices

Meanwhile in Brixton, south London, market stall holders said they have 'never seen things so bad', as they struggle to make a profit due to cash-strapped shoppers purchasing little more than an onion at a time.

Tracey has run her Brixton market stall for over 30 years and said she is getting up at 4am and closing at 6pm with nothing to take home.

The market-veteran claimed it is not a food shortage, but a price issue and blames shortages on supermarkets refusing to pay the increased costs.

Tracey said she would usually expect a higher cost for a couple of items around this time of year, but seeing the prices soar across all fruit and veg is unprecedented.

A crate of 20 tomatoes has gone from 6 to 21. Ginger palettes have flown from 14 to 60. Orange peppers, aubergine and Iceberg lettuce now cost around 20 for a box of 10, setting customers back around 2 as a result.

Broccoli has gone from 6 to 18 a 10-item box. Around 8 for 14 cucumbers has turned to 16. Huge wholesale sums have made fruit and vegetables unaffordable for many.

Tracey has no choice but to sell single peppers for 1.50, usually shoppers could get three for 1.20 - a 375 per cent increase.

Like peppers, aubergines and lettuces, one broccoli now sets customers back 2.

Tracey (pictured) said she is getting up at 4am and closing at 6pm with nothing to take home

Standing behind her high-quality and well-stocked array of veg, she said: 'I make no profit now. For certain items I bring in I only get from the customer what I've just paid. And that's just so I can have it on the stall so people don't go elsewhere.

'And that's not one or two lines, that's 10 lines. All I'm doing is paying out, and getting my money back, and that's getting up at four o'clock in the morning. Not earning nothing of it.

'I close at six o'clock at night. Never has it ever, ever, ever been this bad. Never over the whole of fruit and veg. It's not so much the fruit, it's the veg, the greens.

'We're not affected by the shortage, we're affected by the price. We're paying 21 for a box of tomatoes, the supermarkets aren't going to pay that are they?

'We pay 28 for a box of orange peppers, they're not going to pay that either are they? It's not a food shortage, it's the fact supermarkets aren't willing to pay farmers the price.'

Khalid Mahmut (pictured) works at KM Meat Fish Grocery on the market and said he was feeling the pinch on fresh fish as well as veg

Jaaul Safi, selling fruit and vegetables at Brixton Foods, said he is no longer selling cucumbers because they are so expensive at 1 each.

The food salesman said upset customers were questioning how they could get the money to buy fruit and veg. He said they would arrive to buy vegetables and leave with just an onion.

Shoppers are now charged 3 for three tomatoes in Brixton Foods.

He said: 'Prices are too high. It's very expensive now, everything is going up too much. It's affecting business too much, customers have too many problems now, they come in crying 'where do I get the money? How can I have this?'

'Price everything is. The market is dead now. They can't buy it, they can't afford it. Everyone comes to the market to buy their food.

'We try to get enough profits that at least we get something. Cucumbers are 1 each now, but we don't sell them now since last week. Because it's been very hard to get it as well.'

Khalid Mahmut works at KM Meat Fish Grocery on the market and said he was feeling the pinch on fresh fish as well as veg.

He said: 'The prices? It's definitely affecting everybody. I think it's gone up by 25 per cent.

Jaaul Safi (pictured) said he is no longer selling cucumbers because they are too expensive

'Day by day we're more affected. Now look at the cucumber, tomato, they're all very expensive and the customer can't afford it.'

Elsewhere, Bridget Eveleigh, 67, has been in the fruit and veg business for 55 years and runs a market stall at four different locations in Dorset. Today she was at Swanage.

She said she has been paying 'phenomenal prices' for items like cucumber, pepper and tomatoes which have doubled in price.

She said she has been too embarrassed to pass on the price hike of red peppers to her customers which she isn't making any money on at all.

She said: 'We're not being affected by supply like supermarkets are because we buy on the open markets.

'Supermarkets have supply issues because they agree a contract months ahead so they can keep on a set price.

'But what's happened is Spain has had exceptionally bad weather for the last 50 days which has affected growing - it's been colder there than it has here.

'We get a lot from Morocco and they have had storms and it's been bitterly cold.

'And there have been no crossings from North Africa to mainland Spain for several days because of the weather and the French have been on strike so even if it gets there there have been issues getting it across. Basically everything has been affected by extremes of weather.

Khalid Mahmut said the price increases were 'definitely affecting everybody'

'The last three weeks we have been paying phenomenal prices. So where a supermarket would charge 60p for a cucumber, we have been paying 1.28.

'Now that has become unsustainable for the growers and they're having to break their contracts with supermarkets.

'Tomatoes we are paying 24 a box, normally it would be half that. It's not just tomatoes - icebergs, celery, cucumbers.

'Red peppers today we paid 26 a box and there's only 14 in a box, that's 1.85 per pepper. I have hidden the peppers because I am so embarrassed by how expensive they are.'

Her assistant Geoff Peerless has been joking with their customers about needing to take out a mortgage to buy a pepper.

Bridget added: 'I haven't bought yellow or orange because they were 30 a box (2.14 each).

'We are selling them at what they cost us, we haven't really been making any money for the past three weeks.

'I won't buy Portuguese cabbage because it's too expensive at the moment - it's 30 a box, which is 2 a cabbage, it's normally half that.

'Normally we would buy British spring cabbage but all the cabbages here were wiped out by the cold spell we had around Christmas.

'That affected cauliflowers too. We have cauliflowers 24 for a box of 11 (2.18 each) but those are French because the English ones were all wrecked by the weather. Normally we would pay 80p per English cauliflower.

'I have never known it be as difficult as it is now. I think this is the worst it will be, when the English season kicks in and the weather gets better in Spain things will improve.

'The customers have been quite good about the prices going up.'

Bridget said the supermarket shortage has definitely brought more customers to them.

A crate of 20 tomatoes has gone from 6 to 21. Ginger palettes have flown from 14 to 60

She said: 'At Dorchester market on Wednesday we served people we have never seen before, I'd say it was about 30% up and today we are busier than usual because people can't get it in supermarkets.

'I hope this will bring attention to the skewed way supermarkets work. It should be about supply and demand but that's not the case in supermarkets. The grower is the one that suffers. It takes eight months to grow peppers.

'I've been a grower before so I know how much hard work it is and how little return you get. Energy prices have also had an impact because all the greenhouses are heated.

'There is going to be a global shortage if this continues.'

Elsewhere, stall holders in Newcastle claim there has been an unprecedented surge in the cost of tomatoes and lettuce, causing them to make a loss of profit.

Some market owners claim vegetables have tripled in value, with the price of a box of peppers increased from 9 to a staggering 24 - an increase of 166%.

Business owners say they have made the tough decision to stop stocking tomatoes and lettuce during the crisis because of the sky high prices.

Darron Marchant, 44, the owner of Monument Fruiters market said: 'I can't get a hold of tomatoes, lettuce and cabbage.

'They're available but the prices are extortionate and we can't afford to order them in.

'Before the crisis, peppers cost 9 but now they're 24. Broccoli was 5 for a box but now it's 18, a cabbage was 4.80 but now it's 14.50.

'We haven't put any salad vegetables out because we can't afford it.

'You have to make a living in this climate and it's impossible. It's really stressful for grocers.

'It's also hard to make sure I have enough stock and I now have to get up at 3am to get stock.

A higher cost for a couple of items around this time of year is expected, but seeing the prices soar across all fruit and veg is unprecedented, Tracey said

'I've had to put my prices up. I charge more for bananas, cherries and strawberries but a few pence.

'The only good thing about the shortage is more customers come to us if they can't get it in the supermarket.

'Our stuff is also better quality and cheaper, for example, we sell three avocados for 1 whereas in Aldi one is 79p.'

Khan Ayoubi, 30, the manager of Heaton Halal Superstore said: 'Because of the shortage the prices have tripled.

'Take tomatoes for example, it used to be 4 for a box and it's now 17. We have had to increase our prices, we used to charge 1.49 for tomatoes but now charge 3.99.

'We didn't want to put our prices up but we have to, we've been forced into it to cover the costs. It's a very worrying time for us.'

Meanwhile, independent greengrocers across the city of Cambridge have seen a huge surge in customers.

TJ Cicek, 40, took the brave decision to open up his veg shop Harvest on Mill Road in Cambridge in the middle of the pandemic in December 2020.

Two years on, he said it's hard to tell what a normal season is after so much turmoil. However this week his customers are all after his tomatoes and peppers.

Running the shop with his wife Maisie on Friday, he said: 'Over the past five or six days we've had an increase in footfall for tomatoes and peppers.

'This hasn't impacted our profits though. Overall people are still buying less because of the cost of living crisis but because supermarkets don't have the produce so we are selling more.

'Because of the price increases though, it makes us look expensive when we get almost no profit from them anymore.

'Bell peppers we used to sell for 79p with a good profit margin. Now they are 1.79 with a small margin and we can't afford any losses.

Tracey who is battling with the costs has now run her Brixton stall for more than 30 years

'We would buy them in for 10 a box, now they are 26.50 per box.

'Why? Maybe wholesalers are taking advantage of the shortages, or maybe they are short themselves.

'It's true that Harvest is going strong because I do 12 hour shifts seven days a week.

'Opening was challenging, we were crazy to do it but the community here supports individual businesses.'

He said between the increase in prices for veg and the energy bill price hikes, money has been tight: 'Our energy bill has doubled since we opened. Our annual bill was 12,000 and it is now 28,000. Despite this, I think we're going to be fine.'

Kevin Smith, 64, manages a veg stall at Cambridge Market in Market Square called G&M Fruit and Veg.

When speaking this morning he had a queue of customers going around the corner of his stall to buy his veg, clutching bags of tomatoes and lettuce.

Kevin, who has worked on the market for five years, said: 'There's been a slight increase in trade, people are coming more to buy our stuff this week rather than buying their groceries at supermarkets.

'One customer said their local Tesco has been really poor and they'd rather buy here with me.

'The prices are what we've really noticed going up. Sometimes we have to explain to customers what the situation is if they ask.

'A box of tomatoes used to be 9, now it's 22. There's nothing we can do. We don't have a problem getting the stock but we have to pay the price.'

It comes after Tesco stores ran out of turnips after the Government advised Brits to stock up on the root vegetable amid ongoing shortages of lettuce, cucumber and other everyday greens.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey suggested turnips as a suitable alternative while other items - including tomatoes and peppers - remain in short supply due to poor weather in Spain and Morocco.

But just hours after the MP offered her advice in the House of Commons, turnips were out of stock on Tesco's website, with the supermarket instead suggesting swedes.

Tesco shopper Louis Henwood said he was met with a message saying: 'This product is currently out of stock'.

A turnip tray in Tesco in Ely, Cambridgeshire, is left bare on Friday after environment secretary Therese Coffey said people should be eating them

Other supermarkets such as Morrisons and Asda also do not provide turnips when searched - instead offering up swedes as well.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey (pictured) suggested turnips as a suitable alternative while other items - including cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers - remain in short supply due to poor weather in Spain and Morocco

Meanwhile a tray for turnips in a Tesco in Ely, Cambridgeshire, was pictured empty on Friday.

It comes as Brits have been rushing to their local greengrocers, who have remained fully stocked despite the shortages.

Thomas Hagon, 39, from Reg The Veg green grocers in Clifton, Bristol, claimed 'the produce is there for supermarkets to purchase but higher prices have turned the chains off'.

Meanwhile, Baz Dawson, owner of Fresh and Fruity, in Preston, revealed his salad stocks have not been directly affected because he buys locally, as he urged people to head to their local market stalls.

And Paul Semple, 43, manager at Lloyds Greengrocer, in Bristol, said his footfall is up 10 per cent, with new customers telling him they 'can't believe how stocked up' his shop is.

It comes as the likes of Aldi, Morrisons, Asda and Tesco have limited sales of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers as frosty weather in Spain and Morocco has hit imports - with customers in all four stores given limits to how much produce they can buy.

But despite an increase in cost price, Mr Hagon claims greengrocers have been able to remain stocked up, and says he has fresh tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers because 'customers are happy to pay extra for them'.

He predicted supermarkets will be forced to increase prices in the near future - after Environment Secretary Therese Coffey warned the crisis could last for another month.

Meanwhile, some restaurants struggling to cope with the shortages have been forced to remove tomato-dependent items such as pizza and pasta from their menus.

Thomas Hagon (pictured), 39, from Reg The Veg green grocers in Clifton, Bristol, claimed 'the produce is there for supermarkets to purchase but higher prices have turned the chains off'

Baz Dawson (pictured), owner of Fresh and Fruity, in Preston, revealed his salad stocks have not been directly affected during the national shortage because he buys locally

A view of empty shelves in a supermarket in Liverpool, Britain, on February 20, 2023

READ MORE: Now pizzas and pasta dishes are hit by vegetable shortage: Industry bosses say Italian restaurants are removing items from menus due to lack of tomatoes Advertisement

Mr Hagon said Reg The Veg had a period of low stock a few weeks ago when supermarkets were selling the vegetables at a lower price.

But since the wholesale price has reportedly nearly doubled, averaging at 15 before and now as much as 30, Mr Hagon said supermarkets 'won't pay it', while greengrocers, like Reg The Veg, will.

He said: 'We had shortages due to availability and low numbers about three weeks ago and supermarkets were still pumping out vegetables at low prices.

'It's got to the point where now supermarkets can't buy it at the right price as it's increased so much.

'It is available they just won't pay the money for it.

'Whereas we can, and we can then supply our customers and pass on the slight increase in price.

'We've still had to increase our own prices in some areas - cherry vine tomatoes are now 9.99 a kilo which is around double the normal price.

'We do say to customers that these peppers or tomatoes for example can be quite expensive but they're happy to pay that.

'Of course, nationally it's very difficult because of the volumes that supermarkets get in, but if they're quoted 25 or 30 pounds for a wholesale shipment, and they wont pay for it.'

The likes of Aldi , Morrisons, Asda and Tesco have limited sales of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to customers as frosty weather in Spain and Morocco has hit imports (Pictured: Independent greengrocer Thomas Hagon inside his fully stocked shop in Bristol)

Empty crates in the tomatoes section of a fresh produce aisle of a Tesco supermarket in London on February 23

Why are there shortages of fruit and veg in the UK? Rising prices, heating costs and bad weather abroad are all blamed What is causing the shortages? Cold weather in Spain and Morocco has drastically hit the availability of vegetables in British markets along with soaring energy prices. The supply problems are blamed on bad weather and high energy costs making greenhouses more costly to heat. Some critics have cited red tape on post-Brexit imports from the EU as an issue. Tim O'Malley, of major importer Nationwide Produce, said volatile growing conditions had seen wholesale spot prices for fresh produce lines soar by as much as 300 per cent. Growers in Spain and elsewhere on the Continent are reportedly sending produce to European supermarkets rather than to the UK because they are more willing to pay the higher prices. High energy prices - linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine - are also a factor because it has become more expensive to heat greenhouses. Which fruit and veg are affected? The problem started with tomatoes but has since widened to peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries. Is Brexit to blame? While some critics have cited red tape on imports from Europe, industry expert Mr O'Malley said the single biggest factor behind the crisis was 'Mother Nature'. He said: 'I can honestly say that in the 40 years I've been in this trade, I've never seen such high spot prices across such a broad range of products for such a prolonged period of time.' He added: 'It's not about Brexit - it's about different buying models'. Farming minister Mark Spencer said at the NFU conference yesterday: 'What has driven some of this is a frost in Morocco and Spain in November and December. 'This can damage a lot of the salad and brassica crops, which we have traditionally relied on at this time of year so that has created a gap in the market. 'It's very difficult for UK producers to grow cauliflowers, for example over winter. They are not resistant to frost. It's not possible to grow cauliflowers in January in the United Kingdom unless you grow them in a greenhouse.' Why are European supermarkets not suffering from shortages? Experts say that it is because of the way that British supermarkets buy produce compared to those on the continent. Tim O'Malley says retailers in the UK tend to agree prices once or twice a year so they and shoppers can get certainty on price. This tends to be a winter deal for produce from Spain and Morocco and a summer deal for UK produce. Mr O'Malley says that in Europe they tend to agree monthly prices, meaning that supermarkets find it easier to buy when prices change. Adam Leyland, Editor-in-Chief of The Grocer, said that UK supermarkets are 'in denial' and need to be more nimble to avoid shortages like the current one. What are the other factors? Travel disruption including ferry cancellations have also caused disruption. There has been strong winds disrupting ferries from Morocco and flooding in the country. Frost has also slowed growth and damaged crops. How long will it last? Phil Pearson, group development director at APS Produce said delays are likely to continue until, 'the end of April into May.' Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, which represents UK supermarkets, said: 'Difficult weather conditions in the south of Europe and northern Africa have disrupted harvest for some fruit and vegetables including tomatoes and peppers. 'While disruption is expected to last a few weeks, supermarkets are adept at managing supply chain issues and are working with farmers to ensure that customers are able to access a wide range of fresh produce.' Advertisement

One of his colleagues said there were queues stretching out the door on Sunday after customers scrambled for tomatoes and peppers.

She initially wasn't sure why but then realised it may have been down to the supermarket shortage.

Mr Hagon said he isn't sure what the solution to the problem is, but that it will probably result in supermarkets having to charge more.

He said conditions on the continent have left prices at an 'exceptionally high' rate.

He added: 'I don't know what the solution is to it, they'll just have to charge more - some fruit or veg hasn't gone up for a decade or more.

'When there's more competition from other European countries that supply produce it'll bring prices down - It's always high at this time of the year, it's just exceptionally high at the moment.

'We've seen the cold weather in Morocco. They've got snow - it's crazy.

'We've got used to eating what we want to eat all year round so when things go a bit short it can be a bit of a shock.'

Other greengrocers have also found themselves with no choice but to double their prices.

Paul Semple, 43, of Lloyds Green Grocers in Bristol, said: 'Tomatoes are hard to get, courgette, cucumbers all hard to get hold of.

'They're twice the price, that's how scarce they are.

'It's always hard to get produce this time a year but this year we're nearly at 10 a kilo for tomatoes when we rarely go above 5.

'We're still getting the gear, just prices are up and very expensive.'

Another fruit and veg trader urged people to head to their local market stalls for fresh groceries.

Baz Dawson, owner of Fresh and Fruity, in Preston, revealed his salad stocks have not been directly affected during the national shortage because he buys locally.

The Preston Market trader said that while big supermarkets will now struggle to get hold of their usual cheaper items from abroad, he will continue to buy from farmers in Lancashire and the surrounding areas.

Four of the UK's leading supermarkets - Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Morrisons - have put limitations in place on the amount of certain items customers can buy.

The problem started with tomatoes but has since widened to peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.

Tesco and Aldi have introduced limits of three per customer on sales of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Asda is limiting customers to three on sales of lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflowers and raspberry punnets, along with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Morrisons has set a limit of two on cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.

Mr Dawson says it is the international transportation that has got the supermarkets in a pickle, with fewer places for them to buy their goods.

But because traders like him keep things local, they are not worried about stocks lasting.

He says every day can be different when it comes to buying locally and because of that, he is less worried he'll face what the supermarkets are currently dealing with.

Mr Dawson said: 'We only deal with top end fresh fruits, veg and salads. There's currently such a national shortage on salads and foreign vegetables.

'We go to the wholesalers and buy either direct or off the farmer or the wholesaler to cut costs, but to stick with the quality.

'With it being such a struggle nationally, the supermarkets will struggle but with us going direct to the wholesalers, we can still get hold of limited salad stock.

'Most of our vegetables are grown and cut within a ten mile radius during certain seasons of the year. Even for us, when we're in the depths of winter we sometimes have to go for the cheaper produce too.

'Supermarkets have not got the stock of salads in now whatsoever but here we do have, from the wholesaler.

'Because they haven't got it in the supermarket, like they didn't when the pandemic hit, they come to us in the market to buy fresh produce and salad. We keep going, like we did two years ago.'

Fluctuating stocks can occur daily in the market trade, Mr Dawson says, but having already dealt with it since the day he began selling, he says the fear of low stocks of certain items is less of a fear.

In the winter months the UK imports around 95 per cent of its tomatoes and 90 per cent of its lettuces, mostly from Spain and northern Africa. The British Retail Consortium said disruption was expected to last a few weeks.

Retailers have stressed that buying limits are temporary until supplies improve in the coming days or weeks, helped by the UK moving into its growing season.

It comes after the Environment Secretary suggested yesterday that Brits could consider eating turnips to ease the national vegetable shortage.

Farmers also warned of a shortage of leeks that is likely to hamper St David's Day celebrations in Wales next week.

Therese Coffey told MPs the 'temporary' shortages were caused by 'very unusual weather' but were expected to end in another four weeks.

Ms Coffey said that consumers might want to turn to British 'specialisms' at this time of year to support domestic farmers.

She added: 'I am led to believe by my officials... we anticipate the situation will last about another two to four weeks.

'Even if we cannot control the weather it is important that we try and make sure the supply continues to not be frustrated in quite the way it has been due to these unusual weather incidents.'

Salad fans told to buy Micro Tom plant that can produce 6,000 cherry tomatoes in a year Salad fans are being urged to start growing a super plant that can yield thousands of tomatoes in case the fruit and veg shortage continues into summer. The Micro Tom is a small plant that has been known to produce a staggering 6,000 cherry tomatoes in a single year. In contrast, people can only expect to harvest 200 tomatoes from a regular plant. Greenfingered Joy and Michael Michaud are encouraging growers to get hold of hanging baskets and start planting seeds now to enjoy a steady supply of tomatoes from June through to November. Last year, Joy, from West Bexington, Dorset, kept a tally of the number she was picking and all her plants produced 5,000 to 6,000 tomatoes each. She said they 'couldn't eat them fast enough' and had to give away bags of toms to neighbours to save them from the compost heap. Joy, 64, said: 'We recommend that people enjoy the winter vegetables during this shortage and get planting to ensure a supply of delicious tomatoes in summer. 'If people can get hold of hanging baskets and polytunnels that will be the perfect environment to grow them in through March and April. 'Homegrown tomatoes always taste better than shop bought ones and this way people can make sure they have plenty to eat. 'Last year I was struggling to count the number I was picking off our Micro Tomato plants. 'Every plant we had produced around 6,000 tomatoes each. We couldn't believe it, they are miracle plants. 'I set an initial target of 1,000 tomatoes a plant but we quickly passed that and I set another one at 5,000. 'That is thousands more than you could expect to get from a normal tomato plant. It's just an incredible variety. 'While the tomatoes are small they're very tasty - they're little balls of flavour.' Joy and Michael run Sea Spring Seeds and grow and sell seeds for 150 types of chilli. Advertisement

Ms Coffey agreed with Tory MP Selaine Saxby who suggested eating seasonal vegetables could solve the issue.

Ms Saxby said: 'We should be eating more seasonally and supporting our own British farmers', adding that if shoppers did so, 'a lot of these problems would be avoided'.

Ms Coffey said: 'It's important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country.

'A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about... lettuce and tomatoes and similar, but I'm conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world are trying to satisfy.'

Labour's environment spokesman Jim McMahon questioned suggestions that food shortages were entirely caused by external forces, claiming ministers could have done more to support farmers with access to 'the energy-intensive support scheme', and increased quotas on labour to help with workforce shortages.

Conservative former minister Sir Desmond Swayne ridiculed suggestions that Brexit was responsible for the shortages.

He told the Commons: 'If only I had been told before I voted for Brexit that it was going to cause frosts in Morocco, I could have made a different decision, couldn't I?'

Asked about the turnip suggestion, a No 10 spokesman said: 'We don't believe it's for us to tell people what they should or shouldn't buy.'

He added: 'What the Secretary of State was doing was setting out the importance of celebrating the produce that we grow here in the UK.'

Ms Coffey drew further criticism for suggesting people struggling to afford food bills could consider working more hours.

She said: 'One of the best ways to boost their incomes is not only to get into work if they're not in work already, but potentially to work some more hours.'

After the debate, Labour's Rachael Maskell accused Ms Coffey of 'shifting blame for food poverty on to people because they are on low wages and are poor'.

Budget supermarket food is seeing average annual price rises of an astonishing 21.5 per cent.

A Which? study found the poorest homes were the worst hit.

Some products have seen huge increases, such as tins of Growers Harvest sliced carrots up 63 per cent at Tesco to 33p, and packs of pork sausages at Asda up 58 per cent to 1.27. Budget Creamfields French brie also saw a 96.6 per cent rise at Tesco to 1.57.

Farmers are warning of an 'extraordinary' shortage of leeks which threatens St David's Day celebrations in Wales next week.

British producers of the much-loved seasonal vegetable, as well as onions, cauliflower and broccoli, have had to write off crops due to a lack of rain and deep frosts.

Supermarkets including Aldi Morrisons, Asda and Tesco have limited sales of vegetables, but Therese Coffey suggested people could use turnips as a substitute

Leek yields were down by as much as 30 per cent following the 'most difficult growing season ever'

A sign limiting customers to three items each is seen next to empty boxes in the tomato and peppers section of a Tesco

Some supermarkets have already run out of leeks, while the ones that do reach the shelves are often of poor quality and stunted  bad news for anyone planning to serve up traditional dishes such as a Welsh cawl or Wrexham bake on March 1.

Leek Growers Association chairman Tim Casey said yields were down by as much as 30 per cent following the 'most difficult growing season ever'. He added: 'We are predicting the supply of home-grown leeks will be exhausted by April, with no British leeks in the shops during May and June.'

Reputedly introduced to Wales by the Phoenicians when they were trading for tin in the British Isles, the leek has long been associated with the Welsh Saint David.

In 640AD, according to legend, the Briton King Cadwaladr and his men wore leeks in their hats to distinguish themselves in battle against invading Saxons. The leek has remained a national symbol ever since.
An A-listers daughter had her intimate photos stolen in a terrifying blackmail plot.

George Austin-Bohan hacked into the devices of the victim and her ex-boyfriend, stole nude photos and videos  some taken when she was just 16  then told her he would publish them if she did not send him 3,000.

When this failed to work he contacted the victims mother, sending her intimate photos of her daughter and warning that if he was not paid I will be posting at midnight.

The 28-year-old has been jailed for five-and-a-half years for blackmailing the woman, whose father is a world-famous celebrity and her mother, trying the same trick on one of his victims friends and separate drugs charges.

Austin-Bohan, who has a young son, and the victim had met but did not know each other well, Snaresbook Crown Court heard yesterday.

George Austin-Bohan hacked into the devices of the victim and her ex-boyfriend, stole nude photos and videos  some taken when she was just 16  then told her he would publish them if she did not send him 3,000

In October that year, the victim received a threatening message on Instagram and again in December from the same account threatening to publish a sex tape, and messaged the terrified womans ex-boyfriend ordering him to make her pay up

In October that year, the victim received a threatening message on Instagram, David Baird, prosecuting said.

The messages said: I am a professional hacker and I have nudes of you.

I hacked your boyfriends device and also yours.

I want some money or more nudes or I will expose you. If you dont believe me I will share the photos.

Calling the police wont do anything and if you do then you will still be exposed.

Just send me the money and I will delete the content.

Austin-Bohan sent another message from the same account that December threatening to publish a sex tape, and messaged the terrified womans ex-boyfriend ordering him to make her pay up.

I only want 1,000, she is rich  thats nothing, Austin-Bohan told the ex-partner.

The victim received a further message which said: I have got nudes of you, I have hacked you and I will ruin your career if you dont send me money in an hour.

The victim, who is now in her 20s, reported the messages to the police but no further action was taken at the time.

She heard nothing more until April 2020, when Austin-Bohan sent her more threats along with images and links to prove he possessed the intimate photos.

He told her: I want 3,000 in my PayPal account or I am posting all this.

I am not playing games.

The thug also escalated his threats to his victims mother, messaging her: Hi, please send 3,000 to my PayPal or I will expose your daughter, her sex tapes and her boyfriend.

Dont think about calling the police, I am not from the UK so they cant do anything.

I will be posting at midnight.

Mr Baird said: Austin-Bohan also sent some links to the mother of her daughter.

She could only see the thumbnail images but could see they were nude photographs of her and this caused huge distress.

The victim was unable to sleep properly for months after the threats were made, and she was terrified she would never escape her tormenter, judge Alex Gordon said.

Her mother said she was incredibly distressed and overwhelmed, she did not know what to do and she was very concerned about the impact this would have on her young daughter, the judge added.

The court heard that Austin-Bohan also contacted a friend of the victims using the same username and informed her that a stolen image of her posing topless had been uploaded to a website.

She was then told that unless she sent further photos of her breasts the images would remain online and would not be taken down, Mr Baird said.

Two weeks later, the second victim realised it had been Austin-Bohan who was behind the sinister messages.

In a letter to the court, this victim wrote: I was so upset that intimate pictures of me had been put on to the internet and could not be taken down.

This caused me so much stress and because it took place during lockdown I could not even meet with my friends to discuss what had happened.

I was worried that anyone who would search my name, including any potential clients, would see these images.

Austin-Bohan was first arrested in May 2020, when his devices were seized.

Upon his arrest he told officers this is a joke, but the images were later found by detectives on his computer.

He was released under investigation but when police came back to his home in north London they found an ounce of 92 per cent pure cocaine worth 1,300, some less pure cocaine worth 400, another 3,500 worth of ecstasy and cannabis and 800 cash.

He and his flatmate, Mustafa Karakaya, 24, were arrested and charged with possession with intent to supply.

Austin-Bohan pleaded guilty to blackmail and malicious communications in November, while both defendants admitted possession with intent to supply at the same hearing.

Benjamin Newton, defending Austin-Bohan, said his client understood the awful psychological effects his behaviour had on his victims, and he was remorseful for his actions.

Austin-Bohan, who has three previous convictions for drugs offences, was jailed for 52 months for the blackmail, reduced to 39 months for his guilty plea.

And he was given an additional 24 months for the drugs offences, to run consecutively.

Karakaya, who has 11 convictions for drug dealing, violence and possession of a weapon, was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Judge Gordon told Austin-Bohan: You took private images of a young woman taken when she was 16 and 17 when she was participating in consensual sexual activity.

You made threats to publish these images if you were not paid money.

You made demands first to the daughter in 2018 and then you resurrected your blackmail to the daughter and also her mother in April 2020.

Blackmail is a very nasty and pernicious offence.

You have known and appreciated the very significant risk of psychological harm that would be inflicted upon your victim and her family.

The judge ordered Austin-Bohan to sign the sex offenders register for ten years, and ordered the destruction of two devices.
He 'took a break' from the company he founded before today resigning

A Bafta-nominated composer who publicly supported JK Rowling's divisive views on gender has stepped down from the 55.1 million company he founded after he was hounded by LGBTQI+ activists.

Christian Henson, 50, who created music for television hits including Top Gear, Poirot and Inside No 9 and founded composition sample company Spitfire Audio, backed the Harry Potter author and Father Ted writer Graham Linehan in a since-deleted Tweet in September last year.

Furious pro-trans activists slammed the comments and lashed out at Spitfire executives, sparking an apology from CEO Will Evans and an announcement that Mr Henson would be 'taking a break' from the business.

Last night, Mr Henson said: 'As an original founder I am deeply saddened that Spitfire and Pianobook has become embroiled in something it has no involvement with.

'Spitfire employs a large number of people from a diverse range of backgrounds, all of whom are united in their passion for music, sound, and composing.

'This whole episode has taken a great toll on them. This is why I have today decided to put them first and step back from any involvement in Spitfire Audio, Pianobook and LABS including acting in any consulting capacity.'

Christian Henson, 50, has created music for huge television hits including Top Gear and Poirot

Composer Christian Henson said he backed Harry Potter author JK Rowling over views

Mr Henson said his decision would take immediate effect.

'I hope this action will allow my former colleagues at Spitfire to get back to focusing on what they do best without any further distress or distraction,' he added.

Mr Henson took a break from Twitter in the wake of the backlash after posting: 'As a parent I can no longer keep my mouth shut about this. I'm in full support on Glinner and JK Rowling. Please look into this.'

It was followed by a link to a YouTube video by Linehan but prompted a furious response from pro-trans activists, who see both figures as hostile figures to their cause. The message is understood to have been about the Tavistock Centre, the controversial identity clinic for children now to be shut.

Critics were tagging Spitfire demanding they 'do the right thing' while others vowed to boycott it entirely.

One said: 'Christian has already established himself as a transphobe', while another said they were 'heartbroken' by Mr Henson's statement.

'I looked up to CH for so long dude. Genuinely believed he was a force for good in the world. This is just heartbreaking.'

And another wrote: 'I don't think there's a way to support Spitfire without supporting this transphobe.'

Others simply Tweeted: 'Stop using Spitfire!'

Mr Henson's tweet has now been deleted but sparked accusations of transphobia by some

Then the company's CEO Will Evans - listed as a director alongside Mr Henson in the firm - apologised for the post.

He went on to say his colleague would be 'taking a break' as they 'worked out how to move forward'.

Mr Evans wrote online: 'Christian's tweet has caused hurt among our community,

'This hurt is understandably being extended as a reflection on Spitfire Audio, its collaborators and its employees.

'I'm deeply sorry for that; we've worked hard to be a beacon for the industry and have a responsibility to do better.

'Christian's going to take a break as we reflect on how to move forward, and in the meantime, please accept my apologies on behalf of Spitfire Audio.'

But Mr Evans' reaction sparked a free speech row and support for Mr Henson from Ms Rowling herself.

And Maya Forstater, who won an employment tribunal herself after she lost her job after a tweet about gender beliefs, also backed criticism of the company's move.

Mr Henson is understood to have held a 35 per cent shareholding in the company.
A leading law firm is being investigated over accusations several of its workers used drugs, blackmailed colleagues and propositioned peers with sex at an office party.

The NSW firm, which can't be identified for legal reasons, has been dragged into the spotlight following a criminal trial of one of its lawyers.

The lawyer had been charged with serious criminal offences and was taken to court by one of their peers before they were found not guilty.

Evidence given in the criminal trial raised questions about the workplace and the behaviour of six workers with senior staff counted among the group.

A leading law firm is being investigated over accusations several of its workers used drugs, blackmailed colleagues and had sex with each other at office parties (stock image)

One of the lawyers had just attended a formal ceremony where they were admitted as a lawyer at the NSW Supreme Court, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The court heard they allegedly organised for cocaine to be supplied to their colleagues to celebrate their recent admission just hours after the ceremony.

Senior staff gave evidence alleging drugs were used by colleagues, and peers engaged in sexual acts during office parties and social functions.

The court heard one lawyer was allegedly caught doing cocaine off a microwave plate and sharing the drug.

A worker went into the office the following day with their children to do some work.

The court heard they allegedly found a cocaine encrusted $20 note, before wiping it down and allowing the kids to spend the money on pizza.

The court heard another lawyer allegedly propositioned their colleagues with sex during one of the parties.

Another lawyer allegedly planned to blackmail a colleague because she wanted their job, the court heard.

The court heard the lawyer allegedly told the colleague to resign or they would tell their partner about their alleged illegal behaviour.

The judge said the lawyers would be referred for investigation by the NSW Law Society and the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner.
An attorney claims he has been suspended by progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon because he misgendered and deadnamed a transgender pedophile accused of murder.

Shea Sanna was the lead prosecutor for a portion of the case of Hannah Tubbs, 27, charged with murder over the April 2019 killing of Michael Clark, who was robbed and drowned while camping in Lake Isabella, a picturesque tourist town on the edge of Sequoia National Forest, 150 miles north of Los Angeles.

Sanna has said in the past that Tubbs has used gender identity to play the justice system, which he believes made people in the district attorney's office uncomfortable.

'I was suspended for speaking out against the Gascon Administration,' he wrote on Twitter Friday. 'Misgendering Tubbs while informing them that they were being played is just their excuse for the suspension.'

Tiffany Blacknell, Director of the Bureau of Communications, responded to the accusation in a statement to DailyMail.com.

An attorney claims he has been suspended by progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon because he misgendered and deadnamed a transgender pedophile -Hannah Tubbs (pictured) accused of murder

'While we cannot comment on the specifics of a personnel matter, I can say that the actions taken by the Department were the result of the findings conducted by an independent County Policy of Equity Investigation,' she wrote.

'I can also say is that the Transgender community is frequently the target of violent attacks. They are also reluctant to come forward and report their attacks because of how they're treated in the criminal legal system. The LADA office takes seriously our responsibility to treat all people with respect and dignity no matter their gender identity.'

Sanna has spent months believing that the DA's office is being duped by Tubbs, who began identifying as a woman after she pled guilty to molesting a 10-year-old in the bathroom stall of a California Denny's.

In December, he tweeted: 'Gascon protects pedophiles and punishes prosecutors. I was prevented from providing the court with evidence that Tubbs was 1) perpetrating a fraud upon the court, 2) a murder suspect, and 3) a suspect in other sexual assaults.'

He claims he's being punished for being a whistleblower after he criticized former Gascon adviser Alisa Blair's handling of a different case.

'So it wasn't when I first 'misgendered' Tubbs,' he told Fox News. '[Blair] did it in retaliation. Part of it, the reason why I suspended, is because I called out Tubbs to the administration and said I have recordings of him making up the name, gaming the system, joking about it and the date that it was made up. And I had reports where he's referring to himself as a 'grown a** man.'

Sanna also found it ridiculous that Gascon's policies led Tubbs to be put in a facility for juveniles because of when the original crime took place.

'It wasn't like I was going around being transphobic or malicious -- I brought it to their attention that they have a convicted child rapist trying to get himself into a juvenile facility as a woman, and he rapes little girls,' he said. 'Does anybody see a problem with that?'

Shea Sanna was the lead prosecutor for a portion of the case of Hannah Tubbs, 27, charged with murder over the April 2019 killing of Michael Clark, who was robbed and drowned while camping in Lake Isabella, a picturesque tourist town on the edge of Sequoia National Forest, 150 miles north of Los Angeles

Sanna has said in the past that Tubbs has been using gender identity to play the justice system, which he believes made people in Gascon's (pictured) district attorney's office uncomfortable

Tubbs' now adult victim agreed, telling Fox: 'I've also heard that my attacker goes by she/them pronouns now. I see it also unfair to try him as a woman as well, seeing how he clearly didn't act like one on January 1st of 2014.'

The serial offender was charged as a man for the murder of Clark, under their birth name James, but Judge Zulfa on Friday referred to the bearded detainee as Hannah. Tubbs was then sent to be held in the male jail, until the next hearing.

Tubbs was already a high-profile figure before the murder charges were filed, and more and more detail has emerged about the multiple offenses in multiple states.

She had been serving a two-year sentence for child sex offenses committed when she was 17, in 2014.

A local vagrant, she hid in a stall in a Denny's in Los Angeles, inside the women's bathroom, waiting for his victim to come in.

He then molested her.

It has since emerged that less than six months before attacking the 10-year-old girl, Tubbs has been given a four-year sentence for attacking a man with a knife.

Tubbs had also been twice convicted of aggravated battery in Idaho.

The case came to prominence last year after woke LA prosecutor George Gascon allowed her to be tried in the juvenile system, as the child sex abuse was committed when she was 17.

Gascon has since said he was unaware of the previous litany of offenses and should have been harsher.

Tubbs was also caught on a prison phone boasting about the lenient treatment.

The transgender convict, who is charged with molesting a young girl in 2014, is currently locked up at the Lerdo Pre-Trial Facility in Bakersfield, California after being charged with murder on May 10. Pictured: CCTV images of Tubbs entering a Denny's restaurant in Palmdale, California, where a 10-year-old girl was molested in the bathroom

Tubbs is now being held on a $1million bond in Kern County, California, after being charged with second-degree murder and robbery in connection with the death of 22-year-old Michael Clark. Clark's body was found washed up in the Kern River (pictured) in August 2019, after he disappeared months earlier in April

Now DailyMail.com can reveal that 'transient' Tubbs has a lengthy history of violent crime and continued to identify as a man until at least March 2020, going by the name Cesar.

Tubbs, who was raised by his failed actor father Edward, 64, in Washington and California, was accused in 2013 of fondling a four-year-old girl.

A year later, Tubbs attacked the 10-year-old in the Denny's bathroom.

Tubbs was first jailed in 2017 after being convicted of drug possession and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm in Kootenai County, Idaho.

After being released in March 2019, she then moved to Lake Isabella  a picturesque tourist area on the edge of the Sequoia National Forest in California.

Her father Edward was living there at the time and was himself arrested for assault with a deadly weapon in June 2019 - for which he is currently still on probation.

Court papers seen by DailyMail.com show how one-person crimewave Tubbs committed a string of violent offenses in the area between spring 2019 and March 2020.

During the same period, Tubbs was also rearrested and served another six months in Idaho after being hit with another battery charge and two probation violations.

Tubbs's Lake Isabella crimewave began in late April 2019 with the alleged robbery and murder of Clark, although she wasn't charged with that crime until last month.

Tubbs was two weeks away from turning 18 when police said she walked into a women's bathroom, locked a 10-year-old girl in a stall, grabbed her by the throat, shoved her hand down the child's pants and proceeded to sexually assault her in 2014

After being released in March 2019, Tubbs then moved to Lake Isabella  a picturesque tourist area on the edge of the Sequoia National Forest in California  where her father was living

In May 2019, Tubbs was arrested and charged with purchasing a stolen car and possessing a quantity of methamphetamine.

Those charges were then dropped to allow Tubbs to be prosecuted for a March 2020 knife attack which took place after she was released from Kootenai County Jail for a second time.

According to charging documents, Tubbs  then known as Cesar  inflicted 'great bodily injury' on the victim who is named in court papers as 'John Doe'.

Tubbs is now facing a life sentence in adult jail if convicted of the murder of Clark.

It is unclear when she decided to transition - it is believed to be around 2014 - but she is being prosecuted as a man in Kern County, and was prosecuted as a man over the March 2020 knife attack.

LA DA George Gascon has admitted that convicted child molester Hannah Tubbs, 26 should not have been prosecuted as a juvenile and should have received a harsher sentence for sexually assaulting a child

Gascon, whose policies allowed her to be tried as a juvenile female and placed in a prison alongside female minors, admitted in February that the sentence she received for child molesting was too lenient.

The LA County DA, who is now facing a recall vote, said: 'After her sentencing in our case, I became aware of extremely troubling statements she made about her case, the resolution of it and the young girl that she harmed.

'If we knew about her disregard for the harm she caused, we would have handled this case differently.'

Tubbs showed no remorse for the molestation offense and even bragged to her father about the lax sentence over the jailhouse phone.

She also called herself a 'tranny', boasted that her trans status would allow her a better jail cell and reminded dad Edward to refer to her as 'she'.

In the November 2021 call, she was also gleeful about not having to register as a sex offender and said 'nothing' will be done to punish her for violently assaulting the 10-year-old, according to an audio recording that was obtained by Fox.

Tubbs said: 'So now they're going to put me with other trannies that have seen their cases like mine or with one tranny like me that has a case like mine.

Tubbs has a vast criminal record including arrests in multiple states. She is pictured in some of her old mugshots taken prior to her transition from a man to a woman

Tubbs told her father: 'So when you come to court, make sure you address me as her.'

LA County Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami, a prosecutor and supporter of the movement to recall Gascon, said earlier this year that Tubbs was too dangerous to be in the juvenile system.

He said: 'This was done with limited guidance and no concerns for public safety. This clearly shows you the dangerous aspect of the blanket policies of George Gascon.

'Under George Gascon's 'reforms', a 26-year-old admitted child molester is being housed with juveniles.

'She may be released early, back into the community, with no sex registration. Only innocent victims and the public suffer because of George Gascon's so-called progress.

'This is not somebody who should appear in the juvenile system.'

Gascon, a former San Francisco police chief, won office in Dem-led Los Angeles in November 2020 as part of a wave of progressive prosecutors elected nationwide.

He ran on a criminal justice reform platform after a summer of unrest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Los Angeles is a heavily Democratic city known for its progressive politics, but Gascon has faced criticism from business leaders and prosecutors in his own office for policies that they saw as ineffective to stem rising crime.

The policy states that alternatives to criminal convictions should be considered, such as avoiding charging for criminal enhancements, which can significantly increase one's prison sentence, 'that would turn an otherwise immigration neutral offense into an immigration damaging one.'
Alex Murdaugh defied his own lawyers' advice to take the stand in his double murder trial in a legal Hail Mary that has divided experts.

In the latest twist in the Murdaugh saga, the disgraced legal scion, 54, decided to testify Thursday, stunning those both inside and outside the courtroom - with his own lawyer conceding that he was 'hurt' by the move.

Murdaugh admitted lying to cops when he told them he was never at the murder scene moments before his wife Maggie and son Paul were shot dead. He claimed a crippling 20-year opioid addiction made him paranoid around the police.

Under cross examination, the disbarred attorney said he was 'embarrassed' that he had routinely lied to clients and partners at his law firm during a decade of malfeasance during which he stole more than $10m to fund his drug addiction.

Legal experts are divided, some arguing that his testimony has been a 'train wreck', while others say his account was 'thoughtful and collected' and would help jurors to fill in the gaps in the complicated case which hinges on circumstantial evidence.

Murdaugh broke down in tears Friday as the prosecutor brought his explosive grilling to a close with proof that the alleged double murderer lied to cops about his alibi

Defense attorney Duncan Levin (left) said Murdaugh's testimony was a 'train wreck that has inched the prosecution significantly closer to a conviction.' South Carolina attorney Susan Williams (right) said she was 'completely flabbergasted' by the decision which was 'very rare' for any defendant, not least one with so much on the line

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh in a photo the mother posted for Father's Day in 2020

Murdaugh is accused of twice blasting Paul, 22, with a shotgun before shooting Maggie, 52, five times with an assault rifle at the family's hunting estate in Moselle, South Carolina, on the night of June 7, 2021.

No murder weapon has ever been recovered and there is no forensic evidence tying Murdaugh to the scene.

But phone records, GPS data and a video taken by his son moments before his death prove Murdaugh's original alibi to cops - that he left to visit his mother and never saw the pair alive at the kennels - was not true.

Murdaugh denied the killings on the stand and claimed that someone had killed the pair in revenge for his son's fatal boat accident. He claims Paul received threats in the wake of the crash that left his friend, 19-year-old Mallory Beach dead.

Lori Murray, a South Carolina criminal defense attorney, said the grilling Murdaugh received under cross-examination both harmed and helped his case.

On the one hand, jurors will now have his lies fresh in their memory, but on the other he 'held up well' and managed to remain collected under severe questioning.

Murray told DailyMail.com: 'It harmed him because it took away from the good evidence the defense had put in and put the focus on him. They've now forgotten what they heard two days ago. But he held up well in my opinion. He remained calm even under some intense questioning. I would argue if you cannot lose your cool in that situation what's a little financial pressure?

'It also helped him because the state focused more on his lies than the murders. I would have got up - asked the right questions and sat down. They spent way too long beating a dead horse and now the jury has forgotten the OnStar (GPS car data) testimony. I'm also not sure how well the snarky tone works in small town America.'

South Carolina attorney Susan Williams said she was 'completely flabbergasted' by the decision which was 'very rare' for any defendant, not least one with so much on the line.

Lori Murray , a South Carolina criminal defense attorney, said the grilling Murdaugh received under cross-examination both harmed and helped his case

Williams believes he made the decision because the legal heir believes his status can see him through with jurors at the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro.

'He thinks that he can out smart, he thinks that his personality, his influence and power is going to be more well regarded from the jury than what the actual case and what the actual science and what the hard evidence is,' she told WJCL

She argued that Murdaugh's claim that he lied to cops because he mistrusted State law enforcement was not credible given that he was a solicitor he frequently rubbed shoulders with officers.

'What I found absolutely incredible was his distrust for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division which is remarkable because as we know Alex has a badge as a volunteer solicitor and he has these, quote unquote, graveyard buddies, that are fire, police, DNR, you know these are his close friends and I'm not buying what he's selling about his distrust for State law enforcement.'

Speaking ahead of his cross examination today, Williams predicted it would 'go terribly for Alex and go very well for the State.'

She said: 'Abraham Lincoln said 'No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar,' and there are so many details that the prosecution is going to bring out which the defense had completely skipped over.

'Once the flood gates of cross examination open up all bets are off and I think that the prosecution is really gonna hammer in on Alex Murdaugh and I don't think he can rap his mind around how much he's gonna come on cross examination.'

Prosecutor Creighton Waters grills Alex Murdaugh during Murdaugh's murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse

Buster Murdaugh, the son of Alex Murdaugh, buries his face in his hand as he listens to his father testify at the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday

Defense attorney Jim Griffin objects to questioning by prosecutor Creighton Waters as Alex Murdaugh testifies during his murder trial

Prosecutor Creighton Waters cross examines Alex Murdaugh during Murdaugh's trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday

Buster Murdaugh, the son of Alex Murdaugh, looks stony-faced as his listens to his father Friday

Defense attorney Jim Griffin talks with Dick Harpootlian as Alex Murdaugh testifies at the Colleton County Courthouse

Defense attorney Duncan Levin said Murdaugh's testimony was a 'train wreck that has inched the prosecution significantly closer to a conviction.'

'It was clear prior to his testimony that his own lawyers did not want him to testify, and now we know why,' Levin told The Daily Beast. 'The prosecution has done a very good job so far at showing the jury who Alex Murdaugh really is. And he really appeared to flounder during cross-examination.'

Levin said Murdaugh had admitted to abusing his solicitor's badge, stealing from clients and lying about his alibi on the night of the killings.

'His demeanor was also off, snapping at the prosecutor, who was asking about his financial crimes,' Levin added. 'He repeatedly admitted lying and blamed it on a drug addiction.

'The question is whether the jury will accept his excuses, and it seems pretty incredible to believe that anyone on the jury was swayed in his direction during his testimony.'

However, Gerald Harmon, a South Carolina criminal defense attorney, said he found Murdaugh to be 'thoughtful and collected' giving evidence.

'I can imagine the jury is engaged and is using his testimony to fill in holes,' he added.

'It's complicated to analyze how effective his decision to testify will be with the jury. I do not believe Alex has substantially harmed his case with his testimony.'

Murdaugh broke down in tears Friday as the prosecutor brought his explosive grilling to a close with proof that the alleged double murderer lied to cops about his alibi.

'Are you a family annihilator, Mr Murdaugh?' Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked.

Murdaugh replied: 'A family annihilator? You mean did I shoot my wife and son? No.'

But Waters then exploded Murdaugh's 'new story' after the legal scion yesterday admitted he lied to cops when when he said he was not at the kennels moments before Maggie and Paul were killed because his partners arrived to tell him to get a lawyer before he spoke to State investigators (SLED).

The prosecutor played bodycam footage from the local cop who was first on the scene in which Murdaugh lied that he last saw Maggie and Paul 45 minutes before going to see his mother.

'At that time SLED was not there ... but you still told the same lie,' Waters said as he brought the cross examination to a crescendo.

'And all those reasons you just gave this jury about the most important part of your testimony was a lie, too. Isn't that true, Mr. Murdaugh?'

Murdaugh replied: 'I disagree with that.'

'Nothing further,' Waters said as he brought the two-day grilling to a close.

Earlier, Waters reeled off dozens of victims of Murdaugh's financial crimes, including clients and staff at his firm, asking if the alleged killer lied to each individual.

Murdaugh squirmed on the stand, at times admitting his lies, at other points claiming his memory was hazy before conceding: 'I would have at some point I am sure.'

Waters then skewered him, saying: 'And you want this jury to believe a story manufactured to fit the evidence that you brought forth just yesterday after hearing this trial's whole testimony?'

Murdaugh replied: 'No sir, that's not correct.'

Alex Murdaugh today broke down in tears as the prosecutor ended his explosive grilling with proof that the alleged double murderer lied to cops about his alibi

The prosecutor played bodycam footage from the local cop who was first on the scene in which Murdaugh said he said the last time he saw Maggie and Paul was around 45 minutes before leaving to see his mother. In his 'new story' he told jurors yesterday he saw them about 20 minutes before he left

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh. Buster was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte at the time of the murders

It comes after Murdaugh outlined a new narrative after the jury saw video which proved he was with his wife and son at the kennels at 8.45pm - around five minutes before the State says they were killed.

He admitted he was there briefly but went back to the house a minute after the video was taken. Murdaugh said he lied to cops that night and in later interviews because his opioid addiction made him paranoid.

The disgraced legal scion told Waters today that 'other than lying about going to the kennel, I was cooperative about every aspect of this investigation.'

Waters hit back: 'Very cooperative except for the most important fact of all - that you were with the victims just moments before they died.'

The prosecutor said he drove to his mother's home in Almeda, around 15 minutes away, in order to 'manufacture an alibi.'

Murdaugh told jurors: 'I never manufactured an alibi in any way shape or form because I would not and did not harm my wife and child.'
Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Malory Towers books have been charming young readers since the 1940s.

But Daily Mail analysis has found the books have been stripped of many of the much-loved author's key words - with innocent uses of 'queer', 'gay', and even 'brown', with reference to tanned faces, changed to avoid causing offence.

The findings come after outrage over controversial 'woke' rewrites by 'sensitivity readers' of 16 Roald Dahl children's classics by Puffin Books.

'Old hag', in Dahl's The Witches, has been changed to 'old crow', greedy Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is no longer described as 'fat', and Miss Trunchbull in Matilda has lost her 'great horsey face'.

Booker-prize winning novelist Salman Rushdie  still recovering from an assassination attempt  felt moved to speak out, saying: 'Roald Dahl was no angel, but this is absurd censorship'.

Daily Mail analysis has found the books have been stripped of many of the much-loved author's key words, such as innocent uses of 'queer' and 'gay'

The hundreds of millions of fans of Blyton, born in East Dulwich, south London, in 1897, may be similarly surprised at changes to current editions of some of her most popular books.

Her first Famous Five adventure - Five on Treasure Island - introduced youngsters Julian, Dick and Anne and their tomboy cousin Georgina, or George, plus her dog Timothy.

In the 1942 edition, 'queer' was very much Blyton's favourite adjective, used as often as twice on one page, and applied to everything from cormorants to waves. Never, of course, with any reference to sexuality. But nervousness over the word is such that in the current Hodder Children's Books edition available in 2023 bookshops, that it is banished entirely - and replaced variously with 'peculiar', 'odd', 'strange', 'funny', 'weird', and 'amazing'.

So when Anne wonders why Georgina has not greeted her and her brothers, she originally remarked: 'Isn't she queer - not wanting to welcome us...' In 2023, she says: 'Isn't she odd - not wanting to welcome us...' There is also evidently modern nervousness around skin colour.

A description of 'a brown-faced fisher-boy' is 'changed to a suntanned fisher-boy'. In 1942, Blyton had gone on: 'The fisher-boy....grinned at George. 'Morning, Master George,' he said.

It seemed so queer to the other children to hear Georgina called 'Master George'!' The words were emphasising the key plot component of Georgina/George's tomboy nature - but that was clearly too contentious for modern readers.

Now the passage says simply: The fisher-boy....grinned at George. 'Morning, George,' he said.'

While spanking of children is far less common than it was 80 years ago, it is not yet a criminal offence in England. But there is not a word of it in today's Famous Five. In 1942, Uncle Quentin had said of his daughter: 'Where's George? She wants spanking.' Now, he says: 'She wants a good talking too.'

Blyton wrote that the girls' 'gay voices sounded all up and down the platform', but in the updated version, their voices are instead 'happy'

Respect for elders seems to have gone out of fashion too. When Julian apologised to Uncle Quentin in the 1942 version, he said: 'I'm sorry, sir.' Now, he is sorry - but does not include the apparently too subservient 'sir'.

After the childrens heroic adventures come to an end with them - spoiler alert - finding hidden gold, Blyton had an important moment for her tomboy character, finally earning respect from her father.

She wrote: Uncle Quentin ruffled Georges short curly hair. And Im proud of you too George, he said. Youre as good as a boy any day!

In 2023, with his speech slashed, and any comparison to boys removed: Uncle Quentin ruffled Georges short curly hair. And Im proud of you too George, he said.

Colour is similarly stripped out of Blytons 1946 classic, First Term at Malory Towers, which launched a series about Darrell Rivers education at a Cornwall girls boarding school.

On arrival in the dormitory, Darrell and her housemates were originally told to get in bed by A tall, dark girl, quiet in her manner. In 2023, it is A tall girl, quiet in her manner.

French teacher Mamzelle Dupont was originally short, fat and round - now she is short and round. And while Darrall originally wanted to slap enemy Gwendoline, now she wants to shake her.

Blyton's first Famous Five adventure  Five on Treasure Island  was published in 1942 and introduced the group of four friends and a dog

And while in 1946 Gwendoline was described as feeling she had to work like a slave, in 2023 she must work hard.

Blytons first book of an astonishing 800 titles was published in 1922. She died in 1968.

She has previously faced attacks for descriptions of a car-jacking by black-faced Golliwogs, and writing about doll Sambo, who was unpopular because of his ugly black face until it turned white in the rain.

The parent company of Hodder Childrens Books, Hachette Childrens Books, said no-one was available to comment on the changes to Blytons original text.
A man who is set to be charged over the death of his partner was introducing her to his friends as his fiancee days earlier.

Isaac Costa, 28, is expected to be charged with murder after his partner was found dead on Brighton Street in Greystanes, Sydney's west, at 12.50am on Saturday.

One neighbour said Costa and his partner had caught up with his friends at a local pub four days earlier.

Isaac Costa, 28, is expected to be charged with murder after his partner was found dead on Brighton Street in Greystanes, Sydney's west, at 12.50am on Saturday

'He was there four days ago introducing her to everyone as his new fiancee,' they told The Daily Telegraph.

The woman has not been formally identified but is believed to be aged in her 30s.

Another neighbour said they were woken up early in the morning to the sounds of screams.

'It was a lot of yelling and screaming  then police arrived,' they said.

'It was one of those ones where I was half asleep but I was so worried for my neighbours. It was like a screaming fit.'

A crime scene has been established and is being examined by specialist forensic police.

The house is understood to belong to Costa's father Clem who is a successful land owner.

He owned several properties on the street before selling them off.

Costa was arrested at the property and taken to Granville Police Station to assist police with their inquiries.

He is expected to front Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.

Investigations are continuing.
Clashes have erupted between protesters and counter-demonstrators outside a library hosting an event where a drag queen reads stories to children.

The rival groups gathered outside Manly Library, on Sydney's Northern Beaches, around 10.15am on Saturday.

They formed just minutes before drag queen Charisma Belle was set to read stories to children inside the building.

Police officers were forced to form a human alleyway to allow the children and parents to pass through the crowd.

Angry demonstrators have gatecrashed a library to protest a story time event hosted by drag queen Charisma Belle

Protestors began rallying outside Manly Library, on Sydney's Northern Beaches, around 10.15am on Saturday

Several of the demonstrators were seen waving placards condemning the event. One woman from the crowd said they had turned up to make sure nobody was hurt. 'We're just here to make sure the kids get in safe,' she said

Several of the demonstrators were seen waving placards condemning the event.

'Drag Queens are not for kids,' one sign read.

Another read: 'Protect little kids from sexualisation and adult themes.'

Counter protestors turned up in force and tried to drown out the demonstrators by waving pride flags hiding the opposing signs.

'Love is love,' they chanted.

One woman from the crowd said they had turned up to make sure nobody was hurt.

'We're just here to make sure the kids get in safe,' she said.

Tensions boiled over with members from both sides of the camp confronting each other.

'You don't understand the difference between drag and trans people,' one counter protestor yelled.

'Let kids grow up in a safe environment, unlike what you want,' was the response.

Counter protestors turned up in force and tried to drown out the demonstrators by waving pride flags hiding the hateful signs

Several men wearing balaclavas were forced to walk away from the demonstration after caving to the pressure from the counter protestors

Several men wearing balaclavas were forced to walk away from the demonstration after caving to the pressure from the counter protestors.

The crowd cheered as children and parents were led safely through the doors of the library.

One parent leaving the event spoke to Daily Mail Australia describing story time as 'amazing'.

'It was a big family, a very diverse, welcoming event,' she said.

'It was joyous. We need more of this on the beaches.'

'My Shadow is Pink' and 'The Drag Queen's Hips Go Swish-Swish-Swish' were among the stories read to the children.

Another local criticised the demonstrators who had turned out to condemn the event describing them as 'confronting' and 'upsetting'.

The protestors formed just minutes before drag queen Charisma Belle was set to read stories to children inside the building

'I think it's important to recognise local councils are catering to their communities,' she said.

'You don't expect someone to be there protesting how someone should raise their child.

'It's completely up to parents to decide how to do that. To see someone try to pay their two cents, is not really welcome, it's pretty disappointing.'

One of the demonstrators said they were opposed to the event as it went against their religious values, saying it was a 'rejection of God's will'.

Manly Library had advertised the event in the lead-up saying story time would be followed by arts and crafts.

'The Drag Queen Story Time will feature stories and songs celebrating family, love and being yourself,' it read.

'The Story Time will be followed by a creative craft for attendees to keep.'

Counter protestors had issued a warning online that the event was being 'targeted' and urged residents to turn up and voice their support for the library.

The protest unfolded as Sydney geared up to host its first Mardi Gras in two years after the annual march up Oxford St was cancelled because of the Covid pandemic. Instead, participants did a lap of the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Some 300,000 people are expected to turn out for the event along Oxford Street.

One of the demonstrators said they were opposed to the event as it went against their religious values

The protest unfolded as Sydney geared up to host its first Mardi Gras in two years after a more limited event was held during the Covid pandemic

More than 200 floats and 12,500 parade participants will dance through 1.7 kilometres of rainbow-lined streets in a celebration of queer identity, community and equality.

Transgender activist Kalypso Finbar said the parade's return has come with a renewed sense of pride.

'It's almost like a resurrection,' she said.

'There's a different energy in the air this year because there's more accessibility because of that Oxford Street factor.'

For Mardi Gras veterans such as Dykes on Bikes president Emily Saunders, it feels like a homecoming.

'It's our natural home, we ride motorcycles, for us, being on the street is where we belong,' she said.

The 2023 celebration will also mark 45 years since Sydney's first Mardi Gras parade.

Lance Dow, who was part of that first 1978 march, says he feels 'excited but odd' to still be attending almost five decades later.

'Being a '78er, it's incredible how far we've come since that night,' he said.
There are some crimes so callous that it is an affront to justice that the perpetrator should serve as little as half their sentence before being freed on parole.

Robert Brown, a ruthless monster who slaughtered his estranged wife, belongs firmly in that category.

Weeks before the killing, he dug her grave in remote woodland. The pilot later bludgeoned her to death with a claw hammer within earshot of their two young children.

At his trial, he was cleared of murder and pleaded guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

The judge, however, was in no doubt Brown intended to kill, sentencing him to 26 years' imprisonment accordingly. Now, after serving just 13, he could automatically walk free in November.

Airline pilot Robert Brown battered his estranged wife Joanna Simpson to death with a claw hammer within earshot of their two young children. Pictured: Joanna Simpson with her children Katie and Alex

The prospect is appalling. So today, the Mail joins Joanna Simpson's devastated mother, Diana Parkes, in her plea to keep the remorseless killer behind bars.

She is urging Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to use new powers to compel the Parole Board to consider the case  and block Brown's release if he is still a threat.

He has, it is understood, already been classed as posing a very high risk of harm to the public. If that's the case, is it really sensible to let him go?

On top of that, the Probation Service  which supervises offenders in the community  was last month found seriously wanting after two violent criminals went on to kill.

If officials are struggling to cope, it would surely be reckless to add such a dangerous individual as Brown to their workload.

Given the Parole Board's worryingly frequent blunders when releasing the worst offenders, Mr Raab is also right to consider seeking a ministerial veto of its decisions.

Rehabilitation and redemption must, of course, be at the heart of the justice system. But it is high time victims' rights were placed ahead of those of the criminals.

United with Ukraine

The respect and admiration Britain feels for Ukraine's magnificent, heroic people could not have been clearer yesterday.

A year after Russia's invasion, we paused in solidarity with those fighting for their homeland and the values of liberty.

King Charles captured the poignant mood perfectly, praising Ukraine's 'remarkable courage and resistance'. 'We stand united,' he said. And we do.

Members of the Ukrainian community hold a large flag as they take part in a rally outside the Russian Embassy in London to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

As long as Russian barbarians continue to brutalise their homeland, bringing death and destruction, we must continue to support Ukraine with weapons, training and financial aid.

Putin must not be allowed to succeed.

Motorists in a hole

Britain's roads are a national disgrace, blighted by potholes  some so large they could be issued with their own postcode.

This problem may seem small beer for a Government tackling the cost of living and Putin, but motorists face 1,400 breakdowns a day due to craters in carriageways.

The resulting repairs to damaged vehicles cost hard-pressed drivers an eye-watering 130million a year.

This is scandalous. Isn't it time the Treasury put the billions it claws from motorists towards repairing our roads?

Building up trouble

The Tories should be deeply concerned that buying a home is now less affordable than at any time since the Victorian era.

For many, getting on the housing ladder is increasingly an unattainable dream. Yet the Conservatives, supposedly champions of property ownership, have repeatedly caved in to well-off Nimby activists and watered down building targets.

This may protect some votes, but it is dangerously short-sighted. Unless the party builds more houses, it will condemn itself to electoral extinction.
A liberal candidate for the Wisonsin Supreme Court gave a man who raped his own cousin a 14-month sentence because he 'wasn't a danger to the public.'

Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, 60, who is running against the conservative former-Justice Daniel Kelly, oversaw the sentencing of Jovian Reese, 23, who was convicted of sexually assaulting his cousin in 2018.

While Reese faced a maximum sentence of 10 years, Protasiewicz opted to give him just 14 months in prison, along with 50 hours of community service, 1130 WISN reports.

'Mr. Reese, I am giving you the least amount of time I think is appropriate,' she said during the sentencing. 'It is significantly less than what I thought I was going to give you.'

Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz (pictured) sentenced a man convicted of raping his own cousin to 14 months in prison

Jovian Reese (above), 23, was convicted in 2018 of sexually assaulting his cousin while she was sleeping in his room. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison

According to the criminal complaint filed against Reese, the then-18-year-old had invited his cousin to his house on December 9, 2017, and raped her after she fell asleep.

She told investigators at the time that he had pulled down her pants and underwear and pulled up her shirt to expose her breasts while he sexually assaulted her.

The victim, who was not named in the complaint, said she woke up during the incident and ran out of the room with her clothes.

'Jovie raped me! Jovie raped me,' she yelled when running into Reese's sister, and then she fled the home and called police.

Officers then arrested Reese, who denied the allegations, but her DNA was found on his penis, and a rape kit test found his DNA on her breast.

Reese was initally charged with second-degree sexual assault, which sees a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, but a plea deal allowed the sentence to be reduced to third-degree sexual assault.

The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office also did not pursue incest charges as the victim was a blood relative, which is punishable by up to 12 years in prison.

During the sentencing hearing in March 2019, the victim told the court she cried for days after the assault and grew depressed and isolated because she 'felt that she had no one to talk to because everyone in the family took his side,' 1130 WISN reports.

She added that she suffered multiple breakdowns at school and work, forcing her to quit her jobs.

She also said she stopped being intimate with her boyfriend following the rape, and that he broke up with her because she was 'damaged goods.'

Despite the victim impact statement, Protasiewicz did not characterize Reese as a dangerous man during the sentencing hearing.

'Are you a danger to the public? I don't think so,' she commented in court before giving him the light sentence.

Despite the victim detailing what she went through and the impacts following the rape, Protasiewicz (pictured) commented that Reese was not a danger to the public

Protasiewicz is the leading candidate who will square off against former-Justice Daniel Kelly (above), a conservative who lost his seat in 2020

Protasiewicz is currently in the middle of a contentious race against Kelly, who lost his re-election bid in 2020.

The two are now the leading candidates for the upcoming April 4 election that will determine whether Republicans maintain their hold in the state's Supreme Court, which has been controlled by conservatives since 2008.

Kelly, who advanced to the general election on Tuesday, described Protasiewicz as an 'assault on our Constitution and our liberties.'

The winner will likely swing the state's rulings on abortion laws and gerrymandering issues, with Protasiewicz running as a women's choice candidate.

The liberal judge has previously condemned Wisconsin's near total ban on abortion following the overturn of Roe v. Wade last year.

She also slammed the state's new electoral map as 'rigged.' It was adopted by Republican legislators in 2022 and has been criticized as favoring GOP candidates.

After coming in first in the nonpartisan primary on Tuesday with an overwhelming 46 percent to Kelly's 24 percent, Protasiewicz told Wisconsin residents that the race would impact everyone in the state.

'Everything we care about is going to be determined by who wins this election,' she said in her victory speech.

Kelly, however, said that if Protasiewicz wins, 'We will lose the rule of law and find ourselves saddled with the rule of Janet.'
Shoppers hoping to turn to turnips amid the national vegetable shortage could be frustrated  with many supermarkets not selling them.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has urged the public to 'cherish' British 'specialisms' such as the turnip after admitting the shortage of some fruit and vegetables could last for another month.

But it turns out that the turnip has fallen out of favour with the public, with some of the country's biggest supermarkets revealing they no longer sell them, and encouraging shoppers to buy swedes instead.

Dr Coffey sparked controversy with her suggestion that shoppers could make the most of 'British specialisms' such as turnips while supermarkets place limits on imported fruit and vegetable sales after shortages.

As growers said salad vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce could still be in short supply until June  rather than two to four weeks as claimed by Dr Coffey  the Co-op and Tesco both said they no longer sold turnips.

It turns out that the turnip has fallen out of favour with the public, with some of the country's biggest supermarkets revealing they no longer sell them

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has urged the public to 'cherish' British 'specialisms' such as the turnip after admitting the shortage of some fruit and vegetables could last for another month

Tesco called it a 'legacy vegetable' and said it offered customers swedes instead.

Asda listed turnips as being unavailable on its website, but Waitrose and Sainsbury's were both offering the vegetable online. Morrisons said it sold turnips loose in its bigger stores, and did not have any issues with supply.

Jack Ward, chief executive of the British Growers' Association, said turnips were a 'relatively minor crop', with many going to processors and animal feed. Mr Ward disagreed with Dr Coffey's prediction that the current shortages would last a maximum of two to four weeks, saying it was likely to be much longer for some produce.

The Government and industry have blamed cold and frosty weather in Spain and North Africa for the squeeze on imports, while UK growers said high energy prices meant they planted less in greenhouses over winter.

Mr Ward said: 'I think we'll see a shortage of vegetables across the board including carrots and leeks right through to the beginning of June.

'With cucumbers, people have just not planted them because they are waiting for the weather to get better so they don't incur massive energy costs.'

He added: 'It's relatively easy to explain. What we are seeing is the result of a very, very dry hot summer.

'Certain crops like carrots would have been growing but because of the dry spell, we haven't had the volumes we were expecting.

'They would be in the ground now and that will affect the carrot supply through to June, so we'll probably see carrots running thin, and there's an issue with leeks for exactly the same reason.'

Asda listed turnips as being unavailable on its website, but Waitrose and Sainsbury's were both offering the vegetable online

A sign limiting customers to three items each is seen next to empty boxes in the tomato and peppers section of a Tesco

One major group of vegetable producers, The Lea Valley Growers' Association, said some of the UK's major growers are delaying planting crops because of high energy costs.

The 80-strong group represents the UK's salad powerhouse - an area covering Greater London, Hertfordshire and Essex producing around three-quarters of the UK's cucumbers and peppers, as well as lots of aubergines and tomatoes.

Its secretary, Lee Stiles, said sky-high energy costs and supermarkets offering growers low prices meant growing the vegetables was increasingly uneconomic, and supplies would be short for several more months.

Turnips are not the only root vegetable being championed by senior Conservatives amid the shortages.

One Tory MP suggested the public eat British-grown parsnips and leeks - but leek growers have also warned they were short of supplies.

Sir Robert Goodwill, chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, told BBC Radio 4: 'We don't have that seasonality that we used to have. And certainly if people are on a limited budget, you know homegrown produce in season is very cost effective.

'Strawberries are not available grown in the UK at this time of year but they when they come in season, you know that they taste much better. There's loads of good produce - there's good UK-grown parsnips, there's leeks.'

Nit Tim Casey, chairman of the Leek Growers Association, said: 'Leek farmers are facing their most difficult season ever due to the challenging weather conditions.

'Our members are seeing yields down by between 15 per cent and 30 per cent.

'We are predicting that the supply of homegrown leeks will be exhausted by April, with no British leeks available in the shops during May and June, with consumers having to rely on imported crops.'
The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.
Three teenagers have been injured after they were targeted during the wake of a funeral, witnesses said.

Police were called to the scene near St Mary's Church Hall on Hampstead Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, just after 6pm on Friday.

One victim, 19, was treated at the scene and taken to hospital for further treatment.

Two other men, also 19, separately presented at hospital for treatment.

Police say none of the injuries are life-threatening.

Three teenagers have been injured after they were targeted during the wake of a funeral, witnesses said

Police were called to the scene near St Marys Church Hall on Hampstead Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, just after 6pm on Friday

A couple who did not want to be named claimed the trio were at a funeral wake prior to the attack.

The couple said: 'It's awful this happened during what was meant to be the time for putting somebody to rest.'

Officers remain on the scene and motorists have been warned to avoid the area.

The force said in a statement: 'We're investigating after shots were fired in Hamstead Road, Lozells, just after 6pm today (Friday). Officers attended and a 19-year-old man was treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

'Two further men, both also aged 19, later attended hospital separately with gunshot injuries. None of the men are believed to be in a life-threatening condition.

'Officers remain at the scene tonight as enquiries continue. Anyone with information should get in contact with investigators via Live Chat on our website or call 101, quoting log 3095 of 24 February.'
Rishi Sunak was last night accused of trying to 'water down' a security report

Rishi Sunak was last night accused of trying to water down an official security report on China to boost economic ties with the country.

Whitehall sources said Mr Sunak attempted to insert more ambitious language on economic links with Beijing into the last Integrated Review of Britains defence and security policy, which was published in 2021.

Mr Sunak, who was chancellor at the time, is said to have been concerned that adopting a hostile stance towards China could hit investment and trade, and damage the UKs economy.

A Whitehall source said that the Treasury made a bid to change the text at the last minute and inserted a new aim that the UK should seek to establish an ambitious economic relationship with the communist superpower.

The change was made to a late draft of the document and was only removed after it was vetoed by then prime minister Boris Johnson as it was being prepared for the printers.

Rishi Sunak was last night accused of trying to water down an official security report on China to boost economic ties with the country

The Treasury tried to water down the Integrated Review at the last moment and they very nearly got away with it, the source said.

They wanted to introduce this phrase about seeking an ambitious economic relationship, which would have totally jarred with the warnings about the threat that China poses to our values.

We would have been slaughtered over the contradiction if that phrase had been included.

The proposal came from the Treasury but its inconceivable that Rishi didnt know about it and approve it  it was a bad misjudgement.

A Government source last night played down the row, saying Mr Sunak had very little involvement in the process and would not have requested the change personally.

In a pointed intervention this month, Miss Truss said it was time to stop rolling out the red carpet for the Chinese government, and that the world was in danger from the growing menace posed by authoritarian regimes led by Beijing

The source pointed out that Mr Sunak has made a number of tough statements on China in recent months, including branding Beijing the largest threat to Britain and the worlds security and prosperity.

But the Treasury proposal triggered protests from the then trade secretary Liz Truss and from Dominic Raab, who was then foreign secretary and is now Deputy Prime Minister.

It was blocked at the final moment by Mr Johnson, who ordered officials to change the word ambitious to positive.

The final text highlighted the need to improve our ability to respond to the systemic challenge that China poses to our security, prosperity and values  and those of our allies and partners.

It went on: We will continue to pursue a positive trade and investment relationship with China, while ensuring our national security and values are protected.

The revelation will raise fears a new version of the Integrated Review, which is currently being prepared by officials, could pull its punches on China.

In a pointed intervention this month, Miss Truss said it was time to stop rolling out the red carpet for the Chinese government and that the world was in danger from the growing menace posed by authoritarian regimes led by Beijing.

She said: Some people say standing up to this regime is a hopeless task, that somehow the rise of a totalitarian China is inevitable. But I reject this fatalism, and the free world has a significant role to play in whether or not that happens  and how it happens.
Scottish independence is a more distant prospect in the wake of Nicola Sturgeons departure, many voters believe.

It came as three candidates were yesterday confirmed in the race to succeed her as SNP leader.

A survey found that one in three adults (31 per cent) across the UK believe Ms Sturgeons resignation last week has made it less likely that Scotland will vote to go it alone.

By contrast just one in five in the Savanta poll thought independence was more likely once the First Minister and SNP leader had gone. It comes as Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf all secured enough backing to get their names on the ballot paper yesterday.

The survey results suggest whoever wins will have an uphill struggle to wrestle back momentum for independence.

A survey found that one in three adults (31 per cent) across the UK believe Nicola Sturgeons resignation last week has made it less likely that Scotland will vote to go it alone

So far the contest has focused on the candidates religious beliefs and social views. A new leader will be announced on March 27.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes became the early frontrunner but her campaign was almost derailed when, under scrutiny over her membership of the deeply conservative Free Church of Scotland, she admitted opposing gay marriage as well as saying it was wrong to have children out of wedlock.

Health Secretary Mr Yousaf, seen as Ms Sturgeons anointed successor, overtook her as bookies favourite but although he insists that he supports equal marriage despite his Muslim faith, he has also faced claims that he came under pressure from the mosque to skip a crucial vote on the topic.

The final candidate to launch her campaign was Ash Regan, who pitched herself as a unity candidate - even though she quit Ms Sturgeons government in protest at the controversial attempt to allow self-ID for transgender people as young as 16.

An early poll by The Big Partnership found that many SNP voters had not yet decided who to back but the largest proportion who had chosen, 28 per cent, supported Miss Forbes.

Both Labour and the Conservatives believe the departure of Ms Sturgeon from the stage will boost their chances at the next general election as well as the unionist cause.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes (pictured) became the early frontrunner but her campaign was almost derailed when she admitted opposing gay marriage as well as saying it was wrong to have children out of wedlock

Ash Regan (pictured) pitched herself as a unity candidate - even though she quit Ms Sturgeons government in protest at the controversial attempt to allow self-ID for transgender people as young as 16

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf (pictured) insists that he supports equal marriage despite his Muslim faith. He has also faced claims that he came under pressure from the mosque to skip a crucial vote on the topic

And on Thursday night there was an early glimmer of hope for Labour as it took a council seat in Aberdeen from the SNP with a significant swing.

Aberdeen Labour celebrated the by-election win of Graeme Lawrence, whose email address in leaflets given to voters referred to himself as Handsome Granda, with the message: Labour is the change that Scotland needs - were coming for the SNP.

The Savanta poll found opinion was split over whether Ms Sturgeon had left her country a better place at the end of her eight-year tenure, with the same proportion (42 per cent) saying she had improved it as not.

Perhaps unsurprisingly she was more popular north of the border with 54 per cent of Scottish adults believing her time in charge had gone well, including 20 per cent who called it an overwhelming success.

Across the UK more than half of those questioned (56 per cent) thought she had made the right decision to resign.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: Our recent polling in both the UK and Scotland specifically speaks to the influence Nicola Sturgeon has had on the political challenges the union faces in the 21st century.

Her impact has been widespread, and although she is seen more favourably in Scotland compared to the UK as a whole, theres no sense that shes a pantomime villain south of the border, and has garnered plenty of respect and admirers.
A boy's life-saving bone marrow transplant has finally arrived in Australia after the critical delivery missed an earlier flight after being left on a US tarmac.

Mateoh Eggleton, 6, will now undergo surgery next month in Brisbane after battling it out for three years since he was first diagnosed with chronic granulomatous disease in 2019.

The much-needed cells from a donor in the US were abandoned at a US airport this week on route to Brisbane, causing disbelief among family members.

The late-arrival of the bone marrow was tested and found to still be viable, ensuring the young boy has the green light for a transplant next month.

It comes after his mum Shalyn Eggleton fought hard to get the critical medical tissue delivered after the apparent airport bungle.

Mateoh Eggleton (pictured), 6, will now undergo surgery next month in Brisbane after battling it out for three years since he was diagnosed with chronic granulomatous disease in 2019

'He's fought three and a half years...and for someone to be so neglectful and just naive when it comes to such a thing like this,' Ms Eggleton (pictured with her son) said earlier this week

She called out those responsible earlier this week for being 'neglectful and naive' in transporting the urgent item.

'How could something [with] such a big medical protocol and procedure be left behind at an airport when it should be technically supervised 24/7,' Ms Eggleton told Nine News.

'He's fought three and a half years...and for someone to be so neglectful and just naive when it comes to such a thing like this,' Ms Eggleton said.

The late-arrival of the bone marrow was tested and found to still be viable, ensuring the young boy has the green light for a transplant next month

'Like, this is what he's been waiting for and someone's just left it behind.'

She said she had received no explanation why it was left behind since Mateoh's oncologist revealed the stem cells had not been loaded onto the aircraft.

'They then had to get sent back to the harvesting centre for more dry ice,' Ms Eggleton told ABC.

A spokesperson for the Queensland Children's Hospital told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday the delayed arrival of the cells would not 'adversely impact' the boy's care.

'Mateoh has been a long-term patient at the Queensland Children's Hospital and his care team understands and shares the family's disappointment at this unforeseen delay in the delivery of his donor cells,' they said.

'At all times our priority has been ensuring the donation remains viable so Mateoh's bone marrow transplant can safely proceed.'

The six-year-old had undergone six weeks of treatment in preparation for the transplant which was then delayed due to the late arrival.

But on Friday Ms Eggleton posted on social media he will start preparing for the transplant after tests revealed the stem cells were good to use.

The mother said this transplant was Mateoh's last chance, after he previously underwent gruelling chemotherapy and blood transfusions to keep him alive.

'Mateoh knows how sick he is, and he knows this is his last chance ... and he's very knowledgeable as he sees everything day in and day out,' Ms Eggleton said.

She said Mateoh had undergone nine different types of treatment within the past 18 months.

The boy underwent a successful bone marrow transplant in 2020 but was then diagnosed with hemolytic anaemia - where red blood cells are destroyed faster than they can be replaced.

The devastating result meant the family had to find another donor.

The family then found a previous match in Britain but the donors decided to decline the transplant - leaving Mateoh and his mother running out of options.

'Mateoh knows how sick he is, and he knows this is his last chance ... and he's very knowledgeable as he sees everything day in and day out,' Ms Eggleton (pictured, with her son) said

The mum said they were forced to look overseas for donors after not finding any in Australia.

'This is the third donor we've now found and they were harvested around the 7th of February.'

She said she had spoken to the CEO of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) about the shocking delay and was told 'it's under investigation'.

The organisation is responsible for arranging and transporting bone marrow and blood stem cell donations for patients in need of a transplant in Australia.

The little boy starts preparation treatment on March 3 with the transplant to take place 10 days later, Ms Eggleton said on social media.
On Monday in the Commons tea room, a succession of Tory MPs made their way up to Boris Johnson to shake his hand and congratulate him on his bravura speech urging more support for Ukraine.

'The Ukrainians are not just fighting for their freedom, but for the cause of freedom around the world. We should give them what they need, not next month, not next year, but now,' he had said in his most important performance in Parliament since returning to the backbenches in September.

Some of those who went to see him were from the 2019 intake and had won against the odds in the so-called Red Wall in the north of England, once a Labour heartland. As they approached him, some were complaining audibly about the coup  triggered by Rishi Sunak's decision to resign as Chancellor  which forced Boris out of Downing Street last summer.

'Boris is a tried and trusted winner and we need him,' one MP insisted to me later.

But it is not just these MPs who think the defenestration of Johnson was a serious mistake. Many of the party's 172,000 members are also still angry. And they are now taking their revenge by targeting those 60-odd MPs who submitted letters of no confidence in Johnson last year and helped precipitate his resignation.

Its the revenge of the Tory grassroots. As local parties across the country pick their candidates for the next election, many of the 60 or so MPs who knifed Boris are feeling the heat themselves

Damian Green was was fired in 2017 after admitting he lied about the presence of pornographic images on his Commons computer and Neil Hudson was defeated in the selection for the new seat of Penrith and Solway

Currently, these grassroots members are picking their parliamentary candidates ahead of an expected general election next year.

In normal circumstances, the reselection of incumbent MPs is a formality. The sitting MP is proposed and re-adopted by the local association. No longer.

Earlier this week, it emerged that the members bent on revenge for the downfall of Johnson had claimed their biggest scalp so far: Damian Green, who was First Secretary of State in Theresa May's government until he was fired in 2017 after admitting he lied about the presence of pornographic images on his Commons computer.

Green was May's de-facto deputy prime minister and is chairman of the One Nation caucus of Tory MPs which was heavily involved in the toppling of Boris.

His constituency is being redesignated as a result of boundary changes, and the executive of the newly-formed Weald of Kent constituency association which will replace it rejected his application to be their candidate.

After the bruising selection meeting this month, he was overheard saying: 'This is my livelihood, you know.' He later tweeted: 'I am disappointed not to have been adopted.'

David Campbell Bannerman, chairman of the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) set up last year to campaign to give activists more rights, was explicit: 'There is now hard evidence MPs allegedly associated with bringing down Boris are being directly held to account and punished by members.

'The chickens are coming home to roost,' he added. 'These MPs will be held accountable for the coup last summer which has crashed us in the opinion polls.'

The CDO's president, Lord Cruddas, is a major donor to the party who has withheld financial support since the fall of Johnson.

Priti Patel, the former Home Secretary and a Johnson supporter, is another leading member. Lord Greenhalgh, who also backed Johnson, is vice president.

Campbell Bannerman said: 'There will be a lot more Tory MPs who plotted against Boris who will not be sleeping easily at night. I think there are more deselections to come.'

Another critic of Johnson has already had his comeuppance. Dr Neil Hudson, a vet, whose Penrith and The Border constituency disappears in boundary changes, was defeated in the selection for the new seat of Penrith and Solway.

He lost to neighbouring MP Mark Jenkinson, whose Workington constituency also goes. Johnson sent a powerful testimonial to Jenkinson before the selection meeting, which was published in the local press.

'Mark has been a fantastic asset to the Workington constituency and is the right choice for Penrith and Solway,' he wrote.

'He is one of the stand-outs of the 2019 intake  an asset to the Conservative Party and to his constituents. Not one to hold back, never afraid to speak truth to power and always relentlessly focused on the best interests of his local community.'

The endorsement ensured that Jenkinson  the first Tory MP in Workington since 1979 and a Brexiteer  secured more than double the number of votes of his opponent, a Remainer who signed a letter of no confidence in Boris last summer.

As Helen Fearon, a former chairman of the Penrith Conservatives, said: 'Neil Hudson never liked Johnson. He is on the dripping wet wing of the Tory Party. His attitude to Boris definitely cost him.'

MP Jo Gideon went public with her call last summer for Johnson to quit and Sally-Ann Hart who won Hastings and Rye for the Tories in 2019 but turned on Johnson last July

Andrew Bridgen last year called for Johnson to stand down and announced he had submitted a letter of no confidence and many local party activists have never forgiven Zahawi for demanding that Johnson should quit within 36 hours of Johnson appointing him Chancellor last July

Similar sentiments are being expressed in constituencies across the country. In Stoke-on-Trent Central, the local association was appalled when the MP Jo Gideon went public with her call last summer for Johnson to quit.

After all, she won the seat for the first time in 2019 on the back of Johnson's 'Get Brexit done' slogan.

Now she's decided to quit and there is considerable relief.

As one Tory source said: 'I'm very glad she's standing down. She won the seat because of Boris. There would have been big trouble over her re-adoption if she hadn't quit. And she knew it.'

Another MP who has fallen on account of her criticism of Johnson is Sally-Ann Hart.

She won Hastings and Rye for the Tories in 2019 but turned on Johnson last July. However, her local Conservative executive have remained loyal to the former PM.

After de-selection, she was reflective. 'The decision not to re-adopt me was unexpected,' she said. 'But I will continue to serve and work hard for the people of Hastings and Rye.'

Meanwhile, Nadhim Zahawi, once a Johnson ally, could also be in trouble  and not just because he was sacked as Tory chairman last month.

Many local party activists have never forgiven Zahawi for demanding that Johnson should quit within 36 hours of Johnson appointing him Chancellor last July following Sunak's decision to resign. Zahawi had the nerve to accept the offer to become Sunak's replacement, and then almost immediately publish a letter in which he declared he was 'heartbroken' that Johnson was not listening to his advice as a friend of over 30 years.

'Prime Minister: this is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country. You must do the right thing and go now,' he said, while stopping short of resigning himself. 'Boris was stunned when Nadhim told him to go just a day after he had made him his Chancellor,' said one Tory source. 'It still rankles with a lot of us and caused surprise in his local party.'

Zahawi will face his constituency association next month and will have to fight hard to be re-adopted.

The Stratford Herald, his constituency newspaper, reports growing tension between him and local Tories. 'We need a fully functioning MP and that's not what we've got at the moment,' one Tory source told the newspaper.

In Henley, too, there is huge affection for Boris Johnson, who was the local MP from 2001 to 2008 when he quit after becoming London Mayor.

There is not the same admiration for John Howell his successor, however. Howell ruffled feathers in the local Tory association with his remarks after Johnson indicated he might run for the leadership when Liz Truss's premiership imploded.

'I would not have been prepared to put up with that,' Howell warned. 'I would have left the party and stood as an independent Conservative.'

It was a threat that horrified many of his local party members who had worked hard to get him elected in 2019.

He had already antagonised them a few months earlier when he refused to say whether he backed Johnson in a confidence vote where 148 MPs  41 per cent of the parliamentary party  failed to support him.

'It was a secret ballot and I'm keeping it that way,' Howell said.

Intriguingly, one senior source in Oxfordshire Tories told me: 'People are asking all the time whether Boris is coming back as the Henley MP. He was hugely popular here.

'I don't know if John Howell will run again. There are Tory members who are unhappy with him.'

Boris Johnson is buying a new house in the area which has heightened speculation he could switch from his west London constituency of Uxbridge where the majority is 7,000, to Henley which has a 14,500 majority.

Howell, who is 67, is refusing to say if he will seek the nomination again. 'It will be a decision that I make at a later date.' Quizzed about Johnson taking his seat, he replied: 'I sincerely hope not.'

Party members also have their eye on Andrew Bridgen in North West Leicestershire who last year called for Johnson to stand down and announced he had submitted a letter of no confidence.

He then withdrew the letter a few weeks later after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing a leadership contest would be an 'indulgence'  only to resubmit his letter after reconsideration, while saying in a statement: 'I and colleagues have put in a letter of no confidence over the past few days and it may well be the numbers are close to triggering a vote of no confidence.'

Bridgen, once a Johnson supporter, is already in trouble in his constituency as he had the whip withdrawn last month after attacking the Covid vaccine programme with an appallingly distasteful tweet: 'As one consultant cardiologist said to me, this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust.'

One senior party source told me: 'Andrew is telling people it will be madness to bring back Boris . . . It might be even more madness to keep Andrew as an MP.'

There is no doubt many MPs who schemed to bring down Boris Johnson are in trouble, says Claire Bullivant, the chief executive of CDO, who says: 'Only one MP had a mandate from the party members and from the British public  a mandate with an 80-seat majority. That was Boris Johnson. And party members are still furious he was taken from them.

'It should never be up to 60 herd-like MPs to oust democratically elected Prime Ministers ever again, without permission from the hard-working members who elected them in the first place.

'It is hard to see how those who stabbed Boris in the back will ever be forgiven. In every Conservative WhatsApp group the members' revolt is very real.

'And,' she adds, 'their disenchantment is growing'.
The specialist diver who claimed he'd find Nicola Bulley if she was in the River Wyre has reportedly been removed from the National Crime Agency's experts list.

Peter Faulding's Specialist Group International (SGI) has assisted in several high profile investigations and joined the search for the missing mother for three days before he sensationally guaranteed she was 'not in that section of the river'.

According to The Times, SGI was this week dropped from an official list of experts recommended to assist in investigations on the Expert Advisers Database.

An internal review is expected to be carried out and could result in the group being reinstated.

A spokesman for the National Crime Agency told the publication: 'The NCA does not employ, endorse or accredit experts on our adviser database.

The specialist diver who claimed he'd find Nicola Bulley if she was in the River Wyre has reportedly been removed from the National Crime Agency's experts list

Peter Faulding's Specialist Group International (SGI) has assisted in several high profile investigations and joined the search for the missing mother for three days before he sensationally guaranteed she was 'not in that section of the river'

'The database is subject to continual review and its purpose is to maintain a list of expertise UK law enforcement can draw upon when required.

'We proactively seek feedback from customers regarding experts' performance and contribution. The monitoring of performance equally applies to individuals and organisations who become involved in investigations without NCA engagement.'

Mr Faulding, 60, scoured the River Wyre for three days after she vanished on January 27.

After her body was tragically located in nearby reeds, he said his high-tech 55,000 sonar can only scan in the water and cannot travel through reeds.

Mr Faulding, 60, scoured the River Wyre for three days after she vanished on January 27 (pictured on February 7)

Nicola Bulley's body was discovered in reeds on the River Wyre

At the time, he said: 'The SGI underwater search team was tasked with searching the river upstream of the weir in the non-tidal part of the river, past the bench where Nicola's phone was found and a mile upstream past this point. For three days, using high-frequency side scan sonar, we thoroughly searched the riverbed and can categorically confirm that Nicola was not laying on the riverbed on the days that we searched.

'We did search the stretch of river where Nicola was [allegedly] found for four hours on our first day and then upstream past the weir on the subsequent two days. The police underwater search teams and land search teams were searching for three full weeks and were also unable to find Nicola.

'Sadly, the discovery was not found in the river but in the reeds at the side of the river which was not part of our remit as the side scan sonar does not penetrate reeds above or below the water. A riverbank and wade search would be the only way to search this area and we were not involved or tasked with that search. The difference between these two search areas has caused a lot of confusion and unfair criticism towards myself and my team at Specialist Group International.

'My previous comments saying that if Nicola was in the river, I would find her, still stand. My team and I at SGI did all we could to assist this family with only our best intentions. I am sure I can say this of everyone who has been involved in this difficult search.'

He has not commented on reports he has lost his status on the NCA database.

Mr Faulding has worked on high-profile cases before, including the 2011 case of Kate Prout.
It seems the age of the cheeky, silly or occasionally naughty TV catchphrase is at an end as swearing takes over.

Old favourites such as 'Yabba-Dabba-Doo!' from The Flintstones are being pushed out by progressively ruder ones.

Daring-sounding phrases such as 'Sit on it!' in Happy Days became more common between the Fifties and the Eighties.

A study has found television catchphrases have become progressively ruder over time.

Daring-sounding words and phrases similar to swearing, but not quite, like Homer Simpson's 'D'oh!' were rolled out increasingly from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Old favourites such as 'Yabba-Dabba-Doo!' from The Flintstones are being pushed out by progressively ruder ones

Contestants on RuPaul's Drag Race are told 'Don't f*** it up'

But analysis of television catchphrases shows these pseudo-swearing catchphrases, like 'sit on it' in Happy Days or Robin's 'holy' phrases in Batman, have now been in decline ever since the 1990s.

That is when writers got brave enough to put actual swear words into their shows.

It means the most popular shows now have the rudest catchphrases in history, with Logan Roy from the television show Succession telling people to 'f**k off' while contestants on RuPaul's Drag Race are warned 'don't f**k it up'.

The finding comes from a 70-year database of the most popular catchphrases in US television shows.

Professor Kristy Beers Fagersten, who led the study from Sodertorn University in Sweden, said: 'The use of innocuous swear words to replace swear words was common in the 1970s and 1980s, when daring writers could use these words for insulting, jokey catchphrases.

'The Simpsons is a good example of this, as it has so many, from 'don't have a cow, man' to 'eat my shorts'.

'But now television shows have so much content to compete against, so they need attention-grabbing phrases, and that may be why explicit swearing is used so often.'

Catchphrases are so named because they 'catch on' and are 'catchy'.

People listen out for them on television shows and repeat them in their own lives.

Straightforwardly non-swearing catchphrases like Fonzie's 'aaaay' from Happy Day's, have been used at roughly the same rate over the decades from the 1950s onwards, the study found.

But pseudo-swear words and phrases became increasingly popular up until the eighties.

These tend to include phrases with emotion behind them, which are used like swear words, like 'freakin' sweet', as said by Peter Griffin in the hit cartoon Family Guy.

They can use an innocuous word when the character clearly would rather say something stronger, like the villains in Scooby-Doo addressing the 'meddling' kids.

They can also be insulting, with 'you're fired' from The Apprentice falling within this category.

Actual swear words in catchphrases, which have increased since the 1990s, are often used in a friendly or positive way, the study found, like when Jesse from Breaking Bad says 'Yo, b***h'.

However the study, published in the journal Language and Literature, warns such catchphrases increase people's tolerance of bad words, which 'could lead to more swearing both on and off television'.

Professor Beers Fagersten said: 'Many people are still offended by these words, so they have power.'
Britain's tax system penalises couples and 'actively discourages' them from having children, a Conservative MP has said.

Miriam Cates called on the Government to recognise both the cost and value of raising children by removing the 'family penalty'.

She also described marriage as a 'middle-class secret' as the political class has failed to speak up for the benefits it brings.

Her comments will put Chancellor Jeremy Hunt under fresh pressure as he works on next month's Budget, as other Tories have already called on him to make childcare more affordable.

Mrs Cates, a married mother-of-three who represents Penistone and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire, warned in a speech this week that Britain's historical success as a nation is now 'under threat' from declining birth rate.

Miriam Cates called on the Government to recognise both the cost and value of raising children by removing the 'family penalty'

Her comments will put Chancellor Jeremy Hunt under fresh pressure as he works on next month's Budget, as other Tories have already called on him to make childcare more affordable

The 40-year-old, who has a degree in genetics from Cambridge and worked as a biology teacher, said that fewer that half of women have a baby before 30.

She listed reasons why it is now 'extraordinarily difficult' for young people to have children  from unaffordable housing to the fact that they are less likely than previously to have family nearby.

But she went on: 'I want to focus on our taxation system, which is where the Government could act to make it easier for couples to have children and to relieve some of the pressures on family life. Our tax system discourages people from having children, it makes it difficult for them to look after their children, and does nothing to support stable couple relationships.'

While marriage rates remain high among the wealthy, they have 'completely collapsed' in lower income groups, leaving children facing the additional disadvantage of family breakdown

She told how, unlike elsewhere in the West, the UK taxes people as individuals rather than households. So a single person with no children pays the same amount of tax as a parent supporting a partner and their children.

She claimed that a parent would have to earn a 'simply unachievable' 70,000 a year to have a similar standard of living to a single person on 28,000.

Anyone earning above 50,000 a year is seen as 'wealthy' by the taxman, but if they are supporting a family they will be far poorer than single people as they pay far higher tax, national insurance and housing costs  and lose child benefit. In Germany, by contrast, couples can be taxed jointly and parents receive 'significant tax credits' for each child.

In addition, Mrs Cates wrote in an expanded version of her speech for the PoliticsHome website, the system 'forces' many mothers to return to work before they are ready.

Yet high tax rates and benefit withdrawal mean 'they are missing out on precious time with their children for scant reward'.

'We have privatised family life. Having children is now seen as a personal choice, a luxury, like buying a Porsche,' Mrs Cates said.

'But having children shouldn't be a luxury. [It] is a societal necessity.' She acknowledged that housing was another problem that needed fixing but insisted: 'Reforming taxation to recognise the costs and value of raising children, to remove the 'family penalty', would go a long way to removing barriers young people face in starting a family.'

Mrs Cates added that marriage is the 'best institution that societies have developed for the successful raising of children', and castigated politicians for not being honest about this.

While marriage rates remain high among the wealthy, they have 'completely collapsed' in lower income groups, leaving children facing the additional disadvantage of family breakdown.

'Marriage has become a middle-class secret and as a political class we have failed to be honest about its advantages for children.'

'Marriage is a middle-class secret'
A cold snap is set to bring frosty nights, sleet and snow showers  a week after the warmest weather of the year so far.

Temperatures last Friday reached 17.2C (62.9F) in Pershore, Worcestershire, similar to the south of France.

But winds have now switched to northerly and north-easterly directions, sending the mercury plummeting.

Tonight lows of -4C (25F) are forecast in sheltered rural spots of England and Wales and further frosts are possible over the next three nights.

Meanwhile, daytime temperatures of 7-9C (45-48F) could be 'significantly affected' by windchill, forecasters say.

Winds have now switched to northerly and north-easterly directions, sending the mercury plummeting. Pictured: Walkers and joggers out in the thick fog on the Long Walk and in Windsor Great Park, February 8, 2023

Tonight lows of -4C (25F) are forecast in sheltered rural spots of England and Wales. Pictured: Trees in Windsor Great Park, February 8, 2023

The Arctic blast could bring showers in the Pennines today, sleet in the South East tomorrow and snow showers off the east coast from Lincolnshire northwards into next week.

Steven Keates, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: 'It's a marked difference compared with last week.

'What is happening to our weather over the next few days is what's called a 'blocking high'  an area of high pressure due to develop over north east Scotland  which is set to dominate and cause a north to north-easterly airflow, bringing cold air.

'There is a chance of sub-zero temperatures for a good area of the UK on Saturday.

'The weather is likely to be largely dry and quite cloudy and the best chance of brighter weather are more likely the further north and west you go.

'The high pressure does allow this ingress of wintry showers around the coasts.

'On Sunday, there's a chance of sleet in the south east, and wintry showers off the east coast over the next few days.'

Mr Keates said the wind direction is likely to make daytime temperatures 'feel much cooler'.

Steven Keates, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: 'It's a marked difference compared with last week. Pictured: Walkers enjoy the misty sunrise in Richmond Park south-west London, February 13, 2023

Daytime temperatures of 7-9C (45-48F) could be 'significantly affected' by windchill, forecasters say. Pictured: A woman walks across Windsor Bridge at first light, February 14, 2023

The Met Office forecast for the coming week states that while Tuesday is set to be 'a mostly settled day across the country', brisk winds are expected in the South 'with the risk of a few wintry showers'.

It added: 'Through the rest of the week, high pressure will dominate across the UK, leading to dry conditions for most but rather cloudy at times.

'Showers are possible in southern and eastern areas, with a small chance of a few wintry showers in southern areas.

'High pressure is [then] likely to migrate northwards, increasing the likelihood of colder, northerly winds across the UK, increasing the chance of snow showers for many eastern and northern areas.'

Mr Keates predicted the cold snap could last into the first few days of March before a change arrives.

'There are some signals of the weather getting more unsettled into next weekend,' he said.

More chilly weather is predicted up to mid-March, the Met Office added.

It said: 'Spells of rain or snow are more likely than earlier in the month, with a low chance that some wintry episodes could be disruptive.

'Winds could often be from a northerly or easterly direction, and temperatures are more likely to be below-average than above-average overall, but later in the month, colder air will be fighting against a strengthening sun.'
A deputy head teacher is in line for a payoff after he was unfairly sacked for restraining an 'out-of-control' female pupil who attacked him.

Clive Kitchener tried to block the path of girl, who then walked into him, hit him five times, kicked him and broke his glasses, an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Kitchener, 55, had been asked to make sure the child left the school, after she had been excluded for walking out of lessons and throwing objects.

Despite having been 'physically assaulted', Mr Kitchener was sacked from his 60,000-a-year job for gross misconduct. The chief executive of the academy trust where he worked argued that the girl 'could have spent the whole day at school behaving in that fashion', and 'physical intervention would not have been justified'.

Mr Kitchener, a former soldier, sued the school trust for unfair dismissal and won his claim after an employment judge ruled the school had not trained him properly on the use of force. The hearing in south London heard Mr Kitchener was working at Goodwin Academy in Deal, Kent, which is run by the Thinking Schools Academy Trust. The school has 900 pupils aged between 11 and 18, and was noted as 'requiring improvement' in its most recent Ofsted report.

Employment judge Michael Atkins concluded that Clive Kitchener had been unfairly dismissed

In October 2021, a pupil  referred to as Student A  was misbehaving by walking out of lessons, swearing, throwing things in classrooms, and barging into people in corridors, the panel heard.

Principal Simon Smith decided to exclude her, and told Mr Kitchener to make sure she left the school. Mr Kitchener, who is married and from Deal, told Student A she needed to go home and that she had 'not made wise decisions that day'. His comments angered her, and she stormed off, the tribunal heard.

Mr Kitchener followed the pupil  who was 'the same size as an adult'  until she turned around and walked towards him, telling him to 'f*** off'. The teacher  who felt the girl was 'out of control'  decided to block her path with his arms out to his side, but she walked into him and started 'struggling'.

The panel heard the girl then hit the teacher five times.

The following day, the school referred the incident to the police and local authority. Neither chose to take any action, but school bosses felt Mr Kitchener had used 'unnecessary force'. He was asked to work from home for three weeks, and disciplinary proceedings began the following month.

Academy trust chief executive Stewart Gardner told the tribunal he 'did not feel the level of behaviour exhibited by Student A merited a physical intervention'.

In April 2022, Mr Kitchener was sacked without notice for gross misconduct.

Employment judge Michael Atkins concluded that he had been unfairly dismissed. A hearing to decide on a level of compensation will be held later this year.

Mr Kitchener  who started teaching six years ago after serving 23 years in the Army  said the experience had been a 'difficult time', but he was back 'doing what he loves' after getting a teaching job at another school.
An Arizona rancher who shot dead a migrant on his land that sits adjacent to the southern border with Mexico, said he did not know what to expect as he walked into court on Friday to face charges of second degree murder.

George Alan Kelly, 74, attended an evidentiary hearing in Nogales, Arizona.

He was arrested on charges of first degree murder for shooting Gabriel Cuen-Butimea on January 30 at his home, but that charge has now been downgraded.

Kelly denies murder, insisting he only ever fired warning shots when he saw what he perceived to be a gang of cartel smugglers on his land.

'I dont expect anything,' Kelly said to NewsNation. 'What happens, happens. I have no comment about anything else.'

George Alan Kelly, 74, was arrested on charges of first degree murder for shooting Gabriel Cuen-Butimea on January 30 at his home

NewsNation's Ali Bradley walks with Kelly, accused of murder after allegedly shooting and killing a Mexican national on his border property

He is shown arriving at court today after being freed on a $1million bond

AZ: 74 y/o George Alan Kelly arrived to his evidentiary hearing in Nogales alone this morningWhile his attorney recommended he didnt make a comment he told me off camera that he doesnt know what to expect today as he has never been in a situation like this.



Hearing at 9am. pic.twitter.com/7XIxeEFGbl  Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) February 24, 2023

Asked whether he felt the charges were fair or unfair, Kelly simply replied 'no comment.'

A former Border Patrol chief says the area is known for 'violence' and the man was likely a cartel drug smuggler or scout.

Rodney Scott, who was previously a supervisor in the area, told NewsNation that the area has a 'propensity for violence'.

'Everything that I have seen, my professional experience would tell me that that guy was either a scout or an actual guide for a group.

'With the radio, [it's] much more likely he was actually scouting out in advance, or the front-man, but that type of activity and behavior doesn't take place out there unless it's part of the cartel,' he said.

Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, who was previously a supervisor in the area, told NewsNation that the area has a 'propensity for violence'

He added: 'That has been a tough area to work for many, many years. The cartel operation in that area has had a propensity for violence.

'A good friend of mine was actually pinned down by automatic weapons fire for 20 minutes while the cartel came, recovered the narcotics they were trying to smuggle in.'

On Friday, the first degree charge against Kelly was dramatically downgraded to second degree murder amid growing questions surrounding the case, and after well-wishers raised enough money for Kelly to meet his $1million bail.

Kelly - who has no criminal history - told called Border Patrol on January 30 at 2.30pm to report a group of Mexican men running through his land.

He said he was being 'shot at' and fired his own warning shots but was careful not to shoot any of the men directly.

At an evidentiary hearing, Kelly's Brenna Larkin grilled the detective who questioned Kelly after his arrest.

She suggested it was entirely possible that a rival cartel could have shot Cuen-Butimea - not Kelly - but that cops tried to get him to admit to it anyway.

The detective had testified that he found an AK-47 shell casing on Kelly's porch.

'Isn't the AK47 is most common rifle carried by drug smugglers?' Larkin asked.

'Yes.'

She argued the investigation was biased from the beginning.

Prosecutors called to the stand a Mexican man who claims he was with Cuen-Butimea on the day he was shot.

Answering questions with the help of a translator, the man - going only by his initials - claims he works 'in the fields'.

He admitted illegally crossing into the US 'six or seven times', and said he was caught by border patrol agents 'every time'.

Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, was shot dead on January 30 while on George Kelly's land. He was wearing combat boots and was carrying a radio - which the border patrol chief says suggests he was part of the cartel

Kelly's ranch in Nogales is a stone's throw from the border. Nogales is a known hot zone for drug smuggling, where the cartel is 'particularly aggressive', according to border agents

Kelly, 74, was charged with first degree murder and taken to the county jail in January. He begged to be allowed to go home to look after his wife, but a judge refused. Finally yesterday, he was freed after well-wishers raised enough money for him to make bond

Kelly's ranch in Arizona where he says he fired warning shots from his porch

The detective admitted that Kelly had called Border Patrol liaisons in the past begging for help, and that sheriffs always took too long to respond.

Prosecutors described Cuen-Butimea as an 'innocent man who was shot in the back while running for his life'.

They wanted to keep Kelly in prison to allow two other Mexican men to testify in court.

Those men say they were there that day, and that Kelly also shot at them. He was charged with first degree murder and put on a $1million bond immediately.

Earlier this week, after submitting a full-throated defense, the judge agreed to convert his bond from cash to surety.

It allowed him to combine the value of his home with $350,000 raised by strangers on a GiveSendGo account and return home to his wife Wanda.

KELLY'S VERSION OF THE STORY: GANG OF DRUG RUNNERS IN COMBAT BOOTS AND CARRYING RADIOS WERE HEARD FIRING THEIR GUNS AND RUNNING THROUGH HIS LAND

The following description is taken from a motion filed by George Alan Kelly's attorney in court.

On January 30, George Alan Kelly reported the discovery of a body on his property near Kino Springs, where he and his wife have lived for the past two decades.

Earlier in the day, he had completed chores on his ranch and had come to his house to eat lunch with his wife.

As they ate, Mr. Kelly heard a single gunshot. Next, he saw his horse - who is old - running away scared and at full speed. Finally, he saw a group of men moving through the trees around his home.

They were armed with AK-47 rifles, dressed in khakis and camouflaged clothing, and carrying large backpacks. None of them were known to him. He hadn't given any of them permission to come onto his land. Based on the foregoing, Mr. Kelly was understandably concerned and reasonably feared for his safety.

He called the United States Border Patrol Ranch Liaison to report what he had seen and to summon immediate help. He told his wife to stay inside, away from the windows, and to stay silent so as not to alert the men to her presence.

Mr. Kelly then went to the porch with his rifle. The leader of the armed group of men saw Mr. Kelly and pointed an AK-47 right at him.

Mr. Kelly, fearing for his life and safety, fired several shots from his rifle, hoping to scare them away from his wife, his animals and his home.

Mr. Kelly took care to aim well over the heads of the armed group of men.

In a written defense submitted to the court, Kelly's attorneys described how he was at home having lunch when he heard shots fired outside and then saw his horse running. He called border patrol, and later the sheriff's department. None of them found the victim's body initially

The group then began running into the desert surrounding his home. Once the group had fled, Mr. Kelly walked over to his barn to see if it was safe and secure.

Mr. Kelly had a conversation with Border Patrol again that ended at 2.36pm....while Mr. Kelly was checking his barn, a number of Border Patrol agents and Sheriff's deputies arrived on the property.

[They] walked all over Mr. Kelly's property in search of the group of people and did not find anybody.

Later that day, as the sun was going down, Mr. Kelly went to his pastures in order to check on his horse. He took his dogs with him. After locating the horse, Mr. Kelly noticed that his dogs were focused on something on the ground near a mesquite tree. Mr. Kelly approached his dogs and observed a body lying face down in the grass.

Mr. Kelly then called Border Patrol Ranch Liaison again.

The body was that of a male foreign national. The person did not have any firearms or a backpack on him. The cause of death appeared to be a single gunshot wound and it appeared the body was fresh.

The person had a radio with him and he was wearing tactical boots, indicating that he was possible involved in illegal activity.

Mr. Kelly does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death.

All of the shooting that Mr. Kelly did on the date of that incident was in self-defense and justified.

PROSECUTORS & MIGRANTS' VERSION OF THE STORY: KELLY EMERGED 'UNPROVOKED' WITH AK-47 AND STARTED SHOOTING AT 'INNOCENT' MEN WHO 'POSED NO THREAT TO HIS FAMILY'

The following description is taken from a filing submitted by Santa Cruz County Attorney George E. Silva and Chief Deputy County Attorney Kimberly Hunley.

On January 30, 2023, at around 2.30pm, a group of approximately 7 to 8 undocumented immigrants were traveling north through the Kino Springs area from Mexico. Contrary to Kelly's account, no one in the group was carrying any weapons.

The group , which included R.F-G and D.R.-R, was within sight of the Kelly residence when out of nowhere, Kelly began to shoot at them with an AK-47. Kelly issued no warnings and made no requests.

He just started shooting at them. D.R-R was just one step behind Gabriel when he heard Gabriel call out in Spanish: 'I'm hit', grab his chest and fall to the ground. He saw Gabriel's eyes roll back in his head and when he could only see the whites of his eyes, he knew that Gabriel was dead.

He felt like they were being hunted. Kelly shot at least 8 rounds at them, Both R.F-G and D.R-R jumped the fence and made it back to Mexico. Are willing and available to testify.

Approximately 6 minutes later, Kelly called Agent Morsell again. This time Kelly said he lost visual of the subjects running toward Kino Springs. When asked if he was being shot at, Kelly claimed he heard a gunshot in his direction. He saw his horse running by and he was inspecting his horse but he didn't appear to be stuck,

Prosecutors have now filed additional charges against Kelly for aggravated assault

Prosecutors asked for Kelly to remain in jail on a $1million so that the victim's family in Mexico could travel over the border and attend proceedings

Kelly said it was 'too far to tell if they had any firearms'. Border Patrol Agents and Sheriff's Deputies responded to the scene and walked the property. They did not locate anything at that time,

Kelly called Agent Morsell again at 4.23pm. By this time, his story had significantly changed. He told Agent Morsell he was sitting in the house with his wife when 'we' heard a gunshot.

He said he saw 10 subjects all loaded down with AR Assault rifles. He said his wife saw it too.

Then at 5.23pm, he tried calling Agent Morsell again. He left a message saying 'you need to call me immediately. This is serious. Call me immediately. I can't say more over the phone.'

Agent Morsell returned his call. At this point, Kelly's tone had completely changed. He sounded nervous or scared. Kelly said: 'This is worse than you can imagine. This is bad.'

Kelly told him that he needed Morsell to send Border Patrol because this is a broader issue.

When Morsell requested the details, Kelly continued to be evasive and said: 'This is bad. I need someone to respond out here.' You know how shots were fired earlier, something was possibly shot. I can't say more over the phone.

One of the deputies turned on the recorder on his phone while they talked and walked with Kelly. Kelly told him that there was a shot fired and he didn't know what it was about. He went out to get his horse.

He said he 'walked all over it' and claimed 'maybe this happened after you left' referring to the earlier visit by deputies.

He said 'there's a body over there, as soon as I saw it I backed away from it.' Later, Kelly spoke with detectives. After initially denying that he shot at the group, he later admitted shooting.

He claimed he directed his shots over the heads of the group.
A 5.5billion UK armoured vehicle which is six years behind schedule has been made ready for service by fitting better seat cushions.

The Ajax 'light tank' caused career-ending injuries to troops who tested its early prototypes and faced being scrapped last year.

But a series of remarkably simple adjustments to its seating area and targeting controls appear to have turned the project around.

The basic nature of these remedies begs the question why it took so long - and cost so much money - to put Ajax right.

A Mail reporter was given a test drive in the newly improved vehicle at an army camp in Dorset.

The Ajax 'light tank' caused career-ending injuries to troops who tested its early prototypes and faced being scrapped last year

The latest version of Ajax includes heavier density foam in the front seats and control joysticks - used to aim Ajax's 40mm cannon - which are no longer fixed to the hull.

The addition of rubber seals between the joysticks and Ajax's metal frame has drastically reduced the vibrations.

For the first time, troops are also issued two pairs of ear defenders, a standard 'Crew guard' defender over their ears and a tiny inner-ear protector made of rubber.

The latter is rolled between finger and thumb by the user, to produce a custom fit, then pushed down inside the ear's external auditory canal.

Army sources told the Mail they expect Ajax vehicles to be rolled out to armoured regiments later this year.

The vehicle will also undergo a further 18-months of testing so any additional changes can be made.

Eventually 589 Ajax will enter service, hopefully ending years of controversy.

Six variants of the vehicles are being assembled by General Dynamics UK at their factory in Merthyr Tydfil.

The addition of rubber seals between the joysticks and Ajax's metal frame has drastically reduced the vibrations

Last night, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Ajax had 'turned a corner'.

But serious questions remain over why it took so long to solve Ajax's problems - as issues surrounding hearing loss and vibration issues first arose in 2017.

A report by Clive Sheldon QC - commissioned by the Ministry of Defence - into what went wrong with Ajax is expected to be published in the coming months.

It is understood senior army officers downplayed concerns about the vehicle fearing it would be scraped altogether.

Soldiers who were medically discharged for hearing loss and joint pains could claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.

Last night, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (pictured) said Ajax had 'turned a corner'

They lost their military careers after testing prototypes of Ajax. They are expected to take legal action to cover their loss of earnings.

More than 30 troops required medical treatment with 24 receiving steroid injections. Some reported constant tingling in their hands and feet.

There were also concerns about Vibration White Finger syndrome, an injury suffered by industrial workers handling heavy machinery, where fingers and toes suffer blood loss.

These injuries led to trials of Ajax being halted in 2021.
House prices are at their least affordable level in nearly 150 years in the latest sign that the dream of home ownership is fading for millions.

Queen Victoria was on the throne and Benjamin Disraeli was prime minister the last time it was harder to get on the property ladder, according to analysis from Leeds Building Society.

The figures showed average home values last year were 9.2 times higher than average earnings.

That multiple was last larger, at 9.3 times, in 1875, the year when the Leeds was founded, according to the analysis of data from the Office of National Statistics, the Bank of England and Land Registry.

Back then average annual earnings totalled just 40, making it a struggle to afford a typical home - worth 372.

The figures showed average home values last year were 9.2 times higher than average earnings

Today a typical salary has surged to 31,928 but things are almost as bad for buyers as a residential property is valued at an average 294,329.

The worsening affordability of homes was not enough to stop Leeds reporting record mortgage lending of 5 billion and profits of 220.5 million as it published its 2022 financial results yesterday.

But chief executive Richard Fearon said: The past couple of years have been challenging for everyone and we face into what could be prolonged economic headwinds.

It is now the hardest time to afford a home since our founding year in 1875, a sad reflection of decades of inaction to tackle the UKs housing crisis.

The lender is calling for the UK to develop a long term plan for housing by building more homes, helping first time buyers save for their deposits and coming up with affordable ways to help them get on the housing ladder.

It has previously announced that it is withdrawing from lending on second homes in order to direct more funds towards first-time buyers.

Alice Guy, personal finance expert at Interactive Investor, said: Were returning to a time when only the very rich could afford to buy their own home.

Only, unlike Victorian times, the new aristocracy are not the landed gentry, but the older generations, who managed to get on the housing ladder when prices were more affordable, in the 1970s to early 2000s.

Being a homeowner is increasingly out of reach for many young people.

The problem is that once youre paying a hefty rent for a family home, its a massive struggle to save enough for a deposit.

And with the cost-of-living crisis in full swing, long-term renting is likely to become the reality for many families.

Separate research yesterday from consultancy Capital Economics showed that average monthly rents are now cheaper than mortgage payments - which have climbed above 1,000 - for the first time since 2008.

The worsening affordability of homes was not enough to stop Leeds reporting record mortgage lending of 5 billion and profits of 220.5 million

Home ownership among 25 to 34-year-olds has fallen from a peak of 51 per cent in 1989 to 28 per cent in 2019 according to the Resolution Foundation, a think-tank.

Experts think that after years of spiralling values house prices will slip back this year amid the cost of living squeeze on household finances.

Lloyds Banking Group, Britains biggest mortgage lender, this week predicted that they will fall by 7 per cent in 2023.

Last month, house prices fell 0.6 per cent according to another lender, Nationwide. It was the fifth month in a row of decline, the worst run since 2009.
Famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich prodded the government's response to the toxic train derailment in Ohio two weeks ago on fox News Friday night.

'There's something they're not telling us', Brockovich told host Tucker Carlson.

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 the community having been given 'horrible mixed messages' about water safety.

'It is certainly concerning to the people of East Palestine. We are pushing a month now, and they still don't have any answers. It's very obvious that something has really gone wrong out here,' Brockovich said.

She hosted a town hall meeting with the people of East Palestine, Ohio earlier in the evening, describing the situation as unlike anything she had seen in more than 30 years.

'I feel your angst and I feel your frustration,' she told the gathered crowd on Friday night.

Later, Brockovich went on Fox News with to outright declare that 'there's something they're not telling us', following the toxic train derailment two weeks ago

'This is not a quick fix. This is going to be a long game.'

'You have symptoms, you have issues. You want to be heard but you're being told it's safe. Well, that's just rubbish! You want to be seen and you want to be heard. I've never seen anything like this in 30 years like the situation in East Palestine.

'I'm also here to tell you that Superman is not coming. Nobody is coming to change what's happened to you, magically fix what's happened to you or give you all the answers,' Brockovich said to applause during a 20 minute speech at which hundreds of concerned residents attended.

'You have an amazing set of instincts and a good set of common sense. There are 44,000 fish that have been killed, their animals are dying, you evacuate people because there's toxic chemicals in the air, then you tell everyone to come because it's safe - it creates a lot of confusion.'

Brockovich said that she hoped lessons might also be learnt from the incident.

'This is a community where we might have that teaching moment, to shift tracks - no pun intended on that one - and look to becoming more protective of the future and more proactive in how we're going to deal with these types of contaminations instead of just sitting here and letting the disaster happen and then reacting to it,' she said.

'I've been out here down on the ground, and they are really frustrated. They don't feel the administration cares about what's happened to the community. So it's very apparent they are concerned and not being seen or heard.'

When asked by Carlson if she believed there was something that the community was not being told, Brockovich did not hesitate.

'44,000 fish are dead. We have seen them out there today. They are aerating the creeks, removing stuff. The wellheads are locked. What's up?

'You have dead fish. That might not be good for humans. You have dead animals. Might not be good for humans. You have sent a horrible mixed message to this community. Drink the water, don't drink the water. Safe, not safe. It is horribly confusing and extremely frustrating to them,' Brockovich said.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich speaks during a town hall meeting at East Palestine High School on Friday night concerning the February 3 Norfolk Southern freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio

Activist Erin Brockovich said it was unlike anything she had seen in over 30 years of work and empathized with the audience's frustration saying it was not a 'quick fix'

'I'm also here to tell you that Superman is not coming. Nobody is coming to change what's happened to you, magically fix what's happened to you or give you all the answers,' Brockovich said to applause during a 20 minute speech

Over 3,500 fish have died in the immediate area due to what residents believe is toxic runoff

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich speaks to concerned residents as she hosted a town hall on Friday night in East Palestine

Hundreds of people attended the town hall meeting on Friday night in East Paletstine, Ohio

Brockovich told the residents: 'This is not a quick fix. This is going to be a long game.'

An East Palestine resident listens as activist Erin Brockovich speaks during a town hall meeting

Earlier on Friday President Joe Biden directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the disaster.

Under Biden's order, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency will visit homes beginning Saturday. Workers will ask how residents are doing, see what they need and connect them with appropriate resources from government and nonprofit organizations, the White House said.

The 'walk teams' are modeled on similar teams following hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Biden directed employees to get to as many homes as possible by Monday. Officials said the immediate goal was to visit at least 400. The president said he currently has no plans to personally visit Ohio.

Meanwhile, the controversy spread far beyond the little Ohio town.

Officials in Texas and Michigan expressed concern about contaminated wastewater and soil being transported to their states for disposal.

Biden's order came as House Republicans opened an investigation into the February 3 derailment, blaming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for what they contend was a delayed response to the fiery wreck.

The focus on DOT came even though the EPA took charge of the federal response this week and ordered Norfolk Southern railway to pay for the cleanup and chemical release.

A preliminary report released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board stated that the crew operating the Norfolk Southern freight train didnt get much warning before dozens of cars went off the tracks and there is no indication that crew members did anything wrong.

Republicans are framing the incident as a moral failing at the hands of the Biden administration, noting Buttigieg's failure to visit the site until nearly three weeks after the wreck.

Democrats point to rollbacks former President Donald Trump made during his term that weakened rail and environmental regulations. EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the site last week and again on Tuesday.

Biden on Friday rejected the notion that his administration hasn't been present in providing assistance.

'We were there two hours after the train went down. Two hours,' Biden said at the White House. 'I've spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and in Ohio. And so the idea that we're not engaged is simply not there.'

A giant plume of smoke from the aftermath of the incident could be seen from miles away

The toxic train derailed in a fiery crash on February 3, leading authorities to evacuate the surrounding East Palestine, Ohio area

The dangerous chemicals released in the East Palestine train derailment A train carrying a wide-variety of toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3. Some of those chemicals have since been released into the air or soil, as residents worry about the long-term health effects. Among the chemicals released from the derailment are: Vinyl chloride  train operator Norfolk Southern has said that 10 cars were burning vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. It is a highly-volatile colorless gas used to create polyvinyl chloride, a plastic used in piping, cables, bottles and credit cards. Symptoms of vinyl chloride exposure includes drowsiness, headaches and dizziness. More long-term effects may include cancer and liver damage. Hydrogen chloride  In trying to mitigate the effects of vinyl chloride, officials conducted a controlled explosion of the train cars, releasing hydrogen chloride. The chemical is irritating and corrosive to any tissue it gets in contact with, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns. Brief exposure can cause throat irritation, but exposure at higher levels can result in rapid breathing, narrowing of the bronchioles, blue coloring of the skin, accumulation of fluid in the lungs and even death. Phosgene  a chemical that was also released in the controlled explosion. Like hydrogen chloride, phosgene is an irritant to the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. Common initial symptoms include mild irritation of the eyes and throat, with some coughing choking, nausea, occasional vomiting, headache and a feeling of tightness in the chest. Phosgene poisoning may also cause respiratory and cardiovascular failure, low blood pressure and an accumulation of fluid in the lungs. Ethylhexyl acrylate  a chemical that was carried on the train It is a known carcinogen, that can cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes. Inhalation of the substance can also irritate the nose and throat, causing shortness of breath and coughing. Isobutylene was also being transported on the train. Inhalation of isobutylene can cause dizziness and drowsiness Ethylene glycol mobobutyl was another substance being transported to Pennsylvania. It 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. Advertisement

White House staffers reached out to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWines office on Sunday, February 5 to offer additional federal assistance, the White House said in its most detailed account of the initial federal response to the wreck, which has led to round-the-clock news stories.

A timeline given out by the White House Friday said DOT provided 'initial incident notification' to members of the Ohio congressional delegation and relevant committees on Saturday, February 4, less than a day after the derailment.

That same day, EPA deployed real-time air monitoring instruments in 12 locations surrounding the wreck site and in the neighboring community, the White House said.

The Oversight letter requests documents and communications concerning when DOT leaders learned of the derailment and whether they received any guidance about what the public response should be, as well any recent changes to agency train maintenance and procedures.

A day earlier, Buttigieg made his first visit to the crash site and hit back at Trump, who had visited the day before and criticized the federal response.

Buttigieg told reporters that if the former president - and current Republican presidential candidate - felt strongly about increased rail safety efforts, 'one thing he could do is express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch.'

On Friday, Buttigieg chided Comer for referring in his letter to 'DOT's National Transportation Safety Board,' saying he was 'alarmed to learn' the committee chairman 'thinks that the NTSB is part of our Department. NTSB is independent (and with good reason). Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately.'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre excoriated 'political stunts that were seeing from the other side.'

Norfolk Southern said the NTSB report showed the train's heat detectors worked as intended and the crew operated 'within the company's rules.' Nevertheless, the company said it would 'need to learn as much as we can from this event' and 'develop practices and invest in technologies that could help prevent an incident like this in the future.'

The freight cars that derailed on the East Palestine outskirts, near the Pennsylvania state line, included 11 carrying hazardous materials. Residents evacuated as fears grew about a potential explosion of smoldering wreckage.

Worried about an uncontrolled blast, officials released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke into the sky.

That left people questioning potential health effects, though authorities maintained they were doing their best to protect people.
He discussed his family, called for more weapons and urged Moscow to leave

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky broke down in tears on the first anniversary of Russia's invasion as he said he wants to 'make his family proud'.

During a press conference in Kyiv, Mr Zelensky became emotional when talking about how the war could end and about his wife, daughter and son.

He said: 'My wife and my children are the most important people for me - I don't get to see them very often but I am very happy to have this family. The most important thing is to make them proud of me.'

He also urged Moscow to change course and asked them to 'leave our territory' and to 'stop bombing us'.

He added: 'Stop (destroying) all our infrastructure, energy, drinking water. Stop bombing towns, villages, killing dogs and cats, simply animals, torching forests.'

Volodymyr Zelensky said the most important thing for him is to make his family proud of him

Volodymyr Zelensky, with his son Kiril Zelenskiy (Now aged 10), his wife Olena Zelenska and his daughter Aleksandra Zelenska (Now aged 19)

A year ago, Mr Zelensky would only be seen in short videos often filmed in dark and secluded areas of Ukraine - largely to prove he had not fled the country.

This year he gave a three-hour-long news conference in Kyiv's Intercontinental Hotel to hundreds of news crews from around the world.

Though the situation in Ukraine is less dynamic and uncertain than it was in February 2022, Zelensky still pleaded for more urgent support in the form of weapons.

He again repeated that there will be no negations with Russia until their troops withdraw from Ukraine.

He said: 'Everyone has seen that they killed and tortured people-they are not even trying to hide their attacks, they are talking about nuclear matters.

'Seeing this picture of the world, do you think Ukrianians can sit in this and negotiate?'

Yesterday China called for a ceasefire, but Ukraine previously rejected a pause in the fighting for fear it would allow Russia to regroup militarily after bruising battlefield setbacks.

Mr Zelensky gave qualified support to China's new pronouncements about the ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in a vaguely worded proposal released on Friday.

Mr Zelensky said one of his biggest disappointments of the war had been to see people who could have fought leave the country when Russia invaded

'China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad,' the president said during a wide-ranging news conference.

'But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to.'

A 12-point paper issued by China's Foreign Ministry also urged an end to sanctions that aim to squeeze Russia's economy.

That suggestion also looked like a non-starter, given that Western nations are working to further tighten the sanctions noose, not loosen it. Both the UK and US imposed more sanctions on Friday.

Ukraine is readying another military push to roll back Russian forces with the help of weaponry that has poured in from the West.

Nato member Poland said that it had delivered four advanced Leopard 2A4 tanks, making it the first country to hand the German-made armour to Ukraine.

Zelensky said a low point was when Russian atrocities were discovered in the recaptured town of Bucha near Kyiv

Tributes to Ukraine's resilience took place in other countries. The Eiffel Tower in Paris was among monuments illuminated in Ukraine's colors - yellow and blue. In Berlin, a wrecked Russian tank was put on display.

Anti-war activists in Belgrade, Serbia, left a cake covered with red icing representing blood and a skull on top on a pavement near the Russian Embassy, which police stopped them from approaching.

In Russia, media and rights groups reported more police arrests of protesters who took to streets with anti-war slogans and flowers in various parts of the country.

Mr Zelensky said one of his biggest disappointments of the war had been to see people who could have fought leave the country when Russia invaded, referring to officials who fled.

He said a low point was when Russian atrocities were discovered in the recaptured town of Bucha near Kyiv.

'It was very scary,' he said. 'We saw that the devil is not somewhere out there, but on Earth.'

Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian leader addressed troops on a Kyiv square and handed out honours, including to the widow and daughter of a fallen soldier, telling them: 'We will never forget.'

In a Kyiv hospital, he also decorated wounded fighters.
A former fighter pilot being held at a maximum security prison at the behest of the FBI is 'a shadow of his former self', his wife has claimed.

Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, has been held at Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Sydney's western suburbs since his arrest in October last year.

Mr Duggan was arrested in Orange in central New South Wales, where he had been living with his family since renouncing his US citizenship, at the request of the FBI.

US authorities are attempting to extradite the former US marine pilot to face charges he allegedly breached money laundering and arms export control laws more than a decade ago.

It is alleged he trained Chinese fighter pilots to land fighter jets on aircraft carriers through a flying academy in South Africa between 2010 and 2012.

Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, has been held at Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Sydney's western suburbs since his arrest in October last year. He is pictured with wife Saffron

Mr Duggan has repeatedly denied the allegations and maintains his innocence.

His wife, Saffron Duggan, said the pair remain resolute to fight the 'injustice' of the extradition order.

'I was shocked when I saw Dan recently. He's a shadow of himself,' she said.

'They are trying to break him and they should be ashamed.

'Daniel is being held in a 2metre x 4metre cell, without any prior, or current, convictions in conditions normally reserved for the most violent criminals.

Daniel Duggan, formally ran Top Gun Tasmania, a flight training school in Tasmania before relocating to Orange

'This is unprecedented and an affront to Australia's rule of law and manipulation of the Australian legal system by the United States, at the expense of the Australian taxpayer.'

Speaking to reporters in January, Mr Duggan's lawyer, Dennis Miralis, claimed his client was a pawn in a 'politically motivated' prosecution.

'It seems to us, undoubtedly, that this indictment was brought about at a time when the US administration was entering into a geopolitical contest with China, and was seeking to use the criminal law in furtherance of US foreign policy,' he said.

In January, a Sydney court heard Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus had accepted an extradition request for Mr Duggan the previous month.

Mr Miralis declared his client would continue to fight the extradition order, noting it would be 'vigorously defended each step of the way'.

Speaking to reporters in January, Mr Duggan's lawyer, Dennis Miralis, claimed his client was a pawn in a 'politically motivated' prosecution

Mr Duggan's arrest on October 21, 2022, coincided with warnings from Australian authorities over the practice of former military pilots being offered lucrative contracts to train foreign pilots.

In November, Defence Minister Richard Marles ordered his department to review laws governing the conduct of retired military personnel.

The move came amid reports former members of the ADF have been approached to provide training to China.

In January, a Sydney court heard Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus had accepted an extradition request for Mr Duggan the previous month.

Ms Duggan has described the father of her six children's ongoing incarceration as 'inhumane' and an 'affront' to Australia's sovereignty.

The retired pilot served more than a decade flying in the US Marine Corps before moving to Australia and becoming a citizen in 2012

She has petitioned the United Nations human rights committee to intervene, saying the harsh conditions of his custody violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

'We desperately seek ongoing support and respectfully ask people demand that our government protects and defends the rule of law, due process, and Australian sovereignty,' she said.

A petition started by Ms Duggan calling for her husband's immediate release has attracted nearly 10,000 signatures.

The retired pilot served more than a decade flying in the US Marine Corps before moving to Australia and becoming a citizen in 2012.

He has spent 128 days in custody since his arrest.
A Chinese fighter jet together with a guided-missile destroyer warship in the South China Sea warned a U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft to turn away from Chinese airspace in a heart-stopping confrontation all caught on camera.

The American aircraft was 30 miles from any airspace considered to be owned by China, including the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, but the Chinese military appear proactive in defending territory far outsider their jurisdiction in what could be seen a threatening maneuvers.

The first the American pilot knew anything was wrong occurred when a booming voice claiming to be from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) suddenly came across the radio.

'American aircraft. Chinese airspace is 12 nautical miles. Not approaching any more or you bear all responsibility,' came the message.

Lt. Nikki Slaughter, who was piloting the American plane which is similar to a Boeing 737, was quick to respond to the radio transmission, just as a Chinese jet armed with air-to-air missiles came up alongside them.

Footage sees Chinese fighter jet warning a US military fighter jet to turn away from Chinese airspace in the South China Sea

The American fighter jet was over 30 miles away from any airspace recognized as owned by China at the time of the heart-stopping encounter. Pictured, the Chinese fighter jet

The encounter was so close that the Chinese military symbol's red stars could be seen on the pilot's helmet and on the side of the plane.

'PLA fighter aircraft, this is US Navy P-8A  I have you off my left wing and I intend to proceed to the west. I request that you do the same, over.'

There was no response, but the Chinese pilot continued to escort the American plane for a further 15 minutes from just 500 feet away in what could be perceived as a clear sign of growing tensions between the two countries, each flexing their military muscle.

The commander of the US Navy mission, Navy Cmdr. Marc Hines, downplayed the incident, simply describing it as 'another Friday afternoon in the South China Sea' while speaking to CNN, who were onboard.

Later in Friday's mission, still over the South China Sea but this time closer to the Philippines, Slaughter's US Navy P-8 aircraft spotted a Chinese (PLA) Navy guided-missile destroyer warship, likely armed with dozens of surface-to-air missiles.

The American aircraft descended to 1,000ft only to receive further warnings from the PLA.

Lt. Nikki Slaughter, the pilot of the American plane, responds to the Chinese military over the plane's radio

China continues to claim historic jurisdiction over almost the entire sea and has been in the process of constructing artificial islands since 2014, complete with missiles, runways, and weapons systems

When the American fighter jet descended to 1,000ft, they received a second warning to steer clear from a Chinese Navy Destoryer war ship

The U.S. military spotted a Chinese (PLA) Navy guided-missile destroyer warship, likely armed with dozens of surface-to-air missiles

'US aircraft. US aircraft. This is Chinese naval warship 173. You are approaching to me at low altitude. State your intention over,' a Chinese-accented voice stated in English over the radio.

Lt. Slaughter replied that the US plane would indeed keep a safe distance away from the ship.

'US aircraft. US aircraft. This is Chinese naval warship 173. You are clearly endangering my safety. You are clearly endangering my safety,' the Chinese ship stated.

'I am a United States military aircraft. I will maintain a safe distance from your unit,' Slaughter replied once again.

The US Navy says such missions are routine, although Cmdr Hines says radio silence from the Chinese is unsettling.

'Whenever there's no response, it leaves questions. Do they understand what were saying? Do they understand our intentions? Do they understand we don't mean any harm?' he asks.

In recent years, the South China Sea has become a potential flashpoint in the Asia Pacific due to territorial disputes among China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan over islands such as the Paracels.

The commander of the US Navy mission, Navy Cmdr. Marc Hines, downplayed the incident, simply describing it as 'another Friday afternoon in the South China Sea.'

China regularly conducts military exercises throughout the South China Sea and continues to maintains a large presence of coast guard and fishing vessels in the disputed waters, further stoking tensions with neighbors

The American reconnaissance aircraft is able to fly long missions thanks to a refueling aircraft

In recent years, the South China Sea has become a potential flashpoint in the Asia Pacific due to territorial disputes among China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan over islands such as the Paracels

The region holds significant resources including fish, oil, gas, with roughly one-third of global shipping, valued at around $3.4 trillion in 2016, passing through it.

China continues to claim historic jurisdiction over almost the entire sea and has been in the process of constructing artificial islands since 2014, complete with missiles, runways, and weapons systems.

The islands have civilian populations inhabiting them and their only purpose appears to be for tactical purposes and military domination of the area.

It's believed there are some 1,400 Chinese military personnel working on the islands around which China claimed exists 12-nautical-miles of airspace surrounding the islands. The claim is not recognized by the U.S.

China regularly conducts military exercises throughout the South China Sea and continues to maintains a large presence of coast guard and fishing vessels in the disputed waters, further stoking tensions with neighbors.
It was set to be stocked from Wednesday but has since been pushed back

PRIME was delayed being rolled out to Australian stores

Woolies staff fed up over being hassled over PRIME energy drink

Woolworths staff are fed up after being hounded about when they will stock the new boom energy drink PRIME.

The PRIME drink is a collaborative project between YouTube sensations Logan Paul and KSI, which has seen the drink quickly snapped up in their respective home countries, England and the USA.

The wait for the drink to hit Aussie shores has left Woolies staff frustrated as shoppers pester them on a daily basis to learn when the drink will become available.

Woolworths staff are fed up after being hounded about when they will stock the new boom energy drink PRIME which was meant to hit stores on Wednesday but is now 'weeks' away

PRIME comes in a range of flavours and despite being described as tasting like 'swallowing perfume' by celebrity chef Gordan Ramsay, Australians are impatiently waiting to get their hands on a bottle.

In a statement Woolworths said the PRIME Hydration variety will be nationally available 'in the coming weeks' despite originally being scheduled to be rolled out on Wednesday, leading to widespread confusion and anger from the public and Woolies staff.

Woolworths staff have taken to social media to vent their own displeasure over the delay.

'People asking for PRIME is gonna be my new paralysis demon,' one Woolies worker posted.

Another fed-up worker posted: 'I had at least 10 eshays with dirty mullets ask me this in a span of 5 minutes as soon as the store opened this morning.'

The PRIME drink is a collaborative project between YouTube sensations Logan Paul and KSI, which has seen the drink in short supply in their respective countries, England and the USA

Others spoke about being pestered over the phone by mothers who were pressured by their children to buy the drink with many workers saying they have been asked every day 'if we have it'.

The drink has created a stir since being announced that it be introduced to the Australian market.

One caffeinated variety of the beverage is banned from stores due to containing up to 200mg of caffeine.

Flavours set to be available in Woolworths stores are: tropical punch, blue raspberry, ice pop and lemon-lime.

In a recent radio interview with shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his co-host Jackie O, Paul and KSI said the drink would be available in Coles before Woolworths.

However, Coles say they are excited about the launch of PRIME Hydration but are unable to offer it currently without specifying a reason as to why.

PRIME states on its website that the drink is available across Coles and Woolworths outlets.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Woolworths for comment.
The Australian Open, footy finals and Melbourne Cup are all big fixtures on the competitive calendar, but any Aussie worth their salt knows Mulletfest is the event that truly defines the nation.

Contestants train their locks for years, grooming them to perfection to create the ultimate 'business up front, party in the back' look.

They compete in a range of categories, including 'rangas', vintage (for the over-50s), grubby, extreme, everyday and even rookie, for those with a mullet less than two years old.

On Saturday, the event returns for a heat at The Chelmsford Hotel in Kurri Kurri, NSW - where the celebration of the iconic 'do was dreamt up in 2018.

Laura Johnson had been looking for a way to create some clean family fun and a tourism injection for a town struggling after the closure of an aluminium smelter that had employed generations of locals.

Contestants compete in a range of categories, including 'rangas' (pictured, one contender), vintage - for the over-50s - grubby, extreme, everyday

Contestants train their locks for years, grooming them to perfection to create the ultimate 'business up front, party in the back' look (pictured, Jacob Frew of Weston and Dylan Dudley of Kurri during Mulletfest)

Even rookies can be contenders for those with a mullet less than two years old (pictured, nine-year-old Slayte Reid of East Maitland on Saturday)

Growing from its fringe roots, the competition has expanded into a series of fixtures taking place Australia-wide, from Rockhampton to Perth and Alice Springs.

The winner of each category and the overall winner is then announced at the Mulletfest grand final, to be held in the Hunter Valley on December 2.

Six thousand-strong Kurri Kurri might be described by Mulletfest organisers as 'the town that was saved by the mullet', but the phenomenon is far from a locals-only affair.

As the mane movement gained momentum, proud mullet-wearers have made the pilgrimage to the pub from all over the world - including from Norway, North America and the UK.

'If you feel like an outsider everywhere else, at Mulletfest you will feel like part of the family,' organisers said.

'We understand that it's the man or woman beneath the mane that matters ... (and) that maybe the heart is as big as the hair.'

The winner of each category and the overall winner is then announced at the Mulletfest grand final, to be held in the Hunter Valley on December 2 (previous winner, now judge Liam Arnold at the event)

On Saturday, the event returns for a heat at The Chelmsford Hotel in Kurri Kurri, NSW - where the celebration of the iconic 'do was dreamt up in 2018 (pictured, Reg Warry, two, at the event)

Growing from its fringe roots, the competition has expanded into a series of fixtures taking place Australia-wide, from Rockhampton to Perth and Alice Springs (pictured, Emile and son Caleb Pacevski in Kurri Kurri on Saturday)

Six thousand-strong Kurri Kurri in NSW might be described by Mulletfest organisers as 'the town that was saved by the mullet', but the phenomenon is far from a locals-only affair (pictured, Jaxson Brown, five)

'If you feel like an outsider everywhere else, at Mulletfest you will feel like part of the family,' organisers said (pictured, party goer Dylan Dudley checking out the scene)
President Joe Biden fumbled around his words as he tried to explain why he still has no plans to visit East Palestine after a toxic train derailment devastated the small Ohio community.

As he was leaving the White House on Friday to head to his Wilmington, Delaware residence, a reporter asked Biden if he was going to travel to East Palestine after his administration had been accused of ignoring the city's plight.

The president answered, 'At this point, I'm not,' but then he appeared confused and strained as he tried to explain himself.

'I did a whole video, I mean, um, what the hell, on,' Biden rambled as he looked for reporters to fill in the gap.

'Zoom?' one of the reporters said, trying to help the president.

'Zoom! All I can think of every time I think of Zoom is that song in my generation, Who's Zoomin' Who,' he said, referencing the Aretha Franklin song.

The odd exchange comes as the Biden administration is under fire for its alleged slow response to the disaster, where toxic chemicals were released into the air near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on February 3, prompting 5,000 people to evacuate.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has now opened an investigation against Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his alleged 'apathy' after waiting 20 days to visit the city.

President Joe Biden was at a loss for words when explaining to reporters why he has yet to visit East Palestine, Ohio, three weeks after the toxic train derailment

Fifty freight train cars were damaged and destroyed on February 3 traveling through the town as it released toxic chemicals into the ground and air

Q: Are you planning on traveling to East Palestine?



BIDEN: At this moment not. I was, I did a whole video, I mean, uh, you know, the uh, what the Hell? On Zoom. All I can hear every time I think of Zoom is that song of my generation, 'Who's Zoomin' Who?' pic.twitter.com/tFo4zHhEkk  ALX  (@alx) February 24, 2023

During the encounter with reporters at the White House lawn on Friday, Biden defended his administration, as well as his decision to visit Ukraine instead of the residents of East Palestine.

'I've had a long meeting with my team and what they're doing,' Biden told reporters. 'You know, we were there two hours after the train went down. Two hours.

'I've spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and in Ohio. And so the idea that we're not engaged is simply not there.

'And initially, there was not a request for me to go out before I was heading over to Kyiv. So, I'm keeping very close tabs on it. We're doing all we can,' he added.

The Zoom meeting Biden appeared to be referring to in his bizarre exchange was one he held earlier on Friday with Buttigieg, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Secretary of the Department of Health Xavier Becerra, and FEMA Director Deanne Criswell.

The president tweeted a picture of the meeting, saying he met with the officials to get 'the latest updates on our response to the train derailment in East Palestine, OH.'

He added: 'We remain committed to supporting the people of East Palestine every step of the way.'

Residents of East Palestine, however, have felt ignored by the administration, with Mayor Trent Conaway accusing the president of abandoning his duties at home when he was pictured visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.

Residents near the site have said they are 'too afraid to shower' and have experienced worrying symptoms of headaches and irritated eyes in the days since the derailment.

Doug Brayshaw, 63, told NBC: 'We're afraid to shower. I won't even give my dog drinking water out of my well right now because I'm worried.'

Amanda Greathouse told CEN that she had developed a rash, her eyes were 'burning' and she felt sick. Since the incident she said she had decided not to raise her kids in the area.

One couple even had to put down their indoor cat after they noticed he was getting sick just the hours after the train derailment.

The Biden administration has been accused of being apathetic to the plight of the small Ohio community, where residents are reporting worrying symptoms

Biden defended his administration's work and said his team has been in Palestine since day one, but added that he has never been invited to come and that he still has no plans to go

Pictured: The site of the chemical spill as crews work to suppress the contaminants on Friday

Residents in East Palestine have reported going to the hospital over rashes following the spill

On Thursday, Conaway left Buttigieg waiting in a hallway while he first spoke to former Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani.

'I am grateful to Mayor Giuliani for being here to help us. My top priority is to ensure the health and safety of the people of this city and our region,' Conaway said during their meeting, according to a spokesperson for Giuliani.

'I will work with anyone who wants to help East Palestine, and their partisan affiliation is irrelevant to me,' Conaway added.

Buttigieg and Giuliani's visit comes a day after Donald Trump stopped by the town to deliver food and water to residents, saying they have been 'betrayed' by the Biden administration.

'We stand with you,' Trump told the crowd at the East Palestine Fire Department. 'We pray for you, and we'll stay with you in your fight to help answer and [get] accountability that you deserve.'

'Biden and FEMA said they would not send federal aid to [the town] under any circumstances,' Trump claimed. 'We opened up the dam, and we got them to move.'

Along with delivering supplies to the Ohio residents, Trump stopped at a local McDonald's where he ordered Big Macs for first responders and members of his team, and handed out signed MAGA hats to the customers.

Despite the backlash against the Biden administration, Buttigieg told reporters during his tour of East Palestine that he is 'proud' of how the federal government has handled the situation - and accused critics of trying to take a 'political advantage' of the situation.

In further remarks, Buttigieg told reporters that he would think about whether he had waited too long to respond to the crash.

'I'll do some thinking about whether I got that balance right, but I think the most important thing is first of all making sure the residents here have what they need,' he said.

Trump boasted earlier this week that he visited the Ohio town before Biden or Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as he delivered water and food supplies

Buttigieg (center) arrived the day after Trump, three weeks into the ongoing crisis. He told reporters he was mulling his decision to wait that long

The chemical spill has left many residents too afraid to shower as clean up crews work to gather the destroyed train cars and their cargo

Pictured: The chemical fire releasing toxins into the air in East Palestine

His statement echoed that of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said GOP attacks Buttigieg are 'political stunts.'

'There's been a lot of bad faith attacks on Secretary Buttigieg' Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this week. 'If you remember Elaine Chao... when there were these types of chemical spills, nobody was calling for her to be fired.'

She also insisted that Americans should feel 'at ease' with the Biden administration's response to the spill that prompted 5,000 to evacuate, and insisted Biden took the matter 'seriously.'

Some Republicans have called for his resignation, while he blamed the Trump administration and rail companies for underming safety.

'This incident is an environmental and public health emergency that now threatens Americans across state lines,' the letter to Buttigieg signed by 21 Republicans reps.

'Despite the U.S. Department of Transportations (DOT) responsibility to ensure safe and reliable transport in the United States, you ignored the catastrophe for over a week,' it continues.

'The American people deserve answers as to what caused the derailment, and DOT needs to provide an explanation for its leaderships apathy in the face of this emergency.

'We request documents and information regarding DOTs response to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and ensuing environmental and public health emergency.'

Republicans claim America is now facing one of its 'largest transportation failures', despite Biden's Infrastructure bill including billions of dollars to revamp railways.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has now opened an investigation against Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his alleged 'apathy'

The derailed train consisted of three locomotives, 141 loads and nine empties - it was 9,300-feet long and weighed 18,000 tons. During the accident 38 individual cars derailed, which caused a fire that damaged an additional 12 cars.

Authorities have said 1.5million gallons of contaminants have been taken away from the area since the crash.

CBS News reported that employees for Northern Southern thought the train was too heavy and had too many cars, making it hard to stop.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday alleges that Norfolk Southern's effort to clean up and mitigate the derailment site have made the situation even more dangerous for residents.

It claims Train 32N was carrying nearly 1.1million pounds of vinyl chloride when it overturned on February 3, a chemical that can mutate DNA and is not safe at any level of exposure.

Then when the train overturned, that massive amount of vinyl chloride  which is more than double the amount industrial emitters released in the United States  combined  in one year.
The entrepreneur who popularized the hot sauce Sriracha in the US has spoken out in a rare interview, after being dubbed America's only hot sauce billionaire.

David Tran, 77, founded Huy Fong Foods in southern California after fleeing Vietnam in 1978 with his wife and son, with his life savings of $20,000 worth of gold hidden in cans of condensed milk.

He is the sole owner of Huy Fong, which was recently valued at $1 billion by research firm IBISWorld, based on estimated sales of $131 million in 2020.

Despite his riches, Tran remains doggedly focused on the quality of his Sriracha, the widely beloved product emblazoned with a rooster emblem, for the year of his birth in the Chinese Zodiac.

'I want to continue to make a good quality product, like making the hot sauce spicierand not think about making more profits,' he told Forbes in a recent profile.

David Tran, 77, founded Huy Fong Foods in southern California after fleeing Vietnam in 1978 with his wife and son, with his life savings hidden in cans of condensed milk

The peppers are unloaded from a truck into the Huy Fong Foods factory in Irwindale

'I could use less expensive ingredients or promote my products to make more money,' added Tran. 'But nomy goal is always to try to make a rich man's hot sauce at a poor man's price.'

Tran was born in 1945 in the Vietnamese city of Soc Trang, then still under French colonial rule, according to a 2013 oral history for UC Irvine's Vietnamese American Oral History Project.

He moved to Saigon at the age of 16, where he worked in his brother's store selling chemical products until he was drafted into the South Vietnamese army at the height of the Vietnam war.

He served for five years, never seeing combat but instead mostly working as a cook, until the fall of Saigon in 1975.

By that time married with a child on the way, he went to work with his brother farming chili peppers, and hit upon the idea to convert them into a sauce, to take advantage of wild price swings in the price of whole chilis.

But in 1978, the communist government began pressuring Vietnamese of Chinese descent to leave the country. Tran, whose ancestors were Cantonese, fled to Hong Kong.

When the founder of Huy Fong Foods, David Tran, immigrated to the US from Vietnam, he named the company after the ship that carried him over

Supplies are seen stored in the 650,000 square foot Huy Fong Foods Sriracha hot chili sauce plant in Irwindale, California

The Huy Fong factory can produce 18,000 bottles of Sriracha an hour

Bottles of Sriracha chili sauce are displayed on shelves in a file photo

In January 1980, Tran, his wife and son moved to Los Angeles, and he founded Huy Fong Foods, named after the cargo freighter that brought them to America.

Tran started out selling his Sriracha sauce to restaurants out of the back of a van.

Demand for the sauce soared, and Tran moved to a factory in Rosemead, on the eastern outskirts of Los Angeles, and later expanded into the abandoned Wham-O hula hoop factory next door.

In 2010, demand for the sauce forced him to move again, to a new 650,000-square-foot facility in Irwindale, where Sriracha is currently made.

In 2013, however, complaints from neighbors about spicy fumes from the new factory prompted a public nuisance suit from the city.

In the ensuing battle, the factory briefly shut down, prompting fears of a Sriracha shortage among devotees.

The dispute was eventually resolved after Tran installed stronger filters on the factories vents, and California officials backed down in the face of attempts from Texas to lure the company to friendlier grounds.

Tran (above) has no plans to sell the business, which he intends to pass on to his children, 47-year-old William and 41-year-old Yassie, who both work there

In addition to Sriracha, Huy Fong has only two other products: a chili garlic variety, and sambal oelek, based on an Indonesian recipe.

The company does no advertising or marketing, and Tran rarely gives interviews to the press.

The wholesale price of Sriracha hasn't changed since the early 1980s, and neither have the ingredients: chili, sugar, salt, garlic and vinegar.

Today the sauce ranks third in the nation in sales, after Tabasco, owned by the McIlhenny family since 1868, and Franks RedHot, a subsidiary of McCormick & Co.

Tran has no plans to sell the business, which he intends to pass on to his children, 47-year-old William and 41-year-old Yassie, who both work there.
White supremacist groups are planning a 'National Day of Hate' to coincide with the Jewish Sabbath this weekend, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The latest threat, in the form of social media posts by extremists urged others to harass and target Jewish communities including by staging protests outside of New York City synagogues.

The NYPD said there were no specific threats but 'out of an abundance of caution, the Department will deploy additional resources to sensitive locations, including houses of worship, throughout the weekend.'

The potential threat for protests and violence came after a group of neo-Nazis harassed theatergoers as they were lined up ahead of a showing of Broadway musical, Parade, on Tuesday night.

At Thursday night's show, New York City Mayor Eric Adams appeared on stage before the performance saying, 'When we fill a theater, we send a message out there that this is not a place where hate lives.'

Extremist groups with white supremacist views are attempting to plan a 'National Day of Hate' during the Jewish Sabbath this weekend according to information seen by the NYPD

Online hate speech called for a day of 'antisemitic action'

NYC Mayor Eric Adams spoke on stage to denounce hate speech at the Bernard Jacobs Theater on West 45th Street in Manhattan on Thursday night

'We have the largest Jewish population outside of Tel Aviv,' Adams told the audience to applause. 'When you come out and really cross-pollinate ideas and culture, that's the beauty and a symbol of New York City.'

The mayor called out the antisemitic protest outside the theater earlier in the week describing it as 'not the New York spirit we love  this was hatred, this was bigotry.'

During Tuesday's protest, a member of the audience posted a video the hate-filled demonstration outside the Bernard Jacobs Theater on West 45th Street in Manhattan.

Those who demonstrated yelled, carried banners and handed out fliers that claim the show glorifies pedophilia.

The musical revival tells true story of Leo Frank - a Jewish man lynched in 1915 after he was wrongfully convicted for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl.

During the protest on Tuesday night demonstrators yelled, carried banners, and distributed flyers that claimed the show glorified pedophilia

Those who demonstrated yelled, carried banners and handed out fliers that claim the show glorifies pedophilia

The Neo-Nazis heckled theatergoers outside of the debut of 'Parade' on Broadway and handed out fliers such as the one above. It included the groups name, 'Empire State Stormers'

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she had directed law enforcement to closely monitor Jewish communities this weekend

The Anti-Defamation League posted a message of positivity to its Twitter page

'The irony should not be lost on anyone that these antisemitic extremists decided to protest a play that details the true story of the lynching of an innocent Jewish man by an antisemitic mob and used it as an opportunity to spread conspiracy theories and hate,' the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement

The original trial, media attention and lynching of Frank led to the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915.

The event also shaped the ADL, which had been founded in 1913 in Chicago and championed Frank's cause.

In a statement, producers of Parade said, 'If there is any remaining doubt out there about the urgency of telling this story in this moment in history, the vileness on display tonight should put it to rest.'
Prince Harry is to take part in an 'intimate' livestream chat with author Gabor Mate next week to promote his memoir Spare, as he returns to the stage after another drop in his popularity in the US.

More than a month after the release of the book royal fans can sign up to watch the Duke of Sussex discussing it with Mr Mate, and will also receive a free copy of Spare as well as the opportunity to submit questions to the prince.

The event, organised in collaboration with Harry's publishers Penguin Random House, will take place at 5pm UK time on Saturday March 4.

The pair are expected to talk about 'living with loss and the importance of personal healing', followed by a live Q and A.

It comes at a fragile time for Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle, who have seen their popularity ratings in the US drop significantly since the release of Spare last month - and now face a decision over whether to attend Charles' coronation.

Prince Harry will sit down for his first public conversation since his media blitz for the launch of his memoir Spare

The livestream costs 17 and comes with a free hardback copy of the Duke's memoir

The livestream comes at a tricky time for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have seen their approval ratings plummet since December

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's popularity has slumped to an all-time low in the US, where they are now less popular than the disgraced Prince Andrew, a shock poll has found.

Since December last year, Harry has sunk 48 points and Meghan 40, giving them net approval ratings of -10 and -17 respectively, according to a survey by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek, conducted on February 19.

While Andrew is still viewed negatively following his New York civil trial against his sex accuser Virginia Roberts - which he settled out of court - his net approval rating sits at -2, with 26 per cent of Americans saying they like him compared to 28 per cent who do not.

The Sussexes' nosediving popularity across the pond comes just days after they were mocked by South Park - a satirical cartoon famed for having its finger on the pulse of American culture.

But the latest survey suggests the increased attention and scrutiny of the Sussexes, brought on by their six-part Netflix docuseries, Harry's memoir Spare and a spate of bombshell interviews, has only turned larger portions of the public against them.

This week's poll shows that 18 per cent of US respondents felt neither favorably nor unfavorably about Harry, while 7 percent replied 'don't know'. Some 20 percent were on the fence about Meghan and just 8 percent did not have an opinion.

The figures mean that only 25 per cent of respondents expressed no strong feelings either way about the duke, and 28 percent about the duchess.

Respondents were also asked if they felt positively or negatively towards Harry, Meghan and Andrew, with the results likely making sober reading for the couple.

Some 32 per cent felt positively about Harry, compared to 27 per cent about Meghan and 26 per cent about Andrew.

However, 44 per cent held a negative sentiment towards Meghan, compared with 42 per cent for Harry and just 28 per cent for Andrew.

New data from the US shows the drop in the couple's approval ratings over the last three months

Gabor Mate is a Hungarian-Canadian best-selling author and physician who specialises in addiction and childhood development

Who is Gabor Mate? Gabor Mate, 79, is a Hungarian-Canadian author, public speaker and physician. Mr Mate has 20 years of experience working with patients suffering from addiction and mental illness. He is best-known as an addiction specialist, but also has expertise in stress and child development. Mr Mate's works include: In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Close Encounters With Addiction, When the Body Says No, The Cost of Hidden Stress and Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. He has received the Civic Merit Award of the City of Vancouver and the Order of Canada, both for his work on addiction and other mental health-related contributions. Advertisement

Prince Harry may be hoping to start turning these ratings around by engaging with the public over the bombshell content of his book, in which he made a series of damaging allegations about other members of the royal family and revealed deeply personal details.

Tickets for UK purchasers cost 17 plus a booking fee, or 40 plus a booking fee if viewers wish to also purchase Mr Mate's book, The Myth of Normal.

They will then receive a Vimeo link, which will broadcast the livestream, but recording is strictly forbidden.

Gabor Mate, a Hungarian-Canadian best-selling author and physician, is an addiction, stress and childhood development expert who speaks internationally and has previously been awarded the Order of Canada.

The choice of Mr Mate for Prince Harry is another sign of the importance he seems to place on therapeutic healing, having candidly discussed his own therapy in his and wife Meghan's Netflix docuseries.

This will be the first major appearance for the prince since his publicity blitz in January to promote Spare ahead of its publication.

It comes as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex face a major decision over whether to attend King Charles' coronation this May amid the ongoing split between them and the rest of the family.

Prince Harry previously demanded an apology from his brother Prince William and father to him and wife Meghan over allegations he set out in Spare.

Among these allegations were an incident in which Prince William reportedly insulted the Duchess, before hitting Prince Harry so hard he ended up on the floor.

The Palace declined to comment on these allegations at the time.

With just two weeks to go until invitations are issued, and 70 days until the big day itself, it was revealed last night that neither Prince William or King Charles are prepared to offer any apology prior to the coronation.

Sources sympathetic to the royals' predicament have described the situation as a 'toxic stalemate'.

'There is still a huge amount of ill will boiling over in the family,' one said.

'Save the date' cards are set to be sent out in two weeks to the 2,000 guests who have been chosen to attend the pared-down spring ceremony.

Numbers have been drastically reduced from the 8,251 guests who attended Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation to make the event more streamlined amid the cost of living crisis.

Formal invitations to those who have indicated they will accept will not be posted until three weeks before the event itself.

One well-placed source says Harry has made it clear that he wants a private 'apology' of some sort from both Charles and William before he will attend.

It is unclear whether Meghan will attend the ceremony if Prince Harry chooses to do so, but as the date chosen for the King's coronation also falls on their son Archie's fourth birthday, there are doubts she will be present regardless of the ongoing family feud.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will visit China next week for a state visit amid growing fears Xi Jinping will supply Russia with weapons to strengthen its position in Ukraine and spark 'World War III'.

Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has backed Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, with Belarus dependent on its neighbour both financially and politically.

Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang told his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Aleinik that Beijing is willing to work with Minsk to deepen mutual political trust, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement today.

It comes as last week, Rishi Sunak warned China not to support Vladimir Putin's 'brutal and illegal' war in Ukraine after American intelligence suggested Beijing was considering supplying arms to Russia.

China has so far offered only diplomatic support to Russia and strongly denied the US claims, accusing Western nations of adding 'fuel to the fire' over the war.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (left), who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin (right), will visit China next week for a state visit

China's President Xi Jinping (pictured) has so far offered only diplomatic support to Russia but there are growing fears he wants to supply the country with weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said last week he feared such a move from Xi Jinping would cause 'a world war' and demanded Beijing make a 'pragmatic assessment' of a potential alliance with Russia.

Yesterday - on the one-year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine - China called for a comprehensive ceasefire, which was met with scepticism in Ukraine and the West.

Its 12-point plan urged all parties to 'support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible'.

In the paper Beijing called for an end to Western sanctions, negotiations which would likely see Ukraine ceding territory, a NATO pull-back from its eastern borders and reconstruction efforts that would probably benefit Chinese contractors.

China will also continue to support Belarus in maintaining its national stability, and will oppose attempts by 'external forces' to interfere in its internal affairs or impose 'illegal' unilateral sanctions on Minsk, Qin told Aleinik.

In September last year, Xi and Lukashenko announced an 'all-weather' strategic partnership, when the two met in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.

Belarus, which shares a border with Ukraine and Russia, allowed Moscow to use its territory to launch its attack on Ukraine last year and Kyiv has expressed concerns that Belarus could again support Moscow in its war effort.

Last week American intelligence suggested Beijing was considering supplying arms to Russia. Pictured: Russian T-72B3 tanks fire at Ukrainian fortified positions in Ukraine

Pictured: A bus station damaged after a shelling, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine

Yesterday, to mark the first anniversary of the war, Zelensky hailed Ukraine and its people for fighting back against Russia and vowed victory.

'We endured. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year!' Zelensky said in a statement released on social media.

Hailing cities such as Bucha, Irpin and Mariupol as 'capitals of invincibility', he added: 'Ukraine has inspired the world. Ukraine has united the world...

'We will never rest until the Russian murderers face deserved punishment.

'Ukraine has inspired the world. Ukraine has united the world,' in a 'furious year of invincibility,' he said. 'We will never rest until the Russian murderers face deserved punishment,' he said.
Former family members of a missing model have reportedly been arrested after her body was dismembered and left in soup pots.

The Hong Kong village of Lung Mei Tsuen village was a butchers shop on Friday as the legs of Abby Choi were found in a household fridge.

Police arrested the parents and elder brother of Ms Choi's ex-husband on the horrific discovery in her former father-in-law's rented home.

Following an extensive search, Ms Choi's former partner, 31, was also then arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday, according to the South China Morning Post.

A police officer told the publication that the attack was 'well-planned' and 'premeditated'.

Abby Choi was found in pots of soup on Friday at a home in Lung Mei Tsuen, Hong Kong

The legs of Abby Choi were found by police officers in a household fridge

Superintendent Alan Chung Nga-Iun added: 'We are still looking for the head, the torso and hands, which we believed were disposed of.'

A missing persons investigation first took off on Tuesday after the up-and-coming model did not pick up a child as planned.

'Someone was dissatisfied with how the victim handled her assets, which became a motive to kill,' Chung Nga-Iun also said.

On Friday, police searched the home that was allegedly set up with equipment such as a meat grinder, choppers, a hammer, and an electric saw.

Two soup pots were also found containing human tissue, reports suggest.

The property was then taped off with reportedly 20 police officers coming in and out to investigate the scene.

An underwater search is now to be conducted in an effort to find the remaining parts of Ms Choi's body this afternoon, according to The Strait Times.

Police also confirmed today that 'post-mortem examinations will be conducted later to ascertain the cause of death' of a 28-year-old woman.

Her former father-in-law, ex-husband and his brother have reportedly been arrested following the incident

MailOnline have reached out to Hong Kong Police Force to request confirmation that this is Ms Choi.
A young boy who miraculously survived the Sea World helicopter crash is now set to lose his leg below the knee, his heartbroken father has revealed.

Nicholas Tadros, 10, broke almost every bone in his body after two helicopters collided in mid-air before plummeting onto a sand bank at the Gold Coast theme park on January 2.

The 10-year-old has been receiving treatment in the Queensland Children's Hospital since the crash that killed his mother Vanessa Tadros, 36, and three others.

His father Simon Tadros previously said Nicholas had lost his right foot.

However, on Saturday, he revealed the 10-year-old is set to have his right leg amputated just below the knee on Monday.

'Nicholas is being brave but is scared and nervous,' Mr Tadros told the Courier Mail.

'I just ask everyone to pray for my son and that all goes well.'

Nicholas Tadros, 10, broke almost every bone in his body after the helicopter he was inside slammed into another aircraft before plummeting onto a sand bank at Sea World in January

The Sea World helicopter crash, which left Nicholas in a coma, killed his mother Vanessa Tadros, 36, along with three others on January 2

Vanessa Tadros (right) was among four people killed when the chopper crashed. Her son Nicholas (left) was critically injured and is facing losing his right leg just below the knee

Nicholas has since awoken and remains in a stable condition, but his road to recovery remains long.

Mr Tadros has remained by his son's side throughout the harrowing ordeal and previously revealed the full extent of his injuries.

'He broke nearly everything from top to bottom, you know, his arms, his legs, his sternum, his hips, his thighs, his legs, his arms, ribs, lungs collapsing,' he told A Current Affair.

'The only thing I think he didn't really break was his right arm. How he survived is a miracle.'

Mr Tadros also shared his last moment with Vanessa and Nicholas before the doomed aircraft took off.

'I just gave them both a hug and a kiss and I said, "Enjoy ithave fun," he said.

"I'll see you when you get back down'.'

The young boy has woken from his coma and has been recovering in hospital after the crash. He has received an outpouring of support from friends and family

Nicholas was on the doomed joy flight that collided with another chopper mid-air before plummeting onto a sandbank in the Gold Coast on January 2

The doting father said he didn't join the pair because of his fear of heights.

Minutes later, Mr Tadros recalled hearing a 'big bang' and could only watch on in horror as the aircraft collided with another helicopter in mid-air.

It then plummeted onto a sandbank, killing Vanessa, British newlyweds Ron, 65, and Diane Hughes, 57, and pilot Ashley Jenkinson, 40.

Mr Tadros recalled the moment detectives informed him of the horror news.

'Those were the worst words I've ever heard in my life,' he said.

'I was terrified. I lost my wife. To lose my son as well, that's my whole life ripped apart, that's everyone gone.'

Mr Tadros said his son Nicholas was 'keeping his spirits' despite 'still struggling on a day-to-day basis'.

'He's trying to comprehend still what really happened to him,' he said.

Mr Tadros explained that it was a 'daily struggle' grieving for his wife and seeing his son in hospital but said the least he could do was be there for Nicholas.

Mr Tadros (left with his wife Vanessa and son Nicholas) said life has been a 'daily struggle' as he stays by his son's hospital bed every day and grieves for his wife

Nicholas, who is a martial arts enthusiast, has been sent video messages from students and teachers from his karate class wishing him well and to 'keep his spirits up'

He added that his son is a survivor who refuses to 'give up'.

Nicholas has received an outpouring of support from friends, family and especially from his karate gym in Western Sydney.

Queensland Police and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are examining the crash but a final verdict on what caused it isn't expected until 2024.

SeaWorld Helicopters has suspended flights while investigations take place.

A GoFundMe for Nicholas has been set up by his karate teacher, Mr Nasr. You can donate here.
Loyal Radio 2 listeners have lashed out at the BBC over the treatment of veteran broadcaster Ken Bruce.

The radio legend will present his last show at the BBC on March 3, having originally intended to finish his contract.

Bruce, 72, who has fronted the popular PopMaster show for 31 years, only learned he would finish next week when he was called into a meeting at 12.30pm on Friday.

Speaking to the Mail, Bruce, 72, said he was 'surprised and disappointed' by the BBC's decision, which paves the way for his younger replacement Vernon Kay.

Furious devoted listeners have expressed their anger at what they see as the poor treatment of the experienced broadcaster, with many saying they would be tuning in to his new Greatest Hits radio show later this year instead.

Veteran DJ Ken Bruce is to step down from his popular BBC Radio 2 show in April and will be succeeded by Vernon Kay

Twitter users said the treatment of the broadcaster was 'classless' and showed the BBC's ageist agenda

Bruce, 72, issued a short statement last night revealing he intended to work right up until the end of his contract at the end of March, but his final show will now be next Friday.

He said on Twitter on Friday evening: 'I will be presenting my last show on Radio 2 next Friday. I had intended fulfilling my contract until the end of March but the BBC has decided it wants me to leave earlier.

'Let's enjoy the week ahead.'

Bruce, 72, issued a short statement on Friday revealing he intended to work right up until the end of his contract at the end of March, but his final show will now be next Friday

Radio 2 fans have accused the BBC of ageism as a string of older DJs step back, including Paul O'Grady, Steve Wright, Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo

Fans blasted the BBC's treatment of the radio presenter online, with some saying it showed 'everything that's wrong with the BBC'.

Others said the corporation had 'no respect' for the listeners and that Radio 2 were 'shooting themselves in the foot'.

One Twitter user made the situation into an exam question, asking what you would do if you were the controller of Radio 2.

Another social media user said they were going to have a 'tumultuous divorce' with the platform over its 'frankly disgusting' treatment of Ken Bruce.

Bruce said on Friday that he had been brusquely told that his final show was just a week away.

'I was called in at 12.30 and told that my final show would be a week today and wasn't given any real reason that I understood.

'I'm a little surprised and disappointed.'

Twitter users blasted BBC bosses over the perceived mistreatment of the veteran broadcaster, who has been a staple presence on mid-morning radio for more than three decades

Friends say he'd given a commitment not to say anything that could embarrass the BBC in the remaining weeks of his contract, making him all the more surprised by the decision to end his show earlier than expected.

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An industry insider said that move by the BBC made the broadcaster look 'very ungracious' about Bruce's 'decades of service'.

They said: 'It shows zero respect for Ken and what he has done for Radio 2.'

A BBC spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Ken decided to leave Radio 2 and it's always been known he's leaving in March.

'Returning to Wogan House for a week after a month of broadcasting the Piano Room sessions at Maida Vale provided a natural break. We wish Ken all the best for the future.'

In spite of the backlash, sources at the network say Kay has amassed his own following who are excited to see him take the reins.

Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: 'Radio 2 is home to some of the UK's best-loved presenters, and I'm thrilled to welcome Vernon to mid-mornings on Radio 2.

Ken Bruce (pictured with his good friend Rod Stewart) is leaving the BBC after 45 years, quitting Radio 2 for Greatest Hits Radio

Ken Bruce said he has done all he could at the BBC and wants a fresh challenge for the end of his career. Many devoted listeners will follow him to the commercial station

'He's a hugely talented, warm and witty host who has already proved himself to be a firm favourite with our listeners when he's presented many and varied shows across the station. I can't wait to hear his brilliant new show.'

Gary Davies, host of Sounds Of The 80s, will present the prime mid-morning show from March 6 until Vernon Kay takes over in May.

Last month, it was reported Bruce quit Radio 2 because he felt 'unloved' by bosses  who failed to reassure him over a new contract even though they wanted to keep him, BBC insiders say.

One source claimed that despite the desire to hang on to the DJ  Britain's most popular radio host  a 'mix-up' meant he wasn't told. This is said to have helped convince him to join commercial rival Greatest Hits Radio.

The unexpected announcement of the 71-year-old presenter's departure is now said to have sparked discord at the BBC, as many regard it as completely avoidable.

One well-placed source said: 'They definitely wanted to renew his contract but because of a mix-up nobody told him. He is a proud man and did not want to ask. When he told them he was going they were all saying, "But we were about to offer you a three-year deal"... Bit late.'

Presenter Vernon Kay will take over from Ken Bruce on the mid-morning slot in May. The veteran broadcaster's last show will be on March 3

But another source close to the station disputed the contract claims, saying: 'Ken was reassured on more than one occasion that his future on Radio 2 was safe.'

The Scottish star is believed to have been unsettled by the way the corporation had axed presenter Steve Wright's long-running show last year amid a push to appeal to younger listeners.

The Radio 2 insider told the Mail: 'Ken felt unloved. Part of the issue was being told our target audience is 'mood mums' but never hearing who they are or what they want! We have started to play a lot of tuneless dance music and Ken had begged them to stop making him play it but apparently his emails never got responses.'

The source, who accused bosses of being 'asleep at the wheel', added: '[Wright's departure] just focused his mind. When they sacked Steve they didn't consider the effect it might have on the rest of the presenters.'

A Radio 2 spokesman said last month: 'It was Ken's decision to leave Radio 2  we respect his decision and wish him the very best of luck in the future as he's been a much loved part of the Radio 2 family.'
A former Eton teacher who was sacked in 2021 over a controversial video which appeared to argue against toxic masculinity has said influencer Andrew Tate has tapped into young men's 'malaise' due to current teaching.

Will Knowland, 37, was removed from his role at the prestigious 46,000-a-year Berkshire school and referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) after refusing to take down a lecture challenging the theory of 'toxic masculinity' from YouTube.

The English teacher, now an online tutor, made the video for his students called The Patriarchy Paradox, which claimed that women would revert to a primitive life without men and stated that 'male aggression is a biological fact'.

He now says his lecture has been justified by multiple societal issues, chiefly the following of Andrew Tate, 36, who is currently in prison in Romania on suspicion of sex trafficking charges.

Tate and his younger brother Tristan have been held in custody since December 29, when they were arrested over allegations of rape, human trafficking and setting up an organised crime group.

Will Knowland, 37, was removed from his role at the prestigious 46,000-a-year Berkshire school and referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) after refusing to take down a lecture challenging the theory of 'toxic masculinity'

He claims his teachings have been vindicated by the rise of influencers such as Andrew Tate (pictured)

They are being held alongside Luana Radu, 32 - a former police officer in Bucharest - and Georgiana Naghel, 28 - a model believed to have been dating Tate for almost a year. The two models are being held in house arrest.

Tate became the most-Googled person last year after his long tirades, many against women and feminism, earned him a cult-like following among mainly young men.

Mr Knowland now says Tate has tapped into a 'malaise' among young men he claims is the result of teaching in schools.

Speaking to the Times, he said: 'In a properly functioning education system, that's giving them really robust messaging about what it means to be a man, they would have antibodies to fight off the sick messaging that Tate is giving.

'All they see is the guy who's got a Bugatti and joking about telling women to make him a sandwich.'

He continued: 'Chivalry is the thing that we're missing today and it's become deformed and turned into machismo, which is masculinity without any sense of humility or meekness... some of the problems that Tate is addressing, things like men should be assertive, men should be competitive, men should be strong, etcetera, chivalry agrees with.

'But chivalry says, "Why do they need to be those things?" Because it's to serve the weak, not themselves.'

Mr Knowland's lecture is still available online, and quotes a Marie Claire article which quoted a woman as overwhelmed by the 'sheer power of her husband's masculinity in the bedroom.'

The TRA, part of the Department for Education, has the power to impose lifetime classroom bans on teachers, and ruled that Knowland's case 'should be closed with no further action'.

He is now taking Eton to an employment tribunal and has raised more than 100,000 online to do so.

But it is not the only time Mr Knowland has faced controversy.

In September 2021, he came under fire after posting an anti-Semitic video in which an interviewee claims Jews were behind the rise of pornography.

Andrew Tate is currently in prison in Romania along with his brother on suspicion of offences related to sex trafficking

Dr E Michael Jones, an American writer, refers to the 'Jewish Gestapo' in the 52-minute interview.

During the exchange, Dr Jones said: 'So if you're talking about, concretely, the rise of pornography in the 20th century, you have to talk about Hollywood, and you have to talk about the Jews. The Jews were always behind pornography.'

Two weeks ago the devout Catholic posted a video denouncing evolution called 'Eight facts that killed evolution for me'.

He also recently posted a video blaming the contraceptive pill for male issues, titling it 'How the PILL made men effeminate'.

He is also an outspoken gender critic, who opposes the concept of transgenderism.

He told the Times that women 'haven't got safe spaces to go to a swimming pool', but said transgender people should not be subject to transphobia.

However his argument for this was that people should not be bullied 'because they've got a mistaken idea that they are a woman'.

His latest comments on Andrew Tate come after the influencer continues to make videos and respond to letters from fans from his jail cell.

He this week revealed his strict daily routine while in prison, which includes 500 press-ups and walking 10km around his cell.

Tate, 36, shared an insight into his daily routine today while simultaneously berating fans who he believes are lagging behind and not putting enough effort into their lives.

Will Knowland was removed from his role at the prestigious Berkshire private school after posting a lecture on Youtube challenging so-called modern feminist views about 'toxic masculinity'

The lecture, in which the English teacher quoted an article saying women wanted to be 'overwhelmed by the sheer power of masculinity', was prepared for older pupils at the school (pictured)

'If my days in this cell are more productive than yours, you should be furious with yourself,' he said. 'It means you are failing.

'How will you ever reach greatness when you do not even outperform a man in a jail cell? Work harder. You cannot afford to fail any longer.'

The Tate brothers have repeatedly asked to be released from prison pending further investigation but, so far, Romanian courts have kept them in custody.

A judge granted a further 30-day extension to the detention order earlier this week amid concerns he is too dangerous to be released.

Tate claims he is 'being held in custody to make me mentally ill' and claimed his detention was part of a ploy to make him 'succumb'.

On Saturday morning he issued a tweet claiming to have been visited by a ghost in his cell.

He said: 'I was awoken last night by an icy chill and identified a ghost in my prison cell.

'He was terrified and begged me not to annihilate him. I sent him back to hell with a message for the demons.

'I am always ready.'
Parents in North Korea who allow their children to watch Hollywood blockbusters have been warned that that will be sent to prison camps amid the country's Western media crackdown, officials have said.

Although in the past, parents could get away with a serious warning if their children were caught in possession of media from overseas.

Pyongyang has now escalated its endeavour to get rid of all foreign media from the East Asian country by telling parents they will face severe punishment if their children are found watching illicit overseas films.

Inminban, the neighbourhood watch meetings, are being put in place to notify parents that no tolerance will be shown to those who allow their children to be exposed to Western content, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.

The parent of a child caught viewing foreign films or television programmes will be sent to a labour camp for six months, however, their children will have to serve five years.

The country's dictator Kim Jong-un has tightened restrictions on imported popular culture out of fear that younger generations will become exposed to external influences

The Telegraph reported that those found talking, dancing or singing 'like a South Korean' will also serve six months, with their parents serving a similar term.

Quoting sources inside the country, reports claimed parents are being directed to educate their children 'properly' in the state's socialist ideals.

Foreign media, particularly anything deemed to be 'Western', is strictly prohibited in North Korea - which brainwashes its population to support the ruling regime.

The eradication of imported media and popular culture is believed to have been founded upon fears that younger generations within North Korea will become influenced when exposed to external sources.

Kim Jong-un views South Korea as an American puppet state and is sensitive to any of its media crossing the border.

The RFA were told by the source: 'The host of the meeting emphasises parental responsibility, saying that education for children begins at home.

'If parents do not educate their children from moment to moment, they will dance and sing of capitalism and become anti-socialists.'

A sentence to death can be expected for anyone convicted of distributing smuggled videos.

Parents who allow their children to watch Hollywood films in North Korea will be sent to prison camps (stock image)

Last year in October, two teenage boys, thought to be aged between 16 and 17, were shot on an airfield in front of terrified locals in the city of Hyesan for watching and selling movies from neighbouring South Korea.

A third boy of the same age was executed alongside them for murdering his stepmother, with locals told the crimes were 'equally evil.'

Images have also been released of a group of children and parents seated before a large crowd as their sentences are read out for breaking the Rejection of Reactionary Thought and Culture Act by watching foreign films.

News of the clampdown came as state media said that North Korea test-fired four long-range Hwasal-2 missiles.

The move was to hone its rapid-response capabilities towards 'hostile forces', the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Grant Shapps said it was 'sobering' to host Ukrainian refugees in his home

Grant Shapps called it a 'sobering' experience to live with a refugee family for 10 months as the war rages on against Russia.

Last year, Shapps was the second MP to host Ukrainian refugees at his house, as thousands grappled with Home Office in a bid to make it to the UK.

The Conservative MP welcomed a seven-year-old child, his mother, grandmother and dog- who have now become like 'family' - into his Hertfordshire home.

Talking with Sky News, Shapps said that being part of the scheme had also impacted the way in which he discusses support for refugees with cabinet.

He told the publication: 'I found it very helpful because every time we're discussing what's happening in Ukraine, in Cabinet, in the back of my mind or when I get home, I'm reminded about the reality of the policies and what it actually means.'

The cabinet minister also added that he felt Brits have many similarities with Ukrainians based on their experience of the Blitz.

Mother, Snezhana Chaykina, moved into Shapps' home during April last year, fleeing Kyiv and leaving behind her husband in Ukraine.

The family posted on social media asking about the Homes for Ukraine scheme which was reportedly picked up by the Tory MP's daughter.

Following the arrangements, Shapps tweeted: 'Today we're delighted to welcome a three-generation Ukrainian family, along with their dog Max, to live with us in our home.

'Whilst their country goes through the turmoil of Putin's war, our country stands resolutely with the people of Ukraine.'

Shapps' 18-year-old son was first concerned about the family moving in, but told The Times that they 'fit in very well'.

He and seven-year-old Nikita now do 'explosive science experiments' together, it was reported.

Grant Shapps said it was 'sobering' to host a family of Ukrainian refugees in his home

The cabinet minister was the second MP to host Ukrainian refugees at his house

Snezhana Chaykina, moved into Shapps' home during April last year, fleeing Kyiv with family

Ten months on, Shapps now says they have become a very close household, having dinner together and all taking part in household chores.

The 'three-generation' family currently stay in the room of Shapps' son who was then studying at university.

Seven-year-old Nikita also attends a local school in the area.

Despite the scheme's impact, Shapps highlighted that it has not changed his perspective on small boats coming to the UK carrying refugees.

He told Sky News: 'It's absolutely right that stopping the small boats is one of our top priorities.'

It was claimed that Snezhana does not talk about politics with the Conservative minister apart from the situation in Ukraine.

'I am not very political, which is funny as I think I must be living with one of the most political families in the country,' she told The Times.
A university finance official stole more than 2.4million over three decades by exploiting his trusted position, a court has heard.

David Hall, 64, embezzled the cash over 30 years while employed as Head of Income and Payments at the University of Brighton.

His 'complex string' of cover-ups was only discovered after the university suspected fraud in November 2021 and reported it to Sussex Police.

Hall is now facing a lengthy prison sentence after he was convicted for his crimes at Brighton Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

David Hall, 64, embezzled the cash over a 30 years while employed as Head of Income and Payments at the University of Brighton.

His 'complex string' of cover-ups was only discovered after the university suspected fraud in November 2021 and reported it to Sussex Police. Pictured: University of Brighton

A Sussex Police spokesman said: 'David Hall, of Shepherds Way in Ringmer, West Sussex, used his position as the Head of Income and Payments at the university to embezzle around 2.4million and cover up his activity through fraudulent entries in the university's accounts.

READ MORE: Primary school bursar 'stole 500,000 to fund lavish lifestyle including luxury holidays, three new cars and shopping sprees in seven-year scam' Advertisement

'In November, 2021, the university discovered the fraud and reported the matter to Sussex Police.

'An independent financial investigation commissioned by the university, alongside the police investigation, uncovered a complex string of financial cover-ups by Hall which were only revealed through forensic scrutiny.

'Hall admitted his offences soon after and was charged with fraud by abuse of position, theft by an employee and false accounting.

'At Brighton Magistrates' Court he admitted all charges and he is due to be sentenced at a court to be confirmed on March 16.'

Investigator Rose Horan said: 'Year after year, the hole in the university's finances became larger and more difficult for Hall to conceal.

'After an audit uncovered the scale of Hall's embezzlement, the University of Brighton was quick to report the fraud to Sussex Police and their support throughout the investigation has been invaluable in bringing David Hall to justice.

'I would like to thank them for their cooperation and will now look ahead to the sentencing next month.'

It comes after primary school bursar Debra Poole, 63, stole more than 500,000 to splash out on holidays, cars and shopping sprees in a seven-year scam.

Poole was convicted of pocketing the fortune after being put in charge of finances at Hinchley Wood Primary School in Surrey.

She was found guilty of four counts of fraud at Kingston Crown Court, London, on Thursday and is awaiting sentencing.
Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside a pub in south London in support of a drag queen storytelling event for children after opposition group Turning Point UK announced plans to try and prevent it from taking place.

The event in The Honor Oak pub in Lewisham has drawn dozens of pro LGBT+ rights activists and local people out in support, after police descended on the venue amid fears of another right-wing rally such as that seen outside Tate Britain earlier this month.

The reading session was hosted by drag queen That Girl, who has disputed claims by Turing Point UK that the storytelling session is not suitable for children.

They told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: 'We are fostering a love of stories and I'm just a clown in a pretty dress facilitating that. It's entirely age appropriate. To suggest otherwise is misinformation.'

Dozens of police have been pictured at the scene in anticipation of possible clashes between Turning Point UK and those supportive of LGBT+ rights - but it at first appeared no right-wing activists had shown up.

Hundreds of protesters turned out to the Honor Oak pub by Saturday lunchtime, almost all of them in support of drag queen That Girl

One person appeared to have been detained by police during the protest and counter-protest

Counter-protesters wearing flags and carrying signs lined the streets with no right-wing protesters in sight

It follows a large protest that turned ugly at the Tate Britain earlier this month after drag queen Aida H Dee, the face of Drag Queen Story Hour UK, was hired to read to children at the gallery.

Right-wing organisation Turning Point UK posted on social media on Friday announcing its plans to protest today's event in an attempt to stop it taking place.

According to eyewitnesses at the scene, around 30 protesters did eventually arrive at the pub on Saturday, only to be completely outnumbered by several hundred counter-protesters.

Both sides could be heard chanting slogans at one another while police prevented the two sides from mixing.

Anti-drag queen protesters were drowned out by booing from counter-protesters and police sirens.

The Metropolitan Police told MailOnline two arrests have been made: 'Officers are aware of a protest taking place outside a venue in Saint German's Road, Lewisham today, 25 February 2023.

'Officers are in attendance and continue to engage with the group throughout, in order to facilitate, what is a largely a peaceful protest.

'Two people have been arrested in connection with the protest.'

Ahead of the event the Honor Oak pub released a statement on Facebook stressing the event was suitable for children.

The post read: 'It has come to our attention that there may be some misunderstanding about the event, so we wanted to reassure you all that our popular Magical Storytelling event will be age appropriate and it isn't anything different to what families will see and experience together in a theatre.'

Drag queen That Girl also issued a statement on social media: 'We have been made aware of plans to protest our event and are grateful to those who have offered to attend in solidarity with us.

'If you feel safe and able to join us, please come along, noting that our event will be a display of queer joy and solidarity.

'We ask you do not engage with any protesters - they are not looking for a conversation and we will not dignify their bigotry with a response.

'Should you need them, there will be security on site. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you.'

Photos from the scene appeared to show at least one person being detained by police.

The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.

A small group of anti-drag protesters were pictured at the scene, but found themselves vastly outnumbered

Police told MailOnline two arrests had been made during the protests

There was a heavy police presence on scene after Turning Point UK announced plans to protest the event

The storytelling session is being led by drag queen That Girl and was scheduled to begin at 11am

But by the start time of 11am, only people in favour of the storytelling hour appeared to have shown up to the location

Many of the activists at the pub held signs reading 'Don't let the far right divide us'

Dozens of counter-protesters turned out to the Lewisham venue after hearing protesters planned to block the storytelling hour from going ahead

Police pictured arriving at the scene on Saturday morning in south east London

The drag storytelling hour is just the latest of a series of events in the UK to attract protests.

Far-right organisations such as Patriotic Alternative have protested at sites across the UK in recent months in a bid to stop drag queens from reading stories to children.

Two weeks ago, far-right protesters clashed with largely peaceful LGBT+ rights supporters outside the Tate Britain over a separate storytelling event.

One person was arrested at the protest on suspicion of making a racially aggravated comment towards a police officer outside the central London art gallery.

Around 30 far-right protesters clashed with similar numbers of counter-protesters who appeared in support of the story-telling.

After the event, Aida H Dee tweeted: 'I'm in tears. I write this crying in a tube station. I may not be proud of my government, but I'm goddam proud of my community today!! THANK YOU!

'I performed my OWN published books AND IT WAS FABULOUS!!!'

A spokesperson for the Tate said: 'Police attended a disturbance outside Tate Britain this morning. The gallery has remained open to visitors throughout the day and all events went ahead as planned.'
Anthony Albanese has copped criticism for wearing jeans and a t-shirt to Sydney's Mardi Gras parade as he becomes the first Prime Minister to march.

Mr Albanese led the Rainbow Labor float at the iconic parade on Saturday, as the event returned to Oxford Street after two years away during the pandemic.

The Labor leader was joined by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns as he made his way down the inner-city route.

However, the prime minister stuck out like a sore thumb among the other colourful and bejewelled attendees, as he opted for a casual shirt and jeans combo.

The prime minister stuck out like a sore thumb among festival-goers, as he opted for a casual shirt and jeans combo (he is pictured being interviewed during the parade)

Anthony Albanese (pictured with his partner Jodie Haydon) became the first Australian Prime Minister to attend Sydney's Mardi Gras parade in conjunction with WorldPride 2023

Sydney Morning Herald reporter Amber Schultz shared a video of the leader arriving at the parade, but poked fun at his low-key ensemble.

'Albo has arrived at Mardi Gras with a disappointing lack of glitter, sequins or fabulousness,' she tweeted on Saturday night.

'Cool to have the first PM march but what a missed opportunity to slay in some eyeshadow.'

Though Mr Albanese ignored the opportunity for a bit of glitz and glamour, his partner Jodie Haydon was happy to indulge, sporting a snazzy silver blazer.

Ahead of the parade, the PM warned Australians not to expect too much from him.

'I won't try and compete in the fashion stakes,' Mr Albanese said.

'Pride is something that we should be proud of, that Australia is moving towards a more and more equal community where everyone is respected, no matter who they love.'

Though Mr Albanese ignored the opportunity for a bit of glitz and glamour, his partner Jodie Haydon was happy to indulge, sporting a snazzy silver sequined blazer

Ahead of the parade, the PM warned Australians not to expect too much for him

It's not the first time he marched in the parade, with Mr Albanese having taken part in 1983, five years after Mardi Gras' inception as a gay rights protest

Mr Albanese said partygoers needed to pay tribute to the 78ers, the Mardi Gras' first marchers

Hairy chests and oiled stomachs were on full display as revellers partied the night away

It's not the first time he has marched in the parade, with Mr Albanese having taken part in 1983, five years after Mardi Gras' inception as a gay rights protest.

'It's unfortunate that I am the first (prime minister to march), but this is a celebration of modern Australia. We're a diverse, inclusive Australia and that's a good thing,' he told the ABC as waved at the crowd.

'People want to see that their government is inclusive and represents everyone, no matter who they love, no matter what their identity, no matter where they live. We need to be a country that respects everyone for who they are.'

Mr Albanese said partygoers needed to pay tribute to the 78ers, the Mardi Gras' first marchers, 'who were thrown in jail for the simple fact of who they were because they happened to be gay of lesbian'.

'We need to continue to argue for equality.'

Lidia Thorpe confronted police officers marching at Mardi Gras on Saturday night as thousands of scantily revellers partied well into the night

Pictures show the senator for Victoria jumping into the parade route and standing in front of an officer

Elsewhere, Lidia Thorpe confronted police officers marching at Mardi Gras on Saturday night as thousands of scantily revellers partied well into the night.

Pictures show the former Greens Senator jumping into the parade route and confronting a police officer before allegedly shouting 'f*** the police'.

Senator Thorpe suddenly crashed the police section of the parade and repeatedly yelled her slogan in their faces, witnesses at the scene have claimed.

One reveller told Daily Mail Australia: 'She came out of nowhere, it took a few seconds for us to realise what was going on.

'I don't know how she got into the parade but she ran after the cops as they marched screaming "f**k the police" at them and towards the crowd.

One group appeared to dress as the Sydney Opera house in blue and white complete with sails

Participants take part in the 45th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Oxford Stret opted for blue and purple colours

'She really got in their faces when she caught up, like inches away. Not what we expected to see tonight.

'Pride is supposed to be about unity but she was the only one there making it about something else. Shocking, really'.

Thousands of scantily-clad revellers dressed in lingerie, budgie smugglers and leotards partied well into the night as celebrations continued in bars and clubs.

Colourful revellers wrapped in rainbows and sparkling in sequins made a pilgrimage to the queer community's spiritual home as the celebration returns to Oxford Street after two years away during the pandemic.

Sydney's Oxford Street is awash with glitter after 300,000 partygoers celebrated the crown jewel of the WorldPride program, which Australia hosted for the first time.

The event follows a blockbuster WorldPride opening concert in the Domain on Friday night, when Kylie Minogue headlined in a performance that included a surprise cameo from her sister Dannii.
The specialist diver who claimed he'd find Nicola Bulley if she was in the River Wyre has responded saying his firm's 'expertise are not in question' following its recent removal from the National Crime Agency's experts list.

Peter Faulding's Specialist Group International (SGI) has assisted in several high profile investigations and joined the search for the missing mother for three days before he sensationally guaranteed she was 'not in that section of the river'.

SGI was this week dropped from an official list of experts recommended to assist in investigations on the Expert Advisers Database.

In a statement to MailOnline today he said SGI's operational ability and expertise are not in question.

'We have had correspondence with the National Crime Agency but are not at liberty to comment on matters pertaining to the Expert Advisors Database at this time or the reported review of SGIs inclusion on the database. We will be seeking further clarification on the issue.

Peter Faulding's Specialist Group International (SGI) joined the search for the missing mother for three days before he sensationally guaranteed she was 'not in that section of the river'

Nicola Bulley (pictured with partner Paul Ansell) was tragically found last Sunday 19 February in the reeds by the river

'SGIs operational ability and expertise is not in question. We are proud of our record in specialist search and rescue operations, conducted over many decades, during which we have worked with police departments and other agencies to the high standards expected of nationally recognised specialists.

'On the Nicola Bulley search we were tasked with assisting Lancashire Police with the river search element of the operation, and we conducted this to the highest standards. Our intention at all times was to provide help and assistance to the police, and to Nicolas family.

'Our thoughts at this time are with Nicola Bulleys family and we would ask all parties to respect their wishes for privacy.'

An internal review is expected to be carried out and could result in the group being reinstated, according to The Times.

A spokesman for the National Crime Agency told the publication: 'The NCA does not employ, endorse or accredit experts on our adviser database.

'The database is subject to continual review and its purpose is to maintain a list of expertise UK law enforcement can draw upon when required.

'We proactively seek feedback from customers regarding experts' performance and contribution. The monitoring of performance equally applies to individuals and organisations who become involved in investigations without NCA engagement.'

Mr Faulding, 60, scoured the River Wyre for three days after she vanished on January 27.

After her body was tragically located in nearby reeds, he said his high-tech 55,000 sonar can only scan in the water and cannot travel through reeds.

Mr Faulding, 60, scoured the River Wyre for three days after she vanished on January 27 (pictured on February 7)

Nicola Bulley's body was discovered in reeds on the River Wyre

At the time, he said: 'The SGI underwater search team was tasked with searching the river upstream of the weir in the non-tidal part of the river, past the bench where Nicola's phone was found and a mile upstream past this point.

'For three days, using high-frequency side scan sonar, we thoroughly searched the riverbed and can categorically confirm that Nicola was not laying on the riverbed on the days that we searched.

'We did search the stretch of river where Nicola was [allegedly] found for four hours on our first day and then upstream past the weir on the subsequent two days.

'The police underwater search teams and land search teams were searching for three full weeks and were also unable to find Nicola.

'Sadly, the discovery was not found in the river but in the reeds at the side of the river which was not part of our remit as the side scan sonar does not penetrate reeds above or below the water.

'A riverbank and wade search would be the only way to search this area and we were not involved or tasked with that search. The difference between these two search areas has caused a lot of confusion and unfair criticism towards myself and my team at Specialist Group International.

'My previous comments saying that if Nicola was in the river, I would find her, still stand. My team and I at SGI did all we could to assist this family with only our best intentions. I am sure I can say this of everyone who has been involved in this difficult search.'
Former presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has launched a scathing attack on Joe Biden's commitment to diversity as she likened the President to Adolf Hitler.

Gabbard hit out at 'identity politics' across the Democratic party which she claimed was 'proud' to appoint people to federal posts based on their race and gender.

The 41-year-old called the trend 'sickening and alarming', claiming it echoed the core principles of Nazism. It is the second time she has compared Biden to the German dictator.

'Jesse, what we are seeing is their philosopher identity politics,' Gabbard said during an appearance on Friday night's edition of Watters Primetime on Fox.

'This is one of the reasons I left the Democratic Party. You see how their agenda of identity politics directly undermines the traditional democratic values that were expressed beautifully and clearly by Dr. Martin Luther King, that we should judge each other not based on the color of our skin but based on our character.'

Tulsi Gabbard, right, slammed Joe Biden's commitment to hiring diverse appointments to Government, likening it to the principles of Nazism

The former presidential candidate has been a frequent critic of the Democratic party, accusing it in the past of becoming too 'woke'. She is pictured testifying in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill earlier this month

It comes after Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sparked backlash on Thursday when she said the President was prioritizing diversity when considering who to nominate for vice chair of the US Federal Reserve.

Gabbard was formerly the Democratic representative for Hawaii but she frequently clashed with the party's ideologies which she claimed had become too 'woke.'

She previously labelled Hillary Clinton the 'embodiment of corruption and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long.'

She endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders' run against Clinton for the 2016 presidential party nomination and briefly ran herself for the 2020 election before dropping out and backing Biden.

But Gabbard has since been a vocal critic of Biden's leadership.

This month it was announced she is set to publish a memoir based on her experiences in the Democratic party.

'You look at the core values and core principles of Adolf Hitler and Nazism what is it based on? Its based on genetics this philosophy of geneticism and discriminating based on their genes,' she said on Friday.

It comes after Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sparked backlash on Thursday when she said the President was priotizing diversity when considering who to nominate for vice chair of the US Federal Reserve. Pictured today, departing the White House

Gabbard compared the current president to Adolf Hitler claiming the concept of diversity hires invoked the same principles of Nazism

'Thats the issue here, really, when you cut to the core of it.

'When they are standing there, saying we are proud to be selecting people solely based on race, that is alarming to men so many levels. You see them oh we we going to select someone based on their race, based on their gender, these immutable characteristics that we are born with, this goes against, again, the very vision our founders had for us,' she said.

But anchor Watters appeared to distance himself from Gabbard's extreme comparison as he said 'I'm not sure about the German thing.'

It is the second time Gabbard has likened Biden to Hitler.

Back in October, she told a rally in New Hampshire: 'Im pretty sure they all believe theyre doing whats best,'

'Even Hitler thought he was doing what was best for Germany, right? For the German race. In his own mind, he found a way to justify the means to meet his end.'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked on Thursday about President Biden's selection process to decide who to nominate for vice chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

'So, I'll just first say that clearly filling that vacancy is something that's important to the president and we'll certainly nominate someone in the near future,' she told reporters.

'When it comes to diversity, you've heard this from the president, you've heard this from me, you've heard this from many of us here, diversity and representation is really important to this president.'
A headteacher has slammed parents for claiming his school was a 'prisoner of war camp' for locking toilets during lesson time.

Chris Stokes, headteacher of Farnley Academy, Leeds, warned that children 'may not always represent the full story' and the toilets were closed because of 'serious' safeguarding events.

It comes after the secondary school was rocked by 'TikTok' riots over the new rules, which saw furious pupils demonstrating outside the school gates on Friday.

Parents also joined in and compared the school to a 'prisoner of war camp', claiming it was taking away their children's human rights.

Though teachers maintain the restrictions are necessary for safeguarding reasons, including the need to prevent pupils from vaping in toilets during classes.

Chris Stokes, headteacher of Farnley Academy, Leeds, warned that children 'may not always represent the full story' and the toilets were closed because of 'serious' safeguarding events. Pictured: Farnley Academy

Pupils at the Farnley Academy, Leeds, were seen standing outside the school this morning and 'disgusted' parents claimed the policy had 'taken away their human rights'

But Mr Stokes said it was 'clearly not the case' that all bathrooms were locked and at least 'one block of boys' and 'one block of girls' toilets are always open at the school.

Many parents had backed up their kids' decision to demonstrate, telling 'stressed teachers' that they 'fully support' their children in taking direct action.

In an email to parents, Mr Stokes said: 'I need to be completely clear that it is absolutely not the case that all toilets are locked during lesson time. At all times, at least one block of boys and one block of girls' toilets are open.

'Our decision to not have all toilets open during lesson time was taken following two very serious safeguarding events.

READ MORE: TikTok protests cause chaos at schools nationwide as headteacher blames social media trend for violent clashes over ban on using toilets during class, skirt-measuring and girls told to show a red card when on their period as students slam 'prison rules' Advertisement

'It was not a decision that we took lightly, but it was a necessary decision to keep all students safe.'

Speaking about the protests, he went on: 'The overwhelming majority complied with this request, and we thanked them for doing so.

'Sadly, however, a very small minority of students did not comply with this request, nor did they wish to talk about their views at that time.'

'Remember that what is presented to you by your child may not always represent the full story.'

Furious parents took to social media yesterday, with one writing: 'Why are our children been treated like they are in a prisoner of war camp.

'This is not how our children should be treated if they need toilet let then go it's not a crime and to limit them with toilet roll is totally unacceptable in all the ways.'

Another said: 'Be warned if you want your kids to go to Farnley Academy, then make sure the kids do not speak, breathe and have no bladder or any health issue as the school do not care about the kids and happy for the kids to be ill and mentally ill.'

Parent Natalie Hennessy, who has a son in Year 9, told Leeds Live: 'My son, who is a high achiever, is so fed up of the way he's being treated.

'He says he feels manipulated all the time and the school is like a prison. I feel disgusted.

'The amount of times I've contacted the school and it's falling on deaf ears. They're taking away their human rights.'

Several other schools in Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Essex were also rocked by the TikTok influenced trend encouraging children to protest against school rules.

At Penrice Academy, Cornwall, students reportedly 'flipped tables' and broke fences over rule changes which forced girls to show a 'red card' when they are on their period.

Chris Stokes, headteacher of Farnley Academy, Leeds, pictured, warned that children 'may not always represent the full story' and the toilets were closed because of 'serious' safeguarding events

At Haven High Academy, Lincolnshire, one parent compared its new policy which locked toilets and corridors during lessons to 'prison rules'.

A growing number of schools have faced problems as a result of these TikTok-inspired protests.

Pupils have complained about rules they claim interfere with their 'human rights', but school management counter they are trying to keep the children safe.

In a letter to parents, one headteacher said pupils had 'decided to imitate a trend relating to school protests' on social media and that similar protests were taking place at 'numerous schools throughout the country'.

Penrice Academy in St Austell, Cornwall, told parents that 'due to a social media post... some of our students took the decision to protest'.

Protests took place at schools in Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Essex with videos of furious children rebelling being shared on social media.

Meanwhile, others commented on TikTok videos asking how they could stage a protest at their school, with one saying: 'I'm a year seven but want to start a protest for the same reasons...how do I start it'.

Messages on TIkTok show pupils asking how they could replicate a protest at their school

Students at Penrice Academy, St Austell, are reportedly 'throwing tables' and 'breaking fences' as they dispute the changes

Crowded school halls at Haven High Academy in Lincolnshire yesterday afternoon in video captured on TikTok

Parents at Rainford High School in St Helens, Merseyside, claimed girls whose skirts were deemed too short were made to queue up and asked to adjust their skirts by teachers

At Penrice Academy, students reportedly 'flipped tables' and broke fences over rule changes which also forced girls to show a 'red card' when they are on their period.

Pupils at the Farnley Academy, Leeds, were seen standing outside the school gates as parents claimed a policy stating children must get a written note to use the toilet during class 'had taken away their human rights'

Similar scenes were filmed at Haven High Academy, Lincolnshire, yesterday with one parent comparing its new policy which locked toilets and corridors during lessons to 'prison rules'.

It comes after students yesterday protested at Rainford High in St. Helens, Merseyside over male teachers measuring the length of girls' skirts.

READ MORE: Schoolgirls are left in tears after being ordered to stand in line as 'male teachers inspected the length of their skirts to make sure they are not too short' Advertisement

A video taken at Penrice Academy showed pupils shaking the fence while chanting and shouting, as one parent claimed a girl had been injured during the protest.

Speaking to Cornwall Live, the mother said: 'My daughter has just called me to say the protest has got out of hand and students are flipping tables. The children are now not allowed out for break.'

Another parent said: 'Since the red pass scheme was announced and reported about in the press, the school has issued no official statements to parents or children about the news coverage, has not responded to emails sent by parents asking about the toilet passes, and has not changed their policy.

'They are just not listening to parents or children - and unfortunately the kids are taking things into their own hands today.'

Furious parents expressed their outrage over the school policy on social media.

One mother said Farnley Academy called her four times about picking up her daughter after her 'behaviour was out of control' at the protests today, but she was unable to pick her up as she was at work.

Mother Helen Walker said: 'Well my daughter's been excluded for going to toilet yesterday without having a note and she was really desperate.'

'This is beyond a joke,' she said. 'Why are they treating our kids unfairly like this?'

And another parent went on: 'Why are our children been treated like they are in a prison of war camp.

'This is not how our children should be treated if they need toilet let then go it's not a crime and to limit them with toilet roll is totally unacceptable in all the ways.'

A spokesperson for The Farnley Academy, writing on Facebook, confirmed students had been asked to use the centrally located toilets during lesson times.

But they added that these bathrooms always remained available to children if they needed to use the toilet and were being marshalled by teachers to keep them safe.

Videos of pupils demonstrating outside Haven High Academy, in Boston, Lincolnshire, over similar toilet use rules also appeared on TikTok yesterday.

Dozens of pupils were also seen protesting outside Haven High Academy, Lincolnshire, with one parent comparing its new policy to 'prison rules'

Pupils marching through the school hallways in Haven High Academy, Lincolnshire

Full letter from Penrice Academy to parents and carers Dear Parent/Carer Due to a social media post yesterday evening, some of our students took the decision to protest. Our students have the right to express their opinions in a calm and safe manner, however a small number of students' behaviour was unacceptable. A number of parents have already been contacted to collect their children. For the majority of our students, lessons and lunch time will continue as normal. If you have not been contacted, there is no need to collect your child. We hope to engage with them to find a solution that works for everyone as soon as possible. The safety and wellbeing of our students is always our priority. Kind Regards Penrice Academy Advertisement

One parent claimed the school's headteacher was introducing 'prison rules' for the pupils and claimed corridors and toilets were being locked during lesson time.

In a letter to parents and carers yesterday, Haven High headteacher Stuart Rees wrote: 'As you may be aware, a small group of students decided to imitate a trend relating to school protests that has been trending on Tik Tok within school today.

'Such school protests have happened in numerous schools throughout the country and unfortunately a number of students decided to engage in a protest relating to certain school rules.'

He said a small number of pupils took the 'opportunity to misbehave' and said the behaviour was 'unacceptable', LincolnshireLive reports.

He said that any pupil that does not attend lessons or refuses to comply with 'reasonable requests from staff' will have their parent/carer called and be 'issued with an appropriate sanction'.

Meanwhile students in Essex also protested after finding their toilets locked by gates during lesson times.

One parent to two daughters who attend Castle View School in Canvey Island, Essex, said one had been denied use of a bathroom during lesson time despite being on her period.

She said her other daughter who suffers from an incurable autoimmune condition affecting the bowels, was also denied access.

The concerned parent said today (Feb 24): 'Castle View students are currently protesting their toilets being taken away.

'My youngest menstruating girl was forbidden from using the loo to check if she had leaked!

'My coeliac daughter has not been issued a pass.

'They aren't issuing the passes and there are long queues to use the toilets at break times which means kids can't get lunch and use the loo in the same allocated time.'

Videos shot at the school show chaotic scenes with children gathered in a field chanting 'free our bladders because we matter'.

Another shows students filing out of classrooms into the halls and gathering in the corridors en masse.

A 14-year-old male student at the school, who did not want to be named, reported that 'kids are hitting kids and a teacher did lock us outside.'

Gates across the toilets at Castle View School in Canvey, Essex

He added: 'The Castle View students are protesting the toilets. People are getting hit. It's so bad. Kid's got hit and it got manic.

'The protest is over now but for most of the day kids were protesting.

'We are children, we don't need to be locked up.

'It shows an extreme lack of trust, which is understandable as we are kids, but the level they are going at is getting out of control.

'We understand why it was put in place to stop vaping and because of safeguarding issues.

'But if you want to stop that then put smoke detectors closer and use thermal cameras like other schools are.'

Castle View School headteacher Steve Durkin said: 'Pupils are able to access all toilets before school, break times, and after school.

'If a pupil requires access to the toilet during lesson time, they request a pass from their teacher and are allowed access.'

Parents have slammed a secondary schools decision to barricade toilets during lesson time

Penrice Academy have now sent a letter to parents and carers saying that a 'small number of students' behaviour was unacceptable'.

The letter said that students decided to protest 'due to a social media post yesterday evening'.

They added that several parents had been contacted to collect their children and that for most pupils, lessons and lunch time will 'continue as normal'.

The academy also said they want to 'engage' with pupils to 'find a solution that works for everyone as soon as possible'.

Farnley Academy and Haven High Academy have been approached for comment.

Devon and Cornwall Police said: 'Police are aware of a protest at the academy, but have not been called or asked to attend'.

West Yorkshire Police and Lincolnshire Police have been approached for comment.

It comes after Rainford High School in St Helens, Merseyside, sparked fury from pupils and parents over a uniform policy which states skirts must be knee length - with the risk of detention or suspension for failure to adhere to the rules.

Boys wore skirts in protests of the rules at the school in support of their fellow pupils.

A parent claimed some pupils had been left 'crying and embarrassed' as a petition was started titled 'Stop Rainford High controlling girls skirts.'

Pupils outside a school in Lincolnshire during protests today

Rainford High School in St Helens, Merseyside, said they had been 'concerned about the failure of a significant number of students to wear the skirt to the standards and expectations laid down in the uniform policy'

Boys wearing school skirts during the protests at Rainford High School

Farnley Academy's statement for parents We are aware that some comments are being made in respect of toilets and their availability during the school day. To keep all students safe during times when members of staff are not on duty, we have asked that the only toilets that are used by students during lesson time are the Bronte Toilets. These toilets are OPEN during ALL lesson times and a member of staff is present. During break and lunch, students are then able to use all of the toilets in school. We actively encourage all students to ensure that they go to the toilet before school, at break and at lunch, to avoid needing to go during precious lesson time, however, the option remains where it is needed. Advertisement

One woman told the Liverpool Echo her 'granddaughter came home mortified that her skirt height was inspected by a male teacher in front of male pupils'.

Another told the St Helens Star: 'My daughter stated that they are asked to adjust their skirt and if they say no or cannot then parents are contacted and told their child must come in the following day in a longer skirt or they will be given a detention.'

Ian Young, principal of Rainford High in St. Helens, Merseyside, said: 'Like many schools, we have a clear uniform policy in place and understand there are often sensitivities around this matter.

'Student voice is important in all aspects of school life, and we have been keen to find an acceptable viewpoint on uniform from all members of our school community.

'Work has been, and is continuing to be, undertaken with our young people by consulting student leadership teams to find an agreeable solution for both staff and students.

'Our focus is for all our young people to exemplify and learn the importance of high standards and expectations, so they are ready to contribute to the wider community as successfully as possible.'

He added: 'One block of toilets is currently closed for essential repairs as we wait for the scheduled works to take place

'In total, Rainford High has five toilet blocks as well as seven disabled toilets, available for students. These toilets are open and available to use at all times throughout the school day.'
A horrifying video shows passengers gasping for breath after oxygen masks on a Rossiya Airlines plane failed during a 25,000ft plunge.

A baby can be heard screaming as the 167 passengers, including 21 children, try desperately to breathe through broken oxygen masks at the end of the five and a half hour journey from Sochi.

The 'ancient' Boeing-737-800 was forced to make an emergency landing in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia as the ten-minute plunge caused extreme cabin depressurisation.

Five people needed medical treatment as a result of the sharp drop in pressure on the Rossiya Airlines plane.

The state-owned airline, which is part of the Aeroflot group, is now subject to a criminal investigation to the incident, state media reported.

The oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling of the plane but when passengers tried to use them, some did not work

Passengers press oxygen masks to their faces in an attempt to make them work better during the ten-minute emergency descent

Passenger Andrey Saltanov, who was flying from the ski resort on the Black Sea, said the aeroplane had been 'ancient'.

'This is how we arrived in Krasnoyarsk. Cabin depressurisation, and emergency descent.

'My ears nearly popped. The plane turned out to be ancient.

The orchestra musician added: 'The masks of the passengers next to me didn't even fall down.

'So much for Aeroflot. Thank God we landed.'

The state-owned airline, which is part of the Aeroflot group, is now subject to a criminal investigation to the incident

Musician Andrey Saltanov said the plane was 'ancient' and that he was very glad when the aircraft landed safely

Another passenger, Yulia, said she started to write a goodbye message to her husband as the plane rapidly descended.

'At 7:05, I woke up because my ears were very sore,' she said.

'I opened my eyes, and the lights were already flickering, oxygen masks fell out, and there was panic on the plane.'

She described how 'the plane seemed to be falling, and we flew down at incredible speed towards the ground. It was scary.

'There was no announcement. I didn't hear anything. I didn't understand what was happening.

'First, I removed my tablet and phone - I understood that we were still shaking and it could hit the ground.

'I buckled up, and after that, I put on an oxygen mask. There was not enough oxygen. I was already starting to suffocate.

'Maybe it was a panic attack because I was very scared and I could not breathe normally.'

The passenger said she looked out of the window to keep an eye on the progress of the plane but said there were no announcements to tell people what was happening.

'I took an oxygen mask, started breathing, and did not understand what was happening.

'I looked out the window. We were moving rapidly towards the ground, and my ears still hurt.

Terrified passengers weren't told why the plane was making a sudden descent and some said the cabin turned 'icy cold'

A baby can be heard crying in a video of the petrifying incident. There were 21 children on board when the plane plunged 25,000ft

Five people needed medical treatment as a result of the sharp drop in pressure on the Rossiya Airlines plane

The oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling but didn't work for many passengers, leaving five needing medical treatment

'I already started to say goodbye to my husband, wrote him a message, and sent a photo.

'Then the fall stopped, the plane began to fly smoothly, and they announced that we had completed an emergency descent.'

Another passenger said: 'It suddenly became icy cold in the cabin, the masks fell down then for about 10 minutes, there was a deathly silence and a sharp decline.

'It was difficult to breathe without masks. The feelings were indescribable.

The 'ancient' Boeing-737-800 was forced to make an emergency landing in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia after a severe cabin depressurisation

Five people needed medical treatment and a doctor met the plane in Krasnoyarsk, a major city in Siberia, after its emergency landing

'Then, closer to the ground, the captain said everything was in order, and the emergency descent was completed. The landing itself was smooth.'

TASS state news agency said: 'Three minutes before the start of the descent, an abnormal operation of the cabin pressure control sensor occurred and the crew decided to release the oxygen masks in the cabin.'

'An inspection of the scene was carried out by air investigators, and all the circumstances and causes of the incident are being established,' said the Investigative Committee.

'A procedural decision will be made based on the results of the investigation.'

A 'violation of safety rules' is suspected.
Prince Andrew has always been a source of 'jealousy' for King Charles, socialite and former girlfriend of the Duke of York Lady Victoria Hervey has claimed, as the Duke faces eviction from the Windsor lodge if his 249,000 grant is cut.

The 46-year-old, who briefly dated the now-disgraced prince, said he has been 'very badly advised' in recent years and faces a harsh reality now that his loving mother the Queen has passed away.

Lady Victoria alleged in an interview with GB News that King Charles has been jealous of his 'successful military career' and the fact that he was 'the spare'.

It comes as Prince Andrew is reportedly worrying about a decision by his older brother to cut down his annual 249,000 grant from April, which he told friends would mean he could not meet the upkeep of his current Windsor Royal Lodge.

But royal experts have said the prince must face up to reality and start 'living within his means.'

Prince Andrew has reportedly told friends he has no intention of leaving his Windsor estate after signing a 250-a-week lease for the next 75 years

Prince Andrew (centre) pictured with Lade Victoria Hervey (right) in 2002

The Duke of York has seen increasing pressure on his personal finances after he was forced to give up being a working royal following his settlement with accuser Virginia Guiffre.

Ms Guiffre, a victim of sex trafficking by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, accused the Duke of sex crimes against her and reached a settlement

Speaking on GB News on Friday, Lady Victoria said: 'I think Charles, as the older brother, has always been a bit jealous of him [Prince Andrew].

'He had a very successful military career for 20 years.

'I've heard that he's always been jealous of him.

'So as soon as the Queen has gone, the daggers are out.'

Referring specifically to the lodge at Windsor, Lady Victoria said: 'They've got time.

'But Charles has inherited how much money and yet, he can't help his brother out?

'Prince Andrew was made to settle [with Virginia Guiffre], he didn't have a choice, and then as soon as he was made to do it, they then just took everything else away, little by little.'

She also told the programme that she 'loves' appearing on television.

It follows royal experts telling MailOnline that Prince Andrew should be slung out of his grace-and-favour mansion unless he agrees to pays more than the 250-a-week peppercorn rent he is reportedly being charged.

The disgraced Duke of York told friends he will not be able to afford the upkeep at Royal Lodge in Windsor when his annual 249,000 grant is slashed from April.

There is mounting speculation he may be forced out as part of his plan to cut royal costs. With a row brewing, Andrew has indicated he won't leave without a fight - but he has been 'selfish' by critics.

Incredibly he has a 60-plus year lease on the 30-room property and reportedly pays 250-a-week for it, which former MP Norman Baker, an expert on royal finances, told MailOnline 'wouldn't get you a cupboard in London'.

Mr Baker said: 'It's time Andrew started living within his means rather than expecting other people to subsidise his luxurious lifestyle. If he can't pay a commercial rent for the property with his own money, he should be evicted and relocate to somewhere much smaller. The taxpayer is subsidising him.

Lady Victoria Hervey claimed Prince Andrew has been 'very badly advised' in recent months

Lady Victoria Hervey claimed this week Charles has 'always been jealous' of his younger brother Prince Andrew

Lady Victoria said: 'I think Charles, as the older brother, has always been a bit jealous of him [Prince Andrew]'

King Charles is being urged to take a hard line on his brother Andrew and kick him out of his home unless he pays more

Prince Andrew pictured out riding at Windsor today, Saturday 25 February

The Duke of York reportedly told friends he is unlikely to be able to maintain upkeep of his Windsor home (pictured) without receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds every year from the King

There are mounting suggestions he may be forced out of Windsor Lodge after the King indicated he would slash Andrew's allowance of 250,000 by April as part of his plan to reduce royal costs

Biographer and investigative journalist Tom Bower said: 'Andrews selfish behaviour threatens King Charles reputation and even the Coronation. Andrew thinks that he can brazen out the bad predicament he himself created. By issuing threats, he is playing with fire.

'The Kings best solution is to force Andrew out of the vast house, accept much more modest accommodation and persuade him that his bid for rehabilitation is pointless  and in the end will be self-destructive. Not only for himself but also his two daughters'.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said: 'What the Royal Family do with a problem like Andrew is unclear.

'He has, as far can can be seen, absolutely no intention of undertaking charitable duties, as the Queen reportedly suggested, in search of future redemption, since he sees no reason for penance. In the court of public opinion he is already guilty.

'Yet it would appear he has, or will have, access to very considerable funds. King Charles may reduce his grant. It seems, however, extremely unlikely that he will change his lifestyle, however reprehensible it may appear to the public'.

Andrew is reportedly refusing to move.

An insider told The Mirror: 'He (said) he's not leaving, there is no chance that will happen and even if the King wanted him how would that work?

'If he (the King) wants to spend millions reimbursing him for the money he's already spent on the property, that's another matter.'

'Could you imagine a situation where the Duke threatens to sue his brother, the King, over money. It would be unthinkable.'

And Andrew does have some grounds to argue his case to stay.

In 2003, he signed a 75-year lease for the home on the proviso he pays 250-a-week. As a result, he thought he'd be able to call the estate home for the rest of his life.

Royal Lodge has 30 bedrooms and sits on 98 acres of land. Andrew is said to spend most of his time on the property.

When Andrew was hit by bombshell allegations of sexual abuse in 2019 - which he strenuously denies - he stepped down from being a working royal and therefore no longer received public funds.

Instead, he relied on the generosity of his late mother who supported him with private funds from the Duchy of Lancaster. The sum has been reported to have been approximately 249,000 per year.

However in the last few weeks, the King has reportedly asked all members of the royal family to tighten their belts and to expect less money from the Duchy  now owned by Charles  than in the past.

Late last year, Andrew finally offloaded his seven-bedroom Swiss ski chalet for 19 million.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the allegations from Lady Victoria when contacted by MailOnline.
She blamed her ex-husband Richard Ravitch as the reason her children went to the prep school, as he came from a long line of private educated students

A woke professor sent her sons to $60,000-a-year private school on Manhattan's elusive Upper East Side, despite opposing charter schools and then blamed her ex-husband.

Retired NYU professor, Diane Ravitch, 84, has been called a hypocrite for sending her sons, Michael and Joseph, now adults, to the Dalton School, despite her fierce advocacy against charter school in favor for New York City's public school.

Her ex-husband, Richard Ravitch, confirmed to the New York Post that their children attended the school, which cost $57,970 a year. The school has many famous alumni, including CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Claire Danes, and comedian Chevy Chase.

Ed Cox, who co-chairs a SUNY committee that authorities the city to build charter schools, slammed the author, telling the Post: 'Anyone who sends their kids to private school while opposing charter schools is doing a great disservice to inner city parents who want to give their children a good education.'

Ravitch - who is aligned with the United Federation of Teachers, which opposes charter schools - denied any sort of hypocrisy, saying she has always clearly displayed on her blog page that her children attended a private school.

She also blamed her ex-husband, who was a former chairman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), as the reason her children when to the prep school.

Retired NYU professor, Diane Ravitch, 84, has been called a hypocrite for sending her sons, Michael and Joseph, now adults, to the Dalton School, despite her fierce advocacy against charter school in favor for New York City's public school

She blamed her ex-husband Richard Ravitch (pictured) as the reason her children went to the prep school, as he came from a long line of private educated students

'The question of where my middle-aged sons went to schools is a nothing-burger. For the past decade, my blog bio has said that my two sons went to private school,' she wrote in a February 22 blog post. 'It was never a secret that my sons went to private school. I was never "forced to admit" that fact.'

As for why she sent them to Dalton: 'I married a New Yorker in 1960 whose family had a long tradition of attending private schools.'

Ravitch said she was 'never contemptuous of public schools' because she had attended a public institution and was 'grateful for the education and teachers I had, and the opportunities they opened for me.'

The author, who has written several anti-charter books, said she opposed the schools because they 'cherrypicked' students and 'were no better and possibly worse than public schools.'

'I enrolled my youngest child in a private school in 1965 and my second child in 1970 because I was a conservative. A lot happened to me in the years between 1965 and 2023, more than I can put into a tweet,' she said in the blog post.

Her ex-husband, Richard Ravitch, confirmed that their children attended the school (pictured), which cost $57,970 a year

Ravitch - who is aligned with the United Federation of Teachers, which opposes charter schools - denied any sort of hypocrisy, saying she has always clearly displayed on her blog page that her children attended a private school

'From my life experiences and many years as a scholar of education, I have concluded that the public school teaches democracy in a who sits beside you way; it teaches students to live and work with others who are different from them. The public school, I realized, is the foundation stone of our diverse society. It deserves public support and funding.'

Governor Kathy Hochul is a huge proponent for charter schools in the city and has made it a large part of the 2024 budget. She wants to help predominantly black and Latino students fare better in charter schools and receive higher test scores than they do currently in public schools.

Charter schools also spend nearly half the money on students than traditional public schools.

Ravitch slammed the governor, saying the move would hurt the 'vast majority of students who are in public schools.'

Earlier this month, Ravitch was called out on Twitter after pausing her usual bash of school choice tweets to discuss how public schools bring people together.

Ed Cox, who co-chairs a SUNY committee that authorities the city to build charter schools, slammed the author, telling the Post: 'Anyone who sends their kids to private school while opposing charter schools is doing a great disservice to inner city parents who want to give their children a good education'

As for why she sent them to Dalton: 'I married a New Yorker in 1960 whose family had a long tradition of attending private schools' (pictured: her and her son Joe)

'The best choice is your local public school,' Ravitch wrote.' It welcomes everyone. It unifies community. It is the glue of democracy.'

Pushaw, who worked on Governor DeSantis' reelection campaign responded to Ravitch's tweet by attaching a grab of the education writer's biography on her blog that showed her sons went to private school in The Big Apple.

'Why didn't you send your sons to your local public school,' Pushaw questioned. 'You didn't want the best for them? So you paid for private school n NYC? Make it make sense.'

To which Ravitch responded: 'I paid for it. I didn't ask taxpayers to pay for my private choice.'

Ravitch, who attended public school herself, has written several books about her opposition to charter schools

Pushaw then questioned the writer's logic about parents making the 'best choice' in determining where to send their kids to school.

'So what about parents who can't afford to pay for private school but want to make the best choice for their kids? They don't deserve the same opportunities as your sons?'

Ravitch didn't immediately respond to Pushaw - but the Florida aide further commented: 'Behold, the logic of a liberal. "I paid for my sons to go to private school because it's the worst choice. It excludes the poor. It un-glues democracy."'

She later denounced the altercation in a blog post.
Hundreds of far-Right protesters led by a 'Hitler-lookalike' have staged a demonstration against hotels housing asylum seekers in Lincolnshire - just weeks after riots broke out in Merseyside.

A major protest was held in Skegness, Lincolnshire, this afternoon, with protesters holding up anti-refugee banners and placards saying 'enough is enough' and 'stop the invasion we will not be replaced'.

The event was organised by far-Right group Patriotic Alternative (PA), whose members are opposed to a government initiative to house up to 500 asylum seekers and refugees in hotels while their applications are being processed.

Former soldier and 'Hilter-lookalike' Alek Yerbury, an active member of the group and poster boy for British Neo-Nazis, was present at the protest.

The organisation describes itself as a 'community building and activism group' which 'teams up with local residents' and seeks to bolster 'white pride'.

The group was founded in 2019 by Mark Collett, a Neo-Nazi who calls for a 'racially pure white society' and led the BNP's youth wing before the party expelled him. It now claims to have more than 15,000 members.

Hundreds of far-Right protesters staged a demonstration today against hotels housing asylum seekers in Skegness, Lincolnshire. Pictured: Protesters march across Skegness with one carrying an English flag emblazoned with No More Refugees

Former soldier and 'Hilter-lookalike' Alek Yerbury, an active member of the group and poster boy for British neo-Nazis, was present at the anti-immigration protest

Patriotic Alternative describes itself as a 'community building and activism group' which 'teams up with local residents' and seeks to bolster 'white pride'

Tensions have been rising in the coastal town have been high since Serco started housing asylum seekers in November last year, with locals arguing that the using the hotels for this purpose would damage the town's tourist economy.

Lincolnshire Police officers were seen monitoring the event. Superintendent Pat Coates said officers were on stand-by in case of any criminal behaviour or rising tension and violence.

He said: 'We have a duty to uphold the right to lawful protest, which is a fundamental part of our democracy, and Lincolnshire Police facilitated that right today.

'During the day, our officers engaged with protesters, members of the local community, and visitors to the town while they were on patrol to help ease concerns and diffuse tensions.'

Jacob Morris, 22, a Patriotic Alternative supporter from Lincoln who was at the Skegness rally, said: 'I'm protesting today against the council's, and councils up and down the country, really, decision and her Majesty's Government's decision to put migrants across the Channel in hotels, three, four and five star hotels and it's costing the British taxpayers millions.

'Especially when this country is facing a cost-of-living crisis, you think perhaps our Government should be spending on priorities.

'Ukrainians are one thing but a lot of these people crossing the Channel are certainly not Ukrainians, there's been reports in the press a lot are from Albania and elsewhere. Albania hasn't been at war for years, they're a modern, stable country. We're being taken advantage of in this country.'

He claimed there had been about '500 people' at the rally and added: 'Our contention is a lot of these aren't genuine asylum applications.'

Asked if the group is racist, he said: 'It's not racist to stand up for your own people, that's all I can say. We advocate for the white British people.'

Protesters were holding up anti-refugee banners and placards saying 'enough is enough' and 'Skegness says no'

One protester punches the air as others carry signs as the march moves across town

Meanwhile there were tensions elsewhere in the country between anti-immigration protesters and those in support of housing asylum seekers.

One protest took place in Nottinghamshire and was met with a counter-protest by Open Nottingham - a democratic group attending in support of asylum seekers.

Demonstrators were based outside the Novotel Nottingham-Derby in Long Eaton, was taken over by the Home Office last October.

A flyer posted on social media read: 'Protect your children. Protect our women. Protect our interests. Enough is enough.'

It is claimed that staff members lost their jobs as a result of the hotel being turned into accommodation for asylum seekers.

In Cornwall two groups of protesters faced off over the housing of asylum seekers in the Beresford Hotel in Newquay.

The group of asylum seekers were place in the hotel by the Home Office in November last year.

Around 100 counter-protesters, with some clutching signs saying 'Refugees welcome' and 'Seeking asylum is a right not a crime', gathered outside the hotel.

An opposing group of about 100 people stood on the other side of the street, with one holding up a sign saying: 'You are anti-white racists.'

Police confirmed to MailOnline that they were engaging with those in attendance 'to ensure everyone's safety and facilitate peaceful protest'.

In a statement, Rosie Carter, director of policy at anti-fascist campaign group Hope not Hate, said: 'Far-right groups are trying to stir up tensions in local communities to further their own agendas.

'Hope not hate have seen a 102% increase in far right, anti-migrant activity in the last year.

'This huge increase in far-right, anti-migrant activity doesn't exist in a vacuum.

'It's incumbent on the Government to end their inflammatory use of language that feeds and enables the far-right, put safeguards around hotels in place, and look again at their policies that have led to this dangerous situation in the first place.'

It is not confirmed at this time whether the protests are related.

The protests come as last week 15 people were arrested - including a youth aged 13 - after a demonstration turned violent outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Merseyside.

The riot erupted after a video was shared online of a schoolgirl allegedly being harassed by a 25-year-old migrant thought to have been staying at the four star Suites Hotel in Knowsley.

The violence, which Labour MP Lisa Nandy suggested had been stoked by far-Right agitators, left a police officer and two members of the public with slight injuries.

Lit fireworks were thrown at officers and the police van was set alight after being attacked with hammers.

A police van was set alight in Merseyside after protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers turned violent

Merseyside Police said a number of people had turned up at the hotel 'intent on using a planned protest to carry out violent and despicable behaviour'.

Patriotic Alternative had protested outside the hotel earlier this month, but denied organising this event.

The group has been widely reported as being behind the recent protest outside the Tate Britain, which saw Right-wing protesters wearing t-shirts with slogans such as 'groom dogs not children' clash with pro-LGBT counter demonstrators.

The Tate, in Millbank, central London, had been hosting Drag Queen Story Hour UK, with tales told by Aida H Dee, who the gallery's website describes as 'the first drag artist in Europe to read stories to children in a nursery'.
Protestors took to the streets of London today, calling for the proposed Ultra Low Emission Zone 'Khanage' to be halted.

Hundreds of activists campaigned in Trafalgar Square this morning amid backlash against plans that will see Londoners paying 12.50 per day for driving polluting cars.

Among the crowds was Piers Corbyn - brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - who held an information poster reading 'BREAK Sadiq Khan!', 'Can't pay! Won't pay!'

Others were armed with signs demanding for the Mayor of London to be sacked, with children also spotted holding posters against the scheme.

The protests come as the city braces itself for the ULEZ to be extended as part of a mission to tackle climate change.

Protestors took to the streets of London calling for the proposed 'Khanage' to be halted

In the crowds was Piers Corbyn (pictured) - brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

Some protestors were armed with signs demanding for the Mayor of London to be sacked

Although the scheme has been celebrated as a way to tackle pollution, it has been slammed for putting even more pressure on those grappling with the cost-of-living crisis.

Council leaders have also voiced their concerns about the Mayor of London's proposition which is expected to come into force from August.

In January, the Barking and Dagenham borough leader, Darren Rodwell, said that the scheme 'must take full account of how people will be affected financially'.

He tweeted: 'As part of the Mayor's consultation last summer the council raised concerns on behalf of residents and businesses who will be impacted by the expansion of ULEZ.

'We must take air quality seriously, but any initiatives must take full account of how people will be affected financially and must do as much as possible to mitigate that.'

Barking and Dagenham council is just one of a number of London authorities that have voiced their concerns on the ULEZ expansion.

Bromley council leader Colin Smith said his borough would work alongside Harrow, Bexley, and Hillingdon to 'examine the legal basis' of the ULEZ expansion.

Croydon, Sutton, Bromley, Bexley, Havering and Kingston have also expressed a willingness to challenge City Hall over the controversial scheme that will see around 200,000 motorists with older vehicles hit with daily 12.50 charges.

The protests come as the city of London braces itself for the ULEZ to be extended

A van was snapped with 'Stop ULEZ' blasted on its bonnet as hundreds of activists campaigned in Trafalgar Square this morning

The ultra-low emission zone is to be expanded in August to cover the whole of Greater London - seen here in purple

Both Sutton and Harrow previously said they will refuse to sign 'Section 8' agreements that will allow TfL to install cameras on roads under council control.

Meanwhile, Sadiq Khan has also been accused of piling further misery on Londoners with increased Transport for London costs.

In January, the Mayor revealed proposals to hike Transport for London fares by nearly six percent from March and council tax bills by 38.55 a year to fund more PCSOs.

Passengers will now face paying 2.80 for a zone 1 peak ticket - a rise of 12 per cent - and 2.70 off-peak. Most other single fares will rise by 10p. Bus fares will rise by 10p to 1.75, while a weekly bus and tram pass will hit 24.70 - an increase of 1.40.

Matthew Goodwin-Freeman, Conservative councillor at Harrow Council, slammed the plans and said the Mayor was 'pricing Londoners out of London'.
Jill Biden talked condoms and safe sex with teenagers on Saturday and said she pushes her granddaughters to be financially independent as she spent the day in Nairobi touting women's empowerment issues.

The first lady, who teachers at a community college in Northern Virginia, was in teacher mode most of the day as she met with a mix of young people at an MTV sponsored event and sat down with women at an economic event.

She spent the afternoon at the Shujaaz Konnect Festival, a local youth empowerment event sponsored by MTV's Staying Alive Foundation.

The program is meant to help young people talk about difficult subjects like sex, HIV and money - with much of the conversation focused on sex.

Organizers showed Biden a questionnaire tool they use to get youths to talk about issues. The first question was: 'What would you say if I told you I had a condom in my pocket right now?'

The first lady laughed. 'And this is the first time they're meeting?!'

'I'm surprised you don't start with like, what's your biggest achievement rather than, 'I have a condom in my pocket,'' she said.

Jill Biden talked with youth in Nairobi about condoms and safe sex

Biden is on the fourth day of her five-day Africa tour. Besides women's issues, she is focused on praising the value of a democracy as she tries to strengthen U.S. relations with African nations and counter Chinese influence on the continent.

She spent her first three days in Namibia, a young democracy, where she praised the country's high rate of women in government and emphasized how the futures of Africa and America are combined.

The first lady is using her time on the continent to give the soft sale of U.S. strengths - reminding countries that in times of natural disaster or humanitarian need they turn to Washington for funds.

Her stops have included a focus on Pepfar, which provides American dollars for HIV prevention, and on food insecurity, which the U.S. is spending billions to help combat.

On Sunday, Biden's last day in Kenya, she will focus on food insecurity issues caused by record droughts and shortages left in the wake of covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But during Saturday's MTV event, youth talked to Biden about how they talk to each other about safe sex and their use of PrEP to combat HIV infection. It was held outside and under tents at a place called Village Creative. The youth sat on bales of hay, with each wrapped with a patterned Kenyan cloth.

One of the youth talked to the first lady about a popular show in the country, MTV Shuga, which talks about COVID, HIV prevention, and money. Biden was shown a short clip where a girl talked about sex and dating.

'I must have missed the money part,' she said laughing. She spent several minutes talking with the group about condoms, safe sex and HIV prevention.

Jill Biden met with Kenyan first lady Rachel Ruto for an economic event

Ruto ties an apron around Biden's waist - it read 'Joyful Women,' the name of the charity sponsored by Ruto

Earlier Saturday she met with Kenyan First Lady Rachel Ruto to visit a program called Joyful Women.

Sponsored by Ruto, it promotes women's economic empowerment and financial inclusion, through the unique model of 'table banking' groups, which convene communities of women by pooling their resources to work together.

The event started with a prayer. Both first ladies bowed their heads.

Then Ruto wrapped a cloth known as a leso or a kanga around Biden's waist. It is white, green, and orange and says Joyful Women.

'Goes with my shoes,' Biden said. She was wearing espadrilles with orange accents.

She listened to the women's stories and then talked about her own working experience.

'I've always taught my own daughter and my granddaughters the importance of being financially independent,' she noted.

Her granddaughter Naomi Biden was with her. Naomi, 29, has been on the Africa trip with the first lady. She sat in a corner to listen to the discussion but stood and waved when the moderator pointed her out.

Biden wrapped her a day with a visit to the U.S. Embassy. She met with girl scouts and boy scouts, the Marines stationed there, and many embassy employees.

Jill Biden looks at one of the brochures handed out to youth during an MTV event; U.S. ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman is to Biden's left

She completed her visit by laying a wreath at the August 7th Memorial Park, which honors the lives lost at the 1988 embassy bombing in Nairobi.

On August 7, 1998, terrorists detonated bombs next to the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The attacks killed over 200 men, women, and children, and injured over 4,000 others.

Biden had visited the memorial in 2010 when she and the then-Vice President Joe Biden were on a visit to Kenya.

She spent a few moments there on Saturday with her head bowed before the white wreath and the names listed on the memorial.
A Ukrainian teenager returned to the apartment her family fled at the beginning of Putin's invasion to find beds unmade, an unfinished pastry and phone that had been on charge for a year.

Anna Malygon from Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, has shared clips of her abandoned home after returning a year later after the war began.

The 19-year-old was stunned to arrive back in her home only to find everything was exactly the same as it was left 18 months ago when she left to study aboard.

Anna had no idea when she left home when she first left home, however, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, it became difficult for her to get home unharmed.

Once she was able to return to Ukraine earlier this month, Anna was surprised to see that the building was still standing.

Anna Malygon, 19, from Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, shared clips of her abandoned apartment after returning home a year later after the war began

Once she was able to return to Ukraine earlier this month, Anna was surprised to see that the building was still standing

Anna's video showed mouldy dishes left in the sink and a phone still on charge in her family's Kharkiv home

Anna told NeedToKnow.online: 'It was heartbreaking. My apartment was dirty, cold and really smelly.

'There was mould everywhere and food in the fridge that had expired one year ago.'

'Nuts and cereals were filled with worms. The water was rusty. There was unfinished coffee and a pastry that my mum didn't finish because the war started.'

Anna filmed a video of her return home for a TikTok video, showing mouldy dishes left in the sink, a phone still on charge, and unwashed laundry on the floor by the washing machine.

One of the clips showed her mother's bed unmade after she 'woke up because of bombs'.

For the Ukrainian woman, it was a traumatic and harrowing experience to return to her family's apartment and see the personal belongings she would use when living there.

Anna added: 'I left Ukraine to go study abroad and I never thought I wouldn't be able to come back.

Anna said: 'It was heartbreaking. My apartment was dirty, cold and really smelly'

As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, it became difficult for her to get home unharmed

'Thank God my house was still standing and not bombed, like many others.'

Anna was met with a heartbreaking sight when she arrived home from Toronto, Canada, where she now lives - buildings were crumbled, windows were smashed, and familiar sites were reduced to rubble.

During her trip, she visited her favourite shopping centre, a cafe, her old school, and a beauty salon - only to find them all destroyed.

The video has since gone viral on the social media app, being viewed 25.1 million times and gaining 2.3 million likes.

She shared the video of her home to raise awareness of the impact of war on people's lives as its tragic anniversary arrives.

The TikToker visited and photographed her favourite places that have been wiped out by Russian bombings

The 19-year-old added: 'Thank God my house was still standing and not bombed, like many others'

The comments section shared feelings of shock and empathy for Ukrainian people who have had to suffer from the disastrous impact of the war.

One social media user commented: 'Terrifying how life was abandoned one day and disrupted. I'm sorry.'

A second added: 'It's just now hit that it has been a year'.

Another person on TikTok said: 'This is hard to process'.

Its really been a year since this started wow, a fourth user commented.
A mother was so terrified of catching Covid that she locked herself and her son in their two-bed flat for three years.

Munmun Majhi, 33, and her son, aged 10, were rescued by police on Wednesday February 22 after they spent three years locked inside their home in the city of Gurugram, in Haryana State, India.

The 33-year-old mother was so petrified that they would contract the virus if they stepped outside, that she did not let her husband, Sujan Majhi, enter his own home just one day after the first lockdown.

After tiring of the situation Sujan contacted the police, who initially did not believe him, and asked them to check on the well-being of his wife.

Police found piles of garbage and groceries in the flat, where the woman's son had been drawing on the walls to stop himself being bored.

Police called Munmun Majhi after her husband, engineer Sujan Majhi, reported his concerns about her welfare

She had locked herself and their ten-year-old son in the dirty flat for three years because she was terrified of catching Covid

Sujan Majhi, who worked as an engineer and had his own company, initially stayed with friends and relatives when his wife refused him entry but continued paying his rent and utilities.

He eventually had to rent another flat for himself.

The engineer had tried to reason with his wife and brought his family groceries, which he left outside the front door.

But nothing would convince his wife to let him back into the family home.

Having enlisted the help of the police, an officer called Ms Majhi to check on her well-being, but the woman claimed that she and her son were 'absolutely fit'.

He said: 'We then made a video call, and when I saw the child, I became emotional. His hair had grown to his shoulders.'

The child had reportedly made personal contact with nobody else but his mother for the period they were locked up, and had spent his time drawing and writing on walls to keep himself busy.

The officer continued: 'His mother was in panic over Covid. She had no intention of stepping out.

'She kept saying, 'I will not let my son step out because he will die immediately.

'I kept talking to her, kept asking her if she needs any help. I think she started trusting me.

'So when I called her to the police station today, she came, but the child was not with her.

Piles of rancid rubbish were found in the two-bedroom flat in Gurugram, in Haryana State, in India, alongside groceries and toys

The child had reportedly made personal contact with nobody else but his mother for the period they were locked up, and had spent his time drawing and writing on walls

Both Ms Majhi and her son were admitted to hospital for treatment and she is receiving psychiatric help

'We finally managed to convince her. She was taken to a hospital, and we then went to the flat to rescue the child.'

When the police broke into the house they were shocked by the amount of garbage Mrs Majhi had stored inside.

They additionally encountered piles of clothes, hair, empty grocery packets scattered around on the floor and a thick layer of dirt all over the place.

After they found the boy in one of the bedrooms, the officers immediately took him to the hospital.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Praveen Kumar said: 'There was so much garbage inside that if a few more days had passed, anything untoward could have happened.'

Gurgaon Civil Surgeon Dr Virender Yadav said: 'A medical team, including psychiatrists, is evaluating them.

The woman has psychological issues. Both of them have been referred to PGI [Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences], Rohtak [City].

'They have been admitted to the psychiatric ward for treatment.'

Delighted to have his family back, Sujan thanked the police and added: 'I am happy they are out. I have to take care of their health.

'Now they are being treated. I hope my life will be back on track soon.'
Rishi Sunak has been accused of dragging the King into politics after it emerged Charles had been lined up to meet the EU president as Brexit negotiations came to a head.

The Kings meeting with Ursula von der Leyen today at Windsor, at such a sensitive time, would have been highly unusual - and is likely to raise questions about the judgment of both No 10 and the Palace.

Although the monarch would not have taken part in political negotiations, his involvement in any form would have given the impression that he had given the deal his blessing.

Some may have hoped the impression of royal authority would help win over unionists in Northern Ireland, whose support is crucial if new trading arrangements are to be agreed.

But it risked accusations that the PM was dragging the monarch into a controversial political issue.

Rishi Sunak is coming under pressure over recently cancelled plans for the European Commission President to meet King Charles during her UK visit

Although King Charles would not have taken part in political negotiations, his involvement in any form would have given the impression that he had given the deal his blessing

The proposed audience with the King has now been cancelled for unspecified reasons. The Government last night said Mrs von der Leyen is now no longer expected to travel to Britain. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Last night, DUP peer Lord Dodds said: To plan for politicising the monarchy in this way reinforces the questions about No 10s political judgment over the Protocol.

Labours Northern Ireland spokesman Peter Kyle told Sky News: It seems there is panic within No 10 and they are reaching for all sorts of quite absurd policies and levers to try and pull. Tory peer Lord Moylan said: I cant imagine the late Queen making this mistake.

The Prime Minister is on the brink of hammering out the details of a new trade deal governing Northern Ireland, despite warnings it could destabilise his premiership.

Further talks were due to have been held at No 10 today before Mrs von der Leyens proposed audience with the King.

Sources said the two leaders had made significant progress and would hold further talks in the coming days after making positive breakthroughs this week.

Yesterday Downing Street was tight-lipped about a timetable for an agreement, but one Whitehall source said it was likely to come in the next 72 hours, or even tomorrow.

Cabinet ministers have been put on standby for a possible call to discuss the details this weekend, and MPs believe an agreement could be unveiled on Monday.

However, it is not clear when - or even if - MPs will get a vote on the deal. But a senior Tory, who met the PM this week, said: If you hold a vote you cement divisions.

Mr Sunak is also expected to hold further talks with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in a bid to win his backing.

Eurosceptic MPs including Boris Johnson have hinted they could try to vote against the deal if the PM cedes too much ground to Brussels, with threats of resignations.

Further talks were due to have been held at No 10 today before Ms von der Leyens proposed audience with the King

Mr Sunak is also expected to hold further talks with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in a bid to win his backing

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary and senior member of the Tory Eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG) said: 'If there were a plan to bring the King in before there is domestic political agreement, it would border on constitutional impropriety.'

Mr Sunak is keen to secure the backing of not only his Tory MPs but also the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for any protocol reform as he looks to restore powersharing in Belfast.

The DUP is refusing to take part in Stormont's cross-community devolved government in protest at the impact the Brexit treaty is having on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Former DUP deputy leader Lord Dodds said meeting Ms von der Leyen would have politicised the monarch, and argued the reports 'reinforce the questions about No 10's political judgment over the protocol'.

Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, said any Windsor rendezvous with the EU leader would have been 'a cynical use' of the King's position and seen in Unionist circles as the sovereign endorsing the deal.

He branded the Prime Minister 'naive' and accused him of 'dragging the King into a hugely controversial political issue'.

'The only conclusion we can come to is he knows that in these negotiations he hasn't achieved the objectives he set out for himself and his own party,' Mr Wilson said on Sky News of Mr Sunak.

'Nor has he achieved the promises that he had made to ourselves and was now trying to get the King to pull the thing over the line for him.'

Baroness Hoey, a Northern Irish Brexit supporter and former Labour MP, said any such meeting would have been 'outrageous'.

UK Government sources said that, while Ms von der Leyen's trip was no longer going ahead, it would not have been improper for the King, as head of state, to meet a visiting European leader.

'It would be wrong to suggest the King would be involved in anything remotely political,' a Government source said.

Buckingham Palace would not comment.

Labour's shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle said Downing Street should have realised utilising the King would have 'constitutional implications' and been 'highly insensitive to the politics of Northern Ireland'.

'It certainly is nothing we should be involving His Majesty in,' he told Sky.

No 10 said Mr Sunak will be spending the weekend speaking to 'relevant stakeholders' as he looks to get a protocol deal over the line.

Downing Street said 'intensive negotiations' with Brussels are still taking place.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who has had regular meetings with commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, said talks with the EU have been 'tough and complicated' but were 'entered into in good spirits, with good faith'.

He told GB News on Saturday: 'I really hope that we can get this resolved, but we will resolve this when we have addressed all the issues that we are seeking to resolve rather than (working to) some arbitrary deadline.'

Multiple reports suggest the deal between the UK and the EU is all but done - with Mr Sunak delaying an announcement until he is confident it will be accepted.

The protocol, signed by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020, was designed to prevent a hard border with Ireland after Brexit by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the EU's single market.

But the treaty has incensed unionists due to the trade barriers it created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

According to The Times, the current offer on the table would mean an overhauled protocol, which would remove almost all checks and most paperwork on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

The newspaper said the agreement would also mean control over the rate of VAT and state aid policy will fall to Westminster rather than Brussels for the first time since Brexit was enacted.

Speculation that No 10 is preparing to confirm a deal to fix the protocol intensified on Friday after a Downing Street source said 'good progress' was made during a phone call between the Prime Minister and the commission president.

Any announcement of a deal is expected to set up a possible clash with Conservative Brexit hardliners, with the Prime Minister promising MPs will be given the chance to 'express' their views on the new terms.

The DUP has issued seven tests to win its backing for any deal, including addressing what it calls the 'democratic deficit' of Northern Ireland being subject to EU rules while not having a say on them.

The Daily Telegraph, which said a breakthrough could come over the weekend, said it was understood the DUP is set to be granted a place at the negotiating table when the EU is considering new laws applicable in Northern Ireland.
Police have pictured a Texas man arrested after his crazed pit bulls mauled an elderly man to death, and badly-injured the victim's wife.

Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, was charged with attack by dangerous dog causing death and injury to an elderly person, both felonies, according to a press release from the San Antonio Police Department.

He was pictured being perp-walked from his home after Friday's horrific mauling, which was captured on video. The victim has been named as 81-year-old Ramon Najeras.

The attack occurred along 2800 block of Depla Street, on the city's west side where Najeras and his wife, 74, were visiting friends. When they got out of their car, the couple were set upon by two American Staffordshire Terriers who had escaped their yard. Neither victim has been named, with the surviving woman said to be receiving critical care.

When the San Antonio Fire Department arrived on the scene, 'the dogs still actively attacking the couple and attempted to intervene,' the police said. An EMS captain was bitten in the leg during the attempted rescue. Moreno is being held on a bond of $125,000.

Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, is pictured being arrested after his pet pit bulls mauled an 81 year-old man to death close to his home in San Antonio, Texas

One of the pit bulls was seen with a bloodied mouth close to the body of the mauled victim, who has not yet been identified (victim is muzzed in this photo)

Police were seen trying to contain one of the other killer dogs using weapons, with one cop forced to stand atop a car to stay safe

San Antonio Animal Care Services confirmed on Saturday that the dogs involved in the incident will both be put down. A third dog that was present but not involved will also be euthanized.

Firefighters arrived just after 1:45pm to what has been described as a 'horrific' scene on the west side of the city where the man was being dragged by the vicious animals as emergency services go to the scene.

The firefighters were forced to intervene using their pickaxes in order to get the dogs and release their grip.

'As they rounded the corner they could see a man being dragged by a dog. He was completely bloodied before they got out of the truck,' San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said at the scene.

'This is not something that is normal for us. We don't normally have to defend patients from animals or ourselves. The firefighters in this instance were very heroic fighting off these pit bulls with pickaxes and pipes to try and get to the patients,' Hood said.

The vile animals will be euthanized following Friday's attack. Cops and firefighters who attended the scene were left badly-traumatized

'Two people were mauled with a confirmed fatality who was treated and given blood on the scene, together with a female in critical condition. Another individual was bitten on the hand and also taken to the hospital.

'It has been a horrific scene and horrific experience for everyone involved including firefighters which was essentially a rescue to save themselves,' Hood said.

Chief Hood said that the entire experience had likely 'emotionally scarred' the firefighters involved.

'Nobody expects to go out and fight dogs in a situation like they did today,' Hood said.

Shannon Wade Sims, Director Animal Care Services at City of San Antoni, says the dogs were American Staffordshire dogs. ACS officers responded soon after receiving the call and managed to remove all of the animals from the property as well as question the owners.

Neighbors say they had reported bites occurring in the past with multiple calls to the city's 311 complaint line. The dogs had been previously impounded for a 'mild bite' in 2021.

Other calls made by neighbors within the past two years were concerns about animal neglect and aggression.

San Antonio Animal Care Services have taken all of the dogs involved and placed them in quarantine kennels, where they will remain until further notice.
Divers involved in an underwater search after a tugboat capsized have recovered two bodies.

They were removed from the water on Saturday, the day after the boat sank in the Firth of Clyde near Greenock, Inverclyde, sparking a major search and rescue operation.

Police Scotland, the coastguard and RNLI had all been called out to the scene after the boat went under the water at the Custom House Quay.

Efforts resumed again at 8am on Saturday, with divers later recovering two bodies.

It had been understood two people were on the boat when it capsized.

Police divers have recovered two bodies from a tug boat which capsized on Friday at the Firth of Clyde near Greenock, Inverclyde

The tugboat sank yesterday after it capsized with two people on board

On Friday evening, a coastguard spokesman told how its rescue teams from both Helensburgh and Greenock had been scrambled, along with a lifeboat from Helensburgh RNLI and the coastguard helicopter from Prestwick.

The spokesman added: 'Multiple vessels on the Clyde in the vicinity of the incident also responded, including an MoD Police vessel.'

Police Scotland confirmed on Friday that officers from the force's dive and marine unit and the air support unit had been involved in the search operation.

Emergency services raced to the scene and boats in the harbour tried to provide assistance
Ex-husband of the model who was brutally dismembered and stuffed in the fridge, was reportedly 'trying to abscond' in the lead up to his arrest.

Abby Choi's former partner was allegedly planning to board a speed boat today ahead of being arrested in connection to the death of a 28-year-old woman.

The suspect was arrested while carrying 60,000 in cash and a number of luxury watches at the Tung Chung Development Pier, it was reported.

Superintendent Alan Chung of Kowloon West Police force told the South China Morning Post: 'We believe he was trying to abscond from Hong Kong by sea when he was arrested.'

Both his parents and elder brother have also been arrested following the discovery of human tissue left in soup pots at a Lung Mei Tsuen home.

Abby Choi was found in pots of soup on Friday at a home in Lung Mei Tsuen, Hong Kong

The legs of Abby Choi were found by police officers in a household fridge

An underwater search was conducted today in an effort to find her remaining body parts in the catchment area surrounding Tseung Kwan O cemetery.

Possibility of even further arrests has not been ruled out by the force it is also understood.

Superintendent Alan Chung Nga-Iun added: 'We are still looking for the head, the torso and hands, which we believed were disposed of.'

A missing persons investigation first took off on Tuesday after the model did not pick up a child as planned.

During her career, Abby Choi had posed for a number of magazines including Elle and L'Officiel.

'Someone was dissatisfied with how the victim handled her assets, which became a motive to kill,' Chung Nga-Iun said.

On Friday, police searched the home that was allegedly set up with equipment such as a meat grinder, choppers, a hammer, and an electric saw.

Two soup pots were also found containing human tissue, reports suggest.

The property was then taped off with reportedly 20 police officers coming in and out to investigate the scene.

Her former father-in-law, ex-husband and his brother have reportedly been arrested following the incident

A missing persons investigation first took off on Tuesday after the model did not pick up a child as planned

Police also confirmed earlier that 'post-mortem examinations will be conducted later to ascertain the cause of death' of a 28-year-old woman.

MailOnline has approached Hong Kong Police Force for confirmation that this is Ms Choi.
A motorist has been called the 'dumbest criminal of the week' for being caught driving home from court moments after being banned from the road.

The criminal, who has not been named, was given a year-long ban after appearing at a Magistrates' Court in North Wales.

But he was caught behind the wheel of his car immediately after leaving the court on his way home to Pwllheli, North Wales.

Police said his vehicle was seized and he was reported for driving while disqualified with no insurance.

The criminal, who has not been named, was given a year-long ban after appearing at a Magistrates' Court in North Wales

Social media users took to the internet to mock him, with one saying: 'The award for dumb criminal of the week goes to this guy.'

Another added: 'It's like he doesn't understand what a driving ban means.'

In 2020 a mother was caught driving away from court just minutes after being banned from the road.

Simara Knopka, 39, had just been disqualified for two years and warned she faced jail if she was caught behind the wheel again.

She was then snapped moments later pulling away from Manchester Crown Court in her Peugeot 208.

A North Wales Police spokesman said: 'He's thought it was a good idea to drive from court in his car after being disqualified from driving for 12 months.

'Pwllheli Policing Team have stopped him and he's been reported for driving whilst disqualified, no insurance, and subsequently the car was seized.'
Better late than never!

President Joe Biden on Friday directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, starting Saturday, to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment.

Under Bidens order, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency will visit homes.

Workers will ask how residents are doing, see what they need and connect them with appropriate resources from government and nonprofit organizations, the White House said.

The 'walk teams' are modeled on similar teams following hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Biden directed employees to get to as many homes as possible by Monday. Officials said the immediate goal was to visit at least 400. The president said he currently has no plans to personally visit Ohio.

President Joe Biden was at a loss for words when explaining to reporters why he has yet to visit East Palestine, Ohio, three weeks after the toxic train derailment

The Biden administration has been accused of being apathetic to the plight of the small Ohio community, where residents are reporting worrying symptoms

Biden on Friday rejected the notion that his administration hasnt been present in providing assistance in a bizarre exchange as he left the White House to spend the weekend at his Delaware home.

'We were there two hours after the train went down. Two hours,' Biden said at the White House. 'Ive spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and in Ohio. And so the idea that were not engaged is simply not there.'

But Democrats - including blundering Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg - have been accused of initially playing the disaster down. They were embarrassed into taking it more seriously after a well-publicized visit to the site by former President Donald Trump earlier this week.

An East Palestine resident waits for former US President Donald Trump's arrival during his visit to the site of a train wreck and chemical spill in East Palestine

A resident displays a mannequin on their porch in East Palestine, Ohio, as cleanup from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment continues

During Friday's interaction, Biden struggled to remember the word Zoom telling reporters: ' Did a whole video, I mean, um, what the hell, on,' Biden rambled as he looked for reporters to fill in the gap. 'Zoom?' one of the reporters said, trying to help the president.

'Zoom! All I can think of every time I think of Zoom is that song in my generation, Who's Zoomin' Who,' he said, referencing the Aretha Franklin song.

A timeline given out by the White House Friday said DOT provided 'initial incident notification' to members of the Ohio congressional delegation and relevant committees on Saturday, Feb. 4, less than a day after the derailment.

That same day, EPA deployed real-time air monitoring instruments in 12 locations surrounding the wreck site and in the neighboring community, the White House said.

Residents in East Palestine have reported going to the hospital over rashes following the spill

Pictured: The site of the chemical spill as crews work to suppress the contaminants on Friday

Pictured: The chemical fire releasing toxins into the air in East Palestine

The chemical spill has left many residents too afraid to shower as clean up crews work to gather the destroyed train cars and their cargo

Biden defended his administration's work and said his team has been in Palestine since day one, but added that he has never been invited to come and that he still has no plans to go

Meanwhile, the controversy spread far beyond the little Ohio town. Officials in Texas and Michigan expressed concern about contaminated wastewater and soil being transported to their states for disposal.

Bidens order came as House Republicans opened an investigation into the Feb. 3 derailment, blaming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for what they contend was a delayed response to the fiery wreck.

The focus on DOT came even though the EPA took charge of the federal response this week and ordered Norfolk Southern railway to pay for the cleanup and chemical release.

Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, became the latest lawmaker to jump into what has become a political proxy war as each party lays into the other after the derailment and chemical leak that led to evacuation of the small Ohio community.

'Despite the U.S. Department of Transportations responsibility to ensure safe and reliable transport in the United States, you ignored the catastrophe for over a week,' the Kentucky Republican said in a letter to Buttigieg.

'The American people deserve answers as to what caused the derailment, and DOT needs to provide an explanation for its leaderships apathy in the face of this emergency,' the letter went on.

Trump boasted earlier this week that he visited the Ohio town before Biden or Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as he delivered water and food supplies

Buttigieg (center) arrived the day after Trump, three weeks into the ongoing crisis. He told reporters he was mulling his decision to wait that long

Meanwhile, Buttigieg has hit back at Ex-president Donald Trump who visited the site this week.

Buttigieg told reporters that if the former president  and current Republican presidential candidate  felt strongly about increased rail safety efforts, 'one thing he could do is express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch.'

On Friday, Buttigieg chided Comer for referring in his letter to 'DOTs National Transportation Safety Board,' saying he was 'alarmed to learn' the committee chairman' thinks that the NTSB is part of our Department.

NTSB is independent (and with good reason). Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre excoriated 'political stunts that were seeing from the other side.'

A preliminary report released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board stated that the crew operating the Norfolk Southern freight train didnt get much warning before dozens of cars went off the tracks and there is no indication that crew members did anything wrong.

Republicans are framing the incident as a moral failing at the hands of the Biden administration, noting Buttigiegs failure to visit the site until nearly three weeks after the wreck.

Democrats point to rollbacks former President Donald Trump made during his term that weakened rail and environmental regulations. EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the site last week and again on Tuesday.
A mother has begged for her daughter to come home as the search for the missing schoolgirl entered its third day.

Nikita Thorne, 14, was last seen at their home in Wythenshawe, Manchester, on Thursday at 4.40pm.

Her mother Catherine Robinson said Nikita was headed to the shops at nearby Peel Hall Road but 'never returned'.

'She left with a face full of makeup which could be off now, she talks like she's from Manchester and she's loud and bubbly,' she told Manchester Evening News.

'I don't know where she is, she could be anywhere, she's been gone for over 48 hours now. There's been no sight of her, nobody has heard from her, police have been to houses, nothing.

Nikita Thorne, 14, (pictured) was last seen at their home in Wythenshawe, Manchester, on Thursday at 4.40pm

'She took her phone, she's either blocked my number, turned her phone off or put it on do not disturb. I'd just want to say to her to come home, you're not in any trouble, I just want you to come home.

'The last thing she said to me was we need orange juice, so I sent her to the shop and she said, ''Do you want anything?'' I said ''no'' and that's it.

'She left in good spirits.'

Nikita's mother said the teenage schoolgirl left their family home in Manchester 'in good spirits'

She said Nikita left the house wearing make-up, which she may have taken off.

She was last seen in a black coat with fur trimmings on the bottom, neck and cuff, cream coloured leggings, all white plain Nike Air Jordan trainers and frilly black ankle socks.

Nikita was described as white, 5ft5, medium build with long brown hair and brown eyes.

MailOnline has contacted Greater Manchester Police for comment.
The widow of poisoned Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko has said she is 'very proud' of hundreds of Russians who marched on their own country's embassy in central London to mark the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

Marina Litvinenko, 61, said the anti-war protest proved that not all Russians supported the barbaric actions of Vladimir Putin, who she labelled a 'war criminal'.

Waving Ukrainian flags, the demonstrators chanted: 'Victory for Ukraine, freedom for Russia', and: 'Stop Putin, stop the war' as they walked from Marble Arch to the embassy in Kensington to protest against the war.

Mrs Litvinenko told the PA news agency: 'I'm very proud to see this big crowd of Russian people. They've all been very loud in saying how they support Ukraine and how they hate Putin because he is why they might need to have left the country.

'When we talk about Putin now we are talking about a person who started a war but he has committed a lot of crimes against individuals, countries and people.

Marina Litvinenko (pictured) said the anti-war protest proved that not all Russians supported the barbaric actions of Vladimir Putin

Hundreds gather for a vigil outside the Russian embassy in Kensington, London, yesterday evening

Alexander Litvinenko (pictured) was a former KGB spy who died in November 2006 following the presence of the radioactive polonium-210 in his body. 'I believe [Vladimir Putin] gave the order,' Marina Litvinenko said

'He killed my husband Alexander. I believe he gave the order and he has now killed a lot of innocent Ukrainians.'

She added: 'We need to be proud to speak the Russian language. We need to use the Russian language to say Slava Ukraini - glory to Ukraine - and say in Russian: 'Putin is a criminal'. This is very important. Not all of Russia supports this war.'

The story of Mr Litvinenko's death was depicted in the ITV mini-series Litvinenko in December last year, with Mark Bonnar and David Tennant starring alongside Russian-America actress Margarita Levieva, who played Mrs Litvinenko.

The road outside the embassy remains stained in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag after activist group Led by Donkeys poured 170 litres of paint on it on Thursday.

One man held a poster mocking a packet of cigarettes that read: 'Putin kills', while another cardboard placard that carried pictures of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny read: 'Without victory there can be no survival'.

The crowd then heard speeches from Mrs Litvinenko, opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky and financier Bill Browder, among others.

Mr Browder, who leads the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, which is seeking democracy in Russia, told PA the number of Russians present at the demonstration was 'unprecedented'.

He said: 'Everybody talks about how the Russians are brainwashed. These people aren't brainwashed. These are Russian citizens and Russian emigres who are saying that Putin's murderous war in Ukraine is not OK.

Marina Litvinenko, 61, said the anti-war protest proved that not all Russians supported the barbaric actions of Vladimir Putin, who she labelled a 'war criminal'

Supporters and members of the Ukrainian community carry a large flag as they mark the one year of Russia's war against Ukraine with a candlelight march from Holland Park to the Russian Embassy on February 24, 2023

'He killed my husband Alexander. I believe he gave the order and he has now killed a lot of innocent Ukrainians,' Marina Litvinenko (pictured right) said today

People hold up placards outside the Russian Embassy as Ukrainian community organizations mark the one year of Russia's war against Ukraine

'What it tells you is that Putin's brainwashing doesn't work outside of his own propaganda bubble inside Russia. These people know the truth and they know the truth is horrific.

'What Putin is doing is criminal, murderous and disgusting, and they don't want it in their name.'

He added: 'I think the number of people here is absolutely unprecedented. There were a number of Russians before who may have been upset about Putin but didn't want to come out on the streets. But what he's doing in Ukraine requires people to come out on the street.'

The protesters flew the flags of Ukraine and the Russian democracy movement, which replaces the bottom red stripe of the Russian flag with a white stripe.

Placards on display read: 'No to bloody Russian imperialism', while one showed the face of Russian president Vladimir Putin captioned with: 'War criminal'.

The protesters also chanted 'Russians against the war', 'hands off Ukraine' and 'jets for Ukraine' as they walked.

Ksenia Maximova, the founder of the Russian Democratic Society (RDS), which organised the protest, said in her speech: 'This is a time for action and time to come together. Putin's government spent years instilling hate in people's hearts.

'We are more united than ever. We are now in nearly every country and growing stronger by the day.'

The RDS was founded in the aftermath of the invasion and has raised more than 18,000 to send generators to Ukraine to limit the impact of blackouts.

It has also donated more than 10,000 to refugee shelters in Kazakhstan, Armenia and Montenegro.

People hold flags, during a march organized by the Russian Democratic Society, outside the Russian Embassy, to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

A woman holds up a placard saying '461 Kids Killed, Help Ukraine!'

Protesters including Russian citizens living in the UK gather outside the Russian Embassy after a march through central London to show solidarity with Ukraine on February 25, 2023

Woman join members of the Russian Democratic Society, a group of Russian citizens living in the UK, to stage a protest outside the Russian embassy in London

Earlier today pro-Ukraine counter-protesters led by campaigner Peter Tatchell clashed in central London with activists demanding Britain stops supplying weapons to the country.

Mr Tatchell shouted 'Chamberlain' - a reference to prime minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime - in reply to protesters who angrily accused him of being an 'American stooge'.

He was one of a group of 30 who interrupted a rally by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Stop the War coalition outside the BBC's Broadcasting House.

His fellow protesters chanted 'arm, arm, arm Ukraine, put an end to Putin's reign' and 'self-defence is no offence'.

Mr Tatchell told the PA news agency: 'We're here to protest Stop the War over its opposition to Ukraine. Their stance would leave Ukraine defenceless and result in Russia occupying and annexing all of Ukraine.

'Russia is a fascist, imperialist state, and all progressive people should oppose the Putin regime and Russia's war of aggression.

'We should arm Ukraine in the same way that we armed anti-Nazi resistance during the Second World War. This is a war between Ukrainian democracy and Russian fascism.'

Peter Tatchell holds a placard with demonstrators in support of arming Ukraine

Peter Tatchell and pro-Ukraine supporters during a demonstration where they are calling to arm Ukraine for their fight against Russia

His group held a banner reading 'Victory to Ukraine, arm Ukraine to defeat Russian imperialism'.

CND and Stop the War claim Russia's invasion was partially caused by 'Nato expansion' in eastern Europe.

Their protesters held placards saying 'Peace now!', 'No to War' and 'Wages not Weapons', with one man flying an inflatable anvil that read: 'Is this anvil really cast iron? Are the Biden gang's alibis?'
Rishi Sunak has been accused of entangling the King in toxic Brexit politics by sending him on a controversial tour to schmooze EU nations.

Charless visit to Berlin and Paris next month  his first overseas trip as monarch  is being seen as a charm offensive as the Prime Minister tries to renegotiate the Northern Ireland Protocol with Brussels.

But some senior Tories last night accused their leader of exploiting the Royal Family for his short-term political ends, amid growing party infighting over the post-Brexit talks.

Some reports suggest the proposed amendments to the protocol could even be called the Windsor Agreement, leading to further claims that No 10 is using the Kings name to advance its own aims.

The visit to the two European power-brokers  defying expectations Charles would follow tradition by ensuring his first regal visit was to a Commonwealth nation  comes after Buckingham Palace responded to a diplomatic plea by the Government to bolster EU relations.

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is said to be close to agreeing a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol with Ursula von der Leyen

But leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg warned Mr Sunak against using the monarch for his own transient political imperatives.

One Brexit strategist said: Dragging His Majesty into this is a major misstep by No 1 0. Remainers always went insane when there was any suggestion of the Royal Family being involved in Brexit. Now it seems to suit them to send him on an EU schmooze.

The new row follows the last-minute cancellation of a planned meeting between Charles and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, just as the contentious talks between London and Brussels near their conclusion.

Such an unusual encounter  and at such a sensitive time  may have helped win over unionists, whose support is crucial if new trading arrangements are to be agreed. But it could have given the impression the King was giving his blessing to a controversial political issue.

The meeting  whose cancellation was put down to operational reasons  would have been likely to raise questions about the judgment of both No 10 and the Palace.

It is understood that the proposed agreement will involve reducing the border checks between the UK mainland and Northern Ireland, and limiting the role of the European Court of Justice in resolving disputes.

No 10 sources told The Mail on Sunday that the EU had gone way outside their comfort zone by agreeing to make changes to the protocol, having originally maintained that the treaty could not be renegotiated.

But Tory Brexiteers are sceptical about the talks, believing it is a mistake for the Prime Minister to scrap Boris Johnsons Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would allow the UK unilaterally change parts of the deal, in favour of direct negotiation with the EU.

The Brexiteers say No 10 should have involved Mr Johnson in discussions about the negotiations. One said: The Government has failed to engage and roll the pitch [prepare the ground] with Brexiteers. They should have engaged Boris and other senior Brexiteers on this weeks ago. No one will be surprised if their mishandling of this comes back to bite them.

Last week, Mr Johnson warned Mr Sunak it would be a great mistake to drop the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

Meanwhile. Royal insiders say the King and the Queen Consort are undertaking the European state visit  which is also expected to take in Bordeaux  for the sake of Northern Ireland.

One said: While the Monarch is not overtly political, the Kings role is nevertheless to be the best diplomat the Government can deploy.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reacts at the start of the European Commission weekly college meeting in Brussels, Belgium

But Mr Rees-Mogg cautioned against using the King as a political tool  and said Charles should have followed the example of his mother by visiting his own realms in the Commonwealth first.

The former Cabinet Minister said: Of course, the Government has a long-established and important role in advising the Monarch on his major public engagements.

However, it would be wrong if Downing Street has applied pressure on the King to make his first overseas visit on the basis of its own transient political imperatives. The King is equally sovereign of his other realms and has a responsibility to his other Prime Ministers.

The late Queens first such overseas visit was to a realm and this is the correct precedent to follow.

Given the growth of republican sentiment [across the Commonwealth] His Majesty ought to go first to his own realms such as Australia, New Zealand or Canada.

But a Royal source said: Some might have expected the King to visit the Commonwealth first but of course he takes advice from the Government on which trips happen and when. This trip to Britains influential European neighbours is a chance for the King to do what the Monarchy does so well  deploying soft diplomacy on behalf of the British Government.

There are reasons why now is a good time to look to our nearest allies as negotiations take place post Brexit over Northern Ireland and the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. His wish is to do his duty and serve the country by bringing people together.

Another royal insider: This trip is about Northern Ireland and protecting the relationship [with the rest of the UK] and the people there. The King has visited Northern Ireland every year for around 20 years and it is also likely to be one of his first visits as King.

He is well-informed about Irish politics and will want to do whatever he can in a diplomatic capacity to protect the peace process, particularly as the [Royal] family was so greatly affected by the death of Mountbatten. Louis Mountbatten  the Kings beloved great-uncle was murdered by an IRA bomb in 1979.

Resolving post-Brexit trade rules between Northern Ireland and both the Irish Republic and the rest of the UK is seen as critical to releasing the political gridlock in the region and ensuring ongoing peace.

A source close to the negotiations said: Credit to the EU  theyve gone way outside their comfort zone and what was said to be impossible is close to being delivered  a treaty change in the best interest of Northern Ireland.

Senior Tories have warned Mr Sunak against using the monarch for his own transient political imperatives

Brussels is said to be ready to agree to UK proposals to introduce red and green lanes at Northern Irish ports. Goods intended for the province would go through the fast-moving green lane, with a higher scrutiny red lane for goods travelling on to the Irish Republic and the EU single market Under the proposals, London will also take over full control of issues such as VAT and state subsidies for the province which previously fell to Brussels.

However Brexiteers questioned whether the proposals would truly allow manufacturers in Northern Ireland to deviate from EU regulations, and escape from Brussels orbit. They also demanded clarification over the extent to which London would be able to exert genuine control over issues such as VAT.

A source close to Mr Johnson said: No one can make a judgment on the deal until they see it. 

The Kings visits to Berlin and Paris are scheduled for the end of March, as he also prepares for the May 6 Coronation. It is expected that he will make short visits to major Commonwealth countries later this year.

Meanwhile, other members of the Royal Family will be dispatched in an attempt to quell the increasing republican sentiment  including a major visit yet to be announced for the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Already this month, the Earl and Countess of Wessex have been in the Cayman Islands on behalf of the King and Princess Anne has visited New Zealand.

This will not be the first time the King has helped forge closer ties with our European neighbours.

The most significant recent visit came in November 2020 when the Prince of Wales, as he then was, flew to Germany with Camilla on his 71st birthday. He laid a wreath in Berlin to commemorate the victims of war and tyranny and gave a sincere post-Brexit speech about the connection between the British and German people.

He said: The relationship between our countries is evolving once again. Its shape is a matter negotiated between our governments and its essence is defined by the enduring connections between our people. It is, therefore, my heartfelt belief that the fundamental bond between us will remain strong. We will always be friends, partners and allies. As our countries begin this new chapter in our long history, let us re-affirm our bond for the years ahead.

In 2017, Prince William was sent to Berlin on a similar diplomatic mission, where he said Britain and Germany would remain the firmest of friends despite Brexit.
Cleared murder suspect Amanda Knox has revealed she had an 'epiphany' during her time in prison as she reflected on other 'realities' in which she could have been killed or committed suicide.

Knox, who was acquitted over the 2007 killing of her roommate Meredith Kercher due to a lack of evidence, posted a bizarre Twitter thread on Friday detailing how she came to terms with her initial conviction.

The 35-year-old lamented being 'locked away for the best years of my life' and 'deprived of opportunities' - labelling her life 'small, cruel, sad and unfair.'

But Knox, dubbed 'Foxy Knoxy' by the tabloid press, said she suddenly realized she had to stop 'waiting' for her life to start and accept her sentence quietly by finding joy through sit-ups, writing letters and reading.

She went on to say she considered 'alternate realities' in prison about her being murdered instead of Meredith and another in which she killed herself.

Knox uploaded a photo of herself smiling in prison on Friday as she detailed her 'epiphany' while serving what she thought would be a 26-year sentence

Amanda Knox (pictured speaking in 2019, file photo) told her 128,000 followers that she would spend her prison days performing sit-ups, walking laps and reading and writing

She wrote: 'What if I had been home that night, not Meredith, and Rudy Guede had killed me instead?

'What if I was acquitted and freed in five years? In ten?

What if I served my entire sentence, and came home in my late 40s, a barren, bereft woman? What if I killed myself'

She said she examined these thoughts in 'vivid detail,' - a process which stopped them from 'creeping' into her nightmares.

But Knox explained her 'emotional default setting remained firmly stuck on sad,' during her time in prison adding 'I woke up sad, spent the entire day sad and went to sleep sad.'

However she found meaning through 'sit-ups, walking laps, writing a letter, reading a book.'

'I was slowly and deliberately walking a tightrope across a bottomless foggy abyss,' she wrote.

'In many ways, though Im now free, legally vindicated, a woman with a career in the arts (as Id always dreamed), an advocate for justice (which I never dreamed), a wife with a loving husband, a mother with a joyous child...Im still walking that tightrope,' she added.

Knox signed off the thread with a photograph of herself grinning in prison, writing: 'Everyone is going through something even when they're smiling.'

Many Twitter users heaped praise on Knox's 'insightful' thread - though others accused her of self-obsession.

On user wrote: 'And yet it's still ALL about you. Please go away and be quiet! A daughter and sister was murdered and she is the most important person in this horrific event, not you.'

Leeds University student Meredith, 21, was found stabbed to death with her throat slashed in her bedroom of the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia.

Meredith Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was killed just three months after moving to Italy for a study abroad programme at Perugia's prestigious university (pictured: in an undated photo released in November 2007)

Knox was convicted of killing Kercher with her then-lover Raffaele Sollecito . They are pictured reuniting in Italy 15 years after they were arrested

Knox, who was 20 at the time, and her Italian boyfriend Sollecito, then 23, were arrested four days later as prosecutors alleged the murder was part of a sex game gone awry.

They were convicted of raping and killing Kercher twice in Italian court.

The couple spent nearly four years in prison before their convictions were overturned due to a lack of any evidence linking them to the crime.

A court ruling ordered the Italian state to pay Knox $21,000 in damages.

Rudy Guede, 34, was instead found guilty after his DNA was discovered on Kercher's body despite his claims that he was in the bathroom listening to music when she was killed.

He was freed from prison after serving 13 years of a 30-year term.

Upon release, he said Knox 'knows the truth and I know the truth.'

Knox has since rebranded herself as an activist, writer and podcast host.

She went onto marry novelist and poet Christopher Robinson, 39, and the pair share a baby girl, named Eureka.

On Twitter Knox revealed how her mother had worried about her being depressed in prison - though added she knew 'deep in my bones I would survive.'

She started the thread by saying she felt the 'earth dropped out from beneath me and global shame rained down on me,' after being convicted of Kercher's killing in 2009 and sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Rudy Guede, pictured in 2007, is the only person to have been convicted over Kercher's murder. He was freed from prison after 13 years

Last year Guede, 34, following his release from jail pointedly suggested that Knox, 35, knows the truth and I know the truth. Pictured in 2020

The house where Kercher in Perugia, Italy, was killed pictured in 2007

'My epiphany was this: I was not, as I had assumed for my first two years of trial and imprisonment, waiting to get my life back,' she wrote.

'I was not some lost tourist waiting to go home. I was a prisoner, and prison was my home.

'Id thought I was in limbo, awkwardly positioned between my life (the life I should have been living), and someone elses life (the life of a murderer). I wasnt. I never had been.

'The conviction, the sentence, the prison cell*this* was my life.

'There was no life I *should* have been living. There was only my life, this life, unfolding before me.'

She said that the revelation gave her 'clarity', making her realize 'however small, cruel, sad, and unfair this life was, it was *my* life.'

'Mine to make meaning out of, mine to live to the best of my ability,' she added.

'There was no more waiting. There was only now.'
A middle school teacher is being hailed a hero for pulling a wheelchair-bound man from a burning van, moments before it erupted into a fiery ball of flames.

The heart-pounding incident took place on Thursday along Interstate-384 in Connecticut. The man, named only as John, had been driving his mobility-limited van and was using a wheelchair. After smelling smoke and seeing flames, he pulled his car over to the side of the road.

Heather Sica-Leonard was driving on the same ramp- heading eastbound, on her way home from work when she spotted the burning car, and a man hanging out the door- when her instincts immediately kicked into gear.

The man, identified as John, told her he was disabled and needed his chair. Without hesitation, the brave woman told NBC Connecticut that she 'grabbed' the man's chair, and 'helped him get into it...and then moved away from the vehicle,' moments before the fire consumed his vehicle.

Manchester Fire and Rescue and EMS said Sica-Leonard 'actions averted an almost certain fatal outcome and prevented anyone from being injured.'

The heart-pounding incident took place on Thursday along Interstate-384 in Connecticut. The man had been driving his mobility-limited van and was using a wheelchair. After smelling smoke and seeing flames, he pulled his car over to the side of the road

Manchester Fire and Rescue and EMS said Sica-Leonard 'selflessly got John and his wheelchair out of the car and moved him to safety,' putting herself at risk in the process

Fire officials immediately extinguished the fire using water, foam and dry chemical agents. They said the van's fuel tank ruptured, during the fire, causing a persistent fuel fire and spill which entered storm drains in the area

The Manchester Fire and Rescue said the wheelchair bound driver smelled smoke from his car and when he moved the car's cup holder that was when he discovered a burst of flames coming from his dash.

Fire officials immediately extinguished the fire using water, foam and dry chemical agents.

They said the van's fuel tank ruptured, during the fire, causing a persistent fuel fire and spill which entered storm drains in the area.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) responded to the scene to assess the damage and coordinate a cleanup.

Fire officials said the Good Samaritan moved the man to safety, 'all at great personal risk to injury.'

'She immediately stopped, approached the burning vehicle and selflessly got John and his wheelchair out of the car and moved him to safety, all at great personal risk to injury,' fire officials said.

The humble teacher, who works at Illing Middle School located on Middle Turnpike in East Manchester, just a few miles from the crash site, told the local news outlet that she had no idea the fire had started because it was the lower side of the dash.

'I just reacting to what looked like a driver struggling and a vehicle smoking.'

A picture of the van with black smoke billowing and flames along I-384 on Thursday

Image of the burnt out vehicle after fire officials extinguished the blaze

Many went to Facebook to commend Sica-Leonard for her selfless act. 'A true hero,' one person wrote. 'I hope the town of Manchester recognizes her heroic efforts to help this man to safety'

Many went to Facebook to commend Sica-Leonard for her selfless act.

'A true hero,' one person wrote. 'I hope the town of Manchester recognizes her heroic efforts to help this man to safety.'

'While most would simply stand by and record with their phones, she jumped into action without regard for her own safety. '

Another remarked: 'The world needs more people like her! God bless them both and thank you Heather for your selfless act.'
Troops who were medically discharged will also be allowed to rejoin

Desperate defence chiefs are allowing ex-soldiers to rejoin the Army after they were sacked for fighting, theft or going AWOL.

Troops who were medically discharged will also be allowed to rejoin, and will be able to keep any compensation they received when they were forced to retire.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has also said that soldiers who left the Forces after taking redundancy more than two years ago will likely be able to rejoin without having to pay back any cash.

It is understood that those who were sacked for smoking cannabis or who tested positive for drugs such as cocaine or amphetamines might also be reconsidered.

But personnel discharged for taking heroin or for selling drugs to other soldiers would not be allowed to return.

Former soldiers who were sacked for fighting, theft or going AWOL are being allowed to rejoin the army

The age at which soldiers can rejoin has also recently been increased from 52 to 57.

The changes have been announced on the MoDs website and form part of a new online recruitment campaign aimed at boosting troop numbers.

The Army is currently 4,000 soldiers understrength, and the latest Government figures show that more troops are leaving the Armed Forces than are joining.

More than 16,000 troops left the Armed Forces in 2022  the highest number in six years  but over the same period only 12,000 troops joined up. It comes after defence chiefs spent more than 70 million on recruitment campaigns between 2019 and 2021.

The Armys website states: You can apply to rejoin subject to any time bar or caveat associated with your discharge category. Each rejoiner will be considered on a case by case basis dependent on the nature of the discharge and the needs of the Army.

If you were medically discharged your details will be reviewed and treated on a case by case basis.

Colonel Philip Ingram, a former military intelligence officer, said: Recruiting soldiers who have been administratively or medically discharged smacks of desperation, and the MoD really needs to look at why retaining people is so difficult.

Poor accommodation, poor food, poorly serviced garrison towns, having to fill in for public servants who are striking when they are already on higher pay than the soldiers will all be contributing factors.

The Army must get a grip and its leaders need to lead, which is something that unfortunately I am hearing less and less of.

An Army spokesman said: The rejoiner policy is a long-standing policy. We continue to have sufficient numbers to meet operational need.
Adams told subscribers to 'get the f**k away from black people'

It comes after creator Scott Adams uploaded a racist tirade to YouTube

Newspapers are dropping the 'Dilbert' comic strip after creator Scott Adams launched into a racist tirade advising his followers to 'get the f**k' away from black people.

Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US, said it would stop publishing the comic immediately following the remarks made by its creator on his online show 'Real Coffee with Scott Adams.'

It comes after Dilbert was already canned by 77 newspapers in September due to its increasingly controversial plotlines including one about a black character who identifies as white.

The comic has been in circulation since 1989 and frequently pokes fun at office culture.

Adams, who is believed to have amassed more than $70 million from the Dilbert series, said in the livestreamed talk on Wednesday: 'The best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people.

Scott Adams, pictured in his studio in 2006, is believed to have amassed a $70 million fortune for his beloved 'Dilbert' comics which have been in circulation since 1989

Dilbert has featured in newspapers across 57 countries, and in 19 languages - and there are over 20 million Dilbert books and calendars in print

'Just get the f**k away. Wherever you have to go, just get away.'

He added: 'Theres no fixing this. This cant be fixed... You just have to escape. So thats what I did, I went to a neighborhood where I have a very low black population.'

The 65-year-old went on to label black people a 'hate group,' citing a poll that found nearly half of black people are not ok with white people.

The hour-long YouTube video was posted to Adams' channel which has 118,000 subscribers.

As of Saturday it had 142,000 views.

On Saturday Gannett, which owns over 100 newspapers, confirmed it was dropping Dilbert over the controversy.

'Recent discriminatory comments by the creator, Scott Adams, have influenced our decision to discontinue publishing his comic,' the organization said in a statement Saturday to The New York Post.

'While we respect and encourage free speech, his views do not align with our editorial or business values as an organization.

'At Gannett, we lead with inclusion and strive to maintain a respectful and equitable environment for the diverse communities we serve nationwide.'

The Cleveland Plain Dealer also said its cutting ties with Adams following his 'racist rant.'

'This is not a difficult decision,' Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn wrote Friday in his letter from the editor.

On Saturday Gannett, which owns over 100 newspapers, said it was dropping the series

The series had already been dropped by other publishers over its increasingly contentious plotlines

'Adams said Black people are a hate group, citing a recent Rasmussen survey which, he said, shows nearly half of all Black people do not agree with the phrase Its okay to be white.'

Newspaper cartoon Dilbert gets canceled after creator Scott Adams is branded racist

Adams appeared to double down on the remarks on Twitter at the weekend.

'A lot of people are angry at me today but I haven't yet heard anyone disagree,' he told his 867,000 followers.

'I make two main points: 1. Treat everyone as an individual (no discrimination).

'2. Avoid any group that doesn't respect you. Does anyone think that is bad advice?'

Later in the day he posted: 'Has anyone checked the price of free speech lately? Its worse than eggs.'

It comes five months after Lee enterprises also dropped the cartoon from its newspapers.

The media company owns 77 newspapers across the country - including The Buffalo News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Arizona Daily Sun - and had been publishing Adams' jokes about the corporate ladder for years.

Last year one plotline saw a black character, who identifies as white, being asked to also identify as gay to boost his company's environmental, social, and governance ratings.

Adams, pictured in 2001, has come under fire for the 'racist' remarks posted to his YouTube channel Real Coffee with Scott Adams

Dave, his reoccurring character, replies: 'Depends how hard you want me to sell it,' before the boss responds: 'Just wear better shirts.'

Another satire showed the same character in charge of the fictional firm wondering how he can open a new factory without contributing negatively to the environment.

As a solution to stop him being bashed by 'woke' commentators, the boss concludes that he'll add a non-binary worker to his board to increase diversity.

Adams' satirical strips feature in newspapers across 57 countries, and in 19 languages - and there are over 20 million Dilbert books and calendars in print.
Ukraine has launched a series of surprise attacks on Russian troops and supply lines in Mariupol  the first strikes on the city since it fell to the Kremlin last May after a brutal three-month siege that left the key port in ruins.

There were at least 18 strikes last week over three successive days  the most recent on Friday night  in a significant ratcheting up of Ukrainian efforts to retake its captured southern corridor, the strip of coastal land that links to Crimea.

There is speculation the explosions  which took place amid Kyivs warnings of a Russian offensive to coincide with the wars first anniversary  may have involved newly donated long-range US rockets with a range of almost 100 miles.

Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraines Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, said: Our military destroys Russian terrorists who invaded our city called Mariupol. And believe me, distance is not of great importance to us today.

Analysts believe the new initiative heralds the launch of Ukrainian efforts to drive a wedge through to the coast between Russian forces in the east and south of the country. There is talk of a major spring offensive once their military is boosted by Western weapons.

Ukrainian forces firing a rocket yesterday. Ukraine has launched a series of surprise attacks on Russian troops and supply lines in Mariupol

Russian Mishanin with his daughter Daria (pictured), who he said goodbye to at the train station in Odesa on April 4, 2022. He has now met up with her in Germany

Moscow has turned Mariupol into a significant garrison for its forces, believing that the Sea of Azov port was too far away to be hit by the nearest Ukrainian forces, about 60 miles away in the fiercely contested mining town of Vuhledar.

Mariupol sources say the attacks, targeted with the aid of local sympathisers, hit ammunition dumps, fuel depots and a military barracks based in a steel plant, resulting in 50 Russian casualties in the first wave of explosions on Wednesday.

There were 12 reported strikes that day, then five the following day  including at least two more on the Illich steel and iron works and one near the airport. Another explosion took place at about 10.30pm on Friday.

Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol. said: I am absolutely happy. We worked hard with our resistance inside Mariupol for this attack. This is a step towards the de-occupation of Mariupol. Any Ukrainian should be happy.

Another local official said Russian targets were also struck in the villages of Yalta and Yurivka, about 20 miles along the coast from Mariupol, where there is a large concentration of occupiers. Oleg Zhdanov, a former Ukrainian artillery colonel and leading defence analyst, said: What we are seeing in Mariupol is a systematic destruction of logistics supplies for the Russians. It looks like the same as we did before retaking Kherson.

A Ukrainian counter-offensive liberated Kherson four months ago in a major blow for Vladimir Putins claims to have annexed the entire region, although the city remains under frequent shelling from Russian forces.

A Russian Mishanin bidding farewell to his nine-year-old daughter as the train with his family on leaves for Poland in April 2022

Zhdanov said Mariupol was a key Russian hub for troops, weapons, ammunition, fuel and food. Liberation is not only possible but inevitable.

The only question is what weapon was used to reach Mariupol. We can only guess.

Intelligence sources in Kyiv declined to discuss the attacks. Previously, Ukraine has used drones, special forces operatives and groups of local partisans to strike deep behind enemy lines and even sites inside Russia.

Liberation is not just possible, it's inevitable

Last summer, the momentum of the war shifted after the US started supplying multiple-rocket launchers known as HIMARS, which fire satellite-guided rockets with a top range of 50 miles  more than anything Ukraine previously possessed.

Earlier this month Washington announced that it would almost double Kyivs strike range with the supply of the ground-launched small diameter bomb, a precision-guided rocket that can be launched in any weather and defeat electronic jamming.

Russian propagandists claimed these bombs were used in the Mariupol attacks  although the strikes could have involved long-range kamikaze drones already used for attacks on bases in Crimea and Russian airfields.

After the first attack last week, Russian-appointed officials sought to reassure residents by claiming their air defences had shot down two Ukrainian drones.Almost half a million people lived in the industrial port of Mariupol before the war, but following Russias bombardments that flattened much of the city, it is thought only about 90,000 Ukrainians remain under occupation.

Moscow is believed to have brought in about 40,000 civilians, many from central Asia, to clear the wreckage and cover up war crimes. Ukrainian symbols are being ripped down while Russian education, passports and television have been imposed.

Mykhailo Dianov, a Ukrainian marine who took part in the sieges brutal final battles at Azovstal steel plant, said Mariupol could be easily recaptured since their forces know all the bunkers, entrances and loopholes in the defences.

The only difficulty is that civilians remain there, he said.

One 18-year-old student, who stayed to care for his elderly grandmother, claimed to have heard the explosions. The Russians did not expect it. They keep saying that its all good, that there were drones and they just shot them down, but my house was shaking, he said.

An elderly woman in Mariupol said Russia failed to deliver on pledges to residents  including to fix a huge hole in her roof caused by their bombardment. They lied to us, she said. They dont even pay the pensions on time. Life got much worse.

We worked with our resistance in the city

A year ago we had everything. Yes, it was not perfect, but we had food and heating and there were all the products in the shops. I miss Ukrainian shops  its expensive and the choice is so poor and no one has money.

I dont know whos right and whos wrong. I just know that I had a better life. I was hoping Russia would do more for us.

General Valery Zaluzhny, head of Ukraines armed forces, says that he promised a four-year-old boy they will liberate Mariupol this year. Perhaps those strikes last week is the start of keeping that promise.
It was a moment of heartbreak, an immediately iconic image that captured painful separation, but was also a portent of the Ukrainian people's steely resolve.

As war erupted around them, Ruslan Mishanin held his hand to the glass window of a train as it prepared to depart from Odesa, taking his wife and children to safety in Western Europe. In the carriage, his nine-year-old daughter, Daria, reciprocated, two hands joined by love, but separated by glass.

Ruslan says his recollections of this 'saddest moment' are 'a bit blurry now and it feels like a lifetime ago'. But the photograph is seared into the memory of another father, in Britain, with daughters of a similar age, and it underpins British support for the Ukrainian cause.

That father was Rishi Sunak. Last week, he wrote in The Mail on Sunday about how moved he had been after seeing that picture, laden with such profound symbolism from a nation under attack.

Explaining the image's effect on him, he said: 'The photo was taken on an empty station platform. There is little detail in it, but the caption by the photographer simply reads: 'Ruslan Mishanin bids farewell to his nine-year-old daughter as the train with his family leaves for Poland, at the train station in Odesa, on Monday, April 4, 2022.

Ruslan Mishanin bids farewell to his nine year old daughter as the train with his family leaves for Poland, at the train station in Odesa, on Monday, April 4, 2022

Ruslan Mishanin has now meet up with his daughter in Germany after they said goodbye at a train station in Odesa

Ukrainian military fires from a multiple rocket launcher at Russian positions in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, February 25, 2023

'It was taken 39 days after Putin unleashed his full-scale invasion on Ukraine. As a father with daughters of a similar age, I can't begin to imagine how Ruslan must have felt.

'But despite the despair behind that image and all it represents, the courage of the individuals shines through. The courage of the nine-year-old girl saying goodbye to her father and the courage of Ruslan ready to stay and fight while seeing his loved ones go.'

Mr Sunak had no clue what had happened to the family in the intervening time since the picture was taken last April. But The Mail on Sunday has tracked down Ruslan to hear how his family's life has been since the war broke. What, we wondered, has happened to little Daria?

Ruslan, 38, an air traffic controller before the war, was painfully frank about his heartache at being parted from his family. He also spoke graciously about his nation's gratitude to Britain for supporting Ukraine in its existential struggle against barbarism and dictatorship.

He told us: 'When I was standing on that train platform, I thought I'd see my wife and children again by the end of the summer. We were all saying: 'See you soon.'

But their hopes were dashed as the war dragged on and then Putin started attacking Ukraine's energy system as winter descended on the war-torn country.

His wife, Svitlana, moved from Poland to Germany with Daria and Gleb, their son who turns two next month. One week after they left, the windows of the family home in Odesa were blown out after a Russian missile landed near their apartment block.

Since then, the area around their home has been hit another eight times. 'So, even though it was hard to send them away, I never regretted the decision  I know that it was right,' said Ruslan.

A member of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army fires a rocket propelled grenade while testing weapons systems on February 25, 2023

A Ukrainian Army officer instructs replacement troops on February 24, 2023

His resolve was strengthened by the energy crisis, which has hit the Black Sea port harder than most Ukrainian cities. 'We had power cuts for two to three days in a row. And there was no water, heating or electricity.'

It was so cold that Ruslan was sleeping fully dressed under several blankets in their eighth-floor flat. 'Having a little baby in the cold and in the darkness would have been awful,' he said. 'At least they are not freezing  and they are in safety.'

He also worried about supporting his family financially since civilian flights were cancelled at the start of the onslaught, leaving him without work  though he was retained by the airport on one-third pay, so not called up for military service.

Separation has been agonisingly tough. 'It's terribly challenging for all of us  but we don't have a choice until the war is over.

'For me, as a father, it has been so very hard not to see my children grow. When they left, my son was still crawling, so I didn't get to see his first step and didn't hear his first word. I'm sad that I missed some of the most important things in his life.'

His daughter had to leave her friends while studying online with her Odesa school. 'She left behind everything she loved. She has a new country, a new language, a new place.

'She studies German and tries to integrate but it's difficult and her German isn't that good yet.

'Daria says that most of all she wants to return to Ukraine to her usual, familiar life. Go back to her school, visit her after-school activities, spend time with friends. And of course, to be with her family, especially with me.'

Ukrainian Army replacement troops go through combat training on February 24, 2023

Russian shelling destroys a car as the first anniversary of the war between Russia and Ukraine nears, in Donbas, Ukraine on February 22, 2023

A Ukrainian tank is seen on the way to Bakhmut direction as the first anniversary of the war between Russia and Ukraine nears, in Donbas, Ukraine on February 22, 2023

Ruslan, who has been working as a taxi driver to make ends meet, admits that he misses his job as well as his family. 'The war took a lot from us. It split my family. But it also made me think about what is important and set the priorities straight.

'Many people are in a similar situation, when their families are abroad and the men are in the country  some working, some fighting, and some sadly are killed.

'But my closest relatives and friends are alive and that's what's most important. I would wish that for everyone.'

He has been allowed to leave the country this month for a holiday with his family in Germany and The Netherlands  and appreciates the support shown to Ukraine by its European allies, taking in refugees and supplying vital weapons. 'Britain was one of the first countries to show its support and start helping us. I'm grateful for that. I hope that Britain will continue that path under Rishi Sunak. They've done an amazing job.'

He has travelled to Britain in the past, staying in Bournemouth while studying for an air traffic controller's language course, and hopes to visit again with his family in more peaceful times. 'The UK is a lovely country,' he said.

But for now, his hopes are fixed on peace. 'Like many of us, I had hopes the war would end soon. Now I'm afraid it won't be over in the next half a year.

'The West has started sending us much-needed weapons, so maybe it will help end the war.'

A tank is seen on the street as the first anniversary of the war between Russia and Ukraine nears, in Bakhmut, Ukraine on February 22, 2023

Members of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army prepare to fire a rocket propelled grenade while testing weapons systems on February 25, 2023

When told that his family's plight had so moved the Prime Minister of Britain, Ruslan said he was amazed. 'There are so many more tragic photographs taken all over Ukraine in the past year. I don't know why exactly Mr Sunak paid attention to that picture.'

When shown the PM's article in The Mail on Sunday, he said it 'brought a lot of sad memories of that day back in April and the beginning of the war'.

Ruslan added: 'I very much hope that the next time I see my family, it will be on the same platform at the train station.

'But then, they will be returning home to Ukraine for good.'
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More than 3,000 people from 20 provinces turned out today to participate in a patriotic military training camp where children were taught how to use guns and drenched in buckets of icy water in the dead of winter.

The military event, titled 'Be Healthy Is Trendy' took place in Krasnogorsk, west of Moscow, and supported by the Presidential Administration and Sport Ministry.

Shocking images from the event came to light, showing rows of wide-eyed children wearing crop-tops and crocs holding buckets of icy water in the snow.

In front of them, a shirtless man demonstrates how to tip the bucket on himself, before turning to scream in the faces of his audience.

The sea of people shout back, bending into sumo squats and flexing their muscles.

More than 3,000 people from 20 provinces turned out today to participate in a patriotic military training camp where children were taught how to use guns

Shocking images from the event came to light today, showing rows of wide-eyed children wearing crop-tops and crocs holding buckets of icy water in the snow

In front of them, a shirtless man demonstrates how to tip the bucket on himself, before turning to scream in the faces of his audience

The sea of people shout back, bending into sumo squats and flexing their muscles

Some look visibly cold, but many are putting on brave faces. Temperatures plummeted to -5C in the region today.

Elsewhere, women and children were taught salutes by officials wearing shirts which read: 'We will win', with letters 'Z' and 'V', symbols of Russian pro-war propaganda.

During the same event, children and adult participants were also taught how to handle weapons.

Photographs show young boys brandishing Kalashnikov AK-74 assault rifles alongside men in military uniforms.

Other uniformed guards give lessons on how to correctly hold the weapons, while more military personnel watch on from the sidelines.

It comes amid reports Russian soldiers have committed nearly 90,000 war crimes in Ukraine with thousands of innocent people murdered, raped and tortured.

The Ukrainian government has logged the atrocities which have taken place since the invasion on February 24 last year.

During the same event, children and adult participants were also taught how to handle weapons. Photographs show young boys brandishing Kalashnikov AK-74 assault rifles alongside men in military uniforms

Shocking images from the event came to light today, showing rows of wide-eyed children wearing crop-tops and crocs holding buckets of icy water in the snow

Women and children were taught salutes by officials wearing shirts which read: 'We will win', with letters 'Z' and 'V', symbols of Russian pro-war propaganda

Other uniformed guards give lessons on how to correctly hold the weapons, while more military personnel watch on from the sidelines

The military event, titled 'Be Healthy Is Trendy' took place in Krasnogorsk, west of Moscow, and supported by the Presidential Administration and Sport Ministry

The southern city of Kherson suffered 8,000 crimes as it was occupied for eight months before Ukrainian soldiers retook it in November.

Torture chambers have been found including one dubbed 'The Hole' where prisoners were electrocuted and beaten.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President, said: 'Alas the scale of the tragedy is far greater.

'For in nearly every liberated town or village we find evidence of torture and extrajudicial executions.'

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Friday to do everything to defeat Russia this year, as the first Leopard tanks arrived in Ukraine on the anniversary of the start of Europe's largest conflict since World War II.

Street protests against the Russian invasion were held in many European capitals to mark the anniversary, and fresh Western sanctions targeted Russia's banks, military industry and semiconductor access.

Moscow - without evidence - has accused Kyiv of committing genocide against Russian speakers in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, which has seen fighting between Ukraine's forces and Russian separatists since 2014.

The military event, titled 'Be Healthy Is Trendy' took place in Krasnogorsk, west of Moscow, and supported by the Presidential Administration and Sport Ministry

In front of them, a shirtless man demonstrates how to tip the bucket on himself, before turning to scream in the faces of his audience

Participants pose for a group photo during the patriotic military event called "Be healthy is trendy", on February 25, 2023

A woman eximines a Kalashnikov AK-74 assault rifle as an officer of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in militay uniform looks on

A man eximines a Kalashnikov AK-74 assault rifle
An aspiring New York City socialite has been excommunicated from Manhattan's high society after allegedly selling them fake Hermes Birkin bags and sending his friend to a fake appointment to get one of the coveted purses.

George Mickum, a writer and former real estate agent, has had the door locked behind him as New York high society is working hard to block him from all events and encouraging popular spots like the Polo Bar to keep him out.

Mickum has been accused of selling fake Hermes Birkins, which are often seen on the arms of the Kardashians and average around $25,000. The Guest of a Guest writer has denied the allegations, calling it 'absurd and false,' according to Page Six.

He was also accused of selling a woman $100,000 worth of fake jewels that he claimed was worth $500,000, according to Avenue Magazine.

'The door is slammed shut! People are blocking him on Instagram, social media, blocking his emails, his phone numbers. Nobody seriously social or with substance is talking to him,' a source told Page Six.

George Mickum, a writer and former real estate agent, has had the door locked behind him as New York high society is working hard to block him from all events and encouraging popular spots like the Polo Bar to keep him out

Mickum (left) with his former friend, Hannah Stella (right) who said he sent to her a fake appointment with Michael Coste, the Head of VIP sales at Hermes Paris, two summers ago and left her humiliated when Coste told her he had no idea who George was

His former friend, Hannah Stella, took to TikTok to reveal Mickum reportedly sent to her a fake appointment with Michael Coste, the Head of VIP sales at Hermes Paris, two summers ago. However, when Stella arrived at the appointment, she found out no such appointment existed.

'George sent me to that appointment and that appointment did not exist,' she claimed on the popular social media app. 'So I emailed Michael and he said he didn't know who George was.'

Stella said she was 'mortified' that her friend, who she had dinner with every Monday, had done this and left her 'crying in the Hermes store.'

Fortunately for the socialite, the store took pity on her and set up an appointment for her the very next day, where she purchased her 'favorite' Gold Birkin 30, which retails for around $30,000.

The former friends, pictured together, used to go to dinner every Monday

Mickum used his mother's connections to get into NYC high society. His mother, Sally A. Painter, is a former Clinton advisor

In another video, where she confronts her haters for whining about being scammed out of luxury item, she said: 'When you have what is to you a very authentic friendship with another person and then you find out that person has been using and stealing from you - he didn't steal from me, but allegedly other people - that's very hurtful.'

The grifter entered Manhattan's high society through his mother Sally A. Painters connections, according to Page Six, but now those connections are blocking him.

'The word is out,' the source told Page Six. 'You cant sell the guy a ticket [to any charity event] and no ones supposed to bring him. A wall is being built up in society to prevent him from entering.

Stella said her 'charismatic' friend is 'using people and [is] so calculating,' who is being compared to fake German heiress, Anna Sorokin

@hannahstella Replying to @thatonewiththeface to me, its less about money and more about the human impact  original sound - Hannah Stella

'Society is asking everyone to even name their [plus ones], so he cant slip in,' he said. 'Everyone knows and is talking about it. No one wants to see him anywhere.'

Stella said her 'charismatic' friend is 'using people and [is] so calculating,' who is being compared to fake German heiress Anna Sorokin.

'Gross,' she told Page Six.

None of Mickum's victims have sued him for selling them fake luxury items.

Mickum's mother has connections to the Clintons, as she worked as a senior advisor for the President in the 1990s. Using his mother's connections, the wannabe socialite attended plenty of parties from Art Basel to Aspen and told people that he was friends with princes and princesses and the Kardashians.

He also allegedly told people he lived off champagne and caviar.
An MP who quit the Labour Party four years ago amid concerns about antisemitism will rejoin the party after being lured back by Sir Keir Starmer.

Luciana Berger became disillusioned about her party in the spring of 2019 and quit after almost a decade as the MP for Liverpool Wavertree.

Ms Berger, originally from Wembley in north-west London, cited a 'sea of cases' of antisemitism within Labour, accusing its top brass of choosing to 'brush under the carpet' any complaints.

Sir Keir has said he is 'delighted' that Ms Berger has accepted his invitation to rejoin the party.

He wrote on Twitter: 'My test for change was whether those who were rightly appalled by how far we had fallen believe this is their party again.

Luciana Berger became disillusioned about her party in the spring of 2019 and quit after almost a decade as the MP for Liverpool Wavertree

'I know we've more to do but we're unrecognisable from the party that forced her out.'

He posted images of letters exchanged with Ms Berger in which she writes: 'I am looking forward to rejoining the party and working with you to continue what you have started.

'It is time to replace this reckless and divisive government and ultimately make the difference our country so desperately deserves.'

In her letter she said it was a 'grim journey' from 2015 to 2019 'during which the party fell into the depths of the abyss under Jeremy Corbyn's reign'.

She said it was 'agonising' to be put in a position in which she had no other choice but to leave her 'political home'.

'I never expected to bear witness to the volume and toxicity of anti-Jewish racism espoused by people who had been allowed to join Labour, and to experience a leadership that treated antisemitism within the party's ranks differently to every other kind of racism - and that by refusing to condemn it, encouraged it.

'But that is exactly what happened.'

Sir Keir said in his letter to Ms Berger that she left the party because she was 'forced out by intimidation, thuggery and racism', adding: 'Yours was a principled and brave move.

Sir Keir said in his letter to Ms Berger that she left the party because she was 'forced out by intimidation, thuggery and racism', adding: 'Yours was a principled and brave move

'But it was one you should never have been forced to take. That day will forever be a stain on Labour's history.'

He added : 'Before you were forced out of the party, you were an outstanding Member of Parliament.'

The party and British politics are 'poorer places' without Ms Berger, Sir Keir said, and apologised to her for the 'intolerable and unacceptable' experience she had.

'The abuse you suffered was disgusting. You were left isolated and exposed. Shamefully, those who should have defended you stood by.

'The Labour Party - our party - has always prided itself on being a party of equality, collectivism, solidarity and anti-racism.

'But during those dark days we were none of those things.'

The human rights watchdog found the party broke equality law over its handling of antisemitism complaints.

A damning report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in 2020 found the party was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.

Mr Corbyn rejected some of the report's findings and claimed the issue had been 'dramatically overstated for political reasons' by his critics.

His comments led to Labour's headquarters suspending him from the party.

Sir Keir said the findings of the EHRC investigation were 'hard to read', adding that it was 'a day of shame for the Labour Party'.
He may have been a muppet for revealing details of how he lost his virginity in a field behind a pub, but Prince Harrys indiscretion may yet do some good.

The woman he romped with is auctioning off the Miss Piggy toy he gave her as a birthday present on that fateful night. Sasha Walpole, 40, a digger driver from Wiltshire, hopes to raise money to help victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Harry sparked a global guessing game when he wrote in his memoir Spare about having sex with an older woman whod treated him not unlike a young stallion. After weeks of intense speculation, mother-of-two Sasha told this newspaper she was his mystery lover.

Last night, she said: The earthquake happened the day after my story came out and I remember thinking how much more important this was than who had or hadnt slept with a Prince.

I thought auctioning this bit of cheeky Royal memorabilia could be my way of helping out.

Sasha Walpole, 40, a digger driver from Wiltshire, hopes to raise money to help victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, The Mail on Sunday can reveal

Left to right - Emma Lippiatt, Sasha Walpole, Prince Harry and Lizzie Ward at The Beaufort Polo Club, bear Tetbury, Gloucestershire

Miss Piggy had been living quietly up in my attic for 20 years, so hopefully someone can give her a new lease of life that befits her colourful outfit and story.

To me it was just a stuffed toy given to me by a friend. But I hope it raises a lot of money for a good cause. Harry, now 38, was a 16-year-old Eton schoolboy at the time of his encounter with Sasha. He was a guest at her 19th birthday party at The Vine Tree pub in Norton, Wiltshire, in July 2001, and bought her a tray of shots before the pair crept out to have a cigarette away from Harrys protection squad.

He started to kiss me, she told the MoS. It was passionate, intense, we both knew. We didnt set out to do it and I didnt know he was a virgin. It was quick, wild, exciting.

Harry sparked a global guessing game when he wrote in his memoir Spare about having sex with an older woman whod treated him not unlike a young stallion. After weeks of intense speculation, mother-of-two Sasha told this newspaper she was his mystery lover

Sasha loyally kept Harrys secret for 20 years, only revealing it after the January publication of Spare. Harry won Miss Piggy on an outing to Thorpe Park, Surrey, on the day of Sashas party. He stuffed its bra with tissues then handed it over with a comedy card featuring a flatulent whale and signed loads of love, Baz (his nickname).

The card is not included in the auction, which opens today on eBay. Money raised will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Sasha has not heard from Harry since the story broke. She said: Im not offended, but it would have been nice, given the upheaval it caused.

Bid in the auction here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225444925431
When King Charles travels to Europe at the end of March, it will not be the first time he has strayed into the Brexit debate.

In 2020, Charles and Camilla flew to Germany, where the then Prince of Wales delivered an impassioned speech about the 'enduring connections' between the two nations.

Coming four years after Britons voted to break away from the EU, it was interpreted in some quarters as a coded sign of Charles's continued affection for the bloc: a hint, perhaps, that had he been allowed to vote he might have been a Remainer rather than a Brexiteer.

Charles, speaking to the Bundestag, quoted the English poet John Donne who famously wrote that 'No man is an island', telling the assembled politicians: 'One might equally submit that no country is really an island either, other than in the wholly literal sense. Our histories bind us tightly together, and our destinies, although each our own to forge, are interdependent to a considerable degree.'

Some saw parallels with the late Queen's comments just ahead of the Scottish referendum on independence in 2014, when she said outside Crathie Kirk  the church nearest Balmoral  how she hoped that Scots would 'think very carefully about the future'.

A MAJOR MISSTEP? Brexiteers have warned Mr Sunak not to use the King for his own political ends

Conservative MPs see it as an overtly political visit  an opportunity to smooth relations that may otherwise be left bristling after the thorny business of thrashing out a deal

Now, the King and Queen Consort will travel to the Continent for a new diplomatic mission  and it appears it will take place after the Government has finalised the tricky issue of the Northern Ireland border in the Brexit negotiations.

Conservative MPs see it as an overtly political visit  an opportunity to smooth relations that may otherwise be left bristling after the thorny business of thrashing out a deal. As far as the King is concerned, it will be deeply personal. He will be acting primarily to preserve our ties to an even closer neighbour  Northern Ireland itself.

Like his late mother, the King is well-versed in the history of Irish politics.

When Lord Mountbatten was killed in an IRA bomb blast in 1979, a bereft Charles described him as 'the grandfather I never had'.

Today, protecting the peace process is said to be utmost in his mind.

A source close to him said: 'Northern Ireland matters greatly to the King, who makes a point of visiting every year.

'If he can bring European allies together to maintain that and solve the Northern Ireland issue after Brexit, then so much the better.'

In June 2012, the Queen made a two-day visit to Northern Ireland that culminated in an historic handshake with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.

Now the King will continue her work, and is likely to do so with outspoken words as well as deeds.

Unlike the late Queen, who seldom let her personal views be known, the public is already well aware of Charles's opinions on matters ranging from climate change to religion.

One palace insider described him as 'a campaigning King'; another, as a 'convening King'.

As Prince of Wales he reportedly described the Government plan to deport immigrants to Rwanda as 'appalling'.

And just last week when he marked a year of war in Ukraine, it was clear what his views on arming President Volodymyr Zelensky's forces were when he said it was 'heartening' that the UK and its allies were doing 'everything possible to help at this most difficult time'.

'If he brings allies together to solve this, so much the better'
Boris Johnson found himself in hot water last night after saying f*** the Americans when told Rishi Sunak had to compromise on a new Northern Ireland deal to boost relations with the US.

The former Prime Minister swore last week while dismissing claims that Mr Sunak had to revise the post-Brexit Protocol arrangements to win favour with pro-Irish US President Joe Biden.

A source close to Mr Johnson admitted he used the words in an exchange with former Tory Cabinet Minister and Remain campaigner Sir Robert Buckland, but insisted it was jocular and had been misunderstood. Sir Robert, who was Justice Secretary in Mr Johnsons Cabinet, described it as a cordial exchange.

Labour said last night it was no joke to the Americans, who are our closest allies, and Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Kyle added: Its no joke to the people of Northern Ireland who are desperate to get a new deal done.

Mr Johnson, who agreed the original Protocol deal for Northern Ireland, is leading the fight to stop Mr Sunak giving too much ground to Brussels to resolve the Provinces post-Brexit status.

Last week, Mr Johnson insisted the best way forward was to allow the UK to halt EU checks on goods sent to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

The former Prime Minister swore last week while dismissing claims that Mr Sunak had to revise the post-Brexit Protocol arrangements to win favour with pro-Irish US President Joe Biden

Labour said last night it was no joke to the Americans, who are our closest allies, and Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Kyle (pictured) added: Its no joke to the people of Northern Ireland who are desperate to get a new deal done.

Four years ago Mr Johnson refused to deny claims that he said f*** business when warned of firms fears about the terms of the UKs exit from the EU.

Last week as they chatted privately in the Commons, the ex-PM was told by Sir Robert that a new deal would foster good relations with Washington and boost hopes of a trade deal with the USA.

Mr Johnson, himself born in New York, made clear this not a matter for the USA by replying: F**k the Americans!

The blunt riposte came despite concerns that Mr Biden, who prides himself on his Irish roots, could cancel an expected State visit to the UK in April if no deal is reached on the Northern Ireland protocol.

But last night, a source close to Mr Johnson said: This was a jocular conversation in the Chamber with Robert Buckland that someone has evidently misunderstood.

Mr Johnson, who agreed the original Protocol deal for Northern Ireland, is leading the fight to stop Mr Sunak (pictured) giving too much ground to Brussels to resolve the Provinces post-Brexit status

Sir Robert, who was Justice Secretary in Mr Johnsons Cabinet, also insisted it was a cordial exchange and that both men wanted progress on Northern Ireland even if they differed on how to do so.

The former Justice Secretary said last week that Mr Johnsons Protocol Bill had outlived its usefulness.
Foreign monarchs will be invited to King Charless Coronation in an historic break with a longstanding Royal tradition.

Save the date notices are expected to go out to guests this week with official invitations to follow in April.

And while the guest list has been slashed from the 8,000 who attended the late Queens Coronation in 1953 to 2,000, there is one area the King has expanded.

For centuries, convention dictated that no other crowned Royals should be present at the Coronation of a British monarch because the sacred ceremony is intended to be an intimate exchange between the monarch and their people in the presence of God.

But as part of his plan to bring the ceremony up to date, King Charles has decided to move on from the 900-year-old tradition by inviting his crowned friends, including European royals and rulers from Arab states.

Foreign monarchs will be invited to King Charless Coronation in an historic break with a longstanding Royal tradition

A source said: Inviting the King of Jordan (left), the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman and the Scandinavian royals  who are all friends of Charles  will be a good bit of soft power and diplomacy.' Pictured: The King and Queen of Jordan at Queen Elizabeth's funeral

A source told The Mail on Sunday that tradition is being overhauled in the name of diplomacy, saying: I believe the rule began because a Coronation is meant to be a monarchs private event with God.

At the Queens Coronation there were no crowned monarchs, only the protectorate rulers like the Queen of Tonga. Its been a tradition for centuries.

The source added: Inviting the King of Jordan, the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman and the Scandinavian royals  who are all friends of Charles  will be a good bit of soft power and diplomacy.

Another well-placed source said: You can expect the guest list for the Coronation to more closely resemble that of a royal wedding than the Coronation 70 years ago.

The Sultan of Brunei (pictured) - who is friends with Charles - will be invited to the coronation

Queen Elizabeth II receiving the Sultan of Oman (centre) - who will also be invited to the coronation - in December 2021

Prince Sofia and Prince Carl Phillip of Sweden are also on the guest list

The decision over whether or not Charles will invite foreign monarchs has been kept a closely guarded secret. Prince Albert of Monaco came close to letting slip that a major break with tradition was coming when he revealed in January that he was expecting an invitation, along with his wife, Charlene of Monaco.

He said at the time: I dont know how many coronations of an English monarch Ill see in my lifetime, so well try to take advantage of that. Prince Albert added that he does not expect his children to be invited.

It is still uncertain whether Prince Harry will visit for the occasion from his home in California with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Inviting foreign monarchs is the latest change brought about by Charles as part of a coronation overhaul. He has already reduced a lengthy section of the ceremony known as the homage, during which hereditary peers dressed in ermine line up to pay their respects.

He also intends to give greater prominence to representatives from a host of charities.

The Royal Familys website states: The coronation ceremony is an occasion for pageantry and celebration, but it is also a solemn religious ceremony and has remained essentially the same over a thousand years.

The Coronation was designed, in part, by retired colonel Anthony Mather, who also wrote the Queens funeral plan. The blueprint is being brought to fruition by the Duke of Norfolk, who is Earl Marshall and the most senior peer in Britain.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
A school chaplain sacked for defending the right to question new LGBT policies has spoken of his fears for freedom of speech after losing an unfair dismissal case.

The Reverend Dr Bernard Randall told pupils they were allowed to disagree with the measures, particularly if they felt they ran contrary to Church of England principles.

But the school, Trent College in Nottingham, which has a long Anglican tradition, decided his sermon was harmful to pupils, secretly reported him to the anti-terrorism Prevent programme  which normally identifies those at risk of radicalisation  and later fired him.

Last night Dr Randall, 50, described losing his case as a 'blow for free speech and Christian freedoms'.

He told The Mail on Sunday: 'This is also a personal blow. We will appeal, so it takes up yet more of my life. But it is only one battle in the war to preserve free speech and the liberal values which built our country.

FIGHTER: Dr Randall said he will appeal verdict

Last night Dr Randall, 50, described losing his case as a 'blow for free speech and Christian freedoms'.

'There is a greater cause here, and I will carry on fighting as long as I am able. It is hard work being on the front line of the culture war, and it is costly. But we must not give up because of one setback.

'I want our generation's children and children's children to grow up in a society where truth can be maintained over the ugly divisiveness of identity politics.'

After his dismissal he received a flood of support from parents, former pupils and members of the public. A retired archdeacon wrote: 'You have been treated in a manner that is utterly contemptible. I thought your chapel address was gracious, thoughtful and entirely appropriate.'

But he received no backing from the Church of England hierarchy, whose silence was described as 'appalling' by campaigners last night.

Dr Randall's sermon, delivered in the school chapel in June 2019, was prompted, he says, by pupils' concerns about an organisation called Educate & Celebrate (E&C) run by Dr Elly Barnes, which was invited to 'embed gender, gender identity and sexual orientation into the fabric' of the school and help 'develop a whole-school LGBT+ inclusive curriculum'.

He said in his sermon: 'You should no more be told you have to accept LGBT ideology, than you should be told you must be in favour of Brexit, or must be Muslim.' But he stressed the 'need to treat each other with respect'.

During staff training, Ms Barnes had encouraged staff to chant 'smash heteronormativity', which Dr Randall, a former Cambridge University chaplain and Oxford graduate, described as bizarre.

He said in his sermon: 'You should no more be told you have to accept LGBT ideology, than you should be told you must be in favour of Brexit, or must be Muslim.' But he stressed the 'need to treat each other with respect'

But following a hearing at East Midlands Employment Tribunal, Judge Victoria Butler said this was 'simply an enthusiastic attempt by Ms Barnes to warm up the teachers at the outset of the day'. Judge Butler noted that the Church of England cites E&C as a recognised 'resource'.

During investigations by the school and the diocese, Dr Randall repeatedly raised that his beliefs on marriage and sexuality were based on CofE public liturgy, especially the Book of Common Prayer, and Canon law which states that marriage is 'in its nature a union permanent and lifelong... of one man with one woman'.

However, Judge Butler suggested that Dr Randall had 'misconceived' what E&C is and that he had 'an extreme reaction' to their involvement within the school.

She said: 'We saw and heard no evidence that came anywhere close to supporting the claimant's view that E&C would indoctrinate pupils in such a way.' She added the decision to refer Dr Randall to the terror watchdog was justified 'from a safeguarding perspective'.

Dr Randall's claims for unfair dismissal, discrimination, harassment and victimisation were all rejected.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre who backed Dr Randall's case, said: 'The message from this judgment to Christians is you cannot disagree or express disagreement with LGBT teaching  you must comply, celebrate and promote.'
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?

It's the post-Brexit trading deal agreed between London and Brussels that lets goods be transported across the Irish land border without the need for checks.

What is the likely new deal?

Almost all checks and most paperwork on trade crossing the Irish Sea would be scrapped. Crucially, it is still not clear if Westminster would set Northern Ireland's VAT and state aid policy. The Northern Irish Assembly and the UK Government would have the right to be consulted on, and challenge, new EU laws affecting the province.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends a news conference in Brussels, Belgium February 16, 2023

Rishi Sunak is said to believe the deal meets all the DUP's seven 'red line' tests  but its leaders have scuppered attempted deals in the past. Pictured: DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson at the Culloden Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland, February 17, 2023

Would the deal address sovereignty?

Concerns remain around the question of whether EU law ultimately trumps UK law in Northern Ireland. Under the proposed deal, there's controversially expected to be a role for the European Court of Justice, but only as a court of last resort and after referral by the Northern Irish courts.

Is the Democratic Unionist Party expected to accept?

Rishi Sunak is said to believe the deal meets all the DUP's seven 'red line' tests  but its leaders have scuppered attempted deals in the past.

What does Boris Johnson say?

He's urged Mr Sunak to keep legislation he himself introduced as PM to allow the Government to unilaterally rip up the present Brexit deal. It has been put on hold as talks continue. However, Downing Street says any deal would make the Johnson legislation redundant.

Would Northern Irish manufacturers face issues in the future?

At present, goods made in Northern Ireland can be sold to the EU and UK without any 'Brexit paperwork'. However, it is not clear what might happen if the UK diverges from EU rules in the future. Manufacturers may have to create two separate products, one for each market. The British Government is understood to have insisted that Northern Irish goods can be sold throughout the UK.
Prince Andrew feels 'betrayed' by successive Prime Ministers who he blames for 'cutting him dead' and encouraging him to agree prematurely to a 12million settlement with his accuser Virginia Giuffre, sources have said.

Andrew, who has told friends that he 'rues the day' he made the out-of-court settlement, is understood to have felt partly pressurised into the agreement after a conversation with Boris Johnson in January last year.

The Prince paid the money while emphatically denying Ms Giuffre's claims that he had sexually assaulted her when she was 17.

Sources say Mr Johnson told him 'it would be best for all of those involved to settle this thing' and 'that would be the end of it'.

The Prince is also understood to harbour a grudge against David Cameron, saying that when he was PM, Mr Cameron was 'all over him' for his work in hosting events at Buckingham Palace for entrepreneurs.

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, (left) pictured with Ms Giuffre (centre) and Ghislaine Maxwell (right)

Andrew, who has told friends that he 'rues the day' he made the out-of-court settlement, is understood to have felt partly pressurised into the agreement after a conversation with Boris Johnson in January last year

The Prince is also understood to harbour a grudge against David Cameron, saying that when he was PM, Mr Cameron was 'all over him' for his work in hosting events at Buckingham Palace for entrepreneurs

The source said: 'When the Giuffre saga resurfaced in late 2019, Cameron cut him dead and would not make eye contact if they were both at the same events.'

Mr Johnson declined to comment.
Ghislaine Maxwell will this week launch her appeal to overturn her 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking by claiming one of the jurors who convicted her broke the law by calling his psychiatrist during the trial.

The 20,000-word appeal must be filed before the US Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit in New York before the deadline on Tuesday.

The MoS has learned that the appeal  filed by Maxwell's 'pitbull' lawyer Arthur Aidala, who represented disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein  will focus on whether Juror 50 violated the judge's orders not to discuss the case.

A source said: 'The juror admitted he called his psychiatrist during deliberations because he was so upset. This is in clear violation of the judge's order not to discuss the case with anyone.

'It doesn't matter that he was calling a medical professional. He clearly broke the rules and violated the jurors' oath which gives strong grounds for appeal.'

Ghislaine Maxwell (pictured with Jeffrey Epstein) will this week launch her appeal to overturn her 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking by claiming one of the jurors who convicted her broke the law by calling his psychiatrist during the trial

Maxwell's lawyers have identified at least two other jurors who also failed to disclose that they had been victims of sexual assault

Juror 50, who identified himself as Scotty David, also failed to disclose he had been a victim of sexual abuse, a fact he later said helped him 'influence' other jurors during deliberations.

Maxwell's lawyers have identified at least two other jurors who also failed to disclose that they had been victims of sexual assault.

'Her lawyers will argue that Ms Maxwell was not tried by 12 fair and impartial jurors,' the source added.

The British socialite was convicted in December 2021 on five counts related to her role as paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's alleged 'madam'.

The disgraced financier killed himself in jail in 2019 while being held on child sex charges.
READ MORE: My magical train trip along the Harry Potter viaduct in Scotland

Its unique French-Spanish status is due to the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659

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It's the island with an identity crisis - it's either French or Spanish, depending on the time of year.

Pheasant Island, an uninhabited isle that lies on the Bidasoa river along the border between France and Spain, is French for one half of the year, while for the other half, it belongs to Spain.

Since the mid-17th century, the island, which measures 200m (660ft) long and 40m (130ft) wide, has been governed by Spain from February 1 to July 31, at which point it is handed over to the French, who rule the isle from August 1 to January 31.

How did the situation come about? In 1659, the island - deemed a neutral space - hosted the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, a peace treaty between Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain that ended the Franco-Spanish War that began in 1635.

As part of the treaty, it was decided that the two countries would alternate command of the island, making it a 'condominium' - a territory over which multiple states share equal authority.

Pheasant Island (pictured), set in the Bidasoa river, is French for one half of the year, while for the other half of the year, it belongs to Spain

The uninhabited island measures 200m (660ft) long and 40m (130ft) wide. On the Spanish side is the town of Irun and on the French side the town of Hendaye

An ode to this event, a stone monolith, was erected on the island in 1861 - the side facing Spain is inscribed in Spanish, while French lettering is etched into the side that faces France, the travel site Fascinating Spain reveals.

That wasnt the only significant historical event to have taken place on this tiny outcrop.

In 1660, Maria Theresa of Spain said goodbye to her father and the Spanish court on the island, before crossing into France to become the wife of the French King Louis XIV.

The event has gone down in the history books as the 'Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants'.

Later, in 1721, King Louis XV met his prospective wife Mariana Victoria of Spain on the island. Alas, they never wed, as Louis went on to marry Marie Leszczynska, a member of a prominent Polish noble family.

What's more, Basque Country Tourism reveals that 'the island has also been used throughout history for hostage exchanges'.

Though its name suggests otherwise, there are no pheasants to be found on the island. According to Fascinating Spain, when the Romantic writer Victor Hugo visited the isle in 1843, he lamented seeing at most a cow and three ducks, but no pheasants.

Today, access to the island is limited - it may only be visited by the public on special heritage days that have been arranged to commemorate the historic treaty.

The island is a 'condominium' - a territory over which multiple sovereign forces share equal power

A stone monolith was erected on the island in 1861 to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. As part of the treaty, Spain and France alternate governance of the island

A painting by the artist Jacques Laumosnier depicts the 1660 meeting of France's Louis XIV and Philip IV of Spain, ahead of the French King's proposed marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain

As the Bidasoa river is tidal, with water flowing into the Cantabrian Sea, the island can sometimes be reached by foot from Spain.

The Basque town of Irun is set on the Spanish side of the river. After taking in the view of Pheasant Island from the riverbanks, visitors can admire the town's ancient Roman baths and dine out in an array of Basque restaurants.

Over on the French side of the river, meanwhile, there's Hendaye, a Basque seaside town that offers travellers sandy beaches and a 19th-century chateau.

The local councils of both Irun and Hendaye take responsibility for maintaining the island, reaching it by boat to cut back its undergrowth and prune its trees.
Stunt doubles are often the un-sung stars of Hollywood as they put their bodies and lives on the line in dangerous situations.

In January, pregnant Kaley Cuoco's body double even went to the lengths of sporting a matching prosthetic belly.

However, thanks to the magic of editing, these daredevil doubles go unnoticed.

Putting the spotlight on them for a change, can you guess what star they are for?

Can you guess the identity of this A-list Hollywood star chatting with their stunt double on set in New York?

Which star of a popular BBC drama is keeping warm with a pair of earmuffs alongside her stunt double?

Having a merry time! Can you work out which actor is sharing a drink with their jolly-looking double?

Stunt doubles can make anywhere from 8,500 to 216,000 a year, with the average salary at around 38,762.

Only a select few at the very top of the industry earn a six figure annual income.

Life can also be deeply unglamorous, despite what you might think.

Stunt doubles might be flown to exotic locations, but days can often be long and arduous.

Suited and booted: Can you guess which famous film star is walking with their double on location in Italy?

Which Hollywood star was spotted on a boat on the River Thames in London with her body double?

Double denim: Which British actor can be seen filming an advert for Calvin Klein?

Can you guess the America actress was spotted filming Netflix film with their double in Co Mayo?

Having a good old laugh: Which former soap star can be seen making her body double chuckle?

Many of them have to film for 14 hours a days, or even longer, and that's not including night shifts.

Also, if you are filming a complex water scene perhaps you may have to spend the entire day submerged in water.

On top of the uncomfortable filming conditions, preparing for a stunt can take weeks of planning and rehearsing.

It also takes hours to set up a scene to get the right cars, lighting and equipment.

Tricky: The identity of this Spanish star filming with his double in New York might be tough to guess

Sliding onto set: Which US actress was walking around in comfortable footwear with her body double?

Can you guess which UK actor and DJ (big clue) was spotted on the set of an action movie in Glasgow?

Playing the part: This body double looks like she's really in character, but who is she stepping in for?

Which Hollywood star and comedian is being directed on this film set with his stunt double?

Which dapper-looking actor is filming with his double on the set of a film in New York?

For Marvel fans, this double superhero suit might be a giveaway, but which actress is the star of the film?

There is also a great deal of pressure on stunt people to deliver the goods in one take.

On huge set piece film sets with an explosion or chase sequence, stunt doubles don't have the luxury of having many takes to play with unlike actors in a simple dialogue scene.

Especially when there is a lot of money being spent on stunts, it can make the environment highly pressurised.

On top of that, continuing to ask a stunt double to re-shoot a scene can increase the risk factor dramatically.

This British actor looks unrecognizable with short hair as he films a scene in a Zombie movie with his double

Can you guess which actress is standing on a Californian beach with her body double?

Which major celebrity was spotted laughing with her body double on a film set in Manhattan?

Something's funny: Can you guess the identity of this Hollywood star just from their stunt double?

Too easy? Surely you can guess which famous actor this body double is for

Which Avengers star can be seen eating food with their body double on a film set

Which big-time actress is walking the streets of Washington DC with her body double?

Intricate: Which star is sporting an identical suit to their body double?

Daniel Craig's stunt double, for instance, on the set of his fifth and final James Bond film No Time To Die was the former Army man Andy Torbet.

The Scottish-born stunt double is an underwater explorer, professional cave diver, sky diver, free diver and climber.

He has also presented on the BBC's The One Show as well as a host of other nature programmes.

He spent ten years in the British Armed Forces as a Paratrooper, Army Diver and bomb disposal officer.

Stop clowning around: A Hollywood actor dressed as a clown may be another easy guess for DC fans...

Bandages: Which UK actor can be seen posing for a photo with his body double?

Fierce: Who is this body double for?

Hairstyle: Just from the iconic hair alone you should be able to guess...

Bloody and bruised: Who is this tough-looking body double for?

1963: Going back in time to a cinema classic, can you guess who is muzzled?

Smiles: Can you guess who this is?

Safety first: Who is this body double putting their body on the line for?

Aim and point: This star looks like they have a note for their stunt double

Smart: Who is this Hollywood star pictured in Milan, Italy?

Smart: Who is this well-dressed body double standing next to?

Identical: This casting director has nailed this stunt double

One of the most famous stunt doubles of all time is Dar Robinson, who broke 19 world records and set 21 world first stunts.

This included jumping 900 feet off of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, in 1980.

Amazingly, the stunt double never broke a bone in his body.

However, aged 39, Robinson tragically died while filming a high speed chase on a motorcycle after he drove off of a cliff.

Getting serious: Who is this actress sporting a black bodysuit?

No eye: Who is this body double with painful-looking makeup for?

Last but not least: Can you guess who this is from their body double?

Now you have seen all of these actors with their stunt doubles, lets see if your guesses were right below.

ANSWERS:

One for one? The correct answer was the one and only Brad Pitt!

Can you get bigger ear muffs? It is no other than Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire

Bingo: The right answer is Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa

The name's Bond, James Bond: 007 star Daniel Craig was spotted on the streets of Italy filming No Time To Die

Gotcha: Filming her Netflix series Back in Action, it is Cameron Diaz

Hold me! It is no other than the Bodyguard actor Richard Madden

Parent Trap Two? It is Freaky Friday star Lindsey Lohan!

Legend: It is of course Coronation Street star Pat Phoenix as Elsie Howard

Curly hair: Sporting a new hair-do it is Javier Bardem

Sunglasses: It is Avengers and Jojo Rabbit star Scarlett Johansson

Hobbs and Shaw: It is no other than Idris Elba on the newest Fast and Furious spin-off

Paris: She is Jessica Chastain's body double as they filmed 355 in France

Funny: It is the hilarious Kevin Hart, of course...

Uncut Gems: It is the legendary Adam Sandler filming in New York

Captain Marvel! Filming alongside Samuel L Jackson, it is Brie Larson

Doctor Who? This is House of Dragon star Matt Smith on the set of Patient Zero

Bingo! If you guessed Sandra Bullock because you thought of Bird Box then you were right

Jenny from the block: Jennifer Lopez can be seen filming scenes for her hit show Shades of Blue

Double trouble: It's Brad Pitt (again) while on the set for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Hasta La Vista Baby: It is, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Thor: It is no other than the Australian actor Liam Hemsworth

Correct: If you guessed Angelina Jolie, that is very good going

Smiling: It is Lupita Nyongo on the set of Black Panther

New York: It is Joaquin Phoenix on the set of The Joker

Surprise? It is Craig Charles on the set of Coronation Street in Manchester

Looking tough: If you guessed Karen Gillan you've got another one right

Friends: It is Jennifer Aniston on the set of The Morning Show in Soho, Manhattan

Ouch: Here we have Irish actor Colin Farrell on the set of Eve in Boston

Iconic: It is the legendary Steve McQueen on the set of The Great Escape

Tough: This might have been a hard one... it is Ben Affleck

Correct answer: The celebrity is James Cordon who was filming One Chance in Wales

Eureka: Pictured here during filming is Priyanka Chopra

A Hollywood star: It is the fantastic Adrien Brody

Legend: If you guessed Derek Fowlds then you were right!

Bingo: This is actress Isla Fisher with her very similar looking stunt double

Tough: This may have been a hard one, but it is Ana De Armas

Ouch: It is Avengers star Chris Hemsworth (again)
They want to have another baby together in the near future, a source says

Rebel and Ramona got engaged in front of the Cinderella castle this week

The couple will wed at Disneyland in California, DailyMail.com can reveal

Rebel Wilson and her new fiancee Ramona Agruma are planning to host a lavish fairytale wedding at Disneyland - and are already looking forward to expanding their family with a second baby.

Rebel, 42, and Ramona, 38, got engaged on Monday in front of the Cinderella castle and are now planning a 'massive elaborate wedding that will bear no expenses' at the same location, a source tells DailyMail.com exclusively.

Their upcoming nuptials aren't the only thing that the couple are looking forward to, as they are also working on having a second baby - just three months after Rebel welcomed daughter, Royce Lillian, via a surrogate.

'Having a baby was life changing for her and she is already planning to have a second child with Ramona,' the source says.

Rebel Wilson and Ramona Agruma are pictured at their engagement in Disneyland, California, earlier this month

Rebel came out as a lesbian in June 2022 and debuted Ramona as her girlfriend at the same time

'Ramona is everything that Rebel has ever wanted and their friends are so happy for them,' a pal says, adding, 'Their friends are all certain that it will last forever.'

On November 7, Rebel introduced her adorable daughter Royce to the world, who she said was born via a surrogate earlier in the week.

She called her bundle of joy a 'beautiful miracle' when sharing a photo of the baby on Instagram.

And it seems that the Pitch Perfect star and her jewelry and clothing designer lady love are ready for another miracle.

'They feel that this will only strengthen the already unbreakable love that they have for each other and also wanted for their children to be close in age,' the source says.

Three months, after Royce was born, on February 20, Rebel solidified her commitment to Ramona when she popped the question - in front of the Cinderella castle, of course!

'Rebel is a die-hard Disney lover and they are really considering having their dream wedding there,' the insider says.

'It is definitely their happy place and Rebel still feels like she is living a real-life fairytale.'

Rebel shared the wonderful news with her 16 million followers on Instagram.

'We said YES!' she wrote, alongside two photos from thee engagement. In the first photo, Rebel was holding her soon-to-be wife's hand, which was adorned with a diamond engagement ring from Tiffany's.

In the second pic, Rebel and Ramona knelt down, surrounded by beautiful flowers. Cinderella's castle was shining in the background.

The couple have shown photos of their beautiful daughter Royce, but have kept her face covered so far

The caption continued, 'Thank you for the stunning ring and to Bob Iger and the incredible team at Disneyland for pulling off this magical surprise!'

Late last year, rumors circulated that Rebel and Ramona were engaged already. The Pitch Perfect actress debunked these rumors in a video posted to her Instagram story.

Needless to say, the video included the two of them living it up together at Disneyland.

But that isn't the first time that Rebel has shared her love for Disney. In fact, she has posted numerous photos over the years at Disney locations. In every single photo, it is clear that this is her happy place.

When introducing Royce on Instagram a few months later, Rebel wrote a super sweet caption, which read, 'Beyond proud to announce the birth of my first child, Royce Lillian, born this past week via surrogate. I cant even describe the love I have for her, shes a beautiful miracle!'

'I am forever grateful to everyone who has been involved, (you know who you are), this has been years in the makingbut particularly wanted to thank my gorgeous surrogate who carried her and birthed her with such grace and care.'

'Thank you for helping me start my own family, its an amazing gift. The BEST gift!!'

Rebel ended by saying, 'I am ready to give little Roycie all the love imaginable. I am learning quicklymuch respect to all the Mums out there! Proud to be in your club.'

She also shared photos from her baby shower, which she said was planned by her jewelry designer lady love, Ramona.

In June 2022, Ramona shocked her fans when she came out as a lesbian, introducing Ramona as the stunning lucky lady who stole her heart.

In the photo, which has gotten nearly two million likes on Instagram, Rebel appeared to be on Cloud 9.

She shared a sweet Disney-inspired message, which read, 'I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess #loveislove'

Ramona showed off her stunning diamond engagement ring as the two planted a loving kiss on each other

Rebel and Ramona posed in front of the Cinderella castle many times and they often bring their friends along with them

Prior to finding her Princess and soul-mate, Rebel had always kept her dating life out of the public eye.

While working on the film How To Be Single in 2015, Rebel ignited a relationship with producer and actor, Mickey Gooch Jr. The two eventually decided to just be friends.

In 2017, Rebel went public with her new boyfriend, Aden Stay, when she brought him as her guest to the MTV Movie Awards. Although it is not clear why Aden and Rebel split, she did not date again until 2019.

In March 2019, Rebel was seen on a date with Anheuser Busch heir, Jacob Busch. Two months later, in May, she sparked up a relationship was Beacher Media Group founder, Jeff Beacher.

Her fling with Jeff was short-lived. In September 2020, she got back together with Jacob. The couple lasted a year together and split in February 2021.

Rebel kept her love interests out of the public eye following her breakup with Jacob, but that doesn't mean she didn't play the field.

In May 2022, Rebel told the told the U Up? podcast that she had dated '50 people in one year' before meeting Ramona, who she is clearly meant to be with for eternity.

Since coming out as gay with Ramona, Rebel has been a huge inspiration for the LGBTQ+ community.

Earlier this month, DailyMail.com reported that Rebel is launching a dating app called 'Fluid.' The app is geared to singles who want 'love without labels.'

'I found love and I want to help everyone else find it too,' the actress - who co-founded the app with her close friend, TV host and producer Carly Steel - said to DailyMail.com in a statement.

'You can be on Fluid and be anywhere on the sexuality spectrum. It's designed to help everyone find their perfect match.'
Neighbours star Tim Kano has been spotted on a Pride flight to Sydney on Friday to celebrate the world's largest gay and lesbian festival.

The 36-year-old New Zealand actor secured a seat on the Melbourne Virgin Australia Pride Flight as he geared up for his second Mardi Gras event after taking part a few years ago.

He joined a group of thousands of passengers including the likes of Heartbreak High stars Angie Kent, Asher Yasbincek and Gemma Chua-Tran, Jack Vidgen, Danielle Laidley, Brodie Townsend, and Carlotta.

Meanwhile, Tim opened up about his own sexuality and why he wanted to support the Sydney World Pride month.

'Ive never really thought about it, I am a bit of everything I guess and I am definitely here to support Pride and the community,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

Neighbours star Tim Kano (pictured) has been spotted on a Pride flight to Sydney on Friday to celebrate the world's largest gay and lesbian festival

The TV star remained tight-lipped about the Neighbours reboot which will air this year, but hinted a return to the series.

'There will be a few announcements next week about what is happening, the new cast and the future of the show, it is just awesome,' he said.

Tim portrayed Leo Tanaka on Neighbours for six years until the series cancelled last year, and wanted to be a part of its newly-announced resurgence.

Tim (pictured in November with April Rose Pengilly during a Melbourne fashion show) joined a group of thousands of passengers

'It is iconic and it is really important that it is coming back,' he said.

He touched on how the series pushed for marriage equality in their storylines while the debate had taken place.

'It was groundbreaking and on the fore of Australian television in terms of inclusion, which is why it is so great to a part of in terms of diversity and sexuality,' he said.

Virgin Airlines scheduled a variety of Pride plane trips into Sydney from Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and San Francisco.
Aussie rock star James Reyne has reportedly split with his wife of five years, Leanne Woolrich.

According to the Herald Sun, the couple parted ways before Reyne hit the road to support British artist Sting on his Australian tour.

The former couple hadn't been photographed together since music promoter Michael Gudinski's funeral in 2021.

While no official reason has been given for the split, the Herald Sun claims that the pair were 'working through problems for some time'.

Woolrich, who is in her fifties, is well known behind-the-scenes of the music industry but tends to keep a low profile when it comes to being in the spotlight.

Aussie rock star James Reyne has reportedly split with his wife of five years, Leanne Woolrich. The former couple are pictured together

She was formerly the longtime assistant of Kylie Minogue.

Reyne is best known for his time in Australian Crawl, who topped the charts with 1981's Sirocco and 1982's Sons of Beaches.

They're best known for their single 'Reckless (Don't Be So)', which hit No. 1 in 1983.

Reyne and Woolrich lived together in the hinterland of the Mornington Peninsula before their split.

The pair hadn't been photographed together since music promoter Michael Gudinski's funeral in 2021. Pictured above

The former couple were long-time friends before they tied the knot in 2017.

While both Reyne and Woolrich never discussed their relationship publicly, the rocker's younger brother David shared some insights with The Australian in 2020.

'Theyd always got on like a house on fire, and she was Kylie Minogues personal assistant for 20 years or something, which pleased me no end, because I thought, "Oh, well, shes used to divas  so thats a good starting point!"' he said.

'But shes just fabulous: she understands him, and she gets the business. That can be really, really challenging for the partner of somebody in the public eye.'
Eva Mendes sang Pamela Anderson's praises after watching the Baywatch star's Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story.

The Hitch star, 48, who has been compared to screen beauties Raquel Welch and Sofia Loren, posted a photo she grabbed from Pamela's Instagram account on social media Friday writing, 'Loved watching the @pamelaanderson documentary.'

'About 20 years ago, I was in an episode of her show VIP. She was so Incredibly sweet to me.'

Recalling her interaction with the leading lady, Eva said,' I was a nervous actor just starting out & she made sure I felt welcomed. An actor never forgets that. It means so much.'

'Im so happy shes finally telling her story. Lotsa love to you beautiful,' the Lost River star concluded.

Praise: Eva Mendes sang Pamela Anderson's praises after watching the Baywatch star's Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story, and shared a story about the the time the two worked together on Pamela's show VIP in the 1990s

In 1999, when Eva was still working to establish herself an an actress, she had a guest spot on the crime comedy about a former hot dog vendor turned bodyguard boss, providing security for celebrities.

The Emmy winning show aired for four years, before calling it quits in 2002.

Pamela, 55, who got her big break the Tool Time Girl on Home Improvement in 1991, is telling her story in the Netflix documentary and in her memoir, Love, Pamela.

The book has become a New York Times best seller since it's release January 31, debuting in second place, just behind Prince Harry's Spare, in the non-fiction category.

The City Hunter star, who has been married five times, told Women's Wear Daily that if she were in a relationship, she would not have been able to work on these two projects.

'I never wouldve been able to do this book, or shoot this documentary, or have any of these conversations if I was in a relationship,' she admitted.

'That shows you what kind of relationships Ive had in the past. I would have been too afraid to upset somebody, or make somebody jealous, or anything.'

The author shares her two sons, Brandon, 26, and Dylan, 25, with ex-husband Tommy Lee, 60.

Nice: In an Instagram post, Eva shared a photo of Pamela and said the star had been nice to her when she was first starting out in the business. 'An actor never forgets that. It means so much,' she wrote

Star: In 1999, when Eva was still working to establish herself an an actress, she had a guest spot on the crime comedy about a former hot dog vendor turned bodyguard boss, providing security for celebrities (Pamela pictured as Valley Irons in VIP)

Legacy: 'I thought my legacy would be a red swimsuit,' Pamela told Women's Wear Daily about the documentary Pamela, A Love Story, ' and nobody would ever know how much Ive gone through, what Ive overcome and how I put this all together as a creative art project'

She said it was important for her to take control of the narrative about her life.

'I just never thought Id get the chance to do it, she admitted.

'I thought my legacy would be a red swimsuit and a pink fuzzy hat, and nobody would ever know how much Ive gone through, what Ive overcome and how I put this all together as a creative art project.'

Eva, who after having her daughters, Esmeralda, seven, and Amada, six, with partner Ryan Gosling,42, has stepped back from acting to focus on family and more entrepreneurial projects.

She is the co-owner of the Skura style smart sponge and designed clothes in a previous collaboration with the retail outlet New York and Co.
Chase Chrisley is taking some time to relax and get away from his family drama.

The reality TV star, 26, and his fiancee Emmy Medders, 26, shared a cute airport selfie as they jetted off to Miami for a relaxing getaway.

The trip comes a month after his parents Todd, 53, and Julie Chrisley, 49, began serving out their combined 19-year prison sentence for bank fraud and tax evasion.

The couple - who got engaged in October of last year - both took to their Instagram Stories to share a number of snaps documenting their getaway, including a picture of their lush accommodations at Hotel Greystone.

'Back home,' Chase - who's Todd and Julie's oldest child - wrote as he shared a photo of the historic hotel's lobby.

Off to Miami! Chase Chrisley, 26, and his fiancee Emmy Medders, 26, shared a cute airport selfie as they jetted off to Miami for a relaxing getaway

The duo appeared to have a blast during the trip, sharing another photo which featured an outdoors jacuzzi tub.

Chase also shared a snap of his plate of food as they indulged in seafood at The Setai in Miami Beach.

Chase and Medders are officially based in Nashville, Tennessee, where his show Chrisley Knows Best was previously filmed.

Chase popped the question to Emmy on the field at First Horizon Park in Tennessee, with a huge heart made of roses sitting at their feet.

'I am the luckiest man in the world, being able to call you mine forever is a blessing straight from God,' he wrote in the caption of the engagement post he shared to social media.

'You are the sunshine when its dark, you are the rain when its dry. I love you more than life itself and cant wait to live forever with you! To you my love! Thank you for taking me FOREVER!! @emmymedders.'

Medders put out her own social media post which read, 'Youre everything Ive ever dreamed of and more. I love you, Chase Madison Chrisley! My heart is yours forever.'

The couple were longtime friends before they began dating back in 2020. The following year he told Us Weekly that he was already considering a marriage proposal.

Fancy: The couple both took to their Instagram Stories to share a number of snaps documenting their getaway, including a picture of their accommodations at Hotel Greystone

Relaxing: The duo appeared to have a blast during their relaxing getaway, sharing another photo which featured an outdoors jacuzzi tub

Yum! Chase also shared a photo of his plate as they indulged in some seafood at The Setai in Miami Beach

Huge moment! Chase popped the question to Emmy in October of last year, on the field at First Horizon Park in Tennessee, with a huge heart made of roses sitting at their feet

In December of last year Emmy opened up about their romance in an appearance on his sister's podcast, Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley.

She shared her 'ups and downs' with Chase revealing: 'It was on-and-off, and then we were doing really well, and then we did have one like major breakup where we didn't talk for like - I want to say it was two months, but it was probably more like two weeks ... it felt like two months for me.'

The pair will have to plan their wedding without Chase's parents, Todd and Julie, who were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in November of last year.

Exclusive DailyMail.com photos showed Julie turning herself in last month at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, where she will serve seven years.

Later that morning, Todd was snapped surrendering at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida, where he will spend 12 years.

The couple will also have a 16-month probation period for both upon their release, though they are currently working on appealing their case.

Meanwhile Chase's sister Savannah recently revealed that the family might partake in a new show, after Chrisley Knows Best and its spinoffs Growing Up Chrisley and Love Limo have all been canceled following their parents' conviction.

'Tons of production companies have reached out and networks that want to do a show,' Savannah claimed on the latest episode of her podcast, adding, 'At the end of the day, we're not going to allow this to stop us from moving forward.'

Tough: The trip comes a month after his parents Todd, 53, and Julie Chrisley, 49, began serving out their combined 19-year prison sentence for bank fraud and tax evasion; Pictured 2019
Actor Michael Mando has reportedly been fired from Ridley Scott's upcoming Apple TV+ series Sinking Spring after getting into an on set clash with an unnamed co-star.

THR reported the news Friday, though details about what led to the alleged altercation were not disclosed.

A source told the outlet that producers tried to rectify the situation but they ultimately made the decision to let Mando go and recast the part.

The role of Manny Cespedes will now be played by actor Wagner Moura, who is best known for his roles in Netflix's Narcos and the Apple TV+ series Shining Girls.

Production on Sinking Spring began in February in Philadelphia, but it's unclear as to how much of the footage will need to be re-shot in wake of Mando's departure.

Actor Michael Mando (left) has reportedly been fired from Ridley Scott's upcoming Apple TV+ series Sinking Spring after getting into an on set clash with an unnamed co-star. The role of Manny Cespedes will now be played by actor Wagner Moura (right), who is best known for his roles in Netflix's Narcos and The Gray Man

Scott, 85, will serve as director of at least one of the eight episodes and executive produce, via his Scott Free Productions, while Peter Craig serves as writer, executive producer and director of one episode in his television debut.

Among Craig's Hollywood credits: he co-wrote the story idea for Top Gun: Maverick with Justin Marks, and co-wrote the screenplay for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay  Part 1 (2014), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay  Part 2 (2015), Bad Boys For Life (2020) and The Batman (2022).

As for Scott, his legendary career as a filmmaker includes directing such classics as Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Hannibal (2001), Prometheus (2012), The Martian (2015) and Alien: Covenant (2017).

Based on Dennis Tafoya's book Dope Thief, Sinking Spring follows two long-time friends from Philadelphia who pose as Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents to rob a house in the countryside, and then ultimately have to face the consequences of their actions when it turns out they had robbed a large narcotics operation.

Newcomer Moura will play Manny Cespedes, a good-hearted friend of Ray (Brian Tyree Henry), who he first met when they did time together in the Youth Authority.

Along with Moura and Henry, the cast also includes Marin Ireland, Kate Mulgrew, Amir Arison, Ving Rhames, Dustin Nguyen, Nesta Cooper, Idris Debrand, Liz Caribel and Will Pullen.

Henry, who has the fourth and final season of Atlanta (2016-2022) due in September, will also executive produce, while the book author, Tafoya, will be a consulting producer for the show.

Mando, a Quebec City, Quebec, Canada native, is best known to many fans for his memorable role as Nacho Varga on the hit Breaking Bad prequel, Better Call Saul (2015-2022).

The classic AMC drama only just wrapped its six-season run in August 2022.

After starting his career in theater in his hometown of Salvador, Brazil, Moura began gracing the silver screen, and eventually made it leading man status.

Mando, a Quebec City, Quebec, Canada native, is best known to many fans for his memorable role as Nacho Varga on the hit Breaking Bad prequel, Better Call Saul (2015-2022)

Wagner Moura famously starred opposite Matt Damon and Jodie Foster in the science fiction film, Elysium (2013)

Less than two years later, Moura landed the role of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar in the Netflix crime drama series Narco (2015-2016), which ran for three seasons

He would make his international debut in the science fiction film, Elysium (2013), opposite Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, which earned him some praise from critics.

Less than two years later, Moura landed the role of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar in the Netflix crime drama series Narco (2015-2016), which ran for three seasons.

He briefly reprise his role as Escobar in a cameo in the companion series Narcos: Mexico (2018), but also directed two of the episodes.

Moura also appeared in another Apple TV+ production, the thriller series Shining Girls (2022), alongside Elisabeth Moss, Phillipa Soo, Chris Chalk, Amy Brenneman and Jamie Bell.
Brian Austin Green praised his ex-wife Megan Fox while disputing his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Marcil's claim that she raised their son Kassius by herself.

It began when the 54-year-old actress answered a fan's inquiry about whether co-parenting has been difficult.

Taking to her Instagram Stories she replied, 'We didn't and don't co-parent. I raised my son alone.'

Along with her answer she shared a throwback image of her and Kassius, now 20, from when he was a little boy.

The Beverly Hills 90210 actor, 49, screenshot the post and wrote, 'Megan and I [busted] our a**es to give Kass a well-rounded childhood [because] his mom was rarely there.'

Clapback: Brian Austin Green praised his ex-wife Megan Fox while disputing his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Marcil's claim that she raised their son Kassius by herself in an Instagram story

What happened: The spat began when the 54-year-old actress answered a fan's inquiry about whether co-parenting has been difficult; (L) pictured with Vanessa in 2000; (R) pictured with Megan in 2014

He began the post by stating, 'So, I can't tell you how frustrating it is to read continued lies from a 50+ year old woman on social media like she is still in high school.'

The disgruntled father-of-five continued, 'She has never in her life been someone to walk the walk.'

Speaking to his 710,000 followers on the platform he added, 'Talk is cheap. Megan and I [busted] our a**es to give Kass a well-rounded childhood [because] his mom was rarely there.

'I'm assuming that's why she posts so much of him now. When will she just GO AWAY,' he added with a laughing-out-crying emoji.

It's not the first time the former couple has taken their family drama to the public.

In October of last year Brian put his ex Vanessa on blast after learning about her alleged version of their custody battle over their son.

'I just heard that my ex was claiming I spent years taking her to court and asking for child support. How was I the Respondent then???' he posted to Instagram.

Green shared a portion of an alleged legal document which showed Marcil labeled as the 'petitioner' and himself as the 'respondent' in order to back up his claims.

Like father, like son: Brian's firstborn child Kassius, 20, recently worked alongside him on a western film called Rufus

Bringing receipts: Last year Brian put his ex Vanessa on blast after learning about her alleged version of their custody battle over their now 20-year-old son Kassius

Brian also posted photos showing his repaired relationship with son Kassius, following claims made by Vanessa years ago that he had cut his son out of his life.

He posted two snaps of them filming a movie called Rufus, and called it a 'great experience.'

'Working with Kass on a movie titled Rufus Such a great experience!!!' he captioned one shot. A second shot of the father-son duo on set was captioned: 'Another one of Kass and I from the set of Rufus.'

In 2018, Vanessa alleged Brian had cut off all contact with their son five years prior after failing to get full custody of their child during a protracted legal battle.

In an Instagram post, the actress alleged that Green and his then-wife Megan Fox 'decided to completely cut Kass out of their lives and his younger brothers lives. Kass has never met his youngest brother and is not allowed to know where his bio father, stepmother and three younger brothers live.'

But in 2020, Marcil suggested Green had repaired his relationship with Kassius, who visited his father on the set of BH90210 a year earlier.

'My son was finally invited back into his dads life and was able to finally meet his youngest brother and finally see his other two siblings again,' she posted to Instagram. 'My son is also an incredible big brother.'

Marcil and Green, who starred together on Beverly Hills 90210 from 1998 to 2000, never married. They welcomed Kassius in March 2002.

Marcil, whose first marriage was to actor Corey Feldman from 1989 to 1993, went on to tie the knot for a second time with actor Carmine Giovinazzo in 2010. She filed for divorce two years later.

Green has since divorced Megan Fox, who is now engaged to music artist Machine Gun Kelly, and they share Noah, ten, Bodhi, eight, and Journey, six. In June, Green welcomed a son named Zane with girlfriend Sharna Burgess.
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Simu Liu and his girlfriend, Allison Hsu, hit the red carpet at the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' Scientific And Technical Achievement Awards on Friday night.

The host for the night and his stunning girlfriend both dressed in all-black outfits and looked stunning as they made their way into the event.

The event is put on by The Academy and is taking place for the first time since 2019.

It's meant to honor the individuals and companies whose discoveries and innovations have contributed in significant and lasting ways to motion pictures.

The Shang-Chi actor, 33, looked dapper in a black suit and matching trousers.

Hosting: Simu Liu is serving as host at the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' Scientific And Technical Achievement Awards

The Shang-Chi actor looked dapper on the carpet, accessorizing his jacket with a vintage floral brooch from Maor

Underneath his jacket, he left the top of his white button-up undone and added a small vintage floral brooch from Maor to one side of his lapel.

Allison, 26, wore a form-fitting black dress that featured a large slit up the side, showing off her legs.

The sleeves had large pieces of fabric on the ends that hung down around the bottom of the dress.

Her brunette hair was parted to the side and down in loose waves around her shoulders.

For makeup, the beauty went with a minimal and natural look.

Allison, who is a digital marketing manager at Interscope Records, held tightly to the Barbie actor's hand.

The pair both had large smiles plastered to their faces while they walked the carpet.

At the event, there are many high-achievement awards that will be presented.

Lens designer Iain Neil will receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an Oscar statuette, during the ceremony.

He will receive it for his 'substantial, extensive and innovative lens designs which have had a lasting impact in motion picture cinematography.'

Ryan Laney will receive an award of commendation for his inventive use of AI-driven facial technology.

It is used to give subjects a digital 'disguise' to protect their identities while preserving their facial emotion in documentary filmmaking.

CODA actress Marlee Matlin shimmered in a black jumpsuit with an open collar.

The 33-year-old wore a black suit with the top buttons of his undershirt undone

Allison wore a form-fitting black dress that featured a large slit up the side, showing off her legs

The event is put on by The Academy and is taking place for the first time since 2019

It is meant to honor the individuals and companies whose discoveries and innovations have contributed in significant and lasting ways to motion pictures

Allison, who is a digital marketing manager at Interscope Records, held tightly to the Barbie actor's hand

Iain Neil hit the carpet in a grey suit with a blue and green checkered vest under his jacket

The lens designer will receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an Oscar statuette, during the ceremony

Janet Yang, President, Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, was a stunning beauty in a black gown with a multi-colored floral top.

Tia Carrere dazzled in a shimmering silver and nude dress that featured intricate jewel designs.

The Wayne's World actress stopped for a photo with Paul Debevec, who wore a black suit, with the jacket held together by a small gold chain.

Mark Hills and Jim Vanns posed for photos together in similar suits with matching bow ties.

They are getting awards for the FQ render farm management system at VFX studio Framestore.

Matt Chambers is being honored for his contributions to render farm management system design at Sony Pictures Imageworks and Weta.

Ryan Laney cleaned up nicely for the event in a perfectly tailored suit

He will receive an award of commendation for his inventive use of AI-driven facial technology

Switched at Birth actress lit up the carpet in a sparkling black jumpsuit

Janet Yang was a stunning beauty in a black gown with a multi-colored floral top

The beauty is the President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences

Tia Carrere dazzled in a shimmering silver and nude dress

Paul Debevec, Tia Carrere, and Matt Chambers served smiles on the carpet

Mark Hills and Jim Vanns posed together before getting their awards

Larry Barton and Ben Wilcox will be accepting Scientific and Engineering awards

Howard Preston and Bernie Butler-Smith will also be receiving Scientific and Engineering awards for the Preston Cinema Systems Light Ranger 2, which also provides focus distance information

Mandy Walker wore a dark green dress with a small slit in the side

Special effects artist Dan Cangemi smiled in a black suit at the event

(L-R) Nicolas Wirrmann, Christophe Soum, Sebastien Deguy, and Sylvain Paris will all receive an award together

Larry Barton and Ben Wilcox will be accepting Scientific and Engineering awards for the cinematography electronics CineTape distance measurement system.

Howard Preston and Bernie Butler-Smith will also be receiving Scientific and Engineering awards for the Preston Cinema Systems Light Ranger 2, which also provides focus distance information.

Australian cinematographer Mandy Walker arrived wearing a dark green dress with a small slit in the side.

Dan Cangemi, who works on special effects, wore a black suit with a leather lapel.

Sebastien Deguy, Christophe Soum, Sylvain Paris and Nicolas Wirrmann will accept Technical Achievement Awards for Adobe Substance 3D Designer software.

Fernando de Goes, Audrey Wong, and Theodore Kim will receive Technical Achievement Awards for the Fizt2 elastic simulation system.

Fernando de Goes is to receive a Technical Achievement award

Audrey Wong worked with Fernando on the project they are being honored for

John Frazier worked with Dan Cangemi on the development of the portable 60- and 100-foot Rain Bars system used for practical rain in movie making

Theodore Kim also worked with Fernando de Goes and Audrey Wong on the the Fizt2 elastic simulation system

Barbara Ford Grant, chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, stunned in a black gown with a plunging neckline

Audrey donned a blue strapless dress and accessorized with a light blue scarf around her arms.

Howard Jensen, Dan Cangemi, and John Frazier will take home Technical Awards for the development of the portable 60- and 100-foot Rain Bars system used for practical rain in movie making.

Barbara Ford Grant, chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, stunned in a black gown with a plunging neckline.

She shared about the Technical Award honorees: 'This outstanding work has enabled new and exciting ways of creating and further expanding how we experience motion pictures.'
China urges U.S. to abandon hegemony, bullying

Xinhua) 11:14, February 25, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Friday said the United States is not accustomed to hearing the truth, is still less willing to face its problems.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks in response to U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns' tweet regarding a U.S.-related report released by the Chinese side.

Wang said the report is nothing but telling the truth and objectively presenting the U.S. hegemonic and bullying behavior to the world.

Noting power and coercive diplomacy, the spokesperson said it is nothing like a powerful country's demeanor and suggested an American ambassador should report the true voice to Washington.

The United States should refrain from seeking hegemony or bullying, respect other countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity, and seek a path of peaceful coexistence and win-win results.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
The rights to the Sydney Sweeney-starring movie Reality have been acquired by HBO Films.

According to Deadline, the drama feature received 'rave reviews' from critics during its premiere at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival.

The 25-year-old Euphoria star - who attended the movie's premiere this week - was singled out for her acting performance.

Though a release date has not been announced, the outlet hinted that Reality will be available 'in the near future' and just 'in time to qualify for Emmy consideration.'

Reality is based on Tina Satter's play This Is A Room, which initially debuted Off-Broadway in 2019.

Going wide: The rights to the Sydney Sweeney-starring movie Reality have been acquired by HBO Films

Satter went on to serve as the film's director and co-wrote its script alongside James Paul Dallas.

The movie is centered on whistleblower Reality Winner, who was arrested after she leaked information about Russian interference in the 2016 United States election season to The Intercept.

The film is centered on the interrogation at the hands of FBI agents that Winner went through following her arrest.

The former US Air Force member was eventually sentenced to over five years in prison in 2018, but she ultimately entered a transitional facility in 2021.

Development on Reality was revealed to the public last June, and Marchant Davis and Josh Hamilton starred alongside Sweeney in the project.

Physical production on the feature had already commenced the previous month and concluded after just 16 days of filming.

Reality eventually premiered on February 18 and it currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sweeney spoke about working on the project during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where she revealed that she regularly contacted Winner during the movie's production.

Rave reviews: According to Deadline, the drama feature received 'rave reviews' from critics during its premiere at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival; Sydney seen on February 18

The 25-year-old Euphoria star - who attended the movie's premiere this week - was singled out for her acting performance; Sweeney is seen with director Tina Satter and costars Josh Hamilton and Marchant Davis earlier this month

Focus: The movie is centered on whistleblower Reality Winner, who was arrested after she leaked information about Russian interference in the 2016 United States election season to The Intercept; Sweeney, Davis and Hamilton are seen earlier this month

'I talked to her about the incident, but also about her life, the people she knew, her home, just about everything I could learn about her that I could draw from as an actor,' she said.

The performer went on to express that working on the movie, which largely followed the verbatim recording of Winner's interrogation, left her with a lasting impression.

'I definitely felt the weight of the importance of every word and every moment that was shared between these characters,' she stated.

Sweeney then spoke about what she hoped to achieve for Winner with the release of the movie.

'I hope that instead of reducing her to just a headline, or interpreting the case through a partisan lens, that this movie can offer a window into what this woman went through on that day,' she stated.
The 6th Annual Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) Film Awards took place at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Friday, February 24.

In all HCA Members voted on 19 different categories that celebrate the best of film from 2022.

Among the winners during the ceremony: Brendan Fraser, who took home the trophy for Best Actor for his acclaimed performance as a reclusive and morbidly obese English teacher in Darren Aronofsky's psychological drama film The Whale.

It's widely considered to be the Indianapolis, Indiana native's 'comeback film' after having worked on just three movies since 2014.

At Friday's ceremony, Fraser beat out some formidable competition, including Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick).

Afterwards, he proudly posed for photographers, with his trophy in hand, decked out in a black suit.

Big win: Brendan Fraser, 54, won the Best Actor trophy for his performance in the drama film The Whale at the 6th Annual Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Century City, California on Friday

Fraser was also joined for a few photos with former colleague Christa Miller.

Fans of Scrubs may recall that Fraser had a memorable guest run on the hit medical sitcom where he played Ben Sullivan, a leukemia patient and brother of Jordan (Christa Miller) and Danni (Tara Reid).

At one point during their time in the spotlight together, Miller, 58, snuggled up next to her old friend looking elegant in a black dress and her dark brown tresses flowing.

In the wake of his success at the Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards ceremony, Fraser has now won two Best Actor trophies at major awards shows.

For his riveting performance as Charlie, a recluse who over time has seen his weight top 600 pounds, Fraser had already won Best Actor at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards in January.

He's also earned nominations for Best Actor at the 80th Golden Globe Awards and Best Actor In A Leading Role at the 76th British Academy Film Awards, both of which ended up going to Austin Butler for his role in the Elvis biopic.

Fraser also has a pending nomination for Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards, that will be held on February 26 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, California.

The former Mummy star also scored a Best Actor nom at the 95th Academy Awards, which will be held March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

For the role as Charlie, Fraser spent four hours each day being fitted with prosthetics that weighed up to 300 pounds. He also consulted with the Obesity Action Coalition and worked with a dance instructor for months before filming began in order to determine how his character would move with the excess weight

Early on, when The Whale made its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival last September, Fraser was driven to happy tears when he received a six-minute standing ovation.

It went on to have limited theatrical release in the U.S. on December 9, 2022, before a wide release on December 21, just in time to be considered for many of the various awards shows.

At Friday's ceremony, Fraser beat out some formidable competition, including Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick)

Reunion: Fraser was also joined for a few photos with former colleague Christa Miller

For his riveting performance as Charlie, a recluse who over time has seen his weight top 600 pounds, Fraser had already won Best Actor at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards in January

It's widely considered to be the Indianapolis, Indiana native's 'comeback film' after having worked on just three movies since 2014; seen in The Whale

So far, as pf February 24, The Whale has grossed $28.4 million against just a $3 million budget, but that will likely rise after it gets more recognition from the different awards shows still to come.

Along with the leading man, the cast also stars Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins and Samantha Morton.

Some of the other HCR winners included Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once) for Best Actress; Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once) for Best Supporting Actor; and Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) for Best Supporting Actress

The Best Picture award went to Everything Everywhere All At Once; Sarah Polley (Women Talking) got Best Adapted Screenplay; and Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once) won both the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay awards.
Ricky Gervais poked fun at 'fragile' people as he humorously waded into the debate surrounding the editing of Roald Dahl's classic books.

Puffin has been under fire over changes to many of Roald's most famous children's classics to remove words such as 'fat', with the issue prompting a fierce debate.

On Friday, the publisher then announced the release of the Roald Dahl Classic Collection 'to keep the author's classic texts in print' claiming they had 'listened to the debate'.

Voicing his opinions on the matter, comedian Ricky, 61, took to Twitter on Friday to poke fun at the editing as he described people as 'fragile' and 'easily offended'.

He jokingly questioned whether his stand-up shows would be changed after his death to remove words like 'fat' and 'ugly' as well as swear words.

Humour: Ricky Gervais poked fun at 'fragile' people as he jokingly waded into the debate surrounding the editing of Roald Dahl's classic books

Editing: Puffin has been under fire over changes to many of Roald's most famous children's classics to remove words such as 'fat', with the issue prompting a fierce debate

In an expletive-laden post, he wrote: This is me pondering whether they'll change any of the words I've used in my work after I'm dead, to spare those who are fragile and easily offended.

'Words like 'fat' and 'ugly'. And 'c***' and 'f**k'. And 'fat, ugly, greedy, pathetic little stupid f**king c***'. Stuff like that.'

Responding to his comments, one person pointed out that his sketches aren't aimed at children, claiming it can be hard to explain 'hurtful' words to children.

To which the funnyman replied: 'Yeah I know [...]. It was a joke.'

In another tweet, he shared a humorous selfie of himself pulling an unflattering face as he quipped: 'I've changed my mind. I think we should ban the words 'fat' and 'ugly'. No reason.'

It comes after Puffin announced that Roald's classic books will still be republished without editing after a huge public debate.

The unedited versions will now sit alongside the newly released versions, which have been controversially rewritten, still sparking outrage. Some have said that Puffin must still go further, and cancel the new censored versions completely.

Roald's 17 books, read and loved by tens of millions, will be available later this year and will include archive material relevant to each of the stories by the much-loved children's author.

Debate: Voicing his opinions on the matter, comedian Ricky, 61, took to Twitter on Friday to poke fun at the debate as he described people as 'fragile' and 'easily offended'

Funnyman: In another tweet, he shared a selfie of himself pulling an unflattering face as he quipped: 'I've changed my mind. I think we should ban the words 'fat' and 'ugly'. No reason'

Puffin sparked a revisionism row after they decided that words such as 'fat' should be removed, meaning Charlie and The Chocolate Factory's Augustus Gloop can now be referred to only as 'enormous' and the Oompa Loompas are being made gender neutral.

Mrs Twit's 'fearful ugliness' has been cut to 'ugliness' and Mrs Hoppy in Esio Trot is not an 'attractive middle-aged lady' but a 'kind middle-aged lady'.

Passages not written by Roald, who died in 1990, have also been added by the publisher.

In The Witches, a paragraph describing them as bald under their wigs is followed shortly by a new line: 'There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.'

Puffin said in a statement this afternoon that they will release two versions of each book - the original and the newer edited ones.

Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House Children's, said: 'At Puffin we have proudly published Roald Dahl's stories for more than 40 years in partnership with the Roald Dahl Story Company. Their mischievous spirit and his unique storytelling genius have delighted the imaginations of readers across many generations.

'We've listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl's books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation.

'As a children's publisher, our role is to share the magic of stories with children with the greatest thought and care. Roald Dahl's fantastic books are often the first stories young children will read independently, and taking care for the imaginations and fast-developing minds of young readers is both a privilege and a responsibility.

'We also recognise the importance of keeping Dahl's classic texts in print. By making both Puffin and Penguin versions available, we are offering readers the choice to decide how they experience Roald Dahl's magical, marvellous stories.'

She added: 'Roald Dahl once said: 'If my books can help children become readers, then I feel I have accomplished something important.' At Puffin, we'll keep pursuing that ambition for as long as we make books.'

Puffin says it made the changes so that Dahl's works 'can continue to be enjoyed by all today'.

Outcry: Puffin announced that Roald's classic books will still be republished without editing - alongside new versions of the book - after a huge public debate

Changes: In the new version of The Twits, Mrs Twit's 'fearful ugliness' has been chopped to 'ugliness'

Wading in: King Charles' wife Camilla spoke out at a reception with many top writers amid anger that publishers have hired 'sensitivity gurus' to remove 'offensive' language

On Thursday, King Charles' wife Camilla spoke out at a reception with many of Britain's top writers amid anger that publishers have hired 'sensitivity gurus' to remove 'offensive' language in Roald's books.

She told the authors: 'Please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.' The 73-year-old royal looked up with a mischievous smile and added: 'Enough said.'

Her comments were greeted by laughter and cheers of 'hear, hear!' from the best-selling authors, including Sebastian Faulks, William Boyd, Ben Okri, Philippa Gregory and Charlie Mackesy.

The Queen Consort told them: 'Let there be no squeaking like mice about your achievements, but only roaring like a pride of lions.'
Hana Cross turned heads on Friday night as she left Chiltern Firehouse in London.

The model, 26, looked incredible as she donned a sheer black crop top which teased a hint of her washboard abs.

Hana teamed the stylish ensemble with wide-legged dark blue jeans and chunky black boots.

The ex-girlfriend of Brooklyn Beckham toted her belongings around in a chic bag and accessorised with a pair of silver hooped earrings.

Hana also donned an oversized leather bomber jacket to complete the edgy ensemble.

Stunning: Hana Cross turned heads on Friday night as she left Chiltern Firehouse in London after partying into the early hours

Hana styled her long brunette tresses in loose waves and applied a flawless palette of makeup to showcase her beauty.

It comes after the model was among the slew of stars who headed for a night out to the legendary Chiltern Firehouse last Friday.

Hana headed into the venue after a London Fashion Week party earlier in the evening.

She went inside the celebrity hotspot, keeping a low-key look as she opted for a pair of black, low-waisted trousers.

The model added a khaki, silver clasp detailed corset - keeping the cold at bay with a cuffed-wrist leather jacket.

Keeping with the leather theme, she hung a matching handbag over one shoulder while maintaining minimal accessories.

Hana looked radiant with a light brushing of make-up, while her chocolate brown locks were left to fall freely.

The stars were out in force for the night on the town as London Fashion Week kicked off fully last Friday.

All smiles: The model, 26, looked incredible as she donned a sheer black crop top

Beauty: She teamed the stylish ensemble with wide-legged dark blue jeans and chunky black boots

Chic: The ex-girlfriend of Brooklyn Beckham toted her belongings around in a chic bag and accessorised with a pair of silver hooped earrings

Natural beauty: She also donned an oversized leather bomber jacket to complete the chic ensemble and applied a flawless palette of makeup to showcase her beauty

Taking it all in, Hana was spotted at the Mark Fast fashion show earlier in the day and was thought to be spending the week in the capital for the events.

Last April, Hana's ex-Brooklyn married actress Nicola in a lavish wedding at her familys $123 million, 44,000-square-foot oceanfront mansion, Montsorrel, in Palm Beach.

Brooklyn and Hana dated for nine months in 2019 before eventually calling it off.

Brooklyn broke up with the model, then 21, after a series of public rows, including at Glastonbury, where he partied with his parents, Victoria and David.
Irina Shayk commanded attention as she walked the runway at the Ferrari show during Milan Fashion Week on Saturday.

The Russian model, 37, cut an elegant figure as she stepped onto the catwalk in a black coat with a red lining.

Irina also sported a burgundy turtle neck top along with a pair of high wasited black trousers as she posed for the cameras.

The beauty added height to her frame with black ankle boots and complimented the look with a matching handbag.

Styling her brunette locks into an updo, she also sported a silver necklace and matching earrings.

Show: Irina Shayk commanded attention as she walked the runway at the Ferrari show during Milan Fashion Week on Saturday

Style: Irina also sported a burgundy turtle neck top along with a pair of high wasited black trousers as she posed for the cameras

Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was in attendance at the event where she donned a navy floral print dress.

The journalist wrapped up in a maroon leather jacket and also wore a pair of matching boots and her trademark sunglasses.

Olivia Palermo cut a stylish figure at the show which she attended alongside her husband Johannes Huebl.

The socialite looked incredible in a black hoodie along with a leather skirt while she boosted her frame with matching thigh-high boots.

The star wore her blonde tresses in a ponytail as she posed next to her husband who wore a black turtle neck jumper with matching trousers and a khaki coat.

It comes after Irina and her ex Bradley Cooper appeared to confirm their romance was back on as they packed on the PDA during a romantic stroll in New York City earlier this month.

The actor, 47, and the supermodel - who originally dated between 2015-2019 and share a daughter - couldn't keep their hands off one another as they walked arm-in-arm, with Irina giving Bradley a cheeky pat on the posterior.

The pair recently sent reconciliation rumors into overdrive when they stepped out for Halloween with daughter Lea, five, with Bradley dressed as a bear.

Work it: She ensured to catch the eye while storming the runway in the statement ensemble

Radiant: The beauty added height to her frame with black ankle boots and complimented the look with a matching handbag

Front row: Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was in attendance at the event where she donned a navy floral print dress

Couple: Olivia Palermo cut a stylish figure at the show which she attended alongside her husband Johannes Huebl

The duo first sparked rekindled romance rumors after Irina shared vacation photos in the Bahamas together over the summer.

It was reported in August that the Nightmare Alley actor and Vogue cover girl are mulling the prospect of having more children.

Although they split in 2019, they have remained famously amicable co-parents since then, with an insider telling Page Six: 'It was a real family getaway and they are considering getting back together.'

The source asserted that Irina 'would like her daughter to have a sibling,' and that Bradley is amenable to the idea.

Glamour: Styling her brunette locks into an updo, Irina also sported a silver necklace and matching earrings

Model: Taylor Marie Hill wore a pink and burgundy jumper with a matching skirt

She and Bradley were first linked in 2015 before going public as a couple in 2016, welcoming their little girl in 2017 and then going their separate ways in 2019.

Although Bradley was rumored to be dating Hillary Clinton's close confidante Huma Abedin, the outlet reports they were only ever casually involved.

Meanwhile Irina's dating history includes Cristiano Ronaldo and last year she was briefly linked to Kanye West in the wake of his split from Kim Kardashian.

She rose to fame walking for many major fashion brands and becoming the face of the lingerie brand Intimissimi back in 2007.
A star's uncle took a trip down memory lane on Friday as he shared a throwback childhood snap of his celebrity niece with her former Junior school.

The childhood picture of one of Britain's best-loved TV stars is now being used by Bishop's Waltham Junior School's headteacher to inspire pupils as part of a project.

Headteacher Darren Campbell hopes that showing the young pupils the childhood snap of the celebrity will teach them that they can achieve anything.

The star, now 52, attended the school from 1977 to 1981 when it was under a different name and was classmates with some of the current pupil's parents.

As part of a project to inspire the current pupils, Mr. Campbell launched an appeal to find photos of former pupils.

Guess the celebrity: A star's uncle took recently shared a throwback childhood snap of his celebrity niece with her former Junior school. But can YOU guess who the celebrity is?

And he was reportedly stunned when the celebrity's uncle sent in a photo of her during her time at the school.

One clue is the girl in the photo grew up to become a judge on a hit television talent show competition.

The media personality has gone on to become a co-host on the Heart Breakfast radio show and recently starred in a comedy TV series.

Have you guessed yet?.... It's Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden.

The media personality, 52, who recently starred in Amanda & Alan's Italian Job comedy TV series, looked adorable in the snap wearing a red school uniform.

And the star, who looks almost unrecognisable in the snap, can be seen posing for her school photo while boasting a wide tooth-gapped grin.

The throwback childhood snap comes after Amanda recently suffered a 'Marilyn Monroe' moment as she accidentally flashed her bottom while filming in Italy with Alan Carr.

The presenter and the comedian, 46, recently spent three months renovating flats in the medieval town of Salemi for BBC show Amanda and Alan: The Italian Job.

Guess who? Have you guessed yet?.... It's Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden

Oops: The throwback childhood snap comes after Amanda recently suffered a 'Marilyn Monroe' moment as she accidentally flashed her bottom while filming in Italy with Alan Carr

With the duo's Sicilian flat now set to be sold for Children In Need, Amanda celebrated the sale by sharing a blooper clip.

She looked incredible in a white tea dress with a summery lemon print and matching gingham headscarf.

But things didn't go to plan when the floaty number got taken by a strong gust of wind, resulting in Amanda flashing her kickers at Alan.

'You can see everything!' Alan shouted as he attempted to pull her dress back down as they walked around the town.

New show: The presenter and the comedian, 46, recently spent three months renovating flats in the medieval town of Salemi for BBC show Amanda and Alan: The Italian Job

'I know!' Amanda replied.

Alongside the video, she penned: 'To Celebrate- heres a blooper reel of Alan and Amanda's #Italianjob last ep tonight on @bbc or whole series on @bbciplayer.

'Our beautiful apartment is for sale. All proceeds go to @bbccin @comicrelief all the details are in my stories.'

After buying the two flats for a euro each, the pair documented the renovation process of knocking them together on the show.

On screen: With the duo's Sicilian flat now set to be sold for Children In Need, Amanda celebrated the sale by sharing a blooper clip

Revamped: The 1,300sq ft apartment has been completely overhauled - after the pair found it abandoned, filled with rubbish, and used by squatters

New property: Amanda and Alan tackled the property from the ground up and threw themselves at DIY jobs, from plastering to plumbing

Now, the flat is up for sale, and the proceeds for the furnished two-bedroom, two-bathroom holiday home will be split between Comic Relief and Children In Need.

The 1,300sq ft apartment has been completely overhauled - after the pair found it abandoned, filled with rubbish, and used by squatters.

Amanda and Alan tackled the property from the ground up and threw themselves at DIY jobs, from plastering to plumbing.

The stunning flat is listed on Rightmove with the description: 'The three balconies offer breathtaking views of the landscape, making this the perfect spot to watch the sunset.

'It also comes with a shared, walled courtyard, perfect for al fresco dining or just enjoying the Mediterranean sunshine.'

In the last episode, the pals admire their work after tackling a bedroom and bathroom each and the living room and kitchen together.

The actress says: 'It's gorgeous! Even though our tastes are very different, its got a really lovely flow. I feel a bit sad its done. I really love it.'

The show has drawn in 4.5 million viewers, and there are now reports that the BBC is planning a second series in a different location next year.

A source told The Mirror: 'BBC bosses have been thrilled. The warmth and humour of their friendship as theyve got stuck into DIY, design, and the Sicilian lifestyle has proved to be a big hit.'

Amanda previously spoke about how The Italian Job was born out of her desire to do something nice for her close pal Alan.

MailOnline has contacted the BBC for comment.
Uma Thurman cut a trendy figure as she arrived to the Ferragamo womenswear show for Milan Fashion Week on Saturday.

The actress, 52, looked elegant in a tan long-sleeved suede top with a turtle neck, pairing it with matching slim-fitting trousers.

The Kill Bill star added height to her frame with a pair of black open-toed heels and also carried a matching handbag.

Styling her blonde locks into an updo, Uma added to her look for the show with a pair of gold earrings.

The Hysterical Blindness star accentuated her natural beauty for the event with a light palette of makeup.

Looking good: Uma Thurman cut a trendy figure as she arrived to the Ferragamo womenswear show for Milan Fashion Week on Saturday

Outfit: The Kill Bill star added height to her frame with a pair of black open-toed heels and also carried a matching handbag

Uma has joined her fellow A-listers in the city for the annual fashion event, arriving in Italy on Friday.

Also in attendance to the show was actress Sabrina Elba who looked a vision in her baby pink floor-length dress with stand-out long red gloves.

The beauty, 34, who is married to British actor Idris Elba, 50, looked effortlessly chic in the figure-hugging number.

She accessorised with a black top-handle bag and gold hoop earrings, and slipped into a pair of black shiny pointed toe heels.

Her raven locks were styled with one side slicked back and the other poker straight, framing her face perfectly with a side-parting.

Her makeup looked flawless as she opted for a black winged eyeliner and a glowing cheek colour, as well as a touch of nude lip gloss.

It comes as the actress is set to star alongside her daughter Maya Hawke, 24, in The Kill Room this year.

Trendy: Styling her blonde locks into an updo, Uma added to her look for the show with a pair of gold earrings

Fashion Week: Uma has joined her fellow A-listers in the city for the annual fashion event, arriving in Italy on Friday

Career: It comes as the actress is set to star alongside her daughter Maya Hawke, 24, in The Kill Room this year

Wow: Uma will portray an art dealer and will also see her reunited with her Pulp Fiction co-star Samuel L. Jackson

Stunning: The Hysterical Blindness star accentuated her natural beauty for the event with a light palette of makeup

Looking good: The actress, 52, looked eleggant in a tan long-sleeved top with a turtle neck, pairing it with matching slim-fitting trousers

Flawless: Uma's glowing skin looked gorgeous with her natural palette of makeup and her blonde tresses complimented it perfectly

Stunning: Also in attendance to the show was actress Sabrina Elba who looked a vision in her baby pink floor-length dress with stand-out long red gloves

Flawless: The beauty, 34, who is married to British actor Idris Elba, 50, looked effortlessly chic in the figure-hugging number

Oozing confidence: She accessorised with a black top-handle bag and gold hoop earrings, and slipped into a pair of black shiny pointed toe heels

Pose: Her raven locks were styled with one side slicked back and the other poker straight, framing her face perfectly with a side-parting

Uma will portray an art dealer and will also see her reunited with her Pulp Fiction co-star Samuel L. Jackson.

Director Nicol Paone gave a statement to the media outlet where he called the script 'incredible' and expressed his excitement about being able to work with the movie's stars.

'Getting to make The Kill Room...with Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson is beyond my wildest dreams,' he said.

He added: 'Every moment they're onscreen, they are both enviable and eye-catching. I am eternally grateful to both of them for saying yes.'

Producers Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman also expressed that 'the combination of Thurman and Jackson for this project is a dream come true.'

Stand-out: The brunette beauty stole the show with her stunning stand-out pink dress, which also featured a white panel at the hemline

Gorgeous: Sabrina's enviable frame was unmissable in the figure-hugging outfit while stepping out in Milan

Effortless: The all-beige look looked fantastic on Uma who put on a fashionable display at Ferragamo's show

Chic: Uma looked ageless in the figure-hugging number as she arrived to the star-studded event in Milan

Candid: The actress struck a few poses on the red carpet before heading in to join the other celebrities

The pair then spoke about their confidence in the director's ability to create a spectacular movie.

'We are certain that Nicol is going to deliver a special film, and one that strikes the perfect balance between dark humor and edge-of-your-seat thrills,' they stated.

Production on the movie commenced earlier this year, with New Jersey and New York serving as filming locations.

Uma shares Maya and her son Levon with her ex-husband Ethan Hawke while she is also mother to daughter Luna, 10, with her ex Arpad Busson.
Suzan Mutesi was enjoying a night out during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday.

The Challenge star headed to the NOIR presents the Honey Birdette World Pride VIP Party in Sydney's Kings Cross.

The 36-year-old turned heads in a fitted ensemble in tones of bright red and muted orange.

Suzan opted for a crop top with long sleeves and glittering sequin details, which showed off lots of bust.

She paired it with a mini skirt in a tangerine tone, which also had red sequins throughout.

Suzan Mutesi (pictured) was enjoying a night out during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday

The Challenge star headed to the NOIR presents the Honey Birdette World Pride VIP Party in Sydney's Kings Cross

The socialite posed alongside stylist Joshua Heath (right), who ensured all eyes were on him in a glistening pair of underpants and diamante headpiece

The reality star added a pair of sparkling designer heels in silver with a pointed design.

She chose a bright makeup palette for the outing, including lots of highlighter and bold red lipstick.

Suzan wore her ash blonde locks down and straightened and went light on the accessories but for a nose ring.

The socialite posed alongside stylist Joshua Heath, who ensured all eyes were on him in a glistening pair of underpants and diamante headpiece.

At the party, scantily clad models posed along with a giant champagne glass

Several models were wearing nothing but underwear from the brand

Among the guests was Married At First Sight's intruder bride Evelyn Ellis (right) who donned white lingerie

She posed up a storm alongside a gal pal who likewise was dressed in underwear, opting for a red lace bra and panties

Guests showed off their brazen looks as they posed for photos at the event

At the party, scantily clad models posed along with a giant champagne glass wearing nothing but underwear.

Among the guests was Married At First Sight's intruder bride Evelyn Ellis who donned white lingerie.

She posed up a storm alongside a gal pal who likewise was dressed in underwear, opting for a red lace bra and panties.
Death in Paradise is to get two more seasons as the BBC confirmed the upcoming series and feature-length Christmas special's on Saturday.

The show has just aired its 12th season but viewers can expect a return to the fictional island of Saint Marie soon.

Set on the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe and follows Little's DI Neville Parker and his team as they fight crime.

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama revealed: 'With its sparkling blend of mystery, humour and heart, Death In Paradise continues to delight the millions of us who make the return trip to Saint Marie with every sun-drenched episode.

'It is a programme that goes from strength to strength, and I could not be happier that it will return for another two series and specials on BBC One and iPlayer.'

Yay! Death in Paradise is to get two more seasons as the BBC confirmed the upcoming series and feature-length Christmas special's on Saturday (Ralf little pictured as DI Neville Parker)

Tim Key, Executive Producer, from Red Planet Pictures added: 'The response to series 12 has been incredible, so were delighted that well be heading back to Guadeloupe for at least two more series.

'Weve got an amazing and joyful Christmas special in store, and then series 13 begins with our 100th episode, so weve got plenty of surprises ready to celebrate that milestone.

'Weve got huge plans for the future and cant wait to get going again.

'Death in Paradise' is one of the widest-selling British dramas. BBC Studios over the past 10 years has distributed the show to over 240 territories around the world including Australia, France, South Africa and the US.'

It comes after stars of the show Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton revealed there's one almighty twist for the Death In Paradise spin-off series, Beyond Paradise.

The series which is set on the south-west in England, rather than the Caribbean, follows Kris as character Humphrey Goodman, who takes up the position of DI in Devon.

'We can't replicate all those cocktails on the beach but we can have the quirk and characters of the West Country,' says Kris Marshall, who's bringing Humphrey home in new spin-off series Beyond Paradise.

As a boy from Wells in Somerset who used to holiday here, he knows this part of the world well. 'It's not always as sunny, but it can look absolutely stunning.'

Coming soon: Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama revealed: 'I could not be happier that it will return for another two series and specials on BBC One and iPlayer'

On screen: It comes after stars of the show Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton revealed there's one almighty twist for the Death In Paradise spin-off series , Beyond Paradise

Today those palms are swaying in a cool wind by the River Tamar as cast and crew come to the end of the three-month shoot. As Kris chats in front of an open fire, it's clear he knows the stakes are high.

'If this doesn't go well it's not going to look good for me or any of us,' he says, only half joking.

Very few British shows get a high-profile spin-off series like this, and even fewer work: Holby City from Casualty and Endeavour from Inspector Morse are two successes that spring to mind, but those are exceptions.

So the BBC is taking an expensive risk here  even though Death In Paradise has quietly and unexpectedly become one of the most successful television shows in the world since it was launched in 2011.
Body positivity campaigner Taryn Brumfitt rose to prominence earlier this year when she was named Australian of the Year.

Since being awarded the illustrious title, Brumfitt, 44, has faced accusations that her movement has played a role in rising obesity rates.

The media personality, who founded the Body Image Movement in 2012, tells this week's issue of Stellar Magazine that she is focussed on health, not weight.

'We need to remember that body image is about so much more than just weight or size' she tells the publication.

'It's our thoughts and feelings about all of us  our gender, our age, our height, all of those. Research shows that body appreciation leads us to a more stable weight over time' she continued.

Body positivity campaigner Taryn Brumfitt (pictured) rose to prominence earlier this year when she was named Australian of the Year. Brumfitt, who founded the Body Image Movement in 2012, tells this week's issue of Stellar Magazine that she is focussed on health, not weight

'So the conversation around 'obesity' and having that stigma and having that shame, and being bullied into feeling a particular way, doesn't actually drive someone to positive health outcomes'.

Brumfitt's tenure as Australian of the Year has not been without controversy.

Earlier this month, a student claimed she was left at 'rock bottom' after Brumfitt 'sexualised' and 'skinny-shamed' her over a modelling shoot she did as a 16-year-old.

Rhiannon van Zuydam, now 21, from Adelaide says she was 'happy and healthy' when she posed as a surfer for a newspaper in 2018.

'The conversation around 'obesity' and having that stigma and having that shame, and being bullied into feeling a particular way, doesn't actually drive someone to positive health outcomes' she tells Stellar Magazine

She wore a swimsuit and posed with a surfboard and said she had been delighted by the opportunity.

However, her photos caught the attention of the newly crowned Australian of the Year Ms Brumfitt, who posted it to her Body Image Movement social media accounts.

'Pensive. Sad. Sultry. Sexual. Confused. That's how I would describe the model in these images, NOT a 'Surfer ' the post read.

Ms van Zuydam said the campaigner's followers piled onto her with cruel trolling following the post.

'The people in the comments were saying I was so skinny, someone said, 'Get that girl a burger, her parents must be starving her', or, 'Oh she looks so miserable',' she told The Advertiser.

Brumfitt's tenure as Australian of the Year has not been without controversy. Earlier this month, student Rhiannon van Zuydam (pictured) claimed she was left at 'rock bottom' after Brumfitt 'sexualised' and 'skinny-shamed' her over a modelling shoot she did as a 16-year-old

Her photos caught the attention of the newly crowned Australian of the Year Brumfitt, who posted it to her Body Image Movement social media accounts

She added that the negative responses to the post shattered her self-confidence and pushed her into depression.

'I was only 16 at the time, of course I'm going to be skinny - I was training three to four hours a day and eating like a bloody horse, I'd come back for thirds of dinner and things like that.

'The fact she used words that sexualised me was also a very confronting thing at the time.

'I was really shut down, I didn't feel comfortable expressing myself. It took me years to become comfortable in my own skin. That post pushed me back to rock bottom again.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Brumfitt for comment.

She told The Advertiser that she had shared the post to call out the fashion industry for its portrayal of young women.

She added that the negative responses to the post shattered her self-confidence and pushed her into depression

'I voiced my opinion about these images as a plea for fashion editors, magazines and the general media to do a better job when it comes to how we portray and, at times, objectify girls and young women in advertising,' Ms Brumfitt said.

'I was devastated by the disgraceful, hurtful and derogatory words that followed my online post. I have never and will never condone this type of online behaviour.'

Ms Brumfitt later removed the posts but is not believed to have offered an apology.

Rhiannon's mother, Sharyn van Zuydam, contacted her before the post was removed.

'Hope you are feeling wonderful about taking something special that was celebrated and turning it into a horrible situation,' Sharyn told Ms Brumfitt.

Speaking later, she said she hoped Ms Bumfitt had learned from the situation.

'Taryn was out there promoting body image, but if you didn't fit her idea of what that was  we found it did the opposite of what she was trying to achieve,' Sharyn said.

Ms Brumfitt (pictured Prime Minister Anthony Albanese) with was announced as the Australian of the Year

'It seemed hypocritical, from someone who was supposedly promoting body image acceptance.'

It is the latest controversy to dog the Australian of the Year.

In January, it was revealed that Ms Brumfitt may have inadvertently caught the eye of the ACCC after appearing to endorse a number of products on Instagram without a disclaimer she was paid to do it.

She has made several posts over the past few years gushing about food, fashion and cars to her Instagram page 'bodyimagemovement'.

San Remo Pasta, Modibodi underwear and a Mazda dealership are among the companies and products peddled on her social media account.

Some posts include disclaimers of a paid partnership with the companies while others appear to be missing them.

Read more in this week's issue of Stellar Magazine

Influencers are required, at minimum, to end posts with #ad or #sponsored or add a kicker at the top that explains it is a paid partnership.

Ms Brumfitt an activist, writer, director and public speaker on a decade-long mission to change how we perceive ourselves.

In 2016 she produced a smash hit documentary called Embrace - which won her international acclaim.

She was crowned the Australian of the Year at a glittering ceremony in Canberra in January.

The Body Image Movement teaches people - young women in particular - to love and appreciate their bodies and has taken her to a global audience from her humble hometown of Adelaide.
Kim Kardashian ensured all eyes were on her as she sported two show-stopping outfits during Milan Fashion Week on Saturday.

The reality star, 42, showcased her famous curves as she sported a bright red bralet sequinned bralet that highlighted her toned midriff for the Dolce & Gabbana show.

She later slipped into a figure-hugging cream co-ord set adorned with buckles as she headed to the Dolce & Gabbana store.

Rocking her first sensational ensemble, the businesswoman also wore matching high-waisted trousers and added height to her frame with a pair of clear heels.

Adding to her outfit with a red clutch bag, Kim complemented the look with a pair of silver cross necklaces.

Double trouble! Kim Kardashian ensured all eyes were on her as she sported two show-stopping outfits during Milan Fashion Week on Saturday

Sensational: The reality star, 42, showcased her famous curves as she slipped into a bright red bralet sequinned bralet that highlighted her toned midriff

Curves: The businesswoman also wore matching high-waisted trousers and added height to her frame with a pair of clear heels

Letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders, Kim accentuated her natural beauty with a light palette of make-up.

Kim later changed into an equally show-stopping ensemble as she flaunted her washboard abs in a cropped cream jacket embellished with belt buckles.

She teamed her unique top with a matching pencil skirt, which was also fastened together with buckles, as she visited the Dolce & Gabbana store.

Kim gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of knee-high cream heeled boots and styled her fringed locks loosely in glamorous waves.

The star has been busy promoting her new collection of SKIMS SWIM all week after unveiling her highly anticipated second collection.

The entrepreneur previously founded SKIMS alongside Jens and Emma Grede in 2019.

The model has since appeared in several of her brand's promotional campaigns following the name change.

Several of her family members, including her sisters Khloe and Kourtney and half-sister Kendall, have also been featured in SKIMS' photoshoots.

Kim's fashion week outing comes after she was accused to of trying to resemble Jennifer's Body actress Megan Fox.

When posing for her newest SKIMS campaign, Kim's face looked very different. Her nose appeared thinner and her lips looked even bigger than usual.

Some Instagram followers said that she may have had plastic surgery to look more like pinup Fox.

Kisses! Letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders, Kim accentuated her natural beauty with a light palette of make-up

Sensational: Adding to her outfit with a red clutch bag, Kim complimented the look with a pair of silver cross necklaces

Gorgeous: She later slipped into a figure-hugging cream co-ord set adorned with buckles as she headed to the Dolce & Gabbana store

Wow! Kim she flaunted her washboard abs in a cropped cream jacket embellished with belt buckles

Glitzy: Kim gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of knee-high cream heeled boots and styled her fringed locks loosely in glamorous waves

Quirky look: She teamed her unique top with a matching pencil skirt, which was also fastened together with buckles, as she visited the Dolce & Gabbana store

All smiles: Kim was seen smiling and waving to her fans as she appeared in jovial spirits during the outing

Show: Ashley Graham took to the runway in a red midi dress with matching sleeves

Looks: One model donned a black lace bra with a pulled down white mini dress while another wore black lingerie with a sheer cover up and matching sleeves

Seeing double: Kim's fashion week outing comes after she was accused to of trying to resemble Jennifer's Body actress Megan Fox

Fans have long accused the model of undergoing plastic surgery, and rushed to the comments section to question why she looked different in the snaps.

They penned: '@kimkardashian can barely recognize you here. Still love you though! I love your brain the most xoxo!'; 'Looking 10 years younger with the dark hair'; 'Her face looks so different.'; '@meganfox is that you?'

The snaps were shared on the SKIMS Instagram page, captioned: 'Dressed to rest. Sexy, new silhouettes made from our comfy, coveted Cotton Jersey fabric drop tomorrow,' it read in the caption.

'Join the waitlist for early access to shop Cotton Sleep. @KimKardashian wears the Cotton Sleep Scoop Dress, size XS, in Onyx. Photo: @vitali_gelwich.'
Cara Delevingne commanded attention in a plunging corset mini dress as she attended W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont.

The model, 30, stepped out to the Los Angeles event on Friday and was joined by various celebrities for the fun evening ahead.

Cara, who posed for several photos at the glitzy bash, wore a chic cream mini-dress with a plunging neckline and a corset-snatched waist.

The stylish number, which showed off her enviable figure, snipped her in at the waist and flared out just above the knee to show off her tanned and toned pins.

The chic mini dress also featured puffed long sleeves and a layered skirt hem which contrasted nicely with the waist-snatching corset.

Wow! Cara Delevingne, 30, stunned in a plunging corset mini dress and Sophie Lis earrings as she attended W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont on Friday

Cara also opted for toting her essentials in a chic mini cream clutch bag that matched her ensemble.

The blonde beauty also styled her hair into loose tousled waves and donned a glowy makeup look for the star-studded bash.

While at the event, Cara took up the opportunity to get snapped with some of her pals.

In one snap, Cara can be seen all smiles as she struck up a pose with Kate Hudson, 43.

And Kate looked chic in a hot pink co-ord ensemble with a daring crop top with fringed trims.

The beauty also opted for teaming the glamorous top with a matching pink maxi skirt that clung to her waist while showing off a glimpse of her toned mid-riff.

The star styled her blonde tresses in a chic updo to finish the look and opted for a natural glowy makeup look.

American journalist Lynn Hirschberg, 54, was also spotted striking up a pose alongside Cara.

Pretty in pink: While at the event, Cara took up the opportunity to get snapped alongside pal Kate Hudson, 43, who cut a chic figure in a pink fringe co-ord ensemble

The famous journalist who has written for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times also donned a glam paisley print ensemble for the evening ahead.

Another celebrity spotted at the event with Cara was Will Smith's son Jaden Smith, 24.

The American rapper, however, donned a more casual look for the evening ahead by opting for a graphic print hoody and a pair of low-rise denim blue jeans.

The star-studded bash comes after Cara's docuseries, Planet Sex, premiered in the US on February 14 after airing on the BBC in the UK late last year.

Striking up a pose: Also in attendance at the event was famous journalist Lynn Hirschberg, 54, who struck up a pose next to Cara in a paisley print frock

According to Variety, the six-part series follows the supermodel as she explores her journey to self-discovery' while traveling the world to discuss the topic with others.

The actress and model identifies as 'openly queer'.

In recent years she has been linked primarily with women and had a long relationship with Pretty Little Liars actress Ashley Benson.

The second and final season of Cara's show Carnival Row released its first two episodes on February 17.

Casual: Another celebrity spotted at the event with Cara was Will Smith's son Jaden Smith, 24, who cut a casual look in a graphic print hoody and a pair of low-rise denim jeans

It is a steampunk-themed series that has been released exclusively on Amazon Prime.

Cara stars as a fairy named Vignette Stonemoss alongside Orlando Bloom, who plays detective Rycroft Philostrate.

The first season was released back in 2019.

And according to the IMDb synopsis, the show follows, 'A human detective and a fairy rekindle a dangerous affair in a Victorian fantasy world, where the city's uneasy peace collapses when a string of murders reveals an unimaginable monster.'
Kaia Gerber stunned in a plunging sheer mesh maxi dress as she joined her boyfriend Austin Butler, at W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont.

The 21-year-old daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, 56, and businessman Rande Gerber, 60, stepped out to the Los Angeles event with the actor, 31.

And the model looked nothing short of sensational as she put on a sexy display in a sheer mesh maxi dress that featured a plunging neckline and a daring split in the leg.

The stylish but daring ensemble hugged her enviable figure and showed a glimpse of her small underarm tattoo.

The brunette beauty also opted for further elevating her height with a pair of black strappy heels to dance the night away in.

Party: Kaia Gerber stunned in a plunging sheer mesh maxi dress as she joined her boyfriend Austin Butler at W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont

Power couple: The 21-year-old daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, 56, and businessman Rande Gerber, 60, stepped out to the Los Angeles event with her boyfriend Austin Butler, 31

Kaia completed her look with a pair of diamond drop earrings and a glam makeup look and styled her hair in a bouncy blowout.

Meanwhile, Oscar-nominated actor Austin looked dapper in an all-black three-piece suit that co-ordinated perfectly with Kaia's sheer ensemble.

The Elvis star, who looked incredibly suave, donned a black suit blazer, a button-up shirt, and a pair of satin trousers.

He also styled his blonde locks into loose curls for the event.

The star-studded bash comes after the actor recently celebrated his Best Actor BAFTA Award win for portraying Elvis Presley in the hit film.

And while accepting his award, Austin fought back the tears as he paid tribute to the Presley family while receiving the honour last Sunday.

Thanking all of the crew and team he worked with on the film, Austin admitted he was 'just trying to take it all in'.

'This means the world to me,' he told the ceremony, still using the Elvis drawl he learned for the biopic.

Sensational: And the model looked nothing short of sensational as she put on a sexy display in a sheer mesh maxi dress that featured a plunging neckline and a daring split in the leg

Looking dapper: Meanwhile, Oscar-nominated actor Austin looked dapper in an all-black three-piece suit that co-ordinated perfectly with Kaia's sheer ensemble

BAFTA's: The star-studded bash comes after the actor recently celebrated his Best Actor BAFTA Award win for portraying Elvis Presley in the hit film Elvis

He also honoured the Presley family, who offered insight into Elvis' life for the biopic, adding he 'hopes he made them proud.'

Following his win, Austin also paid tribute to Lisa Marie Presley following her tragic death last month.

Speaking in the winner's room he said: 'It's been a really unimaginably tragic time, you know, and grief is a long process.

'And so my heart and my love was with [the Presley family] always. I feel honoured to have been welcomed into the family. It's a bittersweet time.'

Lisa Marie proudly joined Austin on the film's promotional tour and witnessed his recent Golden Globe win for Best Performance in a Motion Picture  Drama. Unfortunately, she sadly passed away tragically just days after the ceremony.

The biggest night in British film returned last Sunday evening, with actor Richard E. Grant taking the helm to present the 76th EE British Academy Film Awards.

Held at the Royal Festival Hall, Richard, 65, was joined by Alison Hammond to host the star-studded ceremony, while film critic Ali Plum was on the red carpet with Vick Hope.

During his opening monologue, Richard referenced Will Smith's infamous slap at last year's Oscars, telling audiences that 'on my watch, no one gets slapped tonight'.

Smith stormed onto the stage during the 94th annual Academy Awards in March and slapped presenter Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

The actor, who went on to win the coveted best actor Oscar moments later, was banned from all Academy events for the next 10 years and resigned from the organisation.

Speaking at the Baftas, Grant said that the only slaps being received on Sunday would be 'on the back'.

'What a great year to be hosting the Baftas,' he said.

'In 2022, movie audiences were well and truly back, and there has never been a better time to go to the cinema until right now.'

He added: 'Well, not right now, I'm trying my best, and nobody on my watch gets slapped tonight... except on the back.'
Daisy Edgar-Jones looked effortlessly stylish as she attended W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles on Friday.

The Normal People actress, 24, turned heads in a black sleeveless midi dress which she wore with a pair of black kitten heels.

Also sporting matching socks, the Where The Crawdads Sing staradded to her outfit with an eye-catching gold necklace.

Daisy styled her brunette locks into an updo for the event and completed her look with a gold bracelet.

The actress was joined at the bash by Lady Chatterley's Lover star Ella Hunt who opted for a white short-sleeved blouse and grey shorts.

Looking good: Daisy Edgar-Jones looked effortlessly stylish as she attended W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles on Friday

Outfit: The Normal People actress, 24, turned heads in a black sleeveless midi dress which she wore with a pair of black kitten heels

The Dickinson star, 24, also wore black sheer tights and boosted her frame with a pair of heels.

Addison Rae was also in attendance at the party and looked incredible in a black mini dress with a cut out along the centre.

It comes after Daisy previously revealed her mother didn't want her to become an actress.

The actress - who was born and raised in Muswell Hill, North London - told her parents she wanted to pursue a career in acting at the age of 15.

Daisy's parents, Wendy and Philip, both worked in television (her mother an editor; her father is now the head of Sky Arts).

When speaking on being and only child, she told Elle UK: 'We get a hard rap but being an only child was great. I'm very good at making friends.

'I remember going on holidays as a child, seeing kids playing in the pool and having to go up and ask, 'Can I play?' It was a good life lesson.'

At 15, her mum suggested Daisy audition for the National Youth Theatre after she'd said she wanted to be an actor.

Pals: The actress was joined at the bash by Lady Chatterley's Lover star Ella Hunt who opted for a white short-sleeved blouse and grey shorts

Event: The Dickinson star, 24, also wore black sheer tights and boosted her frame with a pair of heels

Stunning: Addison Rae was also in attendance at the party and looked incredible in a black mini dress with a cut out along the centre

She added: 'I think she kind of hoped I wouldn't get in. Not in a mean way  just because it's a really hard job.'

She went on to speak about her career now and resilience in the industry: As an actor, you have to be resilient.

'If I have a bad day at work, its judged by a lot of people, and I have to live with it forever. But I still have to make brave choices to have a shot at making something remarkable.
Helen Flanagan looked incredible as she slipped into a busty red bikini for a relaxing spa day on Saturday.

The former Coronation Street actress, 32, is currently enjoying a trip to Paris with her eldest daughter Matilda, seven, and twenty-two-month-old son, Charlie.

Giving fans a glimpse into their stay at Kimpton St Honore hotel, Helen took in a dip in the pool with her son, and explained that he was now feeling better after his nasty slip at Alton Towers' water park.

Sharing a clip to Instagram, she went makeup free, showing off her flawless complexion.

Helen penned: 'I loved wearing this @OutDazl' as she showed off the swimwear in the mirror.

Holiday: Helen Flanagan, 32, looked incredible as she slipped into a busty red bikini for a relaxing spa day on Saturday

Stunning: The former Coronation Street actress is currently enjoying a trip to Paris with her eldest daughter Matilda, seven, and twenty-two-month-old son, Charlie

In another snap, the doting mother was joined by her daughter Matilda, with the duo wearing glamorous faux fur coats.

Just days ago Helen's son Charlie had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance after snapping his collarbone at Alton Towers' water park.

The former Coronation Street star told of her anguish as she spent six hours in hospital on Thursday following his accident at the amusement park.

Taking to her Instagram stories, Helen said: 'We went to a water park and Charlie slipped, really really badly and it was awful, absolutely horrendous.

'I had to get an ambulance and he had snapped his collarbone into two. It was horrendous, so I spent like six hours in the hospital at Stoke.'

'I'd like to say thank you to the paramedics and the doctors and nurses who were amazing. Thank you so much. That was awful, just horrible, horrible, horrible.

'To see your child in pain was just horrendous, but he's ok.'

She added: 'There's actually not much you can do for it. Apparently it mends by itself but it's horrible when you're a mum and you just wish you could take every pain away from them.'

Cute: Giving fans a glimpse into their stay at Kimpton St Honore hotel, Helen explained that Charlie was now feeling better after his nasty slip at Alton Towers' water park

Stylish: In another snap, the doting mother was joined by her daughter Matilda, with the duo wearing glamorous faux fur coats

Helen revealed the accident happened the day before she was due to take her eldest daughter Matilda to Paris on a girls trip.

She said she still managed to make it to Paris and took Charlie with her and wrote: 'Charlie's been amazing bless him so brave x at the Eiffel Tower today.'

She said of her decision to go on the holiday so soon after the accident: 'I'd promised Matilda for months. She'd always wanted to go to Paris and I didn't want to let her down. She was crying in the morning.

'It was meant to be just a me and Matilda trip and it was supposed to be a big girl trip for Matilda because Delilah gets a lot of attention so to cut a long story short I've got Matilda and Charlie with me cause obviously I couldn't leave him and I've got my friend with me as well.'
Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval brought their star wattage to Miami's South Beach Wine And Food Festival this weekend.

The dynamic duo shot to fame on Vanderpump Rules and have since opened a pair of bars in Los Angeles: TomTom and Schwartz & Sandy's.

They took their talents across the country to Miami this week and promoted their buzzy establishments at the culinary festival.

Female fans flocked to the reality TV heartthrobs, who poured drink samples and graciously posed for selfies with their admirers.

Sandoval showed off his sculpted torso by leaving most of his shirt buttons tantalizingly undone and letting the top hang open.

Sizzling sensations: Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval brought their star wattage to Miami's South Beach Wine And Food Festival this weekend

Hunk-tastic: Female fans flocked to the reality TV heartthrobs, who poured drink samples and graciously posed for selfies with their admirers

Wearing his jet-black hair in a sleek coif, he warded off the Florida rays by accessorizing with a stylish pair of gleaming aviators.

Meanwhile Schwartz modeled a plunging V-neck T-shirt that allowed him to showcase his toned arms as he hobnobbed with the fans.

Last year saw the collapse of Schwartz's marriage to his Vanderpump Rules co-star Katie Maloney, sometimes known as 'Tequila Katie.'

Since then he has had a brief dalliance with his costar Raquel Leviss, who used to date Vanderpump Rules staple DJ James Kennedy.

On a recent episode of Vanderpump Rules, Schwartz said he stayed up until 4 a.m. 'hanging out' with hairstylist Jo Wenberg but clarified that they did not have sex.

He has since told Us Weekly that 'Jo is a badass hairstylist' and called her a 'beautiful soul' but insisted their relationship was strictly platonic.

'I just got out of a 12-year relationship. I cannot be in a committed  I cant dive back into another relationship,' added the sizzler.

'It wouldnt be fair to the other person cause Im kind of consumed with, like, business and my family and Im kind of falling in love with myself all over again.'

Businessmen: The dynamic duo shot to fame on Vanderpump Rules and have since opened a pair of bars in Los Angeles, TomTom and Schwartz & Sandy's

Making it happen: They took their talents across the country to Miami this week and promoted their buzzy establishments at the culinary festival

Turning up the heat: Sandoval showed off his sculpted torso by leaving most of his shirt buttons tantalizingly undone and letting the top hang open

Dashing: Wearing his jet-black hair in a sleek coif, he warded off the Florida rays by accessorizing with a stylish pair of gleaming aviators

Personal life: Last year saw the collapse of Schwartz' marriage to his Vanderpump Rules co-star Katie Maloney, sometimes known as 'Tequila Katie'
Kristen Stewart graced the red carpet for the closing night of the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, shortly before the winners were announced.

The actress, 32, put on a racy display in a sheer black buttoned dress, complete with a cardigan pattern at the top.

Flashing her matching black underwear, Kristen also went braless in the ensemble for the event.

Kristen, who is President of the Festival's International Jury, wore her raven tresses in a short, choppy style and donned matching heels to add inches to her height.

She posed with fellow actress pal and Jury member Golshifteh Farahani, who looked gorgeous in a floor-length Grecian-style gown.

In style: Kristen Stewart wore a sheer black dress as she graced the red carpet for the closing night of the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, shortly before the winners were announced

Daring: Kristen went braless in a sheer black buttoned gown as she arrived at the closing night of the Berlin Film Festival

Sexy: Flashing her matching black underwear, Kristen also went braless in the ensemble for the event

She wore her raven locks in a chic up do, opting for minimal makeup for the event.

Kristen was later seen speaking on stage at the award ceremony of the Berlin International Film Festival.

French director Nicolas Philibert's documentary On the Adamant, which took an intimate look at patients and caregivers at a Paris mental health centre won the festival's Golden Bear prize for best film.

Nicolas, 72, lived on a barge on the River Seine while making the film which chronicled the centre as it catered to its patients creative needs.

He said: 'I dont like partitions or labels. in this film on psychiatry we were always [careful] to not always distinguish very clearly between patients and carers.

'I tried to reverse the image we always have of mad people [which I see] as discriminating and stigmatising.

'I wanted us to be able, if not to identify with them, at least to recognise what unites us beyond our differences.'

Meanwhile, French filmmaker Philippe Garrel won the festival's Best Director prize for his family drama The Plough.

Glamour: Kristen, who is President of the Festival's International Jury, wore her raven tresses in a short, choppy style and donned matching heels to add inches to her height

Strike a pose: The star wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty features as she stood on the red carpet

It featured his real-life children playing three siblings who were the last generation in a family of puppeteers.

Philippe dedicated his award to the late French-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard.

The runner-up Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize was handed to German director Christian Petzold's Afire, while the Silver Bear jury prize was awarded to Portuguese-French film Bad Living by director Joao Canijo.

German transgender actress Thea Ehre won the Silver Bear for best supporting performance in Christoph Hochhauslers Till the End of the Night.

Elsewhere, Angela Schanelecs Music, which is a modern day take on the Oedipus myth, which had hardly any dialog, won Best Screenplay.

Cinematographer Helene Louvart won Berlins Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for her work on director Giacomo Abbruzzese's Disco Boy.

Director Tatiana Huezo won two prizes - the best director gong for the Berlinales Encounters section and the Berlinale best documentary prize - for her film The Echo, which takes a look at the lives of families living in a remote village in the north of Mexico.

The Berlinale Silver Bear short film jury prize was given to directors Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch for their drama Dipped in Black.

Winner: Director Nicolas Philibert's documentary On the Adamant, which looked at patients and caregivers at a Paris mental health centre won the festival's Golden Bear prize for best film

Dedicated: Nicolas, 72, lived on a barge on the River Seine while making the film which chronicled the centre as it catered to its patients creative needs.

With a cash award of 44,000, the prize for best first feature film went to drama The Klezmer Project from directors Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann.

The Golden Bear for best film in the Encounters section was awarded to Bas Devos for their film Here.

It comes after Kristen stood with members of the film community in a demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine ahead of the Till the End of the Night premiere during the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in Germany on Friday.

Vigils were held around the world to mark the one-year anniversary deranged despot Vladimir Putin's Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, starting a war in Europe that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes.

The gathering marked the anniversary in a show of strength against Moscow's illegal invasion, which has led to copious allegations of war crimes by Russian soldiers.

Kristen looked solemn as she stood with other people in support of Ukraine.

She dressed in a black coat and jeans which she teamed with a white T-shirt, while those around her held the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine.

The group held signs with the hashtag '#StandWithUkraine' written on them.

Stunning: Fellow actress pal Golshifteh Farahani, who posed with Kristen on the red carpet, looked gorgeous in a floor-length Grecian-style gown for the event

Friends: Golshifteh smiled with her pal Kristen as they arrived for the closing ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival

All stars: Actress and jury member Golshifteh, jury president Kristen and US casting director and jury member Francine Maisler were seen on stage at the event

Champion: Kristen presented actor Thea Ehre with Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance Award in Till the End of the Night

Presentation: Kristen was later seen speaking on stage at the award ceremony of the Berlin International Film Festival

Earlier in the day, Kristen met with the city's mayor Franziska Giffey at the town hall Rotes Rathaus.

She opted for casual attire, wearing a white linen shirt which she teamed with a pair of khaki trousers.

Movie regular Kristen was seen deep in discussion with the mayor, who wore a smart navy blue skirt with a matching jacket.

She completed her look by wearing a multi-coloured blouse and a pair of stylish black heels.

The star looked relaxed as she posed with her hands in her pockets while standing alongside the mayor.

Kristen wrote a message in the guest book during a reception at the town hall before speaking to guests.
She's long been known for drawing attention with her racy looks.

And Bella Thorne vamped it up with yet another sultry look as she attended the MSGM show at Milan Fashion Week on Saturday.

The actress, 25, stepped out in an edgy ensemble for the event, opting for a racy black bodysuit with fishnet sleeves.

She added a pair of metallic blue cargo trousers to the outfit, complementing the stunning look with chunky black heels.

Bella toted her essentials in a small yellow purse, sweeping her strawberry blonde locks into a bun.

Stylish: Bella Thorne cut an edgy figure in a black mesh bodysuit with fishnet sleeves as she attended the MSGM show at Milan Fashion Week on Saturday

Beauty: The actress toted her essentials in a small yellow purse, sweeping her strawberry blonde locks into a bun

Stepping out in style: The actress upped the style stakes with her fashionable outfit for the event, teaming her piece with metallic blue cargo trousers

She accessorised with a host of silver earrings, opting for a slick of berry lipstick.

It comes after Bella revealed that she is not comfortable autographing all photos of herself that have been taken.

The Midnight Sun actress shared a recent encounter she had with a male autograph seeker at the Sundance Film Festival where she declined signing the photos he handed her.

The star recalled the incident during which she was given racy photos of herself - some of which were taken when she was underage - and told The Hollywood Reporter she 'didn't like' the situation.

'I normally don't tell them off but they offended me. It was this guy and he was shoving photos in front of me and I looked away for a second and looked back and there was a photo of me from my GQ magazine cover.'

'Its super sexy and my butt is out and I'm wearing lingerie and I'm topless,' she explained about the photos, which were part of the 2017 GQ Mexico cover spread.

After she declined to sign the photo, the man continued to ask her to sing other content. 'I said I wouldn't sign that and he took it away and then put it back in front of me again. I said, "No, I'm not signing that."'

'He pulled out another photo of a magazine with another sexy image. He was like, "Come on, Bella. Sign it for me." I didn't like it. It was inappropriate.'

Pretty: The ensemble accentuated her slender waist and toned arms as she prepared for the show

Glitz and glamour: She added a pair of shiny blue tracksuit bottoms to the outfit, complementing the stunning look with chunky black heels

Looking good: She accessorised with a host of silver earrings, opting for a slick of berry lipstick and kohl-rimmed eyeshadow

The actress stated that she was uncomfortable signing the images because they were taken when she was underage.

'There was some stuff there from a Candies campaign that I did when I was 16 and it was clear that he wanted me to sign things that were viewed as sexy and even underage and I was like, "Give me something else,"' she explained.

Bella then recalled how the fan then told her, '"Arent they all sexy?"

She replied: 'No, enough is enoughI get it, they have to make money and everyone has a job so I get that. It was just that I was under 18 and its inappropriate.'

The former child star also revealed that upon reflection, she would not participate in some of the photoshoots she did when she was younger.

'I wouldnt do that now. You also cant spend your time trying to take back these moments or moments that you were too sexy or think that being a woman is only this or that.'
Fans accuse the girls of hypocrisy for celebrating their 'sisterhood' but behaving the same as the men, leaving them concerned for the men's mental health

Casa Amor created emotional scenes with Shaq Muhammad left in tears after his on-screen partner Tanya went off with another competitor, Martin Akinola

Love Island is embroiled in a 'toxic femininity' row after women on the show reduced some of the male contestants to tears.

Viewers of the controversial ITV reality series have been left fearing for the mental health of male stars.

Some fans have accused the girls of hypocrisy for celebrating their 'sisterhood' but misbehaving in the same way as the men.

Tanya Manhenga, 22, Olivia Hawkins, 27, and Australian Jessie Wynter, 26, are widely considered the ringleaders in the villa.

Last Thursday saw emotional scenes after the Casa Amor stunt, in which men and women are split up, some being put in another villa and all introduced to new singletons.

Controversy: Love Island is embroiled in a 'toxic femininity' row after women on the show reduced some of the male contestants to tears

Shocking: Tanya Manhenga, 22, (pictured) Olivia Hawkins, 27, and Australian Jessie Wynter, 26, are widely considered the ringleaders in the villa

Sad: Shaq burst into tears on Thursday night's episode after an explosive Movie Night saw him argue with partner Tanya

Contestant Shaq Muhammad was left in tears after his on-screen partner Tanya Manhenga went off with another competitor, Martin Akinola. Mr Muhammad was devastated and had to be consoled by contestant Tom Clare.

Ms Manhenga then humiliated Mr Akinola when she led him to believe he stood a chance, only to then publicly profess her love for Mr Muhammad.

Meanwhile, farmer Will Young burst into tears after the women jumped to the defence of Jessie Wynter when he kissed another cast member while in Casa Amor. But none of the women condemned Ms Manhenga.

Olivia Hawkins also rounded on contestant Ron Hall for criticising her, despite footage of her making derogatory remarks about other couples, none of which was challenged by the other women.

In addition, Mr Hall was ridiculed and made to feel he was in the wrong for appearing to encourage his fellow male contestants to give new arrivals in Casa Amor a chance.

Yet the women, led by Ms Wynter, were shown to have done the exact same thing in the villa.

This year's female line-up has been branded the most 'manipulative and toxic' in the history of the show. One male viewer said: 'I've never complained to Ofcom but I have tonight. Emotional abuse and bullying isn't a joke  Tanya and Olivia need talking to.'

A female viewer wrote on Twitter: 'I never thought I'd be siding with the men. Some of these women are toxic,' while another tweeted: 'Toxic femininity at its finest.'

Tears: Shaq had a heart-to-heart with co-star Tom after the argument, who comforted him as he cried

Upset: After Tanya ignored Shaq in the kitchen, he left the villa, later crying as he spoke to friend Tom Clare

Anger: Twitter was full of furious commenters after the feud, angry at Tanya's behaviour and that she made him cry

Another wrote: 'This women empowerment is too toxic for me. It doesn't hurt to be self-aware, babe. And a bunch of you need to look in the mirror.'

An ITV spokesman said that contestants are trained in inclusive language and behaviour, creating safe spaces and being a good ally.

During the show, Tanya did not apologise to Shaq for her actions which later led to a clash between the pair that later descended into an almighty row.

Fans slammed Tanya for her 'self-centred and immature' behaviour, urging producer's to send in a new partner for him.

One person penned on Twitter: 'Shaq crying outside the Villa.. his showing guys have feelings, just we dont try to show it In front of girls.. Yeah give him the 50k now, hes won over everyone.'

Another added: 'Shaq crying actually was upsetting to see... Tanya is very self-centered and immature. He deserves better.'

'Shaq is way too mature for this game. He deserves so much better,' a third agreed.

Someone else wrote: 'Most emotional moment so far in this show was seeing Shaq try hard not to cry with Tom comforting him outside the villa and the other islanders would never know how much hes having to deal with.'

Earlier in the show, Shaq reacted to the Movie Night clip of Tanya kissing Martin, he said: 'So it was just a peck, yeah, and he went to kiss you? So we're lying now?'

But Tanya stood her ground and said: 'If you're looking for something to be angry about, this isn't it.'

The confrontation led to Shaq later saying to the boys: 'I cant lie, I feel like she's a liar, I feel like she's full of s**t.'

Tanya became irritated, telling Olivia that she did not know what else to do and she felt she kept having to prove her love for Shaq.

After Tanya ignored Shaq in the kitchen, he left the villa, later crying as he spoke to friend Tom.

Twitter was full of furious commenters after the feud, angry at Tanya's behaviour.

One person wrote: 'Tanya is actually the WORST person on #loveisland. Biggest gaslighter and hypocrite. Shaq deserves much better.'

Another added: 'Tanya don't deserve Shaq' while a third said: 'Tanya continues to prove she is too emotionally IMMATURE to be in a relationship.

The emotional manipulation she uses on Shaq to continuously justify her bad behaviour is actually MAD... honestly this whole lot of girls left can be chucked. Well except Sanam.'

Meanwhile, a separate person penned: 'Not Tanya saying the old shaq is back and she doesn't like it as soon as he shows human emotion... genuine gaslighting! It's not an old version of him, he's just hurt and reacting to your b********!'

Love Island was also reportedly hit with Ofcom complaints over 'alleged racism and bullying' towards former contestant on this year's show Zara Lackenby-Brown.

A total of 122 complaints for the matter were recorded to Ofcom in recent weeks.

A total of 78 viewers also made complaints related to 'alleged manipulative and misogynistic behaviour from other contestants,' while 59 complaints accused contestant Tom Clare of 'alleged aggressive behaviour'.

Ofcom is not investigating the complaints.

On Thursday night, fans were quick to accuse the girls of hypocrisy during Thursday's Movie Night, as they reprimanded the boys for their behaviour in Casa Amor.

In a tense episode, the girls, and Tanya in particular, failed to hold back from slamming the boys for their antics, despite struggling to stay loyal themselves.

Fuming: Fans were also quick to accuse the girls of being 'hypocrites' as they reprimanded the boys for their behaviour in Casa Amor on Thursday night's episode

Really? In a tense episode, the girls, and Tanya in particular, failed to hold back from slamming the boys for their antics, despite struggling to stay loyal themselves

Many fans noted that the boys were getting far more of the blame for Casa Amor even though the girls were also tempted to stray.

This also came as many of the girls seemed to conveniently ignore a clip which saw Olivia state she'd already forgotten about Kai during Casa Amor, somewhat proving Ron's claims that she was 'playing a game.'

One viewer tweeted: 'These girls trying to compete with who had it worse. NONE OF YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE HYPOCRITES.'

Another added: 'This group of girls on Love Island are the biggest bunch of hypocrites. I really dislike them together. Special mentions to Olivia and Tanya.'

A third added: 'These girls are hypocrties nobody has given Tanya the same energy they gave the boys. She did 100% the same thing. First season where I prefer the boys.'

'All the girls are massive hypocrites because how are you all so mad at the way the boys acted but have no problem with tanya literally breaking Shaq's heart bye,' one raging viewer posted.

Exposing the truth: The same episode saw lots of viewers share their relief after Liv's antics were exposed during Movie Night, though this was somewhat overlooked by the other girls

Another angry fan tweeted: 'I'm so bored of watching the boys grovel every episode, mainly because the girls are over-dramatising everything! Tanya did worse than all boys put together and she's not had half as much grief.'

'Never in my years of living did I think I would be supporting men over girls in Love Island,' a viewer tweeted.

Clearly furious by the scenes, one viewer also posted: 'I might actually write an Ofcom report about these girls.'

The same episode saw lots of viewers share their relief after Liv's antics were exposed during Movie Night.

After the boys got a question correct in their battle to watch more clips of the Islanders, they opted to watch Liv Actually.

Soon, it became apparent that Olivia's true colours were to be revealed, as footage showed her forgetting Kai's name and badmouthing the girls, which left the fellow Islanders shocked.

She said: 'Early days. I forgot his name, Kai. No, because it's like new scenery.'

Other comments included telling Max that Claudia had forgiven Casey too quickly for kissing other girls during Casa Amor.

But a determined Olivia remained completely unbothered and reacted to the videos by telling the others: 'No, because it's nothing I wouldn't say.
Georgie Chumbley will be replacing Bianca Stone as Queensland correspondent for Channel Seven breakfast show Sunrise.

The 31-year-old will step into her new role at the end of March after Stone handed in her resignation after 18 years at the network.

Chumbley told The Courier Mail on Sunday, she's 'excited' to be taking over from the longtime host.

'It means early mornings but I'm really excited to tell Queensland stories on a national stage,' she said.

'I'm always looking for new challenges and ways to stretch myself.'

Sunrise announces Georgie Chumbley (pictured) as the show's new reporter following Bianca Stone's departure after 18 years at Channel Seven

Chumbley started her career with Nine's regional WIN News, working between the Sunshine Coast, Mackay and Toowoomba.

However in 2016, she landed her new role with Channel Seven in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, Stone handed in her resignation four weeks ago after reassessing her career over the Christmas break.

Addressing her exit in a statement earlier this month, she told viewers and colleagues she had considered leaving Seven for some time.

She does not have another job lined up, but is seeking new career opportunities.

'Some personal news I will be signing off from Sunrise for the final time on Friday,' she wrote in an Instagram post.

'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 six years.

'I've travelled across the country and around the world, covering terror attacks, royal visits, the death of the Queen, two Commonwealth Games, floods, fires, cyclones and too many tragedies.

'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 pre-dawn demands,' she continued.

Bianca (pictured) handed in her resignation four weeks ago after reassessing her career over the Christmas break

'Cheers to the viewers for (sometimes) laughing at my bad jokes and continuing to watch the show. As for the future... the only thing I've committed to is taking a short break and turning off the 2am alarm.'

Stone also spoke to the Courier Mail about why she decided to quit her job of six years, admitting her resignation surprised her bosses.

'It came as a shock [to Seven management], but I have been toying with the idea for some time,' she told the newspaper.

'Sunrise is a dream job. Breakfast TV is addictive and compelling, but it also comes with an alarm every single day and that becomes hard.'
He's currently mesmerising viewers as the villain in BBC Ones hit drama The Gold, based on the 26 million Brinks-Mat heist of 1983.

But Jack Lowden and his even more starry partner Saoirse Ronan have a fortune of their own, and have just splashed out 2.5 million on a new home in the upmarket North London enclave of Islington.

They bought the three-bedroom Victorian end-of-terrace property after the actress fell in love with the area while playing Lady Macbeth at the nearby Almeida Theatre.

Lowden, 32, has received plaudits for his portrayal of the criminal Kenneth Noye in The Gold, and also stars alongside Gary Oldman in the popular Apple TV+ spy drama Slow Horses.

Ms Ronan, 28, is widely acclaimed as one of the worlds leading screen actresses, boasting four Oscar nominations for her roles in films including Atonement and Little Women.

Settling down: Jack and Saoirse enjoy a walk with their dog out in London

The couple, who first met in 2018 on the set of the Mary Queen Of Scots film, in which Ms Ronan played the title role and Lowden was her husband, Lord Darnley, had previously rented a property in Notting Hill, West London.

A friend of the pair said: Jack and Saoirse had been looking to buy a place for some time, but both had been so busy with work it was hard to get round to it. It was while she was appearing in Islington as Lady Macbeth, that Saoirse realised how much she liked the surrounding streets.

READ MORE: Blitz FIRST LOOK: Saoirse Ronan joins music legend Paul Weller for World War II film Advertisement

I dont think it took too much persuading to get Jack to agree to buying a place there.

Ms Ronan has fully immersed herself into local life and has been seen at neighbourhood restaurants, as well as walking her beloved terrier Fran around the area.

The couple have also gone into business together, launching an independent film and production company, Arcade Pictures.

Ms Ronan will soon begin filming the star-studded Hollywood blockbuster, Barbie. In the movie, due out next year, she is reported to be playing an alternative Barbie to the one played by star Margot Robbie. Her boyfriend, Ken, will be played by Ryan Gosling.

Speaking of his relationship with Ms Ronan, Lowden said recently: We are not competitive, not in the slightest, because Id lose. There is just zero competition, because there is no competition.

And he also likened his partner of five years to a luxury car, as he described working with her on a film by saying: When youre given a Ferrari like her, its all about how you make everything good for the Ferrari to show off.
A glamorous designer who made a 56,000 engagement gown for the Duchess of Sussex is dressing stars for the red carpet once again  despite her collapsed fashion house owing millions to former staff and the taxman.

Tamara Ralph ran luxury label Ralph & Russo with former business partner and boyfriend Michael Russo before it went into administration in 2021 with unpaid debts of more than 20 million.

The pair have been accused in documents filed at the High Court of plundering millions from the firm to bankroll luxury lifestyles, with Ms Ralph allegedly spending company cash on business class flights, luxury hotels, beauty treatments, yoga classes and lingerie.

But now the Australian designer, who denies the allegations, is again dressing celebrities for red carpet events through a solo fashion venture. Lily James wore an elaborate white cut-out gown from Ms Ralphs private collection for the Baftas last Sunday.

Questions: Tamara Ralph and former business partner Michael Russo

The designer posted a picture on Instagram of the Downton Abbey actress after the event with the caption: The ethereal Lily James looking radiant in Tamara Ralph couture as she is making her mark at tonights Bafta film awards.

Two days before the ceremony, Ms Ralph started a new fashion company, with the designer listed as the sole director and all shares owned by a Monaco-based firm. The 41-year-old now lives in the South of France with Bhanu Choudhrie, 44, a billionaire financier and Liberal Democrat donor.

After its launch in 2010, Ralph & Russo became one of Britains most celebrated fashion houses, with clients including Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

However, it went into administration in 2021, with Ms Ralph blaming the pandemic. Since then she and Mr Russo have been accused in court papers of using the fashion house to fund their lavish lifestyles, with allegations that the companys pension pot was raided before it collapsed.

Glamour: Lily James at last weeks Baftas in the elegant gown by Ms Ralph

Former Ralph & Russo employees are still owed 364,781 in wages and holiday pay, although it is unlikely all of this will be paid, according to the administrators.

The collapsed fashion house also owes almost 10.5 million to 337 creditors, including more than 2 million to HMRC.

Ms Ralph is being sued by the firm via its administrators for 20.8 million in damages. She has strenuously denied the allegations and said she has repaid any money given to her through company loans and that her use of company expenses was transparent.

Investigators are also trying to discover what happened to about 60 million pumped into the company, including a 17 million loan from property developer Nick Candys investment firm Candy Ventures Sarl, from 2018 onwards.

This figure has now risen to more than 26 million with interest, according to the most recent administrators report.

Last night, Mr Candy said: Celebrities who choose to wear her designs will come to regret their connection with a tarnished brand.

A spokesman for Ms Ralph said: One hundred per cent of her workforce are reunited ex Ralph & Russo staff whom Ms Ralph considers to be family and who are all very happy to work together again. Ms Ralph is also working with her former suppliers who are fully supportive of her new venture.

Ms Ralph did not run the financial and business side, she was the creative director.

The company was sold over 18 months ago by its secured creditor Candy Ventures to Retail E-commerce Ventures, who continue to operate the business.
He's the East End actor who conquered Hollywood with his tough-guy image.

Now Ray Winstone could be heading back to his roots  with a role in TV's Albert Square.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that he is being lined up to replace Danny Dyer as the hardman in EastEnders and it has even been speculated by some close to the BBC soap opera that he may become the landlord of the Queen Vic pub.

The character he would potentially play would be the patriarch of a family also featuring new characters.

Yesterday, sources at the BBC insisted that there were no plans for Winstone, 66, to appear. However, they have previously dampened such rumours about other big-name signings, only for them to be announced officially shortly afterwards.

Ray Winstone could be heading back to his roots  with a role in TV's Albert Square on EastEnders

Winstone, who starred in gangster movie Sexy Beast, almost joined EastEnders as long-running character Billy Mitchell's brother back in 2008 but turned it down after accepting a role in Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull. At the time soap bosses said they were desperate to get him on the show.

The actor later said: 'That thing about turning up five times a week, these guys work really hard, it just ain't for me. I wondered if I'd probably be the only one from the East End in the show.'

The London district of Bromley-by-Bow, where the fictional Albert Square is supposed to be located, is just two miles from Hackney Hospital where Winstone was born. He lived in Plaistow, in the East End, until he was seven, when the family moved to North London.

Winstone, who starred in gangster movie Sexy Beast (pictured), almost joined EastEnders as long-running character Billy Mitchell's brother back in 2008 but turned it down after accepting a role in Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull

Last September, Winstone's daughter Jaime, 37, won plaudits for portraying a young Peggy Mitchell in a flashback episode as she struggled to make ends meet in the 1970s.

Today, Winstone and his wife, Elaine, split their time between their five-bedroom home in Essex and a converted farmhouse near the Sicilian town of Cianciana.

In December, Dyer left EastEnders after nine years starring as Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter.

In the Christmas Day episode, he appeared to die after jumping into the English Channel in an attempt to save his wife Linda, played by Kellie Bright.

Having made an instant impact in his big-screen breakthrough role in 1979's Scum, Winstone has worked with Hollywood's top directors, including Martin Scorsese in The Departed.

A spokeswoman for the BBC said there were no current plans for Winstone to join EastEnders.
Frida Aaesen cut a glamorous figure as she stepped out in Milan with her husband Tommy Chiabra on Saturday.

The supermodel and Victoria Secret Angel, 28, put on a leggy display in a brown jacket and leather hot pants as she headed out for a stroll in the Italian city.

Frida wore her blonde locks in loose waves, also sporting a pair of green thigh-high heeled boots.

The beauty walked hand in hand with Tommy, who donned a blue T-shirt, jean jacket and dark jeans.

Frida pouted and strutted as she used the streets as her own personal catwalk.

Wow! Frida Aasen put on a leggy display in skimpy brown leather hotpants as she stepped out in Milan with husband Tommy Chiabra on Saturday

Stunner: She added a chic brown jacket as she walked hand in hand with her spouse Tommy

Model behaviour: She wore her blonde locks in loose waves and opted for minimal makeup for the trip out

The model toted a striking green bag for her essentials as she enjoyed quality time with her husband.

It comes after the Norwegian model and Italian businessman tied the knot in front of a star-studded guestlist last year.

Celebrity guests arrived in their droves to celebrate with the couple, who married at the Divo Martino church in Portofino.

Bride Frida looked stunning in a netted gown with a bardot neckline and a touch of sparkle which appeared to be from Ellie Saab's Fall 2022 collection.

Her blonde tresses were pulled into a low, relaxed bun and she wore neutral make-up to enhance her natural beauty.

The bride kept jewellery to a minimum, with small, simple earrings.

After meeting in 2019, the couple dated for two years before the Victoria's Secret model announced her engagement to Tommy on her Instagram stories in August 2021.

She posted a video of herself being led onto a boat at Portofino harbour with a pink scarf covering her eyes.

Glam girl: Frida pouted as she made her way through the city, using the streets as her own personal catwalk

Stylish: She toted a striking green clutch bag for her essentials as she strutted along the cobbles

Amazing: The outfit showcased her slender figure as she stood in the sun-soaked back drop of the city

Wearing a white lace halter-neck dress, fans might wonder if the bride-to-be had foreseen what was about to unfold as Tommy got down on one knee.

Showing off her stunning ring in a black-and-white Instagram photo Frida wrote: 'Per sempre.'

Translated into English, the phrase means: 'Always.'
Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao addresses the media about the condition of the medical student undergoing treatment at NIMS hospital on Friday. (R. Pavan/DC)

WARANGAL: Senior PG student Dr. Mohammad Saif of Kakatiya Medical College has been arrested for intentionally targeting his junior, Dr. Preethi, for past few months. This disturbed her mentally and she allegedly tried to commit suicide at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital on Wednesday.

Speaking to media here on Friday, police commissioner A.V. Ranganath said they arrested Dr. Saif under the SC & ST Atrocities Act and clauses of ragging. He has been produced before the Warangal Court, which remanded him for 14 days. Dr. Saif has been shifted to Khammam Jail.

Ranganath maintained that investigating teams examined mobile phones of both Dr. Saif and Dr. Preethi, who is doing her post-graduation in anaesthesia. Investigators conducted inquiries both at the MGM Hospital and Kakatiya Medical College (KMC). Police learnt that Dr. Saif had been targeting Dr. Preethi in person and on WhatsApp group, which included junior and senior students. Dr. Saif described Dr. Preethi as being ineligible and having no brain to even write the case-sheet.

The commissioner said Dr. Preethi is a brave and intelligent girl. She questioned Dr. Saif on many occasions as to why he had been harassing her. The issue had caught the attention of college authorities, who counselled and warned Dr. Saif to mend his ways.

Yet, Dr. Saif continued to target her professionally. Unable to bear the torture, Dr. Preethi went into depression. She searched for succinylcholine chloride injection on Google. Generally, anaesthesia doctors are given a kit with some special injections, which are to be administered to patients at the time of surgery.

Police have found a needle in the room where PG doctors rest. However, it is not clear whether or not Dr. Preethi took the injection. Her blood samples have been taken and sent for a toxicology test. Details will be known when the report comes out.

Ranganath said there is no truth that police did not act on time. He clarified that Dr. Preethis father Narendar had orally sought help from some known police officials. But he had not lodged any complaint with the police station.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on February 25, 2023. (Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP)

During the wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz here on Saturday, both nations decided to ramp up ties in the security and defence sectors, strengthen the partnership in clean energy, boost trade ties and accelerate efforts to conclude an India-European Union (EU) free trade agreement (FTA). The two leaders also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.

On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Modi said: "India has insisted on resolving this dispute (Ukraine conflict) through dialogue and diplomacy", adding that "India is ready to contribute to any peace process" to resolve it.

In his remarks, the German Chancellor condemned Russia and described the Ukraine conflict as a "catastrophe". He said that conflict has caused "immense losses and destruction" and that all countries should "state very clearly in the United Nations on where they stand" on the conflict, a remark being seen by some in the context of India abstaining in the past year at the UN on all resolutions critical of Russia.

Asked about the Chancellor's remark, foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said that both nations had a deep understanding of each others positions and that both nations had taken principled positions at the UN based on their interests. He said there were discussions between the two leaders on how India and Germany can take steps to "strengthen the constituency of peace" and also on how the Ukraine conflict had impacted the developing world.

At Hyderabad House in the national capital, the German Chancellor spoke about Indias G-20 presidency "at a difficult point" in the world but expressed confidence that India "would fully comply with what needs to be done".

He said the FTA between two countries should be "speedily concluded" and that he would "personally make sure that the talks do not drag on".

Scholz also spoke about how the two countries will fight climate change together through boosting renewable energy such as solar energy, bio-mass and green hydrogen while developing this on a global scale. The German Chancellor also praised the Migration and Mobility Pact inked a few months ago between the two nations.

Scholz will visit Bengaluru on Sunday, when he will conclude his two-day official visit.

The two nations also agreed on the "India-Germany vision to enhance cooperation in innovation and technology" and inked a "letter of intent between the Department of Science & Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems for cooperation in green hydrogen and clean energy technologies".

In his remarks, the PM said: "The effects of the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine conflict have been felt across the whole world. These have had a particularly negative impact on developing countries. We expressed our shared concern about this. We agree that these problems can only be solved through joint efforts. Even during India's presidency of the G-20, we are stressing on this. We have also agreed that reform of multilateral institutions is necessary to better reflect global realities. This is evident from our active participation within the G4 to reform the UN Security Council."

Mr Modi added: "Security and defence cooperation can become an important pillar of our strategic partnership. Together, we will continue to make efforts to fully realize our untapped potential in this area. In the fight against terrorism and separatism, there is an active cooperation between India and Germany. Both the countries also agree that concerted action is necessary to end cross-border terrorism."

The Prime Minister further said, "The strong ties that India and Germany share are based on shared democratic values and a deep understanding of each other's interests. The two countries also share a long history of cultural and economic exchanges between them. The increasing cooperation between the two largest democratic economies in the world is not only beneficial for the people of both the countries, but also sends a positive message in today's tension-ridden world."

On trade ties, the PM added: "Along with being our largest trading partner in Europe, Germany is also an important source of investment in India. Today, due to Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, new opportunities are opening up in all sectors in India. The interest shown by Germany in these opportunities is very encouraging for us. The business delegation that came today with Chancellor Scholz and Indian business leaders had a successful meeting, and some good and important agreements were also signed."

"According to the requirements of the changing times, we are also adding new and modern aspects to our relations," Mr. Modi added.

"Last year during my visit to Germany, we announced the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership. Through this, we are expanding cooperation in the areas of climate action and Sustainable Development Goals. We have also decided to work together in areas like renewable energy, green hydrogen, and biofuels.

"India and Germany are increasing mutual cooperation under the Triangular Development Cooperation for the development of third countries. In the last few years, the People-to-people relations between us have also strengthened. And this relationship will be further deepened with the Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement signed in December last year," the PM added.
The islands are close to India's missile testing areas in the Bay of Bengal and sit near the Malacca Strait (Representational image: PTI file image)

About a year ago, locals on a strategic Indian island chain that sits closer to Singapore than New Delhi spotted an unusual object in the sky: a giant balloon similar to the one the US downed earlier this month.

At the time, nobody really knew what it was. As hundreds of people on the Andaman and Nicobar islands ventured outside and snapped photos of the unusual flying object that lit up social media, Indias defense establishment became alarmed.

The islands are close to Indias missile testing areas in the Bay of Bengal and sit near the Malacca Strait, a key bottleneck for supplies of energy and other goods to China and other North Asian nations.

Now, in the aftermath of the US shooting down a balloon it alleged was part of Chinese surveillance, Indian officials are revisiting the incident while developing protocols to improve their ability to detect similar threats and respond more quickly in the future, the officials said.

Unlike the US, which used a pricey Aim-9X Sidewinder missile to bring down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, India favors cheaper options such as fighter jets or heavy machine guns attached to transporter aircraft, the officials added.

The object had appeared suddenly over the island chain, slipping past numerous Indian radar systems on the way, multiple officials with knowledge of the matter said this week. Before authorities could determine the balloons origin and reach a decision on whether to bring it down, the object drifted southwest into the ocean, they said.

The Indian officials were reluctant to speculate on the origin of the balloon. Prime Minister Narendra Modis government is hosting the Group of 20 meetings this year, and is seeking to avoid stoking diplomatic rifts as it looks to make progress on goals such as alleviating the debt burden of developing nations.

Representatives of Indias Ministry of External Affairs, the navy and the air force didnt immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

The US-China balloon spat derailed a mini-thaw between the worlds two largest economies following President Joe Bidens meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November. Beijing has said the device was a civilian craft collecting weather data, and accused the US of overreacting by ordering a fighter jet to shoot it down.

The US is now analyzing debris that divers recovered from the sea off South Carolina. It has said the balloon is part of a yearslong surveillance program China has run and that similar aircraft have been deployed around the globe.

Images captured from the high altitude and slow-moving balloons could complement satellite imagery and help in better understanding the terrain, communication systems in use and soil quality of the areas, the people said.
Former municipal administration minister P. Narayana (Twitter)

VIJAYAWADA: AP Crime Investigation Department (CID) sleuths carried out searches at residences of former municipal administration minister P. Narayana and his relatives in Hyderabad on Friday in connection with alleged irregularities in capital city Amaravati land deals.

Houses being searched include that of Puneeth Kothapa and Ponnuru Sindhura, son-in-law and daughter of Narayana.

The former minister had played a key role in the preparation of master plan for capital city / seed capital area by guiding master planner M/s Surbana Jurong. He allegedly used his position to select a specific 6.84 sq. km land to be developed as seed area.

Armed with this prior information, Narayana purchased 65.50 acres of agricultural lands through benami transactions located in the seed area during June, July and August 2015 for 4.23 crore in names of Avula Muni Shankar, cousin of P. Ramadevi, who is the wife of Narayana; Potluri Prameela, who is an employee of M/s NSPIRA Management Services Private Limited managed by Puneeth Kothapa, son-in-law of Narayana and P. Sindhura, who is daughter of P. Narayana; Rapuru Sambasiva Rao, who is the brother of P. Ramadevi; and Varun Kumar Kothapa, who is the brother of Puneeth Kothapa.

The CID says all these individuals are benamidars of the former minister.

The investigating agency also accused Narayana of arbitrarily changing the alignment of the inner ring road by influencing the design consultant. The alignment got shifted two to three kilometres away from the 100 feet road from Tadigadapa to Enikepadu. The new alignment came closer to seven campuses of Narayana Educational Institutions. The change in alignment also benefitted the Lingamaneni Group and Heritage Private Foods Limited.

The AP CID further alleges that the former minister and his family members, apart from relatives, purchased 148 acres of assigned lands in Amaravathi illegally. Through Narayana Educational Society, Narayana Learning Private Limited and Ramanarayana Trust, an amount of 17.5 crore had been channelized into the bank account of M/s Ramakrishnan Housing Private Limited, P. Subrahmanyam, Puneeth Kothapa, Sindhura, Sharani, P. Rama Devi and P. Indira, who had been authorised signatories for bank accounts of the entities mentioned.

According to the CID, the money had been routed again into the bank accounts of employees belonging to M/s Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited headed by K.P.V. Anjani Kumar and payments made to farmers of the assigned lands.
19th Annual Convocation at Nalsar University of Law Hyderabad, (left to Right) Justice Ujjal Bhuyan Chief Justice High Court for the State of Telangana and Chancellor,NALSAR, Justice P.S Narasimha Judge Supreme Court of India, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud Chief Justice of India, and Justice V. Ramasubramanian Judge. Supreme court of India and others participate. (Photo: S. Surender Reddy)

Hyderabad: Chief Justice of India Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Saturday said that the lack of empathy in educational institutions, especially in premier ones like the IITs, IIMs and the national law institutes, had an adverse effect on students.

Citing the increase of the number of students dying by suicide, mostly those hailing from the from marginalised sections like the Dalit student at IIT-Bombay and an Adivasi student in NLU, Odisha, Justice Chandrachud said that it was because of discrimination which stemmed from a lack of empathy.

Justice Chandrachud postulated that one must also realise that students face different challenges. "Practices like putting out a list of marks obtained by students along with social categories, asking for marks of marginalised students publicly to humiliate them, making a mockery of their English proficiency and labelling them as inefficient, should end," the CJI said.

Justice Chandrachud was speaking at the 19th annual convocation of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University of Law, Hyderabad (Nalsar). The institution is celebrating its silver jubilee.

Explaining that empathy is not a luxury but an essential ingredient, which separated a just society from an unjust one, Justice Chandrachud says that he wished to reflect on the state of higher education from a philosophical perspective; from the lens of empathy apart from the component of excellence.

"In our educational institutions today we tend to focus a lot on excellence. We are taught that our lives can be better if we excel in our studies or in our professional life. However, education can only be complete if we nurture the values of empathy and compassion. Our educational institutions must not limit themselves to promoting competition amongst students, but also shape their outlook towards life where empathy is a crucial component and element. Excellence in life cannot go without empathy," the CJI noted.

In this context, he said that judges cannot shy away from social realities and cited the example of how nine judges of the Supreme Court of the United States had released a statement during the Black Lives Matter movement.

Congratulating the Nalsar University at Hyderabad on its jubilee, the CJI said that a university does not mean only students and professors or teaching staff but also the labour and workers who work to run the institutions. That shall be the true meaning of dignity, which the Supreme Court has recognised as a facet of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the CJI said.

Asking law students not to allow their creative side to wither in pursuit of the legal profession, Justice Chandrachud said that creativity had led to landmark constitutional judgments. "Your life as a lawyer is also enriched by your own explorations outside the law. In my own life I made it a habit to read literature other than law textbooks and I can share that it has helped me in my career firstly as a lawyer and then as a judge," the CJI said.

Justice Chandrachud also said that apart from his judicial and administrative work, he had been attempting to throw light on various structural issues which confront society.

Nalsar University Chancellor and Chief Justice of Telangana High Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Supreme Court judges Justice V. Ramasubramanian, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Supreme Court former judges Justice S.S.M. Quadri and Justice P.V. Reddi participated in the event.

Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao, Vice Chancellor of Nalsar University, Prof. K. Vidyullata Reddy, registrar, led the academic procession.

In the five-year LLB Honours stream, Tanvi Apte secured 11 gold medals and shared another with other students. Manjari Singh secured 10 gold medals.


Students of Stanley Girls High school students take selfie during the annual day celebrations of the school at Abids on Friday. (DC)

HYDERABAD: The 126-year-old Stanley Girls High School at Chapel road celebrated its annual day on Friday and invited alumni to add to the celebration. One could spot students from several earlier batches enjoying the outing and clicking selfies at their favourite spots on the campus.

Occupying the limelight were a mother and her daughter, both from the school, who made it to the event. Anulya Bai, who passed out of this school three decades back, used to drop her daughter at the school every day. On Friday, she was brought there by her daughter, a product of the same school.

Barha Adeel, alumni, said, "We are so excited that we are able to meet all our classmates. We have taken photographs. It was so memorable" Syeda Soha said, "school friends are those we can share everything with. We recalled the best days of our school."

Sindhura Srivally of 2020 the batch said "these gatherings will enhance the spirit and boost a feel good factor."

Dance numbers by tiny-tots dressed in lambada attire and some with the pastel color frocks provided a jolly good time to the audience, including special invitees.

The special guest for the evening, Dr Asha Daniel, said "the talent with which one is gifted should be used to appropriate levels and for the betterment of humanity."

School principal Daphne Alfred and her team ensured a wonderful evening for the students.
External affairs minister Dr S. Jaishankar is scheduled to deliver a talk on February 26 on the significance of India's G20 presidency this year. (DC)

HYDERABAD: External affairs minister Dr S. Jaishankar is scheduled to deliver a talk on February 26 on the significance of Indias G20 presidency this year. The talk has been organisd by the Forum for Nationalist Thinkers, Hyderabad.

Union minister G. Kishan Reddy and retired Chief Justice of the High Court Justice B. Subhashan Reddy will be the guests of honour at the event to be held at the Marriott Convention Centre, Lower Tank Bund road. Former BJP MLC N. Ramchander Rao will preside over the meet.
In the assembly, 141 voted in favour of the resolution, 32 abstained, including China and India and seven voted against it. Screen grab from UN Web TV

New York: India has abstained from voting on resolution in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the need to reach comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

In a 'historic voting,' at the UNGA, on Thursday, countries condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The assembly demanded Moscow to withdraw from Kyiv "immediately," with an appeal for the need to reach comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

In the assembly, 141 voted in favour of the resolution, 32 abstained, including China and India and seven voted against it.

India's permanent representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj reiterated India's position in the Russia-Ukraine war and said that dialogue and diplomacy are the only viable way out.

"India remains steadfastly committed to multilateralism and upholds the principles of the UN Charter. We will always call for dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable way out. While we take note of the stated objective of today's Resolution, given its inherent limitations in reaching our desired goal of securing a lasting peace, we are constrained to abstain."

India's ambassador also quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement: "We have consistently advocated that no solution can ever arrive at the cost of human lives. In this context, our Prime Minister's statement that this cannot be an era of war bears reiteration. Escalation of hostilities and violence is in no one's interest, instead, an urgent return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy is the way forward."

She also said that international principles and jurisprudence vest responsibility on parties to the conflict to ensure that civilians and civilian infrastructure are not targeted in situations of armed conflicts.

Kamboj stated that India's approach to the Ukraine conflict would continue to be people-centric. India is providing both humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and economic support to some of the neighbours in the Global South under economic distress, even as they stare at the escalating costs of food, of fuel, and of fertilizers - which has been a consequential fallout of the ongoing conflict.

"India continued to remain concerned over the situation in Ukraine. The conflict has resulted in the loss of countless lives and misery, particularly for women, children, and the elderly, with millions becoming homeless and forced to seek shelter in neighbouring countries. Reports of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are also deeply worrying," she said.

While addressing the UN General assembly, she asked some fundamental questions like "Are we anywhere near a possible solution acceptable to both sides? Can any process that does not involve either of the two sides, ever lead to a credible and meaningful solution? Has the UN system, and particularly its principal organ, the UN Security Council, based on a 1945-world construct, not been rendered ineffective to address contemporary challenges to global peace and security?"
China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dai Bing Screen grab from UN Web TV

New York: China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dai Bing, on Thursday, said that sending weapons to Ukraine will only add fuel to the war and will escalate the tension instead of bringing peace.

Addressing the eleventh emergency Special Session on Ukraine in the UN, China's deputy ambassador, hinting towards West countries, said, "The international community should make joint efforts to facilitate peace talks when aired into the Ukraine crisis, brutal facts offer ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions."

"Prolonging and expanding the conflict will only make ordinary people pay an even heftier price. We reiterate our appeal that diplomacy and negotiation cannot be abandoned efforts towards a ceasefire and talks must go on," he added.

Dai urged the international community, rather than fending off the flames and seeking self-interest, they should "stop abusing Unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction." Instead, they should act in a way conducive to de-escalation.

China's deputy ambassador's remarks came after Putin met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi in Moscow.

Putin has said he is suspending participation in New START -- the only remaining major nuclear arms control treaty with the US -- and sought to blame the West for the Ukraine conflict.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, unanimously passed a bill on suspending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

The bill passed the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, earlier Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced it.

According to TASS, the decision to restore Russia's participation in New START can only be made by Putin.

At the UN, China's deputy ambassador said that peace talks should be the international community's priority. Echoing comments from China at the Munich Security Conference, Dai said that China regretted that initial negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow had stalled.

"Dialogue and negotiation is the only viable way to resolve the Ukraine crisis," Dai said. "At the beginning of the crisis, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of talks and made important progress. Regrettably, peace talks have since stalled. The reasons behind this warrant deep reflection."

"We support Russia and Ukraine moving towards each other, resuming direct dialogue as soon as possible, bringing their legitimate concerns into the negotiations, setting out feasible options, putting an early end to the crisis and giving peace a chance," he added.

Laying out the four points to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Dai said that the top priority should be to facilitate ceasefires and secession of hostilities without delay. Conflicts and wars have no winners the longer the brutality, the greater the human suffering. Secondly, he pointed out that "dialogue and negotiation" is the only viable way to resolve the Ukraine crisis

In the third point, he urged the international community to make efforts to bring peace instead of bringing weapons. And the last one is to pursue common security and achieve lasting peace.

Dai concluded his speech with the statement, "As a responsible country, China always stands on the side of peace and dialogue and always advocates peace and promotes talks. China will soon issue a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. We're ready to continue playing a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis and bringing about peace at an early date."
Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Amarjit Singh Dulat feels that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may at some stage later this year hold out the olive branch towards Pakistan and even bail out the neighbouring state which has been experiencing a political and economic crisis for the last few months.

Dulat also warned of a formidable Iran-Russia-China axis coming into being while stating that the USA is far away, our neighbours are nearer.

In an interview to PTI video, the former RAW director said, Every time is the best time to talk to Pakistan. We need to keep our neighbours engaged.

Also Read | Pakistan receives $700 mn funds from China

He added that it was imperative to keep talks open with a little more public engagement.

In this year, my hunch is Modi ji will bail out Pakistan. No inside information, but it is my hunch, Dulat, who in his days as Research and Analysis Wing chief is believed to have run many deep penetration intelligence operations into the neighbouring country, said.

Dwindling forex reserves, nationwide power outages, political instability and a plummeting Pakistani rupee have already propelled the neighbouring state to seek a bailout package from the IMF.

Also Read | US concerned over Chinese loans to India's immediate neighbours, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Many analysts believe that Pakistans method of dealing with similar crises in the past where it has leveraged its geo-political position and extracted rent from global partners is not working and hence, it may be more open to talking peace and trade with India.

Dulat, however, pointedly said engagement with Pakistan has always been influenced by domestic politics.

Peace talks between the two neighbours has in the past been hostage to domestic perceptions and Pakistan has even denied Indias exports the most favoured nation treatment which it is bound to grant to all WTO signatories as a result of internal compulsions.

The former spy chief told PTI video that as concerns China, the diplomatic effort needs to be more open diplomacy (where the Chinese) feel satisfied that India means well by them.

He pointed out that despite meetings between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, India has also been engaging the US.

You turn your back and welcome Trump, that doesnt go down well with the Chinese, he said, though he added that maintaining good equations with all sides was part of Indias tradition of non-alignment.

He also warned that a strong axis is developing- Iran-Russia-China - it is a formidable force.

Underlining the need for better relations with neighbours, Dulat said our relations with America have improved, which is very positive, But America is far away, our neighbours are nearer.

Many other global analysts have also warned of the developing relationship between the three nations as they face up to a common adversary - the USA and its allies in Europe.

However, the potential fall-out of that relationship upon South Asian affairs has as yet not been clearly analysed.
Russia on Saturday thanked Bangladesh for abstaining from voting in the UN General Assembly on a resolution that underscored the need to reach "comprehensive and lasting peace" in Ukraine, days after Moscow protested Dhaka's decision not to allow the docking of Russian ships under Western sanctions.

Bangladesh, along with India were among the 32 nations that abstained as the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution "Principles of the Charter of the United Nations" underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine, put forward by Ukraine and its supporters.

The non-binding resolution, which received 141 votes in favour and seven against, underscored the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

The non-binding anti-Russian resolution of the UNGA will not bring the world closer to ending the Ukraine conflict, Moscows permanent envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said. Thank you, Bangladesh, for abstaining, the Russian Embassy here in Dhaka said in a tweet on Friday, a day after the UN resolution.

This comes days after Dhaka said its decision to block the docking of Russian ships under US sanctions was unlikely to affect the existing "friendly" ties with Russia as it is a tested and long-term friend of Moscow.

In recent months, Bangladesh has disallowed some Russian ships to anchor at its ports as they came under western sanctions against Moscow as a fallout of the ongoing Ukraine war.

Following this development, Russia summoned Bangladesh's ambassador to Moscow to protest Dhaka's decision to block the entry of Russian ships under Western sanctions.

Last month, Dhaka informed Moscow that they could send any ship, except the sanctioned ones, to Bangladeshs ports.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has dragged on for a year now, and the US and its allies on Friday announced a fresh round of crippling sanctions on Russia.
The Prime Ministers political judgement has been criticised after a meeting between the King and the leader of the European Union was cancelled.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had been expected to travel to Britain on Saturday amid speculation a deal to fix issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol is near.

The German politician was also due to meet the King at Windsor Castle, Sky News said.

There were talks about calling a potential protocol pact the Windsor Agreement after a meeting with Charles, the broadcaster said.

UK Government sources confirmed Ms von der Leyens trip was called off but it is likely Downing Street and Buckingham Palace worked together on the reported arrangements.

Rishi Sunaks critics said the scheduled meeting brought into question his handling of the protocol negotiations.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary and senior member of the Tory Eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG), told the PA news agency: If there were a plan to bring the King in before there is domestic political agreement, it would border on constitutional impropriety.

Mr Sunak is keen to secure the backing of not only his Tory MPs but also the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for any protocol reform as he looks to restore powersharing in Belfast.

The DUP is refusing to take part in Stormonts cross-community devolved government in protest at the impact the Brexit treaty is having on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Former DUP deputy leader Lord Dodds said meeting Ms von der Leyen would have politicised the monarch, and argued the reports reinforce the questions about No 10s political judgment over the protocol.

Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, said any Windsor rendezvous with the EU leader would have been a cynical use of the Kings position and seen in Unionist circles as the sovereign endorsing the deal.

He branded the Prime Minister naive and accused him of dragging the King into a hugely controversial political issue.

The only conclusion we can come to is he knows that in these negotiations he hasnt achieved the objectives he set out for himself and his own party, Mr Wilson said on Sky News of Mr Sunak.

Nor has he achieved the promises that he had made to ourselves and was now trying to get the King to pull the thing over the line for him.

Baroness Hoey, a Northern Irish Brexit supporter and former Labour MP, said any such meeting would have been outrageous.

UK Government sources said that, while Ms von der Leyens trip was no longer going ahead, it would not have been improper for the King, as head of state, to meet a visiting European leader.

It would be wrong to suggest the King would be involved in anything remotely political, a Government source told PA.

Buckingham Palace would not comment.

Labours shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle said Downing Street should have realised utilising the King would have constitutional implications and been highly insensitive to the politics of Northern Ireland.

It certainly is nothing we should be involving His Majesty in, he told Sky.

No 10 said Mr Sunak will be spending the weekend speaking to relevant stakeholders as he looks to get a protocol deal over the line.

Downing Street said intensive negotiations with Brussels are still taking place.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who has had regular meetings with commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, said talks with the EU have been tough and complicated but were entered into in good spirits, with good faith.

He told GB News on Saturday: I really hope that we can get this resolved, but we will resolve this when we have addressed all the issues that we are seeking to resolve rather than (working to) some arbitrary deadline.

Multiple reports suggest the deal between the UK and the EU is all but done  with Mr Sunak delaying an announcement until he is confident it will be accepted.

The protocol, signed by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020, was designed to prevent a hard border with Ireland after Brexit by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the EUs single market.

But the treaty has incensed unionists due to the trade barriers it created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

According to The Times, the current offer on the table would mean an overhauled protocol, which would remove almost all checks and most paperwork on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

The newspaper said the agreement would also mean control over the rate of VAT and state aid policy will fall to Westminster rather than Brussels for the first time since Brexit was enacted.

Speculation that No 10 is preparing to confirm a deal to fix the protocol intensified on Friday after a Downing Street source said good progress was made during a phone call between the Prime Minister and the commission president.

Any announcement of a deal is expected to set up a possible clash with Conservative Brexit hardliners, with the Prime Minister promising MPs will be given the chance to express their views on the new terms.

The DUP has issued seven tests to win its backing for any deal, including addressing what it calls the democratic deficit of Northern Ireland being subject to EU rules while not having a say on them.

The Daily Telegraph, which said a breakthrough could come over the weekend, said it was understood the DUP is set to be granted a place at the negotiating table when the EU is considering new laws applicable in Northern Ireland.
James Webb Telescope has become synonymous with space exploration over the last year and a half, at least in popular news and social media. And, if by any chance you thought that it was done for the time being, then youll need to reconsider. The telescope that was launched in December 2021 recently sent back data, including images, which, when analysed by a team of international astrophysicists, has revealed a total of six galaxies.

If they were just regular galaxies that had been theorised to exist by researchers at any given point in time, the discovery would not have been regarded as groundbreaking. However, these galaxies that were found by the telescope were so massive that as per the current cosmological theories, they should not exist at all.

As per the data that was published by the team of researchers as a part of their research paper titled  A population of red candidate massive galaxies ~600 Myr after the Big Bang  in the journal Nature, these galaxies existed at the dawn of the universe, which equates to about 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. Dont sit down and start running numbers through your calculator. It was more than 13 billion years ago, and their stellar mass is greater than 10^10 solar masses, with one galaxy possibly having a total stellar mass of ~10^11 solar masses.

Erica Nelson, who is a co-author of the research paper in focus, very aptly describes this discovery. As reported by the University of Colorado Boulder, she said, Its bananas You just dont expect the early universe to be able to organize itself that quickly. These galaxies should not have had time to form.

These findings by researcher Nelson and her colleagues are a result of a special endeavour by the James Webb Telescope named  Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey. As a part of this survey, the James Webb Telescope is tasked with looking deep into the universe, specifically at the Big Dipper, a region of space that was first observed in the 1990s by the legendary Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope uses the onboard Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) for imaging.

In her quotes published by the university in their release, Nelson even compared the James Webb Telescope to the Hubble Space Telescope. While the rate of discoveries made using the JWST is similar to that of the Hubble, which was foreseen by researchers worldwide, as per Nelson, it is still surprising to see such massive breakthroughs becoming a reality.

While theres still a long way to go for the researchers, the importance of this preliminary data and the images revealed by the telescope has the potential to completely change the way we study and know the world of astronomy.

The research paper can be accessed here.

Defying theories, again

It seems like in the world of space science and technology, theres a trend going on where everyones trying to challenge pre-existing theories. A team of researchers led by Shubham Kanodia from the Carnegie Institution for Science has discovered a planetary system consisting of a giant gas planet that is orbiting a small star dubbed TOI-5205, with the planet being named TOI-5205b.

The star that is being orbited by the newly found planet is categorised as an M dwarf. These stars are known to have a red colour because of their smaller size as compared to the Sun and the fact that they are also about half as hot as the Sun.

The most surprising fact about this discovery, as pointed out by Kanodia in his statement published by carnegiescience.edu, is that the star, which is about four times bigger than Jupiter, our very own gas giant, was able to produce a planet that is as big as Jupiter. He said, The host star, TOI-5205, is just about four times the size of Jupiter, yet it has somehow managed to form a Jupiter-sized planet, which is quite surprising!

Kanodia and his team of researchers observed three transits of the planet system using the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) Telescope Imaging Camera at the ARC 3.5 m Telescope at Apache Point Observatory (APO). These transits spanned over a four-month period, on April 22, July 3, and July 16 last year. The team then investigated the data gathered in their readings and established their theories.



As per the information published in the research paper  TOI-5205b: A Short-period Jovian Planet Transiting a Mid-M Dwarf, when the planet crosses its parent star, it blocks about seven per cent of its light. This is one of the largest known exoplanet transits.

Using this information and the exploratory capabilities of the James Webb Telescope, the researchers could further investigate planet formation processes. According to the current theories, the formation of this planet around such a small star was very unlikely. However, the discovery of this planet opens up avenues for research that could not have been thought fo earlier.

You can read the research paper here.
Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) says it is excited to announce an upcoming and exhilarating performance on campus, themed Crossing Green Fields, which celebrates the transatlantic connections in music between Ireland and America, in the MacAnna Theatre, DkIT on Tuesday 14 March at 7pm

From the endlessly celebrated Danny Boy to the energy of Riverdance, music continues to connect, inspire, and showcase cultural connections.

This concert involves students from the BA (Hons) Music and BA Musical Theatre programmes at DkIT, who will perform a mixture of traditional repertoire, bluegrass-tinged ballads, and musical hits drawing on Finians Rainbow amongst others.

All of the performers will join with the DkIT Choir to perform arrangements of well-known songs, including a special performance conducted by the Michael Van Dessell Choral Conducting Scholar, Dylan Thomas.

Students on the new Musical Theatre programme say they are excited about their involvement in their first Spring concert, adding a new dimension to musical activities at DkIT.

DkIT says their performances demonstrate the hugely influential role that Irish emigrants have played on the genre and evoke the memory of headline performers such as Bing Crosby, Maureen OHara, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Students on the BA (Hons) Music programme are no strangers to the USA, having previously toured to perform in New York and Kansas, as well as celebrating Irish-American musical links in past concerts.

The current students follow in the path of recent graduates, such as the RTE Radio Folk Award nominees Alfi, in exploring the American influence on contemporary Irish traditional music.

The rehearsals are well underway for this exciting and collaborative recital, and DkIT says that all the participating students are looking forward to performing some timeless and iconic pieces of music together.

Crossing Green Fields takes place in the MacAnna Theatre, DkIT on Tuesday 14 March at 7pm. Tickets are free, but booking is necessary through creativearts@dkit.ie.
World Scouting celebrate 100 years of Jamboree in 2023 and a group of Venture Scouts from Dundalk are frantically fundraising to enable them to participate in this truly historic expedition.

One of the highlights of their tireless fundraising endeavours takes place in the Marshes Shopping Centre, Dundalk on Saturday 4th March and Sunday 5th March.

The Venture Scouts are challenging themselves to traverse the distance from their Scout Hall on Castletown Road to the Jamboree venue in Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland.

For this group of Venture Scouts, its a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

They will meet with young people from around the world; whilst challenged with robust hikes high in the Swiss Alps, high-energy activities, workshops on sustainability, global events and youth trends, a spokesperson Dundalk Venture Scouts said.

Dundalk can proudly declare an historic legacy to the origins of World Scouting.

The founding father of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden Powell, was stationed in Dundalk Aiken barracks between 1894 and 1895.

Whilst stationed in Dundalk, he voluntarily instructed soldiers in Ravensdale Forest Park in skills which he thought would be useful to them.

Within 11 years, Lord Baden Powell wrote a book entitled Scouting for Boys.

This publication is generally regarded as the start of the World Scout movement.

Dundalk can claim another unique legacy to World Scouting; one of the first scout groups in Ireland was established adjacent to St Vincents Secondary School, indeed a plaque is displayed to this day.

With all this unique history on our doorstep, its no wonder that our Venture Scout Group are keen to represent Dundalk Town at the 100th celebration of Scout jamborees, the spokesperson continued.

The Jamboree will take place in the Swiss Alps in Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland, over 12 days, from 27th July to 8th August 2023.

All donations towards their exciting and historic expedition will be very welcome.
A ROMANTIC proposal at the top of Ballycotton Lighthouse led to the wedding of this couple.

Amanda Murphy, a professional session vocalist and sound therapist, is from Ballyvolane, while Andrew Cooper is a civil servant, from Ealing, West London, where the coupe now live. They feature in this week's Wedding of the Week.

The couple went for a classy 1970s VW camper for the wedding provided by Mercier Vintage Vehicles - who had the bride, her bridesmaids and mum rocking to Elvis en route to Ballycotton.

They met nine years ago when Amanda was working in a pub, The New Inn in Ealing. Andrew had been home from the USA visiting family. As he was a bit shy, Amanda asked him out. He moved home to the UK on Paddys Day.

Andrew planned a huge surprise engagement on August14, 2021. Amanda explained: We took a tour boat out to Ballycotton lighthouse and Andrew proposed right at the top of the lighthouse outside. The weather wasnt great that day so we were nearly blown out of it but Eddie, the lighthouse keeper and tour guide, managed to do a lap around the top of the lighthouse in excitement.

They celebrated with a surprise engagement party with family and friends later.

"Later that afternoon Andrew, my mum, sisters and best friend Lisa had organised a surprise party at the Black Man Pub with my family, Cork friends and even got all my London girls were over too for the celebration," said Amanda.

The couple had a gorgeous civil ceremony at The Sea Church, Ballycotton, on July 25, 2022, with string duo Tom Crowley and Aisling Fitzpatrick performing pop and rock tunes throughout the ceremony, led by minister Sharon Quigley from 5 star ceremonies.

Make-up was by Helena K and hair was by Donna Coleman - Amanda went for old school Hollywood glamour with a rockabilly edge.

Fabulous friend Elly OKeeffe finished the ceremony with a surprise performance of one of Amandas favourite Wallis Bird tunes, When We Kissed The World Fell In Love.

"Many musician friends attended so they got all the guests clapping and singing along. So Memorable & so much fun!" the bride said.

Amanda got her dress from Memories Bridal Boutique in Tuckey Street and a handcrafted halo-style celestial head-piece from online shop Honey and Ember. She designed her own converse for later in the day and created gold leather jackets for the bridal party.

Andrew had two best men Touissaint and James and his groomsmen were Kofi and Allan.

Andrew got his pink suit tailor made in Ghana. He wanted his own version of Daniel Craigs suit from the James Bond premiere to No Time To Die - classy, smart and unique.

Among those who joined them on the day were Amandas mum and dad and her sisters. Andrew had his Aunt Nancy and Uncle Faize travel from Ghana and lots of family from America too. Her Nan Theresa Walsh was also able to make it, much to their delight.

Bride Amanda Murphy from Cork.

The reception was held at the gorgeous Garryvoe hotel - who they described as fabulous. The cake was made by cake artist Delzer Kipling. Flowers were created at Jeffs Flowers.

The fantastic vintage, postmodern jazz ladies from Indigo Mood play at the drinks reception.

Maid of honour was Amandas best friend Lisa Walshe, and two bridesmaids were sisters Sinead and Aoibheann Murphy.

The Stars Wedding band were outstanding for the evening reception, followed by a DJ.

The couples first dance was to Dermot Kennedys Outnumbered remixed into Chuck Berrys Never Can Tell: The dance floor went crazy.

The bride was also full of praise for photographer James ODriscoll.

As to the most memorable thing about the day?

Amanda said: "I hired a secret singing Garda that came in after the meal and he tried to arrest my husband Andrew. It was very funny and his best man James and my mum Mary tried talk the Garda around.

"I think the best moment was seeing the entire wedding party including Andrew just full on enjoying themselves doing the conga around the Garryvoe Hotel ballroom."

The party continued over three days, at The Goalpost pub and The Blackbird.

The happy couple with Ballycotton Lighthouse in the background - that is where Andrew proposed to Amanda, back in 2021.

Amanda said: "The Goalpost pub and The Blackbird were the perfect settings for a day before and after wedding event. Our international guests could not get over the area and the friendly locals that were picking and dropping them back to there accommodation."
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

The Laguna Beach, California, city council has voted to ban the sale and public use of balloons  inflated with helium or not  in order to stop a major source of marine trash and reduce the risk of wildfires. Starting next year, all balloons in the community of 23,000 will be prohibited from being used on public property or at city events, with fines of up to $500 for violators.

CEO of nonprofit Surfrider Foundation Chad Nelsen said he sees a trend to get rid of balloons that cause entanglements with turtles and other marine creatures, similar to the phasing out of single-use plastic bags, reported The Associated Press.

Were chipping away at all these things we find and trying to clean up the ocean one item at a time, Nelsen said, as The Associated Press reported.

Other parts of the country have already imposed restrictions on balloons. In 2021, Virginia and Maryland banned their intentional release, and Hawaii did the same last year, reported The Guardian.

Even the balloon advocates and balloon industry was not opposed to banning them on the beach, said Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen, as the Washington Examiner reported.

Experts say that, as people become more aware of the dangers balloons pose to the environment, balloon bans are likely to increase, reported The Guardian.

Ocean Conservancys Associate Director of U.S. Plastics Policy Anja Brandon says cities on the coast are at the forefront of balloon bans because the effects of balloons on the environment are right in front of them, and in many places they pay for the cleanup through taxpayer dollars.

Its not just balloons themselves that are the problem, its also the strings attached to them, which can cause entanglements and are dangerous when ingested by seabirds and other marine life.

Entanglement can be deadly and devastating, especially for threatened and endangered species, such as the Guadalupe fur seal and Hawaiian monk seal, both of which suffer from dangerously high levels of entanglement in the wild, said Adam Ratner, Associate Director of Conservation Education at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, as The Guardian reported.

For seabirds, balloons are the most deadly type of marine debris. Latex balloons are 32 times more likely to be fatal to seabirds when ingested than hard plastic.

This is because latex balloons are made from a soft, malleable material that can easily conform to a birds stomach cavity or digestive tract, causing obstruction, starvation, and death, said geospatial analyst at NOAAs Office for Coastal Management Lara OBrien, as reported by The Guardian.

Its important to remember that things dont break down as quickly or even at all in the ocean as they do in the soil, said doctoral researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Kara Wiggin.

And balloons can take decades or even longer to break down if they do, meaning they are never safe, OBrien said.

Plastic pollution anywhere impacts the ocean everywhere, Brandon said, as reported by The Guardian. We just have one water cycle.
32nd Chinese medical team dispatched to Zanzibar, Tanzania

Xinhua) 11:18, February 25, 2023

This photo taken on Feb. 22, 2023 shows the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Doctor Yang Weizhe checks a magnetic resonance imaging result at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 22, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Doctor Zhao Xiaojun (L, front) gives a lesson on celoscope surgery at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Dec. 6, 2022. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Chinese medical team to Zanzibar/Handout via Xinhua)

Doctor Dong Lili (R) does an ophthalmic surgery for a patient at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 23, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar pose for a group photo in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 23, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Doctor Liu Cuixia gives an examination for a patient at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 22, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Doctor Guo Wei (2nd L) diagnoses for a patient at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 22, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Doctor Liu Yajian (2nd R) watches a local doctor doing acupuncture therapy for a patient at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 22, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Dentist Sheng Lei diagnoses for a patient at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 22, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Doctor Xue Jia gives an examination for a patient at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Feb. 22, 2023. Since 1964, China has been assigning medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel, and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care.

Members of the 32nd Chinese medical team to Zanzibar arrived in Zanzibar on Sept. 26, 2022. (Chinese medical team to Zanzibar/Handout via Xinhua)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
The recent death by suicide of Darshan Solanki, an 18-year-old Dalit student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, points towards certain festering problems in the higher educational institutions in India in general and IITs in particular. In 2021, the union minister of education had stated in Parliament that 122 students had died between 2014 and 2021, with 101 students dying in central universities, IITs, and National Institutes of Technology combined. The IITs alone accounted for 34 student suicides, and the data also revealed that students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) comprised 58% of all student suicides since 2014.

Student suicides have no singular reason. The circumstances that make a student take the tragic step of ending their own life emerge from a variety of sourcessocial as well as pedagogical, economic as well as curricular, political as well as psychological. The response elicited by the student suicides in IITs from the university administration is highly deficient as it mainly looks at the problem of suicides as caused by a singular reason of excessive stress. Although stress is an unmistakable part of the many problems faced by students, it cannot merely be taken as the only factor causing student suicides in India. The response which mainly cites stress as causing suicides in educational institutions also advocates for remedies that seem thoroughly ineffective in front of the sheer magnitude of the problems represented by student suicides. Remedies like counselling may be effective for students reeling under anxiety and stress, however, it may fail in front of other reasonsmost prominently, social and economic reasonswhich become a thorn in the flesh of many students attending these institutions of higher learning.
After nearly eight months since the defection of 40 members of the legislative assembly caused the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government consisting of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress in Maharashtra, the Election Commission has decided that the name Shiv Sena and the symbol of bow and arrow shall belong to the faction led by the current chief minister of Maharashtra. Political claims about loyalty, treason, and legacy are being made from all sides in this dispute, however, the role of the Election Commission and allegations about political bias are what are most noteworthy in this controversy over symbols.

It also raises another question: Do symbols matter in politics? They used to matter a lot when education was not a mass resource in the early decades of electoral democracy in India. What matters today is the commitment to a party, personality, and ideology. The election symbols of left parties have not undergone any changes. But other parties have adopted newer symbols. Arguably, the communist party may not require a change in symbols because their ideology has been embodied in their consciousness. Their electoral base was almost constant until the rise of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, however, it is still constant in Kerala. It should also be noted that the parties formed out of such splits like the TMC or NCP and the altogether new parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party could consolidate their support base despite having to contest on new or relatively lesser-known symbols. Hence, the Election Commission, which, on very flimsy grounds, has allotted the symbol of bow and arrow and the party name of Shiv Sena to the faction led by Eknath Shinde seems to be functioning with a naive logic, though certain sinister motives cannot be ruled out.
Behula, a character from the Manasamangal Kavya of medieval Bengali literature, challenged the conflict of egos between her father-in-law Chandsadagar and goddess Manasa, which resulted in the killing of her husband on their first night together. Manasa, the snake-goddess, teaches Chandsadagar, a wealthy trader and a follower of Shiva, a lesson for refusing to worship her. In order to prove that her husband was killed as a result of a conflict between the goddess Manasas ego and the merchant Chandsadagar, she went all the way to the court of Indra in heaven.

Behula is a popular legend among Muslims in Bangladesh and other regions of West Bengal, as well as in oral and performance storytelling. When I visited Birbhum district in West Bengal to archive tales from Dalit communities there, I came across a family performing Behula tales under the name LailaMajnu, a popular romantic legend among Bengali Muslims. The family had learnt the tales from a Muslim performer who was selling tiny books with such songs at a village faira result, no doubt, of the syncretic HinduMuslim tradition across South Asia.
Last weeks BARC ratings have shaken the industry. I am neither carrying a brief for any network nor do I have to. But when you suddenly see that Arjun Kapoors Kuttey has overtaken Shah Rukh Khans Pathan in viewership terms, then there will definitely be a surprise wave and one would like to go into the logistics of such figures.

The channel which has predominantly ruled the charts for many years is suddenly replaced by an unknown player. I myself was surprised. I dialled a few friends and asked them whether they had heard the name of that particular player. Nobody had. Then to be further sure, I told my research team to make about a hundred random calls and take a straw poll if anybody had heard of this player. The result: Most did not know about it, they had not even heard the name, and the few who had heard the name had never watched that channel.

This has become a continuous phenomenon in the BARC ratings. If you judge the top 10 rated entertainment channels, the two prominent players who really invest a lot in content (fiction and reality) are replaced by some unknown players who run lousy syndicated content on their channel.

That raises an important question. In a country where people are becoming so progressive, how come their viewing habits and content choices are becoming so regressive? What are the criteria? Which are the houses being monitored? Yes, it is understandable that not all households will agree to this intrusion of weekly monitoring, but is it the case that we are monitoring only those houses that are accommodative? I am not hinting at any monetary rewards, but if only cooperative households are available, then that surely affects the sample. So, how genuine and authentic are the samples?

I do not doubt the credibility of BARC management. They claim 30% of the sample houses are free-to-air homes. This might be because India is a very diverse country, in socio-economic terms. But do these 30% homes make so much difference that their choices overpower the rest 70%?

This imbalance in the rating outcome gives agencies and planners a bigger hand in negotiations, even with the real top players. Ultimately, this will not help any of the channels and the overall industry. As it is, the Indian media, particularly the TV channels, get one of the lowest advertising rates in the world.

As far as the news channels are concerned, two networks have already withdrawn from BARC and two other major networks are on the verge of quitting. In the news category, being among the Top 10 matters in more ways than one. For the news channels, ratings are important not only for selling inventories but also for flaunting their influence in the area they operate in  that is, in getting access to the newsmakers for news reporting and showing their impact. If top news networks start withdrawing from the BARC system, ultimately only Top 3 will remain in it  that too, only if the second and the third player are ready to accept that their position is not Numero Uno.

As per BARC, it cant satisfy each and every player. It monitors 170 news channels, and even if it satisfies 15% of them, the rest 85% will never be satisfied. We can easily understand the position of BARC. But one thing has to be accepted that its numbers are like exit poll numbers and we never come to know the real counting numbers because only miniscule homes (less than 0.1%) out of 21 crores TV houses are measured.

One more point worth mentioning here is that, YouTube numbers cannot decide the supremacy because BARC is not into digital viewership measurement. But the reality is that, for news, people are day by day switching more to the digital mode rather than the linear TV set.

BARC replaced a private measurement company a few years back. BARC is an industry body and its stakeholders include all three pillars of the industry  broadcasters (linear & digital), agencies and advertisers. Thus, it is the industry that runs the BARC ultimately. If majority stakeholders are not satisfied by its working, its high time they asked the management for a diligence report.

Ultimately transparency matters. As I noted earlier, the main question remains about the homes where meters are installed. Of course, BARC cannot disclose the details of such homes and they dont have to. But more transparency in its replies will help dispel the prevailing confusion.

(The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com)
Traffic is down to one lane on Highway 22 in New Sit
Flying with SAUDIA or flynas makes you eligible for a free stopover visa that lets you discover a new destination

We love layovers, and we particularly love them when we can transform them into stopovers. A stopover is when you intentionally extend a layover in a transit airport to allow you to explore a new destination  planned properly, it gives you a whole other travel experience.

In recent times, Malaysia Airlines has a scheme running until March 30, 2023 (though you had to book by December 2022) that allowed you a bonus side trip when you were transiting through Kuala Lumpur; the carrier gave you free return tickets to one of seven cultural gems; all you have to pay is applicable taxes and fees. Icelandair is also known for its free stopover scheme; fly transatlantic with the airline and you are eligible to add a stay of up to seven days in Iceland at no additional airfare.

Now another initiative is on the table: the Saudi Stopover Visa.
Nutritionist Dr Rohini Patil explains how adding protein to breakfast will help you eat healthier all day

Breakfast is considered to be one of the most important meals of the day. The brain activity that can cause cravings for doughnuts in the middle of the afternoon can be decreased by including protein in your morning routine. It can also activate feel full signals in your brain.



Starting the day with a healthy breakfast is essential for maintaining our energy levels and staying focused throughout the day. One important feature of a healthy breakfast is protein. Intake of adequate amounts of protein in the morning can help curb cravings and promote feelings of fullness.

Protein is made up of amino acids. The basic structure of protein is a long chain of amino acids. Every cell present in the human body contains protein. It is an important macronutrient that plays a very important role in the growth and repair of tissues, the production of hormones and enzymes, and the maintenance of a healthy immune system. Unlike carbohydrates and fat, protein is digested slowly in our body, which means it helps to regulate our blood sugar levels and keep us feeling satisfied for longer.

Incorporating protein-rich foods into your breakfast routine is easy and delicious. Some great options include
The total number of Chinas comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce has now reached 165 since the state council launched seven batches of such pilot areas as of the end of 2022, according to the data from Chinas ministry of commerce. Moreover, these pilot zones have now expanded to 31 provincial-level regions in the country.

China's cross-border e-commerce volume has reached 2.11 trillion yuan (approximately $305.67 billion), an increase of 9.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY), with the trade volume of the pilot zones contributing to over 90 per cent of the total, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

The pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce in China have been effective in maintaining the scale and structure of foreign trade, while also promoting the development of business models and innovation, Shu Jueting, commerce ministry spokesperson, said in a press conference.

The total number of China's comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce has now reached 165 since the state council launched seven batches of such pilot areas as of the end of 2022, according to the data from China's ministry of commerce. Moreover, these pilot zones have now expanded to 31 provincial-level regions in the country.

Ministry will continue to promote the construction of pilot zones, strengthen international cooperation on cross-border e-commerce and cultivate a group of backbone enterprises, Jueting added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)
US imports of industrial textiles rose to $3.095 billion in 2022. The country imported fewer industrial textiles in 2020 when it was fighting COVID-19, but the trade bounced back in 2021 and further increased in 2022. The country also exports industrial textiles, which recovered from the COVID-19 disruption to reach $2.235 billion in 2022.

US imports of industrial textiles increased to $3.095 billion in 2022 from $2.941 billion in 2021, which was higher than the shipment of 2020 when it imported industrial textiles worth $2.302 billion. The country had imported industrial textiles worth $2.571 billion in 2017, which increased to $2.752 billion in 2018. However, it slipped to $2.616 billion in 2019 and $2.302 billion in 2020, according to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro.

The US exported industrial textiles worth $2.150 billion in 2019, which declined to $1.891 billion in 2020. But the trade partially recovered to $2.089 billion in 2021. It further increased to $2.235 billion in 2022 and surpassed the figure of 2019. The country exported industrial textiles worth $2.337 billion in 2018 and $2.292 billion in 2017.

US imports of industrial textiles rose to $3.095 billion in 2022. The country imported fewer industrial textiles in 2020 when it was fighting COVID-19, but the trade bounced back in 2021 and further increased in 2022. The country also exports industrial textiles, which recovered from the COVID-19 disruption to reach $2.235 billion in 2022.

During 2022, the US imported 13.88 per cent of its total industrial textiles from China, 12.57 per cent from Mexico, 11.58 per cent from Canada, 9.27 per cent from Vietnam, and 6.98 per cent from India, as per TexPro.

The country has exported 50.38 per cent of its total industrial textiles to Mexico, 16.34 per cent to Canada, 4.45 per cent to China, 3.21 per cent to Germany, and 2.04 per cent to Japan in the last year.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
The Baynouna Solar Park produces over 560 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy annually - enough to power 160,000 homes

Project helping Jordan to achieve objective of meeting 50 percent of electricity needs from renewables by 2030

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber , Chairman of Masdar and COP28 President-Designate, hails role project is playing in keeping 1.5 degrees warming target in sight and in providing jobs and economic opportunities for Kingdom

COP28 UAE will focus on moving from goals to implementation, with a clear focus on demonstrable action, mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance

ABU DHABI, UAE, Feb. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Baynouna Solar Energy Company (BSCE), a joint venture between the UAE's world-leading renewable energy company, Masdar, and Finnish investment and asset management group Taaleri, has announced the formal inauguration of the 200-megawatt (MW) Baynouna Solar Park - the largest clean energy project in Jordan.

The inauguration was held in the presence of His Excellency Bisher Al-Khasawneh, Prime Minister of Jordan, and was attended by HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Chairman of Masdar; HE Dr Saleh Al Kharabsheh, Jordan's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources; and HE Sheikh Khalifa Bin Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, UAE Ambassador to Jordan. The ceremony was also attended by other high-level officials from the government of Jordan and senior executives from Masdar.

HE Al Jaber, said, "In partnership with the Jordanian government, the Baynouna Solar Park will contribute to Jordan's climate targets, provide access to clean energy, create jobs and ensure economic growth. Along with our other project here - the Tafila Wind Farm - Masdar is already helping Jordan to produce 29 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and will support its goal of increasing that to 50 percent by the end of the decade. Ambitious, transformative partnerships like these are precisely what we need if we are to deliver on the promise of the Paris Agreement and continue to ensure that we are holding back emissions, not progress. COP28 will focus on moving from goals to implementation, with a clear focus on demonstrable action on mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance, as we aim to keep the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees alive."

HE Dr Saleh Al Kharabsheh, Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, said, "Under the directive of His Majesty King Abdullah II to make Jordan a regional center for green

development, the Ministry is focused on developing local energy sources to achieve energy security, enhance self-reliance and limit the effects of climate change. If we look at the world today, we see that renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, are the fastest growing and widespread renewable energy sources and the time has come to maximize the benefits of renewables."

Developed through a power purchase agreement between Masdar and National Electric Power Company, Jordan's state electricity provider, the Baynouna Solar Park produces over 560 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy annually - enough to power 160,000 homes. The plant also displaces 360,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to taking nearly 80,000 cars off the road.

HE Sheikh Khalifa Bin Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary representative of the UAE to Jordan, said, "This inauguration is a landmark moment in the history of our two nations and will serve to strengthen the already powerful relationship between us. The UAE is committed to helping our brother nations in the region achieve their clean energy objectives and we stand ready to share our expertise further with the Government and people of Jordan and to help deliver sustainable economic development."

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer, Masdar, said, "We are proud to witness the inauguration of this project, which is one of the fruits of Masdar's long collaborative partnership with Jordan. We would like to thank our partners in Government, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the National Electric Power Company of Jordan, and also the financial institutions that helped to make this project possible. We stand ready to support Jordan in its energy transition and will look to increase our presence in the Kingdom through the development of further clean energy projects that will drive economic growth for the nation."

Financial institutions that supported the Baynouna project include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the KfW Group's DEG, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Peter Ramsay, Chief Executive Officer, Taaleri Group, said, "We are very excited to be inaugurating the largest solar park in Jordan. This impressive project is a testament to the strength of cooperation between Masdar and Taaleri, two pioneers who have been active in the renewable energy field for a long time. We are proud to advance our common global climate change mitigation goals together with our partners and investors."

Masdar also operates the 117 MW Tafila Wind Farm, which was completed in 2015 - the first commercial utility-scale wind project in the Middle East. In November 2022, Masdar signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to explore the development of a further 2 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects in the country.

The energy transition is a central component of the UAE's priorities as it prepares to host the 28th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in November-December. The Conference, the largest annual gathering of policymakers and practitioners focused on climate change and sustainability, will see well over 70,000 officials from across the public and private sectors gather at Expo City in Dubai.

For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar

About Masdar

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) is the UAE's clean energy champion and one of the largest companies of its kind in the world, advancing the development and deployment of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Established in 2006, Masdar is today active in over 40 countries, helping them to achieve their clean energy objectives and advance sustainable development. Masdar is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), and under this ownership the company is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of at least 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and an annual green hydrogen production capacity of up to 1 million tonnes by the same year.

This material is distributed by DJE Edelman Inc on behalf of Masdar. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington DC.

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HMD Global just announced Nokia G22, Nokia C32 and Nokia C22. The C-series promise improved imaging and durability, and Nokia G22 is the first Nokia smartphone to come with repairability at its core, including a global collaboration with iFixit.

Nokia G22  the first Nokia smartphone with repairability at its core

Nokia G22 is the first Nokia smartphone purposefully designed with repairability at its core. With collaboration with iFixit, you can easily access repair guides and affordable parts to replace a damaged display, bent charging port or flat battery with a QuickFix design, said the company.

The phone also comes with a 100% recycled plastic back, OZO Playback that delivers enhanced bass and clearer sound. It runs Android 12, and the company has promised 2 years of Android OS upgrades, three years of monthly security updates and extended three-year warranty at no extra cost.

There is not much of a difference compared to Nokia G21, but this comes with 20W fast charging, and the company has says that the phone maintains over 80% of original battery capacity even after 800 full charging cycles.

Nokia G22 specifications

6.52-inch (1600 x 720 pixels) HD+ 20:9 V-notch display with 90Hz refresh rate, 500 nits typical brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection

1.6GHz Octa Core Unisoc T606 (6x Cortex-A55 and 2x Cortex-A75 cores) 12nm processor with Mali G57 MP1 GPU

4GB LPDDR4x RAM (2GB virtual RAM), 64GB / 128GB storage, expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD

Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD)

Android 12

50MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, 2MP depth, 2MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture, LED flash

8MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture

3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, OZO audio

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner

Dust and Splash resistant (IP52)

Dimensions: 165 x76.19x 8.48mm; Weight: 195.23g

Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5, GPS/ GLONASS/ Beidou, USB Type-C, NFC (In select markets)

5050mAh battery with support for 20W charging (PD3.0)

Nokia C32

The Nokia C32 has a 50MP camera, the highest in a C series phone, that promises advanced imaging capabilities at an affordable price point. It comes in a refined design with a toughened glass finish and elegant, straight sidewalls for a premium feel, said the company.

It runs Android 13 out of the box with 2 years of quarterly security updates, and packs a 5000mAh battery that promises up to 3 days of battery life. The phone also has IP52 ratings for dust and splash resistance.

Nokia C32 specifications

6.5-inch (1600  720 pixels) HD+ V-notch 20:9 toughened glass display

1.6GHz Octa-Core processor

3GB RAM with 64GB storage / 4GB RAM with 128GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD

Android 13

Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD)

50MP autofocus rear camera with LED Flash, 2MP macro sensor

8MP front-facing camera

Side-mound fingerprint sensor

3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio

Dust and Splash resistant (IP52)

Dimensions: 164.6x 75.9x 8.55 mm; Weight: 199.4g

4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C

5000mAh battery with 10W charging

Nokia C22

The Nokia C22 has an exceptional build quality that outperforms the competition in rigorous free fall tests, says the company. It has IP52 splash and dust protection, toughened 2.5D display glass, and rigid metal chassis housed within a strong polycarbonate unibody design.

Compared to the 8MP camera in the predecessor, this has 13MP camera, is powered by an octa-core chipset, runs Android 13 (Go edition) with 2 years of quarterly security updates, and packs a 5000 mAh battery that promises up to 3 days of battery life.

Nokia C22 specifications

6.5-inch (1600  720 pixels) HD+ V-notch 20:9 toughened glass display

1.6GHz Octa-Core processor

2GB / 3GB RAM with 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD

Android 13 (Go edition)

Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD)

13MP autofocus rear camera with LED Flash, 2MP macro sensor

8MP front-facing camera

Rear-mound fingerprint sensor

3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio

Dust and Splash resistant (IP52)

Dimensions: 164.6 x 75.89 x 8.55 mm; Weight: 190g

4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C

5000mAh battery with 10W charging

Pricing, availability and accessories

The Nokia G22 comes in Meteor Grey and Lagoon Blue and starts at an RRP of 179 Euros (US$ 189 / Rs. 15,690 approx.) for 4GB + 64GB At-home Fit Kits for Nokia G22 are available for 5 Euros (US$ 5.3 / Rs. 440 approx.) from iFixit.com. Replacement parts are available from iFixit.com at a global average price of 49.95 Euros (US$ 52.8 / Rs. 4,380 approx.), battery at 24.95 Euros (US$ 26.3 / Rs. 2,185 approx.), and charging port at 19.95 Euros (US$ 21/ Rs. 1,750 approx.).

Meteor Grey and Lagoon Blue and starts at an RRP of 179 Euros (US$ 189 / Rs. for 4GB + 64GB Nokia C32 comes in Charcoal, Autumn Green, and Beach Pink, and starts at an RRP of 139 Euros (US$ 147 / Rs. 12,185 approx.) for 3GB + 64GB

Nokia C22 comes in Midnight Black and Sand, and starts at an RRP of 129 Euros (US$ 136 / Rs. 11,305 approx.) for 2GB + 64GB

Midnight Black and Sand, and starts at an RRP of 129 Euros (US$ 136 / Rs. 11,305 approx.) for 2GB + 64GB Nokia 65W Dual Port Wall Charger made from 70% recycled materials  49.99 Euros (US$ 52.85 / Rs. 4,380 approx.).

The company said that it is developing capabilities and processes to bring 5G Nokia device production to Europe in 2023.

Adam Ferguson, Head of Product Marketing, HMD Global, said:

People value long lasting, quality devices and they shouldnt have to compromise on price to get it. The new Nokia G22 is purposefully built with a repairable design so you can keep it even longer, and with advanced imaging on Nokia C32 and improved durability on Nokia C22, we are bringing even more value to the C-series.

Jean-Francois Baril, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of HMD Global, said:

We are very pleased to announce this first step in our journey to bring 5G device manufacturing to Europe. The Nokia brand has a proud history within the European market, and with this move we are continuing to strengthen our position as the only major European smartphone provider.

Ben Wood, Chief Analyst, CCS Insight, said:

As consumers increasingly demand more sustainable and longer-lasting devices, the ability to repair smartphones easily and affordably will become a key differentiator in the market. CCS Insights end user research reflects this, with approximately half of mobile phone users in Western Europe saying they would like to be able to have their device repaired at a reasonable cost if they break outside the warranty period.
AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We The Patriots USA (WTP USA), a nonprofit public interest law firm, announced today that it will be hosting a press conference for all local and national media on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023 at 10 a.m. EST, at the front entrance of the John F. Seiberling Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse, located at 2 South Main Street in Akron, Ohio. The purpose of the press conference will be to discuss WTP USA's litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local officials over its handling of the train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. WTP USA will be the lead plaintiff in the case. An East Palestine resident, who will also be a named plaintiff, is expected to attend the press conference, along with lead Counsel Cameron Atkinson of Atkinson Law.

Brian Festa, Vice-President & Co-Founder of WTP USA, issued this statement today: "We feel very strongly that every journalist with an interest in honest reporting regarding the incident in East Palestine should be present at Monday's press conference. We will be providing details regarding our legal filing at that time, including the claims we are bringing against the EPA and certain Ohio officials. In our opinion, this is an environmental catastrophe that has seriously jeopardized the health and safety of the residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area, and we believe that public health and safety officials have not taken adequate action to address it. This lawsuit will seek to correct that."

Attorney Atkinson also provided comment: "Politics cannot trump human lives. On Monday, we will be asking a federal court to give the people of Ohio their dignity and rights back and to put an end to them being used as pawns on a political chessboard."

For press inquiries, contact We The Patriots USA at info@wethepatriotsusa.org.

Contact Information:

We The Patriots USA

info@wethepatriotsusa.org



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Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, Feb. 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exactitude Consultancy, the market research and consulting wing of Ameliorate Digital Consultancy Private Limited has completed and published the final copy of the detailed research report on the Precast Concrete Market.

The global Precast Concrete Market will witness a CAGR of 5.3% for the forecast period of 2022-2029. It is expected to reach above USD 207.40 Billion by 2029 from USD 130.30 Billion in 2021.

Precast concrete materials are precasted and prefabricated at the time of manufacturing. Then, they are assembled and molded at the construction site. Such structures enhance construction speed and improve productivity, as well as they help to significantly monitor cost and quality. With the growing need for cost-effective and safe material, the demand for precast concrete is rising.

Request Sample PDF Brochure of Precast Concrete Market Size and Global Analysis with Strategic Developments at@:

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/6798/precast-concrete-market/#request-a-sample

Government initiatives such as Atmanirbhar Bharat, Saudi Vision 2029, and Asia-Pacific Vision 2050 are involved in boosting their economies by improving the infrastructure and construction sectors, along with providing housing facilities to every citizen. Significant investments by prominent companies in the development of advanced products are further expected to support the market growth.

Mergers and Acquisitions

On January 2021, LafargeHolcim entered into an agreement to acquire Firestone Building Products from Bridgestone Americas for USD 3.4 billion.

On July 2021, Fortera Inc., a leading manufacturer of water and drainage infrastructure pipe and precast products announced the acquisition of Barbour Concrete Company and Barbour Building Systems to expand their product portfolio.

Product Launches and Product Expansions

On Decemeber 2020, CEMEX launched Vertua, its brand of low carbon ready-mix concrete, in the US after the successful introduction in Mexico and Europe. The range consists of Vertua Classic, Vertua Plus, and Vertua Ultra.

On March 2020, Abumet Nigeria Limited is a subsidiary company of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has started state-of-the art IGU production line in Abuja, Nigeria. With this new facility, the company has increased its presence in the Middle East & Africa.

The Asia Pacific precast concrete market accounted for the biggest revenue share, and it is expected to rise at a significant rate over the forecast period.

Asia-Pacific is the largest market for the precast concrete market due to the growing economies and increasing construction projects. Due to the high demand for the precast concrete market in the forecast period, Asia-Pacific is leading the precast concrete market. Japan, South Korea, China, and India are expected to continue to contribute to market growth. In terms of precast concrete market demand, Europe is expected to be the next dominant market, followed by North America, which is expected to maintain its position in the industry.

The rise in renovation and remodeling activities globally will create significant growth opportunities in the market.

Emerging-market governments are actively spending and focusing on the development of commercial and industrial infrastructures by executing different programs and assigning projects, accelerating the precast concrete market expansion. During the projected year, demand for precast concrete would be boosted by increased remodelling and refurbishment activities in non-residential sectors. Renovations to hotels and resorts are also on the rise. Increased investments in industrial development from industry participants are projected to accelerate the adoption of precast concrete and open up new market prospects.

Demand for infrastructure development is high, which will help the precast concrete market grow.

Increased investments in infrastructure development projects in growing regions of the world, such as Asia-Pacific, are expected to benefit the global precast concrete market shortly. Infrastructure organizations have been able to significantly cut total project durations and save money on raw materials and labour thanks to the product. The infrastructure sector creates significant demand for the product, which is expected to drive the worldwide precast concrete market forward in the coming years. At the moment of manufacture, precast concrete materials are precast, Pre-Stressed Concrete and prefabricated. Then theyre put together and molded on the job site. Such structures increase building speed and productivity while also allowing for better cost and quality control.

Volatility in raw materials prices may hinder the growth of the precast concrete market.

Manufacturers profit margins are also affected by sudden price hikes or drops. Cement, aggregates, and sand are among the primary raw materials utilized in the production of precast concrete products. The main reason for changes in the pricing of these raw materials is volatility in the prices of energy and crude oil, which are required for manufacturing and delivering them. As a result of these fluctuations, the prices of finished goods fluctuate. The price of raw materials may rise as a result of the volatility of petroleum and crude oil prices, raising the cost of raw materials used in precast concrete.

Precast Concrete Market Report Scope

Report Attribute Details Market size value in 2021 USD 130.30 Billion in 2021 Revenue forecast in 2029 USD 207.40 Billion by 2029 Growth rate CAGR of 5.3% from 2022 to 2029 Base year for estimation 2021 Historical data 2017 - 2020 Forecast period 2022 - 2029 Quantitative units Volume in kilo tons, revenue in USD million and CAGR from 2022 to 2029 Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Segments covered Product, application, region Regional scope North America; Europe; China; Asia; Pacific; Central & South America; MEA Country scope U.S.; Canada; Mexico; Germany; U.K.; France; Italy; Poland; Spain; India; Japan; Thailand; Malaysia; Indonesia; Vietnam; Singapore; Philippines; Brazil; Argentina; Saudi Arabia; UAE; Oman Key companies profiled Cemex S.A.B de C.V., LafargeHolcim Ltd, Skanska AB, CRH PLC, Balfour Beatty PLC, Laing ORourke, Oldcastle Infrastructure Inc., Atco Concrete Products N.V., Forterra, Tindall Corporation, ELO Beton, Boral Limited, Gulf Precast Concrete Co. LLC. Key Market Opportunities Expanding construction industry in developed countries and increased commercial and residential construction activities



Construction industry benefits from the rise in disposable income of demographics and the substantial spending by the government on huge infrastructural projects



Rising numbers of precast concrete manufacturing plants in emerging countries Key Market Drivers Increasing demand for green buildings allows the market to grow vigorously



Rising smart city projects coupled with the government initiatives of infrastructure development



Increasing population and rapid industrialization & urbanization worldwide Customization scope The growing adoption of green and modular construction material is expected to proliferate the demand for precast concrete products in global construction market. Pricing and purchase options The entire organization can use the report. It can be printed and shared. Delivery in PDF and Excel.





Competitive Landscape

Partnerships between Key Players to Intensify Industry Competition

The global precast concrete market challenges are consolidated by the presence of major companies that are striving to maintain their position and gain a competitive edge over their rivals. They are doing so by focusing on partnering with other companies to expand their product portfolio. Additionally, other key players are adopting organic and inorganic strategies to intensify market competition and maintain strongholds during the forecast period.

The precast concrete market key players include Cemex S.A.B de C.V., LafargeHolcim Ltd, Skanska AB, CRH PLC, Balfour Beatty PLC, Laing ORourke, Oldcastle Infrastructure Inc., Atco Concrete Products N.V., Forterra, Tindall Corporation, ELO Beton, Boral Limited, Gulf Precast Concrete Co. LLC.

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/6798/precast-concrete-market/

Key Market Segments: Precast Concrete Market

Precast Concrete Market by Structure System Component, 2022-2029, (USD Million)

Beam & Column System

Bearing Wall System

Facade System

Floor & Roof System

Precast Concrete Market by Deployment Element, 2022-2029, (USD Million)

Columns & Beams

Floors & Roofs

Walls & Barriers

Girders

Pipes

Paving Slabs

Utility Vaults

Others (Include Staircases, Lintels, Manholes, Door & Window Components, And Water & Sewer System Products)

Precast Concrete Market by Construction Type, 2022-2029, (USD Million)

Elemental Construction

Permanent Modular Buildings

Relocatable Buildings

Precast Concrete Market by End-Use Industry, 2022-2029, (USD Million)

Residential

Non- Residential

Market Dynamics

Drivers

It has been marked that precast concrete is versatile and is very much recyclable. The concrete is of high strength and is highly durable which enhances the setting up of modern construction units and pre-factored buildings. The rise in demand for green buildings rises the precast concrete market growth. Growth in smart city projects along with the initiative activities taken for the development of infrastructural activities enhances the market size. With rising in population and growth in the setup of industries along with an increase in urbanization bolsters up the market growth. The hotel industry is rising enormously thus owing to the growth in the travel sector. Using more precast concrete in some areas of the hotel ensures the expansion in quality of construction and thus defines the market landscape in the upcoming days.

Opportunities

The growth in markets all over the globe augments up the opportunities for using more precast concrete basically in end-users industries. The expansion in the construction industry in some of the emerging countries and the growth in commercial and construction of residential activities steer up the market size and growth. The advantages from the construction industry led to the rising of indisposable income of demographics and substantial funds so invested by the government on the infrastructural and developmental projects. The growth in the number of precast concrete manufacturing plants in the upcoming countries gives golden opportunities for construction firms in the upcoming years.

Challenges

Shortage of labor and the government initiatives so taken is one of the most challenging factors of the market.

Cumulative growth

The rise in CAGR value and the growth factor contributes to the increase in precast concrete market value thus adding a cumulative growth to the market.

Restraints

It has been marked that the precast market faces several challenges like the fluctuating prices and unavailability of raw materials which are very much required for a production facility. Improvement of strict rules and laws in the upcoming countries acts as a restraining factor for the expansion of market size. The slow growth in sales of precast concrete and adopting them in recent years acts as a major restraining factor in the present years.

Check out more reports published by Exactitude Consultancy

Decorative Concrete Market

The global decorative concrete market is expected to grow at 6.5% CAGR from 2022 to 2029. It is expected to reach above USD 27.14 billion by 2029 from USD 15.4 billion in 2021.

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/8919/decorative-concrete-market/

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) Market

The global Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) Market is projected to reach USD 30.84 billion by 2029 from USD 18.10 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 6.1% from 2022 to 2029.

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/7441/autoclaved-aerated-concrete-aac-market/

Polished Concrete Market

The global polished concrete market is expected to grow at a 5.8% CAGR from 2022 to 2029. It is expected to reach above USD 3.65 billion by 2029 from USD 2.2 billion in 2021.

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/5763/polished-concrete-market/

Perlite Market

The global Perlite market is expected to grow at a 6.0% CAGR from 2022 to 2029. It is expected to reach above USD 2.64 billion by 2029 from USD 1.5 billion in 2021.

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/5642/perlite-market/

Shotcrete/Sprayed Concrete Market

The global shotcrete/sprayed concrete market is expected to grow at 8.1% CAGR from 2022 to 2029. It is expected to reach above USD 16.13 billion by 2029 from USD 8 billion in 2021.

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/5502/shotcrete-sprayed-concrete-market/

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Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, Feb. 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



Exactitude Consultancy, the market research and consulting wing of Ameliorate Digital Consultancy Private Limited has completed and published the final copy of the detailed research report on the Medical Aesthetics Market.

Global Medical Aesthetics Market is anticipated to experience moderate growth in the forecast period (2023-2028). Growing at a CAGR of 10.83%, the market value is expected to reach US$ 87.9 15.8 billion by 2028-end.

Medical Aesthetics Market Demand Analysis and Growth in upcoming years

The worldwide market for medical aesthetics has grown significantly in recent years and is anticipated to do so in the years to come.

The rising demand for minimally invasive and non-invasive aesthetic procedures is one of the key factors fueling the development of the medical aesthetics market. Because they provide quick outcomes with little recovery time, procedures like botulinum toxin injections, dermal fillers, and laser treatments are growing in popularity among customers. The aging population's rising demand for cosmetic treatments is another factor propelling the medical aesthetics market's expansion. Cosmetic procedures can be used to treat the loss of skin volume and elasticity that occurs as individuals age.

The market for medical aesthetics is also expanding as a result of customers' rising disposable income. People are more likely to spend on aesthetic procedures as their disposable income increases in order to enhance their appearance and bolster their self-confidence.

The industry is expanding as a result of technological developments in the area of medical aesthetics. Both consumers and professionals are interested in the new tools and methods that are being created because they provide outcomes that are more accurate and efficient.

To Get a Sample Copy of the Report Visit: https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/1197/medical-aesthetics-market/#request-a-sample

Here are some key points about Medical Aesthetics:

Medical aesthetics is a branch of medicine that focuses on improving the physical appearance of individuals through minimally invasive and non-invasive cosmetic procedures.

Medical aesthetics procedures are performed by trained medical professionals, such as dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and aesthetic physicians.

Some of the most common medical aesthetics procedures include botulinum toxin injections, dermal fillers, chemical peels, laser treatments, and microdermabrasion.

Medical aesthetics procedures are generally considered safe and effective, with minimal risks and side effects when performed by trained professionals.

The medical aesthetics market has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by factors such as the increasing demand for minimally invasive and non-invasive procedures, the aging population, rising disposable incomes, and technological advancements.

The medical aesthetics industry is highly competitive, with many companies developing and marketing new products and technologies.

Patients should carefully research and choose qualified and experienced medical professionals for their medical aesthetics procedures to ensure safety and optimal results.

Patients should have realistic expectations about the outcomes of medical aesthetics procedures and understand that they are not a substitute for healthy lifestyle habits such as exercise and proper nutrition.

Attributes Value Medical aesthetics market Share (2022) US$ 9.67 billion Medical aesthetics market Projected Size (2028) US$ 15.8 billion Medical aesthetics market Growth (CAGR 2023-2028) 10.83%

Competitive Insight

Some of the notable market players operating in the global Medical Aesthetics Market covered in this report are: Allergan-AbbVie (US), Alma Lasers, Ltd. (Israel), Anika Therapeutics (US), Cutera, Inc. (US), Cynosure (US), El.En. S.p.A. (Italy), Fotona d.o.o. (Slovenia), Galderma (Switzerland), Johnson & Johnson (US), Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA (Germany), Medytox, Inc. (South Korea), Sientra, Inc. (US), Sinclair Pharma PLC (UK), Syneron Medical, Ltd. (US), and Baush Haealth (US), and others.

Recent Developments

Allergan plc is an American, Irish-domiciled pharmaceutical company that acquires, develops, manufactures and markets brand name drugs and medical devices in the areas of medical aesthetics, eye care, central nervous system, and gastroenterology

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was founded in It researches, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceutical products, medical devices and consumer products.

JUNE 1, 2022 Cynosure launches next-generation aesthetic laser device

Cynosure is a leading developer and manufacturer of light-based aesthetic and medical treatment systems. Used by practitioners, physicians and aesthetic business owners worldwide to provide their patients with the very latest treatments.

Browse the full Medical Aesthetics Market Product (Botox, Dermal Filler, Liposuction, Cellulite Reduction, Fat Reduction, Skin Tightening, Breast Implant, Tattoo Removal, Thread Lift), End User (Clinic, Medical Spa, Hospital, Beauty Center)  Forecast till 2028 Report and TOC at https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/1197/medical-aesthetics-market/#table-of-content

Report Segmentation

The market is primarily segmented based on product, application, type, and region.

by Type by End User Facial Aesthetic Products

Body Contouring Devices

Cosmetic Implants

Hair Removal Devices

Skin Aesthetic Devices

Thread Lift Products

Physician-Dispensed Cosmeceuticals and Skin Lighteners

Physician-Dispensed Eyelash Products

Nail Treatment Laser Devices Clinics

Hospitals

Medical Spas

Beauty Centres

Home Care

To learn more about this report, request a free sample copy

Regional Insights:

Here are some regional insights about the medical aesthetics market:

North America: North America is the largest market for medical aesthetics, driven by factors such as the high disposable incomes of consumers, a large aging population, and a high demand for minimally invasive procedures. The United States is the largest market in this region, followed by Canada.

Europe: Europe is the second-largest market for medical aesthetics, with countries such as Germany, France, and the UK being major contributors. The market is driven by factors such as the increasing demand for non-invasive procedures and the presence of a well-established healthcare infrastructure.

Asia-Pacific: The Asia-Pacific region is expected to experience significant growth in the medical aesthetics market due to factors such as a large population, rising disposable incomes, and increasing awareness about cosmetic procedures. Countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea are expected to be major contributors to the growth of the market in this region.

Latin America: Latin America is also expected to experience significant growth in the medical aesthetics market due to increasing awareness about cosmetic procedures and a rising demand for minimally invasive procedures. Brazil is the largest market in this region, followed by Mexico.

Middle East and Africa: The Middle East and Africa region is expected to experience moderate growth in the medical aesthetics market, driven by factors such as a rising demand for cosmetic procedures and the presence of a growing medical tourism industry. The United Arab Emirates is the largest market in this region, followed by Saudi Arabia.

Quantitative Analysis

Market size, estimates, and forecasts from 2023 - 2028

Market size and revenue estimates for products up to 2028

Market revenue estimates for application up to 2028

Market revenue estimates for type up to 2028

Regional market size and forecast up to 2028

Company financial

What are the Key Data Covered in this Medical Aesthetics Market Report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2023-2028

Detailed information on factors that will drive Medical Aesthetics Market growth during the next Six years

Precise estimation of the Medical Aesthetics Market size and its contribution to the parent market

Accurate predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behaviour

The growth of the Medical Aesthetics industry across North America, Europe, APAC, South America, the Middle East, and Africa

A thorough analysis of the markets competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of Medical Aesthetics Market vendors

To know an additional revised 2023 list of market players, request a sample report: https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/1197/medical-aesthetics-market/#request-a-sample

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Bakatue launch: Edinamanhen calls for promotion of festivals globally

Shirley Asiedu-Addo Feb - 25 - 2023 , 12:32

This years Bakatue festival of the chiefs and people of Edina (Elmina) has been launched with a call on the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and other corporate institutions to support efforts at promoting the countrys festivals globally.

An anniversary cloth for activities and the Bakatue was also unveiled at the ceremony.

The Omanhen of the Edina Traditional Area, Nana Kodwo Conduah VI, who made the call, observed that while festivals held immense socio-economic potential for the communities and the country in general, inadequate investment and support for their celebration had minimised gains over the years.

This year would also mark Nana Conduahs 25 years as paramount chief.

Optimise gain

Traditional dance groups graced the occasion

Nana Conduah said it was time to consciously give the festivals attention and support, by promoting the festivals effectively and aiming at optimising gains for the community and country.

He called on the government to allocate some of the funding from the tourist attractions to the host traditional authorities.

The Director, Project Development and Investments at the GTA, Benjamin Anane-Nsiah, for his part, said festivals were a critical component of tourism that held a lot of potential for growth if well harnessed.

He gave the assurance that the GTA would work with traditional authorities and areas to properly develop and package their uniqueness to attract the needed tourists to the areas for enhanced socio-economic benefits.

Meaning

Bakatue, which is Fante, translated to English means the opening of the lagoon.

It is celebrated to invoke the deity, Nana Benyas continuous protection of the state and its people.

According to history, the founder of Amankwakrom, which became the Edina State, Kwa Amankwa, migrated from the Savana-based Walata Empire, settled at Techiman for some time before moving to Eguafo near Elmina.

In search of drinking water, he accidentally discovered a small stream and exclaimed Be-enya which expression means I have found or got it.

He erected a hut near the lagoon where the emigrants refreshed.

History indicates that after finding the lagoon Kwa Amankwa bowed and worshipped and in the solemnity, the god of the Benya Lagoon self-manifested and was with him for eight days, after which a covenant was concluded between him and the deity.

The festival date is said to be the celebration of that meeting as agreed by Amankwa and Nana Benya, the deity.

Some activities mapped out for this years celebration include the All colours carnival and a state dance.

Bakatue

The Bakatue festival, which attracts a lot of indigenes and guests, both at home and in the diaspora, is celebrated in the first week of July every year, to mark the lifting of the ban on fishing in the Benya Lagoon and the beginning of a new fishing season.

It is a time to reflect on gains made in the community and plan for the future.

Bakatue is one of the oldest festivals in Ghana with celebration dating as far back as the 1800s.

It is overseen by the Omanhen of the area, who is traditionally regarded as a god.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, a native of the town, Professor Anthony Anane Prah, said the Bakatue was a six-week festival which began with a ban on noise making.

He said three weeks to the festival, various groups and households hold series of dance performances to bring the community together.

On the first Tuesday of July, chiefs and priests process through Elmina to the banks of the Benya lagoon, where rituals are performed.

The traditional priest casts a fishing net three times to mark the beginning of a new fishing season.

The festival is also celebrated to offer thanksgiving to the gods for a good fishing year and pray for a better year in the coming fishing season.

While times have changed and the people are predominantly Christians today, the people of Elmina still celebrate the colourful festival with great enthusiasm, welcoming people from all across the world every year.

Bakatue is about fostering unity, bonding and giving thanks to God the creator, the ancestors and to offer sacrifices to appease souls of the departed who the living still count on for blessings and to chart a path to the future.

Apt theme

The Municipal Chief Executive for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem, Solomon Ebo Appiah, said the theme for the festival, Eat what we grow and grow what we eat, was apt.

He said the assembly in promoting local agriculture and industries was working on creating alternative livelihoods in the area of fish farming to make the area a tilapia hub.

He added that the move was expected to create jobs to further boost economic activities to be created by the fishing harbour and the Komenda Sugar Factory.

He said the assembly was also in discussions with the Spanish government to promote tourism in the municipality.
Teach us in mother language - Fanteakwa South schoolchildren appeal to govt

Haruna Yussif Wunpini Feb - 25 - 2023 , 13:46

Some schoolchildren in the Fanteakwa South District in the Eastern Region have stated that they find it difficult to understand subjects being taught solely in the English Language.

The schoolchildren who are in the kindergarten stage to primary have, therefore, suggested the use of the local language predominant in their area as well to enable them to fully comprehend what they are taught in class.

Two of the children who are from the Osino Presbyterian Basic School, Esther Mensah and Kwame Dankwa, made the suggestion on the sideline of this years International Mother Language Day celebration organised in the district by World Vision Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) at Dwenase last Thursday.

International Mother Language Day, which was instituted by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1999, is aimed at projecting local dialects worldwide.

The two children said using the English Language to teach them had been having a negative impact on their studies since they did not understand all expressions in the English Language.

Other schoolchildren who expressed similar sentiments were of the view that the local dialect, Twi, should be used to teach them.

The children included Dorothy Opoku, Kofi Amponsah, Naomi Tetteh and Dede Nartey, all from the local Methodist and Catholic Basic schools.

At the event, the Programmes Manager in charge of Education, World Vision Ghana, Andrew Ofosu-Dankyi, appealed to the government to review the current education curriculum to include the mother language, to enable the children to understand the subjects being taught in schools.

That, according to the NGO, would make it easier for the children, especially at the basic level to better understand the subjects being taught.

KG level

According to him, it was wrong to take away the mother language in the educational curriculum, which was supposed to be used in teaching children from kindergarten level to primary three.

He explained that one of the best things that ever happened to education in Ghana was the introduction of the Standard Base Curriculum (SBC) but that had unfortunately taken away the mother language approach to literacy.

That, Mr Ofosu-Dankyi indicated, made it difficult for children to learn the English Language.

The only thing that has been turned upside down in education is language and literacy. In education, it is said that we learn from the known to the unknown.

"But when it comes to language and literacy we want our pupils to learn from unknown to known, which is simply not right.

"I urge the government to critically take a second look at the Standard Base Curriculum and review it, he stressed.

Reading clubs

Mr Ofosu-Dankyi pointed out that World Vision currently had about 320 reading clubs aimed at helping children in communities in the Eastern, Oti and Central regions to improve their reading skills.

He said his outfit had plans to extend the reading clubs to other parts of the country but unfortunately, World Vision had no support in that respect.

He, therefore, called on the corporate world to come on board and support the reading clubs, stressing that reading was now very essential in schools.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Fanteakwa South, Ernest Ofosu, stated that it was necessary for children to be taught their mother language at the kindergarten level in schools so that they would build on it with the English Language.

He noted that children were fast in understanding lessons when they were taught in their local dialects and showed interest and confidence in their academic activities and expressions.

Mr Ofosu recalled that last year's performance at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the district, which was 57 per cent, could have been better if the mother language intervention had been adopted earlier.
Nissan is now using two battery electric vehicle (BEV) heavy-duty, Class 8 trucks to deliver new vehicles from the Port of Los Angeles (POLA)to dealerships in the Los Angeles region.

Nikola and Kenworth will each provide trucks that will pull traditional car haulers. The program is being conducted in collaboration with logistics partner Avant-Garde Auto Logistics LLC.





In addition, Nissan collaborated with current logistics partner Wallenius Wilhelmsen to install a charging solution to support the trucks operating from the Port of Los Angeles.

The first dealership deliveries with the BEV trucks to Downey Nissan in Californiaincluded Nissan's all-new, all-electric crossover, the 2023 Ariya. Ariya FWD trims are on sale now, with deliveries of e-4ORCE all-wheel-drive trims to follow this spring.

The proof-of-concept project will help Nissan and its logistics partners understand more about the use of all-electric trucks for vehicle delivery. Following the initial trial with four BEV car hauler trucks, Nissan plans to deploy additional trucks in the Los Angeles area. Building on lessons learned from these projects, Nissan could eventually begin using BEV trucks for a variety of logistics uses.

As one of the first automakers to use all-electric heavy-duty trucks to transport new vehicles to dealerships, Nissan builds on its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality across its operations by 2050. Along with launching EVs to bring accessible electric mobility to all, Nissan is looking for opportunities to reduce emissions from other parts of its business. As part of the company's Ambition 2030 plan, Nissan has a target of 40% of its US sales being electric by 2030, with more to be electrified.
UN tourism body hails reopening of China for tourism

Xinhua) 11:21, February 25, 2023

MADRID, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on Thursday hailed the importance of the reopening of China for tourism, given the country's huge importance to the global tourism market.

"The reopening of China represents the 'missing piece' in the recovery of world tourism after the worst crisis in its history," the UNWTO said in a press release.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, China was the world's largest outbound tourism market. Chinese tourists made 166 million international trips, and spent 270 billion U.S. dollars, much of it in destinations in developing economies, according to UNWTO data.

Almost 3 trillion U.S. dollars in tourist revenues were lost globally between 2020 and 2022 due to the pandemic. Therefore, the organization said the lifting of Chinese travel restrictions will benefit the entire world.

Chinese citizens made 6 billion domestic trips in 2019, the UNWTO said, adding this shows that tourism is a key driver of employment and economic growth, including for rural communities in China.

The trickle-down effect of China's reopening will also benefit other economic sectors, helping to create greater dynamism at local, national and global level, the UNWTO said.

A delegation from the UNWTO, led by Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, traveled from the Spanish capital Madrid to Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, to attend an event celebrating the reopening of China for tourism. China's Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping met with the delegation in Hangzhou on Friday.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
A teacher from Upi Elementary School was being held at the Department of Corrections on $50,000 cash bail after being charged with criminal sexual conduct involving four children, according to a magistrates complaint filed in Superior Court.

Miles Reyes Washington, 38, was charged Saturday with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct as a first-degree felony and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct as a first-degree felony.

Although the magistrates complaint does not name the school where Washington works, he is listed as an elementary teacher II at Upi Elementary on the current Guam Department of Education staffing pattern.

According to the staffing pattern, he was hired in 2009.

He is also listed as a teacher on the Upi Elementary School website.

On Thursday, the parents of three students at the school told police the children reported Washington had followed them into the bathroom and touched their private parts in recent months, according to the complaint.

During their investigation officers learned that there was a fourth victim who had filed a report in 2018 concerning the same teacher, the complaint stated.

Two of the four children reported that Washington had performed oral sex on them, the complaint stated.

As of Sunday evening, no immediate information was available from the Department of Education about Washingtons current employment status with the department or whether officials were aware of the previous complaint.

According to documents filed by the Office of the Attorney General, Washington faces life in prison if convicted of the charges.
By Panos Kotzathanasis | Published on 2023/02/24

That Lee Chang-dong is a master of cinema is an undisputed fact, as much as that all his movies are excellent, both the 6 features he directed and wrote, and the two he only penned, just before his debut with "Green Fish". As such, a documentary about his life and work, would be rather interesting from the get-go, but the fact that director Alain Mazars decided to portray them in reverse order, inspired by "Peppermint Candy", makes it even more interesting.

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In that fashion, the movie begins with "Burning" and moves backwards, reaching, in the end, his childhood, thus presenting a rather thorough portrait of both the man and the artist. Also quite interesting is the way Mazars places Lee each time in the exact locations he shot his movies in, including the train line in "Peppermint Candy" and the neighborhood he grew up in, in another very smart approach here.

The documentary unfolds much like a masterclass, with Lee talking on camera and analyzing the symbolism, the meanings, and the overall way he shot his movies. At the same time, Oh Jung-mi, his co-writer, also sheds some more light through her perspective, with the same applying with the protagonists of his films, who explain the casting and their overall collaboration with him, while he explains the reasons behind their selection. Song Kang-ho, Moon So-ri, Yoo Ah-in and Sol Kyung-gu are just some of the actors "parading" throughout the movie, adding a very appealing aspect to the movie along with some welcome star quality that also shows their appreciation towards him.

Their combined words (of the actors and the director) highlight his approach towards them rather thoroughly, with the fact that he left them to think for themselves on how to present what he wanted them to show, and that they shaped the characters together emerging as a rather interesting aspect of his way of work. The poems he wrote for "Poetry", the use of trains throughout his filmography, the image boards he came up with, the way he worked as a writer in "The Starry Island" conclude the part about his work.

The way he came to be a filmmaker is also rather intriguing to watch as much as his opinion on the cinema of the country and particularly the independent theaters.

The editing here, in the reverse order mentioned before, emerges as one of the best traits of the movie, also in the way Mazars combines the different types of footage included, in a way that allows the documentary to unfold smoothly, without becoming tiring, even at 100 minutes. The same applies with the changes of location, and the appearances of the actors.

At the same time, and despite the thoroughness, the fact that almost nothing negative is ever mentioned about him, as for example that he is exceptionally hard on his actors, something that Moon So-ri has been particularly vocal in the past, results in the documentary appearing somewhat biased.

On the other hand, the information available here and the "masterclass" included deem "Lee Changdong: The Art of Irony" a film all fans of Lee Chang-dong and of cinema in general will enjoy.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

___________

"Lee Changdong: The Art of Irony" is directed by Alain Mazars, and features Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi, Moon Sung-keun, Jeon Do-yeon, Sol Kyung-gu, Song Kang-ho. No release date in Korea yet.
Published on 2023/02/25 | Source

Korean movie "There Is People Here" added to HanCinema database

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"There Is People Here" (2023)

Directed by Kim Choong-gil

With Kim Choong-gil, Lee Yi-seul, Jeung Hoi-dong, Han Dong-won, Lim Sung-kyun-I, Shin Yeon-jae,...

Synopsis

Choong-gil is an unknown actor who broke up with his girlfriend and is having trouble with his work. While frustrated, a great thing happened to him. He passed the first audition for a new film by a world-renowned master director. With the thought that this is the last time, he prepares for the second audition. On the other hand, his friend I-seul comforts him.

Release date in Korea : 2023/03/01
According to media monitoring and analysis agency Retriever's media analysis, the Perussuomalaiset party has garnered the most mentions in media coverage related to the upcoming Finnish parliamentary elections in the first two months of 2023. The party has led in media coverage regarding foreign and security policy, primarily due to comments by Jussi Halla-aho, chair of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.

The party has also gained attention due to the discussion of NATO membership, as well as discussions surrounding the Trans Act and the Saami Parliament.

The analysis covers domestic editorial media coverage of parliamentary elections from January 1st to February 19th, 2023. The Perussuomalaiset party accounted for 19% of all party mentions in the early 2023 election coverage, with Kokoomus coming in second at 18%, and the Center Party coming in third at 16%. The main election topics discussed in the media thus far have been foreign and security policy, economic outlooks, and education.

The Perussuomalaiset party has also gained considerable attention from other parties' comments, such as Sanna Marin's statement that she considers the party to be racist, and discussions about whether other parties would be willing to form a government with the Perussuomalaiset. Additionally, the competition for the top spot in the polls has also contributed to the party's visibility in the media.

In terms of the party leaders, Sanna Marin, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, has been the most visible, with 1,431 mentions, while Riikka Purra of the Perussuomalaiset party has been mentioned in 951 articles. However, Purra's appearance in articles about the Perussuomalaiset party is relatively less common than Petteri Orpo's in articles about the Kokoomus party or Marin's in articles about the Social Democratic Party. Perussuomalaiset's visibility in the media is slightly lower than that of Kokoomus and the Social Democratic Party, with a score of 2.92 on a scale of one to five.

In conclusion, according to Retriever's media analysis, the Perussuomalaiset party has been the most mentioned party in the early media coverage of the upcoming Finnish parliamentary elections. The party has garnered the most attention regarding foreign and security policy, with other issues such as the Trans Act and the Saami Parliament also contributing to their visibility in the media.

HT
This comes as the tenth sanction package to be adopted by the EU member states.

The European Union on Friday, the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, agreed to a new round of sanctions against Moscow, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during her visit to Kyiv earlier this month that the EU would "aim to have the tenth package of sanctions in place" by the one-year mark of Russia's invasion, according to DW.

The new sanctions target entities supporting war and spreading Russian propaganda.

According to Sweden, which took over the Council's rotating presidency at the beginning of the year, the new measures "targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia in the war."

"Together, the EU member states have imposed the most forceful and far-reaching sanctions ever to help Ukraine win the war," the Swedish presidency said on Twitter, DW reported.

"The EU stands united with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will keep supporting Ukraine, for as long as it takes," it added.

On the first anniversary of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the European Union ambassador, head of missions of EU member states and like-minded nations, along with Ukraine Charge d'Affaires Ivan Konovalov on Friday held a meeting to commemorate the victims.

The envoys observed a minute of silence to pay tribute to the victims of the ongoing military conflict.

Adam Burakowski, Poland's ambassador to India, condemned the Russian offensive against Ukraine. Speaking to ANI, Burakowski said Poland has been providing all kinds of support to Ukraine.

"Poland condemns the Russian aggression against Ukraine from day one. We offer all kinds of support to Ukraine. We stand with Ukraine from day one. We have received millions of refugees from Ukraine and we are supporting Ukraine also by giving them all kinds of help, humanitarian, but also military. We are supporting them with weapons and we are really making this war. We are really informing all the world about this war, which is absolutely unacceptable," Burakowski told ANI.

European Union's ambassador to India, Ugo Astuto, on Friday said he respects India's position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

He made the remark while responding to a question about India's abstention from the voting at the United Nations General Assembly.

"We respect India's position. We have also taken good note of what the Prime Minister has said not so long ago that this is not the time for war. And we have also noted what India has been trying proactively, for instance on the occasion when the arrangement to export grains through the Black Sea was being negotiated. So, India is playing a positive role and I am sure that this will continue," said the EU envoy.

HT

Source: ANI
More than 600,000 Germans signed a petition two weeks ago, calling for an end to heavy weapons delivery to Ukraine, and urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to lead diplomatic efforts for a cease-fire and peace negotiations. The petition, co-authored by Left Party lawmaker Sahra Wagenknecht and feminist author Alice Schwarzer , gathered 607,000 signatures as of Thursday on change.org website.

Prominent figures, including former vice president of the European Commission Gunter Verheugen, former brigadier general Erich Vad, journalists Franz Alt and Gisela Marx, politicians Oskar Lafontaine and Jurgen Todenhofer, and political scientists Hajo Funke and Ulrike Guerot were among the first signatories of the petition.

The authors of the petition stated that "supported by the West, Ukraine can win individual battles. But it cannot win a war against the world's largest nuclear power," and emphasized that "neither side can win militarily," and that the war can only end at the negotiating table. They stressed that "negotiating does not mean surrendering," and that both sides need to make compromises to prevent hundreds of thousands more deaths and worse.

The petition called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to stop the escalation of arms deliveries to Ukraine and initiate a diplomatic effort to reach a cease-fire and begin peace negotiations as soon as possible. The authors of the petition noted that "every lost day costs up to 1,000 more human lives  and brings us closer to a third world war."

The petition comes in the wake of a demonstration in Berlin on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, where way over 10,000 people, protested against the delivery of weapons to Ukraine. The demonstration which was called by left wing politicians Alice Schwarzer and Sahra Wagenknecht published a statement on the website of the protest explaining the cause:

Today (February 10, 2023) marks the 352nd day of the war in Ukraine, where over 200,000 soldiers and 50,000 civilians have been killed, women have been raped, and children have been traumatized. If the fighting continues, Ukraine may become a depopulated, destroyed country, and many people across Europe fear an escalation of the conflict, fearing for their future and that of their children. The Ukrainian people, who have been brutally attacked by Russia, need solidarity. However, what would be considered a solidary action? How long will the fighting and dying continue on the battlefield in Ukraine, and what is the goal of this war a year later? The German Foreign Minister recently spoke of "us" waging a "war against Russia." President Selenskyj is not secretive about his goal, and after being promised tanks, he now demands fighter jets, long-range missiles, and warships to defeat Russia completely? Although the German Chancellor assures that he does not want to send fighter jets or ground troops, how many "red lines" have been crossed in recent months? It is feared that Putin will strike back with maximum force at the latest when the Crimea is attacked. Are we then irrevocably sliding towards a world and nuclear war? Negotiation is necessary as the Ukraine can win individual battles, but cannot win a war against the world's largest nuclear power, as the highest military officer of the United States, General Milley, has said. He calls it a stalemate where neither side can militarily win, and the war can only be ended at the negotiating table. Negotiation does not mean surrender; it means compromising on both sides to prevent further deaths and worse. The German government and the Chancellor must act and take the lead in a strong alliance for a ceasefire and peace negotiations on the German and European levels. Citizens must take responsibility and demand the Chancellor to stop the escalation of arms deliveries immediately.

The demonstration was peaceful, and the police mobilized 1,400 officials to maintain order and enforce bans on military uniforms, Russian and Soviet flags, Russian military songs, and right-wing symbols.

HT
OWNERS of woodland near Henley are unhappy about insensitive work being done at the protected site using huge machinery.

Dan Remenyi, John Hill and Professor Richard Fortey say that the thinning of trees in Lambridge Woods, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, is being done on such a large scale that it will damage rare plants and animals.

This work, along with removal of ash trees due to the fast-

spreading disease ash dieback, covers more than 40 hectares of the woods, which are between Fair Mile and Broadplat.

It is being carried out by other owners using large machinery which has churned up the ground and left swathes of land empty.

Mr Remenyi, from Kidmore End, said: The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the special flora and fauna there and evidence of Iron Age workings.

The area is controlled by the Forestry Commission and Natural England. To do any work, you need permission and it needs to be done with great care so you dont spoil the environment.

The people doing this have brought in very heavy equipment and have gone about it in an insensitive way. My suggestion is that they are not looking after the flora and fauna appropriately. There is also a small country lane which goes into this part of the woods and machines have dug up the road. There are more potholes now than before these monster vehicles came through here.

There are not many ash trees so this is a very substantial amount of thinning they are doing.

They also cut back trees on my part of the land without asking permission.

The manager said, The trees were so bad that cars couldnt come down but thats nonsense. They had no right at all to cut those trees down.

People living close by were annoyed that they were working out of normal hours and on weekends but from what I understand they have agreed to stop doing that.

Part of the track leading to the affected section of the wood was widened and the ground was covered in chalk. Mr Remenyi said: This was a very attractive little road and now it has become a loading zone.

Professor Fortey, a palaeontologist from Henley, who received an OBE for his research and

writing on natural history, said: These woods are well known for their English bluebells, which are very much a protected species.

One thing these bluebells dont like is having the soil churned up  they wont even grow where there are footpaths.

These vast machines which are completely destroying the woods wont bode very well for their survival.

It seems to me that the purpose of this project is to extract conifer wood lower down the slope so the vehicles should have come from the Fair Mile side of the woods, which wouldnt have damaged the bluebell woodlands.

I dont understand why they didnt do that unless maybe the locals there wouldnt have appreciated it  thats the only reason I can think of.

In terms of rarer plants, these woods were one of the last places that the ghost orchid was found.

It is Britains rarest plant, which was declared extinct on more than one occasion, meaning the place needs to be looked after. Something I do know is that the action of these big beasts took down a rare plant called a starved wood sedge. It is a plant specifically adapted to the kind of soil there. The wood is also the habitat of the hazel dormouse, which is a red-listed species.

With the trashing of the understorey and wood theyve done, if it was in that part of the wood where the dormice were, that would be very concerning.

It seems the damage was done by very, very large vehicles. Perhaps they could have done it a different way to not damage the structure of the soil.

The chalk put down on the track into the working site is alkaline and entirely unsuited to the local soil acidity and likely to cause ecological damage. Ignorance, not malevolence.

Mr Hill, from Broadplat, said: Im concerned. There is a certain respect that should have been shown.

There are other owners and we should have been consulted before any of this happened.

I suspect they took all the beech out from the edges to get to the soft wood. Why not come from Fair Mile? I think a lot of this was unnecessary.

Nigel Barklem, who owns the section of land involved, said: An outbreak of ash dieback means we had an obligation to get rid of ash trees. Everything is being done with express permissions.

It does look a mess, I have to say, but I have been assured that we are in all the right positions and Natural England wanted everything to be done at the same time to cause the least destruction as possible.

The process takes about four to five weeks, weather dependent, I am told.

We have to be mindful of footpaths and had to divert around them.

Its essential work and if we were doing anything that wasnt right, it would stop immediately.

On the face of it, it looks awful but something had to be done and, as far as Im concerned, it is being done by the book.

Richard Bellamy, a rural adviser who is managing the project for Mr Barklem, said: We will have to go back to tidy it all up. Unfortunately, if youre not used to this sort of work it can seem to be excessive.

It is part of the woodland management plan with the Forestry Commission and we are just following it.

The commission came to check and seemed quite happy. They didnt put a stop sign on it which they would have done if it was not up to standard.

We have all the permissions and the thinning is being done as sensitively as possible. Im very keen on that kind of thing.

Ive worked for more than 40 years in professional forestry and Im insistent on respecting the forestry standard.

In respect of thinnings it is important to let light to the forest floor and any timber removed will lock up 75 per cent of carbon stored regardless of end usage. This will be replaced over the next cycle by the remaining trees.

He said that up to 30 per cent of the ash trees would be taken down to test whether the remainder are resistant to the disease.

Its about public safety  people have been killed from falling branches, said Mr Bellamy.

The ash wood will be sent to Ireland to be made into hurley sticks for the sport of hurling.

Mr Bellamy said this would bring a reasonable return.

 What do you think? Write to: Letters, Henley Standard, Caxton House, 1 Station Road, Henley or email letters@henleystandard.co.uk
By SA Commercial Prop News

Its rough ride for Landlords as one of SAs oldest surviving retailers, Edcon Holdings which occupies big pockets of space in many shopping centres, is on the bring of collapse.



There is still no respite for Landlords as one of SAs oldest surviving retailers, Edcon Holdings which occupies big pockets of space in many shopping centres, is asking mall owners to chop rent.

The debt-laden retail giant, which owns Edgars Stores, Jet and CNA, is asking South Africas big shopping Mall Owners to reduce its rent in order for it to survive. Without this concession, the company could be put into liquidation.

The flagship brand, Edgars, operates as a major anchor, driving business to smaller retailers at many malls across the country. The retailer also accounts for 10% of occupancy in SAs major shopping malls.

CEO Grant Pattison said on Monday that the group was negotiating new leases with its landlords as a way to cut costs.

"Edcon is very close to announcing a complete recapitalisation of the business that should endure for the next few years. We cannot comment on the details as it is not yet finalised. Speculation and sensationalism will harm, not help the company," Pattison said in a statement.

The company which operates 1,350 stores, is said to have asked for a 41% reduction in rent as its seeks to secure funding to stave off liquidation.

It offered a 5% stake in the business in exchange for a two-year agreement on rentals, citing a letter to landlords. This would help Edcon secure R1.9bn ($132m) in emergency funding from banks and the Public Investment Corp, it said.

It has debt of R7bn and has had to fight hard to maintain its relevance in a clothing retail market that has seen local and foreign rivals such as Mr Price, H&M, Zara and new online shops that are eating into their market share.

The closure would affect dividend payouts to shareholders for most listed property groups.

Trading analyst Lester Davids said that landlords would likely find it difficult to fill the space currently occupied by Edcon stores around the country.

But Edcon going under would be even worse, he said.

The companys woes are symptomatic of an entire sector under pressure as many retailers are struggling across the country.

The closure of the company would put 140,000 jobs at risk and deal a massive psychological blow to the South African economy. This would make it by far the biggest single job loss ever in SA, said economist Mike Schussler.

The possible closure of Edcon would not only threaten the jobs of its employees, but could seriously threaten some of the countrys commercial property groups.

Meanwhile. the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) says the country cannot afford any more job losses. Saftu's Zwelinzima Vavi has urged Edcon to do all it can to ensure that workers' jobs are safe.

Mall owners Liberty Two Degrees and Hyprop Investments emerged as the biggest losers from the closure of Stuttafords Stores. The 150-year-old department store officially closed its doors last year amid tough economic challenges.

Edcon is southern Africas largest non-food retailer. It has been in business for nearly 90 years and operate in stores across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Zelensky says he plans to meet Xi Jinping on China's peace plan IANS Kiev More

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (File Photo) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he plans to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to follow up on Beijing's proposals on ending the ongoing war. In a 12-point paper released by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing on Friday as the war marked a year, China said that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis,adding that it "will continue to play a constructive role in this regard".



The paper called for a resumption of peace talks between the two warring sides, an end to unilateral sanctions, and stressed its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons.



"All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually de-escalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire," it added.



In response, Zelenksy said that China's proposal signalled that it was involved in the search for peace.



"I really want to believe that China will not supply weapons to Russia," the BBC quoted the President as saying.



He liked the fact that China started talking about Ukraine, and considers this to be "very good". But the question remained on what lies behind those words, what actions will follow them, reports Ukrayinska Pravda.



The President also positively reacted to the People's Republic of China respecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine.



In general, according to the President, the fact that China's so-called "peace plan" includes respect for international territorial law and "certain security things" already makes it possible to work with this country.



"Our task is to bring everyone together to isolate someone," he added.



Meanwhile, Russia hailed the proposals, saying "we share Beijing's views".



Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Beijing was considering supplying weapons and ammunition to Russia - a claim strongly denied by Beijing. On Friday, American media again reported that the Chinese government was considering sending drones and artillery shells to Moscow.



Asked about the Chinese plan, US President Joe Biden told ABC News on Friday: "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's applauding it, so how could it be any good?



"I've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia."



The development comes following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Moscow, where he met President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.



After the talks, Wang was quoted by China's state-run Xinhua news agency as saying that Beijing was willing to "deepen political trust" and "strengthen strategic coordination" with Moscow.





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Afghan Taliban want Pakistan to bear cost of disarming TTP IANS Islamabad More

Afghan Taliban want Pakistan to bear cost of disarming TTP The Afghan Taliban have expressed their willingness to disarm the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group and relocate its members from the countries' border but with a condition that Islamabad will bear the cost of the proposed plan. This was revealed at the meeting of the Central Apex Committee which met on Friday to discuss the recent surge in terrorist attacks in the country and other security matters, The Express Tribune reported.



The meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by Chief Ministers, senior cabinet ministers, the army chief, DG ISI and other relevant officials.



Sources familiar with the meeting told The Express Tribune that the issue of banned TTP and its sanctuaries across the border was one of the main issues on the agenda.



A high-powered delegation led by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif visited Kabul this week to share "irrefutable evidence" with the Afghan Taliban about the presence of TTP in the neighbouring country.



The sources said the apex committee was informed that the Afghan interim government proposed a plan to control the banned outfit. The proposal envisages disarming the TTP fighters and their relocation from the countries' border areas.



However, the Afghan government asked Pakistan to fund the proposal and bear the cost of rehabilitation of the TTP, The Express Tribune reported.



The meeting was informed that the Afghan Taliban made a similar proposal to China to address its concerns on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM).



However, Pakistan has yet to respond to the Afghan Taliban's idea as there is scepticism that it might not work.



Nevertheless, it was for the first time that the Afghan Taliban came up with the idea to disarm the TTP.



Earlier, the interim Afghan government encouraged Pakistan to negotiate a peace deal with the TTP, something that backfired.



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Analysts believe that Japan should not ignore the concerns and livelihoods of Pacific islanders.

Pacific leaders on Friday wrapped up the two-day Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Special Leaders' Retreat in Fiji, where Japan's Fukushima wastewater release plan was in the limelight.

The PIF rotating chair underlined in a statement that science and data should guide political decisions on Japan's proposed discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

File photo taken on Oct. 12, 2017 shows huge tanks that store contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (Xinhua)

The outgoing chair and Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, together with other PIF leaders, believes the decision is not as simple as a domestic issue of Japan, but concerns the South Pacific island countries and beyond.

Given that related data and evidence provided by Japan are far from independent or verifiable, the PIF has called on the country repeatedly to delay the discharge plan.

CRITICISM FROM INT'L COMMUNITY

Civil society groups in Japan and many international organizations have also voiced objections to the plan, citing a lack of a practical demonstration and its potential threat to society and marine ecology.

Over the past years, fishermen in neighboring countries have staged several rallies, calling for immediate stop to the "grave criminal act" of releasing radioactive water into the sea. Within Japan, local civic groups have organized protests outside the government house of Fukushima Prefecture.

Japan's unilateral push to discharge radioactive wastewater from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean is irresponsible and harmful, South Korean green activists have said.

"The Pacific Ocean is not the sea of Japan, but the sea of everybody ... Pollutants will flow to neighboring countries in a situation that a lot of radioactive materials have already been released and contaminated (the marine ecosystem)," Ahn Jae-hun, energy and climate change director at the Korea Federation for Environment Movement, told Xinhua.

The Japanese government's decision to discharge the contaminated water into the sea when there are alternatives such as long-term storage violates the precautionary principle recognized by the international community, Greenpeace Seoul Office has said. Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network for environment protection.

"We must prevent action that will lead or mislead us toward another major nuclear contamination disaster at the hands of others," said PIF Secretary General Henry Puna.

Take a look at how Japan proceeded with that.

The Japanese government decided in April 2021 to release more than one million tons of treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean this spring.

Three months later, Japan greenlit the discharge plan while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s task force was still conducting the review mission.

Earlier this year, Japan unilaterally announced that it would start discharging the radioactive water in spring or summer, just before the agency's task force arrives in Japan for review.

PACIFIC OPPOSITION

Pacific island countries unanimously oppose Japan's release plan for multiple reasons, citing ecological fragility, economic dependence on the fisheries industry, and the devastating effects of radioactive pollution caused by Western nuclear testing.

First, Pacific island countries are concerned that the released radioactive substances will spread with ocean currents and tides, risking contaminating fish. As more than half of the world's tuna comes from the Pacific Ocean, a potentially contaminated environment could hurt the fisheries that those countries rely on.

Second, the Pacific Ocean's delicate ecology may come under threat. If the wastewater release leads to an ecological disaster, the vulnerable island residents will leave their homes, causing an ecological and survival crisis that will deal a heavy blow to the entire Pacific region.

Last, Western countries have conducted a dazzling array of nuclear tests in the Pacific since the mid-20th century, resulting in shocking radioactive pollution and ecological disasters. These have left painful memories for islanders, who have been sensitive to the wastewater issue.

Analysts believe that Japan should not ignore the concerns and livelihoods of Pacific islanders. Neither should it dump the wastewater into the sea until disputes are settled over the legitimacy of the discharge plan, the reliability of radioactivity data, the effectiveness of purification equipment and the uncertainty of environmental impact, they added.
A major Ukrainian advantage during the last year of fighting Russians has been logistics. Not just keeping Ukrainian troops supplied but making it difficult for the Russians to supply their own troops with munitions and much else. This became a critical problem for the Russians once the Ukrainians began receiving and using the HIMARS vehicle and the six GLMRS guided missiles each of these vehicles (a 6x6 truck with the six missiles stored in a single box-like launch container) carried and fired. The GMLRS missile used by HIMARS has a range of 85 kilometers and the Ukrainians always had good information on where Russian supplies of munitions, fuel, food and so on were. Ukraine had access to the Starlink satellite communications system as well as NATO satellite and aerial surveillance of Russian occupied Ukraine. Before HIMARS arrived the Russians could store supplies within 20 or 30 kilometers of the front like and be out of range of Ukrainian artillery. With HIMARS the Russians had to store supplies more than 80 kilometers from the fighting. GLMRS missiles are GPS guided while most Ukrainian artillery shells are not. Because of Starlink and locally produced UAVs Ukrainian forces could quickly spot Russian supply storage areas and order an artillery or GLMRS attack. This meant that the Russians were chronically short of supplies because so many of them were being destroyed with Ukrainian artillery or missiles. Russia was, and still is, less capable of attacking Ukrainian supplies for frontline troops.

A HIMARS vehicle with a full load of missiles weighs 16.2 tons. The vehicle carries the crew of three who operate and maintain the truck and the fire-control system fir the missiles. Only one crew member is needed to enter GPS target coordinates into each missile and launch it. Ukraine currently has 22 HIMARS vehicles and 16 more on the way. Neighboring Poland ordered 18 HIMARS vehicles in May 2022. Nearby NATO member Romania has 54 HIMARs vehicles on order and began receiving them in 2021. Each HIMARS vehicle has a built-in crane to enable the empty missile pod to be removed and replaced by a pod with missiles. The process takes five to ten minutes.

The latest (February 2023) American arms shipment to Ukraine includes recently developed longer-range GMLRS guided rockets. Ukraine has been asking for those since mid-2022. They were satisfied with the performance of ordinary GMLRS but found there were important targets beyond its 85-kilometer range. The U.S. has a stockpile of over 3,000 ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) with 300-kilometer range held in reserve for American use. The Americans were afraid that if given a longer-range missile like ATACMS the Ukrainians would attack targets inside Russia that would lead to a disastrous escalation. Ukraine demonstrated that it had other ways to strike deep inside Russia and that did not prompt another Russian escalation, even though the Russians blamed the Americans for providing the tech used in the Ukrainian improvised long-range systems. What really bothered the Russians was HIMARS. This truck mounted GLMRS system entered service in 2010 and was successfully used in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nearly 600 HIMARS vehicles have been built or are on order. The successful use of HIMARS in Ukraine has prompted more NATO nations to order it.

Ukraine was told that there would soon be a longer-range GMLRS called GLSDB (Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb) with a range of 150 kilometers. These will get their first combat use in Ukraine and that will take place sometime in early 2023. The Russians are already moving supplies and other key facilities farther away from the front lines.

Ukraine has been asking for the longer range (300 kilometers) version of ATACMS. It is, like GMLRS, carried and launched from the HIMARS truck but HIMARS can only carry and launch one ATACMS at a time. HIMARS can carry and use six GLSDB. Ukraine would still like the longer range ATACMS but the Americans say they need those for any military emergencies in the Pacific. There, the longer 300-kilometer range is crucial. Despite that Poland and Romania are receiving some ATACMS missiles with their HIMARS vehicles.

While Lockheed Martin developed ATACMS, Boeing developed and produced GMLRS. Boeing and Swedish firm Saab jointly developed an even longer range of GMLRS called GLSDB. The design concept is simple. Take the 227mm rocket motor that propels the GMLRS and use it to launch the latest version of the U.S. Air Force SDB (Small Diameter Bomb), the GBU-53 Stormbreaker.

Initially, the SDB was seen as the next generation of smart bombs and is a more compact design of the classic 227 kg (500-pound) unguided bomb. The streamlined shape of the SDB carried the GPS and other guidance system components internally. SDB has a hard front end that can punch through nearly three meters (eight feet) of rock or concrete and a warhead that does less damage than the usual dumb bomb (explosives in a metal casing). Thats because the SDB warhead carries only 17 kg (38 pounds) of explosives, compared to 127 kg (280 pounds) in the conventional 227 kg (500-pound) bomb. SDB can carry other types of warheads, like the high-explosive one currently found in GMLRS.

Ukraine liked GLSDB because it can be fired from HIMARS, or any other GMLRS launch vehicle, and has a range of 150 kilometers. Moreover, it is more precise than GMLRS because Stormbreaker has multiple guidance systems that enable it to hit moving targets, including ships at sea and do so at night and in any weather. This puts Russian warships in the Black Sea at risk as well as moving supply trains and vital bridges the railroads use. Because of GLSDB the Russian supply situation got much worse and normally safe rear-area bases are now subject to attack.

Stormbreaker entered service in 2018 as the latest version of the SDB II (Small Diameter Bomb also known as GBU-53) in service. This version can identify, track and hit a moving target on the ground in any weather and at night. The novel targeting system was so impressive that the GBU-53 was given an official nickname; Stormbreaker. SDB is basically an unpowered missile which can glide long distances. This makes the SDB even more compact, capable, and expensive. While the original SDB I cost about $70,000 each, that went up to $300,000 for Stormbreaker.

Small wings allow the SDB to glide up to a hundred kilometers (from high altitude). Launching Stormbreaker from the ground (or even a ship at sea) using any GMLRS launcher provides long range precision firepower at relatively low cost. In 2017 the American marines demonstrated that GMLRS rockets could be launched from the flight deck of amphibious assault ships against land targets. This concept can use GLSDB to do the same, but also against enemy ships as well as land targets. This feature enables Ukraine to keep Russian warships out of areas of the Black Sea used by Ukraine.

GLSDB has shortcomings. It achieves the longer range using Stormbreaker the second stage of the GLSDB by having the Stormbreaker glide bomb use the GLMRS rocket as a first stage to take it to a high altitude and then separate and allow Stormbreaker, as the second stage, to proceed on its own. This is done by deploying wings and control surfaces that enable the unpowered second stage to locate and hit its target. GMLRS was a single stage missile and made its final approach to the target at a higher speed than GLSDB. The HIMARS and larger tracked GMLRS carriers have to get new fire control software installed before they can use GLSDB. It is unclear how long this will take. It could be simultaneous with GLSDB delivery and will be obvious once GLSDB is first used in Ukraine. Ukrainians have long demonstrated the ability to quickly learn and use new tech.

The Ukrainians are the ones getting shot at and have a more can do wartime attitude that has time and again overcome issues like this that the Americans underestimated. NATO nations closer to Ukraine, like Poland, are more familiar with that attitude because they know that if Russia wins in Ukraine, Poland is next on the Russian conquest list. Poland and the larger NATO members like the United States, Britain and France often disagree because of the we are next attitude of Poland versus the more diplomatic attitude of the larger and farther away NATO nations. These differences in perspective and attitude makes sending Ukrainians what they feel they need a more complicated process than it should be. The Ukrainians point out that they are fighting for NATO to stop the Russians from advancing into NATO territory. The Ukrainians should receive all the weapons NATO forces would receive if the NATO mutual-defense system were activated by one NATO member being attacked. The Russians make all manner of outrageous threats against NATO to prevent Ukraine from receiving some weapons. Ukrainians point out that this is typical of the Russians and part of their standard response to problems they have created and cant handle. Hit the Russians hard enough and they will back off. GLSDB is an example of that and so would ATACMS be if Ukraine had it.

The Ukrainians only attack targets in Russia that are the source of attacks on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine has hit Russian air bases deep inside Russia where Russian long-range bombers and the missiles they carry and use against Ukrainian cities are based. Most NATO countries agree that these bases are a legitimate target and necessary to reduce the Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, civilians and infrastructure.

The Russians still cant keep their troops supplied and the Ukrainian can, while also making it even more difficult for the Russians to supply their force in Ukraine.
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

Showers developing late tonight with the possibility of a thunderstorm. Low 56F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Showers developing late tonight with the possibility of a thunderstorm. Low 56F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Governor Announces Grants for Low, Moderate-Income Electrification

BOSTON The Healey-Driscoll Administration launched a $50 million grant program to fund decarbonization retrofits of existing low- or moderate-income residential buildings.

Known as the Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Decarbonization Grant Program, this large-scale program will accelerate Massachusetts' clean energy transition, improve public health, and preserve housing affordability for residents. This grant program is the first step in the Administration's commitment to support the electrification of buildings and prioritize the people most deeply impacted by fossil fuels.

"Wherever I go across the Commonwealth, I hear about the high cost of energy and housing," said Governor Maura Healey. "We're taking these intertwined crises head-on with this new grant program. Massachusetts residents who need help the most will be able to benefit first from healthy, affordable electric heating, cooling, hot water, and energy efficiency."

Projects will improve energy efficiency, install solar panels, make improvements like roof repairs and electrical updates, and electrify the building through ground and air source heat pumps and other electrical appliances for low- or moderate-income housing. Applicants seeking over $1 million must commit to providing opportunities for the local workforce.

"This grant program puts low- and moderate-income communities at the center of our clean energy transition," said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. "Local workers will be hired to update affordable homes, which will, in turn, strengthen the public health of cities and towns across the Commonwealth. I'm thrilled to see this initiative come to fruition."

Health benefits for residents of retrofitted buildings will include indoor air quality improvements and local air pollution reduction. The program will provide significant investments in the building sector, and leverage programs like MassSave incentives to help affordable housing developments lead the way to decarbonization.

"40 percent of Massachusetts' emissions come from buildings," said Energy & Environmental Affairs Rebecca Tepper. "By retrofitting homes first in low-income communities, we'll deliver healthier air and lower utility bills to the people who need that the most. This grant program at its core is about environmental justice  righting past wrongs and building a healthier, more equitable future."

Decarbonization of Massachusetts' existing buildings is a critical component of the Commonwealth's strategy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Residential heat pump installation numbers are so far exceeding the heat pump goals for the 2022-2024 Three-Year Energy Efficiency Plan. For 2022, the goal for residential heat pump installations for space heating was 11,928 households installing whole home or partial systems, and as of the end of Q3, the Mass Save Program Administrators reported 16,038 market rate residential households installing minisplits, ducted air source, and ground source heat pumps.

"Efficiency and electrification of buildings is one of the most cost-effective strategies to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions in existing residential buildings and provides significant opportunities for cost-savings for residents," said Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Patrick Woodcock. "This program will leverage existing energy efficiency and decarbonization resources in a way that promotes affordability and equity and is a key component of Massachusetts' overall progress reducing emissions in the buildings sector."

Totaling $50 million, funding for the Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Decarbonization Grant Program is funded through the following sources:

$25,000,000 of DOER funding from Alternative Compliance Payments

$18,500,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Climate Protection and Mitigation Trust

$6,500,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act

The Department of Energy Resources (DOER) will administer the program. The Program Opportunity Notice, available here, identifies private parties, non-profits, municipalities, or other public entities as eligible applicants for the funds. Initial applications are due June 1, 2023, at 5 pm, and awardees will be announced in August. DOER will accept applications on a rolling basis until funds are committed.
Disagreements between the Pakistani and IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) governments over how to deal with the TTP (Pakistani Taliban) have resulted in the TTP remaining safe in their Afghan camps while launching attacks across the border in Pakistan. This is mainly because of political surprises in Afghanistan. Pro-Pakistan officials in the IEA government complain about how they have lost control of government policy. Pakistan believed that once the IEA took over the pro-Pakistan members of the IEA government would give Pakistan their long-desired control over the Afghan government.

That might have happened except for the fact the official leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada, is unpopular with many Taliban faction leaders, in part because Akhundzada was seen as a figurehead and his chief deputy, the head of the Haqqani Network, is actually in charge. That was true but the secret was that Akhundzada only acted as a figurehead because he had to operate from the Pakistan sanctuary in Quetta, a city just across the border from the Afghan province of Kandahar, where many of the original Taliban came from. Kandahar was where Akhundzada went after the IEA replaced the IRA (American backed-Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) in mid-2021. Once in Afghanistan Akhundzada could exercise his power as the official head of the Taliban and do so without potentially lethal pressure from Pakistan.

The Pakistanis underestimated how widespread the hatred of Pakistan was in Afghanistan, even among the many Afghan Taliban who seemed to maintain a pro-Pakistan attitude. Pakistan believed this would neutralize the many Afghan Taliban factions who had openly expressed their opposition to Pakistan interference in Afghanistan. Mullah Akhundzada was a highly respected Islamic scholar who rarely commented on his political beliefs. The Pakistani ISI (military intelligence service) that created the Taliban in the mid-1990s and managed them ever since misjudged Akhundzadas silence on his attitude towards Pakistan. This was seen as agreement with or neutrality towards the ISI and Pakistan in general. Akhundzada had widespread support in Afghanistan while the pro-Pakistan IEA officials who were appointed while the Taliban were still in Quetta had little such support.

When Akhundzada overruled the Pakistan backed IEA officials it was clear he was no longer a figurehead. Akhundzada was not a rigid religious fanatic either. When he imposed a ban on womens higher education in December 2022, he paid attention to the reaction of most Afghans and agreed to lift most of the restrictions. Akhundzada understands he is responsible to what Afghans, not the ISI, want.

This revelation means a lot of problems for the ISI and the Pakistan military, who are in trouble with Pakistan voters and elected officials who are closing in on curbing the independence of the Pakistan military. The militarys policy towards Afghanistan played a minor role in this but the revelation that the Afghans hate the Pakistani military as much as most Pakistanis do will have implications for the future of the Pakistan military. Inside Afghanistan, the pro-Pakistan Haqqani government officials are being told to not criticize IEA leader Akhundzada openly because that might lead to more anti-Pakistan violence inside Afghanistan.

Another Afghan problem with Pakistan is that Pakistanis tend to take their Islam very seriously. This is part of a larger problem because since the founding of Pakistan in 1947 there has been frequent and continuing sectarian, religious and ethnic violence. Religion continues to be a major cause of violence. Attacks are carried out between different sects of Islam, primarily Shia and Sunni but there are other sects that attract violent attention. There is even violence between identical religious/ethnic groups because those who lived in Pakistan before 1947 dont get along with those who fled Indian anti-Moslem violence in 1947 and settled in Pakistan. Most Moslem Indians stayed in India in 1947 and India currently has more Moslems than Pakistan. There is religious violence on both sides of the border but it is worst in Pakistan, whose name translates to Land of the Pure.

Afghans, in contrast, tend to be more tolerant. The exception is radical Afghan Moslems like the original Taliban. Their radical attitudes were the result of the Taliban being created by the Pakistani military in the mid-1990s. This left a lethal legacy as clashes in northwest Pakistan between Pakistani troops and Islamic terrorists continues. To a lesser degree, violence occurs in the southeast (Baluchistan) with Baluchi separatists. Afghans and Pakistani elected officials blame the Pakistani military for causing the separatist and religious violence and the resulting economic problems. While Pakistanis complain of their Afghan problem the Afghans are more justified complaining about a much more active and damaging Pakistani problem.

February 22, 2023: Iran has agreed to recognize the IEA government in Afghanistan. There are still disagreements between the two countries and the resumption of diplomatic relations makes it easier to discuss possible solutions to disputes. Currently the only countries willing to trade with Afghanistan are China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran. Since IEA took over in 2021, Afghanistan has been a much more difficult country to do business in.

February 21, 2023: In Kabul a bomb attached to a car detonated. There were no injuries and no group took responsibility.

February 20, 2023: China is increasing its trade with Afghanistan. In December 2022 China imported $9.1 million worth of Afghan goods while selling Afghanistan $59 million worth goods. At this rate China will become Afghanistans second largest trading partner, after Pakistan.

February 19, 2023: In the east (Nangarhar province) at the Torkham border crossing near the Khyber Pass, there was gunfire nearby that caused the busy border crossing to be closed for at least five days, and maybe more because of the inability of IEA and Pakistan agreeing on who is allowed to travel from Afghanistan to Pakistan.

February 16, 2023: The IEA released a photo of the first three pilots trained for the IEA Air Force. The three men were trained to operate the MD-530 helicopters that were captured intact after the Americans suddenly withdrew their forces. In late 2019 the IRA air force received the last five MD-530F armed scout helicopters. The IRA received 40 MD-530s between 2010 and 2019. By 2017 the U.S. had already supplied twenty MD-530F helicopters armed with machine-guns, missiles and rockets and the U.S. agreed that year to supply 30 more. These are easier to operate and maintain than the Russian Mi-35s and cheaper as well. The IRA Air Force planned to more than double its helicopter force to 214 by 2024 and replace all the Russian helicopters with American ones in the process. The plan was incomplete when the IEA took over in 2021.

February 13, 2023: In central Afghanistan (Ghor province) foreign aid NGOs report that the provincial Taliban officials are trying to impose a heavy tax on the NGOs. The Taliban are demanding that 30 percent of the air be given to the government. This includes salaries paid to those working for the NGOs. The NGOs call it extortion and threaten to pull out of the province rather than pay. The IEA government assured NGOs that these practices were no longer allowed and the NGOs want the IEA to act or lose foreign aid in Ghor Province.

February 10, 2023: Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum has declared war on the IEA. Dostum is 68-years-old and has become a senior politician and military commander. Since the IEA takeover Dostum has been somewhere in the north, probably Uzbekistan, where he has a lot of admirers, and some detractors. The Taliban tried to monopolize information about what was going on throughout the country but cell phones, Internet and commercial satellite photos make that impossible. Anti-Taliban resistance is going on throughout the north and west along the Iranian border. This is often with the aid of Iran, which supports the armed resistance to the IEA government. As a powerful northern warlord, Abdul Dostum was able to develop nationwide interests after the IRA government took control in late 2001. By 2018 he had become First Vice President in the national government and in 2020, after his term was over, was promoted from general to marshal. This was part of the political compromise that ended the dispute between the two leading candidates in the last presidential elections. Since the 1980s and the Russian invasion Dostum has been one of the main warlords in the north. He is still a major political factor with the non-Pushtun majority in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban are largely a Pushtun group they have long sought to kill Dostum. In 2019 he survived several Taliban assassination attempts. In mid-2018 ISIL took credit for a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport in an effort to kill Dostum, who was returning from 14 months outside the country to deal with personal and family matters. The ISIL attack was apparently meant for Dostum but the timing was off and the Dostum convoy had just left when the suicide bomber struck. The explosion killed 14 people and wounded more than fifty. Dostum had left the country just for medical treatment, but he also wanted to avoid prosecutors who sought him for questioning about the kidnapping and torture of a political rival in Jawzjan province. This was not the first time Dostum has been accused of that sort of thing. In the past he eventually escaped prosecution, sometimes by leaving the country for months. In the last year he has spent a lot of time in Turkey, where he has a lot of support because Uzbeks are Turks and Turkey has been cultivating Central Asian Turkic leaders heavily since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and five new Central Asian states were created, all of them with Turkic majorities or minorities. It is unclear just how debilitating Dostums illness is but he is still working the phones and issuing press releases. In response to the recent Taliban victories in the north Dostum will only say that his forces are mobilizing in the north.

Dostum is a classic Afghan warlord and supreme in the north. There is no official leader of the non-Pushtuns but the most powerful of these leaders is outspoken about the continued disruptive Pushtun dominance of the government. The best example of this is Dostum, who has been a foe of the Taliban since Pakistan created the Taliban In the mid-1990s. That animosity continues because some of the Taliban leaders he defeated in 2001 are still with the Taliban. One of them, Mullah Fazil, was Taliban deputy defense minister in late 2001 when Dostum forces captured him and, at the request of the Americans, turned him over and he spent years in Guantanamo, threatened with prosecution for the mass murders he was responsible for while a Taliban leader. By 2014 Fazil was back with the Taliban, after being exchanged for an American soldier the Taliban had held for five years. Dostum encountered Fazil in early 2021 when both were in Russia (Moscow) for the Taliban-American peace negotiations. They got into a shouting match at one point.

Dostum is basically a powerful Uzbek politician, and achieved that status by performing as a long-time warlord. He was also a general in the communist army that was dissolved in 1992. The Uzbeks are Turks, and comprise nine percent of the population. The Uzbeks have always been hostile to the Taliban, drugs and Pushtun efforts to dominate all of Afghanistan. Dostum became the leader of Afghans who opposed the Taliban and was also popular with Afghans who openly opposed Islamic terrorism. Dostum makes the most of this by regularly giving speeches condemning Islamic terrorism. This involves constantly traveling and exposing himself to terrorist attacks. He has survived dozens of attacks and this increases his popularity while enraging the Islamic terrorists he publicly berates and condemns. Dostum has long been a major critic of Pakistan and how Pakistan continues to support Islamic terrorists operating in Afghanistan. If the Taliban do regain control of the national government, they will find that, as in the 1990s, they cannot control the north. In part that is because of leaders like Dostum and many other prominent northerners like him. The Taliban was always considered a threat and Dostums declaration of war on the IEA was expected, as was Dostum becoming part of the successor to the 1990s Northern Alliance. This anti-Taliban group reassembled in 2022 as the NRF (National Resistance Front) and became a major problem for the IEA. That is more than the IEA can handle. Some of the NRF leaders are sons of successful Northern Alliance commanders. Iran threatens to provide more support to the NRF than they gave the Northern Alliance. Since 2022 NRF-dominated Panjshir province (northeast of Kabul) has come under attack by IEA forces which are not making a lot of progress in eliminating armed NRF members and their unarmed local supporters. NRF forces have put IEA forces in the Panjshir Valley on the defensive. The 1990s Northern Alliance dominated the Panjshir Valley (a 90-minute drive from Kabul) right up to the defeat of the Taliban government after September 2001. Northern Front leaders became members of the IRA government and now their sons reassembled as the NRF, quickly took control over most of the Panjshir Valley and successfully resisted IEA forces sent to gain any control there. The NRF uses mines, roadside bombs and ambushes to attack IEA forces as well as their supply convoys. The NRF men (and women) know the valley but few IEA troops do. IEA soldiers and police who have spent some time in the valley learn to be wary just to survive. That means exercising caution when attempting to arrest locals suspected of supporting the NRF.

The NRF faces the same problem the Northern Alliance did in 2001; they were seen by Pushtuns as representing the ethnic minorities of Afghanistan, which make up over half the population and vilely deny the expected respect to Pushtuns. For centuries the Pushtuns dominated Afghan politics and the minorities tolerated that until the Islamic radicals came along with Pakistans creation of the Taliban. One thing nearly all Afghans agree on is the damage Pakistan has done to Afghanistan and unwillingness to give up that interference. Afghans see themselves as the victim of neighbors seeking to control the country. Afghans would prefer to restore the modern state of Afghanistan, which was peacefully created over a century ago. That quasi-monarchical/quasi-tribal form of government was doing fine because until the 1970s there was an agreement that largely kept the peace. This arrangement meant Afghanistan was a constitutional monarchy presided over by a Pushtun king who largely dealt with foreigners and left the tribes (60 percent of them non-Pushtun) to negotiate their differences. At that point Afghanistan was still largely medieval as far as cultural norms and economic activity was concerned. But the 20th century was making an impression and the educated urban minority was calling for radical change. This was tempting to many leading Afghans but the vast majority of Afghans were still in the countryside ruled by tribal leaders. Most of these rural Afghans opposed any radical change. The reform factions, mainly the pro-communist ones, tried violence to overthrow the monarchy, failed and in 1979 Russia intervened to rescue their fellow communists. That led to a civil war that is still going on.

February 9, 2023: UN security experts warn that the local ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) affiliate, ISK (Islamic State Khorasan) is planning attacks on the embassies of India, China and Iran in the Kabul Green Zone. This is part of the ISK effort to prevent the IEA from establishing diplomatic and economic relations with foreign nations. Most nations are still reluctant to establish an embassy in the IEA controlled Kabul.

January 30, 2023: In northwest Pakistan (city of Peshawar) the TTP was accused of carrying out a bombing inside a police compound that killed over a hundred people and wounded many more. The bomb went off in a mosque and was carried and detonated by a suicide bomber. TTP leadership insisted they had nothing to do with it

Afghanistan backed the TTP denial of responsibility and pointed out that there are other terror groups carrying out attacks inside Pakistan. Since the ISI-backed IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) government took power in late-2021, Afghanistan has become a safer place for Islamic terror groups. The most active include the TTP (Pakistani Taliban) and ISK, which is also the local ISIL affiliate. The more immediate problem is the TTP. Many TTP factions operate independently, often contrary to orders from TTP leadership. In contrast the Afghan Taliban was always more disciplined because they were dependent on the Pakistani military for a sanctuary in Baluchistan province and other essential aid. This included cash payments from the Afghan heroin cartels that also depend on the Pakistani military for essential supplies and services. The Afghan Taliban have long helped protect cartel operations inside Afghanistan. Now that the Afghan Taliban is back in power, after 20 years in exile, they find they have a lot in common with the TTP. Both Talibans see the Pakistani military as the enemy and that is causing major problems for the Pakistani military and Pakistan as a whole. So far TTP still has sanctuary in Afghanistan and is regularly sought out and attacked by Pakistani UAVs rather than IEA security forces. TTP tends to be blamed for all terror attacks but subsequent events often show another group was responsible.

January 28, 2023: The IEA banned women from attending colleges or universities. Currently women can only be educated up to the sixth grade. The IRA has also banned women from working outside the home. This included a ban on Afghan women working for foreign aid organizations. About 30 percent of the locals working for these NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) are Afghan women. Without the female employees the NGOs are unable to provide many essential services to Afghan women. One side-effect of this is an increase of maternal mortality in childbirth. The IEA policies towards women caused many NGOs to leave Afghanistan. Nearly half the population is hungry because the economy has been crippled by IEA policies and agriculture has been hurt by two years of drought.
FEMA Awards Over $1.3M to Mass for COVID-19 Vaccination Supplies

BOSTON  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be sending more than $1.3 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse it for the cost of vaccination supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $1,343,707 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency for the cost of vaccination supplies.

"FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency with these costs," said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. "Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and to our success as a nation."

FEMA's Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.

So far, FEMA has provided more than $1.5 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.
South Africa: New Chairperson, Commissioners appointed for Commission for Gender Equality

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Saturday that he has appointed a new Chairperson and Commissioners for the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE).

The appointment was made in terms of section 3(9) of the Commission for Gender Equality Act, 1996 (Act No. 39 of 1996), as amended.

The CGE was established in terms of Section 187 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa to promote respect for gender equality and the protection, development and attainment of gender equality in South Africa.

According to the Presidents Office, Advocate Olave Nthabiseng SepanyaMogale has been appointed as the Commissions Chairperson on a full-time basis, with effect from 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2028.

In addition, Advocate Thando Gumede will assume a full-time role as a member of the Commission, with effect from 1 March to 31 December 2027.

Bongani Glenton Ngomane will hold a part-time member position of the Commission, with effect from 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2028, while Leelambal Subrayan Naidoo will hold a part-time member position of the Commission during the same tenure.

Leonashia Leigh-Anne van der Merwe has been appointed as a part-time member of the Commission, with effect from 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2028.

The President wishes the newly appointed members of the Commission well in their work and roles, the Presidency said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-02-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Helicopters conduct hover checks

China Military Online) 13:12, February 25, 2023

Helicopters attached to an army aviation brigade under the PLA 76th Group Army lift off for a flight training exercise in early February, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Yang Mingfu)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
1. Art Is Not Bigger Than Country, Ranbir Kapoor Reflects His Interest Of Working In Pakistan



Ranbir Kapoor is out and about promoting his upcoming release Tu Jhoothi Mai Makkar where he stars opposite Shraddha Kapoor. During a promotional event, Ranbir went on to address his recently viral controversial statement which has drawn the actor massive flak. A few months back, Ranbir was at the Red Sea International Film Festival where he passed his fueling remark. Read More!

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2. RRR Creates History! Wins Four Awards Including Best Film At The Hollywood Critics Association



SS Rajamouli's directorial RRR is unstoppable. The film which has already won several global feats has now grabbed several feats at the recently held Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards. The film won awards for Best Action Film, Best International Feature, Best Original Song and Best Stunt. Films director SS Rajamouli gave an acceptance speech crediting his stunt directors that is now going viral. Read More!

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3. Kangana Ranaut Slams Media For Comparing Her To Akshay Kumar After Selfiees Disastrous Opening



Akshay Kumar and Emraan Hashmi starrer Selfiee opened up to a disastrous day 1 collection. While reporting the same a news media quoted Akshay as a male version of Kangana and the actress is miffed about it. Interestingly, Kangana feels this is also because of Karan Johar. Kangana believes she is being dragged out for no reason in Akshays failure. Read More!

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4. Divya Agarwal Returns Ex-Varun Sood's 'Khandani Gehne', Hits Back At Trolls In New Twitter Post



Divya Agarwal, the winner of Bigg Boss OTT and Varun Sood called it quits last year after dating one another for a few years. Divya and Varun were known to be one of the most loved TV celebrity couples and their sudden breakup left many fans sad. Moving on, things seemed to have become normal and Divya got engaged to Apurva Padgaonkar. However, the past struck Divya once more as she got into a Twitter spat with Akshita Sood, Varun Sood's sister. Read More!

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5. Shark Tank India Season 2: Pitcher's Agarbattis To Set Romantic Mood Fails To Impress Judges



Shark Tank India Season 2 has witnessed some of the most unique pitches so far. From bee-keeping to house-keeping to cloud tailoring, the business reality show has displayed some of the unimaginable business models pitched by the contestants. Latest reports suggest that one of the Shark Tank India Season 2 contestants pitched unique night Agarbattis that help set a romantic mood. Read More!

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(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.)


On Friday, the civic body of Indore, recognised as the cleanest city six times in a row, started distributing spit cups among betel and other shop owners to check gutka stains. The move was undertaken as part of the 'no thu thu' (no spitting) campaign to boost the positive image of the city further.

BCCL

Mayor distributes cups for free

Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava distributed these cup-shaped spittoons to pan shops and passersby at Bengali Chowk and sought their cooperation to stop the menace of public places being stained with pan, tobacco and gutka spit.

He told PTI these spittoons (cups) were being distributed free of cost.

Dr Atul Kala, an oral surgeon and co-founder of local start-up Ek Pehal, told the news agency that the spittoon has been manufactured with unique metal to turn liquid spit into hard waste.

Campaign conducted for past some months

As per a Free Press Journal report, the dispersal of spit cups under the 'No Thoo-Thoo campaign', a cleanliness drive by IMC, has been conducted at Bengali Square for the past few months.

BCCL

Bhargava also chatted with the owners of betel shops, grocery shops, and other shopkeepers operating at Bengali Square, asking them to ask people addicted to gutka to use spit cups.

Additionally, the regional public representatives ran the spit cups distribution and awareness campaign at Bada Ganpati Square, Vijay Nagar Square, Malwa Mill Square, Railway Station Gate No 01 and other places.

'Indoreans adopt good habits very quickly'

Bhargava further said they aim to clinch the cleanest city tag for the seventh time in a row.

He added that 'Indoreans adopt good habits very quickly'. The local leader said that he is sure the city residents will carry the spit cups while driving, thereby freeing the city of gutka stains.

Gutka menace across India

In contrast to Indore, the majority of India is severely affected by the perils of the spitting of gutka as people discharge the remains all across the public properties, including road dividers, pavements, official buildings, monuments and public transport.



File Image

The severity of the issue can be understood by an estimate from 2021, which revealed that Indian Railways spends around Rs 1,200 crore and a lot of water annually to clean the stains and marks caused by spitting on its premises, especially by pan and tobacco users.



Kolkata Port Trust has said saliva laced with gutkha is corroding the iconic 70-year-old bridge. The Howrah Bridge is under attack from gutkha-chewers. @shahrukh_35 @akshaykumar @ajaydevgn @SrBachchan



Source: Google pic.twitter.com/sriVMIULig  Awanish Sharan (@AwanishSharan) April 21, 2022

Moreover, in 2022, Awanish Sharan, an IAS officer, tweeted a picture of the Howrah bridge in Kolkata, voicing his concern that the iconic bridge might be damaged due to saliva laced with gutka spat on it.

"Kolkata Port Trust has said saliva laced with gutka is corroding the iconic 70-year-old bridge. The Howrah Bridge is under attack from gutka-chewers,' he had tweeted.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
The tramways carnival 'Tramjatra', which has been observed in Kolkata since 1996, is back after a gap of four years, marking 150 years of the legacy commute system in the country.

Prokerala

And it has brought along positive information that the Bengal government will continue the service, though in a limited capacity.



Trams to run on 'four or five routes'

The Transport Minister of West Bengal, Snehasis Chakraborty, said on Friday that the administration could not run trams on all routes due to flyovers and Metro Rail infrastructure construction.



But he said that the government has no intention of scrapping the service entirely and that the trams would continue to exist as a city heritage.



BCCL

As per a Telegraph India report, Chakraborty said trams will run on "four or five routes" and "it would not be possible" to run them on all routes like before.



The minister further said the government recognised that trams were an environment-friendly mode of transport, but due to the city's roads being too narrow, it is possible to run trams on only some routes.



"We are constantly in talks with Kolkata police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Based on their inputs, we will run trams on routes where it will not lead to congestion," said Chakraborty at the inaugural function in central Kolkata.



From 25 routes in 2017 to 3 at present

A member of the tram users' association told the publication that there are only three routes - Tollygunge-Ballygunge (route 24/29), Gariahat-Esplanade (route 25) and Shyambazar-Esplanade (route 5) - on which trams now run as of now.



BCCL

Other association members revealed that 25 tram routes were functioning in Kolkata till June 2017, while they stood at 51 back in 1958.



The reasons cited behind the diminishing number of routes are - impact of the Covid pandemic, devastation caused by the Amphan Cyclone in 2020 and the Metro Rail construction.



'Tramjatra' - a global association

The long-running 'Tramjatra' carnival, a global collaboration of tram enthusiasts, artists, environmentalists, and communities, has been in motion in Melbourne and Kolkata. It underlines the value of trams through awareness campaigns for cultural heritage, healthy living and sustainability.



The theme of this year's Tramjatra is Heritage, Clean Air and Green Mobility.



For five days, colourful trams will travel across the city displaying artworks, including paintings and posters with sustainable development goal themes.



Local youths will perform musical and theatrical performances inside moving trams, while Roberto D' Andrea, a retired tram conductor from the Australian city, would distribute specially designed 'Tramjatra' cards to passengers.



Twitter

Roberto D'Andrea, the retired tram conductor from Melbourne, said that coming from another 'great tram city', he is privileged to be present at the 150th anniversary of Kolkata's tram service.



The first tram, a horse-drawn carriage, in Kolkata, then Calcutta, ran between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat on February 24, 1873, according to the website of the West Bengal Transport Corporation.



(With inputs from PTI)

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
People around the world were excited to catch the rare planetary conjunction when Earths moon, Venus, and Jupiter were all set to gather. The planets are estimated to remain bundled up until March 1.



Moon, Venus & Jupiter Conjunction Caught By NASA

Twitter

On Saturday, NASA took to their Twitter handle and shared a mesmerising view of the conjunction and wrote, Theres a meetup happening in the western sky: the crescent Moon sits close to Jupiter, with Venus below them. Jupiter and Venus will continue to cozy up until March 1, when theyll be at their closest. Have you spotted these three in the sky? Snap a picture and send it to us!

For the uninitiated, Jupiter and Venus are the two brightest planets in our solar system. For the past few weeks, the planets have been getting closer to an alignment and will continue to do so until the 1st of March. According to Space.com, the planets will be exactly 0.52 degrees apart on March 1.



Check out the post below:



Theres a meetup happening in the western sky: the crescent Moon sits close to Jupiter, with Venus below them. Jupiter and Venus will continue to cozy up until March 1, when theyll be at their closest.



Have you spotted these three in the sky? Snap a picture and send it to us! pic.twitter.com/8W1iihFz3w  NASA (@NASA) February 24, 2023

Skygazers From Around The World Captured The Rare Scene

Twitter

Skygazers were excited to encounter the mesmerising conjunction with the eyes and wanted to capture the moment. Many did click pictures of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter bundled up in the sky from all around the world.

One user shot a timelapse of the conjunction from the United Kingdom and wrote, The conjunction of Jupiter, The Moon and Venus on 22nd Feb, captured from Bowness-on-Solway, UK.



The conjunction of Jupiter, The Moon and Venus on 22nd Feb, captured from Bowness-on-Solway, UK. 



Music: Moonlight by Scott Buckley - https://t.co/hsiWdiCDaB pic.twitter.com/o2DXsUcWqm  Dan Monk (@DanielMonk91) February 24, 2023

While an Indian shared the view from their home, Are you a stargazer? Because last night, Mother Nature decided to align the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus in a straight line just for you and me. Pure bliss.

Are you a stargazer?



Because last night, Mother Nature decided to align the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus in a straight line just for you and me.



Pure bliss  pic.twitter.com/yvGOEMDK5L  Shraddha Bansode (@im_shraddha12) February 23, 2023

One fellow took the ultimate shot and shared a view of the rare moment from Stonehenge in the UK, Crescent Moon, Jupiter and Venus aligned over Stonehenge last night.

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ASP.NET Core, Microsofts cross-platform framework for web and mobile apps, will offer a combined, full-stack web programming model as part of the planned .NET 8 software development platform, to better satisfy the diverse needs of web apps.

Now available in a first preview, .NET 8 endeavors to combine benefits of server-side and client-side rendering into a single, full-stack programming model based on the Blazor framework for client-side web UIs, featured as part of ASP.NET Core. This effort is being called Blazor United, Microsoft said in a blog post published on February 21.

Many apps need a combination of server-side and client-side approaches, Microsofts Daniel Roth, principal program manager for ASP.NET, said. A home page or blog is best handled with server-side rendering for fast loading and indexing, while more elaborate functionality of an app needs client-side responsiveness. Thus far, .NET has required using multiple frameworks togetherMVC, Razor, and Blazor Pagesto achieve this.

With .NET 8, developers will be able to use a single, Blazor-based architecture for server-side rendering and client-side interactivity with Blazor Server or WebAssembly. Developers will be able to switch between different rendering modes and mix them in the same page. Blazor United will enable new rendering capabilities such as streaming rendering and progressive enhancement of form posts and navigations.

Also in .NET 8, an improved authentication and authorization experience is eyed for ASP.NET Core. Microsoft with ASP.NET Core hopes to create an intuitive experience for web-based authentication and provide steps and tools to support deployment to production environments. Diagnostics to quickly troubleshoot security issues also are planned.

To begin using ASP.NET Core in .NET 8 Preview 1, developers must install the .NET SDK. The next version of .NET will also extend Native AOT, for producing an app that is self-contained and ahead-of-time compiled, to ASP.NET Core. This will first be done with cloud-focused, API apps built with minimal APIs that meet expectations regarding published file size, working set, throughput performance, and startup time.

ASP.NET Core in .NET 8 Preview 1 also includes routing tools, route constraint performance improvements, hot reload support for instance fields, properties, and events for .NET on WebAssembly, and experimental Blazor WebAssembly debugging in Firefox. And HTTP/3 is enabled by default.
Thalidomide survivors have said they cannot afford to wait any longer in their 61-year battle with Government for an apology and adequate compensation.

Survivors of Irelands longest-running medical tragedy, the Thalidomide scandal, have spoken about their ongoing campaign and increasing weariness with State inaction on RTEs Late Late Show.

During tonight's Late Late Show, Ryan Tubridy hosted Irish Thalidomide Association advocates Finola Cassidy and John Stack, and also spoke with two mums in the audience  Peggy Murphy from Cork, and Mary Clarken from Portlaoise, both now aged in their 90s  whose children had been adversely affected by Thalidomide.

Finola Cassidy and John Stack of the Irish Thalidomide Association on the Late Late Show. Finola said: 'Acknowledge the wrong, apologise for it, welcome the unacknowledged, and plan for our future with a fair deal.' Pictures: RTE

Thalidomide, a sedative drug used to treat morning sickness, was prescribed and also sold over the counter without prescription to pregnant women in Ireland from 1959.

Over 51,000 packets of Softenon, the biggest seller in Ireland, were sold here in 1961.

The drug caused thousands of miscarriages and babies who survived the pregnancy were born with catastrophic injuries  missing or foreshortened limbs, organ damage, deafness, and painful nerve-ending damage.

Mary Clarken from Portlaoise and her daughter Sharon, who was born with a deformed arm due to Thalidomide, both spoke with Ryan Tubridy on tonight's Late Late Show. Picture: RTE

Thalidomide was withdrawn internationally in 1961 after it was found to cause major birth defects but it was not withdrawn in Ireland until the following year.

The Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) said that it remained on pharmacy shelves and in homes for longer after the State failed to ensure a complete recall of supplies, causing further catastrophic damage to families across the country.

A 2012 photo of Peggy Murphy with her son Martin. Thalidomide remined on sale over the counter more than a year after it was withdrawn internationally. Picture: Denis Scannell/Irish Examiner

Thalidomide survivors and their families have campaigned for decades for a State apology and for a fair and equitable compensation package.

Although the Government does provide some financial assistance and they are eligible for medical cards, survivors say the support is completely inadequate.

Thalidomide was a wrecking ball to the embryo, Finola Cassidy, Thalidomide survivor and ITA spokesperson said.

They failed us as children, they are still failing us now. This did not happen on their [the present Governments] watch but they are the custodians of the States stance on how we get closure  61 years of this is just cruel.

It is horrific to read the old government briefing documents I found in the National Archives and see first-hand how they tried to manipulate the Thalidomide story and not accept their hand, act, and part in it.

There are now only 40 Irish Thalidomide survivors.

"Acknowledge the wrong, apologise for it, welcome the unacknowledged and plan for our future with a fair deal."@ThalidomideIre#LateLate pic.twitter.com/UebNuT7RKp  The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) February 24, 2023

Irelands youngest acknowledged Thalidomide survivor John Stack, now 60, is chairman of the ITA.

Mr Stack was born 14 months after the international withdrawal of the drug was not heeded by the Irish State.

We have waited a very long time, over 60 years, and we cannot afford to wait any longer, Mr Stack said.

On the Late Late Show, Ryan Tubridy spoke with Mary Clarken with her daughter Sharon, and (right) Peggy Murphy with her son Martin, all of whom were affected by Ireland's Thalidomide scandal. Picture: RTE

Youd have to be in the whole of your health to keep this relentless campaign going  and we arent," he said.

"Our health and mobility are failing and it will only get worse.

"This has been the fight of our lives, for all our lives and our parents lives, and it is time the Government ended the battle with us.

Two mothers affected by Thalidomide, both now in their 90s  Peggy Murphy from Cork with her son Martin, and Mary Clarken from Portlaoise with her daughter Sharon  told Ryan Tubridy how they were treated and how after 61 years they deserved to hear it was not their fault.
Timber company GP Wood Ltd of Enniskeane was fined 90,000 for health and safety breaches in a case that was investigated following a fatal incident at their facility.

Judge Helen Boyle said that in fairness to the defendant company before Cork Circuit Criminal Court for penalty there was an absence of aggravating factors. Many of these cases involve companies taking shortcuts to increase their profits  that is not present here, Judge Boyle said.

The judge also stated that no fine could equate with the loss of life of Pat Lacey who worked for many years for the defendant company.

Judge Boyle said that in legal terms there was no reference to the death of Mr Lacey in the charges to which the company had pleaded guilty. In strict legal terms, the charges would not allow for a victim impact statement.

However, the company indicated that they had absolutely no difficulty with members of the Lacey family presenting victim impact statements to the court. The charges do not relate to causing the death but GP Wood consent to victim impact statements being read out.

Pat Lacey  who was a valued employee of the company  was struck by the CAT front loader which collided with him and caused his death.

The charges do not refer to the causation of death. This was not a deliberate attempt to get around safety.

"Nevertheless, companies must ensure the enforcement of Health and Safety statements. Things can get complacent. It is accepted that the company should have tapped people on the shoulder and ensured they walked in appropriate areas and ensured front-loaders were driven in the proper way with the loader down rather than up to ensure (maximum) visibility, the judge said.

As well as the 90,000 fine, the company was directed to pay costs of 2,400 for the Health and Safety Authority, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Frances Murphy, Health and Safety Authority inspector, said they were notified on the day of the incident on February 26, 2019, about the fatal incident which claimed the life of 53-year-old Pat Lacey who had worked with GP Wood Ltd for approximately 30 years.

Guilty pleas to charges under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act were entered on behalf of GP Wood Ltd.

Ms Murphy said that CCTV of the fatal incident showed the heavy machine  a front loader which loads logs at the mill  unfortunately colliding with the late Mr Lacey. She described GP Wood Ltd as fully co-operative with the HSA investigation.

Prosecution senior counsel, Ray Boland, asked the inspector: Where did you find fault? She replied: Essentially in the area where large machinery was working, pedestrians were not segregated from that work area. The late Pat Lacey walked across an area where the machine was operating.

Ms Murphy agreed that there was a pedestrian area in being at the time of the incident but she said: There was no signage or yellow hatch markings. Mr Boland suggested: Some people were using it (the walkway) and some were not? Ms Murphy replied: It was a bit ad hoc.

She said the company had not come to her attention in the HSA prior to the incident in February 2019.

From the family of the deceased, two sisters, Catriona and Carmel, and his brother, John, all prepared brief victim impact statements in which they stated that they missed their dear brother, Pat, every day and were deeply saddened by the fact that they would not get to share family experiences with him in the future.

Subsequent safety measures

Defence senior counsel, Tom Creed, said there was a beefing up of the safety of the plant following the incident. He said that even before the fatal incident they were a company that had a lot of safety measures in place.

The breach was in failure of enforcement and not disciplining people for not using the walkway and driving machines in the way they do There was never a question of any financial profit or of a deliberate breach of safety with a view to making profit. This was an isolated incident with devastating consequences.

They carried out significant works at the plant, all of it revolving around traffic management assessment (since the incident). 200,000 worth of infrastructural work has been carried out since and its goal was pedestrian safety and they continue to modify the site, the object being to separate the pedestrian and traffic flow.

They have introduced several other new barriered walkways on the site at considerable expense, Mr Creed said.

Compliance manager with GP Wood, Conor McSweeney, confirmed that extensive work had taken place to improve safety and that it included a floodlit barriered walkway that is separate from the work area for vehicles.

Charges

The pleas of guilty were entered on behalf of the company previously at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The first count stated that as an employer they failed to manage and conduct work activities, specifically the operation of a CAT938M front-loader vehicle, at or near the log storage yard area of the premises in such a way as at to ensure the safety, health and welfare of employees, and in particular that they failed to ensure the segregation of pedestrians from the operational area of the vehicle.

The second charge was of failing to provide systems of work in similar circumstances that were planned, organised, performed, maintained, revised as appropriate so as to be safe and without risk to health.

The third count was of failure to ensure organisational measures were taken to prevent employees on foot coming within the area of operation of the self-propelled work equipment, specifically the front-loader vehicle.

Judge Helen Boyle said there was a lot to consider and she put sentencing back until February 24. To members of the late Mr Laceys family who were present, Judge Boyle said: I want to extend my sincere condolences on your loss.
Burma Karen Resistance Attack Myanmar Junta Police Station

Smoke rising from Payathonzu police station in Kyainseikgyi Township, Karen State, following the fighting.

Payathonzu police station in Kyainseikgyi Township, Karen State, was ambushed by resistance forces on Saturday morning. Two residents were injured by regime shelling following the attack.

Resistance fighters attacked the police station for nearly two hours following the juntas imposition of martial law in Kyainseikgyi and Kawkareik townships this month. Payathonzu is a small town on the Thai border.

There was heavy fighting for two hours. It happens regularly, a Payathonzu resident told The Irrawaddy.

Some civilian houses were destroyed by regime shelling and some regime troops were injured, according to residents.

The regime supporters said the attack was led by the Kawthoolei Army and Peoples Defence Forces. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Payathonzu is held by the Karen National Union 6 Brigade and borders Sankhlaburi district in Thailand. Thai news sources reported that the fighting sparked a security alert in Sankhlaburi district.

Some regime offices in Payathonzu were raided and torched by resistance forces last month.

Frequent clashes have broken out in Kyainseikgyi Township since the last year.
Guest Column Myanmars History of Governments in Exile

NUG foreign minister Daw Zin Mar Aung with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington DC on February 14. / NUG Foreign Ministry

Exiles, alas, are all too common in todays disrupted world. Myanmar has a variety of them. Some are driven into exile by ethnic cleansing, such as the Rohingya. Some seek safety individually, like the anti-military dissidents since 2001. And millions go overseas to seek employment, especially in Thailand.

Governments in exile are also not an uncommon worldwide political phenomenon. But to have two in one generation in one country not only exceeds the norm, but may be unique in the modern era. Although two can hardly be called a pattern, lessons and expectations, both realistic and illusionary, from these experiences in Myanmar may help enlighten the future and help guide internal and foreign policies.

On 14 February 2023, the US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, met Daw Zin Mar Aung, the National Unity Governments (NUG) foreign minister, at the newly established, Washington-based headquarters of the NUG. Founded on 16 April 2021, the NUG is composed of members of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the parliament elected in November 2020 but ousted by a Myanmar military coup before it could take office on 1 February 2021, as well as representatives of ethnic minority groups and other anti-coup players.

Wendy Shermans visit, and other extensive legislative and executive actions by the US, provides the NUG with the moral imprimatur, if not the diplomatic stamp of approval. Although formal diplomatic ties remain with the military regime, ambassadorial replacements between the states have not been approved. Together with an intense lobbying effort by the NUG, extensive economic, political, and social sanctions have been imposed on both military-supported institutions and individual military officials. With widespread Western opprobrium of any actions seen as supportive of the military, US dialogue with the Myanmar military is absent.

For the few foreigners who trace modern Myanmar history, the plot seems to be a replay of an older scenario. But there are critical differences between the four coups that have dominated Myanmars history since independence in 1948. The three coups of 1962, 1988, and 2021 were all designed to perpetuate military control over political, economic, and social elements of the then Burma and Myanmar. The 1988 and 2021 coups have similarly resulted in governments in exile, but their effects and expectations are likely to be quite different.

A generation ago, following the coup of 1988, the military promised that it would hold elections that would result in a multi-party discipline-flourishing democracy. It did hold such elections in May 1990, which the opposition National League for Democracy swept and the military blatantly ignored. Escaping arrest by the military, some members of the newly elected but unseated legislature formed the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) on 18 December 1990 in territory not yet controlled by the military, and then shifted to Thailand.

It lobbied for diplomatic recognition, never granted by the US, but it focused attention on the political plight of the civilian population and engendered widespread international sympathy. In May 1995, the NCGUB held a meeting in Bommersvik Sweden, and Sein Win, a first cousin of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was elected as its prime minister in exile. In essence, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, or what was purported to be her views since she was under house arrest, made US policy.

The NCGUB moved its offices to the Washington DC area for more effective lobbying. It had remarkable access throughout the Washington power structure. But as the military began the slow, incomplete but encouraging, pattern of reform, and as the US responded to such quiet signals from the military, relations began to improve. In the aftermath of these changes, the NCGUB was dissolved on 14 September 2012.

There are significant differences between 1988 and 2021 both in military promises and actions and in the publics response. In 2021, the military promised initially that there would be national elections in 2023. Because of the widespread disdain, indeed revolution, against the juntas rule and national civil unrest, these elections have now been promised for later in 2023 or 2024.

But just as the controlled and manipulated elections of 2010 allowed the military to maintain power through the political process, so there is every indication that the current military regime plans a similar response in the forthcoming political arena. Even if there are significant alterations to the 2008 military-drafted constitution that the military had sworn to uphold unchanged, but is now prepared to modify to ensure continuing military dominance of the political processes, any such changes will attempt to solidify the militarys critical role in Myanmar society.

One overarching commonality of the 1988 and 2021 coups is the clear determination to ensure that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, through imprisonment, house arrest, or simply age, no longer plays a role in Myanmars politics. A major difference is that Suu Kyi advocated political change through peaceful means. Whether that was practical in the Myanmar context may be disputed, but on 7 September 2021 the NUG declared war on the Myanmar military. Although the militarys criminal and rapacious actions far outstrip the violence perpetrated by the NUG and its diverse opposition groups, the moral high ground has at least partly been ceded.

The popular reaction to the 2021 coup has been unprecedented in modern Myanmar. Coupled with the ongoing struggle of ethnic minorities for autonomy, and the exposure of youth to the liberalization of the past decade, tolerance of military atrocities seems to have ended. Anti-military rebellion is apparent even in Bamar areas that were never previously restive, and military violence against the population is unprecedented.

From 2012 until the coup, the countrys youth experienced a degree of freedom, while incomplete, far greater than at any time since the 1962 coup. They do not seem to be willing to settle for less under praetorian rule. The NUG has tried to placate ethnic dissatisfaction with more ethnically diverse leadership, but generations of suspicions abound and are exceedingly difficult to overcome. Throughout the country Peoples Defense Forces have been formed and fight military authority, but they lack coordination and the arms necessary for effective resistance.

But the militarys plans for a rigged election that would provide titular legitimacy from their vantage point may be based in part on illusion. Senior military officers have long felt that that they dont need the West, because of a combination of the states natural resources and friendly relations with Russia and China, who protect Myanmar in the United Nations through their veto power and supply the regime with sophisticated weaponry, along with the clear reluctance of Japan, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to impose sanctions.

The generals may be preparing to sit out a decade of Western isolation, after which some US administration will likely make some concessions in response to political face-saving changes within the Myanmar regime. The dilemma is that much of the backbone of state administration is in the hands of retired military, as well as those on active duty. The militarys future role in Myanmar will exceed what is regarded as normal in modern Western states.

We are witnessing a period of intense propaganda from all sides. Claims for areas and populations controlled, casualties inflicted, and economic conditions are widely promulgated but are in dispute. Yet policy decisions by the internal actors and foreigners are being made based on dubious data and are likely to exacerbate the crises.

Some foreign observers are now rethinking their positions. Some advocate the diplomatic recognition of the NUG, which would entail the closing of Western embassies in Myanmar, and likely either covert or overt arming of the opposition. This would increase the polarization of Russian and Chinese antagonism with the West. Some call for positive reconsideration of the breakup of the state, long advocated by some ethnic groups, to alleviate some of these pressures. That would likely to produce a Balkanized regional set of insecurities compounding the myriad dilemmas facing the country and the region.

There is no silver bullet that will solve Myanmars multiple dilemmas and foreign response to them without a clear reorganization of the military control system and changes in its leadership. As much as they are needed, such changes seem, alas, a bridge too far. Unfortunately, the next few years are likely to be even worse than the previous two.

David Steinberg is distinguished professor of Asian studies emeritus, Georgetown University
Junta Watch Junta Watch: Regime Parties With Fellow Pariah Russia; Dictator Defends Sham Election; and More

Min Aung Hlaing and Russian ambassador Nikolay Listopadov view an exhibition of photos at an event to commemorate the 75th year of diplomatic relations between their two countries on Feb. 16 / cincds

Naypyitaw, Moscow celebrate 75-year anniversary

Myanmar-Russia relations are going from strength to strength and have reached a peak, gushed deputy junta chief Soe Win at a reception to mark the 75th year of diplomatic ties between the two countries on Saturday.

Cooperation previously based on arms deals has expanded to other sectors, including nuclear technology, since both pariah regimes launched wars on civilian populations.

Soe Win also unveiled junta plans to open Myanmar consulates in St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk, cementing ties with a country that has unleashed death and destruction on Ukraine following its invasion last February.

Soe Win, who has visited Russia twice since the 2021 coup, joined Russian ambassador Nikolay Listopadov in cutting a cake adorned with the national flags of Russia and Myanmar at the reception.

Dictator defends plans for sham election

A public opinion poll in favour of the regime extending emergency rule for six more months shows that people want a new election, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing told a meeting on Thursday. He failed however to mention when the survey was conducted and on whom. Needless to say, what he called the findings of the survey are highly dubious.

In fact, the majority of Myanmar people, as well as foreign governments, reject the proposed election as a sham exercise designed to bring a veneer of legitimacy for military rule in Myanmar. Also opposed are pro-democracy revolutionary forces, plus many of the powerful ethnic armed organizations that have been fighting the Myanmar military for decades.

Min Aung Hlaing used force of arms to cancel the results of the 2020 general election  a poll of over 37 million voters that was broadly representative of the will of the people of Myanmar, according to international observers.

His junta has since changed the Political Parties Registration Law to make the proposed election a one-horse race for the militarys proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party.

He lashed out at international criticism of the proposed poll during Thursdays meeting, calling it Myanmars affair and not an election for the world.

Min Aung Hlaing spooked by towns name

The superstitious junta boss has changed the name of a frontier town in Kachin State in northern Myanmar bordering China, as Kanpiketi sounds like land of dryness and destruction when pronounced in Chinese.

Last week, the regime changed the name to Kan Paing Ti.

According to the junta, Kan means good luck, Paing means belonging to the Union, and Ti means stability and perpetuity.

Previous military dictator Saw Maung cited nationalism as his reason for changing colonial-era names of roads in Yangon, most of which had honored British officials and intellectuals and Chinese and Indian tycoons. May Myo, a hill station named after Colonel James May, also had its name changed to Pyin Oo Lwin to emphasize Burmese independence from colonial rule. But Min Aung Hlaing has cited superstition in changing the name, demonstrating his intelligence is lower than previous military dictators in Myanmar.

Three elephants in the room

In 2018, the now-ousted National League for Democracy government presented three elephant calves  called Hus Khaing Hla, Shwe Shwe Tun and Nyein Nyein Moe  to Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On Wednesday, the Russian government staged an elephant show for Myanmar junta officials in Moscow to celebrate the 75th anniversary of ties. The gifts from the democratically elected government, which have now been renamed Luna, Mona and Audrey, were used to entertain officials from the military regime that deposed it.

Moscows brazen display came complete with a photo exhibition documenting how the NLD government sent the elephants as a token of friendship to Moscow, where they were cared for and trained at Durovs Animal Theatre. The famous Moscow attraction played host to the reception marking the anniversary of diplomatic ties.
Ever since Netflix Korea released its high intensity revenge drama "The Glory," many fans grew curious about the cast's real relationships outside of the filming set, especially with lead stars Song Hye Kyo and Lim Ji Yeon.

Prior to the drama's return to the small screen, Lim Ji Yeon shared an anecdote about Song Hye Kyo, much to fans' delight.

Lim Ji Yeon & Song Hye Kyo's Friendship Revealed

Weeks before the release of "The Glory" Part 2, Lim Ji Yeon amplifies fans' excitement with an anecdote about her friendship with Song Hye Kyo!

"The Glory" follows the painful life of a former school violence victim who becomes a homeroom school teacher to her perpetrators' child to avenge herself.

In the series, Song Hye Kyo plays Moon Dong Eun, an abused woman who has lived a melancholic life while Lim Ji Yeon takes on the role of Park Yeon Jin, the ringleader of the former's abusers.

During the release of the work, fans sympathized with Moon Dong Eun, rooting for her to succeed in making Park Yeon Jin's life miserable.

In addition to that, viewers also showcased their hatred for Park Yeon Jin in various online platforms and forums.

The actors of the drama had to clarify that they are all friends behind the cameras, revealing their spontaneous dinner dates and shopping sprees.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan Korea, Lim Ji Yeon assured viewers that she and Song Hye Kyo are close friends in real life, despite them being enemies in "The Glory."

"We share a strong bond outside the filming set," Lim Ji Yeon stated. "Hye Kyo unnie and I went on a date and she even bought me pork belly."

Lim Ji Yeon is nine years younger than Song Hye Kyo. Whenever they are together during their leisure time, the two would always talk about food and dogs, according to the actress.

She also said that all the cast members are close friends in real life and they would hang out together often. Lim Ji Yeon believes that "The Glory" is an international success because of their closeness and trust to one another.

Lim Ji Yeon On Playing Park Yeon Jin

Prior "The Glory," Lim Ji Yeon has created buzz in the Hallyu scene for her remarkable performances in her previous works!

In 2022, she played the role of Seoul, a mercenary, in the South Korean remake of the Spanish series "Money Heist" opposite Park Hae Soo, Jeon Jong Seo and more.

Lim Ji Yeon also partnered with Yoon Kyun Sang in the thriller drama "Rose Mansion," which gained positive reviews from viewers.

However, she has done righteous roles in the past year. Because of this, the actress wants to diversify her acting spectrum through "The Glory."

Lim Ji Yeon admitted that she was drawn to the charms of Park Yeon Jin when she first read the script, saying, "I thought that the role was meant for me. I needed to play the character no matter what."





Thankfully, the actress' transformation was well-received by the public, earning Lim Ji Yeon high praises from fans. Check out whether Park Yeon Jin receives mercy or hell in "The Glory" Part 2 this March 10 on Netflix!

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
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An excerpt from If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why Its So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First.

In late March 2021, during a lull between the third and fourth waves of the coronavirus pandemic, I drove to the small town three hours west of the Mississippi River where a physician Ill call Rita Gallardo lives. Three hundred miles from the center of the contiguous United States, I was in the middle of the country, in every way. I turned off the dirt county highway at a big red mailbox that marked her lane and drove up a sheltered lane that gave way at the top to a sunny, gravel driveway bounded on three sides by the house and pasture fence. I parked under an ancient apple tree in full bloom, facing one hundred acres of trails and hunting ground that spilled away behind the house.

Rita grew up in a small town in the northwest. She went to medical school on a military scholarship and deployed to the Middle East during the early years of the War on Terror. She witnessed the toll of combat in the shattered bodies of young service members. Confined to a military base ringed by Hesco barriers and razor wire, her only escape from those horrors was dreaming of the life she might build later, when she could put this all behind her. She imagined a husband equally enamored of country living, a sprawling farm where she could indulge her love of animals and her children could roam free, and a small-town medical practice caring for patients as she would care for her own family.

That dream was her touchstone and it soon came to life with a husband, three children, and a practice in her husbands small Midwest hometown.

Before taking the job, Rita spent months painting a picture for the administrators of the comprehensive oncology care clinic she envisioned, with nurses to give infusions, a specialty pharmacist, and a social worker dedicated to helping patients manage the psychosocial and financial aspects of their diagnosis. During those conversations, the administrators seemed excited about her vision for oncology care, but once she arrived, something seemed off. Just after her fourth work anniversary, the new clinic she had spearheaded opened with a full complement of staff: half a dozen nurses giving infusions, a specialty pharmacist, and a social worker. Her vision of creating a cancer clinic in the local community, so patients could get big-city care without the drive, was thriving.

But her relationship with the hospital was fraying. At her quarterly performance review, the administrator who was her supervisor reviewed her patient satisfaction scores (excellent), her outcomes (good), and her productivity measures (could be better). Then he raised the topic that seemed to be his sole focus these days.

Dr. Gallardo, Im concerned about your pattern of referrals. Youve sent more patients outside the network than any of our other oncologists.

Rita squared her shoulders and took a slow breath. In a measured tone, she responded, Im doing the very best I can with what we have, but I am not interested in any tips about changes that wouldnt help my patients and would only help your bottom line.

The administrator stared, his jaw slack, as Rita stood up and left the room. Walking down the hall and around the corner, she stepped out the back door and a blast of steamy late-summer air took her right back to the desert, where she had been the expert. There, the strength of the fighting force was at risk and her word had been law. She would have given almost anything to have a fraction of that autonomy now. To keep this job, she would have to comply with the administrations expectations about productivity and referrals, but doing so would require surrendering her integrity

Leaving work that day, Rita realized her conflict with the hospital was bigger than the EMR. Since the late 1980s, hospital corporations and health care systems have been exerting ever more control over how doctors practice. Health care systems use various explanations for why they need so much control  to standardize operations across a huge corporation; to improve care measures  but the common denominator is money.

Ritas professional development was shaped by the Armys culture and professionalism, redesigned by tragic lessons from the Vietnam War. That training primed her to recognize conflicts between the bureaucracy of large health care organizations and the profession of medicine.

In the span of five years, she left two jobs when she felt pressured to practice in ways she felt were unethical, for the sake of a companys profit. Out of options for employment and unwilling to uproot her family, she took an enormous risk and walked away from corporate medicine, striking out on her own and setting up a direct primary care practice. If she had been saddled with education debt, she might not have been able to choose this path.

The practice is both bare-bones and full-service. Rita is on call all day, every day, all year long. She doesnt miss her fancy office, a big staff, or all the latest diagnostic equipment. Those things were meaningless when she struggled to get her patients the care they deserved, with the specialists she thought were best for their situation. But shes paid a high personal cost for this freedom. Less than a year after I visited the farm of Ritas desert dreams, she and Rudy decided to sell it when, too often, they found themselves scrambling to pay the mortgage. They downsized to a smaller farm with one-tenth the land and hope that sometime in the future, they can revisit the bigger dream.

Rita found a sliver of hope in direct primary care. Its too soon to know whether she can really declare victory, but for now, shes healing from her moral injury by healing her community according to the values shes long lived by.

Wendy Dean is a psychiatrist. Simon G. Talbot is a plastic surgeon. They are the authors of If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why Its So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First.
Several years ago, a good friend and colleague  the chairman of a psychiatry department  notified people about his retirement in a department newsletter. He wrote, I sent out a letter to the alumni and adjunct faculty that I will retire on June 30 [2021]. I had decided five years ago that when I reached a certain age, I was going to retire. Such decisions have multiple determinants and are made with ambivalent feelings.

My friend was on the faculty for 20 years and chairman for half that time. He further wrote, It has been a wonderful journey. Watching many residents and faculty become outstanding clinicians, educators, and researchers has been an honor and joy. These wonderful relationships are part of the tapestry of my memory and will always remind me of my years at [the medical school]. I am leaving a vibrant, energetic, and young faculty.

Why retire, I thought. It didnt make sense that my friend would impose an age limit on himself to retire when he was 70 and cognitively intact. I know there are times when physicians begin to show signs of dementia and are singled out for neuropsychological evaluations. Similarly, some surgeons seem physically unfit to operate and are subjected to ophthalmological and neurological testing. In fact, this topic  the competency of older physicians to practice medicine  has become a raging controversy.

The issue concerns whether physicians should be forced to retire at a certain age like other professionals  judges, FBI agents, commercial pilots, air traffic controllers, military officers, national park rangers, and others. The argument for mandatory retirement almost always centers on public safety. Older physicians are believed to threaten patients safety because aging impacts vision, hearing, dexterity, stamina, cognition, and judgment. A 2005 article in the Annals of Internal Medicine kicked off a firestorm when the authors reviewed 62 studies and found that more than half (52 percent) showed a decline in patient outcomes with advanced practitioner age (only one study showed improvement).

A 2017 study in the British Medical Journal offered further proof that aging results in errors and poorer quality care. Among hospitalists in charge of Medicare patients, older physicians had higher 30-day mortality rates than those cared for by younger physicians, despite similar patient characteristics. The only variable that resulted in comparable mortality rates was high patient volume, in which case, young or old, it didnt make a difference in patient mortality.

However, a recent analysis of 52 studies found quite the opposite, i.e., physicians clinical experience (a proxy for age) and quality tended to be positively correlated. Moreover, in a study of surgeons, age was not an important predictor of operative risk, including mortality, for most procedures. In yet another study, residents, and attendings were judged to be equal in their safety outcomes. A subsequent study of emergency medicine physicians found that older physicians fared better than younger ones in terms of committing fewer errors, prompting some to argue that training resources should be directed toward novice physicians instead of elderly ones.

Overall, the literature on this subject is complicated and conflicting, with marked variation in results and divided opinions about implementing mandatory competency testing or retirement for physicians, usually beginning at age 70.

Ageism is one significant factor that clouds findings and interpretations  the elephant in the room. The term ageism was coined in 1968 by psychiatrist Robert N. Butler (1927-2010), who became the first director of the National Institute on Aging. Butler, a fierce defender against discrimination and stereotypes of the elderly, compared ageism to racism, claiming it was prejudice by one age group toward other age groups. (Butler did not discuss reverse ageism coming from older workers toward younger professionals.)

In one of his seminal papers, Age-Ism: Another Form of Bigotry, Butler wrote: Ageism reflects a deep-seated uneasiness on the part of the young and middle-aged  a personal revulsion to and distaste for growing old, disease, disability; fear of powerlessness, usefulness, and death. I do not doubt that much of the controversy surrounding the mandatory retirement of physicians is rooted in ageism.

Nowhere is this more evident than in institutions embarking on late-career practitioner screening programs, notably Yale New Haven Hospital, which is tied up in litigation with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over attempts to evaluate physicians simply because they are old. At Yale and other institutions, it is quite possible that policies may reflect ageist attitudes rather than genuine concerns about patient safety, and that implicit (unconscious) bias may be at work  a type of microaggression toward the elderly.

A recent study from Switzerland bears this out. There was a tendency among 234 human resource (HR) employees to see themselves as less biased than their HR peers or to be able to identify more cognitive biases in others than in themselves in their hiring decisions. The presence of a biased blind spot was thus confirmed. Furthermore, male HR employees showed a greater bias blind spot than female HR employees.

Age bias is one of the most common types of discrimination in the workplace today. This is very concerning for physicians, given that approximately 47 percent of active physicians in the U.S. in 2021 were 55 or older, and some plan to practice until they are in their 70s or 80s. An age mandate to deplete the physician workforce would wreak havoc on a system already facing dire shortages.

For sure, there are physicians advancing in age who should be removed from the workforce. There are also early-career physicians who should not be allowed to practice. The solution is to target the performance of individual physicians when their abilities are in question rather than target an entire class of physicians and begin collecting normative data for various age groups to prevent judgments from being made in isolation.

The AMA Principles of Medical Ethics also propose a way to solve the conundrum of mandatory retirement. It recognizes that physicians have a duty to monitor the quality of care they deliver as individual practitioners, e.g., through personal case review and critical self-reflection, peer review, and the use of other quality improvement tools. Physicians are responsible for maintaining their health and wellness. When practice issues arise, take measures to mitigate them, seek appropriate help as necessary and engage in an honest self-assessment of their ability to continue practicing.

For example, Richard Rothman, MD (1936-2018), was one of the nations most prominent and respected orthopedic surgeons. He was still doing surgery at age 80. However, he had his vision checked regularly and asked a senior partner to monitor the quality of his work for a day (he did fine). Rothman may have been a role model for the AMA, but how often can physicians be expected to follow his lead?

Lets not forget that reasons other than ageism may explain the mandated screening of older physicians and fitness-for-duty evaluations in the absence of perceived deficits and that most physicians are ultimately in control of their retirement. In the case of my colleague, I discovered his retirement was not voluntarily planned. He became embroiled in conflict with the university, and his departure had nothing to do with his age, competence, or views about his age.

Finally, at the risk of digressing, I find it interesting that, according to a recent ABC news poll, the majority of U.S. citizens disapprove of the job done by President Biden, and one-third of citizens would feel angry if either Donald Trump or Joe Biden were elected president in 2024. Could it be their age, rather than their performance or party affiliation, that evoked such a strong public reaction?

Arthur Lazarus is a psychiatrist.
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In this episode, we sit down with guest Wendy Schofer, a pediatrician, to discuss the current state of childhood obesity and the need for a change in approach. Over the past two decades, the prevalence of children being diagnosed as overweight and obese has increased. However, the reasons behind this are still unknown. The conventional approach to childhood weight focuses on controlling it, but labeling it creates shame and fear, which can negatively impact mental health. Wendy advocates for shifting the focus from weight to improving the relationship with food, bodies, and our kids. Join the conversation and learn how to promote healthy lifestyles for children.

Wendy Schofer is a pediatrician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, Its time to stop focusing on family weight.

The Podcast by KevinMD is brought to you by the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience.

With so many demands on their time, physicians today report record levels of burnout. Burnout is caused by many factors, one of which is clinical documentation. Studies indicate physicians spend two hours documenting care for every hour spent with patients.

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Nebraska has taken another step towards effectively banning abortion and criminalizing the practice of medicine. I want to try to clarify that this bill is not supported by the medical community. It does not seek to improve the lives of Nebraskans. In truth, this bill is not what it seems, and I hope you will take a minute with me to turn down the emotional noise from both sides and look at what this bill means if we allow it to become law.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the Nebraska Heartbeat Act.

Starting in section 1 of the act, we have already flooded emotion into what needs to be a level-headed space. I am a mother of two daughters who also had the experience of finding no heartbeat when once there was one. The silence was deafening. I want you to know that you are not alone in the deep emotions and memories a heartbeat stirs. As physicians, we listen for them daily, and each one matters professionally and personally. Women physicians are more likely to struggle with miscarriages and need fertility treatments than other women because medical training adds 11 to 13+ years of school after high school completion. These are important years for fertility. Its a loss we are only starting to talk about to each other. Experiences we hide away to focus on the care of our patients. But I want you to know we feel this too, and calling this the Heartbeat Act was an intentional ploy to use our pain to pass a bill.

Turning down the emotion on this benchmark of a heartbeat, we can see that it was chosen not for the good of the mother, not for the good of the embryo, not for any medical reason, but just for the emotional impact. Yes, we see electrical conduction through groups of cells beginning to form an embryonic heart. It is not a heart as we know it. It could not be transplanted. We cant even tell if it will develop into a working heart. A heartbeat is just a sign that these cells are functioning at this time, and unfortunately, as many of us know, it does not mean that a healthy baby is assured.

Next, the bill hides discriminatory health care practices amongst the emotional triggers of sexual assault, rape, and incest. The bill completely disregards mental health parity and specifies that mental health diagnoses and emergencies cannot be considered medical emergencies. Disregarding those with mental illness and addiction is more than callous. It is wrong in every way, and we have established, time and again, that mental health is medical health. Our brain does not float around separate from our body. No, we are whole humans. And whole humans struggle and suffer.

In fact, according to the CDC, mental health conditions, including suicide and substance use disorders, are the leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related deaths (23 percent). This rate is higher than bleeding complications (14 percent), infections (9 percent), cardiac conditions (13 percent), blood clots (9 percent), and other, traditionally more well-recognized, causes of death during pregnancy and in the first year after birth. This is no small issue. Women, especially women of color and socioeconomically disadvantaged, struggle and die from mental health conditions and emergencies. This point cannot be disregarded when we look at serious medical exclusions.

The bill returns to the emotional distractor of rape and incest, ensuring that there would be provisions for such occurrences. But in testimony, we learned that woman must disclose the rape or conception involving incest, and that information would need to be documented in her permanent medical record. Nothing about how the rape will be investigated and what invasive examinations must be performed. What if she is a minor? What if the perpetrator is her father, who has access to her medical records? In Nebraska, if she reports and the case is investigated, but there is no conviction, the biological father/rapist would have parental rights. Every step of this proposed exclusion to protect victims, in turn, revictimizes women, and no clarity from Senator Albrecht has been provided when asked about these critical issues.

Finally, the bill kindly ensures that no woman upon whom an abortion is attempted, induced, or performed shall be liable for a violation of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act. What at first seems like a caring stance, in reality is just the state saying, not in our state. Nebraska would see their pregnant women travel under significant burdens to other states to get life-saving medical care. Nebraska would rather risk increased complications from traveling and no continuity of care than take care of their pregnant women. Nebraska is already failing its families, especially those of lower income, those without white skin, and those without good social support. Nebraska is failing women with mental illness. They do not see you. They do not put themselves in your shoes. They cant feel how desperate life can be without help.

That help, that we as their doctors learned to provide based on years of studies, ethical debate, education, practice, and standards of care, would no longer be legal.

This bill doesnt end in a picture of happy, growing families. No, it ends with me facing the decision to either lose my license by referring a patient to a place for family planning and possibly termination or possibly involuntary hospitalization of desperate women who do not feel they can ensure their safety and if we are past six weeks, the forced continuation of pregnancy.

It is easy to say yes to a heartbeat; it resonates with our emotions and values. However, this isnt a bill to ensure medical care for Nebraskans. It is a bill that forces doctors out of the exam room, patients out of the state and lets legislators who know nothing of what happens in those rooms make decisions about our bodies, families, community, and lives.

Meghan Sheehan is a board-certified psychiatrist who completed fellowship training in consultation-liaison psychiatry. She is founder, Specialized Psychiatry, LLC, and can be reached on Facebook.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

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Xi calls for intl sci-tech cooperation

Chinadaily.com.cn) 13:24, February 25, 2023

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, called for deeper global cooperation in science and technology when addressing a group study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee on Tuesday. Here're are some highlights of his remarks.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
What if the promise of clean energy was an illusion? What if green technologies remedies are actually worse than the evils of fossil fuels? These are the questions which the explosive Al Jazeera documentary The Dark Side of Green Energy appears to provide answers to. This documentary has been a revelation.

Countries of the world, including the Kingdom of Eswatini, have been directed to fight pollution and rising temperatures, so as to reduce the impact of climate change. In 2015, 195 countries committed to reducing carbon emissions and, at the end of COP21 Conference, new energy transition initiatives were officially launched. The end of petroleum dominance came to an end. Green technologies, such as wind turbines and solar panels, soon found their new place. Electric cars, wind and solar energies were spoken of as though they were going to solve the climate change problem. But, as revealed in the documentary, as the new energy transition takes the globe away from fossil resources, it is already generating new environmental disasters.

Completely green energy has been found to be non-existent because whenever humans act and produce things, they create pollution.

The ecological transition has been exposed as, above all, an economic transition. To be convinced of this, the documentary first refers to the issue of electric cars, which has given car makers the opportunity to re-invent themselves. While the electric car manufacturers present the advantages of these vehicles, they also perfectly know that these automobiles are not as clean as they are presented.

Abandoned

While the oil has been abandoned, raw materials, however, which have become essential, have replaced it. These raw materials are rare metals. After the oil dependence, there is now a new dependence in the form of rare metals. But where do these absolutely essential resources come from? Why are manufacturers not communicating on their importance? The main reason for this, it is said, is perhaps that these rare metals are extracted far from the cities and far from sight. Thousands of mines on the worlds four continents are said to be already producing hundreds of millions of tons of these resources.



China is reportedly the worlds leading producer of raw metals and extracts 70 per cent of the worlds graphite, which is particularly prized by green technologies manufacturers. To ensure the green future, graphite is refined in antiquated factories. Humans run great risks and nature is destroyed. Graphite residues are scattered across the countryside. The human lives count very little compared to the billions of dollars that graphite produces for Chinas government. The Chinese are reportedly paying particularly a heavy environmental and human price to allow the world to transition to green energy.



What a number of companies want above all, is to lower their productive costs. Instead of sanitising their waste water, gases and other waste before discharging them into the environment, they dump them secretly, without treating them. Or they process them only when the government supervises request it. They dont hesitate to lie. They dump their waste when the authorities turn their backs. There is no question that irresponsible businesses like this exist, said Shen Zhanheng, the Deputy Secretary General of the Association of China Rare Earth Industry. In Inner Mongolia, the Chinese are said to have built spectacular industrial centres that are dedicated to the refining of rare minerals, a specific family of rare metals. The main pollution discharged from these factories arent treated as waste water. At the gates of the Mongolian city, a huge lake has reportedly been born, which is fed by tonnes of black water, saturated with acids and heavy metals.

Waste water from the production of rare minerals infiltrates the soil. When people get their drinking water from the water table, it damages their health. For example, water with a high fluorite content causes brittle disease. Bones fracture easily. In some places, there are thorium residues. Its a radioactive element which infiltrates the soil with waste water and diffuses slowly. Thorium also proliferates in the air. Its transported by dust when its very dry. This can cause radioactive contamination, added Zhanheng. These sources of pollution are the price to be paid so that wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars can purify the air in Europe. Whole regions at the other end of the world are destroyed.

And the higher paradox is that this toxic discharges and polluting emissions continue to worsen the planets atmospheric pollution, as said in the documentary. Phillipe Bihoux, an Engineer and Member of the Momentum Institute, makes this highlight: To be clean, we make dirty residue.

There is no zero impact product, zero CO2, 100 per cent green, as we sometimes read on labels. Everything has an impact. The green technologies are said to contain not only rare minerals, they are also made up of kinds of metals, even the most abundant. To build a wind turbine, it is said that an average of 20 tonnes of aluminium and up to 500 tonnes of steel is needed. An electric vehicle, on the other hand, can reportedly contain up to 175 pounds of copper, which is four times more than some gasoline powered cars. With the need for abundant metals such as copper, many other countries are now said to be impacted by the production of green energies.

Discreet

This is a subject that promoters of green energies are accused of remaining very discreet about. In Northern Chile, there is the worlds largest open pit copper mine. To extract and refine the copper, the mine uses almost 2 000 litres of water per second. This is despite that, in some areas of this desert, which is one of the arid zones in the world, it has not rained in 500 years. The mine, therefore, consumes water that is meant for humans and this is causing scarcity of this resource. The copper mining is now reportedly resulting in people getting sick and dying from cardiovascular disease.

Cancers, particularly lung cancer, are said to be the main cause of death, and the link with contamination is indisputable. In some districts, more than 10 per cent of the population reportedly suffers from cancer because of the copper industry.

As explained in the documentary, such places are known as sacrifice areas; they sacrifice their territory, their geography and the health of the people. And all these sacrifices are created for the benefit of others in other zones. Those privileged benefitting zones can afford the luxury of promoting clean energy, healthy energy, renewable energy and green energy, but someone has to pay the price. In Norway, the citizens are said to be proud to be among the most environmentally friendly populations on earth.

The country is said to be dominated by green energies; renewable is visible everywhere. But, the Norwegian authorities have been called out for their attitude of ignoring the cost that some countries have to pay for Norway to breathe clean air.There is some degree of hypocrisy involved here. Politicians are aware of the situation of where minerals and materials are sourced from, but they consider them maybe less important than electrifying the Norwegian society and having electric power on our streets, said Henrik Shiellerup, the Director of Mineral Resources and the Geological Survey of Norway.

Transition

Norwegian authorities behaviour is said to be such that the calculation of carbon emissions seems to stop at the country s borders. Profits for the energy transition are said to be sweeping aside the questions raised by green technologies. Western leaders are accused of dreaming of taking advantage of the economic windfall represented by green technologies. These words by Randy Hayes, the Co-Founder of Rainforest Action Network, mirror what we are not told about the impact of green, renewable energy: The world of business and commerce is driving the energy transition and so it is not like there are benevolent people out there trying to solve the problems in the best possible ways.

The wind companies and solar companies, they are trying to make a profit; they are trying to have a profitable business and that is not going to save the planet or save our human race. Right now, industrial society talks about growth, and elected officials and politicians all want to have global growth; growth in the economy; growth in investments; everybody wants growth. But the truth is; we need to orchestrate a major u-turn in a fundamentally different direction. We need to live in a different kind of way. We need to start reducing the amount of damage we do to the earth. We need to radically reduce the energy and material consumption in our lives. That is not a message you can easily sell to the world of business, to the captains of industry. Thats not a message you can sell to politicians who want to be re-elected.

This maybe happening in countries that appear to be far from Eswatini, but the impact will be felt here and I believe it has begun to be felt, the problem is that we hardly realise. Just watch this documentary to get a clearer understanding of what is actually happening.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

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MBABANE  The International Conventional Centre (ICC), which is still under construction in Ezulwini, has been allocated an amount of around E800 million.

This amount of money is for interior works. According to the Government Book of Estimates, the money is categorised in two: E624 447 817 is loan funds; and E176 million is local funds. The ICC, which consists of a multipurpose hall, theatre and exhibition space, is not a stand-alone project but is being built alongside a hotel known as the Five Star Hotel (FISH), and this has led to the development being named the ICC&FISH.

The latest allocation for the ICC will see the total amount spent on this particular part of the development rise to around E3 billion. Already, an amount of E2 255 983 000 (E2.25 billion) has been spent and the actual figure that has been allocated towards the construction for the coming financial year is E800 447 817. It is estimated that the complete construction of the ICC will cost E4 785 859 000 (about E4.8 billion). Meanwhile, the FISH part of the development has been allocated E10 million in local funds to complete buildings and interior works of the hotel structure.

As at March 31, 2022, the money spent on the hotel structure stood at E1 846 439 000 (E1.84 billion). Estimates indicate that the hotel structure will cost E2 580 086 000 (2.58 billion).

This means that for the entire ICC&FISH, it is estimated that the total cost, once the project is complete, will stand at E7 365 945 000 (E7.36 billion).

In October 2022, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, which is responsible for such capital projects, had to fend off reports which alleged that the development was sinking.Thula Simelane, the Communications Officer, told this newspaper that the hotel, in particular, was sitting on top of 1 016 piles, and these piles were driven to form part of the substructure of the building. Based on this fact, Simelane said there was no way that the structure could sink or make any form of movement to cause failure. The communication officer mentioned that the site had plenty of underground water, especially the hotel site. However, she said all precautionary measures were considered to mitigate any negative effect to the structural integrity of the structure.

Accreditation

To prove that there were no serious issues with the structure; government announced that the ICC would receive silver accreditation. It is said that the ICCs multipurpose hall, theatre and exhibition space were designed to allow flexibility in usage. The FISH is expected to receive a silver LEED accreditation for water and energy efficiency. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. It (LEED) provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings.

It is understood that the whole ICC building was designed according to LEED energy and water efficiency principles. The silver accreditation can put the ICC on the world tourism map as green tourism is associated with quality and high standards. Green tourism businesses focus on sustainability is demonstrated through three grading levels; bronze, silver and gold.They are ordinarily assessed every two years to ensure that standards are maintained.

Rigorous

It means that the ICC will be assessed by a qualified grading advisor against a rigorous set of criteria, covering a range of areas such as energy and water efficiency, waste management and biodiversity. For a hotel or facility to get silver accreditation, it needs to be able to demonstrate that it is working extensively to source supplies locally and ethically, as well as maintaining standards, minimising damage to the environment and meeting good standards of practice at all while providing a high quality service.

This facility will be receiving silver accreditation in this regard, says the ministrys annual performance report for the financial year 2021/2022.

On the other hand, government has maintained that the ICC&FISH is a viable project. The convention centre is seen as a good facility that will derive revenue from hosting international meetings organised by various bodies. The ministry stated in the report that the ICC would accommodate a range of government, public and corporate activities.
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MBABANE - Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) collected a total of E10.787 billion tax revenue for the financial year 2021/22.

The figures contained in the institutions Integrated Annual Performance Report, reflected that the collections were 10 per cent below the target amount of E12.022 billion. The report was presented in Parliament yesterday. The shortfall of E1.235 billion was above the previous year by E0.842 billion. Tax revenue is defined as the revenues collected from taxes on income and profits, social security contributions, taxes levied on goods and services, payroll taxes, taxes on the ownership and transfer of property and other taxes.

Tax revenue is collected world over and is mostly regarded as one measure of degree to which the government controls the economys resources.

For a second consecutive period in the past five years, tax revenue collections grew below the economic growth rate, which could be defined as a characteristic of a declining revenue administration. In 2021/22, the tax revenue grew by 8.5 per cent but was still lower than the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) increase of 10.9 per cent as reflected in the projections of the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) and the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.

Deficiency

The deficiency in tax collections was observed across most of the major tax indicators, which ERS attributed partly to slow economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as weakened economic performance since the episodes of political unrests, which began in 2021. However, ERS observed that there was a positive performance on a year-on-year comparison, indicating a recovery from the COVID-19 era. The average domestic revenue growth rate for the past five years was 5.3 per cent this year, which is 4.7 percentage points below the long-term average of 10.0 per cent.



Personal income tax (PIT) and value added tax (VAT) contributed the most tax revenue, at 35.19 per cent and 17.03 per cent respectively, indicating that most of the revenue collected by ERS came from individuals. Other income tax (OIT) and fuel tax contributed the least tax revenue at 4.94 percent and 11.96 per cent, respectively. The manufacturing, wholesale and Retail sectors realised a noticeable increase in revenue contribution while the agricultural sector recorded a decline. The revenue collection was divided into direct taxes and indirect taxes. Direct tax encompasses fuel tax, road toll, sin tax, import motor vehicle levy and value added tax (vat). Indirect tax includes company tax, graded tax, individuals and other income tax.

Highest

Individual tax contributed E3.796 billion and was the highest contributor to the collections. Individual tax (or personal income tax) is a tax levied on the wages, salaries, dividends, interest and other income a person earns throughout the year. Graded tax and company taxes contributed e0.012 million and e1.837 billion respectively while other income tax gave e0.533 billion. VAT, which is charged on goods and services, levied at each stage of a supply chain was also a major contributor in the collection with E3.134 billion. Fuel taxes amounted to E1.289 billion while road toll and import motor vehicle Levy gave E0.057 billion and E0.012 billion, respectively.

Alcohol and tobacco contributed E0.029 billion into the collection. ERS Commissioner General Brightwell Nkambule, in a statement, said the performance of the entity was marred by the slow economic growth, which was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the political unrest.

Although the last few years have been difficult for the ERS, I would like to send my utmost appreciation to the entire ERS family, our employees, who have remained committed to exerting effort towards attaining the revenue target despite the uncertainties in our operating environment brought about by the economic challenges and the pandemic, said Nkambule.

He stated that despite the sluggish economic conditions and adverse impacts of the pandemic, the 2021/22 financial year was marked by the commencement of the implementation of a new ERS Strategic Plan for the year 2021/22 to 2023/24. Nkambule said their vision was to attain a 100 per cent voluntary compliance for a better country. ERS continues to hold in high regard, our regional and international partners, who remain an integral part of our business model. For this reporting period, we would like to appreciate the World Customs Organisation (WCO) for extending support through technical assistance in customs initiatives, he added.

Targets

The report reflects the performance of ERS against its strategy and annual targets. It is compiled in line with legislative and governance framework for the entity. The report demonstrates the organisations value creation and focuses on improving it in the short, medium and long term. Chairman of the Board at ERS, David Dlamini, said even though there were challenges, the organisation worked closely towards the targets. He said the Board appreciated the resilience of the staff to the mandate given to them.

Following a lot of introspection and feedback from stakeholders, focus was placed on changing the organisation from authority to a service and making it more focused on customers, he said. Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg announced budget estimates of over E26 billion for the 2023/24 financial year. SACU receipts will contribute E10.25 billion from E5.8 billion in the previous year. Non-SACU revenue is budgeted at E13.75 billion from E12.8 billion, a growth of seven per cent.

Total income taxes are projected to be E6.98 billion in 2023/24, a slight increase from the previous years budget. This is because of higher expected growth and employment in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23. Out of this, corporate income taxes are E1.8 billion and personal income taxes are E4.5 billion, said the minister. Rijkenberg also stated that the total taxes on goods and services were expected to be E6.13 billion in the year. He said this was mainly VAT, which was budgeted at E4.5 billion and fuel taxes amounting to E1.36 billion. Economist Thembinkosi Du- be, speaking before the ministers budget speech said taxes were very important to influence a countrys budget. All the different kinds of taxes are very important to the influence of the budget and they are one of the ways any government in the world makes money to boost the national coffers, said Dube.

He said the country needed to open other avenues of making income in order to reduce the tax burden.












LOBAMBA  The tertiary scholarship facility headlined Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenbergs budget speech yesterday as it increased by 79.22 per cent.

In what could be defined as a youth-focused budget, Rijkenberg announced an increase of the scholarship budget from E361 million allocated in the current financial year to E647 million. The minister said the number of learners to benefit would increase from 2 500 to 3 500. Fundamentally, the scholarship increased by E286 million. The theme of the budget is First Fruits. Mr Speaker, this year we are tabling a fully financed budget. For the first time as a minister, I am not going to the market for budget support, the minister said.

Rijkenberg said he stood before the august House for four years and presented a vision from the national strategic plan for the economic turnaround, which aimed to balance the budget, raise revenue and increase funding for infrastructure and service delivery. He said this vision laid the foundation for the subsequent budget themes of Green Shoots, Fixing the Foundations and Transformation through Economic Sustainability.

Incredible

And it is my pleasure Mr Speaker, to announce that the theme of this budget is First Fruits. The incredible work of this administration is now beginning to yield the resultant macro benefits and our fiscal position is stabilising and improving, said the minister. Regarding the youth-focused budget, he said: I could not help but notice that every time His Majesty spoke of the youth in his Speech from the Throne, there was a louder than normal Bayethe being shouted by all those present, indicating that the welfare of the youth is very close to the hearts of all of us in leadership.

Contribute

Delivering his speech marking the official opening of the Fifth Session of the 11th Parliament last Friday, His Majesty had said: We will strive to ensure that our young people contribute positively to the development of this country, as well as improve their own lives. The minister of Finance said the budget of E85 million for the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs was purely for auxiliary activities related to sport and the youth.

He said the allocation was no way reflective of governments full commitment to empower the youth.

He explained what he meant: If one considers this budget holistically, the E900 million increase in the wage bill is mainly for the youth; the E286 million increase in scholarship is 100 per cent for the youth; the E430 million increase in the education budget is 100 per cent for the youth and I can keep going.

The minister broke it down as follows, to justify his youth- focused budget:

E900 million increase in wage bill;

E430 million in education budget;

E647 million scholarship;

E85 million budget for the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth to mainly benefit youth;

In his own words, the minister mentioned that the budget was shining a spotlight on youth activities. These numbers are a true reflection of how this budget is focused on youth empowerment, he said. Observably, the students received more money than 24 ministries and departments. The ministries and government departments which received less than what the learners would get in scholarships are as follows: Cabinet, Parliament, Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development, Geological Surveys, Minerals and Mines; Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Eswatini National Fire and Emergency Services and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade.

Benefits

Others which got less than the students are Treasury and Stores; Internal Audit, Ministry of Public Service, Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, Elections Boundaries and Commission, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Anti-Corruption Commission, Judiciary, His Majestys Correctional Services and Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth, Kings Office and Audit Department also received less than what the students will get as scholarship benefits. When analysing the figures released by Minister Rijkenberg, it effectively means that young people will get 55 per cent of the entire budget for the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS).

This is based on the fact that REPS will receive E1.17 billion for the next fiscal year. Minister Rijkenberg tabled a national budget for 2023/2024 which stood at E26 438 581 866 in total expenditure. The total expenditure includes the deficit of E1 798 774 832. Does he have money to finance this budget? This is a question economic analysts usually pose each time the minister of Finance tables the budget. It appears he does have the money as he disclosed guarantees of revenues and grants amounting to E24 639 807 034.

When adding the deficit of E1 798 774 832 to the revenue and grants of E24 639 807 034, the total expenditure of E26 438 581 866 reflects as the money the country shall need to finance the budget. Without the deficit, the government would need the total appropriated expenditure of E24 366 590 116, which is reflected in the gazetted Appropriation Bill of 2023. The minister set aside E18 512 614 116 as recurrent expenditure and E5 853 976 000 for capital programmes; totalling to the above mentioned E24 366 590 116, which is less than the deficit.

Contributions

Recurrent expenditure is about all payments other than for capital assets, including on goods and services. These include wages and salaries, employer contributions), interest payments, subsidies and transfers. Rijkenberg said government was allocating E3.96 billion to the Ministry of Education and Training. He said the allocation represented an increase of E430 million in comparison with the 2022 budget. He said the education sector, including the scholarships of E647 million, represented 19 per cent of the total budget.

The minister of Finance explained that apportioning a lions share of the budget to the Ministry of Education and Training was in line with governments commitment to 15 per cent of the national budget being spent on this sector. He then tabled the regulations for the establishment of a national student loan revolving fund which would be managed by one of the commercial banks. The Finance minister explained that the revolving fund should solve the problem of limited scholarships.
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 25 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said China and Russia have reservations about the G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration and added "That is why we came up with Chair Summary, not with Communique."In G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration, the members reiterated their national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, which, in Resolution No. ES-11/1 dated 2 March 2022, as adopted by majority vote (141 votes for, 5 against, 35 abstentions, 12 absent) deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine.

During the press conference held jointly by the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India on the G20 Presidency and the outcome of the G20 meeting, the finance minister said, "Indian Presidency got strong support for all our priorities. I am grateful to the US Secretary Janet Yellen who had really come forward, putting her support."

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She also said, "I was glad to hear a lot of finance ministers praised the work of the Indian negotiating team. Each one of them came to me to say you have a fantastic team, which has gone through the negotiation process and the team leaders."

She also said: "I am grateful to the US Secretary Janet Yellen who had really come forward, putting her support."

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For the support from US and UK, she said, "I'm grateful again for being very supportive of the global coordination framework, particularly on the crypto."

She said China and Saudi Arabia have been very proactive and came forward for coming forward on climate finance mobilisation.

The finance minister also said, "Japan and the United Kingdom supported all priorities of the Indian Presidency."

She added, "Saudi Arabia came to help with resolution on fuel in security."

On the discussions on cryptocurrency, finance minister Sitharaman said, "There was a seminar on policy perspectives debating the role to policies, consensus on cryptocurrencies. This seminar was also of great interest for most members who participated that was held on February 23."

FM Sitharaman said it was to deepen the discussion around crypto assets and to foster a better understanding of the broader implications of crypto assets. There was a panel discussion on leveraging national payment systems to enhance cross-border payment arrangements.

Sitharaman also said, "We also invited to give a global voice to the global South. Bangladesh, Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Oman and Mauritius were the countries who we invited for their participation in G20 meeting."

"In the meeting, the Troika members -- Indonesia, Brazil and India -- had shared their success stories in digital public infrastructure," the finance minister said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Budaun (UP), Feb 25 (PTI) A 14-year-old boy was killed and about a dozen people were injured when a tractor trolley overturned in this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Saturday.

Station House Officer (SHO), Bisauli, Sanjeev Shukla said, "Farm labourers were returning to their village in a tractor trolley on Friday evening when the driver lost control over the vehicle, which overturned."

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"Ajay Kumar (14) was killed in the incident and around a dozen people were injured," the SHO said.

The body has been sent for post-mortem.

Also Read | Sidhi Road Accident: Eight Dead After Truck Rams Into Two Buses, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Announces Rs 10 Lakh Ex-Gratia for Next-of-Kin of Deceased.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jajpur, February 25: At least seven people from West-Bengal were killed when the mini-truck in which they were travelling hit a stationary truck in Odisha's Jajpur district on Saturday, police said.

Vinit Agrawal Superintendent of Police Jajpur told PTI that six persons died on the spot, while one succumbed enroute to SCB Medical College and hospital. Sidhi Road Accident: Eight Dead After Truck Rams Into Two Buses, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Announces Rs 10 Lakh Ex-Gratia for Next-of-Kin of Deceased.

"We have intimated the family members of the deceased, and they are on the way to Jajpur.," the SP said, adding that the exact cause behind the mishap is being verified.

All the deceased persons were from West Bengal. The fire services personnel reached the spot and recovered the bodies, said Jajpur Collector Chakravarty Singh Rathore to PTI. Uttar Pradesh Road Accident: Fog Causes Over Three Dozen Vehicles To Collide With Each Other on Bulandshahrs Dussehra Flyover, Several Injured (Watch Video).

A mini truck from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar to collect poultry items crashed into the stationary truck at Neulpur area on the NH-16 due to fog in the early hours of Saturday, said Dharmashala Police station Inspector-In-Charge Rakesh Tripathi. The bodies were sent to the Barchana Community Health Centre in Jajpur district.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Guwahati, Feb 25 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday described compressed biogas (CBG) plants as an important alternative energy source, as such units have a cascading impact on the local economy with the raw materials procured from nearby areas.

He stressed on the need to focus on renewable and alternative energy sources to overcome the challenges of global warming and environmental pollution.

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Speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of a CBG unit at Domora Pather in Sonapur on the outskirts of Guwahati, Sarma said, In view of the threats posed by global warming, people should use less of fossil fuel and concentrate more on deriving power and fuel from other sources.

He pointed out that solar plants are increasingly coming up for meeting power requirements, use of hydrogen-derived fuel for vehicles is being explored and small CBG plants can also go a long way in meeting fuel demand for vehicles and industries.

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The biogas units also have a cascading impact on the local economy as the raw materials, like municipal solid waste, cow dung, hay, etc. are sourced from the nearby areas, he said.

Mentioning that such a plant in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh uses dung as the raw material, Sarma said, At one time, people thought rearing cows was no longer a profitable venture. But the age-old adage that cows are always the most profitable has been proved once again.

Instead of killing the animal for the meat, people are now trying to keep them alive and use the dung as a source of fuel, Sarma said.

The biogas unit in Sonapur, being set up under the Centre's SATAK scheme, will be operational by November this year and will have an installed capacity of five tonnes CBG daily.

Guwahati-based Redlemon Technologies Pvt Ltd, which is setting up the plant, has proposed two more such units in the state, he added.

The Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAK) scheme on CBG was launched on October 1, 2018. The programme envisages a target production of 15 MMT (million tonnes) of CBG by 2023 from 5,000 Plants.

Sarma also said that the Reliance group has also evinced interest in starting 16 CBG plants in the state, using hay and paddy residuals as raw materials.

For a state like ours, rich in natural resources, we should focus on clean and renewable energy sources, and our government is working towards it, the CM added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, February 25: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Democratic Alliance would retain power at the Centre and in Maharashtra in polls next year on the basis of development work done since 2014.

Speaking at the ABP Network's Ideas of India Summit here, Gadkari, who is the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, also said the NDA government had instilled a sense of confidence in the people through its development work and good governance. Nitin Gadkari Says Indian Roads To Match US Standards by 2024, Logistic Costs To Fall From 16% of GDP to Single Digit.

"We will win and once again the BJP and NDA will form the government in both Maharashtra and at the Centre. The good work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will yield good results," Gadkari said. Nitin Gadkari Inaugurates Five National Highway Projects Worth Rs 1,262 Crores in MPs Mandla.

The performance audit is more important than the financial audit, he said, adding the (five-year) performance (of elected representatives) is reviewed by the public at the time of polls.

"Our performance is our strength and this is what people expect from us as well. We have instilled confidence in people through our good work, which we will take to them," Gadkari said.

Asserting his party keeps a very "positive attitude" and that whatever work it has done on the basis of opportunities provided to it, the Union minister said "the performance rating card of our party, our leadership and our ministers is definitely very important".

"I can say with confidence the work that has been done in the last (more than) eight years under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi is far more when compared with 60 years of Congress rule," Gadkari said.

On the growth of green transport, the minister said, "Hydrogen is our future fuel and India's future vehicles will run on hydrogen and green fuels." Though his ministry never spoke about electric vehicle (EV) targets for the year 2030, Gadkari said, in the coming years, India will certainly shift to electric vehicles.

"We import Rs 16 lakh crore worth of fossil fuel every year but pretty soon our farmers will produce green fuel and green hydrogen, he said, adding that Lithium ion batteries will lead the shift from petrol and diesel driven cars.

Reiterating that Lithium ion battery costs will come down in the next year or so, the minister said India will soon become a net exporter of Lithium and become a major global player. Expressing satisfaction at the development of highways in the country, Gadkari said, "In the coming years, public transport will be revolutionised in the country and the new highways will bring down travel time between key cities drastically.

He, however, said his ministry and the government had failed to curb the accident rate on Indian roads. We wanted to reduce road accidents by 50 per cent by 2024 but we are not going to achieve it," he said.

For this, he said, human behaviour has to change as people were still not following rules of red lights, car seat belts or two wheeler helmets. Gadkari sought the introduction of road safety education at the primary level to make Indians aware about this at a young age.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Nava Raipur, Feb 25 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday asserted that it is the only party that can provide capable and decisive leadership to the country, but was ready to make sacrifices to defeat the BJP-led NDA and would go all out to identify, mobilise and align like-minded secular forces to achieve its goal.

The party, which chalked strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls at its 85th plenary session here, also cautioned that the emergence of any third force would give advantage to the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

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The Congress said it is willing to forge a viable alternative by aligning with like-minded parties and regional outfits that agree with its ideology to get rid of the "anti-people and undemocratic" BJP government in the general elections.

The Congress' pitch on opposition unity comes amid Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar urging the grand old party to make a quick decision on aligning for the 2024 polls and some regional outfits such as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi talking of a third front.

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"Unity of secular and socialist forces will be the hallmark of the future of the Congress party. Congress should go all out to identify, mobilise and align like-minded secular forces," the party said in its political resolution adopted at the plenary.

"We should include secular regional forces who agree with our ideology. There is an urgent need for a united opposition to take on the NDA on common ideological grounds. Emergence of any third force will provide advantage to the BJP/NDA," it said.

The second day of the three-day brainstorming session saw the party adopting 85 amendments to its constitution and adoption of three resolutions on the political situation, economy and international affairs.

The amended constitution would enable 50 per cent reservation to SCs/STs/OBCs and minorities at all posts in the party and also provide 50 per cent reservation to people below 50 years and women in both reserved and unreserved categories.

The Congress also decided to raise the Congress Working Committee membership from the current 23 to 35 and provide automatic membership in the top body to former prime ministers, former All India Congress Committee (AICC) chiefs and leaders of the Congress in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The party said it will have only digital membership and make its records digital.

The conclave is being held to make the Congress poll-ready ahead of next round of assembly polls and the 2024 general elections.

The demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue was also made in the economic resolution adopted at the plenary, with the assertion that it is against "government-facilitated" private monopolies and not against any person rising from a humble background to become the second richest in the world.

In its political resolution, the Congress also said it will build the widest-possible consensus with all like-minded parties to take up concerns over efficacy of EVMs (electronic voting machines) with the Election Commission and would move court if it does not respond.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge set the tone by asserting that in the prevailing difficult circumstances, "the Indian National Congress is the only party in the country that can provide capable and decisive leadership to the country".

He said from 2014, Congress' alliance with like-minded parties served the people of the country effectively and "we once again look forward to forging a viable alternative by aligning with like-minded parties to defeat the anti-people, undemocratic BJP government.

"We are ready to strive for the welfare of the people of our country and whatever sacrifices that are required, our goal for upcoming state elections and Lok Sabha election 2024 is clear," he stressed.

In her address at the plenary, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi urged party workers to achieve the goal of defeating the BJP in the 2024 polls under the Kharge's leadership.

"The path ahead is not easy. But my experience, as well as the rich history of the Congress, tells me that victory will be ours. To achieve it under Kharge ji's leadership, we must tackle the regime with boldness and vigour, and stand side-by-side with the people it attacks," she asserted.

Urging Congress workers to reach out to people and convey the party's message with clarity and cohesion, Sonia Gandhi said, "We must work with discipline and timeliness, to respond quickly in this fast-paced age."

Giving a word of caution, she said, "Above all, we must be ready to put aside our personal expectations, make sacrifices, and work with unity and a sense of common purpose."

Noting that these are challenging times, she launched an all-out attack on the Modi dispensation, saying, "Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and the BJP-RSS regime has relentlessly captured and subverted every single institution."

"It ruthlessly silences any voice of opposition. It has caused economic ruin by favouring a few chosen businessmen at the expense of all others and of the people, of the ordinary people," the former Congress chief said.

"Most distressingly, it fuels the fires of fear and hatred against fellow Indians. It viciously targeted minorities, and ignored crimes and discrimination against them, against women, against Dalits and against adivasis. It mocked (Mahatma) Gandhiji, and through its words and actions shows its contempt for the values of our Constitution," she said.

Sonia Gandhi said she was happy that her innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, with the party asserting that the remark was about her tenure as the party president and had nothing to do with her retirement from politics as construed by some.

She also expressed gratification for her innings, as the party showered praise on the septuagenarian for the achievements after she became its president 25 years ago. The party also adopted a resolution appreciating her role as party chief.

Former Union minister M Veerappa Moily, who was the chairman of the sub-group on political affairs for the plenary, said, "We have definitely given a roadmap for the Congress-led government to come back in 2024. We shall take the initiative, unite all secular and socialist forces to come along with the Congress to re-establish the Congress-led government in the country."

Kharge also took a swipe at Prime Minister Modi, alleging that the "pradhan sevak of Delhi, who gets advertisements printed every day, is serving his own friend".

He also launched a blistering attack on the government, alleging that "the DNA of those sitting in Delhi is anti-poor" and they are attempting to "destroy" democracy. He also called for a people's movement against the prevailing situation in the country.

The Congress in its political resolution also said it will infuse new blood in leadership roles without creating new fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Nava Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Feb 25 (PTI) The Congress carried out 85 amendments in its constitution at its 85th plenary session here on Saturday to provide a 50 per cent reservation to scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs), other backward classes (OBCs), women, youth and minorities in its working committee and at all party positions.

According to the amended constitution of the party, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will now include former prime ministers from the party and former AICC chiefs, besides leaders of the Congress in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

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The party decided to provide 50 per cent reservation to SCs/STs/OBCs/minorities vertically and provide horizontal reservation to youth below 50 years and women in both reserved and unreserved categories.

The number of CWC members will go up to 35 from the earlier 23, with 18 members to be elected and 17 to be nominated.

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The amended constitution says from now on, the party will only have digital membership and records.

The party also amended its constitution to make stringent provisions for those taking Congress membership and they should abstain from taking intoxicating drugs and psychotripic substances.

Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala, who is the convener of the committee looking into amendments to the Constitution, said the party has added the words psychotropic substances and intoxicating drugs which includes alcohol, tobacco and other substances.

He said the party has decided to provide recognition to transgenders in its membership forms as well as provide recognition to single parents by including names of mothers and spouses in the form.

The Constitution Amendments Committee was chaired by senior leader Ambika Soni and had detailed deliberations before carrying out 85 major and minor amendments.

The concept of "50 Under 50" as enunciated in the Udaipur Shivir has been incorporated in the Constitution, Surjewala said.

Changing with the times, he said the Congress will only have digital memberships starting January 1, 2025, and will accept online donations.

Bringing changes in the organisational structure, the party has added an intermediary level by having Panchayat Congress Committee, Ward Congress Committee for Urban Areas and other Intermediate Congress Congress Committee at Mandal and Janpad levels.

The amended constitution, Surjewala said, will give more representation for panchayati raj, local bodies and cooperatives at every level and elected members of the party at every level will be ex-officio members of the Block Congress Committee, District Congress Committee (DCC) and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).

For example, members of panchayat samiti, municipality samiti and mandi samiti will be in the Block Congress, he said.

Members of zilla panchayat, president of the municipal council, president of the district cooperative bank will be members of the DCC, he said, adding the presidents of the zilla panchayat, president of the municipal corporation, president of state level cooperative banks and marketing societies will be members of the PCC.

The Constitution currently provides that the election of one All India Congress Committee (AICC) member is made by eight PCC delegates and after amending the constitution now every six PCC delegates will elect an AICC member.

Hence, the total number of elected members will go up from 1,240 to 1,653, Surjewala said, adding that the strength of co-opted AICC members has also been increased from 15 per cent of the elected and AICC members to 25 per cent of the elected AICC members.

The Constitution has been amended to incorporate the provision of political affairs committee at the PCC Level.

Minor changes in the fee structure of Congress members, DCC delegates, PCC delegates, AICC members have also been made and now membership fee has been hiked from Rs 5 to Rs 10.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Sidhi (Madhya Pradesh) [India], February 25 (ANI): The death toll in Friday night's accident in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district has risen to 14 people, while the count of injured has gone to 56, the police said.

"A total of 14 deaths have been confirmed in the accident so far and 56 people injured. Of these injured, 39 people are undergoing treatment at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Rewa district," Rewa Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukesh Srivastava said.

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Out of 14 deaths, eight died on the spot, two were declared dead at Sidhi district hospital and four died at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, he added.

The accident occurred near Barkhada village close to the Mohania tunnel in the district. Sustained injuries after a truck rammed into two buses from the rear in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district late Friday night, a police official said on Saturday morning.

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The buses were carrying people returning from Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally.

The truck reportedly lost control which resulted in the bursting of the tyre. The injured were immediately rushed to the nearby hospital.

Rewa SP Srivastava said, "Two buses were parked, a truck came from behind and got uncontrolled after its tyre got burst, leading to the collision."

The police's investigation into this matter is underway.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah condoled the loss of lives. Taking to Twitter, Shah said, "The road accident in Sidhi (M.P.) is very sad. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this accident. May God give them the strength to bear this sorrow. Treatment is being provided to the injured by the administration. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."

Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also expressed grief over the incident and he announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next-of-kin of those, who died in Sidhi's road accident.

He also announced that an amount of Rs 2 lakh each has also been sanctioned for the persons, severely injured in the incident and Rs 1 lakh for people with normal injuries. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], February 25 (ANI): The Himachal Pradesh Government received the first installment of grant-in-aid of Rs 225 crore from the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India for the development of Common Infrastructure Facilities for the Bulk Drug Park in Una.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, while expressing his pleasure on the formation of the State Implementing Agency (SIA) and release of the first installment of Rs 225 crore said that Bulk Drug Park is a project of national importance and crucial for strengthening the States' existing pharma ecosystem.

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"This grant-in-aid was given under the scheme guidelines 'Promotion of Bulk Drug Park' Scheme notified by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer, Government of India in 2020," he said.

He further said that keeping in mind the investment potential of around Rs 8000-10,000 crore and expected employment opportunities for more than 15,000 persons, the State Government would ensure timely execution of this mega Project.

Also Read | Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami Lays Foundation Stones of 138 Development Schemes in Tehri.

The CM said that the Government has registered the SIA "Himachal Pradesh Bulk Drug Park Infrastructure Limited (HPBDPIL)" with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on February 15, 2023.

He said that the department has already completed the planning of external infrastructure for power and road with the respective line departments.

"As the power demand for this park has been estimated around 120 MW, and continuous Power supply will be required for the operations of API units, adequate planning to draw power, two transmission lines from Una and Tahliwal has been planned," he said.

Sukhu said that this project will require technical and financial expertise to meet the requirement of capital cost of the project.

"For that tender has been floated for selection of transaction advisor for providing consultancy services for the selection of "Strategic Investor cum Developer" for Development, Operation, and Maintenance & Management of Bulk Drug Park," said the Chief Minister.

He said that, bid process management has also been initiated for selection of consultants for the Environmental Clearance of the Bulk Drug Park.

He said that the government will constitute a Project Coordination Committee for monitoring the progress of timely execution of Bulk Drug Park. (ANI)

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Beijing, Feb 25 (UNI) Chinas Defense Ministry says it has sent a delegation to the European Union to hold talks on international security and trust building.

"The Chinese Ministry of Defense sent a delegation to the General Staffs of Hungary, Germany, the European Union and NATO from February 16 to 25 to conduct institutional dialogue and consultations," the ministry said in a Saturday statement.

The main goal of the delegations visit is to hold talks on the development of bilateral relations in the field of defense, exchange of views on international and regional security issues, and strengthen mutual understanding and trust, the ministry specified.

On Friday, Beijing released a twelve-point document titled "China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis." The document, in particular, stresses the need to abandon the Cold War mentality. It also says that the security of one country cannot be achieved at the expense of the security of other countries, and that regional security cannot be ensured by strengthening or expanding military blocs.

UNI/SPUTNIK GNK
Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], February 25 (ANI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday favoured caste census as the party's 85th plenary session which started on Friday with the party's steering committee deciding to authorise him to nominate members to the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

Party leader Jairam Ramesh said the Congress president stated in his remarks at a meeting that a caste-based census is necessary.

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"This is an important step for social justice and social empowerment. The Prime Minister is quiet on the caste-based census, but we are talking about this issue in our plenary," Ramesh told reporters.

The Steering Committee of Congress met on Friday morning and decided to go for nomination members to Congress Working Committee in view of the challenges faced by the party and the proposed amendments to the party's constitution.

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There was some speculation that Congress may opt for elections to CWC, a demand that has been raised from time to time by sections in the party. CWC is the highest-decision-making body of Congress.

"During the Steering Committee meeting today, members gave their opinion and with everyone's consent the committee decided that the party president should be given the power of selecting CWC members," party leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.

He said the issue was discussed for about two-and-a-half hours.

"The dominant view, the overwhelming view was that keeping in mind political challenges facing the country, facing the Congress party in its capacity as the main opposition and keeping in mind the far-reaching amendments that we are discussing tomorrow and day after, keeping in mind both the factors, the unanimous view was that this is the time to empower the Congress president to nominate members to the Congress Working Committee," he said.

He said 16 articles and 32 rules are proposed to be amended and an important amendment was to provide 50 per cent reservation in the working committee for SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities and youth below the age of 50.

Asked if no one from the Gandhi family was present in the meeting of the steering committee and if their concurrence taken, Ramesh said the discussion was held among those present in the meeting.

The Subjects Committee held a discussion on the party resolutions on Friday.

In his opening remarks, Kharge talked about the challenges including the assembly elections this year and the Lok Sabha polls next year.

He attacked the BJP-led government saying democracy and the Constitution were under threat.

Noting that 84 sessions of the party have been held since its formation in 1885, he said the plenary this year holds special significance as it marks 100 years since Mahatma Gandhi was elected the Congress president.

He hoped that the plenary will be a milestone in the party's journey.

The party is likely to amend the constitution to confer party leaders who have been Prime Ministers and party chiefs permanence in the CWC.

Party Chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address the session on Saturday.

The plenary will also adopt various resolutions including political and economic.

Former Party chief Rahul Gandhi will address the plenary on February 26.

He will also address the public rally at 3 pm which will also be addressed by Kharge. (ANI)

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Indore, February 25: The Principal of BM College of Pharmacy in Indore, who was set on fire by a former student succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital here on Saturday early morning, the police said. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shashikant Kankane confirmed the death of the Principal of B M College of Pharmacy Prof Vimukta Sharma.

The incident occurred on Monday (February 20), when the accused, former student, Ashutosh Srivastava, poured petrol on the 49-year-old principal and then set her ablaze. The victim ran towards the college building after which the staff extinguished the fire and rushed her to a hospital. MP Shocker: Drunk Man Throws Rock at Friend Over Delay in Payment in Shivpuri (Disturbing Video).

During the incident, the accused also sustained burn injuries and tried to jump into a ditch, but was nabbed by the police. ASP Kankane said that a case was registered under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused and he was sent on a day police remand on Thursday. District Collector Ilaya Raja T also imposed NSA (National Security Act) against the accused Ashutosh Srivastava on Friday.

Today, the accused will now be charged under IPC section 302 (murder), ASP added. Besides, Indore Superintendent of Police (Rural) Bhagwat Singh Birde said, "The family members of the Principal told police that Vimukta Sharma had submitted a written complaint against accused Ashutosh thrice to Assistant Sub Inspector Sanjeev Tiwari of Simrol police station. But he did not take any action. Taking action into the matter, ASI Tiwari was suspended on Thursday."

According to the police, the accused was enraged over not receiving the marksheet and had also attacked a professor with a knife back in October last year. Earlier, SP Bhagwat Singh Birde told the media, "Ashutosh Srivastava, a former student, poured petrol on the Principal of BM College, due to which she sustained 80 percen burn injuries, and she was undergoing treatment." Madhya Pradesh: Miscreants Barge Into School, Beat Teachers and Students With Sticks in Bamitha (Watch Video).

"We found that the student had failed in the seventh semester. In the eighth semester, he appeared for the exam and also passed, but didn't get the mark sheet. After the incident, he tried to commit suicide, but the police caught him. Strict action will be taken against him," SP then added.

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Mumbai, Feb 25 (PTI) A man was arrested for allegedly making a hoax call to the police control room about 90 kilograms of "MD", apparently a reference to mephedrone drug, and explosives landing at a port to carry out blasts in JJ Hospital, Bhendi Bazar and Nal Bazar areas of south Mumbai, an official said on Saturday.

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The call was received at the South Region police control room on Friday afternoon and the accused had said the contraband and explosives had reached the port here on Thursday, the official informed.

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"Following the call, the port area, its landing points and sensitive locations in the vicinity were combed and search operations were held, but nothing suspicious was found. We tracked the call to a mobile phone number in Dahanu in neighbouring Palghar district," he said.

A team left for Palghar and nabbed the accused, who is a resident of Nagpur, within nine hours of the call being made, he added.

The man has confessed to the act and has been arrested under Indian Penal Code sections 506 (3), 505(1), 182, 179 for providing false information, criminal intimidation and other offences, the official said.

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Shillong (Meghalaya) [India], February 25 (ANI): Meghalaya Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Ernest Mawrie on Friday exuded confidence that the party's vote share in the state will boost following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vigorous poll campaigning in the state.

"PM Modi's today's roadshow in Shillong has become a rock show and people enjoyed the entire programme," he said on Friday.

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"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Meghalaya, especially his roadshow will help BJP to increase the party's vote share. We are very much hopeful that, our vote share may increase to 25-30 per cent. In 2018, our vote share was 9.6 per cent and this time our vote share will be increased after the Prime Minister's visit to the state," he added.

Ahead of the Meghalaya Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Shillong on Friday.

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The roadshow started at Central Library and concluded at the Police Bazar where he addressed a public rally. The roadshow received a massive response as people queued up on both sides of the road through which the Prime Minister's cavalcade passed.

The Prime Minister was also seen greeting people and waving at them.

PM Modi also paid floral tributes to three freedom fighters of the state - U Tirot Sing, U Kiang Nangbah and Pa Togan Sangma in Shillong.

Security was beefed up in Shillong in view of PM Modi's visit.

More than 1,000 security personnel including Meghalaya Police and Central Armed Police Forces were deployed in the route of the roadshow and Police Bazar point in Shillong.

"Special security arrangements have been made in Shillong for the Prime Minister. More than 1000 security personnel have been deployed in the city," Assistant Superintendent of Police, Shillong Pawar Swapnil Vasantrao told ANI.

This time BJP is contesting in all 60 seats in Meghalaya.

The Meghalaya assembly polls will be held on February 27 along with Nagaland and the counting of votes will take place on March 2. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Champawat, February 25: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 10 schemes worth Rs 48.84 crores for the development of the district at Champawat Collectorate on Friday.

After this, a meeting was held with officials, scientists and experts regarding the work being done to make Champawat a model district. Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami Visits Pauri, Launches Development Schemes.

In the meeting, the Chief Minister said, "There are immense possibilities in areas like eco-tourism, fisheries and horticulture in Champawat district." "It is our effort for Champawat's all-round development and move forward in the direction of making it an ideal Champawat," the CM added.

Earlier on Friday, the Chief Minister interacted with the people on his morning walk during his two-day visit to Champawat and took feedback about the development works undertaken by the state government. Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami To Stay at Homestay in Pauri Garhwal With Locals Tonight To Promote Tourism in State.

"Today, on my two-day Champawat tour, met young colleagues and local people during the morning tour and took feedback related to the public welfare schemes and development works run by the government. The sense of satisfaction seen on the faces of the god-like public inspires us to work hard for the all-round development of the state," Dhami tweeted.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], February 25 (ANI): American tech giant Microsoft has once again accidentally offered the Windows 11 upgrade to PCs with unsupported hardware.

According to The Verge, an American technology news website, Twitter user PhantomOcean3 spotted the mistake earlier this week, where Microsoft was showing full-screen prompts on unsupported hardware.

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Microsoft has since clarified the error, pointing out that PCs that didn't match the prerequisites for Windows 11 couldn't finish the upgrade.

"Some hardware ineligible Windows 10 and Windows 11, version 21H2 devices were offered an inaccurate upgrade to Windows 11," explains Microsoft in a support note.

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"These ineligible devices did not meet the minimum requirements to run Windows 11. Devices that experienced this issue were not able to complete the upgrade installation process."

Last year, Microsoft faced a similar problem when it offered the Windows 11 upgrade to PCs that were not officially supported. That accident enabled those unsupported PCs to upgrade, but it also brought to light the contentious minimum hardware requirements for Microsoft's latest operating system, reported The Verge.

With very few exceptions, Windows 11 officially requires Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 CPUs or higher. While installing Windows 11 on unsupported CPUs is simple, Microsoft has been testing a new desktop watermark on unsupported hardware.

As per The Verge, this latest blunder comes just weeks before Microsoft is expected to release new features for Windows 11. Microsoft is planning a "Moment 2" update that will include a full search box in the taskbar, improved search in the Start menu, a tablet-optimized taskbar, and a redesigned system tray. (ANI)

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Washington, Feb 25 (PTI)The United States is looking forward to continue to develop and foster its relationship with the Indian military, the Pentagon has said.

The US and India enjoy a good partnership. We look forward to continuing to develop and foster our relationship with the Indian military, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig Gen Pat Ryder told reporters at a news conference here on Friday.

Also Read | FATF Suspends Russia's Membership Over Ukraine War.

In 1997, defence trade between India and the US was almost negligible, today it stands above USD 20 billion.

Last month during a press conference, Ryder said that India is a "great example" of countries who are choosing security assistance from the US, underlining that it was ready for any response to wean them away from Russia.

Also Read | Pakistan: 15-Year-Old Christian Girl Forcibly Married to 60-Year-Old Muslim Man in Islamabad.

India has faced flak from US lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, for choosing to abstain from a UN vote to rebuke Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

US officials have expressed concern over India's purchase of the S-400 missile systems by Russia.

In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems to ramp up its air defence, despite a warning from the then-Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.

(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 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Hyderabad House in New Delhi here today.

"The focus of the talks between the two leaders will be on bolstering bilateral ties, building on the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership and economic ties, and forging closer ties in defence," Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.

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Arindam Bagchi tweeted, "PM @narendramodi welcomes @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz at Hyderabad House for bilateral talks. Focus of the talks will be on strengthening bilateral cooperation, building on the Green & Sustainable Development Partnership and economic partnership, & forging closer ties in defence."

"PM@narendramodi holds talks with German Chancellor @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz. Leaders will review progress on key outcomes of the 6th IGC held in May'22. Will discuss ways to strengthen defence & economic cooperation, enhance talent mobility and widen S&T collaboration," Bagchi said in another tweet.

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He noted, "This is the fourth time that the two leaders are meeting in the span of a year, underscoring the mutual commitment to growth of the Indo-German partnership."

PM Modi and Scholz will also interact with CEOs and business leaders of both sides.

Olaf Scholz arrived today in New Delhi for a visit to India from February 25-26. He is accompanied by senior officials and a high-powered business delegation.

Scholz, who is on a visit to India, said both countries already have "good relations" and expressed hope that they will discuss intensely all the topics relevant to the development of both nations.

"We already have good relations between India and Germany and I hope that we will strengthen this very good relations. I hope we will discuss intensely about all the topics relevant for the development of our countries and also the peace in the world which is important," Scholz said.

Scholz made the remarks after he was accorded ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan. PM Narendra Modi received Scholz at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Both leaders met officials and ministers of both nations.

During his visit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu. He will travel to Bengaluru on February 26.

Scholz's visit to India is the first standalone one by any German Chancellor since the commencement of the Inter-Governmental Consultation (IGC) mechanism between the two nations in 2011, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press release.

According to MEA, Olaf Scholz's visit to India will enable both nations to take stock and progress on the key outcomes of the 6th Inter-Governmental Consultation (IGC), strengthen security and defence cooperation, work towards closer economic ties, enhance the opportunity for the mobility of talent and give strategic guidance to ongoing collaboration in Science and Technology.

"The India-Germany Strategic Partnership is underpinned by shared values, trust and mutual understanding. Robust investment and trade linkages, cooperation in the areas of green and sustainable development and growing people-to-people ties have strengthened bilateral relations," the MEA said in the press release. Both nations also work closely at multilateral and international platforms. (ANI)

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Kathmandu [Nepal], February 25 (ANI): The political coalition in Nepal has changed within two months after its formation before the Presidential election.

The Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the Rastriya Swatantra Party was forced to move out after Maoist Center formed an alliance with the Nepali Congress and Unified Socialist.

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The decision to change the political course of the Himalayan Nation after the general election of November last year comes ahead of the Presidential election slated for next month.

A successive and final round of meetings held at Nepal Prime Minister's residence Baluwatar which concluded late on Friday evening decided to form a new alliance of eight political parties, including the Nepali Congress, Maoist Centre and Unified Socialist.

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"Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' called the meeting of the eightparties including those out of the government. The only agenda discussed in themeeting was President's election," Prakash Jwala, a leader of the CPN-Unified Socialisttold ANI over the phone.

In the meeting, Nepal PM Dahal proposed to support the Nepali Congress nominee for the President for being the largest political party in the federal parliament.

"From today (Friday) onwards, a new political journey begins. Let's take it ahead; let's be united for the country's prosperity, national independence, sovereignty and people's livelihood. We can go together on power sharing as well," Jwala quoted PM Dahal as he briefed about the meeting.

Eight parties, including Nepali Congress, Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Janamat Party, Rashtriya Janamorcha and Nagarik Unmukti Party attended the meeting on Friday.

The Election Commission has scheduled the nomination of the President for February 25 and the election on March 9.

The meeting of the top leaders of NC, Maoist Centre, JSP and CPN (US) on Friday morning had agreed to restore the previous alliance- the alliance before that of the November 20 election.

Although the CPN UML had been insisting that the UML nominee would be the President asper the agreement made on December 25, Nepal's PM and Maoist Centre Chairman Dahal was forging national consensus in the election of the President.

The weightage of the vote cast each by members of the Nepal Federal Parliament and Provincial assemblies will be counted on the basis of the electoral college. A vote cast by a member of the Nepal federal parliament, including both upper and lower houses, will be considered to have a weight of 79 votes whereas a vote cast by a member of a provincial assembly will be considered to have a weight of 48 votes.

It means, there will be a total of 52,786 electoral votes in the Electoral College. The weight of the vote has been decided according to the ratio of lawmakers to the total population of the country as calculated in the 2011 census as the final report of the latest 2021 population census is not yet out.

A person who secures more than 50 per cent of the total votes in the voting in Nepal presidential election shall be elected as the president. (ANI)

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New Delhi, February 25: Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Saturday said that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis was extensively discussed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He also mentioned that Prime Minister said in his remarks that India is there to support what relates to peace.

"Ongoing situation in Russia-Ukraine being one of the important issues on the global front featured fairly extensively in discussions between PM Modi and Chancellor Scholz. PM Modi has said in his remarks that we are there to support what relates to peace," Kwatra said.

Elaborating further, Kwatra explained that Prime Minister Modi has always been saying that dialogue and diplomacy are the paths for resolving any conflict. Peace is not something that is beneficial for just Russia and Ukraine. Peace is also something which is usually beneficial for the rest of the developing countries, he added. Russia-Ukraine War: India Ready to Contribute to Any Peace Process, Says PM Narendra Modi After Talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Kwatra touched upon that one of the most serious impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been in terms of food, fuel and fertiliser insecurity in developing countries.

When asked about defence collaboration, Kwatra said, "PM Modi and Chancellor Scholz also took forward their discussions on enhanced defence cooperation. Both of them noted that this defence cooperation is an essential pillar of the India-Germany strategic partnership."

On the question of Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, Foreign Secretary maintains that the two leaders talked extensively about the regional (Indo-Pacific) and global situation. "Naturally, when they talk of the regional situation, the opportunities and challenges form an essential constituent," he said.

After meeting the German Chancellor, Prime Minister Modi tweeted, "Held productive talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Our talks focussed on ways to boost India-Germany cooperation and further augment trade ties. We also agreed to deepen ties in renewable energy, green hydrogen & biofuels. Security cooperation was also discussed."

Olaf Scholz called on the President of India Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday. "Welcoming Chancellor Scholz on his first visit to India as German Chancellor, the President said that India and Germany have a long-standing relationship, which is underpinned by our common values and shared goals. Our bilateral relationship encompasses a wide range of areas, reflecting the mutual trust that has been nurtured over decades," the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement. PM Narendra Modi Gifts Meghalaya Stoles, Nagaland Shawls to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Rajghat in New Delhi on Saturday. During the visit, Scholz laid a wreath at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial in Rajghat. Scholz, who arrived in India early today, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi and discussed bolstering bilateral ties, building on the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership and economic ties forging closer ties in defence.

(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 25 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that India is willing to contribute towards any peace effort to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, during talks with visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz here.

In his remarks after their bilateral talks held in Hyderabad House, the PM said: The effects of the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine conflict have impacted the entire world; it has especially had a negative impact on developing countries.

We discussed our shared concerns on these aspects; we are in agreement that the resolution of these issues can be only through joint efforts.

Under Indias G20 presidency we are stressing on this aspect.

From the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, India has been stressing on dialogue and diplomacy to end this conflict.

India is ready to contribute towards any peace efforts to end the conflict, the PM said.

The German Chancellor in his remarks said that the world is suffering due to the Russian aggression in Ukraine.

While expressing full confidence in Indias G20 presidency, the German Chancellor said that they have to make sure that countries in Asia and Africa are not negatively hit by supply shortages due to the Ukraine conflict.

The war began a year ago and has led to immense losses in energy, and is a major catastrophe It is important that in the UN too we state where we stand on this matterThe world is suffering due to Russias aggression, Chancellor Scholz said.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, in a special briefing on the visit, said the Russia-Ukraine conflict had featured fairly extensively in the discussions between the two leaders. He added that there was deep understanding and appreciation of what was going on, how it impacts on the developing world and how India and Germany can partner to strengthen the voice of peace.

The Foreign Secretary reiterated what PM Modi had stated during the SCO summit in Samarkand last September that this is not the era of war.

There was understanding and appreciation of each others perspectives, the FS stated, to a question on whether the two leaders stood on opposite sides regarding the Ukraine conflict.

Prime Minister Modis remarks during the media statements post his meeting with the German Chancellor comes as the Russia-Ukraine conflict has completed a year and shows no signs of ending, with the West focused on slamming Moscow and helping Kyiv with more weapons.

On Thursday, in the UN General Assembly, India was among 32 countries that abstained on voting on a resolution calling for Russia to leave Ukraine.

In other remarks after the talks, the PM said the two sides also reiterated the consensus that reform of multi-lateral institutions is necessary to better reflect global realities. This is evident from our active participation within the G4 to reform the UN Security Council, the PM said. India, Germany, Brazil, and Japan comprise the G4 countries which support each other's bids for permanent seats in the UN.

The PM said the two sides have agreed to increase cooperation under the Triangular Development Cooperation, under which both countries last year agreed to work in third countries. FS Kwatra said that the Trilateral Development Cooperation was in advanced stages of implementation in Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi and Peru.

The PM also said that in the last few years the people-to-people ties between the two sides have increased, and the Migration and Mobility Agreement inked will make it stronger.

Referring to the Migration and Mobility Agreement, inked between the two sides in December last year, the German Chancellor had said his country needs talented and skilled workers. FS Kwatra said while the agreement still has to be ratified by the German side, it is proof of how skilled manpower contributes to the economic growth of both sides.

PM Modi said that security and defence cooperation can be a major foundation pillar of their bilateral ties, and they would continue to work together to tap the untapped potential in this sector.

On defence cooperation, the FS said that the two sides have multi-layered cooperation in defence, mostly on what industries and businesses on both sides can do".

Part of it was what can be co-designed here, and where it can take place, how the businesses of the two sides can come together to harness the opportunity, and using the complementarities for co-manufacturing, co-design and also transfer of technology.

On the issue of talks with the German side on the purchase of six new submarines  a deal believed to be worth $5.2 billion, the Foreign Secretary said the issue of the submarines remains a topic of discussion between both governments, which would also involve co-design, co-development and manufacture in India, and transfer of technology would be an important constituent as the talks progress.

The PM also said there is active cooperation between India and Germany in the fight against terrorism and separatism. Both countries also agree that concrete action is necessary to end cross-border terrorism.

UNI RN
Kyiv [Ukraine], February 25 (ANI): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said that he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. This comes after Beijing called for peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war, New York Post reported.

Zelensky, however, refused to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US media reported.

Also Read | FATF Suspends Russia's Membership Over Ukraine War.

"I am planning to meet with Xi Jinping," he said. However, the Ukrainian President didn't say when or where the meeting would take place.

"It's an important signal that they are preparing to take part in this theme," he said from Kyiv, referring to China's bid to broker peace between the two countries, according to New York Post.

Also Read | Pakistan: 15-Year-Old Christian Girl Forcibly Married to 60-Year-Old Muslim Man in Islamabad.

"So far, I see this as a signal, I don't know what will happen later," he said.

Zelensky warned Russia-allied China to not provide Moscow with arms.

"I very much want to believe that China will not deliver weapons to Russia, and for me, this is very important," he said.

"This is point number one."

He rejected the idea of negotiating with Putin.

Responding to a question from a Turkish reporter, Zelensky said that in the lead-up to the invasion, he had asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to broker negotiations with the Russian president in a desperate bid to avert a full-scale war, New York Post reported.

"[Erdogan] was unable to do it at that time. Now he thinks he could [get Putin to negotiate]," Zelensky said. "But now we cannot do it because it is not the same person. There is no one to talk to."

China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dai Bing, on Thursday, said that sending weapons to Ukraine will only add fuel to the war and will escalate the tension instead of bringing peace.

Addressing the eleventh emergency Special Session on Ukraine in the UN, China's deputy ambassador, hinting towards West countries, said, "The international community should make joint efforts to facilitate peace talks when aired into the Ukraine crisis, brutal facts offer ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions."

"Prolonging and expanding the conflict will only make ordinary people pay an even heftier price. We reiterate our appeal that diplomacy and negotiation cannot be abandoned efforts towards a ceasefire and talks must go on," he added.

Dai urged the international community, rather than fending off the flames and seeking self-interest, they should "stop abusing Unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction." Instead, they should act in a way conducive to de-escalation. (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 Orleans, Feb 25 (AP) An appeals court has struck down a federal fisheries management rule requiring operators of privately owned charter boats in the Gulf of Mexico to equip their vessels with tracking devices, a victory for a group of Louisiana and Florida charter operators who challenged the rule in a 2020 lawsuit.

Thursday's ruling by a panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed a lower court decision upholding the regulation, which had been developed to help regulators keep track of the amount of fish caught on recreational charter vessels.

Also Read | WATCH: British Airways-owner IAG Thinks Profits Could Jump Close to 90% This Year,   Latest Tweet by Reuters.

Rejecting government arguments, the panel said that tracking devices are not the type of equipment regulators can require on recreational vessels under a federal fishing regulation law passed by Congress  the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

And it said regulators, in adopting the rule, failed to adequately consider charter operators' concerns that the regulation may violate Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. While not ruling on the regulation's constitutionality, the opinion written by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod said it very likely violated the Fourth Amendment.

Also Read | FATF Suspends Russia's Membership Over Ukraine War.

Charter operators have complained that the requirement imposed a costly, needless burden on charter operators. Lawyers for the operators say charter operations account for a tiny percentage of fishing done in the Gulf of Mexico.

Along with Elrod, nominated to the court by President George W. Bush, the case was decided by judges Priscilla Richman, also a George W. Bush nominee; and Andrew Oldham, a nominee of President Donald Trump.

The rights of all charter boat fishing businesses in the Gulf of Mexico have been vindicated," John J. Vecchione, an attorney with the conservative New Civil Liberties Alliance, said in a news release. The organisation had represented charter operators in the lawsuit.

Federal fisheries officials declined immediate comment.

We received the court ruling last night and are currently reviewing it, Allison Garrett, spokeswoman for fisheries regulators with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a Friday email.(AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 25 (ANI): US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen on Saturday held a meeting with the chief of various IT companies like Infosys Technologies Limited Nandan Nilekani, Wipro's head Nishad Premji and others in Bengaluru.

Yellen, who arrived in India for the G20 Finance Ministers meet, had addressed the roundtable with US and Indian tech business leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in southern Bengaluru city on Saturday.

Also Read | UK Shocker: Woman Pleads Guilty for Stabbing Lover 29 Times, Trying To Saw His Head Off With Bread Knife.

Yellen, in the roundtable meeting, said that under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and investment (PGII), the US announced investments in agri-tech to enable climate-smart agricultural production, and in digital payments systems for microentrepreneurs.

Yellen said going forward, "I am eager to deepen our ties in the technology sector." She said the US was advancing an approach called "friend-shoring" to bolster the resilience of its supply chains.

Also Read | Nepal Presidential Elections 2023: Nomination Filing Process Begins; PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda Endorses Opposition Candidate.

The treasury secretary said, "We are doing this by strengthening integration with our many trusted trading partners -- including India. We are seeing progress; as an example; technology companies like Apple and Google have expanded their phone production in India."

Yellen said through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), the US is investing in digital technologies that will drive inclusive and resilient growth in India.

She said these stand alongside investments in renewable energy, health and other infrastructure sectors in India. Overall, the United States aims to mobilise USD 200 billion through 2027 for PGII, and we look forward to partnering with India to continue investing in its future, the US treasury secretary said in a statement released on Saturday morning.

Yellen said one of the most rewarding parts of my job is meeting with innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders across the globe and this is especially true in India, which has one of the most dynamic economies in the world.

Yellen said the US is India's biggest trading partner. She said in 2021, bilateral trade between the two countries was over USD 150 billion.

"Our people-to-people ties affirm the closeness of our relationship. 200,000 Indians are studying in America and enriching our schools and universities," she said.

Yellen said, "We depend on each other on a daily basis: Indians use WhatsApp to communicate and many American companies rely on Infosys to operate." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jammu, February 25: J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday handed over the appointment letter to slain civilian Suneel Pandith's wife, Suneeta Pandith for her employment with the government. Kashmiri Pandits Killing: Dogra Employees Posted in Kashmir Protest Selective Killings, Demand Relocation.

Suneel Pandith was killed by terrorists in Shopian on August 16, 2022. Kashmiri Pandit Killings: Farooq Abdullah Hits Out at BJP Over Normalcy Claims, Says Murders Wont Stop Until Justice Is Served (Watch Video).

The Lt Governor assured all possible assistance from the UT Administration to the family of the martyred civilian. The family members of Suneel Pandith were also present at the Raj Bhawan on the occasion.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 25, 2023 04:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The injured Central Florida news photographer describes the harrowing events leading up to the shooting that took the life of a colleague.

One of the Florida shooting victims, Jesse Walden, a photojournalist with Spectrum News 13, was shot while documenting the murder of 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin in Pine Hills. He is now recovering in an Orlando hospital.

Dylan Lyons, a reporter who worked with him, was fatally injured.

Walden updated his Facebook on Thursday with surgery details.

Walden claimed he heard gunshots while retrieving his camera from the car's trunk in an interview with FOX 35's Amanda McKenzie.

The Florida shooting gunman shot him and yelled at Lyons to phone 911, unaware that his friend had also been hit.

Walden detailed the terrifying moment he realized a shooter was approaching.

"I see that he's shooting at me. I was assuming he was shooting at a house or something behind me, and I just happened to catch a bullet, but he kept shooting at me."

To avoid getting shot, Walden said he dove beneath the car's wheel. Lyons, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was fatally shot. The gunfire injured Walden, but he managed to survive.

He described Lyons as "just a sweet guy" who he worked with daily.

READ NEXT: Florida Shooting Spree

Neighbors Come to Help Them

A photojournalist from another station applied pressure on his wound to stop the flow of blood until neighbors eventually ran to help, according to Walden.

After shooting and killing Augustin, police claim 19-year-old Keith Kelvin Moses, the Florida shooting gunman, returned to the neighborhood and shot Walden and Brandi Major and her 9-year-old daughter T'yonna Major, both nine, inside their home. The little girl perished as well, The Guardian noted.

Officers found a Glock 40 semiautomatic handgun in his possession and reported that no other suspects were in the area.

The White House could not ignore how strange it was that a teenager was accused of killing a journalist who was working on a story about gun violence.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the president's press secretary, denounced the shooting during a briefing on Thursday and reaffirmed the administration of Joe Biden's support for stricter gun control regulations.

Florida Shooting Gunman Arrested

Moses has a lengthy criminal history, including at least eight felonies and 11 misdemeanor charges for offenses like burglary, grand theft, assault with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault, and possession of a pistol while under the influence of drugs, according to deputies.

It is still unclear why Moses shot the Florida shooting victims reporting the earlier shooting that day, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said.

Moses was arrested with a handgun in his pants that was still hot and had no bullets left because it had just been fired.

Witnesses have positively identified Moses as the shooter, and Mina has stated that the gun will be put through ballistics tests to confirm that it was the weapon used in the shootings.

Security footage also showed that he was in the area at the time of the crime. However, Moses was not helpful when deputies took him into custody, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Moses was hurt and could not breathe, so he was sent to the hospital, according to Mina, stating that deputy sheriffs had to hold him down after he fought with hospital staff.

Moreover, the Florida shooting gunman claimed to be asleep when he was transported to the sheriff's office, but he later became violent with the deputies, according to Mina.

READ MORE: California's $2.04 Billion Powerball Jackpot Winner Sued

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: 'Lucky to be alive' photographer Jesse Walden says after being injured in Florida shooting - From FOX 35 Orlando
Donald Trump is facing a special grand jury probe in Fulton County, Georgia for his alleged election tampering. The special grand jury foreman overseeing the investigation just spoke with various media outlets raising some questions. However, the judge said it was okay.

The special grand jury in Georgia has faced constant criticism from Trump and his legal team for taking to the media and discussing the final report on air.

However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who is the judge overseeing the Trump Georgia probe, spoke with CNN and stated that "The contents of the report are not deliberations," therefore it was okay for grand jury foreman Emily Kohrs to discuss the final report to the media.

The judge clarified that the members of the Georgia grand jury "complied with their charter," and that several parts of the report were already public information in the first place.

He noted, "What witnesses said, what you put in your report, those are not off-limits."

However, the judge did say that the contents of the panel's final report, including recommendations about whether anyone should face any indictments, should not be discussed publicly. He also declined to comment on whether or not Kohrs crossed the line with her media appearances.

"It's not for me to assess," the judge told the cable news outlet.

Who Is Emily Kohrs? The Georgia Grand Jury Foreman Looking Into Donald Trump's Election Tampering

Emily Kohrs is an unlikely woman who may have a pivotal role in the potential indictment of a former U.S. president. She says she is currently between customer service jobs and has admitted that she did not vote in the 2020 presidential election.

However, what makes her important is that she is the foreperson for the Georgia grand jury investigating Donald Trump's attempts at tampering with the election results in a bid to stay in power.

READ MORE: Georgia Grand Jury Found No Evidence of Election Fraud

She has already appeared in several interviews, including with The New York Times, NBC News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and CNN, and has been noted for excitedly talking about the contents of the grand jury report.

CNN reported that she had been teasing suggestions that Trump could be indicted, and this has drawn much criticism from Trump and his team. Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman stated that thanks to her actions, prosecutors have got to be "consternated" that a potential jury pool could be contaminated by Kohrs' "odd 15-minute PR tour."

Her actions have also caught Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis off-guard, as her office did not authorize any of Kohrs' media appearances. However, along with the judge himself, legal experts have pointed out that what she did was not against any rules.

Donald Trump May Try to Quash Possible Indictments in Georgia Grand Jury Investigation

From her media appearances, Kohrs may not have outright said that there will be indictments, but teased that there will be as she looked excited to talk about the report to the public.

However, according to CBS News, lawyers close to several Republicans who testified against Trump and his allies say that the former president may try to quash any possible indictments by the district attorney, Fani Willis.

This attempted quashing may stem from Emily Kohr's recent public statements, which the lawyers may argue tainted the investigation and the charges. However, legal analysts say that while inappropriate, Kohrs' comments will make "no legal difference" as the decision is up to Willis herself.

READ MORE: Tucker Carlson, Other Fox News Stars Privately Blasted Donald Trump's Election Fraud Claims

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Indictments in Trump probe coming in GA, says top Jan. 6 investigator - MSNBC
President Joe Biden has announced that he has no immediate plans to visit the site of the Ohio train derailment, which prompted the evacuation of thousands of people and sparked health concerns.

The trail derailment near East Palestine on February 3 released highly toxic chemicals into the air, water, and ground, causing residents to worry about environmental and health impacts.

On Friday, Biden said "no" when reporters asked him if he had plans to visit East Palestine. He then defended his administration's response to the incident.

The president said he spoke to "every single major figure" in Ohio and Pennsylvania, so "the idea that we're not engaged is simply not there," Reuters reported.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine on Thursday to see the wreckage at the site amid growing criticism over the government's "little, too late" response to the derailment, which Donald Trump criticized during his tour of the area on Wednesday.

The Biden administration has defended its response to the incident in Ohio town, saying officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and other involved agencies were at the rural site within hours of the train derailment, KCRA reported.

Aside from a political battle, the Ohio train derailment has also ignited a blame game over railroad safety regulations. Some Republicans have scrutinized the administration's way of addressing the matter, while some Democrats have pinned the blame on the GOP for rescinding regulations under Trump White House.

READ NEXT: Joe Biden Under Scrutiny as Another Batch of Classified Documents Found at New Location

Donald Trump Visits Ohio Train Derailment Site

Donald Trump met with East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway during his visit. Donald Trump, Jr., Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance, and Rep. Bill Johnson joined the former president.

In his speech, Trump said the East Palestine community needs "answers and results," not excuses. He went on to say that the "goodness" and "perseverance" of the town residents were met with "indifference and betrayal."

Buttigieg seemed to take a jab at Trump as he suggested that the former president's trip to Ohio was just a photo-op as part of his 2024 campaign.

He told Good Morning America that "there's two kinds of people who show up when you have that kind of disaster experience - people who are there because they have a specific job to do and are there to get something done and people who are there to look good and have their picture taken."

The Transportation secretary also told CBS that the Trump administration was "anti-regulation" and "pro-industry." During his visit at the Ohio train derailment site, Trump distributed Trump-branded water bottles and cleaning supplies.

Ohio Train Derailment

Texas A&M researchers and Carnegie Mellon noted that nine of the around 50 chemicals that the EPA said were present on the derailed train have higher concentrations than normal in East Palestine, The Daily Wire reported.

Chemicals found to be at above-normal levels include acrolein, benzene, naphthalene, and vinyl chloride. The research analysis said there might be health concerns if these levels of the chemicals continue. An NTSB interim report released on February 3 noted a suspected overheated wheel bearing has been gathered and will be examined by engineers.

The interim report also said the tank cars are being decontaminated, adding that NTSB investigators will complete a thorough examination of the tank cars once the decontamination process is completed.

The agency noted in its initial report that its investigators continue to review documentation, record data, and perform interviews. According to The New York Times, the EPA discovered that around 20 rail cars have been carrying hazardous materials.

In a statement, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said earlier this week that rail company Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up "the mess they created" and the trauma they inflicted on the community.

READ MORE: Biden Ends Trump Policy That Allows DHS to Deport Caregivers for Migrant Children

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Donald Trump Challenges Joe Biden to Visit Ohio Train Derailment Site - From Sky News Australia
A judge ruled Friday that an Arizona rancher will face trial over the killing of a Mexican migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border last month.

According to the Associated Press, George Alan Kelly allegedly shot at a group of migrants on his ranch outside Nogales, Arizona, on January 30. The shooting reportedly left Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, of Nogales, Mexico, dead on Kelly's property.

Kelly will face trial on second-degree murder and aggravated assault charges. In making the decision, Santa Cruz County Justice of the Peace Emilio Velasquez said the hours-long testimony revealed many new information. The judge noted that he thinks there might have been "some holes" in some testimony.

"But at the end of the day... the court does find that the offenses were committed by this defendant, and I will be binding this over to Superior Court," he added. During the evidentiary hearing in Nogales, which was livestreamed, Kelly was seen sitting beside his lawyer Brenna Larkin with no visible reaction.

The 74-year-old Arizona rancher can remain free on $1 million bail pending his arraignment on March 6. However, the judge said he was not allowed to have contact with witnesses or Cuen-Buitimea's family and from possessing firearms.

Kelly's lawyer had previously lost an attempt to postpone Friday's hearing after prosecutors downgraded the suspect's charge from one count of first-degree murder, which can lead to a death sentence or life imprisonment.

READ NEXT: GoFundMe Removes Aid for Rancher Charged in Migrant Murder

Arizona Rancher Denies Killing the Mexican Migrant

As he denied the murder, the Arizona rancher maintained that he only fired warning shots after he saw what he believed to be a group of cartel smugglers on his property, The Daily Mail reported.

"I don't expect anything... What happens, happens. I have no comment about anything else," George Alan Kelly told NewsNation.

A former Border Patrol chief noted that the area is known for "violence," and the Mexican migrant could be a cartel drug smuggler or scout. The area has a "propensity for violence," Rodney Scott, a former supervisor there, told NewsNation.

"Everything that I have seen, my professional experience would tell me that that guy was either a scout or an actual guide for a group," Scott told the outlet, adding that with the radio, it is more likely that the Mexican migrant was the front-man or scouting out on advance as that type of activity and conduct does not happen out there unless it's part of the cartel.

Kelly, who has never been in trouble with the law, called Border Patrol on January 30 and reported a group of Mexican men running through his property.

After being shot at, he claimed he fired warning shots but was careful not to hit any of the men. Kelly reportedly used an AK-47 rifle to shoot at eight unarmed migrants. The AK-47 was later found in his home.

Arizona Rancher Pays Bail Through Fundraiser Campaigns

George Alan Kelly's first-degree charge was downgraded to second-degree murder after several well-wishers raised money for the Arizona rancher to meet his $ 1 million bail. He was released after he was able to post bond Wednesday.

GoFundMe refused to accept campaigns and returned the money to donors due to policies not to help anyone accused of violent crimes. However, according to The New York Post, the Christian fundraising platform GiveSendGo has four active campaigns for Kelly.

As of Friday, it reportedly raised slightly over $398,000, which will be used for his legal defense and family. Despite planning to raise only $25,000, the primary one raised more than $330,000 by Friday. Kelly's wife of 54 years, Wanda Kelly, also started a fundraiser campaign, which received a little over $4,000 of her $50,000 goal.

Court records showed that Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea had been convicted of illegal entry into the U.S. and deported to Mexico several times, most recently in 2016. A Mexican man, who testified during Friday's hearing and spoke through a Spanish-language interpreter, said he was running behind Cuen-Buitimea when he said he had been shot.

"I saw Gabriel... He held his chest and said, 'I'm hit.' He rolled his eyes and fell down," said the man, adding that Cuen-Buitimea had made "seven or eight" tries to cross the U.S.-Mexico border to find work but was apprehended each time.

READ MORE: Florida Executed Cop Killer Donald Dillbeck

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Arizona Rancher's Charge Reduced; Migrant Recounts Shooting - From NewsNation
A 36-year-old woman who was due to stand trial for the attempted murder of a man she allegedly met on Tinder has admitted the lesser charge of intentionally trying to cause him serious harm.

Inita Romanovska with an address at Cahercalla, Kilrush Road, Ennis, Co Clare, was charged with attempting to murder Stephen O'Flaherty during an incident at an apartment complex at Henry Street, Limerick on March 11 2020.

In February 2021, Romanovska was told she would not stand trial at the Central Criminal Court for over two years due to the backlog of court cases that had arisen during the pandemic.

When the case was listed for mention today, her defence barrister Mr Michael Bowman SC told Mr Justice Paul McDermott that his client could be arraigned on count two of the indictment.

Romanovska then pleaded guilty to a charge of intentionally attempting to cause serious harm to Mr O'Flaherty at Newtown House, Henry Street, Limerick on March 11 2020.

The defendant, who is originally from Latvia and remains on bail, was scheduled to stand trial at the Central Criminal Court on March 6 next for a two-week trial.

A previous district court hearing heard that Romanovska met the injured party on Tinder and while they had been on a number of dates, they were not in a relationship.

Mr Bowman told the judge today that his client is a 36-year-old single mother with no previous convictions and asked the court to order and consider a pre-sentence report, which was acceded to.

Romanovska's trial date has now been vacated. Mr Justice McDermott directed a victim impact report and remanded Romanovska on continuing bail until May 23, when she will be sentenced.
A Teslas cameras captured images of a thief who stole from a car at a popular Laois amenity.

John Collins, 39, with an address at Roseville Lodge, Georges Street, Louth admitted to criminal damage and stealing a handbag from a car at Emo Court in Laois on January 8 last.

Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said a woman had gone for a walk at Emo and returned to find her rear driver's side window shattered and a black handbag stolen. The handbag contained a passport, wallet and Samsung phone.

Sgt Kirby said none of the items were recovered and that they were valued at 200. He said a further 200 worth of damage was caused to the car.

That lady was very upset about what happened, Sgt Kirby told the court.

He said the defendant was also accused of driving without insurance or a licence in Portarlington on January 24 last. Sgt Kirby said the man had 133 previous convictions and was now serving a prison sentence. He was due for release in May this year.

Judge Andrew Cody said the woman had parked her car beside an electric Tesla car.

That had six cameras that recorded everything, he noted.

Aine Rushe BL said her client was very remorseful and apologetic and would have had addiction issues. She said he was pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Judge Cody said he would have to take account of the mans ongoing litany of convictions when sentencing. He sentenced him to three months for theft, three months for criminal damage with the sentences to commence on expiry of the prison sentence the man is serving.

He then sentenced the man to a further two months on for having no insurance and two months concurrent for having no licence. Those sentences were to begin when the three month sentences end, meaning the man was given a total of five months for all of the offences. Judge Cody fixed recognisance in case of appeal.
The number of Ukrainian people who have fled the Russian invasion has risen close to the 1,000 mark in Laois since Christmas but there are a lot fewer living here than in some neighbouring counties.

The latest official figures published on February 24 show that there were 873 people in the county up to February 12 when a national count was completed. That's a rise of just below 10% since December 11 when 798 war refugees had found shelter from the Russians in Laois.

Prior to that 742 refugees were recorded as living in Laois on Sunday, November 6.

The stats are published by the Central Statistics Office which has been publishing statistics on arrivals from Ukraine into Ireland May.

The latest 75 arrivals represents a rise from just over 40 people who moved to Laois between November and December.

Of the total, 337 are residing in the Portlaoise Municipal District. This takes in Abbeyleix and Ballinakill and stretches to the Kilkenny border.

The Portarlington - Graiguecullen Municipal District is home to 320 refugees. The district stretches from the Offaly border, along Kildare to Carlow and Kilkenny.

The biggest rise is in the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District which stretches from the Offaly border to the boundaries with Tipperary and Kilkenny. There are now 216 people living in this area compared with 168 refugees on December 11.

The number of children from Ukraine has risen from 183 in December to 210 in February. Of these, 128 are in primary school and 82 in secondary school.

The figures also show that there are now 139 Laois hosts in receipt of Accommodation Recognition Payment for housing some of the refugees in their homes. That's up from 114 in December and 97 in November.

Laois has fewer refugees than Carlow which is accommodating 1,014 Ukrainians. Kilkenny has 1,417 people who have fled the war. There are 1,190 refugees in Tipperary. There were 1,179 people living in Kildare. Offaly is the only county that borders Laois with fewer Ukrainians where there are 671 living.

Nationally, the CSO says that as of the week ending February 12, 2023 a total of 74,458 people have arrived from Ukraine. This is up from the 67,448 Personal Public Service Numbers (PPSNs) issued to individuals from Ukraine under the Temporary Protection Directive on December 11 2022.

Women and men, aged 20 and over, made up 46% and 21% respectively of arrivals to date, while 33% were people aged under 20. Of all arrivals to date aged 18 and over, 62% of males and 47% of females were married or cohabiting.

There were 12,622 arrivals enrolled in further education and training courses on February 1 2023, of which 10,680 enrolled in further education English language courses.

As of February 12, 28,774 arrivals had attended an employment support event arranged by Intreo Public Employment Services. Of those 70% (or 20,016 persons) noted that English language proficiency was a challenge in securing employment.

Of the 28,774 arrivals that attended an Intreo event, 14,890 had recorded previous occupations, with professionals being the largest group at 31% (or 4,680 persons).
The Prime Minister will keep working towards securing a post-Brexit deal after plans for an in-person meeting with the European Commission president was called off.

After having positive discussions with Rishi Sunak on Friday, Ursula von der Leyen was expected to arrive in Britain on Saturday for further talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

But UK Government sources confirmed Ms von der Leyen was no longer scheduled to make the journey to the UK.

Some reports suggested Downing Street had hoped she would shake hands on a revised pact while visiting, while Sky News reported that she was also scheduled to meet the King at Windsor Castle on Saturday.

The broadcasters report said the meeting could have been interpreted as Charles endorsing the deal that the Prime Minister is attempting to negotiate with the European Union in order to solve Brexit-related issues.

Baroness Hoey, a Northern Irish Brexit supporter and former Labour MP, tweeted: If true, I cannot believe that even the advisers around Rishi Sunak, who clearly dont understand Northern Ireland, could have even contemplated this.

Would be outrageous and I believe King Charles would not have agreed to it.

UK Government sources said that, while Ms von der Leyens trip was no longer going ahead, it would not have been improper for the King, as head of state, to have met a visiting European leader.

It would be wrong to suggest the King would be involved in anything remotely political, a Government source told the PA news agency.

Buckingham Palace said it would not comment.

No 10 said further talks between Mr Sunak and Ms von der Leyen would occur within the coming days, without being more exact on timings.

Speculation that No 10 is preparing to confirm a deal to fix the protocol intensified on Friday after a Downing Street source said good progress had been made during a phone call between the Prime Minister and the president.

The pair have spoken three times in the past week, including holding face-to-face conversations on the fringes of the Munich security conference last Saturday.

Unusually, Downing Street declined to set out Mr Sunaks plans for the weekend.

With Cabinet ministers reportedly on alert for a possible conference call over the weekend and Tory MPs being ordered into Parliament on a three-line whip on Monday, Westminster has been braced for a No 10 protocol announcement.

The protocol, signed by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020, was designed to prevent a hard border with Ireland after Brexit by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the European Unions single market.

But the treaty has incensed unionists due to the trade barriers it has created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Mr Sunak had reportedly been keen to announce a deal this week but No 10 said on Friday that intensive negotiations with Brussels were still under way.

According to The Times, the current offer on the table would mean an overhauled protocol that would remove almost all checks and most paperwork on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

Any announcement of a deal is expected to set up a possible clash with Conservative Brexit hardliners.

Mr Sunak has promised the House of Commons will be able to express its view on his fresh protocol terms, which he hopes will get the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.

The DUP has issued seven tests to win its backing for any deal, including addressing what it calls the democratic deficit of Northern Ireland being subject to EU rules while not having a say on them.

The Daily Telegraph, which reported that a breakthrough could come over the weekend, said it was understood the DUP is set to be granted a place at the negotiating table when new EU laws that are applicable in Northern Ireland are being written.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2023 will run from Monday, February 27, until Sunday, March 12.

Fairtrade Fortnight is the highlight of the year, when campaigners, businesses, schools, and places of worship show their support for the farmers and workers who grow our food in developing countries.

Fairtrade is based on a partnership between some of the most disadvantaged farmers and workers in the developing world and the people who buy their products.

When farmers and workers can sell on Fairtrade terms, it provides them with a better opportunity to improve their lives and plan for their future.

This Fairtrade Fortnight, join us in spreading a simple message: Be Fair-Do Sustainable. Choose Fairtrade now and help save our favourite foods as well as farmers livelihoods, and the environment!

Adou Boa Jean Baptiste Ehouman, a cocoa farmer in Cote dIvoire tells us, It is important to share that with climate change the production is low and impacts our financial means.

This means cocoa, bananas and coffee products could soon be much more difficult to find on our shelves! https://www.fairtrade.ie/ fortnight/

Carrick-on-Shannon Fairtrade Steering Group will be hosting awareness events to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight.



Coffee Morning and Parade

On Monday, February 27, at 10am in Esquires Coffee House, there is a Fairtrade Coffee Morning to mark the launch.

And on Tuesday, March 7, at 11am, Fairtrade supporters are invited to assemble at Kellys Shop and will parade through the town to the Market Yard.

More of us choosing Fairtrade means extra income, power, and support for those communities, as they work to build sustainable and prosperous futures. Thats the good news. Choosing Fairtrade is better for people and planet, and it could help save everyday treats like chocolate, bananas, and a cuppa!

The Carrick-on-Shannon Fairtrade Steering Group would like to take this opportunity to thank all the businesses and customers who continue to support this worthy cause.

For further information logon to: https://www.fairtrade.ie/ fortnight/
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New Delhi, Feb 25 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held productive talks here today, with the discussions focusing on boosting their trade ties, as well as in the field of renewable energy, green hydrogen and security cooperation.

PM Modi, in tweets on the talks said:

Held productive talks with Chancellor @OlafScholz.

Our talks focussed on ways to boost India-Germany cooperation and further augment trade ties. We also agreed to deepen ties in renewable energy, green hydrogen and biofuels. Security cooperation was also discussed.

He said the two leaders also met top CEOs to discuss ways to strengthen the economic cooperation.

Chancellor @OlafScholz and I met top CEOs to discuss ways to strengthen economic relations between our nations. Sectors like digital transformation, FinTech, IT and Telecom featured prominently in the meeting.

The German Chancellor, in a tweet ahead of the talks, said:

Prime Minister @narendramodi received me warmly in sunny New Delhi. It is already our fourth meeting. #India and Germany have very good relations and want to strengthen them. That will be the topic of our talks and, importantly, peace in the world.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz also called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In her comments, President Murmu said that as vibrant and pluralist democracies, India and Germany can play an important role in addressing new and emerging global challenges, a tweet from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

The two countries today inked two government-to-government outcomes, including a Vision Document on Innovation and Technology, as well as some business-to-business outcomes during the India visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The two government-to-government outcomes are: India-Germany Vision to Enhance Cooperation in Innovation and Technology; and a Letter of Intent between the Department of Science & Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems for Cooperation in Green Hydrogen and Clean Energy Technologies.

The B2B Outcomes/Announcements include:

Announcement on organization of the Asia Pacific Conference (APK) in India in 2024; An MoU between Skill Council of Green Jobs and Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft e.V.; and SFC Energy AG and FC TecNrgy Pvt Ltd: Incorporation of SFCs Indian subsidiary and cross-shareholding with Indian partner.

The Vision Document has five key elements: Energy partnership and clean technologies, including green hydrogen; Strengthening the framework and ecosystem for Indo-German business relations to thrive;

Digital technologies, including fintech; Artificial Intelligence; and the opportunity for both sides to cooperate in next gen telecom tech like 5G, 6G.

The Vision Document said that "India and Germany aim to utilize synergies and institutional linkages forged between the two countries through existing cooperation.

"On the occasion of their meeting on 25th February 2023 in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi and Chancellor Scholz agreed to deepen and widen this cooperation and to work towards a roadmap for innovation and technology with a view to using scientific and technological knowledge for the economic development of both countries as well as to address global challenges.

"India and Germany recognize the close ties that have been nurtured through the decades, reaffirmed in 2022 by the India-German Green and Sustainable Development Partnership (GSDP), and acknowledge the positive and proactive roles of the governments, institutions, academia and industry on both sides, which has led to the emergence of Germany as one of Indias prime partners for technological collaborations."

UNI RN
The recent government decision to allow an investment fund to plant forestry on Coillte land has been described as a disaster for Leitrim.

Thats the view of the local Sligo/Leitrim branch of the Social Democrats, which called the deal with Gresham House investment fund a corporate land-grab of huge swathes of rural Ireland.

Instead of dealing with developing forestry in a way that supports biodiversity, sustainability and respects the people who live here, the coalition has facilitated this bad deal, branch member Faye Hayden said.

Faye Hayden, spokesperson, Social Democrats Sligo-Leitrim

In addition, Coillte makes a profit of 100 million a year and has a landbank of over 1.1 million acres. So why exactly does it require the involvement of a UK-based investment firm? she asked.

The Save Leitrim campaign has long stood against the pollution of commercial forestry plantations in the county and demonstrates the widespread opposition to a profit-led forestry policy that ignores the needs of both the environment and the people of Leitrim.

Leitrim wants and needs investment in our futures, but not of this kind. Deals that damage our local environment and its inhabitants, human and otherwise, cannot be hidden in smaller counties in the hope no one will notice or care.

We have noticed, and we do care and we shouldn't submit to this. We all need to stand up against big businesses destroying small communities, she urged.
The new E10 fuel blend is due to be introduced to Ireland by April 1, but is your car ready for it?

E10 fuel contains a higher level of bioethanol  an alcohol-based fuel made from distilling plants  than current E5 fuel. The 10 refers to 10 per cent, the level of bioethanol in the fuel with the remaining 90 per cent made up of standard unleaded petrol.

According to the Department of Transport, switching to E10 fuel could see an estimated potential tailpipe carbon savings of between 330,000 and 550,000 tonnes of CO2eq from now to 2030. Thats because, in theory, if you make some of your petrol from plants, those plants have already absorbed carbon dioxide from the air when they were grown. Converting them into fuel and burning that fuel means that youre only releasing carbon already removed from the atmosphere. The idea is that the fuel becomes carbon neutral.

There are concerns however that the new fuel blend could be corrosive to some parts of a cars engine and fuel system. The concern lies, especially with older or vintage cars. Every new car sold in Ireland since 2011 has had to be compatible with E10 fuel, as per European Union regulations. Some motoring groups are also saying that the new E10 petrol will be burned faster and so that could mean more time at the pumps filling up.
A police officer has been treated in hospital for injuries after being dragged along the ground by a car in north Belfast.

The incident happened as police investigated a report of a car stolen from Cullybackey, Co Antrim on Thursday.

It was spotted in the forecourt area of a petrol station on the Antrim Road at around 9.30pm.

As officers approached the vehicle and spoke with the driver, he reversed at speed and dragged an officer along the ground before making off and colliding with another car, police said.

The officer sustained injuries to both his knees and hands and required hospital treatment, a PSNI spokesperson said.

It is completely unacceptable what happened and he was injured just for doing his job.

This is a prime example of dangerous and reckless driving and it could have had the most serious of consequences for our officer and the public.

Police received a further report that the vehicle had collided with another car on the Antrim Road and had been seen driving erratically.

Two men have been arrested.

Police have made an appeal for anyone who was in the area at the time and witnessed what happened or has dash-cam footage that could help with enquiries, to call police on 101, quoting reference number 1764 of 23/02/23.

Meanwhile in Co Tyrone, a PSNI vehicle was damaged in the Lifford Road area of Strabane after it was struck by an articulated lorry on Thursday evening.

The driver of the lorry, which had been reported stolen from the Donegal area, failed to stop for gardai in the Lifford Bridge area and drove off towards Strabane.

It failed to stop for police in Strabane, driving on and colliding with the back of a parked police vehicle causing some damage.

No officers were in the vehicle at the time.

A 37-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and handling stolen goods.

Police are working with the Garda and have appealed for anyone who captured dash cam footage to call 101 and quote 1894 23/02/23.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is no longer expected to travel to the UK to meet Rishi Sunak on Saturday, Government sources have confirmed.

After having positive discussions with the Prime Minister on Friday, Ms von der Leyen was expected to arrive in Britain for further in-person talks about the Northern Ireland Protocol.

According to Sky News, the commission leader was also scheduled to meet the King at Windsor Castle while in the UK on Saturday.

The broadcasters report said the meeting could have been interpreted as Charles endorsing the deal that the Prime Minister is attempting to negotiate with the European Union in order to solve Brexit-related issues.

UK Government sources said Ms von der Leyen was no longer expected to travel to Britain.

But they stressed it would not have been improper for the King, as head of state, to have met a visiting European leader.

It would be wrong to suggest the King would be involved in anything remotely political, a Government source told the PA news agency.

Buckingham Palace said it would not be commenting.

No 10 said talks between Mr Sunak and Ms von der Leyen would occur within the coming days, without being more exact on timings.

White smoke appeared to be on the horizon over a protocol fix after a Downing Street source said a phone call between the Prime Minister and the President on Friday had been positive and there had been good progress made.

No 10 sources also confirmed that Mr Sunak on Friday had constructive engagement with supermarket bosses and parcel operators about the protocol and the reforms he is striving to make.

They were developments that were interpreted as another step towards announcing a deal which is designed to reduce the customs headaches being encountered by retailers trading between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Speculation of an imminent deal increased further when it emerged Tory MPs were being ordered into Parliament on a three-line whip on Monday, while Cabinet ministers were reportedly on alert for a possible conference call over the weekend.

Unusually, Downing Street declined to set out Mr Sunaks plans for the weekend, only saying that he was working in No 10 on Friday.

The protocol, signed by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020, was designed to prevent a hard border with Ireland after Brexit by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the European Unions single market.

But the treaty has incensed unionists due to the trade barriers it has created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Mr Sunak had reportedly been keen to announce a deal this week but No 10 said on Friday that intensive negotiations with Brussels were still under way.

Any announcement of a deal is expected to set up a possible clash with Conservative Brexit hardliners.

Mr Sunak has promised that the House of Commons will be able to express its view over any deal, which he hopes will get the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.

But he would come under intense pressure if he does not give MPs an explicit vote, amid fears there could be a rebellion.

The Prime Minister, since entering No 10 in October, has backed away from reforms on contentious issues such as planning rules when confronted with a potential backbench revolt.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly indicated that ministers will not sign off a deal over the protocol until the DUPs concerns are addressed.

The DUP has issued seven tests to win its backing for any deal, including addressing what it calls the democratic deficit of Northern Ireland being subject to EU rules while not having a say on them.

Mr Cleverly said important principles, like Northern Irelands place as an integral part of the United Kingdom, were central to the cross-Channel negotiations.

He told Times Radio: When, hopefully, we get those issues resolved, then I would hope that the DUP would recognise that weve addressed their concerns and until we have addressed those concerns were not going to sign off on the deal.
Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed open cast mine in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of northern China, February 23, 2023. LIAN ZHEN / AP

Two days after a landslide in an open-cast mine in Inner Mongolia, northern China, six miners are dead and 47 are still missing. On Wednesday, February 22, a 180-meter-high section of the mine collapsed on workers. In the evening, a second landslide complicated rescue operations. The Ministry of Emergency Management called for "every effort to search for the missing people without delay, and not lose hope of finding them," the state-run China New News Agency said Friday. The state-run CCTV channel showed footage of firefighters from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region working at the site. On the day of the accident, footage taken by miners showed rocks falling from a hillside, and trucks disappearing under a thick cloud of dust.

Very common in the 1990s and 2000s, mine accidents have been less frequent in recent years, thanks to more rigorous standards and controls. But the decline in accidents is mainly due to the closure of many private, often illegal, mines where the majority of incidents were concentrated, as part of excess capacity reduction programs launched in the 2010s. Now, however, the opposite is happening: following major electricity shortages in 2021, China has asked coal companies to increase production to secure supplies to Chinese power plants. Despite the increase in renewables, coal still accounted for 56% of China's electricity generation in 2021, well ahead of oil (20%), gas (8%), hydro (7%), renewables (5%) and nuclear (2%).

By 2021, rising coal prices on international markets had led Chinese power producers to cut back on production, rather than produce at a loss as energy sales tariffs were capped. For months, from late summer until early 2022, Chinese factories were disrupted by power cuts. In some cities, heating and even street lighting were rationed. Since then, Beijing has made "energy security" a priority, ordering the sector to increase production to ensure low-cost coal for China. As a result, China's coal production reached an all-time high in November 2022 with 390 million tons in one month.

One fifth of CO 2 global emissions

But China's coal reserves are limited. Many of the mines in historic coal regions have been worked for more than a century, forcing companies to dig deeper and deeper, with higher costs. According to official statistics, the number of deaths per million tons of coal has fallen by 77.6% since 2012. It remains high  in 2022, the country had 367 accidents and 518 deaths in coal mining.

China's coal consumption is responsible for one-fifth of global CO 2 emissions. China is committed to peaking its emissions by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral by 2060. At the 20th Communist Party Congress in October, party general secretary Xi Jinping called for China's energy transition to be based on "the principle of building the new before abandoning the old." This means waiting until renewable energy sources have taken over before shutting down coal-fired power plants.

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Pedestrians walk past campaign posters of candidate Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, February 23, 2023. BEN CURTIS / AP

For the first time since the return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria may have a two-round presidential election. Never before has an election of this type seemed so open and unpredictable in the country. Outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari, 80, is completing his second term and cannot seek re-election, as determined by the Constitution.

During his administration, the West African giant has fallen into a serious economic crisis. The last few years have been marked by several controversial measures: Unilateral closure of its borders between August 2019 and December 2020, restrictions on imports of several basic foodstuffs, and more. At the end of October 2022, the central bank decided without consultation to replace all the country's banknotes with new denominations. This decision led to a huge cash shortage.

Read more Nigeria election: A disillusioned nation struck by economic frailties

On the security front, the picture is no better. In northeastern Nigeria, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) has overtaken Boko Haram, which still has some active groups. In the southeast, armed separatists have destroyed dozens of public buildings, polling stations and police stations, and killed many members of the security forces. In addition, armed groups known as "bandits" have been terrorizing the northwest, which has seen an explosion in kidnappings for ransom over the past two years.

Youth vote closely watched

On Saturday, February 25, 94 million voters are expected to cast their ballots in nearly 180,000 polling stations to elect Buhari's successor. The Nigerian youth vote will be particularly closely watched, with the under-35s representing 39% of the registered voters in a country where 65% of the population is under 25.

Four of the 18 candidates stand out on a stage dominated by politicians choosing docile successors and by money, which is used to buy the votes of the most vulnerable voters in a country where 112 million people  more than half the population  live on less than $1.90 dollars a day (1.80).

The two main candidates are both in their 70s. The incumbent majority party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is represented by Bola Tinubu, a 70-year-old former governor of Lagos who is considered the "kingmaker" of Nigerian politics. He is a Yoruba Muslim from the south of the country and relies on the huge network he built during his years at the helm of the megalopolis of more than 20 million people.

Read more Nigerian presidential election: How Bola Tinubu became the master of Lagos

Atiku Abubakar, a 76-year-old Hausa Muslim from northern Nigeria, is running in a presidential election for the sixth time, for the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). However, by winning his party's primary despite a rule that a candidate from the south of the country had to be chosen, he caused two notable defections. Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of the Muslim state of Kano  Nigeria's second most populous  broke ranks to join the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP). In addition, Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State in southeastern Nigeria, has distanced himself from the NNPP to run for the Labor Party (LP).

Two outsiders

Since then, these two outsiders have been giving the election campaign's frontrunners a hard time. Obi in particular has emerged as the third man in this presidential election and the voice of the youth. "The mere fact that he is still being talked about on the eve of the election is quite exceptional," confirmed Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, an analyst for the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja. The LP candidate was able to capitalize on the increasingly politicized urban youth's thirst for change. The #EndSars movement against police violence, which mobilized Nigerians in October 2020, is "proof that civic engagement is gaining ground in the country" according to Adekaiyaoja.

The fragmentation of the electorate along community and religious lines may also work in Obi's favor. As the only Christian candidate, he can also count on the votes of Igbo moderates in southeastern Nigeria  his ethnic group  who lack representation. "Many Nigerians feel that to survive in this country, they need to have someone from the same ethnic and religious group as them in power," the CDD analyst said, believing that "this trend has been accentuated under the Buhari administration."

Read more Nigeria's Igbo hesitate to vote in presidential election

However, Obi's chances of victory could be hurt by the low turnout in Nigeria. Records were broken during the 2019 elections, with only one third of voters taking part. The lack of security and severe cash shortage currently affecting the country could deter many from going to the polls. To win the election in the first round, a candidate must win a majority of votes and 25% of the vote in two-thirds of the country's 36 states, while securing a victory in the capital, Abuja.

Results are expected early next week, and the particularly uncertain outcome of the election has raised fears of post-election violence. "We believe it is vital for Nigeria's stability and democratic consolidation that the process is conducted and concluded safely, fairly and credibly," the United States, Australia, Norway, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement. On Twitter, President Buhari urged Nigerians to keep the country "safe, united and peaceful."

Liza Fabbian(Lagos (Nigeria) correspondent) Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.
France's military withdrawal from Burkina Faso sounds like a new admission of failure for Paris. By the end of February, French forces will have to leave the country, at the request of a junta that came to power in a coup on September 30, 2022  the second in eight months. In Burkina Faso as in Mali, where French soldiers were also ordered to leave by the junta last year, this break in military cooperation with Paris illustrates the depth of the divide that has continued to grow in recent months between a country whose anti-imperialist culture seems to be rising from its ashes and a former colonial power whose diplomacy is considered outdated.

Too much interference in substance, too much arrogance in form. In Burkina Faso, French policy is irritating a growing segment of public opinion. Resentment against Paris is so strong that stirring it up has become a way for these military officers who have assumed the role of statesmen to unite the people around their power, whose legitimacy is disputed. In the Sahel, a desert region of West Africa plagued by jihadist conflicts and repeated coups d'etat, "opposing French policy allows the military to gain and keep power," said a Burkinabe security source.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes 'It would be too easy to see the hand of Moscow as the sole reason behind France's spectacular ouster from Africa'

Captain Ibrahim Traore, the current president of Burkina Faso, has understood this since the first hours of his coup. While he struggled to remove Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba  who himself came to power in a coup in January 2022  his men accused France, live on national television, of protecting Damiba at the Kamboinsin camp, which houses French special forces.

Murky role

The expected effect was immediate: despite formal denials from Paris, hundreds of people took to the streets to express their support for the ongoing putsch. In Ouagadougou, the capital, demonstrators gathered in front of the Kamboinsin base, while the French embassy and Institut Francais were attacked. Two days later, Captain Traore took over as president and quickly unveiled his strategy: revising partnerships, starting with France, and diversifying them, most notably by moving closer to Russia.

In December 2022, the junta struck another blow against France by demanding the replacement of its ambassador, whose comments on Ouagadougou's "lack of results" in the fight against the growing terrorist groups were deemed offensive. Unsurprisingly, a large segment of public opinion applauded. Paris sees the finger-pointing as more of a product of deliberate instrumentalization than genuine disagreement. But the popularity of this decision, expressed in the press and social media, underlines how deeply grievances against French diplomacy are rooted.

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French soldiers on patrol in northern Burkina Faso, November 2019. MICHELE CATTANI / AFP

Their departure mirrored their arrival and action. On Saturday, February 18, the French Special Forces (SF) very quietly withdrew from Burkina Faso during a solemn flag-lowering ceremony at the Zagre military base. Located in Kamboinsin, on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, this ultra-secure military compound had been the main rear base of Operation Sabre, the French special forces' operation in the Sahel region of West Africa.

This departure came at the end of the one-month deadline the French had been given to leave the country following the breakdown of the defense agreement between Paris and Ouagadougou. Since the arrival in power of Captain Ibrahim Traore and his men after a coup d'etat in September 2022  the second in eight months  the end of Operation Sabre had been one of the main demands of the demonstrators regularly massed in the capital on weekends in support of the junta. Defiance toward the French had grown as armed terrorist groups extended their hold on the country, where they now control 40% of the territory.

Read more Burkina Faso declares French army operation officially over

While most of the French special forces  who at their peak numbered 400  have already left Ouagadougou, Operation Sabre will remain present in West Africa. Several countries have been mentioned as possible fallback bases, including Cote d'Ivoire, where France has one of its largest military presence on the continent (900 men), and Niger, where a significant portion of Operation Barkhane's resources was relocated in 2022.

Blaise Compaore, a dear and self-interested friend of France

The SF's departure marks the end of more than 20 years of French military presence in Burkina Faso that initially resulted from a constrained choice, a mix of security and political contingencies. In 2009, French military strategists drew up a plan to secure the Sahel in response to the growing number of attacks and hostage-takings by Islamist groups. French President Nicolas Sarkozy had no intention of launching a large-scale armed operation, unlike his successor Francois Hollande who eventually did with Operation Serval in 2013, which was followed by Operation Barkhane. France needed a drop-off point for elements of the SF.

Amadou Toumani Toure, the Malian president at the time, and his neighbor in Niger, Mamadou Tandja, had difficult relations with their French counterpart and refused to implement a military force. Only Mauritania initially responded favorably. A detachment of SF first settled in Atar, a small desert town in the west of the country that presented several advantages for Paris. The army already had some reference points there, as the town was used as a garrison for colonial troops until the 1960s. Atar also had the benefit of having an airport from which it was easy to take off to launch operations without being too visible. But this first SF detachment soon proved too off-centered to cover the entire Sahel.

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At Bernard Kryger's home in Paris in March 2022, with a photo of his mother and two sisters and a photo of his parents. ANAIS BARELLI FOR "LE MONDE"

What we reported

A series of articles about the survivors of the Vel' d'Hiv roundup published in Le Monde in July 2022 told the story of Bernard Kryger. The Parisian Jew was 5 years old at the beginning of the summer of 1942, when he was entrusted to family friends, the Horowitzes. They took him to Corps-Nuds (Brittany), where they had a country home.

That is how young Kryger escaped the arrests conducted on July 16 and 17, 1942. The boy had only vague memories of his stay in Brittany. He just remembered being baptized; a certificate of Catholic faith was supposed to protect him from anti-Semitic raids. He adopted Yves as his middle name, after the teenager who became his godfather. Yves's mother was a neighbor of the Horowitzes. He called her "Aunt Aimee" and often played at her house.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes 'The policeman told my mother: "Don't sleep at home tonight, there will be a raid tomorrow morning"'

Sometime later, Kryger left Corps-Nuds. He crossed the demarcation line to find his mother and two sisters, who had also fled the capital. His father had been arrested the year before and deported to Auschwitz. The Krygers took refuge with the Boussarie family, who were farmers in La Peyzie (southwestern France). Andre and Elise Boussarie hid the Krygers until the Liberation and were awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations on August 21, 2013.

What has happened since

When she discovered the Le Monde article, 82-year-old Juliette Soulabaille, honorary mayor of Corps-Nuds and passionate about her town's history, began researching the main people involved. "No one knew anything about it," said Soulabaille. Persistent, she finally found Kryger's baptism certificate in the parish registers. It was dated August 15, 1942  Assumption Day. Kryger used the last name of "Aunt Aimee" and his godfather Yves: Priac. Mother and son have since died, Aunt Aimee in the post-war period and Yves in 1993. But Soulabaille found Yves's daughter and Aimee's granddaughter.

Annick Priac is now 70 years old. Kryger's story was a family secret. Only her mother vaguely mentioned it shortly before her death in 2009. Priac recalled, "She simply told me that my grandmother had taken care of a Jewish child and that it was a secret," as if the Gestapo could still knock at the door. "My father, who I was very close to, never told me about it. I suppose that, for him, it was all normal. As for my grandmother, she was not much of a talker." After inheriting the family photo album, Annick came across a photo of a child standing next to Aimee, who was plucking a chicken. She did not know who the boy was. The mystery was solved in mid-November 2022, thanks to Soulabaille.

At the honorary mayor's initiative, Kryger returned to Corps-Nuds. He became an honorary citizen during a small ceremony organized at the town hall and found the house where he had taken refuge. He brought home copies of his baptismal certificate and the photo from Annick's album. Above all, he met Annick, who told him about Yves and Aimee. The visit shed much light on his wartime experiences. "These reunions have brought my story full circle," said the octogenarian.

Benoit Hopquin Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.
A MAN with 112 previous convictions broke into a house owned by a woman that he knew, while she was in a park with her son, Limerick Circuit Court heard.

Michael Kirby, aged 39, of Hyde Road, Limerick pleaded guilty to burglary arising from an incident at Little OCurry Street, Limerick city on September 18, 2022.

Prosecuting barrister, John O'Sullivan, instructed by state solicitor Padraig Mawe, said the injured party left the house at 4.18pm on that date to bring her son to the Peoples Park in Limerick city.

She noticed the accused and a lady who we will call Ms X heading towards the gate at Pery Square. The injured party knew the accused. She had CCTV cameras at her house. She got a buzz alarm on her phone. It was a motion sensitive system. Ms X was pacing up and down outside her house while Mr Kirby was in the house, said Mr OSullivan, who added the while the victim knew Mr Kirby and Ms X she is not associates with them.

Among the items stolen were a handbag valued at 240, three tablets, an engagement ring, a number of mobile phones, a gold chain, a drill, 120 in cash, a jewellery box and prescription inhalers in their original packaging.

Mr OSullivan said the fact that the victim knew and had always been nice to Mr Kirby and Ms X made the sense of violation worse.

The barrister said the injured party works two jobs.

Mr OSullivan said gardai arrested Mr Kirby at 6.50pm that day - a short time later. He was charged and was refused bail on September 19, 2012 and has been in custody since.

Detective Garda David McGrath said a number of items were recovered from a bin but not everything that was stolen.

The jewellery was not recovered, he told the court.

Mr OSullivan said Mr Kirby is a recidivist with 112 previous convictions including for burglary, robbery, false imprisonment, assault causing harm.

Kenneth Kerins BL, who represented the accused, said his client had written a letter, apologising for his actions. The letter was read out to the court.

Mr Kirby said he had previously left Limerick and got a job in a hotel in Donegal.

My partners sister passed away and we returned to Limerick. I started drinking and fell into the habit of taking cocaine. I promise not to come before the court again. Im sorry for my actions. I want to change for the better, read the letter.

Mr Kerins said Mr Kirby engaged with An Garda Siochana and has sought help with his drug addiction.

He has engaged with drug counselling (Merchants Quay Project) and has employment prospects in Donegal, said Mr Kerins.

Judge Tom ODonnell said Mr Kirbys list of previous convictions is appalling.

While quite a bit (of what was stolen) was retrieved, quite a lot of items and with sentimental value effectively disappeared, said Judge ODonnell, who added that the victim worked two jobs to keep herself and her family in the manner they were accustomed.

The judge said unfortunately this type of crime is very, very common.

While noting Mr Kirby was caught red-handed on CCTV the judge said he was giving credit for his guilty plea so the injured party didnt have to come to court to give evidence.

He sentenced him to two and a half years' imprisonment.
THE UPGRADE of bus routes for 2023 has been announced, with Limerick benefitting from three new or enhanced routes in total.

The Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan TD, with the National Transport Authority (NTA) launched the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan for 2023 on February 17.

Described as being one of the most ambitious plans yet for rural transport, 67 new or enhanced Connecting Ireland bus services are proposed, strengthening existing services and connecting more towns across the state.

New or enhanced routes planned for Limerick this year include: NenaghLimerick, Athlone-NenaghLimerick and LimerickKilfinane.

Commenting on the launch, Minister Eamon Ryan said: Massively improving rural transport is one of my key priorities as Minister for Transport. The Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan, launched in 2021, has already played a key role in towns and villages across Ireland and providing people with new choices to travel by bus.

But now, we want to go further and build on that success with many more new and enhanced routes planned for 2023.

In 2022, almost 4m was invested in implementing Connecting Ireland bus services, but this year that figure will double to 8.5m provided by the Department of Transport and NTA.

Minister Eamon Ryan added: We know from last years statistics that people respond positively to new routes and services, backed up by our new cheaper fares.

Young people, in particular, are choosing to use public transport more, which is great - Its more convenient, its more accessible and frequent than its been and its cheaper, said the Minister.

The more people choose public transport the better it is for our environment as well - Public transport, both rural and urban, is a key to Ireland meeting our emissions targets.

The response by customers to new services in rural Ireland has been very strong, with passenger numbers on buses returning to pre-Covid levels. The annual passenger journey figure for 2019 was 2.5m. Covid had a serious impact on passenger numbers in 2020 and 2021, but in 2022, they rose to 2.8m.

Weekly passenger numbers peaked at over 45,000 during November and December 2022, confirming peoples desire to use the enhanced services.

CEO of the NTA, Anne Graham said: NTA is proud to launch our Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan for implementation in 2023, which will deliver better access to safe, reliable, and more frequent bus services connecting towns and villages.

The NTA is continuing its efforts to improve rural bus services and we are committed to continuing to develop connectivity through the phased rollout of new and enhanced bus services this year and in future years.
LOCAL producers have landed in Berlin for a prestigious film festival.

For the first time since 2020, Film in Limerick sees a delegation of Mid-West producers travel to the capital of Germany for the European Film Market (EFM) at the Berlinale, taking place from February 16 to 26.

Run in conjunction with Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, the delegation support three local producers to attend one of the top international film markets in the world.

Attended by over 8,300 international industry professionals, the EFM is where independent film producers find partners and funding to make their projects a reality.

An initiative of Innovate Limerick through Film in Limerick saw local producers Alanna MacNamee, Gregory Burrowes and Pius McGrath travel to Berlin to experience a working film market, as well as attend industry training events.

According to Regional Film Manager, Paul C Ryan, the key to a successful and sustainable independent film scene in the Mid-West is to invest in developing local creative producers.

They are the ones who will ultimately find and develop ideas and talent and help to drive new projects. This initiative, with the support of Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, will allow more of our producers to begin to work at an international level and to build their networks and knowledge, he commented.
LIMERICK IFA has bestowed John OShea of the Kildimo branch with the associations highest accolade - IFA Honorary Life Membership.

Sean Lavery, Limerick IFA chairman, said Mr OShea is a very well-known livestock and sheep farmer and has been a very active member of IFA at local, county and national level over the years.

The certificate of life membership was presented by Damian McDonald, director general of IFA, at the well-attended Limerick IFA AGM in the Woodlands House Hotel.

The occasion brought back memories for Mr OShea who recalled travelling to Dublin in 1966 to support those farmers who marched as part of the farmers rights campaign - over half a century ago.

John has always been vocal at county executive level demanding action whenever farmers incomes were under pressure in the beef and sheep sectors as they inevitably were over the years.

John represented Limerick on the Western Committee of IFA and played a big part in the classification of much of Limerick into the Disadvantaged Areas. This had a major economic benefit for Limerick farmers. Later, John represented Limerick beef and suckler farmers on IFAs National Livestock Committee, said Mr Lavery.

At a time in the 1980s when there was a lot more sheep in Limerick, Mr OShea was the founding chairman of the Limerick Lamb Producers Group. He was also a finalist in the Sheep Farmer of the Year competition in 1991

John and his family supported local sheep farmers by hosting Teagasc demonstrations on sheep management and health, said Mr Lavery.

The event was also a proud night for Mr OSheas family. Married to Mary, they have three sons - John, Morgan and Michael.

John and Morgan continue as beef and sheep farmers. The trio are regular attendees at Kilmallock Mart.
IT'S A WONDERFUL start to the weekend for the former Limerick TD Tom Neville and partner Jenny Dixon as they welcomed twin girls to the world!

Taking to social media this evening, Jenny, who previously starred as KerriAnn on Fair City posted a picture of herself and Tom with the two little bundles of delight.

Bella Sky Neville and Capri Lucia Neville were born on Monday last, and are doing well, Jenny stated in a tweet.

"We love you so much," she added.

Jenny paid tribute to Prof Jennifer Donnelly and her team of midwives and staff at the Rotunda Hospital.

Myself & @TweetNeville are delighted2 welcome our beautiful twin daughters2 the world. Bella & Capri were born 20.2.23. Bella Sky Neville and Capri Lucia Neville we love you so much. In nicu & doing well. Prof JenniferDonnelly &team of midwives &staff @RotundaHospital thank you pic.twitter.com/WQfT3mRgoh  Jenny Dixon (@JennyleeDixon) February 24, 2023

The couple revealed back in November that Jenny was 17 weeks pregnant with twins.

The actress said: "Just when we thought it may never happen. It happens. Some kind of sacred magic. Faith, positivity, determination and an act of God."

The pair, who wed in Dublin in July 2019, recently moved from Limerick to London, so that Tom, a former Fine Gael TD could take up a new opportunity with social media giants TikTok.

Tom, former Fine Gael TD for Co Limerick retweeted his partner's tweet with six heart emojis, while congratulations have begun pouring in for the happy couple from across Ireland.

Former mayor of Limerick Cllr Daniel Butler tweeted in response to Mr Neville: "Congrats! Health and happiness to mother and babies. Welcome to the best job in the world mate!"

And his ex-Dail colleague, Galway TD Hildegarde Naughton added: "Congratulations to you both. What wonderful news! Every good wish to you, Jenny & your beautiful baby girls".

Former Fine Gael TD Pat Deering also offered his congratulations.

Prior to his cross-channel move Tom, who hails from Croagh, had two spells as a local councillor, followed by a term as a Dail TD following in his father Dan Neville's footsteps.
PICTURES: BRENDAN GLEESON

Members of the Ukrainian community in Limerick rallied in Arthurs Quay park to mark the anniversary of the start of the Russian war against Ukraine.

Organised by refugee and migrant rights support organisation, Doras, the Standing for Peace rally saw an estimated crowd of 400 gather in Limerick to show solidarity with Ukraine.

To commemorate the first anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion, the event took place on Saturday, February 25 along the banks of the river Shannon.

Speaking of the devastating invasion, CEO of Doras, John Lannon, said: Its so devastating that millions of people have had to leave. Over 70,000 have come to Ireland, and over 1000 have come to Limerick, many of them are here with us today.

He added: It's wonderful to see the turnout from the Ukrainian community and from Irish people as well. There are many Irish people that have now got Ukrainian friends, friends for life.

Many Ukrainians have come here to gather today. For them, its important to do that as well, to be with each other in solidarity as their country, and their families at home suffer, John concluded.

For up to the minute news, please stay with www.limericklive.ie

Alternatively, keep an eye on our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Ford has revealed that it will be launching a brand new electric SUV on March 21, 2023. This highly anticipated vehicle is set to be the company's first model based on Volkswagen's MEB platform, which is designed specifically for electric vehicles. As part of the Ford-VW alliance, the American automaker is developing two models utilizing this platform, and the upcoming electric SUV is one of them.

Ford's new electric SUV, which is set to be based on Volkswagen's MEB platform, is expected to be a medium-sized crossover. Given that this platform already underpins Volkswagen's ID.3 and ID.4 electric crossovers, this is not surprising.

The automaker's teasers for the upcoming SUV suggest that it will incorporate design elements and styling from other Ford models, but with a futuristic twist. In a recently released teaser video, the SUV's aero wheels are prominently displayed, while previous teasers have hinted at the model's L-shaped daytime running lights.

Details regarding the powertrain options for the new Ford electric SUV remain unclear, but it's reasonable to assume that the vehicle will feature similar battery packs and motors as those used in other models. Currently, Volkswagen's ID.4 GTX employs a dual-motor, all-wheel drive system with approximately 300 bhp and 460 Nm of peak torque. Whether or not Ford will have access to the same powertrain options through its partnership with Volkswagen has yet to be seen.

Ford's forthcoming electric SUV is set to be positioned between the Puma electric crossover, arriving in developed markets next year, and the Mach-E in the company's lineup. The new offering will be locally manufactured in Cologne, Germany and is part of the automaker's larger strategy to overhaul its European vehicle lineup. This will involve introducing three electric SUVs, two of which will be based on the MEB platform. In line with this strategy, models like the Ford Fiesta, Focus, and Mondeo have either been discontinued or will be phased out by 2025. Ford plans to transition to an all-electric passenger vehicle lineup in Europe by the end of 2030, with commercial vehicles following suit at a later date.

Ford's upcoming electric SUV will face competition from the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 in the segment. However, there is currently no information regarding the automaker's plans to introduce electric vehicles in India. While Ford has committed to launching halo products like the Mach-E and the Mustang, it remains to be seen whether the company will bring in premium electric vehicles in the future.
The Nissan Magnite compact SUV has received updates, including enhanced safety features as standard and compliance with the upcoming Real Driving Emissions (RDE) norms. These updates include Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), Traction Control System (TCS), Hill Start Assist (HSA), Hydraulic Brake Assist (HBA), and Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), all of which are now standard across the entire Magnite range.

As part of the update, Nissan has removed certain features from the Magnite SUV. For instance, the XV variant no longer comes with LED fog lamps, which are only available on the top-spec XV Premium. The mid-spec XL variant has also lost the rear parcel shelf and front tweeters. The prices of the Magnite range from 5.97 lakh to 10.94 lakh, but these are expected to be revised with the update.

Previously, only the turbo-petrol variants of the Magnite had features such as ESC, Traction Control, and Hill-Start Assist, while the tyre pressure monitoring system was only available on the higher variants of both the turbo and naturally aspirated versions of the compact SUV. However, with this update, all of these active safety features are now standard, even on the base XE variant. Recently, the Renault Kiger, which is a cousin model of the Magnite, also received these safety features as standard.

It is noteworthy that the Magnite still only comes with dual front airbags, while many of its competitors, such as the Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, and Renault Kiger, provide at least four airbags on their higher variants. Additionally, Nissan has not yet made ISOFIX child-seat mounts standard across the Magnite range.

Nissan has only updated the safety features on the Magnite, with no changes to the exterior or mechanicals. The compact SUV still comes with two engine options  a 1.0-liter naturally aspirated petrol producing 72hp and a 1.0-liter turbo-petrol producing 100hp. Both engines are offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard, while the turbo-petrol variant also offers a CVT option.
Online fashion platform, Meesho does not have any plans for fundraising as of now. The company's CEO and co-founder Vidit Aatrey said they have more than enough money in the bank. In regards to the struggle which many startups have during the funding winter, he claimed that Mesho doesn't need to raise funds in any round now. Meesho has raised substantially in 2021! Although the next round of funding could be through an IPO.

Aatrey told exclusively Business Today that "we are fortunate that we raised a substantial amount of money in 2021, much more than we needed."

He told the media channel that as of now, the company doesn't have any plans of raising money because they have more than enough in the bank, and can keep running the business in a very healthy manner for many years.

The last time Meesho raised money was 15 months ago in September 2021. During this month, the company bagged fundraising of $570 million in a series F funding round led by Fidelity Investments and B Capital Group. Prior to this, the company had received $300 million in a series E funding round which was led by SoftBank Vision Fund.

If Meesho does plan for raising money in the future, the co-founder said there is a good likelihood that the next round of funding would be an initial public offering (IPO). He said, once the company gets to profitability, they are ready for an IPO.

During funding winter, claims were that Meesho has struggled to raise its next round, especially in late-stage deals. To which, Aatrey told BT that these are "undeterred". Instead, he claimed that Meesho doesnt need to raise a round now.

The news of Meesho's IPO has been circulating for quite some time now.

Last year, in September, at the company's town hall meeting, Aatrey said, Meesho is working on becoming Ebitda-positive by mid-2023 before going public. The recording of the meeting which was obtained by VCCircle showed aggressive plans to turn Ebitda positive.

It was also known that Aatrey was also considering dual listing, along the lines of Infosys and HDFC, which are listed in both India and the US.

Meta Platforms formerly known as Facebook and SoftBank are some of the major investors in Meesho.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to lead a delegation of officials and business leaders to India next month to discuss a comprehensive free trade agreement and assess investments in the countrys high-tech sector, people aware of the matter said. An interim deal between the two countries came into effect in December last year.

The negotiations are expected to cover additional market access commitments for goods and services, digital trade, and government procurement. It was wonderful to meet with Jaishankar this morning ahead of my trip to India next month. We discussed our strategic partnership, economic opportunities and the people-to-people ties that enrich our nations," Albanese said in a tweet.

Australian businesses will seek to strike deals in infrastructure, advanced design and the healthcare sector, the people said, requesting anonymity. Water resource management would be another key sector of interest. In the trade talks, Australia will want India to further reduce trade barriers, an Australian standing committee said in its report.

Queries sent to the ministry of commerce and industry and the Australian high commission in New Delhi remained unanswered.
New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday flagged the need for a common global understanding of challenges related to sovereign debt as world leaders gathered in Bengaluru for a G20 meeting discussing debt sustainability.

Nirmala Sitharaman co-chaired a roundtable on debt on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, along with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank president David Malpass.

The round table sought to address debt restructuring challenges and debt vulnerabilities.

The finance minister flagged "the need to acknowledge today's diverse creditor landscape and build a common understanding of challenges and ways to address them," finance ministry said in a social media post. Sitharaman also called for the voices of the vulnerable and under-represented debtor countries to be heard through the G20, as per the post.

Georgieva and Malpass called for faster debt restructuring processes and noted the debt forum was an opportunity to work together and help vulnerable countries, the ministry said.

Georgieva urged G20 leadership to strengthen the architecture of international financial.

"Sovereign debt vulnerabilities, already elevated before the pandemic, have been exacerbated by the shocks stemming from Covid-19 and Russias war against Ukraine. This is particularly the case for developing and low-income countries with very limited policy space and huge development needs," Georgieva said in her statement shared by IMF.

The international community has a responsibility to come together to find solutions for the most vulnerable members of our global family, the statement said. This calls for urgent action to strengthen the international financial architecture, especially in the area of debt resolution and strengthening the global financial safety net, Georgieva said.

She also said that it was imperative for the G20 to strengthen debt architecture. The G20 did so in 2020 with the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and by establishing the Common Framework (CF) for debt resolution, the IMF MD said.

"Since then, the common framework delivered a debt operation for Chad. It is now critical to complete Zambias debt restructuring, establish a creditor committee for Ghana, and advance work with Ethiopia. Nonetheless, more predictable, timely, and orderly processes are needed both for countries under the common framework and for those not covered by it, including Sri Lanka and Suriname," said Georgieva.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that Indias youth and their future have been given the most importance in the Union Budget for 2023-24. Addressing a post-budget webinar on Harnessing Youth power- Skilling and Education, PM Modi said that the National Education Policy (NEP) has reoriented the countrys education system in accordance with the demands of the future.

PM Modi said, The NEP has brought the flexibility and reoriented the education system according to the demands of the future...In Amrit Kaal budget, the youth and their future have been given most importance. For years, our education sector has been a victim of rigidity, weve tried to change it. Weve reoriented education and skilling according to aptitude of the youth demands of the coming times."

Equal emphasis is being given to both education and skilling as part of the New Educational Policy and expressed delight that this step has garnered the support of teachers, he said.

The prime minister also said that the move encourages the government to undertake further reforms in the education and skilling sectors while unburdening students from the regulations of the past.

Highlighting the experiences of the pandemic, the prime minister underlined that new technology was helping create new types of classrooms. He noted that the government was focussing on tools that ensure anywhere access to knowledge and gave the example of SWAYAM, an e-learning platform with 3 crore members.

Throwing light on on-the-job learning the prime minister noted the special emphasis by several countries and highlighted the efforts of the central government in providing focused internships and apprenticeships to give outside the classroom exposure to its youth.

Today there are about 75,000 employers on the National Internship Portal where requirements for 25 lakh internships have been posted so far," PM Modi said.

He urged the industry and educational institutions to make maximum use of this portal and expand the culture of internship in the country.

The prime minister expressed the belief that apprenticeships will make the youth future-ready and highlighted the efforts of the government in promoting apprenticeships in India. He said that this will help industries identificy workforce with the right skill set.

Throwing light on this years budget, PM Modi highlighted the provision of a stipend that has been made available for about 50 lakh youth under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme.

Underlining the need for a skilled workforce, the prime minister said that the world was looking at India as a manufacturing hub while being keen on investing in the country.

He underlined the focus on skilling in this years budget and mentioned the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 that will skill, reskill and upskill lakhs of youth in the coming years. He informed that programmes were being customised to meet the needs of tribals, differently-abled and women through this scheme.

PM Modi also highlighted the focus on creating a skilled workforce for Industry 4.0 for sectors such as AI, robotics, IoT, and drones, thereby making it easier for international investors to scout talent without having to spend much energy and resources on re-skilling.

Under the PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman Yojana, emphasis has given to skill development of traditional artisans, handicraftsmen, and artists to prepare them for a new market and also help in availing better prices for their products.
New Delhi: State-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda) plans to set up an office in Gujarats GIFT City to finance Renewable Energy projects in foreign currency. The office at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, will be classified as an overseas office, allowing Ireda avoid foreign exchange hedging costs.

The announcement was made by Pradip Kumar Das, chairman, and managing director, during a panel discussion on Scaling up Clean Energy Investment in Emerging Economies" under the aegis of G20 events at the ministry of new and renewable energy on 23 February.

He stressed on the significance of Green Taxonomy to raise the approximately a 25 trillion fund for green energy projects by 2030. He suggested that insurance and superannuation funds can be mandated to invest 2% of their assets under management in green bonds to finance green energy projects.

Speaking of the Iredas phenomenal growth over the past three years, Das said there has been a deep focus hand-holding stakeholders and providing support in compliance with best Corporate Governance Standards. As a result of Iredas proactive approach of proper review and monitoring, the company has been able to lower its net NPAs over the past three years to 2.03% from 7.18%.

He emphasized that Ireda has been working to ensure highest standards of corporate governance.

He also highlighted that all major multilateral and bilateral agencies such as World Bank, KfW, JICA, and ADB, etc. preferred to channel their funds through Ireda for renewable energy projects.
The deadline for individuals to submit an application for a higher pension under the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) is 3 March 2023. The Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) members as of September 1, 2014 would now be allowed to choose a higher pension based on their actual basic wages. This guideline has been announced by EPFO for old members to apply for higher pension and make higher contributions towards EPS at 8.33 percent instead of the maximum ceiling of 15,000 pensionable salary per month. So lets know from industry experts, whether employees should opt for higher pension or not.

Key benefits of choosing higher pension under EPS

Kuldeep Parashar, Co-Founder at PensionBox said As the world of work continues to evolve, it is increasingly important for individuals to take control of their financial future. This is particularly true when it comes to retirement planning, and the EPFO offers a valuable opportunity-cum-commitment to ensure that the individuals who are looking to secure their financial future in their golden years have the appropriate resources. By allowing eligible employees to contribute on higher wages prior to 2014, the EPS scheme enables individuals to increase their retirement corpus, which can provide financial stability during their golden years.We are passionate about creating awareness and hence, with a user base of 1 lakh individuals, we are well-positioned to help spread the word."

We believe that everyone contributing to the fund for many years and looking for a way to maximise their retirement savings have an excellent opportunity to secure their financial future, and that's why we are committed to helping our users take advantage of the benefits that come under the EPS scheme. As the world becomes increasingly uncertain, it is essential to have a robust retirement plan in place. The EPS scheme's higher pension benefits provide a much-needed safety for EPFO members, giving them peace of mind that comes with financial security and ensuring that they are well-prepared for whatever the future beholds," said Kuldeep Parashar.

Dr.K.Hema Divya, HoD, Dept of MBA, KL Business School said "The revised EPFO regulations were released two weeks prior to the Supreme Court's four-month deadline. With this new regulation, we will be able to have a higher pension with better contributions since the pension will be based on actual basic wages rather than on limiting the statutory wage ceiling. The key benefit of choosing a higher pension is that it enables you to accumulate a pension corpus, which will provide you with a guaranteed income after retirement. This is especially helpful if you have problems saving money, need a steady income, and have a tendency to overspend."

Factors to consider on higher pension as a member EPFO

The decision to opt for a higher pension as a member of the Indian Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) ultimately depends on your personal financial situation and retirement goals. Here are some factors to consider as suggested by Dr Shuchin Bajaj ,Founder, Director Ujala Cygnus group of Hospitals

Eligibility: To be eligible for a higher pension, you must have been a member of the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) for at least 10 years and have reached the age of 50 or 58 years (depending on when you joined the EPS).

Cost: Opting for a higher pension requires you to contribute more to the EPS. You can choose to contribute up to 8.33% of your salary to the EPS, but the employer contribution is limited to 8.33% of 15,000 per month (i.e., 1,250 per month). So, if your salary is more than 15,000 per month, you will have to make an additional voluntary contribution to the EPS to get a higher pension.

Benefits: A higher pension will provide you with a larger monthly income during your retirement years, which can be especially beneficial if you do not have other sources of retirement income. However, it is important to note that the EPS pension is a defined benefit plan, which means that the amount of your pension is predetermined based on your years of service and average salary, and is not subject to market fluctuations.

Long-term planning: You should consider your long-term retirement goals when deciding whether to opt for a higher pension. If you have other sources of retirement income (such as a personal pension or investments), you may not need a higher EPS pension. However, if you do not have other sources of retirement income, a higher EPS pension may be beneficial. The decision to opt for a higher EPS pension depends on your personal financial situation and retirement goals. You should carefully consider the costs and benefits before making a decision. It may be helpful to consult with a financial advisor to help you make an informed decision.

EPS and EPF contribution

Nikhil Vikamsey, Senior Partner Alpha capital said currently the employees and the employer contribute 12% of their basic salary and dearness allowance to their EPF account. Of the employers 12% contribution 8.33% goes to Employee Pension Scheme and 3.67% to EPF. However, this 8.33% EPS contribution is capped at maximum amount of 15000/- even when the employee draws a higher salary.

The Supreme court in its recent announcement has cleared that employees who were part of the EPF before 01/09/2014 but could not understand or exercise the joint option within 03/03/23 for such employees a higher EPS contribution will be calculated from the date of their joining.

For Example:

Mr. X became a member of the EPF in 1998.

He has not exercised the joint option.

His salary increased to Rs.50,000 in 2015.

His employer contributes Rs.6,000 (i.e. 12% of his basic wage) towards EPF.

Of the employers contribution, Rs.1,250 (i.e. 8.33% of Rs.15,000; the statutory wage cap) will go to the EPS.

The remaining Rs.4,750 (i.e. Rs.6,000 - Rs.1,250) will go to the EPF.

He exercises the joint option within 03/03/2023 as per the Supreme Court judgement since the EPS contribution is above the statutory wage cap of Rs.6,500.

After submitting the joint option, his employer will contribute Rs.4,165 (i.e. 8.33% of Rs.50,000; his actual salary) and Rs.1,835 (Rs.6,000 - Rs.4,165) towards EPF.

The EPFO will calculate the monthly EPS amount of 8.33% of the actual salary and transfer the difference amount from the EPF to the EPS.

In such cases, the EPFO will return to the joining date or 01/11/1995, whichever is later, and transfer the difference from the PF account to the EPS account. But, the higher pension contribution will reduce the EPF lumpsum corpus that the employee gets upon retirement.

Should you opt for it or not?

Nikhil Vikamsey said It benefits individuals who want a higher monthly pension but do not require a huge lump sum upon retirement. The higher pension contribution will increase the monthly pension amount but reduce the EPF lump sum given to employees upon retirement. Thus, individuals who have other investments and will receive a lump sum upon its maturity can opt for the higher pension scheme. However monthly pension is taxable, but lumpsum EPF amount given after retirement is tax exempted."
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that his sources have confirmed that Deputy CM Manish Sisodia will be arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday. Sisodia was called for questioning many times in regards to Delhi's liquor excise policy case on 19 February.

While speaking at a media summit, Kejriwal said, "CBI has called Manish Sisodia for questioning. Our sources are saying that he will be arrested on Sunday... It is very sad," as reported by ANI.

The Delhi Chief Minister further said that the CBI raided Sisodia's residence and searched his bank lockers, but nothing was found.

"CBI raided Manish Sisodia, searched his bank accounts, raided his house, searched his lockers, raided his office, raided properties in his village but nothing was found," said the Delhi CM.

Kejriwal said that Sisodia offered hope of a good future to crores of poor children in the country.

Lauding the Deputy Chief Minister for improving the education system in Delhi, Kejriwal said, "Manish Sisodia is the person, who after 75 years of independence has given hope to the poor people of this country that their children can also have a good future. Today in Delhi, the children of the poor are becoming doctors, engineers and lawyers. Manish Sisodia has given a lot of hope to them."

He claimed that a conspiracy has been hatched to defame such a person by framing him in a false case.

"If you arrest him and put him in jail in a false case, how will the country make progress? If the king of a country will send to jail those who give education to the children of the poor in that country and will hand over the entire country to two four friends, then how will the country progress?" he added.

Kejriwal also said that he first met Sisodia on December 29, 1999, when he was working in the Income Tax department.

Notably, Sisodia on Monday said that the CBI has called him for questioning on February 26 in connection with the Delhi liquor excise policy case.

Earlier, the CBI had asked Sisodia to appear for questioning on February 19. On last Sunday, Sisodia requested the central agency to defer questioning saying that he is "preparing the budget" at present and can only appear before it towards February-end.

Sisodia said that the Union Home Ministry's approval of his prosecution in the alleged "Feedback Unit" snooping case was "a sign of a coward" and that more claims would be filed as the Aam Aadmi Party grew. "Making false cases against your rivals is a sign of a weak and cowardly person. As the Aam Aadmi Party grows, many more cases will be filed against us," Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

In addition to bringing up the Adani issue, AAP MP Sanjay Singh claimed that the government is "scared" of AAP and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

In August last year, the CBI searched Sisodia's bank locker in connection with the case. The deputy CM claimed the sleuths did not find any incriminating material in his locker.

Officials informed PTI that Sisodia has not been named as accused in the charge sheet, however, the investigation against him and other suspects is still going on. Arrested businessmen Vijay Nair and Abhishek are among the seven accused named in the chargesheet.

Recently, the CBI arrested Butchibabu Gorantla, a former Chartered Accountant of K Kavitha, a BRS MLC in Telangana, and a daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The ED and the CBI had, last year, alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.

The CBI launched a probe in the matter on the basis of a report forwarded by the Delhi chief secretary to L-G Saxena recommending a probe by the central agency.

(With inputs from ANI)
Calling passport merely a document for travelling, 'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh on Saturday said he doesn't consider himself a citizen of India". He said that merely having a passport doesn't make him an Indian. The sympathizer of Khalistan separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Amritpal Singh said his remarks against Amit Shah were "not a threat" to the Union Home Minister, but rather a threat to them.

Amritpal Singh also told ANI that calling him a "terrorist is terrorism". He further claimed of working for the people of Punjab and has an influence on Punjab's youth for the right reasons". He further said that he has many political enemies" and he is against the bigger industries that are destroying the economy across the country.

Also Read: Whatever is happening in Punjab, had predicted it: Kangana Ranaut on Ajnala police station attack

On the issue of Khalistan, Amritpal Singh said Khalistan is a very normal discussion" in Punjab. He compared the demand for Hindu Rashtra with that of Khalistan and said the latter is very pure".

"Amit Shah had said that he won't let the Khalistan movement rise. I had said that the same was done by Indira Gandhi and if you do the same then you'd have to face consequences. If the Home Minister says the same to those demanding 'Hindu Rashtra', then I'll see if he remains Home Minister," Amritpal told ANI on February 23.

Also Read: Punjab govt bans public display of firearms, songs glorifying weapons

"That's what the problem is. When you are not Punjabi and do not visit the state very frequently, and when you see everything through media, it looks very scary. But it is not. Khalistan is a very normal discussion here. When Supreme Court says anybody can say Khalistan Zindabad, it's not a crime. An MP got elected saying 'Khalistan Zindabad' from Sangrur," he said.

He also said that whenever someone says chanting Khalistan Zindabad is bad, it is equal to challenging the Supreme Court". He also said that the idea of Hindu Rashtra is totally opposite to the idea of Khalistan. Hindu Rashtra does not include other identities, either you are a Hindu or dead. They don't give you options. The idea of Khalistan is so pure, it's idea is the raj of Khalistan."

Amrit Singh said Punjab is a peaceful state and claimed that he fights against drugs and encourages youths to come out of addiction. Amritpal Singh called the bigger industry as the destroyer of local economy. He said that people are calling him a terrorist because he is fighting against capitalism.

"I am fighting against bigger industries. The bigger industries are coming to Punjab and destroying the economy not just in Punjab but in every state. They are destroying the local businesses. Privatization is at its peak right now. When I speak against capitalism, these people are my enemies. They own the media houses. They call Amritpal a terrorist. Calling me a terrorist is a terrorism, when a person fights against terrorism and has an influence on youth, not for any wrong reasons, but for right reasons," he said.

Talking about the protest by his followers after the FIR registered against Lovepreet Singh, he said, "When the police started lathi-charge, I got out of my car and went in the front. What happened yesterday is now over. Punjab is not disturbed, but a peaceful state," he said while describing the Ajnala clashes with the police." He also called the violence during the protest a failure of the system.

Amritpal Singh claimed that he was doing the job of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann. He also mentioned how many months passed in the sacrilege case and Sidhu Mosse Wala got killed.

(With agency inputs)
Due to its short-term contracts or temporary labour with flexibility and freedom of workculture but no job security, India's gig economy is the sector of the workforce that is expanding at the fastest rate. Due to the agility, skill set, and lower cost of freelancers, organizations in today's digital age are altering their business models to draw in an increasing number of them. The Taskmo Gig Index (TGI) demonstrates that the post-layoff employment market is seeing tremendous growth in hiring demand for the Indian gig economy.

According to a Taskmo study, the platform's user base grew by 21% last month, while demand from recruiters saw a 5X spike in January 2023. While metro cities continue to retain the growing momentum for gig workers, it is encouraging to observe that prominent recruiters have established their roots throughout Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities like Indore, Bhopal, Ranchi, Lucknow, and Vadodara, which are picking up their route to gig jobs. Since that companies are extending their geographic reach outside metro areas by establishing additional offices in smaller towns, Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities have noticed an uptick in the demand for gigs. Using a tech-driven strategy, recruiters are going above and beyond to entice applicants from smaller cities, offering multilingual assistance, job tracking and monitoring tools, as well as payment simplicity. Furthermore, since many occupations may now be performed remotely, location is no longer a deciding factor.

The majority of gig workers are professionals who have had to develop new routines and methods of working since they are unable to secure jobs with long-term hiring commitments. They are no longer young individuals searching for seasonal labour. Gig workers are self-employed individuals who do not have an employer and do jobs independently or through third parties. The main benefit for companies hiring these workers is that it costs less than hiring permanent employees due to lower salaries, taxes, benefits, etc, the study report of Taskmo says.

Indian companies are rapidly searching for gig partners to cover responsibilities in tech gigs, content moderators, business development, telecallers, brand promotion, and micro-influencers as the digital upheaval sparked by the global pandemic continuously overhauls the marketing landscape. Another segment of laid-off employees decided to try their success in the gig economy, a new employment trend that has emerged as a result of the failure of start-ups. Almost 15 million gig workers are employed in India, and the gig economy is expanding quickly to meet the demands of millennials, Gen Z, and Y employees.

As India moves toward becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025, the gig economy serves as a building block that helps the economy achieve the final goal of eradicating the gap between unemployment and income. Freelancers, cleaners, delivery executives, bloggers, consultants, etc are a part of the gig economy. In recent times, most gig jobs are platform enabled, which also gives gig workers the flexibility to work for more than one contractor," Taskmo study report says.

The rapidly growing gig economy has made significant progress and given the Indian economy advantages in terms of productivity and employment. Most gig tech platforms have seen a rise in demand for gig workers throughout Quick commerce, Healthtech, Fintech, and E-commerce sectors amid concerns over startup layoffs, funding shortages, and shutdowns.

As per a report by NITI Aayog titled 'India's Booming Gig and Platform Economy' for 202021, in 2020- 21, 77 lakh (7.7 million) workers were engaged in the gig economy and gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore (23.5 million) workers by 2029-30.
India's Tejas aircraft landed in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday for its first ever combat exercise in a foreign country. Exercise Desert Flag will also see participation from the air forces of the US, France, Kuwait, Australia, the UK, Bahrain, Morocco, Spain and South Korea.

An India Air Force continent with 110 individuals arrived at the Al Dahfra air base on Saturday afternoon. According to officials the IAF will be participating with Five Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and two C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

The exercise will be conducted till March 17, with the IAF participating with five LCA Tejas and two C-17 aircraft," the IAF confirmed via Twitter.

An IAF contingent has arrived in UAE to participate in the multilateral exercise, #ExDesertFlag.



The exercise will be conducted till 17 Mar 23, with the #IAF participating with five LCA Tejas and two C-17 aircraft.#TejasOverseas#DiplomatsInFlightSuits pic.twitter.com/dts7BJUPsv  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) February 25, 2023

While Tejas LCAs have been part of numerous air shows, it has never participated in such a multilateral exercise. An official IAF statement added that this was the first time LCA Tejas would be an international flying exercise outside India".

"The aim of the exercise is to participate in diverse fighter engagements and learn from the best practices of various air forces," officials said.

Meanwhile, a growing list of nations have evinced interest in procuring the indigenously-developed LCA from India. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is currently fielding inquiries from Argentina, Egypt and several other nations.

HAL chairman CB Ananthakrishnan recently said that Egypt required 20 aircraft while Argentina had sought 15 fighter jets. HAL is also in talks with the Philippines to sell its light-combat helicopters.

The US, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Botswana and the Philippines are also among the countries showing interest in Tejas aircraft.

Also read: Talks for the indigenous production of LCA Tejas engines underway: DRDO chairman

Manufactured by HAL, Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments. In February 2021 the defence ministry had sealed a 48,000-crore deal with the company for the procurement of 83 Tejas light combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

(With inputs from agencies)
The Madhya Pradesh government has enabled members of the transgender community to apply for government jobs as it has created a separate category for their recruitment, an official said on Saturday.

Till now, there were only two categories - male and female - for candidates seeking government jobs through the direct recruitment process.

"The state government has issued an order on Friday under the Madhya Pradesh Transgender (Protection of Rights) Rules - 2021, creating a separate category for the transgender community in the direct recruitment in jobs," the official said.

With this, the option of 'transgender' will now be available in the application forms for government jobs along with male and female, he said.

Earlier last year, the West Bengal government had decided to allow people from the transgender community to apply for government jobs under the general category.

In November last year, the Mumbai bench of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) had directed the state government to keep one post of a police sub-inspector (PSI) reserved for transgenders.

The demand for reservation for transgenders in the government is also being made. India's first transgender Judge Joyita Mondal had earlier told reporters that it was very important to give reservation in government jobs to the transgender community.

Mondal said that transgenders' entry in segments like the police force and the railways will change the society's outlook towards them and help in their advancement in life.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today arrived in New Delhi for a visit to India from February 25-26. Scholz is accompanied by senior officials and a high-powered business delegation, and his visit to India is the first standalone one by any German Chancellor since the commencement of the Inter-Governmental Consultation (IGC) mechanism between the two nations in 2011.

People familiar with the broad agenda of the Modi-Scholz talks said the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict are expected to figure prominently during the deliberations. Scholz also plans to discuss Russias war on Ukraine with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a time when Europe and its allies are struggling to maintain economic pressure on the Kremlin and isolate President Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders are also expected to delve into the overall situation in the Indo-Pacific, a region that has witnessed growing Chinese assertiveness in the last few years.

#WATCH | German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives at Delhi airport



Chancellor Scholz will be accompanied by senior officials & a high-powered business delegation. He will proceed to Bengaluru tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/yl5eBevatt  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2023

"The India-Germany Strategic Partnership is underpinned by shared values, trust and mutual understanding. Robust investment and trade linkages, cooperation in the areas of green and sustainable development and growing people-to-people ties have strengthened bilateral relations," the MEA in the press release noted.

The MEA further stated that both nations also work closely at multilateral and international platforms, notably as part of the G4 for United Nations Security Council reforms.

#WATCH | Delhi: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan.



Chancellor Scholz met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers during the event. pic.twitter.com/5xNYxdRNZv  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2023

India and Germany share a strong economic partnership. Germany is India's largest trade partner in the European Union and has consistently been among India's top 10 global trade partners. It is also one of the largest foreign direct investors in India.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan pic.twitter.com/zymgGzkpsk  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2023

The government in New Delhi has a long-standing dependence on Russian defense contractors and Germany wants to help it find alternative suppliers.

The war in Ukraine has made both sides realize the need to explore opportunities and partnerships outside their traditional comfort zones and friends," said Swasti Rao, an associate fellow at the Europe and Eurasia Center at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses to Bloomberg.

New Delhi is keen to deepen defense cooperation with Germany because it understands that Russia may no longer be able to meet its strategic needs," Rao said. There is enormous scope for cooperation in this area between the two countries and I would be surprised if substantial progress is not achieved."

*With agency inputs
Banning private cryptocurrencies should be an option, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Saturday, on the sidelines of a G20 meeting. IMF chief added that there are some disagreements among nations over restructuring debt for distressed economies.

IMF chief said that there has to be a 'strong push for regulations for cryptocurrency, reported Reuters.

"We have to differentiate between central bank digital currencies that are backed by the state and stable coins, and crypto assets that are privately issued," said IMF chief Georgieva.

"There has to be very strong push for regulation...if regulation fails, if you're slow to do it, then we should not take off the table banning those assets, because they may create financial stability risk," added Georgieva.

India's G20 presidency has come at a time when neighboring South Asian countries Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan are seeking urgent IMF funds due to economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

China, world's largest bilateral creditor, urged G20 nations on Friday to conduct a fair, objective and in-depth analysis of the causes of global debt issues. This is because there has been a call for lenders to take a large haircut, or accept losses, on loans.

"On debt restructuring, while there are still some disagreements, we now have the global sovereign debt roundtable with consideration of all public and private creditors," said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva after the roundtable she co-chaired with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

We just finished a session in which it was clear that there is a commitment to bridge differences for the benefit of countries," she added.

IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva had earlier said that the Indian economy will alone contribute 15 per cent of the global growth this year, as the country continues to remain a relative "bright spot" in the world economy.

In an interview with news agency PTI, the IMF MD said that India's performance has been quite impressive. For this year, the IMF expects India to retain a high growth rate, 6.8 per cent for the year that ends in March.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that the crisis-hit country has to unwillingly accept the strict conditions of the IMF deal to provide a lifeline for an economy in turmoil.

Pakistani authorities have been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since early February over the policy framework and are hoping to sign a staff-level agreement that will pave the way for more inflows from other bilateral and multilateral lenders.

Once the deal is signed, the lender will disburse a tranche of more than $1 billion from the $6.5 billion bailout agreed to in 2019 to Pakistan.

(Eith input from agencies)
Sci-tech opening-up, cooperation pushed

By ZHANG ZHIHAO (China Daily) 13:28, February 25, 2023

Li Ludan (R) and Liu Han, members of a scientific expedition team, conduct benthonic animal samples from Zaqu River in the headwater region of the Lancang River in Northwest China's Qinghai province, July 24, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will expand opening-up and cooperation in science and technology and foster an internationalized research environment and a globally competitive innovation ecosystem, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Artificial intelligence will be one of the fields in which China will proactively participate in international collaboration and governance, the ministry said, adding that it will continue to support basic research, commercialization and ethical use of AI technology as a new strategic industry.

From 2012 to 2022, China's science and technology development had seen profound changes, making it the fastest-growing decade for the nation's sci-tech sector in history, Wang Zhigang, minister of science and technology, said during a news briefing hosted by the State Council Information Office on Friday.

Since 2012, China has climbed 23 spots to take 11th place on the Global Innovation Index 2022, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

China's gross domestic expenditure on R&D reached 3.09 trillion yuan ($449 billion) last year, surpassing the 3 trillion yuan milestone for the first time. Last year, it spent 195.1 billion yuan on basic research, nearly four times higher than the 49.9 billion yuan budget in 2012.

Last year, the number of high-tech companies increased to 400,000 from 39,000 in 2012, and the country had 762 companies listed among the world's top 2,500 R&D spenders.

As for international cooperation, China has established collaboration agreements with over 160 countries and regions and has participated in over 200 global organizations and multilateral mechanisms.

Climate change, clean energy and tackling the COVID-19 pandemic were some of the critical areas of international cooperation for China, Wang said. Chinese scientists have also played an active role in global scientific projects such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor and the Square Kilometre Array.

"Open cooperation is an intrinsic requirement for scientific and technological progress and a necessary condition for jointly addressing global challenges," Wang said.

"We will continue to uphold the principle of openness, inclusiveness, sharing and mutual benefits during international collaboration and help turn China into a fertile ground for global innovation."

Chen Jiachang, director of the Department of High and New Technology of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that AI, as a strategic emerging technology, has increasingly become a key driving force for technological innovation, upgrading industries and increasing productivity.

ChatGPT and other AI tools based on natural language processing have great application potential in many sectors and fields, he said.

However, the technology has prompted some debate as some have been caught using it to cheat on academic assignments or to generate malicious content. As a result, scientists and tech companies worldwide are closely monitoring how nations regulate ChatGPT-like technology.

Chen said that China has attached great importance to the development and governance of AI technologies, with the State Council  China's Cabinet  issuing an AI development plan in 2017. Two years later, China issued new guidelines on AI governance and ethical codes.

China will continue to provide vital support to AI technology as a strategic emerging industry, build an AI innovation ecosystem that is open and collaborative, and enhance research in fundamental theories and critical technologies, he added.

Meanwhile, Chen said that China will facilitate a safe and controllable governance system for AI and promote international cooperation on the subject.

Wang said that technology can be something that offers benefits as well as drawbacks, and these guidelines aim to maximize the potential and benefits of science and technology while minimizing any negative impacts.

Zhang Guangjun, vice-minister of science and technology, said China would proactively participate in the global governance of science and technology and contribute Chinese solutions and wisdom to addressing shared challenges.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
The AAP has stated that Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will fully cooperate with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the excise policy case and maintain that the party is "hardcore honest." The CBI is scheduled to question to Sisodia on Sunday.

Sisodia, who also oversees the finance portfolio in the Delhi Cabinet, had been summoned earlier, but he requested a delay due to the ongoing budget exercise. The CBI has prepared an exhaustive set of questions for the minister, with concerns over the possibility of his arrest.

AAP legislator Atishi stated that nearly 150-200 cases have been filed against AAP leaders in the past decade, but the Center has failed to prove corruption against any of them.

"Tomorrow, Manish Sisodia will go for the CBI inquiry and will fully cooperate with them. In the last eight to 10 years, almost 150-200 cases have been filed against AAP leaders. But they (Centre) have not been able to prove corruption of even a single penny against our leaders. This is because the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a hardcore honest party," AAP legislator Atishi told reporters on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sisodia has expressed apprehensions that the central investigation agencies might arrest him.

"They are using the CBI to take revenge and I am sure they will do that by getting me arrested," he had alleged.

Sisodia was examined for a day on October 17 last year, almost a month before the CBI charged seven individuals, including middlemen and liquor traders. Sisodia was not named as an accused, but the agency kept the investigation into his alleged role open. Nearly three months after the charge sheet was filed, the CBI will question Sisodia about various aspects of the now-scrapped excise policy, his purported connections with liquor traders and politicians, as well as assertions made by witnesses in their statements.

(With inputs from agencies)
Amid the rising tensions between China and the United States CNN has reported a grave incident from the South China Sea when a Chinese fighter jet confronted a US Navy plane with its journalists onboard.

The report claims, US Navy jet that was flying 21,500 feet over South China sea 30 miles off the Paracel Island with Chinese millitary bases was intercepted by a Chinese fighter jet armed with an air-to-air missile.

The report claims the Chinese jet was so close that the CNN crew could see the pilots looking at them and could make out the red star on the tail fins and the missiles it was armed with.'

The crew even heard a voice saying, its coming from People's Liberation Army (PLA) airport' over the radio of the US Navy P-8 Poseidon and went on to say, American aircraft. Chinese airspace is 12 nautical miles. Not approaching any more or you bear all responsibility.

As the publication's crew members had the rear access to the plane's radio voice it reported the conversation between the two pilots.

Lt. Nikki Slaughter, the pilot of the American plane, hails the twin-seat, twin-engine PLA aircraft.

PLA fighter aircraft, this is US Navy P-8A  I have you off my left wing and I intend to proceed to the west. I request that you do the same, over," Lt. Nikki Slaughter, the pilot of the American plane was reported as saying.

After 15 minutes long silence the Chinese fighter jet turned away.

CNN interviewed Navy Cmdr. Marc Hines, who claimed its another Friday afternoon in the South China Sea.

This isn't the only face-off the two countries have witnessed off late. South China Sea has emerged as a major potential flashpoint in Asia Pacific with the area providing strategic waterways to vast resources and global shipping passes worth $3.4 trillion.
Two major crypto exchanges still allow customers of sanctioned Russian banks to transact on their platforms, according to a report from digital asset data analytics firm Inca Digital.

Huobi and KuCoin enable people to trade crypto using debit cards issued by sanctioned Russian banks like Sberbank, the report found. Inca Digital Chief Executive Officer Adam Zarazinski said in an interview Friday that this could be a violation of US and European sanctions and that the transactions often involve Tether, a stablecoin that has faced its own scrutiny from regulators.

Tether is frequently used by Russians to move money out of the country," he said. It is absolutely used by these two exchanges in particular to provide crypto banking services to sanctioned Russian banks."

Officials at KuCoin and the exchange Binance, which is also mentioned prominently in the report, disputed the claims. Huobi advisor Justin Sun did not return requests for comment regarding the report. KuCoin, Huobi and Binance all got started during the early days of the crypto boom in Asia.

Representatives of Tether also didnt immediately respond to a separate request for comment.

KuCoin does not support the withdrawal and deposit of the cards issued by Russian banks," Johnny Lyu, chief executive officer at KuCoin, said through a representative. As an exchange registered in Seychelles, we abide by the laws and regulations of Seychelles. We also respect the laws and regulations of other countries. If there are suspicious transactions that needed to be investigated, we will voluntarily cooperate."

Binance, the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange, offers multiple methods for Russians to convert local currency into crypto," including via their over-the-counter trading desk and a peer-to-peer marketplace, the report said. Each of these options are open to Russians without know-your-customer checks for up to a $10,000, the report said.

Chagri Poyraz, Binances global head of sanctions, said in a statement to Bloomberg News that the exchange is a full-KYC platform and was the first major exchange to implement EU crypto-related sanctions."

There will be always users with bad intent that try and circumvent even the most advanced controls and which is why we have gone above and beyond what is required to respond in this dynamic environment," Poyraz said. Our P2P team takes the extraordinary added step of filtering any forms of communication between users to ensure there is absolutely no potential nexus with Russian entities through any sort of workaround. Considering the low value and low volume of transactions in P2P, it is not practical to evade sanctions with these products, and now we have tamped down on even the most creative attempts to circumvent these controls."

Binance, which said it doesnt have a centralized headquarters, has been subject to numbers investigations worldwide. In the US, Binance has been probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

Zarazinski said the Inca plans to release the report publicly soon, noting that it is the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The report included other troubling observations about the 62 crypto exchanges it analyzed, including that some of them do not require Russians to pass KYC checks.

We want crypto to not just survive all the stuff thats happened recently, but thrive," he said. But we also want to fend off bad actors and grow the industry responsibly."
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the remote New Britain region of Papua New Guinea Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake had a depth of 38 kilometres (23 miles), the USGS said, and was recorded in the sparsely populated West New Britain archipelago region on Sunday morning.

The shaking was felt at a Walindi Plantation Resort near the town of Kimbe about 80 kilometres away from the quake but it was described by a worker as "not too bad".

"No one really reacted, it shook, but no damage," resort worker Vanessa Hughes told AFP.

Earthquake of magnitude 4.3 hits Afghanistan

Meanwhile, another earthquake of magnitude 4.3 occurred 273 km east northeast of Fayzabad, Afghanistan at 2 am IST on Sunday, according to the National Center for Seismology (NCS).

"Earthquake of Magnitude:4.3, Occurred on 26-02-2023, 02:14:52 IST, Lat: 38.10 & Long: 73.39, Depth: 180 Km, Location: 273km ENE of Fayzabad, Afghanistan," NCS tweeted on Sunday.

(Further details awaited)
Global financial crime watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspended Russia's membership on Friday, saying Moscow's war in Ukraine violated the organisation's principles.

FATF is an inter-governmental organisation set up to combat money laundering and terrorism financing by setting global standards and checking if countries respect them.

"This is the first time a member of FATF is suspended," FATF President Raja Kumar told a news conference. "Russia is effectively sidelined from the organisation."

Ukraine, which has made repeated calls to exclude Russia from the organisation, welcomed the decision to suspend Russia but added that it would continue its push with FATF members to go further and get Russia blacklisted.

"It's not enough but it's an important step in the right direction," Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said.

While Russia has now been suspended, it remains a member. The main consequences of Friday's decision will be that Russia will be barred from attending all meetings and accessing documents, FATF said.

"The Russian Federation remains accountable for its obligation to implement the FATF Standards. The Russian Federation must continue to meet its financial obligations," the FATF said.

"The Russian Federation's actions unacceptably run counter to the FATF core principles aiming to promote security, safety, and the integrity of the global financial system", the Paris-based group said in a statement.

Separately, the FATF on Friday added South Africa and Nigeria to its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny to implement standards to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing and took Morocco out of the grey list.

FATF members include 39 countries, including the United States, India, China, Saudi Arabia as well as European countries such as Britain, Germany and France and the EU as such. Ukraine is not a member.
As the Ukraine-Russia war continues, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said recently that India and China may have helped persuade Moscow to avoid using nuclear weapons. The remarks came as the war marked its first anniversary and concerns grow about a Russian spring offensive.

other countries that might have a little bit more influence with Russia these days, like China, but also other countries, like India, to engage him directly about their absolute opposition to any use of nuclear weapons. And we know that they conveyed those messages. And I think that had some effect," Blinken told The Atlantic during an interview published on Friday.

He also touched upon the longstanding diplomatic ties between India and Russia, noting that it was challenging to break off in one fell sweep. However, according to Blinken things had indeed changed in recent years.

India, for decades, had Russia providing military equipment to it and its defenses. But what weve seen over the last few years is a trajectory away from relying on Russia and moving into partnership with us and with other countries, France and so forth" he said.

Also read: China to send drones, ammunition to Russia amid Ukraine war? Here's what we know

As concerns about a nuclear escalation continue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that Rosatom and his Defense Ministry need to work on ensuring that the country was ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if needed.

Meanwhile, China called for urgent peace talks on Friday as it released its plan to end the war in Ukraine. While Western powers rebuffed the proposal certain segments pertaining to the use of nukes found favour. The United Nations expressed cautious optimism over the Chinese proposals, particularly over the document's call to avoid using nuclear weapons.

(With inputs from agencies)
Iran has developed a cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km (1,025 miles) a top Revolutionary Guards commander said on Friday, in a move likely to raise Western concerns after Russia's use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war.

Separately, Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace force, also spoke of Iran's often repeated threat to avenge the U.S. killing of a top Iranian commander, saying "We are looking to kill (former U.S. President Donald) Trump."

"Our cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km has been added to the missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Hajizadeh, told state TV.

The television broadcast what it said was the first footage showing the new Paveh cruise missile.

Hajizadeh said Iran did not intend to kill "poor soldiers" when it launched a ballistic missile attack on U.S.-led forces in Iraq days after Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020 in Baghdad.

"God willing, we are looking to kill Trump. (Former Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo ... and military commanders who issued the order (to kill Soleimani) should be killed," Hajizadeh said in the television interview.

Iranian leaders have often vowed to avenge Soleimani in strong terms.

Iran has expanded its missile programme, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern by European countries. Tehran says the programme is purely defensive and of a deterrent nature.

Iran has said it had supplied Moscow with drones before the war in Ukraine. Russia has used the drones to target power stations and civilian infrastructure.

In November, the Pentagon said the United States was sceptical of reports quoting Hajizadeh as saying Iran had developed a hypersonic ballistic missile.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
Chinese spy balloon row: US President Joe Biden in an interview said that there was a possibility that China's Xi Jinping did not know about the suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew across the United States earlier this month.

In an interview with ABC News also spoke about the idea that China would be negotiating the outcome of the Ukraine war was not rational, following the release of Beijing's peace plan for the conflict. "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's applauding it, so how could it be any good?" Biden told ABC News on the one-year anniversary of the war. "I've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia, if the Chinese plan were followed." "The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that's a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational."

Here are 10 points you need to know about the Chinese spy balloon:

Joe Biden's statement has come a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to raise the unacceptable violation of American sovereignty and warned that Beijing's material support to Moscow over the Ukrainian war would attract sanctions.

A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, which Beijing denies was a government spy vessel, spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before being shot down off the Atlantic Coast earlier this month on U.S. President Joe Biden's orders.

After February 4, a further three objects were downed between February 10 and 12 over Deadhorse in Alaska, near Yukon in Canada, and over Lake Huron close to the US-Canada border.

In the first high-level contact between the US and China since the former shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon, the top diplomats Antony Blinken and Wang Yi from both the countries met last week at the Munich Conference. During the meeting, they discussed various issues, including Chinese surveillance and the country's alliance with Moscow  topics that have brought diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington to new lows, according to The Washington Post report. Blinken has also sent the message that Beijing's surveillance program had been exposed to the world." Blinken has said to the Chinese official that his nation's high-altitude surveillance balloon program  which has intruded into the airspace of over 40 countries across five continents  has been exposed to the world.

While reacting to the US shooting the suspected Chinese spy balloon, a Yi on 18 February had lashed out a Biden administration that it is hysterical and absurd and further added that it is an attempt to divert attention from domestic problem. "There are many balloons from many countries in the sky. Do you want to down each and every one of them?" Wang Yi on Saturday told the Munich Security Conference. "We urge the United States not to do such preposterous things simply to divert attention from its own domestic problems."

President Biden .ad also said that the US will also be updating its guidelines for monitoring and reacting to unknown aerial objects.

The Indian government has chosen to remain silent over US' claim that China might have sent a fleet of such spy balloons to several other countries including India. At such a juncture a government official has told Moneycontrol that India posses surveillance balloons which has the capability of spotting any such untoward activity.

A recent white sphere on the horizon of the Indian archipelago, Andaman and Nicobar islands, became a hot topic when it was suspected to be another spy balloon. The Andaman and the Nicobar islands are not much lucrative on commerce or population, however ,the island archipelago enjoys a much demanded strategic position that could be of interest to foreign intelligentsia.

Speaking about the investigation of the balloon which was shot down, the US Navy has also wrapped up its search for debris shot down off South Carolina on 4 February, with the remaining pieces of the balloon's payload being transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for counterintelligence exploitation. The US Navy statement did not provide any further details about the nature or condition of the debris. The National Security Council has referred all inquiries to the Northern Command and the Defense Department

The White House revealed that such balloons had traversed US territory at least three times during President Donald Trumps administration unknown to Trump or his aides  and that others have flown over dozens of nations across five continents. Kirby emphasized Monday that they were only detected by the Biden administration.

(With inputs from agencies)
There is no evidence that China would side with Russia in its ongoing war against Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has said.

Theres no evidence of that so far," Biden told reporters on Friday when asked if he is worried that China will side with Russia in the ongoing war.

US President Joe Biden said that he had a long conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about this in the summer.

Theres no evidence hes done it yet," said US President Biden.

The Pentagon told reporters that it has not seen China supplying aid to Russia, reported PTI.

Pentagon's Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that China, which clearly has advanced capabilities, munitions, has publicly declared its neutrality. He added that to now take a side and would essentially say 'we want to be in the camp that's looking to extinguish Ukraine as a nation'.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told MSNBC in an interview that the Biden Administration has made it clear to China that it should not get involved in this war in the sense of providing lethal weapons to the Russians.

They have been told that it would be a game changer and it would be something the US would have serious concerns about.

Theyve not done that so far, and we hope that the message to them gets through," she said.

China called Friday for urgent peace talks as it released its plan to end the war in Ukraine.

The United Nations expressed cautious optimism over the Chinese proposals, particularly over the document's call to avoid using nuclear weapons.

Russia reacted positively to Beijing's efforts, while Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky sai Kyiv needed to 'work with China' on approaches to put an end to the year-old war.

Zelensky told reporters he was planning to meet with Xi Jinping after the China called for the peace talks, saying it would "be important for world security."

(With inputs from agencies)
The spread of Covid-19 pandemic has affected the tourism industry drastically across the world, with countries imposing complete lockdowns during the first wave of the viral infection. However, the countries are now doing all to attract tourists after easing the Covid-19 restrictions.

One such nation is Taiwan, which has found a unique way of promoting tourism by offering cash or discount incentive to around 500,000 tourists this year for vacation, according to a CNN report.

This year, the popular tourist destination is aiming to welcome six million tourists. Taiwan's Premier Chen Chien-jen on Thursday said that the country is focused on doubling this figure in 2024 and about 10 million visitors by 2025. The government has taken the decision to attract visitors from key markets like Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macao, Europe, and America.

The Taiwan government will give handouts of NT$5,000 ($165) to 500,000 individual tourists and allowances of up to NT$20,000 ($658) to 90,000 tour groups, as per CNN report.

Wang Kuo-tsai, Taiwan's Transport Minister said that the amount will be transferred via digital mode so that tourists can cover their vacation costs including accommodation.

Last year, Taiwan had around 900,000 inbound visitors, mainly from Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States, after the country lifted Covid-19 restrictions in October 2022.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong also announced 500,000 free air tickets to tourists from around the world earlier this month. The initiative will run from March onwards.

Most of the tickets - worth 2 billion Hong Kong dollars - will come from three local airlines via various promotional activities such as lucky draws, buy one get one promotions, and games. Tickets will be distributed in phases, with the Southeast Asian markets set to benefit in the first stage.

80,000 air tickets will also be given away to Hong Kong residents in the summer. Those living in the Greater Bay Area - a Chinese government initiative to link Hong Kong with neighboring mainland cities - will also benefit from the policy. This includes the technology and finance hub of Shenzhen and the manufacturing powerhouses of Dongguan and Foshan.
AN URGENT CALL TO EGYPT'S GENERAL PROSECUTOR

   Assem A. Abulkhair

  

America in February 24, 2023





The Egyptian General Prosecutor





Dear Sir:





Enclosed herewith please find our latest correspondence in English to the Egyptian's ambassador at New York City Egyptian Consulate to take the necessary steps on our behalf against all of the entities from the responsible country to the individual targeting us with TORTURE and Assassination attempts as clearly indicated in our correspondences.





We do understand the unlimited legal power the Egyptian General Prosecutor possess to press all charges against anyone committing any crime against an Egyptian Citizen no matter where he or she or it being and located.





With that in mind, we ask you to contact the International Court to investigate our matter, and also call upon the American's ambassador in Cairo to question him about his awareness of our TORTURE and assassination when and where his immunity does [not] protect him where the crime against humanity or assassination is being committed intentionally by his government against one of his own citizens and a citizen of another country, as it is the case here.





Henceforth, Egypt's dignity and integrity must come and be first and above all of the fake friendship and beyond all interests when and where the crime against humanity is committed against innocent Egyptians at home or at abroad. For only that and to this end, we decided to bring our ongoing saga and tragedy to your attention because we have the unquestionable confidence and trust in our oldest and the greatest judicial system of all time whether the world accepted this historical truth or rejected.





Cordially,









/s/ Assem A. Abulkhair









*******





America in Thursday, February 23, 2023





Ms. Ambassador





Egyptian Consulate in New York, U.S.A.





Re: A Campaign of TORTURE and Assassination Attempts by the U.S. Government





Dear Ms. Ambassador:





This is a concise continuation to update our message and information sent to you yesterday, which is attached hereto. Except for the time limited on the library's computer, it would have been completed there then.





However, with respect to the second robbery perpetrated by an informant instructed and directed by the FBI of which occurred on (January 27, 2023), it is reported under case number (540) at 6th Precinct. They closed the case under the tactic that the monetary involved of $750.00 plus fell short under the threshold requirement of $1000 in order to cover up for the FBI where the informant is already caught on the camera. In doing so, they disregarded the undeniable fact that the crime of robbery is committed by the highest federal law enforcement in interior "Kangaroo America." In any event, we tried to link both robberies together to 1st Precinct to be handled by the same detective there under case # 2022-001-010107.





Henceforth, we move our sleep from the opened street to the closed bank to be secured by cameras to hold the Torturers and Thieves accountable for their heinous crime against humanity and us. The local police, unfortunately, comes every hour to remove us instructed by the feds' dogs to enhance their TORTURING and surveillance conduct and program of depriving us from sleeping at night to take an advantage of us during the day. More importantly though, to drive us under their invisible chemical substance delivered by those officers, and the dogs who are waiting for us with their dogs outside upon leaving the bank to rush our urinate symptom and system with their best wish and chance of making it on ourselves before reaching the ending point. This is the infirm TORTURING mentality we cope with for the last two decades in the former "superpower" called "United States."





Given the fact and circumstance involved herein, two (2) robberies, one occurred at 4:30 A.M. dawn time, another happened at 1:00 P.M. in a broad daylight of noonish time with one (1) clear decisive incident of an attempt of "premeditated cold murder" at U.S. "bank" lobby in the middle of night highlighted by the clouded "smoking gun" evidence contained in shape and/or form of the busted fueling truck bearing New Jersey license plate number (AK.131N) which is belong to : "Summit Transport Corp, Passaic, N.J.-U.S. D..O.T. 373936" as it obviously written on the red truck's driver (the perpetrator) side door. Even, the two police officers stopped by coincidence refused to smell the toxic air fearing, "Are you crazy. I don't want to get cancer." One of them reply with laughter. To this end, they are fully aware of our agony of TORTURE and assassination attempts by assuring, "We know and we believe you man hundred percent." Hence, the "Kangaroo America" would not prosecute its own criminals directed by it to harm other citizens. Nor would their broken justice system be willing to do either, except to make a mockery of its own. This is the compelling factor forced us to have a recourse to the International Criminal Court to lift up the unbearable injustice imposed unfairly upon us in the most "home of the coward" we live in and among it where the silence is the law.





With that in mind, since we provided you with an overwhelming evidence that the U.S. Government, along with its strayed federal agency, the one so-called, the "FBI," is engaging and standing on the wrong side of the law, and by doing so, has strayed into prohibited terrain and transferred itself into the Federal Bureau of Robbery and Murderous, we formally request of our Egyptian Government to officially file an application, on our behalf, urging the United Nation Security Council to recommend the International Court, as stressed by it, to adopt, accept and open an immediate investigation under the Rome Law of TORTURE to charge the United States of America and its mentioned agency with those committing the crimes against humanity in order to cease and desist abusing and torturing its own civilian citizens for the crime they never committed.





At this juncture and to this end, silent is [not] an option, except if the Egyptian Government has already given the U.S. the "green light" to kill us. Please prove us wrong before we get kill. Otherwise, If the U.S. has any respect for Egypt, it would never have had TORTURED one of its own citizens. So, why should Egypt [!]





Thanking you for paying a serious attention to our tragedy of TORTURE, we remain,





Cordially,









/s/ Assem A. Abulkhair





Son of Egypt and Pharaohs













*********





America in Wednesday, February 22, 2023





Ms. Ambassador





Egyptian Consulate in New York, U.S.A.





Re: A Campaign of TORTURE and Assassination Attempts by the U.S. Government





Dear Ms. Ambassador:





I have brought forward the tragedy we face on a daily basis, second-by-second to the attention of your consulate members but to no avail. They tried to kill us by all means for no apparent reason, except to get even with us to harm us.





On December 15, 2022, the FBI sent an informant to grab our bags at 4:30 A.M. one of them, has more than $2.000 and 3 SD films incriminated the FBI's TORTURE and Assassination attempts under case # 2022-001-010107 at the 1st Precinct. On January 27, 2023, another FBI informant snatched our bag with more than $875.00 in it with CD x-rays film of our knee hit by the directed energy weapon system. Then two weeks ago, a fuel nature gas truck was pumping nature gas into the ATM machines lobby where were sleeping at night to woken up at 2:15 A.M. on the clouded lobby with the deadly smell almost killed us with the shortness of our breath. God granted us another life term, but for how long. We have no face to go back to your consulate without response.





Please do something for the love of Egypt, not us.









/s/ Assem A. Abulkhair

Son of Egypt and Pharaohs




American billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee, considered a pioneer of private equity investment and leveraged buyouts, died at the age of 78, his family said on Thursday.

The New York City office of the chief medical examiner said on Friday the cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Lee was discovered dead on Thursday morning at his Fifth Avenue Manhattan office, headquarters of his investment firm, when police responded to an emergency-911 call at around 11:10 a.m. (1610 GMT).

"The family is extremely saddened by Tom's death," Lee's family said in a statement. "Our hearts are broken. We ask that our privacy be respected and that we be allowed to grieve."

Lee was the founder and chairman of Lee Equity, which he formed in 2006, and previously served as chairman and CEO of Thomas H. Lee Partners, which he founded in 1974, according to a biographical statement released by his family.

Over the past 46 years, Lee was responsible for investing more than $15 billion of capital in hundreds of transactions, including the acquisition and subsequent sales of such brand names as Snapple Beverages and Warner Music.

He was also known as a philanthropist and trustee who served on the boards of many organizations, including the Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art, Brandeis University, Harvard University and the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
"We are looking to kill Donald Trump," a top Revolutionary Guards commander warned the former US President and other two officials while speaking about the country's repeated threat to avenge the US killing of a top Iranian Commander, according to the news agency Reuters.

However, the commander clarified that Iran did not intend to kill "poor soldiers" when it launched a ballistic missile attack on US-led forces in Iraq days after Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in 2020 in Baghdad.

In a television interview, Hajizadeh said, God willing, we are looking to kill Trump. (Former Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo ... and military commanders who issued the order (to kill Soleimani) should be killed."

This came after Iran developed a cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km, in a move likely to raise Western concerns after Russia's use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war, said Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace force.

"Our cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km has been added to the missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Hajizadeh, told state TV.

Iranian leaders have often vowed to avenge Soleimani on strong terms. The country has expanded its missile program, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern by European countries.

Iran has said it had supplied Moscow with drones before the war in Ukraine. Russia has used drones to target power stations and civilian infrastructure.

In November, the Pentagon said the United States was skeptical of reports quoting Hajizadeh as saying Iran had developed a hypersonic ballistic missile.

Soleimani headed the expeditionary Quds force of Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps.

(With Reuters inputs)
Family and friends of Sean Lynch gathered in Our Ladys Manor Nursing Home in Edgeworthstown to celebrate Seans 90th birthday on Saturday afternoon last.



Sean Lynch was a respected public representative, as a member of Longford County Council for 25 years. He was Cathaoirleach of the council in 1980-81. He represented Sinn Fein on the Council and Republican Sinn Fein after 1986.



The most momentous event in Seans life was when he gave the oration at the funeral of Martin Hurson in Galbally, Co Tyrone, after his death on hunger strike in Long Kesh in July 1981.

Appropriately, many of Seans friends from Republican Sinn Fein were there on Saturday to extend their congratulations on his birthday.



Sean O Suilleabhain paid tribute to Sean Lynch saying that he was the upholder of the republican tradition in Longford for over seventy years.



Since the 1950s, he was the chief organiser of the annual Easter Commemoration held to commemorate the men of Longford who died in the fight for Irish freedom.



Seans sisters, Anna Murray and Cathy Lee, along with a host of his nieces and nephews and extended family were thrilled to see Sean in such good form and enjoying the presence of so many friends and well-wishers.

Seans family and friends wish to thank the staff of Our Ladys Manor Nursing Home who put in great work in preparation for this special event.
A string of tobacco shops, car dealerships and a Virginia Beach bar accused of unscrupulous business practices have been off limits to military members for years, cut off from serving about 5% of Hampton Roads population.

The Armed Forces off-limits list dates more than 30 years, with businesses shuffling on and off the radar of the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board every three months. With Hampton Roads being home to 18 Department of Defense installations and roughly 85,000 active duty service members, landing a spot on the list can put a business future in jeopardy. And getting off the list is no easy feat.

Of 11 establishments from which service members are prohibited, eight have been on the list for more than nine years, despite having been permanently closed, while others changed their names or moved.

Manuel Thomas, coordinator for the boards Norfolk-based region, said the goal of the off-limits list is to protect military members from illegal and unethical business practices. While Navy Region Mid-Atlantic is the sponsoring commander for the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board, the list applies to members of the Air and Space Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard.

Service members can become targets for unethical consumer practices because they have guaranteed income and the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires them to pay their bills on time, said Thomas, who oversees the complaint process for service members, due process against accused businesses and the actions of the local arm of the joint service board.

The local board is made up of members from each military branch, with community members and law enforcement agencies acting as advisers. Together, they monitor businesses within 75 miles of Norfolk, extending from southeastern Virginia to northeastern North Carolina.

Typically, complaints about businesses are submitted through the boards website. The complaint then goes to the legal assistance command, where a judge advocate general attorney will try to resolve the issue for the sailor. If the attorneys are unsuccessful, they will compile a list of the complaints. If there is more than one complaint, the issue is referred to the disciplinary control board.

The board, Thomas said, vets the businesses  making sure they are licensed properly  and checks to see if there is a history of complaints. A business with multiple complaints about its consumer practices will often receive a warning letter informing the owner of the potential to be placed off limits.

For example, if there is a contract that is unfair to the sailor and (the business) doesnt void the contract, the board can in fact place the business off limits, Thomas said.

Thomas described this as a process, with a lot of back and forth as the board, military attorneys and the business works to resolve the issue. He estimated that 95% of the businesses cooperate.

The most recent update came Feb. 14.

But a business can be placed on the list immediately if the Armed Forces board concludes the consumer practices are especially egregious. Such a decision was made in 2018 about a bar in Virginia Beach.

We had a female sailor raped in the bathroom. The bar owner refused to allow Virginia Beach police to look at the camera at the establishment ... Right away we put (that business) off limits to protect our sailors, Thomas said.

While the bar closed in 2019, it remains on the blacklist until the Armed Forces board and Naval Criminal Investigative Services determine the business will not reopen under a different name or location.

If they do that, under Department of Defense instruction, we can automatically leave them on the list.  So all the old names are on there because sailors are familiar with it, Thomas said.

The list, Thomas said, also can help service members who might not realize they have been victimized. A now-closed Norfolk auto dealership, for example, was placed on the off-limits list in July 2014 after more than 80 service members issued complaints.

We did not realize the magnitude (of the issue) because the business stayed under the radar for a long time.  A lot of times junior sailors will complain, but they are not aware of the mechanisms that exist to help them out, Thomas said.

According to Thomas, the list is not a suggestion, but an order. If caught conducting business with or entering the premises of the listed establishments, service members risk disciplinary action.

Businesses are invited to discuss the complaints with the board, and if they ultimately are deemed off limits, the owner can appeal.

Our intention is not to shut a business down. It is to make sure they comply with what is right  not doing unethical or illegal business practices, said Beth Baker, spokesperson for Navy Region Mid-Atlantic.

Carafellos Auto Sales is going through the appeal process after the dealership rejoined the list last week. The business is accused of targeting junior sailors outside the Navy Exchange, offering them money to refer other junior sailors. The practice, known as bird-dogging, or using someone outside the business to help with a sale, is illegal according to Virginia law.

The board said Carafellos has been taking advantage of (junior sailors) limited financial understanding or ability to walk away from a negotiation by selling vehicles to sailors without a drivers license. It is not illegal to sell a vehicle to someone without a drivers license.

Ryan Carafello, owner of the dealership, told The Virginian-Pilot on Friday that his business has been crippled by the boards decision to hastily blacklist it. The dealership caters to service members, who represent 98% of Carafellos customers.

According to Carafello, the board detailed just five complaints dating to April 2019  which he was unaware of until Carafellos Auto Sales was printed at the bottom of Rear Adm. Christopher Grays order.

Carafello will go before the board March 8 to dispute the allegations. This is a process Carafello has been through before, following similar allegations in 2015 that were resolved after he demonstrated the dealership was in compliance with Virginia motor vehicle dealer laws and regulations.

We look forward to starting a constructive dialogue that will allow the Navy to understand our position and that we genuinely look out for sailors, Carafello said in an emailed statement.
When Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea took office last September, he promised to focus on the needs of sailors and their families.

Sailors immediately voiced skepticism online.

"The man has been a Master Chief longer than I've been in the Navy, and joined the Navy before I was born," one person wrote on the service's Reddit page. "This man has no idea what issues his junior enlisted face."

Read Next: Gun Buying Restrictions on Base Are Needed to Reduce Suicides, Pentagon Panel Says

Others comments were more colorful and in keeping with the Navy's tradition of rough-talking sailors.

But Honea, the service's top enlisted leader, and his small team of chief petty officers have taken to using the same online forums that pilloried his early comments to reach out to sailors and offer fixes.

When one sailor posted images of a moldy and cockroach-infested barracks room in mid-January, the team from Honea's office reached out to the sailor to offer help and said that Honea had "contacted leadership to discuss this situation," adding that "he was very disappointed with what was depicted."

They've worked on the backlogs of discharge documents -- an issue that has been plaguing sailors for months -- among other problems that have been looming over service chatrooms for years.

Honea and his staff, in interviews with Military.com earlier this month, said they are keen on delivering a message: They are here to listen and help when they can.

"I don't want to walk out of there and they go, 'Ah, that guy just flaps his.... . Email us, we'll help you solve these problems," Honea said. "I didn't want them to think that our words were platitudes."

During an interview ostensibly about Honea's efforts for sailors, he let his staff -- most of whom are seasoned master chief and senior chief petty officers -- do the majority of the talking while he stood in the back, leaning on his desk next to a table littered with challenge coins.

He delights in telling people, or at least reporters, that he may "look like a big mean bear, but I'm a Care Bear. I unzip my coat, and rainbows come out."

Honea, in his own direct language shaped by 35 years of service, isn't shy about the fact that there are problems in the Navy that need solving.

"There's either a disconnect or a lack of trust or something with a lot of sailors and their chain of command," he said, before adding that they "need to build a lot of that confidence back."

One thing he's done is hand out his contact info when he holds sailor forums around the fleet. But he's also aware that there are limits to when he can insert himself directly.

"We don't want to take away the responsibility of the chain of command. We want to be there to be complementary," Honea said.

One clear result of this engagement has been the office's track record on fighting the backlog of discharge paperwork on behalf of sailors.

Chief Legalman Rebecca Duclayan -- the sailor who handles all the requests that come to the office -- said that, since September, she's helped almost 220 sailors get the key paperwork they need to not only separate from the Navy but claim the myriad benefits that are due veterans as they transition from service.

Honea said that his office also helped push along the development of the now-launched command dashboard that's aimed at giving commanders more insight into the paperwork issues going on at their units.

The sailor with the moldy barracks also wrote that "the whole building got the attention it needed" a day after he put up the pictures of his room and said the problem was "addressed."

The online outreach took off on Jan. 20, 2023, when Honea decided to plop himself in the middle of one of the prime spots for sailor complaints, holding an "Ask Me Anything" session on the Navy Reddit page.

New Ways to Talk to Sailors

The Navy Reddit page is not an official service site, and the session was initially the idea of the moderators, not the office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.

Senior Chief Stacee McCarroll, Honea's spokesperson, explained that the session was actually "in the works since April of last year" when Honea's predecessor, Russell Smith, told the crew of the carrier USS George Washington that there was little he could do to improve their living conditions in the wake of a massive string of suicides.

That remark set off a fever pitch of criticism in online Navy forums, inspiring a slew of memes that painted the service as indifferent to issues affecting sailors.

At that time, McCarroll said the office felt it was "not an appropriate time" for a session but, once Honea took over, she pitched the idea to the boss, and he agreed.

Honea said his answer was simple: "Sure."

"I'm willing to go have a conversation with anybody anywhere," he added.

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea speaks with sailors during an all-hands call while visiting Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Japan, Feb. 10, 2023. Honea listened to concerns and answered questions while discussing his priorities of warfighting competency, professional and character development, and quality of life. (Anastasia McCarroll/U.S. Navy)

Honea's staff had been reading the site for some time, but this would be their first major foray into active participation.

Behind the scenes, some inter-service cooperation was necessary to make the event happen. McCarroll said that she reached out to her counterpart at the office of the Sergeant Major of the Army for advice. The Army's top enlisted official -- Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston -- proudly held a similar session on the Army's Reddit site two years ago.

Grinston has also used the site to get feedback from soldiers on new policy and to help spread awareness of some issues.

Even the moderator for the Army's page provided advice to the Navy's counterparts as they prepared for their own session.

Honea sees the Reddit site, and any social media platform where sailors gather, "as going down to deck berthing ... or you're going up to the smoke pit," places where sailors let their guard down and converse freely.

"The conversation runs the gamut of sometimes sophomore humor to just serious serious problems that they need advice and help with, and shipmates are on there helping one another and giving each other really good advice," he added.

The Navy's top chief petty officer said he thought that "it's healthy" to find sailors "[talking] trash" about his fellow chiefs on social media.

Honea sat behind a table in his office, opened a laptop, and dove head first into what one chief predicted would be a "giant Class 'A' fire of sailor vents/rants/and complaints."

The result was a largely substantive session that broadly focused on issues like access to mental health care, paperwork and pay backlogs, and a perennial sailor favorite: beards in the fleet.

"Around the Navy, a lot of the commentary was appreciative of it; that it showed that we're open and honest and transparent or trying to help," Master Chief Rich James, Honea's executive assistant, said.

The Boatswain's Mate

Honea said he is determined to keep trying to talk to sailors and be a conduit to solve their problems.

In many ways, Honea wants to be seen as how he sees himself: a boatswain's mate who "grew up in the Navy just like anybody else [and] that's dealing with things in the Navy."

"The MCPON is not some celebrity, you know -- it's not this big personality," he adds.

Master Chief PatrickPaul Mangaran, one of the staffers in Honea's office, said that the desire to take care of sailors is genuine -- especially from the MCPON.

"He's real, he's authentic, he's genuine," Mangaran said. "That's what I love about this man."

And between the Reddit sessions, the presence on social media, and a more open tone, Honea's managed to strike a notable change in public discussion about the office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.

Smith, his predecessor, was certainly available on most of the social media platforms, but seemed to prefer to engage with sailors privately instead of in large, public forums.

Meanwhile, the man who came before Smith, Steven Giordano, retired early after reports surfaced that an inspector general investigation was looking into allegations that he bullied subordinates and mistreated his staff. Several of those allegations were later substantiated.

The staff in Honea's office is eager to see their efforts to engage with sailors online be replicated by other commands. Although the office is still in the minority, there have been other Navy leaders who have been taking to social media platforms to engage with sailors directly.

Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman, the man who oversees the Navy's entire personnel management system -- the one at the heart of many of the paperwork delays Honea has worked through, regularly engages with questions and criticisms on the MyNavyHR Facebook page from his personal account.

Late in January, Cheeseman foreshadowed the release of the new but delayed family leave policy in a comment on Facebook.

For Honea, the benefits of online conversations are clear. "I believe anonymity gives them maybe a little bit more courage ... and I think that's necessary; I think that's good.

"I'm not going to be offended nor am I going to weaponize somebody's comments to me," he added.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Navy's New MCPON Aims to Be a 'Problem Solver' Amid Suicides, Water Contamination
Australian-based Record Label Indi Royal Group of Companies has officially signed celebrated Ghanaian Hiplife/Hip Hop artiste Guru NKZ on a 6-year deal which begins from 2023 to 2029.

Indi Royal Group Of Companies (IRGC) will represent his music and distribution across Africa, Europe, Australia and America.

The partnership between Guru Nkz and Indi Royal Group Of Companies (IRGC) is to introduce Guru Nkz's eclectic sound and Ghanaian music culture to new audiences around the world.

The deal will also see Guru Nkz work with other well-known International Artistes and also tour the world.

Guru is known for his contemporary Hiplife rap style that combines English and Ghanaian indigenous languages.
The African region, and most significantly the world, is more interconnected than ever before with the expansion of the internet and intelligent devices.

Although this has brought about substantial advantages, the interconnection has created new security concerns, particularly in the area of cybersecurity.

Cyber-attacks are on the rise and may have adverse impacts on individuals, businesses, and the military.

In this essay, I discuss the global cyber challenges that the military will face in the coming years, and offer possible solutions.

Increased sophistication of cyber-attacks is one challenging concern of military cyber defense.

Generally, is will be difficult to keep up with hackers' constant development of new methods aimed at bypassing cybersecurity measures of critical information infrastructure.

This suggests that the military's cyber security must be proactive, anticipating future threats and implementing countermeasures before a problem arises.

Another hurdle is the sheer magnitude of the military's digital infrastructure.

In developed countries, the military's networks and systems are extremely sophisticated, with numerous access points and a vast number of interconnected devices  while this may contrast with those in the developing world, the sheer complexity of safeguarding classified systems makes protecting them, identifying cyber-attacks, and responding to them more onerous.

A final barrier is striking a decisive balance between security and accessibility.

Military personnel must have access to digital systems and data in order to execute their duties effectively, yet this access creates major threats.

To ensure the efficacy of military cyber defense, it will be necessary to establish a balance between accessibility and security.

Thus, how can the military's cyber defense overcome these difficulties and continue to lead the pack? Investing in research and development to create new tools and technologies that help recognize and prevent cyber-attacks is a critical strategy.

This may involve the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms capable of evaluating enormous amounts of data to identify potential vulnerabilities and threats.

A comprehensive approach to cybersecurity is an effective technique. This requires a focus on broader issues, such as employee training and awareness, in addition to strictly technical solutions like as firewalls and anti-virus software.

By educating its personnel on cybersecurity best practices and developing a culture of security, the military can create a more secure digital infrastructure.

The military must create ties with other organizations (both public and commercial) or governments in order to exchange information and knowledge.

Cyber threats are a global issue that cannot be resolved by a single entity. By creating partnerships, the military may be able to utilize the expertise of other entities to construct a more comprehensive cyber defense policy.

In conclusion, the military cyber defense will continue to be a critical problem in the years to come.

The increasing sophistication of malicious cyber-attacks, the complexity of military networks, and the need to strike a balance between security and accessibility will offer significant challenges.

By investing in research and development, taking a more holistic approach to cybersecurity, and developing partnerships with other organizations and governments, the military can better defend its digital infrastructure against cyber-attacks.

About the Author

Dr. Osei Bonsu Dickson is Director, Legal at the Ministry of National Security, National Coordinator of the Security Governance Initiative (SGI) Secretariat, and President of the ACSS Ghana Alumni Chapter.

Dr. Dickson is an Adjunct Lecturer in National Security Law at the University of Ghana School of Law, where his teaching and research interests include  Military Cyber Defense, Threat Preparedness, Maritime Security Strategy, Border Security, Artificial Intelligence, AML, Fintec, and National Security Law.

He was educated at the University of Ghana, the Ghana School of Law, Harvard University, and Rushford Business School.
Climate change is putting increasing pressure on the Tana Deltas residents and their surrounding ecosystems, with farmers and herders clashing as they vie for access to land and pasture.

The adverse effects of climate change on human societies and the natural environment are unprecedented. Kenyan pastoralist Job Metuy knows this firsthand. At COP27, he described the pain and devastation of the ongoing drought on pastoralism.

Stench of Death

A resident of Torosei in Kenyas Kajiado County, Mr. Metuy narrated the anguish of watching 20 of his dairy cows collapse and die from unrelenting heat this past year. He detailed how he covered his nose from the odor of rotting bovine as he dragged their withered corpses to the heaps of other dead livestock that had succumbed to drought.

He said he was battling to save his remaining cattle. The cows I have left are now like skeletons. They drag themselves through the field, waiting to die.

Believing the drought would not end in time to save his cows, Mr. Metuy led them across international borders in search of fresh pastures and water in neighbouring Tanzania. But other pastoralists from East Africa had already migrated to Tanzania with their livestock, depleting the pastures and water in that country. With his cows thinner, weaker and without food and water, Mr. Metuy had no choice but to take them back to Kajiado.

On their way, the cattle could no longer walk, so Mr. Metuy borrowed money and hired a vehicle to transport them. On returning, he learned that fellow pastoralists in Kajiado, Garissa, Turkana, and Isiolo Counties were selling their cows at reduced prices, as low as Kshs 2000 ($20).

A need exists for rich countries to deliver on commitments to finance activities that reduce climate emergencies and to protect poor people through financial compensation.

COP27 and Kenya

In November 2022, all eyes focused on Egypts coastal city Sharm el-Sheikh where COP27, dubbed Africas COP, took place. The theme of the conference was Delivering for People and the Planet.

The conference drew more than 40,000 participants, including heads of state, climate activists, mayors, civil society representatives, CEOs, ministers and negotiators. At stake were the hopes of people around the world, including over a billion people in Africa, a continent disproportionately besieged by the climate crisis.

Kenyas President William Ruto informed the conference participants of the dire drought in his country. Other Kenyans shared heart-breaking stories of stress and suffering from four brutal seasons of rain failures.

Pastoralism is one of the main economic activities for people in Africas arid and semi-arid areas. Practiced by tribesmen for centuries, it is the most viable production system in the drylands. Currently, pastoralism accounts for 90 per cent of youth employment and provides more than 95 per cent of rural family incomes in the drylands of Northern Kenya.

The areas most affected by climate change include Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Turkana, Kitui, Mandera, Marsabit, Laikipia, Samburu, Tana River, and Wajir. The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) refers to these areas as part of the alarm stage, meaning they are experiencing the worst kinds of drought emergency.

The State Department of Livestock confirms that Kenya has lost 2.5 million head of livestock and that the remaining 10 million head in the drylands are suffering without pasture and water.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza says that between February and October 2022, 205 elephants perished because of the ongoing drought in protected areas controlled by the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS).

Kenya also lost 512 gnus, 381 zebras, 12 giraffes and 51 buffalo during the same time in this area, according to Ms. Malonza. No data on the number of deaths is available from the rangelands ecosystem where 60 per cent of the wildlife co-exists with the community livestock.

Tackling Climate Change

Researchers link the severity and frequency of natural disasters such as droughts, floods, locust invasions and the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change. They estimate the cost of mitigation and adaptation and compensation for loss and damage to be about $580 billion in 2030 and could be as high as $1.8 trillion by 2050.

Even though wealthy nations and their big corporations are largely to blame for the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, African countries, including Kenya, suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change. The impact is most severe among poor populations.

Droughts, floods, livestock diseases and armed conflicts are wiping out their livelihoods, underscoring the need for Kenya to help its poorest population adapt by developing sustainable ways of making a living in the drylands.

While the government could engage with rich and powerful nations for assistance in addressing the global crisis, it should prioritize social protections and resilience-building schemes for Kenyas growing poor population.

Authorities need to mainstream social protections, resilience-building and alternative forms of development interventions for drought emergencies. National and county administrations must mobilize youths from poor communities to implement widespread tree-planting schemes in dryland areas.

As we look forward to COP28, the expectation is that countries, particularly industrialized countries, fulfill their commitments and accelerate efforts to address loss and damage.

A need exists for rich countries to deliver on commitments to finance activities that reduce climate emergencies and to protect poor people through financial compensation. Still, governments must manage their appetite for taxing income going to poor communities from carbon credits earned through the preservation of rangelands.

Post-COP27, we must put pressure on rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions and support low-income populations to strengthen resilience and adaption.

If we do not swiftly address the root cause of climate change, conditions will worsen.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report warns of species extinction and reduction and irreversible losses of ecosystems and services, including damage and loss to freshwater, land and ocean ecosystems in Africa. It further predicts a reduction in food production and a massive loss of biodiversity, wildlife, livestock and fisheries.

As we look forward to COP28, the expectation is that countries, particularly industrialized countries, fulfill their commitments and accelerate efforts to address loss and damage.

The lives and livelihoods of pastoralists in the drylands of Northern Kenya and across Africa depend on what these rich countriesand African governmentsdo next. Delay could prove deadly.

Jarso Mokku is the CEO of Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative and Secretary to the Pastoralist Parliamentary Group Secretariat based in Nairobi, Kenya.

For more information on COVID-19, visit www.un.org/coronavirus

Africa Renewal
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 18 February 2023  A presidential roundtable on the side-lines of the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union has called for the acceleration of financing for energy access in Africa with clear targets and steps for ensuring the achievement of universal energy access by 2030.

The event which was organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the World Bank in collaboration with the Union of the Comoros was attended by the Presidents of Comoros and the Republic of Madagascar and ministers of the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Malawi, high-level representatives of the African Development Bank, the World Bank, international and regional institutions, and development partners.

On behalf of AUC Chairperson H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, H.E. Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, warmly welcomed and commended the presence of the dignitaries which, according to the Deputy Chairperson, is a clear demonstration of the importance they attach to energy access and security in Africa.

In her opening remarks H.E. Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy accentuated that energy is a bedrock for the success of every development sector and thus increased effort is required in ensuring affordable and reliable access. Dr Amani stated that Africas key priorities and initiatives including industrialisation, AfCFTA, agricultural development, food security, poverty alleviation, job creation and regional integration, as well as the achievement of the SDGs, are all dependent on modern and universal energy access and services.

In his keynote address, the President of the Union of the Comoros and the Chairperson of the African Union for 2023, H.E. Azali Assoumani shed light on the irony of energy poverty on a continent that is richly endowed with vast energy resources that remain untapped. President Assoumani also highlighted the energy situation in most African island nations and noted that continental approaches can complement national initiatives to boost energy access. Using the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF) as an example, and Comoros as the beneficiary of a USD 9 million GRMF grant, H.E. Assoumani demonstrated how continental initiatives can augment Member States efforts. Accelerating the implementation of Agenda 2063 flagship projects such as the Grand Inga Dam Hydro project, and the energy projects under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) is critical in enhancing energy access, regional integration, fostering economic transformation, and climate resilience, underscored the President.

The African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM) was noted to be a key strategic element of facilitating energy access and enhancing energy security in Africa and, therefore, the AU Member States, regional economic communities and their specialised institutions were urged to play their part in facilitating its operationalisation.

President of the Republic of Madagascar H.E. Andry Rajoelina, who also chaired the high-level panel discussion emphasised the need to invest in clean sources to fast-track universal energy access in Africa underlining that energy is every African leaders priority. Addressing Energy Access is not negotiable for any leader, and we need now to move from words to action, said, President Rajoelina, adding that Madagascar aspires to achieve 100% energy access in the shortest possible time mainly by harnessing renewables.

Africa needs 25 billion USD in investment annually to meet its energy targets. The deliberations in the high-level panel underscored the role of partnerships in the area of finance, knowledge and technology transfer to help speed up existing and new initiatives to overcome constraints that African countries face in their quest for energy development.

Speaking on behalf of the World Bank, Ms Victoria Kwakwa and Mr Ousmane Diagana, respective Vice-Presidents for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Western and Central Africa, emphasized the World Banks commitment to partnering on this agenda. The World Bank remains committed to helping countries strengthen their institutional and regulatory frameworks and develop strong utilities  both of which are essential to a thriving power sector, said Kwakwa and Diagana.

In her concluding remarks, Commissioner Abou-Zeid assured the gathering that the AUC remains committed and ready to implement the recommendations made during the deliberations. The various programmes that the Commission is already coordinating will be accelerated and aligned with the priority of achieving universal energy access by 2030, reiterated the Commissioner.
Nigerian authorities should hold accountable those responsible for beating journalist Jonathan Ugbal, publicly advise political supporters to not attack the press, and not unduly hinder access to election-related sites, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On Wednesday, February 22, about 20 supporters of Nigerias Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hit and kicked Ugbal, editor of the privately owned news site CrossRiverWatch, as he worked to report on a dispute between the political supporters and a community youth group outside a PDP office in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, according to a report published by Ugbals outlet and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.

Separately, on the same day in Oshogbo, the Osun state capital, security forces working under the orders of officials with the Osun branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria barred journalists from at least 10 separate media houses from accessing the bank office, where Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials had come to collect election materials, including result sheets and ballot papers, according to a report by privately owned newspaper The Nation and its author Toba Adedeji, who was there and spoke by phone with CPJ. Adedeji told CPJ that when he had covered a similar collection of election materials ahead of the Osun state governorship elections in July 2022, journalists had been permitted to access the bank offices.

Nigerias elections for federal lawmakers are scheduled for February 25, and elections for state governments are scheduled for March 11. CPJs previous reporting detailed safety concerns for journalists covering the elections, including in Cross River State.

Nigerian authorities should hold accountable those responsible for attacking journalist Jonathan Ugbal, and political parties should make clear that such interference by their supporters will not be tolerated, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator, from New York. Authorities should ensure journalists are not denied access to cover Nigerias democratic process.

Regarding the incident in Calabar, the community youth group had gone to the PDP office to call for lawmakers from that party to improve roads and access to utilities, according to Ugbal and a member of the community group who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The journalist said he had finished filming the altercation and was leaving the scene when the attackers swarmed him, hit him across his body, damaged his devices, and took one of his three phones, some of his money, two of his bank cards, and his office ID card. Those items were not returned, he said.

The PDP supporters beat the journalist with their hands and kicked him until a bystander pulled him into a nearby shop, Ugbal said, adding that his bag fell to the ground during the attack, damaging his laptop and phones. As he waited in the shop, the party supporters deleted images from one of his phones, Ugbal said. As he left, he collected his bag with his computer and two remaining phones.

As Ugbal walked away, another group of about five PDP supporters approached and hit him with their hands, he said. After Ugbal identified himself as a journalist, they recognized him as a host with the privately owned broadcaster Hit 95.9 FM, where he also works. Those supporters looked through his bag, took his ID card, bank cards, and some money, then let him leave.

Ugbal said he went to a medical clinic after the attack, but no doctors were available, so he returned the next morning and received medication for pain in his neck and back due to the attack. He told CPJ that he intended to file a report with police but had been advised by his lawyer to first get a medical examination.

Venatius Ikem, the PDP chairman for Cross River State, told CPJ by phone that he was in transit before the line was disconnected. When CPJ called back, the connection was too poor to communicate. CPJ also sent questions via messaging app but received no response.

CPJ called Eta Mbora and Efa Esua Nyong, two incumbent PDP candidates that have offices in the building where Ugbal was attacked, but received no response.

CPJs calls and text messages to the INEC national spokesperson, Festus Okoye, and his Osun State counterpart, Oluwaseun Osimosu, went unanswered.

CPJ also called and sent emails to contacts listed on the Central Bank of Nigeria website but received no response.
A steady flow of taxis has rolled up outside the Ivorian embassy in Tunis in recent days, depositing dozens of migrants who say they no longer feel safe amid an officially sanctioned climate of fear.

After a wave of arrests in recent weeks, President Kais Saied gave a speech on Wednesday that critics said was openly racist.

Many sub-Saharan Africans in Tunisia are now heading for the exit.

"We want to go home," said Constant, who arrived at the embassy early on Friday in the hope of getting her paperwork in order.

In his speech Saied had ordered officials to take "urgent measures" to tackle irregular migration, claiming without evidence that "a criminal plot" was underway "to change Tunisia's demographic make-up".

His comments, praised by French far-right former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, were seen by many as inciting violence against sub-Saharan Africans living in Tunisia legally or illegally.

Aboubacar Dobe, head of a radio station for French-speaking migrants, said it was "clear that things are different since Saied's speech".

Authorities began a wave of arrests targeting migrants two weeks ago. By FETHI BELAID (AFP)

The head of Radio Libre Francophone said he had received threatening phone calls.

"When it was just the (recently created far-right) Tunisian Nationalist Party or on social media, people thought the state would protect them," he said.

"Now, they feel abandoned."

Outside the Ivorian embassy, one couple arrived after being evicted from their apartment, their worldly belongings in backpacks and suitcases.

Harassment and intimidation

Three other young women were dropped off by a smartly dressed Tunisian woman.

"They've been working at my beauty salon for two years," she said. "They're leaving now because they don't feel safe."

Constant, who has been unemployed for six months, said she has set up a WhatsApp group for Ivorians wanting to go home.

Bureaucratic obstacles have prevented many sub-Saharan Africans from regularising their status, making them easy targets for exploitation by unscrupulous employers as cheap labour. By FETHI BELAID (AFP)

"I'm here to organise an exit permit, because I've overstayed by four years and I can't afford to pay the fine" of more than 1,000 euros ($1,055), she said.

Other migrants spoke of harassment and intimidation, including fires lit outside their buildings or attempts to break in.

"The landlords are kicking us out; people beat us up or mistreat us," said Wilfrid Badia, 34, who has spent six years in the North African country eking out a living on casual jobs.

"To be safe, we decided to come to the embassy to sign up to go home."

Hosni Maati, a lawyer who helps an association for Ivorians in Tunisia, said that "since the president's speech, (Tunisians) have totally lost it".

Maati said sub-Saharan Africans had been living without papers in Tunisia for years as authorities turned a blind eye.

Bureaucratic obstacles prevented many from regularising their status, making them easy targets for exploitation by unscrupulous employers as cheap labour.

'Mob justice'

Authorities began a wave of arrests targeting migrants two weeks ago and have so far detained around 400 people, rights groups say. Most have since been released.

"You can't solve such a complex situation by making a speech and arresting people left, right and centre," Maati said.

Jean Bedel Gnabli, deputy head of an association for sub-Saharan migrants, said the whole community -- also including Senegalese, Guineans, Congolese and Comorans -- was living in fear.

Streets of informal African restaurants and barber shops have closed, apparently for good. By FETHI BELAID (AFP)

"They feel like they've been handed over to mob justice," he said.

Even sub-Saharan African students at Tunisian universities, who in principle are in the country legally, have been affected.

AESAT, an association that supports them, sent out a message this week urging them "not to go out, even to go to class, until authorities ensure we are properly protected from these attacks".

Gnabli predicted the Ivorian government would organise repatriation flights for those wishing to leave.

In the meantime, he called on Tunisian authorities to "guarantee their security" and "treat them with dignity".

In the Bhar Lazreg neighbourhood of north Tunis, streets of informal African restaurants and barber shops have closed, apparently for good.

A creche that had taken care of dozens of African children was nowhere to be seen.

Ivorians Blede Dibe and Michel Yere worked manual jobs in the neighbourhood until they found themselves abruptly unemployed two weeks ago.

But they agreed there was little point in returning to their home country.

"Go back to do what? There's no work for us in Ivory Coast," they said in unison.
With Russia's invasion of Ukraine entering its second year, questions over Turkey's equivocal approach to the conflict are likely to become more insistent. While Europe united in condemning Russia and swiftly imposed stringent sanctions on Moscow, Nato member Turkey took a more nuanced stance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, already having good ties with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, deepened his relationship as the Ukraine conflict worsened. At the same time, Turkey has supplied weapons to Kyiv.

The Turkish and Russian leaders smiled as they met on the fringes of a central Asia summit last year. The two self-styled strongmen regularly meet face-to-face or by video link. That relationship, Erdogan argues, allowed him to play a pivotal role in assisting the United Nations in brokering a deal between Ukraine and Russia to allow Ukrainian grain access to world markets, an agreement which helped to avert surging food prices and famine, especially in Africa which relies heavily on grain from Ukraine.

With the grain deal coming up for renewal next month, Turkish diplomats are working hard to ensure its extension. Political analyst Ilhan Uzgel of the Kisa Dalga news portal says the success of the grain deal is seen as a vindication of Erdogan's policy of maintaining close ties with Putin.

The grain deal "was a relief, especially for north Africa. It was praised by the United States. That was very important to the image of Turkish diplomacy," said Uzgel.

"These things are important internationally because it reminds the Western world that Turkey can play a critical role in this region," added Uzgel.

Ties with Moscow

Stressing the need to maintain close ties with Moscow, Ankara refuses to enforce western sanctions against Russia. However, the European Union has strongly criticised Ankara for failing to enforce sanctions and fears that European companies could use Turkey to circumvent the restrictions.

"For the West, it's important that the enforcement of the existing sanctions is as watertight as possible," says Maria Shagina, a specialist on international sanctions at the Institute for Strategic Studies.

Shagina warns Washington is stepping up its efforts to tighten sanctions against Russia.

Moscow is using Turkey to circumvent high technology sanctions against Russia, which could leave Turkey open to the risk of secondary sanctions.

"There are accusations that some Turkish companies, with or without the knowledge of the government, are actually attempting to export or reexport high technology goods or microchips to Russia, which would definitely elicit sanctions," warned analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.

"A couple of billions of trade here or there doesn't make a difference," added Yesilada. "But there are two red lines, financial sanctions and high-tech goods, because they sustain the Putin regime."

This month, the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a press conference with his US counterpart Antony Blinken rejected allegations that Turkey had become a backdoor allowing Russia to acquire proscribed high technology.

"The allegation that products that can be used in the defense industry, such as electronics, are exported by us to Russia is not correct," said Cavusoglu.

"We asked both the US and the European Union to give us any documents if they have any evidence. If there is any negligence in sanctions, we will take care of it. Our position is very clear and precise," added the Turkish foreign minister.
Former president John Dramani Mahama has yet again taken another swipe at the Electoral Commission of Ghana chaired by Jean Mensa accusing the electoral management body of not inspiring confidence.

Making reference to Nigerias elections slated for today, February 25, the former president said his preliminary engagements with the presidential hopefuls indicate they all have confidence in the Electoral Commissioner of that country but same cannot be said about Ghanas Electoral Commission.

Making the claims on his Facebook page, Mr. Mahama who is leading an observer mission for Nigerias elections, wrote: One thing that has struck me in my pre-election mission in Nigeria for the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) is the confidence all the candidates and parties have expressed in the Independent Electoral Commission. They all testify that INEC has listened and taken their concerns on board.

He applauded the INECs openness and ability to bring all the candidates on board but said it is unfortunate that I cant say the same for my Electoral Commission (EC), which was once among the best election management agencies in the world.

The former president is leading the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) to monitor the Nigeria elections.

The hostility of the Chairperson of the EC and her other Commissioners to one political party is legendary, he added.

Mr. Mahama further intimated that he wished Ghanas EC can inspire the same level of confidence in all its stakeholders.

Regrettably, I am not hopeful this will happen when we have an EC that has blatantly spurned all efforts by the National Peace Council to host a meeting between the Commission and the two major political parties, the NDC and NPP.

Read Mahamas full post below:

One thing that has struck me in my pre-election mission in Nigeria for the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) is the confidence all the candidates and parties have expressed in the Independent Electoral Commission.

They all testify that INEC has listened and taken their concerns on board.

Unfortunately, I cant say same for my Electoral Commission (EC), which was once among the best election management agencies in the world.

The hostility of the Chairperson of the EC and her other Commissioners to one political party is legendary.

How I wish our own EC can inspire the same level of confidence in all its stakeholders.

Regrettably, I am not hopeful this will happen when we have an EC that has blatantly spurned all efforts by the National Peace Council to host a meeting between the Commission and the two major political parties, the NDC and NPP.

John Dramani Mahama February 24, 2023 Abuja, Nigeria By Kabah Atawoge
Tamale Central Member of Parliament Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has said political interference is a cause of the raging conflict in Bawku in the Upper East region.

He said that although unemployment is also a factor, some of the culprits are gainfully employed.

These persons, he said, mostly engage in the conflict because they are passionate about chieftaincy.

I will also blame political interference, he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, February 25.

Meanwhile, Minister-Designate for Chieftaincy Stephen Asamoah Boateng has said the situation in Bawku is complex but can be resolved.

He told TV3's Komla Kluste in an interview after his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, February 20 that It is a very complex situation but it can be resolved.

He further said the issues in Bawku have to do with maintaining law and order.

He has, therefore, charged authorities to ensure there is law and order.

He said First of all, the current situation is maintaining law and order, that is government business, so state authorities must maintain law and order and bring peace.

There is the underlying issue of chieftaincy and land matters and I said during my vetting that you need to jaw-jaw. Luckily for me, I know some of them, most of them personally. I was at the local government so I know Nayiri, I know the Bawku area very well.

It calls for calm, we are a sovereign nation, we cannot fight among ourselves, it is a daunting task but I think I am up to it. I do consult a lot of people, I also pray to get direction and wisdom, that is what I need, I need a lot of wisdom from.

READ ALSO: Brong Ahafo plunged into darkness, GridCo substation destroyed by fire

Last week, the government condemned the enskinment of a new Bawku Naba at Nalerigu on Wednesday, February 15.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Information said Naa Asigri Azoka II is still the Bawku Naba.

The King of the Maprugu Traditional area Naa Bohugu Mahami I was reported to have enskinned Alhaji Seidu Abagre as the new chief for Bawku on Wednesday, February 15 at the Nayiri Palace in Nalerigu. READ ALSO: Jaw-jaw to resolve differences  Natl House of Chiefs President tells Mamprusis, Kusasis

But the government in a statement condemned the act and directed the security to arrest anyone who holds himself as such.

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 government said.

Government further reiterates that Naba Asigri Azoka I is the Bawku Naba, duly gazetted and a member of the National and Upper East Regional House of Chiefs.

The security agencies have therefore been directed to arrest and prosecute any other person who holds himself as Bawku Nana, it added.

3news.com
Prof. Ransford Gyampo

25.02.2023 LISTEN

A Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, Prof. Ransford Gyampo has opined that the move by the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to use only the Ghana Card as a source document for voter registration is a great one.

However, he has warned that it poses a lot of challenges and this is not the right time.

If there is truly the need to synchronize all identities into one card, then the Electoral Commissions decision to ensure the use of only the Ghana Card as source document for voter registration is, also great as it facilitates the need for all of us to help in making the call for a synchronized identity a reality.

The great ideas behind the use of the Ghana Card as source document for registration of voters notwithstanding, there are imponderable challenges. Given the challenges, I dare say that, this is not the time to introduce such an idea. The timing is wrong and my father, before he passed, told me that, a bad thing is a good thing done at the wrong time, Prof. Ransford Gyampo said in a post on Facebook.

According to him, the EC must build consensus with all stakeholders to address the challenges to ensure it does not cause problems for anyone.

Why is the timing wrong? The Electoral Commission has been unable to build consensus on this matter, which is a key issue that would contribute to determining the electoral fortunes of political parties in the 2024 General Elections. Without consensus around the ECs decision, there would be chaos and implosion, Prof. Ransford Gyampo argued.

These thoughts have been shared by the Political Science Professor while reacting to the introduction of the New Constitutional Instrument (CI) to Parliament by the EC to make Ghana Card the only Source Document for Voter Registration.

Read the full statement by Prof. Gyampo on the matter below:

Some Thoughts on the Electoral Commissions Attempt at Introducing a New Constitutional Instrument (CI) to make Ghana Card the only Source Document for Voter Registration

1. The idea of dealing with our challenge of multiplicity of identification cards and documents, by creating a Ghana Card or National Identification Card, is most laudable and it must be supported by all. Thankfully there appear to be some elite cross-party consensus on this matter. We tend to carry too many identity cards, including Hospital ID Card, SSNIT Card, Staff ID Cards, Passports, Voters ID Cards, Drivers License, and National Health Insurance Cards. These tend to create needless identity crisis for all of us as a people and as individuals, and make the calls for synchronization of all our identities into one card, the Ghana Card, a wise one.

2. If there is truly the need to synchronize all identities into one card, then the Electoral Commissions decision to ensure the use of only the Ghana Card as source document for voter registration is, also great as it facilitates the need for all of us to help in making the call for a synchronized identity a reality.

3. The great ideas behind the use of the Ghana Card as source document for registration of voters notwithstanding, there are imponderable challenges. Given the challenges, I dare say that, this is not the time to introduce such an idea. The timing is wrong and my father, before he passed, told me that, a bad thing is a good thing done at the wrong time.

4. Why is the timing wrong? The Electoral Commission has been unable to build consensus on this matter, which is a key issue that would contribute to determining the electoral fortunes of political parties in the 2024 General Elections. Without consensus around the ECs decision, there would be chaos and implosion. Dr Afari-Gyan was wise and cautious in building consensus among the key political actors on major decisions that could have plunged the country into chaos if they had not been handled well. In 2006 for instance, President Kufuor introduced the Representation of the Peoples Amendment Law. The bill was fought by Civil Society and many Pro-Democracy Forces through demonstrations, petitions etc. But the NPP majority passed bill and the President accented to it the same day to become law. But Dr Afari-Gyan took a very wise, patriotic stance, never to implement the law, so long as there remained lack of consensus among the key political actors. His fear was that, without consensus, the implementation of ROPAL could lead to serious political conflict. This is why the ROPAL has since not been implemented in spite of Kufuors signing it into law with alacrity. I respectfully urge the current EC bosses to copy from best practices as the Bible tells us in 3rd John 11a.

5. Besides, both the NIA and EC suffers from serious trust deficits from the main opposition party, and until these two agencies of state work consciously to deal with this challenge, even the most pious of their intentions may be seen as gifts from the Greeks and be taken with great trepidation. Under the current arrangement, someone with a Ghana Card can guarantee for one to be given a Ghana Card. But someone with a Ghana Card cannot guarantee for one to register as voter. Secondly, to avoid bureaucratic bottlenecks, one must pay 250 cedis to be able to procure a Ghana Card, a move that undermines the concept of Universal Adult Suffrage. Also, there are allegations that the distribution of equipment for the production of the Ghana Cards is skewed to favor the strongholds of the ruling party and to the disadvantage of the opposition. Again, as of 2020, there were about 17 million people captured by the NIA. Out of this number, a huge percentage are minors and foreigners. Also, out of this number, about 3.5 million people have still not been given their Ghana Cards because the NIA has no means to pay about 126 million to procure these cards for its owners. Moreover, the EC must be able to update its register every year but since 2021, this has not been done. Furthermore, the idea of burdening poor people in the hinterlands to look for non-existent resources to travel to only the district capital offices of the EC to register as voters, would be demoralizing, disenfranchising and democratically callous.

6. Given these challenges, including the NIAs own reported lack of adequate resources to function well in printing the cards of over 3.5 million people who are already registered, and in producing more Ghana Cards, one has no choice than to question why the EC will not first work to deal with the issues that also raises serious trust deficits, but would want to pretend all is well, and insist on making the Ghana Card (whose continuous production is not guaranteed because of lack of resources) the only source document for voter registration. Why cant the EC allow both the use of the Ghana Card and other source documents for registration for the next two or three more elections till we are certain that a certain critical mass of the voting populace across all regions and districts, have been able to secure their Ghana Cards?

7. Yesterday, 23rd February, 2023, I am reliably informed that in the sitting of Parliaments Committee of the Whole, when the gallery had been cleared and when there was no media coverage, a more deadly fight than the one that ensued in the selection of the Speaker, took place in Parliament when the above issues were discussed. Members of Parliament have decided to be tight lipped about it and given the lack of media coverage of the near brawl, many Ghanaians have been kept in the dark. If Honorable Members can freely fight on matters like this, then the least said about footsoldiers outside parliament, the better.

8. But as Ghanaians, we must cherish our peace and defend our democratic gains.

We must not allow the E.C or any Institution of State to plunge Ghana into chaos. We must not allow the indiscretion of any state institution to create a praetorian situation that may entice other people who have no business in government to think about striking to destabilize our peace and to relapse our democratic gains. If simple steps towards consensus building on a major Constitutional Instrument that would impact hugely on the electoral fortunes of political parties cannot be undertaken, then I dare say, the EC is most unqualified to introduce the current CI as its implementation may likely plunge Ghana into conflict.

9. But, should the EC and the NIA decide to do the needful by initiating sincere and genuine steps towards consensus building on the matters discussed above, the opposition must also not be overly intransigent. It is only the state that provides us with the opportunity to dialogue to resolve issues, according to Aristotle. So let the state institutions dialogue with the key stakeholders and let the key stakeholders not be overly intransigent. Let us do these for the sake of guarding our peace and preventing democratic relapse.

Yaw Gyampo

A31 Prabiw

P.A.V. Ansah Street

Saltpond

Suro Nipa House

Kubease

Larteh-Akuapim
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has given the assurance that it is keen on working to ensure every Ghanaian is issued a Ghana Card.

Speaking to Joy News on Saturday, February 25, the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Ken Attafuah disclosed that already, over 17.3 million Ghanaians have been duly registered for the Ghana Card.

He stressed that anyone that is ready to be captured and registered for a Ghana Card will be duly served.

We are willing and ready to serve the good people of this country.

It's not the case that NIA can capture every Ghanaian, it is the case that NIA can capture every Ghanaian who wants to be captured.

As of the 19th of February, we had registered 17,375,861 Ghanaians, it is important to situate that in context, Prof. Ken Attafuah said.

He was speaking on the News File show during a discussion on the use of the Ghana Card as the only source of identification during the new voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission.

Already, the EC has made the move to introduce a New Constitutional Instrument (CI) to make Ghana Card the only Source Document for Voter Registration.

The move has been strongly opposed by the Minority in Parliament who argue that this is not the right time.
The French leader Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said he will visit China in early April. The president called on Beijing to help the countries in the western alliance put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Speaking in Paris on the day after China called for urgent peace talks and released Beijing's plan to end the war in Ukraine, Macron said peace was possible only if "the Russian aggression was halted, troops withdrawn and the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and its people was respected".

China's 12-point plan calls for a "political settlement" of the crisis. It has been greeted with scepticism by Western leaders but Ukraine and Russia have expressed cautious support.

Timed to coincide with the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, the paper urges all parties to "support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible".

The Chinese proposition also makes clear Beijing's opposition to the use of nuclear weapons, and also to the threat of deploying them. This follows Russian President Vladimir Putin's warning that he was prepared to use Moscow's atomic arsenal in the conflict.

Russia has said it appreciates Beijing's efforts to settle the conflict but insisted any solution must recognise Kremlin control over four Ukrainian regions.

"We highly value the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine through peaceful means," the foreign ministry said, but added any settlement must recognise "the new territorial realities".

Broad international scepticism

China's document was immediately met by scepticism from Ukraine's allies, with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg saying Beijing "doesn't have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine".

"Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good?" US President Joe Biden said on Friday.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's spokesman said "I think the call on the need to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is particularly important."

Russian ally Kazakhstan expressed support on Saturday for the Chinese initiative.

Kazakhstan's foreign ministry said it welcomed China's position "on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis".

In a statement, the ministry said the proposal "deserves support as contributing to the cessation of bloodshed".

Kazakhstan, which shares a 7,500 kilometre border with Russia, also emphasised the importance of "territorial integrity" in China's plan.

Kazakhstan is part of various military and economic alliances with Russia but has refused to support the invasion of Ukraine or recognise the Kremlin's annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

The country has, however, abstained or voted against UN resolutions condemning Russia.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan next week before going to New Delhi for a G20 foreign ministers' meeting, also due to be attended by Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Forty-seven still missing in collapsed coal mine

By YUAN HUI in Hohhot and LI HONGYANG in Beijing (China Daily) 15:03, February 25, 2023

Rescuers use radar to monitor the accident site as the rescue continues at a collapsed coal mine in Alshaa League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Friday. LIAN ZHEN/XINHUA

Forty-seven people were still missing as of 2 pm on Friday in the rubble of a collapsed coal mine in Alshaa League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and potential secondary slumping poses the biggest challenge for rescuers, said rescue authorities.

The accident happened at around 1 pm on Wednesday.

By Friday morning, more than 1,100 rescuers were at the scene, according to Alshaa League's administrative office.

Cheng Xiangdong, an officer from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Fire Rescue Corps, said at a news conference on Friday that they are using life detectors and rescue dogs to determine the specific location of the trapped people after drawing a boundary of the area by comparing satellite and on-site monitoring pictures.

They are also searching for people by finding trapped vehicles first. They have adopted metal detectors and positioning machines to locate vehicles, Cheng said.

"The rescue is difficult," he said, adding that judging from the situation in the past two days, the landslide area at the site is large and the collapse accumulation is high. Another collapse may occur again anytime.

"Even if there is a little hope, we will never give up and will manage to rescue the trapped people in the shortest time," Cheng said.

Zhang Yong, an expert from the rescue group of the Inner Mongolia's emergency response headquarters, said at the conference that it is necessary to build roads between landslides for rescue machines to move.

The expert group has also planned that rescue workers should use both excavators and hammers to ensure continuous and efficient operation.

Contact the writers at [email protected]

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Dr. Dominic Ayine

25.02.2023 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga East, Dr. Dominic Ayine has stressed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not against the use of the Ghana Card for voter registration.

However, he has indicated that as a party, the NDC believes the country cannot just jump ahead and abolish the guarantee system, especially when there are problems associated with people securing their Ghana cards.

The NDC as a party is not against the use of the Ghana Card for purposes of voter registration.

We can't jump ahead of ourselves and say abolish the guarantor system and use only the Ghana Card, Dr. Dominic Ayine said in an interview with Joy News on the News File show on Saturday, February 25.

He was speaking during a discussion on the use of the Ghana Card as the only source of identification during the new voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission.

Already, the EC has made the move to introduce a New Constitutional Instrument (CI) to Parliament to make Ghana Card the only Source Document for Voter Registration.

Speaking on the same platform, the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, NIA, Dr. Ken Attafuah said his outfit is willing and ready to serve the good people of this country to ensure anyone that needs a Ghana Card is registered.

He, however, cautioned, It's not the case that NIA can capture every Ghanaian, it is the case that NIA can capture every Ghanaian who wants to be captured.

Meanwhile, the NIA boss has disclosed that as of February 19, his outfit had registered 17,375,861 Ghanaians for the Ghana Card.
25.02.2023 LISTEN

The Communications Specialist at the Energy Ministry, Kofi Abrefa Asena, has described as baseless some allegations made by the outgoing Managing Director of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Limited, Madam Frances Essiam.

Madam Frances who has been the MD for the company since 2017, resigned from her position on Thursday, February 23, 2023.

The new MD, Madam Genevieve Sackey, was nominated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in a letter dated February 21, 2023.

Since the date on the appointment letter preceded that of Madam Essiams resignation letter, observers are raising concerns as to whether she resigned honourably or was fired.

Speaking on Eyewitness News with Selorm Adonoo, madam Essiam alleged that the letter appointing a new MD for the company was backdated by the appointing authority.

But in a sharp rebuttal on Eyewitness News, the Communications Specialist of the Ministry of Energy said Madam Frances got wind of a possible sack, hence her resignation.

It could mean that she got wind of her possible sack Thats a very wild allegation, its one of the most serious allegations that a former MD of a state-owned enterprise could make. You are alleging, essentially calling the integrity of the Presidency to question. If you make an allegation that a letter had been backdated, why would a letter be backdated?

The President [Akufo-Addo] reserves the power to appoint and disappoint. So why would the Presidency backdate a letter? He appointed you and he can sack you. The President has the power to hire and fire. These are conjectures and speculations and for me, they have no basis of truth, Mr. Asena stated.

He said he has not sighted Madam Frances Essiams termination or resignation letters.

I havent sighted the letter revoking the appointment of Madam Frances Essiam and I havent also seen her resignation letter, I have heard it in the media circles, the Communication Specialist of the Ministry said.

Reacting to Madam Frances Essiams claims that the Energy Minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh is in favour of GOIL being awarded a contract against Ghana Gas to takeover Ghana Cylinder, he said, this is a very unsubstantiated allegation. I think that shes saying this because shes no more in office. Why would you speak about something that you have no evidence of? Its quite premature.

The Minister has no personal interest in anything, all hes interested in is to ensure that ultimately every decision he makes as a Minister is in the interest of Ghana. Its clearly a conjecture, its nothing but an attempt to cast a slur on the hard-won reputation of the Minister, who has nothing to do with the sack of Madam Frances Essiam.

citinewsroom
Mr Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, has indicated that he stands a better chance in breaking the eight-year mantra for his party.

According to Mr Kyerematen, with the current economic challenges in the country, what the NPP needed was a candidate who is appealing to the masses to enable the party to break the 8-year power chain.

I think the most difficult challenge that confronts us as a party going into the general election is finding a leader who goes beyond the NPP in terms of his or her own record. We need a candidate whom you can market to the people of Ghana but not just the NPP, he said.

The flag bearer hopeful said this during a visit to the Upper East Region when he met with party executives, the clergy, traders, drivers, and supporters of the NPP.

Mr Alan Kyerematen stated that winning an election in Ghana goes beyond political party and added that the individual leading the party must be appealing to the masses, I think I fit the bill not just because I have been in this game for some time, but my appeal cut across political parties, religion and ethnic divide.

The former Trade and Industry Minister who was also spoke on URA Radio in Bolgatanga as part of his campaign tour to the region said his vision about transforming Ghana that started about 22 years ago could have fetched the country not less than 50 billion dollars (about $150 per person in the US) every year if the vision had been continued.

So, you can imagine the transformation that would have occurred from that time up to now. As a country, it is time for you to have a new leader that understands business and understands how to move the private sector and support the productive sectors of our economy, he added.

Under his leadership as Trade and Industry minister, Mr Kyerematen said with support from the private sector, over 296 factories were established in different districts across the country in the past three and half years of the establishment of the government's flagship policy 'one district, and factory'.

Two years ago, when I started talking about producing and assembling cars here in Ghana, people were not so sure. But to the glory of God, now we have all the major global auto companies assembling cars here in Ghana. Volkswagen, VW, Toyota, Nissan, Kia, Hyundai, and very soon, Isuzu, Honda. All these things could not happen by chance but the result of a big vision and that is what you need as a leader, Mr Kyerematen stated

GNA
25.02.2023 LISTEN

Ghana has the potential to become one of the wealthiest societies on the surface of the planet Earth. Yet, she is currently debt-distressed - and unable to meet interest payments on her massive debt mountain.

As we speak, Ghana has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for a bailout amounting to US$3 billion - contingent upon debt forgivance arranged for it by the Paris Club group of nations.

If the dominant-elements amongst Ghana's ruling-elites were honest, principled and dedicated to providing generational-levelling-up opportunities to empower base-of-the-pyramid demographics, as well as abhorrent of high-level corruption, Ghana wouldn't have come to the sorry pass she is now in.

In light of the above defect in the character of the dominate elements amongst Ghana's ruling elites, before extending any help to Ghana, the IMF, China and all her other foreign creditors, must demand the following reforms designed to end egregious high-level grand-larceny:

1) Passage of legislation by Parliament giving the Auditor General prosecutorial powers.

2) Passage of new legislation making it mandatory for all high-level public sector appointees (and their spouses) to publicly publish their assets before assumption of office, and immediately after their tenures end.

3) Passage of new legislation banning mining in all Ghana's forest reserves and cancelling all issued exploratory gold mining licenses in forest reserves.

4) Passage of new legislation to end statutory-requirement of payments by media houses of monetary fees to sector regulatory bodies, because it impedes freedom of expression in Ghana, and is often used to muzzle anti-regime media entities and media professionals, by corrupt elements in Ghana.

5) Passing new legislation to end sole-sourcing in public procurement to make it a clear-cut-illegality in public administration and nation-building.

6) Passage of new legislation indemnifying whistleblowers, whose revelations, and exposure, of nation-wrecking-corruption, results in prosecutions and recovery of stolen public funds.

Ghana is being destroyed by its greed-filled and hard-of-hearing ruling elites, whose impunity needs to end, if the nation is to prosper. In short, without the above-mentioned reforms being carried out urgently, Ghana's creditors must let her stew in her own juice.

There is no question that high-level is impoverishing Ghana. Demanding an end to high-level corruption is the best way Ghana's creditors can help save her from ruination. It will be tragic for Ghana if the IMF and her other creditors fail to wring vital anti-corruption reforms out of our greed-filled and hard-of-hearing ruling-elites. Enough is enough. Full stop. Case closed.
Dr Kwabena Duffuor has done well for the NDC. Apart from serving the NDC as finance minister, Duffuour's businesses, media houses, and other sources of investment have largely been used to support the NDC's activities. Inside information indicates that he made a significant contribution to the party that deserves to be recognized. Dr Duffuour recently launched the Ahotor project, which aims to empower the party's grassroots. Though some well-meaning party members attended the launching, the gesture was seen as a ruse for Dr Duffuour to launch his political ambition. Later, top party executives portrayed Ahotor as unnecessary, implying that it violated the party's constitution. Since then, members of parliament and other top party executives have taken it upon themselves to vigorously project Mahama in the hope that all flagbearer hopefuls will resign and join the Mahama train. Top party officials believe that Mahama is a sure bet for the party and that challenging him would be a waste of resources. Even in his announcement to run for the party's flagbearership, Mahama made it appear as if he was the chosen one, projecting himself against the 2024 presidential elections rather than the NDC presidential primaries.

Contrary to all odds, Dr Duffuor has not given up, nor has he been deterred by Mahama's popularity. The party's constitution requires a contest, so Dr Duffuor did not commit an error in this regard. Intriguingly, some party stalwarts are urging the party's leadership to declare Mahama unopposable. Dr Duffuor was able to obtain a nomination form, and despite the fact that many NDC members believe Mahama is a safe bet, Dr Duffour's stunt could pose a significant test for the NDCs organization and loyalty going into the 2024 general election.

To begin with, before the NDC announced the opening of nominations, many NDC members labelled Dr Duffuour as an outcast and a recalcitrant. Though ten (10) regional chairmen and other influential party members chose a nomination form on Mahama's behalf, Duffuour had the Ashanti regional executive do so. Top party hierarchy members may applaud Mahama's popularity, but Duffuour may appeal directly to the grassroots. The Ashanti factor could come into play if the region's caucus feels threatened by discrimination and unfairness directed subtly at their preferred candidate. When Duffuour did not win, the 'Ashanti Apathy (AA)' could come back to haunt the NDC. The NDC Ashanti executive could use this 'Code (AA)' to express their displeasure with the way the primaries were conducted. This means that the NDC may lose more votes in the Ashanti Region in 2024. Once Duffuour's feet are planted in the region, the 'Ashanti Apathy' becomes a reality.

NDC appears to be unstable yet again. Many things do not appear to be right in the party, but they have managed to keep them hidden from the public. These issues have arisen since 2020, and they are eroding party loyalty. The general exodus of astute party cadres, the Rawlings factor, and the dismissal of some party executives and members have increased the party's vulnerability. The recent "Haruna Idrissu Factor," in which minority leadership was quickly reshuffled, revealed cracks that needed to be repaired. Many people will dismiss these developments, but they have the potential to blow the lid off. Koku Ayidoho had been consistent in venting his frustrations, and if others began to join him, the party might find themselves in a pickle. Party members opposed Duffuour's Ahoto Project, which was intended to empower the grassroots. The grassroots are displeased because they are always left out of the booty sharing, even if the party wins power. If this is any indication, Dr Duffuour will have massive grassroots support from people who believe he cares about them. Even if he does not win, gaining complete grassroots support will be a challenge for Mahama in 2024.

The NDC's desire for power in 2024 will be dashed if they continue to rely on the NPP's failures without mending their cracks. In the face of vulnerability, disloyalty, and Ashanti apathy, the NDC is bound to struggle to win the 2024 elections, which they are so confident about.

Isaac Ofori

(Demographer, Human Rights Advocate, Educator)
25.02.2023 LISTEN

One Scripture that faith teachers or prosperity teachers have abused so much is 3 John 2. The text says, "Dear friend, I pray that you enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." The false Bible teachers use this text to teach that all Christians are guaranteed perfect health and prosperity only if they believe and confess to them. However, this Scripture read within its context is just a way of greeting in ancient times. Paul will begin his epistles or letters with, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The ancient epistles began with salutations from the writers to the recipients.

I often begin my official letters in modern times with, "I hope this email or letter finds you well." When I write these words, I do not intend for my recipients to take them as commands to be obeyed or as normative conditions or principles. It is just a way of greeting. So the apostle John or the writer of 3 John, following the letter-writing style in antiquity, started his greeting with the above words.

Let me start by saying that I am a Pentecostal Christian who believes in divine healing. I have often received God's divine healing, grace, and mercy. I have also ministered healing to several people in my ministry. However, like the Apostle Paul, I believe that healing is not dispensed at will by any man or woman but by God's sovereign will. In his final days and hours, the great apostle lamented his inability to heal his closest colleague and companion, Trophimus. In 2 Timothy 4:20, the great apostle writes, "Erastus has remained at Corinth, and Trophimus I left sick in Miletus."

Paul would have indeed healed his associates if it was within his power. This is the same apostle who raised Eutychus from death and healed the disabled person at Lystra, yet had to leave his trusted friend sick at Miletus. In Philippians 2:27, he said, "Epaphroditus was sick to death. Moreover, in 1 Timothy 5:23, he advised his associate Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach and frequent ailment.

In his book, 'The Cult of Prosperity, the eminent Pentecostal scholar and New Testament exegete, and a Minister of the Assemblies of God (USA), Gordon Fee, writes, "American Christianity is rapidly being infected by an insidious disease, the so-called 'wealth and health' Gospel- although it has very little of the character of the Gospel in it. In its brazen forms  it simply says, 'Serve God and get rich  in its more respectable  but pernicious forms, it builds fifteen million dollar crystal cathedrals to the glory of affluent suburban Christianity."

The goal of Biblical interpretation is to discover the original writer's intent. What was the writer trying to say or accomplish when he put pen to paper? So, we need to answer this question: What was the apostle's intent when he wrote these words to his friend Gaius? Was Apostle John giving all Christians a perfect health and prosperity formula, or was he following the conventional writing styles of antiquity?

First, this is a personal letter from an elder to one of his beloved friends, Gaius. John might have received information about Gaius' growth in the Lord: walking in truth and righteousness, and was writing to motivate and encourage him. The words we read in 3 John 2 were a standard form of opening address in letter writing in antiquity.

In antiquity, private letter writings also employed conventional phrases for health wishes, affirmations of prayers and offerings, and the assurance of well-being to the gods on the recipient's behalf. Nowadays, expressions such as "I hope this letter finds you well" are common. But we also start our letters with "Dear so-and-so" and close with "Sincerely so-and-so." These are conventional styles of letter writing today.

So, when the apostles were writing letters to individuals in antiquity, they employed the known letter-writing conventions of their days. If one were serious about consulting extra-biblical writers from antiquity, one would find that these were standard greetings. One needs to compare the introductory address or salutation of a letter written to Apollos from his son.

"Dearest father, I pray to God that you are whole and doing well and that we might receive you in good health. Another correspondence from Claudius Terenitianus to his father reads, "Very many greetings. Before all else, I pray for your health and success, which are my wish, and I make obeisance for you daily in the presence of our Lord Sarapis and the gods who share his temple." Therefore, the introductory portion of 3 John was a formal greeting or salutation in antiquity. It was not instructive or didactic teaching for Christians.

Dr. Gordon Fee, whom I referenced earlier, has this to say in his 2006 book, "The disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels": "When people read texts like today's Scripture through a selfish, worldly lens, one result is the toxic thinking known as the prosperity gospel. The biblical greeting must be understood simply as hoping that his reader is doing well and in good health despite the varied circumstances of life, just as his soul is well because He is in Christ. Nowhere does God promise those who follow Him that life will be rosy and filled with riches. Sadly, many believe this pipe dream in the USA has spread overseas, so as I prepare to teach in places like Seoul and Manila, I need to refresh my thinking to help students who wrestle with how to counteract prosperity gospel thinking where they minister."

When a Pentecostal scholar like Gordon Fee writes, I read and trust it. I pray that Christians who want to know the truth and sound exegesis will read the Scripture for all its worth. While the book contains didactic teachings, 3 John 2 is not didactic but a salutation for Gaius. The book of 3 John is a letter written by the apostle John to a man named Gaius, in which he expresses his concerns and commendations regarding Gaius and his fellow believers following an ancient Greco-Roman letter writing style. While the letter is not primarily didactic, that is, instructive or educational; it does contain some teachings and instructions for the community.

Didactic teaching is instructional, primarily transmitting information or knowledge from the teacher to the learner. Didactic teaching often involves direct instruction, lecture, and memorization and is designed to convey specific information or concepts to the student. They are instructions to be obeyed or followed. One example of didactic teaching in 3 John is found in verses 5-8, where John praises Gaius for his hospitality towards other believers traveling and teaching in the area. John uses this example to encourage other community members to show hospitality towards these teachers, as they are doing the work of God. He also warns against supporting false teachers who do not adhere to the truth of the Gospel.

An additional example of didactic teaching in 3 John is found in verses 9-10, where John condemns a man named Diotrephes, who was causing trouble in the community by refusing to accept John's authority and speaking maliciously against him. John instructs the community to reject Diotrephes' behavior and follow the example of Gaius, who supported the teachers who were spreading the truth. Some Biblical scholars argue that the original Greek word for "prosper" in this verse means "to have a good journey" or "to be successful on a journey." They suggest that this verse is not necessarily referring to material prosperity but rather to the success and well-being of one's spiritual journey.

Other scholars point out that the verse may be interpreted as a prayer for Gaius' spiritual well-being rather than a promise of material prosperity or physical health. Building a theology on the salutations of ancient letters is a dangerous undertaking that must be discouraged since it endangers other people's health and puts their lives in danger.
25.02.2023 LISTEN

On February 19th, Bangladesh shut down a daily newspaper, Dainik Dinkal, for violating the countrys press and publication law. The decision has created a national debate in Bangladesh. Many portray this shutdown by legal intervention as an attack on the countrys media freedom. The issue has also attracted international media such as BBC, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian. Committee for Protecting Journalists (CPJ) also quickly gave a statement citing the decision as a blatant attack against media freedom. Perhaps, the dailys political affiliation with the opposition, BNP, and its top leader, Tarique Rahman is the reason behind such media attention. But in the era of post-positivism, it is worth asking if the shutdown is really a media freedom issue. Or is it an example of post-truth politics?

What is Post-Truth Politics?

Post-truth politics, also called post-factual politics and post-reality politics, is a political culture in which debate is framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy, and by repetition of the framed statement, it ignores objective rebuttals to it. Post-truth politics is largely applied by populist political parties to pursue the masses. It is a very modern concept that has become popular in academia since 2015 to understand contemporary phenomena.

As the narratives are framed based on emotions and personal beliefs rather than objectivity. Academics, political leaders, and commentators become very important in shaping them. In post-truth politics, disinformation, false or fabricated news, rumor, conspiracy theories, and manufactured controversies are widely used to shape public opinion or gaslight the public into confusion and fuel dissidence.

Dinkal Shutdown

Dinkals shutdown is not a single decision, rather its a legal process. The issue began on 26th November 2022, when a Dhaka court ordered to cancellation of its license over a violation of the law. After that, the Dinkal authority appealed against the decision on 29th December. But their appeal was rejected at the Bangladesh Press Council on 19th February. Since then, the publication of the daily is off.

The allegation brought against Dinkal is that it is violating press and publication law.

According to law, the editor of any Bangladeshi daily must hand over the charge of the respective newspaper if he stays more than 6 months abroad. The editor of Dinkal is Tarique Rahman, the top leader of the main opposition, BNP. Tarique Rahman is currently a fugitive in the eye of the law as he has been sentenced to several criminal lawsuits against him. He is also one of the masterminds behind the 21st August Grenade Attack that took place in 2004. Tarique Rahman has been living in exile in the United Kingdom to escape jail time for more than 14 years now.

Yet he did not hand over the charge of the Daily Dinkal to anyone. The managing editor, Shamsur Rahman Shemul was managing the newspaper till the court decision with Rizwan Siddique as the acting editor.

Such management of the daily Dinkal is a clear violation of the law upon which the press council decided to reject the appeal. It is worth mentioning that the press council also consists of a wide range of stakeholders including fellow journalists.

Dinkal and Post-Truth Politics

No doubt, Bangladesh is struggling to uphold its media freedom. The country is currently at 162nd in Global Media Freedom Index 2022. But the legal proceedings and Dinkals clear violation suggest that the shutdown is a completely legal step. Hence, it has nothing to do with media freedom in Bangladesh. Yet CPJ portrayed it as a Blatant attack on press freedom.

Again, the prominent international media such as Al Jazeera, Barrons, and the Guardian portrayed Dinkal as the main opposition newspaper. There is also an attempt to portray Dinkal as a dissident voice and a prominent newspaper.

But in reality, Dinkal is just another newspaper struggling to maintain existence with least circulation. According to the governments Department of Films and Publications, the dailys latest daily circulation stood at only 15,580 copies. With such low circulation, Dinkal is not even in the top fifty Bengali newspapers in Bangladesh.

It seems the press freedom narrative and the debate over license cancellation are driven by subjectivity, and emotion; disconnected from the detail of the case and objectivity. The narrative is also driven by a conspiracy theory aimed to fuel dissidence only. Therefore, the debate and the narrative regarding Dainik Dinkal is an example of post-truth politics.

In a nutshell, Dinkals shutdown is a legal decision. It is not a political decision or a repressive measure. Bangladesh currently has more than 500 dailies published every day. Dinkal is just one of them that violated the countrys law. The subsequent debate and narrative are only exaggerated portrayals and it reveals that there is post-truth politics at play motivated by subjectivity, emotion, personal belief, and conspiracy theories.

Aziz Patwary is a British-Bangladeshi and former employee of the World Bank
The new General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church of Ghana, Rev. Dr Stephen Yenusom Wengam has passionately called on all relevant stakeholders to work assiduously towards finding a lasting solution to the raging conflict in Bawku.

Delivering his maiden address after his induction ceremony, Rev. Wengam used the opportunity to appeal to factions in the Bawku conflict to yield to the persuasive influences of traditional authority and opinion leaders to ensure that peace returns to the area.

In his view, the conflict in Bawku has the potential to corrode the peaceful reputation that Ghana enjoys in Africa if a lasting solution is not found immediately.

We note with keen interest the withdrawal of the court order issued for the arrest of the new Bawku Naba, this development does not obscure the fact that the Bawku conflict is potentially corrosive to Ghanas reputation as the most peaceful nation in West Africa and second in the whole of Africa.

No effort should be spared at containing the hyper-sensitive and supremely complex situation which threatens to cascade into security challenges of unthinkable proportions. For the sake of these and in the name of God, we make our most passionate appeal to all sides of the Bawku conflict to yield to persuasive influences of traditional authorities, opinion leaders, prominent citizens, peace activists, security experts, religious figures while pragmatic moves are made to find a durable solution to the conflict.

Rev. Wengam also promised to work hard to make the Church attractive to the youth and ensure that the Assemblies of God Church plays an important role in the countrys development.

The induction ceremony was attended by several prominent pastors and former President John Dramani Mahama and former Chief Justice, Georgina Wood.

Reverend Stephen Yenusom Wengam, who is also the lead Radio Pastor at Citi FM, was elected as the General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Ghana at the 30th biennial General Council meeting of the church.

Rev. Wengam, 50, is the lead pastor of Cedar Mountain International Church in Accra.

He takes over from Rev. Professor Yaw Frimpong-Manso who was General Superintendent of the church for 12 years.

Rev. Wengam took office on Monday 5th September 2022 at a handing-over ceremony held at the headquarters of the church in Accra.

By Citi Newsroom
The Vice-Chancellor of the Accra Technical University (ATU), Professor Samuel Nii Odai, has admonished fresh students and the entire student body of the University to report all forms of harassment to school authorities for appropriate sanctions.

He said the University was ready to offer students the necessary support to grow and develop, including protecting them from all forms of harassment during their time on campus.

Speaking at the matriculation ceremony of some 8,677 fresh students, in Accra, on Saturday, the Vice-Chancellor also cautioned the students to be modest in their dressing and grooming.

He said: In the University, there are no uniforms, so you have the freedom to choose what to wear to lectures, church service and other functions.

Please, just don't dress like a dressed chicken, and lead yourself into unnecessary challenges. Please, remember that what you wear says a lot about you, so, be modest in your choice of dress and grooming, he added.

A total of 13,015 applicants applied for admission into various programmes at the University for the 2022/2023 academic year.

Out of this, 12,267 applicants received admission to offer courses under its five faculties.

However, Prof Odai noted that, as of the end of Friday, Feb 24, 2023, only 8,677 applicants had paid fees for one of the Universitys programmes.

That number, he said, included 1,312 students who applied for various programmes under the Faculty for Applied Arts, 2,241 Faculty of Applied Sciences students and 803 students belonging to the Faculty of Built Environment.

The rest are; the Faculty of Business 2,529 and Faculty of Engineering  1,792, while the male-to-female ratio stands at 5,437 and 3,240 respectively.

The Vice-Chancellor also revealed that the University had made significant progress in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), increasing its enrollment by some three per cent, to 71 per cent in the 2022/2023 academic year from 68 per cent in the previous academic year.

Prof Odai said, as a University, its philosophy of education and training for employment and job creation, was embedded in all curricula, adding that, it aimed to prepare courses that met the demands of the world of work.

Your decision to enrol in ATU is one of the best decisions you have made, he said, assuring them that the hands-on, practical-oriented training you will receive here will prepare you adequately for the world of work.

To improve the learning conditions and environment at the University, Prof Odai said, it had invested huge sums of money to procure vehicles, furniture, fixtures and fittings in lecture rooms, libraries and hostels.

He added that students hostels had recently received a facelift, while procurement of more classroom furniture was underway.

New buses have been provided, while the old ones receive a facelift to enhance your study trips and industrial attachments, he added.

He urged the students to be responsible by taking good care of the facilities.

The Vice-Chancellor also indicated that the University, through its Governing Council had approved an amount of GH400,000 to the ATU Students Financial Support scheme, to provide scholarships for students for the 2022/2023 academic year.

He cautioned students to be wary of the unlimited freedom the University environment offered, urging them to stay away from social vices such as drug addiction, gambling, prostitution and drunkenness.

Also, he advised them against examination malpractices, warning that the University took serious offence to such practices and would not shade anyone if caught.

University examinations and assessment systems are serious business. We do not compromise on any form of academic dishonesty, he said.

GNA
February 25, 2023

Ukraine - Those Guns Unknown To Me

Over the last months I read each Daily Report on the war in Ukraine by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The reports list the losses of the Ukrainian side on each of the major fronts. I was especially interested in the dedicated counter-artillery campaign the Russian's have been waging during the last two months.

They numbers in the Russian reports may be wrong or exaggerated but they are in a range that is plausible for such a high intensity operation.

The average daily Ukrainian losses are 12 major artillery pieces, one artillery radar and 3 to 4 artillery ammunition points or depots. The Ukrainian losses of men are listed at around 400+ per day. (The reports exclude the Wagner operations in Bakhmut/Artyomovsk.)

For the one month I recorded 214 destroyed truck pulled howitzers, 92 destroyed self-propelled howitzers and 56 destroyed Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS). About 12,000 Ukrainian troops were also reported to have been killed.

For comparison the artillery 'fist' of a NATO tank or motorized infantry division is its artillery brigade. It consists of 3 fire battalions each of which has 3 fire companies each of which has 6 guns or MLRS. That is a total of 52 major artillery pieces.

Losing a total of 362 major artillery pieces as Ukraine has done in a month is a lot, much more than the 'west' is able to replace. The current lack of ammunition that Ukraine claims to have will soon change into an oversupply simply because Ukraine will lack the guns and MLRS to fire it.

But that isn't the focus of this piece.

I have wondered about some howitzer/gun types the reports mentioned as destroyed. I had never heard of those and had to look them up.

What is for example the M101 truck pulled howitzer?

After World War I, the U.S. Army Ordnance Department studied various captured German 105 mm-caliber howitzers and developed the 105 mm Howitzer M1920 on Carriage M1920.

...

A modified version of the M1 was trialed in 1932 which used semi-fixed ammunition instead of separate-loading ammunition.

...

The original M1 carriage had been designed for towing using horses rather than trucks, and a new carriage, the T5 (M2), was developed in 1939 and standardized in February 1940.

...

The U.S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, redesignating the M2A1 howitzer the M101A1.

So the M101, pictured below, is a U.S. copy of a German army howitzer design from World War I. Some 10,000 have been build mostly during World War II.

The ones Ukraine has, and the two Russia claimed to have destroyed, were gifts from the Lithuanian army reserve.

The D-44 anti-tank gun was also unknown to me:

The 85-mm divisional gun D-44 (Russian: 85-   -44) was a Soviet divisional 85-mm calibre field artillery gun used in the last action of World War II.

...

The barrel was developed from that of the T-34-85 tank and was capable of firing 2025 high-explosive (HE), armor-piercing, and high-explosive antitank (HEAT) projectiles per minute.

A nice little museum piece.

There is also the Rapira anti tank gun which turns out to be a bit more modern:

2A19 or T-12 is a Soviet-designed 100-mm anti-tank gun. It was the first anti-tank gun to adopt a smoothbore barrel, and to introduce modern armor piercing shot, like the APFSDS. It uses long projectiles that are more powerful than its caliber suggests.

...

In 1971 a new variant was introduced, T-12A or MT-12 "Rapira" (2A29). This has the same barrel, but has a redesigned carriage and gun shield.

...

By the mid-1990s modern western tanks' frontal armor protection could no longer be penetrated by a 100 mm gun. The 100 mm caliber ammunition had reached the limits of what could be achieved with it.

It is sad to see that the Ukrainian army has to use such museum pieces. Yes, they still may be useful in special cases. Also having such guns is probably better than having no gun at all.

But they have no chance to survive or even win on a more recent battle field.

Posted by b on February 25, 2023 at 11:50 UTC | Permalink

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President Joe Biden walks down a corridor to his cabin on a train after a surprise visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Kyiv. Biden took a nearly 10-hour train ride from Poland into Kyiv.
MERIDEN  Shamieka Williams and Melanie Mathers werent supposed to get along, or at least so they say. They first met one another through Mathers ex-husband, who had previously been married to Williams sister, and described their initial interactions as uncomfortable at best. One night the pair met up for drinks to smooth over tensions and found themselves doubled over laughing together like old friends.

Sixteen years later, the chemistry between them is palpable as they dart across the kitchen of their newly opened 2 Broke Chix soul food restaurant, bobbing their heads as Mtumes Juicy Fruit plays over a speaker.

Though 2 Broke Chix only opened its doors recently at 680 Old Colony Road, Williams and Mathers are hardly new to the area, with Williams hailing from Middletown and Mathers being a Meriden resident and Platt High School graduate.

Williams and Mathers did not always plan to go into business together, and neither partner had prior experience in restaurant ownership. Both women previously worked in the accounting department of a car dealership. Williams said a combination her own personal health struggles and the strain of child care on Mathers motivated the two to become their own bosses, turning a lifelong hobby into a business.

With my health issues I wasnt able to work as much. Williams said. (Mathers) was with her children. She couldnt be at work all the time, and she was taking a lot of time out of work. So, we were like we cant keep doing this, and we had a passion for cooking for years.

The passion Williams and Mathers developed for serving soul food has its roots in family for both women. Mathers, like any chef, approaches the kitchen with her own flare and ideas, but said her love for cooking also has emotional ties to a close dynamic between herself and a former mother-in-law. Mathers fought back tears as she recounted the days her mother-in-law would teach her to cook staple Southern dishes she still prepares today.

She was more of a mom to me at a time I needed her, and every weekend she would come to my house and say what do you want to learn how to cook today, and every Saturday, she would come and she would teach me. Mathers said. I built what I know from her into my own style, so I carry her with me.

Williams traced her affinity for Southern-style cooking back to her upbringing visiting relatives in North Carolina, whose cuisine mirrors the menu of 2 Broke Chix. She attributes her capabilities as a chef to her years as a young mother who needed to learn the basics of cooking almost overnight to feed her two children.

Williams and Mathers mutually rich background in the kitchen prepared them to hit the ground running in Meriden. They grind their own meat and craft their own recipes, including an original 14-cheese mac and cheese side and churn out housemade rubs, sauces and chicken strips. Also on the menu are a selection breakfast options, a banana pudding dish, empanadas and a list of weekly and daily specials.

Among the in-store, handcrafted flavors at the Old Colony Road eatery is 2 Broke Chixs signature Chix sauce, a sweet and spicy homemade take on hot barbeque that Mathers mused she puts on everything.

Starting a business, particularly a restaurant, did not come without hiccups. Home to just one grill, one fryer and two heaters, and still operating without a website, 2 Broke Chix faced an uphill battle to gain recognition.

Williams and Mathers picked up the slack through a robust promotional campaign on Facebook, which Williams said grew their following and netted them a stream of repeat customers whose numbers grow from week to week.

Were building a good rapport with the people in the community, Williams said. A lot of people are starting to take notice of us now and theyre starting to welcome us and come back. We have repeat customers, and its starting to progress as word of mouth starts to spread and people start sharing our Facebook posts, so hopefully well be able to feed everyone in the community eventually.

Aside from Williams boyfriend Dwayne Williams, who works in the kitchen and is considered a silent partner in the business, the duo run and operate 2 Broke Chix entirely on their own, a business model which fits well with their independent streak. On occasion, the two joked grinning ear to ear, they will go so far as to turn down help from one another while cooking up batches of wings.

The limited staffing at 2 Broke Chix may add a layer of complications to Williams and Mathers labor of love, but for now the pair are content to take total control of their kitchen, cooking up their own recipes in a style entirely their own.

Its just the two of us, Mathers said. Were very strong and independent women. We dont like to rely on other people.

bbaker@record-journal.com
Rebellious Andean bear sneaks out of US zoo  twice BBC

Why can only big cats roar? Discover Wildife (resilc). Haha, snow leopards are special! Listen here.

Whats Inside the Earths Core? New York Times

Winter storm slams the West Coast, prompting rare blizzard warnings in Southern California CNN

Kombucha Cultures Can Be Turned Into Flexible Electric Circuit Boards ars technica. Will kimchee be next?

Its Time to Rethink the Idea of the Indigenous New Yorker (Dr. Kevin)

After death of girl, 12 more detected with H5N1 bird flu in Cambodia Khmer Times (Dr. Kevin)

#COVID-19

Climate/Environment

China?

European Disunion

Old Blighty

Rishi Sunak to defy Tory right and push ahead with Northern Ireland protocol deal Financial Times (Kevin W) BREXIT UPDATE THIS IS NOW OFFICIAL, ALL HOUSEHOLD MOVES MUST BE CLEARED BY T1.

Afternoon, as of today French Customs have stopped allowing smart clearances. Meaning, every single household removal must travel on a T1 bond and must be discharged in the destination country.  ciaran the euro courier  (@vanmaneuro) February 24, 2023

New Not-So-Cold War

Syraqistan

Tunisia forces arrest senior opposition figure as crackdown escalates Guardian

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Imperial Collapse Watch

Congressman Matt Gaetz Introduces War Powers Resolution to Force House Vote on Removal of U.S. Armed Forces from Syria Matt Gaetz (resilc)

Northern Suffolk Chemical Bomb

How Congressional Rail Industry Allies Helped Block Safety Regulations Intercept (resilc) Its possible that highly toxic dioxins were formed when East Palestine officials burned vinyl chloride at the derailment sitebut authorities still arent testing for it. Residents hosted independent chemical experts at a community town hall to try and get answers. pic.twitter.com/h9fcLjpn3t  BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) February 25, 2023

Our No Longer Free Press

AI

Workers Are Dying in the EV Industrys Tainted City Wired (resilc)

Reimagined Jet Ski Brings EVs To the Beach IEEE

NLRB bans non-disparagement and confidentiality mandates in severance agreements Ohio Employer Law Blog. Paul R: This will be awesome if it holds up. I wonder if a court will throw it out like it did Californias ban on mandatory arbitration clauses.

Even hackers are reportedly getting laid off by organized crime groups Business Insider (Paul R)

To fix U.S. public health, physicians need to take a backseat STAT (Dr. Kevin). I have pinged IM Doc and anticipate he will vehemently disagree. Lambert linked to this in Water Cooler. The fallacy here is the assertion that the sort of public health intervention he wants at a population level have a significant social welfare component and will therefore simply never happen. And getting more constituencies involved will stymie, not enhance, the ability to act. Youd get even more camels as a racehorse designed by a committee than you have now.

The Bezzle

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour. John M: Taken in my yard last summer.

And a bonus (guurst):

 This adorable Newfoundland Pine Marten pic.twitter.com/RhgrJzzBod  Nature Is Lit (@NatureIs_Lit) February 18, 2023

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
(Natural News) An explosion at a metal manufacturing plant in Bedford, Ohio on Feb. 20 killed one person and injured 13 others.

Footage showed firefighters trying to extinguish the blaze at the I. Schumann & Co. metal plant that makes copper, bronze and brass alloys. According to local media, an explosion at the plant during the afternoon of Feb. 20 produced a soaring pillar of smoke that sent fire engines rushing from across the Buckeye State.

At least one person was killed in the incident, whom the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners Office identified as 46-year-old Steven Mullins, a maintenance worker from North Ridgeville. Thirteen others suffered injuries from the molten metal and debris propelled by the explosion and rained down on neighboring buildings. The 13 injured individuals received medical treatment.

Local ABC affiliate News 5 Cleveland said the conflagration at the metal plant was largely extinguished by 3:39 p.m. of the same day. Captain Brian DiRocco of the Oakwood Village Fire Department later told the outlet: The bulk of the fire is out, and responding firefighters are just working on a couple of hot spots. Im sure theres a lot of people that work here that were in shock.

The fire captain had earlier inspected the plant before. While he found it generally safe, he remarked that the plant being a foundry makes it dangerous nonetheless.

You are dealing with molten metal, so theres always an inherent danger, DiRocco remarked.

Explosion followed derailment, chemical spill at East Palestine

The explosion and subsequent fire that rocked the Bedford metal plant followed the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train containing vinyl chloride at East Palestine, Ohio. The Feb. 3 accident sparked fears of water supply contamination and forced residents to evacuate. Given the close proximity of the events, many have surmised the possibility of America being sabotaged from within. (Related: Another oil refinery, in Ohio, catches fire and has to be shut down.)

Matt Barkett, chief client officer for I. Schumann & Co., issued a statement saying that the cause of the explosion at the Bedford plant was unknown. He also confirmed that workers were injured and that the facility suffered serious damage.

Our efforts now are focused on supporting the first responders who came on scene quickly to help our employees. The safety and health of our employees is our top priority, and we commit to ensuring they receive the medical care they need. We will work alongside investigators in their search for answers as part of our commitment to Northeast Ohio, where we have been operating for more than 100 years. Barkett said in the statement.

Several residents also reported the explosion and metal debris subsequently falling back to Earth.

Business owner Matthew Wiggins said he heard a huge explosion, followed by what sounded like large amounts of debris hitting the roof. He found smoldering rocks and molten metal in his yard, and saw the burning plant right across where he was.

Meanwhile, Joe Sarconi saw the brick wall encircling the plant topple down and a metal beam fly beyond the road after the explosion. Cars and buildings around the factory were showered with bricks, with some suffering serious damage. Sarconi luckily survived as he was having lunch inside his car.

Follow Collapse.news for more news man-made disasters happening in America.

Watch this video to know about the metal factory explosion in Bedford, Ohio.

This video is from the Pool Pharmacy channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

A month before the Ohio vinyl chloride toxic gas bomb was ignited by government officials, a large chemical plant exploded in La Salle, Ill.  is this a pattern?

Massive explosion in Beirut caught on camera, unimaginable devastation vaporizes buildings  see footage.

Pharmaceutical factory that manufactures hydroxychloroquine mysteriously bursts into flames, explodes.

Who is behind a series of mysterious explosions at natural gas facilities in the United States?

Washington fertilizer plant burns to the ground; locals told to shelter in place due to air pollution.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

Independent.co.uk

News.Yahoo.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and Russias United Nations Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia recently released statements that revealed President Joe Bidens involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline bombing.

Nebenzia spoke at the Feb. 21 United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting, which was called following the bombshell report of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that disclosed Biden ordered the attack on the pipelines. According to the diplomat, the said sabotage was an act of international terrorism.

This journalist is telling the truth, the envoy pointed out. This is more than just a smoking gun that detectives love in Hollywood blockbusters. Its a basic principle of justice; everything is in your hands, and we can resolve this today.

He also cited previous comments by American politicians who threatened to destroy the pipeline if Russia disobeyed their wishes. Worth noting as well was the former Foreign Minister of Poland thanking the U.S. following the pipeline attack, and former head of the British Government Lizz Truss hinting that America was responsible for the operation.

Moreover, in a piece she wrote, Zakharova emphasized that the American government is simply lying and downplaying the attack to blindside the world. The Russian spokeswoman listed several instances of U.S. leaders lying from fibbing their way into the Iraq war to the pillaging of Haiti. She even gave a lengthy review of American politicians plundering the poor island nation.

She then questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys reason for putting Kyiv into a similar situation in Haiti, where the West could raid all of its resources.

How much must one hate their own people to consider a prospect similar to that of long-suffering Haiti for themselves? she asked. So, to what extent is the U.S. not responsible for sabotaging Nord Stream  as much as for the assassination of Haitis president? Or for the vial hoax of the invasion of Iraq?

Meanwhile, Hersh denounced the mainstream media, especially the New York Times and Washington Post, for refusing to run a word on the pipeline incident and for ignoring Russia and Chinas calls for an international investigation. (Related: More Nord Stream bombshells to come  Seymour Hersh.)

According to him, both news outlets published his exposes on the U.S. militarys war crimes in Vietnam, but are now seemingly uninterested in national security or matters of war and peace.

Kremlin warns Kyiv not to trust the US after Bidens visit

Following Bidens surprise visit to Ukraine earlier this week, Zakharova warned Zelensky against aligning too closely with Washington as this could mirror the fate of past leaders who did. She cited former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as an example.

Saakashvili was the pro-Western leader who sought membership in NATO and the European Union and was in power in 2008 when Russian forces invaded in support of separatist movements in the country. The ex-president is currently serving a prison sentence in Georgia after being convicted of abuse of power and assaulting a rival political figure.

She also noted the case of U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been ousted as head of the movement that has unsuccessfully pressed to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

As per News.am, she also mentioned Biden not daring to go to Kyiv without informing Russia. The U.S. president even asked Putins side to respect his safety.

Visit Terrorism.news for more stories about the Nord Stream sabotage.

Watch the video below that talks about UN Security Council voting on an inquiry into Bidens pipeline sabotage.

This video is from the SecureLife channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

American mainstream media is ignoring bombshell report from legendary journalist that reveals U.S. blew up Nord Stream pipelines.

Why Hershs Nord Stream bombshell may become legal nightmare for team Biden & its Nordic allies.

ACT OF WAR: The U.S. military blew up Nord Stream pipelines, plunging western allies into energy collapse in effort to harm Russia.

Russian government demands responsible parties in U.S. be held accountable for sabotaging Nord Stream pipeline after damning report.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

News.AntiWar.com

RussiaUN.ru

Telegra.ph

SeymourHersh.Substack.com

WashingtonTimes.com

News.am

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Following the Ohio train derailment, Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator J.D. Vance wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its state counterpart to request more information about the potential spread of dioxin in East Palestine, Ohio.

According to data, the harmful compound can cause cancer.

In the letter, the two Ohio senators warned EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel that the combustion of vinyl chloride, one of the toxic chemicals that was released and burned after a train transporting it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier in February, can result in the formation of dioxins.

Research suggests that dioxins are highly toxic compounds and are considered persistent environmental pollutants.

The senators quoted EPA information, writing that dioxins can interfere with hormones. The harmful chemicals were also linked to cancer and reproductive and developmental problems.

The findings also revealed that exposure to dioxins may harm the immune system.

Brown and Vance asked whether the agencies were testing for dioxins and seek more information about the federal and state protocol for handling mass dioxin exposure.

Following our visits to East Palestine this past week where we heard directly from members of the community, we remain concerned that it does not appear that the U.S. EPA, OEPA or Norfolk Southern is texting for dioxins, wrote Brown and Vance.

We are concerned that the burning of large volumes of vinyl chloride may have resulted in the formation of dioxins that may have been dispersed throughout the East Palestine community and potentially a much larger area, continued the letter. (Related: Cincinnati cuts off drinking water from Ohio River in the wake of train chemical spill.)

Ohio senators call for transparency to ensure public safety

The Ohio senators included six questions about the agencies current dioxin testing strategy that they wanted to be answered by Feb. 24.

Brown and Vance concluded the letter by demanding both agencies coordinate an immediate testing regimen to ensure regular testing for dioxins in the region.

They explained that strict monitoring must be part of a long-term strategy and that it should be enforced immediately and communicated to the local community for transparency.

Following the disastrous train derailment in the small eastern Ohio town, the trains operator Norfolk Southern decided to release dioxin, along with other potentially harmful chemicals, to prevent a massive explosion.

While the towns residents were asked to evacuate during the release of the chemical, they were told that it was safe to return to the area on Feb. 9.

Allegedly, the EPA, Ohio EPA and Norfolk Southern contractors have conducted several tests to assure residents that the air and water in the affected area are safe. Despite these tests, some locals expressed concerns that the catastrophic event could impact their long-term health.

Experts have also warned about the potential environmental damage from the chemical release.

Sil Caggiano, a local hazardous materials specialist, said that the incident was akin to a nuclear winter.

EPA orders Norfolk Southern to clean up affected areas

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, the EPA ordered the trains operator to oversee the cleanup in affected areas following the chemical spill. Railroad company Norfolk Southern was also ordered to cover all charges for the cleanup.

Amid growing fear and frustration among residents about safety and transparency, the EPA took the helm as the fallout from the Feb. 3 train disaster moves from emergency response to the clean-up phase.

The EPA required Norfolk Southern to reimburse the federal government to provide cleaning services for affected residents and businesses following the incident. Should Norfolk Southern fail to comply with the order to identify and clean up all the contaminated water and soil, the EPA will take over the work.

The agency will also seek triple damages from the multibillion-dollar company.

While no fatalities or injuries have been reported from the toxic spill, a free community health clinic has been opened to assist worried residents clamoring for definitive answers about short- and long-term health risks.

Aside from the cleanup, Norfolk Southern will also be responsible for out-of-pocket medical costs. The company must also reimburse fire services for equipment contaminated during the emergency response.

Last week Norfolk Southern earned the ire of residents when the company didnt attend a town hall meeting. However, under the binding order, the company is now required to attend public meetings and post information online.

Visit Chemicals.news for more updates on the Ohio train derailment and chemical spill.

Watch the video below to learn more about the negative side effects linked to dioxins.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio.

Eric Coppolino and the Health Ranger call for the TOTAL EVACUATION of East Palestine due to extremely toxic dioxin fallout that will poison the land and crops for GENERATIONS.

Flame retardants in household items linked to chronic diseases.

Sources include:

FoxNews.com

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) China is rushing to sign new long-term deals to import more and more liquefied natural gas (LNG), giving it more control over the critical energy source at a time when global demand for gas is rising.

One of the more notable developments is how China Gas Holdings, one of Chinas largest private gas distributors, was able to carve out two 20-year LNG supply contracts with Venture Global, an American natural gas exporter. This adds to the whole host of deals signed between Chinese and American companies for American energy exports since 2021.

According to the agreement, China Gas Holdings, through its wholly-owned subsidiary China Gas Hongda Energy Trading Co., will buy two million tons of LNG per year from Venture Global.

The LNG will come from two of Venture Globals natural gas projects in Louisiana  Plaquemines LNG and CP2 LNG. Each project is expected to provide about one million tons of LNG per year to China Gas Holdings.

In June last year, China Gas Holdings signed another deal with Energy Transfer, a Dallas-based natural gas company, to receive 0.7 million tons of LNG a year on a free-on-board basis for 25 years, with deliveries slated to begin by 2026.

And in 2021, Venture Global signed several more large deals with Chinese firms to export natural gas to the communist nation. This includes a 20-year deal with state-controlled oil and gas company Sinopec to supply four million tons of LNG a year and provide 3.8 million tons of LNG a year to Unipec, a subsidiary of Sinopec.

In 2021, China signed more contracts for natural gas export projects in the United States than any other nation. The country is also locked in deals with other natural gas exporters, including Brunei, Malaysia, Oman and Qatar, the latter of which signed one of the largest LNG deals ever with Sinopec.

China to dominate natural gas market for the foreseeable future

All of these new contracts mean that firms based in China now account for roughly 15 percent of all contracts that will begin delivering LNG up through 2027. This percentage will likely continue increasing as Chinese companies seek to lock in more long-term agreements, which will effectively give Chinese traders even more control over the precious resource for decades.

With a large-enough supply of LNG, China could be poised to become a big reseller of LNG to the highest bidders in Europe and Asia  or to withhold gas sales from global and regional rivals.

Eric Worrall, writing for Watts Up With That?, noted that Chinas ambitious plan to shore up more of the worlds LNG comes as Western nations, including the United States, are crippling their own energy security by refusing to invest more on fossil fuels in pursuit of greener energies. (Related: Communist China now controls Americas energy grid, thanks to Biden.)

The obvious counter-strategy to China making themselves the natural gas brokers of the world, and potentially making a fat profit from everyones gas bills by pushing up the price, is to break Chinas monopoly by flooding Western markets with increased domestic gas production, wrote Worrall. But my suggested counter-strategy would require a rational Western political response to energy shortages.

Learn more about the worlds energy situation at NewEnergyReport.com.

Watch this Fox Business clip featuring Montana Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt discussing Chinas plans for world domination.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

City of Eugene in Oregon bans natural gas hookups in new homes.

Natural gas prices in Southern California SURGED 128% since December.

As Europe freezes due to lack of energy, Russia nears completion of gas mega-pipeline to China.

ENERGY REDIRECTED: Two-thirds of Russian seaborne oil exports are now going to Asia.

Qatar refuses to divert gas flows to Europe due to existing contracts with Asian customers.

Sources include:

WattsUpWithThat.com

Bloomberg.com

Reuters.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) In an attempt to bolster confidence in the safety of the drinking water in East Palestine, Ohio, Governor DeWine and EPA administrator Michael Regan toured at home and drank glasses of tap water to show their confidence in the testing thats being conducted in the area.

(Article republished from StrangeSounds.org)

Like: Hey look, I didnt die from that one sip I took. Clearly it means its safe!

Its probably safe to drink one gulp. But not as your daily source of water in food and drinks.

Just keep in mind that during another Vinyl Chloride train derailment back in 2012 in New Jersey, residents were evacuated from Paulsboro for 3 weeks although they had been exposed to 9x less poison than in Ohio

Former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine. Biden and FEMA said they would not be sending federal aid to East Palestine. As soon as I announced that Im going, he announced a team will go,

Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social. Hopefully he will also be there. This is good news because we got them to move. The people of East Palestine need help. Ill see you on Wednesday!

In preparation for Trumps appearance, East Palestine City Schools announced that they will be closed on Wednesday due to heightened security measures and the significant number of street closures.

This is what Trump delivered before arriving in E. Palestine

Meanwhile, Alan Shaw CEO of Norfolk Southern, who was paid $4,362,801 in 2021, offered inhabitants of East Palestine an amazing 1000$ each. Unbelievable! They are just required to sign a paper (I would really read the fineprints before doing anything)

Friday, activist Erin Brockovich will hold a town hall in East Palestine. Brockovich served as the subject of the 2000 biographical film in which Julia Roberts won an Academy Award for best actress for portraying her.

Read more at: StrangeSounds.org
(Natural News) Discover Financial Services will start tracking gun purchases at retailers nationwide this coming April.

(Article by John Crump republished from AmmoLand.com)

Discover is the fourth largest credit card provider after American Express, Visa, and Mastercard and is the first provider to publicly state that it will start tracking gun purchases. The credit card company claims it will begin monitoring gun purchases to help law enforcement agencies investigate gun-related crimes. The announcement comes five months after the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved a dedicated merchant code for gun stores.

Credit card companies have been under pressure from Democratic members of Congress to track gun purchases better. These members claim that assigning a different code to firearms sales will somehow help police solve crimes involving guns. They also claim that the data can and should be used for research into firearms-related crimes.

Although the codes will not show what exact guns the patron purchased from a federal firearms licensee (FFL), many in the Second Amendment community worry that these codes can be used to block the lawful purchase of firearms. Others fear that credit card companies will use the data to raise the transaction rates of gun stores, making it more cost prohibited to buy a firearm. Also, many others worry the data recovered will be used to create an anti-gun narrative by cherry-picking data.

These fears might not be unfounded. During the Obama administration, the Justice Department launched Operation Chokepoint. The operation designated gun stores as a risk for money laundering even though most, if not all, customers must fill out an ATF Form 4473 and complete a federal background check when buying an item from a gun shop.

Republican members of Congress worry that the data will violate the privacy rights of Americans who purchase lawful goods. Discover was quick to claim to Reuters that those fears were unfounded.

We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders, Discover said in its statement to Reuters.

According to Discover, other credit card companies also plan to implement the new codes in April. The company refused to identify which other card companies would start using the 5723  Gun and ammunition shops codes. Master Card, Visa, and American Express are mum on the issue and have not responded to media inquiries.

ISO, which is based in Europe, said the merchant codes would be available to card companies by the end of this month. Although available for credit card companies use, they are not required to use the codes. Each company is free to choose whether to adopt the codes or not.

Discover only has 2% of the credit card market in the United States, but the U.S. credit card market is so large that the company processes $191.2 million worth of transactions each year. Gun owners can significantly dent Discovers market cap by canceling or simply not using their Discover cards. Boycotts have been a successful tool of the left for many years. Using the same methods as the left, gun owners can send a strong message to these companies that Americans do not want their gun purchases tracked.

Discover did not respond to AmmoLands request for comment.

Read more at: AmmoLand.com
(Natural News) During World War II, prisoners of Nazi death camps were routinely sent to the firing line for extermination if they stepped out of line. And one Florida doctor would like to see this same thing happen again, except this time to hospital workers who refuse to get vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19).

Dr. Daniel B. Case, a complaint alleges, harassed and bullied other employees at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida over their vaccination status. At least one of them had a direct altercation with Case, who suggested medical fascism as the solution to freedom of choice.

On Sept. 10, 2021, a Sarasota Memorial Hospital worker filed a complaint with hospital head Lorrie Liang about a negative encounter with Case, who interrogated this individual about whether or not he or she had gotten injected for the Chinese Flu.

I answered no,' the worker said in the complaint.

Then [Case] asked Are you going to get vaccinated? Biden made it mandatory last night. I said No. Im not. He asked Why not? You can get terminated. I replied Because thats my freedom of choice.'

Case then allegedly responded to the colleague by stating that this person and all other unvaccinated people are the reason why people are dying and why covid is spreading.

So I asked him Really Dr. Case?? You really saying this stuff??! Then he said When you guys get fired then well have a party and Darwinism will do its [sic] work. Then I said thats [sic] sounds kind of Fascist of you to say such a thing! Are you a Fascist?? Then he said see thats why they should take you guys to the firing line.'

(Related: Marlaina Danielle Smith, Alberta, Canadas newest premier, says she has never seen a group of people discriminated against to the degree that the unvaccinated are.)

Sarasota Memorial Hospital compiled lists of unvaccinated staff members to send to re-education

In essence, Case admitted  assuming the claims are true  that he is, in fact, a fascist as fascists were the culprits who sent undesirables to the firing lines in WWII as well.

Under the leadership of Dr. Jonathan Hoffberger, the facilitys chief of staff, Sarasota Memorial Hospital is apparently ground-zero for medical fascism in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

A number of nurses at the hospital say that higher-ups compiled lists bearing the names of all unvaccinated staff members, who are to be subjected to a re-education session. This sounds a whole lot like the concentration camps that were erected in Nazi Germany to reprogram prisoners.

Not only that, but Sarasota Memorial Hospital also ordered all unvaccinated workers to wear the equivalent of yellow star armbands. They were told they must isolate during meal times to avoid potentially infecting the vaccinated with covid germs.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital even created a color-coded stick system to mark on employee badges who was vaccinated and who was unvaccinated. We are told that sticker system was never actually implemented.

Hoffberger himself, a cardiac surgeon, reportedly held a personal grudge against the non-jabbed, whom he often yelled at. In some cases, he refused to perform open-heart surgery on a patient because he or she had not taken any mRNA injections.

On social media, Hoffberger blasted the unvaccinated for choosing to do their own research, which he mocked as inferior to his own self-perceived superiority.

STOP DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH!' Hoffberger yelled in one post, along with a photo bearing the caption:

Myth: Ive had COVID-19, so I dont need to be vaccinated because I have antibodies.

The latest news about Chinese Virus injections and the medical establishments obsession with them can be found at VaccineWars.com.

Sources for this article include:

TheBlaze.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The United States Air Force recently shot down an unidentified object in Canadian airspace using a $400,000 missile. This object may have just been a $12 balloon released by a balloon hobby group.

According to the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, one of its pico balloons went missing as it was flying north. A pico balloon is a small balloon used for measuring temperature, pressure and humidity. (Related: US fighter jet takes down THIRD high-altitude airborne object in Canada.)

There is very strong evidence to suggest that the hobby groups balloon is the object shot down by an Air Force F-22 fighter jet with a Sidewinder missile on Feb. 11 over the Yukon Territory in northwestern Canada.

The Bottlecap Balloon Brigade reported that its pico balloon, with the designation K9YO, went missing in action on Feb. 15. Its position was last recorded five days earlier hovering at an altitude close to 40,000 feet off the coast of Alaska. A forecast projected that the balloon would have been in the same approximate area and altitude as the unidentified object shot down by the Air Force in the Yukon.

According to the brigades website, the hydrogen-filled balloons have GPS tracking and antennas and can soar to heights of up to 47,000 feet. Some can even circle the Earth several times before running out of steam.

In one blog post, the group confirmed that K9YO is a silver mylar, 32-inch sphere balloon that looks very similar to a party balloon. K9YO and other pico balloons like it cost about $12.

Rocket and balloon tracker Ian Kluft noted in a short Twitter thread that, along with the possibility of being shot down by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on Feb. 11 over the Yukon territory, it is also possible that the balloon burst, inclement weather could have brought it down or it simply ran out of power and is unable to transmit data.

Pentagon refuses to confirm if it did shoot down hobbyist balloon

According to U.S. National Security Council Coordinate for Strategic Communications John Kirby, the administration of President Joe Biden is aware of the situation in the Yukon. However, the Department of Defense still refuses to confirm if it used a $400,000 missile to shoot down a $12 balloon.

Furthermore, while Biden has confirmed that the first balloon discovered floating across the U.S. was indeed a Chinese spy balloon, he noted that there is currently no evidence to suggest that the other objects shot down were similar kinds of balloons.

The intelligence communitys current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions, he said on Feb. 16.

Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is still conducting a search for the remnants of the object shot down in Canadian airspace. The Pentagon noted that it was absolutely important to recover the remains. Unfortunately, search efforts are being hampered by harsh weather and the Yukon Territorys rough mountainous terrain.

Learn more about actual threats to American national security at NationalSecurity.news.

Watch this episode of The American Journal on InfoWars as host Harrison Smith talks about how the Pentagon shot down a $12 hobbyist balloon faster than it shot down an actual Chinese spy balloon.

This video is from the channel The Resistance 1776 on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Pentagon admits three mystery objects blown out of the sky were nothing but balloons, not aliens.

Spy balloons are part of global Chinese surveillance, US military and national security officials say.

CCP has been creating spy balloons for YEARS out of a heavily guarded naval base in southern China.

Threat of EMP attack on US detailed in 2013  a decade before Chinese spy balloons that could deliver EMP weapon spotted over US.

Chinese spy balloon that flew over Montana could be used to carry EMP or nuclear weapons.

Sources include:

GreatGameIndia.com

GlobalNews.ca

NYPost.com



Brighteon.com
The latest weather forecasts warned of a developing winter storm that could impact parts of Canada and Southern Ontario, bringing heavy snow and ice conditions.

Motorists and homeowners should stay updated with the severe winter storm next week, as it could result in significant travel delays and slower commutes.

Canada and the US have been experiencing severe winter storms that caused widespread flight delays and travel headaches.

In the US, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported that the coast-to-coast winter storms unleashed heavy snow and freezing rain in the Midwest, Northeast and Southern California.

NWS added that the heaviest snowfall was recorded in Oregon, while parts of the US suffered from power outages and multiple road hazards.

Another storm in Southern Ontario

Weather reports showed Southern Ontario would experience extreme cold and snow next week.

According to The Weather Network's latest forecast, there is a possibility that a developing winter storm will unload in Southern Ontario.

Communities in Southern Ontario should prepare for the possible impactful storm. People with scheduled travel plans should monitor their flights for potential delays or cancellations.

On Monday, there is a chance to unload freezing rain and ice pellets.

Stay updated with The Weather Network for more weather forecasts in Canada.

Weather in parts of Canada this weekend

On the other hand, Global News Canada reported that parts of Canada would experience challenging winter weather this weekend.

The weather forecasts said extreme cold warnings could unfold in Alberta, southern Quebec, Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario, British Columbia and Newfoundland.

Furthermore, the weather report emphasized that Canadians would feel cold wind chills this weekend.

Due to the extremely cold conditions, cold-related health risks could emerge, especially for prolonged exposure to colder weather.

Also Read: Isolated Tornadoes, Destructive Winds Possible in Parts of South This Week, Forecast Warns

Meanwhile, the frigid conditions could result in road hazards, including slippery roads and reduced visibility.

Meanwhile, the CTV News explained that record-breaking snowfall would unfold in Metro Vancouver this weekend.

The weather news urged residents in parts of Vancouver to avoid unnecessary travel this weekend due to multiple road hazards.

Winter storms safety in Canada

Due to threats of winter storms, safety is essential. Cold-related health risks and road hazards are the most common.

Here are important safety reminders for Canadians this week.

Motorists and homeowners should look observe the weather conditions this weekend before traveling. Knowing the weather conditions would help to prepare.

Road hazards are possible during severe winter storms. If winter storms worsen, staying home or waiting until the weather improves is best.

Cold-related health concerns will unfold this weekend. Homeowners should check the temperatures of their family members, especially those with pre-existing health conditions.

As mentioned in previous reports, Canadians should prepare emergency kits, including a battery-powered radio, non-perishable goods, a flashlight and medicines.

Related Article: Heaviest Snowfall Unloads in Portland, Oregon; Motorists Stranded Due to Massive Snow

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Thunderstorms, some strong this evening, then cloudy with rain likely overnight. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low 46F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some strong this evening, then cloudy with rain likely overnight. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low 46F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Over time, research has demonstrated that spending time in nature confers psychological, emotional and physical benefits. To maximize benefits of spending time in nature for people over the age of 65, researchers from Penn State; National Open University, Taiwan; and Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, studied the attitudes, beliefs and actions of a group of elders -; people over the age of 65 -; who regularly spent time in a natural area. The researchers found that fostering social connections around nature-based activities may be connected to improved health and quality of life for elders.

In Japan, the term shinrin-yoku, or "forest bathing," was developed to refer to spending time in nature while engaging all of one's senses: tasting the air, smelling a forest, listening to a stream, and being present with whatever you experience.

For elders who encounter challenges when attempting to hike quickly over difficult trails, forest bathing may present an enjoyable and safe way to spend time in nature. According to the researchers, forest bathing is popular among older adults in Japan, China and Taiwan, where the practice originated, and it is becoming increasingly popular in the United States.

The researchers studied older visitors to the Xitou Education Area, a natural preserve in Taiwan. Between April and June of 2022, the researchers surveyed 292 visitors to the preserve who were at least 65 years old and who visited the park at least once a week. Participants were asked a range of questions, from whether they felt supported by others, to how much they thought about their futures, to how much purpose they felt that their lives had.

The results of the study were published in the journal Leisure Sciences. The researchers found that people who discussed their experiences in nature with others tended to have a greater sense of attachment to forest bathing and a stronger sense of purpose in life.

Prior research supports the conclusion that these factors are related to better physical and mental health and higher quality of life. This finding can guide leisure-service providers working in various settings including community recreation departments and retirement villages on how to facilitate leisure for elders, according to John Dattilo, professor of recreation, park and tourism management at Penn State and co-author of this research.

"Elders can access community and state parks where it is safe for them to spend time in nature: places with walkable paths and convenient, accessible parking, are helpful," Dattilo explained." Agencies can publicize these opportunities and help identify the value they offer to elders and others.

Better yet, leisure-service providers could arrange transportation and then afterwards facilitate social interactions among participants. Enabling people to get out into nature to experience their surroundings is one aspect of forest bathing. Part of what we found is the linkage between positive social relationships and spending time in nature. So, if leisure-service providers create opportunities for elders to return from an experience, meet over a warm beverage and talk about their experiences, there will be value in these connections for people's sense of purpose." John Dattilo, professor of recreation, park and tourism management at Penn State

An improved sense of purpose is related to better physical functioning, higher quality of life, and lower fear of death, according to Liang-Chih Chang, professor of living sciences at National Open University in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Forest bathing matters, he continued, because it might be able to help people foster that sense of purpose.

"Forest bathing seems to connect people to the moment and the world," Chang said. "When elders use that same experience to develop social connections and support, they may experience a broad range of benefits associated with physiological functioning as well as cognitive health. These are associations, not cause and effect, but the potential consequences are exciting to consider."

The study continues Dattilo's research on the value of the leisure experience for elders that he has explored with his collaborators in Taiwan as well as locally with colleagues from Penn State's Center for Healthy Aging.

"We have conducted research on square dancing and karaoke, both of which are common activities for elders in Asia," Dattilo said. "Forest bathing, is unique in that it is closely tied to hiking, strolling or sitting in nature in which many elders engage across the globe. If leisure-service providers facilitate exposure to nature and help participants build a sense of community around those experiences, then elders could live, not only healthier, but richer and more meaningful lives."
Her husband and their five children call Rosa Wernher "the Energizer bunny" because she is always on the go. For decades, not even her genetically inherited Marfan syndrome could keep her off her feet to prevent her from oil painting or from gliding down a ski slope--until it did.

"I have always been active, almost manic--jumping from one activity to another, chasing my children around to their various activities and never requiring a great deal of sleep," said Wernher, 53, who lives in Redlands, California. "But as I aged, I started quietly slowing down, needing to rest and sleep just a bit more than usual. I chalked it up to perimenopause, never attributing the new-onset symptoms to my genetic heart condition."

Shortly after she turned 51, Wernher decided it was time to check up on her heart. She was referred to Robert Siegel, MD, a Marfan syndrome expert and cardiologist in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai.

After a routine exam and ultrasound imaging of her heart, Siegel discovered that Wernher had an enlarged aorta and a leaking aortic valve. These common complications of Marfan syndrome, which causes abnormalities in connective tissue, can become a life-threatening emergency.

The aorta, which rises from the heart's left ventricle--the major chamber that pumps blood out of the heart--is filled with oxygen-rich blood that travels throughout the body. If a tear occurs, blood spills through the inner layer tear and into the middle layers of the aorta, causing them to separate, or dissect. When that happens, it can deprive the body's organs of vital blood supply.

"I was told to see a cardiac surgeon, and fast," said Wernher. "It was really scary to learn that despite my overall good health and energy, I had been a walking time bomb."

Siegel sent Wernher to see Pedro Catarino, MD, director of Aortic Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute, who confirmed that she had a large aortic root aneurysm and severe aortic valve regurgitation.

A tear or rupture in the aorta is a surgical emergency. We do everything we can to avoid patients presenting in this progressive, severe way, and instead, treat them before a life-threatening complication occurs. Rosa was fortunate that her enlarged aorta had not yet reached this critical, life-threatening point." Pedro Catarino, Director, Aortic Surgery, Smidt Heart Institute

A national leader in aortic surgery, the Smidt Heart Institute recently became an accredited Marfan Center of Excellence, a distinction given by the Marfan Foundation. As one of only 35 accredited medical centers in the nation, the Cedars-Sinai program utilizes a multidisciplinary team of cardiac and vascular surgeons, cardiologists, and radiologists who use advanced imaging techniques to predict patient risk and identify the best surgical options.

The medical consensus for Wernher: She was a candidate for a technically complex surgery called a valve-sparing aortic root replacement.

"During Rosa's surgery, we kept her aortic valve and reconnected it to a new section of aortic tissue," said Catarino. "This specialized technique isn't offered everywhere, and it really requires a team of experts who can deliver it."

Wernher's four-hour surgery was a success. Although it was challenging for her energetic self to lie low after surgery, she gained more zest within six weeks. Now, nearly eight months after surgery, Wernher has already skied Mammoth Mountain and is back to standing on her feet for hours, painting nature scenes of flowers and landscapes.

She's also more committed than ever to staying on top of her health.

"With my kids now grown and out of the house, I'm more vigilant about my own health and wellbeing," said Wernher. "I'm even trying to relax and slow down a bit and offering myself grace for these changing phases of life. I'm just grateful to be alive."
A team from the University of Michigan has developed a new software tool to help researchers across the life sciences more efficiently analyze animal behaviors.

The open-source software, LabGym, capitalizes on artificial intelligence to identify, categorize and count defined behaviors across various animal model systems.

Scientists need to measure animal behaviors for a variety of reasons, from understanding all the ways a particular drug may affect an organism to mapping how circuits in the brain communicate to produce a particular behavior.

Researchers in the lab of U-M faculty member Bing Ye, for example, analyze movements and behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster-;or fruit flies-;as a model to study the development and functions of the nervous system. Because fruit flies and humans share many genes, these studies of fruit flies often offer insights into human health and disease.

"Behavior is a function of the brain. So analyzing animal behavior provides essential information about how the brain works and how it changes in response to disease," said Yujia Hu, a neuroscientist in Ye's lab at the U-M Life Sciences Institute and lead author of a Feb. 24 Cell Reports Methods study describing the new software.

But identifying and counting animal behaviors manually is time-consuming and highly subjective to the researcher who is analyzing the behavior. And while a few software programs exist to automatically quantify animal behaviors, they present challenges.

Many of these behavior analysis programs are based on pre-set definitions of a behavior. If a Drosophila larva rolls 360 degrees, for example, some programs will count a roll. But why isn't 270 degrees also a roll? Many programs don't necessarily have the flexibility to count that, without the user knowing how to recode the program." Bing Ye, Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan

Thinking more like a scientist

To overcome these challenges, Hu and his colleagues decided to design a new program that more closely replicates the human cognition process-;that "thinks" more like a scientist would-;and is more user-friendly for biologists who may not have expertise in coding. Using LabGym, researchers can input examples of the behavior they want to analyze and teach the software what it should count. The program then uses deep learning to improve its ability to recognize and quantify the behavior.

One new development in LabGym that helps it apply this more flexible cognition is the use of both video data and a so-called "pattern image" to improve the program's reliability. Scientists use videos of animals to analyze their behavior, but videos involve time series data that can be challenging for AI programs to analyze.

To help the program identify behaviors more easily, Hu created a still image that shows the pattern of the animal's movement by merging outlines of the animal's position at different timepoints. The team found that combining the video data with the pattern images increased the program's accuracy in recognizing behavior types.

LabGym is also designed to overlook irrelevant background information and consider both the animal's overall movement and the changes in position over space and time, much as a human researcher would. The program can also track multiple animals simultaneously.

Species flexibility improves utility

Another key feature of LabGym is its species flexibility, Ye said. While it was designed using Drosophila, it is not restricted to any one species.

"That's actually rare," he said. "It's written for biologists, so they can adapt it to the species and the behavior they want to study without needing any programming skills or high-powered computing."

After hearing a presentation about the program's early development, U-M pharmacologist Carrie Ferrario offered to help Ye and his team test and refine the program in the rodent model system she works with.

Ferrario, an associate professor of pharmacology and adjunct associate professor of psychology, studies the neural mechanisms that contribute to addiction and obesity, using rats as a model system. To complete the necessary observation of drug-induced behaviors in the animals, she and her lab members have had to rely largely on hand-scoring, which is subjective and extremely time-consuming.

"I've been trying to solve this problem since graduate school, and the technology just wasn't there, in terms of artificial intelligence, deep learning and computation," Ferrario said. "This program solved an existing problem for me, but it also has really broad utility. I see the potential for it to be useful in almost limitless conditions to analyze animal behavior."

The team next plans to further refine the program to improve its performance under even more complex conditions, such as observing animals in nature.
The large influx of migrants and asylum seekers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in the El Paso area has also resulted in a spike of medical emergencies.

To provide necessary health care, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso and Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso have collaborated with Doctors of the World USA to launch the Border Health Program. The partnership has led to the creation of a clinic serving migrant patients locally.

Through the border clinic, TTP El Paso specialists provide basic transitional and emergency health care, similar to what urgent care clinics offer. As the medical practice of the Foster School of Medicine, every TTP El Paso specialist holds a faculty appointment, where they teach and mentor the next generation of physicians, many of whom will go on to practice on the U.S.-Mexico border.

With more than 200,000 migrants  many with no access to health care  crossing per month, the Doctors of the World USA Border Health Program partnership with TTUHSC El Paso is critical to providing the proper medical resources necessary in this humanitarian crisis, said Glenn Fennelly, M.D., M.P.H. Dr. Fennelly is professor and chair of the Foster School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics and Doctors of the World USA board president.

In 2021, CBP recorded 557 Southwest border deaths. Dehydration and other heat-related risks are prevalent in the summer, and the cold can be unforgiving in the winter. Aside from seasonal illnesses and poor health, the clinic has helped migrants with physical ailments and getting proper prescriptions for both chronic illnesses and preventive care, Dr. Fennelly said.

"Many of them have chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma or high blood pressure. In some cases, their medication was confiscated by CBP," Dr. Fennelly said. "There may be worsening of these chronic diseases during their journey. Exposure to respiratory viral infections can be a setup for bacterial infections. And there is some level of malnutrition along with not being vaccinated that puts them at risk for severe viral illnesses, such as the flu or COVID-19."

TTUHSC El Paso medical residents also provide care in the clinic, while Foster School of Medicine and Hunt School of Nursing students assist with intake and triage. Dr. Fennelly said the Border Health Program is here to stay and the migrant clinic will become part of the available rotations for students and residents going forward. The experience will prepare them for unique health issues they'll encounter while training in the Borderplex region.

Doctors of the World and our partners stay after the news cycle ends, past the first wave of the crisis. We want to contribute to long-term solutions for vulnerable populations. The recent border crisis aside, El Paso's always expected to have migrants crossing the border or reporting to CBP. We want to be prepared always for a humanitarian response to health care needs or medical emergencies that may arise." Glenn Fennelly, Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics and Doctors, Foster School of Medicine

The clinic also aids with more immediate emergencies such as severe sprains from the journey and sexual assault injuries. According to a report from the UC Berkeley School of Law's Human Rights Center, an estimated 24-80% of women suffer sexual violence en route to the U.S., along with 5% of men and 50% of gay and transgender persons. Additionally, the number of women migrating to the U.S. and crossing the border is growing: Women represented an estimated 24% of migrants in 2015, up from 14% in 2011.

For many migrants, and especially children, the entire process of relocating to a different country along with any unsettling events they have witnessed in their home country or on the journey, can leave lasting damage.

Cecilia De Vargas, M.D., associate professor and program director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program, said many youth are diagnosed with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Some have thought about or attempted to commit suicide.

"And just like any other injury, the longer they go untreated, the worse their problems get," Dr. De Vargas said. "Although El Paso is likely not their final stop, our goal is to assist with the mental emergencies caused by the trauma they've endured. We work to provide continuity of care and referrals for mental health providers once they settle in a new community."

Other injuries require complex surgeries. Some of the most serious are injuries from border wall falls, which have increased more than fivefold since 2019, according to an American Medical Association report. Most of the border wall injuries cause severe swelling, requiring pins and braces to stabilize the injury prior to surgery. In those cases, migrants are referred to emergency rooms or other TTP El Paso orthopaedic specialists.

The Border Health Program is more than just on-the-spot health care. The program's six core objectives are intended to reduce health disparities faced by migrant populations. They are:  Direct Clinical Services: Develop the infrastructure for transitional care for migrants and asylum seekers in transit arriving to El Paso from government custody and shelters throughout the border region. Education: Offer Foster School of Medicine and Hunt School of Nursing students, faculty, residents and staff hands-on learning experiences related to migrant health inequities and serving populations in transit. Administration: Provide administrative oversight for the daily operations of the Border Health Program. Data, Research and Dissemination: Provide data-driven decision making that will inform the development and growth of the Border Health Program and build a foundation for scholarship around migrant and refugee transitional care. International: Promote bilateral and regional information exchange while establishing best practices to create a healthy future for migrants and asylum seekers. Advocacy: Promote sound public health policy by conducting evidence-based advocacy for migrant and refugee transitional care.

In the Borderplex, migrant health is part of the community's health. As part of its mission to improve health care in the region, TTP El Paso and TTUHSC El Paso are rising to the challenge to provide bilingual care to those most in need and bilingual health care education for future generations. The Foster School of Medicine was one of the first medical schools in the country to integrate medical Spanish into its curriculum.

"Just seeing a smiling face, a reassuring voice, lets them know they've arrived and are welcome in this clinic," Dr. Fennelly said. "That's something we want to build on and let them understand we are trying to take care of their health care needs."
From the Alaska Post  Family is the tie that binds, and that bond goes just a little bit farther with the Rocky Top Battalion at the University of Tennessee  Knoxville. The Army ROTC program currently has four groups of siblings attending the same school and working together to become future leaders.
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Agencies | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The first edition of INJAZ Career Expo opened in the presence of INJAZ Bahrain Chairperson Her Highness Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa and Higher Education Council (HEC) Secretary-General Dr. Shaikha Rana bint Isa Al Khalifa.

Held under the patronage of Dr. Shaikha Rana, INJAZ Career Expo 2023 is organised at the American University of Bahrain by INJAZ Bahrain, a member of INJAZ Al-Arab, and Junior Achievement Worldwide, the largest global non-profit youth organization, in cooperation with a number of governmental and non-governmental entities.

On the occasion, HH Shaikha Hessa asserted that the career expo is in line with INJAZ Bahrains goals of empowering Bahraini youth and preparing them to have a successful career in the future.

She added that the expo will provide an opportunity for over 1,000 primary and intermediate students to be informed about seven professional fields, namely photography, chemical engineering, space science, design and goldsmithing, civil defence, interior design and decoration, detectives and forensics.

HEC Secretary-General said that the career expo will bring together more than 3,000 persons, including students, career consultants and business leaders under one roof, adding that over 25 companies and 13 universities will participate in the event, which will enable students to learn about the most career trends, communicate with specialists, and explore opportunities that will help them develop their career in the future.

Chief Executive Officer of the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), Maha Abdulhameed Mufeez, said that Tamkeens participation in the career expo is within the framework of its efforts aimed at supporting Bahraini youth so that they become the best option in employment.
Agencies | Paris

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com



Protesters in southeastern Iran on Friday took to the streets displaying slogans against the Iranian government despite an intense security presence and apparent blocking of the internet, activists said.

Footage posted on Telegram by the Baluch Activists Campaign (BAC) showed protesters brandishing slogans including "Death to the dictator" as they marched through the centre of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province.

The province, which borders Pakistan and is Iran's poorest region, has been one of the focal points of the protests that erupted in Iran in September.

At least 131 people have been killed in a crackdown on the protests in the region, according to Oslo-based non-governmental organisation Iran Human Rights (IHR).

Most of these deaths were recorded on a single day in Zahedan on September 30 dubbed "Bloody Friday", during which rights groups accuse security forces of indiscriminately firing on protesters.

Anger for the latest protests was fuelled by reports that a medical doctor had been killed in police custody after being arrested over the protests.

Ebrahim Rigi had been arrested in Zahedan last year but was released on bail and then summoned again into custody where he was fatally beaten by police agents, said the Hal Vash website that monitors Sistan-Baluchistan province.

There was no immediate comment from Tehran and it was not immediately possible to confirm the reports.

The BAC and Hal Vash said there was an intense security presence in Zahedan on Friday, with worshippers seeking to prevent security forces from entering the city's main mosque ahead of Friday prayers.

Footage, which could not immediately be verified by AFP, showed security forces beating and then taking away a man dressed in traditional white clothing.

The internet monitor NetBlocks said there was a "significant disruption to internet connectivity" in Zahedan amid the tensions.

Sistan-Baluchistan and Zahedan are populated by members of the Baluch ethnic minority who adhere to the Sunni strain of Islam and not the Shiism otherwise dominant in Iran.

Activists say the Baluch have been the victims of years of discrimination, including being disproportionately targeted by executions.

Friday prayers at the city's main place of worship, the Grand Makki Mosque, have during the protest movement been marked by outspoken sermons by senior Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid who has supported the protesters and been bitterly critical of the Tehran authorities.

Some reports suggested that the internet blocking was aimed at preventing people from following his sermon online.

"Listen to the people and the opposition," activists including the BAC cited Molavi Abdolhamid as telling the government in his latest sermon.

"If you cannot solve the problems of the people, step aside and let someone who can come and solve the problems," he said.
Featured in my Japanese Street Food Tour video in Tokyo Jujo Ginza, I'm back going behind the counter at this Japanese Fried Food Sozai shop.

This Tokyo Hidden Spot Japan Food spot is definitely worth visiting if you've never had Japanese fried food before as it has everything from Japanese Fried Chickem Japanese chicken katsu, korokke and even yakitori. Aisaika nestled in Tokyos local Jujo Ginza shopping street, 5 minutes from Jujo station. This Japanese Deli-like Fried Food Heaven, Sozai shop, Aisaika nestled in Tokyos local Jujo Ginza shopping street, 5 minutes from Jujo station. Japan Sozai shops are known for their freshly made side dishes that families buy to add to their dinner table, and this shop is no exception, serving families delicious fried food and other dishes for the last 14 years. The karaage fried chicken here tastes very similar to how the owner's mother used to make it and he says that he always loved it when she put it in his school bento box as a kid. Apparently, his customers love the karrage fried chicken too as he sells about 40 to 50 kilos, 110 lbs a day! So the shop serves quite a bit of chicken dishes by design. Due to the nature of a typical Japanese sozai shops, food is displayed out in the open throughout the day and because of this beef and pork items tend to get harder over time while chicken remains soft and juicy.
A container has fallen on the Ojuelegba Bridge on Friday night affecting traffic flow in that area of Lagos.

This accident which happened around 8pm comes after the Lagos State Government banned articulated truck drivers from using Dorman Long and Ojuelegba bridges middle of February

The container fell at the mouth of the bridge blocking access to traffic.

An armed policeman was spotted on the scene.

In January, a truck had fallen off the bridge and crushed the occupants of a commercial bus. The casualties included children.
President Muhammadu Buhari has voted at his polling unit in Daura, Katsina state for Saturdays presidential election.

The president voted at polling unit 003, Sarkin Yarn A ward.

After voting, the president showed off his ballot papers to the voters around his polling unit.

More to follow
The Director Voter Education and Publicity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Victor Aluko, has restated that no one will be allowed to vote without their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs0 in todays Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Aluko, who was speaking on Channels Televisions The 2023 Verdict on Friday evening, said the commission had not reviewed its position, describing as fake news, reports that people could approach the polling units without their voter cards.

INEC has not reviewed that slogan. No PVC, no voting. It still subsists. And we have been drumming into the ears of Nigerians, that they should please ignore these social media posts that are circulating everywhere. Today, when our chairman was responding, he just said its fake news. And of course, there are a lot of fake news around today.

At election periods like these, we should let Nigerians have the facts, the basic facts, so that it would help their participation. If you do not have the PVC, you cannot even come to our polling units. The election officials will not allow you to join the queue. And if you want to forcefully come into the place, the Presiding Officer will inform the security agencies to deal with the person.

So, it is good that we deal with the facts, it is good that we follow what INEC has said, rather than what some fake INEC officials are saying. No PVC, no voting. PVC is at the centre of our operations.

Aluko also said that the commission was expecting only the 87.2 million voters who had their PVCs at the polls, adding that those who could not get the cards, would have to wait to vote at the next elections cycle.

87.2 million Nigerians have PVCs, out of 93.4 million registered voters. Those are the people we are expecting in our polling units. Anybody who was not able to collect the PVC, it is not a crime. In future, they can still collect their PVCs and vote, life continues, there will be life after these elections.

During the CVR, we encouraged those who lost their cards, even those whose cards were spoilt, just tell us in INEC, we will give you another one free of charge. So, those who did so, got new cards. Anybody who did not do so, did not want to do, and so in future they can still do that.

If out of the 87.2 million Nigerians who have PVCs, if we can get 80% of them to vote tomorrow, that will be a great thing for the country. We are ready to receive them at our polling units. So, we are preparing for those who have PVCs, and we are not really bothered at this time, about those who do not have PVCs. So, if you dont have PVC, dont even come to the polling unit, he said.
With just few hours before the presidential election, the Bauchi State Office of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC has taken into custody one Hassan Ahmad in possession of the sum of two million naira cash in both old and new currencies amidst the cash crunch being witnessed in the country.

According to a statement on Friday, the Commissions Spokesperson, Mrs Azuka Ogugua, the suspect was arrested by the Troops of 33 Artillery Brigade Operation Safe Conduct deployed to Alkaleri in Bauchi State and handed over to the Bauchi State Office of the anti-graft agency.

Ahmad was in possession of N900,000 cash in new naira notes and N1.1 million in old naira notes and the funds were being conveyed in a tinted black Hilux vehicle with registration number JMA 85 AZ.

The money packed in a Ghana Must Go bag, comprised six bundles of one thousand naira new notes of N600,000; six bundles of five hundred naira new notes of N300,000, and old two hundred naira notes of N1.1 million.

The suspect has confessed that the funds were being moved to Gombe State for a politician.

Further investigation by the Commission is ongoing.
The Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, expressed his dissatisfaction over the turnout of voters which he said was low at his polling unit in the Owo Local Government Area of the state.





Akeredolu, who voted at Ward 5, unit 6, ljebu Owo, in the Owo LGA, also said he experienced initial technical hiccups with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System.

He said, "I am not too impressed yet with the turnout but I expect that many people will come out. But we need to be larger than this, I have always voted here. But I know that people are going to come out. We are more and it's too early in the day now, since they know you come and vote and go. So, everybody will come out at their own convenient time. Many people will still come and vote."





Speaking about his experience with the BVAS, the governor said, "Probably, this initial hiccup applied to me only because several people have passed through this and they didn't have much problem.

"I believe that it was caused by the surging crowd. You know they had to clear the crowd, and at a point, they felt it was because I am wearing white; whichever one, the important thing is that at the end of the day, the BVAS machine captured me. That's all. So, when there is some delay, we should expect it but I have cast my vote."

Also, commenting on the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Akeredolu said, "For me, INEC has displayed their independence. I don't see anything they are doing now. At least, at this polling booth, I don't know what is happening in other places, but they have been cautious. Those who are there, they are being cautious and I believe that is their independence. For now, I don't know what is happening in other places."
Datti Baba-Ahmed, the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has met the expectations of Nigerians in the conduct of the election.

Speaking to journalists after casting his vote at the polling unit 021 in Tudun Wada, Zaria LGA of Kaduna, Baba-Ahmed said the perfomance of INEC was commendable.

The conduct of elections so far at this polling unit of this ward in Zaria local government of Kaduna state is highly commendable, he said.

The electorate have been exercising their civic responsibilities responsibly and INEC has met expectations and we can feel the air of serenity, peace around. We can also feel cordiality among the electorate, everybody is at peace with everybody so far.

The LP vice-presidential candidate called on Nigerians to consider competence, capacity, character, and compassion before casting their votes.

He said that the LP does not believe in vote-buying to win elections, noting that his appeal was not a campaign.

Of course, this is not a campaign. Look far and wide, look deeply, elect who is the best leader for yourself, devoid of considerations of religion and ethnicity, vote competence, capacity, character, and compassion. And this is not a campaign, he said.

As for me and my principal, my party, our system, we have never believed in money politics and we will never do it. We believe in the electorates, the typical Nigerians themselves taking conscious decisions as to where their fate lies and where their destiny heads without any influence of cash or what so ever who with the cohesion of religious and tribal forces, this has always been our attitude.




The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has stormed the polling unit of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the morning of the presidential and National Assembly Elections.





The team who arrived Tinubus unit at PU 085, Ward 3, Sunday Adigun, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State, were seen parading the polling centre although they never disclosed what prompted the visit to reporters.
Suspected hoodlums have attacked a camp holding some ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Gombe state.

NAN reports that the ad-hoc staff were attacked at Tudunwada Primary School, in the Gombe metropolis, where had they camped ahead of todays elections.

Oqua Etim, the state commissioner of police, who confirmed the attack on Saturday, described the incident as unfortunate.

Etim said the attack was possible because the electoral officials moved with election materials without security officials.

They were attacked by suspected hoodlums. It is very unfortunate, the ad hoc staff moved with materials ahead of the security personnel. That was the mistake they made, he said.

They were trying to settle in before other colleagues who were to go with the security team from INEC office.

Unfortunately the hoodlums took advantage of that. We have taken steps to ensure that such a situation doesnt occur again.

This has never happened. We planned that as they leave the INEC office as a team, they will be escorted to their various locations.

NAN reports that the suspected hoodlums stole cell phones, backpacks, and power banks during the attack.

INEC is yet to react to the incident as of the time of this report.
Chidinma Okorie, a presiding officer (PO) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has campaigned for Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).





The ad-hoc staff, who is also a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), took to her Twitter page on election day to solicit votes for the former Anambra governor.

Okorie declared that Obi must win while sensitizing voters to look out for the Labour Partys logo.

If stress was a person, I didnt sleep all night. Presiding officer Peter obi must win. Please its just the logo on the ballot papers ooo no LP, she wrote in the now-deleted tweet.

Presiding officers are in charge of all activities at a polling unit on election day. They sort, count, and announce election results at the polling unit after tabulating and summing up the votes cast.

They must be at the polling unit early to set up, coordinate activities at the voting points, and conduct voter education ahead of voting.

They also issue the ballot paper(s) to voters and ensure that voters deposit thumb-printed ballot paper(s) into the appropriate ballot box.

INEC has consistently cautioned that electoral officials  which include the presiding officer  maintain neutrality during elections.

The NYSC also warned corps members deployed for the election to be non-partisan.

This is an unacceptable behavior from an @inecnigeria presiding officer.

We condemn this action in the strongest possible terms and urge INEC to take immediate action to investigate and address the issue. #EnoughIsEnough2023 #NigeriaDecides2023 https://t.co/5eNysWNPeM  EiE Nigeria (@EiENigeria) February 25, 2023





Reacting to the now-viral post, Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE), the civil society organisation, condemned the corps members action.

The organisation also called on the electoral body to investigate the matter.

This is an unacceptable behavior from an @inecnigeria presiding officer. We condemn this action in the strongest possible terms and urge INEC to take immediate action to investigate and address the issue, they wrote on Twitter.
The All Progressives Congress has won the presidential election in the polling unit of Vice President Yemi Osibanjo in the Ikenne area of Ogun State.





Osinbajo, who voted at his polling unit in Ojurege ward 1, polling unit 14 in the Ikenne Local Government Area of the state, helped the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, garner 33 votes.





Peter Obi of the Labour Party polled nine votes, while Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party polled seven votes.

Sixty voters out of the 110 registered voters at the polling unit participated in the election which had eight voids.
Agents of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress locked horns during the voting exercise at polling unit 019, Ita Aro square, Aga/Ijimu ward in Ikorodu, Lagos State.





The PU is where the Peoples Democratic Party deputy governorship candidate, Funke Akindele, cast her vote at 12.16 pm.





The clash began when an assistant presiding officer of the INEC closed the voting exercise by 3.30 pm. Unsatisfied with the decision, the APC agent insisted for voting to continue.





An agent of the PDP, who did not want voting to continue, hurled verbal assails at the APC agent.





As of the time of filing this report, both parties are still embroiled in a verbal duel.





It was reported earlier that Akindeles arrival triggered violent reactions from the crowd, who insisted that the PDP candidate must join the queue.





However, Akindele prevailed through the dramatic demonstrations and cast her votes shortly after noonday.





Immediately after casting her votes, the entertainer cum politician was led hurriedly by two aides to her QX56 Infinity SUV, which had masked plate numbers.





The popular actress, who had earlier signaled her intention to speak with our correspondent was left with no option but to quickly speed off with her team due to increasing pressure from violent hoodlums in search of giveaway funds.





The exercise was marred by the late arrival of INEC officials as well as altercations between voters who lamented that the election officials were too slow.





Speaking with news, Ikorodu Council leader, Adebowale Ajayi, blamed the late arrival of INEC officials for the disorderly behaviour of the voters.





He said, INEC came late. Because of that; people, due to the pressure and because they have stayed for so long were not happy.





Agents of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress locked horns during the voting exercise at polling unit 019, Ita Aro square, Aga/Ijimu ward in Ikorodu, Lagos State.





The PU is where the Peoples Democratic Party deputy governorship candidate, Funke Akindele, cast her vote at 12.16 pm.





The clash began when an assistant presiding officer of the INEC closed the voting exercise by 3.30 pm. Unsatisfied with the decision, the APC agent insisted for voting to continue.





An agent of the PDP, who did not want voting to continue, hurled verbal assails at the APC agent.





As of the time of filing this report, both parties are still embroiled in a verbal duel.





It was reported earlier that Akindeles arrival triggered violent reactions from the crowd, who insisted that the PDP candidate must join the queue.





However, Akindele prevailed through the dramatic demonstrations and cast her votes shortly after noonday.





Immediately after casting her votes, the entertainer cum politician was led hurriedly by two aides to her QX56 Infinity SUV, which had masked plate numbers.





The popular actress, who had earlier signaled her intention to speak with our correspondent was left with no option but to quickly speed off with her team due to increasing pressure from violent hoodlums in search of giveaway funds.





The exercise was marred by the late arrival of INEC officials as well as altercations between voters who lamented that the election officials were too slow.





Speaking with news, Ikorodu Council leader, Adebowale Ajayi, blamed the late arrival of INEC officials for the disorderly behaviour of the voters.





He said, INEC came late. Because of that; people, due to the pressure and because they have stayed for so long were not happy.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says thugs snatched Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in Katsina and Delta states.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, spoke on Saturday while briefing journalists at the collation centre, Abuja on the ongoing general election.

Yakubu said reports from the process nationwide indicated that there have been some challenges.

He said the challenges include problems of logistics and insecurity.

Voting is going on nationwide, the BVAS deployed nationwide has been functioning optimally in most parts of the country. We are hearing less complaints about the functionality of the BVAS, the INEC chairman said.

Based on the reports we have received from our offices, there have been some challenges in the process.

One of the challenges is the inability of the commission in some locations to open the polling units at 8:30 am. Some of the reasons for this include the perennial problem of logistics in spite of our best efforts. But generally speaking, we have delivered hundreds of ballot papers and result sheets that we were supposed to deliver.

Another factor is the perennial insecurity. We couldnt deploy early enough in Alawa, Niger state because bandits launched an attack in the area. So we tarried for a while on the advice of security agents. But we are happy to say that we were able to deploy to other areas and voting is going on.

In Oshimili, Delta state, thugs attacked a polling unit and two BVAS were lost in the process. But we were able to replace the stolen BVAS and restore security and voting continued. In Safana LGA of Katsina state, thugs attacked voting locations and snatched six BVAS machines. But we were able to use the spare BVAS machines and reinforce security for voting to continue.

The security agencies have recovered three BVAS machines but three are still held by the thugs. In these locations, the target of attacks were the BVAS machines. It is no longer the ballot boxes.
The Katsina police command says it has arrested 15 suspected political party agents with about 20 laptop computers to be used for collating election results.

Gambo Isah, police spokesperson in the state, said in a statement on Saturday that a police investigation revealed that the suspects had constructed a situation room for the same purpose.

Katsina state police command wishes to update the general public and indeed the media, on the arrest of suspected fifteen (15) Political party agents arrested with twenty (20) laptop computers allegedly with intent to hack into INEC servers to rig elections results, the statement reads.

The command wishes to state that it has carried out in-depth investigations with the assistance of independent computer expert and it was discovered that the political party in question was setting up a situation room, using a computer application software, for the purpose of collating elections results through their party agents, but not to hack into INEC servers with intent to rig elections results as allegedly reported.

Isah said Kolo Yusuf, commissioner of police in the state, assured citizens that the command is working with other security agencies to ensure strict security across all RACs and polling units in the state.

He urged residents to go out and cast their votes without any fear of attack.

Over 80 million Nigerians are voting today to elect a president that will take over from President Muhammadu Buhari who is serving the second term of his eight years in office.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has failed to deliver his polling unit for his adopted presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi .

The former president who voted at ward 11, unit 22, Olusomi compound, Totoro/Sokori Abeokuta-North lost to the All Progressives Congress.

The APC had 56 votes, People's Democratic Party had seven votes, African Democratic Congress scored eight votes while LP had zero vote.

According to the presiding officer, 91 voters cast their votes for four political parties out 693 accredited voters .

Void votes recorded were 10.
"As a goal for 2023, this sector estimates that total exports would exceed US$64 billion in a conservative scenario," he said during the presentation of the 2022 Export Results, organized by Peru's Exports and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPeru)
The Labour Party (LP) in Ondo has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone elections in seven constituencies in the state over alleged missing ballot papers.

Agbaje Abiodun, secretary of the LP in Ondo, at a media briefing on Friday, accused INEC of disenfranchising the partys supporters.

He listed areas affected as Ondo east/west, Okitipupa/Irele, Ilaje/Ese Odo, Akure south/north, Akoko south-west/south-east, Akoko north-east/west, and Ondo east/west federal constituencies as well as Ondo central senatorial district.

In November 2022, the party reportedly conducted substitution nominations to replace candidates who withdrew in 24 states, including Ondo.

But at the point of uploading the names of the new candidates, there were claims that INEC said its nomination portal was faulty and also refused to accept the candidates list manually.

On February 2, a federal high court in Abuja ordered INEC to accept the nomination of LP candidates in 24 states either manually or through its electronic nomination portal.

The court said the nomination and submission of the candidates list cannot be rejected by INEC from any party until 90 days before the general election.

Speaking at the media briefing on Friday, Adeyeri Kunle, the LP candidate for Akoko south-east/south-west federal constituency, urged INEC to ensure that the party is not excluded from the polls.

Omission of the Labour Party logo in the ballot paper sent to Ondo state for senate and house of representatives election was a deliberate act to disenfranchise our supporters. The deliberate act by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is aimed at disenfranchising us, Kunle said.

On 2nd of February, 2023, Justice Inyang Ekwo of a federal high court in Abuja had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to accept the nomination of candidates of the Labour Party in 24 states.

The court further ordered that the commission must accept the list of senatorial and house of representatives candidates, particularly in Ondo state, either manually or through its electronic nomination portal.

On his part, Fiyinfoluwa Bademosi, LP candidate in Ondo central senatorial district said INEC cannot disobey a court order.

Why the flagrant disobedience of a court order? Unequivocally, this distasteful act which was purposely carried out and became the cynosure of all eyes yesterday was targeted at states with die-hard fans of our great party, he said.

Sadly, if an umpire could commit such an embarrassing gaffe, it is a testament to the calls by concerned Nigerians over INECs honesty in the February 25 general election.

We hereby urge the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the upper and lower chamber election until the needful is done.

Furthermore, we remain undeterred as we urge our esteemed supporters to remain focused and stay away from unnecessary distraction, aS we shall lawfully pursue the course until victory is ascertained.
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Kogi central, has accused the state government of trying to disenfranchise voters.

In a Facebook live video on Thursday, some residents could be seen around gullies in Ihima, Okehi LGA of Kogi state, while others were trying to fill some holes.

Akpoti-Uduaghan said a road excavation was ongoing in the area, adding that residents were trapped.

She also alleged that the road excavation was a plot by the state government to influence voter turnout on Saturday for the presidential and national assembly elections.

We woke up this morning to the news that Yahaya Bello has instructed the excavation of all access roads to my hometown. My hometown is cut off from Obangede community; it is also cut off from Eika. And right now, I am in front of another road which was just excavated, thereby cutting me out of travelling out of my hometown, she said.

What this means is INEC would not be able to [access] certain communities, especially my hometown. What this also means is if Yahaya Bello and his APC goons decide to attack me and the good people of Kogi central in Ihima community, it will be impossible for the DPO to get across to this place. That means I, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, my fellow candidates, and supporters are trapped. We have no way out because Yahaya Bello has dug gullies.

Ihima-Ege road was dug just 10 minutes before I got here. As a matter of fact, I met the Adavi local government chairman running away the moment we came here. And this has happened on all other roads. So, that means I am trapped in here. And if we do not cover these roads by tomorrow, it will be impossible for INEC to get their materials down here.

I am calling on the president and all service chiefs to call Yahaya Bello to order. If he is going to lose, and I know he will lose, he should lose honourably. As a matter of fact, Yahaya Bello you are not on the ballot, so what the hell is your problem? Why are you fighting so hard? Why are you fighting the people?

CUTTING OFF ROADS IS DELIBERATE SECURITY MEASURE

Reacting to the senatorial candidates accusation in a statement, Kingsley Fanwo, Kogis commissioner for information and communications, said the road excavation was a deliberate security measure.

Fanwo said the roads were cut off to divert traffic and prevent criminals who have been breaching the peace of the area from plying the roads.

He said the move was spurred by the December explosion in the community as well as recent attacks by gunmen.

It would be recalled that a couple of days ago, the secretariat complex of Okehi Local Government suffered from the effect of an explosive device. The security agencies ensured no life was lost as a result of the explosion, but the state government convened an emergency security council meeting to address the security challenges in the area with a view to devising strategies of averting possible future occurrence, especially as we witnessed similar explosion on December 29, 2022 at Okene, Fanwo said.

One of the measures arrived at was to restrict the number of routes to the flashpoints to enable security agents properly mount effective surveillance on the other access roads for the safety of the people, especially as they go to the polls on Saturday, February 25, 2023.

He described Akpoti-Uduaghans accusations as hypocritical, saying she did not care about the explosion in the community until she wanted to use the road.

He called on residents of the state to come out and vote, adding that security measures were in place to ensure peaceful elections as the Kogi government is committed to protecting its people.
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El Ministerio de Salud informa que 3739 personas han sido dadas de alta por #ViruelaDelMono y se han detectado 0 casos nuevos en los ultimos dias. Todos vienen recibiendo asistencia medica y se viene realizando seguimiento a sus contactos. pic.twitter.com/5F2pjyC0ZU
With a nude woman draped with some bubble bath suds entering a vintage Airstream trailer beneath a beautiful pink sky, theres a dreaminess to Meg Turners title photo from her Thursday Night at the Airstream Delight series. The colorized tintype is a dense and luminous image. At first glance, it may look vintage, but its clearly in the present. The marquee advertises a spaghetti special as well as promising a pool and Wi-Fi. It also offers pap smears and abortion services and declares We put the you in uterus!

Its one of several images Turner created for the British queer erotic magazine Sensored. The nudist colony series imagines a special and safe space, while still keeping the oppression of LGBTQ people in the frame.

I wanted to do a day-in-the-life at a fantasy nudist colony, Turner says. I wanted it to be campy and fun the way vintage porn magazines are. At the same time, we are losing the right to abortion. Theres censorship around bodies. I love incorporating text into a composition. I wanted to use this marquee to imagine this nudist colony/fun queer space where youre making dinner and youre washing your dildos but also can get an abortion. And cops are not allowed here, because Louisiana incarcerates more people than any other state. Theres a mix of fun and more serious.

That reflects the approach and themes of many of the 45 images in Wet. The book is being published by New Orleans Burn Barrel Press, founded by photographer Beau Patrick Coulon. While Turner teaches printmaking and photography at Tulane University and works in art photography, shes also a veteran of New Orleans punk scene. Her printmaking knowledge comes from creating concert and protest posters.

The Wet release event is a dance party at the Saturn Bar from 6-9 p.m. Saturday, March 4. There will be a slideshow set to music with images from the book, as well as some local shots not included in it. There will be music by Pasha and Lucia Honey, as well as a dance party afterward with DJ Gac and Precious Cargo.

The title Wet invokes the sexiness of many of the images, the fact that many are taken around bodies of water, and also her process. Turner makes her images with the early photographic technology referred to as tintypes or the wet p50s. Its a labor-intensive process, both in mixing chemicals, setting up the shoots and watching the image develop on the wet plate on site immediately after the exposure. It can take a daylong shoot to produce as few as eight images.

Some of the photos were taken at beaches and a New Orleans friends backyard pool. Most of the spaces are not identifiable, but Turner arranged for shoots in safe places, some of them public and others private. She also spends a lot of time setting up shots and collaborating with her subjects.

Turner had been photographing industrial ruins and abandoned buildings, but she felt like she wasnt capturing what she liked about the spaces in her images. So she switched to focusing on portraits.

I wanted to photograph the people I love in the places they love, Turner says.

While some friends enjoy posing, shes worked with the more reticent by having them take inspiration from their favorite portraits. She keeps a tome of Helmut Newton images for inspiration. Collaborating with her subjects is an important part of her process.

I am photographing a lot of friends whose bodies have been historically marginalized and maybe photographed without their having control over the lens or the narrative, she says. Its a lot of planning beforehand over: How do you want to be seen? How do you want to project your image, your body, your gender, your power, your sense of love? Where do you want to do that? So we talk a lot, and I am going to place this where people sense that safety and control.

There are group shots and intimate individual portraits. Many subjects are queer, but many are not. Most images have the grey-silver luster of tintypes. But there also are a handful of colorized images, which she makes digitally after scanning the tintypes. Some of the bright colors reflect her vision of queer maximalism, adding decoration on top of decoration.

But the black and white images also have a lot going on. An image titled Recently Engaged Couple was taken on the set of a retro gas station Turner built at the Contemporary Arts Center for her Here and Now solo exhibition just before the pandemic shutdowns. She invited people to come get their photos taken, and one couple posed in the retro scene with a marquee, that advertises, Narcan behind the bar, a condemnation of harassment of immigrants, and Eat more pussy.

Youve got this couple dressed kind of 70s, Turner says. Its got a process from the 1860s. Youve got this retro-looking Louisiana gas station and a sign referencing Narcan, sex and border patrol. I love that you look at it and all of the elements make sense on their own, but there is something where you dont know how or where this photo happened. Thats not a sign you would see in a rural road in Louisiana in 1890 or 1910. Because its photographed that way, it feels historic. I think that makes it more believable that it could exist now or in the future. Theres an effect of, Oh, maybe this already happened. I want someone to leave wondering what would have to change to see this scene in our landscape for real.

For more information about Meg Turner, visit megturnerprints.com. For information about Wet, visit burnbarrelpress.com.
There were many almost surreal moments that led up to chef and restaurateur Julio Machados late January opening of Mucho Mas Mexican Eatery and Lounge at 8201 Oak St.

Maybe the strangest was when all of the 38-year-old's business, real estate and assets were stolen from him by government-aligned forces in his native Venezuela in February 2018, Machado says. For a decade, hed run a culinary consulting business, and companies throughout South America and Europe hired him to do product development.

I went to culinary school and was successful in my work, he says. I worked hard.

Mucho Mas What Mucho Mas Where 8201 Oak St., (504) 324-1616; @muchomasnola on Instagram When Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sat.-Sun. How Dine-in and takeout Check it out Creative Mexican fare in Carrollton

One day they knocked at my door and said you have two choices, Machado says. We take everything from you, and you leave right now. We will take you to the airport. Or we will take you to jail. I know that meant Id never be heard from again.

Machado arrived in Miami six hours later. They took my belt, my shoes, the titles to my cars  everything I had, except they didnt find one small bank account, he says.

So, with $3,000 to his name, the chef started over. He was granted political asylum and permanent residency in a matter of months and moved to New Orleans to be close to family. But despite his experience and expertise, the only restaurant job he could get was washing dishes at Lakeview Harbor, a burger joint by the lake.

My English wasnt so good, Machado says. Owner Shawn Toups took notice of his talents, befriended him and added prep to his job description.

Machados resume soon grew to include cooking at Brasa Churrasqueria in Metairie. He then moved to Zocalo, with its Mexican menu. That was when I first started really loving Mexican food, he says. Its much different from Venezuelan cuisine.

So he became a partner in a Metairie taqueria called Tacos del Cartel, but then again changed course.

He asked Toups, his former boss, to help him open his own concept. They signed the lease for the former DTB space on Oak Street in 2021. Their original plan to open in six months stretched to 16.

I started driving Uber, which was weird as a chef, not being in the kitchen, but I had to pay my bills, Machado says.

Mucho Mas, which means much more in Spanish, is exactly what the chef planned to do with the space and the larger kitchen.

The menu at Cartel was very limited because we had such a small space, he says. My customers were always asking for more. Now I can give them much more.

The 95-seat restaurant is sophisticated and modern, with a Mexico City vibe. Striking agave sculptures, rolled blue velvet seating and Instagramable neon create an upscale ambience. Theres also a semi-private dining room for groups and a small stage for a DJ or live music, where Machado plans to showcase local artists.

The menu brings deeply flavorful dishes to the table, reaching beyond the typical Mexican fare. Guacamole, empanadas, quesadillas and queso fundido, accented with housemade pork cracklings, are a few starting options. There also are seafood dishes and a special menu designed for Lent.

Casey Giardina boils crawfish and other seafood at Buggin' Out Boils Casey Giardina tells us about learning to cook, backyard boils and starting his Buggin' Out pop-up.

Swiss enchiladas combine sauteed shrimp with a tomato-basil sauce laced with cheese. Steak ceviche is revelatory. Tender 21-day-aged prime flap steak is cured with rice wine vinegar, lime and orange juice, soja chili piquin, cilantro and garlic. The sliced medium rare steak is bright with bold citrus flavor and served with corn tortillas.

Mexican ramen combines flavors of soy, ginger and garlic with either pork loin or chicken breast and rice noodles swimming in a flavorful broth topped with onions, cilantro and a poached egg. Birria tacos make a statement with a filling of slow-roasted tender barbecued brisket, served with a smoky dipping sauce.

House-made chips and salsa offer the lagniappe of five options of spice from mild guacamole salsa and verde fresca picante to increasing heat levels with Mexicana, habanero and mango, and the bracing chili arbol tamarind.

Theres a deep mezcal program and batched cocktails. The potent Cantarita come el guero is three liters of goodness fueled with a bottle of tequila, fresh grapefruit juice and simple syrup.

Together its making Machado feel like hes at home.

I love New Orleans. This is my dream, Machado says. Its another chapter.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, right, acknowledges Emily Maw, chief of his civil rights division, after prosecutors waived all objections to new trials for 22 Louisiana prisoners who were convicted by split juries between 1974 and 2014, at the Criminal District Courthouse on Feb. 26, 2021.
?? Actividad Oficial | Presidenta Dina Boluarte, junto a ministros de Estado, visita rehabilitacion del local escolar Abraham Valdelomar, en Lambayeque.https://t.co/Y8EYQ3RB4i
An appeals court has struck down a federal fisheries management rule requiring operators of privately owned charter boats in the Gulf of Mexico to equip their vessels with tracking devices, a victory for a group of Louisiana and Florida charter operators who challenged the rule in a 2020 lawsuit.

Thursday's ruling by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed a lower court decision upholding the regulation, which had been developed to help regulators keep track of the amount of fish caught on recreational charter vessels.

Rejecting government arguments, the panel said tracking devices are not the type of equipment regulators may require on recreational vessels under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

And it said regulators, in adopting the rule, inadequately considered charter operators' concerns that the regulation might violate Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. While not ruling on the regulation's constitutionality, the opinion, written by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, said it very likely violated the Fourth Amendment.

Charter operators have complained that the requirement imposed a costly, needless burden on charter operators. Their attorneys say charter operations account for a tiny percentage of fishing done in the Gulf of Mexico.

Along with Elrod, nominated to the court by President George W. Bush, the case was decided by judges Priscilla Richman, also a George W. Bush nominee; and Andrew Oldham, a nominee of President Donald Trump.

The rights of all charter boat fishing businesses in the Gulf of Mexico have been vindicated," John Vecchione, an attorney with the conservative New Civil Liberties Alliance, said. The organization had represented charter operators in the lawsuit.

Federal fisheries officials declined immediate comment.

We received the court ruling last night and are currently reviewing it, Allison Garrett, spokeswoman for fisheries regulators with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Friday.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno-Karabakh issue concerns the rights and security of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, and it must be resolved through an internationally visible dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert, ARMENPRESS reports, the head of the Armenian delegation, MP from the "Civil Contract" faction, Sargis Khandanyan said at the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"During yesterday's debate, when the members of this Assembly spoke about Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the need for its immediate reopening, our Azerbaijani colleagues countered them with the argument that several hundred trucks of the Red Cross and Russian peacekeeping troops have passed through the corridor since December. My question is the following. since when did we start counting the number of trucks that deliver food, medicine and fuel to our settlements, since when did the right to free movement become a manifestation of generosity and how further the international community can be mocked?

When talking about the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, our goal is not to perpetuate the conflict. Exactly the opposite. we need the support of the international community to overcome the cycle of hatred and violence in the South Caucasus," the MP emphasized.

Khandanyan clearly stated that Armenia believes that only peaceful dialogue can solve problems and establish stability in the region. Armenia is ready to advance the process of establishing peace with Azerbaijan on the basis of mutual recognition of each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty. According to him, Armenia has no territorial claims against Azerbaijan or any of its neighbors.

"The issue of Nagorno-Karabakh concerns the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, and it should be resolved through an internationally visible dialogue between Baku and Nagorno-Karabakh," Khandanyan noted.

He assured that Armenia is ready to open all the transport and economic infrastructures of the region within the framework of the agreements reached, which indicate the sovereignty of the countries and the maintenance of jurisdiction over the roads.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has existed for more than 30 years. I am younger than this conflict, and as a young parliamentarian, as a young decision-maker, I do not want to leave this conflict as a legacy to the next generation.

The slogan of this year's presidency is "It's about people", and I believe, I hope, we believe that it also applies to the people of Nagorno Karabakh, right?, the Armenian MP concluded.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. On February 24, the command of the Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in the Republic of Artsakh organized a meeting between the official representatives of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, Lusine Avanesyan, press secretary of Artsakh president, informed the correspondent of ARMENPRESS.

She detailed that issues related to lifting the blockade of Artsakh, stable and uninterrupted supply of natural gas and electricity were discussed.

During the meeting, an agreement was reached on ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the Armenia-Artsakh gas pipeline, the repair of the only high-voltage line of 110 kV Shinuhair-Stepanakert, and the restoration of power supply.

"We are waiting for appropriate steps from the Azerbaijani side, which will enable our specialists to reach the place of power supply failure, assess the damage and start repair work.

As for the removal of the roadblock, according to our data, the Russian side continues to make efforts in that direction, and we hope that there will be a positive change in that regard in a short period of time," the speaker emphasized.
US President Joe Biden said that Ukraine does not currently need F-16 fighters, so for now he rules out their transfer to Kiev.

February 25, 2023, 10:41 Biden rules out sending F-16 fighters to Ukraine for now

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS: "I am ruling it out for now," he said in response to a related question in an interview with ABC television. Excerpts from the interview were aired on Friday.

Biden added that at the moment "he (Ukrainian President Vladmir Zelensky) needs tanks, artillery, air defense, including HIMARS."

"There's things he needs now that we're sending him to put them in a position to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall," he said.

When asked if this meant the US ruled out transferring F-16s to Kiev in the future, Biden said he could not predict Ukraine's defense needs over the long term.
Community Healthcare System is seeking to hire a wide range of health care workers at an upcoming career fair.

Community Healthcare System's Nursing and Allied Health Career Fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1 at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts at 1040 Ridge Road in Munster.

The system, with hospitals in Munster, East Chicago, Hobart and Crown Point, will have a job fair on Wednesday to hire health care professionals, including new or upcoming college graduates.

It's looking to recruit registered nurses, nursing assistants, surgery techs, respiratory therapists, mental health workers and medical assistants. It's also looking to hire technicians in imaging services, laboratory services and therapy services.

The health care system offers salaries it says are competitive, as well as flexible schedules, referral bonuses, tuition reimbursement, sign-on bonuses and other benefits.

Community Healthcare System operates Community Hospital in Munster, St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart and Community Stroke & Rehabilitation Center in Crown Point.

It will have on-the-spot interviews at the job fair. Students are encouraged to attend, especially those slated to graduate this spring.

For more information, visit comhs.org.
The Duneland Chamber of Commerce has named a new treasurer.

The board of the Chesterton-based chamber picked certified public accountant Lisa Human, a senior manager and QuickBooks ProAdvisor with CLH, CPAs & Consultants, to oversee its purse strings.

She previously served as an at-large member of the board's executive committee.

The chamber does incredible work to enhance the lives of residents in our area and to promote economic growth throughout the community. Its an organization that Ive been proud to serve for some time now, and in this new role of treasurer, Ill be working to ensure the chamber remains well-positioned to continue its work for the future of Northwest Indiana, Human said.

Human works for CLH, where she helps business owners develop best practices, adopt policies and implement internal controls. She advises her clients on the tax implications of their business decisions for the accounting firm with offices in LaPorte, Michigan City and Valparaiso.

She's long been an active volunteer, also serving Homeward Bound's affordable housing initiative and on the advisory board of Ivy Tech Community College's School of Business.

She's also served on the board of the Duneland Chamber, which represents around 400 businesses in Porter County. It advocates for their interests, encourages economic growth, facilitates networking and hosts community-building events.

When our professionals engage the community in unique ways, as Lisa does with the Duneland Chamber, great things happen for our communities. Were so honored to see yet another of our talented accounting experts find even more ways to strengthen NWI, said Tony Gillisse, a certified public accountant and partner at CLH.
MICHIGAN CITY  A Michigan City police officer found himself face to face with a man repeatedly pulling the trigger of a handgun pointed at him.

This happened after the gunman had already fired shots at officers.

Those are among the details in criminal allegations leveled against Joshua Mohamed, 46, of Michigan City.

Mohamed is charged with Level 1 felony attempted murder, Level 5 felony criminal recklessness and Class A misdemeanor pointing a firearm stemming from the Feb. 17 incident at his home.

According to court documents, Mohamed called 911 asking for help.

After receiving no answer to knocks on the door, two officers forced their way inside the residence in the 1500 block of Barker Avenue. They heard Mohamed from a bedroom saying help me and claiming that someone was trying to shoot and kill him.

Police said it took longer than usual to reach Mohamed because of numerous items stacked and scattered everywhere in a hoarder-like manner.

Attempts were being made to talk Mohamed into coming out from underneath a bed when a gunshot was fired.

The round flew to the right of the officers, who left the bedroom but kept trying to speak with Mohamed from behind the corner of a wall, court documents revealed.

Police said three or four more gunshots were fired from underneath the bed.

Officers left the residence and evacuated nearby residences as a safety precaution.

According to court documents, members of the SWAT team were dispatched and, using a shield, went inside the residence. They moved items out of their way to clear a path to the bedroom.

One officer was looking underneath the bed when he spotted Mohamed pulling the trigger of a gun that was pointed at him. However, the semi-automatic weapon was no longer loaded.

The officer grabbed the gun and put Mohamed in handcuffs.

Mohamed was transported to Franciscan Health and booked Thursday into LaPorte County Jail, where he was being held on $100,000 bond.
LAKE STATION  The Lake Station Police Department has a suspect in custody in connection with a "possible homicide" that occurred Wednesday.

Police were initially dispatched to the 2300 block of Warren Street for a death investigation, Chief James Richardson said Friday.

"Upon their arrival, it appeared that there was a possible homicide," Richardson wrote in an email. "This is an ongoing investigation with the assistance of the Indiana State Police, the Lake County coroners office and the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force."

Richardson said police anticipate that charges will be filed early next week. No further information is available at this time.
MUNSTER  School Town of Munster has placed a referendum on the ballot in the spring election asking voters to renew its operating property tax rate.

The school district wants to charge district residents 41.96 cents per $100 of assessed valuation until 2031. This is the same amount it's charged since voters approved an increase in May 2017, but that ballot referendum expires this year and the district wants to keep that tax rate.

If approved by voters, the money would be used for retaining and attracting teachers and staff, funding educational programs, operational expenditures and keeping class sizes low.

"Based on the funding we received from the state, in order to keep our staffing at the level it is and keep all of our programs at the level they are, this referendum becomes a critical piece," Munster Superintendent Bret Heller said. "One of the things we promised the community previously was, we would never be in a negative financial position ever again, where our finances were not in good order, and we would maintain a high level of school."

If the referendum fails, Heller said, they'll have to resort to unfortunate measures to keep that promise. That might mean terminating faculty and staff and, in turn, reducing the educational programming they were providing.

"We have a reputation as being one of the best schools in the state," he said. "We do not want the fact that the budget has to take a hit if the referendum doesn't pass to cause us to change the quality of programs."

The Munster district has an enrollment of 4,119 students in one middle, one high and three elementary schools, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Money from the 2017 referendum pays for 68 teachers; nurses, instructional assistants, custodians and other staff; and the district's cyber security system, Heller said.

"If you were to cut 68 teachers out of Munster, the class sizes would significantly increase," he said. "Those larger class sizes make it more difficult for students to get the individual attention they need."

Small class sizes are something he continually hears that parents want.

"Voting yes will not result in a tax increase," he said, explaining that this is simply a tax renewal, not a change. "And it provides us with the level of funding necessary to adequately staff and maintain our schools."

In May 2017, when Munster was facing severe financial issues including an $8 million deficit, 68% of voters approved the original increase. That same year, voters approved a second referendum  also with 68% of the vote  which went toward construction projects, but that one will not be renewed.

Those financial issues are resolved, Heller said, but this funding is still essential. He's thankful the referendum passed in 2017 and is hopeful this one will be approved too.

"Our community is fantastic. They are so supportive of our schools. They all understand, I believe, very clearly that the ability for our school district to be very good and the reputation of our school district not only is good for our kids, but it also continues to improve the value of our homes in this community. It raises all of the boats, and it allows all of our community to be elevated because the Munster school district is so highly considered and we do have such a strong reputation. And we want to continue that reputation."

Election day is May 2.
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THE OLD DRIFT

By Namwali Serpell

Something is happening in African literature: The women are coming. For decades now, a river of original and important writing by female authors has been flowing out of that continent  books by writers such as Marlene van Niekerk, of whose second novel Liesl Schillinger wrote in these pages, books like Agaat  are the reason people read novels; Tsitsi Dangarembga (Nervous Conditions); and, of course, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Now that river has burst its banks and become a flood. Namwali Serpells extraordinary, ambitious, evocative first novel, The Old Drift, contributes powerfully to this new wave.

Interestingly, many of the contemporary books overlap with and even echo one another. Petina Gappahs forthcoming novel, Out of Darkness, Shining Light, takes on the subject of the explorer David Livingstone and his African companions; The Old Drift also begins with Livingstone (but then moves on). Serpells novel is a multigenerational exploration of Zambias past, present and even its near future; another recent debut, Harmattan Rain, by Ayesha Harruna Attah, looks at the story of Ghana through the lives of three generations of women. And in September Maaza Mengistes The Shadow King will take on the subject of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, moving beyond history to a kind of modern mythmaking, and looking at history primarily through the eyes of its female characters. The Old Drift, too, incorporates elements of fabulism into the history of Zambia, and, again, sees that history mostly through womens eyes. Novuyo Rosa Tshumas House of Stone, published in the United States in January, has already been highly praised in The Guardian for summing up not only  Zimbabwean history, but also all of African colonial history  a large claim on behalf of any novel. Equally large claims have already been made for The Old Drift, which early reviewers have garlanded with comparisons to Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Meanwhile, another recent novel, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbis Kintu, has been called a Ugandan One Hundred Years of Solitude. Trailing clouds of glory do they come.

Image

[ This book was one of our most anticipated titles of March. See the full list here. ]

The Old Drift is a strong and confident enough piece of writing to stand on its own two feet and is perhaps not well served by being placed on the shoulders of giants. Its structure is formal, three parts containing three sections each  The Grandmothers, The Mothers and The Children. Each of the nine sections is centered on one dominant character, all women in the first two parts, and, in the final section, two young men and one young woman. In between are to be found short, italicized sections narrated by an unnamed we, which work as a sort of Greek-chorus commentary on the action.
The 2021 book was a best seller, but the greatest fans of her food might be her daughter Chrissy Teigen and her family, with whom she lives in Los Angeles and cooks for almost every day. In fact, Pepper came to public notice when Chrissy shared her mothers recipes in her 2016 cookbook, Cravings.

In many kitchens across the United States, pepper often follows the word salt, referring to one type of black peppercorn that serves as a common base note. But for Pepper, theres a whole world of pepper  chiles and berries that can move together as an overture in cooking  apotheosized especially in her hot and sunny recipe for khao pad sapparod, pineapple fried rice.

Peppers decorous version calls for four kinds of pepper: the aforementioned roasted Thai chile powder (just a dash, its hot); a healthy two tablespoons of aromatic curry powder (which often features ground chiles like paprika or cayenne); one whole teaspoon of musky ground white pepper (which lends a numbing, tingling savoriness); and a couple of fresh red peppers like Fresnos or bells (for color more than spice). On swapping any of these peppers out for another type you have in your pantry, she said to me, Its fiiine, drawing the second word with an utter coolness.

For the full Pepper experience, I wouldnt substitute a thing. Chiles lend a fruity dimension as well as heat. The dish will also perfume your kitchen, your house, your entire being, with the sweet, golden aromas of curry powder and caramelized pineapple and the warmth of white pepper and dried red chiles  a reminder that theres more to life than black pepper.

Serving the rice inside a hollowed-out pineapple is optional, but if youre going that route, remember theres a core; score around it on both sides and scoop out the flesh, sort of as if youre creating a fashion runway from the root to the stem. When I came to the U.S. in the 1980s, Pepper writes, Thai restaurants in America were already coming up with dishes that were fancier and more over the top than anything I grew up eating back home.
SATURDAY PUZZLE  This is a quirky challenge from a constructor I didnt recognize at first, Trent H. Evans. Its his Saturday debut after creating grids for Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, and I had to look back in the archives to remember his last puzzle for The Times. It was one I loved (a circle-shaped Friday themeless, with SPACECAMP at its north pole and SPINCLASS in the south).

There are five distinct regions in todays puzzle, all populated by mid-length entries; no spans here, and very little in the way of short, throwaway fill. There are 11 Across entries more than seven letters long, and every one of them is making either its first or second appearance in a Times puzzle. Visually, they make two landings, in the southwest and northeast corners, with a flight of steps between them. This is the area that I struggled with the most, but I think the whole grid is a good workout.

Tricky Clues

15A. This is a niche name in trivia, if you were wondering (niche for me, at least). Quivers on the radio is a reference to ROBIN Quivers, who worked as Howard Sterns co-host on his radio show for nearly 20 years.

33A. This mundane phrase had me stumped, as written in the clue, and it had also never been in the Times crossword before. Take Everything good? at face value; in this case, it merely means HOW ARE YOU.
A young man found himself more than 3000 kilometres from home after a game of hide and seek took a dangerous turn.

The boy snuck into a shipping container while playing hide and seek and was found six days later after it had crossed the Indian Ocean for 3200km before being reunited with his family.

Police in Port Klang, Malaysia, freed the boy after a worker heard a knocking sound while inspecting the container on January 17.

Fahim was playing a game of hide and seek with friends when he was trapped in a shipping container. Source: CEN

Video footage of the moment the boy  named Fahim  was freed shows him blinking at the sunlight and appeared to be exhausted and unsteady.

While trapped Fahim had no access to food or water, and could be seen limping out of the container covered in dust, before wobbling on his feet and sitting down in the doorway.

The container ship Integra had departed from Chittagong, Bangladesh, on January 12.

Fahim told police he had gone inside the container while playing hide-and-seek with friends, where he fell asleep, and had accidentally been locked in.

When he was found he had a fever as a result of the ordeal and was taken to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang for treatment. He was last reported to be in stable condition.

The young boy, known as Fahim, was reunited with his family after his six day ordeal. Source: @saifnasution/CEN

"There was no foul play in the incident, Assistant Commissioner of Police Cha Hoong Fong said.

Malaysian Interior Minister Saifuddin Nasution made a tweet announcing that the boy had been reunited with his family.

"Remember the child from Bangladesh found in a container in Port Klang? he said.

"His name is Md Ratul Islam Fahim, I just call him Fahim. For six days Fahim was trapped in a container that departed from the port in Bangladesh without eating and drinking, it was a miracle that Fahim could be saved."

He added that the boy has now been reunited with his family and he ruled out human trafficking.

Story continues

"We are not linking this to human trafficking, because the initial investigation found that he entered the container, fell asleep, and (was transported to) Malaysia, he said.

CEN/Australscope

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
The mid-20th century was a difficult time for the Northern Rhone Valley. After two world wars and the Great Depression, few vignerons had the stomach for the arduous task of farming the steep hillside vineyards. Some slopes were so precipitous, they were considered unsafe for horses, to say nothing of tractors. Instead, growers used a system in which a plow was guided up a hill by a cable attached to a winch powered by a human.

Many younger people left for work in the cities. As farming became automated, others abandoned the hillsides for flatter land, which was not as conducive to good wine but easier to farm. A dedicated few stayed on, like Marius Gentaz in Cote-Rotie, Noel Verset and Auguste Clape in Cornas, and Mr. Trollat in St.-Joseph, maintaining the regional traditions for little reward.

In the 1950s and 60s, the local wine was held in such low regard that farmers could earn more growing apricots and cherries than they could with wine grapes. Very few vignerons even bottled their own wines, selling instead to negociants, or wine merchants, who blended it with other wines and sold it under their own names.

When Mr. Trollat began working with his father, he recalled in a 2013 interview, they sold their wine by the barrel to local bars and bistros. Paying only pennies, the coal miners in St.-Etienne nearby would fill up jugs and take them to drink at work. Others in the area bought barrels to consume at home, drinking some of the wine each day, and as the barrels slowly emptied, the wine inside would become oxidized and volatile, but so slowly that nobody noticed.

It was basically vinegar  we didnt have to change bottles for the salad, Mr. Trollat said.

Yet, he kept at it, and shortly after the St.-Joseph appellation was established in 1956, Mr. Gonon said, Mr. Trollat and his father were among the first to begin bottling their wines, sensing an opportunity to sell beyond their neighbors. They were also among the first to explore markets outside the local region.
In their baby-pink bow ties and crumpled white shirts, the catering crew on the Starz series Party Down works event after wretched event across Los Angeles: dismal rich-kid sweet 16s and backstage parties for jaded superstars, awkward and unsuccessful suburban orgies, singles seminars for seniors, bland corporate retreats.

But none of these workers take their jobs too seriously  catering isnt their real life, it doesnt count, its just keeping them afloat until their dreams of becoming screenwriters, actors and comedians come true. This means that there is always time for vodka shots (so many shots!), running lines and reading scripts, agonizing over auditions, making out and popping whatever pills might be hidden in peoples bathrooms.

The series premiered in 2009, and was canceled after two seasons of abysmal ratings. But it found a cult following gradually, over the last 13 years, and returns this week with a new six-episode season. What really struck me, watching new episodes about my favorite bunch of food-service slackers, is how completely different Party Down feels from so much of the chef-focused TV and film that followed its initial run.

Though Season 3 does introduce a tormented, misunderstood catering chef, played by Zoe Chao, who believes that food is art and it should change the way you think and feel, the show doesnt fetishize food or cooking at all.
The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for the first over-the-counter, at-home combination flu and Covid test on Friday, just two days after the company that makes the test announced that it had filed for bankruptcy protection based, in part, on the agencys lengthy approval timeline.

The single-use test works with a self-collected nasal swab and provides a result in about 30 minutes, according to the F.D.A. The test is meant to be used by people 14 and older, or by an adult collecting a sample from someone age 2 or older.

The tests developer, Lucira Health, based in Californias Bay Area, announced its bankruptcy plan on Wednesday, noting that it had expected its emergency-use authorization for the test in August before the onslaught of the flu season. The company said the agencys authorization process became protracted, and said it had high expenditures as it moved forward with manufacturing the combination tests.

Without revenue that the company expected from projected sales of the tests during this years flu season, Lucira decided that it would pursue a sale of its business but continue operations to serve customers, according to its news release. The bankruptcy plan was reported earlier in The Wall Street Journal.
I have a childhood friend who recently moved into my home. Everything has been going well, except she is dating an inmate who was convicted of murdering one of his family members. This inmate is somebody we knew when we were younger; our friend group was very affected by the murder. I have my own personal trauma with the inmate, and I know my roommate does as well. He is really not a great guy. But my roommate is convinced the inmate has changed. She tells me details about their relationship, as friends do. Its clear to me he hasnt changed much. I avoid talking about him as much as possible and change the subject if he is brought up. Although he still has 11 years left on his sentence, he is trying to appeal for a lesser term. I am hopeful their relationship will end before he is released. Otherwise, I fear for her safety; I can see the red flags every day. What do I do to help? My family tells me that if I try to talk to her about it, I will just push her away. But Im having a hard time just standing by.  Name Withheld

From the Ethicist:

A relationship that takes place while one party is in prison doesnt tell you very much about what things will be like once that partner has been released. Physical violence cant occur when two people are meeting only under supervision, and the incarcerated partner has a strong incentive to behave well in order to maintain a relationship that may be one of the few positive elements in his life. Nor can I judge whether this man would pose a danger to your friend once he has been released. You havent said anything about what you think the red flags are, beyond your opinion (not shared by your roommate, who surely knows him better than you do) that hes not much changed.

Still, to go by the available research, men are much less likely to commit violent crimes in middle age than in their youth. In fact, a study of recidivism rates for people paroled from life sentences in California between 1995 and 2011 found that only 0.6 percent of parolees were later convicted of felonies, none of them for murder. Absent specific information, then, I would say that the risks here may be less substantial than you fear. And this inmate wont be released early if a parole board thinks he poses a significant danger.

A separate issue is how you and your friends would feel if your roommate asked you to accept the presence of someone who caused all of you enormous distress, even if it was many years ago. It would take a special effort on your part to reconcile with him, and it would be a lot for your roommate to ask. And yet forgiveness, even if partial and provisional, is a worthwhile aim. Convey your concerns, in a supportive way, but try to be open as well to her views. A world without second chances is a dismal one for offenders who have served their sentences. The best outcome for the formerly incarcerated is to be reintegrated as law-abiding citizens and having a loving partner makes this more likely. Whether maintaining the relationship is whats best for her is ultimately something shell have to decide for herself.
Many people are looking for the biggest home they can afford. But not Michael Ingram Jones.

When he began looking to return to New York from San Francisco, size was a secondary concern, because he considered the city to be his larger living room. More important, by far, was the neighborhood where he wanted to live: the West Village. And the specific type of building he hoped to live in: a prewar apartment house built by Bing & Bing.

In the early 20th century, the storied New York developers constructed a handful of buildings in the West Village, and I would have lived in any of them, said Mr. Ingram Jones, a fashion designer in his 60s, who lived in a Bing & Bing building at 302 West 12th Street before moving to San Francisco in 2007, to serve as the senior vice president of design for Old Navy.

I wanted to travel a lot, so I wanted a space that was secure, he said. And these buildings have good security. You can just lock them up and go away for a few weeks or a few months.
I used to live near Kyiv airport, so on the morning of Feb. 24, I woke at dawn to the sound of massive explosions. I didnt leave my apartment that day. I just looked out the window and watched bombs go off and hundreds of people running with suitcases. I just couldnt believe that what I saw was real. The next day, my husband, daughter, some friends and their dog  and me  piled into a car and drove 20 hours to western Ukraine. It was bumper-to-bumper traffic the whole way, and for the next weeks we slept on a different sofa in a different house every night. Eventually, because of my child, I made the decision to leave, and we traveled to Budapest.

For a while, I felt like I could never design again and that Id lost my brand. My team were scattered all over the world, our headquarters in Kyiv were now dangerous and we had left a season of clothes orders there, unshipped, that never made it to retailers. I divided all the money we had left in the company account to our employees.

But in the spring, my team started reaching out again. Most have husbands in the army, and they need to feed their children. We asked international partners if we could produce some of our best-selling designs, albeit at a small scale. Amazingly, some of our deadstock suppliers in eastern Ukraine were still working, so we could source fabrics. I also did a collaboration with a New York denim brand, DL1961.
SACRAMENTO  Stay in, the meteorologists had said. Historic blizzards are coming to California. There will be snowplows.

And yet, some things must be seen to be believed.

In Silicon Valley, in the hills above Los Gatos, Bart Giordano awoke at midnight on Friday to watch the snowfall piling up on the pine limbs and blanketing his patio lounge chairs, drifts like nothing he had seen in the area in his 46 years.

To the north, Danny Cullenward, an energy economist up with a fussy 4-year-old, looked out the window and saw lightning and heard a rumble and then glimpsed a distinct kind of falling slush that he recalled from his childhood in the Midwest. Snow is so rare in most of California that residents went deep into the weather glossary to describe it.

Thundergraupel in San Francisco! he joyfully tweeted, playing on a suddenly buzzy word for precipitation that is not quite hail or snowflakes.
WASHINGTON  President Biden marked the start of a second year of war in Europe on Friday by announcing billions of dollars in additional military aid for Ukraine, imposing more sanctions on those helping President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and delivering a grim warning about an alliance between Russia and Iran.

Just days after making a secret trip to Ukraines capital, Mr. Biden joined the leaders of the other Group of 7 nations  Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain  in reaffirming his support for the beleaguered country and condemning Russias invasion a year ago.

A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the peoples love of liberty, Mr. Biden wrote in a statement on Twitter, alluding to Mr. Putin. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. And Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never.

The Biden administration announced economic sanctions on more than 200 individuals and entities in Russia and other countries that it says are supporting Moscows war. The Pentagon also said on Friday that it would spend $2 billion to supply the Ukrainian military with new drones and anti-drone systems, as well as additional ammunition for artillery and long-range rocket systems. In an interview with ABC Newss David Muir on Friday night, however, Mr. Biden said he was ruling out sending F-16 fighter jets for now.
Robert Hebras, who, shielded under dead bodies, survived an infamous 1944 massacre in which members of an SS Panzer division killed almost everyone in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France, died on Feb. 11 in a hospital in Saint-Junien, not far from Oradour. He was 97 and the last survivor of the massacre.

President Emmanuel Macron of France announced the death on Twitter, saying that Mr. Hebras had devoted his life to transmitting the memories of the victims.

Mr. Hebras was 18 on June 10, 1944, when soldiers from the Second SS Panzer Division, known as Das Reich, rolled into Oradour, in west central France, ordered its residents to assemble and slaughtered 643 of them. Men were herded into barns and shot, then the barns were set on fire. Women and children were confined in a church, and the Germans threw grenades into the building and burned it.

Three or four generations of families were murdered, Robert Pike wrote in Silent Village: Life and Death in Occupied France (2021), an account of the massacre, and whole classes of schoolchildren were not spared.
Fortunes can ebb and flow substantially on social media platforms, with content creators reaping riches from viral videos one month  and making little the next. Influencers may also receive lavish gifts, one-off checks and direct tips from loyal viewers.

In the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service, they owe taxes on all of it. For some creators, especially those filing freelance taxes for the first time, tax season can feel a bit daunting.

Carolina Paniagua made a few hundred dollars through the Instagram Reels Play Bonus Program by posting about books last year. Mx. Paniagua, 25, who uses they and them pronouns, works full time as a domestic violence educator in Chicago but understood that there would be tax implications for their side income.

Im walking through a minefield, figuring out what Im supposed to do, they said. I only have around 7,000 followers, and I dont make a ton of income through Instagram. But if you make money, you have to report it.
Way back in 2019, I wrote about the Schasel postcard collection that had been donated to the Lock 52 Historical Society. It is a wonderful collection of over 100 postcards that had been collected by Rudy and his son Rene Schasel. That collection became the basis of our Images of Port Byron book. Now we have been surprised with a donation from the Blake family, who donated a box of images that were used to create some of those postcards. These offer an insight into how postcards were created.

William Blake was born in Junius and moved to Port Byron in October 1887 to open his drug store. This business would stay in the family, and in the village, through the death of his grandson Robert Blake in 1991. Blakes Pharmacy was a well-loved business in the village that many folks still have fond memories about. One of the many items that the store sold was the postcard, and this new collection gives us some behind-the-scenes information about how they were created. But we need a little context.

After their introduction in 1901, the postcard quickly became a collectors item. With images from faraway exotic places, or from just down the street, the postcard quickly became an inexpensive way to share news, say hello or share a memory. Even for a small village like Port Byron, hundreds of cards were produced so that you never had to send the same one twice. The hotels, churches, street scenes, the trolley and railroad, Erie Canal, stores, scenes along the outlet and more all became available. Add to this list locally produced cards that showed family groups, homes or any subject that could be captured on camera. The only requirement was the size and format, 3.5 by 5 inches, with an image on the front and a place to address on the back.

About the same time that the postcard was introduced, the post office began to roll out its rural free delivery of the mail. A notice in The Port Byron Chronicle told residents that RFD mail would begin Jan. 1, 1902. The post office also offered hours that seem crazy to us today, with hours that ran between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and noon to 2 p.m. Sundays. The mail would be sent out and received by the railroad eight times a day. With the RFD delivering the mail right to your doorstep, the mail became accessible to everyone, so that a traveler could send home a postcard and his family would receive it quite quickly, sometimes the same day! In researching this, I ran across the term postcard shower, where folks showered a recipient with postcards on a special day. The newspaper often reported that someone received a postcard shower on their birthday or special occasion. Of course, Blakes Drugstore sold postcard albums and collectors pages so you could keep all these neat and tidy.

Another interesting aside was that a lament of the RFD was the closing of the smaller post offices, such as those at Throopsville and Fosterville. With the mail being delivered out of Auburn to their homes, it was noted that folks didnt need to go to the post office, and in those days, the smaller post offices were in stores where people would often gather and chat. The loss of this community contact was certainly felt by many in the rural areas.

Our new Blake collection has nice examples showing how Mr. Blake ordered his cards. A photographer would have driven about the village looking for subjects and then developed the film. With a print of the scene in hand, the photographer and purchaser could suggest crops, captions or even disregard entirely. As all the photography was in black and white, some cards would be selected to be hand-painted in color, and instructions were written out in English and German to give the painter some idea as how to color the card. German was used, as most of this work was done in Germany. We also have a couple examples of a proof, where the card was printed and then sent out to be given a final check. It is fascinating to see that Blake was ordering cards in quantities of 1,000.

The Lock 52 policy is to make all these discoveries available to all on our social media and the website. Of course, we hope that the preservation and presentation of this history is of value to you, and that you will support our efforts by becoming a member.
A year after Russias invasion of Ukraine, the war is deepening the division among the worlds major economies, threatening fragile recoveries by disrupting food and energy supply chains and distracting from plans to combat poverty and restructure debt in poor countries.

Those fissures were evident this past week as top economic policymakers from the Group of 20 nations gathered for two days at a resort in Bengaluru, a city in southern India, where efforts to demonstrate unity were overshadowed by flaring tensions over Russia. During the summit, Western nations imposed a barrage of new sanctions on Moscow and unveiled more economic support for Ukraine, while developing countries like India, which have been reaping the benefits of cheap Russian oil, resisted expressing criticism.

The differing views left officials struggling to cobble together the traditional joint statement, or communique, on Saturday, forcing senior representatives from the Group of 7 nations, the worlds most advanced economies, to try to convince reluctant counterparts that defending Ukraine was worth the cost.

A summary of the meeting issued in the afternoon noted that most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine but that there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. The statement noted that Russia and China refused to sign on to the parts of the summary that referred to the war in Ukraine.
The runner-up prize went to Afire by the German director Christian Petzold, a fixture of the festival. The dry comedy centers on an acerbic novelist ensconced in a vacation home who is forced to reckon with his self-image amid an encroaching forest fire. A special jury prize was given to the Portuguese filmmaker Joao Canijos Bad Living, a drama about a group of women running a decaying hotel.

The best director award went to Philippe Garrel, a veteran French filmmaker, for The Plough, a drama about a family of puppeteers that stars three of his real-life children. The gender-neutral award for best performance was given to Sofia Otero, a first-time actor, who played an 8-year-old grappling with gender identity in 20,000 Species of Bees. The tearful speech by Otero, the youngest to win the award, left many in the audience crying.

The award for best screenplay was given to Angela Schanelecs Music, an elliptical retelling of the myth of Oedipus, and the award for best supporting performance went to Thea Ehre, who played a transgender ex-convict working with a police investigator in Christoph Hochhauslers Till the End of the Night.

Although the Berlinale has long been the most political of the major international festivals, this years edition was especially touched by world events. Two previous winners of the Golden Bear  the Iranian directors Jafar Panahi, whose film Taxi Tehran won in 2015, and Mohammad Rasoulof, whose film There Is No Evil won in 2020  were imprisoned in recent months for opposing the Iranian government. (Both were eventually released.) During the festivals glossy opening gala, Farahani, who is herself exiled from Iran, drew a lengthy standing ovation for a rousing speech in which she called for Europe to stand on the right side of history by supporting Iranian protesters.

This years festival also featured several films about Ukraine, including Iron Butterflies, about the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, and Superpower, a documentary by the actor and director Sean Penn that includes an interview with Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky, filmed the night of the Russian invasion. Appearing at the opening gala via video link, Zelensky praised the Berlinale for its principle of openness, equality and dialogue without borders. Although Russian filmmakers were allowed at this years festival, films that had been financed by the Russian government were banned.
After Bjarke Ingels left Copenhagen for New York City in 2010, his first project in Manhattan was a real humdinger: The stark and pyramidal Via 57 West, an apartment building with a not-small hole sliced down the middle, allowing for a courtyard.

Now Mr. Ingels is putting his stamp on other parts of the city, among them the Robert De Niro-backed Wildflower Studios, in Astoria, Queens. Having spent a good chunk of his life in these environments, Bob has very specific feedback on the dressing and green rooms, Mr. Ingels said of taking direction from the Academy Award winner and famous New Yorker.

His firm is also involved in the East Side Coastal Resiliency project, an initiative to protect part of Manhattan, including East River Park on the Lower East Side, from rising waters because of climate change. The preliminary phase has involved razing what is there now, including beloved trees and fields, which has produced some tensions in the community. The more people you touch, the more opinions you solicit, Mr. Ingels said of the divisive and long-term undertaking. But I think most of the residents who experienced Hurricane Sandy would probably prefer to remain dry.
When Jimmy Carter was president, I was a lowly clerk at The Washington Star. I saw him mostly through the eyes of Pat Oliphant, our brilliant, biting cartoonist. As Carter came to be seen as uncool and fumbling, Oliphant drew the president smaller and smaller in relation to his tormentors  including that killer rabbit.

It taught me an early lesson in the brutality of dwindling power.

Four decades later, I went one weekend to interview Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in Plains, Ga., along with my friend Jerry Rafshoon, who was Carters media wizard.

I watched Carter teach Sunday school at the Baptist church his friends started in the 1970s, after his original church refused to integrate. Some in Plains, disdaining his views on integration, tried to boycott his peanut business, but most came back. I had the best peanuts, he told Rafshoon.

I sat with the former president as he celebrated his 93rd birthday with a concert; he asked the pianist to play Imagine. Wearing jeans and a belt with a big JC buckle, he showed me the four-poster walnut bed he slept in with Rosalynn, which he had carved himself.
Its no mystery why these jobs are popular: They are stable and pay comparatively well, with good benefits and accessible entry requirements, and offer real advancement opportunities, unlike in many American companies and industries. In an economy long characterized by austerity and a shrinking social welfare base, homeland security and prisons have emerged as growing sites of state-subsidized employment.

Despite mass calls for police reform in 2020, amid and after the George Floyd protests, funding and staffing for the police across the United States only grew, with local departments continuing their decades-long practice of incorporating surplus military-grade weapons, vehicles and equipment into routine policing practices. At the same time, at the border, with enforcement measures increasingly intended to criminalize the movement of refugees and migrants, this country has produced an entrenched, militarized system of detection, detention and deportation. But border policies have also created jobs, industries and revenue for both employees and entrepreneurs. As a result, an increasingly large number of African Americans and Latinos now live in communities shaped by an enforcement culture.

In the decades since the Sept. 11 attacks, generations of Americans have experienced their most sustained acts of citizenship through military service  finding employment, opportunity and purpose by entering an institution that connects violence to the resolution of political problems. For some, military service deepens a commitment to democracy, equality and defending our constitutional rights and protections. But given the complexities of military culture, its hardly surprising that a certain segment of Black people, Latinos and other people of color, just like some of their white counterparts, would return from war sharing the far-rights illiberal embrace of brute force. That may mean an increased comfort with cruelty, as well as a tendency toward gun fetishization, the increasing dehumanization of adversaries and the conflation of freedom with violence.
I sort of perceive the documentary as this get out of death card, she told me in flawless, lightly accented English. The more awareness that we create, the less Putin and his posse would be tempted to kill my dad.

Navalny, 46, is a lawyer with a large following in Russia for his withering reports about Russian corruption and about Putin, whom he calls a madman. Attackers presumably linked to the Russian government twice hurled chemical dye on him, damaging his vision in his right eye, and in 2020 he collapsed on a plane. He almost died but was evacuated to Germany, where scientists determined he had been poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent, used by Russias government for high-priority assassination targets.

The documentary follows Navalnys recovery and the detective work to track down the Russian officials who apparently poisoned him. The film presents the extraordinary scene in which Navalny telephoned one of his would-be assassins and, pretending to be another Russian official, got him to explain how the poisoning was carried out.

By now it seemed clear that Putin wanted Navalny dead. But in early 2021, Navalny flew back to Moscow. For Dasha, who had worried since she was 12 about her dad being assassinated, and who had learned of his poisoning from Twitter, that wasnt necessarily her first choice.
Scientists have discovered two new forms of salty ice that probably do not exist naturally on Earth but might be found on icy moons farther out in the solar system.

These structures are nothing like anything that has been described before, said Baptiste Journaux, an acting assistant professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington.

Writing in the Feb. 20 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Journaux and his colleagues describe two new solid, icy combinations of two of the most common substances found on Earth: water and sodium chloride, better known as table salt.

The newly discovered crystals formed, unexpectedly, when salty water was chilled to low temperatures and squeezed to high pressures.
PLANADA, Calif.  Until the floodwaters came, until they rushed in and destroyed nearly everything, the little white house had been Cecilia Birruetas dream.

She and her husband bought the two-bedroom fixer-upper 13 years ago, their reward for decades of working minimum wage jobs, first cleaning houses in Los Angeles and now milking cows and harvesting pistachios in Californias Central Valley.

The couple replaced the weathered wooden floors, installed a new stove and kitchen sink and repainted the living room walls a warm burgundy. Here, they raised their three children, the oldest now at the University of California, Davis. They enjoyed tomatoes, peaches and figs from neighbors who worked on the nearby farms.

Ms. Birrueta and her husband felt content. Until last month. Until the floodwaters came.

A brutal set of atmospheric rivers in California unleashed a disaster in Planada, an agricultural community of 4,000 residents in the flatlands about an hour west of Yosemite National Park. During one storm in early January, a creek just outside of town busted through old farm levees and sent muddy water gushing into the streets.
And it felt like no matter what he did, they wanted to basically call him soft on the C.C.P., and unable to protect America, he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. Thats where I think we can go wayward politically.

For now, only a few, mostly narrow ventures have drawn enough bipartisan interest to have a chance at advancing amid the political tide. They include legislation to ban TikTok, the Beijing-based social media platform lawmakers have warned for years is an intelligence-gathering gold mine for the Chinese government; bills that would ban Chinese purchases of farmland and other agricultural real estate, especially in areas near sensitive military sites; and measures to limit U.S. exports and outbound investments to China.

Such initiatives are limited in scope, predominantly defensive and relatively cheap  which lawmakers say are important factors in getting legislation over the hurdles posed by this split Congress. And, experts point out, none are issues that would be felt keenly by voters, or translate particularly well into political pitches on the 2024 campaign trail.

President Biden proposed a $6.8 trillion budget that sought to increase spending on the military and social programs while also reducing future budget deficits. Recapturing a Centrist Identity: Biden has made curbing the budget gap one of his centerpiece promises. The move is part of a wider shift that sees the president Biden has made curbing the budget gap one of his centerpiece promises. The move is part of a wider shift that sees the president speaking more to the concerns of the political middle

Reducing Deficit: Instead of talking about hard choices and freezing spending, the president has pledged to defend popular federal programs and rely on taxing corporations and high earners. Instead of talking about hard choices and freezing spending, the president has pledged to defend popular federal programs and rely on taxing corporations and high earners. That represents a break with the past

A Missing Plan for Social Security: Like the presidents previous budgets, Like the presidents previous budgets, his new proposal makes no mention of the program , which he promised to shore up during his 2020 campaign.

There would be nervousness among Republicans about giving the administration a clear win, but Im just not sure that the kind of legislation theyll be looking at would be doing that, said Zack Cooper, who researches U.S.-China competition at the American Enterprise Institute. Its more things that would penalize China than be focused on investing in the U.S. in the next couple of years.

At the start of the year, the momentum behind bipartisan efforts to confront China seemed strong, with Republicans and Democrats banding together to pass the bill setting up the select panel and legislation to deny China crude oil exports from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. A resolution condemning Beijing for sending the spy balloon over the United States passed unanimously after Republican leaders decided not to take the opportunity to rebuke Mr. Biden, as many on the right had clamored for.
She was holding a debit card given to her by a staffing agency, which paid her Hearthside salary this way so she did not have to cash checks. Carolina turned it over and over in her palm as her aunt looked on.

I know you get sad, Ms. Ramirez said.

Carolina looked down. She wanted to continue going to school to learn English, but she woke up most mornings with a clenched stomach and kept staying home sick. Some of her ninth grade classmates had already dropped out. The 16-year-old boy she sat next to in math class, Cristian Lopez, had left school to work overtime at Hearthside.

Cristian lived a few minutes away, in a bare two-room apartment he shared with his uncle and 12-year-old sister, Jennifer.

His sister did not go to school either, and they had spent the day bickering in their room. Now night had fallen and they were eating Froot Loops for dinner. The heat was off, so they wore winter jackets. In an interview from Guatemala, their mother, Isabel Lopez, cried as she explained that she had tried to join her children in the United States last year but was turned back at the border.

Cristian had given his uncle some of the money he earned making Chewy bars, but his uncle believed it was not enough. He had said he would like Jennifer to start working at the factory as well, and offered to take her to apply himself.
Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery has been given a new name now that it has been formally established as New York's first state veterans cemetery.

The state has assumed ownership of the cemetery in the town of Romulus and renamed it New York State Veterans Cemetery-Finger Lakes. Before becoming a state veterans cemetery, it was owned and operated by Seneca County.

The state Division of Veterans' Services will now oversee the cemetery, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul's office.

As the state finalizes its takeover of the cemetery, it will also receive federal support. The Department of Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration will provide $2.8 million to support the state veterans cemetery project.

"Our veterans have sacrificed more than many could ever imagine, and New York is proud to establish its first state veterans cemetery to honor their legacies and ensure they can rest in peace," Hochul said. "There is no better place for this first of its kind cemetery than a location steeped in military history."

The state veterans cemetery is located at the site of the former Sampson Naval Training Station and Sampson Air Force Base in Seneca County.

The establishment of the first state veterans cemetery was a years-long effort. Supporters of the Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery aimed for a national- or state-level designation.

New York was one of the few states that did not have a state-run veterans cemetery. That changed when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo included plans to create a state veterans cemetery in his 2020 State of the State agenda.

In 2021, the state Division of Veterans' Services recommended Sampson to be the site of the first state veterans cemetery  a recommendation accepted by a selection committee. The state then applied for federal funding through the National Cemetery Administration and sought to formalize the establishment of the state veterans cemetery.

The 162-acre cemetery in Seneca County opened in 2011. According to a report issued by the state, 15 acres will be used for the first 6,000 gravesites. More land could be developed for an additional 74,000 gravesites at the cemetery.

State Sen. Pam Helming, who represented Seneca County at the time it was selected as the first state veterans cemetery, praised the veterans who played a pivotal role in securing the designation.

"Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery will always proudly serve as a lasting memorial and hallowed resting place for our nation's greatest heroes," she said.
Follow our live coverage of Nigerias presidential election.

After Nigeria won independence from Britain in 1960, thousands of Nigerians watched as their new green and white flag was raised over the capital at the time, Lagos, at midnight. As fireworks lit up the streets, hope and promise filled the air.

Nigerians hopes have been dashed many times since then. They have endured a bitter civil war, decades of military dictatorship and, in the past eight years, rising violence and economic failures under President Muhammadu Buhari. A record 89 percent of Nigerians think the country is going in the wrong direction.

But in this weekends presidential election  one of the most consequential in the 23 years since the last dictatorship ended and democracy took hold  many see a chance to change course.

And as Nigerians made their way on Saturday to polling stations across their huge and diverse country, the race to lead their young democracy and its legions of youthful citizens seemed wide open.
TIRANA, Albania  Customers at one of Albanias biggest banks got a shock shortly before Christmas when a curt text popped up on their cellphones: Your account has been blocked. The balance of your account is zero. Thank you.

The messages, which turned out to be fake, signaled the opening of a disruptive new front in what Albanian authorities, the United States and NATO have identified as an enormous cyberattack orchestrated by Iran on one of the weakest members of the military alliance.

It is an attack  an aggression against the sovereignty of one country by another state, Prime Minister Edi Rama said in an interview in Tirana, the Albanian capital, calling the assaults absolutely the same as a conventional military aggression only by other means.

The onslaught has swept Albania, a Balkan nation with fewer than three million people, into a maelstrom of uncertainty and plunged it into big geopolitical battles involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
As officials in Ukraine anxiously watch evolving diplomatic overtures between Moscow and Beijing, Chinas top leader will host the president of Belarus  a staunch Kremlin ally  with the pomp of a state visit next week.

On Saturday, China announced the visit, to take place over three days starting on Tuesday, for President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, who a year ago allowed Russian forces to use his country as a staging ground for their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The presence in Beijing of such a close partner of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is likely to increase international attention, and pressure, over Chinas straddling position on the war.

The announcement of Beijings latest high-profile official visitor comes a week after the Biden administration accused China of considering sending lethal military assistance to Russia, a claim that Chinese officials have denied. If the Chinese send arms and ammunition to Moscows formations in eastern Ukraine, the supplies would come at a time when both sides are running low on much-needed artillery rounds.

And after Beijing issued broad principles on Friday for trying to end the fighting in Ukraine, Western leaders voiced disappointment at the lack of more specific ideas in their proposal, or any signs that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, might be willing to distance himself from Mr. Putin.
As Russian tanks rumbled into Ukraine in the predawn a year ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky recorded a simple video address to his nation: We are strong, he said. We will defeat everyone because we are Ukraine.

Amid the swirl of chaotic battles, shifting military fortunes and the thorny terrain of global diplomacy that followed, one thing remained constant: Mr. Zelensky showing up in selfies filmed on his phone, to deliver speeches and to appear in slickly produced videos beamed into foreign parliaments, his haggard, bearded but defiant appearance becoming the face of Ukraines struggle at home and abroad.

For years, Mr. Zelensky, a former comedic actor, had been brushed off by critics as a lightweight, new to politics, naive about Russia and buffeted by the political headwinds of a presidential impeachment in the United States and a failed diplomatic endeavor with Russia. That is no longer the case.

After three successful counteroffensives, in which his army defeated Russian forces on the battlefield and upended long-held ideas about the balance of military power in Europe, Mr. Zelensky, 45, has grown more confident and battle-tested.
An engineer strode onstage at an event in Tehran, wearing tight pants and a stylish shirt, and clutching a microphone in one hand. Her long brown hair, tied in a ponytail, swung freely behind her, uncovered, in open defiance of Irans strict hijab law.

I am Zeinab Kazempour, she told the convention of Irans professional association of engineers. She condemned the group for supporting the hijab rules, and then she marched offstage, removing a scarf from around her neck and tossing it to the floor under a giant image of Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The packed auditorium erupted in cheers, claps and whistles. A video of Ms. Kazempour went viral on social media and local news sites, making her the latest champion for many Iranians in a growing, open challenge to the hijab law.

Women have resisted the law, uncovering their hair an inch or a strand at a time, since it went into effect two years after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
No serious lawyer could believe what they were saying.

Two days after the 2020 election, Tucker Carlson was furious.

Fox News viewers were abandoning the network for Newsmax and One America News, two conservative rivals, after Fox declared that Joseph R. Biden Jr. won Arizona, a crucial swing state.

In a text message with his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, Mr. Carlson appeared livid that viewers were turning against the network. The message was among those released last week as part of a lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox. Dominion, an elections technology company, has sued Fox News for defamation.

A graphic shows a text exchange from Carlson to Pfeiffer. Carlson to Pfeiffer We worked really hard to build what we have  It enrages me.

At the same time, Mr. Carlson and his broadcasting colleagues expressed grave doubts about an unfounded narrative rapidly gaining momentum among their core audience: that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Democrats through widespread voter fraud. The belief was promoted by then-President Trump and a coalition of lawyers, lawmakers and influencers, though they produced no evidence to support their assertions.

Many hosts, producers and executives privately expressed skepticism about those claims, even as they gave them significant airtime, according to private messages revealed last week by Dominion. What they said in those messages often differed significantly from what Fox hosts said in public, though they werent always contradictory.

Two days after the election, Mr. Pfeiffer said that voices on the right were reckless demagogues, according to a text message. Mr. Carlson replied that his show was not going to follow them.

A graphic shows a text exchange between Pfeiffer and Carlson. Said privately on Nov. 5, 2020 Pfeiffer to Carlson Its a hard needle to thread, but I really think many on our side are being reckless demagogues right now. Carlson to Pfeiffer Of course they are. Were not going to follow them.

But he did follow them. The same day, on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Mr. Carlson expressed some doubts about the voter fraud assertions before insisting that at least some of the claims were credible.

A graphic of a text exchange, followed by a video clip of Carlson on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Said publicly on Nov. 5, 2020 Carlson: Not all the claims are credible  some are.  Serious questions about the legitimacy of ballots remained unanswered.

In the days and weeks that followed, Mr. Carlson was one of several Fox News hosts who repeatedly took a different tone when speaking to viewers on air than when they were talking privately.

The private conversations pose a serious legal threat to the nations most-watched cable news network. Dominion has obtained thousands of emails and text messages from Fox employees as part of its $1.6 billion suit. The messages, taken as a whole, are at the core of Dominions case.

Fox News has argued in court that the First Amendment protects its right to broadcast false claims if they are inherently newsworthy  and in this case that there was nothing more newsworthy at the time than a sitting presidents allegations of widespread voter fraud.

In a statement, the company said that the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by legal precedent. It added, Dominion has mischaracterized the record, cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context, and spilled considerable ink on facts that are irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law.

But if a jury looks at the messages from Fox hosts, guests and executives and concludes that people inside the network knew what they were putting on the air was false, it could find Fox liable and reward Dominion with substantial financial damages.

On Nov. 7, 2020, Mr. Carlson told Mr. Pfeiffer that claims about manipulated software were absurd. Mr. Pfeiffer replied later that there was not enough evidence of fraud to swing the election.

A graphic of a text exchange between Pfeiffer and Carlson. Said privately on Nov. 7, 2020 Carlson to Pfeiffer The software shit is absurd. Pfeiffer to Carlson I dont think there is evidence of voter fraud that swung the election.

But during his broadcast on Nov. 9, Mr. Carlson devoted time to various theories, suggesting there could be merit to claims about software manipulation. We dont know, we have to find out, he said.

A video clip of Carlson on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Said publicly on Nov. 9, 2020 Carlson: We dont know anything about the software that many say was rigged.  And you are not crazy for knowing it. You are right.

Mr. Carlson also privately criticized Sidney Powell, a lawyer and conspiracy theorist who was gaining traction among the far right for her involvement in several lawsuits aimed at challenging the election results, the court filings show. Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, two hosts on Fox Business, a sister channel to Fox News that is also part of Dominions lawsuit, repeatedly invited Ms. Powell onto their shows as an expert on voter fraud claims.

A graphic of a text message from Carlson. Said privately on Nov. 16, 2020 Carlson to Pfeiffer Sidney Powell is lying

Mr. Pfeiffer told Mr. Carlson over text message that election fraud claims, like those being made by Ms. Powell, need to be backed up. He warned that President Biden faced being undermined if he was eventually inaugurated.

Mr. Carlson agreed, the filings show.

A graphic of a text message from Carlson. Said privately on Nov. 18, 2020 Carlson to Pfeiffer Yep. Its bad.

The next day, Mr. Carlson eviscerated Ms. Powell in a brutal 10-minute monologue, dissecting her claims as unreliable and unproven. He said the show had repeatedly asked her for evidence and, when we kept pressing, she got angry and told us to stop contacting her.

A video of Carlson from Tucker Carlson Tonight. Said publicly on Nov. 19, 2020 Carlson: She never demonstrated that a single actual vote was moved illegitimately by software from one candidate to another. Not one.

In the same monologue, however, Mr. Carlson also gave some credence to Ms. Powells claims, saying that we dont dismiss anything anymore and that he is hopeful she will come forward with evidence.

A video of Carlson from Tucker Carlson Tonight. Said publicly on Nov. 19, 2020 Carlson: We did not dismiss any of it. We dont dismiss anything anymore.

Viewers expressed outrage at Mr. Carlson for challenging a prominent Trump ally. And Mr. Trumps associates quickly jumped to her defense.

Privately, Mr. Carlson continued to criticize Ms. Powell, calling her claims shockingly reckless. Mr. Pfeiffer and Mr. Carlson both privately called her a nut. Laura Ingraham, who is the host of a 10 p.m. show, and Raj Shah, a senior vice president at the Fox Corporation, the networks corporate parent, were equally incredulous.

A graphic of several text messages from Raj Shah, Pfeiffer, Carlson and Ingraham. Said privately on Nov. 22, 2020 Shah to Pfeiffer so many people openly denying the obvious that Powell is clearly full of it. Pfeiffer to Shah She is a [expletive] nutcase. Carlson to Ingraham [Powell is] a nut, as you said at the outset. It totally wrecked my weekend. Wow... I had to try to make the WH disavow her, which they obviously should have done long before Ingraham to Carlson No serious lawyer could believe what they were saying. Carlson to Ingraham But they said nothing in public. Pretty disgusting.

The next day, Mr. Carlson appeared to soften his public stance, suggesting that some of the criticisms about voting machines had merit and concluding, This is a real issue no matter who raises it.

A video from Tucker Carlson Tonight. Said publicly on Nov. 23, 2020 Carlson: This is a real issue no matter who raises it or who tries to dismiss it out of hand as a conspiracy theory.

Mr. Carlson was far from alone in speaking about Ms. Powell in a different way in private than on the air.

Internally, anchors like Bret Baier appeared surprised to find Ms. Powell getting significant airtime on shows by Ms. Bartiromo and Mr. Dobbs, the court filings show. On Nov. 6, 2020, after someone forwarded Mr. Dobbss interview with Ms. Powell, Mr. Baier replied:

A graphic of a text message from Baier. Baier What is this? Oh man.

The private messages also showed that Ms. Powell was in direct communication with Ms. Bartiromo and Mr. Dobbs, and that she revealed one of the sources for her outrageous claims. The court filings showed that Ms. Powell forwarded an email about voter fraud to Ms. Bartiromo from the source, a woman who claimed, among other things, that the Wind tells me Im a ghost.

If Ms. Bartiromo was deterred by the unusual email, it was not evident to Fox News viewers. Ms. Powell was interviewed on the show the next day.

A video from Mornings with Maria Bartiromo. Said publicly on Nov. 8, 2020 Bartiromo: We talked about the Dominion software. I know that there were voting irregularities. Tell me about that.

Consternation over Ms. Powell grew behind the scenes at Fox News as her lawsuits were repeatedly dismissed by courts and her promises to produce concrete evidence of widespread voter fraud never materialized. Yet she was still getting airtime, and senior executives at the network appeared concerned.

Gary Schreier, a senior vice president of programming at Fox Business, said in a private message to Lauren Petterson, the president of Fox Business, that Ms. Bartiromo has GOP conspiracy theorists in her ear and they use her for their message sometimes.

Days later, Mr. Schreier received an email from Dominion Voting Systems containing links that refuted Ms. Powells voter fraud claims.

That night, Mr. Dobbs interviewed Ms. Powell about Dominions comments. But he also used the interview to reinforce her claims of fraud. Mr. Dobbs concluded that this looks like the effort to carry out an endgame against Mr. Trump. Ms. Bartiromo interviewed Ms. Powell again two days later.

A video from Lou Dobbs Tonight and Mornings with Maria Bartiromo. Said publicly on Nov. 13, 2020 Dobbs: This is the culmination of what has been over a four-year effort to overthrow this president. Said publicly on Nov. 15, 2020 Bartiromo: Attorney Sidney Powell is leading the charge against Dominion and she says she has enough evidence of fraud to launch a massive criminal investigation.

Several Fox News hosts and producers were criticizing Ms. Powell, including John Fawcett, a producer on Mr. Dobbss show, who said he believed Ms. Powell was doing LSD and cocaine and heroin and shrooms.

A text message from Ingraham. Said privately on Nov. 15, 2020 Ingraham to Hannity and Carlson Sidney Powell is a bit nuts. Sorry but she is.

But those criticisms never made it to air. Instead, when Ms. Powell appeared again on Mr. Dobbss show days later, she was hailed as a great American and one of the countrys leading appellate attorneys.

A video from Lou Dobbs Tonight. Said publicly on Nov. 19, 2020 Dobbs: Our election is run by companies, the ownership of which we dont know. Sidney Powell is among those trying to change all that.

By late November, Mr. Fawcett became increasingly critical of Ms. Powell, according to the court filings. He concluded that she was not verifying her claims. On Nov. 27, 2020, he wrote that her lawsuits were complete bs.

Mr. Fawcett also told Mr. Dobbs that Mr. Trumps legal team had disavowed her. Mr. Dobbs replied that he didnt know what Ms. Powell was thinking or doing, Or why!

A graphic of text messages between Fawcett and Dobbs. Said privately on Nov. 22, 2020 Fawcett to Dobbs Could be losing her mind Fawcett to Dobbs I just dont think she is verifying anything she is saying.

But over the next several days, Ms. Powell was invited back by Mr. Dobbs, who echoed her claims that electoral fraud was perpetrated by electronic voting machines, prominently Dominion.

Two videos from Lou Dobbs Tonight. Said publicly on Nov. 24, 2020 Dobbs: I think many Americans have given no thought to electoral fraud that would be perpetrated through electronic voting, that is these machines  prominently Dominion, at least in the suspicions of a lot of Americans. Said publicly on Nov. 30, 2020 Dobbs: We have, across almost every state, whether its Dominion  whatever the voting machine company is  no one knows their ownership, has no idea whats going on in those servers.

The next month, after Smartmatic, a competitor of Dominion Voting Systems, sent a letter to Fox News signaling that litigation was imminent, the network put together a video package of an election expert debunking the conspiracy theories that suggested the companys technology allowed the presidential vote to be rigged. It aired on the programs hosted by Mr. Dobbs, Ms. Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro.

On Feb. 5, 2021, one day after Smartmatic filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox, Fox Business canceled Lou Dobbs Tonight. At the time, Fox said it regularly reviewed its lineup. Plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate postelection, including on Fox Business, the network said.
A woman caught driving while disqualified on two consecutive days was told if she is caught driving again she will go to jail. Sandra Krupa (24) of Aughantaragh, Killashee was before Longford District court charged with four motoring offences.

The defendant pleaded guilty to driving without licence or insurance on January 24, 2023 at Knockahave, Dublin Road, Longford and the same offences on January25, 2023 at Lisnamuck, Longford.

Inspector Paddy McGirl outlined how the defendant first came to Garda attention when officers stopped a car driven by Ms Krupa at 11:15pm. The driver said she had insurance and would present documents to Longford Garda station. When the Garda later checked the system it transpired the defendant was disqualified from driving for a no insurance offence.

The following day while on patrol at 11:25pm the officer saw the same motor vehicle on the Sligo Road. The vehicle was stopped and Ms Krupa was arrested and charged. Inspector McGirl said the defendant has three previous convictions, and was serving a disqualification at the time of the offence.

Solicitor Frank Gearty explained that his client's partner was banned from driving and Ms Krupa had taken it upon herself to drive him to work despite being banned herself. Mr Gearty said Ms Krupa was appalled and embarrassed by her actions.

This won't happen again, Mr Gearty reassured the judge. He explained that Ms Krupa was in a serious financial situation and was going to be homeless. The legal representative asked the judge not to send her to prison. Judge Owens said the defendant gets credit for an early plea, but noted the significant previous convictions.

The judge registered a conviction and imposed a fine of 250 with eight months to pay and a four year qualification for the offence on January 24, while the offence of January 25 attracted a four months custodial sentence which was suspended for two years.

The second offence attracted an eight year disqualification. Judge Owens concluded by saying: If you are caught behind the wheel of a car in the next two years you are going into custody.
For the frequent flyers with trust issues, there is good news at Singapore's Changi airport. Considered one of the finest and established as one of the busiest in the world, the Changi airport has deployed autonomous electric vehicles (EVs) - called Auto-Dolly - to handle luggage transport services at one of its terminals. At present, the autonomous or driver-less vehicles have been deployed on a trial basis.

Officials from the Changi Airport point to a manpower shortage that has made the idea of having autonomous vehicles to handle baggage a feasible prospect. Attracting new workers too has not always been easy because driving conventional vehicles in the outdoor conditions is not always appealing to all. But beyond just filling in for actual workers, it is also believed that the baggage delivery efficiency can be increased greatly by such vehicles which, in turn, can elevate passenger service qualities.

It is also possible for more of such autonomous vehicles to be deployed for purposes other than transporting luggage. The learning from the trials will shape the concept of operations for baggage transportation and potentially catalyse autonomy for other airside vehicles," a press statement from Changi Airport informs. Auto-Dolly also has the ability to be electronically tagged with one or more units so they can work together as a group, giving this piece of equipment an added advantage."

The first phase of the trial saw Auto Dolly successfully - and autonomously - travel autonomously along airside roadways, as well as within the baggage handling area. The second phase of the trial will now involve testing the safe operations of the Auto-Dolly at the aircraft stand. Due to its small footprint and tight turning radius, the Auto-dolly can manoeuvre itself precisely next to an aircraft," the statement further highlights. Changi is the first airport in the world to test this equipments ability to perform autonomous loading and unloading of ULDs at the aircraft stand."

First Published Date:
News24 22 Feb 2023

Loadshedding may be riding South Africa dry at the moment, but plans are in place for it to not impact the upcoming Formula E race..
The prosect of such a move by Beijing has alarmed those in the Biden administration who believe Beijing has the ability to transform the wars trajectory.
A federal judge has sided with the Biden administration and a mining company in a fight with environmentalists and tribal leaders trying to block a huge lithium mine in Nevada near the Oregon line. The judge in Reno denied the opponents' request Friday for an emergency injunction to prohibit any work at the largest known U.S. lithium deposit until an appellate court can hear their latest appeal. Her ruling clears the way for construction to begin next week at the mine backers say would speed production of raw materials for electric vehicle batteries critical to combatting climate change. Opponents say it would destroy key wildlife habitat and sacred cultural treasures.
New Mexico's governor has stepped into the fight over how federal land managers are eradicating wild cows in the Gila Wilderness. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a statement Friday as the U.S. Forest Service conducted an aerial shooting operation aimed at killing as many as 150 unauthorized cows. She says shes disappointed in the Forest Services lack of meaningful engagement with stakeholders on such a controversial issue. Federal officials and environmentalists say the animals damage habitat for other species. Ranchers say the cows could have been rounded up and removed. The Forest Service did not immediately respond to the governor's comments.
The Prime Ministers political judgement has been criticised after a meeting between the King and the leader of the European Union was cancelled. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had been expected to travel to Britain on Saturday amid speculation a deal to fix issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol is near. The German [...]
Olaf Scholz is heading to India for the first time as German chancellor where he will meet Indian leader Narendra Modi. Experts tell DW what they think will be the top talking points between the pair.
LOS ANGELESPleasure products manufacturer Viben has named Conde Aumann as account executive and Lulu Shwartzer as its new international account executive.

I am truly excited about adding these two female powerhouses to Viben, said Bonnie Feingold, CEO of Viben. Conde has been in the industry for 22 years and Lulu for 33 and are well loved and respected. I have known both of them in the industry for many, many years and am honored that they have chosen to join our team. I cant wait for the explosive growth Viben will have!

By joining the Viben team, Aumanns industry experience has come full circle after she attended the first ILS show where she sat with Feingold at a vendors dinner. Today, she is reuniting with Feingold to grow the Viben lines domestic sales.

Bonnie and her team have created an amazing line and I want to be there for its tremendous growth, Aumann said. With all the thought and care put into this line, I feel it is one I can stand behind for a long, long time. I am so excited to be part of the team!

Shwartzer also shared her enthusiasm for her new position of new International Account Executive. Im excited to be working with Conde, Bonnie and Char. I am not gonna lie, she said. What an amazing group of women we have! Its a great line with immense potential and I have a lot of experience in that area, so its a great opportunity for all of us to grow Viben into an international brand. Were gonna take over the world, one Viben at a time!

The two industry veterans will begin their positions with Viben on Feb. 27.

The new Viben team will be attending the upcoming Altitude show, March 20-22 at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas. They will be at the Viben booth. To book an appointment during the show, click here.

For more information about Viben Toys, contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

Pictured: Conde Aumann, left, and Lulu Schwartzer.
Organizers of the Rebellion for Peace protest have been criticized for playing into Russian President Vladimir Putin's hands. Far-right groups have told their supporters to show up, prompting a strong police presence.
Western support for Moldova is growing as the country rejects Russian political meddling. While it may be small, Ukraines western neighbor is of strategic importance in the war.
Migrants crossing from New York into Quebec at Roxham Road should not be seen as a burden, according to the executive director of a Montreal-based non-profit organization that offers support to refugee claimants.
King Charles was lined up by Number 10 to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday - just as highly contentious negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol were poised to come to a head.
It took an American  specifically, the American ambassador  to impose some perspective this week on the Canadian debate about Roxham Road. Irregular migration is one of the major problems confronted by the Western hemisphere and Roxham Road is just a symptom of that problem, David Cohen said.
A small road straddling the Canada-U.S. border has become a political hot-topic in recent weeks as politicians are calling on Ottawa to shut it down. Here's what you need to know about Roxham Road and the political debate surrounding the border.
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen urged her counterparts at a summit in India to condemn Russias actions, and she defended the cost of supplying aid to Kyiv.
A poll conducted by Germany's DPA news agency suggests many Germans disapprove of arming Ukraine in its war against Russia. Meanwhile, Russia's Medvedev denied the country was running out of missiles. DW has the latest.
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Reiterating that India has been advocating for the resolution of the Ukraine-Russia "dispute" through diplomacy and dialogue ever since the start of the conflict last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the country was ready to contribute to any peace process.
With 10 snowdays so far this school year and winter weather still impacting northern Arizona, Flagstaffs K-12 schools are starting to plan how to make up the instructional time.

Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) sent a message to families on Tuesday morning announcing plans.

While the snowfall is much needed, it has resulted in disruption to school schedules and the loss of instruction and learning, FUSD Superintendent Michael Penca wrote in the email.

He said having so many cancellations is unusual -- FUSD only canceled one day in each of the past two school years, leaving one extra makeup day in the calendar.

Im sure people who have been in Flagstaff [longer] probably recall other winters where there were waves of storms like this, but in the time Ive been here, weve had nothing close to this, he said.

School calendar requirements

K-12 schools in Arizona need to have a minimum of 180 days in each school year, and, when making the calendar, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) recommends schools incorporate a few makeup days into the schedule.

There are also specific instructional time requirements -- at least 890 instructional hours for grades 4-8 and at least 720 for grades 9-12 -- which have several delivery options, according to an ADE spokesperson.

As Penca explained it, we do have some flexibility in state law that you start with an initial 180-day calendar, but in the end, you just have to make sure that you meet state requirements for instructional [hours].

The district's calendar for the 2022-2023 school year had two makeup days: April 24 and May 5 -- which it announced in early February would be used for the snowdays on Dec. 12 and Jan. 2.

The next three cancellations, which all took place the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, will not require makeup days.

Penca said FUSD had enough extra instructional time to switch to a 177-day school calendar to account for those days (for students; district staff will have to make up the time based on contract requirements).

Last week, another storm meant two more snowdays, which FUSD plans to make up for using early dismissal days. Instead of having an early dismissal each week (Wednesdays and Fridays for secondary and elementary students, respectively), the district now plans to dismiss at the regular time for a full day, at a rate of two half days for each cancellation.

We just felt like were losing that routine and that instructional time, Penca said of the decision to use half days. ... We wanted to get in some days in March and early April, especially before we get into our state testing. We wanted to get into a normal school routine, make sure were covering some of those essential learning standards and  building up that stamina in school.

He said FUSD has taken a similar approach before, replacing half days with a regular release in 2018 to make up for five days canceled because of Red for Ed related staffing shortages.

Based on the same instructional requirements, Northland Preparatory Academy (NPA) is in the process of applying for an amended 175-day calendar through the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS).

The request will first be sent to NPAs board for approval Monday, then to ASBCS. If it is approved, NPA will then send an announcement to its families.

The school as of Tuesday this week was not planning to have any makeup days for the seven snow cancellations it had at that point in the year, according to its superintendent, David Lykins. An instructional hours matrix created as part of the request shows that all NPA students will have slightly over 1,137 hours by the end of the school year, even with the adjustments.

Montessori Charter School of Flagstaff's administrative team was meeting Thursday to find ways to respond to the snowdays' impact on its calendar, said head of school Whitney Owens. She said the school was considering options that did not change the last day of instruction in order to avoid impacts to things like family vacations and summer programs.

Early release changes

With Flagstaff schools calling another three snow days this week, however, both FUSD and NPA will need to use all of the contingency adjustments outlined in their plans.

The districts announcement Tuesday put the initial shift in place through April 7, with additional dates listed for the next three cancellations. The snowdays called Wednesday through Friday this week now mean changes to half days through May 17 for secondary students and May 19 for those in elementary school.

FUSD make-up days Here is a list of the dates FUSD will be switching from half-day to full-day instruction to make up for this year's snow days as of Feb. 24. Two previously scheduled half days (March 9 and March 10) will not be changing to allow for parent-teacher conferences, though any conferences planned for March 8 will now need to be rescheduled. Elementary Friday, March 3 Wednesday, March 8 Friday, March 24 Friday, April 7 Friday, April 14 Friday, April 21 Friday, April 28 Friday, May 5 Friday, May 12 Friday, May 19 Secondary Wednesday, March 1 Wednesday, March 8 Wednesday, March 22 Wednesday, April 5 Wednesday, April 12 Wednesday, April 19 Wednesday, April 25 Wednesday, May 3 Wednesday, May 10 Wednesday, May 17

Similarly, this weeks snow days mean NPA will be using the extra dates outlined in its plan. Early dismissal at the school is only two hours before the usual time, meaning it will need to use four days to make up for each cancellation. If the changes are approved by both the school and state board, the last changed date will be May 24.

NPA make-up days Here are the early dismissal days NPA is planning to shift to a full schedule in response to this week's snow days as of Feb. 24. Because its early release days are longer than FUSD's, the school will need to use more adjustments in response to the same number of cancellations. These plans are pending approval from both the school board and ASBCS. Wednesday, March 1 Wednesday, March 8 Wednesday, March 22 Wednesday, March 29 Wednesday, April 5 Wednesday, April 12 Wednesday, April 19 Wednesday, April 26 Wednesday, May 3 Wednesday, May 10 Wednesday, May 17 Wednesday, May 24

The planned half day adjustments for FUSD and NPA are now within a week of the last day of school and graduation, though both superintendents said they had other options, if needed.

On Tuesday Lykins said NPA would have to go back to the drawing board if additional cancellations exceeded the outlined plans.

NPA's half-day plans are based on the 175-day calendar, leaving the school with instructional time over the state requirements.

Lykins said this winters snow has been disrupting routines and making school more challenging for students who are just getting back on track after COVID, so he was hoping to keep as much time as possible.

We don't want to miss more than that, even though we've got a lot of hours over the statutory requirement, because kids need all the instructional support they can get right now post-COVID," he said.

On Wednesday Penca said FUSD had other options if cancellations go beyond those outlined in its plans. A few half days havent been included in these plans and the district is still well above the required amount of instructional time.

Penca said he didnt have any regret about the previous cancellations, and thanked families and staff for their understanding.

Were hopeful we can get through, he said Wednesday morning. This is a pretty powerful storm were experiencing today. We'll see how the next couple waves of this storm, how they come through.

He added: "Were trying to do what we believe is best for providing instruction, learning and services for our students. Were trying to minimize impacts on our families and in our community, and then also account for our staff and making sure theyre able to have the time and the resources to do their job well.

More about snow policies at FUSD can be found at fusd1.org/snow.

Half-day impacts

Both Penca and Lykins noted that using half days in this way takes away time teachers typically use for professional development, lesson planning and other work that can be more difficult to do when kids are in school.

Lykins said figuring out how to make up staff time was NPAs next step after finishing the calendar amendment process. Starting Wednesday, FUSD has begun allowing remote work for its staff on snowdays, Penca said, with the hope of giving them time for those tasks.

Our staff were able to do some of that planning and collaboration even today, using the technology and platforms that we have, he said Wednesday. Hopefully we can make these productive days, even though were not in school to have some of that training and collaboration and instruction.

This is different from remote learning, however, that he said had not been implemented for district snowdays due to the planning needed -- which can be difficult when it comes to something as unpredictable as the weather.

During the pandemic, we understood and experienced that not all students were able to have access to the technology that really supports this type of learning, he explained. It takes a lot of advanced planning -- you have to know for sure were going to have a snowday in the next couple days and make sure[to have] things to send home with kids. It has to be very planned, so were just not there yet, but it may be something we have to consider for the future.

Remote learning

Other local schools are starting to consider this method with the rising count of snowdays: Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy (FALA) posted a survey to social media Tuesday morning saying it was preparing to switch to remote learning if it needed to cancel school later in the week.

On Wednesday it decided to cancel classes entirely due to the risk of power outages with the storm, though for Thursday and Friday, it decided to use a remote learning schedule.

"We recognize that these are not ideal conditions," school improvement specialist Kara Kelty wrote in the announcement of Thursday's plans. "The weather forecast for Thursday night predicts another 7-11 inches, likely limiting in-person learning for another day. I am very concerned about losing two more school days and the disruption in learning for our students."

An update posted to its website Wednesday evening asked families to "note that we are not trying to recreate a school day online." Instead, Kelty said, FALA made an adjusted remote schedule for a more optimal experience and is sending out another survey to see how it might improve.

There were actually some benefits to remote learning in that students could receive 1:1 tutoring and individualized support from counselors, she said Thursday afternoon.

Students used Google Meet to connect with teachers at the beginning of each abbreviated class period, moving into independent work for the remainder of each session. It also included an optional afternoon schedule from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for additional support and check-ins with academic or mental health counselors as needed. Social media posts noted that tutoring, 1:1 support and office hours would be made available through email.

Kelty was also on campus Thursday for students that wanted to come to school, but said none did.

On Thursday afternoon, she said the first day of remote learning as a snow day alternative had been a positive experience, though there were some hiccups in the readjustment to remote routines.

The survey found that 99.4% of FALA families had internet access, with 15% offering to host students who needed access. Attendance for the first remote day was 83.66% across the school.

While Kelty said there had been complaints that only two makeup days were put into the schools original calendar (she noted that this had been in place prior to her start at FALA), she hadnt heard any parents complaining about the choice to use remote learning.

Several even thought it was a good idea, she said, sharing three survey responses that found this approach a good solution. She also mentioned one student expressing concern it would be a repeat of earlier remote learning experiences during COVID -- which the adjusted schedule and additional support was meant to address.

With weather conditions continuing, FALA stayed on a remote schedule Friday. More about FALA's remote learning plans can be found here.
Eurasia Review 24 Feb 2023

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  How do people raised with a sense of right and wrong end up involved in terrible acts of violence against others?

That's the human mystery at the heart of 2,000 intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers in Ukraine. These calls obtained by The Associated Press offer an intimate new perspective on Russian President Vladimir Putin's year-old war, seen through the eyes of Russian soldiers themselves.

The AP identified calls made in March 2022 by soldiers in a military division that Ukrainian prosecutors say committed war crimes in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv that became an early symbol of Russian atrocities.

They show how deeply unprepared young soldiers  and their country  were for the war to come. Many joined the military because they needed money and were informed of their deployment at the last minute. They were told they'd be welcomed as heroes for liberating Ukraine from its Nazi oppressors and their Western backers, and that Kyiv would fall without bloodshed within a week.

The intercepts show that as soldiers realized how much they'd been misled, they grew more and more afraid. Violence that once would have been unthinkable became normal. Looting and drinking offered moments of rare reprieve. Some said they were following orders to kill civilians or prisoners of war.

They tell their mothers what this war actually looks like: About the teenage Ukrainian boy who got his ears cut off. How the scariest sound is not the whistle of a rocket flying past, but the silence that means it's coming directly for you. How modern weapons can obliterate the human body so there's nothing left to bring home.

We listen as their mothers struggle to reconcile their pride and their horror, and as their wives and fathers beg them not to drink too much and to please, please call home.

These are the stories of three of those men  Ivan, Leonid and Maxim. The AP isn't using their full names to protect their families in Russia. The AP established that they were in areas when atrocities were committed, but has no evidence of their individual actions beyond what they confess.

The AP spoke with the mothers of Ivan and Leonid, but couldn't reach Maxim or his family. The AP verified these calls with the help of the Dossier Center, an investigative group in London funded by Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The conversations have been edited for length and clarity.

Warning: The conversations contain vulgar language and graphic details.

In a joint production on Saturday, Feb. 25, The Associated Press and Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting will broadcast never-before-heard audio of Russian soldiers as they confront  and perpetrate  the brutality of Russia's war in Ukraine.

***

LEONID

Leonid became a soldier because he needed money. He was in debt and didn't want to depend on his parents.

"I just wasn't prepared emotionally for my child to go to war at the age of 19," his mother told the AP in January. "None of us had experienced anything like this, that your child would live in a time when he has to go and fight."

Leonid's mother said Russia needs to protect itself from its enemies. But, like many others, she expected Russia to take parts of eastern Ukraine quickly. Instead, Leonid's unit got stuck around Bucha.

"No one thought it would be so terrible," his mother said. "My son just said one thing: 'My conscience is clear. They opened fire first.' That's all."

In the calls, there is an obvious moral dissonance between the way Leonid's mother raised him and what he is seeing and doing in Ukraine. Still, she defended her son, insisting he never even came into contact with civilians in Ukraine.

She said everything was calm, civil. There was no trouble at the checkpoints. Nothing bad happened. The war didn't change her son.

She declined to listen to any of the intercepts: "This is absurd," she said. "Just don't try to make it look like my child killed innocent people."

***

ONE: Kill if you don't want to be killed.

Leonid's introduction to war came on Feb. 24, as his unit crossed into Ukraine from Belarus and decimated a detachment of Ukrainians at the border. After his first fight, Leonid seems to have compassion for the young Ukrainian soldiers they'd just killed.

Mother: "When did you get scared?"

Leonid: "When our commander warned us we would be shot, 100%. He warned us that although we'd be bombed and shot at, our aim was to get through."

Mother: "Did they shoot you?"

Leonid: "Of course. We defeated them."

Mother: "Mhm. Did you shoot from your tanks?"

Leonid: "Yeah, we did. We shot from the tanks, machine guns and rifles. We had no losses. We destroyed their four tanks. There were dead bodies lying around and burning. So, we won."

Mother: "Oh what a nightmare! Lyonka, you wanted to live at that moment, right honey?"

Leonid: "More than ever!"

Mother: "More than ever, right honey?"

Leonid: "Of course."

Mother: "It's totally horrible."

Leonid: "They were lying there, just 18 or 19 years old. Am I different from them? No, I'm not."

***

TWO: The rules of normal life no longer apply.

Leonid tells his mother their plan was to seize Kyiv within a week, without firing a single bullet. Instead, his unit started taking fire near Chernobyl. They had no maps and the Ukrainians had taken down all the road signs.

"It was so confusing," he says. "They were well prepared."

Not expecting a prolonged attack, Russian soldiers ran short on basic supplies. One way for them to get what they needed  or wanted  was to steal.

Many soldiers, including Leonid, talk about money with the wary precision that comes from not having enough. Some take orders from friends and family for certain-sized shoes and parts for specific cars, proud to go home with something to give.

When Leonid tells his mother casually about looting, at first she can't believe he's stealing. But it's become normal for him.

As he speaks, he watches a town burn on the horizon.

"Such a beauty," he says.

Leonid: "Look, mom, I'm looking at tons of houses  I don't know, dozens, hundreds  and they're all empty. Everyone ran away."

Mother: "So all the people left, right? You guys aren't looting them, are you? You're not going into other people's houses?"

Leonid: "Of course we are, mom. Are you crazy?"

Mother: "Oh, you are. What do you take from there?"

Leonid: "We take food, bed linen, pillows. Blankets, forks, spoons, pans."

Mother: (laughing) "You gotta be kidding me."

Leonid: "Whoever doesn't have any  socks, clean underwear, T-shirts, sweaters."

***

THREE: The enemy is everybody.

Leonid tells his mother about the terror of going on patrol and not knowing what or who they will encounter. He describes using lethal force at the slightest provocation against just about anyone.

At first, she seems not to believe that Russian soldiers could be killing civilians.

Leonid tells her that civilians were told to flee or shelter in basements, so anyone who was outside must not be a real civilian. Russian soldiers had been told, by Putin and others, that they'd be greeted as liberators and anyone who resisted was a fascist, an insurgent  not a real civilian.

This was a whole-of-society war. Mercy was for suckers.

Mother: "Oh Lyonka, you've seen so much stuff there!"

Leonid: "Well ... civilians are lying around right on the street with their brains coming out."

Mother: "Oh God, you mean the locals?"

Leonid: "Yep. Well, like, yeah."

Mother: "Are they the ones you guys shot or the ones ... "

Leonid: "The ones killed by our army."

Mother: "Lyonya, they might just be peaceful people."

Leonid: "Mom, there was a battle. And a guy would just pop up, you know? Maybe he would pull out a grenade launcher ... Or we had a case, a young guy was stopped, they took his cellphone. He had all this information about us in his Telegram messages  where to bomb, how many we were, how many tanks we have. And that's it."

Mother: "So they knew everything?"

Leonid: "He was shot right there on the spot."

Mother: "Mhm."

Leonid: "He was 17 years old. And that's it, right there."

Mother: "Mhm."

Leonid: "There was a prisoner. It was an 18-year-old guy. First, he was shot in his leg. Then his ears were cut off. After that, he admitted everything, and they killed him."

Mother: "Did he admit it?"

Leonid: "We don't imprison them. I mean, we kill them all."

Mother: "Mhm."

***

FOUR: What it takes to get home alive.

Leonid tells his mother he was nearly killed five times. Things are so disorganized, he says, that it's not uncommon for Russians to fire on their own troops  it even happened to him. Some soldiers shoot themselves just to get medical leave, he says.

In another call, he tells his girlfriend he's envious of his buddies who got shot in the feet and could go home. "A bullet in your foot is like four months at home with crutches," he says. "It would be awesome."

Then he hangs up because of incoming fire.

Mother: "Hello, Lyonechka."

Leonid: "I just wanted to call you again. I am able to speak."

Mother: "Oh, that's good."

Leonid: "There are people out here who shoot themselves."

Mother: "Mhm."

Leonid: "They do it for the insurance money. You know where they shoot themselves?"

Mother: "That's silly, Lyonya."

Leonid: "The bottom part of the left thigh."

Mother: "It's bull, Lyonya. They're crazy, you know that, right?"

Leonid: "Some people are so scared that they are ready to harm themselves just to leave."

Mother: "Yeah, it is fear, what can you say here, it's human fear. Everybody wants to live. I don't argue with that, but please don't do that. We all pray for you. You should cross yourself any chance you get, just turn away from everyone and do it. We all pray for you. We're all worried."

Leonid: "I'm standing here, and you know what the situation is? I am now 30 meters (100 feet) away from a huge cemetery." (giggling)

Mother: "Oh, that's horrible ... may it be over soon."

Leonid says he had to learn to empty his mind.

"Imagine, it's nighttime. You're sitting in the dark and it's quiet out there. Alone with your thoughts. And day after day, you sit there alone with those thoughts," he tells his girlfriend. "I already learned to think of nothing while sitting outside."

He promises to bring home a collection of bullets for the kids. "Trophies from Ukraine," he calls them.

His mother says she's waiting for him.

"Of course I'll come, why wouldn't I?" Leonid says.

"Of course, you'll come," his mother says. "No doubts. You're my beloved. Of course, you'll come. You are my happiness."

Leonid returned to Russia in May, badly wounded, but alive. He told his mother Russia would win this war.

***

IVAN

Ivan dreamed of being a paratrooper from the time he was a boy, growing up in a village at the edge of Siberia. He used to dress up in fatigues and play paintball with friends in the woods. A photo shows him at 12 years old, smiling with a big Airsoft rifle and a slimy splotch of green near his heart  a sign of certain death in paintball.

Ivan's dream came true. He entered an elite unit of Russian paratroopers, which crossed into Ukraine the very first day of Putin's Feb. 24 invasion, one year ago.

***

ONE: Ivan's road to war.

Ivan was in Belarus on training when they got a Telegram message: "Tomorrow you are leaving for Ukraine. There is a genocide of the Russian population. And we have to stop it."

When his mother found out he was in Ukraine, she said she stopped speaking for days and took sedatives. Her hair went gray. Still, she was proud of him.

Ivan ended up in Bucha.

Ivan: "Mom, hi."

Mother: "Hi, son! How "

Ivan: "How are you?"

Mother: "Vanya, I understand they might be listening so I'm afraid "

Ivan: "Doesn't matter."

Mother: " to ask where you are, what's happening. Where are you?"

Ivan: "In Bucha."

Mother: "In Bucha?"

Ivan: "In Bucha."

Mother: "Son, be as careful as you can, OK? Don't go charging around! Always keep a cool head."

Ivan: "Oh, come on, I'm not charging around."

Mother: "Yeah, right! And yesterday you told me how you're gonna f kill everyone out there." (laughs)

Ivan: "We will kill if we have to."

Mother: "Huh?"

Ivan: "If we have to  we have to."

Mother: "I understand you. I'm so proud of you, my son! I don't even know how to put it. I love you so much. And I bless you for everything, everything! I wish you success in everything. And I'll wait for you no matter what."

***

TWO: Love and fear.

Russian soldiers had been told by Putin and others that they'd be welcomed by their brothers and sisters in Ukraine as liberators. Instead, Ivan finds that most Ukrainians want him dead or gone. His mood darkens.

He calls his girlfriend, Olya, and tells her he had a dream about her.

Ivan: "F-, you know, it's driving me crazy here. It's just that ... You were just  I felt you, touched you with my hand. I don't understand how it's possible, why, where  But I really felt you. I don't know, I felt something warm, something dear. It's like something was on fire in my hands, so warm  And that's it. I don't know. I was sleeping and then I woke up with all these thoughts. War  You know, when you're sleeping  and then you're like  War  Where, where is it? It was just dark in the house, so dark. And I went outside, walked around the streets, and thought: damn, f- it. And that's it. I really want to come see you."

Olya: "I am waiting for you."

Ivan: "Waiting? OK. I'm waiting, too. Waiting for the time I can come see you ... Let's make a deal. When we see each other, let's spend the entire day together. Laying around, sitting together, eating, looking at each other  just us, together."

Olya: (Laughs) "Agreed."

Ivan: "Together all the time. Hugging, cuddling, kissing  Together all the time, not letting each other go."

Olya: "Well, yeah!"

Ivan: "You can go f crazy here. It's so f- up, the s- that's happening. I really thought it would be easy here, to tell you the truth. That it's just gonna be easy to talk, think about it. But it turned out to be hard, you need to think with your head all the time. So that's that."

Ivan: "We are really at the front line. As far out as you could be. Kyiv is 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) from us. It is scary, Olya. It really is scary."

Olya: "Hello?"

Ivan: "Do you hear me?"

The line drops.

***

THREE: The end.

As things get worse for Ivan in Ukraine, his mother's patriotism deepens and her rage grows. The family has relatives in Kyiv, but seems to believe this is a righteous war against Nazi oppression in Ukraine  and the dark hand of the United States they see behind Kyiv's tough resistance. She says she'll go to Ukraine herself to fight.

Mother: "Do you have any predictions about the end ...?"

Ivan: "We are here for the time being. We'll probably stay until they clean up the whole of Ukraine. Maybe they'll pull us out. Maybe not. We're going for Kyiv."

Mother: "What are they going to do?"

Ivan: "We're not going anywhere until they clean up all of these pests."

Mother: "Are those bastards getting cleaned up?"

Ivan: "Yes, they are. But they've been waiting for us and preparing, you understand? Preparing properly. American motherf have been helping them out."

Mother: "F f. F kill them all. You have my blessing."

Death came for Ivan a decade after that boyhood paintball game.

In July, a local paper published a notice of his funeral with a photo of him, again in fatigues holding a large rifle. Ivan died heroically in Russia's "special military operation," the announcement said. We will never forget you. All of Russia shares this grief.

Reached by the AP in January, Ivan's mother at first denied she'd ever talked with her son from the front. But she agreed to listen to some of the intercepted audio and confirmed it was her speaking with Ivan.

"He wasn't involved in murders, let alone in looting," she told the AP before hanging up the phone.

Ivan was her only son.

***

MAXIM

Maxim is drunk in some of the calls, slurring his words, because life at the front line is more than he can take sober.

It's not clear what military unit Maxim is in, but he makes calls from the same phone as Ivan, on the same days.

He says they're alone out there and exposed. Communications are so bad they're taking more fire from their own troops than from the Ukrainians.

He has a bad toothache and his feet are freezing. The hunt for locals  men, women and children who might be informing on them to the Ukrainian military is constant.

Maxim's mood flips between boredom and horror  not just at what he has seen, but also what he has done.

***

ONE: Gold!

The only reason Maxim is able to speak with his family back in Russia is because they've been stealing phones from locals. He says they're even shaking down kids.

"We take everything from them," he explains to his wife. "Because they can also be f spotters."

Stuck just outside Kyiv, bored and unsure why they're in Ukraine in the first place, Maxim and a half-dozen other guys shot up a shopping mall and made off with all the gold they could carry.

Back home Maxim has money troubles, but here his hands are heavy with treasure. He gleefully calculates and recalculates what his pile of gold might be worth.He says he offered a wad of money the size of his fist to Ukrainian women and children.

"I wanted to give it to normal families with kids, but the people out there were drunks," he tells his wife.

In the end, he handed the cash off to a random, cleanshaven man he thought looked decent. "I told him: 'Look here, take it, give it to families with kids and take something for yourself. You'll figure it out, make it fair.'"

On calls home, the high sweet voice of Maxim's own young child bubbles in the background as he talks with his wife.

Maxim: "Do you know how much a gram of gold costs here?"

Wife: "No."

Maxim: "Roughly? About two or three thousand rubles, right?"

Wife: "Well, yeah "

Maxim: "Well, I have 1 kilograms (more than three pounds). With labels even."

Wife: "Holy f-, are we looters?!"

Maxim: "With labels, yeah. It's just that we f- up this  We were shooting at this shopping mall from a tank. Then we go in, and there's a f jewelry store. Everything was taken. But there was a safe there. We cracked it open, and inside  f- me! So the seven of us loaded up."

Wife: "I see."

Maxim: "They had these f necklaces, you know. In our money, they're like 30-40,000 a piece, 60,000 a piece."

Wife: "Holy crap."

Maxim: "I scored about a kilo and a half of necklaces, charms, bracelets ... these  earrings ... earrings with rings "

Wife: "That's enough, don't tell me."

Maxim: "Anyway, I counted and if it's 3,000 rubles a gram, then I have about 3.5 million. If you offload it."

Wife: "Got it. How's the situation there?"

Maxim: "It's f OK."

Wife: "OK? Got it."

Maxim: "We don't have a f thing to do, so we go around and loot the f shopping mall."

Wife: "Just be careful, in the name of Christ."

***

TWO: Propaganda.

Maxim and his mother discuss the opposing stories about the war being told on Ukrainian and Russian television. They blame the United States and recite conspiracy theories pushed by Russian state media.

But Maxim and his mother believe it's the Ukrainians who are deluded by fake news and propaganda, not them. The best way to end the war, his mother says, is to kill the presidents of Ukraine and the United States.

Later, Maxim tells his mother that thousands of Russian troops died in the first weeks of war  so many that there's no time to do anything except haul away the bodies. That's not what they're saying on Russian TV, his mother says.

Maxim: "Here, it's all American. All the weapons."

Mother: "It's the Americans driving this, of course! Look at their laboratories. They are developing biological weapons. Coronavirus literally started there."

Maxim: "Yeah, I also saw somewhere that they used bats."

Mother: "All of it. Bats, migrating birds, and even coronavirus might be their biological weapon."

Mother: "They even found all these papers with signatures from the U.S. all over Ukraine. Biden's son is the mastermind behind all of this."

Mother: "When will it end? When they stop supplying weapons."

Maxim: "Mhm."

Mother: "Until they catch (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and execute him, nothing will end. He's a fool, a fool! He's a puppet for the U.S. and they really don't need him, the fool. You watch TV and you feel bad for the people, the civilians, some travelling with young kids."

Mother: "If I was given a gun, I'd go and shoot Biden." (Laughs)

Maxim: (Laughs)

***

THREE: War and peace.

The Ukrainian government has been intercepting Russian calls when their phones ping Ukrainian cell towers, providing important real-time intelligence for the military. Now, the calls are also potential evidence for war crimes.

But phones have been dangerous for the soldiers in another, more personal sense. The phone acts as a real-time bridge between two incompatible realities  the war in Ukraine and home.

In Maxim's calls with his wife, war and peace collide. Even as she teaches their daughter the rules of society  scolding the child for throwing things, for example  Maxim talks about what he's been stealing. His wife's world is filled with school crafts and the sounds of children playing outside. In his, volleys of gunfire crack the air.

One night last March, Maxim was having trouble keeping it together on a call with his wife. He'd been drinking, as he did every night.

He told her he'd killed civilians  so many he thinks he's going crazy. He said he might not make it home alive. He was just sitting there, drunk in the dark, waiting for the Ukrainian artillery strikes to start.

Wife: "Why? Why are you drinking?"

Maxim: "Everyone is like that here. It's impossible without it here."

Wife: "How the f- will you protect yourself if you are tipsy?"

Maxim: "Totally normal. On the contrary, it's easier to shoot ... civilians. Let's not talk about this. I'll come back and tell you how it is here and why we drink!"

Wife: "Please, just be careful!"

Maxim: "Everything will be fine. Honestly, I'm scared s-less myself. I never saw such hell as here. I am f shocked."

Wife: "Why the f- did you go there?"

Minutes later, he's on the phone with his child.

"You're coming back?" the child asks.

"Of course," Maxim says.

***

FOUR: The end?

In their last intercepted call, Maxim's wife seems to have a premonition.

Wife: "Is everything all right?"

Maxim: "Yeah. Why?"

Wife: "Be honest with me, is everything all right?"

Maxim: "Huh? Why do you ask?"

Wife: "It's nothing, I just can't sleep at night."

Maxim is a little breathless. He and his unit are getting ready to go. His wife asks him where they're going.

"Forward," he tells her. "I won't be able to call for a while."

***

Photos: In Ukraine, searing images capture a year of war
By David Vergun



One year ago, Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of its peaceful and democratic neighbor, Ukrainea cruel war of choice that has killed thousands of innocent Ukrainians, forced millions more from their homes, left countless wounded or traumatized, and inflicted tragedy and terror on a sovereign U.N....
Pragmatic Play Contributes 100,000 to Assist Turkey-Syria Earthquake Relief Efforts

Published February 25, 2023 by Admin

Pragmatic Play, a leading provider of online casino games, has donated 100,000 to support relief efforts in response to the devastating earthquakes that have damaged Turkey and Syria. The donation will go towards aiding those affected by the disaster and helping to rebuild the affected areas.

On 24th February 2023, Pragmatic Play demonstrated its dedication to supporting needy communities by donating 100,000 to the British Red Cross (Gibraltar). The funds were provided to support the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), of which the British Red Cross is a member.

The earthquakes that struck on 6th February were 7.8 and 7.5, respectively. These devastating natural disasters caused the collapse of numerous buildings and destroyed vital infrastructure, leaving thousands of people trapped in the rubble. The affected area, which spans Turkey and neighboring Syria, suffered extensive damage, with hospitals and roads among the infrastructure lost.

The Turkish Red Crescent promptly launched a crisis response to aid those impacted by the earthquakes. This included mobilizing staff and volunteers to provide rescue efforts and distributing blankets and tents. In addition, emergency catering trucks and mobile kitchens were deployed to provide much-needed sustenance. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent is also responding to the disaster in Syria, providing essential services such as health, water, and nutrition to affected communities.

More than 45,000 people are believed to have lost their lives, while 100,000 others have been injured. Pragmatic Play's assistance will help sustain the ongoing aid efforts by providing essential medical treatment, shelter, food, warm blankets, and winter kits. The funds will go a long way in helping those affected by these tragic events to rebuild their lives and communities.

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What has happened in Turkey and Syria is truly devastating. Pragmatic Play stands in solidarity with all those affected, and we are proud to support the British Red Cross (Gibraltar Branch) and their contribution to humanitarian efforts in the region.

We urge everyone to donate what they can to ensure that urgent aid continues to be delivered at this time of exceptional need.

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We are thankful to have received such a generous donation from Pragmatic Play which will go towards the continuous efforts of the Red Cross Movement in providing emergency medical attention and other much-needed services to earthquake-hit areas in Turkiye and Syria.

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Read more about Pragmatic Play
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan newspaper - Alsabaah - considers that many French diplomats and high ranking politicians, as well as media officials in France and heads of major French companies are distressed by the state of weakness and impotence that has affected French decision-making circles
Photo: (Photo : Handout/ Getty Images)

A Florida man killed a 9-year-old girl and a TV journalist just hours after shooting a woman he knew.

Keith Melvin Moses is still a teenager, currently 19, facing charges of shooting multiple people in the same area.

On Wednesday afternoon, a TV journalist and a young girl were fatally shot near the area where a fatal shooting occurred earlier in the day in central Florida.

According to TODAY, the Orange County Sheriff, John Mina, stated in a press conference that they had arrested a suspect named Moses, whom they believed was responsible for both shootings in the Orlando region.

The incident occurred at 4 P.M. on Hialeah Street in Pine Hills, and two additional individuals were injured, including another News 13 journalist.

Florida man kills multiple people after returning to crime scene

According to Orange County Sheriff John Mina, the suspected gunman, 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, allegedly shot and killed a 20-year-old woman sitting in a car on the street around 11 A.M.

On Wednesday morning, deputies were called to the Pine Hills neighborhood, just northwest of Orlando, in response to reports of a woman in her 20s being shot.

The unthinkable horror began at this moment. However, later that day, a Spectrum News 13 crew was in Pine Hills, covering the slaying of the woman in her 20s, when Moses returned to the scene five hours later.

He fired at the reporter and photographer, a TV crewmember, in or near a vehicle, one of whom died. It was also later confirmed that he had fired at a second journalist.

According to AP News, WFTV crews, who were also reporting on the morning shooting, tried to give medical aid to the Spectrum 13 journalists.

Witnesses reported that a man approached the news vehicle later Wednesday and opened fire, hitting the two reporters.

The man then walked to a nearby home and shot a mother and daughter. The 9-year-old girl later died. The other people that were shot, including the crew member, the second journalist, and the mother of the 9-year-old girl, were in critical condition at a local hospital.

The authorities clarified that Moses had no connection to the reporters or the mother and daughter.

Sheriff Mina acknowledged the terrible day for the community and media partners while speaking to reporters. He said no one in their community should suffer from gun violence.

The Florida man, who was an acquaintance of the woman killed earlier that day, is being charged in her murder and will be charged in the four other shootings later, Mina said.

Read Also: Chicago Highway Shooting Kills 1-Year-Old Girl, Two Teenagers

Florida man's criminal history

According to the New York Post, the Orange County Sheriff said the suspect in the shooting, Keith Melvin Moses, had a lengthy criminal history, including gun charges, assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft charges, aggravated battery, and burglary.

It was still unclear whether or not Moses knew that the people he shot were from the news media.

The sheriff noted that the news crew's van was not identifiable as a news van, but the photographer's equipment was visible.

Police apprehended Moses with a handgun, which officers believed was the murder weapon.

He is already facing a murder charge for the initial victim, and charges are expected soon for the other four victims.

The sheriff mentioned that the suspect is not saying much, but the investigation into the incidents is ongoing.

Related Article: $500 Million Education Plan: Oklahoma House Republicans Proposal to Support Teachers, Students
Photo: (Photo : Getty Images/Mario Tama)

Asylum-seeking families currently staying at the northern Mexican border towns have sent their kids unaccompanied to cross the international bridges into South Texas. Most do not know that it may take months or even years for them to see each other again.

Following the new rule enforced on all asylum seekers to have scheduled interviews with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers via the CBP One app, many kids have been seen crossing the McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge and the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville alone, the non-profit Lawyers for Good Government informed Border Report.

A supervising attorney from Lawyers for Good Government, Priscilla Orta, shared that kids of migrant parents are not allowed to cross and attend the scheduled asylum interviews with their parents. As a result, parents need to make "difficult decisions" on whether to send their kids alone in the United States or leave them behind as they cross without them. Some families opted for the former out of desperation.

"Last Monday, they started coming to the bridge, expecting, as usual, to be let in. They were not and there in the moment, families were forced to decide. Some people are having the kids cross before or after them as unaccompanied minors, and some folks are leaving them behind with aunts or uncles mistakenly believing that aunts or uncles could cross the children," Orta stated.

Most asylum-seeking families do not understand the risks

However, some of these families do not understand that children cannot cross with their aunts or uncles, as these kids will still be considered unaccompanied minors when they arrive.

Unfortunately, a lot do not understand the "intricacies of U.S. immigration law," especially since they have no access to an attorney, Concho Valley reported. Their goal is to be let in so they can process their cases, yet it is not as simple as they thought it would be.

Unaccompanied children arriving in the United States are placed in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Orta further explained that most parents thought they would have their children back within 24 hours once they crossed the border, yet that is not how the process works. Due to background checks, families must wait for at least weeks, months, or sometimes years before reuniting. It will all depend upon the family's circumstances. There is also the possibility of the parents taking years to cross the border legally.

Read More: Obama Administration To Build A New Family Immigrant Detention Center In Texas Despite Lawsuits Slapped On Other Facilities

Number of unaccompanied minors in borders is at an all-time high

According to the U.S. Department of Human Services, which manages the Office of Refugee Resettlement, there were 306 unaccompanied minors placed under the custody of CBP as of Wednesday, and the figures do not include Mexican nationals yet. CBP has a reported 405 children under its care.

County Supervisor Johnathan Lines called the current incident "tragic," with 36,000 children crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. alone in Yuma County, Arizona, last November. And these are kids as young as five years old.

Last year, nearly 150,000 unaccompanied minors were near or at the U.S.-Mexico border, as shared by the non-profit think tank Council on Foreign Relations.

The figures are said to be at an all-time high despite temporarily slowing down in October, Border Report.

Related Article: Families Separated by Trump Reunite, Thanks to the Biden Administration
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on Thursday hailed the importance of the reopening of China for tourism, given the country's huge importance to the global tourism market.

"The reopening of China represents the 'missing piece' in the recovery of world tourism after the worst crisis in its history," the UNWTO said in a press release.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, China was the world's largest outbound tourism market. Chinese tourists made 166 million international trips, and spent US$270 billion, much of it in destinations in developing economies, according to UNWTO data.

Almost US$3 trillion in tourist revenues was lost globally between 2020 and 2022 due to the pandemic. Therefore, the organization said the lifting of Chinese travel restrictions will benefit the entire world.

Chinese citizens made 6 billion domestic trips in 2019, the UNWTO said, adding this shows that tourism is a key driver of employment and economic growth, including for rural communities in China.

The trickle-down effect of China's reopening will also benefit other economic sectors, helping to create greater dynamism at local, national and global levels, the UNWTO said.

A delegation from the UNWTO, led by Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, traveled from the Spanish capital Madrid to Hangzhou, the capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, to attend an event celebrating the reopening of China for tourism. China's Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping met with the delegation in Hangzhou on Friday.
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Elias: Prophet of the Restoration, written by Jan Francisco

Abstract: The Prophet Elias is a puzzle, with a handful of pieces scattered through the standard works and the teachings of Joseph Smith. Rather than proving a point conclusively, this paper will put the pieces together to show a new picture of this important figure. The interpretation in this article weaves together the scriptures regarding Elias into a cohesive narrative, with the prophet Noah at the center. The pieces of the puzzle investigated here are Eliass role as the angel Gabriel in the New Testament, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Kirtland Temple, in the Book of Revelation, and in D&C 27. These few visitations occur during significant transfers of priesthood power. Elias  the keyholder  is identified as holding the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days (D&C 27:6). This vast calling of restoring all things in the last days requires the original Elias (Noah) at the heavenly helm and various agents of Elias (John the Baptist and John the Beloved, among others) working on the earth during different phases of the restoration.

Interpreting Interpreter: A Puzzling Elias, written by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article Elias: Prophet of the Restoration by Jan Francisco in Volume 55 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/. The Takeaway: Francisco associates the figure of Elias with the prophet Noah, who held keys related to gathering, restoration, and covenantal renewal, bestowing those keys on others with a similar calling, including John the Baptist, John the Beloved, and ultimately the prophet Joseph Smith.

There was a heady time, in the 1970s and perhaps a little bit beyond, where I thought that the promised dawn was about to break. At BYU alone, there were such things as the Mormon Arts Ball and the Mormon Festival of the Arts. Artists like Trevor Southey and Wulf Barsch and Franz Johansen were producing Restoration-themed works that I loved. Leroy Robertson had just died, but composers like Crawford Gates and Merrill Bradshaw were doing very good things.

I realize now that we have a long road to travel before we arrive. But I still believe that the day will come

Heres a passage from a famous essay on Home Literature that was first delivered as a speech by Bishop Orson F. Whitney as a speech at the Y.M.M.I.A. Conference of 3 June 1888 and that was subsequently published in The Contributor for July 1888. Bishop Whitney was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, and served in that capacity until his death in 1931. His 1888 words still resonate with me and, I know from conversations, with others. They serve as a continual call to action:

Above all things, we must be original. The Holy Ghost is the genius of Mormon literature. Not Jupiter, nor Mars, Minerva, nor Mercury. No fabled gods and goddesses; no Mount Olympus; no sisters nine, no blue-eyed maid of heaven; no invoking of mythical muses that did never yet one mortal song inspire. No pouring of new wine into old bottles. No patterning after the dead forms of antiquity. Our literature must live and breathe for itself. Our mission is diverse from all others; our literature must also be. The odes of Anacreon, the satires of Horace and Juvenal, the epics of Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton; the sublime tragedies of Shakspeare [sic]; these are all excellent, all well enough in their way; but we must not attempt to copy them. They cannot be reproduced. We may read, we may gather sweets from all these flowers, but we must build our own hive and honeycomb after Gods supreme design. We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own. Gods ammunition is not exhausted. His brightest spirits are held in reserve for the latter times. In Gods name and by his help we will build up a literature whose top shall touch heaven, though its foundations may now be low in earth. Let the smile of derision wreathe the face of scorn; let the frown of hatred darken the brow of bigotry. Small things are the seeds of great things, and, like the acorn that brings forth the oak, or the snowflake that forms the avalanche, Gods kingdom will grow, and on wings of light and power soar to the summit of its destiny.

Before heading back up to Utah Valley today, we paid our mandatory visit  albeit only one this time around, and that a very brief one  to Snow Canyon State Park. The colors always change, from morning till evening, but this time, with the highlights provided by the recent snow storm, seemed especially nice. And, oh yes  remember that the two principal themes of this blog, according to some of its critics, are, first, dishonest personal smears of people who dont share my religious views and, second, food  we stopped by Thomas Judds general store again and also dropped by a patisserie called Farmstead, of which I had never previously heard. We only tried Farmsteads quiche Lorraine this morning; we brought the rest of our purchases home with us. But the quiche was excellent and the other things we bought look really good, as well. At Judds, I bought some Chocolate Covered Maple Smoked Bacon Soda for one of my sons. (Im not making this up. The more disgusting it sounds, the more hell like it. Breakfast in a Bottle! says the label.) Unfortunately, they were out of Cheerwine, which is what I wanted. I mean, I like chocolate. I like maple syrup and maple cookies. And I really, really like bacon. But Chocolate Covered Maple Smoked Bacon Soda? I think not.

Stopping for a while in Cedar City, we met a long-time friend of ours for lunch. I first met him at Brigham Young University before our missions; he was at our wedding in the Salt Lake Temple. After many years in New York City and Chicago, he now lives in Cedar City. Its always great to catch up.

We really wanted to see Kolob Canyons under heavy snow but, unsurprisingly, the road back into the canyons from I-15 was impenetrable and completely closed.
I finally read Greg Johnsons Still Time to Care: What We Can Learn from the Churchs Failed Attempt to Cure Homosexuality. Greg (thats his photo on this post) is the pastor at Memorial Presbyterian Church, which has hosted Revoice a few years now and will host again this year. Hes openly gay and celibate. Hes very sweet! And a real preacherIve heard him preach at Revoice, and his book follows that preachin cadence.

His book splits neatly into two parts. The first half is a history of the ex-gay movement in the English-speaking Protestant world (with brief dips into Catholicworld). This part was GREAT. I learned a lot! Johnsons own story is woven in quite gracefully. If you have any interest in the subject matter, Id definitely recommend it. Its not academic in style.

The second half is an attempt to address what Johnson sees as the questions facing people seeking a better way, after the collapse of Exodus International and the marginalization of the ex-gay model. This was more of a mixed bag for me, Id write it very differently (lol I have, in fact), but every addition to the growing gay celibate bookshelf adds a perspective we need. I finished the book with a bunch of questions, which Greg graciously agreed to answer.

The interview below focuses on my own questions, so it doesnt perfectly track whats in the book. (Thats why I started this post with a separate short review.) I have not edited the answers. I wouldnt approach some of these questions the same way. I expect that our differences here are rooted not solely in theological differences (though those maybe play a role) but also in our experience of what has helped and harmed us in our walk with Jesus. But Greg has been a pastor for a long time, and I know he has wisdom even where I would take a different approach.

Enough from me! Lets get interviewin.

1. I had no idea that there were so many lifelong celibate Protestant leaders in the mid-20th century! Do you have any thoughts about why that happened? What helped sustain people in that life? Was this relatively new, or is there a tradition of Protestant celibacy? And what happened, that now it seems very rare to hear about celibacy in Protestant circles?

Celibacy has a long history within Anglicanism. For centuries, celibacy was required to be a fellow (a don or prof) at Oxford and Cambridge. Mandatory celibacy was only repealed in 1877. But it continues as a not-uncommon practice. Celibacy has remained an accepted calling among traditionalist and evangelical Anglicans. So Lewis, Nash and Stott were all part of a long tradition.

In the US, J. Gresham Machen and John Murray were unusual in being Presbyterian evangelicals and celibate. Their teaching roles and homes on a northern campusWestminster in Philadelphiaprovided some context. But historically celibacy has been much less acceptable in the US, where it draws more suspicion than in the UK.

The fact that educated 20th century American evangelicals looked so heavily to evangelical Anglicans in the UK for academic scholarship and cultural credibility helped give models for Christian singleness. But many still erroneously see the term celibacy as Roman Catholic. Many are more comfortable speaking of the call to singleness, knowing that St. Paul describes such a calling in 1 Corinthians 7.

2. Any thoughts on the shift (if you think it IS a real shift!) in Christian discourse from celibacy to singleness? What is gained and what is lost there?

I dont know that there has been a shift among Protestants. If anything, they are only now beginning to use the language of celibacy. It may be that using the language of singleness helps people distinguish it from the mandatory priestly celibacy among Roman Catholic clergy. Personally, I prefer to speak of celibacy because, for many people, single often means pre-married. For me this is a lifelong calling. But I also spent a decade in a Jesuit theology department, so I was surrounded by celibate people.

3. A couple times in the early part of the book you link sexual or romantic same-sex relationships as things that are barred by our faith. Later on, you nuance this and set it in a more personal context of prudential judgment. And you make clear that you dont intend to police semantics of other people, which speaks to part of my own biggest concern, i.e. that condemning romance (not a Scriptural or theological term! actually just a cultural construct!) leads people into the same shame-driven fear of their emotions and tweezering of their language that the ex-gay movement encouraged. But I guess I would just ask what you see as being gained and what lost when we insist that Christian same-sex relations cant be romantic.

(For the record, I have reservations about romance language too, for some of the same reasons you bring up but lol as someone preparing for covenant friendship with a very hearts-and-flowers partner, Ive had to reexamine my assessment of this kind of talk: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/evetushnet/2022/02/controversial-topics-in-gay-christian-livin.html )

Romance is so hard to define, and so I try not to draw too many lines. Pastorally, I prefer thinking in categories of Christian siblinghood. A sister or brother can have great intimacy and committed companionship. But they arent gazing into each others eyes thinking they make each other complete. And you can have more than one sibling. Again, this is more of a personal and pastoral caution than a clear biblical mandate. I dont want anything I say here to be weaponized. Weve had enough of that.

When someone speaks to me about wanting a celibate partner, the pastoral questions I would encourage them to ask involve whether this person occasions sexual temptation. Or vice versa. They may or may not. Do they see this as an exclusive relationship, or could they see a third or fourth person someday sharing in this fellowship? Will they have separate bedrooms? Separate beds? For me, its less a concern about maintaining certain rules. Its more a question of them discerning whether or not this will help or hinder their relationship with God.

What will be the impact on their hearts? Will theyon one endfind themselves in a sexless quasi-marriage, constantly pining for more? That would be very difficult; I would want better for them. Or will theyon the other endfind themselves doing life together with a Christian sibling or two who help them trust and follow Jesus, without causing unnecessary distraction from that calling? In other words, are we talking about a Christian Laverne and Shirley? (Im dating myself here.) Or are we talking about something almost marital in heart expectation? These are practical heart-level questions only the individual can answer. I cant make their decisions for them. I can just help them ask the right questions, and then support them as their pastor.

For myself, I just dont trust my own heart. Honestly, Im not sure I would want a celibate partner to whom I wasnt (on some level) sexually attracted. Im that bad! And I would probably want them to be really into me, too. And Im not convinced that would be good for their heart or for mine. Thats enough for me to that decide its just not for me.

But I am not everyone. Its less about man-made external rules and more about the heart. God has given me tremendous intimacy and long-term companionship within a web of committed Christian friendships. Ive found it to be an incredible blessing. I wouldnt trade that for anything. Particularly if it would leave me confused and looking to a fellow man to make me feel the way that Jesus wants to make me feel. Im aware that everyone doesnt share my particular weaknesses. I cant throw shade on others who perhaps experience greater freedom than I do from the internal pull of sexual temptation.

4. You write beautifully about embracing the crosses of celibacy, and sustaining hope within celibacy. But let me take a different angle: What are you grateful for in being gay (cf In all circumstances give thanks), and what blessings have you received through that experience?

Lol as a Catholic Im always down for the blessing IS the suffering!, but I wonder if theres more to say here. And to show my hand a bit, I wonder if the unwillingness to ask about blessings that could come from being gay is part of the theological failure of (and the damage done by) the ex-gay movement.

You may be on to something here. I know within my own Reformed tradition, we really zero in on the ongoing presence of indwelling sin. There is wisdom here, but also there is the risk of failing to distinguish between healthy human longing and the sin that distorts such longing. Reformed folks are often hesitant to ask the question because they might be misunderstood as suggesting that sexual temptations are a good thing, which they arent.

People do still flatten our experience of our sexual orientation into mere sexual temptation. I try to suggest there is more to it than that. I have never objectified the body of my sister in Christ. I have never stored up her image for later recall. We dont want to call that indwelling sin. Its love that always protects.

There are God-given longings for companionshipto be known and to know, to give and to receive lovethat are part of the imago dei. For me, I have a few deep and lasting relationships that I am unlikely to have had were I pouring myself into a spouse and children. People send me Fathers Day cards because I have had the opportunity to invest in so many people during a season when they needed a Dad. I love that I get to tell people that Jesus is worrh it. My experience of my sexual orientationand the abuse Ive taken for being honest about ithave opened up doors for me to talk about Jesus on Public Radio and in USA Today. Im thankful for that. I cant imagine a different life. This is the one God has given me, and I am thankful for it. My only regrets are my sin.

5. Youre focusing very tightly on the Protestant side of things, which I needed and appreciated, but do you have any thoughts about the influence of Catholics on the ex-gay movement and vice versa? Similarities between the Protestant and Catholic trajectories here, differences, strengths Catholics brought to these questions, weaknesses or things the Catholics tended to lack?

The biggest impact has been tangential. In the 1980s, Catholics and evangelicals realized they had some common enemies in abortion and the push to legalize gay marriage. That alliance was essentially political in nature. Not theological. That same alliance saw ex-gays as very useful. Downstream a few decades, we see political posturing overpowering much conservative religious thought in America. Were up to our steeples in politics. Because the discourse in political and bit theological, nuanced voices like our own tend to get drowned out.

There is more. It was a Catholic therapist who gave us the language of same-sex attraction. But it took evangelical publishing empires and radio networks to convince everyone to use that terminology. The language has stuck among Roman Catholics, though. Last I checked, it was still the preferred lingo within Courage. How many people would have loved for you instead to have written a book titled Same-Sex Attracted and Catholic!

And we should remember that the Father of Reparative Therapy was Roman Catholic psychologist Joseph Nicolosi and his Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, California. He founded National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH).

Protestants brought to the table the ex-gay testimony. (We do love a good testimony.) That seems to have been less central in Catholicism. And there was less expectation of complete deliverance within Catholic ex-gay circles thansayin independent charismatic Protestant ex-gay circles, where complete deliverance was often an expectation.

6. Is there anything you feel youve discovered since writing the book?

I do keep coming across things I might have included were I writing today. It seems another once-kinda-famous ex-gay falls every few months. But theres only so much of that people can manage. There have been a few points of theological nuance here or there, but I cant recall exactly where.

7. And last!!! What is the one question you wish people would ask you about this book?

What did it look like to write this book?

It was during darkest days of the pandemic. I wasnt going into the office, and I only had an Android phone to work on at home. So I researched and wrote the entire book on my Android phone, sitting on my couch, using two thumbs. Including 650 endnotes. Thankfully, most academic libraries freed up public access during the pandemic, placing a huge volume of data within reach as never before. Zoom and phone interviews took place on the same Android. That phone has some serious mileage.

It was quite an ordeal!

buy Gregs book!
With big-screen musicals gaining in popularity, such as the recent award-winning West Side Story remake and the upcoming Wicked feature film adaptation as well as recent Christian entries A Week Away and Its Christmas Again, Sony/AFFIRM films has announced the filming of a new untitled holiday musical. The musical, centered on Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, will star Fiona Palomo (Outer Banks) and Milo Manheim (Disneys Zombies) as Mary and Joseph. Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots) as well as contemporary Christian artists MORIAH, Joel Smallbone of FOR KING + COUNTRY, and Lecrae.

Principal photography is underway on the coast of Spain for this epic musical movie sharing the Christmas story in a fresh, inspiring, and entertaining way. Award-winning music producer Adam Anders (Glee, High School Musical, Descendants, The Passion) in his feature directorial debut wrote the script along with Peter Barsocchini (High School Musical franchise) and wrote the music with Nikki Anders (Glee, High School Musical, Descendants) and Peer Astrom (Glee, High School Musical, Descendants).

This joyous and fresh take on Mary and Josephs journey, combined with the infectious music and insanely passionate vision of Adam Anders made this an undeniable fit for AFFIRM Films and Sony Pictures to come alongside and help turn this amazing story into a Christmas classic that will resound with young children, families, teens and adults said Rich Peluso, EVP and Head of AFFIRM Films.

Adam Anders has more than 100 million albums sold, earned 4 consecutive Grammy nominations, won 2 Golden Globes and 2 Peoples Choice Awards, and holds the record for the most single entries on the Billboard Hot 100, eclipsing both The Beatles and Elvis Presley. I first had the idea for the film years ago when I was looking for a musical to watch with my family at Christmastime, says Director Adam Anders, I want this movie to be a bright light this Christmas season  as bright as the star of Bethlehem.

Smallbone is playing King Herods son, Antipater while Lacrae will appear as Gabriel. Additional cast include MORIAH, Stephanie Gil, Rizwan Manji (Wedding Season, Schitts Creek) as Gaspar, Geno Seagers (Perfect Harmony) as Balthazar, and Omid Djalili (Gladiator, The Mummy) as Melchior.

Produced by Alan Powell (A Week Away, Valiant One), Steve Barnett (A Week Away, Priceless) and Executive Produced by Vicky Patel (A Week Away) for Monarch Media. Also produced by Ryan Busse (The Strangers Case), Stephen Meinen (Power Rangers), Brandt Andersen (The Strangers Case, Silence) and Adam Anders (The Prom, The Passion).

Weve been amazed at Adams ability to tell the widely known story of Mary, Joseph and a jealous king in a way that feels fresh and contemporary, like youve never heard it before. says Alan Powell of Monarch Media.

As a self-professed worlds biggest fan of the summer camp-set Christian musical A Week Away, Im personally excited about this news, especially with Powell, Barnett, and Patel involved. The merging of good Christian music with a compelling faith-based inspirational story is something that always resonates with me and I think it will with many others. Stay tuned to this site for upcoming information. I cant wait to see it!

Sony Pictures has slated the musical for a wide theatrical release this coming November 10. Watch for KING & COUNTRYs Little Drummer Boy below to get into the spirit.
Henry Kwabena Kokofu, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has urged Ghanaians to return to the days when food was purchased in leaves.



He said that the amount of rubber and plastic used in Ghana contributes to environmental pollution and land degradation, so he asked everyone to use less rubber and plastic.



Speaking to Speaker Nana Yaw Fianko, host of The Agenda on Atinka TV, the EPA boss hinted that, one way to reduce the use of plastic is to revert to buying foods in leaves, which he said are healthy, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly.



I must say that the leaves are healthy and easy to rot when disposed of (biodegradable), hence they are environmentally friendly. Putting hot Kenkey in a rubber bag, on the other hand, results in chemical transfusion and the destruction of the body, he explained.



Mr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu observed that the production of plastics serves a commercial purpose for many Ghanaians, hence it will be very difficult to ban; however, he believes that the laws should be enforced to regulate the use of plastic bags in the system, as done in countries like the UK and America.



Why ban plastic production? Its for commercial activities, other countries have not banned plastic production, but you should be ready to pay when you use it. The laws should be strengthened so that both buyers and sellers of plastics will bear the cost, Dr. added.













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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Ahead of Saturdays presidential election, the General Overseer of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo has called on Nigerians to rethink whoever they are supporting before casting their ballots.



Oyedepo who spoke during the daily Covenant Hour of Prayer on Friday said it was time for Nigerians to think forward and for solutions to the countrys numerous challenges.



The clergy who said he warned Nigerians against the current administration in 2015, said the country is about to experience a new thing via tomorrows poll.



He said, Again tomorrow we are making a choice for the future of this nation.



As one of the fathers in the land, not by mouth, with millions of followers directly and by extension, I have a stake. Anybody who says nonsense must be a fool, I have a stake, I have a stake here.



Nigerians, its time to think forward, its time to think the way out! It is time to think solution! Its time to think about the coming generation! Its time to think of a vibrant and forward-moving nation! Its time to think so! I wont say the other side.



Stop and think! I believe the task of leading a nation like ours will not only require mental capacity but strong character and physical agility to match. Open your eyes wide. God is about to do a new thing in Nigeria.



We will not continue to go in cycles in the name of Jesus! Stop, everybody stop. Stop and think. Stop and see the end of the path you are taking.

Source: dailypost.ng









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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An Accra High Court has granted an application by the Office of the Attorney General to conduct the trial of former Chief Executive Officer of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, in her absence after she fled to the United States in 2021 and has since refused to return for the trial.



The Office of the Attorney General filed the motion before the court urging it to conduct the trial in the absence of the accused, who is facing trial for allegedly causing financial loss to the state after she failed to return to the country following the release of her passport to her to travel to United States for medical checkup.



The court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, on January 24, 2023 ordered the former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Alex Mould and actor, Gavivina Tamakloe to pay GH5 million to the state for their failure to produce the accused person whom they stood sureties for.



Antecedent



Ms. Attionu and Daniel Axim are facing 78 counts of charges including conspiracy to steal, stealing, unauthorised commitment resulting in a financial obligation for the government, improper payment, money laundering and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.



The prosecution had called seven witnesses, and counsel for Daniel Axim was left with one hour to complete his cross-examination for the prosecution to close its case.



Ms. Attionus lawyer however, sent a letter to the court asking it to release her passport for her to travel for medical checkup, and the court, presided over by Justice Asare-Botwe, granted the request and ordered her to return to court on October 5, 2021.



She, however, failed to do so, and the court issued a warrant for her arrest and subsequently adjourned the matter to November 16, 2021. She has still not returned to stand trial.



The prosecution therefore, filed two applications; one asking the court to forfeit the bail bond and make the sureties pay the amount, and the other was urging the court for an order to hold the trial in absentia.



Ruling



Justice Asare-Botwe, in her ruling, held that the court had already established that the accused has absconded, and it was on that basis that it ordered the sureties to pay the bail sum to the state.



She concluded that the accused has absconded and ought to be tried in absentia, grounding her decision on Article 19:3(a) of the 1992 Constitution which states that the trial of a person charged with a criminal offence shall take place in his presence unless he refuses to appear before the court for the trial to be conducted in his presence after he has been duly notified of the trial.



She said the court is boldened court that A1 (Ms. Attionu) is well aware that the case is pending against her as she had participated in the trial for a year and half before she sought permission, not to go for treatment but to go for a checkup.



Justice Asare-Botwe, therefore, ordered that under Article 19:3(a) Ms. Attionu would be tried in absentia since she has disabled herself of the opportunity to be tried in her presence, since she was duly notified and aware of the pendency of the trial.



She also ordered that a copy of the notice for the continuation of the trial in her absence should be served on Agbesi Dzakpasu, her lawyer of record, and also by posting of a copy of the notice at her last known place of abode in Accra.



The court further ordered a posting of the order on the notice board of the Accra High Court as well as a single publication in a newspaper of national circulation and the posting shall be for 21 days. The court subsequently adjourned the case to March 28, 2023.



Meanwhile, Justice Asare-Botwe has ordered Daniel Axim to inform his counsel to be present in court at the next sitting to conclude his remaining two hours cross-examination else the accused person would conduct the cross-examination himself.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ghana risks an outbreak of childhood diseases if the government does not address the current shortage of vaccines, says the Paediatric Society of Ghana.



Fifty cases of measles - a disease which can be prevented by vaccines - have been recorded in the country's north, government data shows.



But according to the Paediatric Society of Ghana, the number is higher, with 90 cases of measles recorded by their staff in one major health facility alone.



The Ghana Health Service says a lack of funds is to blame for the vaccine shortage, saying the depreciation of the local currency - the cedi - has eroded funds budgeted to buy the medicines.



Ghanas parliament has summoned Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu and heads of other agencies over the vaccine shortage. There are concerns it could roll back the progress already made in preventing deaths of children under five in the country.

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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A year since the war in Ukraine began, Africas reaction appears not to have shifted much. In a UN resolution condemning Russias invasion, African countries were still as divided as when the war began.



Thirty countries  two more than in March 2022  voted in favour of the resolution.



Madagascar and South Sudan, who both abstained last year, voted with much of the rest of the world this time. Morocco had missed the 2022 vote but cast its ballot in favour of the resolution on Thursday.



Gabon, however, went the other way, abstaining this time after voting for the previous resolution. It joined 14 other African nations, together accounting for nearly half of all abstentions.



These countries hold that their position is non-aligned with either Russia or a Western-backed Ukraine. An increase in engagement and visits from senior officials from both Western countries and Russia over the past year have done little to sway them.



Barely a day before the UN vote, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a phone call to his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni. The country abstained from Thursday's vote as it did a year ago, and so did Namibia while it hosted US First Lady Jill Biden who is on her maiden tour of Africa in her current role.



"Its not flipping a light switch," said US Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken to the Atlantic. "Its moving an aircraft carrier," he added, expressing optimism that South Africa was "on a slow trajectory to non-align with Russia." He acknowledged that such countries have had a decades-long relationship with Russia and had the support of the Soviet Union in their fight against apartheid and colonialism.



During the struggle against white-minority rule in South Africa, the US government designated the Africa National Congress  todays ruling party  a terrorist group. Despite winning a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, jointly with the last apartheid leader Frederik de Klerk "for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa" and becoming the countrys first black president from 1994 to 1999, Nelson Mandela remained on the US terror watchlist until it was revised in 2008.



"Of course, unfortunately, more than unfortunately, the United States was much too sympathetic to the apartheid regime, so that history also doesn't get erased, you know, overnight," Mr Blinken was quoted as saying.



But its not only about the past. Nations like Eritrea and lately Mali  both largely isolated from the global community - have found an ally in Russia. They were among African countries that recently hosted its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and both voted against the UN resolution.



Seven other African countries  Senegal, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Guinea Bissau and Cameroon  did not vote at all. The first three had voted to abstain last year.



Its never reasonable to generalise the reaction and sentiment of a continent of more than 50 countries. Each would have its own reasons for whichever way they voted. Whilst the vote is not legally binding, it has brought to the fore and will no doubt continue to shape geopolitical alliances.

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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Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance has warned of dire consequences if Ghana fails to secure a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by March.



This comment has, however, been downplayed with some Economists insisting that the economy won't collapse as it's being suggested by the Finance Minister.



The Dean of the University of Cape Coast Business School, Prof John Gatsi is confident the economy wont crash.



Now we are saying that if they dont get the IMF deal in March the economy will collapse, collapse how? Because there is nothing in the government arrangement that shows that we are in a dire economic situation and that if we dont sign the IMF deal by March we will collapse. The expenditure arrangements do not reflect that, he noted.



However, NPP flagbearer hopeful and former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko says looking at the economic indices, it will be dangerous to trivialise, Ofori-Atta's claim.



"Whether we like it or not this is our current situation . . . we shouldn't joke with this . . . our net foreign asset is negative . . . the situation is frightening . . . if our Finance Minister is saying our current situation is critical, and that the economy will crash if we don't get the IMF loan by March we shouldn't see it as a threat . . . .whatever we have to do as Ghanaians to take hold of the situation to avoid a crash, we need to do it . . . " he said on Peace FM's 'The Platform' programme.







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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Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra listens during an announcement at Port Metro Vancouver's Centerm container terminal, in Vancouver, on Friday, October 14, 2022. he Port of Vancouver announced that they have delayed the start of its Rolling Truck Age Program for another nine months due to the current economic landscape and the continued pandemic related issues their press release states. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Quebec Premier Francois Legault responds to reporters questions on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at the legislature in Quebec City. Legault is calling on public-sector unions in the province to be more "flexible" in negotiating worker contracts as the end of March deadline quickly approaches. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Thurman called police at around 2:30 on Saturday and said a man locked her in a car, according to a statement from the Billings Police Department. The call came from the 4900 block of Southgate Drive, near the Interstate 90 interchange at South Billings Boulevard. BPD dispatch traced the call, BPD Lt. Matt Lennick said in a statement released Saturday afternoon, and officers arrived in the area within two minutes of receiving the call. They only found Thurman's cell phone in a ditch.
Niagara Region is suing Jason Tamming, who acted corruptly in a scandal there; why was he just rehired in Brampton under Patrick Brown & the new CAO?
Celebrities Head to PokerGO Studio for One Step Closer Foundation Event on March 4

February 25, 2023 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

On Saturday, March 4, One Step Closer Foundation is joining forces with PokerGO and ARIA for the All In for CP Charity Event, which will be held inside PokerGO Studio (just one day after the Global Poker Awards will take place in the same space).

The event costs $1,000 to enter  50% will go to the charity and the other 50% to the prize pool  is extremely limited due in no small part to who will be in attendance. There will also be $500 rebuys and a $500 add-on for those interested.

Hollywood actors Ted Danson, Cheryl Hines, and Kevin Pollak are all slated to participate, as are MMA fighter Roy Big Country Nelson and 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Joe Cada. Jessa Hinton will also be featured as the red-carpet interviewer. Those interested in participating can register at 1scf.org.

Click here to register for the One Step Closer Charity Event!

Founded in 2007 by Jacob Zalewski and the late Sam Simon, the One Step Closer Foundation has raised approximately $1.5 million via poker charity events. The latest tournament marks its post-pandemic return as the last iteration was back in 2019.

It was very hard to get it going again things got a lot stricter since COVID, Zalewski, who battles cerebral palsy himself, told PokerNews. We had to get reapproved in Nevada and get the green light from NGC. That was a fun experience!

Jacob Zalewski w/ Jennifer Tilly & Phil Laak

He added: While a lot of organizations ultimate goal is to find a cure for the affliction, we strive to help ease the lives of those with Cerebral Palsy and various disabilities now. Of course, we hope that one day well be instrumental in finding a cure, but theres so much to do in the meantime. One step closer!

Tournament Information

WHEN: Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 5:00 pm

Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 5:00 pm WHERE: PokerGO Studio at Aria Resort & Casino- 3730 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89158

PokerGO Studio at Aria Resort & Casino- 3730 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89158 MEDIA: Red Carpet: 3:00 pm; Check-in: 3:30 pm, Tournament: 4 pm

Red Carpet: 3:00 pm; Check-in: 3:30 pm, Tournament: 4 pm NOTE: There will be $500 rebuys and a $500 add-on for those interested

Jacob is quite an inspiration, Hines told PokerNews during a previous event. The Curb Your Enthusiasm actress continued: I have a nephew who has Cerebral Palsy, hes been in a wheelchair since he was born, and I know what a challenge that is, not only for the individual but for all the loved ones that support them. For Jacob to create an organization to help other people with CP is just amazing.

For more information, follow @1scf on Twitter.

Curb Your Enthusiasms Cheryl Hines Takes to the Felt for Charity

Images courtesy of 1SCF.

Sharelines Ted Danson, Cheryl Hines, and Kevin Pollak are all slated to participate in the March 4 @1scf event.
Fifteen percent of the available big game combination licenses would be set aside for nonresidents owning a minimum of 2,500 acres under a bill designed to spread out hunting pressure and reward landowners.

House Bill 635, sponsored by Rep. Joshua Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, had its first hearing on Thursday before the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee in Helena. The measure would also allow landowners to purchase an additional bonus point to increase their odds of drawing a hunting tag if they participated in a state program to increase public access in the previous year, such as the Block Management Program.

If drawn, the licenses could be transferred to immediate family members but not employees. The bill would also increase the number of combination licenses available to the landowner for additional adjacent parcels of 2,500 acres, maxing out at five. So a landowner with 7,500 contiguous acres could qualify for three of the tags. Any tags not awarded through the program would be returned to the general draw pool.

The idea behind the legislation is to reward them for providing wildlife habitat, encourage nonresident landowners to hunt their own property and in the process perhaps lessen hunting pressure on public lands.

This is an incentive based approach, said Mac Minard, executive director of the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association. Disincentives  seemed to be kind of prominent a while back.

MOGA worked across the aisle with the Montana Wildlife Federation and Montana Citizens Elk Management Coalition in a spirit of compromise to support the bill. It is one of several the groups that have joined in support of this session.

In the spirit of cooperation, and in the spirit of being able to compromise, the spirit of being able to bridge some gaps with organizations, and not bring the bloodletting to the capitol every time we get together on the legislative session, we are behind this bill, Minard said.

Hannah Downey, of the Property and Environment Research Center, said the bill is a good way to incentive and promote conservation of wildlife habitat on private lands.

Not all outfitters nor members of the coalition support the bill. Opponents included Kevin Farron, representing the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, who said the legislation would reduce the number of big game combination licenses available to do-it-yourself and guided hunters. BHA instead likes the existing Elk Hunting Access Agreements, also known as the 454 program, for landowners because it requires them to provide some public hunting access.

Outfitter Zach Winfield, whose family guides in the Pintler Range, also spoke in opposition to the measure, saying he is worried the percentage carved out could quickly climb to 20% or more.

To me, it looks like it stinks a little bit, he said.

Montana issues 17,000 big game and elk combination licenses each year. Pulling 15% from that total would set aside 2,550 tags for large landowners. The landowners would still pay full price for the tags, which cost $1,208.
After 13 levels of play, Day 3 of the 3,000 Mystery Bounty at PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris concluded with Humberto Lopes Galindo crowned champion. Galindo despatched Fouad Baali in heads-up play to capture the title, trophy, and the 243,656 designated for the winner. As well as being awarded the lion's share from the regular prize pool, Galindo claimed an additional 15,000 in mystery bounty prizes for a final score of 258,656.

The tournament was heavily attended, recording 787 entries. Those players generated a total prize purse of 2,115,456, split into two prize pools. The regular prize pool contained 1,328,456, while the rest was tucked away inside the mystery bounty envelopes.

The biggest mystery bounty prizes were 75,000 and 35,000, of which there were two each. Danut Chisu was the first player to pull the big one, which he did on Day 2. Aleksandar Tomovic and Conor Bergin each pulled the 35,000 prize. The final big bounty went to Joachim Haraldstad, who claimed the delightful payday late on Day 3.

Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize Bounty Prize Total 1 Humberto Lopes Galindo Portugal 243,656 15,000 258,656 2 Fouad Baali France 151,650 5,000 156,650 3 Gerard Rubiralta Spain 108,300 16,000 124,300 4 Or Suliman Israel 83,300 6,000 89,300 5 Joachim Haraldstad Norway 64,100 80,000 144,100 6 Jonathan Proudfoot United Kingdom 49,300 17,000 66,300 7 Natan Chauskin Belarus 37,950 1,500 39,450 8 Jan Bednar Czechia 29,450 11,000 40,450 9 Fabian Niederreiter Germany 22,450 4,500 26,950

Day 3 Recap

Lex Veldhuis

Twenty-two players returned for Day 3 and the action was fast and furious from the get-go, with nine players eliminated in the first three levels of the day. PokerStars Ambassador Lex Veldhuis was just one player to hit the rail in the early stages. Sunho Yoo and Pascal Heinrichs had Broadway, while Veldhuis had a pair of aces. Yoo and Heinrichs split his bounty chip and shared the 1,000 prize Vedhuis' bounty yielded.

His two eliminators would soon follow him out the door along with the start-of-day chip leader Martin Stausholm and Georgi Sandev. More players then headed to the wrong side of the rail to bring about the final table.

Ireland's Christopher Dowling looked like he would make his third final table of EPT Paris after achieving the feat in the 1,100 FPS Main Event and a Pot-Limit Omaha side event. However, his pocket sevens were bested by the king-queen of Natan Chauskin to leave him short. He was all-in the next hand but was flushed away by Gerard Rubiralta.

The final table then kicked off with a double bust-out. Galindo's pocket queens held out against the pair of nines held by Fabian Niederreiter and the ace-king of Jan Bednar, who finished in ninth and eighth place, respectively.

Rubiralta, the runaway chip leader for much of the day, then doubled up the likes of Jonathan Proudfoot and Galindo to reduce his advantage when the players returned from the second break of the day.

Shortly after, Chauskin was eliminated in 7th place after losing a massive flip to Haraldstad, which netted the latter the chip lead. Chauskin's pocket tens were ahead against the Norwegian's ace-king until a king appeared on the river.

Thirty minutes later, Galindo and Proudfoot were all in from the blinds, with the latter at risk of elimination. Proudfoot's dominated ace could not improve against Galindo's ace-jack. He collected 49,300 for his sixth-place finish, and a further 17,000 in bounties for his biggest-ever live tournament cash.

Or Suliman then became the big stack after he felted Haraldstad. The former had pocket kings and was up against ace-queen. The pocket pair remained best on the runout. However, Suliman's time at the top of the chip counts was soon over as Rubiralta flopped two pair against his ace-king.

With Martin Kabrhel sitting on the sidelines holding eight bounty chips, Haraldstad returned to the room to redeem the six bounty tokens he was holding. The first four envelopes were all of the 1,000 variety, but the fifth envelope was the big prize of 75,000. Haraldstad and his friend burst into excitement while Kabrhel wondered if he made the right choice by waiting to draw.

The chip lead would then hop back and forth between Galindo and Rubiralta before the elimination of Suliman. Rubiralta once reached the peak of the chip counts after his king-queen out-flopped the Israeli's ace-seven. However, the Spaniard then found himself next out of the door after losing a 17.1 million chip pot to Galindo. Baali then finished him off.

The Frenchman was inactive for large parts of the day and managed to ladder up without doing too much. He found premium hands at the right time. On the second hand of heads-up play, he doubled into the lead with king-jack.

However, Galindo soon regained the chip lead after grinding Baali down and on the final hand of the night, Baali jammed with deuces and was called by king-ten. Galindo paired up on the flop and held to see out the victory.

Humberto Lopes Galindo

Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage, including the Main Event and more, through the weekend here at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile.
A day that started with 47 hopefuls eyeing the bulk of the remaining 7,708,800 prize pool has been thinned to the final 15 in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris 2023 Main Event, led by Razvan Belea of Romania.

While Beleas 7,285,000 chips hold the lead, the PokerStars online qualifier is far from a runaway chip leader, with Johan Schultz-Pedersen of Denmark (6,620,000) and Denzel Spekman of the Netherlands (5,440,000) within striking distance heading to Saturdays fifth day of play.

Besides those players at the top of the chip counts, there is plenty of star power remaining in the field as well. Harry Lodge (2,325,000), Fabrice Bigot (1,940,000), and Niklas Astedt (1,415,000) are all still in the final 15.

The remaining players have all locked up a guaranteed 59,300 in prize money, but the big prize of 1,170,000 and the prestigious EPT Main Event champion's trophy still await the winner on Sunday.

Top Ten Chip Counts After Day 4

Position Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Razvan Belea Romania 7,285,000 121 2 Johan Schultz-Pedersen Denmark 6,620,000 110 3 Denzel Spekman Netherlands 5,440,000 91 4 Peter Jorgne Sweden 4,815,000 80 5 Henri Kasper Estonia 4,790,000 80 6 Konstantin Held Germany 2,640,000 44 7 Brian Delaney United Kingdom 2,355,000 39 8 Harry Lodge United Kingdom 2,325,000 39 9 Sven Stok Netherlands 2,100,000 35 10 Mathieu Di Meglio France 2,000,000 33

Konstantin Held

The Days Action

Belea built his stack steadily Friday, but really started causing trouble for the rest of the field later in the day when he racked up a couple of eliminations. His oustings of Mark Roovers in 24th place (32,600) and Alex Kulev in 22nd place (37,450) boosted him over five million chips and he was suddenly hot on the heels of the chip leader entering the day, Konstantin Held.

Held remained one of the largest stacks throughout the day, but a bluff gone wrong near the end of the night versus Henri Kasper dropped him down to 6th place by nights end and solidified Beleas place atop the counts.

Earlier in the day, it didnt take long for the field to begin thinning, as nine players were sent packing before the first break including Stefan Schillhabel in 46th place (21,450) and Teun Mulder in 43rd place (21,450).

The final two women in the field were eliminated soon after as Hala Karam, who picked up her largest career tournament score, fell in 40th place for 21,450 and French star Gaelle Baumann busted in 33rd for 24,650.

From there, it was the former EPT Main Event champions turn to fall, as 2018 EPT Barcelona winner Piotr Nurzynski went out in 30th place for 28,350, 2019 EPT Monte Carlo champ Manig Loeser in 18th place, (43,100), and 2012 EPT Madrid champion Frederik Brink in 17th place (49,550), meaning a first-time champion is now guaranteed.

Remaining Payouts

Place Prize Place Prize 1 1,170,000 10-11 85,400 2 780,100 12-13 71,150 3 535,850 14-15 59,300 4 412,200 5 317,050 6 244,000 7 187,650 8 144,300 9 111,000

Day 5 Lies Ahead

That new champion will be one step closer to being crowned on Saturday as the remaining 15 will return to the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile at noon local time for the final levels leading up to Sundays official final table of six. Blinds will start at 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante.

PokerNews will be there to bring you all the exciting action so keep your browsers locked right here.
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Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said that Republicans will lose if they nominate Trump, and he would boycott the convention if Trump is the nominee.

Video of Ryan saying that Republicans will lose with Trump:

Paul Ryan: "If we nominate Trump again we are going to loseWe lost with him in 18', 20' and 22'. We know this. He will cost us another election." pic.twitter.com/V2tT7rvWyu  Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) February 24, 2023

Ryan said in an interview on local Wisconsin television, Im backing the person not named Donald Trump, so I dont really have a dog in the fight other than that. If we nominate Trump again, were going to lose again. Its just that clear. We lost with him in 18, 20, and 22. We know this. He will cost us another election, so I am just excited about somebody not named Trump.

Ryan said in the same interview that he wouldnt attend the Republican convention in Wisconsin if Trump is the nominee:

Paul Ryan said he wont attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee if Trump is the nominee. pic.twitter.com/vXEEq6kHcW  PatriotTakes  (@patriottakes) February 25, 2023

Ryan said that he is not interested in participating in a Trump convention, even if it was in Wisconsin.

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It has taken decades, but Paul Ryan may have finally found something resembling a spine. It is way too late, and this would have been nice to have back in 2016 when there could have been an effort to stop Trump from within the Republican Party.

The biggest argument against Trump that is being made by Republican elites is that Trump is a loser. There is no evidence that any other potential GOP primary field candidates could win a general election. The picture emerging of Ron DeSantis is not good, and none of the other potential members of the Republican field have much of a shot at beating Trump.

Ryan is right about one thing. Republicans keep losing with Trump, and they arent going to win the White House back with him still around.
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In a report on Gov. Ron DeSantiss recent ventures outside of Florida, he has been described as struggling to connect with voters and appear enthusiastic.

Via: The Washington Post:

People who have met with DeSantis in recent weeks say he remains stilted in one-on-one conversations and sometimes struggles to make small talk or appear enthusiastic while engaging in retail politics critical to winning states such as New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina. Trumps team has recently ramped up his retail stops including at restaurants when he visits states, saying it shows a sharp contrast from DeSantis.

DeSantis has really worked the culture wars, really worked Fox News, and he is the known quantity right now to people who are being polled, Republican consultant Susan Del Percio said. But she criticized his debate performance last fall and questioned if he has the temperament to handle pushback.

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its not clear why Republicans think that a candidate who struggles to connect with voters or sounds unenthusiastic will beat Trump in a presidential primary where the electorate will be made up of the most dedicated and passionate in the party. They think DeSantis has what it takes to defeat a man whose supporters are frantically devoted and have been described as cult-like.

The description of Ron DeSantis makes him sound like an ambitious robot, and that sort of candidate is a recipe for disaster in a match-up with Trump in the primary. A contest against President Biden, who has a natural gift for an emotional connection, could get ugly.

Ron DeSantis knows how to toss red meat to the base and do the Fox News thing, but he sounds like a stiff loser on the campaign trail, and it is hard to see how a less charismatic Marco Rubio will prevail and not be made to look like a loser by Trump.
Thousands of visitors accepted the chance at a kid-friendly history lesson on Powell Pond Road on Friday, with the annual Battle of Aiken re-enactment starting its three-day run, offering a generous dose of gunpowder, wool, leather and lace.

The event, dating back to 1995, traditionally starts with a day focused on education regarding the customs and culture of 1860s America. The Saturday and Sunday gatherings focus more on the events that took place in and around Aiken Feb. 11-12, 1865, when Union and Confederate forces clashed and the fates of Augusta, Columbia and Charleston hung in the balance.

Historian Pete Peters, one of the event's co-founders, estimated Friday's student crowd at 3,100.

"We completely filled up our parking lots, so we're at full capacity, plus, amazingly  we've had battles in the past that did not have as many people as we had for today's school day. We're real thankful," he said.

Visitors for Friday's displays and exhibitions  all offered for free  represented a variety of schools from Aiken County as well as Columbia, Rock Hill, Augusta, Greer, Newberry, McCormick, Lexington and Charlotte, North Carolina, among other cities and towns.

"It was awesome," in the words of the Rev. Clint Smith, senior pastor of Town Creek Baptist Church. He helped escort dozens of students, from first- through sixth- grade, all representing Town Creek Christian Academy.

Students, he said, were exposed not only to military weaponry but also to the tools and traditions involved in such challenges as making quilts, raising chickens and trying to get a good night's sleep. Re-enactors "really did a good job," in Smith's estimation.

"The kids were  upset that we didn't get to finish everything, but we had a half-day of school," he said, confirming that the school bus had to depart earlier than some students would have preferred.

Peters said re-enactors were still arriving as of Friday afternoon.

"We've already had four people from Minnesota arrive, so they just beat that snowstorm  and then we had another four people  Union soldiers  from Atlanta that arrived."

It's "not unusual" to have participants from 20 different states on hand to support the reenactment. "We're hoping to have a mule-drawn artillery unit, and I just passed the camps, and they have an infirmary field wagon pulled by two horses, and those are things you don't see every day," he added.

Music is also part of the mix, largely by way of a new band, from Florida, to perform during the day and also during the dance planned for Saturday night. The band, 7 Pounds of Bacon, offers what might best be called "an 1865 version of bluegrass," Peters said.

The event as a whole is likely to have a crowd "substantially larger than last year," in Peters' estimation.

Fourth grader Tristen Downs, with a group from Hammond Hill Elementary School, was part of Friday's crowd. "I really think it's truly amazing  It's probably the best field trip I've ever gone to," he said.

Also on hand was Paisley Bowers, a fourth grader at Millbrook Elementary. She offered some comments punctuated by occasional musket fire and screams, noting that lessons were largely on "how to load the gun and how to load the cannons, and what they used back in the day."

Colton Mitchum, a fourth grader with Gloverville Elementary, said the field trip was all about "looking at the battles and  having fun and all that."

He added, "We went into the jail cell, put some handcuffs on, saw the beds in there and where they make the arrows."

Relatively new attractions this year include a full-scale replica of the CSS H.L. Hunley, remembered in history as the first successful combat submarine and a major factor in Confederate operations in the Charleston area.

The event is a project of Aiken's Sons of Confederate Veterans camp, named for Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee, a Charleston native who became a brigadier general and was killed in action in July 1861, in Manassas Junction, Virginia.

This year's directional signs, visible along SC 19 (Edgefield Road), are bright yellow. Gates are to open both Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. Saturday's events run until 10 p.m., and Sunday's closure is at 5 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for ages 13 to 18, $5 for ages 6 to 12 and free for anyone 5 or younger.

Attractions, in keeping with tradition, also include "a variety of delicious food and beverages  available for purchase for breakfast, lunch and dinner," as described in promotional material. The event is held rain or shine. Details are at battleofaiken.com.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Mostly clear skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.
The recent appearance by renowned biblical scholar Robert Alter (pictured here) at the Kansas City Public Library gave a large in-person and Zoom audience dozens of delightful moments from a serious man nearing the end of a terrific and consequential career.

As he acknowledged at the beginning of his remarks, a logical question is why anyone would do what he has done, which is to do a new translation of the entire Hebrew Bible. What's wrong with the old King James Version (KJV), which has been around since 1611? And what's wrong with the dozens of new translations that have appeared since the middle of the 20th century?

Well, let's start with the KJV, which Alter said he admires "in certain ways." But that old version, he contends, "is seriously flawed, not just archaic." And although he didn't mention it, it's also true that the translation team that produced it was working with far fewer and newer manuscripts than the more numerous and older manuscripts that have become available since then, especially with the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s.

Then let's consider what Alter, an emeritus professor at the University of California-Berkeley, calls the translations produced by "all these high-powered, denominational committees of scholars with degrees from Harvard and Yale and the University of Chicago and Oxford and Cambridge in England."

First, Alter said, the KJV "is better than all these translations-by-committee done in the second half of the 20th Century." There are, he said, "two things wrong in general with these translations. I have discovered as a translator of the Bible that it's a marvelous opportunity to conduct two simultaneous love affairs -- with the Hebrew of the Bible and with the English language. And what I find in the modern translations is no love for either of those languages. I don't mean there's ignorance of those languages. . .but the Hebrew language (in academic settings) remains an object of study and analysis but not something that gets you excited, not something that enthralls you. And you can see that in the translations."

Unlike the people who translated the Hebrew into the English of the KJV, he said, "the modern translators have a tin ear for the English language. . ." The result is that half of many verses sound like a "government directive" and half like a "daily newspaper," he said.

Because of all that, Alter concluded, "I view the modern translations as execrable." (If you need a translation of the word he used, try substituting the word "crap.")

As some of you know, I have a collection of Bible translations, including many that Alter would put in the execrable category. I find it's useful to check one against others to get a clearer sense of the meaning of a word or phrase. Sometimes I favor one translation over another but inevitably I'm disappointed in some aspect. As for paraphrases of the New Testament -- and, of course, a paraphrase is not a translation -- my favorite is the late Eugene Peterson's called The Message. He does some lovely things there.

If you watch Alter's entire library presentation, which you can do here, and which I highly recommend, you may agree with me that the thrust of it is a condemnation of biblical literalism, by which I mean reading the Bible as if every word were literally, historically and in all other ways accurate. That idea is called inerrantism, and it, too, is execrable. It leads people to imagine that the world was created in six 24-hour days and that God rested on a seventh 24-hour day. It leads people to imagine a real rib taken from a real man named Adam and that real rib being used to create a real woman named Eve. It leads people to imagine the entire globe was covered with water in the Noahic flood. It leads people to believe that the Bible says that David, and only David, killed Goliath (see II Samuel 21:19). And on and on.

I had a chance to have dinner with Alter after his Kansas City talk and I asked him whether I was correct to interpret his remarks as a rather harsh critique of biblical literalism. He agreed I was right. Then I asked him if there was anything useful we could learn from the literalists, knowing that often people with whom I disagree may still have something to teach me. Alter's answer: "No."

I'm not yet quite sure I buy his answer but I've never found a good way to refute it.

* * *

GET CHARGED UP AT CHURCH DURING THE WEEK, TOO?

In this era when we're seeing electric vehicles growing in popularity, someone thinks church parking lots would make great charge station locations. The idea is that for most of the week their parking lots sit empty. Which tells you how much the people who have dreamed up the notion know about church parking lots during the week. At my church, the lot may not always be full on weekdays and weeknights, but it's never empty because of lots of things, including a preschool, that go on. Still, many people who think of Sunday worship services as a way to charge their personal or spiritual batteries might well take advantage of EV charging stations during the week. And while their vehicles are juicing up, they could come inside and do some volunteer work.
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Westbury's Hardware purchases 4.5 acres for $530,000

The owners of Westbury's Hardware in Ladson have purchased a 4.5-acre site west of the current location to build a new store.

Joseph W. Westbury III recently paid $530,000 for the wooded property at 1258 College Park Road, according to Berkeley County land records. The previous owner was Chase Furniture Co. Inc., which bought the land in 2005 for $450,000.

Westbury plans to build a roughly 15,000-square-foot store at the new location. He is waiting for permits from Berkeley County, but he hopes to start land clearing in a couple of months and begin construction by the end of the year.

The existing store at 888 College Park Road will remain in operation until the new store is completed in roughly two years.

The hardware store owners sold the roughly 15-acre tract where the shop is currently located last summer for $5.925 million to an affiliate of real estate investment and development firm RCB Development of Charleston.

Westbury, who co-owned the property with his sister, Kim Henderson, said last fall he secured a two-year lease on the current site with an option for a third year while the other property was undergoing due diligence before it was purchased.

The new owner of the current hardware site plans to build commercial-size warehouses on the property, according to Westbury.

The hardware shop specializes in hard-to-find hardware, mobile home supplies, building materials, heating ventilation, air conditioning, vinyl siding and a full line of utility trailer parts.

Westburys Hardware was established in 1920 in Harleyville by Joseph Washington Westbury. The store on College Park Road opened in 1989.

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The city's Board of Architectural Review gave preliminary approval Feb. 22 to the design of a 15-unit apartment structure planned at King and Line streets in Charleston. Line Street is in the foreground in this image, and Barsa restaurant is on the right.

By the numbers

4.5: Billions of dollars in impact of Charleston International Airport on South Carolina's economy.

6: Number of Crave Hot Dog & BBQ restaurants planned across South Carolina. The first one will open soon in Charleston.

9,077: Square footage of new home decor and furniture store that opened Feb. 24 in Mount Pleasant.

This week in real estate

+ Demolition coming: Part of the Rainbow Market in downtown Charleston will be razed to make way for a 50-room hotel.

+ Rebranded: A Charleston-area real estate firm is now operating under a new name.

+ Sharing space: Another co-working firm is now open in Charleston.

Charleston's Board of Architectural Review unanimously OK'd conceptual approval of the planned apartment building at 578 Meeting St. Feb. 22 after architects redesigned the block-long structure to break up its massing. The small building in the center is the historic remnants of the former Regis Milk Co. that operated on the site for 53 years before it closed in 2011. This view is looking north on Meeting Street.

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The buzz is steady.

Actually, its not a buzz. Its more of a throaty roar created by the symphony of cars and trucks and other vehicles pacing along Savannah Highway on a February afternoon. At night, its usually replaced by the aggressive pitches of fewer vehicles traveling at a faster rate. Its still a steady sound, just different.

But the noise went muffled on the night of Feb. 19 and into the predawn hours the following morning.

Thats when the Charleston Police Departments Major Accident Investigation Team shut down a stretch of Savannah Highway between Magnolia Road and Radio Road for six hours. MAIT was completing its preliminary investigation into a fatal collision involving a pedestrian and a motor vehicle. It was the most recent and third such incident in Charleston this year. In 2022, only four people were killed by vehicles. This year, Charleston is on a path to top the high of seven pedestrian deaths in 2021.

Its not a trend exclusive to Charleston.

The Governors Highway Safety Association will release a report on Feb. 28 that safety officials expect to further drive home a troubling fact  more and more pedestrians are dying alongside American roadways. Communities across the country have already seen spikes in pedestrian deaths in recent years. The GHSA's most recent full-year report showed that drivers struck and killed 7,845 people in 2021  an average of 20 deaths per day. It was also an 11.5-percent increase from the year before, and the most recorded in a single year in four decades.

But the Palmetto State, at least until recently, has been an outlier from the pack. The S.C. Department of Transportation said 167 pedestrians were killed along Palmetto State roadways last year, down from 188 in 2021.

Still the numbers are glaring considering South Carolina reported only 100 pedestrian fatalities in 2013. Overall, pedestrian deaths are increasing faster nationally than all other traffic fatalities, surging 54 percent from 2010-20. GHSA officials anticipate the next batch of numbers will again move in a troubling direction.

Thats the case for Charleston already in 2023.

The calendar has yet to flip to March but community leaders, business owners and residents cant help but notice the rise in pedestrian deaths. The three fatalities this year are especially glaring considering there werent any at this time in 2022.

Whats the solution?, said Adam Goodwin, owner of Charles Towne Fermentory off Savannah Highway. His brewery sits only a few dozen paces from the Feb. 19 pedestrian-related fatality. Thats the million-dollar question, right?

It is indeed a tough code to crack. Its complexity is compounded because there is rarely a common element that binds one incident to another, other than someone died after being struck by a vehicle. Safety experts and government officials agree that trying to attribute one factor to each individual case is a fool's errand, as the conditions are as different as victims' names.

Consider the varying circumstances of the three Charleston fatalities in 2023:

 Karen Simmons, 58 of Charleston, was struck and killed at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 by a car traveling south on East Bay Street near South Street. Simmons, who was in a wheelchair, was attempting to cross a dark section of the road without a marked crosswalk. Charleston police said the driver  an unidentified Mount Pleasant woman  remained at the scene, cooperated with investigators and showed no signs of impairment. No charges were filed.

 Gregory Liles, 65, of Charleston died after being struck by a car at 6:15 a.m. on Feb. 3. Liles was attempting to cross the south side of Spring Street without using a crosswalk under conditions described by Charleston Police Department as wet and lighting was dark. The driver of the vehicle showed no signs of impairment and no charges were filed, though the investigation is ongoing.

 Todd Homicki, 45, of Charleston, died Feb. 19 while trying to cross Savannah Highway at an intersection near Magnolia Road around 9:45 p.m. Police said Homicki was hit by a car traveling south on Savannah Highway before the vehicle hit a tree and rolled over. The driver of the vehicle and two passengers were transported to an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Homicki was declared dead at the scene. No charges have been filed and the investigation is underway.

Then there is the incident that claimed the life of 43-year-old Drew Holler of Summerville.

Holler was struck by a Jeep SUV shortly before 2 a.m. Feb. 12 when he stopped to assist a disabled motorist in the median of the road near 888 College Park Road in Berkeley County. Holler died at the scene, the fourth pedestrian killed in Berkeley County this year. His death is being investigated by the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The incidents are different, each unique in its own way, but with the common factor being death. Still, all checked off one or more frequent causes.

Adam Snider, director of communications for the GHSA, says the reasons can range from dangerous driving (such as speeding), driving while impaired and distracted driving. But thats making the blame game one-sided when there are multiple parties involved  the pedestrian as well as the driver and the various levels of government.

Some places in the U.S. simply dont have the infrastructure to provide safer pathways in the form of crosswalks, wider sidewalks or sidewalks where there arent any. The same is true with proper lighting for motorists and pedestrians. And roadway builders are increasingly more focused on moving as many vehicles along as swiftly as possible than accommodating pedestrian traffic

Providing those assets can be tricky, both in funding and working within the confines of sometimes antiquated infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Transportation released $800 million in grants earlier this month with its Safe Streets for All program. Its an initiative to fund municipal-level projects to improve road safety and traffic infrastructure with the hope creating safer communities for pedestrians.

But, of course, all of that can still be ineffective if individuals dont take advantage and maybe go the extra distance to get to a crosswalk or, as simple as it sounds, look both ways before crossing.

Its (on) everyone; we all need to do everything, Snider said. Responsibility is shared and everyone needs to understand the role they play, whether its the driver behind the wheel or the pedestrian stepping into a crosswalk. We all have a role to play to make it safe for people to walk.

Still, accidents can and will happen. And Goodwin has been pondering that million-dollar question he posed earlier as to how to stop them since he set up shop in December 2016.

The windows at Charles Towne Fermentory  an 8-year-old brewery adjacent to Savannah Highway  were open, exposing the depths of the business and the patrons inside to that guttural noise and an unseasonably warm breeze. People come and go, some stay longer than others, but that background noise remains.

Its not so loud as to drown out Goodwins words or thoughts, however. Maybe its because hes grown used to it. Goodwin efficiently communicates over it all without having to raise his voice or use any wild hand gestures.

So did he have any reservations about setting up his brewery in the burgeoning Avondale district despite the inherent risks?

Yes and no, Goodwin said. Id heard stories even back then of pedestrians getting hit by vehicles. Thats unfortunately something that will happen when you have a highly trafficked area of walkers and very fast cars, maybe not very wide sidewalks and old infrastructure that needs updating to keep up with the evolution of the neighborhood.

But what about that million-dollar question? How do you stop the pedestrian deaths?

Youre asking a brewery owner, man, Goodwin said. ... I dont know.
COLUMBIA  Former Richland County School District Two Superintendent Baron Davis will receive $615,000 after he resigned suddenly on Jan. 17, according to his settlement agreement with the board of trustees.

Davis's resignation, which was accepted unanimously, came immediately after the board returned from a six-hour-long, closed-door session where they discussed his contract. He was initially named superintendent in 2017 and was the first Black leader of South Carolinas fifth-largest school district.

Davis' settlement agreement was signed Jan. 19, two days after his resignation. But the paperwork was not released until Feb. 24, more than a month after The Post and Courier filed a public records request.

Under his contract, Davis is supposed to receive 18 months pay if the board agrees to terminate the agreement, which would have been $382,021.

But the settlement agreement was 60 percent higher and includes $415,519 "in exchange for his resignation," $124,481 for his unused sick and vacation leave and $75,000 "designed as settlement for all disputed claims." His contract ran through June 2026.

Davis is receiving more than the $500,000 that Charleston County, the state's second-largest district, paid Gerrita Postlewait after her resignation in December 2021. Postlewait, who had 2 years left on her contract when she left Charleston, is now superintendent at Lexington One.

Richland Two board chairwoman Lindsay Agostini declined Feb. 24 to comment on the settlement because she said it was discussed in executive session. The board voted Jan. 17, the day Davis resigned, to have Agostini execute an exit agreement that would be reviewed by trustees in closed session. The board did not take a public vote on the settlement.

Three Columbia-area school districts now have paid a total of $1.1 million to resigning superintendents in less than two years.

Lexington Two agreed to pay Nicolas Wade $240,000 last spring after he left during his first year with the district. Lexington-Richland 5 paid Christina Melton, the states reigning superintendent of the year, $226,000 to leave in 2021.
Did I fall asleep and miss winter? Wasnt it just a short time ago that the famous forecaster Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of what we usually get in January and February? Well, Phil can kindly kiss my azalea bush. The one thats blooming.

Normally this time of year its cold and wet. Whats going on? I can never recall a February this mild, and Ive been in the Lowcountry since I was a teenage boy.

Anybody remember buying Valentine candy and washing pollen off your car on the same day? Ordinarily, those pollen clouds arent noticeable until early March. For more than two weeks, though, my eyes are itchy and sinuses are stopped up. Remembering to keep the nose spray handy is a must. You know what else I try to keep close by? Those tissues laced with vapors that momentarily open the passages. (I may or may not admit to walking around the house with one of those tissues stuffed-up each nostril.)

Seasons and reasons

Astronomically, the first day of spring this year is March 20. Thats known as the vernal equinox and generally accepted as the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere. Thats the day of the year where there are the same hours of daylight and darkness. Since it feels like were in science class, Ill drop some additional knowledge by sharing that equinox is Latin for "equal night." Youll thank me for that if any of you folks ever make it on "Jeopardy!"

Anyway, weather scientists divvy-up their meteorological seasons differently. They consider March 1 as the start of spring. I dont have any enlightening tidbits to add to this particular revelation.

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But since weve gone down the foreign language road for a brief moment, my high school French teacher would no doubt cringe if I told you the translation for "cut the grass" is "mow de lawn." Say it with an accent, itll make you smile.

Dont hang up

Before we say goodbye on this fine February day, my column last week regarding a recent closet decluttering seemed to stimulate and agitate more than one of you. For example, Billy Wise of James Island told me he took three bags of clothes and shoes from his closet after his wife pointed out last Sundays words in this space. Chick Vladachick of Seabrook Island walked up to me, mockingly stuck out his hand and wryly uttered through clinched teeth, Thanks a lot. The column is causing problems at my house today.

Glad I could help, folks. Besides, with Punxsutawney Phil out there spouting fake news, somebodys got to be upfront with you.

Maybe spring has sprung? I still feel like we might be hit by one more freeze between now and mid-March, though. If its here to stay, Ive got enough eyedrops and nose spray to make it. If it remains sunny and mild, then get outside and mow de lawn.

Class dismissed.
ISLE OF PALMS  Islanders here may have to learn to live with the resident coyotes as shooting the species is illegal on the island, and trapping is the only other option.

Officials don't know exactly how many coyotes live on Isle of Palms, but most of them linger near the Wild Dunes area.

Twelve sightings were documented so far this year. And 59 were counted in 2022, according to Ryan Warren, an animal control officer on the island.

But the invasive predators have a presence in each of the state's counties. The species is extremely adaptable and detrimental to deer, turkey and other native animals.

Between 20,000-25,000 coyotes are taken annually in the state.

Summertime is when Isle of Palms animal control officers get the most calls about coyote sightings. Visitors often report the coyotes because they don't realize the animals are residents on the island, Warren said Feb. 22 at a meeting on how to deal with the animals.

"We're definitely pushing for people to call more," Warren said. "So maybe that might be why we have more sightings or maybe there's more out there."

The city tries to alert residents and visitors of the animals through its website and occasionally on Facebook. And Warren said they will consider adding signs in the area, too.

Coyote dens might be spotted in a number of locations.

In flat areas like Isle of Palms, it is common to see a den dug up under roots of a fallen tree, in brush areas and on the sides of banks, according to Jay Butfiloski, the furbearer coordinator for the state Department of Natural Resources.

The animals are also known to wander in the dunes on the beach here.

In 2021, a 2-year-old Boykin Spaniel was attacked by four coyotes in the sand dunes on Isle of Palms.

Also in 2021, a Mount Pleasant man said coyotes were to blame for the death of two of his cats in the fenced Sandpiper Point II neighborhood.

Missing or deceased pets are good indicators that coyotes could be nearby.

Officials believe the coyotes on Isle of Palms could be coming from Mount Pleasant and other areas.

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway between Mount Pleasant and Isle of Palms is not a barrier for the animals, as they can easily cross it, Butfiloski said.

He recommends people do a number of things to protect themselves and their pets from coyotes.

First, people should keep pets on short leashes and don't leave them unattended outside where coyotes are known to roam the area.

Habitat management can be considered as a control method, too, Butfiloski said.

Clearing out brush in areas that are highly traveled, like in parks and even yards, could prove beneficial. It will reduce the habitat for the small mammals that coyotes prey on and also prevent them from hiding.

The biggest issues with coyotes in developed areas is typically food and trash-related, though. People are encouraged not to leave food outdoors for feral cats, pets or other wild animals.

"That allows a free meal, it allows them (coyotes) to kind of get habituated to people, and that's where things get to be a problem," he said.

While more calls come in about coyote sightings on the Isle of Palms during tourist season, statewide coyote sightings are typically higher in the wintertime, partly due to vegetation, lost foliage and increased breeding activities and movements.

There tends to be a decrease in sightings in the summer when the animals are pup rearing.

"When the pups are young, they're like kids. They don't care if they're very visible whenever a den is nearby," Butfiloski said. "But it might not be an indicator (that) you've got a whole bunch more."

No hunting license or permit is required in South Carolina for people to shoot coyotes on their property within 100 yards of the home. But local municipalities may have other regulations.

Night hunting is permitted on registered properties or with a depredation permit. Trapped coyotes may not be relocated.
Sometimes the road to a deeper understanding of South Carolina beats a path to Harlem.

On a late Friday afternoon, I am barreling in a taxi to Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., just off a bumpy flight, keen to make it to the Claire Oliver Gallery before it closes.

The city is shrouded in ominous shades of gray, a far cry from the lush Lowcountry Ive just left. Then, out of the window a rainbow arcs across the urban skyline, the most radiant display of ROYGBIV Ive ever seen. It seems to guide me straight to the gallery.

Once inside the glass doors, Im steeped in South Carolina.

In the downstairs space, a row of five large murals in densely textured, indigo-saturated hues layer images, text and skeins of Black hair from the African diaspora. Antebellum, weathered balusters flank the opposite wall. On the back wall, a pair of wooden pews rests quietly, ready for worship.

Upstairs there are the vessels, sitting at various heights on pedestals and bearing the burnt orange of Carolina red clay, fired black and folding in more Black hair. Some are dotted with Carolina gold rice.

Adebunmi Gbadebo: Remains is the artists second solo exhibition at the gallery, which is on view at the Central Harlem gallery through March 11.

Gbadebo has emerged on the international arts scene for work that references her South Carolina lineage and pays tribute to its history. Her work was among the seven pieces by contemporary artists included in the critically acclaimed Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, S.C., which focused on the 19th-century stoneware of enslaved potters including David Drake.

And it is moving swiftly from the gallery, too, said Claire Oliver, president of Claire Oliver Gallery, who greeted me to see the show.

The work is being acquired by private collectors and mainly for the permanent collections of prestigious museums, among them the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It has also been featured in international events including the Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh and the 1-54 African Art Fair in London.

It has also found its way back to her ancestral terrain of South Carolina, too.

Work is now part of the collection of the South Carolina State Museum. The artist was also recognized by the Gibbes Museum of Art as a 2021 finalist Society 1858 Southern Art Prize. According to Executive Director Angela Mack, the museum is making every effort to increase its holdings in contemporary art by using the prize as a tool to identify artists and objects for its collection.

Portrait of the artist

On our Zoom interview, Gbadebo presents as a soft-spoken, almost Sphinx-like figure whose perfectly poised head is topped by a vibrant head wrap. Born in 1992, her composure and knowing gaze belie her mere three decades of Earth dwelling.

The New Jersey native, who is now based in Philadelphia, has embraced an artistic practice powered by her South Carolina roots, by way of a grandmother from Orangeburg and grandfather from Charleston. Since their recent passing, the call of her ancestral home has intensified.

Sitting in her car near the studio she presently has in Newark, N.J., Gbadebo guides me through the ancestry that informs her artistic process. Methodical and elegant, her words deepen my sense of her preternatural wisdom.

Im not the only one struck by an artist who seems to have launched her career fully formed. At the Harlem show, Oliver explains that she first met the artist when Gbadebo was a School of Visual Arts student and an assistant of another artist at the gallery. Gbadebo invited Oliver to the school show.

On a rainy Friday, Oliver acquiesced, trudging downtown. She was immediately struck by the work, which used the same Japanese papermaking technique as she does presently, though at that point doing so in a home blender to galvanize the materials of plantation crops  the rice, the cotton, the Black hair.

I said, You need to come with the gallery. You need to stop being an assistant. You are a full-blown artist, said Oliver, who then sent out a mass email announcing they were representing her. Within 48 hours, she had sold out her entire studio, including to museums.

People got it right away, she said. They understood that it was touching them in a really deep way.

The work

Gbadebos work is very personal and relates specifically to the recognition of her enslaved ancestors, said Mack.

The ceramic sculptures are made of red clay that she excavated from the very burial grounds of her South Carolina forebears who were enslaved on True Blue Plantation in Fort Motte, S.C.

Both the sculptures and works on paper reference the materials of their enforced labor. They are awash in indigo and/or dotted with Carolina Gold rice, which her ancestors worked in while enslaved by the Singleton family at True Blue and at Singleton Plantation, and at Lang Syne Plantation while enslaved by the McCord family.

Past meets present

When her South Carolina native grandparents died, Gbadebo found herself increasingly drawn to her roots down South, diving deep into her genealogy and ancestry.

Much of her knowledge flows through the findings of her cousin Jackie Whitmore, who has been caring for and maintaining the burial grounds of her ancestors. He was instrumental in getting Gbadebo down from the Northeast to the plantation, as she said she was legit afraid to visit it.

I also learned thats, in a way, why our relationship never severed, she said. Since then the family has moved away, but because of the burial ground, which stayed active after Emancipation, our family never lost our direct connection to the plantation because they continued to bury there long after.

In 2020, she visited with her cousin, going to the USC campus to see the McCord House, which was built in 1849 by her enslaved ancestors John Spann and Anderson Keitt. It is currently owned by Gov. Henry McMaster.

Among the places the artist visited were Congaree Park, where her ancestor Ravenel ancestor escaped slavery; Jerusalem Church, which was built by her ancestor after Emancipation; and the schoolhouse that was built by Julie Peterkin and Eleanor Roosevelt, where many of her ancestors attended and where Whitmore has created a small museum.

I believe our family was originally enslaved in Charleston and sold to the Singletons in Fort Mott, and possibly because of their relationship to rice cultivation, she said.

Gbadebo has done DNA testing and determined much of her genealogy traces back to Sierra Leone, a grain coast known for rice cultivation. And it was on that trip to the plantations that Gbadebo became moved not only by the red clay, but by how so much of what has defined this land, her ancestors backbreaking labor of centuries, has been erased.

I was thinking a lot about how what is true in True Blue is in the soil, she said, citing the biological matter from decomposing coffins, as well as the indigo and rice that have gone back into the land. Along the same vein, the hair she uses carries within it DNA spanning a millennium.

All of that is in that red clay, and that was the beginning of me making into ceramic sculpture.

Unearthing stories

The poetry on Edgefield potter David Drakes vessels is a singular occurrence. In a time when it was illegal for the enslaved to read or write, such individual expression, which comes together to forge a familys history, was a punishable offence. It was instead revealed in their industry, the artist determined, and their physical being.

An architect restoring the McCord property saved unusable remnants for the artist, and she has used them in the current exhibition, spaced exactingly on the northern wall.

I think of part of the fence and the balusters as the physical evidence of my ancestors lives, she said.

She has also found the Ravenel ancestors the burial grounds, which she said Whitmore worked to clear, adding markers. Gbadebo names her works for these ancestors.

As explained by its curators, the Mets Hear Me Now exhibition considered the Edgefield stoneware in the context of slavery, made under conditions of coercion  and how works of art can be vehicles of expression and resistance.

Mack observed that experiencing the Edgefield pottery tradition at the Met underscores the importance of it in the art history of our state and country.

The inclusion of contemporary works by artists like Gbadebo.... creates that marvelous link between the past and the present, said Mack. Through her art, Gbadebo is making those who were once invisible, visible, and remembered.
Charleston County's former Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization director, who resigned in November, said he would advise Black or Hispanic candidates for higher-level jobs like his to "think twice" before working for the county.

Darrell Davis laid out concerns about "implicit bias" he claimed to have experienced and observed in an email sent to all County Council members this week. The lengthy writing was framed as Davis' critique of the county's Housing Our Future plan.

Davis said his support for the housing plan, which he helped develop, is unequivocal but there are a number of impediments to implementing the plan. He said No. 1 is "a culture of racially motivated implicit bias within county government."

The county administration said Davis' claims are baseless, and that there's no evidence to suggest otherwise.

Davis said County Council members seem "completely unaware" of what he alleged is "an oppressive work environment for African American employees." Davis resigned in November after 14 months on the job, and at that time mentioned "a pretty oppressive work environment with a culture of implicit bias but did not elaborate.

He said he followed up three months later with his Feb. 21 email to council members because he felt compelled to draw attention to what he believes to be a serious concern.

"Microaggressions, racially insensitive comments, disparate employment practices, and a general disregard for African American culture is a daily reality, especially for those that speak, dress, or act with any ethnic identity," Davis wrote in his nearly 4,000-word email.

He left Charleston County for a new job as senior vice president for Real Estate and Community Development at the Richmond, Va., Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

County Council members had mixed reactions to Davis' email. Several council members said they had not read it or, like Council Chairman Herb Sass, were unwilling to discuss it.

I havent read it, and Im not going to read it, because hes no longer an employee," said Teddie Pryor, who was council chairman during Davis' employment.

Informed of Davis' claims of racial bias, Pryor said "that's just one man's opinion" and it should have been expressed while Davis worked for the county. Pryor said the county has made great strides since he joined the council in 2004, particularly in workforce diversity and minority contracting.

Councilman Rob Wehrman did read Davis' email, at least the part about bias, and said he found it concerning.

"That's something we need to take seriously," he said. "It may be one person, but it is a concern and I don't think we've had it expressed quite this way before."

One challenge, said Wehrman, is that implicit bias is hard to quantify. By definition, implicit bias involves bias that people aren't consciously aware of.

Councilwoman Jenny Honeycutt said she was concerned by Davis' email because "our employees and their experience are our top priority" and immediately sought more information from the administration.

After doing my due diligence, I have complete faith and confidence in our leadership team," she said.

There were issues that Mr. Davis had raised, all leading up until he decided to leave," Honeycutt said. What my investigation revealed was that this was handled appropriately."

Davis told The Post and Courier he shouldn't have written "racially motivated implicit bias" in his letter to council, because implicit bias can't be intentional, but rather "racially oriented implicit bias."

"A lot of stuff doesnt happen because youre Black, but when it does happen youre treated differently if youre Black," he said Feb. 23.

For example, said Davis, there were two young women who worked for the county who took second jobs working at bars. He said the Black employee was criticized for doing so, while the White one received praise for being industrious.

Hopefully this will be the end of it," Davis said. "Ive gotten it off my chest.

In a written statement Feb. 24, Charleston County's administration called Davis' claims about bias "unfounded and unsubstantiated" and said he made positive comments about the county's work environment while employed.

"It is unfortunate, a former employee who offered no concerns while on the job, has now chosen to create a false and baseless narrative," said County Administrator Bill Tuten. We certainly disagree with these comments and while we take any such claim seriously, there is simply no evidence to back up these allegations.

The same day, the county issued a press release celebrating the receipt of a SC Biz News Lowcountry Diversity Leadership award. Among the two dozen awards given, the county's was for "distinguished municipality."
Nothing has been announced or finalized, but the early word is that one of Charleston's most high-profile projects might not get built because the bids are in and are (not shockingly) much higher than expected. Read moreBehre: We don't really need stand-alone West Ashley bike-ped bridge; this will do instead
A few months ago, it was largely a hypothetical that the next leader of South Carolina's third-largest city could be chosen by as few as a fifth of the people who vote in the mayor's race  and an even smaller percentage of all its voters. Read moreEditorial: North Charleston must fix its flawed city elections while it still can
SPARTANBURG  When conversations about perseverance during the oppressive Jim Crow Era arise, the topic of stage magic isn't the first to come to mind.

Despite laws that were in place at the time, many Black entertainers who came from the South traveled across the U.S. to make a living using their talents.

In the case of the Armstrong family of Spartanburg, it was magic.

Now, a Greenville-based filmmaker and genealogical researcher is creating a documentary to tell their story.

The feature, "Going Fine Since 1889: The Magical Armstrongs," will highlight the family's contribution to magic history and African American culture during the oppression of the era from the 1870s to 1960s.

They were really a dynasty, and its very unique to have a dynasty of African American performers like that during that era, filmmaker and researcher Jennifer Stoy said of the family that lived on the Northside of Spartanburg on College Street for more than 50 years.

The Armstrongs story is that of a quiet rebellion, Stoy said, and one that isnt well-known. She came across the family by accident while doing research for another project. Stoy said while gathering information for the documentary, she asked elders in Spartanburg if they'd heard of the Armstrong family, and many did not know of their story.

It's really kind of a lost piece of history for Spartanburg that I think needs some telling, she said.

Illusionist John Hartford Armstrong, his wife Lillie Belle Armstrong and daughter Ellen Emma Armstrong performed as The Celebrated Armstrongs."

Some details of John's early life are unknown, but he was born in 1874 and spent many years living in Spartanburg.

In the late 1800s, John and his brother performed together until the their act split for unknown reasons, and John went on to perform with his wife and daughter.

John was previously married to Ida Belle White in 1903, and together they had daughter Ellen. Ida died in 1907 and a year later, John married Lillie Belle, who was a schoolteacher from Spartanburg. John trained Lillie Belle in a two-person magic code act, where she joined his show as a mentalist.

At the age of 6, Ellen began performing with her father and stepmother.

Ellen specialized in a mentalist act. Shed incorporate chalk art animation into the show through chalk talks, where shed draw while telling a story, and her picture would rapidly change into something else.

After her fathers death in 1939 and her stepmothers death in 1947, Ellen continued to perform. She was the first Black woman magician to have her own solo act and became known as a cartoonist extraordinary.

She went on to perform until the mid 1950s, married later in life and moved to Columbia. She died in 1994.

For Dwain Pruitt, chief equity officer for Wofford College and a historian, the Armstrong family stands out for the longevity of their careers. He said magic is a difficult craft that takes lots of practice and dedication.

Pruitt described the family as having a great deal of imagination and mechanical ability because they built their own sets and performed their own tricks.

They were exceptional people who had lots of skills, had access to capital and were really, by all accounts, exceptional entertainers, Pruitt said.

Pruitt said the average Black person living in South Carolina during the 1920s would have been a laborer working on farms or in the city providing domestic labor for low wages, but Spartanburg did have communities of middle- class and wealthy Black families.

When you read about the expense of their props and what money they were investing, they clearly were putting a great deal of money into their show, he said. They probably would have been, based on how much money they had invested in the show, among the wealthier people in the city.

The Armstrong family primarily performed at Black theaters, churches, schools and universities, as well as venues a part of the Chitlin Circuit, a network of dance halls, juke joints, nightclubs and theaters across the U.S. where Black performers could safely put on shows between the 1930s and 1960s.

The documentary is important, Pruitt said, because it shows that there are multiple narratives in African American history.

The documentary, its rough cut expected by the end of this year, will include interviews with historians, magicians, magic collectors and scholars. There will be some animated sequences, historical and archival footage and re-created tricks and illusions that the family performed.

I think it's going to be special for the magic community, for Spartanburg and Southern filmmaking in general, Stoy said.

Throughout the documentary, magician Randy Shine will demonstrate the tricks performed by the Armstrongs in a modern silent movie-type film style.

Stoy was able to connect with historian and magic collector Michael Claxton, whose collection includes original Armstrong props and family scrapbooks. She plans to use photos of Claxtons collection and incorporate information from the scrapbooks into the documentary.

The family took a lot of publicity photos, and the scrapbooks have testimonial letters and newspaper clippings that helped Stoy put together a timeline of where the family traveled over the years.

One of the familys scrapbooks from the South Caroliniana Library will be used to help with storytelling.

Once the documentary is complete, Stoy would like to have community screenings across South Carolina. She said the first screening would be in Spartanburg, and then she'd like to host more screenings at places that are still open where the Armstrong family performed.

The hope is to have it aired on the Public Broadcasting Service network.

Producers are still seeking additional funding for the documentary, but some support for the project has come from South Carolina Humanities, The Society of American Magicians and private investors.

Ultimately, the project will involve getting the city of Spartanburg's permission to construct a monument where the Armstrongs house stood on College Street.
Penguin has decided Roald Dahls books can remain intact after all.

The decision to publish The Roald Dahl Classic Collection comes just days after Puffin, the childrens imprint of Penguin Random House, faced an onslaught of backlash for announcing alterations of Dahls texts in new editions of the 20th-century books. The classic collection, however, would offer readers 17 of Dahls original titles free of any sensitivity rewrites.

Classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The Witches were sanitized to remove offensive and insensitive language. Some references to ethnicity, gender, physical characteristics and mental health were changed to adhere to more modern sensibilities.

British newspaper the Telegraph compared the original text to the altered versions and found rewrites that included using enormous rather than fat to describe Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And in James and the Giant Peach, a line that read, Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat/ And tremendously flabby at that, had been rewritten to say, Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute/ And deserved to be squashed by the fruit.

Celebrated author Salman Rushdie, who is also published by Penguin Random House, called the move absurd censorship, writing on Twitter that Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.

PEN American Chief Executive Suzanne Nossel was another critic of the move.

At @PENamerica we are alarmed at news of hundreds of changes to venerated works by @roald_dahl in a purported effort to scrub the books of that which might offend someone, Nossel tweeted. Amidst fierce battles against book bans and strictures on what can be taught and read, selective editing to make works of literature conform to particular sensibilities could represent a dangerous new weapon.

And on Friday, Puffin changed its tune and released a statement offering a compromise of sorts.

We recognise the importance of keeping Dahls classic texts in print, the statement reads. By making both Puffin and Penguin versions available, we are offering readers the choice to decide how they experience Roald Dahls magical, marvellous stories. Puffin announces today the release of The Roald Dahl Classic Collection, to keep the authors classic texts in print.

Nossel shared news of the classic collection on Friday in a nine-tweet thread, sharing that she and Rushdie had a conversation about the revised texts.

Last Saturday I [sic] morning I got a note from @SalmanRushdie saying This is insane, right? @roald_dahl was a bigot and he never supported me, but really? We cant say fat or female? . . . Can we take some sort of stand against this? Or pointless?

And, no, Salman, it turned out not to be pointless. ... So many of us agree on the need to build a more inclusive, equitable world, and also that that quest need not - and must not - come at the expense of free speech, truth, and reckoning with what is difficult.


It's not possible for Bismarck City Commissioner Mark Splonskowski to also serve as Burleigh County auditor, Burleigh County State's Attorney Julie Lawyer said Thursday, contrary to Splonkowski's claim last week that Lawyer had endorsed the arrangement.

Lawyer provided her opinion Thursday about a potential conflict of interest for Splonskowski, who was elected county auditor but serves on the Bismarck City Commission through 2024. Splonskowski will be sworn in as auditor March 20 and officially takes over April 3.

My ultimate position is that those positions are incompatible, Lawyer told members of the Burleigh County Commission.

Lawyer also disputed a comment Splonskowski made Feb. 14 during a Bismarck City Commission meeting. Splonskowski told city commissioners he discussed the situation with Lawyer in February 2022 and she told him it would be possible to serve in both roles. Lawyer said Thursday that conversation didn't happen.

There has never been an opinion from my office regarding whether or not (the city commission and auditor) offices are compatible, Lawyer said.

Lawyer did not have a formal written opinion for commissioners at the meeting, but outlined her concerns, pointing out the role is a combined auditor and treasurer position.

The city and county work together on several projects -- such as the public health building -- that could force Splonskowski to recuse himself from voting due to fiduciary duties to both the city and county. For example, the former finance director didn't collect some taxes due to a clerical error and the city commission requested that the county pay the uncollected amount. This situation would be an instance where being both a commissioner and auditor would be an issue, Lawyer said.

"If he is recusing himself from voting at the city commission then he's not fulfilling the obligations of that position," Lawyer said.

There is no statute in the North Dakota Century Code that addresses a person holding two elected offices, but when a person holds two offices that are incompatible they must give up the first office when they accept the second, according to Lawyer.

Really what it boils down to is which position hes going to choose, Lawyer said.

Splonskowski attended the Burleigh County Commission meeting but did not speak during the meeting.

County Commissioner Brian Bitner pointed out to Splonkowski that he resigned his township road supervisor position when elected to the county commission. Similarly, Commissioner Wayne Munson said he left the Bismarck Park Board when he was elected to the county commission.

The commission did not take any action. The commissioners have no power to remove Splonskowski if he chooses to assume both positions because he was elected to both, Lawyer said.

"It's out of your hands. You have no authority to do anything like that," Lawyer commissioners.

Splonskowski did not respond to a request for comment Friday. On Feb. 17, Splonskowski said in an email to the Tribune that he wanted to clarify the statement he made Feb. 14.

When I said I had spoken with the States Attorney Lawyer, I meant to say I spoke with Burleigh County Human Resources. I never spoke directly with Mrs. Lawyer, Splonskowski wrote in an email to the media.

However, Human Resources Director Pamela Binder wrote in an email provided to county commissioners that she does not recall Splonskowski asking her about the auditor position. Binder said Splonskowski asked if it would be a conflict for a county employee to run for the state Legislature.

Bismarck City Attorney Jannelle Combs released a conflict of interest opinion on Jan. 30 per the request of Bismarck City Commissioner Steve Marquardt.

"Commissioner Splonskowski will have a fiduciary duty to both entities therefore creating a potential conflict of interest," Combs wrote in her opinion. At the Feb. 14 city commission meeting, she acknowledged the potential for a significant number of recusals, which could be problematic if the commission vote is tied 2-2 and Splonskowski can't vote.

"We dont know if it will impact the ability of the (city) board to function and we cant foresee when that would happen," Combs said.
Nigerians go to the poll today to elect a new president and 468 federal lawmakers. It is the first phase of the 2023 general election with the governorship and state assembly poll holding in two weeks.

This years general election is the seventh since the restoration of democracy in the country. The previous elections were held in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

The 18 registered parties are fielding candidates in todays election, the most keen in Nigerias contemporary political history..

The presidential candidates and their parties are Christopher Imumolen (Accord), Hamza Al-Mustapha (AA), Omoyele Sowore (AAC), Dumebi Kachikwu (ADC), Yabani Sani (ADP), Bola Tinubu (APC), Peter Umeadi (APGA), Princess Ojei (APM) and Charles Nnadi (APP).

Others are Sunday Adenuga (BP), Peter Obi (LP), Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP), Felix Osakwe (NRM), Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Kola Abiola (PRP), Adebayo Adewole (SDP), Ado Ibrahim Abdulmalik (YPP) and Dan Nwanyanwu (ZLP).

Despite the array of the presidential hopefuls, analysts and watchers of Nigerias democracy have, however, dubbed the election a four-horse race between Messrs Tinubu, Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso.

Regardless, whoever emerges the winner of todays contest will be sworn in on 29 May for a four-year term to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari whose second term in office lapses on that day.

On the other hand, over 4,000 candidates are standing for elections into the two chambers of the National Assembly. While about 1,100 are gunning for 108 out of the 109 seats in the Senate, a total of 3,057 candidates are contesting for the 360 seats in the House of Representatives. Election will not hold in Enugu East Senatorial District until 11 March because of Wednesdays murder of the candidate of the Labour Party, Oyibo Chukwu.

The lawmakers that will be elected today will be inaugurated in June as members of the 10th session of the bi-camera federal legislature.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 93.5 million Nigerians registered to vote in the general election but a little over 87 million, who picked their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC), will actually participate in the poll. The voters, spread across the 36 states of the federation, 774 local government areas and 8,809 wards, will exercise their franchise in 176,846 polling units.

A total of 1.5 million people will serve as agents for the 18 political parties in the election.

In the main, INEC, which recently held a mock accreditation, said it is ready for the polls amid apprehension caused by the naira crisis and security challenges. Its Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, assured that it is committed to a free and fair process because its allegiance is to the country.

Apart from deploying thousands of ad hoc staff, with the NYSC contributing about 200,000 for todays election, the electoral management body is also deploying new technologies, namely BVAS and IReV, which it believes are rigging-proof and ensure the transparency and credibility of the polls.

The security agencies and the military, on their part, said they are ready to secure the polls. To ensure a peaceful process, they will be deploying close to a million personnel in all the states and FCT with the police alone accounting for over 310,973.

Some other security outfits deploying their personnel are NSCDC (102,000), FRSC (21,783), Nigeria Correctional Service (11,336), NDLEA (9,447), EFCC (350) and Nigeria Immigration Service (21,640).

Already, the political parties and their candidates at both national and subnational levels have signed pacts to ensure a violence-free process.

A total of 229 observer groups comprising 196 domestic and 33 international observers will also be deploying 146,913 observers for the election. Some of the foreign observers are drawn from the European Union, Commonwealth, African Union, ECOWAS, NDI and IRI. Similarly, media organisations and other relevant bodies have been accredited by the election management body to observe the election.

To be sure, todays general election presents another major opportunity for Nigeria, Africas largest democracy, to test the 2022 Electoral Act signed into law by Mr Buhari exactly a year ago on 25 February. The president, at different fora, pledged to bequeath to the country a sustainable democratic culture that will remain lasting.

PREMIUM TIMES has deployed its journalists to observe the elections and will be bringing you live updates of the exercise. Also follow us on our Facebook, Youtube and Twitter accounts.



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Over five million (5,594,193) registered voters are expected to vote in their respective polling units across the 484 political wards in the 44 Local Government Areas of the Kano State in Saturdays elections.

Apart from voting in the presidential election, voters will also be voting for their representatives in the National Assembly.

At least 15 political parties are fielding candidates for the senatorial and the House of Representatives polls in the state.

The candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and their main challengers  the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) and the People Democratic Party (PDP)  have fielded some of the popular politicians in the state, some of whom are seeking re-election while other are contesting for the first time.

Some of the incumbent lawmakers face stiff opposition.

Below are some of the popular candidates who want represent the people of Kano.

Barau Jibrin APC

Barau Jibrin From Kabo Local Government in the Kano North Senatorial district is the incumbent senator of the zone. Mr Jibrin is gunning to be elected for a third term. Popularly known as Maliya (Ocean), he was first elected in 1999 to the House of Representatives from the Tarauni Federal Constituency in Kano Central District. In 2015, he was elected as the senator representing Kano North.

Mr Jibrin is being challenged by the candidate of the NNPP, Abdullahi Baffa, a former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), and the candidate of the PDP, Saidu Gwadabe. The three men and candidates from other parties will slug it out in the 13 local government areas of the district.

READ ALSO:

Kabiru Gaya, APC

Kabiru Gaya is from the Gaya Local Government Area of Kano South Senatorial District. Since 2007, Mr Gaya, a former governor of the state, has been elected to the Senate.

The contest in Kano South is generating heightened interest due to Mr Gayas main challenger, Kawu Sumaila, a former aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, who lost the APC senate ticket of the zone and returned to the NNPP. He was also a member of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2015.

The PDP candidate for the zone is Galadanchi Bachir.

Kano Central

Abdulsalam Abdulkarim, popularly known as AA Zaura, hails from Zaura village in the Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano and is the senatorial candidate of APC in Kano Central district. He debuted in politics in 2019 and served as the gubernatorial candidate of the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) before joining the APC.

One of his challengers, the candidate of the NNPP, Rufai Hanga, was disqualified by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). With this, he has the candidate of the PDP, Laila Buhari as his main challenger.

Alhassan Ado and Abdulmumin Jibrin

Alhassan Ado, the current Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, from the Doguwa Local Government Area, is seeking re-election under the APC to represent the Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency. He was first elected a member of the House of Representatives under the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1992.

He was later elected to the House of Representatives in 2007 and has been re-elected in every election by the constituency since then. He will be challenged by the candidate of the NNPP, Salisu Abdullahi, and Jamilu Dayyabu of the PDP.

Abdulmumin Jibrin from Kofa in Bebeji Local Government was first elected as a member of the House of Representatives representing the Kiru/Bebeji Federal constituency under the PDP in 2011. He later joined the newly birthed APC in 2014 and was re-elected in 2015. He was sacked by the court after he was declared the winner of the seat in 2019. He is currently vying for the same seat under the opposition NNPP.

He will be challenged by the candidate of the APC, Said Muhammad, a former commissioner of education in Governor Abdullahi Gandujes cabinet and Ahmad Rahama of the PDP.

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Some voters at the 007 Polling Unit in Wuse District Ward of Abuja criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the late commencement of Saturdays elections.

Some of the voters who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that as of 8.30 a.m., INEC officials were yet to arrive at the polling unit but security men could be seen at strategic locations ensuring law and order.

Also, voters took numbers on arrival to ensure orderliness ahead of accreditation.

Elemchukwu Onouha, 65 years old, told NAN that he was excited and was eagerly awaiting the outcome of the election.

According to him, it is a long-expected election; it has many things different from the ones we have hard in the past.

He said INEC had tried to cope with the demands, expressing hope that the officials would arrive soon.

This is the first time the number of major candidates contesting for the seat of the president is more than two.

It is a day we are thinking that we will get the democratic process in Nigeria right by seeing people coming out to vote, we are full of expectations, he said.

Also, Henry Tersoo, a voter and an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the increment in the number of polling units could be responsible for the late arrival of INEC officials.

READ ALSO:

He said Wuse Ward previously had 35 polling units but now had over 100 polling units, saying that in previous elections, agents reported as early as 6.00 a.m. to polling units and by 7.00 a.m., officials had arrived.

But this time around, I do not know how they are going about the logistics but I am sure any moment from now, they will arrive.

Besides, Wuse Ward is a very big ward, initially we had about 34 polling units but now they are over 100 so you have to mobilise.

I am not exonerating INEC; I blame them. If they had done their homework well, this election should have started on time.

We do not want crowd, the plan is vote and go but now, see the crowd gathering, he said.

(NAN)

EOO/OYE/SA

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The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has appealed to Nigerians to exercise their franchise peacefully at the general elections.

Nigerians are voting on Saturday to elect a new president and members of the National Assembly.

But the governorship and state parliamentary polls are scheduled for 1 March.

Auwal Rafsanjani, TMG Chairman, in a statement on Saturday, urged INEC to continue to demonstrate neutrality and respect for its announced processes and guidelines.

He advised voters to desist from vote-trading, urging political party candidates to honour their commitments to the peace accord during and after the elections.

Read the full statement below:

TMG Calls for Peaceful, Free, and Fair Elections

Nigerians will go to the polls on February 25 and March 11 to elect the president and national legislators, and governors and state legislators, respectively. Its the 7th back-to-back elections, in a region where the risk of coup detat is on the rise.

The Transition Monitoring Group commends Nigerians, especially the young people that have shown great enthusiasm since preparations commenced for the 2023 election. We urge Nigerians of all religious, ethnic and regional divides to go out on the scheduled dates to cast their votes to elect leaders across the various levels.

The transition monitoring group is working together with various civil society networks across the country to mobilize voters, educate the public, and monitor voting throughout the country. We shall be monitoring the following key issues and will release statements and reports on the conduct and quality of the elections based on field reports from our observers. We will also reach out to critical institutions and agencies on the frontline of planning and administering the 2023 elections.

INEC neutrality: we call on INEC to continue to demonstrate neutrality and respect for its announced processes and guidelines. This is important to maintain public confidence in the process. We further urge the INEC Chairman to ensure the highest level of integrity and professionalism throughout the commission, including national commissioners, state electoral commissioners, electoral officers and all returning officers.

Adequate and timely deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials: we urge INEC to follow its timeline and procedures to achieve the timely release and distribution of all essential and non-essential materials. Further, we urge INEC to remain resolute in its commitment to free and fair elections. Recently, the Commission commenced daily briefing on the elections. We urge the Commission to keep to its promise and continue to speak to Nigerians to maintain their confidence and support.

Avoidance of intimidation and voter suppression: we call all political actors, especially political parties and their supporters to shun every temptation to intimidate and suppress opposition or any other group of people from exercising their rights. One of the hallmarks of a thriving democracy is the opportunity for people to hold and support different candidates of their choice. It is critical therefore that all eligible Nigerian voter can exercise their civic duties free of intimidation and threats of any nature. We urge all security agencies to be vigilant and take action to guarantee the safety of all voters. In particular, we think security agencies must pay particular attention to hard-to-reach communities where the risk of intimidation and voter suppression is higher.

Special Consideration for women, elderly and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs):

TMG calls on the Commission to prevail on polling officials to give special consideration to women, the elderly and Persons with Disabilities. TMG is also observing and documenting the overall inclusivity of the election through the conduct of the Commission to the marginalized groups and expects the polling officials to aid and provide support to the elderly, pregnant women especially and PwDs to exercise their franchise without difficulty.

Extra protection for security flashpoints: various expert reports and analyses have identified more than twenty states described as high risk of violence. The states include all six states in the southwest, the BAY states in the northeast, parts of the southeast and south-south and the northwest region. We urge INEC and all the partnering security agencies to develop security plans for the high-risk areas and work with local actors to mitigate the threats to voters and every person on election duties. TMG will also be observing and reporting from across the 774 local government areas of the country on the conduct of security personnel during the election. We hereby urge the security personnel to be neutral in their conduct at the polling units while prioritizing the security of voters and election materials.

Desist from vote trading:

TMG calls on the political class and their supporters to desist from all forms of vote trading which reached condemnable heights during the previous state-level elections. Citizens are also urged to shun the act which is a crime punishable under the countrys laws. TMG urges the deployment of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to monitor polling units and arrest and prosecute political agents and citizens who engage in vote trading during the election.

Adhere to the National Peace Accord Agreements:

TMG applauds all the political parties and their presidential candidates that signed the national peace accord. With the recent signing, every candidate and their parties have now committed to an ethical code of conduct and to eschew all forms of violence. Therefore, we urge all candidates and their political parties to promote the national peace accord and encourage their supporters to respect the provisions of the peace accord. The uncontrolled hate and inflammatory statements attributed to candidates and their supporters is a source of worry. And we hope that political parties and their supporters will desist from all forms of actions capable of imperilling the progress of this nation and preserve our young democracy before, during and after the elections.

Display Great Sportsmanship in Defeat and Victory: Like every other competition, elections are to be won and lost. Losing today does not mean one cannot win tomorrow. Hence, TMG is calling on politicians to be great sportsmen in the election. We expect those who do not win to accept defeat and where they are aggrieved to consider using all legal means to seek redress.

In conclusion

TMG appreciates the international and national observers who are observing the elections across the country as the organization assures of its openness to collaborate with stakeholders across the country on efficient observation of the election. TMG invites interested partners to visit its observation data centre at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

This deployment is made possible through the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project implemented by Palladium with the generous support of the American people through the United State Agency for International Development (USAID). TMG will like to make it clear that the views expressed herein do not represent those of USAID or the United States Government.

TMG, therefore, looks forward to a free, fair and credible presidential election on Saturday, 25th February 2023.

Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani)

Chairman, TMG.

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The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Adamu, lost his polling unit to the Labour Party, according to the results of the presidential election announced Saturday evening.

Earlier, Mr Adamu cast his vote at Angwarimi Ward, GRA A1-PB Polling Unit, Keffi, Nasarawa State.

Labour Partys Peter Obi won in the polling unit with 132 votes while Bola Tinubu of the APC came second with 85 votes.

Mr Adamu is a former governor of Nasarawa State.

It was not only the presidential election that the APC lost in Mr Adamus ward. The party also lost the senatorial and House of Representatives election in the unit.

In the senatorial election, the APC came second with 55 votes. The SDP won with 184 votes while the Labour Party came third with 42 votes. The PDP scored 22 votes.

In the House of Representatives election in the unit, the APC came second with 46 votes. The SDP won with 158 votes while the PDP got 41 votes to come third.

ALSO READ: Labour Party wins major polling units at Presidential Villa

Residents of the area told PREMIUM TIMES that the local peculiarities in the district worked against Mr Adamu and in favour of the LP and SDP.

Nigerians today voted to elect a new president and 468 federal lawmakers. It is the first phase of the 2023 general election with the governorship and state assembly poll holding in two weeks.

This years general election is the seventh since the restoration of democracy in the country. The previous elections were held in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

INEC will begin the official collation of the presidential election result at noon on Sunday.

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Thugs attacked two different polling areas in two states, stealing at least eight BVAS machines, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said, hours after voting commenced in many parts of Nigeria.

According to Mr Yakubu, bandits attacked INEC personnel, stealing six BVAS machines in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State, President Muhammadu Buharis home state.

A separate attack occurred in the Oshimili area of Delta State leading to the loss of two BVAS machines, he said

Mr Yakubu, who briefed journalists in Abuja, said voting continued in the two polling areas after INECs intervention.

In the incident in Katsina State, three of the BVAS were later recovered while the rest of the missing machines were replaced, Mr Yakubu said.

In Delta State, thugs attacked a polling unit and two BVAS machines were lost. In these locations, the targets of attacks were the BVAS, but we were able to recover them, he said.

Mr Yakubu also spoke about an attack by bandits in the Shiroro area of Niger State that delayed the voting process. He said he was not sure if INEC officials were the primary target of the attack in an area that has witnessed several attacks by terrorists, locally called bandits.

Nobody was hurt in the incident and security arrangements were made to ensure the election still holds in the area, he said.

Mr Yakubu also acknowledged that there was a late arrival of electoral officials and materials in many polling units across Nigeria.

The perennial problems of logistics and insecurity affected early deployment of voting materials. But we have been able to deliver millions of ballot papers, he said.

READ ALSO:

He said the commission would resolve the problem by ensuring that anyone that was in the queue by 2:30 p.m. would be allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes.

Mr Yakubu explained that the twin problems of logistics and insecurity hampered the timely deployment of staff and materials.

The INEC boss said, bandits were firing gunshots randomly from the mountains of Gwoza (Borno State) in response to a question on security reports from the area. He said the commission was still studying the situation in the area.

At the briefing, Mr Yakubu also identified some local government areas in Abia and Imo states where the deployment of materials was delayed.

Earlier, PREMIUM TIMES reported delays in the movement of electoral officials and materials to polling units across Nigeria.

Over 87 million Nigerians are eligible to vote in the presidential and federal legislative elections held today.

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The head of the Commonwealth observer mission to the Nigerian elections, Thabo Mbeki, says his committee observed the late arrival of officials and materials to polling units in many parts of the country.

Mr Mbeki, a former South African President, addressed journalists in Abuja at noon on Saturday.

According to Mr Mbeki, although they had been told that elections would start at 8:30 a.m., they arrived before that time at the first polling unit observed and found that INEC officials only arrived at 8:30 a.m. and elections could only begin about an hour later.

Mr Mbeki added that at a second polling unit observed, INEC officials complained of inks drying as early as elections began. Imagine what can happen later, he said

The point Im making is that everybody arrived late. And before they could start with the voting, it took some time, Mr Mbeki said.

He, however, added that his committee believes that the electoral commission, INEC, is able to address the problem.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported the late arrival of election officials in many parts of Nigeria.

About an hour after Mr Mbeki addressed journalists, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, at a separate briefing, also admitted that officials arrived late at many polling units. He blamed the problem on travel logistics but said the commission would ensure that all voters in the queue by 2:30 p.m. would vote, no matter how long it takes.

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Armed thugs have been reported to have stormed some polling units in Dekina LGA of Kogi and made away with election materials, thereby disrupting the elections process.

Silas Rindam, the INEC Electoral Officer (EO) of Dekina LGA, who confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, described the incident as callous and very unfortunate.

According to him, we got the news of the incident from our ad hoc staff who had to run away for their safety.

The thugs did not only cart away our election materials at Anyigba but even here in Dekina town.

From what I learned, seven polling units here in Dekina town have been affected out of a total number of 352 polling units in the area,  he said.

Also, police spokesperson in the state, Williams Ovye-Aya, confirmed the incident but called for calm as the security operatives were on top of the situation.

He wondered why such an ugly incident would happen when there were more than 7,000 police personnel deployed to the 3,508 polling units of the state.

When contacted, the Security Adviser to Kogi Governor, Jerry Omodara, expressed sadness over the incident which he noted had disrupted the peaceful atmosphere being enjoyed in the state.

Mr Omodara said Governor Yahaya Bello had ordered a man-hunt for the perpetrators of the dastardly act to be arrested and brought to book.

We have no place for such in Kogi. We shall go after them and ensure that they face the wrath of the Law, he said.

Earlier a reliable source had told NAN in Dekina that several polling units in Anyigba and Dekina towns were mostly affected in the invasion, which took place around 11:00 a.m. of Saturday.

The situation has sent fears into the electorate in the affected areas with no voting going on in the areas,  the source claimed.

(NAN)

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The electoral commission, INEC, has postponed elections in 141 polling units in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State in the countrys south-south.

This was disclosed by the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, today in Abuja.

Mr Yakubu said the process was disrupted in Wards 4, 6, 8, and 14 and the security operatives overcame the challenges.

He said the INEC ad-hoc staff expressed apprehension about going back to conduct the election, thus necessitating the postponement.

We have decided that the election will be held tomorrow (Sunday) where 40 out of 141 polling units where the materials are intact.

The postponement affects the presidential and national assembly elections in the area and the elections will be held tomorrow.

Mr Yakubu also spoke on other observations from todays election.

He said INEC reported losing several BVAS machines in some parts of the country to thugs.

The commission has recovered from these losses because it has contingency arrangements to respond to any such attack, Mr Yakubu said.

I am happy to say that the process is now ongoing and Nigerians will be allowed to vote in those affected areas, he said.

Nigerians go to the poll today to elect a new president and 468 federal lawmakers. It is the first phase of the 2023 general election with the governorship and state assembly poll holding in two weeks.

This years general election is the seventh since the restoration of democracy in the country. The previous elections were held in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

(Editors Note: Our initial report quoted the affected state as Imo instead of Bayelsa. We apologise for the mix-up).

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the presidential election at the polling unit of Gombe State Governor, Muhammad Yahaya.

When the results were announced, voters at the unit shouted the name of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP who got 215 votes to win in the unit. The candidate of Mr Yahayas APC, Bola Tinubu, scored 186 votes in the unit.

Declaring the result, Micheal Thomas, the Presiding Officer (PO) of the Yahaya Umar 010 Polling Unit, which is located at Government Science Secondary School Gombe, announced that the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) polled 10 votes while the Labour Party (LP) got four votes.

Mr Thomas said the Action Democratic Party (ADP) scored three votes while Action Alliance (AA) had one vote.

Earlier, Governor Yahaya, shortly after casting his vote, thanked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for what he called the wonderful initiative introduced in the 2023 general elections, a reference to technology such as the BVAS machine.

He also said that he was happy with how the election was conducted in the state.

So far, so good. I have not heard of any complaints from anyone; expect little challenges, and we are all humans, Mr Yahaya had said. I am urging INEC to be more innovative in the future so that things will be easier for everybody.

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Abstract: The vice president and his wife, both from Ikenne, voted at Polling Unit 14, Ojurege , Ikenne Local Government Area.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and his wife, Dolapo, have cast their votes in Polling Unit 14 in the presidential and National Assembly elections held across the country.

The vice president and his wife, both from Ikenne, voted at Polling Unit 14, Ojurege , Ikenne Local Government Area.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) arrived at the polling unit as early as 7:15 a.m. while accreditation of voters and voting commenced at 8:35 a.m.

Mr Osinbajo and his wife arrived at the unit at 9:54 a.m., got successfully verified by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) at 9:58 a.m. and voted at 10 a.m.

Speaking with journalists, Mr Osinbajo said he was impressed with the conduct of the exercise at the unit.

He expressed optimism that the orderly conduct at the unit would be replicated across the country.

READ ALSO: Nigerian journalists offer tips for covering 2023 elections

The vice president, who moved his voting centre from Lagos to Ogun in 2021, described the election as peaceful.

This is my polling booth. The Ojurege polling booth is very peaceful and I hope this is the same all across the state, Mr Osinbajo said.

No fewer than 133 voters are expected to exercise their franchise at the polling unit.

(NAN)

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Some voters in Sango-Ota on Saturday expressed worry over the delay in the arrival of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and voting materials.

They expressed their worries in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ogun.

Adeyemi Adegoke, a voter at one of the polling centres in the town, told the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) that people were getting tired as a result of the delay in accreditation and voting.

He said voting had not started in the entire Ota, which had eight wards with over 300 units.

It is not really encouraging because we need to start doing things the right way, he said.

Another voter, Taiwo Ogunyemi, attributed the delay in the commencement of voting to poor logistics by INEC officials.

He, however, said many voters were waiting at various centres to vote for their preferred candidates.

NAN

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Voters in Ikuru Ward 5 in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State have expressed satisfaction over the timely arrival of electoral materials to the area..

Titus Jones, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Vice Chairman in the area, commended INEC for the timely arrival of the materials.

He said, unlike previous elections which were characterised by poor logistics, Saturdays presidential elections had recorded effective distribution of electoral materials.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, materials arrived by 9: 20 a.m. at the Community Primary School, Ikuru, followed by immediate distribution of the materials to the 38 units of the wards.

Voters in the area waited patiently to cast their votes.

Uche Secondus, the immediate past National Chairman of the PDP was among the electorate expected to vote at the primary school.

NAN

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Accreditation and voting in the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday commenced amid a large turnout of voters in parts of Dutse and Jahun Local Government Areas of Jigawa.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exercise began at about 9:00 a.m. amid high voter turnout in most areas visited.

The exercise was progressing peacefully as most of the polling units have at least two policemen.

However, security personnel were absent at Gwampai Units A and B at Idanduna ward about 8km to Jahun Local Government council headquarters.

There were no security personnel at the Abirakyau polling unit, still under the Idanduna ward possibly due to the absence of INEC officials at the two polling units.

At about 8:45 a.m. INEC officials were yet to arrive at the designated election centres, where a significant number of voters were seen waiting in queue since 6:00 am.

Nasiru Alhassan, a voter, said that he had been at the polling centre since 5:45 a.m. in order to be able to finish on time and return home.

Another prospective voter, Muhammad Salisu, who claimed he trekked from the Gidan Malam area a distance of about 1.5km away from his polling unit, said that he had been in the queue since 6:50 a.m.

READ ALSO:

Gambo Yahuza, the Presiding Officer, at Yar-Jigawa Unit 019 Jahun, told NAN at 8:59 a.m. attributed the delay in the early commencement of voter accreditation to the wrong entry of password into the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

Mr Yahuza said that the issue had been resolved and the accreditation of voters began.

However, voting was yet to start in some wards in Dutse LGA.

At Jigawa Tsada and Kachi wards, some of the elections officers just arrived the polling units between 7:40 and 8:30 am, as the exercise was yet to start.

Also, the exercise did not commence at Gandu Unit 004; Jigawar Tsada Unit 05 and Unit 024 as well as Kachi Unit O23.

NAN also observed that there were disagreements between some of the electoral officials in Kachi ward at Unit 05.

A corps member, Doris Yakubu, expected to serve as Assistant Presiding Officer II, was asked to leave the polling unit as her name could not be found on the list.

However, the Presiding Officer in charge of the Unit, Muhammad Adamu, said he has reported the matter to INEC office for immediate action.

Also, Blessing Joshua and Zulaihat Awwal who were to serve as assistant presiding officers I, were also asked to leave the PU as their names were not on the list too.

In all the areas visited, there was adequate provision of security personnel as voters waited patiently to cast their votes.

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Officers from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and National Drugs and Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) left the Kofar Baru Polling Unit where President Muhammadu Buhari cast his vote, minutes after the president left.

The president cast his vote around 10:06 a.m. and left for his private residence after briefing journalists.

PREMIUM TIMES reporter, who was at the PU 003 Kofar Baru in Daura as early as 7:30 a.m., noticed the heavy presence of officers from the three security agencies.

Though they refused to speak to this reporter, an electoral officer at the polling unit who also asked his name not to be revealed, said the officers were there to check financial misconduct especially vote buying.

This reporter counted seven EFCC officials, five ICPC and four NDLEA officials at strategic points before the president arrived.

When the president arrived, they helped State House security officials to control the crowd.

Immediately after the president left, the officials also left the polling unit.

Mr Buhari and First Lady Aisha Buhari joined millions of Nigerians to vote for their preferred presidential candidate among the 18 contesting to succeed Mr Buhari who is leaving office after completing his second term.

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In a rare show of loyalty, President Muhammadu Buhari Saturday in Daura, Katsina State, displayed his ballot paper, with thumbprint for All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu, saying after campaigning for the political leader in many parts of the country, he has reaffirmed on his preferred successor.

President Buhari, who cast his vote alongside his wife, Aisha Buhari, and other family members, at Ward A, Sarkin Yara Polling Unit, 003, said it was a pity that only one female emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Aisha Binani, urging support for the candidate.

The president assured that he had always supported the candidature of Mr Tinubu, and the show of his ballot paper to the media and the public further shows his commitment to the party and the national leader.

I am very impressed because I have seen how the people turned up. I am very impressed and very happy. Well, the candidate I voted for I have already mentioned him in many states in Nasarawa, Katsina and Sokoto.

All over the places I mentioned my favourite candidate, Asiwaju Tinubu, and I believe my constituency will elect him 100 per cent, he said.

President Buhari advised Nigerians to ensure that their rights to vote were always respected.

Nigerians should make sure that they are respected; that means that the candidate they want to vote for they are allowed to vote for him.

It is a pity there is only one female candidate from Adamawa State so the electorate should kindly follow our party, he added.

Asked how he felt that it was the first time since 2003 that he was not on the ballot paper, the president said, it is very exciting. I look at those who are competing and some of them are so agitated and they didnt know that I tried three times and ended up in the Supreme Court three times.

The fourth time I said God dey and God sent technology, Permanent Voters Card, so no fraudulent person can claim anything, he stated.

According to the president, APC will win, from Daura to Lagos.

The presidents family members and staff also voted at the polling unit.

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

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The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, after casting his vote on Saturday, expressed confidence that the presidential candidate of his party, the All Progressives Congress(APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win the election.

Mr Lawan said the ammendment of the Electoral Act by the ninth National Assembly which gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) sufficient lattitude to introduce more technology in the electoral process made the 2023 polls very significant.

Speaking to journalists after he voted at his Katuzu ward polling unit in his home town, Gashua in Yobe State, Mr Lawan said: Todays elections are very significant for so many reasons but one of the major reasons is what the ninth National Assembly has done  to produce an ammendment of the Electoral Act that gives INEC sufficient lattitude to introduce more technology for the election process.

It didnt take me more than a minute to go through the BVAS accreditation process. It didnt take me more than a minute to cast my vote. This is very important for our democracy in Nigeria because the process cut out any tendency for compromise, for fraud, for multiple voting and so many other things.

And I believe that this process will produce leaders that the voters would have decided to have them lead them.

I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr President for signing the Electoral Act that we worked on and this is a joint success story.

It is one of our legacies that the ninth National Assembly will really be proud of and Mr President himself will be proud that here we are at this juncture in our democracy journey that we have an Electoral Act that has all the safeguards so far that will make the vote of every citizen who cast his vote to count.

Let me also at this point, Im not campaigning, but I want to commend our people, our citizens especially my Senatorial District, they have shown love, they have shown sacrifice, uncommon love for me particularly and I cannot thank them enough.

This election, for me, will be the fifth election consecutively into the Senate by the grace of God and I am very confident, we will win this election.

Here, the President will win, the Senatorial candidate, thats myself, will win, the member of the House of Representatives by the grace of God will also win.

And we are going to continue to work with our President by the time Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu becomes the President. He will inherit the ninth National Assembly. He will work with us for at least two weeks because our tenure ends on the 11th of June, 2023.

I want to say that we are going to give him full cooperation like we have given President Buhari over the last three and half years and when the 10th National Assembly will be in place and the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be in office I want to believe that he will have a National Assembly that will be fully, totally and completely supportive to the cause of building Nigeria for Nigerians.

Signed:

Ola Awoniyi

Special Adviser(Media)

to President of the Senate

Saturday, 25th February, 2023

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Tax cuts, culture war issues and workforce woes will be on North Dakota lawmakers' plates when they return to Bismarck next week for their session's second half.

Lawmakers have advanced more than 700 bills and resolutions of 982 introduced, and killed more than 200. The session picks up again Wednesday after a nearly weeklong break. The House and Senate now swap passed legislation.

Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, told his colleagues his goal is to finish hearing House bills in about 25 workdays, or around April 5. House-Senate conference committees will then come together to reconcile differences on bills.

Im hoping to push us hard, Hogue said.

His goal is to use 73 of the 80 days allowed for the session. That would leave seven days for lawmakers to address any revenue shortfalls that might arise beyond April, he said. The 2021 Legislature used 76 days.

Hogue and House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, commended the strong working relationships between chambers. The two leaders meet regularly with each other and Gov. Doug Burgum, Hogue said.

Lefor said House and Senate leaders worked to find agreement early on, which he said allows for more time later in the session on things you dont agree on and a smoother second half.

Lawmakers have strived to educate themselves on major issues with state agencies. House Republicans have hosted the attorney general, Ethics Commission and other officials in caucus meetings, Lefor said.

Weve worked very hard in the education part of it. I think its shown in the quality of work by the committees and the quality of the speeches on the floor  great debates, people are passionate about the state of North Dakota, he said.

The Legislatures budget writers in March will revise a state tax revenue forecast, which will better guide their work, including what raises to give state employees.

A state budget office report released Monday showed general fund revenues through January running 24% or $785 million ahead of the Legislatures 2021-23 forecast.

Tax cuts

The stage is set for a tax cut showdown between House and Senate leaders.

With Burgums backing, the House passed several proposals to slash income taxes, including two bills that would eliminate or nearly erase the tax for lower earners and establish a flat tax for higher earners.

The Senate approved legislation that would shift some of the burden of property taxes from homeowners to the state. One bill would reduce property taxes statewide by about 17%, while another would primarily benefit homeowners ages 65 and up.

Legislative leaders have said the rival proposals could be merged into a mix of income and property tax cuts by the end of the session.

Lawmakers also have passed a handful of tax incentives, credits and exemptions this session.

The chambers advanced several bills backed by the oil industry, including legislation to abolish a higher tax rate triggered by elevated oil prices, and to give oil producers tax breaks for "refracking" old wells.

The House gave the green light to sales tax exemptions on diapers and materials used by farmers, the coal industry and drug manufacturers, but representatives voted down a bill to make tampons tax free.

Gender issues

Lawmakers have passed a myriad of bills that would restrict health care, activities and personal expression for transgender residents.

The House approved legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors, to inhibit transgender people's use of restrooms and to limit transgender girls and women athletes in North Dakota K-12 and college sports.

Both chambers advanced bills that would restrict school districts and their governing boards from creating policies to accommodate transgender students.

Workforce

Lawmakers are weighing ideas to boost workforce and child care in a state with more than 30,000 open jobs.

Budget writers have handled a slate of Burgum initiatives, including increased child care assistance and an expansion of the states Find the Good Life campaign for marketing North Dakota and its communities and recruiting workers.

Other proposals include the establishment of a state immigration office to help bring foreign workers into the state and connect them with employers, changes to occupational licensing boards requirements and procedures, a tax credit for middle-income families child care costs, and a streamlined criminal background check process for child care workers, among other bills.

Book bans

Lawmakers advanced bills targeting explicit sexual material in libraries.

Supporters say the legislation would protect children from pornography. Opponents say the bills are censorship and would subject librarians to criminal penalties.

Much of the debate has centered around the visual nudity in drawings in the book Lets Talk About It: The Teens Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human.

Abortion

Conservative legislators have put forth plans to revise North Dakotas abortion laws as the state Supreme court considers whether to allow a near-total ban to take effect.

The Senate advanced a bill that aims to reconcile differences between the abortion ban caught up in court and the states other abortion laws, according to sponsor Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg.

The proposal addresses doctors worries about treating pregnant women experiencing life-threatening complications, though it would limit abortions for victims of rape and incest to just the first six weeks of a pregnancy.

Pension fund

Looming over the Legislature is the future of the states public employee defined-benefit pension plan. Lawmakers will weigh two competing bills for addressing the funds $1.9 billion shortfall, and whether to preserve the plan or transition it to a defined-contribution, 401(k)-style plan for future hires starting in 2025.

Lefor says a defined-contribution plan offers portability that younger, future workers will want, and would be a competitive benefit amid high turnover in state government in recent years.

Sen. Sean Cleary, R-Bismarck, says his bill to preserve and shore up the pension fund is a responsible solution for maintaining the pension plan. The union that represents state employees wants to stick with the pension plan.

Both bills seek a massive, one-time cash infusion into the fund to make it solvent.

Killed bills

Lawmakers in the first half of the session killed bills to ban mail ballots, to legalize medical marijuana edible products, and to expand where concealed guns can be carried.

Other unsuccessful bills included ones to establish state-administered paid family leave, to limit prescription drug prices for public employees, to require identifying information from open-records requestors, and to mandate two House committees be chaired by women.

(Jack Dura is a reporter for The Bismarck Tribune. Jeremy Turley is a reporter for Forum News Service.)
The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos, is very concerned over reported attacks on journalists and other media professionals covering todays presidential and senatorial elections.

Information reaching IPCs-JOURNALISTS-ELECTION-DAY-SAFETY-ALERT DESK indicates that not less than three journalists and media professionals have been assaulted and subjected to unlawful arrests.

The details include the assault and arrest of Gbenga Oloniniran of The Punch Newspaper by a team of police officers near the residence of Governor Nyesom Wike in Rumuiprikon, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Oloniniran, who was on election duty was taking snapshots of a scene where policemen were arresting some youths at a polling unit when the operative swooped on him. Without listening to him, the operatives attached to the Swift Operation Squad seized his phone, assaulted him and bundled him into their van.

He was beaten while in the van even as they deleted several pictures he had previously taken, including those taken while he was being arrested, the report stated.

Also documented was the attack on the News Agency of Nigerias (NAN) vehicle conveying the crew members who were moving around the city to monitor the election by a mob at Liberty area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

The youths were said to be lamenting the hardship in the country but chose to transfer their aggression to journalists.

Also attacked was the Executive Director of the International Center for Investigative Reporting, Dayo Aiyetan, who was molested in Gwagwalada, FCT Abuja while covering the election.

There was disturbance and a guy was trying to upturn the canopy on top of INEC officials. I was recording the scene when a guy told me to stop recording. I did. In seconds, I was surrounded by hordes of people, miscreants, thugs, etc. I was beaten, my clothes torn and my phone, car key, purse and a pouch containing my debit cards and other items. They took everything on me. But I fought to keep my camera.

A guy brought out a knife and tried to stab me. I kicked him with my steel-toed sketchers and fortunately, apart from a few scratches, I escaped unhurt, the report stated.

Mr Aiyetan has since reported the assault to the Divisional Police Officer of the Gwagwalada area.

IPC Executive Director, Lanre Arogundade, said: The various attacks on journalists during the general elections are condemnable and unwarranted

He said further: the rights of journalists to monitor and report election day activities are constitutionally guaranteed and recognized by various regulatory frameworks such as the Electoral Act, the Nigeria Broadcasting Code and the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage and therefore should be respected.

Mr Arogundade charged the police authorities to immediately investigate the attacks and ensure that the perpetrators face the full weight of the law.

He also called on the Inspector General of Police to enlighten police officers and men on election duty to protect and not attack journalists.

SGD:

Melody Akinjiyan

Press Freedom Officer, IPC

melodyakinjiyan@ipcng.org

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The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, has confirmed arrests of suspects linked to the pockets of violence in some polling units across the state during Saturdays general elections.

The Lagos Police boss told Channels TV the situation has been brought under control. He also said the affected Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials were rescued.

I can confirm that several arrests have been made but as at this moment it is still an ongoing process. So, I cannot conclusively say this is the number of polling units where violence was recorded but at the end of the day we will do a post-election evaluation and come up with specifics, the police commissioner said.

Though there were skirmishes in some parts, Mr Owohunwa insists the polls have been largely peaceful.

He said: It was an admixture of very peaceful conduct in most parts but we also recorded isolated instances of thuggery. Like I said earlier, we anticipated them and we have multiple teams to respond in the fastest manner.

We were able to stabilise the situation and rescue the INEC officials,.

The Nigeria Police Force has said it would deploy 310,973 of its personnel to the over 176,846 polling units nationwide for Saturdays election

It was declared the personnel would consist of conventional policemen and women, the mobile police, the special counter-terrorism unit, Special Forces, the intelligence response team and other sections of the police.

The Force also said this number would be augmented with 51,000 personnel from the National Security and Civil Defense Corps, 21,000 from the Federal Road Safety Corps, 11,336 from the Nigeria Correctional Service, 9,447 from the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency and 350 personnel from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

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Voting is expected to start late in many parts of the Katsina metropolis in Katsina State.

As of 9 a.m., prospective voters were still waiting for the arrival of electoral officials in many polling units visited by PREMIUM TIMES in the area.

At PU 003 Makurdi Rimi, voters were still waiting for electoral officials as of 08:53 a.m.

A voter and a Connected Development (CODE) observer, Bishir Dauda, told PREMIUM TIMES the officials were yet to arrive.

From all indications, the elections in Katsina will not commence on time in spite of the repeated promise by INEC, he said.

In Kofar Durbi PU 011, in the metropolis, a voter, Aliyu Abdullahi, said he was at the polling unit as early as 7:12 a.m. but no officials were at the polling unit as of 8:57 a.m.

In Mani Local Government Area, an INEC official told PREMIUM TIMES that the delay was due to the misplacement of ballot boxes.

Yes, we had issues but weve started distributing materials. Some of our ad-hoc staff mixed-up big and small boxes containing the (ballot) papers. We had to separate them this morning but everything is okay now, he said.

PREMIUM TIMES however gathered that the INEC local office in Mani was still filled with ad-hoc staff waiting to collect voting materials at 9:03 a.m.

The INEC director of voter education and publicity in Katsina, Shehu Saidu, did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the delays.

Nigerians go to the polls today to elect a new president and members of parliament.

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The electoral commission, INEC, has called on all accredited Nigerians with Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) to go out and vote because their votes will count in the ongoing general election.

The electoral commission in a post published on its official Twitter page reassured citizens that all votes cast will count due to the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ( BVAS) in this years elections.

Is this your first time voting in an election? With the BVAS device be rest assured that your vote will count in this #NigeriaDecides2023 election, INEC said, adding that Nigerians should Come out and exercise your right to vote in a peaceful manner.

But it also warned that registered voters have to go to their polling units with their PVCs, saying: Remember; No PVC No Voting.

In a short video tagged to the post, INEC explained that the BVAS device was introduced to replace the smart card reader used in previous elections, adding that the device will eliminate incidents of voter impersonation.

With the BVAS device, it said, voters authentication process will be much easier and faster.

Nigerians are voting to elect a new president and 468 federal lawmakers. Governorship and state assembly elections will follow on 11 March.

This years general election is the seventh since the restoration of democracy in the country. The previous elections were held in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

Eighteen registered parties are fielding candidates in the elections. The presidential candidates and their parties are Christopher Imumolen (Accord), Hamza Al-Mustapha (AA), Omoyele Sowore (AAC), Dumebi Kachikwu (ADC), Yabani Sani (ADP), Bola Tinubu (APC), Peter Umeadi (APGA), Princess Ojei (APM) and Charles Nnadi (APP).

The others are Sunday Adenuga (BP), Peter Obi (LP), Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP), Felix Osakwe (NRM), Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Kola Abiola (PRP), Adebayo Adewole (SDP), Ado Ibrahim Abdulmalik (YPP) and Dan Nwanyanwu (ZLP).

However, observers expect the race to be among four candidates: Messrs Tinubu, Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso.

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The Gender and Election Watch (GEW), an initiative of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), has urged women to vote for candidates that will prioritise womens inclusiveness in policy making.

The CEO of GEW, Mufuliat Fijabi, during a Friday press briefing ahead of Saturdays general election, said Nigeria is still far behind in terms of womens inclusion in leadership and decision-making.

Ms Fijabi said since 2011, the number of women who have emerged as elected representatives have been on a decline and may further worsen if no action is taken.

If you look at the global average practices, we are not where we should be in terms of inclusion of women in leadership and decision-making positions, she said.

The number of female candidates in this election is 7.8 per cent which means its very few and if we are not careful, the number may decrease.

She encouraged everyone to vote wisely by choosing candidates who have gender inclusion in mind with the aim to support the countrys democracy.

Women should not see tomorrow as a public holiday but as a time to also support the growth and development of the country by going to cast their votes, she said.

Women representation

Since Nigerias return to democracy in 1999, one key trend has been womens underrepresentation in politics.

Historically, Nigerias political system has been dominated by men, even though women constitute a large part of the voting population. Women make up 6.2 million of 12.2 million newly registered voters ahead of the 2023 elections, and almost 50 per cent of the nations overall population.

An analysis carried out by PREMIUM TIMES shows that for the 2023 elections, there are only 92 women out of 1,101 senatorial aspirants, representing 8.4 per cent of candidates, while there are 286 women out of 3,107 House of Representatives candidates, totalling 9.2 per cent of candidates.

Across the globe, Nigeria ranks extremely low in gender equality index ratings and this has been attributed by many, to the inherent culture, lack of internal party democracy, and the patriarchal practice across the country.

At the briefing, Saka Azimazi, a member of GEW, said the inclusion of women in leadership positions is important for the development of any country.

Mr Azimazi said the number of women contesting for political positions is very low compared to the number of men.

He appealed to women to go out in their numbers and vote for leaders who will drive inclusive democratic practice.

About GEW

GEW is an election observation platform from a gender perspective.

Ms Fijabi said the strategic initiative has been put in place to gather information and carry out analysis on womens participation in the election as well as the assessment of all critical components of the electoral processes for action and advisory towards more vibrant democratic governance in Nigeria.

To this end, NWTF GEW has deployed 400 accredited observers across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for tomorrow 25 February 2023, and the Governorship and State Assembly elections scheduled for 11 March 2023, to observe and assess how all elements of the election process impact all stakeholders from a gender perspective, she said.

She said NWTF through its use of an electronic gender-based checklist will watch and harvest critical data on the participation of women and other vulnerable groups in this election.

She noted that the organisation will also carry out its analysis based on the Electoral Act.

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Polls have opened across Abeokuta and Sagamu in Ogun State as voters are trooping out to participate in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the wrong BVAS machine was deployed to the polling unit of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and was returned to the local INEC office in Magbon, Abeokuta, when the error was detected.

Voters were still waiting for the return of the electoral officials as of the time of this report.

The Ogun state capital wore a solemn look despite low security presence in the city and its environs.

PREMIUM TIMES observed that voting commenced at Polling Unit 16, Ward 11 and Polling Unit 15, Ward 11 in African Church Grammar School, Ita Eko, Abeokuta, around 9.40 a.m. and 9.48 a.m. respectively.

The turnout of voters was low in many of the unitrs visited.

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Accreditation of a voter with the BVAS took an average of three minutes.

At Polling Unit 16, the first person to be accredited via the Personal Voter Card (PVC) identification process failed repeatedly until the BVAS) was used.

Security operatives of the police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were around at the polling units.

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The Governor of Delta State and the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ifeanyi Okowa, has condemned the viral audio in which he, the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the Director-General of Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, were heard allegedly plotting to rig the general election.

He dismissed the viral video as an unfortunate fallout of the competitiveness of the current presidential race.

Mr Okowa spoke after casting his vote at his polling unit in Ika Northeast Local Government Area of Delta State at about 9.45am.

Responding to a journalists question about how the current presidential election has become one of the most competitive in recent times, Mr Okowa said: Democracy is about competition; it is about fairness and equity. The more the parties, as long as they are competing favourably, the better; but unfortunately, you find that people are out there trying to blackmail, even using all manner of things.

Im sure you saw what went viral yesterday. It is very unfortunate that we can go this dirty.

In a widely circulated audio clip, Atiku, Okowa and Tambuwal were heard discussing a plan to rig the 2023 general election.

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PREMIUM TIMES is still undertaking its own independent investigation of the audio clip.

However, the PDP has since denied the controversial audio. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Debo Ologunagba, in Abuja on Friday, the party called on Nigerians and the international community to utterly disregard the simulated audio.

Mr Ologunagba described the purported audio as another pathetical fabrication.

He accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being the masterminds of the allegedly doctored audio claiming that the ruling party has recruited hackers to produce and circulate fake media materials against key opposition candidates.

He said the aim was to demonise the PDP and its candidate before Nigerians, ahead of the polls.

Also dismissing the audio, Mr Phrank Shiabu, an aide to the presidential candidate of PDP, Atiku Abubakar, described it as utter rubbish. Mr Shaibu said in a statement that the audio was doctored by an artificial intelligence technology tool and could be identified easily as a fake, even from the tone of the purported discussants.

In this latest drivel, a montage of speeches delivered by Atiku, Tambuwal, and Okowa, since last year, were manipulated and pieced together to give an impression that they were discussing plans to rig Saturdays election. In this age of artificial intelligence technology, even dead people can be portrayed as delivering speeches. This is nothing new.

For the record, Atiku has run in two presidential elections and has never been indicted or prosecuted for election violence or vote buying.

But some people think they can sell a narrative of Atiku manipulating this election. This is indeed the height of desperation, the last kick of a dying horse. The APC and the Labour Party must note that elections are not won on social media but at the polling units.

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The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has voted at Polling Unit 005, Tandu, Kwankwaso ward in Madobi Local Government Area of Kano State.

The former Kano State Governor exuded confidence when he spoke with journalists after casting his vote at the unit.

I will win the presidential election, Mr Kwankwaso said, when asked if he would accept the outcome of the election if he loses.

I am delighted to witness the 25th of February, the day I voted alongside my family in my hometown, Kwankwaso. I am calling on Nigerians to come and vote for the right person who can do the job.

Lets allow peace to reign and I call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to work in accordance with the law for the sake of peace.

God willing, I will be elected as the next president, Mr Kwankwaso said.

The candidate said he is confident of winning the election and succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29.

Accreditation and voting started around 08:50 a.m. in the polling unit where hundreds of voters had arrived as early as 6 a.m.

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Voters in Aso, Mararaba, Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, have expressed difficulty in accessing their polling units to participate in the elections.

A voter, John Egba, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that his polling unit 053 was supposed to be at Government Secondary School, Aso.

When I got to the secondary school, they told me that polling unit 053 is at Aso Primary School, after getting to the school, I was told it was the wrong one.

I was again directed to go to Angwan Bawa in Aso. This is where they said is the right place, I am so tired, INEC should have done better, Mr Egba said.

Another voter, Juliana Eze, said she had been looking for the polling unit since 6 a. m.

It took me about three hours to locate this place. INEC is supposed to sensitise voters to the change of polling units. I am not happy about it.

Agbo Cecilia Odey said she had been at her supposed polling unit since 7 a.m at the New Nyanya primary school only to be told that her name was in a newly created unit.

According to her, I dont know the new area and again I dont have money to transport to the new PU to vote.

Ms Odey said INEC should be able to notify all that had their polling units changed in future.

She said at the primary school in New Nyanya, there was only one BVAS machine at that polling unit.

Other voters who spoke to NAN also complained about the same challenges of locating their polling units.

(NAN)

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Yiaga Africa, a non-profit organisation promoting good governance and democracy, has decried the late arrival of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to many of the polling units across Nigeria.

The organisation said it deployed 3,876 observers to polling units across Nigeria and 774 mobile observers across all local governments of the country for the presidential and federal legislative election held today.

In a press conference held at Transcrop Holton, Abuja, the Executive Director of the think-tank, Samson Idoto, said they had launched a critical election observation team via its WatchingTheVote scheme.

Reading out the observations of the group, Huseini Abudu, chairman of the WatchingTheVotes scheme, said Yiaga Africa observers were vigilant enough in thousands of polling units, gathering election voting data across zones.

Mr Abudu noted that the late arrival of INEC officials and delay commencement of polls were the first critical thing observed so far across the country.

Our findings show INEC officials arrived by 7:30 a.m. in only 27 per cent of the polling units, he said.

He also noted how voters whose polling units were relocated found it difficult to identify their new places of voting.

Critical cases

In some of the polling units observed, polling officers declined to be deployed for the elections, Mr Abudu said.

In Ngor Okpala LGA in Imo State, YIAGA Africa WTV Observers reported a shortage of ad-hoc staff due to poor remuneration and fear of attacks, he said.

He also noted that BVAS election tools provided by INEC were not authenticating the facial or fingerprints of voters, citing the Gbagada area of Lagos as an example.

The think-tank, however, recommended an extension of voting hours to allow voters denied due to technical issues to exercise their franchise. It also urged INEC to ensure strict compliance with the electoral law.

Like YIAGA, the Commonwealth observation team had also raised concerns about the late arrival of election officials to polling units.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that INEC had earlier acknowledged the late arrival of its officials to polling units across Nigeria. The commission, however, refused to officially extend the voting time, beyond the 2:30 p.m. earlier approved. However, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said anyone in the queue by 2:30 a.m. would be allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes.

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The Republican Party's newest presidential candidate, former South Carolina Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, introduced herself by showcasing her roots as a child of immigrants.

Haley's family, originally from India, immigrated to the United States in 1969 and settled in a small, segregated town, Bamberg, South Carolina, where she was born three years later.

One can glean two reasons why Haley is spotlighting her background and presenting her candidacy as a successful minority woman.

First, one doesn't need to be "woke" to recognize the value of an Asian American woman running for president with an agenda of less government and more freedom.

Second, showcasing her story and success qualifies her to say, as she does in her introduction video, "Take it from me, America is not a racist country."

The strategy has opened her to attacks and criticism from the right and from the left.

Ann Coulter, who still seethes at Haley for taking down the Confederate flag which flew on South Carolina's state Capitol grounds in Columbia, called her a "preposterous creature" and suggested she "go back to your own country and reconsider that history."

But, of course, this is Haley's "own country." If it weren't, she wouldn't be able to run for president. But Coulter's business is not facts but provoking an audience that buys her books.

More temperate advice came from The Wall Street Journal, which suggested Haley must do a better job distinguishing herself from other Republicans. No Republican, says the Journal, would disagree that "America is not a racist country."

This is, of course, true. But I believe Haley is correct that it achieves particular resonance coming from an Indian American woman with a stellar resume of public service and achievement.

The left's answer to Ann Coulter, Whoopi Goldberg, told her audience, regarding Haley, that "there are things about our country that are not perfect and to pretend that it is and to pretend that nothing happened is ridiculous."

But, of course, Haley did not say that our country is "perfect" or that "nothing happened."

Perfection is not what defines our country or any place or anything in this world. What defines and makes our country unique is freedom. This is Haley's point when she says, "Even on our worst day we are blessed to live in America."

It is here in our free country that Ann Coulter and Whoopi Goldberg get to speak their minds and not worry that they will disappear in the night, as they might in China or Iran.

More serious criticism comes from the left from Asian American author Wajahat Ali, who accuses Haley of brandishing the "model minority myth," which he calls a tool of white supremacists. That is, per Ali, they use the success stories "of some Asian Americans" as "a cudgel against Black people" who are "told by GOP politicians to stop blaming racism for their problems."

Haley has only showcased her own story. But the picture regarding the phenomenal business success stories of American immigrants is not a "cudgel" but powerful testimony to the opportunities for success and achievement in America.

According to a 2022 study by the National Foundation for American Policy, "more than half (319 of 582) of America's start-up companies valued at $1 billion or more" were founded by immigrants. Nearly "two-thirds of (billion-dollar) companies were founded or co-founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant." And "almost 80%" of billion-dollar companies "have an immigrant founder or an immigrant in a key leadership role."

These include immigrants from India, Israel, U.K., Canada, China, France, Germany, Russia, Iran, Nigeria and many others.

My organization, CURE, covered Haley's rollout event in Charleston. The palpable energy and excitement at the rally could be a sign that this campaign will pick up steam as more candidates enter the field, each pitching their own persona. Welcome to election 2024.
The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has acknowledged some challenges and complaints emanating from different polling units across the country in the ongoing presidential and National Assembly elections.

Mr Yakubu, at a briefing at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Saturday, said there were attacks on INEC officials, late deployment and arrival of officials among other challenges.

The INEC chairman, however, said the commission has done well by reducing the challenges that have characterised general elections so far.

He said for the first time since 2011, a general election was not postponed, stating that this was an achievement for the commission.

He assured Nigerians that the issues are being addressed and that no Nigerian would be disenfranchised.

Mr Yakubu said the thugs attacked and snatched Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) Machines in Safana Local Government Areas (LGAs), Katsina and Delta State.

While six BVAS machines were snatched in Safana, two were snatched in Delta State, he said.

He said the BVAS machines have been replaced with spare ones and voting continued in the affected areas.

Mr Yakubu added that three of the six snatched in Katsina have been recovered by security agencies.

In Shiroro LGA of Niger State, he said voting commenced late due to an earlier bandit attack, which he said, was not necessarily on INEC officials. He, however, said voting has since commenced there.

Mr Yakubu added that the commission is aware of the late deployment of election materials in Abia and Imo State.

He, however, said no Nigerian will be disenfranchised. If voters are on the queue before 2:30, they will vote, he said.

In Imo state, he said four LGAs Okigwe, Obuta, Osu and Orlu experience some challenges.

There were challenges in all the 11 Wards of Osu LGA, he said.

In Orlu, said there are challenges in six of the 11 wards and five of Okigwe LGAs 11 Wards.

He said security officials have now escorted officials to the said locations.

In Borno State, he said the commission is tracking reported attacks in Jere and the challenge encountered in the Maiduguri metropolis where the Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) couldnt vote.

In Gwoza, he said the commission is monitoring the reports that insurgents were shooting indiscriminately from the top of a mountain.

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INEC has extended the time for voting indefinitely in Enugu State to accommodate the late commencement of the exercise in many parts of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that elections started late generally in the state due to logistics problems after drivers contracted to convey INECs election materials and staff complaining of not receiving alert for their payment.

NAN reports that elections commenced late at about 12 noon in most areas of the state after INEC staff made frantic efforts and alternative arrangement to get materials and staff to the polling units.

Rex Achumie, INEC Head of Department for Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), disclosed this to NAN as the voting is currently ongoing in the state.

Mr Achumie said until the last man on the voting queue is attended to, election will never end.

The timing for the election has extended infinito in the state. It will continue to the last man standing on the queue votes in the state.

Even if it ends at 12 midnight or 1 a.m., tomorrow being Sunday, it is valid and our people should be patient, he said.

He, however, said the commission was sorry for the embarrassment of starting late, which should be solely be blamed on commercial drivers contracted for the job of logistical movement.

NAN observed that more people were still trooping out in polling units across the state as the voting continuous.

(NAN)

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The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu, has appealed to candidates who would be defeated in the elections to accept the result in good faith and congratulate the winners.

Mr Ayu stated this in an interview with journalists after casting his vote at Mkovur Market in Ipav, Gboko Local Government (LGA), Benue State.

He said all well meaning Nigerians have a duty to ensure that democracy thrives.

As a democrat and advocate of peace, I want democracy to flourish in Nigeria, Mr Ayu said.

He further commended INEC for doing a good job, stressing that there was a great improvement from the previous elections.

Mr Ayu expressed optimism that the PDP would emerge victorious after the polls.

He called on supporters of the PDP to be calm and law abiding as they await the outcome of the elections.

Also, an election observer and National Coordinator, Jireh Doo Foundation, Josephine Haba, lamented the late arrival of electoral materials at some polling units across the state.

Ms Haba said she went round and saw that some polling units had no materials and the electorate were left confused, stressing that she got the same reports from other local governments.

The electorate came to the polling units as early as 8.30am but it is unfortunate that the election started around 11am in some, 12 noon and some 1.30pm.

So, in order not to disenfranchise the electorate, INEC should extend the voting time to enable all those on queue to exercise their franchise, Ms Haba said.

(NAN)

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A former Nigerias Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo, has commended voters for coming out en masse to cast their votes during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Mr Nebo, a professor, spoke on Saturday shortly after casting his votes at Ward 11, PU 14, in Enugu North Local Government Area of the state.

The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said the large turnout of voters at the unit had never been seen before.

I feel so excited. Weve never seen people come out in enmasse like this.

I have voted in the past. It is like this one (turnout) is about three times what we used to have before, he said.

Warning to Supreme Court

The former minister said the Supreme Court should not truncate democracy by overturning the outcome of the polls.

He said the large turnout would reflect in the result of the election just as it warned the Supreme Court not to truncate democracy by overturning the result.

At the end of the day, we hope that the actual result will be called. And we just hope that the other political party, which is the Supreme Court, will not try to truncate democracy, he said.

Delay avoidable

Mr Nebo expressed confidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will deliver credible elections.

He, however, faulted the delay caused by the mode of operation of the commissions officials at the unit.

We hope that INEC will deliver. We have had some problems here and there.

Even here, even though its going smoothly, but instead of using either the finger or face, they (INEC officials) are using both. Delaying everybody, he stated.

Also speaking, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Enugu, Emmanuel Chukwuma, told reporters, after casting his vote that INEC has been poor in providing logistics for the election in the state which he said was behind the delay in voting.

People are out to vote because they are tired. We are not happy with what is happening in Nigeria. We want a new Nigeria.

INEC must intervene because up till now (12:41 p.m.) in some places (in Enugu), some people have not started voting, Mr Chukwuma said.

Meanwhile, voting was still on as of 3:05 p.m. at the polling unit with several voters still in the queue.

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A Lagos monarch, the Elegushi of Ikate, Saheed Elegushi, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of not doing enough to verify applications for the transfer of polling units by voters.

The Elegushi claimed the lack of due diligence by INEC has encouraged strange voters to take part in the voting process, which should not have been the case.

The monarch spoke to journalists in front of his palace where there was a report of disruption of voting by thugs.

He said: You can see that a lot of people came out but I have one question to ask INEC, how can somebody just go to your (INEC) website and make a transferthey give you a fake address and you didnt verify it.

We see a lot of strange faces; they dont live in this vicinity; and how can someone be transferred to a place he or she is not living; it is a fraud. I think we have to take that up. Definitely, after the election, we have to take it up. It is not right to see a lot of strange faces that dont even live in this local government and they are voting here, he added.

Earlier, there were reports of attacks by thugs at the polling unit just outside the Oba Elegushi Palace at Ikate in Eti-Osa, Lekki.

One of the intending voters, who identified himself as Thompson Nwajuba, told Arise News the attack by the thugs appeared well coordinated.

Everything was initially going well, though the INEC officials arrived late, like 11 a.m. Before you know it some thugs came scattering the various ballot boxes. In fact, I heard one of them saying something unfortunate that this is not Ibo Land, right now we cant get through to the INEC officials, we dont know what to do but we will remain here because we have to vote, he said.

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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the ongoing Presidential election and National Assembly elections.

Mr Obasanjo said this after casting his vote at his polling unit 2, ward 11 inside Olushomi compound, Totoro  Sokori in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State.

He said Nigeria was making progress in its electoral process with the use of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).

The former president noted that the BVAS ensured the credibility, transparency and fairness of the election, adding that an election is just the first leg of the process of enthroning quality leadership and governance in a country.

He expressed hope that the BVAS would work seamlessly across the country.

What I have seen here is okay. I think we will get it through and whatever may be apparent (during the exercise) can then be talked about for future elections, Mr Obasanjo said.

Meanwhile, former governor, Ibikunle Amosun and his wife, Olufunso, have also voted at their polling centre at Ward 6, unit 8, Ita Gbangba in Abeokuta North Local Government.

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The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) said it observed the late arrival of election officials in most of the polling units its observers visited. The organisation also noted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines delayed the election in many parts of Nigeria.

The think-tank said it deployed over 4,000 observers to polling units across Nigeria to monitor the elections.

In a press conference held at Transcrop Holton, Abuja, the chairman of the election analysis centre, Adele Jinadu, said the groups findings were based on five elements, including insecurity, institution and information disorder.

Ladi Bala, the president of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists and member of the election analysis centre, read the press statement on behalf of CDD.

Mrs Bala noted that the late arrival of INEC officials was a general problem in most of the polling units visited by CDD observers.

Our observer data indicated late arrival of poll officials to their respective polling units across the country on Election Day, she said.

However, the CDD noted that the poor functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) hampered the flow of election exercises across Nigeria.

Observer data showed the availability of one Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device in 98.8% of polling units, the statement read in parts. However, there have been reports of various glitches during the accreditation process, which contributed to delays in voting in places such as Borno state.

The CDD also noted some reports of violence and voter suppression in some parts of the country.

We have asked our observers in the field to gather more information about these issues, it said, noting that on the whole, we commend Nigerians on their participation and peaceful conduct so far, although we note growing reports of voters frustrated by the speed of the voting process.

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Meanwhile, the organisation commended Nigerians on their determination to vote and encouraged them to remain patient as they cast their votes.

Where voting has started late or where the process has still not started, we encourage INEC to extend the voting period in order to enable all who want to do so to cast their ballot, the CDD said.

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The police say five persons were injured on Saturday in an attack on voters by Boko Haram insurgents in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Abdu Umar, confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri.

Mr Umar said the terrorists fired several gunshots at voters from the top of Mandara Mountains, adding that five persons sustained injuries in the attack. He said the victims comprised two females and three males.

Efforts of the military within the area of responsibility helped in chasing the terrorists, forcing them to flee due to the superior firepower, he said.

The police chief said that normalcy has since been restored as the voting exercise continued while the victims were referred to hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, the Network of Civil Society Organisations in Borno (NECSOB) has expressed satisfaction with the turnout of voters in the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

The Chairman of the group, Bulama Abiso, who led a team of observers for the election, described the turnout as encouraging.

He, however, observed that there were a few cases of malfunctioning of BVAS resulting from delays in voting.

Mr Abiso urged the voters to conduct themselves well to facilitate a smooth conduct of the exercise. (NAN)

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President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, on Saturday, ignored warnings by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) concerning display of thumb printed ballots.

The electoral umpire prohibits use of mobile phones and other photographic devices at voting cubicles to forestall the menace of vote-buying that has blighted Nigerias elections.

A few hours after INECs National Commissioner in charge of voter education and publicity, Festus Okoye, cautioned that, No one will be allowed to take his or her phone to the voting cubicle, Messrs Buhari and Malami were seen displaying ballot after casting their votes for the APC.

Mr Okoye, who said the law prohibits display of ballots by voters, added that, officials of the ICPC, EFCC and security agencies will be on hand to monitor and ensure that the law in that respect is not violated.

But Garba Shehu, Mr Buharis spokesperson, described the Presidents conduct as a rare show of loyalty, by displaying his ballot paper, with thumb print for All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Saturday in Daura, Katsina State.

The president who voted at Ward A, Sarkin Yara Polling Unit, 003, was quoted to have reiterated his support for Mr Tinubu.

He boasted that the APC would win from Daura, Katsina State to Lagos.

Like Mr Buhari, Mr Malami was seen displaying ballot papers showing how he voted for various candidates of the APC at his Shiryar Fada, Garkar Na Gambo, polling unit of Nasarawa 1 Ward in Birnin-Kebbi on Saturday.

Umar Gwandu, the ministers spokesperson quoted Mr Malami as describing the election as peacefully and in line with the dictates and guidelines put in place by INEC and in conformity with the provisions of the Electoral Actsand international best practices associated with the election.

Similarly, Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, was seen at his polling unit at Guma local government, showing his ballot in favour of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Last week, Mr Ortom openly declared his support for Mr Obis presidential bid in Makurdi, the state capital, snubbing the can Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

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YIAGA Africa has called on INEC to extend the voting hours in polling units where accreditation of voters started late.

YIAGA Africa said this at its Watching The Vote (WTV)s Mid-day Situational Press Statement on Saturdays Presidential Election jointly signed by Hussaini Abdu, Chairman, WTV Working Group and Samson Itodo, Executive Director, YIAGA.

Reading the document, Mr Abdu said YIAGA Africas WTV observation revealed critical challenges in the commencement of polling, ranging from the late arrival of officials and delayed opening of polls due to the shortage of election materials in some polling units.

He said that the late arrival of polling unit officials was exacerbated by the late deployment of the polling officials and election materials from the Registration Areas Centres (RACs) on election morning.

As of 1 p.m, the Yiaga Africa WTV Data Center has received 40 verified critical incident reports primarily concerning the late opening of the poll, he said.

Polling Officials declined to deploy for the elections, In Ngor Okpala LGA in Imo State, Yiaga Africa WTV Observer reported a shortage of ad hoc staff due to poor remuneration and fear of attacks as most of the officials were corp members or students.

The BVAS is not authenticating the facial or fingerprint of voters, he said.

Mr Abdu said that the call for extension of voting time was necessary to ensure eligible voters exercised their franchise.

INEC should issue clear and unambiguous communication on the extension of voting time to all polling officials and the public.

INEC should investigate the reasons responsible for the late deployment of election materials and personnel including the late activation of the Registration Area Centers (RACs).

Cases of breach of contractual obligations by transport workers should be met with sanctions.

Mr Abdu said that INEC should ensure timely response to issues raised at polling units such as malfunctioning of the BVAS and location of polling units. (NAN)

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The Tribune editorial board has opposed efforts in previous legislative sessions to increase the speed limit on multilane highways and sees no reason to change its position this session.

The House earlier this month approved House Bill 1475, which would raise the speed limit on multilane highways from 75 mph to 80 mph. The vote was 65-29, which reflects strong support for the change.

The Tribune still believes if the speed limit is raised to 80 it will just prompt some motorists to go faster. Anyone traveling the interstates in North Dakota knows that many motorists are already going 80 or faster. Theres a belief that the North Dakota Highway Patrol wont ticket drivers who arent going more than 5 mph over the limit.

Thats not necessarily true. Still, the Tribune believes if the speed limit is raised to 80, many motorists will quickly exceed it.

A higher speed limit will increase the safety risks as more drive faster. It will reduce the reaction time of drivers in difficult situations.

Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, sponsored bills to raise the speed limit three previous times. Hes the sponsor of HB 1475. He argues the 80 mph limit will reduce drive time and cut the odds of drivers being pulled over by the Patrol.

The reduction in drive time seems small to the Tribune compared to the increased risk. The chances of a driver being stopped by the Patrol are often determined by the number of officers on the interstate.

On a positive note, the Senate approved Senate Bill 2362, 31-14, which would allow officers to stop a vehicle if the driver or any passengers arent wearing a seat belt. Under present law no driver over 18 can be stopped solely for not wearing a seat belt. Drivers can be cited for not buckling up only if they are stopped for another offense. This is considered a secondary enforcement law. SB 2362 would make it into a primary enforcement law.

The Tribune favors the change, especially since only 81% of North Dakota drivers use seat belts compared to the 90% national rate.

The Tribune expects the House will reject SB 2362. That will be unfortunate, since seat belts have been shown to save lives.

In 2018 the Department of Transportation, Highway Patrol and the Department of Health launched Vision Zero, an effort to eliminate highway fatalities. The last four years the states traffic toll has hovered around 100, with 100 in 2019, 100 in 2020, 101 in 2021 and 100 in 2022.

In 2018, the state recorded 104 deaths, a 10% decrease from the previous year and the lowest toll since 2008. In the last five years the death toll hasnt budged much. Vision Zeros success will be determined by how much we can lower the fatality numbers.

When 101 people died on the states highways in 2021, 43 who died werent wearing seat belts, and 27 deaths were speed-related. The 2021 statistics would indicate a lower speed limit and the use of seat belts might reduce the number of highway fatalities.

Of course there are other contributing factors. But obeying the speed limit and buckling up are simple steps for a safer trip. The Tribune prefers a 75 mph limit and recommends using a seat belt.

If North Dakota wants to make a reasonable attempt to achieve Vision Zero, it needs to make safety a priority. HB 1475 doesnt do that.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says some of its operatives monitoring the presidential and National Assembly elections were attacked by political thugs on Saturday.

The attacks, according to a statement by the commission, took place in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Imo State.

In the statement by EFCC spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren, the commission said its operatives were attacked near the Chiefs palace in Bwari Area Council in Abuja.

The EFCC said the attack followed the arrest of a man for allegedly masterminding a well-orchestrated vote-buying procedure at the polling unit at Science Primary School, Bwari.

The team had arrested the suspect, said to be about 30 years old, and retrieved from him a list of beneficiaries he had already paid some money to through an online banking app, EFCC stated.

The commission said its operatives were at the point of moving the suspect away from the polling unit when the thugs attacked, smashing the windshield of the commissions patrol van.

The statement added that they only retreated into their hideouts after the operatives responded by releasing warning shots.

Some members of the Joint Task Force team comprising officers of the State Services, the Nigeria Police and others were also said to have arrived to support the EFCC operatives.

The incident was immediately reported at the Bwari Police Station.

PREMIUM TIMES has reported several cases of violence in the ongoing Saturday presidential and national assembly elections in several states, with thugs snatching ballot boxes and burning ballot papers and preventing the electorate from casting their votes for their preferred candidates in some polling units.

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The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, on Saturday lost his Polling Unit 19, Ward 10, Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu.

He polled 19 votes to come fourth behind the Labour Party with 27 votes, PDP, which scored 39 votes and the APC which scored 52.

After casting his votes earlier in the day, Mr Adebayo said he would congratulate Nigerians for the outcome of the election and sympathise with the winner of the election.

According to him, whoever wins Saturdays presidential election would inherit a house on fire and would need to act fast to make Nigeria work again.

Anybody that wins has the first six months to turn things around and show his readiness to fix Nigeria to make life better for Nigerians, he said.

I voted against any hitch. I got reports from Lagos that they have not seen INEC officials in some places and in Katsina state, I heard information that some people brought items to give to voters.

The intention to sell or buy vote has not changed, and hoarding money cannot stop vote buying. It is better not to offer any money like I did not to pay SDP agents at the polling unit. We need to pay attention to other political parties.

READ ALSO: Nigerian journalists offer tips for covering 2023 elections

Asked if he was confident of winning the election, the SDP presidential candidate said confidence is one of the things you require when youre contesting like this, so it is a good thing to be confident. Our own approach in the Social Democratic Party is to bring the best for the country.

Whoever becomes the president now has a serious task, we need to clean up our politics, he added.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says its operatives monitoring the presidential and national assembly polls, have arrested some suspects engaged in vote buying in Benue state.

The EFCC in a statement said it arrested a lecturer with the Sarwuan Tarka University (formerly known as the University of Agriculture), Makurdi, Benue State, with the sum of N306,700 in various denominations stashed in his car.

READ FULL STATEMENT

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, monitoring the presidential and national assembly polls made some arrests of suspected vote buyers. One Dr. Cletus Tyokyaa, a lecturer with the Sarwuan Tarka University (formerly known as the University of Agriculture), Makurdi, Benue State, was arrested at the RCM Polling Unit in Daudu, Guma Local Government Area of the state with the sum of N306,700 in various denominations stashed in his car.

Luck ran out on the suspect when he drove to the voting centre which was different from his polling unit and tried to run upon sighting operatives of the Commission.

When asked about his mission at the center, Dr. Tyokyaa could not provide a coherent explanation, leading to arrest, and the search of his car revealed the money in various denominations.

He was released after volunteering a statement to the Commission.

The EFCC also arrested a man for alleged vote buying with N194,000 at Gidan Zakka polling unit, Goron Dutse area of Kano Municipal Local Government, Kano State.

A party agent buying votes through bank transfers was also arrested in Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory, while two persons, Stanley Nsemo and Eno Amponsah were arrested in Calabar, Cross River State with the sum of $450 (Four Hundred and Fifty United States Dollars) and N156, 800 on suspicion of alleged votes buying.

Earlier in the day, a woman with 18 voter cards was intercepted in a sting operation at Badarwa area of Kaduna, Kaduna State.

The woman, one Maryam Mamman Alhaji, who is a member of the support group of one of the leading political parties, also had in her possession, a 17-page list containing names of eligible voters, their bank details and phone numbers as accredited under Badarwa/Malali Ward 01 and 08, Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

She was nabbed after undercover operatives pretended they had voter cards and were desperate to sell them.

She is currently being grilled by operatives of the Kaduna Zonal Command of the EFCC, with a view to unravelling other members of her syndicate whom she claimed are also collecting voters cards and paying monies through PoS or direct bank transfers

Wilson Uwujaren

Head, Media & Publicity

25/02/2023

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Suspected political thugs disrupted Saturdays Presidential and National Assembly elections in parts of Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The affected polling units included Ward 5 Unit 43 Elelenwo and Ward Nine Unit Three, Rumueme, both in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

The suspected thugs, who some voters described as vigilantes stormed Ward 9, Unit 3 Rumeme, around 4.20 p.m. in two Toyota Sienna buses.

They commandeered the electoral officers and the materials into the vehicles and zoomed off as the unarmed security personnel at the polling unit watched helplessly.

Earlier, a voter in the unit, Samuel Uzochukwu, told NAN that he and his wife had been at the polling station since morning waiting for INEC officials, who arrived late.

According to him, the BVAS machines the officials came with were only functioning for a short time before they were rectified.

The exercise is a sham; we have been here since morning and its now 3.53 p.m. and only 40 persons have been accredited and we have over 2000 voters here as you can see, he said.

Another voter, Emma Ajoku, said he came out to vote but was disappointed that he could not vote at almost 4 p.m.

They started at 11a.m. and said one BVAS was not functioning and up till now few persons have been accredited, she said.

At Ward Five Unit 43 Elelenwo, some suspected thugs snatched the ballot boxes before the votes cast could be counted by INEC officials.

A voter, Johnson Woka, said the hoodlums came into the polling unit, chased away voters waiting for their votes to be countered and made away with the ballot boxes.

When the political thugs came to the centre, they insisted that the votes would be counted at the Registration Area Centre (RAC) and some voters protested.

We told them that what they are demanding contradicts INEC processes that state that votes should be counted at the polling units.

They proceeded to the Presiding Officer and the lone police officer and said they had agreed to move the ballot boxes to the RAC which we knew was not true, he said.

Another voter, who gave her name as Cynthia said the thugs also harassed some voters who had attempted to resist them.

One of the political thugs even smashed an iPhone belonging to a lady who was alleged to be filming them when they raided the centre, she added.

In Unit 20, Ward 10, Obio/Akpo LGA, all the voters were frustrated as they were disenfranchised because the BVAS did not function while the INEC officials left the polling station in the company of some policemen.

Some of the voters, Grace Ogar and Austin Omoko, said they were frustrated as no one cast his/her votes.

The Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO), Isaac Okpiri, said, as you can see everywhere is charged and everybody is tensed up. I cant say anything again.

A voter in Ward Ward 10, Unit 21, Faith Mark, said she did not vote due to the malfunctioning of the BVAS machines deployed to the unit.

They called out only 100 names. Some military men arrived and the INEC officials left with them, she said.

Another voter, Ifeanyichukwu Nsuofor, expressed sadness for being disenfranchised, saying the three BVAS machines in the units were not functional. (NAN)

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, has won the polling unit of President Muhammadu Buhari, in Daura, Katsina State.

The polling unit is at Kofar Baru 003, Babban Tone quarters, Sarkin Yara A Ward, Daura, Katsina State.

Mr Tinubu has also won the polling unit of the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, and that of the APC National Legal adviser, Ahmed El Marzuq, also in Daura, Katsina State.

At Mr Buharis unit, Mr Tinubu polled 215 votes when Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got 51 and Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) got 37.

In the senatorial election, the APC got 184, PDP 51 and NNPP 4. For the House of Representatives, APC got 236, pro 51 and NNPP 4

At PU 011 Dubawa Gari, Sirika B, Dutsi local government, where the aviation minister cast his vote, Mr Tinubu got 67 while his main rival, Mr Atiku got 29.

In the Senate, APC polled 67 while PDP got 35 just as the APC got 63 and PDP 42 in the House of Representatives election.

At Mr El Marzuqs polling unit, Kusugu Ward, PU 012, Daura LGA, Katsina State, Mr Tinubu got 127,Atiku got 68 while Mr Kwankwaso got 31.

The National Assembly elections also went the APCs way. The party got 162 for Senate and 180 for the House of Representatives while the PDP polled 58 and 42 for the two elections, the NNPP got five and eight respectively.

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Olugbenga GB Agboola, the Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave, Africas leading payment technology company, rang the closing bell for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday. This event was part of the Founders Day celebration in honour of Black History Month, which recognizes the achievements, contributions, and history of African-Americans who are making significant strides in all areas of life.

Flutterwave is a success story originating from Africa, led by an African-American CEO. In 2022, Flutterwave reached a valuation of $3 billion, making it the highest-valued African startup that covers sub-Saharan Africa and, most recently, North East Africa after obtaining an operational license for Egypt.

In October, Olugbenga GB Agboola was honored by President Buhari for his contribution to technology and financial development in Nigeria. The President decorated him with the Officer of the Order of Niger (OON) award. This recognition highlights the significant impact that Flutterwave and its CEO are having on Africas financial and technological sectors.

Flutterwaves success is a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of African entrepreneurs and a positive reflection of the African tech ecosystem. It demonstrates the potential of the continents vast untapped resources and the immense opportunities available for global investors. The ringing of the closing bell by Olugbenga GB Agboola at the New York Stock Exchange is a significant milestone for the African tech ecosystem. It underscores the talent and innovation that exists in Africa and showcases the continents potential to make an impact on the global stage

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Voting during the presidential and National Assembly elections began amid a high turnout of voters in Bauchi and Gombe states.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Boi Polling Unit 005, in Bogoro Local Government Area of the state, reports that there was an impressive turnout of voters as early as 7:25 a.m.

NAN reports voting and accreditation of voters commenced at about 8:30 a.m. in most polling units in the area amidst the heavy presence of security officials.

In Toro, Darazo, Ningi, Shira, Katagum and Zaki also recorded a large turnout of voters in most polling units across the areas.

At Pada Unit 03 in the Tilde Fulani area of Toro, election officers commenced accreditation of voters who waited in an orderly manner in queues.

Also, there was a high turnout of women voters at Tsangaya Kurmi Unit 002 in Darazo and Vocational Training Center 001 in Ganjuwa where the voting process was conducted smoothly without hitches.

A cross-section of the voters, who spoke to NAN, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.

Idris Mamuda, a voter at Tsangaya Kurmi Unit 002, said that he was accredited within a few minutes by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

I am impressed with INECs preparations for the elections.

Election officers arrived early at the polling units and the election commenced on a good time, he said.

Faiza Malami, a voter at the Yayami Polling unit said she was accredited with five minutes in spite of the large turnout of women voters.

Similarly, Harsanu Muhammad and Idris Mamuda, who spoke at Kofar Sarki Unit, Azare, and Tsangaya Kurmi Unit 02, commended the smooth conduct of the exercise.

NAN reports, however, that there was a low turnout of voters in Daniya Hardo Ward of Bauchi LGA.

In Gombe metropolis, accreditation and voting began at about 8:40 a.m. in most polling units in Gombe metropolis.

The exercise was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere in most units in presence of security agents to maintain law and order.

The exercise also recorded a high turnout of voters patiently waiting in the queues to exercise their civic rights, as election officers arrived at the centres as early as 7:30 a.m.

Adamu Mohammed and Yaya Abdulrahman, Presiding Officers (POs) at Babana-Birni 2 and 7 polling units, said they have all the needed election materials.

Mr Abdulrahaman said the exercise began at about 8:40 a.m. at the unit.

However, the exercise did not commence on time at Zulkireni 2 and Ajiya 16, in spite of the large turnout of voters.

At Bajoga Unit 006, Presiding Officer Solomon Shuks said that accreditation and voting commenced around 8:40 a.m. as voters were seen in the queue waiting for their turn.

NAN also reports that accreditation and voting were being conducted smoothly in Kwami and Funakaye LGA amidst tight security.

(NAN)

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Eligible voters have decried the late arrival of election materials at unit 002 polling unit of Sintali Ward in Jalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State.

Waziri Ishaku, one of the voters, told NAN that he arrived at the polling unit as early as 8 a.m. and still could not find materials.

He, however, expressed optimism that the materials would be delivered safely and voting would commence successfully.

Aliyu Bawa, another voter, expressed his displeasure over the non-availability of electoral materials.

Mr Bawa said that he arrived at the polling unit early but could not find election ad-hoc staff.

NAN reports that some of the pooling units visited had materials just arriving. (NAN)

MK/EAL

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After initially leaving his polling unit due to the late arrival of polling materials and officials, the Vice- presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima, eventually voted at his Shettimari unit.

After voting, Mr Shettima said he was optimistic about the electoral process.

Mr Shettima urged all contestants to accept the outcome of the election in good faith.

Nigerians need to work for the greater good of the nation.

The longer journey is the call for national unity and progress.

On the challenges experienced, which affected his chance to vote earlier, Mr Shettima said it is normal, in view of the huge tasks involved in organising election in a populous country like Nigeria.

READ ALSO:

Its too early to give judgment on INEC, we need to give them the benefit of doubt.

I believed INEC is pragmatic enough to extend the voting up to 6 pm or even 10 pm to enable the public to exercise their right to vote, Mr Shettima said.

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Voters in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, trooped out early to their polling units on Saturday, as they prepared to vote in the presidential and National Assembly elections.

The scores of potential voters were seen waiting for officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who are yet to arrive at the polling units in the area.

At a polling unit in Queen Amina Street, Phase II, PW and Police Estate, hundreds of voters were seen as early as 7:30 a.m.

Some of the voters who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) expressed hope in the electoral system while urging Nigerians to conduct themselves peacefully.

Lateef Taiwo, a resident of the area said it is advisable to come early because the polling units are usually crowded later in the day.

He said voters should act peacefully while calling on the electoral officers to ensure that the process is fair and credible.

Another voter, Kingsley Okoro, also called for a peaceful process while urging Nigerians to make the right choice in the interest of the country.

Japhet Opara, another potential voter, said it is the civic duty responsibility of Nigerians to participate in the elections and ensure that the process is credible.

I advise the electorates to be calm, though I believe that this election will not be violent in any way.

The process as initiated by INEC seems easy when compared to other elections, he said.

RAED ALSO:

Amaka Agbalize said voters at the polling unit are organised.

I just picked a number, which is 250. I am optimistic that my vote will count.

I advised the electorate to coordinate themselves and obey the security personnel so that things can move on smoothly, she said.

Free vehicular movement

NAN however observed that there is free vehicular movement within Kubwa in spite of the restriction of movement imposed during elections.

The INEC has said there are a total of 93,469,008 eligible voters in its voters register after the final cleanup that includes the removal of double registration and underage voters.

According to the commission, there are 1,570,307 voters in the Federal Capital Territory.

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Even when Boeing has its best month in years, it has problems.

Boeing (BA) on Tuesday disclosed a new issue with the 787 Dreamliner widebody jet, which has been dogged with problems since August. The company said some of the planes fuselage was not joined together to meet precise standards and there are questions about the verification process to make sure they meet the standards.

The locations where parts of the plane are joined must meet precise standards down to a small fraction of an inch. There are questions about the inspection process used to check that work.

The company said it has been working with the FAA on the problem and identified a way to fix the 787s that havent yet been delivered to customers. Boeing said 787 planes already in service do not need to be grounded.

The FAA agreed, saying it is aware of a manufacturing quality issue, and it poses no immediate threat to flight safety.

Based on data, the FAA will determine whether similar modifications should be made on 787s already in commercial service, the FAA said in a statement.

Boeing will fix the undelivered planes and inspect them before delivery. The company said that process would take a few weeks.

We will continue to take the necessary time to ensure Boeing airplanes meet the highest quality prior to delivery, the company said in a statement.

The company has about 100 undelivered Dreamliners. In April it said it expected to deliver a majority of those jets during 2021. However, Boeing said Tuesday it wont hit that target because of the 787s problems.

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Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi on Saturday joined the queue of eligible voters in Agada, Okene Local Government Area, to cast his vote at the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor arrived at the Agasa Polling Unit No 0011 of 867 registered voters at 9.40 a.m.

Mr Bello came into the venue in the company of his aides and walked into the venue to greet the electorate who had formed two lines  one for females and the other for males.

Mr Bello joined the queue after greeting the electorate, the security officials and journalists around as well as INEC officials and observers.

He waited in the queue until it got to his turn when he was accredited, biometrically captured and given the ballot papers to cast his vote.

He voted around 9.58 a.m. and left immediately thereafter.

(NAN)

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The police in Katsina have arrested 15 young men for being in possession of laptops that appear to be used for election-related purposes.

A police source told PREMIUM TIMES that the men were arrested with laptops and were suspected of being in possession of tracking devices to be used in a situation room.

They were arrested at different locations in the Katsina metropolis Friday evening following an intelligence report, the source said.

The police command spokesperson, Gambo Isa, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that some youth suspected to be hackers were arrested but did not give further details.

You see, contrary to what some people are telling you people (journalists), those arrested were not with ballot papers as being rumoured, Mr Isa said. We had an intelligence report on suspected hackers and our men decided to act on it. Weve some people in our custody and investigation has started. Weve every reason to investigate them but its only when we have the outcome of the investigation that Ill update you, he said.

However, our source, who asked not to be named, provided a few more details.

We believe theyre working for a political party because all their systems (computer laptops) have the logo of the party on the screens. They are at the CID right now, our police source said, declining to mention the party.

Although the police investigation is ongoing, all the major political parties in Nigeria have hired young tech-savvy personnel to monitor the elections and results online.

The electoral commission, INEC, has improved its use of technology for this election including the real-time publication of result sheets from polling units on its IREV portal.

Political parties, media houses and other interested parties have thus hired personnel, who are tech-savvy, to monitor the online portals and other relevant information online.

It is unclear if that is what the 15 young men arrested by the Katsina police were hired to do by the political party that recruited them.

The presidential and national assembly elections across Nigeria hold today.

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President Muhammadu Buhari, alongside his wife, Aisha, and other family members cast their votes at polling unit 003, Sarkin Yara A, Kofar Baru, Daura, Katsina State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the president and his wife arrived at the polling unit at about 9.57 a.m., amid cheers from other people present.

The president, who was accredited immediately after arriving at the unit, cast his vote after undergoing verification by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr Buhari then displayed his ballot paper, as the crowd at the polling unit insisted to see it and he responded cheerfully.

He urged all the candidates to accept the outcome of the elections as the choice of the electorate.

(NAN)

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Accreditation of voters for Presidential and National Assembly elections in Kano State started early in many polling units in Madobi, Gwale and Ungogo Local Government Areas with a large turnout of voters.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exercise began at 8:23 a.m.

Also, the Presiding Officer (PO) at Malami, Salid Kabir, told NAN that the BVAS machine is functional with voters being accredited and voting immediately.

At the Malami unit of Tandu area, the exercise went on smoothly with about 15 persons casting their votes as of 9:15 am.

Mamood Sani, the Presiding Officer at Malami, said the BVAS is fast in accrediting voters before voting properly.

However, the late arrival of election materials and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials led to the slow start for the presidential and National Assembly elections in some polling units in Ungogo local government areas of Kano.

NAN reports that INEC officials and security agents had not yet arrived as of 8:55 a.m. as only domestic observers and voters were seen in Rimin Gata Primary School polling units.

At Polling Units 014, 015 and 043 at Rijiyar Zaki Ward 7, male voters and party agents were seen awaiting the arrival of INEC officials.\

Usman Umar, a voter, told NAN he had been waiting at the scene since 7.00 a.m.

We have been here for almost two hours and there are no signs of security agents, INEC officials and voting materials, he said.

Zubaida Jibrin, an observer for YIAGA Africa, told NAN she was surprised that the INEC officials and security agents were yet to arrive at the polling units.

We were at Rijiyar Zaki Ward yesterday and the INEC officials told us that they slept at Rijiyar Zaki and it is unfortunate that they have not yet arrived at Rimin Gata polling units.

Arabi Sani, party agent for the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP), said he was surprised that INEC officials had not arrived at the time of this report.

At Gwale LGA in Dorayi Karma polling unit, accreditation did not commence as of 8:25 am, due to the non-payment of officials allowances.

We will not allow INEC officials to transport materials to other units unless they paid us N4,000 allowances, one of the officials told journalists in Dorayi Karama.

NAN reports that there was a large turnout of eligible voters awaiting to exercise their civic rights.

Abdulsamat Ishaku, a polling officer at Dorayi Karama, told NAN that at about 8:32 a.m., all the materials needed for the conduct of the exercise were made available. (NAN)

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Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have finally arrived at the polling unit of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Ikeja, Lagos State. They arrived one hour after voting ought to have started.

Mr Tinubu is a registered voter at Polling Unit 085, Ward F, Sunday Adigun, Alausa, in Ikeja area of Lagos.

INEC officials arrived at the polling unit at about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.

EFCC, observers, police officers, journalists are at the polling as of 9:30 a.m.

Mr Tinubu, who voted at the polling unit 047 during the 2019 general election, is expected to vote at unit 085 of the ward in this election season.

PREMIUM TIMES visited the Registration Area Centres (RAC) around 8 a.m. and met many of the officials seated, while buses expected to convey them to their respective polling units were arriving to pick them up.

An official confirmed to our reporter that they had logistic hitches.

As of 10:10 a.m., the officials were still arranging their cubicles and other items needed for the exercise at the Polling Unit 85, while a handful of voters loitered around.

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The Deputy Governor of Ekiti, Monisade Afuye, has described the turnout of voters in the state for the Presidential and National Assembly elections in Ekiti as heartwarming and impressive.

Mrs Afuye said that the Bimodal Voters Authentication System (BVAS) initiative of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has improved the integrity of the countrys electoral process.

The deputy governor spoke to journalists, Saturday, shortly after casting her vote at her Atiba /Aafin Ward 001, Unit 003 at Ikere Ekiti, Ikere Local Government Area of the state.

She also commended the efforts of security agencies deployed for election duties for being highly professional in the handling of the electoral process.

Mrs Afuye also commended the Independent INEC for the prompt supply of election materials to polling units.

She appealed to INEC and the security agencies, to maintain their professional conduct, till the end of voting for the entire exercise to be a huge success.

The exercise has been smooth and orderly, and this is due largely to the high level of professionalism of the INEC, as a superintending authority, and the complementary roles being played by the security agencies.

You could all see the large turnout of voters. This substantiated the fact that the security agencies are not harassing anyone and that the political parties did what they were supposed to do.

The BVAS is working very fast and adding credibility to the integrity of our polls. Now, the outcome shall be acceptable to all parties.

Now that the INEC and security agencies have been performing their duties creditably well, I charge the voters and party agents to be civil and peaceful in their approaches.

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Let them vote peacefully and stay around to protect the sanctity of their ballots because that is the only power they have to elect their leaders.

I hope that all the stakeholders participating in this election will continue this way so that the election can be successful for our nation to be progressive and peaceful, Mrs Afuye stated.

NAN

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Some angry youth, on Saturday, attacked voters and the journalists covering the presidential and National Assembly elections at Liberty area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the youths attacked the vehicles passing through Liberty-Oke Ado road, particularly those on election duties.

One of the vehicles attacked by the youths was occupied by NAN crew members who were moving around the city to monitor the election.

The youth lamented the hardship they were experiencing due to the current scarcity of fuel and new naira notes, saying that government should have addressed the problem before talking about the election.

However, they were later prevailed upon to sheath their sword and not engage in any act capable of derailing the smooth conduct of the election.

Meanwhile, the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Taofeek Arapaja, has condemned the action of the youth.

He advised them against venting their anger on innocent citizens, particularly journalists who were doing their legitimate duties.

Mr Arapaja noted that the current state of the nation affected virtually everybody and that there should be no reason for one to be attacking the other.

Although anything affecting the livelihood and well-being of the people is likely to affect the electoral process what can we do?

However, I dont know why our people are venting their anger on the journalists who are doing their legitimate duties. They are part of us and are also expressing what the electorates are expressing.

I dont know why they should be attacked.

They shouldnt be attacked but you know our people, when they are angry and want to show their anger, they can start burning houses and doing all sorts of things.

I think people are so pained, frustrated and thats why were experiencing this, he said.

Meanwhile, At Ibadan North ward 3, unit 36, Yemetu Oja, the officials arrived at 10.10 a.m. while officials for polling unit 60 within the same location had yet to arrive.

The Presiding Officer, Abosede Akinade, attributed the delay to INEC not releasing the election materials to them on time.

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Akinade expressed optimism that they would meet up with the voting deadline.

A voter, Kamil Omotosho, blamed INEC for what he called inadequate planning, ahead of the election, and advised the commission to correct whatever anomalies before the March 11 governorship election.

NAN

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The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, won the presidential election in his polling unit in Lagos amidst low voter turnout.

He polled 33 votes to defeat the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, who scored eight votes.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, came a distant third in the unit with one vote.

None of the other 15 candidates scored any votes in the unit.

The polling unit had a total number of 43 accredited voters for the election. The number of registered voters who did not vote in the unit was more than double the number that voted. The unit had a total of 324 registered voters.

Mr Tinubu had cast his vote and expressed confidence in his victory shortly after voting in the polling unit in the Ikeja local government area of Lagos.

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Before duping his 142,000 Republican voters in New York, GOP trickster George Santos pulled a fast one on a Seattle judge. In 2017, during a bail hearing to help out his "family friend" from Brazil  an ATM skimmer who later pleaded guilty to fraud  the Congress imposter boldly fabricated his place of employment, telling the judge, "I am an aspiring politician and I work for Goldman Sachs," according to audio obtained by Politico (listen below, posted by RAP).

"You work for Goldman Sachs in New York?" the judge asked.

"Yup."

This worked so well for George Anthony Devolder Kitara Ravache Zabrowsky Santos, he decided to add the fake job to his fake resume, which then landed him a job as a fake U.S. lawmaker. Funny how life works.

From Politico:

A spokesperson for the bank told The New York Times in its original investigation into Santos' background that there was no record of him working there. He later admitted in a New York Post interview he "never worked directly" for Goldman Sachs, but claimed a financial firm he was employed at, LinkBridge Investors, had "limited partnerships" with the bank. Santos appeared at the 2017 hearing on behalf of [defendent Gustavo Ribeiro] Trelha using his full name, George Anthony Devolder Santos.  Trelha was ultimately deported to Brazil in early 2018 after serving seven months in jail and pleading guilty to felony access device fraud. In a telephone interview, Trelha said Santos lied about their relationship, too. Trelha, through a translator, said he met Santos in the fall of 2016 on a Facebook group for Brazilians living in Orlando, Fla., and that his mother died in 2012. Trelha eventually moved into Santos' Winter Park, Fla., apartment in November 2016, according to a copy of the lease viewed by POLITICO. Santos had moved south from New York City, after he was transferred to a new position at the hospitality website HotelsPro, according to Lilian Cabral, a coworker at HotelsPro in Orlando. A federal prosecutor who ultimately handled the case described the fraud as "sophisticated," saying Trelha's three-day skimming spree in Seattle was only "the tip of the iceberg," according to a court transcript first reported by CBS News.
NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Artificial Organs Market by Product, Usage, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2023-2027 report has been published by Technavio. Market size is forecast to grow by USD 13,089.17 million between 2022 and 2027 at a CAGR of 9.14%. The reports categorize the global artificial organs market as a part of the global healthcare supplies market that primarily covers manufacturers of medical products, including all categories of supplies, such as consumables and disposables, such as safety needles, syringes, and catheters. Our research report has extensively covered external factors influencing the parent market growth during the forecast period. Download A PDF Sample Report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Artificial Organs Market 2023-2027

Company Profiles

The artificial organs market report includes information on the key products and recent developments of leading vendors, including:

BIOTRONIK SE and Co. KG - The company offers artificial organs that help to improve the lives of patients suffering from cardiovascular and endovascular diseases.

- The company offers artificial organs that help to improve the lives of patients suffering from cardiovascular and endovascular diseases. BiVACOR Inc. - The company offers artificial organs where patients could immediately benefit from a ventricular assist device (VAD) or total artificial heart (TAH), where for these patients, drug therapy is a limited, relatively ineffective option.

- The company offers artificial organs where patients could immediately benefit from a ventricular assist device (VAD) or total artificial heart (TAH), where for these patients, drug therapy is a limited, relatively ineffective option. Boston Scientific Corp. - The company offers artificial organs that include an artificial urinary sphincter for male stress urinary incontinence (SUI) following prostate surgery.

- The company offers artificial organs that include an artificial urinary sphincter for male stress urinary incontinence (SUI) following prostate surgery. Cochlear Ltd. - The company offers artificial organs that include Nucleus Kanso sound processors with advanced connectivity and proven hearing performance technology in a simple and durable all-in-one design.

- The company offers artificial organs that include Nucleus Kanso sound processors with advanced connectivity and proven hearing performance technology in a simple and durable all-in-one design. Know more about other vendors - Buy the report

Market Segmentation

By product, the market is segmented into artificial heart, artificial kidney, cochlear implants, and artificial pancreas. The artificial heart segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2022.

By geography, the market is segmented into North America , Europe , Asia , and Rest of World (ROW). North America held the largest share of the market in 2022.

By region, the global artificial organs market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW). North America will account for 46% of market growth during the forecast period. Factors such as the increasing adoption of technologically advanced devices, the increasing number of product launches, and the strong presence of vendors are driving the growth of the artificial organ market in North America.

Get a glance at the market contribution of various segments including country and region wise  Request a Sample

Market Dynamics

The market is driven by factors such as the increasing prevalence of chronic disorders, the shortage of organ donors, and the growing demand for pacemakers and dialyzers. However, the complications and limitations of artificial organs are hindering the market growth.

Related Reports:

The cataract surgery devices market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.94% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 2,056.34 million . The rise in the number of cataract procedures is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as device limitations and complications may impede the market growth.

is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.94% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by . The rise in the number of cataract procedures is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as device limitations and complications may impede the market growth. The extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.05% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecasted to increase by USD 243.6 million . The increasing incidence of respiratory and heart failure is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as high costs associated with cardiac and respiratory procedures may impede the market growth.

Technavio's library includes over 17,000+ reports, covering more than 2,000 emerging technologies. Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" at just USD 5,000 and get lifetime access to Technavio Insights

What are the key data covered in this artificial organs market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period.

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the artificial organs market and its contribution to the parent market.

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior.

Growth of the market across North America , Europe , Asia , and Rest of World (ROW).

, , , and Rest of World (ROW). A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors.

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of artificial organs market vendors.

Artificial Organs Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 170 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.14% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 13089.17 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 8.56 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 46% Key countries US, Germany, UK, France, and Japan Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Abbott Laboratories, Asahi Kasei Corp., B. Braun SE, Baxter International Inc., BioTelemetry Inc., BIOTRONIK SE and Co. KG, BiVACOR Inc., Boston Scientific Corp., Cochlear Ltd., F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd., Fresenius Medical Care AG and Co. KGaA, Insulet Corp., MED EL Elektromedizinische Gerate GmbH, Medtronic Plc, Nihon Kohden Corp., Nikkiso Co. Ltd., Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV, Sonova AG, SynCardia Systems LLC, and Tandem Diabetes Care Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of contents:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Usage



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global artificial organs market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global artificial organs market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Usage Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Usage Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 Artificial heart - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Artificial heart - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Artificial heart - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Artificial heart - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Artificial heart - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Artificial kidney - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Artificial kidney - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Artificial kidney - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Artificial kidney - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Artificial kidney - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Cochlear implants - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Cochlear implants - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Cochlear implants - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Cochlear implants - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Cochlear implants - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Artificial pancreas - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on Artificial pancreas - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Artificial pancreas - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Artificial pancreas - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Artificial pancreas - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 50: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Usage

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 51: Chart on Usage - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Usage - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Usage

Exhibit 53: Chart on Comparison by Usage



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Comparison by Usage

7.3 Implantable - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Implantable - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Implantable - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Implantable - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Implantable - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Extracorporeal - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 59: Chart on Extracorporeal - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Extracorporeal - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Chart on Extracorporeal - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Extracorporeal - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Usage

Exhibit 63: Market opportunity by Usage ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 64: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 65: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 67: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 68: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 69: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 81: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 82: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 83: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 87: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 88: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 91: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 93: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 94: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 95: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 96: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 99: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 103: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 105: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 106: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 107: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 108: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 109: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 110: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 111: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Abbott Laboratories

Exhibit 112: Abbott Laboratories - Overview



Exhibit 113: Abbott Laboratories - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Abbott Laboratories - Key news



Exhibit 115: Abbott Laboratories - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Abbott Laboratories - Segment focus

12.4 Asahi Kasei Corp.

Exhibit 117: Asahi Kasei Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 118: Asahi Kasei Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 119: Asahi Kasei Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 120: Asahi Kasei Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 121: Asahi Kasei Corp. - Segment focus

12.5 B . Braun SE

. Braun SE Exhibit 122: B. Braun SE - Overview



Exhibit 123: B. Braun SE - Business segments



Exhibit 124: B. Braun SE - Key news



Exhibit 125: B. Braun SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: B. Braun SE - Segment focus

12.6 Baxter International Inc.

Exhibit 127: Baxter International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Baxter International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Baxter International Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 130: Baxter International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: Baxter International Inc. - Segment focus

12.7 BioTelemetry Inc.

Exhibit 132: BioTelemetry Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 133: BioTelemetry Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 134: BioTelemetry Inc. - Key offerings

12.8 BIOTRONIK SE and Co. KG

Exhibit 135: BIOTRONIK SE and Co. KG - Overview



Exhibit 136: BIOTRONIK SE and Co. KG - Product / Service



Exhibit 137: BIOTRONIK SE and Co. KG - Key offerings

12.9 BiVACOR Inc.

Exhibit 138: BiVACOR Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 139: BiVACOR Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 140: BiVACOR Inc. - Key offerings

12.10 Boston Scientific Corp.

Exhibit 141: Boston Scientific Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 142: Boston Scientific Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 143: Boston Scientific Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 144: Boston Scientific Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 145: Boston Scientific Corp. - Segment focus

12.11 Cochlear Ltd.

Exhibit 146: Cochlear Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 147: Cochlear Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 148: Cochlear Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 149: Cochlear Ltd. - Segment focus

12.12 F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd.

Exhibit 150: F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 151: F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 152: F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 153: F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 154: F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd. - Segment focus

12.13 Fresenius Medical Care AG and Co. KGaA

Exhibit 155: Fresenius Medical Care AG and Co. KGaA - Overview



Exhibit 156: Fresenius Medical Care AG and Co. KGaA - Business segments



Exhibit 157: Fresenius Medical Care AG and Co. KGaA - Key news



Exhibit 158: Fresenius Medical Care AG and Co. KGaA - Key offerings



Exhibit 159: Fresenius Medical Care AG and Co. KGaA - Segment focus

12.14 Insulet Corp.

Exhibit 160: Insulet Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 161: Insulet Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 162: Insulet Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 163: Insulet Corp. - Key offerings

12.15 MED EL Elektromedizinische Gerate GmbH

Exhibit 164: MED EL Elektromedizinische Gerate GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 165: MED EL Elektromedizinische Gerate GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 166: MED EL Elektromedizinische Gerate GmbH - Key offerings

12.16 Medtronic Plc

Exhibit 167: Medtronic Plc - Overview



Exhibit 168: Medtronic Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 169: Medtronic Plc - Key news



Exhibit 170: Medtronic Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 171: Medtronic Plc - Segment focus

12.17 Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV

Exhibit 172: Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV - Overview



Exhibit 173: Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV - Business segments



Exhibit 174: Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV - Key news



Exhibit 175: Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV - Key offerings



Exhibit 176: Nipro Pharma Packaging International NV - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 177: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 178: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 179: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 180: Research methodology



Exhibit 181: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 182: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 183: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until March 6, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA), if they purchased the Company's securities between November 22, 2021 and November 29, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Get Help

Avaya investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-avya/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.

About the Lawsuit

Avaya and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On August 9, 2022, the Company disclosed that it would not timely file its 2Q22 quarterly financial report; that the Board's Audit Committee had opened an internal investigation "to review the circumstances surrounding" the financial results reported for the most recent quarter, and another to investigate a whistleblower letter; that there was "substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern"; and 3Q22 revenues that came in "substantially lower" than expected. On this news, shares of Avaya fell from $1.12 per share on August 8, 2022 to close down at $0.61 per share on August 9, 2022.

Then, on November 30, 2022, the Company disclosed that it would not timely file its fiscal year financial statements and admitted that it did not appropriately log the whistleblower's email received by a member of its Board of Directors nor did it convey its existence to management or to its outside auditor. On this news, shares of Avaya fell 14.28% to close down at $0.96 per share on November 30, 2022.

The case is Fletcher v. Avaya Holdings Corp., et al., No. 23-cv-00003.

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.

SOURCE ClaimsFiler
BOGATA, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL; NYSE: EC) informs that to comply with the provisions of Part III Title I Chapter VI of the Basic Legal Circular issued by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia (E.C. 029 of 2014), the Board of Directors of Ecopetrol S.A. ("Ecopetrol" or the "Company") approved the implementation of the measures described below which are aimed at guaranteeing the adequate representation of shareholders at the Ordinary General Shareholder's Meeting to be held on March 30, 2023:

The Board instructed the Company's management to:

Inform shareholders of their right to be represented through the appointment of a proxy and indicate the legal requirements of the proxies to be granted for such purpose.

Appoint those who will validate the shareholders' proxy assignments, advising that those proxies that fail to meet the minimum requirements established by law will not be admitted as valid, and no proxy form will be accepted where the name of the respective appointed representative is not clearly defined.

Abstain from recommending or influencing the name of the shareholders' attorneys-in-fact or their proxy selection process.

Inform all Company employees that they may not suggest to shareholders to vote for a specific candidate list.

Abstain from suggesting, coordinating or agreeing with the shareholders on: (i) the presentation of proposals at the Meeting and/or (ii) the vote for or against any proposal to be presented at the Meeting.

Verify and implement procedures such that no proxies are granted to persons directly or indirectly related to the Company's management or employees.

The Legal Vice-Presidency shall be the area responsible for reviewing proxies.

The Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Secretary of Ecopetrol S.A. shall be responsible for ensuring the implementation and compliance with the above measures.

The above measures were adopted by the members of the Board of Directors of Ecopetrol S.A. in a meeting held on February 24, 2023 and are reported prior to the holding of the respective General Shareholders' Meeting.

Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the main integrated energy companies in the American continent, with more than 18,000 employees. In Colombia, it is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production of most transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and it holds leading positions in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segments. With the acquisition of 51.4% of ISA's shares, the company participates in energy transmission, the management of real-time systems (XM), and the Barranquilla - Cartagena coastal highway concession. At the international level, Ecopetrol has a stake in strategic basins in the American continent, with Drilling and Exploration operations in the United States (Permian basin and the Gulf of Mexico), Brazil, and Mexico, and, through ISA and its subsidiaries, Ecopetrol holds leading positions in the power transmission business in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, road concessions in Chile, and the telecommunications sector. This press release contains business prospect statements, operating and financial result estimates, and statements related to Ecopetrol's growth prospects. These are all projections and, as such, they are based solely on the expectations of the managers regarding the future of the company and their continued access to capital to finance the company's business plan. The realization of said estimates in the future depends on the behavior of market conditions, regulations, competition, and the performance of the Colombian economy and the industry, among other factors, and are consequently subject to change without prior notice.

This release contains statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or in future filings or press releases, or orally, address matters that involve risks and uncertainties, including in respect of the Company's prospects for growth and its ongoing access to capital to fund the Company's business plan, among others. Consequently, changes in the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements: market prices of oil & gas, our exploration, and production activities, market conditions, applicable regulations, the exchange rate, the Company's competitiveness and the performance of Colombia's economy and industry, to mention a few. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

For more information, please contact:

Head of Capital Markets (a)

Maria Catalina Escobar Hoyos

Email: [email protected]

Head of Corporate Communications (a)

Juan Guillermo Londono

Correo electronico: [email protected]

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/95646/ecopetrol_s_a__logo.jpg

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
Police are warning locals in Santa Cruz, California, not to approach Cookie Monster, seen lately at the seaside town's wharf. Cookie Monster is belligerent and causing trouble, according to reports.

The man, who wears a costume of the beloved Sesame Street character, has reportedly been creeping out visitors to the Santa Cruz Wharf, bothering them and aggressively yelling.

One visitor to the popular tourist destination said: "It's the creepy monster not the Cookie Monster."

One person who works locally said he turned up the day Sesame Street creator Lloyd Morrisett died in January this year, local outlet KSBW reported.
BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chief Executive Officer of Ecopetrol S.A. hereby summons all Shareholders to the ordinary Assembly of the General Shareholders' Meeting to be held on Thursday, March 30, 2023, starting at 9 a.m., at the Centro Internacional de Negocios y Exposiciones (Corferias), located on Carrera 37 No. 24 - 67 in Bogota, D.C

The Agenda for the meeting will be the

Safety guidelines and biosafety protocols Quorum verification Opening of the General Shareholders' Meeting by the Chief Executive Officer of Ecopetrol S.A. Approval of the Agenda Appointment of the Chairperson presiding over the General Shareholders' Meeting Appointment of the commission responsible for scrutiny and counting of the votes Appointment of the commission responsible for the revision and approval of the minutes of the meeting Presentation and consideration of the Board of Directors' report on its performance, development, and compliance with the Corporate Governance Code Presentation and consideration of the 2022 Integrated Management Report Presentation and consideration of the individual and consolidated audited financial statements as of December 31, 2022 Reading of the Independent Auditor's opinion Approval of the Board of Directors' report on its performance, development, and compliance with the Corporate Governance Code Approval of the 2022 Integrated Management Report Approval of the individual and consolidated audited financial statements as of December 31, 2022 Presentation and approval of the profit distribution project Election of the External Auditor for the remainder of the 2021 -2025 period and assignment of its remuneration Election of Board Members for the remainder of the 2021 -2025 period Interventions and miscellaneous

The Meeting will be broadcast live via streaming on Ecopetrol's website.

The voting process will be conducted electronically. Shareholders are requested to attend the Meeting with their smart mobile devices. If any Shareholder does not have access to a device with the technical requirements required, the company has provided an alternate mechanism for Shareholders to exercise their right to vote.

Shareholders may exercise the right to inspect the Company's books and other documents referred to in Articles 446 and 447 of the Commercial Code as of March 8, 2023. To access information not found on the web page www.ecopetrol.com.co/asamblea2023, shareholders or their proxies must request an in-person appointment to the email [email protected] including therein the information demonstrating their status as shareholder or legal representative. To facilitate the exercise of said right of inspection, it is suggested this email include the information requested for inspection to ensure the corresponding area specialists present.

Shareholders who cannot attend the Meeting personally may be represented by power-of-attorney duly granted in writing to a trusted legal representative, who must meet the requirements established in Article 184 of the Commercial Code. The power of attorney templates in both Spanish and English can be downloaded from the website at www.ecopetrol.com.co/asamblea2023.

For the legal representation of the shareholders, compliance will be given to the provisions of the Basic Legal Circular 029 of 2014 regarding the illegal, unauthorized and unsafe practices of securities issuers.

Except in cases of legal representation via proxy, Ecopetrol administrators and employees may not represent shares other than their own while they are employed by the Company, nor substitute the powers conferred thereon. Additionally, they may not vote on the Company's financial statements.

FELIPE BAYON PARDO

Chief Executive Officer

Mandatory admission requirements for the assembly

If an individual is acting as a proxy representative, the corresponding proxy form must be submitted in its physical form at registration along with any additional documentation required.

To avoid overcrowding and guarantee the adequate participation of all shareholders, the doors of Corferias and registration points will open as of 7 a.m.

To expedite the registration process and ensure appropriate participation at the Meeting, in the case of individuals representing via proxy multiple shareholders, it is suggested a proxy representative is only responsible for at most 50 proxy forms.

Only one helper per shareholder requiring additional assistance will be allowed entry.

Publicity material or any other type of material that might hamper the normal course of the meeting will not be allowed in the facility and their distribution is strictly prohibited.

We ask that any individual having symptoms of Covid-19 not attend the Meeting, and rather follow via streaming. Attendees are encouraged to have their complete vaccination series and boosters and continue practicing social distancing and frequent handwashing. The correct use of facemasks is recommended.

Additional information is available at:

Shareholder Services Office

Telephone Bogota: +(57) 601307 70 75; rest of the country: +(57) 01 8000 113434

Email: [email protected]

www.ecopetrol.com.co

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
DUBLIN, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Agrochemical Tank Market by Type (Conical, Vertical, Horizontal), Size (200-500, 500-1,000, 1,000-15,000, 15,000-30,000, and >30,000 Liters), Application (Water Storage, Fertilizer Storage, Chemical Storage), and Region - Forecast to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





The Agrochemical Tanks market is projected to reach USD 1.6 billion by 2027 from an estimated USD 1.3 billion in 2022, at a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period. The global agrochemical tanks market is likely to expand in the next years as crop protection and plant nourishment become more popular. Agrochemicals such as insecticides, herbicides, and fertilisers are stored and transported in these tanks. The market is growing due to the expansion of the agriculture industry and the necessity for effective agrochemical storage and transportation solutions.

The market is divided into four sections: type, size, application, and geography. Vertical, conical, horizontal, and other types are included in this part. The size ranges are 200-500, 500-1000, 1000-15000, 15000-30,000, and 30,000. Water storage tanks, chemical storage tanks, and fertiliser storage tanks are among the application segments. The market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa.

The Water storage tanks segment, by application , is expected to be the largest and the fastest-growing market from 2022 to 2027

The global agrochemical tanks market is expanding due to increased demand for agricultural water storage solutions. The demand for water storage tanks is being driven by the need for efficient water management in agriculture, rising food demand, and an increasing population. The expansion of the agricultural industry and the demand for efficient water storage systems are also driving growth in this area. Because of the enormous agriculture industries in countries such as China and India, this market is expected to grow significantly in the Asia Pacific area.

The Vertical tanks, by Type, is expected to be the fastest-growing market from 2022 to 2027

Vertical tanks are predicted to be the fastest expanding segment in the agrochemical tanks market due to its efficient storage capacity and low cost. Vertical tanks are narrow and tall, making them excellent for storage in compact locations. Furthermore, these tanks are less difficult to instal and maintain than other types of tanks. This has expanded their appeal among farmers, resulting in an increase in demand for vertical agrochemical tanks. Vertical tanks are composed of high-quality materials like plastic and fibreglass, making them long-lasting and corrosion-resistant. They are also available in a variety of sizes, making them suited for both small-scale and large-scale applications.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Rising Adoption of Agrochemical Tanks due to Limited Availability of Water

Growing Trends in Water Harvesting

Restraints

Stringent Regulations Governing Production of Agrochemical Tanks

Opportunities

Surge in Investments in New Technologies

Growing Use of Hydroponics and Aquaponics in Agriculture

Challenges

Fluctuation in Commodity Prices

Limited Availability of Raw Materials

Key Topics Covered:





1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Industry Trends

7 Agrochemical Tanks Market, by Type

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Vertical

7.3 Horizontal

7.4 Conical

7.5 Other Types

8 Agrochemical Tanks Market, by Size

8.1 Introduction

8.2 200-500 Liters

8.3 500-1,000 Liters

8.4 1,000-15,000 Liters

8.5 15,000-30,000 Liters

8.6 >30,000 Liters





9 Agrochemical Tanks Market, by Application

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Water Storage

9.3 Chemical Storage

9.4 Fertilizer Storage

9.5 Other Applications

10 Agrochemical Tanks Market, by Region

11 Competitive Landscape

12 Company Profiles

13 Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Agrochem Inc.

Assman Corporation

Balmoral Tanks Ltd.

Balson Polyplast Pvt. Ltd.

Bnh Gas Tanks

Enduramaxx

F. Lli Savi Di Savi Dario & C.Snc

& C.Snc Forti Technology Group

Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. De C.V

Highberg Solutions

Joshi Agro Industries

Lf Manufacturing

Meridian Manufacturing Inc

National Tank Outlet

Nel Tanks

Poly Processing Solutions

Polymaster

Prettech Machinery Making Co. Ltd.

Sherman Roto Tank

Siegen Philippines Corporation

Sintex

Snyder Industries

Stafco

Tank Holding Corp.

Tce Plastics

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9gpjyw

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Cable Drum Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





The global cable drum market size reached US$ 609 Million in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 794 Million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.52% during 2021-2027.

Companies Mentioned

Cable Equipements

CONDUCTIX-Wampfler (Delachaux)

Coxreels

Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. KG

Eaton Corporation plc

Hannay Reels Inc.

Hildebrandt Group

Meccanica Nicoletti s.r.l.

Schill GmbH & Co. KG

Svensson Wire and Cable Packaging AB

Cable drums are used to carry different types of wires, such as electrical and optic fiber. They are generally made using plywood, timber, plastic, or metal in varied sizes and weights, depending on the application.

For instance, plywood drums are widely employed in the construction industry for transporting light loads as they are economical, lightweight, and strong. Besides this, steel drums are gaining traction over conventional wooden drums in the oil and gas sector as they are durable and eco-friendly.

At present, the emerging trend of automation in industrial processes is driving the demand for cable drums and cables, including industrial ethernet, instrumentation and control cables, communication cables for protocols, and variable frequency drive (VFD) for drive circuits portable power and cord products.



Cable Drum Market Trends:



Rising penetration of 4G and 5G networks, in confluence with advancements in smartphones, represents one of the major factors positively influencing the demand for cable drums in the telecommunication sector around the world.

Besides this, a significant increase in underground electrification, especially in emerging countries, is stimulating the market growth. Apart from this, the escalating demand for energy worldwide on account of rapid urbanization and the expanding global population is contributing to market growth.

Moreover, the migration of many people to urban areas is increasing the demand for infrastructural facilities in metropolitan cities. This, along with initiatives undertaken by governing agencies of numerous countries are promoting public infrastructure projects through loans, investments, and subsidies, is bolstering the growth of the market.

The boosting sales of vehicles across the globe are also catalyzing the demand for cable drums in the automotive industry. Furthermore, the leading market players are focusing on advancing products, which is creating a positive market outlook.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global cable drum market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global cable drum market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the design?

What is the breakup of the market based on the material?

What is the breakup of the market based on the mechanism?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end use?

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 cable drum 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 Cable Drum Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Design

6.1 Standard

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Custom

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Material

7.1 Wood

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Plywood

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Plastic

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast

7.4 Steel

7.4.1 Market Trends

7.4.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Mechanism

8.1 Manual

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Spring Loaded

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Motorized

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End Use

9.1 Cable Handling and Transportation

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Crane Manufacturing

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Mining Equipment

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Garages

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Others

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/o9skbw-drum?w=5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716



Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Chocolate (Milk, Dark, White) Market Overview, 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The research report titled Global Chocolate Market Overview, 2027 provides a complete performance analysis regarding the segments present in the global chocolate market along with its historical and forecasted analysis. The global chocolate market is projected to witness growth at a CAGR of 6.31% over the forecast period ending in 2027.

Company Profiles

Barry Callebaut

Ezaki Glico Co. Ltd

Ferrero

Godiva Chocolatier, Inc.

Lindt & Sprungli AG

Lotte Confectionery

Mars Wrignery

Meiji Holdings Co. Ltd

Mondelez International

Nestle S.A

The Hershey Company

Chocolate is one of the most profitable components of the confectionary industry globally. Chocolates are being portrayed as more than a treat and are considered as a portable gift option. The chocolate industry has been representing a multibillion dollar market for the past decade and is expected to reach new levels of growth within the next few years.

Rising awareness about the health benefits of consuming chocolate on a daily basis will remain a key booster for the global chocolate market over the next few years. A host of trends and opportunities that are currently driving the market are slated to shape the market's condition during the forecast period.

Increasing urbanisation and widespread availability of chocolate and derived products will remain another key factor fuelling the market for chocolate globally.

Moreover, the uncertain economy of the cocoa supply is likely to raise chocolate prices, which is foreseen to be a major challenge to market growth. With medical experts quoting chocolates as having health benefits, the customers' demand for healthier options in their favourite dessert is on the rise.

This opened up a new scope for the marketers to develop variants such as organic, sugar-free, and energy bars. The rise in external players entering the market, renowned local marketers in the region have brought in modernization of the product and their supply chain.



Seasonal and festive sales of chocolate are projected to surge in the next few years. Gifting chocolate hampers and bouquets are among some popular consumer trends in the market, which will strongly favour the market over the forecast period. Various companies launch a wide range of chocolate varieties on occasions like Easter and Christmas. Boxed chocolate collections have replaced flower bouquets, as they prove more value for money.

Other factors, such as the Premiumization of chocolate-based products, the utilisation of aesthetically appealing packaging to attract consumers' attention, along with the production of organic, vegan, and sugar- and gluten-free chocolates, are projected to drive the market further. Ultra-and high-end beans are used for gourmet chocolates.

The premium cocoa market, with sustainability certification and single-origin, accelerates the overall growth of the market studied. In response to the growing demand, manufacturers are introducing their single-origin and premium chocolate line-ups. They are also supporting the local economies. These strategies are helping brands gain more profit margins and grow with a more positive brand image.



An increasing global population coupled with changing tastes and preferences in developing nations is driving the market's growth. Chocolates' antioxidant content, blood pressure lowering capability, and ostensible anti-aging benefits are expected to drive future growth.

Additionally, flavours play a vital role in increasing its popularity, as a result of which manufacturers are introducing new formats and categories to meet new market demands. Chocolates are not only consumed selflessly but are also increasingly being considered as a gifting option on various occasions, bringing in a new revolution in the chocolate industry. Companies are increasingly promoting chocolates that are free of trans fat, saturated fats, and artificial flavours and sweeteners.



Dark chocolate is the fastest growing segment due to its anti-oxidant properties, free radicals and flavonoids, which aid in cancer prevention, heart health and cognitive ability. The cocoa polyphenols further aid in controlling cholesterol levels, thus driving increased consumption of dark chocolates. The report further examines dark, milk, and white chocolate market segments and explores their performance across international markets.



Chocolates are still largely considered an affordable luxury in some regions of the globe. Price sensitivity may lower the penetration of the chocolate market in some of the underdeveloped parts of the world. The presence of a large number of leading international chocolate brands and higher chocolate consumption will continue to account for the top market position in Europe.

The global chocolate market has observed a rise in consumption as well as the production of chocolates. Regions like Europe and North America have greatly contributed to this growth, whereas Asia-Pacific has been viewed as a promising market. Growth in the region's economy that is directly or indirectly affecting the people's lifestyle can be viewed as one of the factors driving its chocolate market.



Considered in this report

Geography: Global

Historical year: 2016

Base year: 2021

Estimated year: 2022

Forecast year: 2027

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Report Methodology



3. Market Structure

3.1. Market Considerate

3.2. Market Definitions



4. Global Chocolate Market Outlook

4.1. Market Size By Value

4.2. Market Share

4.2.1. By Type

4.2.2. By Application

4.2.3. By Sales Channel

4.2.4. By Region

4.2.5. By Country

4.2.6. By Company



5. Global Dark Chocolate Market Outlook



6. Global White Chocolate Market Outlook



7. Global Milk Chocolate Market Outlook



8. North America Chocolate Market Outlook



9. Europe Chocolate Market Outlook



10. Asia Pacific Chocolate Market Outlook



11. South America Chocolate Market Outlook



12. Middle East & Africa Chocolate Market Outlook

13. Market Dynamics

13.1. Key Drivers

13.2. Key Challenges



14. Market Trends and Developments



15. Company Profiles



16. Strategic Recommendations



17. Disclaimer



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/e8qpnh-chocolate?w=5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716



Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
MADRID, Feb. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MedUX, the leading Internet Quality of Experience (QoE) company, announced today the release of its 5G QoE Benchmarking Report in Europe.



The report will be presented next Monday at Mobile World Congress in Spain Pavilion, highlighting key findings on the performance and end-user experience of 5G networks across major European cities.

5G coverage ranking highlighting best and worst performers gap

According to the report, Lisbon, Madrid and Berlin have emerged as the cities with the best 5G quality of experience. In general, "biggest city does not necessarily mean best 5G networks or best QoE. London and Rome are among the worst performers. The devil is in the details, as all 5G networks are not created equal. Speed is not everything and the industry is trying to adapt to meet the needs of customers when using real services.", said Rafael Gonzalez, CMO at MedUX.

Lisbon was named the winner of the Best QoE Award. Meanwhile, Berlin was found to have the most consistent network performance, closely followed by Barcelona and Paris in the Reliability Award, the second most important category in the study.

The report revealed that 5G non-standalone (NSA) - where 5G supplements a 4G network - has scaled significantly in all cities, with the widest 5G coverage seen in Germany, reaching 96% in Berlin.

In terms of speed, the fastest 5G download speed was also observed in Berlin, with live speeds of 1.5 Gbps on Deutsche Telekom's network. This speed was approx. 5 times the typical download speed in Lisbon in the range of 330 Mbps, the highest median among European cities.

The study also revealed that Portugal leads in 5G Gaming experience, with Lisbon having the highest score due to top typical latency and jitter below 44ms and 8 ms respectively. Additionally, Lisbon was found to have the best Data and OTT experience, while Barcelona was named the winner for Streaming Experience.

"The findings are critical for network operators and other industry stakeholders as they work on 5G networks deployments in their respective countries," said Luis Molina, CEO of MedUX. "It provides valuable insights into the state of 5G networks in Europe, and we're excited to share this information with the industry at Mobile World Congress 2023 for empowering customer experiences and help improve the overall quality and reliability of 5G networks."

The report concludes that QoE varies significantly depending on a range of deployment and configuration factors. As such, network operators are encouraged to remain competitive in the digital era and an increasingly connected world.

MedUX is headquartered in Madrid, Spain, and has a presence in over 25 countries across Europe, America, Africa, and the Middle East, and monitors over 80 operators worldwide. Its patented technology and expertise make it a trusted partner for improving the digital experiences of customers everywhere.

To learn more about the study and its findings, please visit https://medux.com/all-5g-networks-are-not-created-equal-unveiling-the-true-qoe-of-5g-in-europe/. To meet with MedUX at MWC 2023, please visit https://medux.com/empowering-customer-experiences-with-medux-at-mwc23/

Media contact:

Rafael Gonzalez

CMO

[email protected]

+34675292359

www.medux.com

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SOURCE MedUX
NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces an investigation of potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Credit Suisse Group AG. (NYSE: CS) resulting from allegations that Credit Suisse may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Credit Suisse 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=12359 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On February 9, 2023, Credit Suisse reported that clients had withdrawn over $119.6 billion in the last three months of 2022, exceeding market expectations. On this news, the price of Credit Suisse ADR's fell over 15.6%. On February 21, 2023, Reuters published an article entitled "Exclusive: Credit Suisse chairman's comments draw scrutiny from financial watchdog- sources." The article stated that the Swiss financial regulator was probing "the extent to which Credit Suisse's Chairman, and other Credit Suisse representatives were still withdrawing funds when he said in media interviews that outflows had stopped." In early December, 2022, Credit Suisse's Chairman, Axel Lehmann, had said in media interviews that outflows had "completely flattened out", "partially reversed," and "basically stopped."

On this news, the price of Credit Suisse ADR's fell as much as 4% in intra-day trading before closing down 3.3% at $2.92 on February 21, 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 firm's 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.

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.
DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The E2 visa is a non-immigrant treaty visa that allows foreign nationals of certain countries to enter the United States to invest in and manage a business. The visa is typically valid for one, two, or five years depending on the applicant's nationality, and can be renewed indefinitely.

The E2 visa is a treaty visa, meaning it is open to selected nationals that hail from a country within the treaty list. People from countries not on the list cannot apply, making it somewhat exclusive in its nature.

To qualify for an E2 visa, the foreign national must have invested or be actively in the process of investing a noteworthy amount of capital in a bona fide enterprise in the United States. The investment must be substantial enough to ensure the successful operation of the enterprise. There is no minimum amount for the E2 investment, as the qualifying investment must logically correspond to the size of the business.

To qualify, the investor must:

Have control of the funds and the ability to direct their use in the enterprise.

Be from a country that has a treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States .

. Must be entering the United States solely to develop and direct the enterprise.

Nationals who qualify for the E2

The US has an E2 treaty with 44 different countries. To qualify, a person must be a national of one of the nations in the table below.

Albania Denmark Argentina Ecuador Armenia Egypt Australia Estonia Austria Ethiopia Azerbaijan Finland Bahrain France Bangladesh Georgia Belgium Germany Bolivia Grenada Bosnia and Herzegovina Honduras Bulgaria Ireland Cameroon Israel Canada Italy Chile Jamaica China (Taiwan) Japan Colombia Jordan Congo (Brazzaville) Kazakhstan Congo (Kinshasa) Korea (South) Costa Rica Kosovo Croatia Kyrgyzstan Czech Republic Latvia

It is important to note that people who are not nationals of one of the eligible countries can qualify for the E2 if they become citizens of a treaty country. However as per the new legislation by the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) which was signed by President Joe Biden in Dec 2022, CBI origin citizen treaty countries will only qualify for the E2 visa if they have resided in that country for more than 3years after obtaining the citizenship.

Nations such as Turkey, Grenada, Jordan, and Egypt all have citizenship by investment programs, meaning investors can obtain the citizenship of these countries in order to apply for the E2 visa as a qualifying national.

However, potential investors must understand the restrictions on the E2 visa for each given nationality, as they may differ in visa validity and entry restrictions.

For example, nationals of Turkey and Grenada are eligible for five-year, multiple entry visas, whereas nationals of Egypt only qualify for a 3 months visa and Jordan qualify for one year, single entry E2 visas, meaning they have to apply for renewal or a new visa anytime they leave the US.

Benefits

The E2 visa comes with a host of benefits, such as:

1. Easier access to the US: The E2 visa allows citizens from select countries to enter the US and stay for up to five years without applying for a work visa.

This is especially important because of the US's high visit visa rejection rate . For instance, the US government rejected 35% of all visit visa applications in Egypt in 2020, 65% in Nigeria, and a staggering 88% in Iran. The E2 visa helps people who need to get to the US do so easily as residents.

2. Ability to work: The E2 visa allows the holder to work for the business they are investing in, as well as perform other activities related to the business venture. The E2 doubles as a resident permit and a work permit.

5. Route for permanent residency: The E2 visa is a non-immigrant visa, meaning it does not directly lead to permanent residence (green card) or citizenship.

However, if an applicant's business continues to grow and they hire enough people, they can apply to switch for an EB5 from within the US and then get a green card. This route allows investors to live in the US without having to wait outside for their EB5 application to be approved, a matter that could take several years depending on their nationality.

6. Adding family members: The E2 visa allows the holder's spouse and dependent children below 21 years of age to accompany them to the US.

7. Tax benefits: E2 visa holders may be able to take advantage of certain tax benefits.

8. Renewable: The E2 visa is renewable and can be extended if the holder continues to meet the requirements of the visa.

9. Access to the US market: For entrepreneurs, the E2 is a simple route to one of the world's most exciting markets and the globe's leading economic power.

10. Study opportunities: The E2 gives investors a chance to provide the best educational opportunities for their children in the US. While technically non-immigrants, E2 family members have the right to study and apply for US educational institutes, allowing investors to forge a path for their children to fulfill their potential.

Savory & Partners is an accredited agent for multiple governments where citizenship by investment is offered with coverage in over 20 jurisdictions including Europe and was the first firm to obtain all five authorised agent licenses for the governments of the Caribbean Islands. To date it has processed second passports for over 4,000 citizens with a 100 percent success rate.

To know more, contact us today for a consultation with one of our experts.

For more information, please send an email to [email protected]. You can also call +971 04 430 1717 or send a WhatsApp message to +971 54 440 2955.

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SOURCE Savory & Partners
Algiers, Feb 25 : Ten people were killed and 35 others injured after a bus fell into a ravine in northern Algeria, the Algerian civil protection authority said in a statement.

It added that the accident took place in the province of Bouira, Xinhua news agency reported.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune offered his condolences to the families of the accident victims.

According to the statistics of the Algerian National Center for Prevention and Road Safety, more than 90 per cent of traffic accidents in Algeria were caused by human errors, in particular driver negligence. Other causes of road accidents include the poor state of roads and cars as well as environmental factors.
Stockholm, Feb 25 : The Swedish government has said that the country will provide Ukraine with "around 10" Leopard 2 tanks as well as air defense systems.

"On Germany's initiative and after discussions in what we refer to as the 'leopard family,' we have decided to deliver Swedish Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in close coordination, in particular, with Germany," Swedish Television (SVT) quoted Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson as saying at a press conference, Xinhua news agency reported.

Sweden's Defence Minister Pal Jonson told SVT that "up to around 10" units will be sent to Ukraine and that "we are building joint capabilities. Together with international partners, we are assembling battalions as well as brigades." Sweden will also deliver Hawk and Iris T anti-aircraft systems, something that Jonson said was "important and central" for Ukraine.

The aid package announced on Friday was Sweden's 11th support package to Ukraine.

"Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kiev regime would lead to a global catastrophe," Russia's State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said on Sunday.
Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. is now hoping to increase the size of its planned new warehouse facility in Lackawanna's Renaissance Commerce Park by at least 25%, in an attempt to capitalize on the success of a rival's adjacent facility and the continued high demand for more industrial space in the region.

The Buffalo-based developer is working with the Buffalo and Erie County Industrial Land Development Corp. on a proposal to create up to 250,000 square feet of warehouse space in a new facility on the south side of Dona Street, adjacent to Route 5.

That's almost as large as TMP Technologies' 290,000-square-foot operation at Renaissance  the site of a portion of the former Bethlehem Steel  and the combined warehouse space being created by Uniland Development Co.

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Details have not yet been finalized and Ciminelli has not yet acquired the parcel from the ILDC, which is the land development arm of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. But agency officials confirmed they are working with the developer "to get that completed," said ECIDA and ILDC CEO John Cappellino. Ciminelli is expected to pay $50,000 per acre for the property.

"We are still in the middle of the planning phase and due diligence, still trying to get an idea of the cost for cleanup of the site," said Kyle Ciminelli, executive vice president of the development company. "Theres a lot of stuff that our consultants are finding, that just takes further and further due diligence and testing from the Bethlehem Steel days."

He said the firm hopes to complete its purchase of the land by the spring so it can begin construction but hasn't yet calculated the final cost of the project. Construction will take 12 to 18 months.

The revised plan would represent a vote of confidence by Ciminelli in the marketplace and in the ILDC's efforts to develop a new 150-acre business and industrial park on the edges of the sprawling former steel campus.

Uniland tenant expands to take up two-thirds of new Dona Street warehouse Shortly after taking up 81,000 square feet of space at the new facility at 8 Dona St., Total Quality Assurance International has expanded to 108,000 square feet, taking up 72% of the industrial building in the Renaissance Commerce Park.

Previously, Ciminelli was named designated developer of the 11.5-acre property immediately south of Dona, with a proposal to erect a "spec" manufacturing or distribution facility of at least 122,300 square feet and possibly as much as 200,000 square feet. It does not have tenants lined up, so it would be building the core-and-shell of the building with the expectation that it would be able to lease it up quickly.

But there's credible evidence that the building built on speculation will have tenants. The site  which is bordered on the other side by Smokes Creek  is directly across Dona from where Amherst-based Uniland has completed the first of two 150,000-square-foot spec warehouses. That new building at 8 Dona is already more than two-thirds leased by Total Quality Assurance International  an engineering, logistics and quality control firm  which is taking up 108,000 square feet of space.

Meanwhile, Uniland has started groundwork for the second building next door, at 2 Steelworkers Way, with foundation work to begin within 45 days, followed by construction later this year, and completion by yearend or early next year.

"Its a good sign that the facilities that Uniland is putting up have rented, and it will give other investors more confidence in the marketplace that if they put buildings up, theyll have good leasing," Cappellino said.

Additionally, commercial real estate brokerage firm CBRE-Buffalo just reported this month that the vacancy rate for industrial space in the region fell to 1.3% at yearend 2022, from 1.5% a year earlier, setting a new record low and indicating the severe scarcity of manufacturing and warehouse space for businesses looking to grow or relocate to Western New York.

That tracks with Ciminelli's own research and data, through its national partnership with Newmark.

"What were hearing from everyone across the country is that the most significant type of demand for this type of product is north of 200,000 square feet," Ciminelli said. "So if we want to go ahead and build it, we want to do it for the sweet spot in the market, so thats what were doing."

The ILDC  which is chaired by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz  is also continuing its site development of the land that comprises Renaissance, which it acquired in 2017. It already extended Dona Street into the park and just completed the newly renamed Steelworkers Way that juts off from Dona.

Additionally, a new street will also go in further north at Odell Street, along with new water and sewer lines, to make the north end of the site available for businesses. Cappellino said crews are already starting to get construction materials on site while officials finish soil work and traffic studies. And the county is negotiating with Tecumseh Redevelopment about creating a "passive park" or nature preserve on 70 acres further into the site at Smokes Creek.

"Were trying to create a manufacturing and industrial distribution community over there, so it helps to have some life there," Ciminelli said. "But its the market conditions that attract us the most."
United Nations, Feb 25 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is asking the G20 finance ministers meeting in Bengaluru to take "bold" steps to reform the international development banks and find ways to solve the debt crisis facing several developing countries, according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

"The Secretary-General calls on the G20 finance ministers to be bold in their efforts to reform the multilateral development banks and in the effort to find solutions to pressing debt challenges through the debt roundtable," Dujarric said on Friday.

He added, "We think India's presidency of G20 is very important and we look forward to it." G20 is the group of major industrialised and emerging economies that India is heading this year.

The economies of the global South hit hardest by the Covid pandemic were pummeled again by Russia's invasion of Ukraine that sent the prices of energy and food soaring.

Many developing countries, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka in South Asia, are teetering on the brink of an economic catastrophe and need international bailouts.

During his visit to India in 2022, Guterres launched one of his strongest critiques of the global system.

"The international financial system is morally bankrupt. It was devised by the rich to serve the interests of the rich. It is the moment to change it," he said in Mumbai.

He has emphasised the need to reform the international financial system, especially the multilateral development banks like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Earlier this month, laying out before the General Assembly his priorities for the year he listed the debt crisis as one of the problems needing immediate attention and called for "a new debt architecture that encompasses debt relief and restructuring to vulnerable countries, including middle-income ones in need".

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Los Angeles, Feb 25 : A total of 115 pediatric flu deaths have been reported in the US so far this season, according to the latest data published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There have been at least 25 million flu illnesses, 280,000 hospitalisations, and 18,000 deaths from flu so far this season in the US, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the CDC estimates.

The number and weekly rate of flu hospital admissions continue to decline in the country. About 1,800 people were hospitalised with flu in the latest week ending February 18, the CDC data showed.

The CDC recommends that everyone ages six months and older get an annual flu vaccine as long as flu activity continues.

There are also prescription flu antiviral drugs that can be used to treat flu illness, which need to be started as early as possible, said the CDC.
United Nations, Feb 25 : The intractable nature of the year-long Ukraine war has manifested itself in the UN Security Council in the drama of Russia and Ukraine holding two rivalling moments of silence for victims of conflicts there.

As the Council met on Friday, the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kiev's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a moment of silence to honour the victims of Moscow.

Russia's Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia reluctantly joined in while appearing to object.

He next asked for another moment of silence for "all victims of what has happened in Ukraine starting in 2014" -- a reference to the West-backed protests that ousted the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych that was followed by Russia's annexation of Crimea and an insurgency by ethnic Russians in the Donbas region.

After he appeared to be prompting Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, everyone, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined in.

Earlier, Kuleba had defiantly declared that Russia's President Vladimir "Putin is going to lose much sooner than he thinks".

"Ukraine will resist as it has done so far, and Ukraine will win," he said.

He said that 141 countries had voted in the General Assembly on Thursday to deplore Russia's invasion and demand its withdrawal from Ukraine.

He made an appeal for weapons for his country's "legitimate" defence and added, "if you give weapons to Russia, you commit a crime".

Nebenzia accused the west of wanting the strategic defeat of Russia and its disintegration.

"Our Western colleagues are currently happy with everything: the Russians and Ukrainians are killing each other, and the Western companies are getting fabulously rich, and NATO is getting rid of its old weapons." Blinken said that "when President Putin couldn't break the Ukrainian military, he intensified efforts to break Ukrainians' spirit".

He also listed listing what he said were the war's toll: Tens of thousands of Ukrainian men, women, and children; more than 13 million uprooted people from their homes; more than half of the country's energy grid destroyed; more than 700 hospitals, 2,600 schools bombed; and at least 6,000 Ukrainian children taken away to Russia.

"There is an aggressor and there is a victim. Russia fights for conquest. Ukraine fights for its freedom." While Washington is ready for meaningful diplomatic efforts to find peace while upholding the UN Charter's principles, he warned that the world must not be fooled by calls for a ceasefire that will only help Russia rearm for another round.

He said that it would be a "false equivalency" to call on both sides to stop fighting when Russia is the aggressor.

Blinken appeared to be dropping a cautionary note on the 12-point proposal that China made for ending the war.

Referring to the plan, China's UN Mission's Charge d'Affaires Dai Bing asserted that Beijing has always taken an objective and impartial stance and stands ready to play a constructive role.

He called on Russia and Ukraine to resume negotiations without preconditions.

Guterres said: "Life is a living hell for the people of Ukraine. We must all encourage every meaningful effort to end the bloodshed and, at long last, give peace a chance.

"The guns are talking now, but in the end, we all know that the path of diplomacy and accountability is the road to a just and sustainable peace." (Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Los Angeles, Feb 25 : Socialite Paris Hilton shared that she had an unsavoury incident with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival when she was only 19 years old.

Hilton was at the festival to attend the annual amfAR gala for AIDS research, which Weinstein was hosting that year.

She said she met Weinstein the day before the gala, reports 'Variety'.

"I was at lunch with my girlfriend and he came up to the table and was like, 'Oh, you want to be an actress?' And I said, 'Yeah, I really want to be in a movie'," Hilton said.

"I was a teenager, so I was impressed by him. I was like, 'Oh my god, Harvey Weinstein is so cool!' and he said, 'Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts' and I just didn't want to go, so I never went." Hilton said Weinstein got aggressive with her at the gala the next evening.

She said that Weinstein followed her to the ladies bathroom and yelled at her, "Ya wanna be a star?" "I went into the bathroom and then he followed me," Hilton said.

"He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it. And I wouldn't open it, because I was like, 'I'm in a stall, why do you want to come in here?' And I just wouldn't open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like (shouting), 'This is my party'. going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out." When asked by Glamour UK if she had heard rumours about Weinstein's behaviour before meeting him at Cannes, Hilton replied: "Yeah, and it was just someone so powerful in Hollywood who everyone was terrified of. I didn't even want to say anything about it because I was like, 'I don't want people getting mad at me for saying anything', because it was just a known thing. He was just like that and people were like, 'OK, just turn a blind eye'." Hilton's interview with Glamour UK published on the same day Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted in Los Angeles on three counts of rape and sexual assault.

The former film producer was already serving a 23-year sentence in New York after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in that jurisdiction in a 2020 criminal trial.

The Los Angeles judge ordered Weinstein to serve his LA sentence consecutively after New York, effectively ensuring he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in India on Saturday on a two-day visit during which he is scheduled to discuss a range of bilateral and geo-political issues including new technologies, clean energy and trade and investment.

"Welcome to India! German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives in New Delhi on a State Visit. This is his first visit to India after assuming office. Chancellor Scholz was received by MoS @FinMinIndia @mppchaudhary at the airport," Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.

According to officials, Scholz is accompanied by senior officials and a high-powered business delegation, and his visit to India is the first one by a German Chancellor since the commencement of the Inter-Governmental Consultation (IGC) mechanism between the two nations in 2011.

Scholz will hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at around 11.45 a.m. on Saturday, covering the Ukraine war, the situation in the Indo-Pacific region and ways to boost bilateral ties.
Moscow, Feb 25 : Hackers have defaced several Russian websites with a video showing the Kremlin on fire on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

At least 32 Russian websites were hacked. However, it was unclear how many sites were defaced, or how the hackers were able to deface them, reports TechCrunch.

A hacker group called "CH01" took the responsibility of defacing a series of Russian websites.

"Hacker group CH01 in solidarity with the entire civilised world, in order to restore justice and the triumph of the forces of light and goodness, on the anniversary of the terrorist invasion of dictatorial Russia into a strong and independent Ukraine, we declare cyber war on dictatorship and totalitarianism and the idiocy of Putin's criminal regime," read the message in Russian language the hackers posted on a Telegram channel.A "Let the prophecy come true," the message said.

The hackers replaced the websites' content with the video showing the Kremlin on fire, along with a song by a Russian rock band named Kino.

Kino was one of the most popular rock bands in Russia in the 1980s, and their lyrics often included themes of freedom.

As the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine marked a year, President of the war-torn nation Volodymyr Zelensky in a defiant statement said that "this is a year of our invincibility, this will be the year of our victory".

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for preventing further escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war and giving peace "a chance".
Chennai, Feb 25 : The finding of lithium reserves in India will open up many opportunities though the actual realisation of the mined resource may take some years, said M.A.M. Arunachalam, also known as Arun Murugappan, Executive Chairman of multi-product company Tube Investments of India Ltd (TII).

The Indian government recently announced that it has found lithium inferred resources of 5.9 million tonnes in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said India should utilise its natural resource even though some had said the country should skip the lithium battery mode and go for other technologies like fuel cell. As per published reports, India at present imports lithium worth close to $20.64 million a year.

The flagship company of the Chennai-based conglomerate Rs 547 billion Murugappa group, TII, through its subsidiary TI Clean Mobility has got into the electric vehicle (EV) space majorly through acquisitions.

Interestingly TII, with its various products -- metals, auto and components, cycles and others -- and listed subsidiaries like Shanthi Gears, CG Power and Industrial Solutions and a couple of unlisted ones, is termed as a group within the Murugappa group.

Several years ago, the Murugappa group had launched and closed production and sales of electric two-wheelers several years back -- through BSA Motors -- has now re-entered the EV segment.

The TI Clean Mobility has announced the launch of its electric passenger three-wheelers. The company has also announced its plan to launch electric tractors and trucks.

In a short interview with IANS, Murugappan talks about the impact of lithium reserves and more. Excerpts: IANS: Your views on the lithium reserves found in India?

Murugappan: It is welcome news for the entire Indian EV industry and will open many opportunities.

IANS: In your estimation, how long would it take for mining lithium in India? Murugappan: As per the reports from the media, we have reached the G3 stage (prospecting) for the lithium presence. Therefore, further exploration (G2 stage) and the exact determination of reserve (G1 stage) will decide the starting of actual mining along with a consolidated framework from the regulatory bodies in place.

IANS: What does the finding of lithium reserves mean for the EV industry players? Will it result in reduction in vehicle prices? Murugappan: The lithium reserve in India will open many opportunities including sustenance, local research and development (R&D) on enhancing the battery chemistries and also a reduction in the battery price.

IANS: Do you think EV players will go for backward integration? What are your views for your group on this point? Murugappan: The industry players might consider possibilities to ensure a smooth supply chain with a competitive price along with a superior differentiating technology.

IANS: Should India skip the lithium battery and go the next step? If yes, why and if no, why? Murugappan: I think we should strongly consider utilizing the resource. The reason for this, the battery element in the automotive industry may remain even if we migrate to the next level of technology such as fuel cell.

IANS: If lithium is mined and made available in the country, will there be any reduction in the global prices? If yes, to what extent? What is the current rate? Will there be more battery making units in the country? Murugappan: It all depends upon a few parameters such as inflow or production rate of raw material, local consumption, grade of the reserve, conversion cost and others.

IANS: Will there be any redrawing of joint venture, technical collaboration agreements by the parties? Murugappan: It will open many opportunities for collaboration in the area of technology and innovation.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
Jammu, Feb 25 : People of Kotli Salal in Jammu and Kashmirs Reasi district, 75 kilometres from Jammu, are excited at the news of the discovery of vast deposits of lithium, hoping that this will change their fortunes and open new vistas for employment and prosperity.

Kotli Salal hit the headlines after the discovery of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium and became the focus of attention for people across the country.

"The teams have left after conducting surveys for two years. It was done with the help of drilling machines. The samples were sent to Lucknow for testing and now we have got the good news," Rajinder Singh, Naib Sarpanch of Kotli Salal, said.

He said the discovery of lithium in the area is certainly good news for the people as this will open new employment opportunities.

"After the NHPC power project was set up at Salal many years ago, this is the second major project that will come up in the area. It will trigger development and end unemployment." Reasi district, also famous for being home to the world's highest railway bridge, now sees itself at the cusp of developmental activities with the world's second largest deposits of lithium becoming a potential game changer.

"I can't believe that lithium deposits have been found in our village. My excitement knew no limits when ministries and prominent officials tweeted about the same," a local villager of Salal Himnagar said.

"We are fortunate that such a big discovery has been made in our area. This is not a small project; it will be worth billions. Our village will sparkle due to this. Nobody from Salal Himnagar will remain unemployed anymore. A mineral that used to be imported from other countries will now be extracted from our village, what can be a bigger thing for me than this?" Speaking to IANS HL Langeh, Joint Director Geology and Mining J&K, said the investigation was conducted by the Geological Survey of India which presented the report on February 9.

He said that the report has four stages - G1, G2, G3 and G4. He added the work has been completed for G4 and G3 stages and now G1 and G2 stages will be done for further investigation about the recovery and extraction of lithium.

"The aspect of technology will have to be looked into, whether the technology is available with us right now for recovering lithium," Lageth said.

He said the project for extraction of lithium will open up job opportunities for the locals.

"The project will have to pass through several stages including an environmental clearance from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change," he added.
Jammu, Feb 25 : Till the beginning of 2023, Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir was known only for the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine situated on the Trikuta Hills, where millions of devotees pay obeisance each year.

Hardly could anyone image that the sleepy Salal village located in the backyard of Reasi district would rise to a global dawn in 2023.

It is now time for scientists and miners to arrive in this village on a geological pilgrimage.

On February 9, 2023, the ministry of mines said it has discovered huge deposits of lithium, 5.9 million tonnes in Salal village of Reasi district. The discovery of lithium in Salal village has an interesting history.

A team of Geological Survey of India (GSI) reached Salal village, 77 kms from Jammu city, in 2018 to collect samples for identification of different minerals.

The team stayed in Salal village and kept collecting samples for research, investigation and processing. After more than four years of sustained sample collection, testing and re-testing of collected samples the team of miners discovered that they had hit the jackpot.

Following the guidelines of the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) and the Mineral Evidence and Mineral Content Rules, the GSI team performed reconnaissance surveys, preliminary exploration and general exploration.

GSI staff had conducted detailed geophysical work, including borehole logging, drilling and collecting core samples.

The team found that the area where lithium deposits are located is 6 kms long and 3 kms wide.

With the estimated 5.9 million tonnes of reserves in Salal, India will have the fifth-largest lithium reserves in the world, ahead of the US.

The discovery is vital as it comes at a time when India is going all out for a green transition in transportation, where electric vehicle adoption has become a national priority.

The discovery is a boost for the government's Make in India programme as lithium is used in the batteries that power EVs, mobile phones and other applications.

Villagers in Salal believe that the discovery has been possible because of abrogation of Article 370. Villagers argue that after the abrogation of Article 370, the central government as well as various companies showed interest in working and investing in J&K.

The GSI will now demarcate the area, after which the whole village will be fenced.

The entire village will be used for mining and the inhabitants living in hundreds of residential houses will be shifted and rehabilitated by the government with all the modern facilities including education, healthcare, recreation, sports, community welfare etc.

Salal village has a population of 8,000 living in around 2,500 houses.

India has been importing lithium from different countries, including China, Australia and Argentina.

In 2021, smaller deposits of lithium were found in Karnataka, but the recent discovery of this large deposit in Reasi will be a boon for India's battery production plans as the country is exploring green solutions to problems created by climate change etc.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), global lithium production in 2019 stood at 77,000 tonnes.

With battery manufacturing expected to accelerate over the coming years, particularly as electric vehicles become more prevalent in key markets seeking to decarbonise, interest in the metal will continue to grow and analysts expect worldwide demand will more than double by 2024.

Vivek Bhardwaj, Union mines secretary, recently handed over two Major Mineral Blocks Geological Reports of Lithium Blocks in Jammu Division and G3 Study (Advanced Study) of Lithium, AI and Titanium in Jammu division, located in Reasi District to Secretary Mining J&K, Amit Sharma for taking further necessary action in the matter.

Amit Sharma told reporters that all necessary steps shall be taken in collaboration with the GSI and dedicated teams of the department will work round the clock to ensure that this historical feat of e-auctioning Major Mineral Blocks will take place in a time bound manner.

"Lithium blocks which are a rare thing and a much demanded global major mineral for electric batteries which is the future, shall be explored and e-auctioned so that J&K figures on the global map so far as availability of lithium reserves in the world is concerned," Sharma told reporters.
Bengaluru, Feb 25 : The Karnataka government has ordered a departmental inquiry against IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri and IPS officer D. Roopa Moudgil over their public spat, sources said on Saturday.

The sources confirmed that the inquiry has been ordered by Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma as per the orders of the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

The government had taken serious note of the public spat which continued between two senior officers despite warnings issued by the Chief Minister and state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.

The sources explained that the matters of issuing a public statement, posting of private photos on social media would be probed against Roopa.

The allegations against Sindhuri of construction of swimming pool, violating heritage structure and carrying out construction activities during Covid pandemic and a bag purchase scam would be investigated.

The probe will also look into the violation of service laws and guidelines.

Both officers have been transferred from their present postings and were not allotted any new posts yet.

The two had engaged in the public spat regarding corruption and personal matters in the wake of which they were given gag orders by the state government.

The two public servants have been given strict instructions not to speak to the media or use any social media platforms.

Sindhuri had also approached the court and got orders against Roopa for not issuing any damaging statements against her and not to post any material on social media handles.

The court, however, has adjourned the matter to March 7 while allowing Roopa to file her objections.
The Rev. George F. Nicholas knows about Buffalo's health inequities as the leader of an organization dedicated to addressing them.

But he also sees the disparities up close, in his role as senior pastor at Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church on Masten Avenue.

Too often, he said, people are dying way too young of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

"We've got to move the needle on this, because people are dying," said Nicholas, CEO of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity. "I mean one of the things about being an African American clergy member or clergy member serving the African American community is the median age of the funerals you do."

He will regularly conduct funeral services for people who are only 35 or 40 years old. He also mentioned a recent funeral for someone who was just 59.

In fact, in the five ZIP codes in city's East Side and West Side and in the Cheektowaga-Sloan area that the Buffalo Center for Health Equity focuses on, African Americans are three times as likely to die prematurely as a white person living in a different ZIP code in Buffalo.

Overall, Nicholas said, a Black person in Buffalo dies 10 to 12 years sooner than a white person.

"That's grandma and grandpa not being there for college graduations, or first communions, or not being there when someone gets married, or just being around to provide the wisdom that an elder can provide to the next generation," Nicholas said.

For his work addressing Buffalo's health disparities, Nicholas was honored in the fall as one of two recipients nationally of the 2022 Bernard J. Tyson Health Equity Award from the Alliance of Community Health Plans.

But right now, he doesn't want to talk much about that, calling the award humbling and deferring credit to the team around him.

What he does want to discuss is how Buffalo has a moment  right now  to make health equity a priority, particularly following the traumatic events that hit the area last year.

The racist mass shooting on May 14 at a Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue amplified, on a national stage, the lack of food access in parts of Buffalo, he notes. Further, he points out, roughly half of the storm-related victims in Erie County from the December blizzard were Black, even though Black people make up just 14% of the county's population. Many of Buffalo's Black residents live in neighborhoods on the East Side, where some of the housing is substandard with limited insulation, local experts have said.

'A cascading failure': Blizzard that left tens of thousands without heat hit some in Buffalo harder While there is scant data available, the historic storm appears to have had a particularly devastating impact on Black people in the city.

Both food access and housing are key social determinants of health, the term given to the nonmedical factors that affect a person's health and quality of life. This term makes it clear that a person's health is often determined by the neighborhood in which they live.

"We've got to be able to begin to start really talking about systems and structures and then changing those to make those more equitable," Nicholas said. "So I think this is that moment we have in this region, and I think Buffalo has a chance to be a leader in that, because of all the things that have happened. Buffalo has been on the national news more than any, right, so let's take advantage of that and have our story not be defined by poor health outcomes, poverty and segregation."

"Let's let our story be, 'Yeah, that was our reality,'" he added, "and here's the things that we did to change that reality. That's got to be the story."

Prospectus 2023 In Prospectus 2023, we capture the region's conversation about expanding opportunities. We asked area business and community leaders to share 

Henry Louis Taylor Jr., director of the University at Buffalo's Center for Urban Studies and a close friend and ally of Nicholas, said that is a tall task, and one that will take comprehensive neighborhood planning on the city's East Side and, in his mind, declaring "substandard housing as the No. 1 issue that we want to attack."

Too often, Taylor said, new projects fall short of addressing the root causes that can lead to health inequities, such as substandard housing. For instance, a new apartment project, he said, doesn't address the existing housing stock where people are already living.

"There's a lot of smiley, happy talk about what's going on in Buffalo, but when you look down on the ground, nothing's happening on substandard housing," Taylor said. "But you will hear the mayor make a wonderful speech about all of the new housing that we're building. And that's silly. That is silly talk. As if you're going to build so many new houses that one day you'll wake up one morning and all these substandard houses will be empty because everybody has moved into a wonderful new apartment."

How dentists and counselors aim to address health inequity in one of Buffalo's poorest neighborhoods This $2 million project, a partnership between nonprofits Gerard Place and Lackawanna-based OLV Human Services, could boost access to mental health and dental services in Buffalo's Bailey-Delavan neighborhood.

But there are bright spots, with Taylor crediting Nicholas for his "catalytic work that he's done around the establishment of health initiatives in this region." Taylor first met Nicholas at Ohio State University, where Taylor was a young professor and Nicholas was a student. Then, when Taylor came to UB and developed the Center for Urban Studies, Nicholas was again one of his students.

Taylor said he's proud to see the work his old friend has done and what's to come.

"Thanks to Pastor George, we are now looking at the processes of neighborhood and community development through a health lens," Taylor said. "That we're saying that at the core of transforming and changing and making these places good to live is that people are dying in them. People are acquiring diseases that they don't have to have. They're dying young."

Nicholas, an area native who returned to Buffalo more than a decade ago to serve as pastor at Lincoln Memorial, which is the church he grew up attending, knows eliminating Buffalo's health inequities is a major challenge.

It's the kind of significant issue that will require alliances between government, corporate entities, health care systems, community-based organizations and educational institutions, he said.

He agrees with Taylor that an investment in existing housing is needed, as well as more dollars toward preventive medicine to help revamp a health care industry that too often resembles "a sick care system."

But, most of all, he said, health equity needs to become a front-and-center topic for all of Western New York.

"In order for us to get to the point of health equity, it has to be a priority  No. 1," Nicholas said. "It's got to be a priority in this region, not just in the Black community or in the Latino community. It's got to be a priority for us as a region."
Bhopal, Feb 25 : With more people succumbing, the death toll in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi bus accident touched 15 on Saturday, sources said.

Of the 39 injured undergoing treatment at the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Rewa, condition of six are stated to be critical, they added.

According to official reports, the tragedy occurred late on Friday when people of Kol community, who had assembled to attend 'Kol Mahakumbh' in Satna, were returning in three buses after the event.

Organised by the state government, the 'Mahakumbh' was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The buses were parked along the roadside at local 'dhaba', when a speeding truck rammed into them near a tunnel in Sidhi.

On hearing about the accident, Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan, along with state BJP president V. D. Sharma rushed to the spot around 1:30 a.m on Friday.

He also visited Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Rewa, where injured passengers have been admitted.

Upon reaching there, Chief Minister Chouhan told the media persons that 39 people were still undergoing treatment at the hospital. While the condition of most is stated to be out of danger, five to six were in ICU ward were critically injured.

The chief minister said kin of every deceased will be granted a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each. Those critically injured will be given Rs two lakh and victims with minor injuries Rs one lakh.

"Kin of those who died in the accident will be given government jobs (as per their eligibility) and the government will also bear all expenses of treatment. I have directed the medical superintendent of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital that the government will provide all possible help," chief minister Chouhan added.
Bhopal, Feb 25 : A principal of a private pharmacy college in Indore, who was set ablaze by a former student on February 20 and had been battling for life after having suffered 80 per cent burn injuries, passed away at a hospital on Saturday.

According to reports, a team of doctors who had been monitoring Vimukta Sharma's health conditions, declared her dead at around 4 a.m.

The incident took place in the premises of the BM Pharmacy College when the 54-year-old principal leaving for home.

In the meantime, the accused Ashutosh Srivastava (24) approached her and after a short argument over delay in issuance of his mark-sheet, poured petrol on her and set her ablaze with a cigarette lighter.

Shrivastava was arrested just hours after the incident.

"The principal has succumbed to her injuries during treatment. We found that the student had failed in the 7th semester. We have already arrested the accused," Bhagwat Singh Virde, Police superintendent (Indore rural) said.

Srivastava has been slapped with the stringent National Security Act (NSA) as per an order issued by Indore District Collector Ilayaraja T.

"During probe, we found two to three complaints were made against Srivastava by the pharmacy college authorities, the woman principal and other staff, who claimed the accused was threatening suicide," he told reporters on Friday.
Uttara Kannada, Feb 25 : The Karnataka Police said on Saturday that it has formed three special teams to crack the murder case of four members of the same family in Uttara Kannada district.

Seventy-year-old Shambhu Bhat, his wife Madevi (60), son Rajiv (40) and daughter-in-law Kusuma (35) were hacked to death on Thursday in Onibagilu village near Bhatkal town.

The police are suspecting the role of the elder daughter-in-law behind the murders and have taken two accused persons into custody.

The teams have been formed under the DySP and CPI of Bhatkal.

According to the police, Shambhu Bhat's elder son Sridhar died due to kidney failure and his Vidya demanded compensation and division of property.

Shambhu Bhat owned three acres of land. Vidya Bhat was given 1.9 acres of land but she had demanded three.

The matter later turned into a dispute.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : A 35-year-old man, wanted in three human trafficking cases and carrying a reward of Rs 25,000, was arrested from Ghaziabad by crime branch of Delhi Police, an officer said on Saturday.

The accused, identified as Sanjay alias Prakash alias Mintu Mirdaha, a resident of Vijay Nagar, Ghaziabad, and a native of Purnia, Bihar, along with the gang members used to roam around the railway stations in Delhi and entice innocent girls on pretext of marriage and then sold them in different states for Rs 4-5 lakh for each girl.

According to police, in 2017, Sanjay along with others was arrested for kidnapping a 14-year-old girl.

"The girl was recovered. Two more minor girls were recovered from one of the accused's houses. These girls were trafficked for sexual exploitation by the gang members including Sanjay," said Ravindra Singh Yadav, the Special Commissioner of Police (Crime).

On May 21, 2022, Sanjay was released on bail by court but he jumped the bail and absconded. He was declared a proclaimed offender.

On August 6, 2022 one 14-year-old girl went to school but did not return home. During inquiry, it came in notice that two more girls of the same class were also missing.

"All the three girls were enticed by Sanjay and he took all of them to Ghaziabad. He further sold two of them but somehow the third one succeeded in escaping from there. The girls returned to her home and revealed all the facts to the local police," said Yadav.

However, recently during investigation, police received specific inputs regarding Sanjay and he was nabbed from Vijay Nagar.

On interrogation, Sanjay disclosed that he is a member of a gang indulged in trafficking of girls.

"The modus operandi of the gang is to roam around the railway stations in Delhi and induce the innocent girls on pretext of marriage and then sell them in different states for marriage in lieu of Rs 4-5 lakh for each girl," said the Special CP.

Sanjay further revealed that he had earlier been arrested in four more cases of human trafficking.

In 2017, Sanjay for the first time enticed a girl and sold her in Dadri, Bhiwani. Thereafter, he along with the other gang members sold many girls.
Mumbai, Feb 25 : Actor Shantanu Maheshwari made his big screen debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Gangubai Kathiawadi', which celebrates its first anniversary on Saturday. The dancer-turned actor credits his success to the filmmaker.

Talking about the film completing one year the actor said: "Wherever I am today and the recognition and love I have received till date from the fans and even in the industry, all the credit goes to Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir." He added: "It is an experience that you can't describe in words. As an artist he makes you explore places when you are performing which are not easy to explore and once you can explore those areas within you and where the whole performance is coming from, it is a different high altogether." 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' is a 2022 Hindi-language biographical crime drama is loosely based on the true story of Ganga Jagjivandas Kathiawadi, popularly known as Gangubai Kothewali, whose life was documented in the book 'Mafia Queens of Mumbai' written by S. Hussain Zaidi.

The film depicts the rise of a simple girl from Kathiawad who had no choice but to embrace the ways of destiny and swing it in her favour.

The portrayal of Afsaan, with his charm and innocence, has left an indelible effect on the minds of the audience. On the work front, Shantanu Maheshwari is working on some projects that he will be announcing soon.
Islamabad, Feb 25 : The Afghan Taliban have expressed their willingness to disarm the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group and relocate its members from the countries' border but with a condition that Islamabad will bear the cost of the proposed plan.

This was revealed at the meeting of the Central Apex Committee which met on Friday to discuss the recent surge in terrorist attacks in the country and other security matters, The Express Tribune reported.

The meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by Chief Ministers, senior cabinet ministers, the army chief, DG ISI and other relevant officials.

Sources familiar with the meeting told The Express Tribune that the issue of banned TTP and its sanctuaries across the border was one of the main issues on the agenda.

A high-powered delegation led by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif visited Kabul this week to share "irrefutable evidence" with the Afghan Taliban about the presence of TTP in the neighbouring country.

The sources said the apex committee was informed that the Afghan interim government proposed a plan to control the banned outfit. The proposal envisages disarming the TTP fighters and their relocation from the countries' border areas.

However, the Afghan government asked Pakistan to fund the proposal and bear the cost of rehabilitation of the TTP, The Express Tribune reported.

The meeting was informed that the Afghan Taliban made a similar proposal to China to address its concerns on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

However, Pakistan has yet to respond to the Afghan Taliban's idea as there is scepticism that it might not work.

Nevertheless, it was for the first time that the Afghan Taliban came up with the idea to disarm the TTP.

Earlier, the interim Afghan government encouraged Pakistan to negotiate a peace deal with the TTP, something that backfired.
Los Angeles, Feb 25 : The production company behind the Spaghetti Western film 'Rust' has agreed to pay a fine of $100,000 to the New Mexico Environment Department's Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHSB) following the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The production company was issued a fine of $136,793 by the bureau last April. The amount was the maximum allowable by state law in New Mexico, reports Mirror.co.uk.

Under the settlement, which is pending approval, the bureau downgraded its claim from "wilful-serious" to a "serious" violation.

As per Mirror.co.uk, Melina Spadone, senior counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and lawyer for Rust Movie Productions, said: "We are pleased to have entered into an agreement with OHSB, subject to approval, which downgrades the citation and reduces penalties. Our top priority has always been resuming production and completing this film so we can honour the life and work of Halyna Hutchins. Settling this case rather than litigating is how we can best move forward to achieve that goal." It comes a day after actor Alec Baldwin pleaded not guilty to two charges of involuntary manslaughter over the death of the cinematographer.

The 64-year-old actor will next face a preliminary hearing at a date yet to be set. The hearing will determine whether or not the case will go to trial. The actor was charged over the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins in October 2021 by the Santa Fe District Attorney's office last month.
Mumbai, Feb 25 : Director Aanand L. Rai, whose film 'Tanu Weds Manu' clocked in 12 years since its release, expressed gratitude to the audience for giving their love to the film.

Speaking about the film, the director said: "The response this beautiful story received is unmatched. The film is still relatable to a wide audience even today & that's what a beautiful story does. It leaves an impact every time. I can't believe the film has completed twelve years today. Gratitude only for all the love and support." 'Tanu Weds Manu', produced by Aanand L. Rai and Colour Yellow Productions also led to a sequel 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns' which was released in 2015.

Meanwhile, Aanand's latest venture into regional cinema with 'Aatmapamphlet' has travelled across the globe and was screened at the Berlin Film Festival.

Following the success in the regional cinema is the recently announced second instalment of 'Jhimma' and the Taapsee Pannu-starrer 'Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba'.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 25 : Road ahead for C.M.Ravindran, the assistant private secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is likely to be bumpy with his intimate chats with Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling and Life Mission cases, surfacing on Saturday.

Ravindran has been served a notice to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at its Kochi office on Monday.

Ravindran had earlier feigned ignorance of Swapna Suresh, but was questioned by the ED in 2020 and left off then.

But former top IAS official M.Sivasankar, who was also questioned in 2020 in the same Life Mission bribery case, was arrested early this month after three days' interrogation.

Later, the ED had questioned him for nine days in succession and on Friday handed him back to judicial custody and is now placed in a jail at Kochi till March 10.

It is against this background that Ravindran has been asked to appear for questioning on Monday and all eyes are on if he will turn up, as in 2020, it was after three notices was served he appeared.

Incidentally, in the earlier chat messages that were recovered between Swapna and Sivasankar, there is a mention of she being asked to meet Ravindran and these messages coinciding with the signing of the Life Mission agreement in 2018.

The latest chat messages between Ravindran and Swapna, that took place close to midnight, clearly indicates that Ravindran knew her very well and she soon after Sivasankar was arrested early this month, said Ravindran knows everything and if questioned the role of Vijayan and his family also will come out.

Politically also for Vijayan, Ravindran has been asked to appear on Monday, when the assembly session resumes after a short break and the Congress led opposition will not lose any opportunity to strike at Vijayan, similar to what he did when former Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy came under a cloud when in office (2011-16) when the Solar scam surfaced.
Rawalpindi, Feb 25 : After Lahore and Peshawar, PTI's Jail Bharo Tehreek (court arrest movement) HAS moved to Rawalpindi, but an "unimpressive" show resulted in only five leaders courting arrest.

The leaders along with 42 party workers, who voluntarily presented themselves for arrest, were booked for one month under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, 1960, Rawalpindi division RPO Syed Khurram Ali has confirmed.

The PTI, which won six National Assembly and 12 Punjab Assembly seats from the city, could only manage to find five leaders who were willing to court arrest, Dawn reported.

A senior party leader told Dawn that local representatives were tasked with bringing at least 100 workers and supporters each from their constituencies but the turnout "was lower than expected".

He said that at a divisional meeting three days ago, the leaders expressed their reservations and informed the local leadership of difficulties in convincing people to court arrest, Dawn reported.

The workers were assured that a team of lawyers had been formed which would get them freed within a day or two of arrest, the leader said, adding that workers "refused to buy the story." The PTI official said workers were miffed at local leaders, who, they claimed, did nothing for their welfare while being in power for almost four years.

"After I saw that former health minister Amir Kiani did not surrender, I also went back home," the PTI leader told Dawn.

"Why should I court arrest if central leaders were not interested in obeying the directives of Imran Khan," he said.
Time may be running out for the Blasdell Fire Department.

It has not answered calls since October, it has no certified EMTs, it sold its ambulance and membership has dwindled to less than 20.

The Village Board has to work with the department on a plan, Village Administrator Janet MacGregor Plarr said.

"Theyre either going to resuscitate, or they are going to have to think about passing a resolution to dissolve," she said.

The Village Board plans to discuss the options with the public during its next regular meeting March 15.

"If people dont step up to the plate to volunteer and get trained, we're going to have no other option other than to enter into a contract for fire protection services," Plarr said. "This is absolutely heart wrenching and heart breaking."

If the board decides to dissolve the department, the measure can be put to a public vote if 20% of voters sign a petition requesting a referendum.

Blasdell's Fire Department was formed in 1905, and for much of the 20th Century, it was the center of social life in the village, with dances, fish fries and bingo. At its height, it had 80 members.

Volunteer fire companies have been faced with a decline in numbers for more than three decades.

A survey in 1990 showed a shortage of more than 2,200 volunteer firefighters in Erie County. Officials then attributed it to a general lack of volunteer time, increased distances between home and work and greater danger in fighting fires that might involve hazardous materials. Add to those the additional time required for training and certifications and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fire companies have held recruitment weekends, and offered incentives, such as Length of Service Award Programs (LOSAP) providing a pension-like benefit to firefighters who qualify.

But recruitment and retention efforts have not been successful for some departments, including Blasdell's. Then the pandemic hit, adding more pressure, stress and risk to first responders.

The Blasdell department has no certified emergency medical technicians, Plarr said. When Big Tree Volunteer Fire Company's ambulance could not be fixed, Blasdell leased its ambulance to Big Tree, eventually selling it to the company, she said.

Fire calls in Blasdell have been answered by neighboring fire companies through mutual aid, but Plarr said mutual aid is not a permanent solution.

There are nine volunteer fire companies in the Town of Hamburg, including the villages of Blasdell and Hamburg.

Some volunteers in Blasdell left to go to other fire companies, while others left the fire service for good, Plarr said.

"Were a very small department that doesn't have a lot of the bells and whistles that other folks have," she said.
Bengaluru, Feb 25 : Karnataka Congress on Saturday attacked ruling BJP after two teachers allegedly committed suicide while staging a protest demanding pension benefits. The Congress also dubbed the deaths as 'government murders'.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah questioned, "If a death occurs in communal clash, within hours leaders of BJP will swarm their houses like flies. Don't they think the lives of teachers, who form the future of thousands of students, are important?" Siddaiah Hirematha, a teacher from Bagalkot and Shankarappa Boraddy from Sindhanoor in Raichur district had committed suicide last week as ruling BJP government did not fulfil their demands. Shouldn't they be called government murders? Siddaramaiah added.

He further said that the teachers of aided schools and colleges are protesting in the premises of the Freedom Park for 141 days. No one has shown any concern for them. Doesn't the BJP government have minimum knowledge that the teachers have been asking for their pensions? The ruling BJP is claiming they didn't know about the protest by teachers even after 141 days and agreed themselves that their government was under coma all these days. When they are busy with collection of commissions, how can they even hear the voices of the poor? Siddaramaiah explained.

The ruling BJP should talk with the teachers of aided schools on agitation and fulfil their demands. It should also compensate appropriately, he stated.
Bengaluru, Feb 25 : In poll-bound Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday promised all cooperation to set up a memorial of the first chief minister of state K.C. Reddy in his hometown.

The Reddy community has a significant population in the state and plays an important role in elections in parts of Bengaluru and districts of Kalyan Karnataka region.

After unveiling the statue of Reddy in Vidhana Soudha premises here, he said there is a need to create literature on all the chief ministers of the state to make people aware about their works.

A museum is required regarding the Karnataka Ekikarana movement, a variety of agitations, steps taken by the Chief Ministers' of that period, and mindset of people during that time.

The Chief Minister said Reddy, a veteran freedom fighter, worked as the first chief minister of the State, after independence. He hailed from a farmer's family and worked as an advocate and journalist, and floated a party, 'Praja Pratinidhi'.

During four-and-a-half years of his governance, Reddy helped in formulating legislation keeping in view the future of the State, building the government machinery, and giving a big gift to the people. He left behind a rich ideology. They must tread the path shown by him.

Bommai said it had been decided to install Reddy's statue during his birth anniversary, and accordingly it has been unveiled in Vidhana Soudha for the person who laid the foundation for robust Karnataka.
Mumbai, Feb 25 : Actress Ritika Singh, who will be playing the role of an assault survivor in the upcoming film 'InCar', said that it was very difficult to switch off the MMA fighter in her and act as a victim.

She told IANS: "It was difficult for me to keep the martial artiste in me at bay and function like a regular girl because as an MMA fighter, I would know how to get out of a certain situation and how to use my body and its flexibility to its strength. I had to really work on it." But what surprised her during the course of filming was the superhuman strength that the human body can exhibit when pushed to a corner.

"Often the human body exhibits a superhuman strength when one is stuck in a difficult situation and that's what surprised me about myself. To discover that superhuman strength in me acted as the driving force to execute the action scenes in the film," she said.

Playing the role of a girl who suffers assault had taken a toll on her. The healing process took 4-5 months for her to get into a better mental state.

She said: "It took me 4-5 months to get out of this character. I know the process and the method to leave the character behind but I just couldn't do it given the emotional strain. I did Yoga, my martial arts training and somehow things changed over the course of time but it was difficult." When asked how the MMA fighter in her helps her as an actress, she quipped: "The MMA fighter in me helps the actor in me in many ways, the most important aspect of being a martial artiste is discipline. That discipline has shaped the actor in me. I always go to the sets fully prepared and I'm also very particular about saying the dialogues the way a director wants said so that's something that martial arts have given me." Directed and written by Harsh Warrdhan, presented by Inbox Pictures and produced by Anjum Qureshi and Sajid Qureshi, 'InCar' is all set to release in theatres on March 3 in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.
Kolkata, Feb 25 : The name of the wife of an absconding suspect of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths probing the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal has now surfaced.

The name came up after Kuntal Ghosh, the arrested youth Trinamool Congress leader in the same, while coming out the court, told newspersons that one Haimanti Ganguly is aware of where the main proceeds of the scam had gone.

On cross-examination the CBI sleuths came to know the woman named by Ghosh is estranged wife of a suspected middleman in the scam Gopal Dalapati, who had been absconding though being summoned by the central agency for questioning. There is no trace of his estranged wife, perceived to be staying in Mumbai, till date.

Sources said that although the investigating sleuths is yet to get any specific clue of Haimanti Ganguly's involvement in the scam, but any investigation process has started to determine whether Kuntal Ghosh has floated the name suddenly to divert public attention from the principal course of investigation which is to identify the main brains behind the scam or there are some merits in his claims.

A background check of Haimanti Ganguly has revealed that at a time she was involved in the profession of modelling and part- time acting in low- budget Bengali movies. This is the second name of a lady with modelling and acting background that has surfaced in the teachers' scam the first being that of Arpita Mukherjee, the close- aide of former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee.

In July last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths who are conducting a parallel probe in the teachers' recruitment scam recovered crores of rupees from her two residences. She is currently in judicial custody and so is Partha Chatterjee.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : A Special NIA court in Lucknow has convicted eight persons in the 2017 Kanpur conspiracy case in which they were planning terror attacks on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

They were booked under various sections of the IPC, UA(P), Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act.

The case against the eight accused was initially registered at the ATS Police Station, Lucknow. Later the investigation of the case was taken over by the NIA.

The quantum of punishment in the case will be pronounced by the NIA court on February 27.

NIA investigations earlier revealed that the accused had prepared and tested some IEDs and tried to plant them at various locations in Uttar Pradesh.

A notebook was seized which contained handwritten notes about potential targets and details about bomb making.

Investigations had also led to the discovery of several photographs of the accused making IEDs and even with weapons, ammunition and the IS flag.

"The group had reportedly collected illegal weapons, explosives from various places. One of the accused, Atif Muzaffar, had also disclosed that he had compiled information on techniques to fabricate IEDs after collecting materials from various internet sources," the NIA said.

Investigations also revealed that Atif and three others, identified as Md Danish, Syed Meer Hasan and Md Saifulla, had been responsible for fabricating the IED that was planted in the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train.

The train explosion took place on March 7, 2017, in which 10n persons had suffered severe injuries.

This case was also investigated by NIA and is currently under trial.

"The breakthrough in the IS-backed criminal conspiracy case came when the main accused, Md Faisal, was arrested for his involvement in the train explosion. Disclosures made by him led to the arrest of two of his associates, Gauss Mohammad Khan alias Karan Khatri and Azhar Khan alias Azhar Khalifa," an NIA official said.

After taking over the investigations, NIA arrested five more accused in the case -- Atif Muzaffar, Mohammad Danish, Asif Iqbal alias Rocky and Mohammad Atif alias Atif Iraqi and Sayed Meer Hussain.

A charge sheet was filed by the NIA against all the eight arrested accused on August 31, 2017.

Investigations in the case had clearly shown that the accused were members of IS and had sworn 'abayat' (allegiance) to the terror group.

Atif Muzaffar was the group's Emir (leader) and was influenced by the propaganda of Dr Zakir Naik. He was found to be a frequent visitor of IS-related websites, from where he was downloading contents and videos and sharing it with the others in his group.

All eight had come together to propagate IS ideology and promote its activities in India. In pursuit of this objective, Mohammad Faisal, Gauss Mohammad Khan, Atif Muzaffar, Md Danish, Md Saifulla had explored land routes.

They had visited Kolkata, Srinagar, Amritsar, Wagah Border, Badmer, Jaisalmer, Mumbai and Kozhikode, among others, for undertaking 'hijrah' (migration).

Gauss Mohammad Khan and Atif Muzaffar had explored a route to cross over to Bangladesh via Sundarbans, as per the investigations.

Faisal, Atif and Saifulla had also travelled to Kashmir in March 2016 in a bid to contact some terrorist groups that could help them to cross over to Pakistan, from where they could migrate to IS-controlled territories in Syria.

Another accused, Saifulla, was killed during exchange of fire with ATS UP on March 7, 2017, in Haji Colony.

The police had a huge cache of arms, ammunitions, electronic gadgets and other materials required to fabricate IEDs, and documents, an IS flag, eight pistols, four knives, 630 rounds live cartridges, 62 rounds fired cartridges, five gold coins and cash Rs 62,055, foreign currencies, cheques, passports, five mobile phones.
Chennai, Feb 25 : The Tamil Nadu Police have directed courier companies across the state to get no-drug declaration from customers before accepting the couriers to be delivered.

The decision came after several instances of drugs being transferred through couriers either laced in chocolate, or as in the form of powders and other means were reported.

The courier companies have to get a declaration from the customers on the content that is included in the parcel and maintain a proper record of the same.

The police have also directed the courier companies to get full details including phone number, Aadhar card number, and other personal details of the customer who is sending the parcel. More than this, a written declaration is required on the contents that were being transported.

The sale of ganja chocolates is on the rise in Tamil Nadu and in the last two months, 310 kg of ganja chocolates were seized from the Coimbatore district alone.

Police have been conducting a major crackdown at all the railway stations to prevent the migrant workers from smuggling in ganja and other drugs to the state once they are coming back from home.

Ever since the police commenced an extensive search and raids at the railway stations, the smuggling of drugs through railway stations has come down drastically but it hasn't been fully eradicated.

The Tamil Nadu Police have raided all major railway stations including Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Coimbatore, Erode, Jholarpet, and other stations.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Police told IANS that even after crackdown at railway stations, the ganja-laced chocolates and other forms of drug were available. This is the reason, the police have strictly directed all the courier companies to abide by the directive.
Seoul, Feb 25 : Samsung Electronics has held a screening event of "Faith", a short film shot entirely on the latest Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone, showcasing the device's powerful camera capabilities.

"Faith" is a 10-minute action thriller movie directed by South-Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jin, known for his work in horror films, including 'The Wailing' (2016), reports Korea JoongAng Daily.

The short film was screened at South Korea's Megabox's Dolby Cinema on Wednesday.

"We ran a number of tests to capture the scenes using the smartphone, trying to understand the camera's performance and features, and the shooting went without difficulties," Hong-jin was quoted as saying.

The film was shot in a dark building with only a few light sources, including pale fluorescent lights and a bright muzzle flash.

However, even in a low-light setting, the texture of the actor's make-up-covered skin and thin scratches engraved on a metal key was clearly visible on screen, said the report.

Moreover, the film's director said that he found the quality of the scenes filmed with the Galaxy smartphone "surprising".

"Filmmakers like I wonaAt be able to use a camera's performance as an excuse for the final work, I thought after monitoring the footage," Hong-jin mentioned.

The S23 Ultra has a 200-megapixel camera sensor called Isocell HP2, which is a significant improvement over the previous 108 megapixels, and its improved Nightography feature allows for better low-light photography.

In 2022, Samsung partnered with Oscar-winning filmmaker Charlie Kaufman to make a short film using the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
February 25 : National Award winner filmmaker Sriram Dalton is one of the rarest filmmaker in our times, who has successfully managed to incorporate the beauty of nature, region, culture and people, and lacing it with social messaging, without getting caricaturist.

Srirams first feature, Spring Thunder, which dwells deep into politics, corruption and mining of natural resources, has won praises from Ravish Kumar and filmmaker Anubhav Sinha for its need-of-the-hour topic and gripping realistic narrative.

Spring Thunder, which caused a lot of stir for exposing the corrupt political and mining culture which is destroying the nature and putting natural water-ways and dwelling at severe risk.

The film faced a lot of trouble from politicians and mafia, which lead the filmmaker to release the film digitally rather than commercially. Talking about the film, Sriram said, I make films to create awareness, there is an incredible sense of achievement about revealing the truth via cinematic landscape. The illegal mining is an issue, it needed to be addressed, and I did. I might have made some enemies on the way, people tried to derail my movie, even had its commercial releasee cancelled, but Ive always stood by my principal, and I will remain to do so. The film is out and it has reached millions of people

Talking about his National Award winning project Lost Bharupiya, Sriram said, It is beautiful film about traditional performing arts of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. But unfortunately people practicing the art are living in horrifying poverty. I researched the subject and made a film, I am proud of and National Award is just an reassurance that I am doing something substantial

Spring Thunder - A fight for Jal Jungal Jameen comes loaded with a meaningful anthem, which is fast gaining popularity. The film is an extension of Srirams initiative "Jal Jungle Zamin Humara Hain" for spreading awareness about dying rivers of India with the idea of "Free India Water. The filmmaker even walked for straight 82 days from Mumbai to Jharkhand, to create awareness.

Talking about his future project, Sriram said, I am working on something bigger, were just prepping right now, once I have done my homework, Id make the official announcement soon

Apart from Spring Thunder and The Lost Behrupiya, filmmaker Sriram Dalton has directed OP Stop Smelling your Socks as well.
Mumbai, Feb 25 : The Maharashtra government will inaugurate a tourism circuit dedicated to the Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, famous as Swatantryaveer Savarkar on February 26, marking his 57th death anniversary, officials said here on Saturday.

The Savarkar Circuit will comprise of five significant places linked with Savarkar in the state and will be launched at a grand event on Sunday at his birth place Bhagur in Nashik, Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha said.

The circuit will take the tourists to Bhagur, the memorial of his brother Ganesh Savarkar in Sangli, his hostel room in Fergusson College in Pune, the Ratnagiri Jail where he was once lodged and the Patit Pawan Temple he built there, and the Savarkar National Memorial in Mumbai.

The announcement came barely days after the ruling alliance Shiv Sena's Chief and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced that his party would demand the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna posthumously on Swatantryaveer Savarkar.

The government will also develop a Savarkar theme park with a memorial and a museum in one year, and collaborate with tour operators to add the Savarkar circuit in their tour packages, Lodha said.

The archaeological state has already started a revamp of Savarkar's birthplace, Savarkarwada in Nashik, and will create all tourism related infrastructure and facilities on the circuit.

In recent times, Savarkar has been targeted for his mercy petition to the British government seeking release from the Cellular Jail in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, besides his alleged involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

During the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) march in Maharashtra in November 2022, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had taken potshots at Savarkar which almost created a rift in the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance here.

Lodha said that from February 28, the government will start a sound-and-laser light show at the Gateway of India in Mumbai to commemorate the departure of the last of the British troops after Independence, from here.

He said initially the show will be on weekends and later it would be a daily affair for domestic and international tourists who throng the Gateway of India.

Earlier, on November 26, 2022 - on the occasion of the Constitution Day - the state government had launched an Ambedkar circuit in the state in memory of B. R. Ambedkar, the Chief Architect of the Indian Constitution, covering historical places linked with him in Mumbai, Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nagpur.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud on Saturday said incidents of suicides of students from marginalised communities are becoming common and research shows that most such students are from Dalit and Adivasi communities.

The Chief Justice stressed that judges in India have a crucial role in making a dialogue with the society inside and outside the courtrooms to push for social change.

The CJI was delivering the keynote address at the 19th Annual Convocation of National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University of Law, Hyderabad (NALSAR). The Chief Justice said educational curriculum must inculcate a sense of compassion amongst students and academic leaders must also be sensitive to the concerns of students.

"When students leave their homes, it becomes the responsibility of educational institutions to establish a bond of institutional friendship with students. We must also realise that different students face different challenges. Only recently, I read about the suicide of a Dalit student at IIT Bombay, it reminded of the suicide of an Adivasi studying in a national level university....last year," he said.

The Chief Justice added that my heart goes out to family members of these students, but I also have been wondering where our institutions are going wrong, that students are forced to give up their precious lives. "In these instance, incidents of suicides of students from marginalised communities are becoming common. These numbers are not just statistics; they are stories sometimes of centuries of struggle," he said.

Justice Chandrachud further added that Professor Sukhdev Thorat, one of our senior educationist in the country, has noted that most of students who died of suicide have been Dalits and Adivasis and it shows a pattern which we must question.

"In 75 years, we have focused on creating institutions of eminence but more than that we need to create institutions of empathy, the term I read in a news article. Some of you must be wondering why the Chief Justice is speaking on this issue, well because I think, the issue of discrimination is directly linked with lack of empathy in educational institutions...," he said.

Justice Chandrachud said furthermore, judges cannot shy away from social realities and instances of judicial dialogue are common across the globe. "When the Black Lives Matter movement emerged in the US, after the murder of George Floyd, all 9 judges of the Washington Supreme Court... released a joint statement addressed to the judiciary and the legal community on the degradation and devaluation of black lives in the US...," he said.

The Chief Justice emphasised, "In similar ways, judges in India have a crucial role in making a dialogue with the society inside and outside the courtrooms to push for social change." He said, "my effort is also to throw light on structural issues which confront our society, therefore promoting empathy should be the first step that educational institutions ought to take. Nurturing empathy can end the culture of eliteness and exclusion..." On the social discrimination faced by students from marginalised communities, he suggested stopping allotment of hostel rooms based on marks secured in the entrance exam, which leads to caste-based segregation.

He also stressed against practices like putting out a list of marks obtained by students along with social categories; asking for marks of Dalit and Adivasi students, publicly to humiliate them; making mockery of their English proficiency and labelling them as inefficient.

The Chief Justice said practising empathy is not just a personal attribute but it requires institutional change in every walk of life within and outside the judiciary, including our educational institutions. "In that sense, I believe empathy can help reflect on the state of legal education in a much broader way...," he said.
Anything can be a skating rink if it's icy enough.

Even Buffalo's sidewalks.

A figure skater since she was a kid, Kate Egan returned to her home in the North Park neighborhood of Buffalo on Friday night after a couple of drinks with friends at Fattey Beer Co. and decided to lace up her skates.

One-half inch of ice glazed Buffalo, Cheektowaga during storm Many roads, sidewalks and driveways were still coated with ice and sleet Friday morning.

The local teacher's front yard and sidewalks were covered in thick ice left over from a storm that hit the northern side of the Buffalo metro area overnight Wednesday and Thursday. According to the National Weather Service in Buffalo, the storm left a half-inch coating of ice over the region.

With below-freezing temps sticking around following the storm, the ice was still plenty thick enough to skate on Friday night.

Egan's husband, Jeremy Albert, captured photos and video of his wife while she glided down the sidewalk, dancing to a poppy, electronic song.

"The ice wasn't that great," Egan said. "It was tough finding areas where I could go, and that's when I went on the sidewalk. But it was funny. Our neighbors and people driving down the street were laughing."

This has been a winter like no other for Western New York: more than 6 feet of snow in the Southtowns in late November, a deadly blizzard at Christmas and now an ice storm.

Egan said she's done her best to have fun with the weather, from snowshoeing through her neighborhood to climbing mountains of snow from the Christmas blizzard.

But Buffalo's latest weather anomaly hasn't been all fun and games.

Residents  particularly those in the northern North and Delaware districts of the city  have concerns about the thick coat of ice still covering their streets three days after the storm.

Late Saturday morning, some side streets in North Buffalo remained covered in ice and slush.

North District Buffalo Common Council member Joseph Golombek has fielded many such complaints from his constituents, he said.

"It's well over 48 hours, going 72 hours (after the storm), and I have side streets that are still in awful, awful shape," Golombek said Saturday morning in an interview with The Buffalo News. "I'm exceptionally beyond disappointed and frustrated at this point."

Golombeck said he understands there are more challenges to clearing the roads in the City of Buffalo compared to the suburbs like Kenmore, but after 24 hours, the side streets should have been cleared.

"In my opinion, this is just completely unacceptable," he said.

Buffalo Department of Public Works Commissioner Nate Marton said the thickness of the ice and low temperatures have made clearing some roads difficult.

"What we've had to deal with in this ice storm, that thickness, is just not anything we've seen," he said. "That thickness has been a challenge. It's not a quote-unquote typical ice storm where you get a thin sheet of ice and you throw a layer of salt down and it breaks through it and it melts and it works right away. This is half-an-inch-thick ice where it (takes) one or two or three or four passes with salt. And the temperature has been a little bit of a challenge."

Salt is less effective as the temperatures drop, Marton said.

Marton said his department has been in touch with each Common Council member to learn about the areas in their districts that need extra attention and sending crews to those locations to spread more road salt. Most of the concerns have come from the northern part of the city, Marton said.

When will the ice melt?

Western New Yorkers won't be skating in their driveways or building igloos in the yard for much longer.

Snowiest Buffalo winter? No. Coldest? Not even close. Weirdest? Maybe The winter season of 2022-2023 probably won't end up as the snowiest. It also has no chance of being the coldest. (Closer to the opposite.) But when it comes to weirdest, this winter might be one for the books.

Come Sunday, warmer air will make its way into the region and temperatures will rise into the upper 30s, National Weather Service meteorologist Liz Jurkowski said.

"It should be pretty dry as well, so it'll be a good day to get outside and start prying some of that ice off," Jurkowski said of Sunday's weather.

Western New York will get more snow and rain early next week, but nothing like this most recent ice storm. The snow will move in Monday morning and switch to rain by Monday afternoon, Jurkowski said.

"Temperatures won't be below freezing, so it should just be plain, liquid rain," she said.

The rain will last into Tuesday morning and then it'll be a quick switch back over to a mix of rain and snow, Jurkowski said.
Begusarai : , Feb 25 (IANS/ 101Reporters) Sitting on the banks of the scenic Kanwar Lake in Begusarai district, fisherman Nandan Sahni (45) opens up about his tough existence.

"I am dying of hunger. The lake has less fish. Even if I am lucky enough to catch a few, it will fetch me only Rs 250. How can that be sufficient," asks the resident of Panchmahala Tola.

Bihar's only Ramsar site, Kanwar Lake is spread across Bakhari, Naokothi, Cheriya Bariarpur and Garhpura blocks and is the source of livelihood for around 20,000 fishermen in 16 villages located on its banks. However, the depletion of this wetland due to manmade factors has dashed their hopes of a decent living, according to another fisherman Mallah Rajo Sahni (53).

"Less the water less the fish," says Lalo Sahni (70) from his experience. Brahmdev Sahni (35) interjects to point out that pothi, singhi, garai, khesar and telpiha varieties have reduced substantially. "We definitely have a problem," he says, with a grim expression.

The local fishermen are fully dependent on the lake and do not own agricultural lands. They want the wetland to be as expansive as possible so that they will get a better catch. Ironically, there is another group whose interests lie in perpetual contradiction with that of the fishermen. They are the local farmers.

"Several mauzas (revenue villages) were included under the Kanwar Lake Bird Sanctuary, making farming in the notified areas illegal. A ban on land sale deteriorated our condition. We are unable to raise money even for marriages in our families," says Anmol Kumar Sharan of Manjhaul village.

Agricultural plots in Manjhaul, Jaimangala Garh, Jaimangalpur, Manjhaul, Narayanpipar, Shripura, Ekamba, Sakra, Rajour, Manikpur, Kanausi, Cheriya Bariarpur, Khodawandpur, Chhourahi, Garhpura, Bakhari and Naokothi are presently part of the notified area.

"I have 50 bighas, but what is the use? Our living conditions will improve only if farming is allowed in the notified land," claims Arunesh Kumar of Manjhaul. Vikesh Kumar, the head of Manjhaul panchayat-2, agrees that the notification dealt a big blow to the farmers in the area.

"It is okay to declare the place a wetland, but do it only where water is present. The rights of farmers should be restored on the rest of the land," Sharan demands.

Shrinking water body Kanwar Lake is touted as Asia's largest freshwater oxbow lake, originally covering an area of 6,786 hectares. But is it true? "Yes, the lake has shrunk, and there is water only in 1,000 to 1,500 hectares," admits a forest department official on condition of anonymity.

However, Mohammad Nawazuzzoha, a research scholar at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, claims that only 89 hectares of the wetland hold water. "The government data were based on geo-sensing and older studies," Nawazuzzoha tells 101Reporters.

"During my field visit in January 2020, I found areas with cultivation on the wetland with water diverted to make more land available for agricultural purposes. This has affected the lake's biodiversity. Both its depth and fish availability have decreased. Some have even disappeared," he says.

He claims the arrival of migratory birds has also decreased. To make matters worse, hunters are active in the area. Notably, the site houses the critically-endangered oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) and red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus). Earlier, over 100 species of local birds and over 50 species of nesting birds could be spotted here.

Being part of the wetland complexes in the interfan of Burhi Gandak and Kosi rivers, the Kanwar wetland connects to the Gandak through a canal, now choking with silt. This has compromised the inflow-outflow mechanism to turn the wetland into a shallow marsh. Fishermen have repeatedly sought canal desiltation, but the state government has shown the least interest.

"Our emphasis is to maintain Kanwar Lake as a bird sanctuary. So there is no enthusiasm for fishing and other activities," claims the forest official, when asked about the department's activities to save the lake.

Encroachments, illegal cultivation using fertilisers and chemicals, and other human activities have increased the nutrients in the water, leading to excess algal growth and decomposition that deprive oxygen to wetland flora. The inclusion of areas with human settlements under the protected zone has only added to the problem of pollution.

Short-sighted notifications In 1986, the Bihar government declared Kanwar Lake as a protected area to prevent bird hunting. On June 20, 1989, 6,311 hectares were notified as a bird sanctuary. The process did not take into consideration the human settlements that dotted the area. Result: people became encroachers on their own lands.

According to Chittaranjan Prasad Singh (78), former state vice-president of Janata Dal (United), the next blow came when the state government banned the sale of land around the lake in 2014. "Take 1,618 hectares in the wetland's northern part, which holds eight ft water even in peak summer, for the sanctuary. If they want more, another 404 hectares can be added. But the rest should be given to farmers," says Singh, who has been fighting for their cause at various forums.

In fact, in 2019, the Bihar government heeded their demand when Bharat Jyoti, the then additional principal chief conservator of forests-cum-chief wildlife warden of Bihar, wrote to the then additional director general of forests (wildlife), and the then member secretary of the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, seeking redrawing of the sanctuary area.

The letter called for limiting the sanctuary to the main and current extent of the wetland, and sought the exclusion of farming tenancy lands and other lands in community/public use. Citing the National Wetland Atlas: Bihar, mapped by the Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad, using satellite remote sensing data, the state said the wetland occupied only 2,688 ha and appealed to limit the sanctuary's declared area to within 3,000 hectares. However, the Centre did not accept this proposal.

RK Ravi, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Begusarai, tells 101Reporters that only 2,620-hectare wetland of the 6,311-hectare bird sanctuary forms the Ramsar site. "At least 50% of the 6,311 hectares could be government land. Farmers may have some share in the notified land," he says.

However, nobody has a clear answer when it comes to land ownership - a reason why mapping the wetland and its catchment areas is necessary. The government agencies lack coordination regarding measures to save the wetland (providing boats to encourage fishing is an example of counterproductive efforts). Moreover, local farmers are influential, which makes it difficult for government agencies to work with them.

"The authorities do not even know the boundaries of the sanctuary. Naturally, encroachers make use of this loophole. How can the government agencies protect such a place?" wonders journalist and environmentalist Mahesh Bharti.

Passing the buck On November 5, 2014, Seema Tripathi, the then district magistrate (DM) of Begusarai, wrote a letter to the then DFO and sub-divisional officer saying that the forest department should identify the area that strictly falls under the bird sanctuary. A suggestion to assess the raiyati (held by peasant cultivators) and government lands in the notified area was part of it.

In the letter, the DM advised the forest department to get a third-party assessment of the situation done. Another proposal was that a team of district and sub-division level officers should hold meetings every second and fourth Saturday to discuss the claims of farmers, the amount of land to be kept under the sanctuary and other general issues affecting the lake.

However, such a meeting has not taken place, at least in recent months. "I was posted here four months ago. So far, no such meeting has taken place nor have I been invited," Begusarai Additional Collector Rajesh Kumar Singh tells 101Reporters. He adds that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Manjhaul would be in a better position to respond.

SDM Mukesh Kumar, on the other hand, claims the forest department is primarily responsible for taking policy decisions. "Being the custodian of land, the SDM hears and settles compensation claims raised by farmers. My team checks if the people seeking compensation are eligible or not. The mapping and assessment of how much area should come under the wetland and bird sanctuary are the forest department's job," he explains. Kumar also informs that he has not attended a meeting with any team related to Kanwar Lake so far, despite being posted here since 2021.

Compensation claims are heard by Manjhaul SDM where ownership of land is verified. "So far, 1,450 farmers have raised the compensation claim, of which 300 were found to be fake," DFO Ravi informs, adding that a decision on compensation would be taken only when all the claims get assessed. In a judgement delivered in 2015, Patna High Court noted that the claims must specify "the extent of right with necessary details" and "amount and particulars of compensation, if any". It was hearing the case of a petitioner, who had sought to sell his entire inherited land of 18.63 acres three years prior but couldn't. The case was dismissed.

Meanwhile, IUCN Species Survival Commission member and bird enthusiast Arvind Mishra tells 101Reporters that besides settling the claims, action to ensure enough water in the lake is a must. "Remember how water from the Chambal was brought to Rajasthan's Bharatpur Lake when it dried up? We cannot rule out similar steps for Kanwar Lake, like diverting water from Burhi Gandak... while bird hunting is common here, the diversity and habitat health are still good," he said approvingly.

(Rahul Singh is a Jharkhand based journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
New Delhi, Feb 25 : One fine day, around 12-18 months after a baby is born, parents get to experience the utmost joy of hearing their child's first word. But Mahita Jarjapu's parents had to wait longer than usual to hear their daughter speak, all the while anxious if she would ever be able to.

In the dreary month of February 1990, Mahita's parents were told by doctors that their 19-month-old daughter had profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss - a condition in which the vibration sensing hair cells in the ear are damaged.

They were told that without specialised hearing aids or a cochlear implant surgery - a fairly new and experimental technique in 1990 - Mahita will not be able to hear anything.

Desperate to hear Mahita talk, they took her to multiple doctors, audiologists and speech therapists, but were disappointed to see how children with difficulties in hearing were nowhere close to speaking fluently.

One day, a neighbour came dashing into the house and told them about Dr S R Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing in Bengaluru. They travelled from Hyderabad to visit the institute and were redirected to Balavidyalaya - The School for Young Deaf Children, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. That marked the turning point in Mahita's journey.

Together we thrive At that time, Balavidyalaya was one of the very few schools in India practising 'early intervention' to help develop speech in children with hearing loss. Their method was rooted in making a child wear the hearing aid throughout their waking hours and exposing them to as much verbal stimuli as humanly possible, and as early as possible, to try and forge the auditory-speech pathways during the crucial years of growth.

But it came at the cost of Mahita's mother tongue Telugu, as the technique worked best if only one language was used to communicate, in a bid to limit confusion. Mahita's parents chose English, which was not only new to her but also her mother.

Every day, Mahita and her mother would go to school, learn new words and sentences in English and progress together. At home, from dawn to dusk, Mahita was at the receiving end of a constant running commentary of the most mundane to the most interesting activities of the day.

Around five months after starting at Balavidyalaya, Mahita's parents finally heard the most precious sound in the whole world. She opened her tiny lips and said amma and nanna.

Five years went by in a flash and the teachers at Balavidyalaya said Mahita was ready to join a mainstream school. Wishing to be closer to their extended family, Mahita's family went back to Hyderabad, and got her enrolled in Class 2 at Sherwood Public School. The 11 years Mahita spent there were critical in developing her confidence and drive to pursue goals deemed unattainable for her.

"I was never treated differently, and the teachers were very compassionate, patient, empathetic and supportive. I was never left out and was encouraged to participate in all extracurricular activities," Mahita recalled.

She knew to take all the support and kindness and pay it forward. Friends remember Mahita as a bundle of positivity and kindness. "I always talk more about what I got from her than what I was able to do for her," her friend Abhimitra Meka said, with a nostalgic smile. From teaching patience and tolerance to inculcating a drive to keep knocking down barriers, Mahita has been a strong influence in all her friends' lives.

Hearing the inner voice As the end of school years approached, Mahita found herself gravitating towards the field of medicine. "I was always interested in science and used to read these 'Did You Know', 'Inventions and Discoveries' types of books right from Class 6," Mahita recounted.

But knowing well that the Indian government did not approve of doctors with hearing issues, she chose to pursue basic science. College was a major change. With classrooms accommodating hundreds of students doing parallel conversations and teachers facing the board while speaking, Mahita realised that she was missing out a lot. She could not lip-read if the speaker was turned away from her.

But she put in extra effort to be on par with her peers, and this drive got her into the Indian Institute of Technology Madras to pursue a master's in chemistry. Not only did she excel in academics, but she also changed perspectives on communication.

Her thesis advisor Dr Nandita Madhavan said with pride in her eyes, "Although Mahita's speech might not be very clear, but the way she communicated her research ideas, it was probably one of the best ways. That made me wonder, do we sometimes over-emphasise accents, pronunciations and how we speak?" Mahita continued her streak of excellence and joined Prof R Sowdhamini's group at the National Centre for Biological Science (NCBS) for a PhD, in 2011. In the six years she spent there, she dazzled her advisors and peers with her intelligence, patience and diversity of talents.

"In the beginning, I used to draw and explain many things. But I soon realised she does not need any of that support. She is very, very smart. And extremely adept at lip-reading," Prof Sowdhamini said.

Her friends and colleagues went the extra mile to make sure she was included in all settings - formal and informal. "I ensured we did not switch to Hindi or other languages, while Mahita was there," recounted Pritha Ghosh, Mahita's friend from NCBS.

But her most challenging, yet fun experience with Mahita was when she taught her Odissi. Ghosh reminisced, "Whenever I taught her, she would ask me what is the gap between this step and the next, in seconds? It made me look at dance in a different way." "Over time, I have come to realise that her way of thinking is quite valuable. When I replicate that and try to think along the same lines, I tend to be a more satisfied scientist," said Abhimitra.

Being in environments not designed for people with hearing issues challenged Mahita to come up with her own ways of doing things. "Since I already know that during seminars, the audience might not be able to follow my speech/acoustically understand me fully, I make my presentations in such a way that they are self-explanatory while ensuring the audience is not overwhelmed by the amount of text on the slide," Mahita explained.

Extensive reading of literature made up for the missed conversations in group settings. But sometimes, being oblivious to these exchanges acted as an advantage. "If someone in a group is discussing how difficult a task is, and I miss out on that part of the conversation, I might go ahead and attempt it and try to make it work," Mahita said.

Excellence as a way of life Continuing her academic career, Dr Mahita went to Prof Chris-Bailey Kellogg's lab at Dartmouth College for her first postdoc and is currently in the lab of Prof Bjoern Peters, at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, San Diego, California. She is working towards understanding what makes an antibody choose a particular binding site (or epitope) on the antigen and is also involved with the Coronavirus Immunotherapeutic Consortium.

Since moving to the US, and with the start of the Zoom era, Mahita has gained immensely from regular access to closed captioning during meetings and seminars. Having visited and lived in multiple countries, Mahita felt India has much to learn in making spaces more inclusive.

Awareness about early intervention and special education at a young age is a must. But even more crucial is the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream schools, facilitating not only their growth, but also inculcation of acceptance in children without disabilities.

Prasada Rao, her father, feels the country has a long way to go. "It is disappointing to see that three decades later, parents are still not advised about auditory-verbal therapy, which is much more comprehensive than speech therapy for developing speech-language skills in young children with hearing loss," he said.

"From the beginning, our objective was to make her stand on her own. She should not depend on anybody. We did whatever was needed to achieve that goal," Rao said with certainty.

Their efforts have borne the sweetest fruits. A journey that started with tears of agony has transformed into one where Mahita's parents' eyes swell with tears of pride.

(This piece was originally published by Rukhmabai Initiatives, an endeavour by 101Reporters to make Indian STEM more inclusive)
New Delhi, Feb 25 : DAG will participate at the sixteenth edition of Art Dubai 2023 with Natvar Basvar: Cosmic Whispers, a solo presentation dedicated to New York-based artist and India's major colour-field abstractionist Navtar Bhavsar, featuring works from 70s to 90s - the most decisive decades in the artist's practice.

Among the most institutionally acquired artists with a six- decade career in New York and collected by institutions globally including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Guggenheim, National Gallery of Australia as well as corporates such as Goldman Sachs, American Express, Chase Manhattan, Union Bank of Switzerland, among others, Bhavsar's extraordinary talent combines his arduous technique with textured, intensely coloured paintings using dry pigments to create truly unique works of art.

In the 1960s, when Indian abstractionists were discovering this new genre, Natvar Bhavsar found himself amidst the colour-field artists in America, then at the height of their success.

Among the likes of Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Piero Dorazio and others, Bhavsar soon created a distinctive identity for himself, bagging major exhibitions at leading galleries and museums for his large-format works and, established his practice in New York where he continues to live six decades after first arriving in the city.

The founding-farther of hand-sifting pure powder pigment onto canvas, Natvar's meticulous attention to detail in working with colour pigments is being defined as an exquisite talent that to date is unmatched around the world.

What sets Bhavsar apart from his peers is a unique technique and way of using colours that lends depth to his abstract compositions. Using organic pigments and alkaloids, Bhavsar sieves dry colours through a variety of sieves and tools to build up layers of a dominant field colour surrounded by whispers of colour pigments that result in a constellation of tones and textures. These parallel universes exhort an exploration that connects his life in America with his memories of growing up in India, its culture and festivities, deep philosophies and celebration of nature.

"Natvar Bhavsar is a major artist globally and we at DAG are delighted to ensure that his legacy is shared worldwide through exhibitions such as 'Cosmic Whispers' at our booth at Art Dubai. We have played a complementary role since 2016 when we first included his works in our exhibitions, and our relationship has since grown from strength to strength. It is a privilege to work with an artist of his calibre and talent, and to see the great admiration he enjoys for his practice," said Ashish Anand, CEO and MD at DAG.

Of his use of colours, Natvar Bhavsar has said, "Colours engage you fully, lead to freedom and create a sublime world that is deeply fulfilling." In keeping with his roots, Bhavsar titles his paintings with words from diverse Indian languages as an ode to the land of his birth.

Beyond that, his art is truly global. Over the decades, there have been shifts and transitions in his visual vocabulary but he has remained consistent in the manner he manipulates colour to place it at the centre of his creative process. His art is as deliberate as it is detailed. No other artist has used colour as potently as Bhavsar who is as mindful of its presence as he is of its absence, making him one of the foremost players among the world's leading colour-field artists and India's greatest exponent of the possibilities offered by it.

Natvar Bhavsar is an abstractionist known for his colour field paintings, working on large canvases with pigments made of natural and organic materials. Born in an educator's family on 7 April 1934 in a small town in Gujarat, he studied to be a drawing teacher and began his career in Chanasma. He then joined the C. N. School in Ahmedabad for its five-year diploma course in art offered by Sir J. J. School of Art; simultaneously, he continued to study for his master's in teaching art.

As a twenty-seven-year-old, Bhavsar learnt about the possibilities of further education from a class fellow's father and enrolled at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art to study industrial design, but once there, changed course to study painting at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University. Here, he met Janet Brosious, an artist and art educator; they would later marry in 1978.

In 1970, he had his first show at Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York. His paintings invariably have an Indian title, linking his works closely to the land of his birth and youth, and they often address subjects or myths familiar to those from India-whether in a literal or abstract sense. Bhavsar is at once a thoroughly American painter and product of Indian culture,' Carter Ratcliff, art writer, said of him. Well established and widely appreciated, Bhavsar lives and works in New York.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
Kathmandu, Feb 25: Nepali Congress senior leader Ramchandra Poudel and CPN (UML)s Subash Chandra Nembang are the two contestants in Nepals presidential elections slated for March 9.

On Saturday afternoon, Poudel and Nembang fielded their candidacy for the post of the country's president after the respective parties made an official decision to file their nomination papers earlier in the morning.

Poudel and Nembang are two well-known politicians of Nepal who previously served in different capacities in government, including the speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower of parliament. Poudel once served as home minister while Nembang served as the minister for law and justice.

Poudel is highly likely to win the presidential elections as he has the support of the four ruling parties namely the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Janata Samajbadi Party, the Janamat Party and the Nagarik Unmukti Party, along with three parties outside the government- the CPN (Unified Socialist), Loktantrik Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha.

At a meeting held on Friday evening, the above-mentioned parties agreed to give the post of the president to the Congress party as proposed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also the chief of the Maoist party.

The meeting took place after CPN (UML) Chairman KP Sharma Oli rejected the idea of Prime Minister Prachanda to appoint the president based on all-party consensus. Oli insisted that Prachanda should accept the UML nominee for the post of president as agreed among the seven-party ruling alliance at the time of the formation of the government in December last year.

Prachanda's latest move to support the Congress candidate for the presidential elections has all but broken down the existing ruling alliance. The CPN (UML) has accused Prachanda of betraying the ruling alliance by not supporting the UML nominee.

The dramatic turn of events began on Friday when Nepal's eight mainstream political parties including Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) agreed to support the Nepali Congress nominee in the presidential elections scheduled for March 9.

With that the old five-party alliance, with the Congress and Maoist party as its key members, has now been revived. Three more parties have been added, making it an eight-party alliance.

Thus, three months after its breakup with Prachanda's Maoist party, the Congress has been able to make a comeback to power.

Prachanda became the prime minister on December 25 with the staunch support of Oli's CPN (UML), after breaking an alliance with Deuba's Congress party. The five-party alliance was formed after the ouster of the government headed by UML Chairman Oli in mid-2021.

By ousting the UML from power, the Congress party will join the Prachanda-led government soon, according to Congress leaders. The Congress and the Maoist party will jointly run the government from the Center to the provincial level.

UML sees 'foreign hand' behind Prachanda's move Meanwhile, Oli's party the CPN (UML), which is presently a key coalition partner in the Prachanda-led government, said that the ruling coalition has now collapsed with the prime minister's decision to elect the Congress nominee as the president.

"Prime Minister Prachanda betrayed the present coalition by agreeing to support the Congress nominee as the candidate for the post of the president. With this, the existing ruling coalition has now collapsed, inviting a fresh round of political instability in the country," Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, the deputy general secretary of the CPN (UML) told local media. He argued that Prime Minister Prachanda decided to break the current ruling alliance at the behest of external forces.

Despite that breakup of the alliance, UML said that it will not quit the government until presidential elections are held. "We will be part of the government until the presidential elections since the Maoist party has still not told us that they won't support our nominee for the post of president," Prithvi Subba Gurung, a leader of the UML, told India Narrative on Saturday.

Gurung said that they will hold dialogue with all the political parties in parliament to ensure victory for their presidential candidate Subash Nemabang.

Meanwhile, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, an ally of the Prachanda-led government, on Saturday, decided to pull out of government and withdraw its parliamentary support in the changed political scenario, especially following the new patch-up between the Maoists and the Congress party.

Nepal is set to get a new head of state in the second week of March, four days before the tenure of current President Bidya Devi Bhandari ends. Likewise, elections to pick the new vice president will take place on March 17.

In Nepal, the president and vice president are elected by an electoral college consisting of members of the federal assembly and members of the provincial assemblies.

The voting weightage of the members of the federal parliament and of the provincial assemblies shall vary as provided for in federal law.

As per Nepal's law, the president and the vice president should be from different genders or communities. The president and vice president shall have five-year tenure after their elections.

The elections to pick key constitutional positions are taking place three months after Nepal held crucial federal and provincial assembly elections and three two after the formation of the left-dominated new government led by Maoist chief Prachanda.

(Santosh Ghimire is India Narrative's Nepal Correspondent based in Kathmandu) (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Feb 25 : Social enterprises are businesses with a mission to create positive social impact alongside financial returns. As most of these enterprises cater to the rural or peri-urban populations, they face unique challenges when it comes to scaling effectively.

Here are five tips from Villgro to build effective go-to-market channels to help one scale their social enterprise: Build Your Impact Narrative: Your impact narrative should communicate your primary goal of creating a positive social impact while also highlighting your for-profit model. A compelling impact narrative will engage your customers and investors and show how your startup is making a difference in the lives of those it serves. It is also essential to capture your impact as well as your business metrics.

Identify Your True Consumers: Many social enterprises cater to digitally unaware rural populations such as farmers and small businesses. To reach these consumers, you need to figure out unique partnership models, such as working with farmer aggregators and organising physical gatherings to convey the value of your products Become a Value Chain Player: Social enterprises solve unique challenges that do not have an active market, hence you need to go beyond your solution and solve for the value chain. You need to create a market for your solution. For example, consider building forward and backward linkages, such as buying back the product created by farmers or providing raw materials at subsidized rates to enhance the value proposition of your solution.

Access Innovative Financing Solutions: Impact investing is growing in popularity, with several multilateral and international foundations exploring ways to mobilize private capital. Impact investing provides flexibility in capital for social enterprises to grow.

Ride the booming digital public infrastructure wave: With the growing open source solutions in India facilitated by the government, several opportunities have opened up for entrepreneurs to ideate and develop solutions at low costs, such as low-cost credit for climate smart solutions through OCEN, support artisans in market linkages through ONDC, etc.

Building an effective go-to-market channel for an early-stage startup can be a challenging task. However, with the right approach and support, it is possible.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
Chennai, Feb 25 : A court in Tamil Nadu has sent eight accused, including the owner of an illegally run mental asylum, to three-day custody of the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID), an official said on Saturday.

The owner of the centre -- Jubin Baby, 45, a native of Ernakulam in Kerala -- has been charged with multiple offences including rape and physically assaulting destitute and mentally ill individuals at the Anbu Jothi Ashram in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram, which does not have a valid license for operating the facility.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate court at Villupuram has granted three-day custody of Baby, his wife Mariam, and six others to the CB-CID of the police.

Announcing the order on Saturday, CJM M. Pushparani directed the CB-CID to present the accused persons before the court at 10 a.m. next Tuesday.

The prosecution has charged Baby, Mariam, and six others with illegal detention, torture, sexual assault, and suspected inter-state trafficking of residents of the ashram.

The police during a raid at the ashram found that many of the inmates were mentally ill and were tortured mercilessly.

The Tamil Nadu government had transferred the case to the CB-CID even as the opposition BJP and AIADMK have been calling for a CBI inquiry given the interstate connections in the case.

The ninth accused in the case was released on bail due to his old age and poor health.

The CB-CID had taken over the case from the local police on February 21 and filed a petition before the CJM court for three-day custody of the accused, which was granted on Saturday.

The matter drew attention after a probe was launched into the case of a missing man. A 70-year-old man admitted to the ashram was not found there when the relatives came calling.

The investigation revealed serious lapses on the part of the owners of the Anbu Jothi Ashram and torture and ill-treatment of the residents of the ashram.

It was also found that the centre was not functioning with a valid license while some undergoing treatment and rehab were also trafficked to other states.

The Madras High Court intervened in the matter and shifted 142 inmates of the ashram to a government-run hospital at Mundiampakkam in Villupuram. A case has been registered against the owners and workers for rape and harassment of women inmates of the ashram.

The Madras High Court has also sought an Action Taken Report which is to be filed by February 27.
Kolkata, Feb 25 : The vehicle of Union Minister of State for Home and BJP MP from Cooch Behar, Nisith Pramanik, was attacked and vandalised allegedly by a group of Trinamool Congress workers on Saturday.

The incident took place at Burihat under Dinhata Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar on Saturday. When Pramanik's convoy was passing through the area, the ruling party activists started agitating surrounding his convoy, flashing black flags.

The situation got tense as Trinamool and BJP supporters clashed with each other, throwing brickbats and stones, smashing the glass window of Pramanik's car in the process.

The minister, however, did not sustain any injury as his security personnel safely escorted him out of the area, which by then had turned into a virtual battlefield.

Pramanik alleged that besides stones and bricks, the ruling party workers also hurled crude bombs targeting his convoy, his security personnel and local BJP supporters.

"The incident proves that West Bengal is currently under the total control of anti-social elements. This is not possible in a democratic system. The people of the state are watching everything and they will give a fitting reply to the ruling party at the right time," he said.

Pramanik also alleged that the attack on his convoy was orchestrated by the Trinamool MLA from Dinhata and state minister Udayan Guha. The latter, however, has rubbished the allegation.

Pramanik also accused the local police present there of being biased.

"Instead of trying to control those who attacked my convoy, the police used tear gas shells against our supporters," he alleged.
Junagadh, Feb 25 : The bodies of a couple were found from an autorickshaw in the parking area of a government hospital in Gujarat's Junagadh district on Saturday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Hitesh Dhandheliya told media persons,"The police control room had received a call that bodies of a couple were spotted in an autorickshaw in a government hospital's parking area. Immediately, police reached the area and after doctor's confirmation of the couple's death, the bodies were sent for post-mortem. A poison bottle was found in the autorickshaw, giving reason to believe that both must have consumed poison and ended their lives." From the autorickshaw, the police have also found clothes, a gas cylinder, a stove and groceries.

The couple, who were in love, hailed from Bhidora village and were missing since December 31, 2022.

Man's name is Rajesh Parghi while the woman's name is unknown.

Fearing that their families would not accept their relationship, because Rajesh was married, and the woman was unmarried, they might have ended their lives, police sources suspected.
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 25 : The financial position of Kerala seems to have reached a point of no return as the state treasury is virtually dry with fresh restrictions now coming in place that a special sanction is needed to clear any payment above Rs 1 million. Hence state Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal is knocking at the door of the Centre for funds.

As an urgent measure, Balagopal has written to the Centre to exempt the loan repayment availed by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) while granting credit, and if that happens Balagopal expects to get some minor relief from the crisis that he is facing now.

He expects Rs 2,000 crore could be availed if the Centre grants his request.

With just 34 days left for the current fiscal to end, Balagopal needs around Rs 20,000 crore to tide over the crisis, and unlike his predecessor, the economist-turned-Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Balagopal seems to unable to do justice to his post.

And with the Centre and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sticking to the rules, getting the much-needed funds has become even more tough for Balagopal, a first-time legislator and totally new to the post of Finance Minister.

A media critic said on condition of anonymity that unlike Isaac, Balagopal is new to his role as Finance Minister. Being a politician who rose from the ranks of a student leader, Balagopal might find it difficult to tackle the financial crisis looming large over the state.

Balagopal is hoping now that the Centre will come to his rescue, but if it doesn't, it would be interesting to see how he handles the situation.
Bengaluru, Feb 25 : To promote coastal tourism in Karnataka, the country's first marina will be constructed at Byndoor in the Udupi district, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

After seeking permission from the central government for the relaxation of Coastal Regulation Zone rules, it is proposed to take up beach tourism in coastal areas and pilgrim tourism, Bommai said.

Speaking at a function 'Seven Wonders of Karnataka' hosted by Kannada Prabha and Asianet Suvarna News, Department of Tourism here on Saturday, he said the history of the greatest dynasties such as Ganga, Kadamba, Rashtrakoota, Chalukya and Hoysala will be collected from the Department of Archaeology to develop the historic tourism. This will not only in the development of tourism but also help people understand the rich history of Karnataka.

The CM said the government proposed to build a corridor of the ancient temples like Madhukeshwara in Banavasi and Dattatreya in Ganagapura and promote 'Yatra tourism'. Instructions are given to develop the Benakal area. The development of the Anjanadri Betta is ongoing. A scheme has been chalked out to pay a monthly honorarium of Rs 5000 to the recognised tourist guides. More facilities will be provided to them from the government side.

Bommai said the government will extend all the cooperation to the 'Seven Wonders of Karnataka' programme to give a new direction to tourism. If the Suvarna News Channel, as part of searching the hidden Seven Wonders, shared information about 5,000 places that they have discovered, the government will take steps to develop tourism in those places. The news channel must hold such programmes every year and the government will support such ventures. Every village has historic relics that need to be researched.

He said creation is amazing but the vision of man is much bigger. The creation starts with five elements and there is a wonder in big boulders, hills, hillocks, and seabed. None can imagine the sculpturing of the statue of Bahubali in Shravanabelagola. The architecture of Gol Gumbaz in Vijayapura and the Whispering Gallery shows the concept of wireless during those days.

"We must enjoy nature's beauty and it must be protected. I congratulate Suvarnanews and Kannada Prabhua for finding out the Seven Wonders of Karnataka." He said travelling is a man's natural habit and this has paved the way for development.

"Karnataka is blessed with nature's bounty. It has a 350 km coastal area, 10 different weather zones, 400 km of the Western Ghats, a rich biodiversity where the sunrays will be there for 300 days, and several rivers. Nature is on their side but they cannot go against it. For this reason, the green budget had been prepared. The damage caused to nature must be corrected immediately," the CM added.
At a recent House subcommittee meeting, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., tried to make the case that if stories about a laptop belonging to President Joe Bidens son, Hunter Biden, were more widely publicized, more people would have changed their votes in the 2020 election.

"According to polling, of the people that were made aware of the Hunter Biden laptop story, 53% would have changed their vote, including 61% of Democrats," Stefanik said. "This is the definition of election meddling."

Stefanik tweeted a video of her speaking at the meeting, and wrote: "53% of Americans made aware of the Hunter Biden laptop story would have changed their vote in 2020." Her claim was shared on Truth Social by former President Donald Trump.

Biden won with 51% of the popular vote, so we were curious about a claim that 53% of informed voters would have switched their votes.

The laptop saga

Congressional Republicans want to heighten public awareness of the laptops contents, which include personal and professional materials belonging to Hunter Biden. The GOP is also investigating business dealings by Biden family members and social media companies policies, saying they suppress conservative viewpoints. Stefanik represents New Yorks North Country and is House Republican conference chairman, part of the Houses GOP leadership team.

The laptop was left at a Delaware computer repair shop, and some of the laptops contents were reported by the New York Post in October 2020, weeks before the presidential election. The laptop story was suspected to be Russian-planted disinformation, but subsequent reporting shows that does not appear to be the case.

Twitter blocked users from sharing the story. Executives at the tech giant now say that was a mistake. Since the 2020 election, news organizations such as CBS News, The New York Times and The Washington Post have independently verified at least some of the laptops contents.

The laptop poll

This timeline of events has upset conservatives, who argue that the suppression cost Trump the election. TIPP Insights, which describes itself as a "right-leaning polling outfit," conducted a poll Dec. 7 to Dec. 9, 2022, more than two years after the election, asking people about the laptop story. Stefaniks claim comes from this poll, her spokesperson, Palmer Brigham, said.

TIPP Insights, which has been lauded for correctly predicting elections, started with a pool of 1,351 survey respondents and asked them whether they were following the laptop story. Respondents who said they were following the story  37%, or 501 people  were then asked about the possibility that they would have voted differently in 2020 had they known the laptop was not disinformation.

They were asked: "How likely would knowing before the election that the laptop contents were real and not disinformation have changed your voting decision?"

Stefaniks claim  that 53% of people made aware of the laptop story would have changed their vote  adds together the 28% of respondents who said they were "very likely" to have changed their votes, and the 25% who said they were "somewhat likely." Rounding out the pool were 17% who said they were "not very likely," 25% who were "not at all likely," and 6% who were "unsure."

But the subset of people who had been following the laptop story leaned Republican more heavily than the general population. The pools party affiliation was 35% Democratic, 38% Republican and 26% independent. The latest Gallup survey on affiliation shows that nationally, 30% of people identify as Democrats, 27% identify as Republicans and 40% call themselves independents. The original pool of respondents was 39% Democratic, 29% Republican and 29% independent.

Among the 137 people who said they were "very likely" to change their vote, 58 of them, or 42%, were Republicans. Were these people who voted for Biden in 2020? The poll doesnt say, but it seems unlikely. Trump received support from 94% of Republicans who voted in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.

So, the result is illogical: If many members of this group were to change their vote because of the laptop story, they might well have changed their vote from Trump to Biden, which given the partisan nature of voting in 2020, wouldnt make sense.

We called the pollster, Raghavan Mayur, and asked, how could 53% of informed voters say they would switch their vote when Biden only won 51% of the popular vote? That could not be answered, because that would require further questions not included in the poll, Mayur told us. Were the voters who said they would switch their vote all Biden voters? Would they have switched to Trump? The poll cant tell us.

Mayur declined to comment on Stefaniks claim. He noted the polls larger-than-usual margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, because of its small sample size. (Margins of error get smaller as sample sizes get bigger.)

What experts say

We showed the poll to two polling experts.

The questions leading up to the question about changing votes used right-leaning framing of the laptop issue, said G. Elliott Morris, author of the book "Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why We Need Them."

He pointed to this question: "If there was a concerted effort by the FBI, Intelligence Community, Democrat-controlled Congress, and Biden campaign, along with Big Tech, to frame the Biden laptop as disinformation, do you agree or disagree the electorate did not have access to information that could have been critical to their decision at the polls?"

This framing primes respondents to answer subsequent questions in certain ways. Its likely that when members of the already right-leaning group get the question about switching their votes, theyre thinking about how a prior question stated that President Biden and "Big Tech" hid information from them, priming them to say they are very or somewhat likely to switch their vote, Morris said. Using "Democrat-controlled" instead of "Democratic" is a longtime strategy by those on the right to downgrade their opponents.

Joshua J. Dyck, a polling expert at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, read the poll and said that at best, 19.6% of Americans said they would have changed their vote, based on the total sample size, the size of the subset of people who said they were following the story, and the 53% of that group who said they were very likely or somewhat likely to change their vote.

"Are these people saying they would change their vote to Biden?" said Dyck, a professor and director of UMass Lowells Center for Public Opinion. "Or are they engaging in expressive responding, by giving the answer which makes Biden look worse? Its certainly the latter, but the poll is ill-equipped to tease out these discrepancies."

Polls that ask people about what their behavior would have been two years before and that ask voters hypothetical questions do not produce useful information, Dyck added.

"Overall, I would conclude almost nothing about the effect of Bidens laptop on the 2020 election from this poll other than that many Americans seem to be interested in this issue today, especially a large subset of informed Republicans," Dyck said.

Our ruling

Stefanik claimed that "53% of Americans made aware of the Hunter Biden laptop story would have changed their vote in 2020."

The poll found that of a group of people who had been following the story, 28% would have been "very likely" to change their vote had they known the laptop was not disinformation, and 25% were "somewhat likely," a less-sure response than Stefaniks claim implies.

However, the pool of respondents who answered this question leans Republican more strongly than the general population, so most of these voters would not have been voting for Biden in the first place. This makes the polling result illogical: Understood literally, if many members of this group were to change their vote because of the laptop story, they might well have changed their vote from Trump to Biden.

So her statement is not accurate. We rate this False.
Kohima, Feb 25 : The campaign for the February 27 Nagaland assembly election came to an end on Saturday. The voting would be held in 59 of the 60 assembly constituencies in 16 districts amid a thick security cover on Monday.

BJP candidate Kazheto Kinimi was re-elected unopposed from the Akuluto Assembly constituency after his only opponent and Congress nominee Khekashe Sumi withdrew his candidature on the last day of the withdrawal of nominations on February 10.

Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V. Shashank Shekhar said that the movement of polling parties to the 2,315 polling stations in 59 assembly constituencies started on Saturday.

According to the election officials, around 13 lakh voters including 6,55,144 women would decide the electoral fate of 183 candidates including four women nominees in Monday's elections.

In the 2018 Assembly polls, 190 candidates, including five women, had contested the elections.

To ensure a free, fair and incident-free election, the Union Home Ministry, at the request of the state government, has provided 305 companies of Central Armed Police Force, while the state security forces have also been deployed across the mountainous state.

In all, 12 political parties comprising national and state parties are in the fray.

The ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is contesting the election on 40 seats while its partner the BJP has fielded candidates on 20 seats.

The Congress has given tickets to 23 candidates, while the Naga People's Front is contesting on 22 seats.

Other parties including the RJD, Ram Vilas Paswan faction of the LJP, National People's Party headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, and the NCP are also in the fray.

There are 19 independent candidates in the fray as well.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally in Dimapur on Friday while Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda addressed many election rallies in different parts of the state.

Several Union Ministers, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and many BJP leaders and MPs from outside the state campaigned for the party.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the party's Lok Sabha member from Kerala, Shashi Tharoor and many other party leaders have campaigned for the party's candidates.

Chief Minister and senior NDPP leader Neiphiu Rio, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP legislature party leader Yanthungo Patton, former Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang, Nagaland unit BJP president Temjen Imna Along, Nagaland Congress president K. Therie and other state leaders also took part in the campaign.

The votes in will be counted on March 2.
Patna, Feb 25 : Targeting the BJP, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that the party has only two leaders - Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

"We have formed the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah came from Delhi and said many things. One of them (Amit Shah) said here in Purnea today that the airport is almost completed. Where is the airport. The Bihar government has acquired land and handed over to the Centre, why the airport was not constructed. There is a big difference in their promises and execution," Kumar said while addressing a massive gathering at Purnea's Rangbhumi ground on Saturday.

"They do not know the leaders of their own party. They have forgotten leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Arun Jaitley . None in BJP is taking their names. They only tell lies every day. They also speak against me every day. I want to clarify to them that I will stay in Mahagathbandhan for my entire life and never go with BJP. I am working for the progress of Bihar and my efforts will continue in future," Kumar said.

"I appeal to minorities to not to come under the influence of someone else. Some people will try to create conflict among you. It is your duty to get alert against those forces," he said.

"The Centre has not given special status to Bihar. We are conducting the caste-based census in the state. It will give an idea of the financial status of every person belonging to every caste and community. The caste-based census will help to make government policies according to the number of particular castes," he said.

Kumar said some youths demanded the recruitment of teachers under 7th phase in Bihar. He asserted that the recruitment of teachers will be announced soon and vacancies will come in large numbers.

"It will be beyond your expectation. We are working on it. We will also increase the salary of working teachers as well," the CM added.
Los Angeles, Feb 25 : The Jonas Brothers are heading to Broadway for a five-night residency. Each night, Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas will focus on a different album, including 'Jonas Brothers', 'A Little Bit Longer', 'Lines, Vines and Trying Times', 'Happiness Begins' and the upcoming 'The Album', reports 'Female First UK'.

They wrote on Instagram: "Your boys are back in town. We're coming to Broadway and playing the Marquis Theatre March 14-18!! Each night will be focused on a different album and we'll be playing all the hits. Believe us when we say you won't want to miss these showsa You'll need a Verified Fan code to get tickets, so make sure to register now through Sunday!! Jonasbrothers.com." Following the announcement, they dropped the new song 'Wings', from their upcoming sixth record 'The Album'. Joe has previously spoken about how he feels 'Wings' "feels like a trailer to the rest of the body of work".

He said, quoted by 'Female First UK': "It might be the shortest song on the album, but I like it because it feels like a trailer to the rest of the body of work. Also 'Montana Sky'. There's a lot more acoustic guitar and real organic instruments that tap into a bunch of different influences, but we're aware of the fact that we're not a country act. (producer) Jon Bellion flipped it on its head... he's got a modern edge to everything he does, even if it has really classic elements." They have also stated that the Bee Gees were a huge inspiration for the album.

Kevin said: "They were a huge influence in our lives, growing up and listening to them with our father. And obviously, as we grew up being three brothers in a band, we definitely understood similarities."
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz prior to their meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Saturday, February 25, 2023.(Photo:IANS/Qamar Sibtain) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday, February 25, 2023.(Photo:IANS/Qamar Sibtain) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Feb 25 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday gifted a 'Meghalaya Stole' and a 'Nagaland Shawl' to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who is on a two-day visit to India.

Meghalaya stoles were originally woven for the Khasi and Jaintia royalty, who considered them as a symbol of their power and status.

The weaving of Meghalaya stoles has been passed down through generations with a rich history.

Also, the shawls woven for centuries by the tribes in Nagaland are known for their vibrant colours, intricate designs, and the use of traditional weaving techniques, which have been passed down from generation to generation.

On Saturday, the Prime Minister received Scholz for a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In a tweet, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Scholz's visit is an opportunity to further deepen the multifaceted India-Germany strategic partnership.
Kolkata, Feb 25 : West Bengal government is all set to receive Rs 2,400 crore from Centre under Samagra Shiksha Mission, an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to higher secondary level.

Sources from the state education department said after every Union budget the Centre discusses with the state governments on the allocations under different centrally-sponsored schemes.

"Accordingly, there was a meeting on Friday between the representatives of the Union and West Bengal governments on allotment to the state under the Samagra Shiksha Mission. In that meeting, the amount to be received by the state government under this scheme was fixed at Rs 2,400 crore," a state education department official said.

This allotment will be for the financial year 2023-24.

"In the meeting, the state government representatives also pointed out that within just little over a month left for the current financial year of 2022-23 to end, West Bengal government is yet to receive Rs 1,200 crore earmarked for the state during the fiscal under review and the pending dues. The state government representatives urged their counterparts in the Union government to release that fund at the earliest considering the excellent performance of the state under the scheme during the ongoing fiscal so far," the state education department official said.

The Samagra Shiksha Mission was introduced in the Union budget for the financial year 2018-19 which proposed to treat school education holistically doing with the previous process of segmentation in three categories and subsuming the three erstwhile schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education. The major aim of the scheme was to provide quality education and enhance the learning outcomes of students among others.
Los Angeles, Feb 25 : American socialite Paris Hilton is opening up about a traumatic moment from her teen years. The 42-year-old reality star and DJ claims she was drugged and raped at age 15 after she and her friends met a group of guys at the Century City Mall in Los Angeles, reports 'People' magazine.

"We would go there almost every weekend," Hilton told 'Glamour UK'.

"That was our favorite thing to do and these (older) guys would always just be hanging around the stores... we'd talk to them, give them our beeper numbers." Hilton claimed the men invited her and her friend back to their house, where the group drank "these berry wine coolers".

"I didn't drink or anything back then, but then when I had maybe one or two sips, I just immediately started feeling dizzy and woozy," she said, quoted by 'People'. "I don't know what he put in there, I'm assuming it was a roofie".

Hilton said she woke up a few hours later and immediately knew what had happened. "I remembered it," she explained. "I have visions of him on top of me, covering my mouth, being like, 'You're dreaming, you're dreaming,' and whispering that in my ear." "This was something that I had blocked out from my memory, but after hearing the story from other survivors, I started having flashbacks," she told the publication. "Late at night, staff members would come in and take certain girls and bring them into this room."
Chennai, Feb 25 : The two main Dravida political parties DMK and the AIADMK are vying with each other to win the Erode East by-election with an array of leaders descending in the constituency during the last day of the campaigning.

The bypoll to the Erode East constituency is scheduled to be held on February 27.

Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin led the last day's campaign for the DMK front candidate and senior Congress leader, EVKS Elangovan. Stalin's statement that women heads of homes would be provided Rs 1000 as honoriroum per month in the next budget was questioned by the AIADMK.

AIADMK leader and former MLA, I.S. Inbarasu, told media persons that the action of Stalin announcing such a dole during an election campaign was violation of the model code of conduct (MCC). He raised a complaint with the Returning Officer of the constituency, R. Sivakumar.

However, local people told IANS that both the Dravidian parties are wooing people by paying money and gifts. Silver anklets were distributed to people and pressure cookers were also given as gifts to the voters.

People, however, do not want to be identified as the money and gifts are handed over by local politicians of both the parties.

A woman voter told IANS that that a local leader had come to their home two days before and paid Rs 12,000 as they had four votes in their home. The party paid Rs 3000 per vote in a home. The other party also paid Rs 2500 per vote and this amounted to Rs 10,000.

However, most of the voters refused to take money from both the sides barring some exceptions.

Sources in the DMK told IANS that the DMK-led front is far ahead of the AIADMK-led front. The leaders showed the lead of 8904 votes with which E. Thirumahan Everaa won in the 2021 assembly elections against Tamil Maanila Congress candidate, M. Yuvaraja.

The East Erode by-election has been necessitated aftre the passing away of E. Thirumahan Everaa. With his father EVKS Elangovan contesting the polls, the sympathy factor is likely to work in his favour. The support extended by Tamil super star Kamal Haasan-led party, the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), has also given a shot in the arm for the DMK front. It is to be noted that MNM had garnered 10,000 votes in the 2021 assembly polls.

AIADMK leadership, however, said that the Front will easily win the polls and pointed out the chief minister announcing Rs 1000 honorarium to the women heads of families per month in the next budget was an indication that the DMK was rattled with the feedback from the ground.

With silent campaign commencing from now onwards, the Election Commission has deployed several flying squads to check whether money was changing hands.

Sources from Erode East constituency, however, told IANS that money, liquor, and biriyani were free-flowing in the constituency for wooing the voters in secret places. However, the allegation could not be confirmed.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : An LLB srudent has been arrested for making a false insurance claim by faking a car theft along with his friends.

After the Delhi Police learnt about the fake car theft case, the accused was held with the help of automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

A senior police officer said that on February 2, a car theft was reported at Baba Haridas Nagar police wherein the complainant, Sachin, stated that his Honda City car was stolen from near the Uggersen Park on February 1. Sachin had filed an e-FIR in this regard.

A police team from Dwarka district analysed the CCTV footage of the spot along with the logs of the ANPR cameras and noticed that another car was used in the commission of crime by the culprits, but the number of that car was not found to be clear due to some distance from the cameras.

Through CCTV footages, the accused persons were traced to the Jharoda border.

"At Jharoda border, logs of ANPR cameras were checked and it was found that an I-IO car was used in the commission of the crime by the culprits. The car was registered in the name of Deepak, a reaident of Jhajjar, Haryana, a fourth year LLB student," the police said.

During interrogation, Deepak initially tried to mislead the police, but on sustained interrogation, he disclosed about his involvement in the commission of the crime.

Deepak said that the complainant Sachin was his college friend and together they planned to purchase a new car, for which they wanted to raise funds by making a false insurance claim by faking a theft of Sachin's Honda City car.

"To make the insurance claim, they first lodged an e-FIR on the portal of Delhi Police reporting a car 'theft'.

As per the plan, Deepak along with another of his friend, Krishan, took the said vehicle from a Goshala on Najafgarh-Nangloi road. After this, Sachin lodged a fake theft case with the police.

"They wanted to sell the car to scrap dealers for extra profit. But after two days, Sachin informed Deepak that police was chasing the vehicle using CCTV footage, so they changed the plan and burnt the car at an isolated place," the police said.

After burning the vehicle, Sachin made an insurance claim which is still under process.

Deepak received a total of Rs 35,000 from the complainant for this act.
Raipur, Feb 25 : Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday criticised External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for the latter's recent remark during an interview that "China is a bigger economy" while defending India's policy on China amid tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) "It is shocking to hear from the External Affairs Minister that China is too rich to stand up to," Tharoor said while speaking on the international resolution passed by the Congress during the party's 85th plenary session being held here.

Tharoor said the future of India is bright as long as the Congress fights the good fight and we have to send a message from here.A The MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that the party should be absolutely clear about its ideology if it wants to take on the BJP with full might.

Stressing on the idea of inclusive India, Tharoor said that Congress could have been more vocal on the release of Bilkis Bano rape case convicts and cow vigilantes.

Tharoor also targeted the Central government for 'rampant crony capitalism' and 'accumulating wealth in the hands of a few friends of the Prime Minister'.

Meanwhile, the Congress in its political resolution said that it will bring a law to punish and prevent hate crimes to combat hate politics and violence.

The resolution said, "In the last eight-and-a-half years under the BJP government, the politics of hate has assumed alarming proportions and religious polarisation has reached its peak. Hate crimes and atrocities have increased manifold. Vigilante right wing groups incite violence on various trivial issues.

"These groups operate with impunity and have started acting like police, spreading anarchy and fear. This fear in the minds of minorities is the aim of the BJP/RSS regime." The resolution said that during the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, it was clear that majority of Indians yearn for love, peace and harmony.
Kolkata, Feb 25 : Seven tourists were injured at the Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district in North Bengal on Saturday after two rhinoceroses charged at the safari jeep they were in.

Following the attack, the driver of the jeep tried to escape from the scene but the vehicle skidded and fell into a tunnel adjacent to the road passing through the jungle.

According to eyewitnesses, the two rhinoceroses got involved in a fight in the bushes adjacent to the road when the safari jeep reached the spot and stopped there. As a few tourists were clicking photographs and shooting videos of the fighting animals, the attention of the latter got shifted towards the jeep.

All the injured tourists were immediately shifted to the local Madarihat health centre. The condition of two of them is reportedly serious and they have been shifted to the Alipurduar district hospital.

A forest department official said that rhinos charging towards tourist vehicles has never been reported before in the Jaldapara national park.

The driver of the jeep, Kamal Gazi, who suffered minor injuries, said that he has been in this profession for a long time, but he has never come across such a situation.

"Fortunately, no one has been killed. Things could have been worse," Gazi said.
Sean Kirst Columnist Born in Dunkirk, a son, grandson and great-grandson of Buffalonians, I've been an Upstate journalist for more than 48 years. As a kid, I learned quiet lives are often monumental. I still try to honor that simple lesson, as a columnist. Follow Sean Kirst 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

Jonpaul Okal, raised in Springville, lives with his wife and children in Wisconsin. Five years ago this week, Okal was working at his laptop on a winters morning when he received an email from his mother, in Florida. He opened it, assuming it was something routine.

Instead, it contained a link to an article from The Buffalo News and a three-word message:

Remember this guy?

Norbert Orsolits, a retired priest from the Diocese of Buffalo who died in 2021, had just admitted to abusing probably dozens of Western New York boys during many years at regional schools and parishes. Orsolits publicly described that abuse as somehow consensual, and insisted that in some cases children brought it upon themselves.

It is hard for Okal to describe what those words opened up. He is a survivor. When he was 9, Orsolits  whose family cabin was not far from the Okal home  apparently spotted the child playing outside. Orsolits was soon stopping by, on the pretense of forging a neighborly bond.

He paid particular attention to young Jonpaul. An uneasy Okal began noticing how the priest had a way of pushing up against him, of violating the childs space.

On an Easter Sunday, after saying Mass for the Okal family in their home, Orsolits followed the boy into the basement and sexually assaulted him. Okal later told his stunned parents. While they banned the priest from their house, they did not go to the police because the distraught child feared the taunting he might endure at school.

Long after he became a father himself, Okal tried to shut away the pain.

That finally changed when Michael Whalen, of South Buffalo, stood outside the diocesan offices in February 2018 and said that as a child, he was abused by Orsolits. Hours later, when interviewed by Jay Tokasz of The Buffalo News, the retired priest confirmed he had molested dozens of children.

Forty years after a child's days of pain, the search for justice Jonpaul Okal filed a lawsuit under the Child Victims Act accusing the Rev. Norbert Orsolits of attacking him after saying Mass for his family at their home on Easter Sunday about 40 years ago.

Im grateful to that guy, Okal said of Whalen, an emotion shared five years later by every survivor I spoke with in the same week as Ash Wednesday. It takes a lot of courage to have the guts to say it happened, and to talk about it.

The diocese, rocked by the admission, finally released a list of priests credibly accused of abuse. Church officials began a reconciliation and compensation program in Buffalo to provide settlements for some survivors  but only if they reported abuse to the diocese before the Orsolits revelations, or within a tight window afterward.

Okal, now 53, was told he was too late. Instead, he filed a lawsuit under the new state Child Victims Act, an avenue leading to accusations against 230 Western New York priests  and a process now frozen by diocesan bankruptcy proceedings.

Sean Kirst: A vulnerable child, an abusive priest  and lasting scars Michael Whalen speaks about the night he was assaulted by a priest during a ski outing when he was a young teen. Theres evil out there, and you dont have to be quiet, he

Whalen's statement swept away years of bureaucratic stonewalling about devastating acts. What makes Okal furious is the knowledge that for generations the diocese buried felony criminal behavior inflicted against vulnerable families, that it allowed bad dudes to be shuffled off to a new parish, and a new menu of kids, every couple of years.

No high Western New York administrator of that era was ever held publicly responsible by the church. Children who suffered life-changing assaults grew into adults who believed there would be no reckoning.

The great gift provided by Whalen, Okal said, was that, hopefully, therell be a variant of closure after walling off part of my life.

Barbara Knight, 65, who struggled with anxiety after her own ordeal, was already discussing her wounds in therapy when Whalen spoke out. Knight said she was abused by Rev. John Doyle when she was a sixth grader in Orchard Park, and then spent decades trying to forget the trauma.

After the Orsolits admissions, she contacted the diocese. Doyle's name, at the time, was kept off the initial list of abusers  apparently because there was only one accusation. Five years later, he is named as an abuser in three separate CVA lawsuits. To Knight, that provides some vindication.

Like Okal, Knight  a journalist and a retired educator  is waiting to see how the bankruptcy proceedings affect her lawsuit. But she found ways of reaching what she calls my peace. She describes herself as a person of deep faith, though no longer as a Catholic, and she is grateful for the benefits of therapy.

All of it inspired her to write a childrens book called "Lily's Healing Journey"  the story of a happy child who endures searing heartbreak, then moves toward healing  that she hopes causes girls and boys to realize that whatever theyre going through, they dont have to go through it alone.

Asked if she had any particular moment of affirmation, she recalled when Bishop Michael Fisher, appointed in 2020, apologized to a group of survivors in a small meeting. What mattered most, she said, was when he said he believed what we were telling him.

It was another event that might never have happened without Whalen's decision to speak publicly, five years earlier.

Denis Riley, now of Florida, was one of the earliest Western New York survivors demanding justice. Riley approached the diocese in 1999 to report he had been abused as a child by Monsignor Edward Walker at St. Josephs parish in Fredonia. Administrators vehemently denied it, Riley said, until a second accuser came forward. Even then, they said nothing publicly.

For years, Riley called for the diocese to release all records on Walker, who died in 2002. Riley believes that would prove that high-ranking officials knew of accusations against the monsignor, yet responded by simply shifting him around. Riley, now working on an essay describing the damage Walker caused, puts it bluntly:

The guy was a monster, he said of Walker, named in several CVA lawsuits. After Whalens accusations shook the diocese, Riley agreed to a settlement within the reconciliation process  and finally saw Walker openly identified as a perpetrator on a list released by the diocese.

Sean Kirst: Survivor grieves death of wife who helped him get past priest's abuse Denis Riley, who says he was repeatedly molested by a priest in his youth in Fredonia, made the decision to tell his story months ago, before the devastating Pennsylvania grand jury report was

Riley, retired at 75 from commercial lending, said the diocese still faces a moral imperative. He joins many survivors in saying true recovery cannot happen without full disclosure of records detailing the times when priests accused of abuse were moved to new schools or parishes.

One of the things that cannot be overemphasized: Its always about the money, said Riley, regarding the long absence of these revelations. He remains a practicing Catholic, based on this reasoning: Any priests who wounded children were the ones betraying the faith.

As for Michael Whalen, his voice cracked and he wept when I told him how these survivors say his courage became the history-changing push that finally overwhelmed diocesan secrecy, going back generations.

It just means a lot to me to know that when I stood on that corner and said what I said, it was the right thing to do, Whalen said, and that my children and grandchildren will always know it.

An oft-accused priest, one victim's story and the true meaning of bankruptcy The diocese last week declared bankruptcy in federal court. Michael Eames, 60, has his own definition of bankruptcy, one he learned at 15 through the behavior of a priest Eames describes as a

In that moment, Whalen did a great job of holding up a lantern for all of us, said Michael Eames, a fellow survivor.

Eames, 63, was among dozens of youths targeted by Rev. Donald Becker, publicly accused of abuse in 30 CVA cases  the most of any priest in the diocese. The aftermath caused longtime chaos for Eames, who hid the reason for his suffering even from his worried parents.

He had already joined the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests  and was trying to sort things out in diocese-provided counseling  when Whalen came forward.

The avalanche of subsequent accounts, Eames said, offered survivors long-awaited affirmation: Everyone could kind of see what happened, and now our story was believed by the general public.

Becker attacked Eames after giving the 14-year-old from Hamburg beer and whiskey at a rural cabin. A year ago this month, Becker died without ever admitting to dozens of acts of child sexual abuse described in court papers or public statements, but Eames looks at it this way:

When he tried to cross the Pearly Gates, God was waiting for him  and then, so was my father.
Mumbai, Feb 25 : Member of Legislative Council (MLC) from Telangana and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha has said her party will play a crucial role in the development of Maharashtra.

The BRS MLC, who is in Mumbai to attend various programmes, offered floral tributes on Saturday to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue in Mumbai.

Stating that Telangana's welfare and development programmes were being discussed across the country, Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, said people in Maharashtra were demanding replication of Telangana's welfare programmes in their state.

Speaking to the media, Kavitha said different sections of people in Maharashtra were appealing to expand the BRS' operations in the state.

Pointing out that though Telangana and Maharashtra share a nearly 1,000 km long border, there is a lot of difference in terms of welfare and development programmes being implemented in the two states.

She cited the example of Hyderabad, where drinking water was being supplied round the clock while drinking water was being supplied in Mumbai for only two hours a day.

"If the Telangana government could supply drinking water to every household across the state, why cannot the Maharashtra government implement such a programme?" she questioned.

Since Independence, the provision of basic amenities like drinking water and power for households, has still been a challenge in many states in the country.

But Telangana, the youngest state in the country, had addressed these issues by nearly 98 per cent, she said, adding that the BRS party would fight for such people-centric issues.

BRS would play a crucial role in the comprehensive development of Maharashtra, she said.

On the possibilities of contesting elections in Maharastra, she said the party would make an announcement in this regard.

Reiterating her party's demand for a JPC probe into the Hindenburg report on the Adani Group, Kavita wondered "why central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate and the Reserve Bank of India were silent on this matter".
Patna, Feb 25 : The Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, on Saturday targeted the BJP during a mega rally of the Mahagathbandhan in Purnia.

"We are Biharis and don't think of us as fools (Ham Log Bihari Hai, Hamko Burbak Mat Samjhiye)," Tejashwi said while taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the promises he had made before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

It was a show of strength for the Mahagathbandhan on Saturday as each and every MLA, MP and minister were present at the rally.

"During a rally at this same venue in 2014, Narendra Modi had promised to give special status to Bihar. But it turned into a 'jumla'. Don't assume that we Biharis are fools. We understand everything. The Centre had said that the income of the farmers would double by 2022, but what happened to that promise? What happened to the promise of concrete houses for every countryman? Please tell us one promise made by the Centre which has been fulfilled," Tejashwi said.

"What was there for Bihar in the Union Budget this year? Zero. It is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is developing Bihar in his own capacity," the RJD leader said.

"BJP does not have any leader, all of them are dealers. They are only trying to divide the society on religious lines. I'm the son of Lalu Prasad, who never compromised with the communal forces in his entire life. I will not bend before these forces," Tejashwi said.
Bengaluru, Feb 25 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said that the time has arrived for the Opposition Leader in the state assembly Siddaramaiah to face the "harsh truth".

Reacting to Siddaramaiah's statement that the Chief Minister told lies regarding the Arkavathy Layout identification scam, Bommai told reporters here that he read the Kempanna Commission report which was prepared after gathering all pieces of evidence and there was no question of telling lies.

"... it was Siddaramaiah who was bluffing," Bommai said.

The Congress leader wrote on the document saying "officials brought files, I have endorsed". "This means Siddaramaiah has accepted committing the mistake. What more evidence is required than this?" Bommai questioned.

The Chief Minister said it was important what the Advocate General had said, and the judge had made remarks after hearing the arguments.

The judge, in his orders, has mentioned that it had been done to shield the corruption of the politicians and officials.

"I have said the same thing. I have read the commission's report and the judgment.... I have also seen what action they have taken based on the report. We will take the next course of action," the Chief Minister said.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Saturday that it has filed the third supplementary charge sheet against a CPI (Maoist) cadre in the case of abduction and killing of a person named Naresh Singh Bhokta in Bihar.

An NIA official said that Bhokta was abducted on November 2, 2018 and taken to a 'jan adalat' in Aurangabad district where a kangaroo court comprising the top leadership of CPI (Maoist) issued instructions to kill Bhokta after declaring him a police informer.

The case was initially lodged at the Madanpur police station nefore NIA took over the probe.

The official said that charge sheets have been filed against seven accused by the Bihar Police.

"The accused chargesheeted today is Ajay Singh. Investigations have revealed that Singh, along with other CPI (Maoist) cadres, was actively involved in the abduction and murder of Bhokta. Singh was arrested on September 1, 2022," said the official.

"The weapons used in the incident have been seized and their forensic examination has been completed. The three vehicles used by the CPI (Maoist) cadres in the incident have also been seized. During investigation, the NIA has also been able to unearth the involvement of top CPI (Maoist) commanders, including a politburo member, in the conspiracy hatched for the brutal murder, which was carried out to create terror in the society while propagating the false and fallacious ideology of people's war against the state," the NIA said.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi on Saturday claimed "it is a victory for the party" after the Delhi High Court put a stay on the re-election of the six members of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The re-election was earlier scheduled for February 27.

MCD Mayor Shelly Oberoi and AAP legislator Atishi, reacting to the court's decision, submitted that the BJP's desire to have their demand for the result of the election being declared in their favour was ruled out by the court.

Oberoi said that the order of the HC is a personal victory for her and the AAP. She said everyone saw how the BJP councillors in a planned manner staged an attack on her and the AAP councillors.

She termed the incident "shameful for the whole country".

The Mayor also said she was hopeful that this case is further heard in the High Court, adding "the truth of the matter will be there for everyone to see".

AAP leader Atishi said that the court order was a victory for the party as the BJP was hoping that the HC would endorse an illegal demand of the party regarding the counting of votes.

"... but the court refused to accept their unconstitutional and illegal demand," she said.
Jaipur, Feb 25 : One can worship whomever one wants, but it is certain that we all are Hindus, Dalsukhdas Ji Maharaj (Sanjeli Dham) said at the All-India Prabhat Gram Milan in Rajasthan's Dungarpur district on Saturday.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was also present at the event, which is organised once in every five years.

"There have been all-round attempts to break our culture. But our Hindu religion dates to the time of creation of this world. There are 33 crore deities in our religion," Dalsukhdas said.

"We had met in Betul (Madhya Pradesh) five years ago. We meet like this every five years to review our work," he added.

The three-day workshop is being attended by 464 people, including 46 Matrishaktis. The participants from all over the country have been accommodated in Bhemai and nearby villages. The living arrangements of all the Matrishaktis and village development officials have been made in Bhemai village, the venue for the event.

A total of 60 workers from 30 rural development villages in Rajasthan are attending the workshop.

The village coordinators gave presentations about the work being done in their respective regions with focus on education, health, culture, self-reliance, harmony, security, agriculture and environment.

The RSS chief listened carefully to all the presentations, and said that good results will be achieved by regularising the work of village development.

All India level office-bearers of the RSS are attending the workshop.

A total of four sessions were held on Saturday, which were named after the saints of Rajasthan like Govind Guru, Sant Mavji, Sant Sati Surmal Das and Veer Kali Bai.
Guwahati, Feb 25 : A defence Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lt. Col. Amarinder Singh Walia has been arrested in connection with the case of murder of a woman, the police said on Saturday.

A police officer said that Lt. Col. Walia was arrested on Friday in Assam's Tezpur, where he has been serving as a defence PRO of IV corps of the Army.

The Changsari police in Kamrup district, after consulting with the Army authorities, arrested the army officer with the assistance of Tezpur police after the body of a 36-year old woman was found wrapped in a plastic bag, dumped near National Highway 31 at Changsari on February 15.

The woman, who had gone to visit Banaras, came to Guwahati from Delhi on February 14 to meet Lt Col Walia. The woman hailed from Tamil Nadu.

The woman was kidnapped and killed by "unknown assailants" following which the body was dumped near a fast food shop at Changsari.

The police sent the body to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.

The police are currently questioning the army officer and probing the crime.

A source said that the accused, who is currently in judicial custody, has reportedly confessed to the crime.

Another police officer said that Lt. Col. Walia had an affair with the victim, who had a 4-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.
Kolkata, Feb 25 : Almost eight months after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal, the former state education minister and ex-Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee has finally resigned from the chair of the president of the board of governors of a prime management institute of Kolkata.

During his tenure as the state education minister from 2014 to 2021, by virtue of his chair, Chatterjee became the president of the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM), a premier autonomous management institute under the academic jurisdiction of the University of Calcutta.

He continued occupying the chair even after he was shifted from the state education department to the state commerce & industries after the 2021 state assembly elections.

Even after his arrest by the ED in July last year in connection with the teachers' recruitment irregularities scam, despite being removed from his ministerial and party portfolios, Chatterjee continued with the chair of IISWBM.

Since his arrest, sources said that there was tremendous internal pressure on the governing body of the institute to replace Chatterjee as the chair of the president of the board of governors. Messages were sent to Chatterjee, who is serving his judicial custody at Presidency Special Correctional Home in south Kolkata, to voluntarily resign from the chair.

Chatterjee finally resigned from that chair this week. His resignation was accepted in a meeting of the current board of governors on Friday.

Chatterjee is an alumnus of this premier management institute. From there, he completed his MBA in human resource management as a specialisation after completing his degree in economics from Asutosh College.
New Delhi, Feb 25 : The Delhi government has approached the High Court to seek direction on who would bear the cost of the police contingent provided to prisoners on parole for several weeks.

The move came after a magisterial court had directed two accused, who were granted parole for two weeks, to bear the cost of travel, food and other expenses of the guards, after the jail authorities filed an application, seeking direction.

Two undertrial prisoners, Rahul Gaur and his wife Navneet Kaur - the son and daughter-in-law of a real estate company chairman, were directed by the magisterial court to pay Rs 10,64,055 towards the salary of the escort staff deputed.

However, the order was overturned by the sessions court after the couple had challenged the decision. The government later approached the High Court for relief.

In the High Court, the bench of Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar, taking note of the plea by the authorities, has issued a notice seeking the trial court record, examining its legality and setting aside the October 2021 order of the sessions court.

Amit Sahni representing the government submitted that the present petition involves a significant issue as to whether a convict /accused who availed custody parole for several weeks, has to bear the expenses of remuneration of escorting guards during the period of the said custody parole or such remuneration of the escorting guards has to be borne by the state exchequer.

"The matter requires larger consideration as prayers for custody parole on behalf of undertrial prisoners are considered by district courts beyond the normal prescribed period of six hours, as per Delhi Prison Rules, 2018. The state exchequer is unnecessarily burdened with paying the salary of escort party/ staff deployed with prisoners on parole for several weeks or months," said Sahni.
Evident x exocad Launch Integrated Design Service to Scale Your Business We design thousands of cases every day and understand that although the design is important, it is all about the workflow.  Chloe Gordon, COO of Evident.

Evident, one of the world's leading dental CAD design centers, offering digital dentistry products and services to dental businesses, has partnered with exocad GmbH - an Align Technology Inc. company, and a leading dental CAD/CAM software provider. Through this strategic partnership, dental businesses using exocad software will be able to seamlessly outsource their CAD designs to Evident within the exocad environment, in just a few clicks. This will allow them to save time while still being able to access the high-quality CAD designs, they need to create custom dental prosthetics and devices.

We design thousands of cases every day and understand that although the design is important, it is all about the workflow. Because we work with tens of thousands of customers around the world, we know how to provide the right support, so our clients can focus on scaling their business.  Chloe Gordon, COO of Evident.

Were responding to our lab customers requests for more support to handle overflow cases and new ways to grow their businesses, said Novica Savic, CCO and general manager at exocad. Evidents scale and expertise make them the perfect launch partner for this new service.

This strategic partnership will help exocad customers scale their business, by offering an integrated design service to tackle design bottlenecks and grow their product offerings. With this seamless integration, exocad customers can manage overflows easily.

For more information about the partnership between Evident and exocad, please visit this page.
WASHINGTON  The Defense Department and Microsoft Corp. are investigating an error that exposed at least a terabyte of military emails including personal information and conversations between officials, people familiar with the matter said, an episode that highlighted the security risk of moving sensitive Pentagon data to the cloud.

The Pentagons Cyber Command has taken the lead on the investigation with Microsoft, which operates the Azure cloud-computing service that stored the data. Information on a U.S. Special Operations Command server was accessible without a password, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing information that hasnt been publicly released.

Investigators have no sign yet that the exposed data was accessed but were still working to assess the fallout from the leak, the people said. A US Cyber Command spokesperson declined to comment but said defensive cyber operators scan and mitigate the networks they manage.

The emails contained conversations between Pentagon officials as well as completed SF-86 forms, which government employees are required to fill out to obtain security clearances, according to screenshots of the emails shared by Anurag Sen, an independent security researcher who discovered the leak. The incident was first reported Feb. 21 by TechCrunch.

The exposure may have resulted from a configuration error with Microsofts server that left it publicly accessible, two of the people said. They had differing assessments on who was at fault, with one saying it was the fault of a Pentagon employee and another saying Microsoft was to blame.

The leak will draw new scrutiny to the Pentagons push to move much of its data over to commercial cloud-computing. On Feb. 15, the Pentagon inspector general issued a report saying agency staff may be unaware of vulnerabilities and cybersecurity risks linked to storing data in the cloud.

The leak may also complicate Microsofts bids for future government contracts. Microsoft is one of four companies, along with Alphabet Inc., Oracle Corp., and Amazon.com Inc., that the Pentagon selected to compete for orders under a potential $9 billion cloud-computing contract. Microsoft initially won an earlier contract worth $10 billion but that was canceled after a legal challenge from Amazon.

Microsoft was dealt a blow last month after Congress rejected the Armys request for $400 million to buy as many as 6,900 of Microsofts combat goggles, which were found to cause headaches, eyestrain and nausea.

Most expensive US military weapons and programs Most expensive military weapons and programs #30. VH-92 Presidential Helicopters #29. Patriot Advanced Capability Missile Segment Enhancement #28. Cloud #27. Standard Missile-6 #26. Artificial Intelligence #25. THAAD Ballistic Missile Defense #23. Frigate (FFG(X)) (tie) #23. AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense System (tie) #20. Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) (tie) #20. Landing Platform Dock Ship (LPD) (tie) #20. AH-64E Attack Helicopters (tie) #19. Joint Light Tactical Vehicles #16. M-1 Abrams Tank Modifications/Upgrades (tie) #16. CH-53K King Stallion (tie) #16. Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) (tie) #14. F-15EX (tie) #14. National Security Space Launch (aka EELV) (tie) #13. Global Positioning System III and Projects #12. F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets #11. Space Based Overhead Persistent Infrared Systems #10. B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber #8. CVN-78 FORD Class Aircraft Carrier (tie) #8. KC-46 Tanker Replacements (tie) #7. DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Destroyers #6. Cyberspace  Operations #5. COLUMBIA Class Ballistic Missile Submarine #4. Virginia Class Submarine #3. Cybersecurity #2. Nuclear Command, Control and Communications #1. F-35 Joint Strike Fighters Most expensive US military weapons and programs #23. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Ballistic Missile Defense #22. Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles #21. Building Pandemic Preparedness #20. Amphibious Combat Vehicles #19. PATRIOT Advanced Capability - 3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement #18. Joint Light Tactical Vehicles #17. Frigate (FFG-62) #16. Launch Vehicles - National Security Space Launch (NSSL) and Rocket System Launch Program (RSLP) #15. NGAD (Air Force) #14. Global Positioning System (GPS) Enterprise #13. Ground-Based Midcourse (GMD) and Improved Homeland Defense/Next Generation Interceptors (NGI) #12. F-15EX #11. KC-46 Pegasus #10. Addressing the Climate Crisis #9. LGM-35A Sentinel Weapon System #8. Space-based Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Systems #7. B-21 Raider #6. DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers #5. Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine #4. Funds to procure highly survivable, precision-strike, and long-range firesfrom hypersonic to subsonicacross the joint force #3. Virginia Class Submarines #2. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter #1. Increasing cybersecurity and operationalizing Zero Trust Architecture
There are many ways we can express kindness. There are words of encouragement or sympathy. There are favors that can be done, and gifts that can be given. Of all the ways to express kindness, perhaps one of the most profound is simply making space for someone.

It may not seem that impactful when youre talking about giving up your seat on a crowded bus, or making-up the couch as a bed for a friend or relative, but there are times that when someone makes space for you, it changes your life.

Late one afternoon in 1984, I sat waiting to see an admissions counselor at St. Bonaventure University. I was a high school senior with hopes of earning a journalism degree and eventually sitting in the chair kept warm for me by Channel 7s Rick Azar. I had applied to other schools, but an earlier visit to campus had me sold on Bona  this is where I needed to be.

It was in the waning sunlight of that late afternoon when I got a dose of reality. My grades were good  good enough. My application was complete, my essay was solid, references were glowing and I would soon be graduating from a well-respected high school.

My admissions counselor, M.J. Telford, then addressed the practical matters of financing college and the discussion turned to tuition.

The question was simple: How are you planning to pay for college? It was a fair, appropriate question and I thought I had the answer  loans of course! Then I saw the look, and as she gathered herself to break the news, she said Charles, there simply arent enough loans that you could secure to cover all the costs of college  here or most places.

I explained that loans were my only option. There was no family contribution or college fund at home. I was the youngest of nine, and my parents were both disabled and separated for nearly a decade. I was already working to help pay for high school.

Plan A was thwarted, and there was no Plan B. For the first time, I let the thought seep in  there just wasnt a place for me here. It showed on my face immediately. M.J. reassured me that my academic qualifications demonstrated that I needed to pursue a college degree.

Then she paused, and I could see in her face that she had an idea. I left with a promise that she would explore an opportunity for a new program that could possibly finance most of my college expenses.

She kept her promise. While I may not have been a perfect fit for the program she found, she said I clearly fit the spirit of the programs intent. I never knew what strings M.J. found to pull, but what I did know is that she made a space for me. It was a space that opened a world of opportunity.

It was a space, as any Bona grad will tell you, among people who become lifelong friends, or more accurately, family. St. Bonaventure is a place thats uniquely able to stay with you long after youve left the campus.

Now, almost 40 years later, my son is a Bonnie. Last winter, during a visit, we attended a Bonnies game. I was looking for a parking space in a crowded lot in front of the Admissions Building. As I did, a driver indicated that she was leaving, and that I could have her spot.

As I pulled closer, I realized the other driver was M.J.  and once again, she found a space for me.
Alan Noble, associate professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University and the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Christ and Pop Culture, examines the gift and burden of life, and how Christianity can support mental health, in his new book, On Getting out of Bed (IVP, Apr.).

Its a personal reflection on living with mental suffering, according to Ethan McCarthy, associate editor at IVP. For all the advances in therapy and psychiatry weve seen in recent years, mental suffering remains a constant feature of modern life. Alan says that the choice to live is itself a powerful witness to the goodness of lifeeven when it doesnt seem good.

Noble explains that the book is not a memoir, though its based on his challenges with depression and anxiety. Ive had to learn to radically trust God and trust God through other people who come alongside me and tell me that life is good and beautiful and worth living, he says, and that its important for me to get up and love my family and go to work and take care of myself, even when I dont feel like it.

How did you come up with the books title?

The challenge of getting out of bed is really the challenge of choosing to live. The argument of the book is that life itself is both a burden and a gift. Life is very hard, and we dont acknowledge that enough. Whether you have a diagnosed mental illness or not, life is difficult. But part of that burden is making the choice to get out of bed, to live, which is also a gift, because God gives us life.

You talk about mental illness as an everyday experience. What do you mean by that?

So often by mental health we mean a diagnosed or at least diagnosable mental illness. But both the person who has a diagnosed condition and the person who doesnt are going to face moments of mental suffering. Whether its diagnosed or not, you have to know how to cope, how to get up, how to keep moving, how and why to keep living, despite suffering.

How do you see Christianity as a source of mental health support?

God didnt need to create us. We were created just for Gods good pleasure. Life understood that way is a gift. When we experience mental suffering and despair, we have this grounding, this acknowledgement that even though we are suffering, theres a deeper reality to the worldthat we are known, loved, created, and sustained by God. That doesnt make the pain, the anxiety, or the depression go away. But what I hope it does is it equips us to persevere.

How does love your neighbor fit into your faith-based understanding of mental health?

Christians have this obligation to love our neighbors. So even when we dont feel like our lives are valuable, meaningful, rich, and fulfilling, we have a duty to our neighbor to get up and keep going because when we do that, we communicate to our neighbor that their lives are a blessing and a gift from God. One of the ways that people suffer is a loss of purpose and meaning. When you realize that part of your purpose is to love your neighbor by getting up and continuing through life, it can be a great source of hope.

Return to main feature.
In this months roundup of BookLife titles, we feature books on romance and relationships. Want to see your book featured? Check out the Indie Spotlight calendar at booklife.com/indiespotlight.

Coming of Age & Personal Growth

30 Days in Belfast

Rita A. Gordon

ASIN B0BS8MPGT6

Author statement: 30 Days in Belfast is a character-driven love story set in Belfast, Ireland. Rose Ross, a strong businesswoman struggling to rise above the vast shadow of her wealthy fathers name, has just three weeks to choose the course of her careerand her love life. As an avid reader with a penchant for romance stories, I was struggling to find a book that wasnt formulaic and that resonated with me. I challenged myself to tell the story I wanted to read.

The French Lovers Wife

Janet Garber

ISBN 978-1-68463-181-0

Author statement: Lucie, a smart and sassy girl from N.Y.C., abandons her PhD program to run off with Pierre, a dashing Frenchman. Its the start of the sexual revolution and she doesnt intend to miss a thing. They first land in Mexico, then marry and settle in Paris to live the dream. But Pierre becomes an intolerant critic of her wifely imperfections; she cant seem to measure up to French standards. Her womens writing group helps her realize what she needs and wants out of life: to be a mother, a career woman, and a writer. If only shed known who she was from the beginning. This novel spent untold decades in a desk drawer, inspired by a sojourn in Paris. When I retired, I promised myself I would finally get these people and scenes on camera.

Mary Poser: Butterflies and White Lies As Bollywood Comes to Nashville

Angel A

ASIN B072FMK41X

Author statement: Theres troubled love in Music City (Nashville). Despite deeply entrenched obstacles, Southern belle Mary falls for a visiting Bollywood director, Simha Das. A life-changing event leads to questions about who or what intervenes. Passions collide as Mary must come to terms with her darkest secret. On the surface Mary Poser is a fun and frolicking love story. Underneath this is a message of hope and inspiration for anyone who feels overwhelmed by anxiety and demands of family, faith, and culture.

The Pilgrim Soul in You: A Story of Love, Loss, and Redemption

Martin Mutka

ISBN 978-0-578-65634-2

Author statement: The Pilgrim Soul in You is the poignant narrative of Will Merritt, a bright college graduate who moves to San Francisco in the early 80s to pursue his MBA. There he meets Laura McKenzie, a beautiful, young law student from a prominent Northern California family. The two are drawn to one another by similar sad events in their past, and that connection fosters a relationship that blossoms into affection and commitment. This semi-autobiographical story memorializes that period in my life when I was experiencing intellectual and emotional growth and finding happiness in a unique and spellbinding placeSan Francisco.

The Real Me Because of You

M.J. Apple

ASIN BQGM2K7K

Author statement: Luisa Isa Macayo is an actress full of self-doubt due to humiliating life events and lack of family support. She now teaches math at her alma mater because its the only position open where she feels the most at home. However, when she gets offered to take over the theater program with the opportunity to work closely with her high school crush, she finds the courage to finally show the world the amazing woman she truly is.

Tree of Redemption

Jim Davidson

ASIN B0BMDNXB4Q

Author statement: Chris Hamilton journeys to Brownsville, Texas, from his native Virginia in 1995, after receiving a cryptic note saying that his mentor, Armando Geurra, has mysteriously died. Chris soon finds out that his death was no accident and becomes entangled in decades of animosity and vengeance. Set against a backdrop of the breathtaking beauty of Southwest Texas and the intermingling of Hispanic and American cultures, this is a story of honor, character, romance, and redemption across distance and time. This book was born out of a story that has been ruminating in my mind for years. Minimally based on real situations and people, I always felt it had the bones for a fascinating story.

Troubles with Teamwork (Mickie Mckinney: Boy Detective #2)

R.L. Fink

ASIN B0B4T71W4P

Author statement: Mickie McKinney is no longer Maple Ridge Middle Schools only private detective. Now there is a certain blonde by the name of Sam Hayes. So when Angus McDermitt hires Mickie to help him ask Kailani Groom to the school dance, Mickie sees it as an opportunity to work one last solo case. Too bad for him, Kailani is the girl of his dreams. As a shy kid growing up, I was absolutely awful at telling my crushes how I felt about them. While I was writing the second Mickie McKinney, I decided I was going to add in a few lessons for future generations about how to deal with such potentially embarrassing situations. This is also the first book where Sam and Mickie really have to learn to work together, which is is another important lesson focused on nonromantic relationships.

Fantasy, Romance & SF

Galaxy (Black Heart SF)

Mark Lingane

ASIN B09X3NZ76W

Author statement: Spark, an elite Space Academy pilot, barely survived a deadly battle. After years in a coma, he emerges to find a crippled world and his memory in tatters. Humanity faces threats from many sides, often self-inflicted. And a new evil is coming. Something that will wipe out the human race for good. With the number of fighter pilots dwindling, Spark is forced back into active duty, where he meets another cadet, beautiful and enigmatic. Together they work to restore his memory, and Spark is tested to see if his fragile nerves can face the approaching disaster. Galaxy is a metaphor about equality. In all ways, this is not the story youd expect.

A Little Too Familiar

Lish McBride

ASIN B09XWF55Z2

Author statement: Set in Seattle and full of found family, A Little Too Familiar is about Louise, a witch who specializes in binding witches to their familiars, and Declan, the werewolf she accidentally binds herself to in order to save him from a trap. Binding a shapeshifter as a familiar is highly illegal, and Lou thinks its wrong on every level...but it might be the only thing saving her new roommate Declans life. Writing this book helped me stay sane during lockdown. Ive long been a fan of the fantasy romance/paranormal genre and just wanted to write something funny with magic in it.

Friends-to-Lovers & Second-Chance Romance

Is This for Real? (New York Friendship #2)

Kathy Strobos

ISBN 978-1-73771-394-4

Author statement: In Is This for Real?, a rom-com writer fake dates her best friend, but their relationship doesnt stick to the plot. I wanted to explore the fear of rejection in any friends-to-lovers story and the huge fear that youll lose your friendship if you try for a romantic relationship.

Paintings & Enemies (A Recklesss Billionaire Romance #2)

Ella Todd

ASIN B096SS11YJ

Author statement: Supermodel Aubrey Duncan was excited when her father asked her to be the family companys spokeswomanuntil she met the new head of marketing. Eric Juarez was sexy as hell, yet he ended up being the first man to break her heart. Years later, Eric believes he left his feelings for Aubrey in the past. The hardest thing he ever had to do was leave herbut he did it for her own good. When hes forced to see her again, though, he realizes just how wrong he was. When I wrote the first book in this series, I thought that book would have been a standalone. However, the other side characters started talking to me and I couldnt help but write their story too.

Historical Romance

Pericles and Aspasia: A Story of Ancient Greece

Yvonne Korshak

ISBN 978-1-959182-21-4

Author statement: I wanted to meet these characters and know them, and history informs but does not bring them to life. I have given my historical imagination free rein, based on evidence, to understand their personalities, psychic histories, conflicts, impelling goals, and aspirations.

The Soldier and the Orphan

Alastair Henry

ASIN B0B9J1Q2ZX

Author statement: The Soldier and the Orphan is a historical fiction romance novel that involves colonialist attitudes, discrimination, love, and tragedy.

Love & Faith

The Church Girl

Ufuomaee

ISBN 978-1-7201-9195-7

Author statement: As a child, Mary Uwanna believed in the power of faith and love and loved to tell stories of princes. Everything changes when she loses her parents in one night and is left to care for her three brothers. In a climate of corruption and immorality, even the church is not a safe refuge for 16-year-old Mary. She makes a decision that threatens to steal her destiny until she meets her prince. I was just being playful when I started writing the story, but I believe it was inspired because it became Gods story, as He took me where I never anticipated, and I needed His guidance as I wrote every chapter.

The Coordinates of Time, Treasure, and Truth

Arlene DeMar

ASIN B09FT4GQ5S

Author statement: Fall in love with Gloria Morelli, the family matriarch, and meet a host of family and friends spanning the generations. Travel through time as she lives and recalls the various stages of her life, reflecting on the many joys and sorrows she has known. Witness how Gloria both gives and receives support and encouragement while making her way through the crone years and beyond! It was my desire to write a book reflecting Christian love and values and expressing them through the experiences of the main character towards all those she holds dear. The lives of the characters come to life through prose, poetry, short stories, and reflections.
DEAL OF THE WEEK

Min Lands at Spiegel & Grau For six figures, Spiegel & Graus Joey McGarvey bought North American rights to Juli Mins Shanghailanders at auction. The publisher says the debut novel, set for spring 2024, is a kaleidoscopic work that follows a wealthy family in Shanghai, moving back and forth in time between 2014 and 2040. It shifts perspectives to show how secrets both separate and unite a family, irrevocably affecting the lives they touch. Min lives in China and got her MFA from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, and is the editor-in-chief of the biannual English-language magazine the Shanghai Literary Review. She was represented by Stephanie Delman at Trellis Literary Management.

Crosby-Eckstine Goes to Ballantine

For Ballantine, Wendy Wong bought North American rights at auction to two books by Erin Crosby-Eckstine, including her debut novel, Junie. The deal was brokered by Danya Kukafka at Trellis Literary Management. Ballantine said the novel, which takes place just before the start of the Civil War, follows an enslaved teenage girl caught in the whirlwind of burgeoning first love while grappling with the appearance of her sisters ghost. Crosby-Eckstine is a high school teacher who lives in Brooklyn.

DAW Knows Okorafor

DAW Books Betsy Wollheim acquired North American rights to three adult fantasy novellas by Africanfuturist Nnedi Okorafor. The first book under contract, She Who Knows, is set for spring 2024 and is a prequel to the authors 2011 adult debut, Who Fears Death, which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. DAW said She Who Knows follows Najeeba, the mother of the heroine of Who Fears Death, as she embarks on a harrowing journey to hone her power. The two other titles in the deal are sequels. Okorafor was represented by Donald Maass at the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

S&S Corrals Campbells Elephants

Cebo Campbell sold North American rights to Sky Full of Elephants to Olivia Taylor at Simon & Schuster in a preempt. S&S said the debut novel follows a college professor who, having recently gotten out of prison, embarks on a road trip across an America where there are no longer any white people, after hes contacted by a daughter he didnt know he had. The book combines dark comedy, high-concept science fiction, and magical realism to create a uniquely moving exploration of Black culture and identity. Campbell was represented by Byrd Leavell at United Talent Agency, and Sky Full of Elephants is set for summer 2024.

Pooley Gets Disgraceful for Dorman

Clare Pooley (The Authenticity Project) sold North American rights to two books to Pamela Dorman for her eponymous imprint at Viking. Hayley Steed at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency represented Pooley. The publisher said the first novel under contract, How to Age Disgracefully, set for summer 2024, is about a group of not-so-typical senior citizens fighting to save the community center that hosts their social club from demolition.

Atria Enters de Robertiss Palace

At Atria, Michelle Herrera Mulligan nabbed U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to The Palace of Eros by Carolina de Robertis (Cantoras). The publisher said the novel is a retelling of the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros through a queer, nonbinary lens, grappling with the complex and thorny questions of how to harness the power of female and queer joy and cultivate freedom in a world that seeks to cage us. The summer 2024slated work was sold by Michelle Brower at Trellis Literary Management.
A U.K.-based plan to tone down some of the offensive language in Roald Dahl's classic works grabbed the headlines this week, with an overwhelming consensus that rewriting Dahl's words was, well, just wrong. A report in Publishers Weekly this week rounded up the reaction and pointed out a few key details, including that Dahls U.S. publisher, Penguin Young Readers, had no plans for similar revisions in the U.S. market.

But today the U.K. publisher, Puffin, announced a change to what should have been the plan all along: the edits to Dahl's works will exist as new editions, not as replacements.

"The Roald Dahl Classic Collection will sit alongside the newly released Puffin Roald Dahl books for young readers, which are designed for children who may be navigating written content independently for the first time," Puffin announced in a February 24 statement. "Readers will be free to choose which version of Dahls stories they prefer."

In a statement, Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House Childrens said: At Puffin we have proudly published Roald Dahls stories for more than forty years in partnership with the Roald Dahl Story Company. Their mischievous spirit and his unique storytelling genius have delighted the imaginations of readers across many generations. Weve listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahls books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation."

In a blog post this week, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel offered a compelling take on the Dahl controversy: "While editors and publishers might be tempted to try to excise ideas or words from the past that offend us today, either because of harmful stereotypes or cruel language against groups or individuals, we cant go about ridding these regrettable ideas and words from the past, without potentially diluting the power of the original text and the story itself, Nossel writes. "Much of literature could be construed as offensive to someonebased on race, gender, religion, age, economic or other status or myriad other factors. Rather than playing around with an authors original text, we would find more value as readers if editors and publishers offered context in a preface or introduction that prepares modern readers for the material to help them understand the setting in which the original words were written. Otherwise, we risk distorting the work of great authors and clouding the essential lens that literature offers on society.

The National Coalition Against Censorship reports that it delivered a letter to the Forest Hills (Michigan) Public School Board in Grand Rapids, Michigan, last week, identifying 10 books that were secretly removed by its superintendent in violation of the school districts reconsideration policy. The letter comes after the NCAC had alerted the school board to an audio recording suggesting the superintendent had ordered an administrator to remove books with R-rated content" without a proper review. The superintendent reportedly admitted to parents that he had "weeded" some titles that weren't being used, but denied banning any books, the NCAC claims.

In a curious (and entirely predictable) discovery, however, the NCAC has now learned that a number of the books "weeded" (...by a superintendent?) are in fact titles "frequently challenged around the country, including The Handmaids Tale: The Graphic Novel by Margaret Atwood, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, Nineteen Minutes: A Novel by Jodi Picoult, Its Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris, Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher, and Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. The NCAC is renewing its call for an investigation and for the books to be returned to library shelves.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a state lawmaker has joined Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's "attempt to block public funding for libraries" if they offer allegedly "pornographic" material to minors. "Rep. Mazzie Boyd, a freshman Republican from Hamilton, filed a bill last week that would institute punitive damages against Missouris 160 local public libraries and their employees if they violate the law." The paper reports that the 24 year-old Boyd previously worked in the Trump White House and in Marjorie Taylor Greenes congressional office. Ashcroft's sweeping proposed rule, which was first introduced last year, is strongly opposed by librarians in the state.

In Arkansas, from the local Saline Courier, news is in that the Arkansas Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would hold municipal or school library staff criminally liable for furnishing materials deemed obscene to minors. The bill now heads to a full Senate vote. "As libraries, we don't own judicially recognized obscene materials. We also respect the First Amendment, allowing parents the freedom to choose what is appropriate for their children to checkout instead of other parents or even librarians," a spokesperson with the Saline County Library told reporters, in response.

In North Dakota, The Bismarck Tribune reports that two bills to ban sexually explicit materials from public libraries passed in the state's House and Senate late last week, both with veto-proof majorities. House Bill 1205 passed in a 65-28 vote and now heads to the Senate, while Senate Bill 2360, passed 38-9, and now goes to the House. "The bill mandates public libraries to come up with policies and processes before next year for removing and disposing of 'explicit sexual material,' handling requests to remove books, developing age-appropriate book collections, and periodically reviewing collections. Libraries also would have to submit a 'compliance report' to lawmakers," The Tribune reports, adding that "employees of school districts, state agencies and public libraries" would not be exempt from prosecution. "You go sell your books in some other state," the top House's top Republican commented.

In the New York Times, author Taylor Brorby has a personal essay about the impact of these new laws in North Dakota and elsewhere. "Growing up in the closet in North Dakota in the late 90s and early 2000s, I found sanctuary in libraries that I couldnt find anywhere else," Brorby writes. "My heart breaks to think of all the kids now who wont have that option. Libraries should be places where everyone is welcomed, no matter who they are, and where everyone can find themselves reflected in the stories on the shelves. Laws like these make that a lot less likely."

From Wyoming Public Radio, a short report on how book banning bills are expanding throughout the western states, though, in a bit of good news, Wyoming lawmakers rejected a measure to ban sexually explicit materials from the public library earlier this month. Theres nothing worse to tell a young person than that the books that address your life and your experiences or simply answer your questions about topics like gender identity, sexual orientation, or race are considered to be inappropriate to read, said ALA's Deborah Caldwell-Stone in the piece.

In her weekly censorship roundup in Book Riot, Kelly Jensen praises Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker for taking a strong stand against books bans in an important venue: his state of the state address. "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 childrenbut whose real intention is to marginalize people and ideas they dont like," Pritzker said. "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. Illinoiss 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." Jensen writes that more politicians must stand up as Pritzker has: "May this be the model for other states."

Also in Book Riot, Jensen reports that "a new proposed book rating system" is a step closer to passage in Oklahoma. "Senate Bill 397, proposed by Oklahoma State Senator Warren Hamilton (Republican), was given an emergency status and passed the Senate chamber," Jensen reports. "The bill, which has a high likelihood of passing the House and landing on the governors desk, would require every school library collection throughout the state to conduct an inventory and rate each title on their newly created scale."

First Coast News in Florida reports that a Duval County substitute teacher, Brian Covey, has been fired, after posting a viral video showing rows of empty bookshelves in the school's library in response to Florida's new laws governing which books are appropriate.

From the Association of Research Libraries, a release about its annual salary survey. Access to the full survey is fee-based, but the ARL release includes a couple interesting data points (as well as information on how to access the full report): "The median salary for professionals in U.S. ARL university libraries in 2021 was $77,353, an increase of 1.2% over the 2020 median salary of $76,400. The U.S. CPI rose 5.4% during the same period." The release also notes that "individuals from historically underrepresented groups make up 19% of the professional staff" in U.S. ARL university libraries, and that "the percentage of individuals in managerial or administrative positions who are also from historically underrepresented groups is lower."

How would you handle these titles, librarians? From Reuters, a report on the rising number of books being written by ChatGPT. "There were over 200 e-books in Amazons Kindle store as of mid-February listing ChatGPT as an author or co-author," the article states, adding that "due to the nature of ChatGPT and many authors' failure to disclose they have used it, it is nearly impossible to get a full accounting of how many e-books may be written by AI."

Library advocacy group Library Futures has issued a policy paper on the issue of digital ownership in libraries. The paper provides a solid overview of why the important work of libraries is threatened in a world where access to digital works can only be licensed. "The library community has the potential to call in publishers and other entities who share a commitment to ensuring a sustainable future for libraries in the modern digital environment," the paper states. "Library Futures encourages publishers to recognize their shared responsibility to perpetuate the distribution of culture and knowledge to readers, and the importance of libraries and archives in this goal. We want digital materials to be equitable, discoverable, usable, and high quality, and we hope to support publishers in order to build a healthy ecosystem for writers, publishers, libraries, and learners of all types."

And finally this week, from the New York Times, a follow up from Elisabeth Egan and Erica Ackerberg on their recent photo essay "A Love Letter to Libraries, Long Overdue." The article features user comments, many of which are powerful reminders of why the library is such a vital, and beloved institution.

"Of course, we heard from people who feel that their libraries are too loud and too crowded. There was an energetic debate about whether or not audiobooks stick with a reader as reliably as the printed word does; as always, the listeners won. Two librarians resisted the 'shushing' stereotype. They had a point," Egan and Ackerberg write. "But overall, the 770 responses added up to a warm tidal wave of adoration for libraries and all they represent: freedom, independence, adventure, exploration, experimentation, ideas, ingenuity and so much more."

The Week in Libraries is a weekly opinion and news column. News, tips, submissions, questions or comments are welcome, and can be submitted via email.

Previous columns can be viewed here.
It started, as many of these stories do, with an email. In August 2022, Paul Bogaards, the former Knopf executive who launched an eponymous PR firm earlier that year, received a note from a client. The clients friend, Dann McDorman, had written a novel and needed help finding an agent. Bogaards was happy to advise and asked McDorman to send along his manuscript. It was titled West Heart Kill.

McDorman, currently the executive producer of MSNBCs The Beat with Ari Melber, had begun writing West Heart Kill as a lark, he told PW. In 2021, he decided on a whim to write jacket copy for an imaginary book featuring buried secrets and breathless twists. The exercise captured his imagination: six months later, he had a first draft. In truth, I had little expectation of getting it published, at least in any major way, which gave me the freedom to run amok with the material, he said.

With his finished manuscript in hand, McDorman did all he could to get my bearings in the industry, he said, reaching out to everyone he knew with connections to publishing. He struggled to make inroads until he stumbled upon what turned out to be the golden ticket: a friend who was working with Bogaards.

I started reading, Bogaards recalled. The next thing I knew, it was 5 p.m. and I had finished his novel. I picked up the phone and called Dann. I told him, Im going to do you one better than help you write a letter. Im going to find you an agent, and we are going to sell your book to a publisher. Your novel is that good. 

That same day, Bogaards sent the manuscript to David Black, president of the David Black Agency. I read it over the weekend and had the same excited response to the pages as [Bogaards], Black said. He remembers being taken by the creative and literary approach Dann employed in constructing the plot.

Bogaards was surprised by Blacks interest. David Black is not a fiction guyhis specialty is nonfiction, he said. When the nonfiction guy jumps, its worth noting.

Soon, Black and Bogaards set out to submit the manuscript to publishers. There have been some terrific new mystery writers launched in the last few years, Black said, and it was clear to Paul and myself that Dann stands apart as a thinker and stylist.

They sent the manuscript to several publishers in what Black called a broad submission on October 14, the Friday afternoon before last years Frankfurt Book Fair. By Sunday evening, Jennifer Barth at Knopf had offered a preempt and a two-book deal. Ive been in this business for over three decades, and this was my first weekend preempt, she said.

Other publishers expressed interest, but Knopf had a clear vision for McDorman and West Heart Kill, Black said. An agent always looks for an editor and publisher who loves their clients work, and most important, has a clear view about how to publish them.

McDorman was overjoyed to see his novel land at Knopf. Alfred A. Knopf was the first to elevate Dashiell Hammett and publish him in hardcover, he said. They have such a rich tradition publishing crime fiction and mysteries and literature that its an honor to be welcomed on their list.

Knopf publisher Reagan Arthur agreed that McDorman would be a good fit with such Knopf authors as John le Carre, James Ellroy, Stieg Larsson, and Jo Nesb. We saw West Heart Kill sitting comfortably alongside those estimable forebears, Arthur said. The novel is a murder mystery set at a genteel private club where three corpses have turned up in four days, with the erratic Det. Adam McAnnis tasked with solving the case.

With the Knopf deal inked, the David Black Agencys Susan Raihofer took West Heart Kill to Frankfurt, where it was, in her words, the epitome of a hit. We submitted the manuscript along with news of the U.S. deal to coagents an hour before getting on the plane to Frankfurt, Raihofer said. When I landed, we already had offers.

As of this writing, Raihofer has closed on 13 deals, many of them preempts or sold at auction, with more expected.

West Heart Kill will be one of Knopfs lead fall titles, with a first print run of 150,000 copies. As for McDorman, the books warm reception and immediate success have been thrillingand hes taking none of it for granted. Im 47 years old; Id given up any dreams of being a published writer many, many years ago, he said. Every single step has seemed like a miracle.
PW was on the ground in Seattle at the first in-person Winter Institute the American Booksellers Association has held since 2020. Here's all our coverage of the show, including our annual preview.

Wi2023: This Year's Winter Institute Had Something for Everyone

Winter Institute 2023, held in Seattle, was the American Booksellers Association's largest ever, and the first in person since 2020.

Wi2023: Booksellers Respond to Book Challenges and Bans

On the closing day of the ABA's Winter Institute 2023, a keynote and idea exchange tackled book banning and other threats to the freedom to read. Stories of outrage were easy to come by, but solutions were in shorter supply. more...

Wi2023: ABAs Winter Institute Has a Big Turnout

The American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute in Seattle attracted a total of 1,600 people, of which 900 were booksellers. The large number of new booksellers drew an enthusiastic response from exhibitors, while the ABA urged booksellers to contribute more data to help it in its advocacy.

Wi2023: Moving Past DEI Checklists to Meaningful Change

At a breakfast keynote, Loyalty Bookstores founder Hannah Oliver Depp engaged in a riveting conversation with Michelle MiJung Kim, author of The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change.

Wi2023: Booksellers Discuss Wellness, DEIA, Sustainability

Booksellers at Winter Institute tackled a variety of topics, ranging from the need for better mental health care to strategies for curation. The waste associated with stockpiling dozens of print galleys also drew attention to the need for more sustainability programs in the industry.

Wi2023: Only Legislation Can Curtail Amazon's Power

Cory Doctorow, author of the new book Chokepoint Capitalism, and Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, discussed the ways in which Amazon and other digital platforms exploit the creative industries, and identified state and national legislators as the ones in a position to force changes.

Wi2023: Seattle Means Long-Awaited Reunions and New Acquaintances

The American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute conference convened this year in Seattle, the first such event since 2020. Four days of events began with city-wide bookstore tours, a meeting of independent publishers, and networking receptions.

Wi2023: Indie Booksellers Reunite at Winter Institute 18The American Booksellers Association is bringing its annual Winter Institute to Seattle this February, returning to an in-person gathering after two years of virtual shows.

Wi2023: Adult Authors to Meet

Scores of novelists and nonfiction writers are among the 130 authors writing in almost every genre known to booksellers who are appearing at WI18.

Wi2023: Colson Whitehead Revisits 1980s New York City

The Pulitzer Prizewinning novelist Colson Whitehead resurrects 1980s New York City in the second volume in his trilogy about a small-time criminal.

Wi2023: Gail Tsukiyama Goes to Hollywood

Novelist Gail Tsukiyama shines a spotlight on the life of Anna Mae Wong, one of the first Asian American actors to achieve success in 1920s-era Hollywood.

Wi2023: Childrens Authors & Illustrators to Meet

Scores of children's authors and illustrators are attending WI18, promoting books ranging from picture books to MG and YA reads to graphic novels.

Wi2023: Nicole Chung Reckons with the Here and Now

Nicole Chung discusses the impact of the pandemic upon the writing process, and how it shaped a memoir about her relationship with her terminally ill mother.

Wi2023: Jarrett J. Krosoczka Sheds New Light on His First Memoir

Jarrett J. Krosoczka, the author of Hey, Kiddo, explains how a 100-page chapter in an early draft of that graphic memoir led to the writing of a second graphic memoir, Sunshine.

Wi2023: ABA CEO Allison Hill Welcomes the Book World to Seattle

ABA CEO Allison Hill shares with PW her excitement over the first in-person Winter Institute over which she is presiding and what booksellers can expect.

Wi2023: ABA Education Director Kim Hooyboer Pulls Back the Curtain

ABA education director Kim Hooyboer brings PW behind the scenes in Winter Institute planning, including the organization's commitment to DEI initiatives.

Wi2023: Activist Michelle MiJung Kim Sounds an Alarm Against Complacency

The social justice activist Michelle MiJung Kim argues that people must walk their talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to effect real change that will last.

Wi2023: Songsmith Ani DiFranco Composes a Picture Book

Ani DiFranco says that she had to "get her Pablo Neruda on" and switch mental gears to move from writing songs to crafting a children's picture book.

Wi2023: Independent Publishers Will Soon Swarm Seattle

Members of the Independent Publishers Caucus, an indie press trade association, will gather in Seattle later this month for the American Booksellers Associations first in-person Winter Institute since 2020.

Wi2023: A Tour of Seattle Bookstores

This year's American Booksellers will open on February 20 in Seattle with a range of bookstore tours introducing booksellers to an assortment of the citys independent shops.
This years Bologna Childrens Book Fair (BCBF), which runs March 69, will feature 1,350 exhibitorsonly 100 fewer than in 2019, the fairs busiest year. Its all very much back to normal, says Elena Pasoli, BCBF exhibition manager. The biggest factor in keeping the numbers below those of 2019, Pasoli says, is that companies from China and Russia arent attending. Total attendance is expected to be between 20,000 and 23,000, compared to a prepandemic level of around 30,000.

BCBF celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion, it has enlisted 20 illustrators to shape the fairs visual identity. Each illustrator was invited to create landscapes from Bologna and portraits of people, which have then been amalgamated into a coherent whole. The result is a potpourri of styles that reflects the vitality of the fair, Pasoli says. She notes that the 2023 fair is important not just because of the milestone reached but because of the overall change in the character of the event. The fair has evolved from traditionally being focused exclusively on childrens books to catering to the general trade and rights professionals. This makes Bologna a capital of copyright. It is our biggest achievement and makes us proud of this celebration.

The new focus on the rights trade is reflected in an expansion of the Bologna Rights Center, which will host agents and publishers representing both adult and childrens trade books (a total of 150 professionals are registered for the rights center this year). In addition, the BCBF is offering several training sessions and seminars related to rights, starting with a full-day event on March 5, How to Sell Rights and Understand Licensing in Childrens Books, chaired by Tracy Phillips, group rights director at Hachette Childrens Group in the U.K.

This is also the third year of the Bologna Global Rights Exchange, the digital rights trading platform that is a collaboration between Bologna and PubMatch. The exchange was launched in 2020 when the fair was shuttered due to the pandemic. U.K. book rights expert Diane Spivey has contributed a new series of instructional and editorial posts for the platform.

BolognaBookPlus

The BolognaBookPlus (BBP) program is now in its third year as well. BBP offers events catering to the general trade and is curated by guest director Jacks Thomas, formerly director of the London Book Fair. BBP is also where the fair has focused much of its rights activities, and it will feature a half-day training session, Call Your Agent: How to Become a Successful Literary Agent, on March 7. Lloyd Grossman, a television host, actor, and author widely known in the U.K., is the 2023 author ambassador for BBP. His most recent book is An Elephant in Rome: Bernini, the Pope and the Making of the Eternal City. Grossman is giving the keynote speech for the Call Your Agent panel and will have several staged conversations at the event, including talks with Thomas, U.K. publisher Richard Charkin, and historian Mark Gilbert.

Ros Ramsay of RR Scouting in London is giving a talk about the role of scouts, which we believe is a first of its kind at any fair, Thomas says. She notes that Bolognas push to offer more rights-related activities was a natural expansion of its business, particularly in the wake of Brexit, which has made working with publishers in the U.K. more challenging for Europeans. Embedded on the continent of Europe, particularly from Bologna, you get a different perspective, Thomas adds.

To wit, BBP emphasizes continental cooperation and is offering a precis on the Italian book market, plus programming related to Russias invasion of Ukraine and the Ukrainian publishing diaspora, and will inaugurate a market of honor program, which this year focuses on Greece. A total of 59 publishers, 10 authors, and two illustrators from Greece are participating. The theme is Same Face, Same Race,  Pasoli says. This makes sense when you look at Italians and Greeks, and you cannot tell us apart. We are so close, we are almost the same people.

Nopi Chatzigeorgiou, coordinator of the Thessaloniki Book Fair, curated the program. To have Greecea small but high-quality marketbe the guest of honor is a great opportunity for us, she says. We are proud of our literary culture and we invite the global book community to experience it.

Illustrators on display

Greeces illustration and design acumen will be the focus of the Illustration Book Jacket Design: Celebrating the Best of the Best event on March 8. Activities related to illustration sit at the heart of the BCBF, and, in 2019, some 6,300 illustrators attended. Activities for illustrators are centered on the Illustrators Survival Corner, which this year offers 150 different events, including portfolio reviews, master classes, and workshops.

For this years Illustrators Exhibition, 79 sets of illustrations by 80 artists from 28 countries and territories will be on display. In all, 4,345 illustrators from 91 countries and territories applied to be included.

The Folio Society, a publisher of hardcover illustrated collectors editions from the U.K., is a main sponsor of the Illustrators Survival Corner. At the BCBF, Folio will solicit entries for the second Folio Book Illustration Award, with a 2,000 cash prize for the winner and 500 of Folio gift vouchers and a portfolio review for each of the five runners-up. Folio CEO Tom Walker says that last year more than 700 illustrators submitted work for the prize. Interestingly, I think Gen Z clicks with Folio perhaps more than any other demographic. That is borne out in our customer base and social following, which has shifted dramatically in recent years.

Advocacy takes center stage

On March 9, the Jackets Off! exhibition will present different visual interpretations of George Orwells contemporary classic 1984 across cultures and languages. Orwell is an appropriate subject, as governments around the world are increasingly censoring books. The BCBF will host a seminar on censorship and banned childrens books with Barbara Marcus, president and publisher of Random House Childrens Books, author and editor David Levithan, and others. We were inspired by Davids editorials for the Washington Post last year fighting against library book bans, Thomas says. What people dont realize is that this is not just a North American problem, but one that is worldwide.

In another act of advocacy, International Womens Day, March 8, will be celebrated at the BCBF with a networking breakfast, a series of panel discussions, and a dance party organized by PublisHer, the international organization promoting women in publishing.

The BCBFs second Spotlight on Africa program will bring numerous publishers from the continent for events and presentations to foster more global collaboration. A highlight will be the Book Dash, in which two teams will write, illustrate, and publish a pair of booksone in English and one in Frenchwithin 12 hours. The contest is based on South African publisher Book Dashs publishing model, which was developed to produce diverse and inclusive high-quality picture books quickly. The vision is that every child should own a hundred books by the age of five, says Book Dash editor Zanri Kritzinger. So far, Book Dash has published 176 titles using its fast-creation methodology.

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Italian writer Italo Calvino, who will be celebrated in the exhibition Italian Excellence: Illustrations for Italo Calvino, which encompasses 120 illustrations for his books, some preexisting and some new, commissioned by his publisher, Mondadori.

In partnership with BBP, the European and International Booksellers Federation will host 11 booksellers from across Europe at the BCBF. The Associazione librerie indipendenti per ragazzi (Association of Independent Childrens Booksellers) has also curated a showcase of work from 20 independent Italian publishers that will be offered in the Indie Italian Publishers exhibition, in an effort to give the publishers more visibility.

The 16th edition of the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids will be held alongside the fair, adjacent to the main halls. The fair is geared toward providing licensing opportunities for brands focused on children, teens, and young adults, and exhibitors this year will include Mattel, Paramount, the Pokemon Company International, and Sanrio.

The BCBFs digital program, somewhat scaled down from previous years, will feature several events about the mixing of the digital and physical worlds. Among the highlights is a session on how Canadas Super Simple Songs, which started as a You Tube content creator, expanded into print book publishing and its cross-media collaboration with Scholastic.

Awards, awards, awards

The BCBF continues to acknowledge the evolving digital space through its BolognaRagazzi Crossmedia Awards, which this year added a new award for digital libraries and platforms that was won by Fonfon from Quebec. That said, at BCBF the focus is firmly on print, and the fairs most prestigious prizes, the BolognaRagazzi Awards (BRAW) are offered for print work in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, comics, opera prima (debuts), and new horizons, which honors innovation. Each year the BRAW has a special category, and this year its photography. A total of 2,349 titles were submitted by 644 publishers from 59 countries and regions for consideration this year. The winners will be showcased at the special exhibition at the fair called the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf.

Also among the most closely watched prizes at the BCBF are the Bologna Prize for the Best Childrens Publishers of the Year, which is offered in six areas of the world: Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, Europe, North America, and Oceania. This years finalists in the North American category are Abrams, La Courte Echelle, Orca, Owlkids, and Red Comet. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on March 6, which will be followed by a 60th anniversary party.

A changing landscape

Many agents, illustrators, and publishers will be returning to the BCBF this year for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Benas Berantas, an author and literary agent from Lithuania, speaks for many when he says, I hope there will be even more people returning for the anniversary, and I see a lot of first-timers planning to go, which is encouraging.

Berantas points to a change in the content publishers are focused on. The Bologna Book Fair is very visual in its nature, and picture books have been at the core of it, he notes. In fact, pasta and picture books must be the foundation for the fair. And while the recipe for the first is eternal, the recipe for a sought-after picture book is constantly changing. As an agent I see that publishers and editors are more and more looking for a combination of fiction and nonfiction in picture books. While aesthetic illustrations and moving stories always remain important, knowledge is getting more and more significant. But perhaps its time to witness another big and unpredictable trend?

Molly Ker Hawn, managing director of the Bent Agencys office in London, notes an increasing divergence between the English-language markets and the rest of the world when it comes to fiction. Not every country is as interested in issues of representation as weve become in the U.S. and the U.K., and that can make some English-language fiction a tough sell, unless we pitch it just right, she explains. However, she adds, theres one general international trend: Graphic novels are big. I think everyone wants a piece of that pie, but theyre all juggling production obstacles and localized tastes in illustration style.

Marietta B. Zacker, co-owner of Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency, and Ellen Greenberg, international rights director for the agency, agree. After years of publishers saying that it was difficult, if not impossible, for them to publish graphic novels, it is heartening that this is exactly what theyre asking for nowand graphic novels for all ages, Zacker says. Zacker and Greenberg both identify paper shortages and supply chain issues as having an ongoing impact on the industry, insofar as publishers are planning further ahead. We could have never anticipated that page count would be scrutinized and become a deciding factor for some acquisitions, Zacker adds.

Asked to identify one positive change that came from the pandemic, several people pointed to the widespread acceptance of electronic signatures on book contracts. It is a small thing that makes a huge difference in getting our clients paid promptly, Ker Hawn says.

Greenberg concurs, saying, Its a dream come trueand such a time saver.

Everyone also agrees that though video meetings have become normalized, seeing people in person is a much better way of conducting business and is more emotionally rewarding. Were just delighted to welcome everyone back to Bologna, Pasoli says. Its going to be a party. Were 60 and still rockin.
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On a warm spring Sunday afternoon, Athens community members and University of Georgia students came together in the name of sustainability for the Athens-Clarke County Recycling Division Repair Cafe. The free event, hosted at the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials or CHaRM, took place on Feb. 26. and encourages the community to bring broken items that experts can repair.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAzZYDLLzF/ theanimalfoundation When Dutchess was found locked inside a hot car on the top floor of a parking garage last July on the Las Vegas Strip, the 3-month-old puppy had her mouth taped shut. The temperature outside was 113 degrees and @lvmpd Officer Rybacki knew he had to act fast. He rescued Dutchess from the car, and her story went viral. Swipe left to see how Dutchess is doing these days! She lives with a wonderful family who adores her. She sneaks into the childrens beds and enjoys hanging out with her new fur siblings. Shes also quite the traveler, making her way all over Nevada, California, and Arizona, never missing a chance to play in the snow. Talk about a good life. Edited  1d

The Animal Foundation/Instagram

Dutchess's fate might have been a gamble at first, but the lovable Siberian husky with a tragic backstory has now drawn a winning hand!

Last July, Dutchess, then a 3-month-old puppy, was found locked inside a car, with her mouth sealed shut by electric tape, on the top floor of a Las Vegas parking garage, according to Nevada animal shelter The Animal Foundation.

By the time concerned onlookers contacted police, the afternoon temperature outside had raised to a scorching 113 degrees.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police who responded and rescued the animal through the car's sunroof say the dog was without food, water and air conditioning for over two hours while her owner was illegally inside a casino gambling. The owner was later charged.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAzZYDLLzF/ theanimalfoundation When Dutchess was found locked inside a hot car on the top floor of a parking garage last July on the Las Vegas Strip, the 3-month-old puppy had her mouth taped shut. The temperature outside was 113 degrees and @lvmpd Officer Rybacki knew he had to act fast. He rescued Dutchess from the car, and her story went viral. Swipe left to see how Dutchess is doing these days! She lives with a wonderful family who adores her. She sneaks into the childrens beds and enjoys hanging out with her new fur siblings. Shes also quite the traveler, making her way all over Nevada, California, and Arizona, never missing a chance to play in the snow. Talk about a good life. Edited  1d

The Animal Foundation/Instagram

However, despite this ordeal, the animal shelter was able to help Dutchess find a stable home, placing her with a loving family the following month.

Six months later, the shelter has given an update, letting fans of the puppy's happy ending know that she's still living the good life with her new owners, a family with two kids and several furbabies for her to play with.

"She lives with a wonderful family who adores her," the organization posted to Instagram on Thursday. "She sneaks into the children's beds and enjoys hanging out with her new fur siblings."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAzZYDLLzF/ theanimalfoundation When Dutchess was found locked inside a hot car on the top floor of a parking garage last July on the Las Vegas Strip, the 3-month-old puppy had her mouth taped shut. The temperature outside was 113 degrees and @lvmpd Officer Rybacki knew he had to act fast. He rescued Dutchess from the car, and her story went viral. Swipe left to see how Dutchess is doing these days! She lives with a wonderful family who adores her. She sneaks into the childrens beds and enjoys hanging out with her new fur siblings. Shes also quite the traveler, making her way all over Nevada, California, and Arizona, never missing a chance to play in the snow. Talk about a good life. Edited  1d

The Animal Foundation/Instagram

"She's also quite the traveler, making her way all over Nevada, California, and Arizona, never missing a chance to play in the snow," the post added. "Talk about a good life."

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.

As proof, the shelter offered up a carousel of Dutchess's family life, including shots of the dog frolicking in the great outdoors and hanging out indoors with two contented-looking cats and another canine friend.
To fully understand why the award winning MANDRILL is so unique and special it is important to look at the early lives of it's three founding members - the brothers: Carlos Wilson, Ric Wilson, and the late Lou Wilson. They were initially raised in Panama before their parents immigrated to Brooklyn, New York. Since the building of the Panama Canal which hired thousands of good workers from various parts of the Caribbean and Latin America; many of whom ended up settling there, Panama became a multicultural melting pot. The WILSON brothers experienced that as young boys. They were moved to the New York City area which many considered to be "the great multicultural melting pot of America". They started a FUNK band in 1968 mixed with JAZZ, PSYCHODELIC ROCK, and a variety of LATIN and CARIBBEAN musical influences. It is very much felt in their DISCO tracks. Their music never stopped reflecting that blend. When MANDRILL has done FUNK, the results were spectacular. Songs like "Git It All", "Fencewalk" and "Can You Get It (Suzy Caesar)" are legendary. Their fourth album 'Just Outside Of Town' (not featured on this show) has been frequently listed by various sources as "one of the most important PSYCHODELIC FUNK albums of 1973". "Git It All" from 1972 was a demanding and alluring PSYCHODELIC FUNK screamer delivering an infectious groove. When Polydor Records released it as a 7" single in Nigeria dj's started mixing it with records from groups like THE HYGRADES and BLO. The song "Fencewalk" was even more popular and influential. It was even sampled by HIPHOP pioneers PUBLIC ENEMY 40 years later. Interest in the song persists. MANDRILL songs have been sampled by dozens of other HIPHOP artists including JOHNNY D, ICE CUBE, EPMD, SHAWTY LO, BIG L, KANYE WEST, EMINEN, and 9TH WONDER. Also the artist BECK along with a variety of TURNTABLISTS and TRIPHOP artists like THE AVALANCHES from Australia and DJ SHADOW have sampled MANDRILL tracks.

ROLLIN' ON

MANDRILL - MANDRILL (LP) - POLYDOR COHELLO

MANDRILL - MANDRILL IS (LP) - POLYDOR PEACE AND LOVE (AMANI NA MAPENZI)

MANDRILL - MANDRILL (LP) - POLYDOR KOFIJAHM

MANDRILL - 7" - POLYDOR THIRD WORLD GIRL

MANDRILL - NEW WORLDS (LP) - ARISTA BELIEVE IN YOU

MANDRILL - ENERGIZE (LP) - MONTAGE THE SUN MUST GO DOWN

MANDRILL - MANDRILL IS (LP) - POLYDOR MANDRILL GOT DA FUNK

MANDRILL - BACK IN TOWN (2LP) - CODE BLACK YUCCA JUMP

MANDRILL - SOLID (LP) - UNITED ARTISTS MANDRILL

MANDRILL - MANDRILL (LP) - POLYDOR GIT IT ALL

MANDRILL - 7" - POLYDOR FENCEWALK

MANDRILL - COMPOSITE TRUTH (LP) - POLYDOR FENCEWALK (INSTRUMENTAL)

MANDRILL - 12" - URBAN PECK YA NECK

MANDRILL - SOLID (LP) - UNITED ARTISTS HONEY-BUTT

MANDRILL - BEAST FROM THE EAST (LP) - UNITED ARTISTS WIND ON HORSEBACK

MANDRILL - SOLID (LP) - UNITED ARTISTS HOLIDAY

MANDRILL - WE ARE ONE (LP) - ARISTA AQUA-MAGIC

MANDRILL - BEAST FROM THE EAST (LP) - UNITED ARTISTS SILK

MANDRILL - SOLID (LP) - UNITED ARTISTS STAY TONITE

MANDRILL - NEW WORLDS (LP) - ARISTA ECHOES IN MY MIND

MANDRILL - 12" - A&M HAVING A LOVE ATTACK

MANDRILL - 12" - ARISTA CAN YOU GET IT (SUZY CAESAR)

MANDRILL - WE ARE ONE (LP) - ARISTA PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE THE FUNK IS

MANDRILL - 12" - MONTAGE FEELING GOOD (THEO PARRISH RE-EDIT)

MANDRILL - 12" - UGLY EDITS
Exactly 881 escapees who resettled in the South lived near the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site

South Korea has announced it will conduct radiation exposure testing on people who once lived near North Koreas Punggye-ri nuclear testing site prior to escaping the country and resettling in the South.

There are 881 people who fit the criteria for testing because they fled North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006, Lee Hyo-jung, a spokesperson for South Koreas Ministry of Unification told reporters on Friday. The ministry will select candidates for testing from among those who consent, she said.

The ministry is concerned that radiation may have leaked from the site in northeastern North Korea after six underground nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017, putting people who lived near the facility at risk.

It previously tested 40 North Korean escapees who lived near Punggye-ri in 2017 and 2018, detecting traces of exposure in 9 of them, but said no causal relationship could be determined, and there were no cases of radiation exposure that required medical treatment.

At the time, there was no control group, and the number of samples was limited, said Lee. There was insufficient information to identify confounding variables such as smoking and heavy metal poisoning, making it difficult to generalize the results. We are pushing ahead with a full-scale investigation to obtain meaningful results.

The exposure test will be conducted in parallel with a general health checkup for the escapees, she said.

Potential risk

Hundreds of thousands of people, including in South Korea, Japan and China, are potentially at risk from radioactive materials from the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, a recent report by the Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group NGO said.

The report, published Monday, showed the risk of radioactive materials in water leaking from the site, by mapping the possible dissemination to people living nearby, then spreading through agricultural and marine products smuggled to China, then possibly exported to South Korea and Japan.

The report estimated that if 25% of the 1.08 million people living in eight cities and counties near Punggye-ri testing site were exposed, then the number of affected people would be 270,000. If 50% are affected, the number jumps to 540,000.

While there has been a tendency to discuss North Koreas nuclear program solely as a security issue, this report is significant for confirming that North Koreas nuclear tests threaten the right to life and the right to health of not only the North Korean people, but also of those in South Korea and other neighboring countries, said Hubert Younghwan Lee, executive director of the Transitional Justice Working Group.

Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, the groups legal analyst, urged South Korea to test the 881 escapees who lived near Punggye-ri and said North Korea should launch an investigation after results are available.

According to the Ministry of Unification, around 33,000 North Koreans have settled in South Korea since 1998, but arrivals have decreased significantly since 2020, likely due to border restrictions in North Korea and China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
Soldiers wielding guns and thugs with swords have warned desperate locals not to protest

Residents demanding they be allowed to return to their homes gather by the roadside near the San Thamardi quarter of Mingaladon township, Yangon, Myanmar, on Feb. 7, 2023.

Ever since soldiers forced them out of their Yangon home in November, Ma Hla, her husband and their two kids have tried to survive in a one square-meter (10-square-foot) dormitory room.

But with jobs tough to come by in Myanmars fragile post-coup economy, even the modest 50,000-kyat ($24) monthly rent is proving too much for the family, says Ma Hla, whose husband has been unable to find consistent work.

Desperate, Ma Hla this month joined a group of about 100 other evicted villagers who gathered along a nearby road ward to demand they be allowed to return to their homes.

In all, about 40,000 residents from the five neighborhoods that make up Mingalardon township in Myanmars largest city  San Thamar Di, Myal Myan Aung, Gon Nyin Ni, Dhamma Par La and Myawaddy Site Khin  were kicked out.

Soldiers have responded by firing warning shots and hiring thugs who wave swords to warn protesters against persisting with their demands, residents said.

They threatened us saying, Do you guys have nothing else to do? Dont come and mess with us. Just get lost right now, or we are going to arrest you all right away, Ma Hla told Radio Free Asia.

Her name and the names of other residents quoted in this story have been changed to protect them from retribution for speaking out.

They threatened in many various ways. They even fired six times in the early morning to scare us away, Ma Hla said. Nobody dared to gather on that day except me. We are scared, but I went there to demand as I am really in trouble. I even risk my life to demand our land for the future of my two kids.

1.2 million displaced

The military claims it owns the land and has set about demolishing the homes that in some cases the displaced families had lived in for decades.

Some residents had settled in the area in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, a 2008 Category 4 storm that cut a devastating path across Myanmar, killing an estimated 140,000 people. Others came to the township for refuge after fleeing violent attacks on civilians in Rakhine state that forced tens of thousands of people to flee that region northwest of Yangon.

Two women who are part of the group of residents demanding they be allowed to return to their homes sit by the roadside near the San Thamardi quarter of Mingaladon township on Feb. 7, 2023. Credit: RFA





The pressure on civilians has increased in the chaos since the February 2021 military takeover from the democratically elected government.

According to the U.N., more than 1.2 million people have been forced to relocate within the country since the coup. The military juntas removal of civilian homes is a violation of basic human rights, a war crime and a crime against humanity, two human rights experts said in a Dec. 2, 2022, statement released by the United Nations.

Two Mingalardon township residents reportedly took their own lives after the military ordered them to vacate their homes, the statement said.

Forced evictions and mass burning of homes are gross violations of human rights. The junta must immediately stop the systematic destruction, burning and bulldozing of civilian homes, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, U.N. special rapporteur on housing, and Thomas Andrews, special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in the statement.

Fragile economy

Compounding the problem for the displaced families like Ma Hlas is that under pressure from sanctions, worker strikes and consumer boycotts, Myanmars economy is significantly smaller than it was before the coup.

Unable to afford new homes, some of the families have been forced to live in monasteries for shelter since their evictions.

Some residents settled in Mingalardon township in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis [shown], a 2008 Category 4 storm that killed an estimated 140,000 people. Credit: AFP file photo

A retired headmistress, who bought a house in the Gon Nyin Ni ward with her pension money, told RFA in November that her home had been demolished just two months after her purchase.

I got a pension after working for the government for about 40 years. I bought a house there that was priced 6 or 7 million kyats, with the gratuity I got. I wanted to stay in my own house. I am really saddened now that this happened.

Because the military has destroyed their homes, the residents will also likely need to be compensated to pay to rebuild them if they are allowed to return.

Military response

The military junta has not publicly responded to the requests by the evicted Mingalardon residents.

Under threat, the number of protesters has dwindled. Around 100 people gathered the first day on Feb. 5, but only around 40 were left on Feb. 7, local people

said.

Myanmars economic problems, as evidenced by these waste collectors combing a Yangon creek last month for plastic and glass to recycle, have magnified problems for Mingalardon townships displaced families. Credit: AFP file photo





Ma Cho is one of the protesters who has since retreated out of fear.

I dare not go there to demand anymore, she told RFA. The government officials threaten us in many ways. In addition, they have hired some lawless fighters who are holding swords.

Although I dont have anything, I am still very scared.

Others said they would continue to push for some sort of compensation, despite the risks.

We are facing difficulties now, said evicted resident Ko Maung. Our livelihood has been difficult. Since we dont have stable jobs, we cant even afford our food.

We cant pay the rent. I dont think its going to get better this way, he said. Thats why, we are going to demand on behalf of all the residents, a chance to return to our wards no matter how poorly we will have to live there.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Jim Snyder and Malcolm Foster.
This week we have seen beautiful spring days as well as freezing, snowy days. Nebraska weather is always surprising us with changes. It is amazing how much the weather can fluctuate in just a 24-hour period! Whether tomorrow is a warm or cold day, there is always plenty to do at the Columbus Public Library! Make sure to come in and check out all of the amazing Teen programs that the library offers. Who knows, maybe we can make you forget about the constant weather changes!

Anime Club will meet on March 2 and 16 at 6 p.m. Anime Club is where teens can come hang out, watch some anime, eat Japanese snacks, and discuss anime with other teens who enjoy anime as well. In Japanese, anime, a term derived from the English word animation, describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Outside of Japan, anime refers specifically to animation produced in Japan, or to its common style, which has since been adopted by a minority of works produced in other countries. This month we will be watching an anime about a dragon who is house hunting.

The first of March is when our next Teen Book Bag is open for enrollment. If you are a teen in grades 7-12, you can sign up each month. A Book Bag is a Library bag that you pick up at the Circulation Desk. Each bag contains a library book, a free book for you to keep, and other goodies, treats, activities, crafts, and book lists. When you are done reading, just return the book(s) and bag, and you keep the treats! We have a limit of 10 book bags a month, so be sure to head over to our website or Facebook page to find the link to sign up.

Every month at the library we host a Who Would Win Tournament. Teens can either come into the library and vote in the Teen Space or vote online to help decide the winner for each months tournament. This month is all about Harry Potter. Make sure to come into the library or check out our Facebook page to find the link for the vote.

On Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m, there will be another Teen Drop-In. This is a program where the teens can hang out, play games, use our virtual reality headsets, and eat some snacks.

The last program I want to talk about is our trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo on March 10. Come spend one of your Spring Break days with the library at the Henry Doorly Zoo. We will depart from the library at 8:30 a.m. to be at the gates of the Zoo when they open. The library is covering the cost for the entire trip. We will be paying for lunch, admission to the Zoo, and the bus ride there! Just be sure to bring a guardian into the library to fill out a notarized permission slip so you can attend this amazing trip!

Any of the programs that I have discussed above can be attended by any teen in grades 7-12. Make sure to stop by the Teen Space if you want to find out more about any of our programs. I look forward to seeing you all in March! If you have any questions, please call me at 402-562-4203 or email me at Jessica.Wilkinson@columbusne.us.
Myanmar junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing [left] and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during their meeting on the sideline of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Sept. 7, 2022.

This weeks one-year anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine was marked by another U.N. General Assembly resolution that overwhelmingly condemned Moscow.

But in Southeast Asia, there are signs that Moscow retains some influence and support, particularly in Vietnam and Myanmar, the latter of which has faced its own international isolation two years after a coup detat that brought a military junta into power.

Junta chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing recently celebrated the regimes relationship with Russia, saying at a Feb. 16 forum that Myanmar will continue to cooperate with Russia as a friend and ally.

Since the military coup, Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia three times, purchasing modern Russian-made jet fighters, helicopters and military equipment. The two countries have also signed an agreement to build a small-scale nuclear reactor in Myanmar, and research for building it has already begun.

This is the story of the two villains' alliance, said Than Soe Naing, a political analyst. Russia has almost no allies around the world and the Myanmar military is not recognized by any country as well.

Staying neutral at the U.N.

At the U.N., both Laos and Vietnam abstained from Thursdays vote  something that Vietnam has done in four previous votes over the last year on the issue. They were among 32 countries that didnt vote on the resolution calling for Russia's withdrawal from Ukraine, while 141 countries voted in favor and seven against.

Myanmar, which is represented at the U.N. by the National Unity Government, the shadow government-in-exile made up of opponents of the ruling junta, voted in support of the resolution.

Ahead of the vote, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, the head of Vietnams delegation to the U.N., made an appeal for negotiations to end the war to resume.

"Ambassador Giang said all the right things, and a middle power such as Vietnam should be very concerned about the violations of international law and the precedent set by changing international borders through force, said Prof. Zachary Abuzsa of the National War College, an expert on Vietnam and Southeast Asia affairs.

However, he pointed to Hanois role in hosting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last July when he was en route to the G20 summit in Bali. And he said that Vietnam's state-controlled media has parroted Russian President Vladimir Putin's justifications for the war.

Wary support

In Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing wrote to Putin last week, saying he appreciates Russias support for Myanmar. The message was sent on Feb. 18 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

However, in December, Russia did not veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the immediate stop of the juntas violence against its own people and the release of all political prisoners, including deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Russia will check on the situation. As its shunned by the international community, it will treat Myanmar junta leaders with caution, said Dr. Hla Kyaw Zaw, a China-based Myanmar political analyst. I dont think it will support whatever Myanmar military does. Just check the recent U.N. Security Council meeting. Russia stayed neutral.

One reason Min Aung Hlaing has repeatedly mentioned Russia as an ally is because hes unsure of the relationship, Hla Kyaw Zaw added.

But a superpower like Russia has its political calculations, he said. I dont think Russia will blindly support him if he is acting too violent and chaotic.

Morality and national interest

In Hanoi, municipal authorities have prevented political dissidents from participating in activities showing support to Ukraine. They also interfered to cancel a charity event organized by the Ukrainian community. However, the Vietnamese government has donated US$500,000 in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Russia's attack on Ukraine violated international law and Ukraine's territorial integrity, Radio Free Asia blogger Nguyen Vu Binh said.

"Vietnam needs to be on the side of the international community and international law to condemn Russia's war in Ukraine and support Ukraine, he said from Hanoi.

Vu Khang, a PhD candidate at Boston College's Faculty of Political Sciences, said it was not difficult to understand why Vietnam often had a neutral stance on international conflicts.

"Having a neutral view is a reasonable policy as Vietnam does not get any benefits from criticizing one side or another, he told RFA in an email exchange.

Being neutral would help Hanoi maintain its good relationship with Russia while the U.S. still gives priority to its relations with Vietnam to counterbalance China regardless of whether Hanoi does not support Ukraine."

He also said that many political dissidents would think this policy was morally wrong, but any nation makes its self-interest the top priority in international relations.

"We should remember that the U.S. and its allies once condemned Vietnam when it attacked Cambodia to wipe out the Khmer Rouge, he said. In fact, nations don't consider morality as a key factor. Morality is just an excuse for nations to protect their interests.

Translated by Myo Min Aung and Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 in a lightning military insurrection that toppled Afghanistans internationally recognized government, the country immediately fell into diplomatic isolation.



Two of Kabuls neighbors to the north, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, chose a different route, putting the hard-line groups fractious history with the former Soviet Central Asian republics aside and prioritizing engagement over criticism and pressure.



But a giant canal project in Afghanistan now taking shape that the Taliban is pursuing at a rapid pace is giving the two water-stressed countries doubts about whether strategic patience with the Islamic fundamentalist group will yield rewards.



If you look at other projects that have involved Afghanistan and Central Asia somehow, there has often been a win-win element, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, founding director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh, told RFE/RL.



But the Qosh Tepa Irrigation Canal, which will divert large volumes of water from the dwindling transboundary Amu Darya River, is a very different case.



This is very much zero sum, because water is a finite good and there dont seem to be any benefits for Afghanistans neighbors here, said Murtazashvili, adding that she expects the Central Asian countries to pursue a lot of quiet diplomacy on the project that will add to the pressures faced by outsized agricultural sectors already battling climate change and historical mismanagement.

But the Taliban will be probing to see how far it can go, Murtazashvili said, something she suggested its downstream neighbors will have to get used to.



If the first Taliban [regime that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001] was weighed down by insurgency and in some ways never really behaved like a state, Taliban 2.0 seems to really like the idea of projecting state power, Murtazashvili said.



Old Project With New Momentum



The stated dimensions of the irrigation canal that workers started digging last spring are enough to understand why the downstream countries have concerns.



With a length of 285 kilometers and a width of some 100 meters, experts believe it could draw a significant portion of the Amu Daryas flow while irrigating 550,000 hectares of land.



An Afghan civil servant with knowledge of the project told RFE/RLs Uzbek Service that work on the second of three stages of the project that began in the spring of 2022 is expected to begin in the coming months, with more than 100 kilometers already dug and visible from space.



The plan to irrigate land in northern Afghanistan is not new.



Farid Azim, an official at the National Development Company overseeing its construction, pointed out last year that Afghanistans first president, Mohammad Daud Khan, had a similar vision in the 1970s.

The project was most recently pursued by the U.S.-backed administration of President Ashraf Ghani -- which the Taliban overthrew less than two years ago.



A press release issued by the United States Agency for International Development from 2018 marking the launch of a Washington-funded feasibility study for Qosh Tepa described a 200 kilometer-long canal serving a cultivated catchment area of 500,000 hectares.



Developing Afghanistans agriculture sector provides great potential for employment and economic growth, then-U.S. Ambassador John R. Bass said in the release.



But the project was not a pressing concern for neighbors, primarily because political infighting and chronic instability in northern Afghanistan had made it impractical.



Bismellah Alizada, a researcher at Londons School of Oriental and African Studies, told RFE/RL that Rashid Dostum, who was the Afghan first vice president from 2014 to 2020, was among the influential politicians with concerns about the project.



One of those concerns was that it would be used to benefit and resettle members of the politically dominant Pashtun group to which President Ashraf Ghani belonged, Alizada said.



Dostum -- an ethnic Uzbek warlord -- long enjoyed strong ties to the regime in Uzbekistan and was even reported to have fled there when the Taliban captured Mazar-e Sharif, overwhelming forces jointly under his command before the group advanced on Kabul.

Members of Dostums exiled Junbish-e Milli party have reiterated these concerns more recently, but the reality is that the Taliban has no opponents capable of preventing it from forging ahead with giant public works projects, Alizada said.



More obvious obstacles are technical capacity and cash, with billions of dollars in funds belonging to Afghanistans central bank frozen after the Taliban takeover. That would make it hard for the cash-strapped Taliban to finance a project whose first phase cost nearly $100 million, according to reports.



But Graeme Smith, a senior consultant for the International Crisis Groups Asia Program, said the Taliban has a strong political will to finish off projects begun by the former government with Qosh Tepa the biggest that the group has revived so far.



With their very limited resources, the Taliban have prioritized [Qosh Tepa], said Smith, expressing skepticism that the Islamic fundamentalist group would pay attention to its neighbors concerns.



The Taliban is a nationalist movement intensely focused on their domestic constituencies, Smith said.



I think its fair to assume they will continue governing with a strong focus on issues inside the country and less regard for concerns outside, he told RFE/RL.



Games Of Leverage



Taciturn Turkmenistan has so far said nothing about the canal project.



But a Turkmenistan-based hydrologist speaking in March to RFE/RLs Turkmen Service on condition of anonymity called the project not a problem, but a disaster.



RFE/RL correspondents in the closed authoritarian country reported this year about severe water shortages in Turkmenistans Soviet-built Karakum Canal, which is four times the length of the one the Taliban is seeking to complete.



The World Resources Institute in 2019 ranked Turkmenistan as one of 17 countries in the world with extremely high water stress. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan were placed in the next highest category. Central Asia as a whole depends on rivers that rise in mountains, where many glacier stocks are being depleted by climate change.



Tashkent, whose own Moscow-imposed, cotton-growing legacy is one of the chief causes of the Amu Daryas demise, has been more proactive on Qosh Tepa.

According to the Talibans deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the topic was among those broached by Uzbek presidential envoy and former Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov when he was in Kabul last month for talks on economic cooperation.



Komilov was cited by Baradars office as saying that Uzbekistan was ready to work with the Islamic emirate (the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan) through technical teams in order to maximize the benefits of the Qosh Tepa canal project.



Uzbekistan provided no comment to that effect in its release on the talks, but President Shavkat Mirziyoev -- in a national address in December -- flagged Qosh Tepa as a concern as he touched on the problem of desertification.

At the moment, we consider it necessary to conduct practical talks on the construction of a new canal in the Amu Darya basin with the interim government of neighboring Afghanistan and the international community based on international standards and taking into account the interests of all countries in the region, he said.



We believe that this approach will be supported by our neighbors.



Mirziyoevs preference for dialogue over threats on transboundary water use has been welcomed by the neighborhood since predecessor Islam Karimov passed away in 2016.



This appears to have worked with upstream Kyrgyzstan, where successful border negotiations saw Uzbekistan granted de facto control of a strategic reservoir located inside Kyrgyz territory, albeit not without a rash of political discontent in Kyrgyzstan.

And although authoritarian Karimov virulently opposed the construction of giant hydroelectric dams in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Mirziyoev has given both his blessing, with Tashkent even attaching itself to Kyrgyzstans Kambar-Ata-1 project as a partner -- a move that will give it a hand in upstream management.



Qosh Tepa, however, is becoming a source of public anxiety in Uzbekistan.



With the volume of the Amu Darya water [already] decreasing, Afghans will take a quarter of its water through this canal, complained Uzbek academic and outspoken government critic Khidirnazar Allakulov in an interview with RFE/RLs Uzbek Service.



Instead of solving the problem, the Uzbek government takes the Taliban to Samarkand, dressing them and presenting them with gifts. The government bows to Afghanistan.. Not only the current generation, but also future [Uzbek] generations can be endangered by the water problem, Allakulov said.



Regular exchanges between the Turkmen and Uzbek governments and the Taliban predated the fall of the Ghani government, and Turkmenistan was among the first countries in the world to accept a Taliban-appointed ambassador.

But in line with the international community as a whole, neither has recognized the new regime in Kabul.



This only complicates what Alizada calls the legal lacuna between Afghanistan and its former communist neighbors, since Kabul had not previously signed treaties with them on transboundary management.



And while Afghanistan is keen for more trade opportunities and relies on its northern neighbors for supplies of electricity for several provinces, there are other areas of these bilateral relations where the Taliban feels it has real leverage, Alizada argued.



For the Central Asian countries, I think the number one concern is hard security, especially with the regions history with transnational extremist groups. The Taliban will continue to use assurances on security in negotiations with these countries going forward.
YEREVAN -- Officials in Baku say Azerbaijani athletes will boycott the European Weightlifting Championships in the Armenian capital of Yerevan and return home after an Azerbaijani flag was set afire by an apparent intruder at an opening ceremony late on April 14.

Armenian police briefly detained a person who ran onto the stage during the event and snatched the Azerbaijani flag from a lady performing in the opening ceremony before setting it ablaze.

No Azerbaijani athletes or delegation members were reportedly present in the hall at the time of the incident.

Over 300 athletes from 40 countries are competing in the European Weightlifting Championships in Yerevan.

No charges were brought immediately against the intruder, whom the Armenian police identified as Aram Nikolian, a professional designer. He was set free by police several hours after his detention, officials said.

Azerbaijans Ministry of Youth and Sports and National Olympic Committee described the incident as a "barbaric act," saying it was a manifestation of :ethnic hatred, racism, xenophobia, and animosity toward Azerbaijanis" in Armenia and was "contrary to the noble principles and goals of sports."

Declaring that under such conditions the safety of Azerbaijani athletes was not ensured and their normal participation in the championships was impossible, the Azerbaijani authorities announced their decision that their athletes will return home.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also condemned the incident, demanding those responsible be punished.

"It is worrying that no security measures were taken by organizers against such hate action. Perpetrators should be accordingly punished, Aykhan Hajizade, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, wrote on Twitter.

Armenias Sports Ministry countered by saying that all security measures had been put in place by the Armenian side as required and there were no security risks for the Azerbaijani athletes.

It stressed that the flag burning incident at the opening ceremony was settled quickly and had nothing to do with the general security of Azerbaijani athletes and ensuring of their normal participation in the competitions.

"The Republic of Armenia remains committed to fulfilling its obligations to the International Weightlifting Federation and reaffirms its readiness to hold the 2023 European Championships at a high level," Armenia's Sports Ministry said in a statement.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for years. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left ethnic Armenians in control of the breakaway region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper. Another 7,000 died 7,000 when the simmering conflict reignited in 2020.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here. www.rferl.org/a/31793259.html



I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what I've been following during the past week and what I'm watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iran appears to be making headway toward renewing official ties with Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf states that in some cases have been publicly avoiding Tehran for decades.

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia held talks in Beijing on April 6 in a significant step toward restoring diplomatic relations, which were cut in 2016 after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran following Riyadhs execution of prominent Saudi Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Iran also accepted an invitation from Saudi King Salman for President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Riyadh, while Tehran said it will send a similar invitation to the Saudi king. Meanwhile, a Saudi delegation traveled to Iran on April 9 to discuss the reopening of the embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad. The trip came as Iranian media reported on April 8 that a street sign near the Saudi consulate in Mashhad provocatively named after Sheikh al-Nimr had been quietly removed. An Iranian delegation also arrived in Saudi Arabia on April 12 to pave the way for the reopening of Iranian diplomatic missions there.

Iran is meanwhile taking steps to improve ties with other countries in the region, naming an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and working to decrease tensions with Egypt and Bahrain.

Why It Matters: Iran and Saudi Arabia appear to be pursuing implementation of last months Chinese-brokered agreement, possibly clearing the way for Tehran to de-escalate tensions with other countries that followed Riyadhs lead on a rupture seven years ago.



What's Next: Tehran and Riyadh could move surprisingly swiftly toward normalization, but its no sure thing. Abdolrasool Divsallar, a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Milan (UCSC), told me that the political environment between the two regional rivals could encourage the start of military and security talks within months.

But Divsallar also warned that opponents at home and abroad could still undermine the agreement. Hard-liners in Iran may act as a spoiler rather than as a supporter of the deal, he said, adding that Israel could do the same.

The regional tensions between Israel and Iran, on one side, andbetween Iran, Saudi [Arabia] and the United States, on the other side, are two dynamics that make this process very fragile, he said.

Divsallar also suggested that any normalization between Iran and countries with less appetite for a quick restoration of ties, for instance Bahrain, could take longer.

They feel more secure under the current status quo rather than immediately normalizing their ties with the Islamic republic and losing their leverage, he said, adding, They may wait to see a major change of policies.

Stories You Might Have Missed

Irans civil aviation sector has for years been under Western sanctions that prevent it from purchasing new aircraft or spare parts for repairs. Now, Russia's oldest airline, Aeroflot, has sent one of its passenger planes to Iran for repairs for the first time ever. Aeroflot reportedly ran into obstacles at home stemming from Western sanctions over Russias ongoing, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The RBK media group cited an Aeroflot representative and sources close to the company on April 11 as saying that an Airbus A330-300 had been sent to Tehran on April 5 to be repaired by specialists from Iran's Mahan Air.

Iranian pensioners staged protests in more than a dozen cities across Iran, demanding higher pensions amid soaring prices. Protests were reported on April 9 in Tehran, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Isfahan, Arak, Qom, Shush, Tabriz, and several other cities where retirees complained of poor living conditions and chanted anti-government slogans. Labor protests in Iran have swelled as the economy deteriorates following years of mismanagement compounded by crippling U.S. sanctions.

What We're Watching

Prominent Iranian female religious scholar Sedigheh Vasmaghi has challenged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the Islamic republics mandatory hijab law.

In a letter published online, Vasmaghi asked about the reasoning behind Irans strict model for womens dress and said the Koran does not specify the need for women to cover their hair in public.

There is no evidence to show that during the time of the Prophet Muhammad women were harassed and punished for not covering their hair or even their bodies, Vasmaghi, who has published several books on Islamic jurisprudence, wrote.

Why It Matters: Vasmaghis letter is significant for its timing -- just days after Khamenei asserted that the removal of the hijab in public was religiously banned. But it is also important because it comes from a religious woman who wears the veil while opposing the mandatory hijab, which is seemingly being defied by a growing number of women.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.

Until next time,

Golnaz Esfandiari

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
NOVOSIBIRSK, Russia -- Dozens of crates are stacked in rows at what is said to be a hangar at Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk, in Russias Siberia region, a video that has gone viral in recent days shows.



Zooming in, the footage indicates what appears to be death certificates tacked on to each wooden box, apparently serving as coffins. Each document contains a surname and initials.



One of those documents has the name Gerbold. Buryatia inscribed on it.



Relatives of Gennady Gerbold, 39, from Buryatia, in the Siberia region, confirmed to RFE/RLs Siberia.Realities earlier this week that officials from Wagner had informed them two weeks earlier of his death while fighting with the mercenary group in Ukraine and later that his body had been returned to Novosibirsk.



Officials at Tolmachevo Airport, however, deny that the video was filmed there.



This is false information. The premises, which are broadcast in this video, do not belong to and are not located on the territory of Tolmachevo Airport, a spokesperson for the facility told Russian media.



While not commenting on the video, local officials have recently confirmed that many former inmates from the region have died while fighting as contractors for Wagner in Ukraine in recent weeks.



Young men from Russias hinterlands, including Buryatia, an impoverished Russian region in Siberia with a significant ethnic Buryat population, have borne the brunt of Russian President Vladimir Putins full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched just a year ago on February 24, 2022, dying in disproportionate numbers compared to other areas of the country, especially in and around the richer capital, Moscow, and St. Petersburg.



The purported Novosibirsk video has emerged as numerous reports indicate that Russian losses in Ukraine have risen dramatically in recent weeks.



Spike In Casualties



The BBC Russian Service reported earlier this month that, during the first two weeks of February, the number of Russians killed in the war in Ukraine was five times higher compared to the previous month.



Citing senior U.S. officials, The New York Times reported on February 2 that fighting around Bakhmut had caused Russian casualty figures to spike.



Intense fighting has been raging for weeks around Bakhmut and the nearby towns of Soledar and Vuhledar.

For months Russia's main target in eastern Ukraine has been Bakhmut, where the Wagner mercenary group had reportedly made some inroads.



In the purported Novosibirsk airport video, documents attached to coffins also include a six-digit number with a K, the letter used by Wagner to indicate a former inmate fighter that is tacked on to the serial numbers found on their dog tags, Siberia.Realities reports.

Before Gennady Gerbold was deployed to Ukraine, Olesya Gerbold said she last spoke on November 27 by phone with her brother, who was incarcerated at Penal Colony No. 8 in the Omsk region on a murder conviction.

He swore to me that he would never go to Ukraine. On November 28, the next day, he disappeared, he stopped communicating. And on November 29, the penal colony informed me of his departure, she recounted, adding that her later attempts to find him were met by an official wall of silence.



Of course, I tried through the Federal Penitentiary Service, and it was like he never existed and there hadnt been anyone with that name, Olesya Gerbold recounted, adding that her calls to the Russian Defense Ministry went unanswered.



By early December, she knew her brother had been recruited by Wagner and was somewhere in Ukraine.

Wagner began recruiting prisoners in Russia's sprawling penal system in the summer of 2022, with the organizations founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a catering entrepreneur who served nine years in prison during the Soviet era, offering convicts a pardon if they survived six months in Ukraine. On February 9, Prigozhin announced that Wagner had stopped the practice.

On December 11, after weeks of silence, Gennady finally called his sister.

It was a quick call. He asked me to dictate my passport details so that the money he had earned for his work could be immediately sent to me, Olesya Gerbold explained, adding that her brother left behind two small children.

I asked him how he ended up in Ukraine? For what? He didnt answer, and I understood he was afraid someone else could be listening. I think he was taken by force to [fight in] the war. How he got there and why is still a mystery to us, she said.



By the start of February, Oleysa Gerbold was informed only that her brother had died, with no further details provided.



They said the coffin would be brought to Novosibirsk. Open it and check whether it is yours or not, she said bitterly, adding that at least two other ex-prisoners from the same penal colony as her brother were among those returned in coffins to Novosibirsk.



More Inmates' Deaths Confirmed



In the video purported to have been filmed at the Novosibirsk airport, another document alleged to be a death certificate is inscribed with the name of Sergei Yumashev.



Siberia.Realities was able to piece together that Yumashev was 39 years old and from the village of Arshanovo, in the Siberian region of Khakassia.



According to Siberia.Realities, Yumashev died on January 27 in fighting around Bakhmut. Local officials in Khakassia confirmed his death on February 22, adding that he had been serving in the Wagner mercenary force at the time.



The whole village already knows that he died, a former classmate of Yumashev told RFE/RL.



Now on February 25, the body should be brought to Arshanovo, where he will be buried. I heard that he was in prison, but I dont even know why. For drugs? Anything can happen in life, but he was definitely not a drug addict, said the former classmate, who requested that his name not be used.

Yumashev had been serving a prison sentence for drug dealing and had run up debts worth 75,000 rubles ($986).



On February 22, the same day that authorities in Khakassia confirmed Yumashevs death, they also announced that three other local former inmates had died, apparently also as a result of fighting with Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine, including Vladimir Rakhmonov, and Viktor Fisher.



Fisher, a 30-year-old whose parents had died during childhood, had been incarcerated on several drug-related convictions.



Yes, Vitka died there, a friend of Fisher told RFE/RL, referring to him by a diminutive name.



He was the type of guy who from childhood was in and out of jail and living here and there. But he was more or less harmless. I bet he was forced to go [to fight with Wagner in Ukraine], because it wasnt like he was serving a 20-year prison sentence. Then, it would have been understandable.



Rakhmonov had been sentenced to prison several times for robbery, the last time in July 2022, when he was found guilty of stealing 8,000 rubles ($105) and handed a 13-month prison sentence.



Before joining Wagner, Rakhmonov had been serving his sentence at a penal facility in Khakassia.

Another inmate from that same facility who also died recently fighting in Ukraine as a Wagner contractor was Aleksei Bazhin, who in 2017 was involved in a prison riot that resulted in the death of another inmate who died from injuries sustained in a brutal beating.



Authorities in Khakassia also confirmed that 45-year-old Aleksandr Nyudikov, another local resident and former prisoner, had recently died in Ukraine while fighting with Wagner recruits.



In January 2019, Nyudikov, then a major in the Russian military serving in the Arctic city of Murmansk, was sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison by a military court after being convicted of stabbing his wife to death in a fit of intoxicated rage.



A relative of Nyudikov confirmed to RFE/RL that he had died while fighting in Ukraine.

Written by RFE/RL feature writer Tony Wesolowsky based on reporting by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities.
Dozens of families in Central Asia have received the bodies of their loved ones killed in Ukraine fighting alongside Russian forces in the year since Moscow's full-scale invasion began.



In the past month, at least four families in Kyrgyzstan were told that a relative had died fighting in Ukraine after being recruited in Russian prisons by the mercenary fighting group Wagner.



Among them was 30-year-old Erlan Ermekov, a native of the southern Osh region who was serving a nine-year sentence for rape and robbery, his family said.



In November, Ermekov signed a six-month contract with Wagner to fight in Ukraine in exchange for money, Russian citizenship, and for his criminal records to be wiped clean.



Ermekov saw it as a chance for a potential fresh start in life, his mother, Gulnara Zakirova, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service.



Zakirova admits receiving money from Russia -- about $1,300 in the first month and $2,400 in the following months -- that she believes was her convict-turned-combatant sons wages paid by Wagner.



But it didnt last long. Ermekov was killed in the battle zone on February 6. His mother now supports a campaign to bring home all Kyrgyz convicts from Russia to serve the rest of their sentences in Kyrgyz prisons.



I lost my only son and I dont want other mothers to suffer what Im going through, she said.

Kyrgyz authorities say 1,077 Kyrgyz nationals are currently serving prison terms in Russia -- mostly on drug-trafficking charges.



There are thousands more from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and other Central Asian countries imprisoned in Russia, a key destination for migrant workers from those former Soviet republics.



Wagner, notorious for reportedly committing atrocities in combat zones around the world, is thought to command up to 50,000 fighters in Ukraine -- with some 80 percent of them having enlisted while in a Russian prison -- according to the U.S. National Security Council and Russian activists.



The United States on January 26 designated the private military company as a transnational criminal organization for aiding Russia's military in the Ukraine war.



Wagner has hired at least 35,000 convicts since it began a major recruitment drive in late June, according to Olga Romanova, the director of Rus Sidyashchaya, a Russian human rights organization that advocates for inmates.



She said the group particularly targets Central Asian convicts, often enlisting them against their will.



Endure Torture Or Go To War



Earlier in February, the body of 52-year-old migrant worker Fathullo Narzulloev was sent to his family in the village of Nojii Bolo on the outskirts of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.



Russian officials said he was killed in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Narzulloev had gone to Russia for work in June. He was arrested under unknown circumstances at the Yekaterinburg Airport.



During phone calls from prison, Narzulloev told his relatives he was being forced to go to war, his wife said. She last heard from him in October.



Tajik authorities say they dont know how many Tajik nationals, including convicts, have gone to Ukraine or had died there. RFE/RLs Tajik Service has recorded 14 cases of Tajik prisoners being killed in Ukraine in recent months.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on February 9 that his group had ended its prisoner recruitment scheme.



According to the British Defense Ministry, the data from the Russian Federal Penal Service had already suggested a drop-off in the rate of prisoner recruitment since December.



News of the harsh realities of the Wagner service in Ukraine has probably filtered through to inmates and reduced the number of volunteers, the ministry said in early February.



But the families of Central Asian convicts in Russia insist that their relatives continue to face pressure -- including physical and psychological mistreatment -- at the hands of prison administrations forcing them to go to war.



Zakirova says she is still in touch with some 30 Kyrgyz inmates in the Yekaterinburg prison where his son was recruited by Wagner.



The inmates say they are periodically being locked in cold rooms, in a special punishment cell. They say prison officials dont openly tell them to go to war, but they torment them to the point that the prisoners say they would rather go to Ukraine, Zakirova told RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service.



Some of the inmates who were there for 7-8 years say they havent experienced anything like this before.

RFE/RL cannot independently verify Zakirovas assertions. But similar accounts have been given by several others, including the father of a 26-year-old Kyrgyz national incarcerated in Sverdlovsk Province.



The convicts are being tortured inside a so-called high security barrack; its very cold in there, everything is made of concrete, the father, citing his son, who was sentenced to six years in prison for drug trafficking in 2020, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service.



My son says they had to drink their own urine after being kept there for days without food or water. He says prisoners eventually get exhausted and agree to go to war, the father said on condition of anonymity. His son has recently been transferred to a prison in another city and the father fears hell be sent to Ukraine.



They Knew What War Entailed



In the Kazakh city of Qaraghandy, the bodies of at least two local men were sent from Ukraine in January. Both had willingly gone to fight alongside the invading forces, their friends said.



Yury K., a 36-year-old truck driver and the father of three children, lived a normal life on the outskirts of the coal-mining city -- until his family and friends heard suddenly that he was fighting in Bakhmut.



Yury was killed in Bakhmut in January, about two months after he had arrived from Kazakhstan.



Its not known what had prompted him to leave everything behind and go to the raging front line of a foreign war.

Yurys account on the Russian social media site Odnoklassniki shows he was a member of a pro-Russia group that supported the Kremlins brutal invasion and he had shared videos from the war zone.



Yurys family declined to speak to RFE/RLs Kazakh Service. But one of Yurys former colleagues said he spoke openly about his intention to go to fight in Ukraine.



Everyone around Yury tried to stop him, but he didnt listen to anyone. He was determined; he was too confident about what he wanted, and even being the father of young children didnt stop him, the former colleague said on condition of anonymity.



Yurys body arrived almost at the same time as the coffin of another Qaraghandy native, 30-year-old Aleksandr. Its not known if the two men knew each other.



Aleksandrs friends say he worked as a technician at a private company after graduating from a local college.

One of Aleksandrs acquaintances said he knows several other men who went to Ukraine to fight with the Russians but didnt elaborate. He said all of them had gone to Ukraine willingly, knowing the risks involved.



They didnt go to Ukraine for money; they didnt go there because there wasnt a place for them here. Every single one of them was aware of the risks involved in going to a war, the man said.



Many Kazakhs believe the pro-war propaganda on Russian media -- which is fully available in Kazakhstan -- has played a significant role in shaping the opinion of many within Kazakhstans large Russian-speaking communities.



What The State Says



Central Asian governments have repeatedly warned their citizens against taking part in foreign military conflicts.



In Tajikistan, authorities said last week that Dushanbe was ready to look into any request by Tajik nationals imprisoned in Russia to be transferred to Tajik prisons.



The most vocal in trying to bring home its incarcerated citizens was Kyrgyzstan, where the Prosecutor-Generals Office said they received 174 applications last year from Kyrgyz convicts in Russia wanting to be extradited to their home country.



The prosecutors said they have returned dozens of convicts and continue to work on other cases. Kyrgyz lawmakers on February 8 discussed ways to prevent Kyrgyz inmates from being enlisted to fight in Russias war.



Five extradition requests by Kyrgyzstan were reviewed by Russian courts in the past two months.



All of them have been denied.

RFE/RLs Kyrgyz, Kazakh, and Tajik Services contributed to this report.
Western leaders and high-level diplomats called for peace but argued over how to achieve it at a special session of the UN Security Council on February 24, the first anniversary of the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Most of the speakers underlined that peace in Ukraine must be fair and respect Ukrainian territory as tensions between Russia and Ukraine were laid bare when representatives of the two countries confronted each other over holding a minute's silence to honor the dead.

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.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on the tragic day" that there was finally a chance to mourn the "lives and destinies broken by Russia." When he asked all in the council chamber to observe a moment of silence in memory of the victims, everyone stood.



Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia then asked for the floor, saying: We are getting to our feet to honor the memory of all victims of what has happened in Ukraine starting in 2014 -- all of those who perished.



Nebenzias referred to Russias claims that the conflict with Ukraine began in 2014 after Ukraines Moscow-friendly president was driven from office by mass protests. Russia responded by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and by backing rebels in eastern Ukraine.



All lives are priceless, and that is why were rising to honor the memory of them all, Nebenzia said, referring to Russians, pro-Russian Ukrainians in the east, and Ukrainians elsewhere in the country.



The mood was summed up by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who said: "I have no illusions: We will not convince the Russian representative today."



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken used his speech to warn against a "temporary or unconditional cease-fire" in the war, saying that Russia will use any pause in fighting to "consolidate control over the territories illegally seized and replenish its forces for further attacks."



Blinken said any peace agreed between Russia and Ukraine must be "durable" and in line with the principles of the UN Charter.



"Any peace that legitimizes Russia's seizure of land by force will weaken the [UN] Charter and send a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they can invade countries and get away with it," Blinken said.



Blinken did not mention China in his warning, but his comments came just hours after China called for a comprehensive cease-fire as part of a 12-point plan that largely reiterated its approach since Russia launched the invasion on February 24, 2022.



China said conflicts "benefit no one" and all involved should remain rational "and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control."



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed some elements of the Chinese cease-fire proposal but said it was not a concrete plan, while presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak rejected the plan, saying it would do nothing except freeze the status quo.



"Any 'peace plan' that envisages only a 'ceasefire' and, as a result, a new dividing line and the occupation of territories is not about peace," Podolyak said on Twitter.



It is, rather, a "freezing of the war" and the "next stages of genocide," Podolyak said. Ukraine continues to insist on the withdrawal of Russian troops and calls for its internationally recognized 1991 borders to be accepted.



Zelenskiy said the proposal amounted to China revealing its "thoughts." Speaking at a news conference in Kyiv, he said China talking about Ukraine "is not bad. But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to.



The proposal corresponds in some ways with international law and territorial integrity, he said, adding, "Let's work with China on this point."



Zelenskiy also said he was planning to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying such a meeting would be "important for world security."



The Ukrainian president also said he was doing his best to prevent Chinese arms supplies to Russia.



The United States has accused China of considering the idea of supplying arms to Russia and has warned Beijing against such a move.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa
In recent years and especially so since COVID-19's advent, solid internet connectivity has become a necessity, almost comparable to water or electricity, according to Stealth Broadband CEO and President Mike Storjohann.

That necessity, Storjohann added, is even more complex as you move outside of city centers into rural areas. That is why Stealth partnered with Platte County and Loup Public Power District, using $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to expand broadband access into rural Platte County.

"It's always an issue of really good access to broadband internet inside city limits and once you're outside, not so good, because the cost of deploying fiber optic is so high," Storjohann said.

In an effort to help expand Platte County's general infrastructure capabilities, Loup started looking into what internet providers they could partner with to provide access to rural areas through their pre-existing lines and stations.

Neal Suess, president/CEO of Loup, said that Loup can't provide power and broadband but they can allow providers space on their infrastructure to help them expand into the county, with perhaps an agreement for the provider to allow them use of that fiber-optic connection for their substations in rural areas.

"As we get more and more into smart grid technologies, we're doing a study on this now, the fact is that if we have high-speed broadband to our facilities, substations, it makes it a lot easier to do things than over radio waves or other ways," Suess said. "There's some definite advancements in productivity from our standpoint."

A while back, Storjohann said, Platte County and Loup put out a request for proposals, which his company decided to accept. While Stealth has operated in Platte County since 2017, he said, this opportunity to expand comes at a good time, especially with the prevailing need for high-speed internet in the rural areas they wanted covered.

"We look at publicly available maps that have been put together by the FCC and the state of Nebraska that have data from basically every internet service provide that's required to submit data from their broadband services," Storjohann said. "We parse those maps and look for areas that are considered unserved or underserved, those are two big words in our industry right now."

Unserved, Storjohann explained, is any area with a download speed of 25mb per second and upload speed of 3mb per second or lower. Underserved is anywhere higher than that but lower than 100mb per second download and 20mb per second upload. Anything higher than that, he said, is considered served.

"So we look at those maps, color-coded maps, and see where the unserved and underserved areas are and where to target our focus for broadband expansion," Storjohann said. "Every town inside its city limits is well-served, Columbus has ALLO, the others have Stealth and other providers, the rural is what's lacking."

It's not entirely remote work and remote learning, Storjohann added. Many businesses and devices nowadays, especially in agriculture, rely on a solid network to function at their peak efficiency. Additionally, it's a major attractor for those wanting to move into or stay in rural areas if they have solid internet access.

"One of the issues is keeping people in rural areas attracted, either to come here (or) as kids graduate and go to college we always want them to come back to rural areas come back to Nebraska," Storjohann said. "If you have a lack of internet speed, that's going to keep people away from the area, that's kind of a first-and-foremost to bring people back."

Bearing all these things in mind, the Platte County Board of Supervisors allotted $1 million in ARPA funding toward the effort. Stealth will match, as well as contribute some from grant funding. Platte County Board of Supervisors Chairperson Kim Kwapnioski said that especially considering remote work and learning's rise following COVID-19, high-speed internet in rural areas has become a significant need.

"I think it's been kind of an issue to be forward-thinking and I think COVID brought it to the forefront with people working from home, kids working from home," Kwapnioski said. "Access is essential in workforce and living. It's become an essential component, as part of the county, in trying to think forward how we can help the workforce."
Thoughts of spring get the juices flowing for something that is green and maybe a little warmer. On a recent adventure to the Mediterranean Sea, it was interesting to see the diversity of plants and interesting animal life, as I am always looking at natural history beauty no matter where we go. I couldnt help but think of all human occupation in an area so rich in human history. On our ship it was unusual to find those that even spoke English, but we got by. We sailed the general coast line areas along the northern Mediterranean Sea and saw several small countries and numerous islands.

The major rivers of the region have generated invaluable wetlands in the major delta areas. These nutrient-rich wetlands attract an estimated two to five billion migratory birds each year. Yet, approximately six per cent of wetlands previously known to have existed during the Roman Empire remain.

We flew to Barcelona and going from the airport to the port to board a very large ship were large emergent wetland complexes with a plant very common here in Nebraska and the U.S Phragmites communis, common reed grass. Another species was Arundo donax. These dominant plants were intermixed in low lying areas for miles and miles along the way and are a listed invasive species in the U.S. It has been widely planted and naturalized in the mild temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of both hemispheres, especially in the Mediterranean and is considered invasive in North America.

In the south of France you can see Chinese tree of heaven, mulberry trees, vines, olive trees, some citrus and laurel. By the way, Chinese tree of heaven, Alianthus anthus, is one of the more common tree species I have seen in all my European travels (and in Nebraska as well). The flora of France is very varied thanks to its different climates, reliefs and soils. Plant species such as beech and chestnut can be found in the Central Massif area. In the subalpine area you can see dwarf pines and junipers.

In Marseille France, local flora was difficult to observe as the city consumed every square inch (or centimeter) of the hillsides. The Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally: Our Lady of the Guard), known to local citizens as la Bonne Mere (French for 'the Good Mother'), is a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France. You can see the basilica from almost anywhere in the city and is the city's best-known symbol. One of the most visited sites in Marseille, it was built on the foundations of an ancient fort at the highest natural point in Marseille, a 149 m (489 ft.) limestone outcropping on the south side of the Old Port of Marseille. This was the only location where the vegetation was still relatively intact and was predominantly some pines with inter-mixed large agave and some native grasses and a mallow species. Several yellow mustard species were flowering as well.

Italy is predominantly hilly and mountainous in the areas, which has caused a proliferation of ecological niches, close in space but very diversified. The flora of Italy, according to some literature review was comprised of 5,500 vascular plant species. As of 2019, 7,672 species are recorded in the second edition of the Flora of Italy and in its digital archives Digital flora of Italy. Certainly common were sycamores, palms and different types of laurel.

Human expansion and agriculture have converted a once lush forest cover regionally near the Mediterranean to a greatly reduced shrub or desert ecosystem. It is estimated that only five per cent of the Mediterranean region is covered in forests, mainly concentrated on the northern shore. The desolation of some Mediterranean landscapes bear witness to the important stabilizing role forests had to play in protecting the fragile soil from excessive dry spells and water erosion from torrential rains.

Our last stop in the Mediterranean was the island of Malta, which was a strategic location during World War II. The area was vital in limiting supplies to the German forces in North Africa. The island rich in history was also where St. Francis of Assisi dwelled in the 12th century conducting his teachings. The city had unique conifers, oleander, palms, a large number of lemon trees and prickly pear which grew everywhere. Apparently it was imported from Mexico several hundred years ago and it has become established very comfortably.

Looking forward to our spring getting ready to take off! Next up -- fishes and other animals of the Mediterranean Sea.
Members of the Columbus community will be helping to pack a whopping 80,000 boxes of meals for food-insecure children in Haiti next weekend and volunteers are needed for the event.

Now in its second year, the Columbus Community Haiti Project started when 1Cs pastor, Jim Thelen, saw firsthand what children in Haiti were experiencing when it came to not having enough to eat.

We have food insecurity here in the United States, but it's nothing like Haiti, said Lonnie Anderson, an organizer of the project. We have access to supplies here where they don't. Our minister has been there  when he was there, hes seen the need.

Tim Oberdieck, who was then a director of Christian education intern, headed efforts to help the kids in need.

Through a partnership with Mission of Hope, 1C held a two night Fellowship Fundraiser Feast in 2022 with more than $18,000 being raised and 60,000 boxes packed with meals and shipped to Haiti. The money raised goes towards the needed supplies and food. The meals are simple and include rice, protein and dried vegetables.

When (the) pastor challenged him for an event  that's what it was, to feed the children in Haiti  he just took it and hit the ground running and went real well, Anderson said.

This year, 20,000 additional boxes will be packed and Kris Wagner, another project organizer, noted that the majority of organizations that put together 80,000 boxes are located in large metropolitan areas such as Dallas, Fort Worth or Minneapolis  not Columbus, Nebraska.

Each meal that's packed, (Mission of Hope) shared with us that we're feeding their bodies nourishment so they can learn, so they can grow, Wagner said. But with each meal they know and can feel God's love because someone somewhere loves them so much that they're feeding them.

The feast fundraiser was held again in January. Anderson said they served about 180 people this year, as opposed to the 150 last year. Although they did not serve as many people as they wished, he added, they have met their goal of raising $24,000.

So far, Wagner said, 160 people are signed up for March 4 packing event, which takes place at 1C. The packing itself starts at 10 a.m. and lasts a couple of hours.

Those wearing green T-shirts, she said, are the lead volunteers who must arrive at 8 a.m. that day for training. Regular volunteers should report at 9:30 a.m.

However, many helpers are still needed  about 60 to 80 people.

They tell us at Mission of Hope that for 80,000 meals we need between 240 people and 280 people, and we are almost there, Wagner said. Last year, God completely blew us away by having people come that weren't even registered. We actually had extra people. Even if we have extra people, we will put them to work.

Wagner said they are also challenging people who sign up to also sponsor a box if they are able.

The sponsorship of one box costs $65. Broken down, each bag packed contains six meals, which costs $1.80. One box contains 216 meals, or 36 bags.

We've got a few boxes to sell, but we'll be there by next weekend, Anderson added.

People can sign up to volunteer at bit.ly/3EubXbp or if they are having trouble using the website, they can call Keri at 1C at 402-835-5511 for help registering.

Once packing is complete, the boxes are covered with saran wrap and placed on pallets. The boxes are then transported to Mission of Hopes ship to be delivered to Haiti.

Wagner noted Mission of Hope has a large warehouse in Haiti where the boxes of food are stored. Due to the political climate and other issues in Haiti, the meals must be prepackaged with Mission of Hopes label on it or it would be stolen instead of going to the children who need it the most, she added.

Its been a goal of organizers to see more community involvement for the Haiti project, which Wagner said has been seen.

A Hispanic church rents space at 1C to hold its services, Wagner said, and an individual there heard about the Haiti project and reached out to them about it.

Last Sunday from 1 to 4 she made and sold pupusas and all the proceeds came for Haiti, Wagner said. It was really cool to see another church getting involved or another organization.

Additionally the Columbus Fire Department is challenging the Columbus Police Department to pack.

The firefighters have donated a table and they're going to come and work their table for the event, Anderson said. That's really what we would like to see  the community get more involved.

Although the event is hosted by 1C, Anderson added, its truly a community event. If an organization or another church would like to host the event at its facility, 1C will work alongside them with Mission of Hope to make it happen, he said.

Volunteering helps build team bonding and allows the helpers to do something for someone else, Wagner said.

There's a little girl in our church named Ellie and she got up on stage a couple of months ago, Wagner said. She shared her experience with packing... She told her parents when they left last year, We're doing that again next year and every year. So how can we not say that we're going to pack?

Anderson added its also sharing Gods love with others.

It's one of those things, when you see hungry people, especially children, how do you tell them No?  If you had a brother and sister that were hungry, would you not help them? They are our brothers and sisters, he said.

The dates for the 2024 Columbus Community Haiti Project are already set. Wagner noted the feast fundraiser will be held in Feb. 9 and 10 of that year and will have a Valentines Day theme while the packing event will be April 6, 2024.

The goal for 2024, Anderson said, is to serve 250 people between those two nights.

Our prayer for next year too is for other organizations, whether it'd be a church or a workplace, to come alongside and help fundraise, Wagner said. That's the toughest part  then the fun day is packing.

Anderson thanked the businesses that donated food for the Fellowship Fundraiser Feast this year  Cargill, Hy-Vee, Super Saver, Pizza Ranch and CSS Farms. He also gave thanks to those who supported the project through monetary gifts and the people volunteering their time at the packing event.

Whenever there's a need in the community, Columbus comes through, Anderson said.
With a forensic audit of Newville's finances in process through the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office, operations in the borough have proceeded, for the time being, without a manager.

Borough Solicitor Marcus McKnight said the borough of roughly 1,300 people has relied heavily on secretary Jody Hoffman and other officials and employees to complete manager-related duties since the council fired longtime borough manager Fred Potzer at the end of January for willful misconduct. This came after the discovery of financial discrepancies with borough finances in December.

"He basically was the man who did everything," McKnight said of Potzer. "He would take care of personnel recommendations, he oversaw the various departments, he would provide financial reports, he would arrange for audits. Those are all the things that, among many other duties, that he did do."

Potzer managed both the Borough of Newville and the Newville Water and Sewer Authority. Officials announced Feb. 2 that the water and sewer authority was nearly insolvent.

While the borough and water and sewer authority maintained separate funds, McKnight said money was transferred between them without documentation to a "much greater extent than anyone could imagine."

Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack said the purpose of the forensic audit, which will examine both entities, is to determine if a crime was committed.

"Given the number of records involved, I do not have a timetable as to how long the audit will take," he said.

Authority officials said they are examining funding options to ensure that services, which extend to Newville and parts of West Pennsboro, North Newton and Penn townships, can remain uninterrupted. Until the evaluation of the authoritys finances has been completed, authority officials said they dont know how much funding they will need.

McKnight said borough officials have applied for a $200,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. That funding could help conduct a separate audit that would allow a look backward and forward at where to go with revenues and expenses.

The grant could also help the borough acquire a new manager or pay for an interim manager in the meantime, and McKnight said the borough has received a few resumes for the role.

"Right now we're just taking a look at them until we have the actual funds to pay an interim manager," he said. "We're not about to go into further debt to do so."

The borough completed the initial application for the funds and expects to hear back from the Department of Community and Economic Development in the coming weeks, McKnight said.

In the meantime, he said Newville has met all payroll and health insurance payments for borough and authority employees.

"It's still a bit of a struggle until we get more revenue coming in, but our intent is to never have to miss any payments that way completely," McKnight said.

The borough will likely begin to receive real estate tax revenue in March.

McKnight said Newville officials are ensuring that multiple people are looking at original documents like bank statements and authorizing payments.

"Obviously when you have a situation like this occur, the obvious answer with hindsight is we need to come up with more checks and balances that are in place, and that goes for both the water and sewer authority and the borough," he said. "So we learned from our mistakes, but we're working hard to try and correct them and make sure that never happens again."

Additional checks and balances are already in place, McKnight said.

The borough council and the authority held a special joint meeting Jan. 12 where the council designated Council President Scott Penner, Hoffman, authority Chairman Roger Hoover and Vice Chairman William Barnhart to approve all future bills for payments. Hoover and Barnhart were also appointed to sit with borough officials for future bill approvals.

In addition to the absence of a borough manager, McKnight said Newville's Mayor, Michael Croutch, has been conducting his responsibilities remotely. A GoFundMe page for Croutch suggests this is for health reasons.

McKnight said the mayor's responsibilities include administration of the borough's police department and the ability to veto legislation. He said Croutch has remained in touch with police and participates in meetings via Zoom.

As the borough awaits forensic audit findings, construction continues on the borough's new municipal building at 103 S. High Street. The building is anticipated to be completed in April and McKnight said that while construction progress won't likely be impacted by the borough's financial status, the move to the new building could be delayed depending on the cost.

Newville's 2023 budget estimated the cost of the move at about $63,000, which includes IT services, a phone system, alarm and security systems and an emergency generator among other items.

McKnight said the long-term effects of the borough's situation are unknown.

"Temporarily though, it's shock and disappointment because of the amount of regard that Fred Potzer was held in, so there's a lot of disappointment going around," he said. "But there's also a determination and get beyond it ... all we have to do now is correct the problems that have now been discovered and make sure that the finances of both the water and sewer authority and the borough of Newville are very sound."

Photos: Newville Borough scenes
The Cumberland Valley School District has initiated a new policy updating the districts listed provisions for students experiencing certain circumstances of educational instability.

At a meeting Tuesday night, the Cumberland Valley School Board authorized implementation of district Policy 251Students Experiencing Homelessness, Foster Care and Other Educational Instability.

The new policy is a merger of former district Policy 251Homeless Students, and former district Policy 255-Educational Stability for Children in Foster Care to better align with Pennsylvania Act 55 of 2022.

Act 55 of 2022 was the vehicle that changed the law to require special treatment of students experiencing educational instability, Superintendent David Christopher told The Sentinel.

(The new) Policy 251 was created in response to several new changes in Pennsylvania law, Christopher said. Because the policy is inclusive of all students experiencing educational instability, Policy 255, which was specifically for students in foster care only, is no longer needed.

In turn, the school board agreed Tuesday to retire former district Policy 255 that pertained to children in foster care as the policy becoming superfluous upon approval of the new Policy 251, according to school director Brian Drapp, chair of the districts Policy Committee.

The new policys stated purpose is facilitating immediate enrollment; eliminating barriers to the attendance, education and graduation; and providing additional supports in compliance with federal and state laws, regulations and (School) Board policy for such students.

The policy defines students with educational instability as experiencing one or more of these changes within a single school year:

- Homelessness

- An adjudication of:

A. dependency relating to child protective services and juvenile matters;

B. delinquency, if disclosed by the students parent or guardian; or

C. As a part of court-ordered services under a voluntary placement or custody agreement.

A student in foster care may also qualify as experiencing educational instability as defined above.

The policy designates the districts director of student services as a point of contact for students under any of these particular circumstances. The designated point of contact will work on qualified students behalf in conjunction with school counselors, school social worker, home and school visitor or school psychologist, and students Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Team to facilitate any needed services.

The policy section also stipulates the development and execution of a graduation plan in collaboration with students in grades 9-12 customized to meet the specific needs of the student

The districts point of contact also is required to provide professional development and training to school staff on the education needs of needs of such students.

The district superintendent also may provide waivers to specific board policies, procedures and administrative regulations if creating barriers for student enrollment and attendance. Potential waivers may include, but arent limited to student dress code, transportation, school-sponsored or extracurricular activities for which students meet placement requirements, related participation fees, graduation, and registration deadlines.

Complete text of Policy 251 is attached to Tuesdays online meeting agenda posted at www.cvschools.org.

Phone system contract

In other news, the Cumberland Valley School Board Tuesday authorized for the district to enter a five-year service contract for XTEL phone system at an annual amount not to exceed $55,498.65, and pending final review through district solicitor Michael Cassidy. The system will replace the districts current phone system and phone line providers by the start of the 2023-24 school year.

The new contract will replace the districts current 15-year-old phone system and save the district around $60,000 annually in what the district currently pays for related support and services, according to Chris Smith, CVs Director of Technology and Innovation.

Also Tuesday, the school board approved a district purchase of XTEL at a one-time cost not to exceed $90,000 for replacing physical phone handsets in all district buildings.

The new phones were listed on Tuesdays meeting agenda as system agnostic, meaning that if the district switches to a new phone system at the end of Tuesdays approved service contract, the handsets will integrate to function with other systems.

I believe this will provide us with system lines and phones with the technology that we need, Smith told the school board Tuesday.

Handset phones are still needed in all district buildings for use in cases of emergencies and other security purposes, Smith noted.

Photos: Cumberland Valley throttles Wilson in District 3 6A boys basketball quarterfinals
Due to the quantity of information shared by officials during Mondays State of St. Francois County address at Mineral Area College, we are presenting the third in a series of three articles. The first, published Thursday, provided an overview of Mineral Area College. The second, published Friday, featured comments from the mayors of Bismarck, Bonne Terre, Desloge and Park Hills. The following report is by St. Francois County Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher.  Editorial Staff

We as commissioners have our daily list of things that we want to get done, and that changes with every phone call that comes in, said Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher. but we have a needs list. This is the long-term stuff that we're always looking for. And if you look at it, most of it includes buildings and facilities. and that's something you have to budget for and spend for. So that's why it gets on the long-term list and not the daily list.

ARPA and grants

According to Gallaher, money the county has received from the federal and state governments through ARPA funds and grants has been used in recent years to fund a number of county projects.

We had done a lot of planning and were kind of concerned about all the money, and then came ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act). We were notified that we would get $13,055,726 of ARPA funds. But we have a tendency not to spend money that we don't have," he said. "So until we got that first half of the money, which is $6 million, we didn't do much. And then [County Treasurer] Parks Peterson got busy and got those funds in the bank, and then we started working on it."

Gallaher listed 10 county needs that range from urgent to long-term. Those include space needs in the courthouse; air movement improvement in the annex building and the Weber Road Facility/morgue; space, medical, maintenance, kitchen and roof improvements at the jail; additional space for the Juvenile Detention Center; space needs at the Weber Road Facility, especially if the 42nd Circuit decides to move its entire public defenders office to that location; road and bridge office replacement; Berry Road and the Berry Bridge; providing a location where county services can be offered in the northern end of the county; and back-up power generation to all buildings.

One of the immediate needs we had was the jail roof. We had put that off for three years, and it was to the point that it was actually deteriorating the building. So we immediately got busy with replacing the roof and did that. One of the next things was replacing the road and bridge departments office area. When we bought that facility, there was a little bitty greenhouse, or garage, out front that was big enough for one vehicle. That's where we put the office. So we took that down and built this very nice facility for our workers with the road and bridge. Remember, when we call out the road and bridge, it's in the worst weather, and so we need them to have a safe place to go to should that need arise. While you and I are hiding in the bathtub waiting for the tornado to blow over, these guys are out working, so we need a good place for them. So that's done, and we're very happy with that.

Gallaher spoke about plans to move the county elections office to a more convenient location at the Weber Road Facility.

When we bring the [countys juvenile detention center] offices out of the Weber Road facility, we plan to move the elections officials to the office area up front where the JDC is now, he said. That will put them right there in the big rooms where all the election counting is done and all that. And people coming in to vote can register or do whatever they wish to do. It's right there by the door. So that I hope will help them a great deal.

Gallaher addressed work now underway on the air movement and air control in the county annex building.

Four, five, six years ago, the assessor's office was opening a large stack of mail [where county property owners] were getting in their assessment forms," he said. "White powder came out of one of the envelopes, so we instantly went in to lock them down. We evacuated the building and called in the fire department and the police. After a time, with proper testing, that white powder turned out to be positive for Parmesan cheese. Now, the envelope had the family's name on it. We got to checking, and it turns out that dad was filling out the assessment forms on one side of the table, and Mom was making pizza on the other side of the table  and we couldn't complain. We had no idea how that combination worked, but no harm, no foul. My point is that during this evacuation, one of the maintenance workers went inside and shut down all the fans. There was no control of the airflow, so if there were some contamination in that office, it would be spread throughout the building. That pointed out a need that we had for better air control of the building.

Gallaher brought up another problem caused by poor airflow in the annex.

Lately, we found this last summer that we had to shut down on some of the hottest days because of the high temperature inside the building. People couldn't work. So we realized again that we need that better airflow. The air conditions were working. As a matter of fact, my office was cold, and the others were pushing 100 degrees. We needed better air control. So that's being done now.

Berry Road

Moving to the topic of improvements on Berry Road and the construction of a new Berry Bridge, Gallaher said, The new bridge, we're getting it. We applied for a grant, a $2 million grant to help with this and help with the ARPA funds. And we were told that we would be notified after the first of this year whether or not we got the grant. Early in January, we were notified that we did indeed get a 1.825 million dollar grant. And so that threw us over the line of being able to say, yes, the bridge is going in. I want to point out that there's a bottleneck here. If you see the two 67 highway bridges  if one of those gets choked up, it quickly backs 67 highway up from the highway, and there's no detour around this site. It is not there. I've already decided we have another bridge that we can use to get that bottleneck straightened out and get it going again. So it's a big safety factor for all of us. There's really no way to go from Bonne Terre to anywhere north of there  St. Louis or anywhere  if that bridge is stopped up. So we have to build a bridge. This is an important factor for us. Development in Owl Creek Park  just Friday, we had a meeting with Fish and Wildlife and DNR about developing a walking trail. There's a grant being processed on that. And it's moving along, and it's gonna be a great asset.

Other improvements made possible by ARPA funds were the purchase of new and updated software; the digitalization of records in the county recorders office; the hiring of additional personnel in the prosecuting attorneys office; new cameras, an intercom and a general upgrade of electronics at the jail. Some projects are on hold until it's certain the funds are in place to cover the expenses.

"We've held a couple of projects back because we wanted to make sure we had the funding to do it," Gallaher said. "We've got about six active construction contracts going down. Don't know where that'll wind up. We think we do, but we're not sure. So to make sure that we're not overspending, we've held back the kitchen improvement in the jail, and we [backed] off this satellite building by Bonne Terre.

"We would like to make part of that a nice place for the road and bridge crew to go in there on an icy night, and zap a sandwich, and go to the bathroom, and whatever they need to do. It would also be a place for the local deputies that are assigned to that part of the county where they can go in and do the same thing.

According to Gallaher, there has been some consideration given to placing a fuel station there, so sheriffs deputies won't have to drive back to Farmington to fill up their vehicles.

That keeps those patrolling officers in that part of the county longer, he said. I hope that some of our elected officials will see the opportunity that they can maybe position two of their employees or whatever up there, and then people in the Bonne Terre area, in that northern part of the county, can go there to pay their county taxes and do that rather than go to Farmington. It would be an assist to those people in that part of the county to just move government closer to them. So we hope to do that. This is over time, and if money's there. We think it is, but we don't know yet. We don't spend money if we don't have it.

The only thing I haven't approached is that very first item about space needs in the courthouse. I think that in short order, we're going to have to have some more room in the courthouse. We can't move the courthouse. We can't do anything else with the contract. The family that donated the space for that said if it ever stops being a courthouse, it stops being our property. It goes back to the family. But I think we need to look long-term at some kind of way to enhance the space in the courthouse and we're looking at that. I'm sure our needs list will grow with other items as time goes on, but you can see that the ARPA funds have been a great help for us.

Funding

Gallaher stressed that no locally-generated funds have been used by the county to accomplish the many improvements that have been made over the last few years. The county has received more than $13 million in ARPA funds, along with around $8 million in grants in 2022 and approximately $15 million in grants in 2023, for a total of $24,614,363. In addition, the county has generated funds through tax revenue and fees, along with the leasing of various county-owned properties.

"Right now we're focusing everything on law enforcement improvement. It's hard to tell a deputy, they just gotta wear a body armor and wear a gun and do his job and then pay a minimum wage. That's difficult. So we've been able to increase our wages and hope to do that well and keep them better paid. It's hard to get applicants for these jobs. So we're doing better with the higher pay and we hope that increases as it goes.

Gallaher complimented a presentation made by Highway Administrator John Gross at a recent county commission meeting. In addition to new bridges, Gross mentioned the paving of a number of county roads and yellow striped last year.

Gallaher said, "Go back and see the website on that, and also it's written up pretty well in the Daily Journal and the Farmington Press."

Other county improvements mentioned by Gallaher in his presentation included the purchase of new trucks and vehicles; cleaning and "top-pointing" the courthouse and annex; upgrading of the county's payroll system, as well as updating county policies and manuals.

"Our county's debt-free," Gallaher said. "We don't owe any bonds, we don't owe any payments. We live on a tightly controlled and balanced budget. We don't spend money we don't have. And we are one of the very few Missouri counties to be debt free."
Ralph Hughes III recently completed his third book, the second book of a three-part series about railroads. His first book is about the small community of Knob Lick, located about 10 miles from Farmington.

Hughes grew up hearing stories about trains. One story, in particular, weighed heavily on him when he found out that his paternal great-grandfather Corum Acuff, the section foreman at Knob Lick for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway. Acuff was killed in 1931 when a train hit the motorcar in which he was riding.

Hughes said these personal stories continue to fuel his curiosity about trains.

Even though Hughes grew up near trains, he did not ride one until 1975, when he traveled from St. Louis to Chicago for boot camp. He also recalled a more meaningful trip when he and his wife Maria took their three children to a train museum in the California desert. Their son Corum, who was only five at the time, also loved trains.

Hughes has always been interested in history and writing about it. In fact, he devoted 20 years of his life to research the first book he wrote about Knob Lick, the town in which both sides of his family resided, Knob Lick: A History. He said people of the Parkland would be surprised if they realized how much history this area holds.

With his second book, Hughes research shifted from Knob Lick to the railroads. While writing about Knob Lick, he recalled so many memories of when he was a child and loved trains. He decided to write his second book on a brand-new topic  the railroads of St. Francois County. His friend Melvin Henson then suggested Hughes should focus on the railroads of Southeast Missouri.

Once Hughes dove into his research, he learned 50 railroads had existed in the area at one point. Along the way, he acquired more than 100 photographs from various sources, including museums, historical societies and libraries. Many people shared their personal collections of photographs.

Slowly Hughes put the various pieces together to begin to tell a story. Along the way, he learned so much about the area in which he grew up. He discovered some of the railroads were not fully built due to a lack of finances, but he mentioned them in his book. He learned about the people who built the areas railways.

Out of the four major Missouri railroads, Hughes found the most interesting to be the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway because of his familys connections to it, and because it ran through Knob Lick and Fredericktown, where he now lives.

Hughes also learned more about the St. Francois County Electric Railway, which was built by Farmington residents themselves because they had lost the opportunity for the steam railroads to come through their town.

Overall, Hughes spent two years writing The Railroads of Southeast Missouri: Volume I. This book consists of more than 250 pages of insightful details and interesting photographs of various southeast Missouri railroads.

Hughes newest book, The Railroads of Southeast Missouri: Volume II, took almost three years for the overall research, writing, editing and printing process.

When you write about the past, you tend to relive it as you write about it, he said. You also live the hardships, the joy of completion of the railroads built, and the heartache of disasters and tragedies, especially when the railroads closed and were torn down.

He has relived the lives of a few family members, including his great-grandfather Corum Acuff and his great-grandfather John Hamm, who worked for his great-grandfather Acuffs railroad crew around 1920.

Volume II highlights many of the local railroads, such as the St. Francois County Railroad, Mississippi River and Bonne Terre Railroad, and Missouri-Illinois Railroad. The Desloge and St. Joseph Railroads were both an integral part of the transfer of lead to St. Louis. In addition, the St. Louis Southwestern was known as the Cotton Belt, which ran from East St. Louis down the Mississippi River into Missouri, through Arkansas and into Texas. This allowed people to have transportation that they had not previously had.

These books have continued Hughes childhood interest and passion for trains. Its also allowed him to preserve the history of local railroads.

So far, Hughes has found 54 railroads that once operated in the southeast corner of Missouri.

Completing the research for and writing the books themselves is not an easy or even a single-person task.

Its definitely a family affair, he said.

Hughes daughter Deidre Hughes and daughter-in-law Molly Hughes assist with editing. Son Corum is senior editor and also helps with publishing and cover artwork. But hes also received help from people who lend him photos from their private collections, notes, maps and correspondence. People also share their childhood recollections of the trains and railroads of the past.

There are many people that I owe so much to, said Hughes. Without them, this book would not be possible.

The third and final book in The Railroads of Southeast Missouri series will focus on Louis Houck, who built many railroads in and near the Cape Girardeau area.

Louis read a few books and then started building, said Hughes, and the railroads he built were questionable on their safety.

Hell also include railroads such as Amtrak and Burlington Northern in the final book.

Books may be purchased in person at The Knob General Store in Knob Lick, Aesops Treasury Books and Games at The Factory in Farmington, Jacks Barbershop in Fredericktown, the Antique Shop in Cherokee Pass, and at the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Excursion Railway in Jackson.

All three books are available on Amazon for Kindle. Hughes authors page is www.amazon.com/author/rkhughes3.bard.

For information about purchasing books or scheduling Hughes for an event, contact him at 573-701-4129 or email rkhughes3.bard@gmail.com. Check out his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rkhughes3.bard.

I really enjoy preserving history, he said. I encourage everyone to write something down from their childhood. Preserve your own family history for your grandchildren and beyond.
Several Schuylkill County School Districts and Emergency Officials dealt with threats made on Friday.





The incidents began early Friday when school districts and prominent organizations across Pennsylvania began receiving text messages making serious threats.





The school districts that did receive the threats notified Schuylkill County Communications, and in turn, that information was relayed to all the school districts and law enforcement.





All the threats turned out to be unfounded.





Out of an abundance of caution, districts like Shenandoah Valley and Mahanoy Area initiated their security protocols and eventually sent their students home for the day.





Districts like North Schuylkill notified parents but kept their students in class for the day.





The threats were a trend across Pennsylvania on Friday. As the day went on, there were news reports out of Berks, Chester, Lehigh Counties as well where similar threats were received.





According to sources, the threats were believed to have been computer generated.





Schuylkill County Emergency Coordinator John Matz said their organization was in communication with Superintendents throughout the day.









"Precautions were taken and facilities searched. Each district made the determination on how to react and follow through. As the additional information was received from state agencies that similar threats were being received in areas throughout Pennsylvania, that was also relayed from our office to the superintendents of each district."







"There have been a number of unsubstantiated threats received throughout the Commonwealth, including several within Schuylkill County. School district officials had notified the Office of Emergency Services / 911 and local law enforcement and that initial information was relayed to all superintendents." Matz said.
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Airbnb is supporting calls for a tax on tourists that could raise the price of hotels, motels and holiday rentals as councils try to combat the housing affordability crisis.

The online accommodation platform has called for an opt-in tourism levy on all accommodation providers that local councils could use for key worker housing projects.

Randwick City Council will vote this week on whether to lobby the NSW government to impose a bed tax on short-term rental properties.

Randwick City Council will vote on a bed tax to address the impact of Airbnb-type rentals on housing affordability. Credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Randwick mayor Dylan Parker said residents were in the middle of a housing crisis where rentals were disappearing and affordable homes for purchase were almost non-existent.
Two of the north shores largest single-sex private schools will send dozens of their students to a residential camp on the outskirts of Sydney this year.

The program  where pupils from Pymble Ladies College and Saint Ignatius College Riverview spend four weeks at a property in the north-west  was set up by the century-old girls school in a bid to create more co-ed experiences.

Year 12 students at Pymble Ladies College in Sydney. Credit: Jessica Hromas

Students are away from home for a month. There are no mobile phones, and boys and girls join co-ed learning groups and outdoor lessons, PLCs principal Kate Hadwen said. Last year it was ridiculously over-subscribed.

Almost 250 year 9 students from both schools will attend these camps over the course of the year.
A historic property on the Georges River that was the site of early contact between Indigenous people and the First Fleet could be sold to developers as locals fight to protect the National Trust-listed land.

The owners of Glenlee in Lugarno have put the 2.5-hectare property up for sale for $10 million, touting its potential for land subdivision, retirement living or school and church retreats.

Residents and Georges River Council want the historic Glenlee property put into public ownership to protect its heritage. Credit: Brook Mitchell

But a residents group wants the property put into public ownership to protect its bushland, historic buildings and Indigenous heritage.

Georges River Council has listed Glenlee, which includes a 100-year-old cottage and hundreds of trees, as a local heritage item and has been investigating the purchase of the property with state and federal money.
Arson squad detectives are investigating the cause of a fire that engulfed a building and damaged three businesses on a popular shopping strip in Melbournes west in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Firefighters were called to a building in Devonshire Road, Sunshine, about 4am.

A fire that engulfed a commercial building in Devonshire Road, Sunshine, overnight is being treated as suspicious. Credit: Nine

Discount party supply store Crazy Buy caught fire before the blaze spread through the roof of the building into neighbouring businesses Cash Converters and the Sunshine Fruit Market.

Sixty-five firefighters took three hours to extinguish the fire, which had engulfed the back half of the building by the time crews arrived.
The Talmud is the main text of rabbinic Judaism and one of the most important sources of Jewish law. Divided into 63 tractates, it deals with thousands of scenarios, and records the discussions of ancient rabbis talking about the minutiae of Jewish daily living. The laws that come out of these discussions form the backbone of Jewish practice.

The study of the Talmud is notoriously difficult, as it has more than 2000 double-sided folios. The breadth of subject matter discussed is vast. To get through these texts can take a lifetime.

Nomi Kaltmann at home. Credit: Eamon Gallagher

However, in an effort to change the narrow focus on certain tractates of Talmud, in 1923 a Polish rabbi, Meir Shapiro, proposed that Jewish people should study one double-sided page of Talmud each day. This method, known as Daf Yomi (daily page), helped people become familiar with the entire Talmud, especially some of the more obscure tractates. Using this method, it takes a person 7 years to complete the entire Talmud.

This method of studying Talmud has taken off like wildfire. In 2023, we are working through the 14th Daf Yomi cycle, which has three more years to run. At the start of 2020, when the 14th cycle began, I threw my hat in the ring. Each day I sit with my Talmud and work my way through a difficult page. It is a grounding experience, one that brings me much joy as I delve into ancient concepts that are still practised.
The United Nations lead on LGBTQ human rights says NSW should tread carefully when considering religious exemptions to its proposed conversion therapy ban, expressing concern they could fail to stop harmful practices.

Victor Madrigal-Borloz, who has served as the UNs independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity since 2018, said conversion therapy, whether faith-based counselling or pseudo-scientific pharmacological intervention, was not backed by evidence.

Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, has called for a global ban on gay conversion therapy. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

None of those approaches can claim conversion as an outcome, said the Costa Rican jurist, who will present at the Sydney WorldPride festivals human rights conference this week.

Im actually most concerned by what may be considered more benign forms of intervention that still give children and youth the message that theres something deeply inadequate about them  that theres something corrupt about their own nature  when what they have are, in fact, healthy feelings and desires as they develop their sexuality.
This includes the introduction of mandatory cashless pre-commitment cards, she said. Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive Carol Bennett said councils had been forced to deal with the real-world consequences of soaring losses and gambling harm. The councils deal with all of that, and it is costly in social, health and economic terms, and it has a real impact on those communities, Bennett said. It makes sense on a whole range of levels that councils would support cashless gaming. Premier Daniel Andrews has been circumspect about the prospect of further pokie reforms. Credit: Scott McNaughton Bennett said it was disappointing that Andrews had not been a stronger supporter of further reforms, suggesting the government was not prepared to forgo the tax revenue and political donations from the gambling industry.

It is disappointing that the premier would take that position when the ALP supposedly supports some of the most vulnerable, disadvantaged communities in Victoria, she said. People deserve better. They deserve strong, better regulation around gambling and its impact. The push comes amid growing support among Victorians for reforms to tackle poker machine harm. A survey by Resolve Strategic, undertaken exclusively this month for The Sunday Age, found 42 per cent support for the introduction of cashless gaming in Victoria, with a further 36 per cent of respondents undecided and 22 per cent against. An earlier Resolve poll found 62 per cent of NSW voters supported the introduction of cashless gaming  20 percentage points higher than in Victoria  with only 16 per cent of voters against and 23 per cent undecided. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is promising to crack down on poker machine losses. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The issue of gambling machine harm has been a key focus of the campaign for the March 25 NSW state election. Premier Dominic Perrottet has promised to ban cash from pokies and force gamblers to commit to maximum losses before playing, among other reforms. Tasmania has also announced sweeping changes, including a mandatory pre-commitment system to prevent individual gamblers from spending more than $5000 a year on poker machines unless they apply to increase their limit. Loading In Victoria, the state government is pressing ahead with mandatory pre-commitment rules for the 2628 poker machines at Crown casino, following the recommendations of the Finkelstein royal commission into the venue. Although Perrottet has invited Victoria to join forces with NSW, Premier Daniel Andrews has been circumspect about the prospect of further changes. The states 27,291 poker machines located in clubs and hotels are covered by a voluntary pre-commitment system for problem gamblers called YourPlay that has been criticised as ineffective.

Resolve Strategic director Jim Reed said the poll showed Victorians were leaning towards supporting the introduction of cashless gaming, with double the number of people in favour of it than were against it. But he said the level support was weaker than in NSW because the concept was newer to Victorians. The issues of problem gambling and money laundering have been front and centre in the lead up to the NSW election, so its entered the psyche of voters there in a way it hasnt in Victoria yet, Reed said. Its a much more nascent debate south of the border. Reed said the issue had been prominent in NSW because there wasnt much else to differentiate the parties for voters. Our research shows that it isnt important enough to drive vote choices directly, but it is allowing people to make judgments about the two fairly new party leaders. Victorian councils other than those mentioned above are similarly worried. At Melton, where $52.4 million has been lost so far this financial year, the councils manger of community planning, Elyse Rider, said tackling problem gambling was a priority and the council also backed cashless gaming.

A spokeswoman for Victorian Gaming Minister Melissa Horne said the government noted the various motions moved by respective councils. We will continue to monitor the arrangements for hotels and clubs across the state to ensure we have the appropriate regulatory settings and reserve the right to make further changes, she said. Since 2012, Victoria has banned the use of ATMs in most gaming venues, but not Crown. The state has also introduced tougher maximum bet limits on machines and caps on the number of machines allowed at venues.

According to an analysis by Monash University gambling expert Professor Charles Livingstone, the average player in Victoria lost $2822 in 2021-22. That was much lower than in NSW, where the average player lost $4525 over the most recent full year of figures available, which in the case of NSW covered the 2021 calendar year for hotels, and the year to May 2021 for clubs. Previous analysis by The Age showed poker machine taxes also pumped proportionately more into the NSW budget than that of Victoria. Victoria is expected to raise about $1.2 billion from poker machine taxes next financial year, excluding poker machines at Crown, following a sharp drop in 2019-20 and 2021-22 linked to coronavirus restrictions. That compares with about $2 billion expected from NSW pub and hotel gaming machines in 2022-23. In Victoria, gaming machine revenue was equivalent to about 4 per cent of total tax revenue last financial year, compared with 5.1 per cent in NSW. By mid-2026, the proportion in Victoria is expected to fall to 3.8 per cent.
A junior at Louisa County High School is dead after a car crash on Friday night that left four other Louisa students injured.

Virginia State Police, which is investigating the incident, said the single-vehicle crash occurred just before 10:30 p.m.

The students, all between the ages of 16 and 17, were in a 2006 Pontiac Torrent traveling south on Bibb Store Road in Louisa County. Their vehicle sped over a hill before overcorrecting and running off the road, state police said in a statement. The car struck two trees before crashing and catching fire less than a mile away from Goldmine Road, police said.

One teen succumbed to their injuries at the scene while another was taken to the hospital via helicopter with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. The remaining three, including the driver, were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, the state police said.

Police determined the vehicles high speed was the main factor in the crash and said alcohol is not believed to be involved.

Louisa County High School Principal Lee Downey urged students, staff and their families keep the victims in their thoughts and prayers in an email sent out Saturday. Downey also requested they do the same for the four other students involved as they continue to receive medical attention.

Downey said in the same email that counselors would be available at the high school from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Counselors will also be available via phone on Saturday after 3 p.m., Downey said.

Additional counseling services will be available to the Louisa County High School community in the week ahead, Downey added.

The Louisa County Sheriffs Office said Saturday that the investigation is being handled by the state.

Louisa County High School did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Progress on Saturday.
Three minutes and two bidders was all it took for a Newtown family home to sell at auction on Saturday.

The five-bedroom house, at 70 Wells Street, had been guided at $2.5 million but rapid-fire bidding from two local families quickly pushed the sale price to $3.11 million  $360,000 above the reserve price.

It was one of 696 Sydney properties scheduled for auction in Sydney on Saturday.

By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 73.5 per cent from 437 reported results, while 84 auctions were withdrawn.
Fitz: Harry also had a fairly direct go at you in Spare? CT: Yeah, he said I was always wrong, which was quite a strange thing to say about somebody who broke the very right story of his relationship with Meghan. Tominey with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during the Conservative Party leadership hustings event in 2022. Credit: Getty Fitz: Nevertheless, as a trenchant critic of the Sussexes, you trended for weeks on Twitter, with Sussex supporters attacking you. Was that hard to cope with? CT: Thats the thing though, Im not a trenchant critic of the Sussexes. I just tell it like it is. Is it frustrating being labelled a liar for writing a story stood up by multiple reliable people but disputed by Harry and Meghan? Yes. But they dont have a monopoly on the truth. I couldnt give two hoots what trolls write on Twitter. I dont read any of that nonsense.

Fitz: Still, do you not have a sneaking sympathy for Harry as I must say, I do? Because the basic point he made in Spare was, Im not telling and selling family secrets. Theyve been saying things about me and my wife, theyve been setting the agenda, and I am simply setting the record straight! His point is that members of the royal family have their breakfast with six tabloid newspapers and broadsheets by their kippers; they read them to work out the narrative, and then do judicious leaks to change that storyline to suit themselves, often at his and his wifes expense. Harry and Meghan at the Invictus Games in 2017, not long after Tominey broke the story of their relationship, Credit: The Canadian Press/AP CT: Harry suggests that if any story about him and Meghan is negative, it is either a) wrong or b) briefed by the palace. The truth is, sometimes people attract negative publicity, perfectly justifiably. And he has this notion he has created that the palace is handing people like me stories on a plate. I can assure you, with my hand on my heart, the only interaction I have with the palace is when they complain about the stuff that Ive found out. Fitz: As one whos been a guest in your country for the last week or two, I have a sense that the economic times are grim, and that the timing of the coming coronation could not be worse for King Charles, as theres no mood for great gilded gold celebration when so many people are suffering. CT: I dont know about that. I mean, if you look at the last coronation, Sir Winston Churchill very much wanted that to be a pick-me-up after the horror of the Second World War. And actually, as we saw with the Queens funeral, people enjoyed all the pomp and pageantry. That doesnt mean that they want excessive amounts of cash to be splurged on a ceremony, but this is an event that we havent witnessed in seven decades. So I think it needs to be fairly sparkly and spectacular. It obviously also needs to be as inclusive as possible.

Fitz: Prince Philip once said something like the royals find themselves fighting an election every day of the week. With the Queen in their corner, they were winning that election. I dont think King Charles and Camilla are winning, do you? Tominey believes Charles - pictured here with Queen Consort Camilla - will be a thoughtful king. Credit: Getty CT: I agree with you that its really difficult to follow Queen Elizabeth II because even republicans like yourself, Peter will have found it hard to find personal fault with her. Whereas some people historically have found personal fault with Charles III, not least because of the breakdown of his marriage to Princess Diana. So, thats difficult. Fitz: Well, I only remember seeing one bad bit of footage about Queen Elizabeth, when she returned from her trip to Australia in 1954 and after six months away shook hands with Charles when he clearly wanted a hug from the mother. King Charles was on the throne for three days and we saw two hissy fits over pens! CT: Yes, its interesting that hes tried to make that aspect of the accession as accessible as possible by letting the cameras in. But obviously that comes at a cost because the public then see you warts and all.

Fitz: He seems to have a few more warts than I thought? CT: I think most people find him to be hardworking; to be decent in his approach to his public life and a fairly genial fellow. But I know youre a staunch republican Peter, so youre less likely to see it that way! Fitz: Take the queen consort though ... I was shocked by the whole Jeremy Clarkson thing. After he viciously attacked Meghan, Camilla was still happy to break bread with him and Piers Morgan, who has made an industry out of attacking Meghan! If someone had attacked a member of my family like those two did, I could never speak to them again. And yet, shes happy to be seen with them in public! How can that be? CT: I dont know. Youd have to ask her.

Fitz: What sort of king will Charles make? Royal correspondent Camilla Tominey says King Charles will wear his heart on his sleeve more than his mother. Credit: Getty CT: A thoughtful one, wearing his heart on his sleeve much more than his mother. Fitz: In our own Malcolm Turnbulls first speech as chair of the Australian Republic Movement, he made the point that if Britain becomes a republic, Britains president automatically becomes Australias president. So, do you think theres any chance that the monarchy will fall apart in Britain? CT: I dont. Following the fallout from Harry and Meghan, their popularity tanked, and the rest of the royals went up.

Fitz: But isnt a sign that the king is on the nose with the people, when both Ed Sheeran and Adele have knocked back invitations to perform at the coronation. For previous monarchs, it is inconceivable that the leading British entertainers of the day would ever knock back such an invitation, whatever their previous commitments? CT: I understand it is because of those commitments, and I mean, you cant get everyone every time, can you? Fitz: I know, youre a royal correspondent, are you a royalist? CT: No, Im a realist. As long as people want to read about these guys, Ill write about them. Im not mates with them and I dont take a personal position on them either way. I mean, covering the royals helps to pay my mortgage. Fitz: Yes, but do you honestly think that they are special people who are a cut above the rest of us?

Sometimes sisters-in-law have fights: Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Credit: Getty CT: No, I dont consider them to be any more special than anyone else I write about. And thats why these people fascinate us, even though they live a Downton-Abbey-esque lifestyle. Its because theyre just as fallible as the rest of us; because they have affairs; and sisters-in-law have fights; and brothers fall out and start having a punch off over a dog bowl. And theres a degree of dysfunctionality to them, which I think people can relate to in a strange way. Theyre not so much a nuclear family, theyre almost thermonuclear now, and thats what makes them so interesting to people. Fitz: But how long can that last? Walter Bagehot, the 19th century English essayist said, The monarchys mystery is its life. We must not let in the daylight upon magic. Now youre better than most at letting in daylight, so do you accept that the more you let in, the worse it is for them, or not? CT: I dont think Ive let in as much daylight as Prince Harry. My job is to get to the truth of any given story. And youve quoted somebody from the 19th century  lets go with somebody from the 20th century, the Duke of Edinburgh, who said, The royals cannot exist, like some sort of secret society. He was the man who let the cameras in, in 1969, to film the first fly-on-the-wall documentary on the royals. He understood it. Draw back the curtain a little  but dont do a Harry and reveal The Wizard of Oz. Fitz: But in terms of the mystery dissipating, you will have seen that South Park thing this week where in a portrayal of their wedding, Prince William tears off Kates arm and does unspeakable things with it. No generation of royals has had to face that kind of stuff. How can they maintain the illusion of the majesty of the whole royal thing when that sort of stuff is going around the world?

CT: South Park is a comedy, not a critique. The royals who take their work seriously, but not themselves, always seem to be the ones who manage to rise above the fray. Fitz: Thank you for your time. Have a good coronation. Quote of the week I always encourage people to work through those issues and treat everybody with respect, understanding and tolerance  and thats what our government has always been about. - Premier Dominic Perrotet, equivocating on just how strong the legislative ban on gay conversion therapy his government will propose. How can you treat with respect, medieval homophobic nonsense?
Simone Segouin, who has died aged 97, was a French Resistance fighter who was immortalised in photographs taken by Robert Capa and became a symbol of female defiance.

She was born into a farming family on October 3, 1925, in Thivars, near Chartres, a tomboyish only daughter with three brothers, and was largely brought up by her father, a decorated veteran of World War I.

Simone Segouin in 1944 in the iconic photo. Credit: International Newsphotos

When Germany invaded France in 1940 the 14-year-old Simone left school to work on the family farm, and in 1943 she joined the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP, Free-shooters and Partisans) - an alliance of militant communists and nationalists like Simone.

She was given false identity papers as Nicole Minet from Dunkirk (where records had been destroyed in the bombing at the start of the war, making it difficult to check details in identity cards).
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 East Palestine, Ohio: Julie Slouber didnt recognise the loud bang from the train tracks behind her house on the night that would change her town forever. Nor was she fazed by the wailing sirens of fire trucks and police cars speeding by in the aftermath, weaving through the streets of rural Ohio to the scene of an unfolding environmental disaster. Julia Slouber at her home in East Palestine. Credit:Joe Appel It wasnt until her neighbour knocked frantically on her door - warning her there was a monstrous fire nearby and she should leave immediately - that the 69-year-old began to panic. She told me that a train had derailed, so I went out the back to have a look and I could see the flames in the sky - they were taller than the ceramic factory, Slouber says. It was like the gates of hell had opened. The fiery inferno that Slouber witnessed that night - and forced much of her neighbourhood to evacuate - turned out to be the latest chemical debacle to leave an indelible scar on an American community.

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All around the country, there are other examples, from the Flint water crisis in Michigan, where the drinking supply for a predominantly black city was contaminated with lead, to the Love Canal scandal, in which an entire estate was built on a toxic dumping ground near Niagara Falls in New York. Now theres East Palestine, a former factory hamlet in one of the nations poorest regions, where a devastating chemical spill has left residents worried about their long-term health, concerned about their plunging property values, and sceptical that the government will give them the support they need. A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation on February 6. Many questions remain. Credit:AP Ive lived here for seven years, Slouber says, and I dont know if it will ever be the same. The disaster took place on Friday, February 3, when a Norfolk Southern train carrying highly hazardous material came off the tracks near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border at 8.55pm (local time). According to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board this week, a wheel bearing on one of the trains 149 cars had been gradually getting hotter as it travelled across the Midwest. The problem was, the operating crew didnt get a critical alert until a sensor recorded the wheel at 253 degrees Fahrenheit (123 degrees Celsius) above the ambient temperature - and by the time they managed to stop the 2.7 kilometre-long train, dozens of railcars had already come off the tracks.

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Eleven of those cars contained toxic chemicals such as butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol, and vinyl chloride - a colourless gas that is linked to higher risks of cancer. By Sunday, Ohios Republican governor Mike DeWine was faced with two bad options. The first was to do nothing and wait for an overheating railcar to explode, he says, which could have resulted in catastrophic shrapnel firing in every direction for almost two kilometres. The other was to conduct a controlled burn to release vinyl chloride in a bid to stop the explosion. Authorities chose the latter. Chris Wallace outside his home, which is downstream from the derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio. Credit:Joe Appel Three weeks later, a strange smell lingers in the air in East Palestine, like a combination of burning rubber and nail polish. A chemical sheen can still be seen on the surface of Sulphur Run, the creek that cuts through the middle of town. And despite the Environmental Protection Authority insisting that testing of the air and water has come back with no adverse health impact levels, residents are reporting everything from respiratory problems and skin rashes, to fish kills and chickens found dead in their coups. Sandra Chirico, who lives along the train tracks, still has a series of red welts that surfaced around her right heel in the aftermath of the spill. Melissa Smith in her shop, 1820 Candle Company. Credit:Joe Appel

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Melissa Smith, who runs a candle shop on the main strip, is anxiously waiting for the test results of her water to see if her farm well and springs are contaminated. Chris Wallace, whose house sits two metres from Sulphur Run, has been through two pairs of shoes since the derailment, telling The Age/Sydney Morning Herald: Ive never had foot odour in my life but my feet feel like theyre detoxing from the chemicals constantly. Its insane. And Moo Blake has been diagnosed with acute bronchitis as a result of the derailment and now carries an asthma inhaler to help her breathe. Moo Blake takes a dose of an inhaler. Blake was diagnosed with bronchitis due to chemical fumes after the spill. Credit:Joe Appel Standing in the carpark of McDonalds this week, Blake recalls hearing the loud clang the night the train derailed but thought it was a dump truck. Then she walked outside and saw the bright orange sky lit up by flames in the distance. But it wasnt until Sunday that the 40-year-old started to get itchy eyes, a tight chest, and began coughing up grey phlegm. Her breathing got so bad she ended taking herself to Salem Hospital, about 20 minutes away, where she was quarantined and put on a ventilator and oxygen tank. Blake says if authorities had told her to leave immediately, she would have. But the initial message to residents who didnt live in the immediate vicinity of the crash site belied the gravity of the situation: evacuate if you want, or stay indoors.

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They should have told us the first time: theres dangerous chemicals so yall need to leave, she says. But they didnt, so we stayed in the house for a couple of days - I didnt have any money to go anywhere else - and thats how we ended up breathing it in. If they had just been honest in the first place, a lot of us would have gone. But therein lies part of the tragedy. East Palestine isnt just a story of environmental disaster in small-town America. Its also another tale of companies putting profit above regulation and forgotten communities who believe theyve been abandoned by the government. Portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Credit:AP These Norfolk Southern trains to Pennsylvania pass by 25 million Americans - and theyre some of the poorest Americans in the country, says Emily Wright, the director of the non-partisan group, River Valley Organising. Weve got workers like my father who have bilateral asbestosis just from working at the steel mill. Weve got people living next to waste incinerators. And weve got trains coming through with highly explosive chemicals. Its layered environmental degradation, and were just expected to live with it. Located about one hour from Pittsburgh, East Palestine is emblematic of the white, working-class voters who helped propel Trump to power in 2016.

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Victoria Gold: Eagle Gold Mine Updated Technical Report

Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX-VGCX) (aVictoriaa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/victoria-gold-corp/ ) is pleased to announce the results of its updated Technical Report (a2023 Eagle Technical Reporta) on the Eagle Gold Mine, including an increase in Mineral Resources, updated Mineral Reserves, and updated Life of Mine (aLOMa) plan. The 2023 Eagle Technical Report highlights an increasing gold production profile, long mine life, and robust economics.

aWe are pleased to provide a mine plan update that confirms strong production growth at the Eagle Gold Minea, stated John McConnell, President and CEO. aThis increased production is achievable utilizing our existing crushing and conveying circuit and mining fleet. The Eagle orebody continues to reconcile extremely well with our reserve model and gold production is in line with original recovery expectations. We have also seen a significant increase in mineral resources with the success of our recent exploration drilling, substantiating the operationa?s long-term production profile and mine life.a

The Company uses certain non-IFRS performance measures throughout this news release. Please refer to the aNon-IFRS Performance Measuresa section of this new release for more information. All currency figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

A supporting NI 43-101 Technical Report will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days of this press release.

Summary of 2023 Updated Life of Mine Plan:

The updated mine plan considers cost and operating data from the last three years of operations at the Eagle Gold Mine. Optimizations incorporated into this 2023 Eagle Technical Report include year-round stacking on the heap leach facility (aHLFa), stockpiling of lower grade material for end of mine life processing, and utilization of a mobile crusher to supplement and increase production rates. Key highlights of the updated plan are:

After-tax net present value (aNPVa) at a 5% discount of $954 million ($1,257 million pre-tax), at US$1,700 per ounce of gold and a US$:C$ exchange rate of 0.75.

Average gold production of 202,000 ounces per year over the first 8 years, with peak production of 219,000 gold ounces in 2025.

Average free cash flow (aFCFa) of $166 million per year for the first 8 years with a total of $1,602 million of FCF over the LOM.

Total gold production of 2,048,000 ounces over a mine life of 12 years. This total does not include gold production prior to 31 December 2022.

LOM All-in Sustaining Cost (aAISCa) of US$1,114 per ounce of gold providing significant operating and profit margins at current gold prices.

Throughput increase to steady-state level of 11.5 million tonnes processed per annum during 2025.

Industry leading strip ratio of 0.99.

Total Proven and Probable Reserves, as at December 31, 2022, of 124 million tonnes at 0.65 grams of gold per tonne for 2,584,000 contained gold ounces.

Total Mineral Resources, as at December 31, 2022, of 245 million tonnes at 0.59 grams of gold per tonne for 4,665,000 gold ounces in the Measured and Indicated category. An additional 36 million tonnes at 0.63 grams of gold per tonne for 704,000 gold ounces are included in the Inferred category.

Updated Mineral Resource Estimate:

Since the 2019 Eagle Mineral Resource Estimate (aMREa), an additional 35 drill holes were drilled proximal to the Eagle deposit for a total of 16,885 meters. The primary focus of this drilling was to test for mineralization extensions of the Eagle deposit to the west. A portion of these holes were also drilled within the existing deposit to test for mineralization at depth. Both the extension and depth drilling achieved positive results and were utilized in the updated MRE. The Eagle deposit remains open both to the Southwest and at depth.

In addition, an updated Olive MRE was prepared utilizing drilling completed since the 2016 Feasibility Study (aFSa). The 2019 Olive MRE was the same as the 2016 Olive FS MRE. 92 additional drill holes and 19 surface trenches were included in the updated Olive MRE.

The Company\-s updated Eagle MRE gold ounces have increased by 17% in the Measured and Indicated category, and 38% in the Inferred category over the 2019 Eagle MRE, after depletion through December 31, 2022. The updated Olive MRE gold ounces have increased by 10% in the Measured and Indicated category and decreased by 1% in the Inferred category. The total Measured and Indicated resources have increased to 4,665,000 ounces, with an additional 704,000 ounces in the Inferred category. The new Eagle MRE represents an additional 629,000 ounces of Measured and Indicated and 136,000 ounces of Inferred over the 2019 Eagle MRE with most ounces coming from expansion of the resource beyond the 2019 MRE pit shell.

Further information is attached

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 the intended use of proceeds from the Term Facility and the Revolving Credit Facility, the amended terms and conditions of the Loan Facility, and 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.
Neo-Nazi groups across the U.S. are planning a national Day of Hate against Jewish communities in American cities on Saturday.

Charlottesville and University of Virginia police departments on Friday said they had not heard of any planned events in the area but they were aware of the planned demonstrations in other cities and were monitoring the matter locally.

Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis said he was in touch with the Virginia Fusion Center, which is described by the Department of Homeland Security as a collaborative effort of state and federal agencies working in conjunction with local partners to share resources, expertise, and/or information to better identify, detect, prevent, and respond to terrorist and criminal activity utilizing an all crimes/all hazards approach.

If theres something going on, Im going to be made aware of it, Kochis said.

At this point, were on alert, said Chris Easton, assistant chief of police at the UVa Police Department. We are aware and we are monitoring. Weve not heard of anything thats supposed to happen. Were being vigilant.

News began to circulate this past week that neo-Nazi groups across the country, specifically the National Socialist Movement, were planning a nationwide campaign in Jewish communities.

The National Socialist Movement is the largest neo-Nazi group in the U.S., according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Law enforcement agencies in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles said they would be increasing patrols in their respective cities this weekend in response.

According to a leaked internal memo by the New York City Police Departments Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau, online organizers are instructing likeminded individuals to drop banners, place stickers and flyers, or scrawl graffiti as a form of biased so-called action.

Illinois State Police and the Chicago Police Department also said in statements that they were aware of and monitoring planned events on Saturday but there was no actionable intelligence yet.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles said that the local police and FBI offices were both well aware of the situation and urged communities to stand together against anti-Jewish hate.

In Charlottesville, police said they encouraged the public to report any suspicious activity in the area.

The advice we would give is for people, if they see anything suspicious or out of place, please call. Were respond accordingly and investigate, Easton said. We welcome any information that anybody has.
Rob Bell, the Republican who has represented the 58th District in Virginias House of Delegates for more than 20 years, has announced he will not be running for reelection.

The Albemarle County resident, who practices law in Charlottesville, has represented the 58th District in the House since 2002. After redistricting in 2021, Bell would have had to compete this year in the new 55th District, home to a much bluer constituency.

Bell announced his retirement on the floor of the House on Saturday before the legislature adjourned.

It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve in the House of Delegates. I want to thank the voters who allowed me to represent them in Richmond for the last 22 years, Bell said in a prepared statement.

He made no reference to the redistricting that has left him in a much more challenging position politically.

Im also profoundly grateful that my family has allowed me to serve over the last 22 years, said Bell. Things have been a lot more complicated as the kids have grown. Their support has been a crucial to my ability to serve over all of these years. I look forward to seeing everybody once I am home from Richmond.

Bells 58th District covers parts of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Orange and Rockingham counties.

With his departure from the race, there are now no Republicans in the running to represent the new 55th District, which covers parts of Albemarle, Louisa, Nelson and Fluvanna counties.

The two Democrats in the race welcomed Saturdays news.

HAPPY RETIREMENT, ROB! tweeted Kellen Squire, an emergency room nurse and Albemarle resident who is running for the 55th District seat after losing the 58th District race to Bell in 2017.

Squire said Bells decision was clearly the product of some political calculus after the new district was drawn to take the loss early and move on.

I wish I could say Im surprised. Wed heard that Delegate Bell was concerned about running for re-election in a district whose borders he didnt personally draw, Squire said in a statement.

Squires remarks refer to Bells role in Operation REDMAP, a 2010 Republican initiative to increase GOP control of seats in state and federal legislatures through redistricting. Bell served on the House Privileges and Elections Committee during the 2010-2011 session in Richmond and was responsible for helping redraw districts in the commonwealth.

In November 2020, Virginians voted by a 2-to-1 margin to amend the state constitution to establish a commission responsible for redistricting. After the Virginia Redistricting Commission failed to vote on a plan in 2021, the responsibility of drawing maps fell to the Supreme Court of Virginia. The court is responsible for the latest redistricting.

The Virginia GOP calculated that theyd have to spend millions of dollars in our district  and waste it in the face of the campaign weve built, Squire said in his statement.

Squires competition in the Democratic primary was more measured in her response.

Amy Laufer, a former teacher and Charlottesville School Board member, said Bells service to the commonwealth deserved respect.

Despite our profound differences, anyone who puts themselves forward and serves their community is deserving our respect. However, as weve progressed, its clear Del. Bell no longer represents our values and that we need new leadership, Laufer said in a statement.

Laufer was elected to the Charlottesville School Board in 2011 and served on the board until she resigned in 2019 after announcing her family was moving to Albemarle County. Laufer previously ran for the state Senates 17th District seat in 2019, losing to Republican Bryce Reeves. She also ran for Charlottesville City Council in 2017, coming in third in a tight race.

Both Squire and Laufers teams said Bell was out of touch with the residents of the new 55th District.

Message and messenger are not two distinct categories; whos doing the talking matters just as much, if not more, then [sic] the words that come out of their mouth, and how they make voters feel, Samantha Litchford with the Squire campaign said in a statement.

We need a representative that will stand up for a womans right to choose, address the gun violence plaguing our community, and fight for forward-thinking legislation to halt the climate crisis, Laufer said in her statement.

Albemarle County Chair Donna Price, also a Democrat, had said she planned to run for the 55th District seat but later withdrew from the race.

The Democratic primary will be held on June 20.

Voters in the 55th District will decide their next representative in the House on Nov. 7.

Bell was first elected to the General Assembly in 2001 after previously working as a prosecutor in Orange County. As a delegate, Bell served as chairman of the Courts of Justice Committee as well as the Virginia State Crime Commission.

In his statement announcing he would not to seek reelection, Bell cited what he considers his political victories. That list includes cracking down on repeat-offense drunk driving, keeping sex offenders off school property, making it illegal to distribute so-called revenge porn, establishing minimum standards for mental health care in Virginia jails and coordinating jail-provided mental health services with community services after inmate release.

He has also passed laws to expand Virginias protective orders and to help crime victims recover restitution and require life in prison for those convicted of raping children, his office said in a statement. In 2015, he authored the law to address sexual assaults on college campuses, and in 2016, Bell led the effort to expand Virginias stalking laws and empower crime victims.

Bell has received legislative awards from several groups including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the Psychiatric Society of Virginia and the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance.

His term will officially end on Jan. 10 of next year.
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Global hit Death in Paradise has been recommissioned for two more series and two feature-length Christmas special episodes for BBC One and iPlayer.This series saw the nations favourite detective, DI Neville Parker (Ralf Little), not only deceived by his girlfriend, but also framed for murder! The Honore police team once again cracked every case; from the death of a doomsday prepper in a locked room, to a murder on a boat in the middle of the sea and a dance-floor death, keeping the residents of Saint Marie safe for another year.Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama says: With its sparkling blend of mystery, humour and heart, Death In Paradise continues to delight the millions of us who make the return trip to Saint Marie with every sun-drenched episode. It is a programme that goes from strength to strength, and I could not be happier that it will return for another two series and specials on BBC One and iPlayer.Filmed on the French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe, Death in Paradise follows Saint Maries crime fighting team as they solve the most complex and mysterious murder cases, joined by an impressive array of guest stars each week. In 2024, the series will continue to offer much-needed escapism, compelling whodunnits and perplexing puzzles, keeping viewers on their toes for years to come.Tim Key, Executive Producer, Red Planet Pictures says: The response to series 12 has been incredible, so were delighted that well be heading back to Guadeloupe for at least two more series! Weve got an amazing and joyful Christmas special in store, and then series 13 begins with our 100th episode, so weve got plenty of surprises ready to celebrate that milestone. Weve got huge plans for the future and cant wait to get going again.Death in Paradise is one of the widest-selling British dramas. BBC Studios over the past ten years has successfully distributed the show to over 240 territories around the world including Australia, France, South Africa and the US. The series has proved incredibly successful across the world, often being one of the top performing dramas on its respective channel in each region.Death in Paradise is a Red Planet Pictures production for BBC One and iPlayer, produced with the support of the region of Guadeloupe and internationally distributed by BBC Studios. It was created by Robert Thorogood, and executive produced by Tim Key and Ceri Meyrick for Red Planet Pictures and Tommy Bulfin for the BBC.All series of Death In Paradise are currently available on BBC iPlayer.
One of the biggest impacts that I hope Ive had is that students will see the opportunities they have beyond Tivy High School, beyond Kerrville, beyond Texas, beyond the United States. This is a global economy, a global world and a global society.

 GREG MARQUARDT, teacher at Tivy High School and a finalist in H-E-Bs Excellence in Education Awards

Impact on his students
When Garrett Enloe first attended a concert at Mississippi Nights, he was 10 years old and his mom took him there to see jazz vocalist Flora Purim. It was 1983, and he couldnt have guessed that the Lacledes Landing club would come to be regarded as a linchpin of St. Louis music history. Or that he and his future wife, Stacy, would memorialize the club, the bands that played there, its workers and habitues.

Mississippi Nights: A History of the Music Club in St. Louis, was published last fall. The 288-page coffee-table book is full of band stories, fan recollections and historical information about the club and the building that housed it.

Lushly illustrated, the book has more than 1,000 images of all manner of memorabilia: band photos, fan snaps, autographs, newspaper clippings and ticket stubs (full disclosure: this reporter contributed a few dozen of those). Included also is an appendix with a comprehensive list of all the bands that performed there during its run, from 1976-2007.

Garrett Enloe, who grew up to prefer heavy metal to jazz, attended concerts more to his liking once he was on his own recognizance. Stacy Enloe was in the groove from the jump: Her first Mississippi Nights show was a 1989 show headlined by Manowar.

The Webster Groves couple, who married in 2000, even met at a concert, when Jackyl played the American Theatre in 1994.

But although both were music lovers, the book happened in a roundabout way. Some years back, Garrett attended a trivia night and auction hosted by the St. Louis Classic Rock Society where he won the awning that once hung outside of Mississippi Nights.

It just kind of went from there, he says.

The Enloes started a Mississippi Nights Fan Page group on Facebook, which others joined and posted photos and remembrances of shows they attended and bands they had seen.

I started the page just to be nosy and see other peoples stuff, Garrett says. And it just kept going and going.

He suggested the idea of a book to Stacy, who was skeptical at first but eventually was persuaded to go ahead with it.

Thanks to their knowledge of bands that had played there and suggestions made by participants in the Facebook group, the pair tracked down and talked to others about their connections to the Nights.

I would interview people about a local band that sold out the place, and theyre like, crying, Garrett recalls. That happened two or three times. I said to myself, I think we have something here.

So what made Mississippi Nights so special to the bands that played there and the fans who turned out time and time again?

It was the intimacy of the venue, Stacy says.

You could get right up there with the bands and you can meet them before or after the show if you stuck around or got there early. And the sound was amazing. You could always count on it to be a really good show.

They all loved the place so much because it was a little bit of a home for them, she says. The office manager, Pat Lacey, and owner, Rich Frame, really worked on making it a family kind of environment. Everybody that came through felt welcome.

For local artists who had played elsewhere in town, Mississippi Nights was the goal, the pinnacle, the Mecca, Stacy says. Among the St. Louis bands that played many times at the Nights are A Perfect Fit, Arrow Memphis, Bellyfeel, Bent, Big Fun, Dr. Zhivegas, The Eyes/Pale Divine,, Faustus, Ferrari, the Finns, Fragile Porcelain Mice, Jakes Leg, Murder City Players, Reggae at Will, the Schwag, Sinister Dane, the Unconscious and the Urge.

Touring bands, including Rock & Roll Hall of Famers such as AC/DC and Nirvana, played the Nights as their stars were on the rise. (And yes, the book delves into the near-riot that happened during the 1991 Nirvana show, which Dave Grohl seems to mention just about every time the Foo Fighters play St. Louis.)

Beyond that, everyone from the Ramones, the Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Iggy Pop to Willie Nelson, John Lee Hooker, Burning Spear and Sonny Rollins performed at the Nights.

Fans, meanwhile, shared their stories with the Enloes. Some of them are so wild that they must be true. I wanted the book to have a little bit of hair, Garrett says with a laugh. Its a bar. So there is going to be some puking in the parking lot.

The book is self-published and all the better for it being so. The Enloes originally approached an established publisher who wanted to cut more than half of the photos out of the book and change the cover. We were afraid of what else there were going to take away from the book, Stacy says. So were happy we didnt sign on the dotted line.

In doing it themselves, she adds, We had to learn a whole lot and put on a lot of different hats that wouldnt have had to do otherwise. Its been interesting for sure.

The book is available at most local record and bookstores. Amazon and Barnes & Noble carry it (albeit not in stores). Author-signed copies are available at mississippinights.com.
ATLANTA  Almost as soon as the foreperson of the special grand jury in the Georgia election meddling investigation went public this week, speculation began about whether her unusually candid revelations could jeopardize possible prosecution of former President Donald Trump or others.

Emily Kohrs first spoke out in an interview published Tuesday by The Associated Press, a story that was followed by interviews in other print and television news outlets.

In detailed commentary, she described some of what happened behind the closed doors of the jury room  how witnesses behaved, how prosecutors interacted with them, how some invoked their constitutional right not to answer certain questions.

Lawyers for Trump say the revelations offered by Kohrs shattered the credibility of the entire special grand jury investigation. People hoping to see the former president indicted worried on social media that Kohrs may have tanked a case against the former president.

But experts said that while Kohrs' chattiness in news interviews probably aggravated Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who's leading the investigation, they were not legally damaging.

Willis likely "wishes that this woman hadn't gone on the worldwide tour that she did," said Amy Lee Copeland, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney in Georgia who's not involved in the case. "But is this a headache that is grinding the machine to a halt? It's not. It's just one of the many frustrations that attends the practice of law."

Trump's attorneys in Georgia, however, are jumping on the interviews.

Drew Findling and Jennifer Little, who represent Trump in the Fulton County case, said they had concerns about the panel's proceedings from the start but have kept quiet out of respect for the grand jury process. After Kohrs' interviews, they felt compelled to speak out.

"The end product is, the reliability of anything that has taken place in there is completely tainted and called into question," Findling said. But he also said he wasn't attacking "a 30-year-old foreperson."

"She's a product of a circus that cloaked itself as a special purpose grand jury," he said.

Findling and Little hadn't filed any challenges in the case by Thursday but said they're "resolute" as to Trump's innocence and keeping their options open.

The special grand jury was impaneled at the request of Willis, who is investigating whether Trump and his Republican allies committed crimes as they tried to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.

The panel didn't have the power to indict but instead offered recommendations for Willis, a Democrat, who will decide whether to seek charges from a regular grand jury.

The former president's lawyers expressed concern that the special grand jury was allowed to watch and read news coverage of the case and was aware of some witnesses' efforts not to testify. Kohrs said prosecutors told the jurors they could read and watch the news but urged them to keep open minds.

Kohrs also shared anecdotes from the proceedings that she found amusing and was very expressive in television interviews, sometimes laughing or making faces.

"It's not a joking matter," Findling said. "It's not a matter for giggles. It's not a matter for smiles."

In the federal system, grand jurors are prohibited from talking about what witnesses say or anything that happens in the room. But the Georgia special grand jury oath says only that they cannot talk about their deliberations.

Copeland, the former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, noted that Kohrs was cautious  consulting a notebook where she'd written the judge's instructions before answering some questions  and didn't describe the discussion and debate that led to the special grand jury's outcomes.

"I wish she really hadn't talked about anything," Copeland added. "But she doesn't talk about the deliberations. She doesn't talk about the votes. She simply talks about other things that were happening in the grand jury session."

University of Georgia law professor emeritus Ron Carlson said that if Kohrs had revealed the names of anyone for whom the special grand jury recommended charges, it's possible those people could try to use that as grounds to dismiss an indictment. But he wasn't optimistic about the chances for success.

"I think that any kind of motion to dismiss an indictment based on her comments would have an uphill battle," Carlson said.
ST. LOUIS  The high-profile lawsuit putting the future of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner into question moved forward Friday with the appointment of Missouri Court of Appeals Judge John P. Torbitzky to the case.

The Missouri Supreme Court appointed Torbitzky Friday to preside over Missouri Attorney General Andrew Baileys lawsuit seeking to oust Gardner from office. A judge from a different jurisdiction was needed after all St. Louis Circuit Court judges recused themselves from the case Thursday, arguing they could be called as witnesses in the proceedings.

Torbitzky was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District in August 2021 by Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson after a career in private practice. He graduated from St. Louis University School of Law in 2012.

Legal experts and similar cases from the St. Louis region indicate the quo warranto proceedings could take months, but will likely culminate in what looks much like a civil bench trial before Judge Torbitzky.

Bailey requested a preliminary order in the case, asking Torbitzky to immediately remove Gardner from office while the case proceeds, but legal experts say it would be rare for a judge to grant such a request in this type of case.

The Attorney General is basically saying to the judge: This is such an emergency that Im calling on you to remove her immediately before you hear this case, St. Louis University School of Law professor Professor Brendan Roediger said Friday. It would be pretty extraordinary in this type of case involving an elected official to do that.

Baileys suit questions Gardners right to hold office based on claims of neglecting her duties, including failing to contact victims and their families, bungling prosecutions and growing a backlog of more than 3,000 cases that have not been reviewed for possible charges.

Bailey filed the lawsuit as a quo warranto petition, which challenges a public officials right to hold office in Missouri. The term, Latin for by what warrant, has been used to describe cases questioning an officials authority dating back to the Middle Ages in England.

The legal maneuver is rare, but it has been used in some cases in recent decades during efforts to oust elected officials and appointees from their duties in Missouri.

Former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch brought several such cases during his 28 years in office, including successfully stripping Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District board member Robert Edwards of his position in 2010. Edwards was accused of conducting meetings and making board decisions without a quorum.

These take precedence over every other case on the docket, McCulloch said. They move quickly compared to a regular civil suit.

McCulloch, who supports Gardners removal from office, calling her incompetent Friday, said the next step in the process will likely be Gardners attorney filing a response and a motion to dismiss Baileys claims on her behalf.

Gardners office has not yet announced who will be representing her in the case, but a spokesperson said Friday that they were beginning to plan their response to the suit.

The judge will eventually determine how much access Bailey will have to discovery  requesting evidence from Gardners office  said Peter Joy, head of Washington Universitys Criminal Justice Clinic.

Assuming its fought all the way, I dont think it would be resolved in anything less than two or three months, Joy said. There may be some way of getting courts to move at a quicker pace, but I suspect this is something that is going to be around for some time. Shes likely to try to do whatever she can to fight this.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Katie Kull contributed to this report.
CLAYTON  Just a few months after elected officials promised to work together, a special meeting of the St. Louis County Council on Saturday deteriorated into disarray after a disagreement led to two members leaving and the council chair filibustering before abruptly adjourning.

The countys legislative body was supposed to learn about Missouris government transparency law, known as the Sunshine Law, and also discuss new rules for public comment at their weekly meetings, a controversial topic councilmembers vowed to consider carefully. But they barely made it through their first agenda item, a discussion of council goals for the year, before the meeting went off the rails.

I wanted to make sure that my councilmembers came and worked in good faith today, Democratic council Chair Shalonda Webb said, and unfortunately I dont see that happening.

The trouble started as a simple disagreement.

The council disagreed about starting a private discussion to talk about the Missouri Sunshine Law. The countys attorney, Maggie Brueggemann, recommended the council go into closed session so she could provide her interpretation of the law. Legal advice can be considered privileged information and can be discussed in private.

Republican councilmen wanted the discussion to happen publicly and rejected going into closed session. After a short break, Webb began reading aloud an 80-page book on the law produced by the Missouri Attorney Generals office, including the table of contents and page numbers.

About 10 minutes after Webb began reading, Democratic Councilwoman Lisa Clancy said she was going to step away and left the chambers. The remaining three councilmembers continued listening to Webb for some time, and then Republican Councilman Ernie Trakas interrupted her.

All of us are capable of reading the book ourselves, Trakas said. I see no point in taking up valuable time.

Webb said because the council didnt want to go into closed session to hear their attorneys advice, she wanted to read the book in its entirety to share the mechanics of the law.

Webb stopped reading the book but continued talking for nearly 20 minutes though other councilmembers raised their hands to be recognized. She repeated points about the importance of working together and government efficiency, and she talked more about the Sunshine Law: reading off phone numbers and web addresses where the public can get more information.

Republican Councilman Mark Harder tried to get Webbs attention verbally.

Madame Chair, there are other opinions that would like to be recognized, Harder said as Webb took a drink of water.

Webb ignored him, set her bottle of water down and continued talking. Harder gathered his belongings and left the chambers, leaving only Webb, Trakas and Republican Councilman Dennis Hancock. Two other councilmembers, Democrats Rita Heard Days and Kelli Dunaway, were absent. After another few minutes of Webb talking, Hancock interrupted her.

The fact that the meeting deteriorated the way that it did had nothing to do with the people that were here, Hancock said. There was no disrespect that I picked up on. There was no personal animosity, there was no, Were going to do some kind of a stunt here.

There was just a difference of opinion on what should be discussed in closed session, Hancock said.

Webb thanked him for his comment, and then gave up trying to keep the meeting going altogether, though the council was scheduled to break for lunch then return to discuss public forum rules. The attorney asked Webb if she expected the meeting to continue later.

No, maam, we will not be returning, Webb said, preparing to leave.

Trakas said Harder was still there, and they could continue the meeting, as Harder returned to his seat. Webb ignored him and left the chambers.

The councils next meeting is Tuesday, and Webb said she plans to continue holding quarterly special meetings on council business.
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

ST. LOUIS  After several days of silence, a key ally of Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner has spoken on the accident that critically injured a visiting teenager in downtown St. Louis and the controversy swirling around the St. Louis prosecutor.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, released a statement Friday afternoon that said she was heartbroken about the accident, adding that the victim and her family deserve full accountability.

But, the situation, Bush said, isnt about any one prosecutor or judge.

The harm that Janae Edmondson has endured is emblematic of a system-wide failure.

Janae, a 17-year-old athlete from Tennessee who was visiting St. Louis with her parents, had both legs amputated after she was struck by a car driven by a man who had violated his bond more than 50 times.

Bush has been a visible and vocal supporter of Gardner in the past and has appeared on several occasions with the circuit attorney.

In August 2020, Bush, Gardner and St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones appeared together to celebrate their elections.

Then in 2021, after Jones had been elected mayor, the three joined local activists and met at both St. Louis jails to witness conditions and highlight efforts at corrections reform.

But on Wednesday, in their first public split, Jones criticized Gardner for the handling of the case.

Stopping just short of calling for her resignation, Jones said Gardner really needs to do some soul-searching of whether or not she wants to continue as Circuit Attorney  because shes lost the trust of the people.

In her statement, Bush, however, declined to direct any remarks toward Gardners action, instead saying: Accountability is layered, and in order to obtain the full accountability this situation rightfully demands, each layer must be addressed.

Further on the layer theme, Bush said, There were decisions all across our criminal legal system that contributed to this tragedy  and our community deserves answers.

It is clear that our citys institutions must work more closely together to advance community safety policies that would have prevented the horrific violence that Janae Edmondson has faced.

While avoiding the placement of any specific blame on Gardner or her office, Bush did direct some of the statement toward Gardners critics:

We cannot allow this tragedy to be weaponized by reactionary forces whose sole mission is to expand brutal and arbitrary (prison) strategies that make us less safe, Bush said.

And we must reject disingenuous, misogynistic, and racist calls by state officials to circumvent the will of St. Louisans, she said.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey already has begun a civil lawsuit to oust Gardner, accusing her of failing to perform her duties.

Updated at 4:51 p.m.
ST. CHARLES  Cleaning up contaminants in St. Charles drinking water well field is the EPAs top priority but officials say they havent ruled out requiring Ameren to pay for digging new wells elsewhere.

That was among points made at a sometimes acrimonious public meeting held by the federal Environmental Protection Agency Thursday night that drew more than 500 people. St. Charles has closed four of its wells in the past year or so because of contamination concerns.

Officials with EPA and the city agree that St. Charles drinking water is safe now; at issue is how to maintain that.

Tonya Howell, an EPA remedial project manager, said in addition to doing EPA-ordered cleanup work under an Ameren substation linked to the contamination, the electric utility also is required to do a feasibility study of long-term options.

They will be looking at ... if a new well field makes sense, Howell said. Thats certainly one of the options that will be on the table.

After the meeting, Howell said in an interview that EPA told Ameren to weigh the idea because its something that we know the public is interested in.

The study will also address how to deal with contamination that migrated north of Highway 370, she said.

St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer plans to relocate the citys wells. He wants the EPA to require Ameren to pay for that, for upgrading the city water treatment plant and covering other costs, but says the city will use its own money if it has to.

EPA officials took questions at the public meeting, held in the St. Charles Borromeo School gym. One resident, Joseph Middleton, 38, asked, Given Amerens role as the polluter in this, how are we as the public to trust that theyll faithfully execute a feasibility study at this point?

Howell responded that the EPA wont automatically go along with Amerens recommendation. If we disagree, we will not put forth that remedy and will order something else, she said.

Ameren for years has been doing cleanup in the area because of groundwater contamination from chemicals used in cleaning products at the substation decades ago. The company says it has spent about $500,000 in the past year alone.

The EPA earlier this month told Ameren to take additional steps after finding more contamination.

The city has shut down six of its seven wells, including four in the past year or so as a precaution, and increased the amount of water purchased from St. Louis.

The EPA says it didnt order the shutdown of wells, because contaminants found in groundwater were within legally allowable amounts. Borgmeyer says the city wants the contaminant level as low as possible.

Borgmeyer, speaking at the meeting, called on EPA to quit slow-rolling this process and get it done. He also complained that Amerens top executives, Mark Birk and Martin Lyons, hadnt contacted St. Charles officials.

In contrast, he said, the CEO of the Norfolk Southern railroad visited East Palestine, Ohio, to commit to helping that community after a recent derailment of a train carrying toxic materials.

In response, Craig Giesmann, environmental services director for Amerens Missouri operations, on Friday said the firms technical and legal teams had met with St. Charles representatives multiple times over the last few weeks. He also said the company is in regular and sometimes daily contact with the EPA.

We are moving as rapidly as we can to implement remedial measures at and near the substation, Giesmann said.
In rivers and groundwater, in human bloodstreams and products ranging from cosmetics to food packaging to carpets, researchers are increasingly finding forever chemicals that dont break down naturally and are shown to cause health issues.

Several states passed landmark laws in recent years, and now dozens of legislatures are considering hundreds of bills to crack down on using such compounds. The legislation would strengthen product disclosure laws, increase liability for polluters, bolster testing plans and enact water quality standards.

Thousands of chemicals make up the group known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. They have been found in an increasing number of watersheds and aquifers, as well as in the blood of nearly every American.

Some PFAS compounds, research shows, can increase the risk of cancer, damage immune systems, cause metabolic disorders and decrease fertility.

Theres a lot of urgency, said Sarah Doll, national director of Safer States, an alliance of environmental health groups focused on toxic chemicals. Im seeing more states try to take really big bites at managing the PFAS crisis.

Dolls group tracked more than 260 proposals in 31 states related to toxic chemicals, many focused on PFAS. Eleven of those states will consider restrictions or bans on PFAS across many economic sectors. Those bills follow a Maine law passed in 2021 that was the first in the country to ban PFAS in all new products, which will take effect in 2030.

Weve got a problem in this state, and weve got to address it, said Minnesota state Rep. Jeff Brand, a Democrat who sponsored a bill to ban products with intentionally added PFAS by 2025. Weve got to do all of these things at once. Every time somebody goes to the store and buys something of this nature, they're inadvertently putting this stuff into their bodies.

Brands bill covers a wide swath of products and would take effect Jan. 1, 2025. Minnesota settled a lawsuit with the 3M Company in 2018, requiring the company to pay $850 million for the alleged effects of its PFAS pollution on drinking water and natural resources.

According to Safer States, lawmakers in Alaska, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont are expected to offer proposals against PFAS in products across a multitude of industries.

If its not in products, you dont have to worry about people being exposed to it, said Mara Herman, environmental health program manager with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, a forum for state lawmakers. Turning off the tap is an area that a lot of states are focused on.

Meanwhile, some industry groups are pointing out that PFAS compounds are still essential for products ranging from medical devices to electric vehicles. They argue that only some PFAS compounds have been shown to cause harm, and sweeping laws to ban them could do serious economic damage. Some state laws include exemptions for products with no viable alternative to PFAS.

Some lawmakers are taking a narrower approach. In Washington, state Rep. Sharlett Mena, a Democrat, sponsored a bill that would ban certain chemicals  including PFAS  from cosmetic products.

We have safer products, so we shouldnt be putting these harmful things in cosmetics we use every day, she said. There's a simple level of trust that when we pick something out at the store, it's vetted and safe to use.

Washington lawmakers passed a bill last year instructing the state Department of Ecology to issue restrictions on PFAS by 2025. Mena, who works as an employee for the agency, said it was crucial to take on a broad range of harmful chemicals, found disproportionately in cosmetic products marketed to people of color.

Another 12 states will consider bills related to chemicals in cosmetics, according to Safer States. Lawmakers in 19 states will likely introduce proposals to eliminate harmful chemicals and plastics from packaging, and in 11 states have floated bills related to PFAS in materials that come into contact with food.

Legislators in eight states have proposals to restrict or require disclosure of PFAS in menstrual products, after a class-action lawsuit against period underwear brand Thinx over claims that its products contained the chemicals.

Some other states will consider bans on PFAS in firefighting foam, a notorious cause of contamination that many states have moved to address in recent years. Other bills focus on textiles, hydraulic fracturing fluid, ski wax, recyclables and disclosure requirements.

Lawmakers say product bans are just the start. Some states are working on policies related to testing, cleanup, water quality standards and accountability.

According to Safer States, lawmakers in 11 states are crafting bills related to water quality testing and disclosure, including a proposal in Maine that would require testing of bottled water. At least four state legislatures are expected to look at bills to create PFAS standards for drinking water, groundwater and/or surface water. And 10 states are considering proposals to fund PFAS cleanup efforts.

Common US foods that are banned in other countries Food additives that are banned aborad Farm-raised salmon Dairy with rBST or rBGH hormones Mountain Dew Chicken that's been chlorinated Meat with ractopamine Little Debbie Swiss Rolls Arby's Sourdough Breakfast Bread, Croissant, and French Toast Sticks Frosted Flakes, Honey Bunches of Oats, and Rice Krispies Coffee-mate Stove Top stuffing Drumstick frozen dairy desserts Skittles Wheat Thins Gatorade Pop-Tarts Farmer John Pork Breakfast Sausage Links Lucky Charms Bread tainted with potassium bromate Tostitos Salsa Con Queso Dip Ritz Crackers Fresca Genetically engineered papaya Pillsbury Biscuits Sunkist Soda Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie Mix Pillsbury Pie Crust Raspberry Jell-O High fructose corn syrup Doritos Light
Thursdays press conference by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner was emblematic of just about every other aspect of her performance in office: chaotic, disorganized and dominated by people who only bolster the publics existing impression of her as an incompetent manager. The looming question from her press conference was whether she was telling the full truth or was, once again, distorting the facts. Her ethics record is so spotty that the Missouri Supreme Court felt the need to rebuke and fine her last year.

If the intent of Gardners appearance was to demonstrate competence and professionalism, it accomplished the exact opposite. She gladly ceded the stage to an onlooker who shouted down reporters and answered questions for her, including a reporters question about why Mayor Tishaura Jones said that Gardner had lost the trust of the people.

Gardner insists that her deputy went before a judge and requested revocation of the bond that had allowed robbery suspect Daniel Riley to stay out of jail despite multiple violations. His freedom enabled him to drive recklessly, crash into a car while plowing through a downtown intersection, and maim Tennessee teenager Janae Edmondson last weekend. Even though Gardner says now is not the time for finger-pointing, on Thursday, she blamed the judge for not heeding an oral revocation request so Riley could have been confined to jail.

But days earlier, Allison Hawk, Gardners spokesperson, said prosecutors only made the courts aware of Rileys bond violations but never filed a request to revoke his bond. Courts spokesperson Joel Currier made clear last week that the prosecutor never filed a written motion for revocation.

Gardner insisted that the buck stops with my office, but she once again passed the buck and blamed others for her own substantial shortcomings. The way her office handled Rileys prosecution from the beginning is testament to her disorganization. The prosecutor arrived in court last year unprepared and asserted to the judge that the victim in the robbery case had died. The victim, the son of a St. Louis police officer, was very much alive and present that day for the hearing.

But lets forget all that, Gardner suggests. Lets forget the Supreme Court rebuke of last year. Lets talk around the mayors loss of faith in her one-time political ally. Gardner wants, instead, to focus on herself as a victim of vitriol, the hate, the racist attacks, the known manipulation of court procedures. In place of actual public support, Gardner relies on an artificial cheering squad to drown out pertinent questions from reporters.

Either she doesnt see or chooses not to see how appallingly bad her performance has been, and how, despite her pledge to the Supreme Court that she would get her affairs in order, incompetence, mismanagement and disorganization continue to be the hallmarks of her tenure. Thats why shes got to go.
The struggle and the pursuit for freedom is preserved at historic sites and museums across America. Some of those sites are small, other are large, but all share a singular mission: to tell the story of American freedom seekers and the history of Black Americans.

Jims Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center

Mark Twains boyhood home in Hannibal, Missouri, draws faithful fans each year to visit the sites preserved and dedicated to the real people Twain immortalized within the pages of his masterworks, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures Huckleberry Finn: Becky Thatcher, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer and Hucks friend Jim. Jims story is explored at Jims Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center.

Like most of Twains characters, Jim was based on a real man. Daniel Quarles, a slave owned by Twains uncle, who was a childhood companion he called Uncle Danl. Quarles legacy and the importance of Jim as a literary figure became the inspiration for the museum, whose collection of artifacts present Hannibals African-American history and freedom seekers. That story is richly illustrated through exhibits and interactive presentations.

Jims Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center, 509 North Third Street, Hannibal; 1-217-617-1507; jimsjourney.org. The museum open Memorial Day to Labor Day, but tours are available by appointment.

Milton House

Underground Railroad sites often are based on oral traditions, legends and lore. Few surviving stations can document their history and have been lost in time. But thats not the case at the Milton House, located in Milton, Wisconsin, about 45 minutes south of Madison. What would become a station on the Underground Railroad was built as an inn by Joseph Goodrich in 1845. The complex features a three-story hexagonal grout (concrete) house  a rarity in its day, which served as both an inn and the Goodrich home. About 10 feet from the rear of the inn is a log cabin, which was built as Goodrichs first home. It connects to the inn via an underground tunnel.

Fugitive slaves would enter the cabin, then slip through a trap door to enter a tunnel that lead to the basement of the inn where Goodrich provided food and a safe hideaway. Post-Civil War documents and narratives of those freedom seekers who received refuge at Milton House has been substantiated, allowing Milton House to achieve the designation as an official Freedom Site by the National Parks Service.

Visitors to Milton House can venture through the same tunnel, which was modified in 1954 when it was enlarged and lined with stone to better accommodate 20th-century visitors.

Milton House, 18 South Janesville Street, Milton, Wisconsin; 1-608-868-7772; Miltonhouse.org. Open for tours year round by appointment, though in summer walk-ins are welcome. $12 for adults.

Martin Luther King National Historical Park

A mile outside downtown Atlanta is the historic African-American neighborhood known as the Sweet Auburn District. Named for the neighborhoods main drag, Auburn Avenue, the Sweet Auburn District is a National Landmark and contains some of the countrys most revered and important sites of the Civil Rights Movement. Within its borders is the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s birthplace, the Ebenezer Baptist Church where King was baptized and preached as a child and his gravesite. Sites are collectively preserved by the National Parks Service as the Martin Luther King National Historical Park.

Self-guided or ranger-led tours of Kings birthplace begin at the MLK National Parks Visitors Center. Plan time to explore the various exhibits, which include Freedom Road and Children of Courage, an exhibit especially designed for young visitors that tells the story of the children of the Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King Jr National Historical Park, 450 Auburn Avenue NE, Atlanta; 1-404-331-5190; nps.gov/malu. Open for tours and free.

The APEX

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the Sweet Auburn District flourished with black-owned businesses, churches and community services, a success that attracted the attention of Fortune Magazine in 1956, which named Auburn Avenue the richest Negro street in the world. To explore the story of Auburn Streets success and history visit the permanent exhibit at the APEX Museum, Sweet Auburn: Street of Pride.

APEX, an acronym for African American Panoramic Experience, houses an extensive collection of artifacts and materials chronicling African American history, contributions and culture. Elements presented in its most powerful exhibit, Africa: the Untold Story, illustrate 400 years of accomplishments along with the story of enslavement, which includes a replica of the infamous 17th century slave ship the White Lion.

The APEX Museum, 135 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta; 1-404-5232739; apexmuseum.org. APEX is currently open Tuesdays through Saturdays. $12 adults

National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel

Experiences shared and the desired to preserve the history of the Civil Rights Movement inspired the establishment of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail in 2018. The trail recognizes sites from 55 cites in 15 states and the District of Columbia and includes important destinations as symbols of freedom as the Lincoln Memorial to symbols to sites of remembrance such as the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, site of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination.

After undergoing a recent multimillion dollar renovation, the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel now connects two buildings. The Legacy Building, the boarding house where assassin James Earl Ray allegedly fired the fateful shot in 1968, and the Lorraine Motel and museum.

On the first floor of the Legacy Building, curators have created a U.S. Civil Rights Movement Timeline, dating from 1619, the date when the first slave ship came to the colonies, to April 1968, the King assassination. The Lorraine Building preserves the original motel facade. Among its exhibits is Room 306, the room King occupied before his death. The remainder of the building holds an extensive collection of artifacts, oral histories, film and interactive exhibits, which includes the traveling Smithsonian exhibit The Negro Motorist Green Book now until Jan. 3. The Green Book, published from 1936 to 1967, provided the names of businesses that would accept black customers. The Lorraine Motel was one of the listings found within the Green Books pages.
Fire and police officials are investigating the cause of a two-alarm structure fire they say is suspicious after fire damaged a church early Saturday morning in Sweet Home.

Someone called 911 at 1:25 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 to report the building on fire at Fir Lawn Lutheran Church, 109 W. Holley Road.

Emergency responders four minutes later found flames and smoke pouring from the church. A photo from the scene showed the main entrance on the buildings northwest side engulfed in flames.

A Sweet Home firefighter in charge of suppressing the blaze called in personnel and firetrucks from Albany, Brownsville and Halsey, upgrading the fire to a two-alarm incident.

Firefighters attacked the burning structure for a little more than an hour, discontinuing their initial response by 2:32 a.m., according to Shannon Pettner, a battalion chief with Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District.

Oregon Department of Transportation crews sprayed a de-icing compound on roadways near the church to prevent water from firefighting efforts freezing.

While battling the fire and in their subsequent investigation, responders found signs that showed the fire likely started under suspicious circumstances, Pettner said.

We do a preliminary investigation at the scene to see if we can determine the cause without bringing other agencies, she said.

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Officials from Oregon State Police, the state Office of the Fire Marshal, Sweet Home Police Department and the citys fire district were investigating the fires cause Saturday morning.

Pettner said the fire district does not comment on suspicious fire investigations and wouldnt know how thoroughly fire damaged the church until the investigations conclusion.

The districts chief, Nick Tyler, said he was set to meet with a state investigator Saturday morning and expected to know more about the fires cause by Feb. 26.

Fir Lawns more than 8,500-square-foot, glass-faced church was built likely soon after 1954. Its steeply pitched roof rises over and large windows to support a skeletonized spire overlooking Highway 228 near the roads intersection with Highway 20.

Linn County records show the property, including the church and an 1,889-square-foot house built in 1954 was worth an estimated $1.38 million in 2023, and $1.5 million the year before.

Pettner said the church is insured against damage for $1.2 million.

Lebanon firefighters were unable to join the effort, busy with a fire of their own. A Lebanon Fire District battalion chief found fire under the roof of a house on Franklin Street, in the city's east, after someone reported a structure was on fire at about 12:49 a.m.

The home's occupants evacuated after hearing a smoke detector, according to a district news release.

Firefighters attempted to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring houses with 17 responding in all. Investigators are working to determine the fire's cause, according to the release.
In early 2022 the U.S. Marine Corps, after years of planning and preparation, activated its first (of three) Littoral Regiment in Hawaii. This one is called the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment because it was built around the existing 3rd Marine Regiment in Hawaii. The next one, the 12 th Marine Littoral Regiment will be activated in Japan by 2025. While the littoral regiments make use of existing equipment to provide needed weapons, aircraft and vehicles. One item, nine LSM (Landing Ship Mediums) for each littoral regiment, do not exist yet. The marines and the navy are still working out the design of these new ships, which are larger and more capable versions of the World War II era LSMs. have not behave to be themselves, one special item has to be obtained separately. The marines want 45 LSMs for the three Littoral Regiments. This will provide nine LSMs per regiment plus spares to fill in for LSMs that are out of service for maintenance or upgrades. The navy and marines are arguing over whether the LSM should be an expensive (over $300 million each) warship or a cheaper (about $100 million each) transport. The marines point out that neither the navy or marine budget can afford the more expensive LSM version and point out that the U.S. Army already has eight 4,200 ton Besson class Logistics support vessels designed to do most of what the LSM is supposed to do. The army logistics ships were built between 1987 and 2006. The army ships have a crew of 31 and can travel 12,000 kilometers at 21 kilometers an hour unrefueled while fully loaded. That can mean 82 standard shipping containers, fifteen M1 tanks or anything in between. The army ships have RO/RO (roll on/roll off) capability for vehicles The army ships are similar in design to commercial transports used throughout the Pacific. The marines are leasing two of these commercial ships to test their LAM concepts. The LSMs can be built quickly and if the navy and marines can agree on a LSM design soon, the new LSMs can start arriving in 2025 and all 35 an be delivered by the early 2030s.

The Littoral Regiment is capable of operating throughout the Pacific and moving to a new area very quickly. The Littoral regiment has three components. There are battalion sized units called teams. The combat team consists of a Littoral Infantry battalion augmented by a missile battery firing guided rockets (like the new HIMARS GLSDB with a range of 150 kilometers) that can sink ships as well as destroy land targets. The marines already have HINARS vehicles to carry and launch these missiles and have tested using them from the flight deck or an amphibious assault ship.

The littoral regiment infantry element is organized like the British Royal Marine Commandos, whose basic unit is a battalion size force called a commando and consisting of 690 marines including four commando companies each with about 100 commandos organized into five platoons. The rest of the 690 troops are for support functions.

The U.S. Marine littoral combat team infantry element consists of small platoons that can operate independently or together with two or three other platoons. These platoons can quickly be flown to a combat zone or hot spot and collect information on the area, including selecting targets that can be hit by littoral regiment missiles or missiles launched from warships or aircraft. A primary task of these platoon size teams is to remain hidden. The team uses encrypted satellite communications. These small teams are mobile enough to quickly change location to prevent an enemy action.

The second littoral team is a battalion-size anti-aircraft unit while the third team handles logistics and support of the entire regiment and especially the infantry battalion teams. These teams combine skills the marines have used with their Force Recon units and scout sniper teams consisting of two snipers to not only scout for a larger unit, but kill key enemy individuals they encountered.

The littoral infantry teams also use tactics similar to what the allied coast watcher teams did in the Pacific during World War II. The coast watchers formed spontaneously when Europeans or locals on Pacific Islands began observing Japanese ship traffic passing by and reporting it back to the nearest allied military base. Eventually these teams were equipped with more capable radios and operators who could quickly send short messages that Japanese radio direction units could not locate. The coast watchers also depended on friendly locals for information and assistance when the team had to move to another watching site to avoid Japanese troops. The marine littoral regiment is a clever combination of past skills and techniques used by the American and British marines as well as specialized information gathering units. The marines have often used their past experience or that of others to update their organization and tactics.

The littoral regiments are one visible result of nearly a decade of Marine Corps efforts at reorganizing itself. Over the last few decades its weapons and equipment got heavier, so that it could work with army units during combat operations on land. This made your average marine combat unit heavier and more difficult to move ashore for amphibious operations. In response, marine commanders say they would prefer to be a smaller force, one that concentrates on its main mission: amphibious and commando type operations.

The reorganization process has been underway during the past few years and has led to a lot of support units (tank, artillery, aviation, engineer and military police) being disbanded or moved to the reserves. Three of 24 current marine infantry battalions and one regimental headquarters are being deactivated as well. The marine focus is now on the Pacific and potential conflict with China. That means the marines want to get back to World War II-type operations, when the marines were all about taking fortified islands from their Japanese garrisons or harassing enemy forces throughout the region.

The last major reorganization took place in the 1980s. Back then, the marines turned their divisional and regimental headquarters into administrative operations, and created new organizations to do the actual fighting. The new units were MEUs (Marine Expeditionary Units, actually reinforced infantry battalions), MEBs (Marine Expeditionary Brigades, which were brigades reinforced with support units so they could operate independently) and MEFs (Marine Expeditionary Force), which was a headquarters for controlling MEUs and MEBs. When there was a large operation, the old regimental and divisional designations were used, but the units were basically MEBs controlled by an MEF. This task-oriented organization remains. Even the army adopted this type of thing fifteen years ago when reinforced brigades became the primary combat unit rather than the division. Divisions headquarters became a tactical headquarters for brigades and other units for an operation.

Meanwhile, many marines were unhappy with the way they have been used as an army auxiliary in the decade after 2001. The marines consider themselves specialists, while the army are generalists who, for example, carried out more amphibious operations than the marines did during World War II. By 2013 marines comprised a quarter of America's ground combat forces. That's active duty, when you count the much larger army reserve force, the marines are 18 percent of ground combat forces. The marines never wanted to be just another part of American ground combat forces. This has caused some tension within the marine leadership, as some commanders want to maintain as broad a range of skills as possible. This has led to disputes over how to handle development and procurement of specialist equipment, especially amphibious and armored vehicles. Eventually the originalists won the debate and now the marines are going back to their modern origins during and before World War II.

The marines were also concerned with their relationship with the U.S. Navy, which went ahead and formed another ground combat force. To understand how this came about you have to understand the relationship between the navy and the marines. The marines are not part of the navy, as they are often described. Both the navy and marines are part of the Department of the Navy. The Department of the Air Force now has the Space Force as well as the much larger Air Force. The Department of the Army has only one component. For a long time, the Navy Department has had two components; the fleet and the marines. The marines are now a separate service that is still closely intertwined with the navy. For example, the navy provides many support functions for the marines which, in the army and air force, are provided by each service. Thus, navy personnel serve in marine units (wearing marine combat uniforms) as medics and other support specialists. The use of the navy for support functions means a much higher proportion of marines are combat troops than in the navy, army, or air force. This gives the marines a different attitude and outlook. The Air Force now has a similar relationship with the new Space Force.

Over the years, the marines have acquired more and more autonomy from the navy. When the U.S. Marine Corps was created, over two centuries ago, marines were sailors trained and equipped to fight as infantry, and they were very much part of the navy and part of ship crews. This changed radically in the late 19th century, when all-metal steam ships replaced wooden sailing ships. The new "iron ships" really didn't need marines and there were proposals to eliminate them. In response, the American marines got organized and made themselves useful in other ways. For example, the marines performed very well as "State Department Troops" in Latin America for half a century (late 19th century to just before World War II), where American troops were frequently used to deal with civil disorder abroad and nation building. During World War I (1914-18), they provided a brigade for ground combat in Europe where the marines demonstrated exceptional combat skills.

In the 1930s, as World War II approached, the U.S. Marine Corps saw what was needed when the navy realized they would have to use amphibious assaults to take heavily fortified Japanese islands in any future war. Thus, once the U.S. entered World War II, the marines formed their first division size units and ended the war with six divisions, organized into two corps. Only four of those divisions survived the post-World War II demobilization and one of them is now a reserve division.

After World War II the Marine Corps was no longer just a minor part of the navy but on its way to being a fourth service. By the late 20th century, they basically achieved that goal. But in doing so, the navy lost control of its ground troops. Navy amphibious ships still went to sea with battalions of marines on board. But because the marines are mainly an infantry force, and the war on terror is basically an infantry scale battle, the marines spent a lot more time on land working alongside the U.S. Army.

In response to all this, the U.S. Navy began building a new ground combat force in 2006, staffed by 40,000 sailors as NECC (Navy Expeditionary Combat Command). This was for operating along the coast and up rivers, as well as further inland. NECC units served in Iraq and are ready to deploy anywhere else they are needed. The 1,200 sailors in the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) teams are particularly sought after, because of increased use of roadside bombs and booby traps by the enemy. NECC organized three Riverine Squadrons which served in Iraq. NECC basically consists of most of the combat support units the navy has traditionally put ashore, plus some coastal and river patrol units that have usually only been organized in wartime.

As major U.S. troops commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan declined after 2011 so did the need for NECC. Currently NECC is a smaller force of 20,000 sailors trained and equipped for coastal and riverine operations. There is still a need for that and the marines are content to let the navy handle it with sailors trained as infantry who operate from small boats along coasts and waterways.

NECC and the strategy that came with it, was a surprise to many people, especially many of those in Congress who were asked to pay for it. It came as a surprise to many NECC sailors as well. The navy even called on the marines to provide infantry instructors for the few thousand sailors assigned to riverine (armed patrol boat) units. The navy already had infantry training courses for Seabees (naval construction personnel) and members of EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) teams. Now all that was combined in the Expeditionary Combat Skills (ECS) course, which is conducted at a base in Mississippi.

Initially the Marine Corps had mixed feelings about NECC, for the marines have long been the navy's ground combat troops. The navy says that the USMC mission will remain. Thus, some marine leaders want to shrink the Corps so they become small enough to handle anticipated navy amphibious operations and not large enough to have troops available for large-scale support of army operations.

In effect, many American marine commanders want to be more like the British marines. That's interesting, because British marines are called Royal Marine Commandos and are quite different from their American counterparts. Britain invented the modern concept of the commando but disbanded all ten army commandos (as the battalion size commando units were called) at the end of World War II. The Royal Marines, however, saw the commando concepts as a welcome addition to their own amphibious doctrine and retained three of their nine Royal Marine Commandos. Since World War II, the Royal Marines have maintained at least three commandos (battalions). Artillery and engineer units are supplied by the army.

Like the U.S. Marines, the Royal Marines realized that assault from the sea was always a commando-like operation which required special training, bold leadership, and an aggressive spirit. The Royal Marines, like their American counterparts, continued to innovate. In 1956, it was a Royal Marine Commando that launched the first helicopter assault from ships against a land target (during an invasion of Egypt). The Royal Marine Commandos were used extensively to keep the peace in Ireland during the 1970s and 80s. In 1982, it was two Royal Marine Commandos and one parachute battalion that did most of the fighting to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina. The Royal Marines have performed peacekeeping duty in the Balkans and Africa, and served as an amphibious fast reaction force.

While the U.S. Marines made a name for themselves with multi-division amphibious operations in the Pacific during World War II, the Royal Marines stuck with the commando type operations that characterize what marines spent most of the time doing between major wars in the past. Remember, the last large scale amphibious operation took place over seventy years ago at Inchon, Korea in 1950. Since then, the typical marine mission has been a quick assault using a small (usually battalion size) force.

In anticipation of this, the U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) was created in 2006. Since then, it has kept its 2,500 personnel busy with dozens of deployments in South America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. MARSOC is organized into a headquarters, a two battalion Special Operations Regiment, a Foreign Military Training Unit, and a Marine Special Operations Support Group. There are 3-4 Special Operations companies in each battalion.

The marines basically lost two of their four Force Recon companies (one of them a reserve unit) in order to build MARSOC. Meanwhile, more troops have been added to division level reconnaissance units, to take up some of that slack. The Special Operations companies (with about 120 personnel each) can provide Force Recon capabilities to marine units they are attached to. The two Special Operations Battalions provide a combination of services roughly equal to what the U.S. Army Special Forces and Rangers do, as well as some of the functions of the Force Recon units.

With MARSOC the marines are playing catch up. In the late 1980s all the other services, except the marines, contributed to the formation of SOCOM (Special Operations Command). The marines finally got around to working with SOCOM in 2005, when it was agreed that they would create a marine special operations command (MARSOC). The Marine Corps had long resisted such a step, largely because of its belief that marines are inherently superior warriors capable of highly specialized missions. This attitude began to change during the fighting in Afghanistan, when marines were assigned to support SOCOM troops there and were duly impressed.

Most marine commanders see their future as a smaller (by up to a third, at least), even more elite and better equipped force. The marines want to get back to sea, and that is what the marines have done over the last decade. One major benefit was avoiding the loss of a lot of the valuable combat experience the marines have gained since September 11, 2001. Recruiting was reduced for a few years, and some marines transferred to the navy, usually in jobs that both sailors and marines handle, especially the NECC force. Marines have long moved over to the army, and the army would be glad to get an infusion of combat experienced marines, especially NCOs and officers. The marines also want to expand their reserve force so that marines who decide to get out can simply move over to the reserves.

The marines are now experimenting with some new concepts, like littoral regiments to do the jobs that are too tough or too distant for NECC to handle right away. The marines found a home in SOCOM, a multi-service organization where all forces involved (army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, and special operations aviation units from the army and air force) remain with the military service that created them. SOCOM sees to it that all these separate special operations are used for special operations and not diverted to more mundane tasks.
Real-world data sets show components of value-based care, use of Octaves Multiple Sclerosis Disease Activity test and deep scan biomarker screening capabilities to evaluate evidence of disability, disease activity, and disease progression

Study presented in partnership with the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders highlights the promise of the Multiple Sclerosis Disease Activity test for patients in routine clinical use

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Octave, a leading digital health sciences company that delivers a new standard for managing multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the presentation of nine abstracts at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Conference 2023. The abstracts, presented in partnership with several of Octaves premier research partners, included data on the companys MRI Insights program as well as applications of the companys clinically-validated Multiple Sclerosis Disease Activity (MSDA) test, including real-world data as well as new deep scan proteomic approaches. Research collectively underscored the strength and utility of the companys Precision Care Solution for MS, which commercially launched in October 2022 and delivers quantitative, objective insights to better characterize individual patients underlying biology, response to therapeutic interventions, radiographic status, and evolving symptoms.

We are thrilled to follow a very successful ECTRIMS meeting with an expanded body of research at this years ACTRIMS conference, said William Hagstrom, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Octave. Were adding to findings that have repeatedly shown the validity, quality, and adaptability of our solution, and now, were beginning to show real world applications as our clinical and research partners integrate these capabilities into their practices. The proof points we are building together have the potential to create a new standard of care for patients, and were grateful to our collaborators as they help us advance our mission to deliver holistic, comprehensive, biological, and contextual metrics that bring scientific clarity to MS.

BIOMARKER POSTERS

First, Octave presented insights on the companys first of its kind, MS-specific multivariate biomarker assay panel and leveraging deep scan proteomics in multiple posters at ACTRIMS Forum 2023. Highlights include a poster titled Proteomic Biomarker Panel for Gauging Multiple Sclerosis Disease Activity: A Case Series from Real-World Use (P035), Gonyou, T., et al., presented in partnership with the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders (MIND), describing real-world clinical experience using Octaves MSDA test. The presentation reported on how the results from five diverse patient case studies reconciled with clinical presentation, radiographic evidence, and patient history, and how these additional insights into the underlying biology of MS support clinical decisions.

We are excited to share results demonstrating that disease activity scores from the MSDA test appear to correlate with relapses and efficacy of therapy in a real-world setting, said Taylor Gonyou, DO, Multiple Sclerosis Fellow at MIND and first author on the poster. This test can be used to verify stability and may support the clinical decision to alter therapy. The ability to follow patients longitudinally will provide additional insights into patients disease activity, and allow treating neurologists to be confident in clinical decisions.

Additional posters related to Octaves multivariate biomarker assay panel include:

IMAGING POSTERS

Second, data shared at ACTRIMS Forum 2023 by Octave around its MRI Insights program that combines the best of a purpose-built imaging technology stack with focused Neuroradiology expertise to deliver a quantitative, deeply personalized MS-specific report to track a patients disease over time, includes:

CLINICAL POSTERS

Also at ACTRIMS 2023, Octave shared a real-world clinical insights study presented by their Chief Population Health Officer Mike Edgeworth, titled Urinary Tract Infection in People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Real-World Administrative Claims Study (P488), Jordan, K. M., et al. Edgeworths presentation highlighted how people with MS are at an increased risk of urinary tract infections (UTI) and UTI-related hospitalizations. While UTIs can usually be managed in the outpatient setting when detected early, untreated UTIs can progress to more severe conditions and exacerbate neurological symptoms in MS, mimicking clinical relapses. The analysis sought to characterize care settings for UTI-related infections, and showed that patients with MS were more likely to have medical claims associated with UTI-related infections and in higher-intensity care settings. This concludes that early intervention strategies addressing UTI prior to the patient seeking emergency care could potentially both improve the care and lower the cost profile of MS patients.

At Octave, were looking from multiple perspectives to better and more effectively care for people living with MS, said Edgeworth. This includes the many related conditions these patients face, from UTIs to mental health management. We have an intense focus on population-level insights to identify gaps, variations, and opportunities in the care of these patients to improve clinical outcomes and lower the significant cost of this disease on the entire health care system, from patient to payer.

The posters presented by Octave at ACTRIMS Forum 2023 underscore the companys dedication to the pursuit of expanded clinical insights to address a range of unmet needs associated with MS as it builds the model for the future of management for neurodegenerative diseases.

About Octave

Octave was founded to deliver a fully-integrated precision care solution for multiple sclerosis as well as a full range of neurodegenerative diseases. The solution provides neurologists and their patients with quantitative, objective metrics to facilitate informed care and shared decision making to drive better patient outcomes.

Octaves Precision Care Solution is the first-of-its-kind that accurately and objectively measures, and helps manage, complex and high-cost neurodegenerative diseases, starting with multiple sclerosis. Octave developed the first and only multivariate blood test to measure MS disease activity, enhanced MRI analytics and protocols, and a digital clinical program with Octave MS care partners to provide continuity of care.

Provider: The solution provides neurologists with a longitudinal and holistic perspective of the patient along with comprehensive and actionable insights, enabling more confident and informed care decisions.

Payer: The integrated and multi-dimensional approach allows payers to reduce total cost of care by optimizing healthcare medications and utilization (hospitalizations, ER visits, MRIs, labs).

Pharma: Octave enables pharma to optimize the entire lifecycle of drug discovery & development as well as clinical trials and post marketing with real world evidence.

Through purposeful problem solving and innovative technologies, Octaves platform generates, analyzes and combines data to create a new paradigm of MS care, leading to improved patient outcomes.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230225005004/en/

Media:

Terri Clevenger

Westwicke/ICR Healthcare PR

Tel: 203.856.4326

[email protected]

Source: Octave
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blender Bites Ltd. (the Company, Blender Bites or Blender), (CSE: BITE, FWB: JL4, WKN: A3DMEJ), an award winning Canadian company involved in the development and marketing of a line of premium, organic and plant-based pre-portioned frozen functional foods, is pleased to announce that it has finalized product formulations, and is awaiting final packaging materials and product art work, in connection with a two-year private label business contract (the Contract) entered into with a large Canadian retailer (the Retailer), dated November 25, 2022. The Contract allows Blender Bites to create a new line of exclusive smoothie flavours under the Retailers private label brand of organic smoothies.

As part of the Contract, the Company will supply the Retailer with three flavours of smoothie mixes for their private label branding with an anticipated launch in September 2023. The new line of smoothies will be available under multiple banners in approximately 300 of the Retailers stores across Quebec and Ontario. The Company will be responsible for the costs associated with developing the initial product mix for the Retailer, following which the Retailer will be entitled to purchase product from the Company at a fixed cost during the term of the Contract.

As a retailer, franchisor, distributor, and manufacturer, the Retailer operates and/or services a network of 963 food stores under several banners as well as 649 drugstores, making the Retailer a food and pharmacy leader in Quebec and Ontario. The Contract presents an opportunity for sales and revenue growth given the Retailers large existing consumer-base, as well as its network of some 1,600 points of sale, and 15 distribution centers.

We are thrilled to be advancing our partnership with one of Canadas leading grocers as private label partners for their new line of organic smoothies. As more and more North American retailers put a focus on building out their own private label brands, we have made the strategic decision to capitalize on both branded and private label opportunities. Private label could be a great profit center for the business as it includes far less deductions and marketing expenses than the branded side and it comes with multi-year contracts. With profitability top of mind more than ever, the Company is actively working on multiple private label opportunities in both Canada and the US which should help to strengthen revenues and diversify our offerings, stated Chelsie Hodge, the Companys CEO and Founder.

ABOUT BLENDER BITESBlender Bites is an award winning Canadian company involved in the development and marketing of a line of premium frozen food products with a focus on functionality. Blender Bites was founded in 2016 and was first to market in Western Canada with a pre-portioned easy smoothie product that is free of any unnecessary inner plastic packaging. Blender Bites products are certified organic, vegan, non-GMO, gluten free, dairy free and soy free. They contain no added sugars and are made in Canada. Blender Bites products are distributed internationally across Canada and the US, and are currently sold in over 900 stores, including Sobeys, Loblaws, Safeway, Save on Foods, Real Canadian Superstore, Whole Foods Market, Buy-Low/Nesters, IGA, Thrifty and Fresh Street.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Blender Bites Limited

Chelsie Hodge, Chief Executive OfficerEmail  [email protected]Telephone  236-521-0626

For further information, contact Blender IR Team at:

Email  [email protected]Telephone  1-888-997-2055

CAUTIONARY DISCLAIMER STATEMENTThis news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political, and social uncertainties, and uncertain capital markets. Readers are cautioned that actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Source: Blender Bites Limited
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 24, 2023) - Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. (TSX: AVL) (OTCQB: AVLNF) ("Avalon" or the "Company") announces the results of its 2023 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders held in Toronto, Ontario on February 23, 2023 (the "Meeting"). At the Meeting, all six director nominees listed in the Company's information circular dated January 10, 2023, were elected as directors of the Company. The detailed results of the vote are as follows:

Director Number of

Votes Cast Percentage of

Votes Cast Donald Bubar For:

Against: 86,024,853

3,998,463 95.558%

4.442% Alan Ferry For:

Against: 83,870,489

6,152,827 93.165%

6.835% Naomi Johnson For:

Against: 83,846,213

6,177,103 93.138%

6.862% John E. Fisher For:

Against: 84,225,135

5,798,181 93.559%

6.441% Marilyn Spink For:

Against: 84,133,756

5,889,560 93.458%

6.542% Harvey L. A. Yesno For:

Against: 84,727,835

5,295,481 94.118%

5.882%

At the Meeting, shareholders also re-appointed Ernst & Young LLP as auditors of the Company, approved the unallocated options, rights or other entitlements under the Company's stock option plan and restricted share unit ("RSU") plan and approved an amendment to the Company's By-Law No. 1 to reduce the quorum requirement for a meeting of shareholders from 25% of the issued and outstanding common shares to 20%.

About Avalon Advanced Materials Inc.

Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. is a Canadian mineral development company specializing in sustainably-produced materials for clean technology. The Company now has four advanced stage projects, providing investors with exposure to lithium, tin and indium, as well as rare earth elements, tantalum, cesium and zirconium. Avalon is currently focusing on developing its Separation Rapids Lithium Project near Kenora, Ontario, while continuing to advance other projects, including its 100%-owned Lilypad Cesium-Tantalum-Lithium Project located near Fort Hope, Ontario. Social responsibility and environmental stewardship are corporate cornerstones.

For questions and feedback, please e-mail the Company at [email protected], or phone Don Bubar, President & CEO, directly at 416-723-9132.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/156168
Los Angeles, California--(Newsfile Corp. - February 24, 2023) - Dank Vapes, arguably the most widely known brand in cannabis history, is now a licensed California cannabis brand. Under new ownership, this license means Dank Vapes undergo testing and be compliant with the high standard of California's regulations. More importantly, Dank Vapes has implemented a 2 factor authentication on every package, removing the possibility of others masquerading as their brand.

DANK Vapes offers 20 unique flavors



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8668/154508_358f133dc499aa13_001full.jpg

In the past, the name DANK Vapes was followed by controversy, with counterfeiters selling dirty products with harmful ingredients, using DANK's label and packaging. The brand theft got so out of control in the late 2010's that the company was forced to pull their products from the shelves, so as not to further dilute their brand's name, and associate it with the kinds of products that were getting users sick.

Dank Vapes launched with 20 premium flavor profiles, exclusively using plant derived terpenes and triple distilled cannabis oil, ensuring a clean quality vaping experience for the consumer.

DANK Vapes has also announced that it has 4 lines of disposable vapes launching in March 2023, including hash rosin and live resin. With three years away from the industry, the team with DANK Vapes is ready to develop new products and take on new challenges.

"DANK Vapes are taking a solution based approach to avoid the issues the brand faced in the past, and plan on coming back bigger and better than ever," explains a representative on behalf of DANK Vapes.

One last development within the DANK Vapes company is the brand's latest launch- "Dank Gives Back." This organization hopes to foster an environment of charity and philanthropy, as they work to facilitate positive change in the community through hands-on involvement. Dank Gives Back was created as the brand's way of giving back to their communities.

"DANK Vapes got into this industry because of our love for the plant, the healing powers it holds, and the sense of community it brings to people," explains a representative on behalf of DANK Vapes. "It is our mission to lead by example and have a direct, positive impact on our communities." Most recently the company partnered with law enforcement to do a Christmas Toy Drive, and they hope to continue this work by hosting a "Feeding the Needy" event later this month.

DANK Vapes is a widely known name in the Cannabis distribution industry and has announced its recent licensure under the state of California. The rebranding also comes alongside a fundraising campaign. There has also been a documentary released about DANK Vapes that you can watch here. For more information regarding DANK Vapes and their upcoming developments, visit their website.

Nick Alexandroff

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154508
BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chief Executive Officer of Ecopetrol S.A. hereby summons all Shareholders to the ordinary Assembly of the General Shareholders' Meeting to be held on Thursday, March 30, 2023, starting at 9 a.m., at the Centro Internacional de Negocios y Exposiciones (Corferias), located on Carrera 37 No. 24 - 67 in Bogota, D.C

The Agenda for the meeting will be the

Safety guidelines and biosafety protocols Quorum verification Opening of the General Shareholders' Meeting by the Chief Executive Officer of Ecopetrol S.A. Approval of the Agenda Appointment of the Chairperson presiding over the General Shareholders' Meeting Appointment of the commission responsible for scrutiny and counting of the votes Appointment of the commission responsible for the revision and approval of the minutes of the meeting Presentation and consideration of the Board of Directors' report on its performance, development, and compliance with the Corporate Governance Code Presentation and consideration of the 2022 Integrated Management Report Presentation and consideration of the individual and consolidated audited financial statements as of December 31, 2022 Reading of the Independent Auditor's opinion Approval of the Board of Directors' report on its performance, development, and compliance with the Corporate Governance Code Approval of the 2022 Integrated Management Report Approval of the individual and consolidated audited financial statements as of December 31, 2022 Presentation and approval of the profit distribution project Election of the External Auditor for the remainder of the 2021 -2025 period and assignment of its remuneration Election of Board Members for the remainder of the 2021 -2025 period Interventions and miscellaneous

The Meeting will be broadcast live via streaming on Ecopetrol's website.

The voting process will be conducted electronically. Shareholders are requested to attend the Meeting with their smart mobile devices. If any Shareholder does not have access to a device with the technical requirements required, the company has provided an alternate mechanism for Shareholders to exercise their right to vote.

Shareholders may exercise the right to inspect the Company's books and other documents referred to in Articles 446 and 447 of the Commercial Code as of March 8, 2023. To access information not found on the web page www.ecopetrol.com.co/asamblea2023, shareholders or their proxies must request an in-person appointment to the email [email protected] including therein the information demonstrating their status as shareholder or legal representative. To facilitate the exercise of said right of inspection, it is suggested this email include the information requested for inspection to ensure the corresponding area specialists present.

Shareholders who cannot attend the Meeting personally may be represented by power-of-attorney duly granted in writing to a trusted legal representative, who must meet the requirements established in Article 184 of the Commercial Code. The power of attorney templates in both Spanish and English can be downloaded from the website at www.ecopetrol.com.co/asamblea2023.

For the legal representation of the shareholders, compliance will be given to the provisions of the Basic Legal Circular 029 of 2014 regarding the illegal, unauthorized and unsafe practices of securities issuers.

Except in cases of legal representation via proxy, Ecopetrol administrators and employees may not represent shares other than their own while they are employed by the Company, nor substitute the powers conferred thereon. Additionally, they may not vote on the Company's financial statements.

FELIPE BAYON PARDOChief Executive Officer

Mandatory admission requirements for the assembly

If an individual is acting as a proxy representative, the corresponding proxy form must be submitted in its physical form at registration along with any additional documentation required.

To avoid overcrowding and guarantee the adequate participation of all shareholders, the doors of Corferias and registration points will open as of 7 a.m.

To expedite the registration process and ensure appropriate participation at the Meeting, in the case of individuals representing via proxy multiple shareholders, it is suggested a proxy representative is only responsible for at most 50 proxy forms.

Only one helper per shareholder requiring additional assistance will be allowed entry.

Publicity material or any other type of material that might hamper the normal course of the meeting will not be allowed in the facility and their distribution is strictly prohibited.

We ask that any individual having symptoms of Covid-19 not attend the Meeting, and rather follow via streaming. Attendees are encouraged to have their complete vaccination series and boosters and continue practicing social distancing and frequent handwashing. The correct use of facemasks is recommended.

Additional information is available at:

Shareholder Services OfficeTelephone Bogota: +(57) 601307 70 75; rest of the country: +(57) 01 8000 113434Email: [email protected]www.ecopetrol.com.co

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/general-shareholders-meeting-of-ecopetrol-sa-301755964.html

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Susan Estrich, spokesperson for Greg Lindberg, provided the following update regarding Friday's filing of new charges against Greg Lindberg in the Western District of North Carolina:

After the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that he was wrongfully convicted, Lindberg was released in July of last year from federal prison after serving 633 days. He says he has "seen this movie before" with his fellow inmates. "The government makes all kinds of false allegations to try to get you to settle. They use high pressure tactics to try to roll over defendants and get them to admit things they never did. They dog pile claims on you to try to get you to take a plea. It's bullying pure and simple," Lindberg says.

According to Lindberg, his legal team supplied the prosecution with millions of pages and documents explaining every transaction that they had questions about. "The prosecution is claiming that the transactions were not disclosed yet they were supplied with emails showing the transactions were disclosed to virtually everyone on the management team of the North Carolina insurers, including the Chairman of the Board of the management company," Lindberg says.

Lindberg says that despite being clearly shown how the transactions resulted in more capital and surplus paid into the North Carolina insurers  expressly for the benefit of policyholdersthe government claimed the transactions harmed policyholders.

Even after answering all their questions, the prosecution continued to put on pressure, Lindberg says. He says that the prosecution proposed a settlement in this case that would have required an admission of actions that he never committed. "It was egregiously false and unacceptable," Lindberg says.

Lindberg says he "did nothing wrong" and he intends "to prove it in court."

Lindberg says that after investing over $500 million into Global Growth insurance companies and never taking a penny of dividends, North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) forced the affected companies into rehabilitation.

Instead, Lindberg says, Mike Causey is slowing down the rehabilitation process so that it will take longer for policyholders to access their benefits.

According to Lindberg, "The root of this problem is politics. These latest false charges don't change that."

After the government accused Lindberg of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously agreed that his conviction violated his Constitutional rights and must be vacated.

Lindberg says he will "continue to fight until every policyholder is paid out and until every one of these false claims are dismissed."

About Greg Lindberg Greg Lindberg is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. Through his successful career, Lindberg has reimagined and transformed hundreds of businesses, employed thousands of people, empowered leaders and impacted communities through philanthropic efforts. His experiences as a leader and challenges have inspired him to empower people to achieve optimal success through wellness, longevity and leadership. Lindberg also has authored two books: Failing Early & Failing Often: How to Turn Your Adversity into Advantage and 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life and Leadership. For more information, visit GregLindberg.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lindberg-claims-mike-causey-refuses-to-take-action-on-1-billion-rehab-exit-plan-for-north-carolina-insurers-301755950.html

SOURCE 633 Days, LLC
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine  On his 366th day of war, Sgt. Volodymyr Rusyn reached the most dangerous part of his route to the front lines: A 20-yard, dont-slow-down, cratered stretch of road that is shelled regularly  sometimes hourly  by Russian batteries stationed less than two miles away.

He found it blocked by a military truck.

This is the worst place to stop, he muttered, tapping the steering wheel, eager to run the gantlet and get on with his mission. As the deputy commander of the Carpathian Sich 49th Infantry Battalion, Rusyn visits his front line trench fighters, tank drivers and medics every day. But this day is special; its an anniversary.

Not the first anniversary of the war thats being marked from Kyiv to Washington. His wedding anniversary. On the morning of Feb. 24, 2022, he was married, hours after getting the early-morning phone call that Russia had invaded.

I woke up my girlfriend and said, We need to get married, said Rusyn, 39. I knew I would be going away for a long time.

By 10 a.m. he was saying his vows. By 10 p.m. he was on a train to Kyiv, where the battalion would spend weeks defending the capital from the invaders. For the newlyweds, married life during wartime has meant exactly 30 days together  three 10-day furloughs  as the battalion has pursued the fight from Kyiv to Kharkiv to Donetsk.

Now, after his battalion helped pushed the Russians out of Lyman in September, they are fighting to keep them from taking it back. A year has been long enough for the tide of war to ebb and flow, and he knows Moscow is keen to reoccupy the semi-demolished city where he sleeps in an abandoned house.

But this day was special. Rusyn was waiting for a friend in western Ukraine to surprise his wife with flowers and  because the 12 hours between the wedding and his mobilization a year ago were enough to create the child they yearned for  with gifts for the daughter that was born in October.

He raced along the moonscape of a road, one of the closest to Russian-occupied territory. He didnt know when the surprises would arrive, or whether Moscow would mark the war anniversary with an attack on his troops positions. But in any case, he had to see his fighters.

He zoomed along a lane of shelled houses, splashing through craters filled with melting snow. A bundled elderly woman watched him pass. Rusyn looked into his rearview mirror warily. A year of war that has killed 72 members of his battalion and wounded more than 300 others has made him more suspicious, especially in this area, of Russian sympathizers.

You can see a grandma and she just looks like a simple grandma but in fact she may tell the enemy about Ukrainian positions, he said.

That morning, he had left a rear base where battalion fighters were taking a breather from front line rotations. It was a day of rest  not for the anniversary but because they had just come off three-day turns in the trenches. One played Happy Birthday on a piano in a bombed-out church. A volunteer nurse from Riga boiled tea water in a metal cup atop a wood-burning stove.

Whatever their lives had been before, they were seasoned soldiers now.

A lot of my friends thought this would be over in two or three days when Russia captured the entire country, said Eney, 51, who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his radio call name. Born here, he had lived in Spain 20 years when he left his wife and a job delivering bread in Bilbao to spend as long as it takes to kick the Russians out.

It was noisier at the forward base, in a village The Washington Post is not identifying to safeguard the location of combatants. Explosions shook the walls of headquarters, an abandoned building filled with laptops, munitions, boxes of bread and Jessi, the unit terrier.

A bigger, closer boom sounded.

What was that, Volodymyr? the battalion administrator asked. A public relations staffer for a Kyiv biotech company in civilian life, Vasylyna, 31, has lived in this shelter for three months, but she still cant always tell mortars from rockets from shells.

Rusyn didnt look up from his phone. A Starlink satellite unit makes this a precious internet hotspot.

Artillery. Incoming, he said.

Vasylyna, who spoke on the condition that her last name be withheld, had noted the anniversary as soon as she woke up in her room next to the command center. For one year we have been cleansing Europe of this evil, she wrote on social media.

Now she was sorting out anniversary tokens of a sort, metal badges stamped with the battalion logo on one side and each fighters name, and blood type, on the other. Rusyn would pass them out to small groups after the day is passed and the risk of an anniversary attack has eased.

We dont let more than 10 or 20 people gather because they might be a target, Vasylyna said. Two tank drivers arrived and stamped mud from their boots. Vasylyna plugged her laptop into a printer to scan documents for them.

At the next front line location, Rusyn picked his way over bricks and glass blasted loose by four Grad rocket blasts and made his way into a hidden alcove used as a medic station.

The four-person team sometimes treats 30 casualties a day in this dark space. The many serious patients they send straight to a stabilization clinic, but here they treat many concussions, contusions and frost bite. Rusyn checked on a broken leg that showed complications after the fighter ignored the pain for three days in a trench.

The roof of the building was recently blown off, but the staff still lives here, on a lower level.

The Russians definitely know our positions here, said House, a medical student who was one exam away from his M.D. when he joined the fight. He spoke on the condition that he be identified by his radio call handle. Its just a question of time.

The deputy commanders last stop was at a location where some heavy armor is stationed. The battalion had no mechanized units until they began taking them from the enemy. Now one of their tank teams greets him in the living room of yet another abandoned house where a kettle boiled cheerily, and a speckled cat wound through their legs.

I think we need a new generator, one told Rusyn. The deputy commander nodded. Tell me what you need and Ill get it here.

Outside, troops started a modern Russian T-80 captured near Izyum to warm the battery in the freezing air. It roared like a jet engine. Its a far more complex machine than the Soviet-era tanks making up most of the Ukrainian armament.

No one here  an electrician, geologist and lamp maker among them  had any tank or even heavy equipment experience a year ago. Now, they have dozens of hours on the battlefield, fighting Russians with their own war machines.

Im a completely different person than I was a year ago, said the tank commander, a 25-year-old warehouse manager who goes by Sueta.

Finally, in the middle of his rounds, Rusyns phone rang. It was his wife. She was crying.

I just got internet connection, Rusyn said. You got the flowers?

It was for a moment, after an unimaginable year, a happy anniversary.
When he was elected at age 27 in 2019, Ben Bowman was the youngest member of the Tigard-Tualatin School Board.

Now, as a newly elected state representative from Tigard, Bowman is a chief sponsor of legislation that would make it possible for 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in school board elections.

A 2010 graduate of Tualatin High School and later a staffer for Rep. Margaret Doherty of Tigard, who was in the Oregon House from 2009 to 2021, Bowman has relied on young people to get elected and to write policy. He remains on the school board after one year as its chair.

He challenged an incumbent for the Oregon Senate but lost the primary in 2020. He won an open seat in the House on Nov. 8.

I can say with confidence that those students and many of their peers were far more engaged and aware of district governance, finance and operations than many voters, Bowman said Tuesday, Feb. 21 at a hearing of the House Rules Committee.

In my view, allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote is the best form of civic education. Allowing students the opportunity to participate in school board elections  a nonpartisan local election that directly impacts their educational experience  is an excellent place for them to begin developing good voting habits.

Though no state has yet allowed what Bowman and others propose to do in House Bill 3206, a few communities have, including Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., back in 2013. Voters in Berkeley, California, did so in 2016, and nearby Oakland, California followed suit in 2020, but those measures have not yet been put into effect by the county that includes those cities.

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.

The Oregon measure would limit voting to school board positions, not bonds or tax levies. Current law requires board members to be at least age 18.

Students now are limited to public comments at school board meetings, or in some instances, nonvoting membership on the boards.

Sen. Janeen Sollman, a Democrat from Hillsboro, is also a chief sponsor of the bill. She said it would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to do more than just voice their opinions on issues important to them, but often unheard by older adults.

Sollman, a former Hillsboro School Board member, said:

We hear it in their calls to protect the environment for their future. We hear it when they ask us to protect them from the horrors of gun violence. We hear it when they say overwhelmingly that greater mental health supports are the No. 1 thing they want to see in their schools. We hear it when students are asking us to provide them more career and technical education opportunities for their future.

Having high school students voice their positions with their vote is powerful and could increase their political and civic engagement  With this policy, Oregon would be bridging the youth-adult divide while also improving our education system.

Other measures

The House committee also heard testimony on two related measures. House Bill 2694 would allow 17-year-olds to cast ballots in party primaries if they turn 18 by the general election, and if the political party they affiliate with permits them to by rule.

House Joint Resolution 20 would amend the Oregon Constitution to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 and would require voter approval at the next general statewide election in November 2024.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Oregon is one of 15 states that allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote  Oregon set the minimum age of 17 back in 2007, and age 16 in 2017  but they must turn 18 by election day to cast ballots. Four states set a higher minimum preregistration age than is still under 18.

The sole sponsor of HB 2694 is House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis.

Proposals to lower the voting age to 16 are not new. As a state senator in 2019, Shemia Fagan  now Oregon secretary of state  sponsored a similar resolution that was heard by a Senate committee but did not advance.

No state allows general voting by 16- and 17-year-olds. The Oregon Legislature did lower the voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971, but it was just ahead of the ratification of the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which set the national standard at age 18.

Oregons governor at the time was Tom McCall, a Republican who served from 1967 to 1975.

He would have been a champion of this initiative, said Devon Lawson-McCourt, a 15-year-old student at McKenzie River Community school in Blue River and a relative of McCall, whose mother was Dorothy Lawson.

He was a leader who pushed for change that would improve the lives of all Oregonians, regardless of party affiliation. He understood the importance of civic responsibility and education, and he worked tirelessly to create policies that would ensure Oregonians were well represented. This is a continuation of that legacy.

Support from officials

Rep. Hoa Nguyen, D-Portland, is a sponsor of both the constitutional amendment and the school board measure. She is a student and community engagement specialist for Clackamas Education Service District and a former Portland Public Schools employee. She also sits on the David Douglas School Board.

They are ready for the responsibilities of voting, Nguyen said.

They fully recognize that the decisions we as their elected leaders make today will have very real consequences for them and for the rest of their lives.

Rebecca Stavenjord, a Milwaukie city councilor, also testified for the 16-year-old vote.

When young people are given an opportunity to participate in decision-making and civic activities, they are more likely to become lifelong voters and active members of their communities, she said. By lowering the voting age, we can also help foster a more informed and engaged electorate that is better equipped to tackle complex issues in our society.

Also speaking for the constitutional amendment and school-board measure were Isabela Villarreal of Next Up Action Fund, which began in 2001 as the Bus Project, and Chris Odom of REAP Inc., a multicultural leadership development program.

Critics speak out

But not all the testimony was supportive.

Brad Dennis of Albany said the committee should take no action. He referred to research about teenage brains not being fully developed until people are in their 20s  and that there is a reason why states limit sales of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana  in states that have legalized it  to people 21 and up.

Rep. E. Werner Reschke, R-Klamath Falls, mentioned those legal limitations plus minimum age requirements for driving a vehicle or serving in the armed forces. (Oregon, like many states, provides for graduated licenses that restrict young drivers under age 18, such as when they can drive and how many passengers they can carry.)

He decried what he called an expansion of rights with no corresponding responsibilities.
(Tribune News Service)  Polands largest oil company PKN Orlen SA has unexpectedly stopped receiving oil via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Obajtek said in a tweet on Saturday.

The halt comes a day after Russias invasion of Ukraine reached the one-year mark. Poland has been among the staunchest backers of Kyiv, sending humanitarian aid, weapons and accepting some 1.5 million refugees. It also was the first European country to have its gas deliveries cut off by Russia in 2022, days after the start of the war.

The company didnt give the reason for the situation. Russias oil-pipeline operator didnt immediately respond to request for a comment.

Russian oil accounts for about 10% of Polish supplies after the country rushed to slash imports following the Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw-listed Orlen said consumers wont be impacted by the halt, for which it said it had prepared.

Poland has repeatedly said it plans to end Russian oil imports entirely, but needed European sanctions to be able to cancel the only remaining contract with a Russian supplier.

The northern leg of Druzhba pipeline, which runs to Germany and earlier supplied some refineries in the European Unions largest economy, was until now being primarily used by Orlen. The pipelines southern branch was operating normally on Saturday.

President Joe Biden visited Warsaw and Kyiv this week, pledging continued support for Ukraine. In a speech marking the one-year point of the invasion, Biden hit back at President Vladimir Putin, saying he would never win the war.

With assistance from Olga Tanas.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (Tribune News Service)  On his hands and knees with four land mine explosives strapped to his arms and legs, each weighing roughly 22 pounds, Ruslan Tishchenko crawled through manmade ditches to place the bombs in a straight line on June 8. After placing two of the mines roughly 6 feet apart, he briefly lifted his head and noticed someone flashing a light off to the distance in some trees.

Seconds later, a Russian tank began shooting and set off a landmine about 32 feet away followed by another two explosions that threw him over 23 feet into the air. Immediately, the 45-year-old Ukrainian soldier knew his injuries would be bad as he saw his right leg facing the wrong direction.

Fellow soldiers carried Tishchenko into a car with the last land mine still strapped to his right leg as he hadnt finished placing the mine before the Russians discovered him. After being transferred from the car into an ambulance Tishchenko made it to an emergency center in four hours and was later transferred to a hospital in Lviv where he stayed recovering from surgery.

Tishchenkos right leg was broken and a tourniquet wrapped around his left leg was placed tight to stop the bleeding from his artery where shrapnel from the explosion hit him. A nurse at the hospital in Lviv later told Tishchenko that upon his arrival his left leg was black.

His left leg was amputated. Once recovered, he applied to Revived Soldiers Ukraine, a nonprofit that could bring him to Orlando for a prosthetic leg.

Tishchenko, who is still in Orlando, will mark the anniversary of the invasion at the annual Ukrainian Festival Saturday and Sunday.

Irina Vashchuk Discipio, founder and president of Revived Soldiers Ukraine, has worked with roughly 21 soldiers like Tishchenko since Feb. 24, 2022, when Russias full invasion of Ukraine began.

Since she opened Revived Soldiers Ukraine in 2015, Discipio had helped 53 wounded Ukrainian soldiers before Russias invasion. Seven soldiers from the last five years went back to the battlefield throughout the last year and two were killed.

We see a lot of leg amputations that are more complicated than before, Discipio said.

To get wounded soldiers out of Ukraine, they must first heal in their hospitals. After, they are transported to Warsaw, Poland, where they get help with visas and then are flown to various hospitals throughout the United States depending on what their injuries are, Discipio said.

In Orlando, where Discipio raises her two children and calls home base, leg amputees are given prosthetics.

They give us a special rate here and they are the best prosthetic center for legs in the country in my opinion, Discipio said about Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates.

Revived Soldiers Ukraine pays for each soldiers visa, flight, accommodation and prosthetics, a process she said is grueling and takes a lot of patience.

We rely on donations to be able to get each soldier here, Discipio said. Its mainly the Americans who have been donating the most.

In the last year, Revived Soldiers Ukraine has raised and spent $7 million in between paying for prosthetics, accommodation, flights and a new rehab facility in Ukraine that will open in three months.

Ukraine doesnt have a facility like this so we are hoping to be able to treat some soldiers there without having to take them out of the county, Discipio said.

The facility will have five therapists and one doctor who will be trained in the United States, Discipio said.

Discipio runs the nonprofit with 30 volunteers in the U. S. and other volunteers in Ukraine, a small crew to handle the influx of soldiers needing help after the war began.

Its a lot, Discipio said. We always need volunteers ... and, if [volunteers] dont speak Ukrainian, we can have them drive soldiers to and from appointments.

Discipio houses soldiers and their wives or families mostly in vacation rentals but with so many, she has begun to house some single soldiers in her own home.

I cant just sit at home and do nothing, Discipio said. I need to help in some way.

With more soldiers injured on a daily basis as the war commemorates one year, raising the money to get more soldiers help and the ability to purchase the prosthetics are in jeopardy.

Tishchenkos leg cost $30,000 and 28-year-old Mykhalo Varvarych, a Ukrainian soldier who lost both of his legs after a mine explosion, will cost the nonprofit $25,000 per leg, Discipio said.

Tishchenko and Varvarych will speak at the annual Ukrainian Festival at Lake Eola park from noon through 8 p.m. Saturday and noon through 6 p.m. Sunday. The free event will feature live Ukrainian music, food vendors and fashion show.

Discipio has visited Ukraine five times since the war began to visit her parents who live outside Kyiv and brother who is a soldier while helping facilitate getting wounded soldiers out of the country.

During her first visit a few months after the war began the most shocking thing was seeing the thousands of Ukrainians walking toward the border of Poland.

Its depressing, Discipio said. I just saw miles and miles of people walking and schools are destroyed. Theres just complete destruction.

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(Tribune News Service)  Rep. George Santos has come under fire for co-sponsoring a bill that would make the AR-15 assault weapon the national gun of the U.S.

The Long Island Republican lawmaker is joining a push to lionize the weapon that has been used in many mass shootings in American workplaces and schools.

Santos, who has mostly faced attacks for his serial lying, had already worn a rifle lapel pin to Congress to show opposition to gun-control regulations like the proposed weapons ban that would keep AR-15s off the street.

Now Santos has become one of three GOP co-sponsors of Alabama Rep. Barry Moores bill to give the AR-15 the unlikely title of the National Gun of the United States.

Gov. Kathy Hochul blasted Santos for ignoring the victims of mass shootings, like the racist attack on a Buffalo supermarket and the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre.

This bill, which attempts to glorify the weapons that have been part of such horrific tragedies, adds unforgivable insult to injury for those families, Hochul said in a statement. It should never become law, and Santos should immediately remove his name from it, if he has any respect for New Yorkers.

Semi-automatic assault weapons like the AR-15 have been one of the main targets of gun-control advocates because their main purpose is to unleash as many bullets as possible as quickly as possible.

President Joe Biden has called for a renewed ban on the weapons, which were banned in the U.S. from 1994 to 2004.

After the Buffalo shooting last spring, New York state legislators outlawed sales of semi-automatic weapons to most people under age 21, but gun-rights advocates vow to sue to overturn the law.

Democrats are using Santos as a poster boy in a $45 million campaign to win back the House by flipping no fewer than five seats in New York state alone.

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(Tribune News Service)  Illegal fireworks not only affect children, pets and people with breathing problems, but also combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder like Will Brown, who served as a Navy corpsman in Vietnam.

Brown, 82, was sleeping in his 15th-floor rental apartment in Moiliili on a fall 2022 night when he was jolted awake screaming and shrieking  in response to a huge bang  from an illegal aerial firework that immediately took him back to Kien Giang province in Vietnam.

When this happens, I am bam,  right directly back to being in a battlefield in Vietnam,  Brown said. And that is so horrifically painful and terrifying to me. When I left Vietnam I thought I was leaving it behind. Ive carried it with me for 56 years now.

Nearly two dozen bills have been introduced this legislative session at the state Capitol calling for creation of law enforcement task forces, increased fines and a boost in inspections for shipping containers. Most of the proposals refer to the effects of firework-related injuries as well as how the explosions affect pets, children and adults with breathing issues. But they dont mention the effects on veterans who suffer from PTSD.

Retired Hawaii Army National Guard Maj. Chris topher Slavens, 55, of Diamond Head used to work in the Department of Veterans Affairs helping veterans adjust to civilian life. Typically, fireworks are on top of everything else that veterans are trying to adjust to,  Slavens said. And that sense of not being understood can be amplified,  he said, adding that veterans in need of medical care can access it through VA without being registered.

Three VA doctors wrote in an email statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that veterans with PTSD can receive effective mental health treatment in any of our general mental health clinics  at Spark M. Matsu naga Medical Center and community-based outpatient clinics on neighboring islands as well as on Guam and Saipan and in American Samoa. The VA Pacific Islands Health Care System has specialty clinics that provide treatments for veterans with PTSD, including prolonged exposure, cognitive processing therapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy.

Ray Aivazian, who served as a combat engineer in Afghanistan for the Marines, said fireworks dont bother him as intensely as they do some other vets.

Aivazian, 33, said that during his military service he spent time near plenty of explosives and gunfire, which accustomed him to loud noises. Because I was around those sounds, I know the difference between a gunshot and a firework or a car backfiring,  Aivazian said.

The Kaneohe resident is fine during major fireworks holidays, but random fireworks explosions can still startle him. It doesnt affect me the same way it does others,  Aivazian said. And thats the interesting thing about PTSD, is how its a case-by-case basis.

Retired Army Sgt. Patrick S. Malone, 40, said that he too is not alarmed by pre-planned fireworks. Rather, he looks forward to them. Still, the former combat medic, like others, is sometimes caught off guard when fireworks explode unexpectedly.

There was some the other daysomebody just let off right outside my house (in Aiea ) like a chain of fireworks,  Malone said. I wasnt ready for it.

Also, Malone said he avoids being near the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Friday nights because of the weekly fireworks show. If Im close, its like Im hanging mortar rounds downrange again,  he said.

Malones service spanned 10 years, including deployment to Diyala province in Iraq from 2010 to 2011.

Retired Army Col. Debra M. Lewis, 65, of Hilo had a bad experience with fireworks at a Fourth of July event in the early 1970s at what was then called Wolf Trap Farm in Virginia. The fireworks went off course and into the crowd. I think I have more PTSD from that, even though Id been in combat,  Lewis said.

Lewis served for 34 years and was commander of a $2.1 billion construction program for Baghdad and Anbar province in Iraq from June 2006 to July 2007.

She pointed out that fireworks can trigger other combat veterans in civilian life to just drop to the groundbecause thats what you do  in a combat situation.

Brown, the Vietnam Navy corpsman, went on to become a doctor and served as a physician with the military provincial health assistance program. He retired as a lieutenant and became a pediatrician in civilian life.

Calling himself the biggest kid on the block,  Brown said he loves fireworks that are anticipated and predicted. However, when it is unexpectedillegal fireworks that are not anticipatedthats what gets us (veterans ).

As a result, Brown said hes been suicidal three times. He said the suicide rate among vets is double the general populationand maintains that fireworks contribute to that spike. Its why I speak up about it,  Brown said.

When Brown shares his concerns about fireworks with others, the response is often I would have never, ever thought of that,  Brown said, adding, And yet there are 100, 000 combat veteransmen and women living in Hawaiiwho could potentially be affected by this.

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Lorna White (27) and her pimp boyfriend Jason Hamill (31) are writing weekly love letters to each other as they await sentencing for blackmail

Two blackmailing lovebirds are using the prison mailing system to keep their love alive.

Determined not to let the law of the land interfere with their devotion to each other, sex worker Lorna White (27) and her pimp boyfriend Jason Hamill (31) are writing weekly love letters to each other as they await sentencing for blackmail.

The lovers have been separated since April last year when they were first charged with their latest blackmail plot.

While theyve been in DJ stand and regular contact since then, last Tuesday at Craigavon Crown Court was the first time in almost a year they have actually seen each other.

In days gone by, the pimp and prostitute could have shared a quick hug in the dock but thanks to modern technology, all they could do was wave at each other as they appeared at court by videolink from custody - White from Hydebank and Hamill from Maghaberry.

Hamill, from Main Street in Newtownhamilton and White, from Main Street in Newtonbutler, both confessed to a admitted charge of blackmail in that between 5 February and 2 April last year, they demanded 7,900 with menaces from their male victim.

Lorna White and Jason Hamill

When the devious couple were initially charged last April, Hamill had also faced a charge of intentionally causing or inciting White to become a prostitute in any part of the world, and you did so for or in the expectation of gain for yourself or a third person.

That charge was not proceeded with by the prosecution but the court heard previously that the new offence was in a similar vein to their previous offence of blackmail.

In July 2019, the couple were handed four year sentences after they admitted extorting more than 3,000 from one of Whites customers

Jailing sex worker White and her pimp boyfriend Hamill, Judge Gordon Kerr QC has told the pair that while his gambling debts were at the heart of the case, Hamill was willingly assisted by White in the extortion plot.

The judge told them they had caused their victim to undergo severe stress in his work, his social life and obviously financially so he was ordering that a BMW car which was seized by police be sold and the victim compensated for the 3,200 he handed over to them.

In that case they had entered guilty pleas to six counts of blackmail against a man White had sex with after he paid her 100, making repeated demands between 1 July 2017 and 10 May 2018, for payments of 100, two of 1,000 and culminating in a whopping 3,000.

In a separate indictment, Hamill also confessed to controlling Whites prostitution for gain.

The court heard then how the victim had met with White in July 2018 and had sex with her in a car and in a flat in Tandragee, paying her 100 for the pressure.

Following those trysts however, he was contacted by the couple on a number of occasions when they told him he had been photographed and video recorded having sex with White.

He was told to pay them 500 or they would send the video to his fiance and this later went up to 1,000 as the threats and demands escalated.

At one stage, they sent the victim a screenshot of him in Whites bedroom but it was then that he contacted the cops and they arrested the couple, seizing their phones.

In court last Tuesday defence barristers Damien Halleron and Seamus Lannon asked for sentencing to be adjourned to allow time for the completion of pre-sentence probation and medical reports.

Remanding the pair back into custody, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said he would deal with the pair on 28 March.

According to a source who was connected to the investigation, theyll be looking at a fair stretch behind bars given they dont just have a previous conviction for blackmail but were actually still on licence for their earlier extortion.

Lorna White

It follows the same pattern again - he runs up loads of debt through gambling, he tells her how much he needs to clear it up and she loves him so puts herself about to cover his losses, said the source who wants to keep their identity private.

Theyre writing to each other very often - they cant help it, they just love each other but itll be a good whole before theyre out and able to actually see each other again.
Dominik Kaczmarek (31) of Maplewood Green, Tallaght, was charged with possessing two kilos of cocaine for sale or supply at his address

A father of two arrested over a seizure of 140,000 worth of cocaine in Tallaght, Dublin, has been held on 11,000 bail.

Officers with the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) arrested Dominik Kaczmarek, 31, of Maplewood Green, Tallaght, on Friday.

He was charged with possessing two kilos of cocaine for sale or supply at his address.

He appeared before Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court on Saturday and faced objections to bail.

Detective Garda Stephen Gillespie told Judge Smyth that the accused made no reply to the charges.

He told the bail hearing that the GNDOCB carried out an operation targetting organised crime activities involving the importation of drugs and money laundering.

It was alleged that the accused was seen letting a man out of his car in Firhouse before returning home.

Gardai then seized the cocaine from his car on his driveway.

Detective Gillespie said the GNDOCB would prepare a "comprehensive file" for the Director of Public Prosecutions, and there was a likelihood of further charges.

Questioned by defence counsel Kevin McCrave, he agreed the accused was a Polish national who has been in Ireland for eight years, the last five of them at his current address, and he had a family here.

The barrister pleaded for bail and said his client would obey conditions if released.

Detective Gillespie said, "that alleviates some concerns, not fully, but some".

Judge Smyth set bail in Mr Kaczmarek's bond of 1,000 with a 10,000 independent surety.

He was remanded in custody with consent to bail to appear at Cloverhill District Court on Wednesday.

After taking bail, he must sign on at a garda station daily, surrender his passport, and remain contactable by phone. Legal aid was granted.
Bruno Farias worked for contractors at the airport which allowed him to avoid customs

An airport worker has been jailed for six years after picking up a portion of one million euro worth of cocaine in a toilet cubicle in order to bypass custom and move the drugs out of the airport.

Bruno Farias (31) and his co-worker Jocelino De Silva (44) picked up the drugs from the cubicle after a third co-accused Lucas Farias (27), carried just under 15kg of cocaine, valued at just over 1 million, from Brazil in his suitcase.

Last month De Silva, of Hill Street, Dublin 1, was jailed for six years and Lucas Farias (27) of no fixed abode, was jailed for seven years for their roles.

Bruno Farias, of Stewarts Hall, Ryders Row, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of 12kg valued at 840,000 of the cocaine at the airport on July 11, 2022,

He has no previous convictions.

De Silva had admitted possession of the remaining 3kg of drugs on the same occasion valued at 200,000, while Farias admitted importing the entire 15kg of cocaine from Brazil.

Judge Martin Nolan noted the fact that two of the men worked for contractors at the airport allowed them to avoid customs.

He said this had made Bruno Farias a vital cog.

He took into account the mitigating circumstances, that he was acting as a courier and that he had no proprietary interest in the drugs.

He noted speed had been of the essence in the toilets and he attached no significance to the fact that Bruno Farias had picked up the larger amount of drugs.

Judge Nolan imposed a six year sentence, which he backdated to July when the accused went into custody.

Detective Garda Ronan Doolan told Olan Callanan BL, prosecuting, that custom officers in Dublin Airport were alerted to a particular suitcase that was making its way from Sao Paulo to Dublin via Frankfurt.

The case was identified and Lucas Farias was observed picking it from the carousel in baggage reclaim before going into some nearby toilets.

A few minutes later De Silva and Bruno Farias were seen entering the same bathrooms before Lucas Farias left.

The drugs in the suitcase were divided between two bags and De Silva and Bruno Farias grabbed one each.

De Silva and Bruno Farias then made their way through the staff entrances in the airport using their employee swipe cards and boarded an employee bus.

These two men were stopped and arrested and De Silva was found to have three kg of cocaine in a backpack while Bruno Farias had just under 12kg of the drug.

Both Bruno Farias and Da Silva were employees of a contractor at the airport.

Lucas Farias had also been arrested and all three were interviewed.

Fiona Murphy SC, defending Bruno Farias, said her client, who had been working as a catering assistant, accepts his involvement but had been threatened and was in a situation where he felt he had no option.

She said his role had been to move the drugs from one place to another.

She said he had come to Ireland from Brazil in an effort to make his life better and she asked the court to be as lenient as possible.

She said De Silva had been his manager in work and the third man was his cousin.
Det Gda Gerrit Durnin, of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), said he arrested the accused at Dublin Airport

A Dublin man has appeared in court on charges of corruption and perverting the course of justice after being extradited from Spain.

Ryan Fitzpatrick (25) was brought before a sitting of Dublin district court on Thursday evening where gardai objected to him being granted bail.

The accused, of Seamount Road in Malahide, is alleged to have requested confidential information on the Garda PULSE system in exchange for a monetary reward.

Det Gda Gerrit Durnin, of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), said he arrested the accused at Dublin Airport and that he made no reply when the charges were put to him.

The detective objected to bail citing the seriousness of the charges and the strength of the supporting evidence.

He said Mr Fitzpatrick is accused of corruptly offering a gift to Lauryn McCann as an inducement on account of her doing an act in relation to her employment.

The offence is contrary to Section 5(1) of the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018.

The court was told gardai carried out an operation in May 2020 relating to the unlawful dissemination of data held on the Garda PULSE system by a civilian staff member to a third party.

A search was carried out under warrant and the staff member's phone was seized.

The court heard that when it was examined gardai found that a total of 69 PULSE images had been shared via Whatsapp to a number saved as 'R'.

The images, the detective said, related to Ryan Fitzpatrick and another named man.

Lauryn McCann outside court   Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.ie

Det Gda Durnin said it would be alleged that 'R' made an offer of a reward for information in a message on May 11, 2020.

The message read: "Thanks for that, keep an eye out always a few quid there for you if anything pops up".

He said that in another message 'R' asked the civilian staff member to "do me bros" if they "get a chance" with mention of 500.

Det Gda Durnin told the court it would be alleged that at time the 'R' number was in use by Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The accused is also charged with perverting the course of justice, which the court heard carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, by attempting to destroy a mobile phone.

The detective said gardai carried out a search of his home in May 2020 and, in the presence of gardai, Mr Fitzpatrick allegedly attempted to discard a mobile phone down a toilet.

Judge Marie Conneely was told gardai are satisfied that there is strong technical evidence to demonstrate that at the time Ryan Fitzpatrick was 'R' saved in the civilian staff member's phone.

Under cross-examination from defence solicitor Mervyn Harnett, of Ferrys Solicitors, the detective accepted that there are no concerns of witness interference in the case.

The court was also told Mr Fitzpatrick consented to being extradited from Spain.

Det Gda Durnin added that the accused was arrested on foot of a European Arrest Warrant and believed he would still be in Spain if the warrant hadn't been issued.

Mr Harnett submitted that the state had not made its case to satisfy the denial of bail and said there was no evidence given that his client would commit further serious offences if released.

He said that the state's case appeared strong but that the technical evidence has not yet been tested in court.

The solicitor also said that his client would face a long period in custody while awaiting trial if refused bail.

Judge Conneely said the accused was entitled to the presumption of innocence but citing the seriousness of the charge and strength of the evidence refused bail.

Mr Fitzpatrick was remanded in custody and will appear before Cloverhill district court via video link next week.
A man has been accused of inflicting two large scrape wounds on his flatmates back with a sharp implement during an argument in their Dublin apartment.

The alleged victim claimed he had to place a couch between himself and accused Gavril Muresan (39) during an attack at their home.

Mr Muresan is charged with assault causing harm to the man at the flat at Crosbies Yard, Ossory Road, East Wall on November 26 last year.

He denies the charge and the case against him was adjourned to set a date for his non-jury trial at Dublin District Court.

Garda Sergeant Michelle Lynch said the DPP consented to the case being dealt with summarily in the district court. She gave an outline of the prosecutions evidence so the judge could consider whether to accept jurisdiction.

Sgt Lynch said on the day in question, gardai were called to the apartment and found the alleged victim with two large superficial scrape marks to his back.

The man said the accused, his room-mate, had assaulted him with a sharp implement in the flat, though this was not recovered.

It was alleged there had been an argument between the two in relation to the premises and the complainant was confronted by the defendant and received the wounds to his back. The man and another person at the apartment had to place a couch between themselves and the (alleged) offender, Sgt Lynch said.

Judge Bryan Smyth accepted jurisdiction, allowing the case to remain in the district court instead of being sent for jury trial to the circuit court.

Defence solicitor Stephen OMahony said Mr Muresan would be contesting the charge. Sgt Lynch said there would be a number of civilian witnesses and the judge adjourned the case to set a date for hearing.

The charge against the accused is under Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
The defendant had to surrender his passport, provide gardai with his new mobile phone number, reside at Foxdene Avenue in Lucan, and sign on daily at the local Garda station

A businessman has been extradited back to Ireland on charges of stealing a car, possessing stolen vehicles and motor parts, and unlawfully having an electronic "relay" gadget for use in a theft.

Constantine Asimionesei (33), formerly of Holland's Park, Athy, Co Kildare, now living in Lucan, Co Dublin, was brought back from Romania on Friday to face trial on charges under the Theft & Fraud Act.

It follows an investigation by the Garda Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigating Unit.

He appeared before Dublin District Court on Saturday before Judge Bryan Smyth. He set bail in the defendant's bond of 1,000 and a 12,000 independent surety.

The father of two is accused of two counts of deception over the sale of two cars for 35,000, stealing a 2019-registered Kia Niro worth 30,000 and handling another stolen car valued at 15,000, as well as stolen car airbags, engines, doors, seats and other parts, on dates in 2019 and 2020, at locations in Co Dublin and Co Meath.

He also has a charge for having a Dell rucksack and an electronic relay device for use in connection with a theft, at his residence in Eaton Drive, Rathcoole, Co Dublin, on March 5, 2020, on the date of the alleged theft of the Kia Niro.

He made denials to three charges and had no reply to the remaining 12 charges.

Detective Garda Seamus Wallace objected to bail, telling Judge Smyth that Mr Asimionesei was initially arrested on March 5, 2020, but he was released pending the preparation of a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

He said the accused was told gardai would be in touch over the possibility of a further arrest; however, he left the country with his family 12 days later.

The DPP has directed trial at the Circuit Court level, which has broader sentencing powers, and Detective Garda Wallace said a European Arrest Warrant had to be obtained to bring him back to Ireland.

Cross-examined, he agreed with defence counsel Aisling Ginger-Quinn that Mr Asimionesei did not fight the extradition proceedings.

Counsel stressed her client's ties to this jurisdiction, telling the court Mr Asimionesei had lived here since he was nine. The court heard that his father and siblings were also in Ireland and willing to stand bail while his wife was about to return.

The barrister told the court that Mr Asimionesei went back to Romania after his mother died because of something related to her will. He had intended to set up a company there.

However, he now intended to remain in Ireland, and would abide by conditions, the court heard. A refusal of bail would result in a lengthy period in custody on remand while he had the presumption of innocence, counsel submitted.

Judge Smyth set bail, and after informing Mr Asimionesei of the financial requirements, he warned him that he must abide by a list of conditions.

The defendant had to surrender his passport, provide gardai with his new mobile phone number on which he must be contactable at all times, reside at Foxdene Avenue in Lucan, and sign on daily at the local Garda station.

He was remanded in custody with consent to bail to appear at Cloverhill District Court on Wednesday. Legal aid was granted.
This is the worst case of controlling and coercive behaviour I have seen

A violent and abusive Yorkshire mum, who could drink three bottles of wine a day assaulted, taunted and abused her husband for 20 years, a court has heard.

Heavy drinker Sheree Spencer punched, kicked, slapped and bit her husband that left him in fear and despair and feeling trapped.

During persistent "nasty" attacks, she hit him with a wine bottle, leaving him with a "cauliflower" ear and a chipped elbow, Hull Crown Court heard.

Spencer (45) of Beals Close, Market Weighton in East Yorkshire, admitted coercive and controlling behaviour between January 2016 and June 2021.

She also admitted to three offences of assaulting her husband, causing actual bodily harm, between January and April 2020.

They had been together as a couple since the year 2000 and lived in Bubwith, near Selby and had three young children.

Her behaviour had changed while the couple were living in London and she became aggressive, pushing and slapping him.

Spencer's violent behaviour towards her husband was only revealed after the police were alerted.

Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, prosecuting, said that during one incident, Spencer spat at her husband and grabbed him by the throat, giving him breathing difficulties.

She hit him on the back of the head with a wine glass that left him needing stitches.

The assaults including kicking, punching, hitting, biting and spitting at him while she also regularly hurled insults at him. She damaged his property, including laptops, phones, clothes and household items.

During one attack she caused him a disfigured ear with a wine bottle and a chipped elbow with one neighbour saying they regularly heard abusive language from Spencer towards him.

She was heard saying: "You're not a f***ing man. I want you out of my life." In one incident, she damaged a tyre on his car using a kitchen knife, she lunged at him with the knife, causing a 2cm cut below his knee.

Spencer's "unpredictable and threatening" behaviour caused her husband to become estranged from his family.

The husband handed over 43 photographs of injuries, 36 video clips and nine mobile phone recordings to the police.

in a statement that he read to the court her husband said he had suffered 20 years of physical and mental abuse.

He feared that he would never fully recover from the abuse and he felt that he had to hide it from friends and family.

He complied with her demands and she controlled all aspects of his daily life, including which room he could sleep in and which toilet he could use.

"She threatened to make false allegations to me to the police," he said.

He felt "trapped" and he "feared the consequences of speaking out" and became "increasingly hardened" to the abuse.

Spencer's husband said that, after she was arrested, the problems continued during Family Court hearings through her claiming that she was the victim and by using character assassination against him.

He had to defend himself against allegations. "She continued to exert her control over me," he said. She was "unnecessarily obstructive" and it was three months before she would allow the family home to be sold.

"I have had to seek help from my GP on several occasions," said the husband. His emotional wellbeing had deteriorated.

Defence barrister Richard Pratt KC said that there was "little if anything" that could be said in mitigation. "It's a shocking, distressing case," said Mr Pratt.

"Alcohol played the most significant part in what happened."

A mixture of alcohol and her prescription medication caused her to behave in a way which "appalled" her and she accepted she had caused pain and humiliation to her husband.

What happened was dreadful," said Mr Pratt. The offences were prolonged over a long period of time. It was an irony that Spencer had, during her job with the Ministry of Justice, been working on a project connected with the impact of custodial sentences on families.

Judge Kate Rayfield told Spencer: This is the worst case of controlling and coercive behaviour I have seen.

She described how she had sat through two hours of video and audio recordings of Spencer hurling hateful abuse at her husband.

Judge Rayfield said: In one of these recordings it is clear you had defecated on the floor. Your husband can be heard scrubbing while you are heard to say to him: 'I made you do that, all I asked you to do was go to the shop.

I watched as you spat in his face time and time again and called him 'bitch, tiny c*** and skank and insulted members of his family.

You whispered in his face in the most sinister way, shouted demands and instructions at him - 'Get the f***ing chicken on, get to the f***ing shop' and warning him 'you will learn.

The judge added: By your actions you intended to humiliate or degrade Richard and you have caused him significant psychological harm.

Richard Spencer was a vulnerable victim, isolated from his family and trapped financially.'

Spencer admitted coercive and controlling behaviour and three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The charges could only cover a five year period dating from the time the law on controlling and coercive behaviour was passed in late 2015.

But Judge Rayfield said she took account of her persistent behaviour towards her husband because it cast light on his vulnerability as her victim.

Spencer could be heard sobbing as she was led away to the cells to begin her four year term.
"I will be starving in Ennis Circuit Court, he told The Sunday World. I dont know what else to do.

A Clare man facing prison for possession of cannabis is going on hunger-strike in a last-ditch attempt to dodge jail.

John ORegan (59) is lowering his food intake this week before going on hunger strike ahead of his sentencing on March 9.

"I will be starving in Ennis Circuit Court, he told The Sunday World. I dont know what else to do. I know that its far-fetched and some people might think its a bit extreme, but no one should be going to prison for smoking a few joints.

"There are worse injustices in the world than John ORegan from Kilkee not going to prison.

It wasnt until his 50s that John began to have run-ins with the gardai, admitting he has been arrested on numerous occasions and his West Clare flat has been raided between half a dozen and a dozen times.

The first came when officers made a follow-up call to Johns door after he was pushed off his bike.

He was reluctant to let them in, with gardai becoming suspicious and later returning to find Johns cannabis plants.

The man has repeatedly appeared in the District Court, and is now facing two more bouts in the Circuit Court that threaten jail-time.

"I had a flag with a cannabis leaf on it hanging from my window for awhile, John said. If I was a drug dealer, why would I do that?

He claims his cannabis plants are only grown for his personal use, and any dealing charge tacked onto his three or four previous cultivation and possession charges were unfounded.

"I cant just go to prison for years over smoking cannabis? This is all I have left to do. I have contacted the politicians, I have tried the online petitions, I have tried pleading with the gardai and judges but theyre just following the law.

"The only thing that can help now is an immediate law change. The politicians in the Dail.

"I know its unlikely. But there is not much else for me to do. Im at a loss for words. This day next week could be my first in Limerick Prison.

John slammed current legislation around cannabis, believing the drug should be legalised.

The Clare man lived in Holland for years, and his first purchase of illegal drugs came when he arrived back in Ireland.

"When I was buying cannabis in Holland it was safe. I never knew where to get other drugs like acid in Holland. When I came back to Ireland, you are dealing with criminals, cannabis was surrounded by other drugs.

John argues there are health benefits to cannabis and it is a drug that is "not harming anyone.

He said he grows the plants himself and cant even remember the last time he would have purchased cannabis illegally.

He believes if it and other drugs were legal, it would allow people struggling with drug-use to access help easier, without fear of the law.

The 59-year-old lives alone and likes to keep to himself, he said. He has had experience with homelessness in the past but is now studying a software computing course.

"There is no harm in what Im doing. I could go to prison for years. Its only a matter for the Dail.
Parents need to be assured that when their young people go to school, they are not going to encounter issues that are totally foreign

Teaching kids about porn in schools will put an explosive issue into their minds, an Irish Catholic group has insisted.

Minister for Education Norma Foley confirmed this week that parents will have the right to withdraw children from the sex education curriculum if they don't agree with the content.

This has eased the minds of some parents who took issue with the new SPHE curriculum including discussions on pornography.

But the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association said that the notion that porn can be taught ethically in schools is "nonsense".

Alan Whelan, President of the CSSPA, says that parents have always been allowed to withdraw their children from subjects and the right should not be taken away.

"Parents, by in large, are happy with the vast majority of what is proposed, but there are major areas that lead to great difficulty for parents", he told Newstalk radio.

Mr Whelan says that the new curriculum will put an "explosive issue into the minds of young people".

"Drugs are there and we don't just turn a blind eye to it, we try to discourage drug-taking", he said.

According to him, the notion that porn can be taught ethically in schools is "nonsense".

"Parents need to be assured that when their young people go to school, they are not going to encounter issues that are totally foreign", he said.

Mr Whelan also believes that not enough parents were consulted in the process of creating the new curriculum.

"Let's have a proper debate, let's involve parents", he said.

"There's a wide variety of perspectives among parents but those parents who want reassurance should be able to get that reassurance."

He predicts that the burden of addressing parents' concerns about the curriculum will fall on schools come September.

"We need to address the issues now and come up with practical solutions."

According to the Executive Director of Corks Sexual Health Centre, pornography should be part of the sex education curriculum because it is a reality of modern living.

Dr Martin Daveron said teenagers access and use of porn is an epidemic and warned that sexual health and wellbeing education often neglects this.

Experts have warned that porn is fuelling young mens interest in violent sex and he said people misconstrue [porn acting] for reality and this distorts their view of sex and relationships so it would be a disservice to them if it wasn't talked about in schools.

When we think about ability to access good healthy relationships; its a strong sexual education curriculum thats going to give us that and is going to enable young people to access good healthy relationships into the future.

There is no point in avoiding [porn]. It is a reality of modern living and we need to enable young people to navigate it safely.
Carlin successfully spied on IRA boss Martin McGuinness for 11 years

Willie Carlin  Tory Prime Minister Maggie Thatchers favourite spy in Ireland  has died, the Sunday World has learned.

The 76-year-old MI5 spook, who successfully spied on IRA boss Martin McGuinness for 11 years, passed away at his London home last week.

He was one of the top agents inside Sinn Fein and was forced to flee his native city in fear of his life.

However, 15 years ago he secretly returned for a day when the Sunday World photographed him on the citys walls.

Conor Graham from the Dublin-based Merrion Press publishing house, told the Sunday World: I telephoned Willie last week, but his wife Carine answered and she told me he had died.

Willie Carlin   Hugh Jordan

Three years ago, Merrion Press published Thatchers Spy: My Life as an MI5 Agent Inside Sinn Fein.

It recounted the amazing life story of a one-time British soldier from Derrys Creggan estate who successfully infiltrated Sinn Fein on behalf of the British Secret Service.

Carlin, who was married with children, was due to leave the Royal Irish Hussars regiment in 1974.

As he had joined the British Army long before the Troubles erupted, he asked his bosses if it was safe for him to return to the city of his birth.

Army top brass spotted an opportunity to increase intelligence gathering on the growing Irish republican movement.

The Provos in Derry enjoyed boosted membership after the Bloody Sunday massacre when the Parachute Regiment gunned down 14 innocent victims after a civil rights march in the city. A senior MI5 officer arranged to meet Carlin outside the former cottage home of the British Military adventurer Clive of India.

He informed the Derry man that the British state wanted him to return to his home town, where he would ease himself into the republican movement.

Carlin was specifically told not to show any interest in joining the IRA, but to concentrate in finding out information about Sinn Fein.

And as he was offered a salary and a pension, Carlin signed up immediately.

Carlin went back home to Derry where he settled with his wife and family in the Waterside area. He found work running a community group.

Bright, articulate and well-organised, Carlin soon came to the attention of McGuinness who brought him on board as a political advisor.

Carlin is credited with changing McGuinnesss public image. He persuaded the top republican to drop his Aran jumper image in favour of suits and ties and polished shoes.

Willie Carlin   Hugh Jordan

He was party to all political developments in Sinn Fein and once a week he visited his MI5 agent Michael Bettaney at a spooks hideaway home on the outskirts Limavady where he passed on information.

Carlin also witnessed the IRA shooting of fiver-a-day census collector Joanne Mathers. He recognised the gunman by his distinctive gait and he immediately passed on the name to his handlers.

But Michael Bettaney was an alcoholic who was eventually jailed for 10 years in England for passing British state secrets to the Russians.

A devout Catholic, he attended weekly Mass in prison where he met and befriended IRA members who were serving sentences for terrorist activities in England.

Consumed with bitterness and revenge, he told the IRA men Martin McGuinness was being betrayed by a British spy in Derry called Willie Carlin.

But MI5 spooks got to hear about this and arranged for Carlin to be removed immediately.

Maggie Thatcher  who had read Carlins intelligence reports with great interest  immediately put her Prime Ministerial jet at his disposal.

Carlin and his family were smuggled out of Derry in the middle of the night as the IRA was making plans to abduct him.

He returned 15 years later when the Sunday Worldpictured him on Derrys walls and at other location in the city. Carlin also visited Joanne Mathers grave near Strabane.

Thatcher once described Willie Carlin as her favourite spy. And he used this connection as the title of his autobiography.

A heavy smoker who also suffered from a COPD-related lung disease, Carlin contracted Covid at the height of the epidemic.

And when it developed into Long Covid he was permanently confined to bed.

Carlins Egyptian-born wife Carine  who was also his registered carer  required daily outside assistance to look after him in the final months of his life.
Appearing on RTE Ones The Late Late Show on Friday evening, he told host Ryan Tubridy that he stared at his phone in disbelief when learned the news.

Normal People star Paul Mescal revealed he started shaking when he learned he had been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.

The 27-year-old actor from Maynooth, Co Kildare, said being nominated for the Best Actor gong for his role as a Scottish father holidaying with his daughter in Turkey in the film Aftersun came as a complete shock.

Appearing on RTE Ones The Late Late Show on Friday evening, he told host Ryan Tubridy that he stared at his phone in disbelief when learned the news.

I had a meeting earlier on in the day that I hoped would run through the nominations coming through but it didnt so I was just watching my phone, the nomination came up, the phone dropped, I started shaking, he recalled.

I Facetimed my family. There was lots of emotion that comes with it because it wasnt really expected.

I thought we were on the outside of the bubble, but I was just like  I dont know, it was just a dream come true to be honest. To be in the category with Colin. It really is amazing.

"Very surreal, he said of competing for the top acting award with fellow Irish star Colin Farrell, who was also nominated for his role in The Banshees of Inisherin.

He also said he is delighted to be among 14 Irish nominees at next months glittering awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Im right smack bang in the middle of it, he said of the incredible number of Irish nominees this year.

I did an interview on the red carpet last night where I was like obviously I think its so important to celebrate the fact that this year there is a particular surge in Irish nominations  and not to expect that this will happen every year  but theres no reason why we shouldnt be pushing at this rate as much as we can, Mescal said.

We have, I think, the writers. Weve got some of the best, weve got a heritage of writing like no other country, I think. Weve got the actors and weve got the directors and I think its up to probably the powers that be, government or whatever, to support it in a way that we can continue this.

He also revealed that he plans to bring his parents with him to the Oscars ceremony and party with them afterwards.

Mum and Dad are coming in. Well get dressed up, go to the ceremony, then go have a couple of drinks and get drunk, he said.

And despite saying previously that he planned to ditch his parents after the Oscars ceremony, he joked he changed his mind after they made a good show of themselves following the BAFTA awards.

As for his meteoric rise to fame following his performance as Connell in Normal People, he said: I feel good. Its full-on nonetheless, its just day by day, get on with training.

But he admitted he was taken aback when he was approached to do the sequel to Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator in which he will play the leading role as Lucius, the young nephew of Roman Emperor Commodus, a character who was originally played by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2000 film also starring Russell Crowe.

I initially thought it was a joke, he said before he sat down to a Zoom meeting with director Ridley Scott.

Meanwhile, he also revealed that his success didnt stop him from paying homage to his alma mater, and he popped in to Maynooth Post-Primary during a drama club rehearsal before appearing on the red carpet for the Irish premiere of his latest film Gods Creatures alongside co-star Emily Watson on Thursday night at Dublins Lighthouse cinema.

It was the exact same, he said of his school days when his interest in acting began when he appeared in a school production of Phantom of the Opera.

As for his much publicised red carpet interview in Irish at the BAFTA awards, he said his father slagged him saying what was that?

I did it and I realised I was out of my depth very quickly. Im very proud of the Irish I have and I think its important to not to gatekeep the language and use it, he said.
The babies were born in Dublins Rotunda hospital on Monday.

CELEBRITY couple Jenny Dixon and Tom Neville announced tonight they have become proud parents to twin daughters.

The babies were born in Dublins Rotunda hospital on Monday.

Bella Sky Neville and Capri Lucia Neville were born Monday 20th February 2023 (girls in neo natal and doing well), announced Jenny.

To Professor Jennifer Donnelly and the entire team of midwives and staff we thank you so much.

Former Miss World Rosanna Davison was among the first to congratulate the couple."

Congratulations to you both and welcome to the world Bella and Capri! Beautiful names, she wrote on Instagram.

Fellow Fair City star Amilia Keating wrote: You are amazing.

Jenny (38) famously played Kerri-Ann Bishop in Fair City, until her character was stabbed to death nearly four years ago.

Jenny announced the arrival this evening

Tom (46) was a Fine Gael TD for Limerick county, until he lost his seat in the last election. Earlier this year he took up a new job in London.

The couple wed in Dublin in June 2019, with then Taoiseach and fellow Fine Gael politician Leo Varadkar wishing Tom and his new bride well.

Several of Jennys former colleagues from Fair City joined her on the big day, including George McMahon (Mono), Dave OSullivan (Decco), Bryan Murray (Bob) and Una Crawford O'Brien (Renee). Jennys character Kerri-Ann previously caught up in a love triangle involving Mondo and Decco.

Before going into acting Dubliner Jenny was a teacher. She later spent a couple of years in Los Angeles, trying her hand at acting and modelling and famously hung out with Hugh Hefner in the Playboy mansion.

Tom hails from Rathkeale and was initially co-opted to Limerick county council in 2003 to replace his father.

Following the economic crash he emigrated to Australia for four years and when Dan gave up his Dail seat in 2016 Tom ran and was elected and replaced him.

Tom has also tried his hand at acting, appearing in several short films. Earlier this year he took up a new job in London with TikTok in their brand management division.
Salma Hayak is served a six-pack by kindred spirit Channing Tatum in Magic Mikes Last Dance. Now she tells all, to Esther McCarthy

Salma at the premiere of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish with Antonio Banderas   ?? `??_/O??

She plays the exotic and wealthy socialite tasked with putting Magic Mike back up on stage, and Salma Hayek says she had a blast sharing a sizzling onscreen chemistry with co-star Channing Tatum.

The Mexican actress busts some sassy moves of her own in the new movie, but in real life had only ever attended one strip show before signing up for the role.

It was a long time ago when I was living in Mexico City, Salma recalls. I had two aunts who came to visit. They were older, very serious women but they came to visit and made me take them out one night to see the Chippendales.

Salma and Channing in the movie

I think it was actually fake Chippendales but it was that kind of show.

We went and my two very serious aunts were suddenly like animals! I was actually shocked to see the transformation  I have PTSD from that experience, she laughs.

That was the only time I have been to anything like that and I didnt even dare to watch it myself.

The star (56) trained hard to get in shape for her role as the flamboyantly named Maxandra Mendoza, a businesswoman so smitten with Mikes charisma, both on and off the dance floor, that she persuades him to do a live show in London. But there is a steeliness to her ambition  and a vision to her plans for the show.

It was a lot of dance training. A lot of rehearsing the technical stuff because it was so complicated but then we just went for it and had fun. I felt really proud that I can still do those sensual and technical dance moves, she says.

Salma and Channing with director Steven Soderbergh   ?? `??_/O??

Theres a sexy lap dance scene between Salma and Channing that has become a big talking point in the movie.

I loved it. We had so much fun. I have done sensual dance before but nothing ever like that; nothing so empowering to women. We just felt so connected.

We didnt stop laughing during rehearsals. I was actually terrified going into it because I really didnt know if I could do it on a technical level but Channing was amazing. He was so easy and patient and he made me feel very safe.

Both stars share an on-screen chemistry thats difficult to plan for, but the actress says it was easy to work on as she and Channing hit it off from the get-go.

Though theyd never met before, they clicked instantly from the first meeting  with director Steven Soderbergh  when she invited them to her home to discuss the project. Both actors got to collaborate with the filmmaker, writers, choreographers and dancers through rehearsals and filming.

Salma at the premiere of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish with Antonio Banderas   ?? `??_/O??

Its just something that is there or it isnt. We got lucky. The important thing was that we trusted each other from the very beginning and then everything just worked between us after that.

I really do feel like hes my kindred spirit because, like me, hes had this very good career but hes still had these moments through being sensual in dance that hes been kind of objectified. We connected a lot through talking about experiences like that.

Obviously, Channing is a producer on this too, so we got to work together a lot on Max and to create a really interesting dynamic between our two characters.

She is a socialite who, like Mike, finds herself trying to navigate a difficult moment in her life. Her husband cheated on her and shes heading for a divorce. Then everything changes when she meets Mike, who is working the bar at one of her galas.

Salma loved-up with husband Francois-Henri Pinault   ?? `??_/O??

She hears from someone else how he used to be this hot dancer, so she asks him for a private dance. Its not something she would normally do but thats when something magic happens. And it reveals something about herself that she had long forgotten.

Its really a story about following your dreams and being true to yourself when the chance comes  and that is what Max does in taking Mike to London.

Like many of the characters she tends to play, Salma enjoyed that Max is a strong character with her own views and principles. What did she most like about her?

The fact that she is so strong, even while she is going through something so difficult. I love that she is creative and courageous in wanting to use this new moment in her life to show who she really is and what she is about, she explains.

In real life, Salma is happily married to French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, who she wed in 2009 before later renewing their vows at a party with family and friends. In previous interviews, she has spoken about being reluctant to marry the man she loved in case it would change the dynamic of their relationship.

Salma Hayek with Channing Tatum in Magic Mikes Last Dance

Her career has continued to blossom ever since she first started taking on TV roles in her native Mexico, where she began by working on a soap opera.

It wasnt long before Hollywood started taking notice, and Salma broke into an English-language career with movies like Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn and opposite Will Smith in the comedy western Wild Wild West. Her performance as Mexican artist Frida Kahlo inFrida also grabbed her an Oscar nomination.

In more recent years, she has taken further control over her career by producing as well as acting in action-centred movies like Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and opposite Penelope Cruz in Bandidas.

Weve also seen her star opposite our own Barry Keoghan in the Marvel blockbuster Eternals, and as well as Magic Mikeshes currently lending her voice to the animated hit Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Though her numerous TV interviews show her to be a witty and fun guest, she admits she did briefly wonder if Magic Mike was for her before reading the script.

I must admit, I did have some pre-conceived ideas about what the movie was going to be but then I read the script and met the dancers, and I realised its a lot more than that, says the mum and stepmum.

Magic Mike is not about strippers. Its about dancers and their art. Getting to work with the dancers on this was incredible. I fell in love with all of them. They were lovely people and working with them changed my mind about a lot of things.

Now Salma, who has always loved taking to the dancefloor, is determined to hold onto the sultry new moves she learned working on the movie.

Oh, I dance all the time at home anyway, she smiles. Dance to me is like therapy  it always has been. Ill dance if nobodys watching, just for me.
Its time to vote for your favourite finalist in the 2023 Western Bay Community Awards.

We have 24 incredible finalists in the Western Bay Community Awards and we want to know who your favourite is, says a Western Bay Community Awards spokesperson.

Show them your love by voting for them in the People's Choice Award.

Previously known as the TECT Community Awards, the awards return with a new name, the Western Bay Community Awards, and recognise the dedication of Western Bay of Plentys philanthropic community.

The Western Bay Community Awards are divided into six categories. If, in the view of the judges, an entry meets the criteria for consideration under another category, the judges reserve the right to transfer the entry to that category.

-Event Excellence Award  recognising an event that has excelled in bringing our community together.

-Sustainable Future Award  recognising a group that demonstrates climate related practices, either through projects that protect or improve the environment, or sustainability-focused thinking and action within the organisations operations.

-Diversity and Inclusion Award  recognising an innovative initiative which supports diversity and inclusion within our community.

-Heart of the Community Award  recognising a group that has gone above and beyond business as usual to support a thriving, caring and connected community.

-Youth Spirit Award  recognising an individual under 25 who embodies community spirit through their contribution to the community.

-Volunteer of the Year Award  recognising an individual who has made a significant contribution to the community.

The general public are now able to vote for their top pick of the finalists in the Peoples Choice Award. Additionally, a Lifetime Service Award winner will be announced on the awards show night.

Finalists to choose from:

The finalists for the Event Excellence Award are After Dark Urban Light Festival, Diwali Festival, Escape Festival, and STEMFest.

Finalists for the Sustainable Future Award are Aongatete Forest Project, Live Well Waihi Beach, PiPS - People, Plants, Schools, and Project Parore.

The Diversity and Inclusion Award finalists are Detour Theatre, Global Ambassadors of Tauranga and WBOP, Sonic Cinema and StarJam.

The finalists for the Heart of the Community Award are EPIC Te Puke - Te Puke Events and Promotions Group, Grief Support Services, Mums4Mums and Poutiri Wellness Centre.

The Youth Spirit Award finalists are Brooke Taingahue, Darcy Bassett, Dominic Absalom and Jasrose Kaur Mallhi.

Finally, the finalists for the Volunteer of the Year Award are Ann and Basil Graeme, Doug Barnes, Luke Landon, and Tony Booth.

Judging

As well as the Peoples Choice Awards, A panel made up of community representatives judge the entries. The key criteria considered by judges are:

-Impact on community - benefit of service/project on the wider community

-Innovation and creativity - utilises innovative ideas and new approaches.

-Effectiveness of activities - success of service, achievement or objectives

-Use of resources - cost effectiveness, sustainability, and volunteering involvement and commitment

-Collaboration  evidence of collaboration and partnerships

A 2022 winner won two awards

At the 2022 TECT Community Awards, YWAM Ships Aotearoa won two awards  the Heart of the Community and the Peoples Choice awards.

YWAM Ships Managing Director, Marty Emmet, says being nominated for the Community Awards was an honour.

We were humbled for our mahi to be acknowledged in this way. These awards are the result of hundreds of volunteers that enable all the activities of YWAM Ships Aotearoa to take place; we feel lucky to have such a strong support base.

The 2023 Awards will be held in March at Baycourt Community and Arts Centre, following an online showcase of all the finalists in the six weeks prior on Facebook and Instagram.

Tauranga Commission Chair Anne Tolley says the Western Bay Community Awards are a great way to highlight and celebrate the invaluable work of community-minded groups and volunteers.

Their often-thankless work has a significant positive impact on many peoples lives, making Tauranga a better place to live for all. The awards are a small way of thanking them for their contributions.

The Bays funders Acorn Foundation, BayTrust, TECT, Tauranga City Council, and Western Bay of Plenty District Council have joined forces to deliver the awards and celebrate the community groups and volunteers who make our region such a special place to live, further reflecting the collaboration of local funders.

TECT Chairperson Bill Holland says it is the local community groups and volunteers who keep our region thriving and the awards are a way to acknowledge and thank them.

The Community Awards shine a spotlight on many of the unsung heroes working quietly in the background to make our community a better place to live.

From supporting peoples health and wellbeing, to protecting or revitalising the environment, to hosting events that keep us connected, theres so much good work being done by dedicated volunteers and community groups that deserves to be acknowledged.

Voting for the Peoples Choice Award which opened on Monday February 20, runs until March 10. The TECT Facebook page is showcasing a Meet the finalist video for each finalist with a new video posted every day from January 31  March 10. To vote click here: www.tect.org.nz/peoples-choice-award

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at Baycourt on March 16.
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South Africa: Eskom gears up to support growth of e-mobility sector in SA

Eskom on Saturday announced that it is positioning itself to play an important role in supporting the development of the electric mobility (e-mobility) sector in South Africa.

Speaking at Africas Green Economy Summit held in Cape Town this week, Eskom Group Executive for Distribution, Monde Bala, stated that the organisation has pledged to be part of the anchor market for electric vehicles (EVs) to make a positive contribution towards local market stimulation.

The power utility said it has joined the list of local sponsors for the E-Fest Electric with a R2.1 million sponsorship, which will profile Eskoms microgrid technology and mobility solution.

Africa's first consumer clean energy and electric event, E-Fest Electric, is taking place in Cape Town this weekend.

Eskom said that it has already submitted the residential time-of-use (ToU) charging tariff to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for approval.

This will enable EV owners to achieve significant savings when using the off-peak and standard periods to charge their cars, encouraging EV uptake and boosting electricity sales.

In line with Eskoms Just Energy Transition (JET) vision of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, we are also aiming for zero emissions from our sizeable fleet of vehicles. We aspire to replace our entire fleet of conventional vehicles with electric vehicles by 2040, said Bala.

Eskom said it is undertaking a pilot project to introduce electric vehicles, utility and passenger, to the Eskom fleet, which amounts to approximately 13 000 vehicles.

Plans are underway to begin the process of converting the rest of the Eskom fleet to electric where possible.

We will soon seek suitable partners for the rollout of public charging stations at Eskom sites across the country through the applicable procurement processes. In time, these should be accessible to the public, said Bala.

Eskom has also announced that it is deploying microgrids that will also support the growth of eMobility in the country, while also serving as an alternative solution to addressing load shedding.

Eskom currently has four sites being powered by the microgrid technology in Ficksburg (Free State), Lynedoch (Western Cape) and Swartkop (Northern Cape), supplying renewable electricity to over 200 households, a police station and businesses in that area.

According to the power utility, it is conducting feasibility studies at more than 80 project sites around the country.

Most of the identified sites will use solar photovoltaic (PV) as the primary source of energy and lithium ion batteries for storage capability.

Other sites will use micro wind turbines and small-scale hydro turbines, based on the most optimum energy source available.

The rollout of these projects will be phased over the next five years.

The deployment of the microgrids in Swartkop and Ficksburg serves as a proof of concept in using of microgrids in remote areas that are difficult to reach or expensive to electrify through the conventional means of electrification.

On the other hand, the installation of the microgrid at Lynedoch residential area demonstrates how this technology can be used to complement the grid, serving as a backup electricity supply to households, hospitals and other facilities. As an added advantage, microgrids contribute to reducing carbon emissions because they use renewable sources, the power utility said.

Battery storage, according to Eskom, will also be a key enabler of eMobility.

Eskom is making notable progress in this regard, with the construction of the first energy storage facility under Eskoms flagship Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) project having already begun at the Elandskop BESS site in KwaZulu-Natal in December last year.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-02-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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TechSpot is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust

The big picture: Discussions on the competition between Nvidia and AMD usually acknowledge Team Green as the more successful of the two PC gaming graphics giants. However, the distance between them changes depending on which businesses you focus on, as neither company only sells GPUs.

Examining the Q4 2022 financials from Nvidia and AMD reveals that despite Team Green's perceived significant lead, Team Red is only 11 percent behind in total gaming revenue. Nvidia took a significantly harder hit in that sector than AMD.

Both companies recently published year-end 2022 reports showing strikingly similar fourth-quarter gaming revenue. While Team Green's income in that sector took a 46 percent year-over-year hit for $1.8 billion, Team Red's only fell seven percent to $1.6 billion.

The fiscal year totals show a more significant difference between the two companies. Interestingly, gaming sector revenue swung in opposite directions by near equal percentages. Nvidia made $9 billion in gaming in 2022, while AMD took in $6.8 billion. However, the former suffered a 27 percent decline compared to 2021, while the latter grew 21 percent.

These numbers are much closer than the picture from Steam's hardware survey, which has Team Green at 75 percent GPU market share. However, PC graphics only tell part of the story.

Nvidia counts its GeForce NOW cloud gaming service in its gaming revenues, but the real missing piece in the picture is console shipments. Team Red supplies the silicon behind Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series consoles, while Nvidia only provides for the Nintendo Switch.

Recently-released financials show that, while Nintendo sold more consoles over nine months in 2022 - 14.91 million to Sony's 12.8 million - the NPD Group reports that PlayStation 5 hardware sales generated more North American revenue due to its higher price.

Microsoft doesn't report exact Xbox console numbers, so it's unclear how much it contributes to AMD's bottom line. However, analysts peg the Xbox Series X and S at 17 million units life-to-date, while Sony and Nintendo have their machines at 32 million and 122 million, respectively.

A global economic slowdown affected various tech sectors throughout 2022, including PCs and PC parts, but analysts expect things to turn around in the second half of 2023. That's about when the PC GPU rivals release their latest mid-range cards, which will arguably be the most crucial members of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4000 series and AMD's Radeon RX 7000 series.
What just happened? Nokia has announced today a new initiative and a new phone to go along with it: the Nokia G22 with QuickFix repairability. It's the first of a new line of phones designed from its conception to be repairable and have a long life.

Made with a recycled plastic shell and designed to be repaired by its owners at their desks, the Nokia G22 proclaims to be the most environmentally-friendly phone from a household name yet. It will launch in two weeks on March 8 in the UK, most of Europe, and some other non-US markets. It's set to cost 149.99 / 179 or about the equivalent of $185 USD, tax inclusive.

Nokia has partnered with iFixit to produce repair guides and sell the tools and parts required to swap out the battery, charging port, and screen. Nokia promises to keep those parts stocked for the next five years. It also says that performing a repair in accordance with a guide and with official parts counts as an authorized repair, so it won't void the warranty.

Adam Ferguson, the head of product at HMD (the Finnish company that owns the rights to the Nokia brand) was willing to put his money where his mouth was in front of a live audience of journalists last week.

He pulled apart and swapped the battery out of a G22 in under five minutes during his presentation, remarking that it would've taken an hour and a half to do the same to a previous-gen phone. When asked, he said that it would take about 20 minutes to replace the screen.

Said screen is a 6.52" 720p LCD with a 90 Hz refresh rate that costs 44.99 ($54 USD) to replace. A new battery costs 22.99 ($27 USD) and a new USB-C port assembly costs 18.99 ($23 USD) and all the tools required should cost about 5.

The battery has 5,050 mAh of capacity  three days' worth of battery life according to Nokia  and can be charged with 20 W fast charging via the aforementioned port.

Under the hood is a Unisoc T606 SoC with two A75 cores and six A55 cores, 4 GB of RAM, and the choice between 64 GB or 128 GB of storage. Around the back is a 50 MP camera flanked by a 2 MP macro lens and a 2 MP depth sensor, and adorning the teardrop notch on the front is an 8 MP selfie cam. There's also an audio jack. Unfortunately, the Nokia G22 hasn't been updated with Android 13 yet and is still on version 12.

Nokia also announced a pair of budget phones of regular repairability; the C32, which is very similar to the G22; and the C22, which is even more budget-friendly. Nokia also commented on its ongoing plans to start manufacturing a portion of its devices in Europe: it hasn't got an assembly line running yet but it hopes to start making 5G phones there this year.
A secret cryptocurrency mining operation was discovered recently tucked away in a crawl space within a Massachusetts high school. The alleged culprit, Nadeam Nahas, is a 39-year-old school faculty member who skipped out on his arraignment on Thursday, Feb. 23, with some severe charges and now an additional warrant on his head.

Massachusetts police initially answered a 911 call in 2021 when Cohasset Middle/High School was found to be host to an illegal crypto mining operation amid a routine inspection. The small town's facilities director discovered a multitude of misplaced computers, electrical wires, and ductwork that led to suspicions of fraudulent behavior.

The Cohasset Police Department's Chief, William Quigley, gave a statement on Wednesday highlighting these events. With the information brought to the town's IT director, who confirmed the equipment as being a crypto mining rig illegally leveraging the school's electricity, several; additional domestic authorities were called to safely remove and analyze the hardware, including the Cost Guard Investigative Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

Related Article: Ever-Increasing US Regulations on Digital Currencies Dump Crypto Markets into a Slump

Following a three-month-long investigation, Nahas was found to be a major suspect in the case. At the time, he was serving the school as its assistant facilities director, yet he has since resigned from the post. A show-cause hearing took place thereafter, leading to a criminal complaint issuance.

As mentioned previously, an arraignment was to take place on Thursday, Feb. 23, but Nahas failed to attend. His charges included fraudulent use of electricity and vandalizing the school, which could see Nahas facing two to ten years with a $400 fine and three years, respectively. The judge rejected a motion to reschedule the arraignment and issued a default warrant on Nahas. According to the Washington Post, Nahas' listed phone number has not answered any messages.

Crypto mining, despite the seeming downturn in the market, remains a rather steady and healthy enterprise. In July of last year, the New York Times reported that the total crypto mining capacity rivals the energy consumption of Houston, Texas. It isn't exactly cheap on the electric bills, as one might imagine, and can be quite detrimental to the environment in the long run, given several strides in legislation to curb its energy use, as seen in China.

Here in the US, while oftentimes looked down upon, crypto mining was actually embraced by none other than Texas, which in April 2022, first began mining bitcoin and thus added the crypto to its balance sheet. More recently, Montana Senate passed a bill protecting bitcoin and crypto miners.

Coined "Right to Mine," the new bitcoin bill out of Montana aims to shield crypto mining companies from so-called "drisciminatory digital asset mining utility rates." Essentially, the bill will shelter Montona-based crypto institutions from having to pay exorbitant fees on energy bills. It passed by a landslide vote of 37-13, painting Montana as a safe haven for crypto mining.

Read Also: New Crypto Malware Targets Investors in US, UK! Here's How They Attack Victims

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Federal Trade Commission dropped the antitrust complaint against Meta's purchase of virtual reality startup company Within Unlimited. This officially closed the agency's case after filing two complaints in federal court and its in-house court.

(Photo : KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

This photograph taken on October 28, 2021 shows the META logo on a laptop screen in Moscow as Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced the parent company's name is being changed to "Meta" to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network.

Withdrawing Complaint

Meta reached its final victory in purchasing virtual reality company Within Unlimited after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) withdrew its remaining efforts to block the acquisition. The agency abandoned the complaint after U.S. District Judge Edward Davila denied its request to halt the purchase.

The federal judge's decision did not directly affect FTC's request in its in-house court, but it had been unclear if the agency would still push forward with the administrative case. The Wall Street Journal reported that antitrust enforcers abandon such litigation once a federal judge denies a request.

Davila's ruling allowed Meta to close the deal on February 10th, but FTC could have continued its case in administrative court and fought to unwind it. But it was reported that the agency voted to withdraw and end the case.

Bloomberg reported that this decision is the first major loss for FTC Chair Lina Khan. President Joe Biden appointed her to deal with antitrust enforcement. Compared to her predecessors, Khan's approach has taken a more aggressive approach to cases as the agency focused on tech giants.

The administrative case and the federal court litigation were both watching this case very closely. While this was a loss for FTC, this decision is a win for Meta. A spokesperson from the company stated, "We're excited that the Within team has joined Meta, and we're eager to partner with this talented group in bringing the future of VR fitness to life."

Blocking the Acquisition

In July 2022, FTC sued Meta to block the Within Unlimited acquisition that costs $400 million. The startup company makes popular games, including Supernatural, that lets users take virtual-reality fitness classes.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has been clear regarding his interest in the app, hence the acquisition. Especially since he made a big bet on virtual reality worlds or metaverses, one of his strategic moves in 2021 as Facebook rebranded as Meta.

FTC claimed that this acquisition would lessen the competition in the market for virtual reality fitness products. This case was the first among the big four technology companies (Meta, Alphabet, Apple, & Amazon).

Also Read: Meta Verified Launches in Australia, New Zealand

Zuckerberg testified for this acquisition last December and confirmed his attendance in October. He stated that Within Unlimited, joining Meta can help them pioneer the category and spur other companies.

Through this acquisition, Within Unlimited will hold the platform together rather than build every application to itself. While the company works aggressively for its Metaverse, the CEO stated that it also focuses on communication and social interaction.

Related Article: Mark Zuckerberg to Testify in an FTC Case for Facebook's Acquisition of VR Content Maker 'Within Unlimited'

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A new study defies what has been known to humans for decades now, where previous knowledge about the four layers of the Earth sees debunking from this latest discovery. It is common knowledge that the Earth has two cores, the inner core and the outer core, but researchers have recently stumbled upon the "secret" one called the "innermost inner core."

The question now is what purpose it brings the public, especially as it is part of the Earth's innermost layers, the center of everything to harbor life on the planet.

'Innermost Inner Core' of the Earth Discovered by Researchers

(Photo : NASA (ADAPTED FROM GODDARD MEDIA STUDIOS).)

Researchers from the Australian National University revealed via a news release that its researchers discovered a new development in the planet, with an "innermost inner core" that remained unknown for millennia.

Seismologists from ANU measured the speeds and waves that passed through the Earth's inner core and managed to discover the previous speculations behind it.

"The existence of an internal metallic ball within the inner core, the innermost inner core, was hypothesised about 20 years ago. We now provide another line of evidence to prove the hypothesis," Dr. Thanh-Son Pham, from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences, said.

The researchers published their study and findings in the Nature Communications publication, which details the discovery.

Read Also: NASA Builds Small, Low-cost Weather Sensors to Track Tropical Cyclones

What is the Innermost Inner Core's Purpose?

The innermost inner core's main purpose is still unknown, but researchers are excited for further studies to learn more about the planet and its magnetic field.

"This inner core is like a time capsule of Earth's evolutionary history - it's a fossilised record that serves as a gateway into the events of our planet's past. Events that happened on Earth hundreds of millions to billions of years ago," said Professor Hrvoje Tkalcic from ANU.

The Earth and its Marvels

The home planet where we live is a majestic entity, as despite some focusing on other worlds and the cosmos, people are still met with new information and knowledge of the planet. One of the most interesting parts of the planet is its layer, especially one that controls its rotation, gravity, magnetic fields, and more.

One study from China suggested that the Earth's inner core may have stopped or reversed in the past 70 years, as per seismic data which the researchers investigated.

It is also wonderful to know that the Earth's tectonic plates were recently studied for their age, and Harvard researchers claimed that it is over 3.25 billion years old now.

The Earth remains the home of most humans (as others stay in the International Space Station), and there are significant actions here to preserve it for future generations. New researchers like the one from ANU give more information about what makes up the planet, as understanding it would be a significant key in further existence and livelihood here.

Related Article: Archaeologists Discover Ancient Wari Temple Complex in Peru From 1,200 Years Ago

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Motorola is well known for its quality mobile devices, and the company launched one of the first foldable models with the Razr. Building on the success of the Razr, Motorola plans to launch the Razr 2023 in June of this year.

As we earlier reported, Motorola was said to have an edge and launch ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Leaks Reveal Potential Major Improvements to the Motorola Razr 2023

According to the story by Giz China, although the company has yet to release official specs, renders of the device have leaked, and reports indicate that there may be some major improvements from the first foldable Razr to the second one.

Motorola is about to launch a successor of its popular foldable smartphone, the Razr. This news comes from reliable source Evan Blass and is confirmed by PhoneArena. According to the news, Motorola will launch the Motorola Razr 2023 on the 1st of June.

Motorola's Razr 2023: An Edge of Two to Three Months Over Samsung

The Motorola Razr 2023 is set to launch before Samsung unveils its range of foldable smartphones in August. This could give Motorola an edge of two to three months over Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 5 launch, per Android Authority.

The new Razr will feature a large display covering the entire outer panel and a new user interface. Besides the Razr, Motorola is also believed to be working on a new foldable device codenamed Venus.

The Upcoming Moto Razr 2023: A Possible Competitor to Samsung Foldable Devices

This could mean that Motorola is looking to enter the niche of traditional foldable phones. Apart from these, no other details about the device's features or selling points are known.

However, more information is expected to be revealed through rumors and leaks. The Moto Razr 2023 looks promising and could be a competitor to Samsung's upcoming foldable devices. Time will tell if it can make a mark in the foldable phone market.

The Official Launch of the Motorola Razr 2023: June is Just Around the Corner

There needs to be clearer information on the capacity or highlights of the upcoming Razr. Rumors have it that Motorola may also be releasing two foldable, the Venus and the Juno, suggesting the company is making moves to become competitive in the traditional foldable smartphone market.

Fans must wait for June for official details on the Motorola Razr 2023. Until then, fans can speculate based on the revealed renders and rumors floating around. At present, details around the selling points of the Razr 2023 are scarce, but with the launch nearing, more leaks and rumors should be expected soon.

Read Also: Realme Leak Hints Apple iPhone Dynamic Island Clone Coming to Android

An Exciting Development for the Motorola Brand: The Razr 2023

With its existing foldable Razr having won over many fans, it will be interesting to see how the Razr 2023 is received by both tech enthusiasts and the general public and whether it can contend with the competition posed by Samsung's rumored August unveiling.

The Razr 2023 seems to be a promising foldable, and if it turns out as good as it looks, it could become Motorola's new flagship device and compete for the neck to neck with the rest of its rivals. Fans will have to wait and see, but it's an exciting prospect for a brand that doesn't usually release too many phones yearly.

Related Article: Apple iPhone 15 Render Hints Dynamic Island Feature for Non-Pro Lineup

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
This year in New York City, 22 fires directly related to motorized scooters and bicycle batteries have caused 36 injuries and two deaths, a fourfold increase compared to the same period last year. In response, Mayor Eric Adams' Administration has committed to an aggressive multi-faceted approach to combat the increase in battery-related fires.

A Focus on Total Coverage of the Issue: Further Regulation and Education

Commissioner Laura Kavanagh issued a public statement, stating that their focus should be on total coverage of the issue, "coming at this problem from every single angle," including further regulation for the batteries and education on their proper use and storage.

According to the story by KSat, New York City experienced a concerning increase in fires linked to e-bike batteries this year. According to Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, there have been 22 fires reported this year, resulting in 36 injuries and two deaths.

Fires Caused by Malfunctioning Batteries: Educating the Public on Proper Battery Use and Storage

This alarming number is four times the amount reported by this time last year. The Mayor's administration is working with the City Council and the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission on additional battery regulations and educating the public on their proper use and storage, as seen on FP NY Smart.

The fires sparked by the batteries have often been caused by malfunctioning ones left to charge overnight and placed in a hallway or near a door which can trap people inside when a fire sparks.

The Dangers of E-Bike Batteries: Three People Injured in Fire in Upper Manhattan Apartment

One example happened this month when three children and an adult were injured due to a charging battery that started a fire in their upper Manhattan apartment. Fire Department Chief of Operations John Esposito expressed concern over the e-bike battery as it blocked the family's egress from the apartment - trapping them inside.

Kavanagh is adamant that e-bike batteries can present a serious hazard to citizens and first responders. As such, she is pressuring for the importance of enforcement, education, and combating their danger.

Increase in Regulations and Educational Information Regarding Motorized Scooters and Bicycle Batteries

It is essential that people take extra caution when using and charging these batteries to prevent such awful tragedies from occurring.

Mayor Adams' Administration is actively working with the City Council and the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission to initiate additional regulations and educational information surrounding using, storing, and charging motorized scooters and bicycle batteries.

Read Also: Electric Vehicle Startup Arcimoto Struggles to Stay Afloat Amid Industry Boom

Efforts to Protect Citizens and First Responders from the Potential Hazards of E-Bike Batteries

Commissioner Kavanagh stated that the primary goals are to combat the hazards these devices present to citizens and first responders to prevent more tragic events, as also noted in an article by AP News.

The e-bike battery fires underscore the importance of safety precautions regarding device usage, charging time, and storage location. The city is actively working to educate the public on these issues and reduce the potential hazard facing citizens and first responders.

To combat the dangers, Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said the City Council, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the mayor's administration are all working together.

Related Article: Something Weird on Alibaba: This Electric Tow Truck Can be Controlled Remotely!

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Sony, the Japanese electronics giant, is set to take on the fierce competition in the Android flagship market with its latest offering. The Xperia 5 V, as it's known, has been spotted recently on Geekbench and is rumored to have impressive performance capabilities.

Impressive Performance Capabilities of Upgraded Sony Xperia 5 V Confirmed by Geekbench Listings

In recent years, Sony has made a name for itself in the smartphone industry with its innovative models. Its most recent release, the Xperia 1 IV, attracted attention with its camera capabilities.

According to the story by Giz China, the Japanese manufacturer is not stopping there and is said to be working on an upgraded version of the prestigious Xperia 5 V. Recent Geekbench listings have confirmed that Sony's upcoming release will have impressive performance capabilities.

High-end Performance: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Processor with 16 GB RAM

It is expected to be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, a major upgrade from its predecessor. In addition, the Xperia 5 V is speculated to come with varying RAM options, with the top-of-the-line model sporting an impressive 16 GB of RAM.

This RAM capacity places the Xperia 5 V in direct competition with other high-end models in the Android market. Making it a significant part of Sony's mobile device strategy. According to GSM Arena, the phone's Geekbench performance is also quite impressive, making it a contender among the current flagship models.

Expectations High for Sony's Xperia 5 V: A Powerful Performance Are Promised

This marks the start of an exciting time for Sony fans and smartphone enthusiasts alike. As more information becomes available, fans can all look forward to a phone that will not only offer interesting features but also powerful performance.

The Xperia 5 V is shaping to be one of Sony's most impressive releases yet. All eyes are on the Japanese manufacturer as they continue to make strides in the smartphone industry, as noted in an article by Shiftdelete.

Powerful Addition to the Xperia Lineup: The Road Ahead for the Xperia 5 V

The phone's model number, XQ-DQ72, has also been revealed; more information about its features and capabilities will undoubtfully surface in the coming days.

Regardless, it can confidently be said that the Xperia 5 V will be a powerful addition to the Xperia lineup. The phone could give other top-of-the-line models a run for their money.

Read Also: Motorola Razr 2023 Release Date Likely Earlier Than Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5's Launch

The Promise of the Sony Xperia 5V: What to Expect in the Coming Year

This has created a lot of excitement among Sony fans and smartphone enthusiasts alike. As more information comes to light, there will be a lot of interest in the phone's progress and how it fares against the competition. For now, fans can only wait and see.

The Sony Xperia 5V will definitely be a smartphone to look out for in the coming year. Its performance capabilities, as well as its reliability, make it a promising addition to the Android market.

Related Article: Apple iPhone 15 Render Hints Dynamic Island Feature for Non-Pro Lineup

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 could potentially borrow the design of the Google Pixel Watch as the South Korean tech giant debuts it this 2023.

The new design of the upcoming Galaxy Watch is likely steering away from the look that the Galaxy Watch 5 sported. And as such, the next-generationn Samsung wearable might look a lot different from its predecessor as it takes design cues from the Google Pixel Watch.

(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 7: The new Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is displayed during a launch event at Barclays Center on August 7, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10 Plus smartphones, which go on sale August 23 starting at $949.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 New Design

According to a report by Android Central, the South Korean phone maker, which recently introduced its Galaxy S23 series, is set to debut its all-new Galaxy Watch 6 sometime this 2023.

Although the new wearable is expected to get the shimmer of the spotlight this year, Samsung has yet to confirm details regarding the upcoming Galaxy Watch.

However, we are now getting a few glimpses of what to expect from it thanks to early leaks.

None other than the well-known leaker Ice Universe reveals how Samsung plans to differentiate the look of the upcoming Galaxy Watch 6 from its predecessors. It might be away from the design of its previous sibling. However, Google Pixel Watch users might be familiar with the new look the South Korean tech firm is going for.

Similar to the Google Pixel Watch

Ice Universe took to Twitter to disclose the potential design of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. The reliable leaker highlights that the next-generation wearable is likely adopting a curved glass design, similar to what we saw with the Pixel Watch last year.

(Photo : PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

The Google Pixel Watch with Fitbit technology is demonstrated at Alphabets Google Android plaza booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 5, 2023.

But apart from the curved display, the design changes in the upcoming wearable remain to be unclear.

With that, the renowned tech behemoth might serve us a new smartwatch that ditches the flat screen, which the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 rocked, in favor of the curved glass display.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 has returned to the curved glass design. From now on, it is known that the glass is not flat and there is not much other information.  Ice universe (@UniverseIce) February 23, 2023

Read Also: Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 New 10W Charger Gets Wearable to 100% in a Little Over an Hour

Samsung Galaxy Watch Flat Displays

According to XDA Developers, Samsung has consistently offered flat glass displays for its Galaxy Watch offerings through the years. It has been a distinction of its wearables to sport the said look. So it would be a breath of fresh air to see a shift in the curved display.

However, it should be noted that the tech giant also recently got rid of its physical rotating bezel, which its previous offerings consistently had. So it looks like Samsung is slowly recreating the look of its smartwatches.

Related Article: Google's Pixel Watch vs. Galaxy Watch 4: Better Battery Life from Other Tech Wearables

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Since 1936, Tokyo-based Ricoh has revolutionized the imaging and photography industry, taking cameras to all-new heights, modes, and places through expert technological innovations. Currently, the firm's RICOH THETA line of 360-degree cameras enjoys a slew of adoration from everyday consumers and enterprise buyers.

Launched in March this year, its RICOH THETA X is a new testament to the firm's long-standing relationship with enhanced photographic endeavors. It shows most pristinely in the myriad of features its new product boasts.

The RICOH THETA X is a compact 360-degree camera that leverages a redesigned CMOS image sensor in tandem with a new processor and lens to capture images in approximately 60MP and video in up to 5.7K at 30 FPS. The user can quickly shoot a 360-degree image just by pushing a button once attached to the center of the body with itself. Host to both live streaming and built-in GPS capabilities, the camera lets users capture their surroundings with as much detail as possible via camera technology.

THETA X for Google Street View

You may get the impression that you are visiting any city worldwide by using Google Maps Street View since it allows you to view the surroundings 360 degrees. Most of the 360-degree photographs found on Street View were taken by Google automobiles and photographers approved to capture photos for Google Street View.

You would probably agree that tools are significant when capturing panoramic photos or films, particularly if you are a fan of 360-degree photos and Google Street View.

Over the course of time, we have witnessed several advancements, ranging from beta testing to the most recent advances, which provided us with fantastic photos on Google Maps. Using AR Core, the movies taken on our phones may now be contributed to Google Maps. This development occurred at some time in the past.

The RICOH THETA X has a GPS sensor in the camera's body. Without attaching applications or external GPS devices, the RICOH THETA X can record a 360-degree video at 8K quality at 2 and 10 frames per second, including the GPS data. The method for uploading the 360-degree video to Street View is quick and simple with the Street View Studio. This allows for the creation of the blue line.

However, please be aware that Google has confirmed that the Street View app will be discontinued as of March 31, 2023. The company advises users to switch to either Google Maps or Street View Studio as an alternative.

Since we need a 360-degree camera with a GPS function to utilize the Street View Studio, other 360-degree cameras besides the THETA X require a remote controller that also has a GPS function because they do not have a GPS function integrated into the camera itself.

Easier Client Mode Setting

'Client Mode,' which connects THETA to a wireless LAN router, can now be engaged simply with only THETA X. Previously, this was only possible with THETA V and THETA Z1.

In Client Mode, THETA X can connect to the Internet through a wireless LAN router. This enables users to directly update the firmware on THETA X itself.

Ricoh's newest 360-degree camera is used in a wide variety of enterprise settings. The most prominent among them are real estate, construction, engineering, and architecture. Beyond those, it can also be leveraged for virtual tours, VR, CG, security, and more.

Time shift shooting is one of the most interesting new features of the RICOH THETA X. The new mode allows the camera to shoot images without the photographer in the frame, making for far more scenic and panoramic shots to pop.

The RICOH THETA X also has a continuous shooting mode that lets it continuously capture 20 still images per second while capturing in 5.5K. Its 5.5K image size is primarily used for capturing smoother images, while the 11K option is for high-resolution indoor photography.

The RICOH THETA X also leverages HDR image quality, and its new internal processor makes image processing even swifter in its HDR synthesis mode. In-house tests show the RICOH THETA X running  of the time faster than the RICOH THETA V. The camera also comes with a built-in 2.25-inch LCD touchscreen, the first of its kind for Ricoh's Theta series, allowing users to easily navigate menus and adjust settings.

It also comes equipped with an interchangeable battery and SD card adapter, so you don't have to worry about battery or memory space while on a long day's shoot.

RICOH THETA APP, available on Android and iOS, enables your photos and videos to be viewed on a computer or mobile device and even shared.

This app is unique compared to the others currently available on the market because it allows you to do everything from taking photos and videos to viewing and sharing them from your mobile device.

RICOH THETA and Wi-Fi Connection

You can install this app on your phone and connect it to a RICOH THETA series camera. This app allows you to take photos and videos from a distance and view 360-degree images.

Remote Shooting

In "still image" mode, you can take pictures while looking at them in "live view."

You can also use the app to switch between taking pictures and making videos.

Viewing

This app lets you look at photos and videos that you've taken. Turn around, get bigger, or smaller. Enjoy the fun of seeing a 360-degree image of the space around you.

Sharing on Social Networking Sites

You can share the 360-degree photos you take on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites. Show the world a new way to enjoy pictures by making 360 images that make it feel like you're there.

RICOH360 Tours and Other SaaS

RICOH360 Tours is the first genuinely complete and inexpensive 360-degree virtual tour solution under one worldwide brand. They recently announced a series of new professional artificial intelligence-generated material for the real estate industry. The most recent version enables the use of banners, advertising many brands at the tour level.

RICOH360 Tours has given more than 13,000,000 virtual tours and has assisted real estate agents in selling and renting billions' worth of residential and commercial listings. It is attempting to speed up the adoption of its virtual tour platform by professional real estate photographers.

Since the RICOH THETA cameras launch in 2013, Ricoh's Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has accumulated a vast amount of visual data. Using this data, it generates rich content that buyers and sellers value the most as property listing content while searching for a new home.

At $799.95, the RICOH THETA X offers ample photographic freedom, allowing users to create and share their picturesque creations without constraint. Its slim and sleek design also means the device is more mobile than most competitive options, averaging about the size of a small remote.

Ricoh sells a multitude of awesome accessories to go along with the RICOH THETA X, including a lens cap, underwater housing unit, hard case, and much more.

Take your 360-degree photos to the next level with the RICOH THETA X and see the world through a new 360-degree lens.

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Solar Orbiter, which is owned by both ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA, catches Mercury traveling across the face of the Sun and you can watch such a glorious encounter with ESA's newly-released video of the transit.

Mercury appears as a dark circle in the lower right quadrant of the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) image.

Mercury Passing By

The movement of the planet was captured on film by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI). It displayed Mercury immediately after it had separated from the disc and was silhouetted against gaseous solar atmosphere structures.

The numerous layers of the Sun's atmosphere, which exist at various temperatures, can be seen by looking at these particular atoms.

"It's not just looking at Mercury passing in front of the Sun, but passing in front of the different layers of the atmosphere, Miho Janvier, a deputy project scientist of SPICE (Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment), said in a press release statement.

Astronomers have employed planetary transits for a variety of purposes. They were once employed to determine the size of our solar system. The transit would be timed by observers in dispersed locations, and the results would then be compared.

According to ESA, transits are one of the most effective ways of locating planets around stars. The space agency is using this method in finding exoplanets for its Cheops (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) mission.

Future transit searches for Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of up to one million stars will also be conducted by the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars (PLATO) project.

The Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (Ariel) project of the ESA will employ transits in 2029 to examine the atmospheres of over 1000 known exoplanets.

Read Also: ESA's Solaris Program Will Study 24/7 Space-Based Solar Energy to Potentially Send Solar Farms Into Space

Point Spread Function

This specific transit provided Solar Orbiter with a crucial opportunity to calibrate the equipment. According to Daniel Muller, Solar Orbiter Project Scientist at the ESA, it is a verified black object that is traveling through our field of view.

The point spread function, which describes how the device transmits its light, must be the source of any brightness the sensor detects within Mercury's disc, according to ESA.

ESA launched the BepiColombo mission to get a closer look at Mercury. In June 2023, it will conduct its subsequent close flyby of the planet. Meanwhile, Solar Orbiter will make its next near flyby of the Sun in April.

Related Article: 'Solar Snake' Seen Slithering on the Sun's Surface; NASA, ESA's Solar Orbiter Captures Phenomenon

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The United States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have lent their support to India's efforts to regulate cryptocurrencies.

Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers have been meeting in Bengaluru for the past two days, with Indian officials leading the discussion on how to address the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

India Calls on Global Crypto Regulations

Reuters reports that India has called for a coordinated effort to be made on a global scale to regulate cryptocurrencies. It recently hosted a seminar for member states of the G20 to discuss how to formulate a standard regulatory framework.

The seminar discussed a variety of subjects, including the need for a common taxonomy and a systematic classification of the crypto asset universe, the benefits and risks of crypto assets, macroeconomic policy issues that needed to be further evaluated, and financial stability issues and regulatory responses.

The Reserve Bank of India has argued that cryptocurrencies should be prohibited because they are comparable to Ponzi schemes and, therefore, should be outlawed.

Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary, told Reuters at the G20 meeting that a solid regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies is critical, but the United States has not proposed an outright ban. Yellen stated, "We're working with other governments."

According to a report by Forbes in early February, the Biden administration has been accused of attempting to "quietly" ban bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies in a move dubbed "Operation Choke Point 2.0." This refers to a 2013 initiative to cut off "undesirable" industries from banking services.

'Banning Crypto Should Be an Option'

Read Also: Uber Warns India's Electric-only Bike Taxis Plan Could Devastate Ride-hailing Sector, Population

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, who co-chaired a meeting with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, stated that banning crypto should be an option.

Reuters reports that the IMF has outlined a nine-point action plan for how countries should treat crypto assets, the first of which is a request that cryptocurrencies not be given legal tender status.

As a result of the failure of several crypto exchanges and assets over the past few years, authorities have prioritized the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The IMF has stressed that inaction is no longer tenable.

The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has debated for years whether to draft a law to regulate or prohibit cryptocurrencies. However, there has been no final decision made.

Crackdown on Cryptocurrency

The push for regulation has recently gained momentum, with some governments, such as China, implementing restrictions on cryptocurrency trading and mining as early as 2021.

In contrast, some countries, such as El Salvador, have adopted bitcoin as legal tender despite International Monetary Fund warnings. The country is reportedly submerged in foreign debt as the value of the virtual coin plummeted, and China is now attempting to buy out the country's $21 billion in external bond debt.

Since cryptocurrencies operate in a decentralized and largely unregulated environment, regulating them can be difficult. Nonetheless, individuals and institutions' growing adoption of cryptocurrencies has compelled governments to address the risks associated with these assets.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Binance to Help Regulate Crypto with Chamber of Digital Commerce-Is It Following FTX's Footsteps?

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NASA is making sure that future air vehicles will travel across cities without causing any disruption by introducing new air mobility solutions for moving people and cargo.



Hence, the space agency created the Data & Reasoning Fabric (DRF) project.

All About the DRF

DRF develops technologies to enable autonomous aerial activities to operate safely. Its goal is to create a networked, interconnected "fabric" of intelligence that transmits location-specific, customized information to aircraft.



The DRF team is finding ways to reduce airspace congestion and boost safety in the future while connecting people and services. Hence, the team is testing its technology for the first time in a simulated city based on the Phoenix metropolitan area in February and March.



The project's system assembles multiple data sets from many providers and uses artificial intelligence-powered reasoning services for complex and dynamic airspace.



Operators and autonomous aircraft will be able to make timely judgments with the web, or "fabric" of intelligence that DRF will provide.

Early in February, Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Yuma Counties in Arizona launched field trials for the current prototype system in more than 22 cities with the help of NASA's partners.



In the Phoenix test, several instances where DRF might be helpful are examined in the context of a hypothetical drone flight that transports medical supplies and equipment from downtown Phoenix to the furthest reaches of the region.



Possible scenarios could involve rerouting an air taxi to avoid a sudden dust storm or delivering insulin to patients who live in areas with poor access to medical care.



The test participants are evaluating their capacity to choose data and reasoning services that allow safe and autonomous flight while operating within the digital environment made by DRF.

DRF's ability to quicken airborne emergency response was demonstrated in a recent test with the California wing of the Civil Air Patrol.



The DRF technology ALSO assisted in finding lightning-caused wildfires more quickly than usual using simulated drone flights, according to NASA.

Read Also: New NASA Mars Challenge Wants Your Help Creating Virtual Reality Environment! Here's How to Join

Current Field Test

The current field test conducted by DRF examines how well its system can support rerouting an aircraft as a result of a variety of anomalies, including communication breakdowns between the aircraft and weather sensors, navigational aids, or ground control.



When such circumstances arise, DRF technology will warn an aircraft as it approaches one of these anomalies and connect it to services that can provide guidance.



DRF employs edge computing - a system that handles, processes, and stores data locally, at the "edge" of the network, as opposed to sending it to the cloud or a data center. NASA explains that this lessens transmission delays, allowing for faster decision-making in time-sensitive circumstances.

Related Article: NASA's Atmospheric Waves Experiment Completes Critical Space Environmental Tests - ISS Launch Coming Soon

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Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) found evidence of a new layer to Earth within the inner core, according to Engadget. The inner core is an iron-nickel alloy ball that is a fossilized record of the ancient history of our planet. However, science only had recognized four layers.

(Photo : -/AFP via Getty Images)

This 21 August, 2000 image released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) shows a radar image of the Earth that has been mapped in an unprecedented manner by scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Using advanced radar that sees through all weather conditions, researchers will now be able to determine how the Earth's warming may be changing the sea ice cover. Sea ice in the polar region is a large barometer of global climate conditions.

The team believes that this new layer is a result of the Earth's cooling process that occurred billions of years ago. They suggest that the new layer is made up of a combination of iron and sulfur, which would explain why it is liquid at such high temperatures.

Also read: Earth's magnetic field could flip soon; Scientists give it one human lifetime

The Hidden Core

The researchers came to discover the hidden core by studying seismic waves that traveled back and forth across the Earth's diameter up to five times. The waves probed places near the center at angles that suggested a different crystalline structure inside the innermost layer. Effectively, the allow is skewing the travel times for the waves as they pass through.

The new findings paved the way to new ways to investigate the inner core. Researchers believe that the inner core will have something to do with a major event in the Earth's past that had a significant impact on the heart of the planet.

The Washington Post also reported that it would have something to do with the magnetic field of the planet as well. Earth's magnetic field plays a significant role in supporting life as it protects the Earth from harmful radiation and keeps water from drifting into space.

Additionally, the insights may also help researchers and scientists study other worlds. For example, Mars is believed to be a barren planet because t doesn't have magnetic field that doesn't protect it from solar winds and dust storms.

On the other hand, exoplanet hunters can use the information to search for habitable worlds. The findings may also help in the development of new technologies. For instance, the magnetic field of the Earth is currently used to generate electricity and power the electrical grid. The new insights may help in the development of new ways to generate electricity and power even more efficiently.

Moreover, the insights may also help in the development of new materials and devices. By understanding how the Earth's inner core works, scientists may be able to develop materials that are more durable and resilient. This could be used in the development of new space exploration technologies and other advanced technologies.

Overall, the new findings on the Earth's inner core have the potential to be revolutionary. It can lead to a better understanding of our planet and help us explore other worlds. It can also help in the development of new technologies and materials that can make our lives better.

Related article: Mysterious Shift In Earth's Magnetic Field Prompts Scientists To Fix World Magnetic Model That Guides Navigation

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Josh.ai, an artificial intelligence (AI) firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, is working on a prototype integration utilizing OpenAI's ChatGPT structure.

Josh.ai is well-recognized for creating a voice-controlled home automation system, as reported by Business Insider.

Voice Assistant

These days, you can ask Siri or Alexa to do things like turn on the lights, give you the temp readings in your bedroom, or play a certain video or music. Otherwise, you may be asked, "Which of the 15 devices you have designated lights would you want to operate?" or "It is now 53 degrees in Kathmandu."

But what if your voice assistant is not only able to provide accurate responses but also able to give smart solutions to vague questions? Imagine asking, "I've had a difficult day; what's a nice way to unwind?" and getting a real answer such as "by turning down the lights," "drawing the drapes," turning up the heat," or "prepping some binge-Netflix goodie-viewing."

That is the promise of voice assistants driven by cutting-edge AI language models, according to Alex Capecelatro, co-founder of the Josh.ai home automation system.

"We are thrilled to be working on bringing the best of Josh.ai and ChatGPT together to create something truly remarkable - a solution where one plus one equals three. By combining our strengths, we envision delivering an AI experience that is beyond what any smart home is capable of," he said.

Also Read: Microsoft Expands ChatGPT's Capabilities to Control Robots

AI Integration

OpenAI's ChatGPT is being used to prototype Josh.ai's integration. Using AI language models to understand natural language seems like it may greatly improve smart home control. As far as Capecelatro is concerned, this is where things are headed.

It is only a matter of figuring out how excellent they can get the AI to regulate the surroundings more naturally and intuitively.

Modern voice assistants are picky about the words you choose and sometimes misinterpret simple smart home instructions as inquiries, resulting in confusing and often pointless replies. Josh.ai was founded with the express purpose of addressing this issue.

The company's eponymous voice assistant wants to make managing your smart home a breeze.

Meet 'Josh'

In a report by The Verge, Josh is able to distinguish between two commands because it is trained using large knowledge network models to recognize the difference when it is spoken.

Josh is savvy enough to recognize that even though "open the curtains" may seem like "grab some grapes," you do not, in fact, live in a vineyard.

Even if you say something like "turn on the goddam lights," it will understand what you mean since Capecelatro and his team spent a lot of time working behind the hood to rectify mishearing, deal with various dialects, grasp imperfect phrases, and the like.

Also Read: AI-Generated Stories Force Sci-Fi Magazine Editor to Stop Accepting Submissions

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Elon Musk unblocks Twitter users he previously blocked.

(Photo : Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, a phone screen displays the Twitter account of Elon Musk with a photo of him shown in the background, on April 14, 2022, in Washington, DC.

The billionaire explained why this is a good thing; suggesting other Twitter consumers to also do the same thing. There are various reasons why many people block other individuals on Twitter and other social media platforms.

One of these is because of toxicity. However, the Twitter CEO explained why it unblocking Twitter users is the right thing to do.

Elon Musk Unblocks All Blocked Twitter Users

According to Republic World's latest report, Elon announced that he is already unblocking Twitter users he recently blocked from his account.

(Photo : Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, news about Elon Musk's bid to takeover Twitter is tweeted on April 25, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. It was announced today that Twitter has accepted a $44 billion bid from Musk to acquire the company.

Also Read: Twitter DMs to Get Upgrade Soon? Elon Musk Agrees with New Poll to Bring Advanced Features on Chat

"I have unblocked everyone I blocked, apart from scammers. I recommend others do the same," said the billionaire on Feb. 25, via his official Twitter post. He added that unblocking Twitter users will allow you to receive negative feedback, which is a good thing.

The reason behind his decision is quite simple; it is actually not a special one since negative feedback is encouraged in the business world.

But, other experts believe that he has other reasons, especially since his decision was announced a few days after his tweets were not getting enough engagement.

His latest Twitter announcement was able to generate over 270,000 likes, 5,900 quote tweets, and 24,200 retweets.

Many Twitter users in the comment section agreed with him, while others rejected his idea. If you want to see their comments, you can check Musk's Twitter post below.

I have unblocked everyone I blocked, apart from scammers. I recommend others do the same.



Negative feedback is a good thing.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 24, 2023

How to Unblock Twitter Users?

Of course, many Twitter users would be persuaded by Musk's suggestion.

If ever you decided to unblock blocked Twitter users as well, you can follow the steps provided by the Twitter Help Center below:

First, click the More button or the three-dot option, which is located in the lower-left corner of your screen. After that, visit Settings & Privacy. From there, click the Privacy & Safety section. Under the Safety tab, click the Blocked Accounts button. From there, you can choose the blocked Twitter users want to unblock.

Other stories we recently wrote about Twitter:

Many speculations claimed that Elon Musk's Twitter posts were being boosted by a special system.

We also reported about the closure of two Twitter offices in India.

For more news updates about Twitter and other social media giants, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Elon Musk Defends Himself Against Boosted Twitter Post Allegations; Here's What He Had To Say

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Students of Ton Duc Thang University in Ho Chi Minh City gather at the British Council office in the city to question about the validity of the Aptis General certificate issued by the council, Feb. 16, 2023. Photo obtained by VnExpress

700 students of the Ton Duc Thang University in HCMC are worried they will not be able to graduate as scheduled after the school refused to acknowledge an English certificate by the British Council.

Le My Phong, deputy head of the Department of Quality Assurance under the Ministry of Education and Training, on Thursday said the British Council in Vietnam and other relevant entities must report back to authorities regarding the fact that the Aptis certificate that the Council issues does not have the same name as the Aptis certificate that the education ministry has already approved.

Ton Duc Thang University requires students to acquire the Aptis General Certificate to graduate, and many of them had taken their examinations with the British Council in December last year.

But the British Council is only allowed by the education ministry to issue the Aptis ESOL International Certificate" starting Nov. 11 last year.

The council's Aptis General Certificate has been deemed invalid by Ton Duc Thang University. Around 700 students of Ton Duc Thang would be affected by the decision.

A representative of Ton Duc Thang said the school has discussed the matter with the British Council, examination partners and the education ministry on Feb. 10. The representative said the Council and examination partners confirmed that issuing Aptis General certificates in the aforemention timeframe was "wrong", adding that they would support students by either allowing them to take exams again for the Aptis ESOL certificates, or refunding the examination fee.

However, a representative of the British Council on Thursday said the Aptis General and the Aptis ESOL certificates are equivalent to one another, and have the same legal value.

This representative said it was the Ton Duc Thang University's own choice not to choose the Aptis ESOL cettificate as a graduation requirement for its students. The Council has requested students to take their questions to the school regarding the validity of their certificates.

Who to blame?

"I don't know who to lean on," said Ngan, a fourth year student at Ton Duc Thang.

Ngan said that on Wednesday, the British Council told her that the Aptis General and the Aptis ESOL certificates were equivalent. On Thursday, Ngan and some other students in the same situation met with the school to discuss the matter, only to receive the answer that the school would not acknowledge the Aptis General certificates issued within the aforementioned time period.

"Both the British Council and the school said they were right. We students don't know what to do when our ceritificates are not acknowledged, which may cause our graduation to be delayed," Ngan said.

Thanh Vinh, another fourth-year student at the school, said it's been over two months since he got his certificates, but everything was still a mess. Vinh said the way the British Council responds is "pushing responsibility back to the school and the students."

Even if the school extends the deadline for the submission of English certificates until October, there would not be enough time for students to study for another certificate with all the work piling up before graduation this summer, Vinh said.

"The problem isn't just about the money, effort and time we spent, but also our plans for graduation for jobs in the future. Who would be responsible if our grduation is delayed, if we miss our job opportunities?"

Several Vietnamese universities are using the Aptis certificate as a requirement for graduation. Examination fees range from VND1.4-2 million ($58-84).
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The Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City has sounded a bird flu alert to southern localities after more than 10 human cases were reported in Cambodia, including two deaths.

The warning came Friday as Cambodia's Prey Veng Province bordering southern Vietnam reported two human infections of H5N1, including one death, and several suspected cases.

Cambodian authorities Thursday reported the death of an 11-year old girl and began testing 12 people who had come into contact with her. Her father has also tested positive.

The World Health Organization said it was in close contact with the Cambodian authorities about the situation. It has expressed concern as the father's result raised fears of human-to-human transmission.

Dr Nguyen Vu Thuong, deputy director of the Pasteur Institute, said southern localities should beef up surveillance of viral pneumonia and send samples from suspected cases to the institute for testing to stem possible outbreaks.

People and poultry coming from areas with bird flu outbreaks in Cambodia should be monitored, he said.

Dr Sylvie Briand, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at WHO, described the bird flu situation as "worrying" due to the recent increase in cases among birds and mammals, and his agency is reviewing its global risk assessment in light of the recent developments, Reuters reported.

WHO last assessed the risk to humans from avian flu as low earlier this month.

Vietnam recorded its first human case of A/H5N1 avian flu in eight years in October 2022, a five-year-old girl in the northern Phu Tho Province who had consumed meat from sick chickens and ducks a week before falling sick. She recovered after treatment.

A new strain of H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b, emerged in 2020 and has been causing record numbers of deaths among wild birds and domestic poultry in recent months, and has also infected mammals, Reuters reported.

But unlike earlier outbreaks of H5N1, which has been around for more than two decades, this subtype is not causing significant illness in people, it said.
Pou Yuen workers go home after work in HCMC's Binh Tan District, October 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen

Pou Yuen, which makes shoes for Nike and Adidas, announced Saturday a VND275-billion (US$11.56 million) severance package for 2,358 workers due to be laid off next month.

The workers will receive 0.8 months salary for every working year.

Of those getting the slip, around 379 have worked for more than 20 years and so will receive more than VND300 million each, with the maximum being VND379 million ($16,000).

The newest workers will get VND12 million ($504).

The payments will be made in early April.

Pou Yuen Vietnam, a subsidiary of Taiwanese shoe company Pou Chen and HCMCs biggest employer, has more than 50,500 workers at its factories in Binh Tan District.

The company said a sharp fall in orders has left around 3,500 workers idle since late last year, and it has arranged for pregnant workers and those who have young children and disabilities to remain and negotiated to let the rest go.

Nguyen Van Lam, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said Pou Yuens severance pay is higher than the requirement, which is half a months salary for every year in employment.

HCMCs Employment Service Center has connected with 15 businesses in Binh Tan and nearby areas and found more than 3,200 jobs for the workers set to be laid off.
Looking from one embankment to the other, construction on the new mainline bridges over Dawson Creek continues as part of the MovEBR projects Thursday Nov. 4, 2021, in Baton Rouge, La. It's a new route from Picardy Avenue that will come out near the Fresh Market on Perkins.Back Court Drive bridge construction has been awarded and in the contracting phase. Design work is continuing for the remaining three packages.
As China hums on tourists, Vietnam haws on resumption of flights

A Vietnam Airlines aircraft lands at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, June 15, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnamese carriers have postponed resumption of their China services to late April or early May since that country has yet to allow its nationals to travel to Vietnam.

China's non-inclusion of Vietnam in a list of destinations to which it allows outbound tour groups has affected flight resumption plans, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said in a report.

The aviation industry is waiting for Chinas decision to allow travel to Vietnam, it added.

Earlier this month China allowed travel agencies to sell tours to 20 countries and territories under a pilot program, including seven in Southeast Asia but not Vietnam.

After China reopened its borders and lifted Covid restrictions on January 8, Vietnamese carriers resumed flights but with reduced frequency, and planned full resumption in March expecting tourism to recover.

Nguyen Quang Trung, a spokesperson for Vietnam Airlines, said the carrier currently operates six weekly flights to China.

Early this month, Vietnam Airlines announced to resume five routes to China from March but it temporarily delayed the resumption.

In 2019, the year before the onset of the pandemic, 11 Chinese and three Vietnamese airlines carried nearly eight million passengers between the two countries, with the latter accounting for 4.6 million.

China was Vietnam's biggest source of foreign tourists with 5.5 million arrivals in 2019.
The announcement of changes to the language used by Roald Dahl has sent sales of his childrens books soaring after Australians rushed to buy copies before the revised editions are released.

A 16-book box-set had risen to No.2 on Amazons Australian bestseller list by Thursday.

Roald Dahl books on display. Credit: AP

Publisher Penguin Random House says it will publish classic versions of Dahls childrens novels after it received criticism over cuts and rewrites that were intended to make the books suitable for modern readers.

Blues Point Bookshop owner Helen Baxter said she had reordered copies, anticipating a rush for unrevised versions.
Historic buildings on Sydney Harbour could be turned into holiday rentals and hostel-type accommodation for more than 50 people under plans that have been labelled creeping privatisation.

A new wharf at Nielsen Park and jetty at Milk Beach in Vaucluse are also proposed under a draft master plan from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Former Australian Heritage Commission chairman Peter King criticised the proposed redevelopments of the Strickland Estate and Nielsen Park, calling them Airbnb-type rentals that would turn over the park to business purposes at the expense of locals and park users.

Historic buildings at Nielsen Park and the Strickland Estate could be turned into holiday rentals and hostel-type accommodation for more than 50 people under a draft master plan from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Credit: Rhett Wyman

The 1851 Greycliffe House in Nielsen Park is one of several heritage buildings that have been proposed as holiday rentals under the master plan.
Sexual health physicians are pushing for PCR testing for syphilis to be used widely amid a worsening epidemic in Melbourne that has led to the highest number of reported cases in decades.

Doctors say lessons learnt about coronavirus containment should now be applied to all sexually transmitted infections, including the potentially deadly syphilis.

Sexual health physician Marcus Chen. Credit: Joe Armao

Syphilis first appeared in the 15th century and had been almost eradicated, but cases are rising at an alarming rate in Australia and around the world.

Last year, 1695 cases were reported in Victoria, the highest annual number of infections in more than 30 years and almost four times the 446 cases detected a decade earlier. In 2021, 1524 cases were reported.
Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific announced it will give away 80,000 round-trip air tickets to residents in Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam beginning March 1.

This initiative is part of a campaign sponsored by the Airport Authority Hong Kong to encourage global travelers to visit Hong Kong after more than three years of Covid restrictions.

The campaign, called World of Winners, will be launched in phases for Southeast Asia, beginning with Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines on March 1, 2 and 3 respectively, the carrier said on its website.

Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia would be the next two weeks later.

To qualify for a ticket, one must be a Cathay member by signing up via the website.

The campaign in Vietnam is expected to run from March 17 to 23, and will see 8,800 free tickets given to Vietnamese people.

Each participant is only allowed one entry and the winners will be announced on the campaign website on April 4.

Hong Kong welcomed 600,000 visitors in 2022, only 1% of its 2019's figure.
SPRING CREEK  Two Boy Scout Troops thanked Spring Creek Associations maintenance and snow plow drivers for their work this winter with a snack.

Members of BSA Troop 850B and 850G presented the popcorn Wednesday evening for their service in plowing the roads this winter.

Troop leaders said the Scouts received donations during popcorn sales and chose community members to recognize and thank, selecting SCA road crews for clearing roads for school and activities. They hoped the popcorn would be a great snack.

The Troops will also recognize Nevada Department of Transportation and the Elks Lodge at a later date.

The SCA also thanked its road crew and partners for their hard work this winter.

Crews have been keeping residential roads and access to amenities such as the shooting range and campground cleared during snowstorms and ask the community to be aware of delays if the main roads need attention.

The SCA also thanked Legarza Exploration for widening the roads and clearing snow from bus stops.

It takes a lot of equipment to clean 300 lane miles of roads and we appreciate their help, the SCA said.

Additionally, crews hauled piles of snow for drainage and blind spots that were created by plows.

The association also asked residents to be aware of flooding when temperatures increase and prepare with the proper equipment.

The associations road crews are also working on potholes in and around Spring Creek, starting with Spring Creek Parkway and Spring Valley Parkway and main roads using a cold mix until the hot mix plant reopens in the spring.

To review snow plans, priority roads and frequently asked questions, visit the Spring Creek Association website.span class=print_trim>
19 Athletes Wounded After Blasts at Race in Cameroon: Doctor

Soldiers conduct the daily flag-lowering ceremony at the Force Multinationale Mixte (FMM) Sector No. 1 based in Mora, Cameroon's Far North Region, on Sept. 28, 2018. (Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images)

YAOUNDENineteen athletes were being treated for blast injuries on Saturday after multiple small explosions during a running race in part of western Cameroon where English-speaking separatists are fighting government forces, a local doctor said.

There was no immediate comment from authorities in the town of Buea in South-West Region, where 529 athletes were running up the highest mountain in West and Central Africa as they competed in the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope.

The armed wing of Ambazonia Governing Council, one of the separatist militia groups, claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Our primary target was the Cameroon elite forces  that were providing security for the athletes. We will not allow Cameroon to continue its occupation, the groups spokesperson Capo Daniel told Reuters.

A video shared widely on social media that Reuters was not immediately able to verify showed spectators cheering on a runner before dashing for cover when a small explosion goes off in the distance. Another video showed a different explosion going off near a pack of runners elsewhere on the route.

Nineteen athletes have been brought to our facility with injuries. We have operated upon three of them. Their condition is stable and we havent recorded any deaths, Martin Mokake, the director of Buea Regional Hospital, told Reuters by phone.

One of those being treated was a Gabonese citizen, he said.

Participants in the race included athletes from East, Central and Northern Africa and France.

The separatist insurgency began in Cameroons English-speaking North-West and South-West regions in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested against their perceived marginalisation by the primarily French-speaking national government.

The ensuing conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly 1 million.
2,000 Sensitive Student Records Compromised in Los Angeles Unified Cyberattack

A school administrator confirms student health check data on a laptop computer as students and parents wait in line to enter school at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

The cyberattack that hit the Los Angeles Unified School District last September was worse than initially reportedwith hackers accessing about 2,000 sensitive student records, district officials confirmed Feb. 24 to The Epoch Times.

A ransomware group stole a portion of the districts records and threatened to publish the information if it did not pay a ransom. When Superintendent Alberto Carvalho refused, the group published the data online weeks later.

Initially, Carvalho said an analysis of the published information revealed no critical information involving current employees or students.

However, after further investigation, the district learned more data than originally thought was compromised, Jack Kelanic, the districts senior information technology administrator, told the Epoch Times in an email.

The aftermath of a cyberattack is a multi-layered, dynamic process in which real-time updates often alter the direction of an investigation, Kelanic said. As the district and its partners delve deeper into the reality of the data breach, the scope of the attack further actualizes, and new discoveries have been revealed.

Kelanic said that approximately 2,000 student assessment records have been confirmed as part of the attack, as well as their drivers licenses and social security numbers and the results of COVID-19 tests.

About 60 of the leaked records involve currently enrolled students, while some are nearly 30 years old, he said.

Kelanic did not specify when the district discovered that more records were impacted. However, he said the district is notifying those affected by the attack and will continue to do so as they are identified.

Students walk to their classrooms at a public middle school in Los Angeles, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Additionally, he said, the district has been implementing enhanced protections and procedures to ensure our data security.

In a notice about the breach sent to some employees in January, the district said it had also identified files containing payroll information of contractors and subcontractors hired for construction projects under the districts facilities division.

The notice also stated hackers had been active in the districts system since July 31though it only initially reported that the attack began on Sept. 3.

Meanwhile, a nearby district was hit with a similar cyberattack this week.

Student data was stolen from the Long Beach Unified School Districts records system and posted online, district officials said in an email to parents Feb. 22.

Information including student identification numbers, names, and their email addresses were compromised, the district said in the email.

However, it noted that sensitive student and staff information such as addresses, social security numbers, birthdates and grades were not compromised in the leak.

A spokesperson for Long Beach Unified was not immediately available for comment.
A Daily Habit That Lowers Risk of Early Death and Cancer: Study

According to research, a daily habit cultivated regularly can potentially increase the length and quality of life as well as lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancerthe habit is simply getting a good nights sleep.

In a study, the research team analyzed data from 172,321 individuals who took part in the National Health Interview Survey between 2013 and 2018, which is conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) annually. The study concluded that young people who observe more beneficial sleep habits are incrementally less likely to die early, said a Feb. 23 news release. In addition, the researchers attributed 8 percent of deaths from any cause to poor sleep patterns.

Researchers classified the quality of sleep using five criteriaan ideal sleep duration of seven to eight hours per day; facing difficulty in sleeping no more than two times per week; not using sleep medication; feeling well-rested after waking up at least five days in a week; and facing trouble staying asleep no more than twice per week. Scoring one point on each of the criteria indicated the highest quality of sleep.

Over a period of 4.3 years, 8,681 individuals from the survey died, of which 2,610 deaths were attributed to cardiovascular disease, 2,052 to cancer, and the remaining to other causes.

The study found that individuals who scored in all five criteria were 30 percent less likely to die for any reason when compared to people who scored only in a single criterion or scored none at all.

The high scorers were also found to be 21 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, 19 percent less likely to die from cancer, and 40 percent less likely to die due to other causes.

The new study will be presented at the American College of Cardiologys annual scientific session together with the World Congress of Cardiology set to be held in March.

Good Quality Sleep

The study also found that men had better gains from good sleep than women. Life expectancy among men who scored in all five sleep quality criteria grew by 4.7 years compared to men who only scored in a single criterion or none. For women, the life expectancy gain was 2.4 years.

Frank Qian, a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study, pointed out that if people can improve their sleep overall, it is possible to prevent some of the premature mortality.

Even from a young age, if people can develop these good sleep habits of getting enough sleep, making sure they are sleeping without too many distractions and have good sleep hygiene overall, it can greatly benefit their overall long-term health, Qian said.

Its important for younger people to understand that a lot of health behaviors are cumulative over time. Just like we like to say, its never too late to exercise or stop smoking, its also never too early. And we should be talking about and assessing sleep more often.

Importance of Sleeping

Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, who studies sleep at the University of Rochester, points out that people typically only see sleep as a down time when the brain needs to get rest. But this is a wrong belief since the brain is working even while a person sleeps, she notes.

Her research has shown that the brain has a drainage system that removes toxins while a person is sleeping. When we sleep, the brain totally changes function, Nedergaard said. It becomes almost like a kidney, removing waste from the system.

Studies conducted on mice by Nedergaard and her team have revealed that the drainage system removes some of the proteins associated with Alzheimers disease. During sleep, this removal process was sped up by two times.

Some people can have difficulty sleeping, facing issues like insomnia and sleep apnea. Making a few lifestyle changes might help with getting good quality sleep. This includes meditating, eating two or three hours prior to sleeping, maintaining a cool and dark room, and so on.
Twenty-four states have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in North Dakota challenging recently finalized federal regulations dealing with navigable waterways across the country, calling the rule "an improper federal power grab over state waters."

It's the latest development in a protracted yo-yo battle that has seen water rules change under the Democratic Obama, Republican Trump and now Democratic Biden administrations. North Dakota and the other states that sued last week -- all of which have Republican attorneys general and all but two of which have GOP governors -- want the courts to throw out the new rule and order federal officials to start over.

The states maintain that the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "seem intent on pushing the states aside and seizing control over the nation's water management."

Federal attorneys did not immediately file a response to the lawsuit. The Justice Department did not respond to a Tribune request for comment, and the EPA declined comment, citing pending litigation.

The regulations finalized in December define which Waters of the United States are protected by the Clean Water Act. The new rule is built on a pre-2015 definition with updates to reflect court opinions, the latest science, and federal agencies' experience and expertise, according to EPA. Federal officials said they crafted a durable definition of waterways "to reduce uncertainty from changing regulatory definitions."

The rules clear and supportable definition of Waters of the United States will allow for more efficient and effective implementation and provide the clarity long desired by farmers, industry, environmental organizations and other stakeholders, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor said in December.

The rule was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 18 and is to take effect on March 20.

Environmentalists favor stronger protections, but business and agricultural interests worry that broadened regulations will be burdensome to their industries.

North Dakota and other states sued in 2015 when President Barack Obama sought to expand federal protections, and court injunctions prevented his administration's rule from taking effect. Federal courts later threw out a Trump-era rule that North Dakota leaders backed but environmentalists had argued left waterways vulnerable to pollution.

The Biden rule applies federal protections to wetlands, tributaries and other waters that have a significant connection to navigable waters or if wetlands are relatively permanent," according to The Associated Press.

North Dakota and the other 23 suing states contend in the lawsuit that the Biden rule encompasses waters "with no reasonable connection to 'navigable waters,'" and that if left in place, "then ranchers, farmers, miners, homebuilders and other landowners across the country will struggle to undertake even the simplest of activities on their own property without fear of drawing the ire of the federal government."

GOP Gov. Doug Burgum in a statement said the lawsuit was filed in North Dakota because "our many wetlands and waterways make our state particularly susceptible to this misguided rule."

Other plaintiffs are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a separate case out of Idaho that could upend the finalized rule, according to AP. Chantell and Michael Sackett wanted to build a home near a lake, but the EPA stopped their work in 2007, finding wetlands on their property were federally regulated.
We humans may fancy our dry-land abode a pretty fine place, yet nature has furnished a whole universe full of jaw-dropping scenes underwater. And its just waiting for landbound photographers to embrace its marine majesty.

Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) specifically focuses on this milieu of aquatic, camera-wielding visual artists in its yearly competition, displaying some of the best underwater photography in the world. It doesnt have to be from the ocean, either. The imagery can come from rivers or even your own backyard swimming pool.

This years UPY winner, Kat Zhou from the United States, captured a magical moment dubbed Boto Encantado during a sunset in the Amazon River. It features the endangered river dolphin in a split image that depicts scenery above and below the dark, turgid rivers waterline.

Zhou triumphed over 6,000 other entries from 72 countries with her shot of a solo river dolphin at sunset and claimed the top title of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023.

Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023

Boto Encantado by Kat Zhou. (Courtesy of Kat Zhou/UPY2023)

Sharing some of the inspiration behind her shot, Zhou recounted a local South American legend:

Theres a legend among locals that river dolphins, or botos, can transform into handsome men known as boto encantado to seduce women, she told UPY. Though I did not witness the transformation, I was enchanted by these beautiful mammals in a different way. After seeing how botos would sometimes bring their beaks above water, I wanted a split shot at sunset. Though the water was so dark that I was shooting blind, this dolphin gave me a perfect pose and smile!

She notes that as more people settled the Amazon they began living in closer proximity to the dolphins.

Many river dolphins have been killed for use as fish bait, drowned in gill nets or poisoned by mercury pollution from mining, she said. I fear that one day botos will truly become no more than mythical creatures.

Of Zhous enchanting sunset scene from the Amazon River, chair of the competitions judges, Alex Mustard, said it was at first glance simple, then simply perfect.

British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023

The Swarm by Ollie Clarke. (Courtesy of Oliver Clarke/UPY2023)

UPY devotes four of its other categories specifically to underwater images taken by British photographers. Ollie Clarke, an Englishman now living in Australia, claimed the title of British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023 for his image, The Swarm, in which he portrays the worlds largest fish, the whale shark, engulfed in a bait ball of smaller fish in Ningaloo, Western Australia.

Whale sharks on the Ningaloo Reef are often accompanied by small groups of fish, Clarke said. The fish use the giant shark as a floating shelter. However, this bait-ball was huge with a lot more fish than usual and much denser, so I was really excited to photograph it.

Judge Mustard called Clarkes image perfectly timed to capture the moment when the normally-benign, giant escort suddenly switchesbecoming the hunter gulping down its prey.

Most Promising British Underwater Photographer 2023

An Islands Wild Seas by Theo Vickers. (Courtesy of Theo Vickers/UPY2023)

Besides underwater animalssuch as river dolphins and whale sharksthere are thriving jungles of plant life beneath the waves, such as the marine jungle of the Himanthalia algae on the chalk reefs of the Needles Marine Conservation Zone, captured by UK-based photographer Theo Vickers. He spoke of the expedition leading up to his winning image, titled An Islands Wild Seas.

Exploring the shallower reefs on a summer evening, my mission was to capture a wide-angle image that documented this stunning local habitat, combining both the towering forests above and the anemones that rule the chalk seabed below, he told UPY. After several unsatisfying attempts, I stumbled upon this gully packed with snakelocks, and sinking into the forest beneath, found the composition I had been seeking.

And, what underwater world would be complete without the haunting allure and mystery of underwater wrecks?

Wrecks: Winner

Engine With a Saddle by Brett Eldridge. (Courtesy of Brett Eldridge/UPY2023)

UPY has a category dedicated to exactly that. Brett Eldridge from the United States took some 750 photos of a WWII-era fighter aircraft that crashed decades ago and now rests in a watery grave, some 270 feet below the waves.

Eldridge pieced the images together and built a 3D model of the downed F8F Bearcat, garnering him top prize in the Wrecks category.

Nor must all photographers necessarily be divers. Minus the scuba gear and underwater housing, Shane Gross from Canada employed a probe lens to scout pools under rocks in British Columbia to peruse the yearly spawning ritual of the plainfin midshipman fish.

Marelux Macro: Winner

Unsung by Shane Gross. (Shane Gross/UPY 2023)

These absolutely wild deep-water swimmers enter the intertidal zone where males then sing to attract females to lay their eggs. She may or may not, depending on her partiality toward the song. Grosss aptly titled picture, Unsung, garnered him the top prize in the Marelux Macro category.

The Underwater Photographer of the Year contest aims to celebrate underwater photography in all its diversity and we are delighted that this years awarded images come from the poles to the tropics, from all corners of the ocean, and from renowned freshwater bodies like the river Amazon and Lake Baikal, said judge Mustard. Being more than a nature contest, we even have winners taken in swimming pools.

Marelux Wide Angle: Winner

Fade by Gregory Sherman. (Courtesy of Gregory Sherman/UPY2023)

Marelux Wide Angle: Runner Up

Crowd Control by Andy Schmi. (Courtesy of Andy Schmid/UPY2023)

Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year 2023

Hopeless by Alvaro Herrero Lopez. (Courtesy of Alvaro Herrero Lopez/UPY2023)

Wrecks: Runner Up

Salem Feeling by Nicolai Posininsky. (Courtesy of Nicolai Posininsky/UPY2023)

Behavior: Runner Up

Double Whale Time by Wojciech Dopierala. (Courtesy of Wojciech Dopierala/UPY 2023)

Behavior: Third

Chew With Your Mouth Closed! by Bryant Turffs. (Courtesy of Bryant Turffs/UPY 2023)

Portrait: Winner

The Trunk by Suliman Alatiqi. (Courtesy of Suliman Alatiqi/UPY 2023)

Portrait: Runner Up

Curiosity Among Icebergs by Rafael Fernandez Caballero. (Courtesy of Rafael Fernandez Caballero/UPY 2023)

Black & White: Winner

El Blanco by Courtesy of Don Silcock. (Courtesy of Don Silcock/UPY 2023)

Compact: Winner

Klunzingers Wrasse In Motion by Enrico Somogyi. (Courtesy of Enrico Somogyi/UPY 2023)

British Waters Macro: Winner

Egg Eaters by Kirsty Andrews. (Courtesy of Kirsty Andrews/UPY 2023)

British Waters Wide Angle: Runner Up

Scillonian Reflections by MNimmo. (Courtesy of MNimmo/UPY 2023)

British Waters Macro: Runner Up

Sanctuary by MNimmo. (Courtesy of MNimmo/UPY 2023)

British Waters Living Together: Winner

Pipe Reef by Dan Bolt. (Courtesy of Dan Bolt/UPY 2023)

British Waters Living Together: Third

Mussel Lines by Henley Spiers. (Courtesy of Henley Spiers/UPY 2023)

British Waters Compact: Winner

Crack Rock Blenny by Tony Reed. (Courtesy of Tony Reed/UPY 2023)

British Waters Compact: Runner Up

Autumn Above And Below by James Lynott. (Courtesy of James Lynott/UPY 2023)

British Waters Compact: Third

Beauty In The Blow Hole by Tony Reed. (Courtesy of Tony Reed/UPY 2023)

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
AP African American Studies: A New Front of Fighting Critical Race Theory in US Schools

Opponents of critical race theory protest outside of the Loudoun County School Board headquarters in Ashburn, Va., on June 22, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.Newly released coursework for Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies has become the new front in fighting critical race theory (CRT) in U.S. schools.

The focal point is whether the AP coursewhich allows high school students to earn college creditsis a vehicle for CRT, a Marxist framework that views issues through a racial lens and America as systemically racist.

The AP course drew national attention early in 2023 when Florida rejected the pilot version. In a Jan. 20 letter (pdf) to the College Board, which is in charge of developing and approving AP courses, Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. wrote, As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.

In a tweet on the same day, Diaz listed Floridas concerns about the AP draft curriculum, including Black queer studies, Movements for Black Lives, and authors associated with CRT. According to a law enacted last April, Florida bans teaching CRT in schools and workplace training programs. Although the ban was blocked in colleges and workplaces by a court injunction, its effective in K12 schools.

Consequently, the College Board removed the names of many writers associated with CRT, Black queer studies, and Black feminism from the official curriculum released on Feb. 1. It drops Movements for Black Lives as a lesson focus, and now lists Black conservatism and Black Lives Matter as examples of project topics. To be used before the 20232024 school year, this pilot course is still banned in Florida.

In a statement issued on Feb. 11, the College Board denied changing the curriculum because of Floridas rejection and revealed that the January letter was the second rejection letter from Florida; the first was received last September.

Like all new AP courses, AP African American Studies is undergoing a rigorous, multi-year pilot phase, collecting feedback from teachers, students, scholars, and policymakers, Jerome White, director of communications for the College Board, previously told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

The first pilot of the AP course is offered in the current school year in 60 high schools nationwide. The first AP African American Studies exam will be available in the spring of 2024. First announced in August 2022, the draft coursework was reported in the media last September.

More States Take Stance

Following Floridas lead, four Republican-led statesArkansas, North Dakota, Mississippi, and Virginiasaid their education departments would review the course framework according to state laws. Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas issued executive orders banning CRT in K12 schools on their first days in office.

A state Republican representative in Texas introduced a bill on Feb. 3 that would require all AP courses to comply with state laws and would go into effect on Sept. 1 if enacted.

Meanwhile, two Democrat-led statesIllinois and New Jerseyemphasized the need for the AP course. In a Jan. 26 tweet, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said, We reject any change to AP African American Studies in order to appease extremists like the Florida Governor and his Republican allies. Then on Feb. 14, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced the expansion of the AP course offering from one school in his state this school year to 26 in the next.

Jean Ballard protests Fairfax County school boards pro-transgender policy outside of the Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., on June 16, 2022. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

Heated Topic in Virginia

On Feb. 22, four school board members in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)Virginias largest school district, with over 180,000 studentswrote a letter to Youngkin and Virginia Education Secretary Aimee Guidera calling for prompt approval of the AP African American Studies course.

As elected school board members who believe diversity is one of Virginias greatest strengths, we urge you not to impede the teaching of AP African-American Studies, they wrote.

In an emailed statement, Youngkins spokesman Macaulay Porter told The Epoch Times, After numerous reports about draft course content, the governor asked the Education Secretariat to review the College Boards proposed AP African American Studies course as it pertains to Executive Order 1.

Guidera also responded to the FCPS school board members in a statement that the AP African American Studies course review was a regular action to ensure that our students are being taught how to think, and not what to think.

The letter from a subset of the Fairfax County School Board is confusing, given that this review is a standard procedure to ensure the course aligns to our academic standards and teaches all history, she said. Our hope is that the College Boards revisions to the pilot have addressed national concerns around the African American Studies pilot so that we can offer a college-level, rigorous course in Virginias schools. Neither Governor Youngkin nor I will apologize for having high expectations and taking the time to ensure that our course offerings prepare every Virginia student for success in life.

AP course selections vary by state. For example, in Virginia, the selection of AP courses is decided by local school divisions.

FCPS told The Epoch Times that eight high schools in its division were set to offer the pilot AP course in the 20232024 school year. [The] running of the course at each school will depend on student enrollment, a spokesman wrote in an email.

Michelle Reid (3rd L), superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools, with her husband, Terry, and school board members (LR) Abrar Omeish, Stella Pekarsky, Rachna Sizemore Heizer, and Karen Keys-Gamarra in Falls Church, Va., on June 30, 2022. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)
An artist who admitted to defacing one of Australias most famous paintings in a gas company protest says police have raided her home in a massive over-reach.

Joana Partyka was convicted in the Perth Magistrates Court earlier this month after pleading guilty to criminal damage after she spray-painted a Woodside Energy logo onto Frederick McCubbins work Down On His Luck at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

She was fined $2637 and ordered to pay the art gallery $4821.08 in compensation. The penalties were paid off within 24 hours thanks to crowdfunding, Partyka said.

McCubbins work was protected by a clear plastic sheet and not damaged by the spray paint.

The ceramic artist and illustrator said her Perth home was raided by counter-terrorism police on Friday morning.

She says officers seized her mobile phone, laptop and notebook and took photos of other belongings.

Partyka suggested the raid was designed to intimidate the activist group she belonged to, Disrupt Burrup Hub.

It further illustrated the complete control that Woodside and big fossil fuel polluters have over our government and police force, she said.

I have already pleaded guilty and been convicted for the action I took last month at the Art Gallery of WA and have already paid in full the fine and excessive costs I was charged for that action, Partyka said.

This subsequent raid by state security counter-terror cops is baffling and unjustified and just demonstrates how desperate the government is to cover up their dependence on Woodside.

The Western Australia Police Force has been contacted for comment.

Partyka reiterated her groups intention to disrupt industrial development on the rock art-rich Burrup Peninsula.

She would not be deterred by a scare tactic, she told AAP.

This issue is obviously one thats very important to me, to go to the lengths that I did in regards to the art gallery action, she said.

Im not going to allow essentially what is the protection racket on behalf of the government to scare me into submission.

Disrupt Burrup Hub has called for industrial development on the Burrup Peninsula, about 30km west of Karratha in the Pilbara region, to be stopped, including Woodside Energys expansion of the Pluto gas plant.

The Burrup Peninsula, known as Murujuga to traditional owners, contains the largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs in the world.

Graphic designer Tahlia Stolarski also painted the Woodside logo on the front doors of the West Australian parliament on Tuesday.
BC Teacher Fired for Comments About Residential School Deaths

A B.C. high schoolteacher was escorted out of his classroom by two staff members after telling students the majority of residential school deaths were caused by illness.

I was walked out like a criminal. They cant walk a teacher out of school unless the teacher is a direct harm and immediate harm to children, Jim McMurtry of Abbotsford, B.C., told The Epoch Times. I wasnt a harm to children because I made one comment that was historically true.

That was in May 2021, shortly after media reports began circulating that a mass grave of 215 indigenous children was found in Kamloops. McMurtry was suspended, and now almost a year later, he has officially been fired. His termination took effect Feb. 21.

McMurtry has a masters degree in the history of education and wrote his thesis on indigenous education policy. When the Kamloops announcement was made, he says he read through the governments Truth and Reconciliation Commission report to update his knowledge and see what may have been behind the deaths.

The report says about 48 percent of residential school deaths for which the cause is known were due to tuberculosis. Most of the rest were due to influenza, pneumonia, other illnesses.

McMurtry said a student in the class that he was supply teaching at the time said the children in Kamloops were tortured by priests and left out in the snow to die. McMurtry hadnt seen evidence that that was true, he told The Epoch Times.

He said to the student that there were things about residential schools that were not good. He also said the majority of deaths were due to illness.

While media at the time reported that the mass grave contained precisely 215 children with some as young as three and other details, McMurtry and others have since said theres no evidence that its even a grave.

The site in Kamloops hasnt been exhumed, and the main evidence is a radar gun detection of ground disturbances, he said, adding that theres nothing as precise even as childrens bodies.

Im not defending the schools, he said. All Im saying is that we live in a society where theres jurisprudence, where theres empiricism.  If youre going to say something, you got to back it up.

Boards Decision

McMurtry said that even if he was wrong about the residential school deaths, he doesnt agree with how he was treated at the end of a 40-year teaching career.

It was absolutely horrifying that they would do this to a senior teacher at the end of my career for doing something that Im an authority on, he said. But even if I wasnt, even if I said the wrong thing, thats no way to treat a teacher.

The Abbotsford School District did not reply to an Epoch Times request for comment by time of publication. In portions of the boards disciplinary investigation documents that McMurtry posted on Twitter, his comments on the residential schools are described as being inflammatory, inappropriate and insensitive.

Regardless of his intent he left students with the impression some or all of the deaths could be contributed to natural causes and that the deaths could not be called murder or cultural genocide, the documents said. His comments were contrary to the schools message of condolences and reconciliation.

The board said McMurtry contravened his duty of loyalty to his employer in talking to school trustees and others about the disciplinary investigation. But McMurtry asks, Why would I show loyalty to people who are ending my career? He also said he had never signed any confidentiality agreement with the board.

In a Feb. 23 letter the board sent him outlining the reasons he was fired, it brought up incidents prior to his comments about residential schools.

You made inappropriate sexualized comments to students; you exercised poor judgment by making imprudent comments to a certain student with whom you did not have a positive relationship; you failed to follow COVID-19 protocols, were some of the other factors the board said it took into consideration in its decision to fire him.

McMurtry said regarding the earlier incidents that he had already settled that with the board. I cant talk about that  because its settled, he said.

A National Post article last November gave an example of the sexualized comments. It said McMurtry was once discussing the history of the Olympics with his class and said ancient Greeks competed naked, Sort of like womens beach volleyball today.

For decades, McMurtry said, he taught at various schools and served as a principal and never had problems with his employers. It was when he started with the Abbotsford School District a few years ago that problems started.

When asked why he thinks thats so, he said: Whats happening is cancel culture. So in schools, teachers are walking on eggshells.
Biden Admin Proposes to Block Half of Current Gas Range Models

An efficiency proposal by the Department of Energy (DOE) would block half of current gas cooking appliances from the U.S. market, an analysis by the federal agency shows.

The DOE proposed a maximum annual gas consumption of 1,204 thousand British thermal units (kBtu), also known as the EL 2 standard, for all gas cooking tops. If that rule is finalized, only half of those appliances that are currently on the market would be able to meet the new standard.

The department estimates that nearly half of the total gas cooking top market currently achieves EL 2 and therefore would not be impacted by the proposed standard, if finalized, DOE stated in an updated analysis (pdf).

The department issued the updated analysis mainly because it excluded certain types of gas cooking tops in the previous analysis that was published on Feb. 1 (pdf).

The governmental agency includes gas cooking tops with high input rate (HIR) burners in the new analysis.

The market share of qualified products expands substantially because all products with HIR can meet the new standard, according to the DOE.

The new rule would take effect three years after its adopted.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) stated that its very concerned about the direction of the DOE.

They have released the most stringent proposal for gas ranges, which only a sliver of the market can meet, Jill Notini, industry spokesperson for AHAM, told The Epoch Times. Its very concerning what theyre doing with gas products. We believe that there should be consumer choice and that consumers should be able to make a decision on whether they would like to purchase a gas or electric product.

Clearly, the Department of Energys intentions are to eliminate gas products from the market. And they should just say that instead of releasing a deceptive and flawed analysis to justify their proposal.

AHAM, a trade association that represents the manufacturers of household appliances sold in the United States, doesnt trust the DOEs analysis and is carrying out its own analysis.

The results of the proposed regulation could be much worse than the DOE stated, according to the AHAM.

What we believe is that products right now in the market would need significant redesign in order to meet the proposed levels, Notini said.

The trade associations officials said everything is on the table when asked if they plan to take legal action against the proposed regulation.

Rulemaking and Lawsuit

The DOE initiated the rulemaking process of potential regulation on gas cooking tops in 2014 and proposed standards in September 2016. The 2016 standard sets the maximum annual gas consumption at 924.4 kBtu.

However, former President Donald Trumps Energy Department halted the rulemaking process in December 2020, in the final months of his administration.

The rulemaking process has been disputed in the courts, as six organizations, including some environmental groups and some blue states, filed two separate lawsuits in an attempt to force the Trump administration to regulate the gas cooking tops.

AHAM was one of the plaintiff intervenors in both cases.

In September 2022, a U.S. district judge ordered the DOE to issue regulations on conventional cooking products or determine that no regulation is needed by Jan. 31, 2024.

The Biden administration resumed the rulemaking process by issuing the Feb. 1 proposed rule.
Biden Declines to Visit Ohio Toxic Train Wreck Site, Orders Door-to-Door Checks Instead

President Joe Biden has ordered federal officials to do door-to-door checks on families in East Palestine, Ohio, but said he has no immediate plans to visit the village where a train derailed three weeks ago, spilling toxic chemicals.

The White House said Biden has directed teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to visit East Palestine homes starting on Saturday.

The walk teams will check in on residents to see how theyre doing and what they need, and to connect them with federal and nonprofit resources as locals still reel from the derailment fallout.

Biden directed the teams to do as many checks as possible, with officials saying the near-term aim is to get to at least 400 homes.

A resident displays a mannequin on their porch in East Palestine, Ohio, as cleanup from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment continues, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Matt Freed/AP Photo)

No Plans to Visit

Asked by reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday whether he, personally, planned to visit East Palestine, the president said, This time, Im not.

Biden said he had done a long meeting with his team on Zoom to get an update on the response.

We were there two hours after the train went down, Biden said. Ive spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and Ohio. So the idea that were not engaged is simply not there.

Im keeping very close tabs on it, Biden added. Were doing all we can.

A pedestrian walks down a street in East Palestine, Ohio, as cleanup from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment continues, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Matt Freed/AP Photo)

Biden faced criticism from the mayor of East Palestine for visiting Ukraine on Presidents Day instead of the derailment site.

The president met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Feb. 20, where he announced an additional $500 million in aid to the beleaguered country.

That was the biggest slap in the face that tells you right now, he doesnt care about us, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway said in an appearance on Fox News when asked his thoughts on Bidens surprise visit to Kyiv.

Conaway said Biden can send every agency he wants to East Palestine but the presidents presence in Kyiv where he gave millions of dollars away to people over there, not to us, made the mayor furious.

Biden was asked in an interview with ABC on Saturday about the East Palestine mayors criticism.

The president replied by suggesting Conaways criticism was unfounded, saying that the EPA was at the site of the derailment within two hours and that other major agencies were engaged in the response.

A man raises his hand with a question for East Palestine, Ohio, Mayor Trent Conaway (C) during a town hall meeting at East Palestine High School in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

My Voice Sounds Like Mickey Mouse

The Feb. 3 derailment, which caused a fire that sent smoke from toxic chemicals billowing into the air, prompted the evacuation of East Palestines 5,000 or so residents.

While evacuation orders were lifted on Feb. 8, many locals have said theyve experienced symptoms after returning, including sore throats, rashes, and trouble breathing.

One resident, Wade Lovett, told The New York Post hes been having breathing problems and his voice has a higher pitch like when someone inhales helium gas.

My voice sounds like Mickey Mouse, he told the outlet. Its hard to breathe, especially at night. My chest hurts so much at night I feel like Im drowning. I cough up phlegm a lot.

ONG 52nd Civil Support Team members prepare to enter an incident area to assess remaining hazards with a lightweight inflatable decontamination system (LIDS) in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Ohio National Guard via AP)

Long-Term Health Concerns

Federal regulators have said the air and water are safe in the village, but an analysis of EPA data by researchers at Texas A&M University found over half a dozen pollutants in the air in and around East Palestine that, if they persist at current levels, could raise long-term health concerns.

EPA officials responded to the analysis by saying that the levels of 79 chemicals theyre monitoring for air quality determinations are below levels of concern for short-term exposure and that theyll probably dissipate before they can have a negative impact on health over the longer term.

They said the Texas A&M University study assumes exposure to the chemicals at current concentrations over a lifetime, which they said is highly unlikely.

We are committed to staying in East Palestine and will continue to monitor the air inside and outside of homes to ensure that these levels remain safe over time, EPA told The Epoch Times.

Ron Fodo, of Ohio EPA Emergency Response, looks for signs of fish and also agitates the water in Leslie Run creek to check for chemicals that have settled at the bottom following a train derailment that is causing environmental concerns in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 20, 2023. (Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Weihsueh Chiu, one of the Texas A&M researchers, told The Washington Post that it would take months or years for the air pollutants to have an impact on health. He added, however, that some of those chemicals can trigger eye and lung irritation.

Norfolk Southern, the operator of the train, apologized on Wednesday at a CNN town hall event where residents voiced their concerns about contamination of the soil and groundwater.

After Norfolk Southern executives failed to attend an earlier meeting in East Palestine, EPA ordered them to attend town hall events and face concerned residents.

The Biden administration has said Norfolk Southern must pay for the clean-up efforts and the damage caused by the derailment.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
British Armys Troubled Ajax Tank Order Back on Track, Wallace Says

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace speaks to the crew inside an Ajax armoured personnel at Bovington Camp, England, on Feb. 22, 2023. (Ben Birchall/PA Media)

The armys troubled Ajax armoured vehicles order is now back on track after remedies were put in place to fix the issues, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Wednesday.

Inspecting Ajax trials near the Bovington Camp, Wallace said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) aims to deploy the vehicles soon after the testing programme is completed in about 16 months time.

The Ajax programme, a 5.5 billion ($6.6 billion) MoD contract with General Dynamics Land Systems UK (GDUK) to build 589 of the state-of-the-art reconnaissance vehicles, has prompted severe criticism after running for nearly 13 years without yet providing a single deployable vehicle.

Originally intended to enter service in 2017, Ajax has been repeatedly delayed owing to failures including noise and vibration problems that injured soldiers testing the vehicles.

By December 2021, six months after the revised deadline for Ajax vehicles to enter service, the MoD had paid General Dynamics 3.2 billion ($3.8 billion) but received only 26 Ajax vehicles, none of which it could use.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said in a report (pdf) last year that the MoD had over-specified the programme from the outset and that GDUK did not understand the scale of the technical challenge.

The report also said that the MoD still did not know when Ajax would enter service or whether the noise and vibration issues could even be fixed, and told the department to either fix or scrap the programme in 2022.

An MoD internal review (pdf) published in December 2021 pointed to a complex combination of the Armed Forces relationship to harm and weaknesses in MODs acquisition system that allowed the injuries to happen.

The MoD also commissioned a lessons learned review last year to identify lessons and make recommendations to help MoD deliver major programmes more effectively in future.

Wallace: We Have Turned The Corner

On Dec. 20, 2022, the MoD said on Twitter that the User Validation Trials for Ajax vehicles had successfully completed, and that the testing programme was progressing to the Reliability Growth Trials, with the vehicles having been tested across 1,530 kilometers (950 miles) at speeds of up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour.

Visiting a Reliability Growth Trial on Wednesday, Wallace was shown the Ajax being put through its paces at the training ground, including the armoured vehicle heading over a knife-edge ramp aimed at pushing the vehicles to their limits.

An Ajax Ares tank, an armoured personnel carrier, on the training range at Bovington Camp, a British Army military base in Dorset, England, on Feb. 22, 2023. (Ben Birchall/PA Media)

Commenting on the programme, Wallace said he had been clear that it was troubled.

It was started in March 2010, I inherited a troubled programme. I was determined I was going to put this right, I get a weekly update, he said.

We think the remedies are in place, we are now going through the normal trials, can it go after the hill fast enough, does it do these things? It is showing great signs and we will keep on it.

I am confident we have turned the corner on this troubled programme, he said.

Wallace said the aim is for the Ajax vehicles to be active in military units soon after the testing programme is completed in about 16 months time.

They are already training with it now, all these things take time to train how to use it, we have over 100 assembled so when we get through these trials we will get these into the units and be back on track, he said.

It is understood that despite the production being described by Wallace as troubled, the MoD considers some of the early problems to be development issues which have now been overcome in updated versions.

The issues of travelling at speed and the capability to fire while on the move were only to be tested in later models.

But a redesign of contact points for the soldiers using the tanks has been carried out to overcome issues of vibration and noise.

These improvements include new ear defenders with incorporated hearing piece for better communication, remounted seating with better cushioning, and improved joysticks and controls.

The testing so far has covered 120,000 kilometers (75,000 miles) of journeys, with 9,000 rounds of ammunition fired and 50 tonnes (55 tons) of armour shot at to test the correct level of protection for the vehicles.

The Ajax, which will be supplied to the 3rd (UK) Division, the main war-fighting division of the British Army, comes in six different variants including the workhorse Ares people carrier.

The Ajax itself is the turreted version fitted with a 40mm cannon with other variants designed as command, repair, and recovery vehicles.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Chinas Economic Prospects Worsen

Another CEO disappearance and stock losses are just the beginning

People walk across a bridge with a stocks indicator board in the financial district of Lujiazui, in Shanghai, on Oct. 17, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

Three Chinese tech companies on Feb. 21 lost $33 billion in value in U.S. stock trading. Alibaba Group, JD.com, and PDD Holdings are finding it harder to expand internationally, and so have turned to cutthroat competition with each other for domestic markets that will likely demolish their prices and profits.

While within the past few months, Beijing signaled an end to its tech crackdown, canceled three-year COVID lockdowns, and claimed at Davos to be open for business again, the cheer for investors was wary, short lived, and followed by a hangover.

Foreign investors unwound from China after Beijing cracked down on the countrys most successful tech businesses and their leaders, most dramatically the disappearance of Jack Ma in 2020. The regime canceled his Ant Groups initial public offering (IPO), expected to be the worlds most lucrative at more than $34 billion.

Didi, Chinas top ride-hailing company, IPOed in the United States in 2021 for $4.4 billion. Days later, Beijing banned its app. The company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, lost about 70 percent of its value, and was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Now, after all that bilking of international investors, Beijing is trying to court foreign money through IPOs again, but still without assured forms of shareholder ownership and robust corporate protections from taxes, overregulation, and arbitrary detention of company leadership.

In February, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) apparently disappeared another billionaire tech titan named Bao Fan. There were no public charges, but his likely crime was a recent attempt to move some of his wealth to a family office in Singapore from China.

Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange floor while the price of Alibaba Groups initial price offering (IPO) is decided, in New York City, on Sept. 19, 2014. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

When foreigners invest in China stocks, they typically do so under increasingly strict regulatory control and variable interest entities (VIE), a spider-web of contractual obligations that doesnt actually confer ownership in the Chinese company, according to Financial Times.

Investors have bought about $2 trillion worth of Chinese VIEs, thinking they own something more than a wish and promise dependent on Beijings continued indulgence of foreign capitalists. They ultimately have little legal protectionthe communist regime rules by the personalistic power of Xi Jinping rather than established market principles.

Additionally, the SEC has failed to gain reporting compliance from Chinese companies for years. Accounting firmssuch as KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, and EYmust now have access to the books of Chinese companies listed in the United States or the companies will be delisted from U.S. exchanges.

But actually acquiring the data requires unprecedented and continued pressure from U.S. authorities. A report on Feb. 22 revealed that Beijing is telling its state-owned companies that they should let contracts with these Big Four firms expire. Its an unfriendly indicator of the value of even non-state-owned Chinese companies.

As the CCP continues down its adversarial path, economic countermeasures are increasing. Nowhere is evidence of this trend more apparent than in Xis attempts to sanction-proof his economy by moving away from the U.S. dollar and overcoming export controls through tech autarchy.

On Feb. 23, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Beijing that any help it gave to Russia in systemic sanctions evasion would result in serious consequences. Such consequences would likely involve secondary sanctions and increased export controls. In the long term, Beijings support of Moscows invasion of Ukraine also could lead to increased tariffs.

Beijings recent call for dialogue and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine shouldnt be taken as progress. Russian leader Vladimir Putin will use negotiations to solidify his conquests in Crimea and the Donbas, empowering him for further conquest later. Appeasing Putin incentivizes and legitimates conquest, including of Taiwan by China.

That Xi is actively planning as much is indicated by his attempts to reorient Chinas economy toward domestic consumers. However, that path is replete with transaction costs, as most of its exports currently go to the United States, European Union, Japan, South Korea, and India. None of these countries look kindly on Xis rule, and all could band together to increase sanctions.

The fundamental risks in Chinas investment atmosphere have thus worsened. Xi is shackling the economy with throwback communist management, while simultaneously attempting to leverage it for the CCPs planned takeover of Taiwan by 2049 and the dangerously ambitious goal of global hegemony to follow.

Both will be difficult for Beijing to achieve, to say the least. They entail a massive drain on Chinas economy and increased risk to the political and economic stability of East Asia and beyond.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Cory Morgan: If Canada Is to Catch Up on Rapidly Growing Housing Shortage, Government Needs to Get Out of the Way

Commentary

Canadas housing affordability challenges are about to get a whole lot worse soon. While the Canadian government has set immigration targets at 500,000 people per year, anticipated new home construction is expected to fall short of national needs by 100,000. Governments at all levels need to address this issue before it becomes a full-blown crisis. Unfortunately, governments arent typically inclined to turn on a dime with policies, especially when ideology is at play.

There is no avoiding the reality of the issue. Canada needs to increase its housing supply. It doesnt matter how many rental subsidy programs are created, if the nation has more people than homes, people will find themselves unhoused. Thats not a matter of opinion. Thats basic math.

While the federal government has committed to several initiatives to increase the amount of affordable housing in Canada, the homes arent being built. For example, billions of tax dollars were set aside for the Rapid Housing Initiative in 2020 for the purpose of speeding construction in communities in need. Over 10,000 applications for the subsidy were approved. As of the end of last November though, only 1,449 units were built. The National Housing Strategy has committed $82 billion to expand home construction but there is little evidence to indicate its working.

If Canada wants to catch up on the rapidly growing housing shortage, it doesnt need more government programs. What it needs is for governments to get out of the way.

Home builders are more than eager to expand the construction of units, but onerous government regulations are handicapping them and adding to the cost of units.

Canadas net-zero emissions strategy with its National Energy code will add an average of $40,000 to the price of a 2,000 square-foot home in Calgary, according to Shane Wenzel of Shane Homes in Calgary. That number balloons to as much as $60,000 on the consumer once mortgage interest is taken into consideration. The increasingly complicated energy regulations also limit the number of contractors able to work on new homes and limit the supplies that can be used. While energy-efficient homes can lead to savings on utility bills, how long does it take to recoup $60,000? Housing construction targets clash with net-zero requirements, and the government is going to have to figure out which one it wants to meet.

The prospect of new, intrusive rental housing regulation puts a chill on investment into new units. In a report written for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, recommendations were made that would kill the private rental market if they were implemented. The report literally calls for the expropriation of rental property from companies that violate human rights. It should be noted that this group considers rent increases or renovations that lead to rental increases to be human rights violations. They also call for the government to force banks to pull financing from private rental companies and force provinces to implement rent controls.

The report is ludicrous, and its unlikely the government will implement the recommendations. That said, the government hasnt condemned the report either. Large rental properties need tens of millions of dollars in investment to construct. How many companies are willing to risk that kind of capital when the government entertains notions such as the one in the report that may lead to the seizure of their property? The government must publicly condemn the reports recommendations and stop commissioning them if they want to regain the trust of investors.

Red tape at the municipal level of government is hopelessly delaying new home construction and increasing costs. In Calgary, it takes eight years and millions of dollars in permit fees and studies for a new development to go from concept to construction. The timelines and costs are similar in other jurisdictions as ideologically driven city councils obsessed with high-density urban development try to hinder outward city growth.

Regulations banning or strictly controlling the use of secondary suites in homes also hinder the expansion of rental spaces. Easing such restrictions could add thousands of units to every city in short order while providing valuable rental income to homeowners. Such moves can garner opposition from established urban voters, so councils often dodge the issue.

Municipalities rely on high real-estate prices for property tax revenue. It disincentivizes local governments from adding housing supply which may slow the rise in property prices. Rethinking revenue sources could ease that dependency.

The affordable housing crunch in Canada is set to go from bad to worse. Canada has the means to expand the housing supply, but governments need to find the will to allow it. They need to fight their instinct to regulate and control, and let the market work as it should.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Court Proceedings Advance in Deadly Shooting on Rust Film Set

The Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the film "Rust" was being filmed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Oct. 23, 2021. (Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

A film-industry weapons supervisor made her first formal court appearance Friday on a felony charge in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of a Western movie.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reeds attorney said his client will plead not guilty, but the judge did not take that plea during the virtual court proceeding. Instead, the judge issued conditions of release that allow Gutierrez-Reed to keep a gun at home for self-defense.

Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin were charged last month with felony involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in October 2021.

Gutierrez-Reeds attorney told the judge his client has received numerous threats and was forced to file for a restraining order against a stalker. He said authorities released documents related to the case and failed to redact identifying information that included phone numbers.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told the judge she adamantly opposed the request because of Gutierrez-Reeds sloppy mishandling of firearms and guns on the set. She suggested Gutierrez-Reed could either move or keep a bat or pepper spray in her house instead.

Gutierrez-Reeds attorney, Jason Bowles, challenged the district attorneys characterization and disputed the claim about sloppiness.

There is no allegation that she is a danger to anyone having a firearm within her home, and its for self-protection because of actions that the state took in releasing private information. That is the reason for that request, he said.

In addition to allowing Gutierrez-Reed to have a gun at home, the judge ordered her not to have any contact with witnesses who might testify as part of the case.

A day earlier Baldwin agreed to forgo a hearing to have his rights explained to him and entered a plea of not guilty.

The judge allowed Baldwin to have limited contact with potential witnesses in connection with plans to complete the filming of Rust. Other provisions included a prohibition on consuming alcohol and against any possession of weapons, including firearms.

Alec Baldwin speaks onstage at the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala at New York Hilton in New York on Dec. 6, 2022. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala)

Work on Rust was halted with Hutchins death. Rust Movie Productions says filming is expected to resume this spring, without the use of real weapons or ammunition.

Separately Friday, the producers of Rust agreed to pay a $100,000 fine in connection with allegations of workplace safety violations, in a proposed settlement agreement with New Mexico occupational safety regulators.

The proposed settlement reduces the alleged safety violation to the category of serious, from willful-serious, and states that Rust Movie Productions did not furnish a place of employment free from hazards in that employees were exposed to being struck by discharged rounds or projectiles when firearms were used on the set of the motion picture production.

In April 2020, New Mexicos Occupational Health and Safety Bureau slapped Rust Movie Productions with a maximum $136,793 fine while distributing a scathing narrative of safety failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires on set before the fatal shooting.

The bureau also documented gun-safety complaints from crew members that went unheeded and said weapons specialists were not allowed to make decisions about additional safety training.

Melina Spadone, an attorney for Rust Movie Productions, said Friday in a statement that the settlement would help filmmakers resume work on Rust.

Our top priority has always been resuming production and completing this film so we can honor the life and work of Halyna Hutchins, she said.

The involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin, a lead actor and co-producer on Rust, and Gutierrez-Reed, the films armor, are punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine under New Mexico law.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are preparing for a likely preliminary hearing within a few months to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.

Authorities said Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

(Left) Halyna Hutchins in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 28, 2019. (Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie); (Right) Alec Baldwin in East Hampton, N.Y., on Oct. 7, 2021. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for National Geographic)

Baldwins attorney Luke Nikas said when the charges were announced that they were a terrible miscarriage of justice. He said Baldwin relied on the professionals with whom he worked and had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun.

Bowles had said the charges were the result of a very flawed investigation and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts. He said he believed jurors will exonerate his client.

Prosecutors say assistant director David Halls, who oversaw safety on set, has signed an agreement to plead guilty in the negligent use of a deadly weapon, explaining that he may have handled the gun improperly before it was given to Baldwin.

A judge is scheduled to consider approval of the plea agreement in March. Halls waived his first appearance in court.

By Susan Montoya Bryan
CARSON CITY  Due to the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Safety reporting severe weather and potentially dangerous road conditions, Gov. Joe Lombardo ordered an early closing for all state government offices in Carson City, Douglas County, Esmeralda County, Lincoln County, Lyon County, Nye County, Storey County, and Washoe County on Friday.

Aside from essential public safety and corrections personnel, state offices in these counties will close at 3 p.m. today.

The Office of the Governor will continue to actively monitor weather conditions alongside NDOT and DPS. Furthermore, Governor Lombardo urges northern Nevadans to take caution on roadways and to follow all NDOT and DPS guidance.
Drone Strike in Syria Kills 2 al-Qaeda-Linked Operatives

BEIRUTA drone strike believed to have been carried out by the U.S.-led coalition in northwestern Syria on Friday killed two operatives with an al-Qaeda-linked group, Syrian opposition activists said.

The two terrorists were killed while riding a motorcycle near the northern village of Qah, close to the Turkish border, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, and several other activist collectives.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military. The strike was the latest in a series of attacks over the past years targeting al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in northwestern Syria.

The oppositions Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, said its members extinguished a fire caused by the drone strike, adding that two unknown persons were killed.

The Observatory said the two were members of Horas al-Din, which is Arabic for Guardians of Religion. The group includes hardcore al-Qaeda terrorist members who broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest insurgent group in Idlib province. Idlib is the last major rebel enclave in war-torn Syria.

The Observatory also said that one of the two killed men was an Iraqi citizen.

In June last year, a drone strike by the U.S.-led coalition in Idlib province killed Abu Hamzah al Yemeni. a senior member of Horas al-Din.

In 2017, a U.S. airstrike killed a former aide to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist groups second in command in Syria, Abu al-Kheir al-Masri.

The former top U.S. envoy to the coalition battling the ISIS terrorist group, Brett McGurk, said at the time when he was in the post that Idlib is the largest al-Qaida haven since bin Ladens days in Afghanistan.
Erin Brockovich Says Theres No Quick Fix for Ohio Train Derailment

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich (L) speaks to concerned residents as she hosts a town hall at East Palestine High School in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Upon taking the stage in the East Palestine High School auditorium on Feb. 24, environmental activist Erin Brockovich told a crowd mostly composed of local residents dealing with the aftermath of a toxic train derailment that she was here with a message you dont want to hear but maybe you know.

Superman is not coming. Nobody is coming to change what has happened to you, magically fix everything, or give you all of the answers, Brockovich said. You will become the strongest advocate you have.

You have the ability to becomeand you will becomeyour own critical thinker. You will vet information. You will ask questions. You will demand answers.

She told audience members that there wont be a swift resolution to the issues that are now affecting East Palestine, Ohio, and surrounding communities.

You want to be heard, but youre going to be told its safe; youre going to be told not to worry, Brockovich said. Thats just rubbish, because youre going to worry. Communities want to be seen and heard.

This is not going to be a quick fix. This is going to be a long game.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich speaks at a town hall in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 24. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

An overflow crowd of more than 2,000 people gathered in the village of 4,761, located near the Pennsylvania border, to hear Brockovich speak, with more than 100 media members covering the event.

She was joined by water expert Robert W. Bowcock and trial attorney Mikal Watts. Theyre the principles of East Palestine Justice, an organization of lawyers, environmental activists, and scientific and medical professionals providing assistance to eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania residents affected by the derailment.

On Feb. 3, a 151-car Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailed in East Palestine.

When the train crashed, 38 rail cars derailed, and a fire ensued, damaging an additional 12 cars, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

There were 20 total hazardous material cars in the train11 of which derailed, according to an NTSB statement.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich (C-R) speaks to concerned residents as she hosts a town hall at East Palestine High School in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Fears escalated in the immediate aftermath of the wreck. Seeking to avoid an explosion that officials claimed would send shrapnel into the air, vinyl chloride was intentionally released and burned on Feb. 6, sending a massive cloud of black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles around and was likened to a mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear weapon.

The burn triggered questions about the health effects that could potentially impact the residents of East Palestine.

Vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make PVC pipes and other products, has received extensive attention as part of the emergency. The National Cancer Institute notes that vinyl chloride has been linked to cancers of the brain, lungs, blood, lymphatic system, and liver.

Other rail cars contained ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate, which are all used in the making of plastic products.

Officials from federal and state agencies have repeatedly said that tests show the air and water are safe in East Palestine and surrounding communities. However, residents continue to report headaches, vomiting, burning eyes, skin rashes, and other ailments.

Ive never seen anything in 30 years like this and the situation happening in East Palestine, Brockovich said.

You all know the story about digging the hole and draining the chemicals in there and lighting it on fire. I dont think that turned out well for anybody.

She said she traveled to East Palestine after receiving numerous emails from residents who requested her presence.

I feel your angst and I feel your frustration. And I want to share something with you: You are not alone, Brockovich said. It feels like every community Ive been going to for 30 years gets the same run-around, and you dont get clear information.

You own this narrative, not an agency that wasnt here, and certainly not Norfolk Southern. You know how you feel. You know if youre sick. You know if you smell something. You know if the waters a funny color.

Communities confronted with an environmental disaster can handle the truth, she said, but what they cant handle is being misled and lied to.

At that moment, the auditoriums lights turned off, promoting Brockovich to say, That is how we feelin the darkand in the dark, we will continue to talk.

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)

In a Feb. 24 television interview, she said officials are apparently trying to gaslight residents into believing that nothings wrong and that the water is safe to drink and the air safe to breathe.

Its very obvious somethings really gone wrong out here, Brockovich said. Ive been out here down on the ground, and theyre really frustrated. Why? They dont feel that their agencies or their administration care about whats happened to the communities.

She told the story of how, when she spoke out against Pacific Gas and Electric in 1993, she was told: Why are you here? You are not a doctor, a lawyer, or a scientist. What would you know?

All I have to be is a human being to know that the water is messed up, and I am saying something and doing something, Brockovich said.

From her experience as an activist responding to environmental disasters in communities across the country, she said, We often find out five and 10 years down the road that, after people were told it was safe, they admit there is a problem.

Bowcock, whos a hydrologist, said the derailments aftermath will be long term.

Youre in a situation that youre going to be dealing with for the rest of your lives if you stay here, he said.

Brockovich introduced Watts, who delivered a presentation to tell you the information as it is.

He shared Norfolk Southerns history of train derailments, including a 2012 crash in Paulsboro, New Jersey, where trains spilled 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride. In East Palestine, 1.1 million pounds of the carcinogen were released into the environment.

We live in a society that chooses to ship its most dangerous chemicals ever made by man in rail cars right through populated cities, Watts said. Whether that is a good choice is not for me to say, but if you are going to ship them, you [explitive] sure have an obligation to make sure you dont jump the tracks.

Norfolk Southern has reported 3,397 events that could be classified as a derailment over the past 20 years, he explained.

Last year, Norfolk Southern had 770 train car derailments involving hazardous materials, Watts noted, compared to 79 incidents in 2012.

For their own peace of mind and as a step for potential legal action, he urged residents to protect their health.

Im begging youfor your own goodgo get your blood and urine tested now, Watts said. If I was in your shoes deciding where I want to raise my family, I would want to know this.
European Lawmaker Denounced by Trudeau and Poilievre After Meeting With Tory MPs

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre on Feb. 24 criticized a visiting European politician, both calling her views hateful and vile.

Consistently, we see Conservative parliamentarians and people who should know better associating themselves with folks responsible for a particularly vile level of rhetoric and hatred, Trudeau said during a press conference in Toronto.

Trudeau was commenting on the visit to Canada of Christine Anderson, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Alternative for Germany, a nationalist conservative party.

While in Canada this month, she met with Conservative MPs Dean Allison, Colin Carrie, and Leslyn Lewis. Anderson also met with people who took part in convoy protests against COVID-19 mandates last year.

The prime minister didnt provide details on which views of Anderson he was referring to, but several Liberal MPs have described Anderson as holding far right views, and pointed to her comments on immigration of Muslims to Europe.

Andersons party is critical of mass immigration to the continent and calls for an increase in birth rates instead.

Anderson tweeted on Feb. 23 Close the borders! Protect Europe! in reaction to the news that one million asylum applications were filed in the European Union in 2022.

In a May 2021 tweet, Anderson complained about a million more Muslims landing in Germany, saying they incur billions in cost to the welfare state.

The Epoch Times contacted Anderson and her tour organizers for comment but didnt immediately hear back.

Poilievre also criticized Anderson and said his MPs were not aware of the MEPs views and regret meeting with her.

Christine Andersons views are vile and have no place in our politics, he said in a statement provided by his spokesperson. Frankly, it would be better if Anderson never visited Canada in the first place. She and her racist, hateful views are not welcome here.

The MPs who met with Anderson offered a statement saying they were not aware of the views or associations of her and her political party.

We do not share or endorse her views and strongly condemn any views that are racist or hateful, the statement said.

PPC Leader Maxime Bernier, who met with Anderson in Montreal this week, called her legendary.

She was more effective opposing Trudeaus tyrannical policies from Germany during the pandemic than our lame opposition in the House of Commons! he tweeted.

The MEP was a vocal supporter of the Freedom Convoy last year, and criticized Trudeau for the police crackdown on the protesters when he visited the European Parliament in March 2022

A Prime Minister, who openly admires the Chinese basic dictatorship, who tramples on fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as terrorists, just because they dared to stand up to his perverted concept of democracy, should not be allowed to speak in this house at all, she said.
Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Supporting ISIS Terrorist Group

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.A Florida man accused in 2020 of plotting terror attacks in the United States and acquiring an arsenal of weapons has pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the ISIS terrorist group.

Mohammed Al-Azhari, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen, also agreed Thursday to accept an 18-year prison sentence during the plea hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli in Tampa federal court. A formal sentencing date has not been set.

Al-Azhari admitted in court papers that he scouted potential terrorism targets in the Tampa Bay area, sought to acquire multiple weapons, and pledged an oath of allegiance to ISIS. The FBI recorded many conversations between Al-Azhari and confidential or undercover sources in which he discussed avenging imprisoned ISIS fighters and using violence to oppose U.S. military actions in the Middle East.

An FBI affidavit says Al-Azhari was recorded as expressing admiration for Omar Mateen, the deceased gunman at the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, and even drove there to scope out the location. In a conversation with a confidential informant, the FBI says, Al-Azhari said, Thats how I want to die, to be honest.

The informant then asked how many people Al-Azhari wanted to kill.

I dont want to take four or five, no. I want to take at least 50, Al-Azhari replied on the recording, according to the affidavit. You know like, brother Omar Mateen in Orlando did. He took 49 with him.

The confidential FBI informant eventually supplied Al-Azhari with a Glock handgun and a silencer as he had requested. He was arrested in May 2020 after taking possession of the weapons. Investigators also seized three firearms, a crossbow, dozens of rounds of ammunition, a stun gun, and at least six knives belonging to Al-Azhari.

According to the affidavit, Al-Azhari conducted reconnaissance on several potential Tampa Bay targets, including beaches, parks and even the Tampa FBI field office. He also allegedly rehearsed what he would say when carrying out an attack, some of which was intercepted by electronic surveillance.

Alazhari is originally from California but spent much of his life overseas and eventually embraced extremist Islamic ideology, according to the FBI. He was imprisoned for three years in Saudi Arabia after a 2015 conviction involving his advocacy for Jaysh al-Islam, an armed extremist group fighting in the Syrian conflict.

In 2018, after serving that sentence, he was deported to the United States, where the FBI immediately opened a terrorism support investigation.

One reason the case has taken so long to resolve is that Al-Azhari was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in January 2022. After treatment at a federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina, a judge decided in November that Al-Azharis competence had been restored.
Former Black Panther Discovers One of Her White Ancestors Arrived on the Mayflower

A radical social justice Marxist and former member of the Black Panthers discovered that one of her ancestors arrived in the New World from England on the 1620 Mayflower expedition.

On Tuesdays PBS episode of Finding your Roots, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. interviewed Angela Davis, whom he said came to the show to have the mystery of her lineage solved.

In the shows final moments, Gates revealed that the investigation into her ancestry dated back to her tenth great-grandfather, a white man named William Brewster, who was born in England in 1570 and traveled to America on the Mayflower.

A visibly stunned Davis said, No, I cant believe this. My ancestors did not come here on the Mayflower. Thats a little bit too much to deal with right now.

Davis emerged in California during the late 1960s as a prominent civil rights figure and a member of the Communist Party.

Shes continued to support radical, far-left politics, and is currently a professor at the University of California in Santa Cruz.

Amid her social justice activism, Davis was placed on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for her alleged involvement in the armed seizure of a Marin County Courthouse in California that left four people dead, including a judge.

It had been shown that Davis purchased the guns used in the attack.

Davis went into hiding but was eventually arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy charges.

She was imprisoned for 16 months before being released on bail and later acquitted by an all-white jury in 1972.

Born in Jim Crow-era Birmingham, Alabama, Davis told Gates she had always assumed that her ancestors were slaves.

While thats partially true on her grandmothers side, she also descends from slave owners, a piece of information that runs contrary to the message of the current social justice movement for which Davis advocates.

Critical Race Theory

Davis has been a proponent of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a variation of a concept put forth by German philosopher Karl Marx called Critical Theory, which divides people between oppressors and the oppressed.

The CRT variation of the theory focuses on the concept of white supremacy in that it labels white people as the oppressors and all other races as the oppressed while blaming white people of today for slavery that took place in the past.

In a March 2021 webinar held by Legal Insurrection, a nonprofit organization that examines government overreach policies, William A. Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School and president of Legal Insurrection, said that the problem with CRT is that it reduces everything to what historically has been the single most divisive aspect of American society, which is race, and makes everything about race, and that makes the U.S. systemically racist.

Theres nothing anybody can do about it, Jacobson said. And, therefore, everything we do in education focuses on race, which is extremely, extremely destructive. It focuses on equality of outcome, what they euphemistically call equity, and justifies discrimination in order to achieve equity because we all know in our regular lives, not everybody performs the same.

Within this framework, Jacobson said, anyone who disagrees with the teachings is classified as racist.

Davis has spoken out against laws prohibiting the teaching of CRT in K-12 schools, countering that CRT has become a watchword for any conversations about racism as a part of an effort to stop the engagement of the education of students in our schools about the history of this country, and of the Americans, and of the planet.

She told Democracy Now! that people who are against the teaching of CRT are trying to hide what she believed to be the truth that slavery is the foundation element of the country.

What we are witnessing are efforts on the part of the forces of white supremacy to regain a control which they more or less had in the past, she said. So, I think it is absolutely essential to engage in the kinds of efforts to prevent them from consolidating a victory in the realm of education.

Descended From a Patriot Slave Owner

According to the lineage, Daviss mother was named Salley Belle, and Belles father was a white Alabama attorney and lawmaker named John Austin Darden.

This was another surprise to Davis.

When Gates pointed out that John Austin Darden was a prominent member of the community, Davis asked, Well, was he a member of the Klu Klux Klan or the White Citizens Council? Thats something I would also want to know because in those days, if one wanted to achieve that power one had to thoroughly embrace white supremacy.

The information of her lineage only drifted further from the social justice dogma.

Her fourth great-grandfather, Stephen Darden, was born in colonial Virginia in 1750, and later served in the Revolutionary War.

After the Revolutionary War, Darden moved from Virginia to Georgia, where he owned a farm and six slaves.

Angelas grandmother, Mollie Spencer, lived next door to a white man named Murphy Jones, whom the genetic profile showed to be Davis grandfather.

Jones and Spencer had four children together. Murphy later sold Spencer 22 acres of land for $200, PBS reported.

On processing the information about her ancestry, Davis told Gates, I always imagined my ancestors as the people who were enslaved. My mind and my heart are swirling with all of these contradictory emotions.
On Jan. 12, Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of American rock star and the King of Rock n Roll, Elvis Presley, died of cardiac arrestonce again arousing public attention to heart disease. Shu Rong, a senior British traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physician, reminds us of the need to be fully aware of the five distress signals of the heart.

Usually, heart problems are not taken seriously until after the onset of the disease. Shu shared the cases of two patients who initially came to see him for other diseases.

One patient came to see him because was suffering from pain in his leg. Shu found that the mans pulse reflected he was suffering from blood stagnation, and recommended he get a thorough cardiac work up. After the hospital examination, it was found that he had three main blood vessels blocked, and he needed immediate surgical intervention.

Another patient also came for other reasons and Shu found that the heart qi of the man was very weak, and showed that a heart problem was more serious than other symptoms. However, the patient didnt take it seriously at the time. One day, five years later, the patient suddenly passed out with numbness in his hands and arms.

After emergency first aid, he was found to have a blocked blood vessel. At that time, the patient was unwilling to undergo surgery, and remembered that Shu had reminded him of his heart problem five years agoso he returned to Shu for medical care. After several months of treatment, the patient underwent another cardiac work up and was told that the heart condition was better, and no surgery was needed.

Shu said that the heart sends out many warning signsusually TCM can detect some of those signs earlybut patients also need to be aware of them.

5 Distress Signals Sent by the Heart

What warning signals does the heart send out? Shu pointed out the five distress signals:

1. The Tongue

TCM believes that the tongue is the epitome of the whole body, and each part of the tongue corresponds to a different viscera, or cavity of the body.

The tip of the tongue represents the heartany red spot found at the tip of the tongue indicates that there is a problem with the heart. When the blood circulation is poor, brown thorns appear on the tip of it, which indicates that the blood supply to the myocardium is poor resulting in lack of oxygen.

When the myocardium is congested, the signal is shown by ecchymosis thorns appearing on the tip of the tongue. From an anatomical point of view, the tongue is the organ with the most micro vessels in the human body, thus it is an area where we can easily see signs of early cardiovascular lesions.

(The Epoch Times)

2. The Earlobes

Shu said that the deep groove on the earlobe, which is inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, is called coronary crease, also known as the diagonal earlobe crease. It was first proposed (called the Franks sign) by Sanders T. Frank, an American, in the 1970s. He observed that the coronary crease on the earlobe is related to coronary artery disease (myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease), and later studies showed that it is also related to peripheral vascular disease and cerebrovascular disease.

The Epoch Times

(The Epoch Times)

3. The Heart Zone Above the Ear

If the heart zone (see illustration below) on the ear is sunken or turns dull, or there is a feeling of sharp pain like being pierced by a needle when pressed, it is a warning sign of a heart problem.

(The Epoch Times)

4. The Face

TCM believes that the face represents the heart. And when there is an abnormally dark red or dull face it indicates a serious heart problem. It is especially serious when the dark red color appears on the cheekbones belonging to the small intestine meridian. In this case, in addition to stagnation of qi and blood, it also means that the heart is beating too frequently, and there is chest pain, shortness of breath, and even heart failure in severe cases.

(The Epoch Times)

5. Feet Edema

Heart failure will cause the failure of blood to return normally, and from the well-known physical principle that fluid will follow downward by nature, symptoms such as edema are likely to appear on the insteps, ankles, and calves.

Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Increases After COVID-19 Infection

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, heart rate increase as an after-effect of the pandemic has been confirmed by the medical profession and is called post-COVID-19 tachycardia syndrome. Liu Zhongping, director of Taiwan Yupin Clinic and a cardiologist, said frankly in a Facebook post, that he saw more than 20 patients with accelerated heart rate after being diagnosed with COVID-19 in just one week.

Some scientists speculate that infection with COVID-19 induces the body to produce more autoimmune antibodies, and at the same time activates the receptors of the sympathetic nerves, which will lead to an imbalance of the autonomic nerves, and tachycardia.

A study published in the journal Immunology in September 2022 said that after analyzing the autopsy records of deaths after infection with COVID-19 and those infected with H1N1, it found that compared with the H1N1 virus, infection with COVID-19 may lead to more serious diseases, and it can affect many organs, including causing cardiovascular disease.

The study also found that because the protein released by COVID-19 can inhibit a signal transmission protein called interferon, the heart tissue cannot activate the anti-viral immune function. This results in the DNA inside the heart tissue of the infected patients being significantly damaged by the virus, causing more severe heart damage as a result.

7 Ways to Prevent Heart Disease

1. Check cholesterol level: If the cholesterol level is too high, it may accumulate in the blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

2. Measure blood pressure: You can check blood pressure at home, at pharmacies, or at doctors practices.

3. Healthy eating: Eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and choosing healthy meals and snacks, can help to avoid heart disease and its complications. Eating foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, and high in fiber can also help prevent high cholesterol from accumulating. Restricting your intake of salt or sodium can also lower blood pressure.

4. Regular exercise: Exercise can lower cholesterol and blood pressure. In addition to improving physiological functions, it will also produce changes at the cellular and molecular levels. A Spanish animal experiment published in the Journal of Proteome Research in 2014 also confirmed that exercise can change the heart cell powerhouse mitochondrion and further improve cardiovascular health.

5. Maintain a healthy body weight: Being overweight or obese increases your risk of heart disease. The body mass index, and sometimes waist and hip measurements can assess a persons body fat.

6. Limit alcohol intake: Consuming too much alcohol can raise blood pressure. The principle is to take no more than two drinks a day for men, and no more than one for women.

7. Do not smoke: Smoking will greatly increase the risk of heart disease. For smokers, it is advisable to quit smoking as soon as possible.
Tumors have become a common abnormality in modern-day society. While many cancerous tumors have reached an advanced stage by the time theyre discovered, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can offer a viable treatment option.

Yuen Oi-lin, a registered TCM practitioner in Hong Kong, references the program 100 Ways to Treat 100 Diseases to show how TCM treatment can stimulate the bodys ability to fight disease, control the spread of cancer cells, and improve a cancer patients quality of life. She says that even advanced cancer patients can live alongside their tumors.

Despite the continuous development of modern medicine, the incidence of cancer cases remains consistently high. In the United States, more than 1.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. In Hong Kong, the incidence of cancer has increased at an annual rate of about 3.1 percent in the past 10 years.

Yuen noted both internal and external causes for tumor formation. The internal factor is a weak immune system, which is exacerbated by too much pressure from a typical modern-day lifestyle; while the external factor results from carcinogens in the environment. The latter comes from everyday toxins found in things such as food preservatives, formaldehyde in building materials, and so on.

TCM Strengthens the Bodys Immune Response

TCM treatment of cancer focuses primarily on enhancing the bodys immune response and ability to fight cancer. In terms of medication, Yuen noted that the herb commonly used to treat cancer is ginseng because ginseng can greatly replenish vitality.

In TCM, qi and blood are the most important fundamental substances necessary for life. The concept of qi can be understood as the vital energy or vitality that constitutes life in the body. Yuan-primordial qi is the fundamental qi of the human body, which is crucial to promoting the physiological activities of various tissues and organs within the body.

Modern medicine is also aware of the potential of ginseng in the production of anti-cancer drugs. Hundreds of studies have been published proving the anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory benefits of ginsenosides and ginseng, and their positive impact on the immune, cardiovascular, and nervous systems.

One 2017 study showed that ginsenosides in ginseng inhibit cancer cell metastasis, inhibit angiogenesis to retard tumor growth, and induce eventual cancer cell apoptosis.

In the theory of TCM, a meridian is a channel of energy in the human body, and the internal organs are connected to the surface of the human body through the meridians. Acupuncture can be used to treat cancers corresponding to visceral organs by activating the acupoints on the meridians.

Relatively speaking, if there is a problem with the internal organs, there will be a problem with the acupoints where the disease qi will accumulate. Acupuncture at the appropriate acupoints can speed up the movement of energy in the meridians and let the disease qi dissipate faster. When combined with Chinese medicine, the effect will be even better, Yuen said.

In terms of medication, Chinese medicine has meridian affinity, that is, the energy of different medicinal materials can correspond to different meridians in the human body. According to Yuen: TCM uses plants and animals as prime sources of medicine. Plants and animals have the energy of the universe after being exposed to the sun and rain. If people lack energy, they will get sick. In Chinese medicine, the energy of plants is used to supplement the patients energy, and the disease will be cured.

Medicine Plus Acupuncture May Cure Cervical Carcinoma in Situ

Yuen said that with this treatment method, she successfully cured a young woman suffering from carcinoma in situ of the cervix. Carcinoma in situ is an abnormal change in the cells of the cervix, a likely precursor of full-blown cancer that may follow. Western medicine usually uses surgery to remove the abnormal cells and may even need to remove the entire uterus. Yuens patient, who wasnt yet married, began to cry at the thought of possibly losing her womb. Fortunately, after acupuncture and Chinese medicine treatment, when she went to the hospital for a pap smear a few months later, she found that her cervical cells had returned to normal.

The recovery experience of this female patient isnt an isolated case. A study based on data in Taiwans national health insurance database showed that patients with cervical dysplasia who subsequently developed cervical cancer had used less Chinese medicine than those who didnt develop cervical cancer. The longer the patients received Chinese medicine, the lower their risk of developing cervical cancer.

Tumor No Longer Spreads in Advanced Cancer Patient

For tumors or cancers in the early stage, TCM treatment focuses on stimulating the bodys self-healing abilities to fight the tumor. For advanced cancer patients, TCM treatment can also inhibit the spread of cancer cells, improve symptoms of discomfort, and allow the patients to maintain their quality of life for a longer period.

One of Yuens patients, a man in his 70s, was diagnosed with stage 4 (terminal) throat cancer. Yuen recalls that he was very depressed when he initially came to see her.

She asked him, Are you worried?

He nodded in agreement.

Yuen told him, First of all, dont mention the word cancer, just say what problem you want to solve.

He replied, I dont sleep well and have constipation.

Yuen replied, I will help you solve the problem. If I can make you sleep and have a regular bowel movement, will you feel better?

The patient agreed.

Moxibustion is a form of heat therapy in which dried plant materials called moxa are burned on or very near the surface of the skin. The intention is to warm and invigorate the flow of qi in the body and dispel certain pathogenic influences. Therapy can be a combination of acupuncture and moxibustion. In TCM, acupuncture and moxibustion are used singly or together to treat diseases.

After acupuncture, moxibustion, and Chinese medicine, the patients insomnia and constipation symptoms improved. Prior to one of his clinic treatments, the patients phone rang. Yuen asked him to answer the phone first, but he refused. He said: Its the government hospital calling me for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The hospital said that if I didnt do it, I would die in six months. I am very scared. Yuen suggested that since TCM treatment had been effective, he could continue with the same treatment instead of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The patient chose to cancel the appointment with the hospital and continue his TCM treatment.

After that, the patient felt much more relaxed. In addition to acupuncture treatment and medicine, he practiced Zhan Zhuanga meditative martial arts practice of standing stillwhile improving his daily eating habits, all under the guidance of Yuen. Six years later, hes still alive, is no longer as thin and frail as before, and has a much-improved complexion. Although he can still feel the tumor in his throat, the cancer has stopped spreading. Blood tests show a normal cancer index with no detectable cancer cells.

Yuen said: It is not particularly worrisome to have cancer. The main problem is how to deal with it. Some people die soon, and some can live for decades. The key is to let go of the load (worry) resting in your heart.

TCM May Lower the Risk of Death in Advanced Breast Cancer Patients

Yuen recently treated a patient with advanced breast cancer. The cancer cells had spread, and ascites (a condition in which fluid collects in spaces within your abdomen) occurred, making radiotherapy and chemotherapy impossible. After acupuncture and taking Chinese medicine, the patients pain was relieved, and the edema disappeared.

For patients with advanced breast cancer, receiving TCM treatment may prolong life. A study utilizing Taiwans health insurance database showed that patients with advanced breast cancer who were treated with TCM for one to six months had a 45 percent lower risk of death than those who received no TCM treatment. Those treated with TCM for more than six months had a 54 percent reduction in mortality.

In addition to giving acupuncture treatment and prescribing medication, Yuen also spoke with the patient and her family regularly to help alleviate her depression, having learned that the patient was worried about her child.

Yuen quoted from the Chinese medicine classic Yellow Emperors Inner Canon that all diseases originate from qi, and that qi in the body is affected by emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, and fear. Therefore, if you want to treat and prevent cancer, start with your mood first; dont get worried or angry too easily.

Acupoint Massage Strengthens Immunity

Yuen encourages the practice of massaging the Zusanli (ST 36) acupoint, making the body less vulnerable to tumors. The Zusanli is located about four finger widths below the outer knee. She recommends regular massage of this acupoint while resting or watching TV. This can help strengthen the immune and digestive systems.

(The Epoch Times)
LONDONThe worlds leading experts on influenza met this week to discuss the threat posed to humans by a strain of H5N1 avian flu that has caused record numbers of bird deaths around the world in recent months.

The group of scientists, regulators and vaccine manufacturers meets twice a year to decide which strain of seasonal flu to include in the vaccine for the coming winter season, in this case for the northern hemisphere.

It is also a chance to discuss the risk of animal viruses spilling over to humans and causing a pandemic. At this weeks meeting, H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b was a key topic, the World Health Organization (WHO) and global flu experts told Reuters.

We are more prepared [than for COVID], but even if we are more prepared, we are not yet prepared enough, Sylvie Briand, WHO director of global infectious hazard preparedness, said ahead of the meeting. We need to really continue the efforts for a flu pandemic.

Briand in a briefing after the meeting said that the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals was worrying and that the agency was working with Cambodia after two confirmed human cases of H5N1 were found in one family there. They are trying to determine if the family members were exposed to the virus through the environmentsuch as exposure to birds or other mammalsor if there was human-to-human transmission.

Disease experts have raised the idea that the virus would need to change for it to be conducive to human transmission.

Experts have been tracking H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b since it emerged in 2020 and recent reports of mass deaths in infected mammals from seals to bears, as well as potential mammal-to-mammal transmission on a Spanish mink farm last year, have raised concern.

However, there have been very few human cases, and the WHO currently assesses the threat to humans as low.

This is a natural experiment playing out in front of us, and I dont think we are complacent, said Nicola Lewis, director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Influenza at the Crick Institute in London. Speaking before the meeting, she said it would include assessments of the situation worldwide.

Experts also discussed potential vaccine development.

WHO-affiliated labs already hold two flu virus strains that are closely related to the circulating H5N1 virus, which could be used by vaccine manufacturers to create a human vaccine if needed. One of them was added after the previous WHO flu meeting in September 2022, and the experts decided at this weeks meeting to add another subtype that more closely matches the virus spreading among animals.

A number of companies that produce seasonal flu vaccines can also make pandemic flu vaccines. For example, GSK and CSL Seqirus are already working with the United States Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to test shots based on one of the closely related strains.

Having these strains ready could save about two months in the development of a vaccine, said the WHOs Briand. But getting enough vaccine developed quickly would still remain a challenge in a pandemic situation, the experts said.

By Jennifer Rigby
Headaches are a common affliction that many people, after not finding relief elsewhere, seek help for through traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Treating headaches is one of TCMs fortes.

To relieve pain, you must first find out what is causing it. In general, people with headaches usually have one or more of the following five habits:

High self-expectation and pressure. Improper posture, especially tilting the head forward. Often eats cold foods. Wet hair after bathing. Overworked, stressed.

Magic Formulas to Relieve Headaches Quickly

Headache due to pressure: Press one acupoint on the foot, and the pain disappears in three seconds.

People who take on stress are most prone to migraines. This kind of headache can be severe to the point of debilitationof not being able to function in lifes daily tasks. It can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and sensitivity to light and noise. Painkillers are a go-to but are not always effective.

Heres where the magic happensrather than take medicationsimply press the Qiuxu acupoint, and the pain will be relieved in 3 to 4 seconds.

The Qiuxu is the point on the outside of the foot where there is a large hole in front of and below the tip of the outer malleolus. Pressing it on the left foot can relieve headaches on the right side while pressing the same point on the right foot can relieve headaches on the left side.

Qiuxu acupoint. (The Epoch Times)

Postural headache: Once blood flow in the cervical spine improves, headache relief will follow.

Poor posture is the most common cause of headaches. Using a computer for prolonged periods can cause one to habitually lean the head forward which strains the muscles of the neck and head.

When I see a patient with a headache, my first question is, Does your neck hurt? I often get an affirmative yes answer. For this type of headache, as long as the neck problem is solved, the blood circulation becomes smooth again, and with the wrong posture corrected, the headache will gradually disappear.

Headache from too much coldness: Drink water during the golden period to rid the body of moisture.

The third habit that causes headaches is consuming too many cold foods and iced beverages. Drinking cold liquid hurts the internal organs and lessens the spleens ability to metabolize water. In TCM the spleen oversees dampnessif waste and poison cannot be discharged properly, the dampness will increase causing wet headaches, and are accompanied by the symptom of a heavy head.

TCM has discovered that there are 12 main meridians that are responsible for transporting qi and blood throughout the body. The two substances circulate to maintain balance and stability in various tissues and organs.

In TCM, every two-hour section of the 24 hour day is associated with a specific meridian that runs through the body. The bladder meridian and kidney meridian are associated with the hours of 3 to 7 p.m.known as the golden period. Drinking water during this period can promote circulation in the body, and will drain the water from the bladder and kidney meridians.

These two meridians work together to strengthen the ability to invigorate the kidney and diuresis and will improve the type of headache caused by drinking cold beverages.

Headache due to wind, cold, and dampness: Massage two acupoints on the hands to quickly relieve pain.

The fourth bad habit of not drying your hair thoroughly after washing can result in headaches. Sitting in air-conditioned environments and being out in the cold without head and neck protection can cause headaches. When wind, cold, and damp air enter the area of the head, they tend to slow down blood and qi (vital energy) circulation. Once the circulation is slowed down or blocked, pain will result.

To quickly eliminate wind-cold-dampness headaches and keep the mind sharp, try massaging the Hegu and Lieque acupoints on your hands.

Where is the Hegu? It is found on the back of your hand. It is between the base of your thumb and index (pointer) finger.

Hegu acupoint. (The Epoch Times)

Lieque acupoint is located above the wrist on the inside of the arm. To find this point, interlock your thumb and index finger of one hand with those of the other, the point lies on the edge of the index finger, in a depression between the sinew and the bone.

TCM says that the head and face converge to the Hegu, while Lieque is dedicated to the side of the head. Therefore, Hegu and Lieque together can prevent diseases on parts of the head and face. Migraines in particular can be improved very quickly.

Lieque acupoint. (The Epoch Times)

Headache from overwork: One soup plus one tea to replenish the blood and relieve pain.

Women often experience headaches from overwork. Todays women manage jobs, households, childcare, and moreand thus often feel tired, with headaches, and even dizziness.

Some women may also experience severe headaches and even vomiting in the week leading to their menstrual cycle. This is mostly due to a problem with circulation around the spleen and stomach. Whenever there is an insufficient supply of qi and blood to the various body parts, they will become weakened, resulting in discomfort in the head.

When you feel a headache and dizziness, you can prepare milkfish (Chanos chanos) head soup as a supplement, which can calm the nerves and relieve painand its delicious. Try the following recipe.

Ingredients:

3 to 5 milkfish heads

tofu (bean curd)

Medicinal herbs*:

Tubular Gastrodia elata 3 qian (0.53 ounce)

Fushen (Poria cocos) 3 qian (0.53 ounce)

Ophiopogon japonicus 3 qian (0.53 ounce)

Lu Dangshen (Radix Cononopsis Pilosella) 3 qian (0.53 ounce)

Yun Fu Ling ( Wolfiporia cocos) 3 qian (0.53 ounce)

Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium flower 3 qian (0.53 ounce)

roasted licorice 2 qian (0.35 ounce)

raw gypsum 5 qian (0.9 ounce)

pinellia 2 qian (0.35 ounce)

green Radix saposhnikoviae 5 fan (0.1 ounce)

dried mandarin peel 3 qian (0.53 ounce)

ramulus uncariae rhynchophylla 5 qian (0.9 ounce)

Preparation:

Wash all the ingredients and medicinal herbs.

Boil them in a pot.

It is ready for eating when the soup cools down.

Among them, the ramulus uncariae rhynchophylla must be wrapped separately. Only put it in after the milkfish head soup is well done, stirred, and then ready to remove from the pot and serve.

The most important ingredients in this soup are milkfish head and Gastrodia elata, while herbs such as Lu Dangshen can nourish the spleen and stomach. And because these medicines can reach the head, they can result in much relief from headaches.

There is also a red jujube ginger tea that is worth trying. It is made by brewing shredded ginger, brown sugar, and red datesand dont forget to add a little cinnamon. Cinnamon itself has a warming effect, and it can also draw qi back to its origin, by which all qi can return to the most important part of the bodythe vital gate of lifethe kidney. When women drink it, blood can be quickly replenished, rosy complexion returns, and headaches relieved.

Treat the Feet to Relieve Headaches

If the whole head hurts, TCM suggests treating the feet to cure the headache. There is a useful acupuncture point, the Yongquan, which resides on the sole of the foot, somewhere in the depression on the front of the foot, which is visible when rolling the foot.

Try to take a few walks per week on a pebble path, and let the stones on the path stimulate the Yongquan acupoint, the center of the foot, and the heel point on the soles. By doing so you will feel that your headache will be relieved immediately. Too much qi on the top of the body can cause headaches, and by stimulating the feet, the qi goes downward and the symptoms are alleviated.

Of course, remember to take it easy in life, and with a little more patience, you can say goodbye to headaches.

*Some of the herbs mentioned in this article may be unfamiliar, but they are generally available in Asian supermarkets.

Note: Because different people have different physiques, it is recommended to consult your doctor or TCM experts.
Hongkongers Must Live as We Always Have as Global Citizens

Commentary

Global tensions are at an all-time high. The alleged surveillance balloon program across five continents from China that caught worldwide attention has set the stage for some bigger issues. On the third Monday in February, which resembles the federal holiday the, Presidents Day in the United States, Joe Biden made a surprise visit to the capital city of Kyiv in Ukraine, and hosted a joint conference with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It is a warzone visit, and in the bilateral meeting, president Bidens speech was loud and clear. It is not just about freedom in Ukraine Its about freedom of democracy at large.

With the U.S. and NATOs unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia, here comes another serious concernChinas alleged involvement in supporting Russia with weapons against Ukrainewould it draw our world closer to WWIII? Feb 24 marked Russias one year anniversary in its invasion to Ukraine. People in the free world who could have free speech might decide to take a stance. For Hongkongers, especially those living inside the t, taking a political stance is not easy anymore. The extreme makeover over the last three years since the implementation of the National Security Law (NSL) is beyond surreal.

That said, if there is enough evidence to prove that communist China is backing up Russia with weapons supply, the consequences will be dire. Hongkongers need to support what is right from wrong. That was the old Hong Kong. Old core values. Then Beijing took our freedoms away with the implementation of the NSL on June 30, 2020. How can we make ourselves to be relevant again when the whole world is watching the fading away of the one country, two systems model that everyone was once proud of but now nobody believes? Then the world witnessed the totalitarian regime of communist Hong Kong and communist China dismantling the city. It would be very difficult to make a stance of Stand with Ukraine with the emergence of the police state in the city.

I just finished an hour long political talk with Lew Mon Hung, former member of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), on my Youtube channel: Ed Chin World. Lew is still residing in Hong Kong while I am currently operating abroad. Lew contributed to an op-ed in Ming Pao, a Hong Kong local newspaper, about his stance on the Soviet Invasion on Ukraine almost a year ago. Let me emphasize: Lew called this an invasion. He told me he had difficulty getting his next op-ed to be published in Ming Pao, as he was given some lame excuse by the newspapers editor. All he could say was communist China, and Russia would remain close and intact politically for apparent reasons. In China, Beijings top diplomat says, China and Russias ties cant be influenced by other countries. Hong Kong keeps silent. Lew, a loyalist to China but also a critic under the age of the NSL, could not express himself easily and freely. This is just my two cents: media censorship is everywhere in Hong Kong now. The loyalists are also heavily scrutinized and are not immune and will be having special treatment. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is creating an unhealthy culture of fear and distrust within Hong Kong. Everyone is subject to extreme scrutiny.

We are only two months into the new year, and 2023 will be a year with significant challenges. Chief Executive of Hong Kong, John Lee Ka Chiu, takes the helm to tell good stories of Hong Kong. Finance Secretary Paul Chan was in Davos, Switzerland, just weeks ago, attending the World Economic Forum (WEF), telling the world that Hong Kong was back to normalcy. In actuality, when the totalitarian regime jailed close to 2000 people and arrested over 10,000 because of the peoples stance to fight for freedom in 2019. I dont know whether there is any good story to tell?

I relocated back to Hong Kong in 2000. Twenty-one years later, I left the city abruptly after my English editor from Apple Daily was detained at the airport in June of 2021. I have then seen many commentators from Hong Kong leaving the city, when free speech is suppressed and their personal freedom is in danger. On a broader scale, with the ongoing geo-political tension and the world seeing communist Chinas suppression on Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang intensified, I could see that sanctions on communist China could certainly impact Hong Kong. The world is questioning Hong Kongs judicial independence and astounded by Chief Executive John Lees request to ask Beijing to give an interpretation on whether media tycoon Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, could hire a British lawyer to defend him in court, even though the citys court of final appeal already gave a greenlight verdict. At a broader level, the world is seeing the Hong Kong government embraces the authoritarian doctrines from communist China. Hong Kongs autonomy is totally destroyed.

Hongkongers have mainly used their peaceful ways to tell Beijing that the authorities should leave Hong Kong alone and honor the Deng Xiao Ping version 1.0 of one country, two systems. That failed royally. With the extreme makeover in the electoral system and the vagueness in the NSL interpretation, the citys rule of law is merging gradually into communist Chinas opaque legal system. The DNA of Hong Kong is now being changed forever, With Hong Kong not distinct from the rest of communist China, and in the name of national security, denial of entry, visa cancellation, deportation, and freezing of assets is the new normal. Everyone is on high alert.

And with so many NSL related unjust trials going on, we have come to the conclusion that the NSL overrides Hong Kong Basic Laws protection of rights. Those who leave might not want to come back in the near future. It is ironic to see Chief Executive John Lee spearhead this Tell Good Stories of Hong Kong campaign, when we all know that John Lee is the first batch of the eleven Hong Kong and mainland officials who got sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury department under the former Trump administration, and is still in effect. These officials applied Hong Kongs harsh measures during the 2019 social movement, depriving Hong Kong of its autonomy and democratic process. Please refer to the link to see the details of the sanctions.

In conclusion, as Hongkongers, we must defend Hong Kong the best we can and wherever we are. Hongkoners and Ukrainians carry the same burden to defend freedom and democracy in Asia and Europe, respectively. Ukrainians have shown the outside world that freedom is worth dying for. Hongkongers living inside the city however, are forced to remain silent. That said, we as global citizens need to be on the united front together, to resist tyranny.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Italy looks forward to the full resumption of bilateral exchanges with China at an early date and aims to strengthen cooperation -- especially in economy and trade -- to better benefit the two peoples, senior figures in the country's political circle have said.

China and Italy are both members of the Group of 20 (G20) and representatives of extremely important civilizations in the world, Gian Marco Centinaio, vice president of the Italian Senate, said at a welcome reception on Wednesday evening for Jia Guide, China's new ambassador to Italy.

"As in the past, trade is a key element in the relations between our countries today," Centinaio said, adding that he expects two-way tourist flows to significantly increase after the easing of pandemic restrictions.

The relations between Italy and China have a long history and a bright future, Centinaio told Xinhua. Italy and China have lively economic and cultural relations, he said.

He praised China's efforts in managing the pandemic and to improve bilateral ties, which "allow trade relationship to improve further."

China is an important and expanding market for Italy, Centinaio said, recalling that he served as his country's minister of agriculture about five years ago.

Chinese consumers have shown growing interest in Italian brands and products across fashion, engineering, automotive, and agricultural industries, he said, adding that Italian wine and food products are also entering the daily life of Chinese consumers.

"This allows us to look at China as a preferred interlocutor with whom we can establish further business relations," he said.

Romano Prodi, former president of the European Commission and Italy's former prime minister, told Xinhua at the reception that Italy-China relations and Europe-China relations are a crucial "component of the future," highlighting "indispensable" cooperation and dialogue between the two countries.

Noting that bilateral direct exchanges have been largely hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years, Prodi urged the two countries to quickly resume direct exchanges in various areas.

"Right now, from an economic point of view, China's recovery is indispensable for Europe's recovery," said Prodi, adding that the two countries need to strengthen their Belt and Road cooperation.

According to China's foreign ministry's October 2022 figures, China was Italy's largest trading partner in Asia and Italy was China's fourth largest trading partner in the European Union.

Two-way trade between China and Italy totaled 77.88 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, Chinese customs said.
House Panel Probes Slow Pace of Biden Admins Response to Ohio Train Derailment

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (C) visits with Department of Transportation investigators at the site of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 23 2023. (Brooke LaValley-Pool/Getty Images)

House Republicans are launching a probe of U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigiegs response to the Feb. 3 derailment of a freight train that resulted in toxic chemicals being released into the air, water, and soil in Ohio.

In a letter to Buttigieg, 21 GOP lawmakers from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability expressed concerns about the slow pace of the Department of Transportations (DOT) response, and its impact on the environment and public health.

The letter also questions the DOTs alleged failure to ensure safe and reliable transport infrastructure in the United States.

This incident is an environmental and public health emergency that now threatens Americans across state lines, the lawmakers wrote. Despite the [DOTs] responsibility to ensure safe and reliable transport in the United States, you ignored the catastrophe for over a week.

Buttigieg did not publicly address the derailment until 10 days after the fact. During a visit to East Palestine on Thursday, he admitted this was a mistake.

The American people deserve answers as to what caused the derailment, and DOT needs to provide an explanation for its leaderships apathy in the face of this emergency, the lawmakers added.

The continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed on Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

The lawmakers asked the DOT to provide documents and information about how it handled the train derailment and the resulting environmental and public health emergency. Specifically, they want to know when Buttigieg became aware of the incident.

The letter requested any updates or modifications to DOTs train maintenance and procedures. It also asked for an update on the NTSBs investigation into the cause of the derailment, and for information on how the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration handles hazardous materials.

After the train derailed, crews burned off the toxic chemicals in a controlled release to avoid an explosion. These included the cancer-causing vinyl chloride transported in the train cars.

The lawmakers noted concerns about how this event created a massive smoke plume that stayed above the town of East Palestine for several hours.

Alarmingly, some of these chemicals may still be present in the area, with residents reporting dead animals, strong odors, burning sensations, rashes, and watery eyes, the lawmakers wrote.

The committee reminded Buttigieg of its authority to investigate any matter at any time under House Rule X, and requested that the documents and information be provided by March 10.

Response

Buttigieg responded in a tweet on Friday, sharing the letter and stating that he intends to respond formally. However, he noted that the NTSB is an independent agency and is not part of the DOT, even though the letter referred to it as DOTs National Transportation Safety Board.

I am alarmed to learn that the Chair of the House Oversight Committee thinks that the NTSB is part of our Department, he wrote. NTSB is independent (and with good reason). Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately.

According to a Feb. 15 archive of the NTSB website, which was down as of press time, the NTSB was established as an independent agency placed within the DOT for administrative purposes when Congress consolidated all transportation agencies into a new department in 1967.

During a visit to East Palestine on Thursday, nearly three weeks after the derailment, Buttigieg admitted that he took too long to respond to the incident, answering yes when asked by a reporter.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks with reporters in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 23, 2022. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

Buttigieg explained that he was silent for 10 days after the crash because he had been trying to maintain a balance between his desire to get involved and his duty as transportation secretary to allow the proper authorities, including the NTSB, to take the lead.

I was taking pains to respect the role that I have and the role that I dont have, but that should not have stopped me from weighing in about how I felt about what was happening to this community, he said.

Until Thursday, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official was the only Biden administration official to visit the town since the crash.

During his visit, Buttigieg promised accountability and higher safety standards. He cited an initial report released on the day of his visit by the NTSB with its initial findings on the cause of the derailment.

Buttigieg said that the DOT wouldnt wait until the NTSBs final report before it took actions to raise the bar on rail safety and to hold people accountable.

Buttigieg praised residents for their resilience and decency after the crash. He also referenced a plan he presented earlier in the week with three main objectives to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

The cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, continues on Feb. 9, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

DOT Suggests Reforms

On Feb. 21, the Biden administration called on Norfolk Southern and the freight railroad industry to immediately improve safety measures.

Buttigieg called for a three-pronged push to hold the freight rail industry accountable and improve safety as public officials probe the cause of the derailment and monitor the public health impacts.

The suggested reforms demand that railroads protect workers who spot safety issues from reprisal, and deploy new inspection technologies without seeking permission to abandon human inspections.

Further, the DOT wants railroads to expedite the phase-in of safer tank cars, provide advance notification to state emergency response teams when transporting hazardous gas tank cars, and offer paid sick leave for rail workers.

The DOT also called on Congress to increase maximum fines for safety regulation violations.

Meanwhile, the DOT said it will advance several safety measures, including a rule regarding train crew size, and initiate focused safety inspection programs for routes with trains carrying hazardous materials and for legacy tank cars.

The DOT will also deploy resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to fund projects that modernize and improve rail tracks and eliminate at-grade rail crossings. The department will also pursue further rulemaking on high-hazard flammable trains and electronically controlled pneumatic brakes.

The Epoch Times contacted the DOT for comment.
International Delegates Hear How Australia Manages Fire

Fire crews control bush fires as they approach properties on Copley Road in Upper Swan in Perth, Australia, on Feb. 2, 2021. (Paul Kane/Getty Images)

With the number of extreme wildfires worldwide predicted to increase by 2030, fire management is a hot topic and the world is watching how Australia does it.

Rangers, traditional owners and land corporations shared their experiences and expertise with government and climate fund representatives from countries including Zambia and Brazil, and the UN-backed Green Climate Fund at a forum in Darwin this week.

Francis Mpampi from the Zimbabwean government said he was interested in how Indigenous groups have been able to scale fire management across the vast savannah of northern Australia.

Were interested in how teams here have used community engagement, Mpampi said.

We want the community to realise the benefit of being engaged in basic fire safety.

Since 2012, fire management has been supported by federal government initiatives that issue credits for carbon sequestration. Credits are also issued for the greenhouse gases that would have taken place if management practices had not been put in place.

Its a system that has proved useful for organisations and Aboriginal land corporations across northern Australia to fund cultural practices.

In 2020, Olkola Aboriginal Corporation in Queensland earned more than $3 million (US$2.02 million) in carbon credit units which they used to fund tourism and bring people back onto country.

But it also starts with the burn: a process that combines satellite mapping and a lot of helicopter flights with cultural knowledge on when, where and how to set the savannah alight, itself the culmination of generations of observing and understanding the surrounding landscape.

This year, the annual North Australia Savanna Fire Forum came in the wake of a six-month review into how carbon credits are issued in Australia, released in January. Representatives from the federal government attended the forum, but did not specifically answer questions about the review.

It was important for Indigenous people to have a seat at the table when it comes to rapidly-changing carbon credit policies, said Cissy Gore-Birch, who co-chairs the Indigenous Carbon Industry Network.

These savannah fire management carbon projects create amazing benefits, by getting people back on country, enabling traditional owners to be able to make their own decisions and choose what we want to do on country, Gore-Birch said.

We all have a responsibility to manage country.
Irvine Pushes Forward With Plans for Large Amphitheater

The Great Park in Irvine, Calif., on May 6, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The Irvine City Council voted Feb. 21 to continue forward with a 14,000-seat amphitheater for its Great Park rather than a scaled-down version.

The decision was finalized in a 32 vote in a special meeting after the city briefly considered an 8,000 city-controlled seat venue, when its partner, concert promoter Live Nation, requested it provide an additional $20 million outlay for the project.

The city last September approved a $130 million agreement with Live Nation for a 14,000-seat amphitheater, where the city would pay $110 million and Live Nation, $20 million. The new venue would replace the temporary FivePoint Amphitheater currently at the location.

But the possibility of smaller venue came into play earlier this month after Irvine City Manager Oliver Chi indicated Live Nation wanted to reconfigure the deal in a variety of ways and requested the additional funding. In response, city staff presented the idea of the scaled-down version, according to Chi, which was estimated at a cost between $80 million and $90 million.

Councilmembers Larry Agran and Kathleen Treseder cast the dissenting votes.

The meeting on the issue lasted for over five hours including about 100 public commenters.

One Irvine Resident provided an analysis of public comment from two previous meetings on the issue, which he said indicated those that have spoken dont want an ampitheater at all, and if push came to shove, only a smaller one at that.

Please listen to Irvine residents, he said.

But others speaking at the meetingmany of whom identified themselves as music lovers, union workers, and employed in the hospitality industrysaid they are thrilled at the idea and support a larger venue.

We strongly believe that a larger theater provides the kind of jobs that are a viable opportunity for people, Unite Here Local 11 union member Austin Lynch said during the meeting.

The Irvine City Council holds a meeting in Irvine, Calif., on Oct. 26, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Johnny Vatos Hernandez, a drummer from the popular rock band Oingo Boingo also voiced support for a larger amphitheater.

Theres nothing more exciting than fans having an incredible time while listening to  music, he said. A larger venue gives an opportunity for more fans to experience concerts.

The vote means the city will continue in its negotiations with Live Nation.

Previously, Chi, the city manager, told the council the concert promoter was looking to have later operating hours, booking more events at the amphitheater than initially agreed upon and not consenting to a noise level limitation, since doing so would limit some acts.

But during the meeting this week, representatives for the company said everything is still preliminary, after Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder questioned the changes.

That was just a first draft that we had seen as a jumping-off point for negotiations, Live Nation legal representative Jon Bauman said.

He said the framework documents, like the council approved, are also usually agreed upon before design [and] construction issues have [been] dealt with.

But, he said, Live Nation would be willing to take on any unexpected costs.

Were agreeing to take on certain additional costs that initially we thought  [were] more appropriate for the city. So both sides are working towards getting somewhere they can both live with, he said.
Is climate change or climate policy the real issue? Experts, advocates, and common sense politicians give their thoughts and ideas at the 15th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) held by the Heartland Institute in Orlando, Florida.

Utah state Treasurer Marlo Oaks will speak about the dangers of ESG in his keynote speech at breakfast at 8:00 a.m. ET on Feb. 25.
Is climate change or is climate policy the real issue? Many experts, advocates, and politicians give their thoughts and ideas at the 15th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) held by the Heartland Institute in Orlando, Florida.

The four discussions of Panel B on Feb. 25:

Panel 5B: 9:00 a.m.10:30 a.m. ET

Topic: Green Energy and Exploitation

Vijay Jayaraj will present on Developing Countries and Climate Colonialism; H. Sterling Burnett will present on Green Energy Technology is Built on Forced Labor, Sickness, and Environmental Destruction; E. Calvin Beisner will present on Energy Policy, and the Conquest of Poverty.

Panel 6B: 10:45 a.m.12:15 p.m. ET

Topic: Advancing Reliable Energy

Kevin Dayaratna will present Trading an Energy-Scarcity Agenda for Energy Abundance; Jason Hayes will talk about the Seven Principles of Sound Energy Policy; and Karr Ingham will talk about how Markets Are the Key To Abundant, Affordable, Reliable Energy.

Panel 7B: 2:30 p.m.4:00 p.m. ET

Topic: Why NetZero Is Impossible: The Continuing Need and Value of Fossil Fuels

Rob Bradley will present on what it takes to maintain our fragile power grid; Linnea Lueken will talk about how biofuels are not a true green energy option; and Wolfgang Muller will explain from Germanys perspective how Europes green energy mania has been a disaster.

Panel 8B: 4:15 p.m.5:45 p.m. ET

Topic: Government Overreach, or Tyranny?

Myron Ebell will talk about Decentralized Totalitarianism; Jeff Clark will talk about how he fought to rein in the EPA when he was in the Trump administration, and how it operates with a different president.
Judge Rejected Congressmans Bid to Shield Emails From DOJ

A federal judge rejected a U.S. congressmans bid to shield thousands of records from U.S. authorities investigating potential crimes linked to the 2020 election, according to filings unsealed on Feb. 24.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell said that the U.S. Department of Justice can access 2,055 records from the personal cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) in a Dec. 28, 2022 order that was made public on Friday.

Another three records could be accessed partially while Perry properly asserted privilege over 161 other records, Howell, an Obama appointee, ruled.

Perrys phone was seized by FBI agents in the fall of 2022 after government investigators uncovered evidence that Perry was using his phone to communicate with people allegedly engaged in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Agents extracted the contents of the phone.

The warrant did not permit a search of the contents, prompting officials to ask for a fresh warrant that would enable a search. After the warrant was approved, Perry asked the court to block investigators access to thousands of records, arguing they fell under the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Howell agreed that records integral to Perrys votes on Jan. 6, 2021, during the certification of electoral votes, were covered by the clause but rejected the position that records covering Perrys communications as he sought to examine allegations of election fraud were protected.

Howell described some of the messages as random musings with private individuals touting an expertise in cybersecurity or political discussions with attorneys from a presidential campaign, or with state legislators concerning hearings before them about possible local election fraud or actions they could take to challenge election results in Pennsylvania.

Because the efforts were not authorized by a congressional subcommittee or initiated in a procedurally regular fashion, they were untethered from any formal legislative activity, Howell said. Disclosure of the records to authorities thus would not threaten the integrity or independence of Congress, according to the judge.

Among the records Howell let authorities access were communications with other members of Congress concerning alleged fraud.

Perry said in filings that have not been unsealed that the clause covered those communications.

This astonishing view of the scope of the legislative privilege would truly cloak Members of Congress with a powerful dual non-disclosure and immunity shield for virtually any of their activities that could be deemed information gathering about any matter which might engage legislative attention, Howell said. At the same time, a Member could delay, if not effectively bar, investigative scrutiny and avoid not only criminal or civil liability, but also the public reputational harm that such scrutiny could engender, particularly in the view of voters.

The fact that the phone was seized and Perry was contesting investigators attempt to access the contents were widely known but some of the details of the case, including Howells order, were made public for the first time with the unsealing of the documents.

Perry did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has not appeared to comment on the newly unsealed filings.

Perry told The Epoch Times in 2022 that he was outraged that the FBI seized his phone. My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, and personal/private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends. None of this is the governments business, he said at the time.

Another newly unsealed document showed that Howell in January rejected Perrys request to stay her order pending appeal. She said, in part, that Perry was unlikely to succeed in his appeal of her order. Howells Jan. 4 order, however, was stayed the following day by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Appeals Court

Howell also ordered the filings unsealed over objections from Perry, who said their disclosure would severely prejudice him. The government said that certain redacted filings could be made public, given facts outlined in them had already been made known.

Howell said that the the unsealing was justified because of the common-law right of public access to judicial records. She asserted that public release of these redacted judicial records would result in no additional prejudice to Rep. Perry and, if at all, provide greater context to the public.

One of the reasons Howell moved to unseal the records was because some facts about the case were outlined this week as lawyers for the parties appeared before the appeals court to deliver arguments on their positions on Howells order rejecting Perrys invocation of privilege.

John Rawley, one of Perrys attorneys, said that the constitutional clause covers all communications sent or received by a member of Congress, provided the messages deal with a legislative purpose.

John Pelletieri, an attorney for the Department of Justice, told the court that an act isnt legislative unless its it is connected to the investigative factfinding functions of Congress as a whole.

The appeals court judges have not yet ruled on Perrys appeal.
Judge Releases Man in 1990 Slayings of 2 Michigan Hunters

DETROITA man was released from a Michigan prison Friday after nearly 21 years, freed from a life sentence after state authorities acknowledged that an Ohio serial killer could have been the person who killed two deer hunters in 1990.

A state of shock, Jeff Titus, 71, told The Associated Press moments after walking out of a prison in Coldwater. Not having handcuffs on or prison blues. I cant wait to get out and walk in the woods.

Titus emerged a few hours after a judge threw out his murder convictions under an agreement between the attorney generals office and the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school.

Titus rights were violated at trial in 2002 when his lawyer never was informed that sheriffs investigators in Kalamazoo County had gathered evidence years earlier against Thomas Dillon, the states conviction integrity unit said.

Local prosecutors at the time apparently didnt know about Dillon, either. Attorney General Dana Nessel acknowledged it was powerful evidence that might have prevented Titus from being charged.

Titus still could face a second trial, though David Moran of the Innocence Clinic suggested that was very unlikely.

We believe the case is over, said Moran, who was present with law students and others when Titus was released.

Prosecutor Jeff Getting agreed that the evidence was absolutely powerful but said he needed more time to decide what is ahead.

Doug Estes and Jim Bennett were fatally shot near Titus rural property in 1990. Titus was cleared as a suspecthe had been hunting deer 27 miles awaybut murder charges were filed against him 12 years later, after a new team of investigators had reopened the case.

There was no physical evidence against Titus. Prosecutors portrayed him as a hothead who didnt like trespassers.

In 2018, the Innocence Clinic went to federal court, arguing that Titus constitutional rights were violated because his trial lawyer was never told about another police theory of how the victims were killed.

Later, while that appeal was pending, Moran made a stunning discovery in dusty boxes at the sheriffs office: a 30-page file from the original investigation that had referred to an alternate suspect. It was Dillon, a Magnolia, Ohio, man who was never charged.

Separately, Dillon was making headlines in Ohio with his arrest in 1993. He pleaded guilty to killing five people in that state who had been hunting, fishing, or jogging, from 1989 to 1992. He died in 2011.

The file revealed that a woman and her son, taken to Ohio by investigators, had identified Dillon as the man in a car in a ditch near the Michigan murder scene. The woman also described a car that resembled one owned by Dillons wife.

A man who had shared a jail cell with Dillon in 1993 told the FBI that Dillon had referred to killing two people in woods, according to the file.

Moran said much credit belongs to Jacinda Davis and Susan Simpson. Davis, at the TV network Investigation Discovery, and Simpson, through the podcast Undisclosed, had raised doubts about Titus guilt and questions about Dillons possible role.

Moran said their reporting inspired him to go to the sheriffs office where, after six hours, he found the file with serial killer written in pencil. Simpson, too, said she saw the file.

How that information was not part of the file that was provided to the prosecutors office before charges were authorized and then the trial happenedI dont know whether or not well ever have a good answer, Getting said.

Davis and Simpson were at the prison when Titus was released Friday.

Ive been talking to Jeff on a weekly basis for four years, Davis said. To finally meet him in person and give him a hugyou cant put that moment in words.

Simpson said her work has played a role in the release of five people from prison. The next chapter is all theirs to write, she said.

By Ed White
Liberals Ignored CSIS, Tory MP Says, as Report Alleges Liberal MP Was a Witting Affiliate in Beijings Interference Efforts

Han Dong, now a federal Liberal MP, celebrates with supporters as a provincial Liberal candidate in the Toronto area on May 22, 2014. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Conservative MP Michael Cooper says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a lot to answer for after a report citing sources said the PMO was warned by intelligence officials that a Liberal MP was part of a Chinese foreign interference network.

The Feb. 24 report by Global News says national security officials have alleged that Liberal MP Han Dong is one of at least 11 federal candidates in the Toronto area who were supported by Beijing during the 2019 federal election.

The report, citing unnamed sources, says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) believes Dong is a witting affiliate in Chinas election interference networks, and that Trudeaus team was advised by CSIS to rescind Dongs candidacy.

Dong won the Liberal-stronghold riding of Don Valley North in both the 2019 and 2021 elections.

CSIS warned Trudeaus senior staff that they should rescind his nomination. They ignored CSIS, Cooper said on Twitter on Feb. 24.

It looks like the Liberal Party may be compromised. Justin Trudeau has a lot to answer for.

The Epoch Times contacted Dong, the Liberal Party, and the Prime Ministers Office for comment, but didnt hear back.

Dong, a former Ontario MPP, published a statement on Feb. 27, denying the allegations.

As a Member of Parliament I have the utmost regard for the integrity of our democratic institutions and electoral processes. I strongly reject the insinuations in media reporting that allege I have played a role in offshore interference in these processes and will defend myself vigorously against such inaccurate and irresponsible claims that come from an unverified and anonymous source, he said.

All the procedures and processes related to my campaign and political career have been continually, transparently and publicly reported as required. My nomination and campaign teams have found no indication of any irregularities or compliance issues regarding my candidacy or election.

Allegations

Global says its sources have said that Dong made frequent calls to Chinese officials and was considered a close friend of the Toronto Consulate.

The report adds that during the 2019 election campaign, bus-loads of Chinese international students with fake addresses were allegedly brought into the riding and coerced to vote for Dongs candidacy for the Liberals.

The report also cites an intelligence official as saying that Dong met with a United Front Work Department official in New York state while CSIS was investigating Beijings 2019 election interference. The United Front is a primary foreign interference tool for Beijing, according to a post by Public Safety Canada citing research by think tanks.

The report adds that according to CSIS, Dong was a close contact of former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan, who is a target of CSIS.

Numerous attempts by The Epoch Times seeking comment from Chan have gone unanswered.

Chan told Global News: This sort of vague innuendo is impossible to respond to. To the extent you are suggesting I am not a true Canadian, you should be ashamed of yourself.

A 2015 report by the Globe and Mail said that Chan was subject of a warning to the Ontario government by CSIS for fear of being under foreign influence. Chan has sued the Globe for its reporting.

The Feb. 24 Global News report cites a source as saying that the Chinese Consulate in Toronto wasnt pleased with the performance of Geng Tan, the previous Liberal MP holding the Don Valley North riding, and cites multiple sources as saying that Dong emerged as Gengs successor in ways that CSIS found suspicious.

The Epoch Times has not seen the original documents or accounts of the sources the report is based on.

Election Interference Probe

On Feb. 21, the House of Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee voted to expand its ongoing study of Beijings election interference as more news reports emerged citing intelligence sources on the issue.

The meeting was held as a special session after a Feb. 17 Globe and Mail report said that according to classified intelligence documents and sources, Beijing interfered in the 2021 election, while expressing that its desired outcome was a minority Liberal government. It also reported that Chinas former consul general in Vancouver had boasted about helping to ensure that two Conservative candidates in the 2021 election who didnt favour Beijing did not win in the election.

A Global News report published on Nov. 7, 2022, had said that Trudeau had been warned by intelligence officials as early as January 2022 about Beijings vast influence efforts in the 2019 election, including its funding of a network of at least 11 federal candidates.

Trudeau and his officials have denied being aware of Chinese funding going to the 11 candidates.

Weve not seen money going to 11 candidates, period, Trudeaus National Security and Intelligence Advisor Jody Thomas told a House of Commons committee on Dec. 8.

Editors note: This article was updated on Feb. 27, 2023, to add a statement issued by Dong on Feb. 27.
Mysterious White Dust Sweeps Across Parts of America

Parts of the mid-Atlantic United States are reportedly seeing mysterious white dust falling in the region, with officials testing samples of the dust to identify its origin.

Several reports of an unknown WHITE POWDER OR DUST SEDIMENT falling out of the sky throughout West Virginia and Maryland  Local fire departments suggesting people shut windows and doors and stay inside until it can be investigated, political strategist Chuck Callesto said in a Feb. 24 Twitter post. An accompanying video showed cars being covered by the white dust.

The Facebook page of Eastern Panhandle Working Fires (EPWF), which tracks emergencies in Panhandle, West Virginia, warned about strange film/dust descending on Jefferson and Berkeley counties as well as other areas in a Facebook post on Friday.

EPWF contacted the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), which warned citizens experiencing related issues to call 911 immediately and have their local fire department respond. WVDEP also advised citizens to shut doors and windows of their homes and avoid venturing outside until the issue can be identified.

The WVDEP received reports late Thursday night about the dust and mobilized inspectors to the area to collect samples and identify potential sources. No obvious sources have been identified at this time. No shelter in place advisories have been issued for this area, WVDEP said a Feb. 24 press release.

Samples will also be taken to the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey in Morgantown to determine if the cause of the dust is related to recent dust storms in the Midwest, the department added.

Dust From New Mexico and Texas?

Though the specifics of the dust are yet to be determined, there is speculation that it could be related to dust storms in New Mexico and Texas that traveled east through Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky on Feb. 23, according to The Associated Press.

Similar dust fell in the previous week in Connecticut that reportedly had an odor similar to chlorine.

The dust/residue on cars this morning has a pretty logical explanation and thats dust kicked up from a dust storm in the plains a few days ago, Ryan Hanrahan, a meteorologist from Connecticut, said in a Feb. 17 Facebook post.

As for the chemical smell (chlorine-like?) this morning I dont have an explanation for that. I did smell it this morning here in West Hartford and it was pretty strong. It seems unlikely that its from the train derailment and fire in Ohio last week, however, as it would have dispersed quite a bit in the last 10 days.

The train derailment happened on Feb. 3 when a 50-car Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Some cars were carrying hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, which is known to be highly flammable.

The toxin was released into the air from five of the cars before the chemical was purposefully ignited to remove it in a controlled fashion. Residents in the region were evacuated following concerns of health risks.

Some residents in Maryland were reportedly worried whether the white dust carried links to toxic substances from the crash.

According to Tom Brown, director of emergency management for Washington County, Maryland, this is unlikely since the windflow would not have carried any air from the East Palestine area into the region. However, Brown admitted that he doesnt know much about the dust.

I havent seen the dust. I havent seen any data to determine what it is, Brown said, according to Herald Mail Media. Were still monitoring it.

Speaking to the outlet, a spokesperson from the Maryland Department of the Environment said that the agency believes the dust has likely been carried from New Mexico and Texas.
New York Man Arrested for Assaulting Falun Gong Adherent

Police arrest Qi Zhongping, who faces charges for assaulting Falun Gong practitioners in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., on Feb. 18, 2023. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

NEW YORKA man has been arrested after allegedly assaulting a Falun Gong adherent who volunteers at an information booth in New Yorks Flushing neighborhood.

Qi Zhongping, 77, insulted and physically attacked Falun Gong practitioner David Fang, leaving Fang with multiple scrapes on his neck, hand, and knee.

Adherents say that Qi has for years harassed adherents at the stand, although this is the first time he has been criminally charged.

Qi was arrested on Feb. 18, two days after his assault on Fang. He faces charges of assault in the third degree with intent to cause physical injury, a class A misdemeanor, and harassment in the second degree, according to a Queens Criminal Court case report.

According to Fang, Qi has been around the area for at least a decade, distributing marketing materials to people on the street. He made false accusations against female Falun Gong practitioners and often harassed adherents with verbal abuse as they talked with passersby about their faith and the persecution they face in communist China.

Falun Gong practitioner David Fang displays injuries from an assault in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., on Feb. 16, 2023. (Linda Lin/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline originating in China that features meditative exercises and teachings set around three core tenets: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The discipline has been brutally suppressed in China under the atheist Chinese Communist Party, which also deployed vilifying propaganda to antagonize adherents. Those who refuse to give up their belief are often subjected to harassment, extralegal detention, slave labor, sexual torture, and other forms of abuse.

In Flushing, the adherents, some of whom are survivors of the regimes persecution, established five small tented kiosks to bring awareness to the abuses that have been taking place for the past 23 years and counting.

Qi also confronted Fang at the Falun Gong booth near the metro station on the afternoon of Feb. 16 and made offensive comments about the faith.

They were so crude that I cant bear uttering them, Fang told The Epoch Times.

Qi snatched away another female practitioners phone when he saw the woman filming him. He scratched and attempted to bite Fang, who tried to get the phone back, bringing both to the ground in the melee.

Qi Zhongping, in a still from video taken in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., on Feb. 16, 2023. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Grabbing a walking stick from Falun Gong practitioner Gao Jinying, Qi then chased Fang around the booth several times, trying to hit him.

Fang, a former middle school music teacher in China, was barred from the classroom and demoted to do logistical work when Chinese police found out he was telling others about the ongoing persecution. Knowing millions of fellow adherents are still suffering in China, Fang called the hostility from Qi cruel and almost inhumane.

As Falun Gong practitioners, we are a peaceful group. We never attack others or provoke them. How could he show such hatred toward us and our faith? said Fang, who suspects the man was acting at the behest of the Chinese regime.

Many female adherents have encountered Qi in the past, said Fang, but given Qis advanced age, they havent raised the issue or confronted him.

When they were bullied, they became quiet and wouldnt say anything, said Fang, who added that hed seen Qi hurling insults multiple times in recent weeks.

Police officers talk with Falun Gong practitioners after a man assaulted them at an information stand, in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., on Feb. 16, 2023. (Linda Lin/The Epoch Times)

Adherent Li Xuejin, who twice experienced Qis threats in 2021, confirmed Fangs accounts.

One time I told him, You cant act like this. He began to say very off-putting words, and held up his fist, the 63-year-old told The Epoch Times.

Qi shook his fist in Lis face and almost hit her, only to be stopped by a woman from a nearby vendor stand. Qi also made similar gestures when she talked with another man about the regimes misdeeds, she said.

Joe Zhang, a bystander who recorded part of the scene, also expressed shock at Qis aggression.

In America, people enjoy the freedom of belief, he told The Epoch Times, describing the man as fierce.

Zhang added that he wants to see such behavior strictly punished by law to discourage similar acts from happening.

He definitely has been poisoned by the Communist Party, he said.

Police arrest Qi Zhongping, who faces charges for assaulting Falun Gong practitioners in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., on Feb. 18, 2023. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Zhang said Qi had also assaulted a Christian kiosk that Zhangs friend manages.

Qis dialect seems to be from Fuzhou, the capital of southeastern Chinas Fujian Province. As Qi dropped the walking stick, another man in a black suit patted Qi on the shoulder and said some words that seem to be all good, all good, the video that Zhang shot shows.

A hearing on the case is set for May 1.

The incident isnt an isolated one for the adherents at the Falun Gong booths.

Zheng Buqiu, a 32-year-old man living in the Flushing area, vandalized four information stands in four separate days last February, toppling display boards and hurling materials to the ground. He damaged at least one board by punching and kicking it.

It left a lingering fear in me, Xu Weiguo, a booth volunteer, told The Epoch Times shortly after. She said that as a woman, witnessing Zhengs brazenness even on American soil was unsettling and caused her to lose sleep.

Zheng had pled guilty to committing a hate crime and two counts of criminal mischief for acting with intent to damage property, according to court records dated Nov. 28.

Qis lawyer didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.

Linda Lin contributed to this report.
The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine has handed over to JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia from Swedish partners a batch of energy equipment with a total weight of more than 62 tonnes, including powerful generators and electricity storage, the ministry said on its Telegram channel on Saturday.

"We thank Sweden for its constant assistance to the energy sector of Ukraine. The transferred equipment is extremely important at the moment, it will contribute to the stable operation of gas production capacities and will help in restoring the energy infrastructure, which has been under the enemy's gun for a year," said head of the Ministry of Energy Herman Haluschenko.

The ministry noted that Sweden actively supports Ukraine in restoring energy infrastructure facilities and since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation has transferred more than 665 tonnes of energy equipment and materials.
No Evidence Ukraine Misuses US Assistance, Biden Admin Official Says

A top Biden administration official who leads the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said theres no evidence Ukraine misuses the tens of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars provided in direct financial assistance.

Up until this point, we dont have any evidence that U.S. assistance is being misused or misspent but, again, the key is not resting on anybodys goodwill or virtue, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said during a CNN live town hall on Thursday.

Powers comments came the night before the Biden administration announced $2 billion in new military aid to Ukraine on the first anniversary of Russias invasion on Friday.

The latest tranche brings the total amount of U.S. taxpayer funded military aid provided to Kyiv in the past 12 months to $32 billion, roughly five times Ukraines annual military budget.

In total military and humanitarian aid, the United States has given over $100 billion to Ukraine in the last 12 months.

Some Republicans have raised doubts about the continued U.S. support for Ukraine, which has been plagued with corruption in the past, and questioned how the money sent there is being used.

Power said that Ukraine had improved its efforts to eliminate corruption, and officials are constantly monitoring the appropriate use of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Addressing a question about Ukraines history of corruption, Power said, Its checks and balances, the rule of law, the integrity of officials. She said this was critical to her confidence in the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Acknowledging the countrys history of corruption, Power said that the U.S. Government Accountability Office launched a new initiative to help Ukraine expand its auditing institution, which she said will be needed to reconstruct Ukraine. She also said the United States only reimburses Ukraine for its spending when officials see a receipt for an expenditure.

President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace during a visit in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 20, 2023. (Evan Vucci, Pool/AP Photo)

Oversight and Corruption

This week, Republicans from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability called for transparency regarding the $113 billion taxpayer-funded assistance to Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the committee sent a letter to the Department of Defense, Department of State, and USAID asking for documents and information to ensure the funds are not wasted or abused.

The committee members specifically cited concerns stemming from the timing of remarks by U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, who said the United States had not seen any signs that our budgetary assistance has fallen prey to any kind of corruption in Ukraine.

Kirbys remarks on Jan. 25 came one day after Zelenskyy dismissed more than a dozen high-ranking officials over allegations of corruption, including five regional governors, four deputy ministers, and a senior presidential office official close to Zelenskyy.

Kirby also noted that all direct budgetary assistance goes through the World Bank.

This raised concerns for Republican lawmakers on the Oversight Committee, who wrote that they learned from efforts in Afghanistan that the World Bank does not always have effective monitoring and accounting of funds, and often lacks transparency.

As the United States continues to filter assistance through multilateral organizations with pressure to spend funds quickly, we must ensure proper protections are in place to prevent the misuse of funds, the lawmakers wrote.

At the town hall on Thursday, Power said Ukraines institutions had become stronger in their efforts to combat corruption since 2014, when former President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from office over widespread protests against his close association with Russia.

Additionally, she said that the United States only provides resources to Ukraine, such as payment for health care workers or disability support, if officials receive proof of an expenditure. The United States then reimburses Ukraine based on their spending.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Friday that the conflict in Ukraine is currently the most urgent danger to the security of Europe since the Second World War. He called Russias actions in Ukraine a cruel war of choice that has killed thousands, displaced millions, and injured many more.

He said it was a direct attack on the system of rules, institutions, and laws built after the Second World War and restated the Pentagons commitment to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Meanwhile, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and a group of 10 other Republicans co-sponsored a Ukraine Fatigue Resolution earlier this month. They called for a suspension of all foreign aid to Ukraine and for peace.

Tom Ozimek and Jackson Richman contributed to this report.
Ontario Woman Who Regrets Gender Transition Warns Against Social Contagion of Rushed Transgender Surgery

Michelle Zacchigna regrets decision to remove breasts, uterus during 'mental health crisis'

Michelle Zacchigna spent 10 years identifying as male (R), undergoing a hysterectomy and double mastectomy, before regretting the decision and detransitioning back to her female biological sex (L). (Courtesy Michelle Zacchigna)

At 21 years old, after a history of being treated for social anxiety, clinical depression, panic attacks, self-harming behaviour, and a suicide attempt, Michelle Zacchigna thought she might be a man.

She was unhappy and depressed and had dropped out of university due to her declining mental health. She became fascinated with a gender nonconformity subculture on the internet and believed that once she took on a new identity and gender, the depression would go away.

At the time, videos on social media of people documenting their transition were really popular, she said.

It was almost indoctrination, Zacchigna told The Epoch Times.

You could watch someone as their body changed, one week on testosterone, two weeks, and their voice would change. It draws people in.  It was interesting and very novel. You cant think about how its going to affect the rest of your lifeyoure only thinking about what its going to do for you right now.

In 2010, she went to a support group at a health centre in Toronto. There, a psychotherapist who also happened to be a trans man and transgender activist suggested that she change her sex and connected her with doctors who treated transgender patients.

Zacchigna, now 34 and living in Orillia, Ont., identified as a man for 10 years. For five of those years, she took testosterone, which permanently altered and deepened her voice. She went to Florida for a double mastectomy to remove her breasts, and afterward had an Ontario surgeon perform a partial hysterectomy on her healthy uterus.

By 2019, Zacchigna began to have regrets and started the process of detransitioningreturning to life as her biological sex assigned at birth.

However, most of what she underwent to become a man cannot be reversed. She has male-pattern baldness and facial hair. Her body is permanently scarred. Her chest is flat, and she can never become pregnant and bear children.

She has gone public with her story to warn others who may be vulnerable that the gender decisions made during a mental health crisis cannot be reversed.

Michelle Zacchigna during the time in her 20s that she identified as a male. (Courtesy of Michelle Zacchigna)

Lawsuit

Zacchigna was eventually diagnosed with developmental disabilities, ADHD, a tic disorder, borderline personality disorder, Aspergers Syndrome, and anxiety and clinical depression. None of the doctors who performed gender surgeries or prescribed testosterone ever considered whether she had mental health issues or suffered from gender dysphoria, she says.

Zacchigna recently filed the first lawsuit of its kind in Canada against eight physicians and mental health professionals, alleging that they permitted her to self-diagnose as transgender and prescribe her own treatment without exploring alternative treatments to removing healthy body parts and without ensuring she was of mentally sound mind to provide informed consent.

In one case, a doctor spoke to her for less than an hour before referring her for hormone therapy, she says.

Zacchigna says she doesnt know if she will win her court case, but she wants her story to be told.

She says children dont have the critical thinking skills to properly decide if they should permanently change their bodies.

Even at 21, I couldnt see those things, she says.

I think there are very, very few people that develop a hatred of their body or gender dysphoria on their own. And I dont necessarily think that means that theyre actually transgender, I think it just means that they have a specific mental disorder.  For me, it was feeling like I never belonged anywhere. I was in a terrible state of mind. I couldnt even take care of myself.

At the time, it didnt occur to her that she might experience deep regret in the future.

It was a million different things that I had put together in my mind, to make me believe that I was transgender. But in reality, the reason I wasnt comfortable in womens clothing was because I had weird sensitivities because Im autistic and have ADHD, she says.

After deciding to transition back to her biological sex at birth, Michelle Zacchigna regrets that she can never have children of her own or restore her body to its original female state. (Courtesy of Michelle Zacchigna)

Social Contagion

Zacchigna says she wouldnt have taken the path of transitioning if it hadnt been for the internet.

This was a social contagion for me. I can say that without the internet, I never would have transitioned. It never would have happened, she said. The longer I went [online], the more I saw and read that said everything I was feeling meant I was actually transgender.

During the period of time that she decided to transition, Zacchinga lost her job, moved back home with family in another city, and was isolated with no friends.

I was smoking marijuana, pretty much from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed, she says.

She realizes now that she should have been referred to a psychological assessment before she transitioned. I was autistic, I had trauma, I had low libido. I was not transgender. I came to the wrong conclusion, she says.

I know people who made a suicide attempt less than a month before surgerythose people shouldnt be allowed to go through surgery, she adds.

Transition or Suicide

According to Zacchigna, families are being pressured into invasive gender-transition procedures.

There is coercion going on, she says. Parents are told, do you want a dead son or an alive daughtersometimes right in front of the child. They keep pushing this idea that if a child wants to transition and they are not allowed, they will kill themselves.

Zacchigna says the trans community really pushes this idea that lives are at risk if youth cant switch sexes.

Its a form of emotional blackmail. Its very reckless, she says.

Zacchingas decision to go back to female came in part from watching a friend who was born male and had been living as female and decided to detransition back to his birth sex.

I watched him stop taking estrogen. He has to take testosterone injections now, she says. Hed already had an orchiectomy to remove his testicles, she says.

We had a lot of conversations about it, and even some fights. He felt like his therapist had pushed him into [transitioning].

Her friend now also deeply regrets his surgery, she says. Like Zacchigna, he can never have children of his own. Six months after watching her friend go through detransition and work through the psychological process, she decided to do the same.

People shouldnt be allowed to do something permanent and irreversible to themselves while theyre in such a vulnerable state, Zacchigna says.
Pacific Islands Appoint Former Leader of Nauru as Next Secretary-General

Nauru President Baron Divavesi Waqa at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York City, on Sept. 20, 2017. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Leaders from the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) have appointed former Nauru President Baron Waqa to chair the Pacifics top regional body next year as they move toward regional unity.

The leaders met in Fiji on Friday to finalize a deal that will see the return of Kiribati to the forum. Fijis leader and outgoing PIF chair Sitiveni Rabuka said the Suva Agreement proves the blocs commitment to unity.

Im very pleased that the solidarity of the forum family has been fully restored, Rabuka was quoted as saying by Pacific News Service.

To that end, I can confirm that President of Kiribati Taneti Mamu has signed the Suva Agreement, he added.

Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Marshall Islands, and Nauru moved to withdraw from the PIF in 2021 after they accused the forum of breaking the gentlemens agreement to rotate the secretary-general role among member countries.

An agreement was struck last year to resolve the impasse, but Kiribati President Taneti Maamau disagreed with the terms and refused to sign the accord. Maamau subsequently agreed to rejoin after Rabuka visited Kiribati in January and delivered an apology.

Under the Suva Agreement, Waqa will assume the role of PIF secretary-general in 2024 and two sub-regional offices of PIF and Pacific Commissioner will be established in Kiribati and Palau.

Rabuka said that New Zealand and Australia offered $3 million for the implementation of the Suva Agreement. The meeting also marked the formal transfer of the PIF leadership from Fiji to the Cook Islands.

Nauru has diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Waqa has previously clashed with Chinese diplomats. Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu also recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation.

During his presidency in 2018, Waqa criticized Chinas envoy to the forum as very insolent and a bully for speaking out of turn after an angry exchange at the opening of the PIF meeting.

Last year, Beijing signed multiple agreements with some Pacific Island nations, such as Samoa and the Solomon Islands, but it failed to have the regions nations sign a sweeping security and economic deal owing to a lack of consensus among Pacific Island leaders.

USMicronesia Pact

Meanwhile, the United States and Micronesia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Feb. 10 reaffirming their close ties, a pact considered crucial to U.S. efforts to counter Beijings growing influence in the Pacific.

The U.S. State Department said the MOU reflected a shared understanding reached on levels and types of future U.S. assistance to be requested for the Federated States of Micronesia.

The memorandum of understanding was signed as part of the ongoing Compact of Free Association negotiations and confirms our shared vision for a strong and enduring partnership that will continue to benefit both nations and the entire Pacific region, the department stated.

Micronesia President David Panuelo said on Jan. 13 that he anticipated a rise in U.S. military drills near Micronesias territory in the coming years amid the geopolitical atmosphere in the Pacific.

Of paramount importance is that our nations citizenry be informed in advance when U.S. fighter jets fly over the State of Yap, for example, or when the U.S. practice firing anti-aircraft missiles from the ground, Panuelo said in his national address.

These exercises will be increasing in frequency over the next several years, and while they are ultimately in our national interest and in the interest of our Nations securityof which the U.S. is our indisputable guardianit is important that our citizens know about them well in advance so that our people do not see these activities and then immediately fear the worst.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Philippines in Talks With US, Australia for South China Sea Joint Patrols

A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 and became a Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea, on March 29, 2014. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

The Philippines has begun talks with the United States and Australia over possible joint maritime patrols in the disputed South China Sea to counter Beijings growing assertiveness in the region.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marleswho concurrently serves as defense ministermet with Philippine Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez in Manila last week to discuss strengthening bilateral defense relations between the two nations.

Marles said they agreed to explore ways to pursue joint patrols together in the South China Sea and conduct more exercises together.

Both nations are deeply invested in upholding the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which classifies maritime areas within 200 nautical miles of coastal nations borders as part of their exclusive economic zones.

Marles also emphasized the need to maintain rules-based order in the South China Sea, through which most of Australias maritime trade traverses.

As countries which are committed to the global rules-based order, it is natural that we should think about ways in which we can cooperate in this respect, he said during a joint press conference.

And so we did talk today about the possibility of exploring joint patrols, and we will continue that work, and we hope that that comes to fruition soon.

Great to meet my counterpart, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. in Manila today. Our defence partnership is strong and enduring and today we spoke about the ways in which we can take that relationship to an even greater level. pic.twitter.com/ml8BEil3mO  Richard Marles (@RichardMarlesMP) February 22, 2023

Australia will send one of its largest contingents to join the U.S.Philippine annual joint military exercise, while the Philippines will send its observers to join Exercise Talisman Sabrea multinational military drill led by Australia and the United Statesaccording to Marles.

Galvez said that Australia and the Philippines had conducted joint patrols in the past, particularly at the Celebes and the Sulu Seas.

We have the experience, and we can redo it again, he said.

Reviving Joint Patrols

Prior to the meeting, Galvez spoke by phone with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to discuss the resumption of joint maritime activities in the South China Sea.

They discussed concerning developments in the South China Sea, including a Feb. 6 incident in which a Chinese coast guard ship directed a military-grade laser at a Philippine coast guard vessel, according to the Pentagon.

The Philippine vessel was assisting a navy resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal, also known as the Second Thomas Shoal, of the Spratly Islands when the Chinese ship beamed a green laser light at it, temporarily blinding the crew onboard.

A Chinese coast guard ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, 105 nautical miles off the Palawan Province, Philippines, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Reuters)

Austin reiterated that any armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments.

He reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to bolstering the Philippines defense capabilities and capacity to resist coercion.

The two leaders also discussed opportunities to expand security cooperation with like-minded nations, such as Japan, that seek to uphold the rules-based international order, the Pentagon said.

U.S.Philippine joint patrols were suspended in 2016 by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who sought to deepen ties with Beijing. His successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., however, pledged to bolster ties with the United States, which he regards as a Pacific power.

During his Feb. 2 meeting with Austin, Marcos said the AsiaPacific region has become a terribly complicated situation, which his nation can only navigate with the help of our partners and our allies.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Feb. 17 that it deployed its largest vessel, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, on the orders of Marcos to increase Philippine maritime operations and presence in the South China Sea.

The PCG deployed the vessel on Feb. 2 in the Kalayaan Island Group, which is part of the Spratly archipelago, and advised Filipino fishermen to radio PCG or the Philippine armed forces if they require any assistance.

Beijing claims much of the South China Sea as its own territory under its so-called nine-dash line. While the Hague Tribunal ruled in favor of legal action taken by the Philippines in 2016, the Chinese regime hasnt changed its behavior, with Chinese vessels repeatedly intruding into the Philippines maritime zones.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have also clashed with the Chinese regime over its claims in the sea.
Protest in Berlin Over Arming Ukraine Against Russia Draws Thousands

People take part in a protest against the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and in support of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany, on Feb. 25, 2023. (Christian Mang/Reuters)

BERLINA demonstration against supplying Ukraine with weapons for war with Russia attracted 10,000 people on Saturday, drawing a large police presence to maintain order.

Organized by a prominent left-wing German politician, the protest comes a day after the one-year anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine, which drew promises of more weapons from western allies, fresh sanctions against Russia, and shows of support for Kyiv across the globe.

We call on the German chancellor to stop the escalation of arms deliveries. Now!  Because every day lost costs up to 1,000 more livesand brings us closer to a 3rd world war, the protests organizers said on their website.

The Uprising for Peace was organized in part by Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of Germanys left-wing Die Linke party.

Germany, along with the United States, has been one of the biggest suppliers of weapons for Ukraine.

Negotiate, not escalate one sign held by a demonstrator said, while a banner in the crowd read Not our war.

A police spokesperson said 10,000 people gathered around Germanys symbolic Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin.

Police mobilized 1,400 officials to keep the peace and to enforce bans on military uniforms, Russian and Soviet flags, Russian military songs, and right-wing symbols.

The police spokesperson said there was no sign of right-wing groups attending and that the protest, which German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said must be clearly opposed, was peaceful.

Whoever does not stand by Ukraine is on the wrong side of history, Lindner said on Twitter.
Railroad Company Linked to Toxic Train Crash Helped Fund Ohio Governors Campaigns: Report

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine answers a question while taking part in a panel discussion during a Republican Governors Association conference in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 16, 2022. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Photo)

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who authorized an end to the evacuation order of East Palestine two days after a controlled burn sent toxic vinyl chloride into the air and onto the ground after a Norfolk Southern Railway train crash, has received financial support from the railroad for several years, according to a Columbus, Ohio TV stations investigation.

WSYX reported that Norfolk Southern and its political action committee have contributed more than $20,000 to DeWines gubernatorial campaigns and his 2019 inauguration.

DeWine, a Republican, was reelected to a second term last November.

He received a $10,000 donation, the maximum permitted by law, weeks before the Feb. 3 derailment, according to WSYX.

Clean up continues in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern Railroad train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 14, 2023. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

Since he first ran for governor in 2018, DeWine has received $29,000 from Norfolk Southern.

DeWines former legislative director has ties to Norfolk Southern.

Dan McCarthy, who held that role from January 2019 to September 2021, served as president of the railroads Ohio lobbying organization, The Success Group, from 1994 until 2020.

On Feb. 3, a 151-car Norfolk Southern Railway freight train crashed in East Palestine.

The National Transportation Safety Board reported that 38 rail cars derailed, and a fire ensued which damaged an additional 12 cars.

Of the cars that derailed, 11 carried hazardous materials, according to the NTSB.

Seeking to avoid an explosion that officials claimed would send shrapnel into the air, vinyl chloride was intentionally released and burned on Feb. 6, sending a massive cloud of black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles around and was likened to a mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear weapon.

Vinyl chloride is a chemical used to make PVC pipes and other products. The National Cancer Institute notes that vinyl chloride has been linked to cancers of the brain, lungs, blood, lymphatic system, and liver.

Before Norfolk Southern conducted the controlled burn, DeWine urged residents in and near East Palestine to immediately evacuate on Feb. 5, calling it a matter of life and death.

Three days later, he held a press conference in East Palestine announcing that the evacuation order was lifted.

With the full support of Governor DeWine, I am happy to announce the evacuation zone has been lifted, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said.

DeWine said that he talked to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, before agreeing to authorize the controlled explosion.

In a Twitter post earlier on Feb. 24, environmental activist Erin Brockovich appeared to target DeWine and other state and federal officials who have said East Palestines water is safe.

On Feb. 21, DeWine was shown on camera drinking tap water in an East Palestine womans home. He was accompanied by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, who also took a sip.

One of the things we did today during two home visits was to drink some of the waterthe village water, DeWine said. This village water is safe.

Brockovich posted on Twitter a photo of what appeared to be oil floating on an East Palestine creek. Taken today!! All Clear! My Ass! she added.

She reposted the image with a new comment that read, Its beyond outrageous.

Not Declared a Disaster

On Feb. 16, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) sent a letter to DeWine asking him to officially declare a disaster in East Palestine and get the Federal Emergency Management Associations (FEMAs) support.

That same day, DeWines office announced that the governor was told by the agency that the village does not qualify for an emergency declaration.

On Feb. 17, FEMA announced it would send a team to the eastern Ohio village.

In a joint statement on Feb. 17, DeWine and FEMA Regional Administrator Thomas Sivak reported that the federal agency has been in constant contact with the state and working together since day one.

FEMA dispatched a senior response official and a regional incident management assistance team on Feb. 18 to assess potential long-term recovery needs and other ongoing operations.

In response to the reports of DeWines connections to Norfolk Southern, the Sierra Club released a statement.

This greedy relationship between Norfolk Southern and Governor DeWine and the governors refusal to declare the derailment a disaster is costing the health of thousands of residents in East Palestine by slowing the clean-up, Sierra Club Campaign Representative Shelly Corbin said.

Because of the woefully inadequate state response, Ohio and East Palestine are deprived of much-needed federal resources and attention that would hold the railway company rightfully accountable and provide this community the proper testing and monitoring they need to feel safe in their community again, Corbin continued.

Instead of waiting for the next paycheck from corrupt railway companies, Governor DeWine must declare a federal state of emergency immediately so the community can receive federal financial and technical support, Corbin added.

During a town hall event at East Palestine High School on Feb. 24, Brockovich did not discuss DeWine.

She did talk about the controlled burn.

Ive never seen anything in 30 years like this and the situation happening in East Palestine, Brockovich said.

You all know the story about digging the hole and draining the chemicals in there and lighting it on fire, she added. I dont think that turned out well for anybody.

In a Feb. 24 television interview, Brockovich said that officials are apparently trying to gaslight residents into believing nothings wrong and that the water is safe to drink and the air safe to breathe.

Its very obvious somethings really gone wrong out here, Brockovich said. Ive been out here down on the ground. and theyre really frustrated. Why? They dont feel that their agencies or their administration care about whats happened to the communities.
Chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), joined by Congressmen Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) and other elected officials, Chinese dissidents, and human rights activists, hold a rally and press conference at 10:00 a.m. ET on Feb. 25 in front of the unauthorized Chinese Communist Party (CCP) police station that was recently raided by the FBI in Chinatown, New York City.

Congressman Gallagher is to reveal the CCPs use of these police stations to harass, stalk, surveil, and blackmail people who defy the CCP.

Victims of the CCPs transnational suppression, including of Uyghur, Tibetan, and Han Chinese dissidents and human rights activists, will participate in the rally.
Republican House Judiciary Committee Members Gear up for Fight to Secure Southern Border

Arizona sheriffs listen as Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee discuss the southern border crisis in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

YUMA, Ariz.House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said he wasnt surprised no Democrats attended the committees second hearing on the southern border crisis in Yuma on Feb. 23.

When youve got things this screwed up, maybe its best to stay away, Jordan told The Epoch Times.

Its their job to serve the American people. Be honest with We The People and the folks youre supposed to be serving. They dont seem to do it. Its unfortunate.

The committee billed the two-hour hearing at Yuma City Hall The Biden Border Crisis: Part II.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) a member of the House Judiciary Committee, was one of 15 Republican members who attended a hearing on the southern border crisis in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Fifteen Republicans and about 200 people listened as a panel of experts described the human and financial toll of the crisis since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

The panel included Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines, Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot, and Dr. Robert Trenschel, president and CEO of Yuma Regional Medical Center, a 406-bed acute care hospital.

The conclusion of the experts was a record of failure on the part of the Biden administration in refusing to address the border crisis.

U.S. Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) addresses the House Judiciary Committee about the southern border crisis in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Under President Donald Trump, the committee heard that illegal immigration in Yuma County was under control, with about 9,000 yearly crossings. In 2022, that number surged to more than 300,000 illegal immigrants encountered at the southern border in Arizona.

Ive always said its intentional with this border situation, Jordan told The Epoch Times.

If youve got any bit of common sense or logic, thats the only conclusion you can reach. [The administration] just intentionally did it from day one. The only way youre going to have to correct it is youre going to have to fight it.

Trenschel said the Yuma Regional Medical Center is the nearest medical facility south of Phoenix and east of San Diego.

Over the past year alone, the hospital has seen a significant increase in illegal immigrants seeking medical attention, arriving in a multitude of waves by taxi, through law enforcement, or as walk-ins.

Some migrants come in with minor ailments, but some with significant disease. Many are very sick, Trenschel said.

About 200 people attended the U.S. House Judiciary Committees second hearing on the southern border crisis in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Some remain in intensive care for 60 days or more because of their ailments. The largest cohort of illegal immigrants is pregnant women with little or no prenatal care.

Because of this, many babies require 30 days in neonatal care, Trenschel said.

He said residents of Yuma have to be flown to Phoenix, 170 miles away, when they have a baby.

Addressing the committee, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused the Democrats of hypocrisy regarding a humane response to the border crisis.

For all the folks on the left who want to lecture us about humane an open border is, there is nothing humane about putting a parent on a 170-mile journey when they need incubator services.

Trenschel told the committee that immigrants often require three times the human resources to resolve their medical cases before discharge. The hospital also pays for emergency medical flights and other transportation costs.

A Yuma County resident listens as a panel of experts discuss the southern border crisis in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

The demand for resources is so great that the hospital racked up $26 million in uncompensated costs associated with the illegal immigrant crisis during the past year, he said.

Let me assure you, that number is not an approximation, Trenschel told the judicial committee members. Twenty-six million dollars in uncompensated care is not a sustainable business model. The point is that any number is not acceptable. It is unsustainable to have a hospital like ours bear the entire burden of migrant health care.

Migrant patients are receiving free care with no ability to pay. We dont know their final destination. We dont know anything about them. The situation is not fair.

Trenschel said $26 million is equivalent to 212 bedside nurses and 300,000 illegal border crossings is three times the Yuma population.

We contacted our state and federal leaders and no one has a solution. They are willing to listen and are sympathetic to our situation, but so far we have no solutions for reimbursement. Weve been at this for a year.

Trenschel asked the committee for help in finding a payer source for illegal immigrant care and a long-term plan of action.

One hospital cannot, and should not, bear the health care cost of a national migrant problem.

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) watching a television monitor during a hearing on the southern border crisis in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Sheriff Wilmot said before Biden took the oath of office, Yuma was one of the safest border communities and counties based on our collective governmental efforts.

Forty daily apprehensions under former President Donald Trump quickly swelled to over 200 under Biden, then to over 1,000 daily encounters.

He described the trash left behind by illegal immigrants in Yumas fertile agricultural fields as an environmental disaster.

In addition to increased border crime like kidnappings and rape, Mexican drug cartels exploit children and juveniles to carry illegal narcotics like fentanyl over the border into Arizona, Wilmot said.

Of the more than 700 illegal immigrant deaths that occurred in the desert, Wilmots office investigated 70 in 2022.

Despite massive efforts to secure the U.S Border Patrol and Customs Yuma Sector, there has been a significant deterioration in the border crisis, Lines told the committee.

Since Biden took office, Yuma County experienced a huge surge in illegal immigrants from 106 different countries, 17 designated as special interest because of a negative relationship with the United States, Lines said.

The increase in drug trafficking is significantly greater than any other administration in our history.

A resident ponders a point made during a hearing of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the southern border crisis in Yuma, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Each committee member had five minutes to ask questions of the panel and voice concerns about the border crisis.

Several Republicans called for the impeachment of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for his mishandling of the border crisis.

Yuma resident Gayle Castricone said she felt very encouraged by the testimony at the hearing.

We need hope. We have had no hope, Castricone told The Epoch Times. So this has been wonderful. It has devastated not just Yuma but our entire country.

Castricone said the border crisis heightens fear among residents for their property and safety.

Were in fear for our own livesour childrens lives, the lives of our community. We cant take much more.

Its not just the ranchershouseholds. We are afraid for our own homes. And looking out for our neighbors. There are more scary people hiding in places in Yuma.

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) told the committee the American people have been bamboozled by the media claiming there are only 10 or 11 million illegals in this country. Thats not true.

He said a 2014 study showed around 36 millionnearly 6 million since Biden took office.

About 200 Yuma County residents attended the U.S. House Judiciary Committees second hearing on the southern border crisis on Feb. 23, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Youre up to 40 million illegals. For a population of 360 million, 10 million doesnt make much difference. But when its 40 or 50 million, they are changing culture. Thats where this is going.

Gosar said the way to attack the problem is through the power of the purse at the legislative level. That fights coming.

We have an opportunity to defund them. Can you say ATF? So now, we take the fight to them.

Asked if the Republican House majority is up to the challenge, Jordan told The Epoch Times, Wed better be.
Russia Halts Pipeline Oil Supplies to Poland, PKN Orlen Says

A view shows pipelines at an oil pumping station of Druzhba pipeline, in Adamowo, Poland, on June 14, 2011. (Jedrzej Wojnar/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via Reuters)

WARSAWRussia has halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, the chief executive of Polish refiner PKN Orlen said on Saturday, adding that the company would tap alternative sources to plug the gap.

The halt in supplies via the pipelinewhich has been exempted from EU sanctions imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukrainecame a day after Poland delivered its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

Were effectively securing supplies. Russia has halted supplies to Poland, for which we are prepared. Only 10% of crude oil has been coming from Russia and we will replace it with oil from other sources, PKN Orlen Chief Executive Daniel Obajtek wrote on Twitter.

The company said it could fully supply its refineries via sea and that the halt in pipeline supplies would not impact deliveries of gasoline and diesel to clients.

As of February, after a contract with Russias Rosneft expired, Orlen has been getting oil under a deal with Russias oil and natural gas company Tatneft.

Tatneft and Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The supply halt came after U.S. President Joe Biden visited Warsaw and Kyiv this week in a show of support for Ukraine.

On Friday, the European Union agreed on a 10th package of sanctions on Russia.

Following the invasion of Ukraine and before the EU embargoed seaborne supplies from Russia, Orlen stopped buying Russian oil and fuels via the sea.

The companys supply portfolio now includes oil from Western Africa, the Mediterranean, the Gulf, and the Gulf of Mexico, it said. It also has a supply contract with Saudi Aramco as of 2022.

Seaborne supplies reach Poland via Naftoport, an oil terminal in Gdansk on the Baltic Sea. It can receive 36 million tonnes of oil annually topping volumes that can be processed by Polish refineries and is in part used to supply oil to refineries in eastern Germany that are linked to Druzhba.

Given the capacity of Naftoport and the fact that we also have other routes to import motor fuels, clients will not feel any impact, while Orlen has been prepared for this for months, Mateusz Berger, Secretary of State in charge of strategic energy infrastructure told Reuters by phone.
Russias Medvedev Floats Idea of Pushing Back Polands Borders

LONDONFormer Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russias Security Council, made the comments in a message on his Telegram account exactly a year after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it called a special military operation to ensure its own security.

Medvedev forecast on Friday that Russia would be victorious and that some kind of loose agreement would eventually end the fighting.

Victory will be achieved. We all want it to happen as soon as possible. And that day will come, said Medvedev. He predicted that tough negotiations with Ukraine and the West would follow that would culminate in some kind of agreement.

But he said that deal would lack what he called fundamental agreements on real borders and not amount to an over-arching European security pact, making it vital for Russia to extend its own borders now.

That is why it is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland, said Medvedev.

Poland shares long eastern borders with Ukraine and with Russias ally Belarus, and a frontier of some 200 km (125 miles) in its northeastern corner with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Any encroachment on Polands borders would bring Russia for the first time into direct conflict with NATO. U.S. President Joe Biden pledged in a speech in Warsaw this week to defend every inch of NATO territory if it was attacked.

Medvedev, 57, has adopted an increasingly hawkish tone and made a series of outspoken interventions since the war began.
The Russian Federation has not launched Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine since February 15, which may indicate the exhaustion of their reserves, according to a defense intelligence report published on Twitter by the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Saturday morning.

There have not been any reports of Iranian one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVs) being used in Ukraine since around 15 February 2023. Prior to this, Ukrainian armed forces reported shooting down at least 24 Shahed-136 OWA-UAVs between late January and early February 2023; and scores were destroyed in the first few days of the year. This lack of OWA-UAV deployments likely indicates that Russia has run down its current stock, the report says.

At the same time, the intelligence suggested that the Russian Federation would most likely look for resupply of attack drones.

Although the weapons do not have a good record in destroying their intended targets, Russia likely sees them as useful decoys which can divert Ukrainian air defences from more effective Russian cruise missiles, the message reads.
School Children Across England Protest Over Toilet and Uniform Rules

Around ten schools across England saw protests on Thursday and Friday over rules on toilet breaks and uniforms.

A number of schools have been locking most of their toilets during lesson times. Parents from one school said children who suffer from bowel issues would have to pay for a doctors note to be allowed visits during class, while girls from another school are said to have to get a red card to go to the toilet during their periods.

Pupils at two other schools protested over skirt rules. One of the schools requires girls to wear knee-length skirts, the other is banning skirts altogether from September.

During the protests, understood to be organised on TikTok, tables were said to have been flipped in one of the schools in Cornwall, while police were reportedly called to three schools.

West Yorkshire

Pupils of the Farnley Academy in Leeds stood outside the school on Friday morning to protest the secondary schools new toilet rule.

According to LeedsLive, the school, which is part of the GORSE Academies Trust, had been locking all but one set of toilets during classes in order to tackle truancy.

The report said students have to get written permission from teachers to go to the toilet, and a staff member guarding the toilets then has to check the notes and stay close to the door after the students go in.

A parent wrote on the Facebook Page The Farnley Academy Friends on Thursday that doors were put on the entrances to all the toilets, which were locked between lessons, leading to queues.

So if [your] child needs to go they cant until break or lunch when they have to join a queue and hope they get in before theyre locked again! she wrote, calling the situation madness.

One parent wrote that she was told her son who suffers from constipation has to get a doctors note, which costs 30, every year in order to get a toilet pass, while another parent whose son has inflammatory bowel disease said she was told the same.

A spokesperson for the GORSE Trust said the toilets are locked to keep students safe.

To keep all students safe during times when members of staff are not on duty, we have asked students to only use the centrally located toilets during lesson time, the statement said.

The spokesperson said these centrally located toilets are open at all times, and students are able to use all of the toilets during break and lunch.

We actively encourage all students to ensure that they go to the toilet before school, at break and at lunch, to avoid needing to go during lesson time. However, the option to use the toilets during lesson time remains available to students where it is needed, the statement said, adding that the trust is investing a further 100,000 to fully refurbish some of the toilets within the school in the coming months.

Some parents said on Facebook after the protests that their children were suspended.

Cornwall

Hundreds of students demonstrated at Penrice Academy in St Austell, Cornwall, on Friday over similar rules.

New rules took effect on Friday that banned pupils from going to the toilet during lessons. Its also said to include a red card scheme in which female students need a special card to go to the toilet during class when on their periods.

A student who witnessed the demonstration said the rule meant students can only really go twice in a day, but he thought the rule made sense as it may have to do with the fact that toilets had been getting vandalised.

The teenage boy told the PA news agency he was not involved in the protest, which was originally meant to be a peaceful protest but escalated relatively fast.

People started like flipping tables and climbing fences, he said, adding that something like a bin was thrown through a window during the violence.

The teenager estimated around 300 students took part, adding that quite a number of them were suspended immediately and sent home.

He said he heard about one injury in which a student fell off a fence while trying to climb it.

The boys father told PA the school had consulted with parents about the new rules, and confirmed there has been a lot of abuse of toilets by students while they have been out of lessons.

Penrice Academy sent an email to parents on Friday afternoon explaining that some students had protested due to a social media post yesterday evening.

The school told parents and carers: Our students have the right to express their opinions in a calm and safe manner, however a small number of students behaviour was unacceptable.

A number of parents have already been contacted to collect their children.

For the majority of our students, lessons and lunch time will continue as normal. If you have not been contacted, there is no need to collect your child.

We hope to engage with them to find a solution that works for everyone as soon as possible. The safety and wellbeing of our students is always our priority.

North Yorkshire

Police were called to Richmond School in North Yorkshire on Friday morning after more than a dozen students protested against the toilet ban during lesson time.

Unconfirmed reports claimed a tree was set on fire, a teacher was pushed, and a window was smashed, but North Yorkshire Police said in a statement that no criminal activity had taken place and the matter has been left with the school to deal with.

In a statement to Richmondshire Today, Jenna Potter, headteacher at the College, said a small group of students attended the protest.

Richmond School and Sixth Form College is proud of promoting the highest standards of behaviour and this unacceptable approach is extremely disappointing, Potter said.

The overwhelming majority of students were equally shocked at the behaviour of a small minority. Students have already been consulted and will continue to contribute to a solution.

Lincolnshire

According to LincolnshireLive, a parent said students at Haven High Academy protested on the school field on Thursday after the school had corridors and toilet blocks  locked during school time, with students having to get permission to go to the toilet.

In a letter sent to parents, headteacher Stuart Rees blamed a TikTok trend for the protests in a number of schools.

As you may be aware, a small group of students decided to imitate a trend relating to school protests that has been trending on Tik Tok within school today, the letter reads.

Such school protests have happened in numerous schools throughout the country and unfortunately a number of students decided to engage in a protest relating to certain school rules.

Rees said the academy values student voices, but its vital that students air any concerns in the right way.

Such behaviour is unacceptable and cannot happen again. We are already aware that certain students have put out messages on social media to try and cause further disruption within school so we are asking for the support of all parents/carers to support us and ensure that all our students can learn without disruption, Rees said.

As such, any student who enters the academy and does not attend lessons immediately or refuses to comply with reasonable requests from staff, will have their parent/carer called immediately and will be issued with an appropriate sanction.

South Yorkshire

Students at the Outwood Academy Danum in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, also joined the TikTok trend and staged a protest over toilets being shuttered on Monday, but the school said those toilets were closed for cleaning and repair purposes.

In a statement to Doncaster Free Press, school principal Amanda Crane confirmed that some toilets were closed earlier during the week for a short duration in order to carry out repairs and to deep clean the facilities following some pupil misuse.

Whilst this closure was in place, another set of toilets were opened up elsewhere in the academy to ensure a sufficient number of toilets were available for student use, Crane said.

Unfortunately, situations like this do occur, however, we will always make sure students have clean, safe, and appropriate facilities and put their health and wellbeing at the forefront of every decision we make.

According to the Doncaster Free Press, police were called to Campsmount Academy, another school in Doncaster, after dozens of students staged a lunchtime protest over school rules.

South Essex

Pupils at Bromfords School and Castle View School in South Essex were also reported to have joined the trend on Friday.

According to the Canvey Echo, a Bromfords School parent, who went to get their daughter out of the school, said they witnessed first-hand chaotic scenes where students were setting off fire alarms and running amok at the school in protest of locked toilets, lack of school lunches, and staffing issues.

A parent whose daughters go to the Castle View School told The Times of London that both girls had been denied use of the toiletone was on her period and the younger one has a condition that affects her bowels.

Headteacher Steve Durkin told the publication that pupils are able to access all toilets before school, break times, and after school.

If a pupil requires access to the toilet during lesson time, they request a pass from their teacher and are allowed access, he said.

Merseyside

The toilet-ban protests come after students at Rainford High School in St Helens, Merseyside, demonstrated on Thursday over the schools rule that requires skirts to be knee-length.

According to comments on a petition on change.org, girls were treated almost as animal[s] being almost headed into a penned in section in the auditorium to be inspected, sometimes by male staff.

Lexi Pennington, who started the petition, said she understood some skirts are too short and incredibly revealing, but the schools way of handling the issue is punishing girls who didnt roll up their skirts.

Pennington criticised the rule that forces parents to buy new skirts during a cost of living crisis or risk their children being suspended, while teachers were seen walking around with skirts not following these same rules.

One parent who signed the petition said his daughter was mortified after having her skirt length inspected by male teachers in front of male pupils. Another parent said she signed the petition because her slim daughter was threatened with suspension as the longest skirt that would fit her waist was barely above the knee.

The Liverpool Echo reported that a video shared on TikTok shows male pupils at the school wearing skirts over their trousers in support of the girls during the protest.

School principal Ian Young said the school took action over uniform enforcement after almost half of the students refused to comply with the rules.

As a school we have been concerned about the failure of a significant number of students to wear the skirt to the standards and expectations laid down in the uniform policy, Young said, adding that the school had reached a compromise agreement with student leadership teams that was implemented between November and February half term, but the compromise as also ignored by a significant minority of students.

Rainford High has a clear uniform policy that despite having tried to work with our student community to adjust and compromise throughout this academic year, has unfortunately seen a refusal to comply by approximately 45 percent of the students, Young said.

We have taken firm action to politely challenge our students around how they wear uniform. The issue of required skirt length as a school rule has been within the school policy for a number of years and all parents and students are directed to this upon joining our community.

Oxford

The Warriner School in Banbury, Oxfordshire, was forced to close on Friday following police advice after students protested over the secondary schools ban of skirts from September.

Videos posted on social media show hundreds of students gathered at the school on Friday morning, after the school wrote to parents on Thursday informing them of the schools new uniform policy that includes a ban on skirts.

According to the BBC, the letter from assistant headteacher Lotty Keys said the school decided to mandate a gender-neutral uniform to further support and empower our students with our values of equality and respect.

Keys also said the decision was made because the length of a lot of female students skirts was not appropriate.

Students who roll skirts to an inappropriate length are sending out the wrong social message in their choice of stylethey seem to feel they need to conform to a certain image, in order to fit in with friendship groups, the letter reads.

We feel this has no place in an educational setting and for this reason we are introducing trousers for all students.

Executive headteacher Annabel Kay apologised after the protest saying in a statement that the school had underestimated the strength of feeling on this issue and had not properly engaged or consulted with all parents and students.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Scientists Find Rich Complement of Organic Molecules in Ryugu Asteroid Sample

Asteroid Ryugu was photographed by the ONC-T telescopic camera on the Hayabusa 2 probe after a journey of around 3.2 billion kilometers since launch, in outer space 280 million kilometers from the Earth, on June 24, 2018, in this handout photo released by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). (JAXA-Tokyo University/Handout via Reuters)

Scientists have analyzed Ryugu asteroid samples brought back by Japans Hayabusa2 spacecraft and found a rich complement of organic molecules that are known to be the building blocks of terrestrial life.

The Ryugu asteroid is approximately 348 million kilometers (about 216 million miles) from earth.

A research team from Kyushu University, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA, and other institutions, published their findings in the journal Science on Feb. 23.

According to the study, around 20,000 elementary compositionsconsisting of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfurwere found, including 15 kinds of amino acids, which are the essential building blocks of proteins.

So far, the amino acid results from Ryugu are mostly consistent with what has been seen in certain types of carbon-rich (carbonaceous) meteorites that have been exposed to the most water in space, said Jason Dworkin, a NASA researcher and co-author of the paper.

The sample also contained organic molecules that develop in the presence of liquid water, including aliphatic amines, carboxylic acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds.

The researchers found soluble organic molecules were still intact even though the samples had been exposed to the hard vacuum of space, energetic particle irradiation, heating by sunlight, and micrometeoroid impacts.

Hiroshi Naraoka, a researcher from Kyushu University and the papers lead author, said the presence of prebiotic molecules on the asteroids surface suggests that the uppermost surface grains of Ryugu have the potential to protect organic molecules.

These molecules can be transported throughout the solar system, potentially dispersing as interplanetary dust particles after being ejected from the uppermost layer of the asteroid by impacts or other causes, Naraoka said.

According to NASA, organic molecules can also be created through chemical reactions that dont involve life, supporting the idea that chemical reactions in asteroids can make some of lifes ingredients.

NASA stated that the samples were collected by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on Feb. 22, 2019, and delivered to the U.S.-based space agency on Dec. 6, 2020. The samples were extracted in Japan in July 2021, and 30 milligrams were allocated for analysis.

Daniel Glavin, a NASA researcher and the papers co-author, said they have yet to find sugars and nucleobaseswhich were discovered in some carbon-rich meteoritesin samples retrieved from the Ryugu asteroid.

It is possible these compounds are present in asteroid Ryugu but are below our analytical detection limits given the relatively small sample mass available for study, Glavin said in a statement issued by NASA.

The research findings represent the first organic analysis of the Ryugu sample, according to NASA, and the samples will be studied for years.

We will do a direct comparison of the samples from Ryugu and the samples from asteroid Bennu when NASAs OSIRIS-Rex mission returns it to Earth in 2023, Dworkin said.
Neil and Jodi Johnson enjoyed Shen Yuns evening performance at George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater, in Salt Lake City, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Lily Yu/The Epoch Times)

SALT LAKE CITYConsulting firm owner Neil Johnson and his wife Jodi bought tickets to Shen Yuns evening performance at George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater after being referred to it by friends who had attended the show a few days ago.

Completely enthralled, the couple will, likewise, share their newfound love for Shen Yun with others.

This was our first time. We highly recommend it to everyone! The talent and the precisionI cant imagine how many hours goes into choreography and rehearsal. It was fantastic, Mrs. Johnson said.

It was a great story, Mr. Johnson supplemented. Its the story of lifeof where we came from, where were going, and everything in betweenfrom fighting the forces of evil to restoring goodness and the beautiful parts of life.

The New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in 2006 by elite Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of the communist party.

For 5,000 years, Chinas civilization flourished under the shared belief that the divine will bless those who uphold traditional moral values. Tragically, within just a few decades of the communist partys violent takeover, these beliefs were erased and replaced with atheism.

The mission of Shen Yun artists is to return to the worlds stagethe glory and beauty of Chinas 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture.

For Mrs. Johnson, the artists determination to stand up for what they believe in makes her love the show even more.

I love the symbolism and the beautiful storytelling, she expressed. Its eye-opening to see the horrors that are occurring in todays world. But [its also] hopeful to see the principles of faith and hope, and the kindnessthe simple and pure principles of being good.

[Shen Yun] really unifies the world. There is so much evil around us, but I think, for the most part people are good and want to be united together, Mr. Johnson added.

You feel the energy from the performance, and it brings out all the emotions in your heart. Its phenomenal!  Neil Johnson

If he were to use just one sentence to describe the performance, Mr. Johnson would say, [Shen Yun] moves youYou feel the energy from the performance, and it brings out all the emotions in your heart. Its phenomenal!

Susan and Paul Schmidt attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater, in Salt Lake City, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Mary Mann/The Epoch Times)

Also in the audience on the evening of Feb. 24 were construction company owner Paul Schmidt and his wife, Susan.

The couple loved Shen Yuns performance, but they were perplexed by a flyer handed to them at the theater entrance.

Its interesting. We had some people giving us flyers outside the [theater] saying this is not a good show and we shouldnt watch it, Mrs. Schmidt said. [Having seen Shen Yun,] I found it was opposite of what they told me. Im really enjoying it.

For its focus on reviving traditional culture and presenting the truth of what is happening in modern-day Chinese society, Shen Yun is banned by the Chinese Communist Party from performing in China.

In their attempt to obstruct performances abroad, the regime frequently hired people to slander and harass Shen Yun artists throughout their tour.

Mrs. Schmidt thought the whole thing was very contrary because Shen Yun shared many of the same values that she believed in. I was thinkingwhat could they find? [The values presented] were very conducive to wanting family and God.

She loved how the performance incorporated the concept of faith and said we must keep these traditions alive to connect with the divine.

We also believe that we came from the heavens and that were here to serve a purpose. Thats very universal, Mr. Schmidt said. I wish there was more that we could do to help [end the persecution.]

I hope one day China can be what it used to be. Its never good to have the Communist Party control people. Theres so much good that was taken away when they took over, but Im hopefulI know that someday God will make things rightit can still happen that China can be saved.

Reporting by Lily Yu, Mary Mann, and Jennifer Tseng.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Mr. Pan Jung-mou, the general manager of the Shun Kai Enterprise Co., attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Miaobei Art Center in Miaoli, Taiwan, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Dai Deman/The Epoch Times)

MIAOLI, TaiwanShen Yun Performing Arts World Company kicked off its Taiwan tour in Miaoli city on Feb. 24. Local cultural and business leaders told The Epoch Times what they enjoyed about the show. An entrepreneur said he kept on applauding during the performance and didnt realize his hands were blistered due to the hard applause.

This is the most astounding show [I have ever seen], said Mr. Pan Jung-mou, the general manager of the Shun Kai Enterprise Co., and now a Shen Yun fan. I applauded happily until both hands were blistered. This show is amazing! Its spectacular!

Mr. Pan wasnt alone. He invited 23 classmates and friends to attend Shen Yun when he heard that Shen Yun would come to Miaoli.

Shen Yun can clean our hearts and purify our minds  You wont find a show as amazing as Shen Yun easily, he said. I told my classmates and friends they would regret it if they didnt come.

Mr. Pan believes that Shen Yun inspires people to be better and to be more kind.

Shen Yun brings good energy to people. If everyone can learn from Shen Yun, our society will be progressing, he said.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds top classical Chinese dance company, and since its inception in 2006 has become a worldwide phenomenon.

Mr. Pan said that everything about Shen Yun is extraordinary.

The dancers are stunning. Their movements are not easy. It really takes a long time to learn and be trained. Moreover, their spirits are very positive and encouraging, he said. The dynamic backdrop is super sharp! Its amazing when I saw that the dancers coordinate and interact with the backdrop so accurately and perfectly.

The backdrop Mr. Pan mentioned is Shen Yuns own patented technology.

The footage of the backdrop extends the stage and allows the dancers to travel back and forth between the stage and the backdrop, or write something, or pick something up. Sweeping scenes can change in an instant, and audiences are brought into the experience.

The backdrop shows us a realistic heaven and earth, he said. Good plus good equals excellent. I have never seen a program like Shen Yun, which is so vivid.

Shen Yun, set to perform in more than 180 cities around the world this season, has mission to show the beauty and goodness of China before communism.

My Soul Is Purified

Mr. Charles Wei is the president of the Kiwanis International Miaoli branch.

He felt my soul is purified and I feel the world is beautiful after attending Shen Yun.

When the curtain opened, the stage presented the scene of heaven. I felt very comfortable when I saw this wonderland, he said.

Mr. Wei felt that Shen Yun delivered values such as truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance to people via its dances.

All dances are fantastic. The stories that the dances delivered are very educational. They are very touching, he said. The performance is full of brightness. We must have positive energy, as Shen Yun presents, which can clean our souls, and encourage us to think positively and feel the beauty of the world.

Shen Yuns story-based dances present Chinese history. 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.

Ms. Yang Ling-yi, a councilor of Hsinchu city, attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Miaobei Art Center in Miaoli, Taiwan, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Chen Yu-jou/The Epoch Times)

Ms. Yang Ling-yi, a councilor of Hsinchu city, has attended Shen Yun several times. She said: Every time when I attended Shen Yun, I felt my heart and soul were cleaned further.

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.

Ms. Yang appreciated how Shen Yun always brought positive energy to audiences, no matter which production she attended. Every year, Shen Yun puts on an all-new production, including new choreography, music, costumes, and backdrop sets.

Every time I saw Shen Yun, I was moved by different values, she said. In one production, each vignette presents different beauty and power  Shen Yun always gives us hope. It encourages us to pursue bright hope.

Ms. Yang gave an example from this years production, a dance about Falun Gong practitioners insisting on their faith under brutal persecution. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that teaches people to be good but was persecuted by the communist regime in China.

In fact, no life is perfect. We all face different unfairness and injustices. The key is how we face it, and how we act. I always feel that Shen Yun gives us positive energy and encourages us to be kind, she said. Actually, I feel this is very true. As long as our mind is positive, we always have hope.

Reporting by Epoch Times Staff in Miaoli, Taiwan.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
NANTES, FranceOn Feb. 22, spring was already in the Cite des Congres. Plum and cherry blossoms were decorating the majestic landscapes of ancient China with their bright and warm colors.

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts was back in Nantes for a brand new season of ancient and even modern-day stories and classical Chinese dance.

Katia Le Palec is a teacher of qi gong, fan tai chi, and tai chi chuan in Saint-Nazaire and Guerande. She found the performance magnificent especially since the ideas of well-being and the return to self is essential to her.

I am sensitive to it because there is a lot of fluidity, lightness and colors! Its enjoyable, you get carried away, she said.

Ms. Le Palec, who is used to working with energy, was able to feel an energy in Shen Yun, which she translates as fluidity and an openness to life.

Shen Yun Performing Arts mission is to revive Chinas 5,000 years of divinely-inspired culture and history. As its program states, In the past, China was once known as The Land of the Divine. This reflected a belief that its glorious culture was brought down from above. People sought harmony among Heaven, Earth, and humankind, and followed the course of nature. 

Ms. La Palec identified in the storytelling this connection filled with lightness, a connection between Earth and Heaven. Its so fluid, you fly with them.

I love Taoism, I love Lao Tzu and I especially love this connection to Earth and Heaven, of Heaven, Earth, and humankind.

Ms. Le Palec believes the show allows us to remain in the beautiful and in the creativity, to remain in the singularity, the artistic side this is food for our soul.

Pascal Guegan, a company director, offered the Shen Yun experience to his daughter for her birthday on Feb. 22, 2023, in Nantes. (NTD)

Pascal Guegan, a company director, wanted to offer the Shen Yun experience to his daughter, Anouk, for her birthday. They came from Concarneau to attend Shen Yun.

I feel peace, I feel a great happiness in me!  Pascal Guegan

I feel peace, I feel a great happiness in me! he said.

This show is incredibly rich in the sense that it is of high quality. There is a lot of color and a lot of technique. The choreography is executed to the millimeter. To me, it shows a very high standard of professionalism!

Christophe de Gouttes, a retired Lieutenant General, felt transported to China.

Its really beautiful, its magical, he said. In fact, the performances are linked together, are very diversified  Lots of costumes, lights, dances, music. Its really magical!

He, too, was sensitive to this connection to the divine: There is a rather present reference to the Creator, which is rather surprising because we thought that the Chinese people were really very pragmatic and detached from spirituality. And we realize that, in fact, it has remained in the popular culture.

Since it came to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has treated traditional culture as a threat to its rule, Shen Yun explains. Through campaigns like the Cultural Revolution, it has systematically uprooted traditional beliefs and destroyed ancient treasures, bringing 5,000 years of civilization to the brink of extinction.

But since 2006, Shen Yuns artists have been reviving the traditional, divinely inspired culture of China. Nothing like this can be seen in China today. In fact, Shen Yun is still not allowed to perform there.

Mr. de Gouttes found the spirituality carried forth very interesting.

I am a Christian and there are a lot of references which I find very similar to the one in Christianity, he shared.

According to this company director, Shen Yun expresses all the culture, all the richness of China that has been passed on, and especially the ancient traditional culture and values which are still alive as we see through this show. This show allows us to keep alive and perpetuate these traditional values!

For Christophe de Gouttes, Shen Yun constitutes a glimpse into China and in the depths of the soul of the Chinese people which we dont know very well. So, its always interesting to discover a little bit about others and to know what they have deep inside themselves.

Reporting by NTD and Sarita Modmesaib.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
DALLASBill Shaddock, owner of The Shaddock Companies and a leading business figure in the North Texas area, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Winspear Opera House on Feb. 24, and left with a deeper appreciation for the 5,000 years of culture Shen Yun brought to life.

I have a newfound appreciation and respect for Chinese culture.  Bill Shaddock

Its refreshing, and its very nice. I have a newfound appreciation and respect for Chinese culture, Mr. Shaddock said.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to show audiences the beauty and goodness of China before communism. For five millennia, dynasty after dynasty, the ancient Chinese believed their culture a gift from the heavens.

Mr. Shaddock appreciated the depth of the experience.

We have thousands of years, especially Chinese, of learning and understanding. Today, I feel like our current culture doesnt value of appreciate what thousands of years of knowledge and culture have brought to people, he said. I think we should pay attention to that.

He felt a greater appreciation for the history of the culture of China, and he noted that the values from this age-old culture are traditional values held by people of all cultures and ones he hoped the world would come to value again.

It shows the universality of the culture with all of mankind, he said. The universality of the human experience.

I hope we dont vary from that. Not just Chinese people, but all kinds of people, he said. If we have ultimate peace and harmony in our world, we will value such things as what the Chinese culture tonight is presenting.

Reporting by Sally Sun.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
MINNEAPOLISSheri Lumley, executive director of the Minnesota Hearing Healthcare Providers, had a special experience when the erhu virtuoso of Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company took to the stage at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on Feb. 24.

It made me, oh my goodness, I cant even explain it. When she was playing that, I felt it from inside to the outside. It was so beautifulI couldnt even believe it. It was magicalI mean, it was magical. That was beautiful, said Mrs. Lumley, who attended the performance with her family.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds top classical Chinese dance company and boasts several unique features, including a patented animated backdrop and musical soloists like bel canto vocalists, and the erhu virtuoso who impressed Mrs. Lumley.

The erhu is an ancient Chinese instrument nearly 4,000 years old, and only has two strings. Despite that, the instrument is famous for its wide range of sounds, dynamics, and musical possibilities.

It felt, in a way, like I wasone with myself. It was like I was one with the music. The music and I were mingling.  Sheri Lumley

Mrs. Lumley said when she heard that music, it felt like I was peaceful. It felt, in a way, like I wasone with myself. It was like I was one with the music. The music and I were mingling.

The experience was beyond words for Mrs. Lumley, but it included happiness and a feeling of connection to something greater.

It was definitely an energy that was flowing through me from the top to the bottom. It was through my heart, through everything. It was, when she played, it connected everything. All the energy everywhere, the good, the positive, the beautiful energy connected me and everything. So it was wonderful. I was very connected, Mrs. Lumley said, adding that the sopranos solo moved her deeply as well.

During the performance, the emcees explained that the ancient Chinese believed music could act as medicine, resonating with it physically, mentally, and spiritually with the listener. Mrs. Lumley felt that described her experience exactly.

Yes, yes, and I did, and thats what I felt with that music, she said. I felt it, I felt it resonating throughout me  It felt like it went through me. Every piece of my body was like singing with it, was playing with it. It was like my body and the musicthe energy within my body was one with the music.

Mrs. Lumley felt that oneness and spirituality were the essence of Shen Yuns performance.

She and her husband, Robert, a retired history teacher, both commented that they could feel the positive effect of Shen Yuns efforts to revive the beauty and spirituality the communist regime has tried to destroy in China.

It spoke to me, and it showed the horrors of things that are happening now that shouldnt be happening, said Mrs. Lumley.

It showed the beauty that is within people, and that there are some in government that are not good people and they are destroying that beauty, they are destroying that energy within people, the resonance that music has, theyre destroying it. And its not being allowed to show, its not being allowed to shine, and I think when you dont have that music, and you dont have that within people, you dont have that connection. And theyre taking that connection away.

A Shen Yun production includes over a dozen vignettes, showing scenes from Chinas 5,000 years to the present day. The companys mission is to show the beauty and goodness of Chinas divinely inspired civilization, whose culture lives on in people even in China today, though they are persecuted for having faith.

Mrs. Lumley felt that spirit and culture also lived on through Shen Yun.

They showed that these are the people, this is what we are, this is our energy, this is our being, this is who we are, and this is what the government has taken. It doesnt allow this energy to be, and its taken from us, its destroyed, and its still alive in people though, and that is what it showed, its still alive, she said.

Mr. Lumley said the China of the past was very spiritual, unlike China under communist rule.

More than that, everybody was created by one Creator, and were all one people, and we should be able to shine, and I saw that, he said. Theres so much more in the past of China than what is going on today. Today everybodys just going through emotion, theyre not living.

But, not all people have resigned themselves, Mr. Lumley added. Theres a power beyond the government that the government cant control. And thats what this showed.

At the end, it was about God. You know, the Creator. It wasnt about anything elseit was about that. It was about the divineness, he said.

That here is something greater than whatever governments can create. It is something greater. And no matter how you oppress people, in the end, we all got to answer to that divine master.

Reporting by Sherry Dong.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Dr. Marie Launay and Dirte Hahn at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany on Feb. 22.(Haying/The Epoch Times)

LUDWIGSBURG, GermanyAs a birthday present, Dr. Marie Launay, scientific director at the Institute for Sanitary Engineering, was treated to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany on Feb. 22.

The level of music and dance was incredible and the many colors were so beautiful to see, she said.

It was like a journeya cultural journeythese bright colors were so full of life, we could travel with them.

According to the companys website, Shen Yuns costumes and colors are true to traditional aesthetics and styles, painting each dance piece with the splendor of the past.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company. The company also presents folk and ethnic dances as well as story-based pieces that tell the tales from ancient China to the modern day.

We have just seen that through political changes, culture that is over thousands of years old can just disappear, said Dr. Launay.

Its nice that Chinese culture is preserved. Because through this show, it is preserved  it doesnt get lost.

Since the companys inception in 2006, their mission has been to revive Chinas 5,000-year-old traditional culture. The age-old culture has been on the brink of extinction since the Chinese communist regime seized power in 1949. Shen Yun says its performances demonstrate China before communism.

In regards to Shen Yuns orchestra that blends ancient Chinese instruments into a Western orchestra, Dr. Launay said the erhu, Chinese two-stringed instrument, was magical.

Immediately you think that this sound is a thousand years old  something timeless, she said.

Listening to the erhu soloist, she said she felt peace and a continuity in time.

Its like the time of yesterday has a resonance to the time of todaya continuity in timetherefore, we are also connected to the past.

Along with myths and legends from ancient times, Shen Yun presents story-based dances depicting the persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong. These adherents practice meditation and follow the principles truth, compassion, and tolerance, carrying on the traditional spiritual culture. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution against the practice in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

I think thats very brave and very committed and I have respect for that, Dr. Launay said. It was very engaging to show something like that on stage.

Accompanying Dr. Launay to the performance was Dirte Hahn, secretary, who said the principles of Falun Dafa: truth, compassion, tolerance are essential tenets to embody.

The values are important  thats what you should live, she said, because they bring cohesion [and] togetherness.

On the contrary, she said, the corruption of values by communism only divide people and everyone only looks out for themselves.

They Live These Stories

Traveling one and a half hours to get to the performance from Aalen, Germany, the Benninger family was truly impressed by the Shen Yun performance.

Very impressive, said Ralph Benninger, From [the] history to the present, this evolution was very well presented I personally liked it very much.

Mr. Benninger works in sales and him and his family have traveled to China several times. He said seeing Shen Yun brought back fond memories.

There are many things that we have rediscovered, he said, Weve seen ethnic dances in the country [and] other similar dances alsobut not comparable to [Shen Yun]!

According to the companys website, Shen Yun has preserved the true aesthetics of this classical dance systemthe way it has been passed down from antiquity and presents this authentic culture in its purest form.

Mrs. Benninger was impressed with the radiance and charisma of the Shen Yun dancers.

The movement  [and] body language, the way the dancers [are] just floating over the stage  one has the feeling that they live these stories, she said.

Shen Yun presents a culture that draws upon ancient Chinas Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. In the past, artists looked to the divine for inspiration and cultivated virtue in order to create uplifting art. Today, Shen Yuns artists follow in this noble tradition, which is why audiences feel there is something different about Shen Yun, says the companys website.

Values like empathy, helpfulness  have a certain importance and are lost today, she said, [Shen Yun] shows that again.

Mr. Benninger said the representation of values from the Chinese dynasties to today even under the CCP, is very vividly depicted.

What we saw was the origin of culture, this divinity that was there in principle, now compared to the present where many things are lived quite differently, he said.

The Benningers enjoyed the performance so much they said they would like to come again.

I Bow Down to It

This was the first time Gerhard Ascherl, master television technician, and his Barbara Ascherl, management assistant, saw Shen Yun Performing Arts and they were so amazed they were left speechless.

I am still totally flabbergasted by the performance  [and] fascinated by all that Ive seen, said Mr. Ascherl.

I bow down to it  [with] great respect!

The work as a whole: Every single performer, that harmony, that choreography, the skill from the performers, the togetherness  it was just fascinating! he said.

Im also fascinated by Chinese history, Chinese culture  thats a pity its not like that today, he added, and thats why Im absolutely thrilled with what [Shen Yuns] created here!

I can only hope that [Shen Yuns] influence will be greater  I believe that the big picture will eventually become a reality.

Mrs. Ascherl was touched me the most by Shen Yuns finale.

This reference to the current situation  and then this comforting resolution  thats how we would all wish it [to be].

Because we are all part of the whole, no matter where we are in this world, she added, that message[was] so strongly felt.

Reporting by Haying, NTD, and Jennifer Schneider.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Several days ago, a city council member in California was arrested on multiple felony charges of voter fraud for what he did during the 2020 election cycle. Specifically, Shakir Khan of San Joaquin County was discovered by the local sheriffs office to be stashing at least 41 filled-in, mail-in ballots at his home, registering at least 23 people to vote using his home as their address, as well as using his email and phone number to register 47 others.

Episode Resources:

 AMAC:

https://ept.ms/3bzYr8f

 Sheriffs Presentation:

https://ept.ms/3IU6g92

 Jail House Footage:

https://ept.ms/3ZhPRAF

 Indictment Document:

https://ept.ms/3YYfkzj

 Post Release Interview:

https://ept.ms/3IvDNFb
Small Australian Businesses Miss Meta Blue Tick of Approval

Meta logo in a photo illustration taken on Aug. 22, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Meta has promised better security and support with its monthly subscription service, Meta Verified, but only for personal accounts.

Clinical counsellor Amber Rules hadnt changed a thing when she was suddenly shut out of her organisations Instagram account.

I dont know what went wrong, I didnt know why I got locked out or what the solution was, Rules said.

Before her out-of-the-blue booting from the social media app, Rules had shared mental health resources and opportunities for volunteers at her social enterprise and low-cost counselling service, Rough Patch.

It took a week or so to realise what this meant for us, Rules told AAP.

I dont think I understood just how much time it would take up.

Rules and her colleagues scoured online forums, Facebook groups and contact lists to find anyone who could help.

Two months of searching finally yielded a contact: an email address from a friend of a Rough Patch volunteer.

One day when I went to log in, it was just fixed. Rules said.

I assume it was just because we had a connect. Im none the wiser, I dont know how I can prevent it from happening again.

Meta, Instagrams parent company, this week launched a subscription service in Australia and New Zealand called Meta Verified which promises better access to customer service among other perks.

Users pay a monthly fee of $19.99 and submit ID to access the service, receiving a blue verification tick in return.

Meta says users will have access to a real person for account concerns and proactive account monitoring to tackle fake accounts.

However, a spokesman for Meta confirmed the service was for personal accounts only.

Businesses are not eligible for Meta Verified at this time, but were excited to explore what a valuable subscription product for businesses could look like in the future, the spokesman said.

Subscription-based models have seen success across the industry and we think we can bring real value with the offering weve put together.

But social media strategist Meg Coffey described the move towards a pay-for-service model from Meta as a simple money grab.

We should not have to pay for securitysecurity should be something the apps offer as a bare minimum.

Enhanced security and support features offered exclusively through Meta Verified are not available to business accounts, presenting a significant barrier to individuals who want to commercialise their profiles.

Youre limited by the nature of the platform, Coffey said.

If you want to monetise anything, you cant be a personal account.

If paying twenty bucks means that when I get logged out I get instant help, thats brilliant. But it needs to be rolled out to businesses, not just people.

Belinda Barnet, a senior lecturer in digital media at Swinburne University, said the fire sales of security features on social media was a worrying sign.

Theyre starting to sell the locks on the doorsthe verification in particular represents a security risk, Barnet said.

If you can afford it, fantastic. But there will be a whole group of people who cant. Its really not fair, its extortion by the company.

At Rough Patch, where reaching people online is essential, the overwhelming need for support trumps the issue of fairness.

Its wildly unfair for an organisation as big as Instagram to make money from millions of small businesses and expect us to pay for tech support, its a very cynical business model, Rules said.

But when push comes to shove, would I pay $20 to have that problem fixed? I absolutely would.
Canada to additionally provide Ukraine with four more Leopard 2 tanks

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the decision to transfer four more Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Canada will provide four additional Leopard 2 main battle tanks to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to a message posted on the website of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Thus, in total, Canada plans to transfer eight such tanks to Ukraine.

In addition, Canada will send Ukraine an armored recovery vehicle and more than 5,000 artillery shells of 155 mm caliber.

It is noted that earlier Ottawa has already sent to Europe the first four Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine: they were delivered to Poland, where Ukrainian tankers will be trained to use such armored vehicles.
4 Arrested in Horrific Hong Kong Socialite Murder Case

L: On Feb. 24, 2023, investigators were at the crime scene collecting evidence. (Big Mak/The Epoch Times) R: Model Abby Choi poses for a photo in Hong Kong on Feb. 11, 2023. (Pao Jo-yee via AP)

The Hong Kong Police uncovered a horrific murder case at Lung Mei village, Tai Po, on Feb. 24. Famed socialite, 28-year-old Abby Choi Tin-fung, was allegedly murdered, mutilated, and cooked.

On the same day, The Regional Crime Squad of Kowloon West arrested the brother and parents of Chois ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi while sealing off a village house as a crime scene to collect evidence.

On Feb. 25, the police arrested a 28-year-old man surnamed Kwong on suspicion of murder at the Tung Chung Pier at about 1 p.m. Hes the ex-husband of Choi. The police believe he was about to escape by boat when he was arrested. Kwong and his parents and brother are suspected of killing the victim. Theyre currently detained for further investigation, and it isnt ruled out that theyll be prosecuted for related charges later.

While the police discovered Chois legs in a refrigerator inside the house, the deceaseds upper body, including the torso, arms, and head, are yet to be found.

At about 3 a.m. on Feb. 25, the police transported away the refrigerator containing the remains.

On Feb. 25, 2023, the police presented to the media some of the evidence they had seized in the murder case of the dismembered socialite Abby Choi, including a knife, a meat grinder, a face mask, two raincoats, and a hammer. (Big Mack/The Epoch Times)

West Kowloon Crime Investigation Unit Superintendent Chung Nga-lun briefed the media early on Feb. 25.

The police received a report in the early morning of Feb. 22 that a 28-year-old woman had lost contact with her family in the afternoon of Feb. 21.

After a preliminary investigation, police determined that the missing person case was suspicious. It was transferred to the West Kowloon Regional Serious Crimes Unit on Feb. 23 for follow-up.

The crime investigation team immediately conducted an in-depth investigation based on the victims background. The police have also met with Kwongs parents and Chois private driver, whos also the brother of Kwong. The police tried to locate the victims ex-husband Kwong but couldnt find him.

Its believed that the victim and her ex-husbands family were in dispute over a large amount of money, up to tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars (several million U.S. dollars). The police suspected that the murderer was dissatisfied with how the victim was handling her property asset, leading to an argument before the murder took place.

Chung mentioned that during the investigation, the relatives of the victims ex-husband repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the police to confuse the direction of the investigation. Police later busted their plan and locked down a village house at Lung Mei village in Tai Po as a suspected crime scene.

The father of Kwong has rented the village house since the beginning of February. Hes a former police sergeant who was accused of raping a female victim during an investigation case in 2005.

The Regional Crime Squad of Kowloon West arrested the brother and parents of Chois ex-husband, aged 31 to 65, and obtained search warrants for the village house later in the afternoon of Feb. 24. Kwong was detained as a suspect in the murder of Choi the day after.

On Feb. 24, 2023, policemen were seen collecting evidence at the scene. (Big Mack/The Epoch Times)

After breaking the door and entering the unit, police found human limbs in the refrigerator; Victim Chois identity card and credit card were also at the crime scene. Upon the findings, police believed that the victim had already been killed.

The police only retrieved a pair of adult legs from the fridge. Theyre still trying to recover the torso, arms, and skull of the victim.

Crime Scene

Whether the village house was the first crime scene and the victims time of death havent been determined.

Investigators also found that the murderer had carefully arranged the village house and that the property was rented purely for mutilating and cooking the deceased.

Chois last appearance was at 2:15 p.m. on Feb. 21. Choi was supposed to pick up her daughter she shared with her ex-husband but vanished. At the time, Choi had her ID card, cash, and mobile phone.

Chung pointed out that the three arrested people had been detained and interrogated by the police all night. The three suspects are charged with suspected murder. Kwong was arrested on Feb. 25.

On Feb. 25, 2023, at the village house where Abby Chois dismembered body was found, the doors and windows were covered with black cloth. The police believe that the killer(s) had planned the crime beforehand. (Big Mack/The Epoch Times)

Whos Abby Choi?

Choi married early and had two children. She was divorced from her first marriage and remarried in 2016 to the son of the founder of Tamjai, an international noodle empire.

She was very active in the social elite and fashion circles. She was an aspiring international model with more than 80,000 followers on Instagram.

Choi frequented fashion show weeks and was featured as the cover girl of fashion magazines VOGUE (China) and LOfficiel Monaco.

Murders in Hong Kong Arent Common

Murder cases are rare in Hong Kong. In similar cases in the past 10 years, the last being in 2017, where a 37-year-old single drug-addicted mother murdered and dismembered her 12-year-old daughter in a shared apartment on Canton Road, Mongkok.

The mother threw the deceaseds limbs in the toilet. She left parts of the skull in a rice cooker. The pair of legs in the bathroom caused a blockage, and the blood oozed out of the apartment. The neighbors discovered the blood water and called the police.

The single mother pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to an indefinite hospital stay, ordered by the court in 2020.
MIAOLI, TaiwanMr. Chen Chung-tsang, a painter named one of Taiwans national living treasures, said he had never seen a shows backdrop as amazing as Shen Yuns, and the whole show was uplifting and made him feel 20 years younger.

Im an 86-year-old. But I feel Im 68 years old now after attending Shen Yun, he said with a loud laugh after the performance at the Miaobei Art Center in Miaoli on Feb. 24.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company, and this year, with eight simultaneously touring companies, is set to complete its biggest tour yet. In Taiwan, Shen Yun will perform more than 30 performances over about a month, all of which are already sold out.

Mr. Chen is also president of the Chen Chung-tsang art museum. He is a famous ink painter and watercolor painter in Taiwan and neighboring countries. He has held exhibitions all around the world and is an honorary member of artist associations in Japan and South Korea. He said he had seen Shen Yun twice before, yet was still shocked by Shen Yuns beauty anew.

The backdrop is the best in the world. It showed us heaven. Its really extremely beautiful, he said. In my artistic life, I have never seen anything like Shen Yuns backdrop. The wonderful part of the backdrop is it serves as a foil to the dancers. They coordinate neatly and perfectly.

Shen Yuns patented dynamic backdrop is indeed one-of-a-kind. It interacts with dancers on stage, which can both explain the story-based dances while bringing audiences into the stories.

Mr. Chen was impressed by Shen Yun dancers.

The dancers are stunning in coordination. They synchronized with each other so accurately. They danced using their full hearts. Oh, watching their dancing, I forgot who I am, he said. Where did I think I was? I felt I was dancing with them in those stories on the stage.

Im very glad that I attended Shen Yun. Im very happy now, he said.

Mr. Chen noted that the emcees had shared that Shen Yun artists are people of faith.

Everybody should have a faith in their lives. We should have a life target as well. Then we will be happy spiritually, he said with a big smile.

Shen Yun has a mission to show the beauty and goodness of China before communism. For 5,000 years, Chinas civilization was built on values and virtues from the spiritual teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

Nourishing Our Minds and Bodies

Shen Yun is fascinating and nourishing our minds and bodies. After attending Shen Yun, my brain works better. So, the show can open up our wisdom ,and activate our cells, said Ms. Lin Chin-mei, a music teacher and a winner of the Taiwan Education Ministrys Teacher Awards.

Ms. Lin loved the music.

Shen Yuns live orchestra plays the melodies to the extreme and minds every detail. I admire the conductor. She did a great job, she said. Its difficult to play music to this level. The musicians must be talented.

She said all Shen Yun artists are talented in her eyes, the musicians as great as the dancers, and together, they coordinate with each other perfectly. And then we can enjoy this majestic show! she said.

Ms. Lin appreciated the traditional values that Shen Yun delivers, such as loyalty, propriety, wisdom, justice, and benevolencevalues that are universal and shared the world over.

The fantastic Shen Yun purified our human hearts and cleansed our society, she said. We are lucky to attend the show. We are blessed. Many of my friends attended today.

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.

Ms. Lin Chin-mei (L), a winner of the Taiwan Education Ministrys Teacher Awards, attends Shen Yun Performing Arts with a friend at the Miaobei Art Center in Miaoli, Taiwan, on Feb. 24, 2023. (Chen Yu-jou/The Epoch Times)

Divine Beings Dancing

Entrepreneur Mr. Liu Chia-ming attended Shen Yun for the first time. He said: The dancers movements are really like divine beings dancing. Its a big pleasure to our eyes and hearts.

The name Shen Yun can be translated into the beauty of divine beings dancing.

The show inspired us to be kind, and tried to bring us back to a perfect world that respects morality, he said. I think it will be the happiest thing if a person can take his sweetheart to attend Shen Yun.

Mr. Liu said, after going home, he would tell all his friends to attend Shen Yun.

Reporting by Epoch Times Staff in Miaoli, Taiwan.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Teen Faces Murder Charge in Shooting During Texas Mall Melee

A 16-year-old boy who fatally shot a 17-year-old boy and wounded two others during a fight between two groups at a mall in El Paso, Texas, faces a murder charge and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police said Friday.

The suspect himself was shot and wounded by an armed bystander as he ran from the Feb. 15 melee at Cielo Vista Mall, according to authorities. Police said the suspect, who has been referred to the juvenile probation department, was released from the hospital Wednesday.

Police said the suspect used a handgun that had been reported stolen.

The suspect allegedly opened fire after a confrontation between the two groups escalated into a physical fight. Police said he fatally shot 17-year-old Angeles Zaragoza and wounded the other 17-year-old boy, as well as a 20-year-old man who was part of his own group.

He then allegedly ran toward the bystander and others while pointing his gun in their direction, and was shot by the bystander.

The bystander and an off-duty officer working security for a store helped render aid to the suspect and the others who were wounded, police said.

Police said the three counts of aggravated assault are related to the two who were wounded and an 18-year-old woman who was not hurt. The juvenile allegedly pointed the gun at her.

Police said in the immediate aftermath of the shooting that two people were taken into custody. On Friday they clarified that those two were the juvenile suspect and the wounded 20-year-old, but the investigation determined the latter was not criminally involved and he was not expected to be charged.

As of Friday, only one person wounded in the incident remained hospitalized. A spokesman for University Medical Center of El Paso said that patient was in stable condition.
Texas Man Who Assaulted Officers on Jan. 6, Threatened AOC Sentenced to Prison

Garret Miller. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)

A Texas man accused of breaching the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, and posting on social media against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was sentenced to 38 months behind bars.

Garret Miller, 36, of Richardson, was sentenced on Wednesday. He pleaded guilty to 11 counts in December, including assaulting a police officer, an interstate threat to injure or kidnap, three counts of interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a capitol building, among others, according to the sentencing memorandum. (pdf)

His prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Department of Justice.

Millers lawyer Clint Broden had asked for a 30-month sentence for his client, who has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 20, 2021.

His actions and the actions of many others were a product of rhetoric from a cult leader that has yet to be brought to justice, Broden told The Dallas Morning News.

U.S. prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 48 months imprisonment for Millers role in the offense and the damages resulting from his conduct.

Miller traveled to Washington that day to stop Congress certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to court documents.

Miller was at the forefront of every barrier overturned, police line overrun, and entryway breached within his proximity that day, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo to the judge.

He was so disruptive on the East Front of the building that he was twice detained, the second time resulting in him being put in handcuffs. After being released and vowing to leave, Miller stayed at the riot, initially filming himself talking about a revolution.

Prosecutors said Miller threatened Ocasia-Cortez when she wrote Impeach in a post on social media.

Assassinate AOC, Miller responded directly to Ocasio-Cortez, according to court papers.

In addition, Miller made threats on social media against Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Calif.), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Prosecutors said Miller wanted revenge against the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt, 35, outside the entrance to the Speakers Lobby.

In the days leading up to his arrest, Miller bragged to his friends that he terrified [c]ongress and openly discussed his desire to publicly identify the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt and hug his neck with a nice rope.

At the time of his arrest, Miller was wearing a shirt with an image of former President Donald Trump and the words I was there, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021.

Since Jan. 6, 2021, there have been more than 985 arrests across the United States for crimes related to the breach of the Capitol, including nearly 320 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
NEW YORKThe old saying pick a card, any card may be a more than a little timeworn, but in the hands of a master magician, its completely spot-on. The master Asi Wind proves this point in his show Inner Circle, now running off-Broadway at The Gym at Judson.

Handling a deck of cards with the skill of surgeon, Wind controls its contents from the first moment to the shows last. In between, one gets to witness such scenarios as a card that seemingly jumps from one place to another, while somehow folding itself in the process.

Wind also manages to have the cards mysteriously re-order themselves in a particular mannerno matter how many times they have been shuffled beforehand, or how many people were actually involved in the shuffling process.

At the same time, Wind also confounds his audience by revealing facts and information about them he simply could not have known beforehand.

The Likeable Every Guy

Rather than presenting himself as a mysterious or mystical sort, with a secret only he is privy too, Wind instead comes off as rather down to earth and quite approachable. Coupled with that everyday guy persona is a bit of a self-deprecating humor. He often drops in little jokes and asides while he holds court and apologizes whenever one of his routines doesnt seem to workat least until it does.

This easy attitude allows Wind to effortlessly interact with the attendance, while challenging attendees to catch him in the act of sleight of hand or deliberate misdirection.

The show itself takes place in a specially constructed arena with a large circular table in the center. Where certain members of the audience have a chance to see at least some of Winds actions up close. Though there are no bad seats anywhere.

For Wind, this production is also a homecoming of sorts. A native of Israel, he recalls how, nearly 20 years earlier on his first trip to New York, he took a deck of playing cards to nearby Washington Square Park to demonstrate his skill (with the hope of earning a little extra pocket money in the process). Things apparently didnt go as planned; he notes ruefully how the fountain made more than I did. But by perusing his list of credits, which include a previous successful off-Broadway show, its apparent things have changed since then.

Asi Wind holding court during his performance. (Hal Schulman)

An Honest Magician?

In a nice touch, Wind takes time to pay tribute to some magical mentors who have helped shape in his career: David Blaine, Ricky Jay and the most famous one of all, Harry Houdini. More detailed acknowledgements in this regard can be found in the shows program.

The best type of magic shows, whether they consist of card tricks, optical illusions, disappearing objects, or even pulling a rabbit out of a hat (another old cliche) are those where the audience is completely fooled by whatever is going on right before their eyes. This is definitely the case here. Even though Wind says right out, Im going to lie to you, the audience leaves completely astounded by what he has pulled off and thoroughly delighted that he has done so.

If youre looking for the glitz and glamour of a Las Vegas magic act, complete with fire and disappearing tigers, Inner Circle is not for you. However, if you want to be amazed by a man who seems to do the impossible with a deck of cards, you wont be disappointed in the least. I certainly wasnt.

Asi Winds Inner Circle

The Gym at Judson

243 Thompson St.

Tickets: AsiWind.com

Running Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes (no intermission)

Closes: Sept. 3
Behind the Agenda to Rid Canadas Military Chaplaincy of Traditional Faith Groups

Commentary

Fifteen years ago, the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service was wrestling with the corollaries of pluralism in Canada, and how to tap into the benefits of true diversity in the Canadian multicultural context.

Even though I am an orthodox Lutheran, who does not believe that all religions are equally valid expressions of truth, I was a great advocator of true pluralism, participating in the writing boards and doctrine that has led to the governments current policy on chaplaincy in the Canadian Armed Forces.

When I served on the Interfaith Committee on Canadian Military Chaplaincy, I supported the introduction of chaplains of non-traditional faith groups because they represented the diversity of the Canadian landscape and deserved respect under our charter and Constitution. Further, true pluralism theoretically protects the integrity of absolutist traditional mainstream faith traditions that are not inclusive of other belief systems due to the logical law of non-contradiction.

Yet what has happened is the demise of critical thinking which has given rise to and supports a woke ideology, better described as a woke religion, underpinned by its own exclusivist monoculture that despises true diversity. In government of all levels, the discriminatory tenets of wokeism have hijacked the dialogue, bureaucracy, technocracy, and key players in leadership. What is frightening is that Canadians appear to be unable to seeor lack the courage to addressthe explicit and implicit attacks of this dangerous religion on the values of modern democracy (again, inaccurately titled pluralism).

In terms of Christianity, recommendation 6.1 of the governments Re-Defining Chaplaincy document is a direct attack on conservative Lutherans, historic Roman Catholics, and other Biblically-based and conservative denominations, who they no longer wish to employ. The claim that traditional church bodies that, say, do not ordain women or accept the homosexual lifestyle are sexist and homophobic is unsubstantiated, ignorant, and absurd.

The governments real agenda is to rid the chaplaincy of chaplains of traditional faith groups because key players and elites in government find traditional morality and religion a threat to their own leftist and socialist agenda. They have argued that these religions beliefs contradict defence values. Defence values are supposed to mirror Canadian values. If the defence values still propose to reflect said values, then it is a scandalous and horrific insult to exclude traditional conservative Christians from chaplain ministry. If these values do not reflect Canadian values, well then they are a consequence of undemocratic technocratic efforts to redefine Canadian shared values, mores, and morality.

At present, such unjust and illogical policy is implying that if you are a conservative Biblically based Christian you cant work in the Canadian government, and ultimately, there is no space for your kind in Canada. Canada is proudly prejudiced against traditional Christians because we government bureaucrats and technocrats say so.

Further, underlying this redefining of the chaplaincy is a view that true diversity of chaplainsdiversity that includes traditional and conservative valuesdoes not matter and is dangerous, which, again, is un-Canadian, irrational, and means our troops are less spiritually resilient and equipped for mission success. Such a mindset unveils the degree to which our government and military leadership does not actually value the raison detre of military chaplains, who are not just religious figureheads but work hard to heal wounded soldiers of their brokenness.

Historically, the chaplain mandate has been to serve members of their own denominations first, then ensure those of other religions and faith groups receive spiritual and religious services, and finally, care for all members of CAF, in spite of their religious or spiritual beliefs. The principles underlying the redefining of the chaplaincy, obviously driven by the politicization of the military, would deprive members of those essential and historical services.

Soldiers who are struggling and faithfully serving our great nation deserve to be served by chaplains of their own faith groups and not deprived of those spiritual and religious services due to the woke crusade led by the priests and priestesses of the Liberal government. For example, when, say, traditional Christian members with PTSD are seeking spiritual support (prayer, scriptural, counsel, etc.) from the chaplaincy, as so many do, under the proposed policy they are unlikely to receive any from a chaplain who holds the same faith as they do.

The results? Well, our broken and demoralized military is yet to experience the spiritual and psychological impact of such poor decision-making.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
TikTok Banned in European Unions Governing Bodies Over Security Concerns

A smartphone with a displayed TikTok logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken on Feb. 23, 2023. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

The Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok has been banned in the two biggest policy-making institutions of the European Union over concerns about cybersecurity and promotion of Beijings agenda overseas.

TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has been widely criticized for its toxic content and is banned by several countries as well as 25 U.S. states, over concerns about data sharing with Beijing and promotion of the Chinese Communist Partys agenda.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton, who announced the ban by the European Commission, declined to say whether the commission had been subject to any incidents involving TikTok.

The move comes as China and the West are more evidently locked into a tug-of-war ranging from spy balloons to computer-chip production.

The EU executive Commission said in a statement that the decision would apply to work and personal phones and devices.

To increase its cybersecurity, the Commissions Corporate Management Board has decided to suspend the use of the TikTok application on its corporate devices and on personal devices enrolled in the Commission mobile device service, it said in a statement.

This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber-attacks against the corporate environment of the Commission, it added.

TikTok said it was disappointed with the ban.

The European Parliament said it was aware of the Commissions action and that it was in contact with it.

Relevant services are also monitoring and assessing all possible data breaches related to the app and will consider the European Commission evaluation before formulating recommendations to European Parliament authorities, a spokesperson said.

In Norway, which is not a member of the 27-nation EU, the justice minister was forced to apologize this month for failing to disclose that she had installed TikTok on her government-issued phone.

TikTok also has come under pressure from the EU to comply with upcoming new digital regulations aimed at getting big online platforms to clean up toxic and illegal content along with the blocs strict data privacy rules.

Other Bans

TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps were banned in India in June 2020, over concerns about their potential harm to the countrys security and integrity.

Taiwan banned TikTok and some other Chinese apps on state-owned devices and in December 2022 launched a probe into the social media app over suspected illegal operations on the island.

The U.S. Congress passed a bill in December 2022 to ban TikTok on federal devices. The bill is yet to be signed off on by President Joe Biden.

Boise State University, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas-Austin, and West Texas A&M University are some of the schools that have banned TikTok on university devices and Wi-Fi networks.

Texas, Maryland, Alabama, and Utah are among over 25 states that have issued orders to staff against using TikTok on government devices.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tustin Man Gets 40 Years for Molesting 3 Boys

SANTA ANA, Calif.A 30-year-old Tustin man was sentenced Feb. 24 to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting three boys.

Martin Tovar pleaded guilty July 29 to 21 felony counts of sexual assaults on the three boys dating from February 2012 through February 2015, according to court records.

Tovar, who was ordered to register as a sex offender, was given credit for 1,446 days behind bars.

Authorities became suspicious of Tovar while Homeland Security was investigating another man who was sexually abusing a relative and sending child pornography of the victim to other sexual predators, including Tovar, according to testimony from investigators at Tovars preliminary hearing. Authorities served a search warrant at the defendants apartment in June 2019 and found more than a thousand images of child pornography on his devices, investigators said.

Tovar was related to one of the boys, who told investigators the abuse started when he was in kindergarten and continued through third grade, according to the testimony. Two other victims were brothers, and one said he was sexually assaulted once around Christmas Day, according to the testimony.
More U.S. troops are in Taiwan as the island continues to face an ever more aggressive communist neighbor. The United States is planning on increasing the number of troops from the current 30 up to about 200. Taiwans president is welcoming the move. China, meanwhile, is accusing the United States of undermining peace and stability in the region. The Pentagon maintains the move would help Taiwan defend itself in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Topics in this episode:
Fox News reported that the University of Delaware received more than $6.7 million in secret Chinese donations, including direct funding from the Chinese regime after President Joe Biden set up a program there in his name.

And the University of Pennsylvania, which runs the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., where there were classified documents, received millions from unnamed contributors in China and Hong Kong.

Joining Larry Elder to discuss this is Paul Kamenar, lead counsel of the National Legal and Policy Center.

Meanwhile, California Assemblyman Alex Lee introduced a bill last week in the California State Legislature that would impose an extra annual 1.5 percent tax on those with a worldwide net worth above $1 billion, starting as early as January 2024.

What impact can Californias wealth tax have in alleviating the state governments deficit? Joining Larry Elder to discuss this is Stephen Moore, an economist at the Heritage Foundation.

Why does Californias population keep shrinking? In addition to excessive taxation, Californias poor education system is also one of the contributing factors. According to a recent report, California now leads the country in illiteracy.

To shed light on this issue, Larry Elder interviews Larry Sand, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network.

The Larry Elder Show is sponsored by Birch Gold Group. Protect your IRA or 401(k) with precious metals today: http://larryforgold.com/
During the day, the Ukrainian military killed about 650 people of military personnel of the aggressor army, 12 tanks, nine armored combat vehicles, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.

"The total combat losses of the enemy from February 24, 2022 to February 25, 2023 approximately amount to: about 147,470 people of military personnel (plus 650) people, 3,375 tanks (plus 12) units, 6,609 armored combat vehicles (plus nine) units, 2,373 artillery systems (plus 10) units, 475 units of MLRS (plus one) unit, 247 units of air defense equipment, 299 units of aircraft, 288 helicopters (plus one) unit, 2,035 operational-tactical level UAVs (plus two), 873 cruise missiles, 18 ships /boats, 5,235 motor vehicles and tankers (plus 11) units, 230 units of special equipment (plus one)," the message posted on Facebook reads.

It is noted that the data are being clarified.
Anti-war rally concludes peacefully in Patong

PHUKET: Around 30 foreigners, presumably all Ukrainians or Russians, gathered today in front of the Police Box on the beach road in Patong to call for the end of the war and demand withdrawal of Russian forces from the neigbouring country. Phuket Police and volunteers were present at the scene to ensure safety of all parties.

UkraineRussiandeath

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Saturday 25 February 2023, 08:41PM

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

An anti-war rally was held on Taweewong Rd in Patong on Feb 25, 2023, one year and one day after the beginning of Russias invasion into Ukraine. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

The group numbered about 30 foreigners in total, who were holding printed placards with calls and slogans in English and Russian languages. Some held flags  either Ukrainian national flags or the new Russian white-blue-white flag used by those opposing Moscows invasion into Ukraine which started on Feb 24 last year. The full-scale war continues up to this day.

Calls and slogans on the placards included: No war; Peace for Ukraine; We do not need war; We are many, we are not alone; Russians against the war; Putin, go away; Russia will be free; Freedom to political prisoners.

The demonstration of placards continued for 15 min only, according to reporters at the scene. Yet the event also included some communication with local police during which the group did not disband and the placards were still visible to passers-by. Apparently, no Thais came out to oppose or support the rally.

Thailand picks side

On Thursday this week (Feb 23), the UN General Assembly approved its third resolution calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and demanding Russias immediate withdrawal from the country.

Thailand had abstained during the two previous similar votes in 2022, but this time joined 140 other countries and supported the demand that Russia immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine.

The General Assembly also emphasized the need to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes committed in Ukraine during the year-long war to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.

Thai foreign affairs scholars said the Kingdom made the right decision in supporting the UNs resolution, reported Bangkok Post on Feb 25 citing two local experts.

Virot Ali, an international relations academic at Thammasat University, said that Thailands vote in support of the UN resolution ahead of the elections was a wise decision.

"In light of this, an elected government will gain more legitimacy in the eyes of the international community," Mr Virot said.

"We can no longer resist international pressure over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. We have no other option but to join calls for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, he added.

The expert also mentioned the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the global energy situation which stunts Thailands economic growth.

Panitan Wattanayagorn, an ex-international relations scholar at Chulalongkorn University, echoed the view that Thailands support of the UN resolution was a wise move.

Since Thailand is among the 141 countries supporting the UN resolution, Thailand can avoid being singled out for confronting Russia as well as its allies such as China and India, he said.

China and India were among the 32 abstentions during the Feb 23 vote at the UN General Assembly. Countries which voted against the resolution were limited to Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, and Syria.
Foreigners urged to join blood donation campaign

PHUKET: Foreigners in Phuket and nationwide are invited to join the never-ending blood donation campaign to replenish much-needed reserves. Heightened emphasis is made on donating Rh-negative blood types, which are not common among Asians, but critically needed for providing help to other foreigners.

healthaccidentstourism

By The Phuket News

Saturday 25 February 2023, 11:25AM

Rh-Negative blood reserves in Thailand are alarmingly low, as only 0.3% of the Thai population have this blood type, compared to around 15% of westerners, academic have warned earlier this week.

A panel of experts was tabling the issue during a Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) discussion titled "Death without Donors: Rh-Negative Blood Rarity in Thailand" on Feb 22, reports NNT.

The Phuket Red Cross outreach campaign schedule for blood donations in March was released on Feb 24, two days after the alarming announcement.

Dozens of locations will be available for donors to comfortably donate blood without having to go to Phuket Town, where the office of the Phuket chapter of the Red Cross is located.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club, Dr Issarang Nuchprayoon, adviser to the Thai Red Cross National Blood Center, urged the international community in Thailand to donate blood, as the scarcity of Rh-Negative blood could cause delays in providing assistance to western tourists in emergencies.

Dr Issarang emphasized the need for westerners with Rh-Negative blood to join the effort, as donations from Thai donors alone would not be enough to support the needs of foreign visitors.

"This disparity in numbers may provide challenges for western tourists with this blood type, as in emergencies that require blood transfusions, a scarcity in Thailands Rh-Negative type blood pool may cause assistance to be delayed," Dr Issarang said.

The dates, times and locations for the Phuket Red Cross mobile blood donation centres in March are as follows:

Mar 2  noon-6pm  Central Floresta;

Mar 2  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang;

Mar 4  2pm-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 7  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang;

Mar 7  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 9  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 9  1pm-4pm  JW Marriott Resort & Spa;

Mar 13  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang;

Mar 13  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 14  10am-4pm  Robinson Phuket Town;

Mar 14  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 15  noon-4pm  Makro Rawai;

Mar 15  1pm-5pm  Bangkok Hospital Phuket;

Mar 16  9am-3pm  The Plaza Surin;

Mar 17  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang;

Mar 17  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 20  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang;

Mar 20  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 21  9am-3pm  Rawai Park;

Mar 21  10am-3pm  Cherng Talay OrBorTor;

Mar 22  10am-3pm  Banyan Tree Phuket;

Mar 22  1pm-4pm  Bangkok Hospital Siriroj;

Mar 23  noon-6pm  Lotuss Thalang;

Mar 23  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 24  noon-6pm  Robinson Lifestyle Thalang;

Mar 24  2pm-6pm  Porto de Phuket;

Mar 25  noon-6pm  Lotuss Bypass;

Mar 27  11am-4pm  Central Festival;

Mar 29  1pm-4pm  Diamond Cliff Resort & Spa;

Mar 29  1pm-4pm  Blue Tree Phuket;

Mar 31  10am-15.30pm  Phuket FantaSea.

People can also donate blood directly at the Phuket Red Cross Office in Phuket Town:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday  8:30am to 4:30pm;

Tuesday, Thursday  8:30am to 8pm;

Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays  9am to 3pm;

Telephones  076-251178 ext. 2 or 081-9588854.

Normally Vachira Phuket Hospital organises its own separate outreach campaign, but the schedule for March has not been released yet. People can donate blood at the Blood Bank on the 4th floor of the hospital, located on Yaowarat Rd. in Phuket Town:

Monday to Friday  8:30am to 8pm;

Weekends and holidays  8:30am to 3pm;

Telephone  076-361234 ext 1287.

All blood types are welcome, though Rh-Negative blood is needed critically.
River tubing in Northern Thailand approved by TAT, local authorities

MAE HONG SON: With foreign tourists flocking to Pai district in Mae Hong Son province in search of adventure activities, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has confirmed the safety of the inner tubes floating on the Pai River and their low impact on local communities and the environment.

tourismSafetyenvironment

By Bangkok Post

Saturday 25 February 2023, 05:33PM

Tourists float along the Pai River in tubes in a video clip that went viral on TikTok earlier this week. Photo: Bangkok Post

A video clip showing more than a hundred foreign tourists tubing along Pai River went viral on TikTok and social media earlier this week, reports Bangkok Post.

Phanuwat Khatnak, Director of TATs Mae Hong Son office, said safety regulations for this activity included a limit of 150 participants per tubing and a minimum of one employee per 12 participants, with life jackets provided to everyone.

Sound amplifiers and alcoholic drinks are prohibited* to minimise noise, which would impact locals along the river. The operators also need to collect any waste produced by participants.

Mr Phanuwat said these regulations were created at a meeting of the TAT Mae Hong Son office, Mae Hong Son police, and private tourism operators in November last year. If the rules are not followed, the province will ban operators from providing these activities in the future.

According to Mr Phanuwat, river tubing had been taking place for many years, but only gained popularity among foreign tourists last year after Thailand reopened its borders.

Tubing is offered to tourists only from November to May when the water level is low, roughly 50 centimetres or waist level, which is deemed safe for playing. The activity is prohibited during the rainy season as the water level can reach 2-3 metres.

Mae Hong Son welcomed more than 190,000 visitors last month, of which 20% were foreign tourists, according to TAT. The province is expected to welcome 1.6 million visitors this year, with foreign travellers increasing to 30% of the total in 2023. In 2022, the number of visitors to the province tallied 1.5mn thanks to a surge in domestic tourists, accounting for 80% of the total.

TAT Mae Hong Son is promoting the province via local village experiences, wellness retreats, and road trips to the province via its "dragon trail" of 4,088 curves on the highway from Chiang Mai. The province is also popular among bikers from Malaysia and Singapore.

*The Phuket News editors are aware that travel blogers promote the activity as tipsy tubing. TAT claims that drinking alcohol is prohibited to participants.
Thailand joins call for end of war, withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine

BANGKOK: Foreign affairs scholars said Thailand made the right decision in supporting the UNs resolution calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and demanding Russias immediate withdrawal from the country. Thailand had abstained on the two previous UN resolutions condemning Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but joined 140 other countries on Feb 23 when the General Assembly approved its third resolution. Countries which voted against the resolution are limited to Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, and Syria.

UkraineRussiandeath

By Bangkok Post

Saturday 25 February 2023, 09:06AM

In total 141 countries supported the third resolution on Feb 23. Those voting against were limited to Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, and Syria. Image: UN / Twitter

A Ukrainian girl holds up her national flag on Friday (Feb 24) at an event held in front of the Ukrainian embassy in Bangkok. Photo: Apichart Jinakul / Bangkok Post

With any de-escalation of the tensions, Thailand stands to gain economically while the elected government after the next poll will win more international recognition for the decision to back the UN resolution, reports Bangkok Post.

Virot Ali, an international relations academic at Thammasat University, said that Thailands vote in support of the UN resolution represented a departure from its previously neutral stance.

Since international pressure is mounting and Thailand is now in election mode with the transition of its power structure, the kingdom has now attached importance to its relations with other countries and its efforts to revitalise the economy, he said.

"With these factors at play, the country has to take sides. Thailand will not benefit from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Efforts to end the conflict will at least ease geopolitical tensions and the energy price crisis," he said.

"We can no longer resist international pressure over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. We have no other option but to join calls for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, Mr Virot said.

"As long as the conflict continues, it is likely that China and the US will also join the fray, which could deal a blow to Thailand.

"Defusing the Russia-Ukraine tensions would put Thailand at an advantage," he said.

Mr Virot added that the impact of the Russia-Uraine war on the global energy situation would also stunt Thailands economic growth.

As the general election, tentatively scheduled for May 7, is approaching, Thailand also wanted to show the world at the UN meeting that the country acted in line with international principles, suggesting that the poll will be held in line with democratic values.

"In light of this, an elected government will gain more legitimacy in the eyes of the international community," he said.

Panitan Wattanayagorn, an ex-international relations scholar at Chulalongkorn University, echoed the view that Thailands support of the UN resolution has underscored its commitment to respecting international laws, the UNs role in the conflict, and the principle of nonaggression

Since Thailand is among the 141 countries supporting the UN resolution, Thailand can avoid being singled out for confronting Russia as well as its allies such as China and India, he said.

The UN resolution would also help de-escalate tensions among Western powers while the country would benefit from selling agricultural goods and finding cheaper sources of energy more easily.

The UN voted overwhelmingly on Thursday (Feb 23) to demand Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, marking the one-year anniversary of the war with a call for a "just and lasting" peace.

Ukraine earned strong backing in a nonbinding vote that saw 141 of the 193 UN members in support, seven opposed and 32, including China and India, abstaining.

Coming on the eve of the first anniversary of the brutal war, support for Kyiv has little-changed from that of last October when 143 countries voted to condemn Russias declared annexation of four Ukraine regions.

"This vote shows that the international community stands with Ukraine," said European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Suriya Chindawongse, permanent representative of Thailand to the UN, delivered a speech before the UN vote, calling on all parties to step up diplomatic efforts to engage in dialogue to achieve a peaceful negotiated settlement as an exit to the Ukraine conflict.
Sweden, which holds the presidency of the European Council, officially announces the adoption of the tenth package of sanctions for Russia.

Its one year since Russias brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine. Today, the EU approved the 10th package of Russian sanctions, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU said on its Twitter page.

At the same time, it is clarified that the package includes, for example, tougher export restrictions on dual-use and technologies, targeted restrictive measures against individuals and legal entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia in the war, as well as measures against Russian disinformation.

"Together, the EU Member States have imposed the most forceful and far-reaching sanctions ever to help Ukraine win the war. The EU stands united with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will keep supporting Ukraine, for as long as it takes.," the message reads.
Retro Roundup's favourite offerings from the Swedish Fab Four, Abba, will have to wait until next week, because I have to revel in one of our favourite topics  surround sound and how to hear it without breaking the bank, finding ancient equipment on eBay and disturbing one's neighbours.

Item #1-Quadraphonic sound: This was the first, failed, attempt at enabling people to hear surround sound at home. Whereas we now have five speakers plus a subwoofer (5.1), 7.1 and Dolby Atmos sound with ceiling speakers or soundbars that direct sound upwards, quadraphonic involved a more modest four speakers.

The format failed for at least two reason, one being different non-compatible formats. One record company behemoth, Columbia, used SQ (Stereo Quadraphonic), while another, RCA Victor, as well as the Warner Bros. group of labels and others, used CD-4, which was more discrete but was said to wear out vinyl more quickly. A couple of the most famous quad albums were Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, whose Alan Parsons quad mix is highly acclaimed  this album was made for that format with its many sound effects; and Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii live album, which was a #1 hit in quad, primarily because it was only released that way in the U.S.

I regretted missing this era when I was 10 to 12 years old or so, but I also realize the format issue would have been a problem and setting up a system was pricey.

A second problem was that not all quad mixes were great. Some were too gimmicky and others just had echo or reverb in the back speakers.

Even so, in the 1980s, I bought some quad albums even though I only had a stereo system. The two most notable was an Aretha Franklin best-of, which contained very different versions of Chain Of Fools (with an extended introduction and extra backing vocals) and Rock Steady (with extra, very atmospheric instrumentation and a cold ending rather than a fadeout), and Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits, which contained multi-channel mixes of three songs that were in fake stereo on the original LP. I even bought a Japanese instrumental album that had exceptionally clean sound.

But I still pined to hear the real thing. I did so by buying the DTS CD of Paul McCartney and Wings' Venus and Mars, which was released in quad in 1975. I was not terribly impressed  the sound was a bit messy and there were too many mixing variations.

But that DTS CD prompted my current state of surround heaven.

I later learned that many enterprising people had created bootleg DVDs containing quadraphonic albums which are playable on DVD players via the DTS surround format. That solves the original format issue from the 1970s.

Still, I was not desperate enough to get these DVDs. I did burn a DVD version of a Carpenters-best of in 5.1 surround, though.

Then, I made a major discovery, a YouTube channel called Quadraphonic & 5.1 Music, which contains dozens of original quadraphonic albums from reel-to-reels, LPs and 8-track tapes. The creator of the channel provides direction on how to hear these albums in surround sound, via a PC and several speakers. But I don't have room for several speakers in my listening space from my computer.

Then I realized something. Those YouTube video were from those bootleg DTS DVDs mentioned above, and they're also on YouTube Music, which I subscribe to. Then I realized something else. My car has a DTS Neural seven-speaker system. Perhaps I could hear these albums in true surround sound in my car.

And that is the case. Of the ones I've heard so far, Janis Joplin's Pearl album is a revelation, with wonderful expansive sound and very high fidelity. Miles Davis's classic Bitches Brew album is also excellent quadwise, but the music is not exactly my cup of tea. Jim Croce's Life and Times album is an extremely pleasant listen that doesn't go crazy gimmick-wise. A Nina Simone best-of is kind of weird  the first two songs have no sound in the back speakers except for tape hiss, the third song has a harmonica part that flies all over my car, and the fourth song has Simone's vocal moving from speaker to speaker.

Two Elvis Presley live albums are from inferior sources, but the aforementioned Aloha album is quite nice, with the audience and some instrumentation in the back speakers. The worst by far is a Tommy James and the Shondells best-of, which seems to use a different type of mixing for each track. Two mono tracks, reprocessed for quad, sound very unpleasant, especially Hanky Panky, which is from a noisy vinyl source and is quite distorted. Better to hear these great songs in mono and stereo.

On the whole though, I'm very happy to finally be able to hear these albums in surround sound.

Item #2- I'm also in surround heaven thanks to Netflix, which has added spatial audio to hundreds of movies (mostly the streamer's original productions) to great effect, thanks to the company Sennheiser and its 3D audio system Ambeo, which is also used for very highly-acclaimed and pricey soundbars. I had to upgrade my plan to Premium to access it. Using pretty good quality stereo headphones, I can now hear a miniature version of what I hear in a movie theatre with good quality speakers.

And, of course, I'm still hearing an interesting soundstage on many recordings on my Samsung Android, and a simulation of sound behind me from my Sony boombox-type stereo on several songs, thanks to what is likely sound reflections in my listening space.

It's a very happy time right now.

Next week: The promised Abba favourites.
UK, France and Germany propose to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and NATO after war end even if Kyiv unable to deoccupy all its territories  media

Representatives of the governments of Great Britain, France and Germany are considering the possibility of strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and NATO after the end of the war, even if Kyiv cannot regain control of all the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russians, The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to journalists, this is due to the fact that some Western partners doubt the possibility of the Ukrainian army to liberate the entire territory of the country from Russian invaders, including the Crimean Peninsula.

It is noted that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week outlined a plan for an agreement to provide Ukraine with much wider access to modern military equipment, weapons and ammunition for self-defense after the end of the war.

Sunak stressed that this plan should be included in the agenda of the annual meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in July.

According to French, German and British officials, a year after the start of the war, Paris and Berlin also support this initiative, and all three governments see it as a way to increase confidence in Ukraine and give the country's government an incentive to start negotiations with Russia, the message says.

It clarifies that officials cautiously stated that any decision on when and under what conditions peace talks will begin depends entirely on Ukraine.

But public rhetoric hides the deepening doubts of UK, French and German politicians that Ukraine will be able to expel Russians from the eastern regions and Crimea, which Russia has controlled since 2014, the ezine reports.

At the same time, journalists point out that such rhetoric sharply contrasts with the public comments of President Biden and other Western leaders, who this week called for unity in opposing Russian aggression.

The publication adds that Washington believes that after the war, Ukraine should have enough weapons to deter any attack by the Russian Federation in the future.
Job Title: Travel Advisor

Organisation: Kenya Airways

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About US:

Kenya Airways, a member of the Sky Team Alliance, is a leading African airline flying to 54 destinations worldwide, 44 of which are in Africa and carries over four million passengers annually. The airline was recently voted the Leading Airline in Africa by passengers in the World Travel Awards. It has also been voted the Leading Airline in Africa  Business Class four years in a row.

Job Summary: Reporting to Lead Travel Advisor  Uganda, the ideal candidate will provide the Uganda team with sale of airline tickets/EMDs, customer service and Advisory on travel requirements and regulations to customers.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Key responsibilities will include; Ticketing Locate available flights; Check on best connections if more than one flight is involved, determine fare costs to maximize on revenue while helping passengers to save.

Help customers find the right itinerary that fit their needs; apply upgrades on additional costs to generate more revenue.

Provide with details and accurate fare quotes to all KQ clients to provide the best applicable fare and generate revenue.

In charge of handling unaccompanied minors, cancel or change reservations when requested by clients, reissue, revalidate tickets and collect applicable fees thus generate income.

Action queues appropriately and inform passengers on flight changes, confirmations, ticketing time limits, handle special requests like seats preference, meals, baggage requirements waitlists and confirmations, to ensure customers requests are met and reduce GDS costs.

Highlight to customers the legal requirements covering their journey such as passports, visa, and health requirements, check in place, departure time and baggage allowance to avoid inconveniencing the passengers and ensure seamless service.

Action VMPDS, selling excess baggage, handling cool fliers (student fares) to increase sales and passenger loyalty.

Correct CRS usage and queue management to reduce cost and increase revenue generation.

Customer Service Actively build relationships with clients by offering good customer service to retain and recruit new customers.

Support travel agents by efficiently assisting them with their general enquiries to improve relationship with the travel market and increase agents loyalty.

Providing online assistance for reservation, check in, payment to maximize sales and ensure customer satisfaction.

Actively involved in suggesting new ideas and providing recommendations on the improvement of services provided, this increases revenue and ensures KQ success as market leading airline.

Handle customers complaints (denied boarding, baggage e.t.c) to ensure customer satisfaction and retention

Facilitate and coordinate tracing of lost, delayed, or misdirected baggage for customers and ensure safe delivery of the said baggage to win passengers confidence.

Handling GSA services Ticket issue to increasing KQ network through joint ventures. Handle flight schedule disruptions to ensure passengers have a seamless service throughout their journey and Carry out service recovery.

Handle general inquiries for both internal and external customers and develop and maintain customer database to enhance customer loyalty and market intelligence.

Documentation Reconciling of sales returns to account for personal daily sales. Processing refund and ensuring passengers are advised accordingly on the amount refundable for reimbursement on unutilized tickets.

Writing of miscellaneous charge orders (MCO) and invoicing to ensure timely and accurate payment of issued ticket to both direct and indirect corporate.

Sales Generate auxiliary revenue through sale of Travel insurance, KQ holiday packages and any other ancillary products that are available.

Sell KQ products through telephone, e-mails to maximize on sales and enhance accessibility.









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

Must have Basic Airline fare and ticketing training.

One to two years of experience in a sales role will be an added advantage.

Sound knowledge of domestic & international travel requirements/trend/availability.

Exemplary sales skill and customer-oriented approach.

Good knowledge of computer reservation systems (CRS).

Ability to interact, communicate negotiate effectively.

Solution oriented.

Passion about travel and tourism.

Fluency in English/multi-lingual. Initiative and proactiveness.

How to Apply:

All candidates who wish to join Kenya Airways should submit their copies of detailed Curriculum Vita online at the link below.

Click Here-> (Select Sales Jobs) -> Travel Advisor  Uganda

Deadline: 9th March 2023

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Kuleba on Chinas peace plan: We disagree with at least one point

Ukraine does not agree with at least one point of the Chinese peace plan to end the war, but the document is still being studied, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"We saw the final version of the plan last night. We agree with some of its elements. But there is at least one element that we disagree with, the one concerning unilateral sanctions. We believe that sanctions are an important tool. Overall it is an interesting document, Kuleba said after a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.

The minister stressed again that we have to go through it from start to end and make our own conclusions."

It's good that China has presented their position, a comprehensive view of this war, the Foreign Minister added.

Kuleba also noted that yesterday 141 countries voted for a resolution defining the principles and key elements of how the war in Ukraine should end.

And everything that is proposed outside of this resolution must comply with it," he said.

As reported, on February 24, China presented a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, consisting of 12 points.

In the document posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first paragraph reads respecting the sovereignty of all countries. Universally recognized international law, including the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, must be strictly observed. The sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld, the text reads.

Abandoning the Cold War mentality. The security of a country should not be pursued at the expense of others. The security of a region should not be achieved by strengthening or expanding military blocs, the second item reads.

China's other proposals include a cessation of hostilities.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of the resolution "Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine", the draft of which was submitted by 57 countries, including Ukraine.

According to the resolution, the General Assembly reiterates its demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and calls for the cessation of hostilities.

The resolution also calls for an immediate end to attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure and any deliberate attacks on civilian targets, including residential buildings, schools and hospitals.

China abstained from voting for the resolution.
The growing crisis at property company Home REIT could saddle Scottish Widows with tens of millions of pounds of losses.

The Edinburgh-based insurer, owned by Lloyds, granted Home REIT a 130 million loan in December 2021 which the company said would be 'instrumental' in supporting growth plans.

Home REIT buys up properties and then lets them out to charities, housing associations and community groups, which provide accommodation for the vulnerable.

The 15-year loan from Scottish Widows is interest-only, meaning the firm is only obliged to pay back the interest, which was just over 2.5 per cent a year, until it is due to repay the capital at the end of the term.

But with Home REIT now in crisis, the risk of default is rising, which could leave Scottish Widows with few options to recover the funds.

Crisis: Home REIT buys up properties and then lets them out to charities, housing associations and community groups, which provide accommodation for the vulnerable

One possibility would be for the insurer to take possession of properties from Home REIT's vast portfolio up to the value of the loan.

But this could be difficult if allegations, denied by Home REIT, that it massively overpaid for many of the houses on its books turn out to be true, meaning their value could be much less than originally thought.

Another issue is the fact many of the properties are already housing vulnerable people, leaving Scottish Widows in a moral quandary about whether to sell the buildings and run the risk of the new owners turfing out the occupants. 'Scottish Widows is facing a dilemma  either it works with the company to address its debt position or it calls in the loans and . . . suddenly acquires a large social housing portfolio,' said Jennifer Morrissey, partner at law firm Harcus Parker which is representing shareholders in a claim against Home REIT.

She added the lender would be faced with the 'huge responsibility' of having to work with the vulnerable people living in the properties 'to ensure they are not made homeless' in the event of Home REIT's collapse. Scottish Widows were contacted for comment

A mounting series of lawsuits is the latest crisis to hit Home REIT after short seller Fraser Perring launched an attack on the firm's business model in November.

The company is locked in disputes with several major tenants who have withheld payments in protest against the conditions of some of the properties.

Trading in its shares has been suspended since the start of the year after the firm failed to publish results on time.

A forensic accountant has been brought in to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.

A boardroom coup is under consideration with Perring saying he has been approached by investors who want him to take charge of the company and turn it around.

The firm has also been targeted in a takeover swoop by London-based investment firm Blue Star Capital, which made an unsolicited offer for the firm.

Its bid vehicle, Bluestar Group Limited, is controlled by director Benoit Gotlieb.

He is involved in running Bluestar Advisors, which is part-owned by Alvarium, the investment firm that originally set up Home REIT.

The connection has been met with scepticism by some investors who believe the bid is being used by Home REIT's board to avoid answering uncomfortable questions about its situation.

Home REIT declined to comment.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg say that China's proposals for peace for Ukraine should be considered in the aspect of Beijing's friendship with Moscow.

They said it at a joint press conference in Tallinn on Friday, when, at the request of journalists, they commented on the relevant issue.

In particular, von der Leyen said: It is not a peace plan, but principles that they shared  You have to see them against a specific backdrop, and that is the backdrop that China has already taken sides by signing, for example, an unlimited friendship right before the invasion. So we will look at the principles, of course, but we will look at them against the backdrop that China has taken sides, she said.

The NATO Secretary General supported this opinion: China doesnt have much credibility () they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Stoltenberg told reporters. Stoltenberg also noted that Beijing had signed an agreement with Russia only days before its invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

Stoltenberg also said that President Putin is not preparing for war he is preparing for the exact opposite, for more war, for more new offensives. Most likely this war at some stage will end at the negotiating table. But if we want a peaceful solution, we need to also realize that what happens around that negotiating table is totally dependent on the strength and the situation on the battlefield. So meaning that if we want a peaceful negotiated solution where Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation, then we need to support Ukraine military now because that's the only way to create the conditions where President Putin realize that he will not win on the battlefield. He has to sit down and accept Ukraine as an independent sovereign nation in Europe. So, military support today is the way to achieve a peaceful agreement tomorrow, the Secretary General outlined his vision of achieving a peaceful solution.
The package of sanctions approved by the EU Council includes restrictions against three Russian banks, on the import of asphalt, synthetic rubber, prohibits the transit of dual-use goods and technologies through Russia, as well as restrictions on seven Iranian manufacturers of UAVs, according to a document distributed in Brussels on Saturday.

Three Russian banks have been added to the list of entities subject to the asset freeze and the prohibition to make funds and economic resources available, the statement reads. It does not specify which banks were placed under sanctions.

The statement also says that the new package of sanctions includes restrictions on the export of important technologies and industrial goods, in particular, electronics, specialized vehicles, for example, snowmobiles, machine parts, spare parts for them, construction goods and structures, goods used in the aviation industry.

In total, the new restrictions apply to exports from the EU in the amount of about EUR 11.4 billion, the statement says. It notes that with today's package, the EU has imposed sanctions on almost half (49%) of its exports to Russia in total.

A ban on the import of asphalt and synthetic rubber is also being introduced, this measure covers imports worth about EUR 1.3 billion.

In addition, transit of dual-use goods and technologies exported from the EU through Russia is prohibited.

Sanctions are also being imposed against seven Iranian enterprises that produce UAVs.

Restrictions are also imposed against the media: broadcasting of the Arab services RT and Sputnik is prohibited in the EU.

In addition, a ban is being introduced on the participation of Russian citizens in the management bodies of companies of critical infrastructure in the EU member states. Another new restrictive measure implies that aircraft operators will have to notify their national competent authorities about irregular flights between the EU and Russia directly or through third countries.

At the same time, as previously reported, 121 individuals and legal entities were added to the new list of sanctions.

Other details about the new measures will be known at a later stage - after publication in the Official Journal of the EU.
Ukraine honored its dead and vowed to keep fighting on Friday while Russia told the world to accept the realities of its war but faced new Western sanctions on the invasions anniversary.

At a ceremony in Kyivs St Sophia Square, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy bestowed medals on soldiers and the mother of one killed. He fought back tears at the national anthem.

We have become one family  Ukrainians have sheltered Ukrainians, opened their homes and hearts to those who were forced to flee the war, he said in a televised address.

We withstand all threats, shelling, cluster bombs, cruise missiles, kamikaze drones, blackouts and cold  And we will do everything to gain victory this year.

Zelenskiy reiterated calls for more Western weaponry and attended an online summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies who pledged to intensify their support.

A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the peoples love of liberty, Biden said on Twitter.

Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never.

Washington announced a new $2 billion package of military aid for Ukraine, and a raft of additional sanctions and tariffs hitting Russias mining and metals industries, as well as companies from third countries accused of supplying Moscow with restricted goods.

However, Biden reiterated in an interview with ABC News that he had no plans to send Ukraine the F-16 fighter jets Zelenskiy has been seeking for months, saying the U.S. does not currently see a rationale for sending the advanced aircraft.

I am ruling it out for now, Biden said.

G7 members Canada and Britain unveiled similar measures, as did the 27-nation European Union, after some hectic last-minute negotiations.

At the same time, Ukraines military said Russia had doubled the number of ships on active duty in the Black Sea on Friday and predicted it could be preparation for more missile strikes.

For Ukrainians, who have spent much of the year in fear and grief and supporting the war effort any way they can, the anniversary meant reflection.

When an innocent persons life is taken before your own eyes, when someone aims at a child, you just ask Why? What for? said Alla Nechyporenko, 50, whose husband was shot dead and 14-year-old son wounded at a Russian checkpoint in Bucha, near Kyiv, early in the war.

In Russia, where publicly criticizing the war is punishable by long prison terms, a human rights group said dozens of people were detained by police for actions to commemorate victims of the invasion, in some cases just for placing flowers.

There were no official public events and the mood was muted.

I really want peace, I really want it all to end as soon as possible, said Vera, a pensioner.

Igor, walking through Moscow, said Russia must win: Were looking forward to it ending successfully. Thats all we can expect. We have no other options.

BLUE AND YELLOW

Ukraines blue and yellow colors lit up the Eiffel Tower, Brandenburg Gate, Empire State Building and Sydney Opera House in a wave of international solidarity.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides are believed to have died since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, saying it was necessary to protect Russias security.

Ukraine sees it as a bid to subjugate an independent state. Its outnumbered and outgunned forces repelled Russias attempt to seize Kyiv early in the war and later recaptured swathes of occupied territory. But Moscow still occupies nearly a fifth of Ukraine, which it claims to have annexed.

Russias foreign ministry said the world should recognize new territorial realities in Ukraine to achieve peace.

Russian troops have destroyed Ukrainian cities, set a third of the population to flight and left behind streets littered with corpses in towns they occupied and lost.

Moscow denies war crimes.

In recent weeks, Russian forces, replenished with hundreds of thousands of conscripts, have waged intense trench warfare, making only small gains despite fighting that both sides call the bloodiest so far.

Putin says he is battling the combined might of the West in a fight for Russias survival. Kyiv says there can be no peace until Russia withdraws.

In the latest reports from the battlefield, Russias Wagner private army, run by a Putin ally who has quarrelled with the regular military brass, claimed to have captured another village on the outskirts of Bakhmut, a small eastern mining city that is the focus of Moscows offensive.

Russia has made clear, if slow, progress towards encircling Bakhmut, but failed to capture it in time to deliver a victory for Putin to announce on the anniversary.

Well be here for as long as needed, as long as we can, said Ivan, a 31-year-old Ukrainian radio operator on the front line near Bakhmut.

Costly Russian assaults have yielded little in the way of advances elsewhere. Ukraine, for its part, is awaiting new Western weapons before starting a counter-attack.

Despite strong support for Ukraine in the West, big developing nations, above all China and India, have kept clear of imposing sanctions on Moscow. At a meeting of finance ministers of the G20 group, which includes Russia, host India made no mention of the conflict.

China, which signed a no limits partnership with Russia just before the war and sent its top diplomat to Moscow this week, called for a ceasefire, sticking to its principle of public neutrality.

Learn more about the Ukraine war. Listen to a special episode of the Reuters World News Podcast.

SOURCE: REUTERS
In Turkeys only remaining ethnic Armenian village, Vakifli, the elderly population thank God that not one of them died during the devastating earthquakes that struck the region. But they fear for the future of their cherished home.

Thirty of the villages 40 stone houses, which are single or double storey and surrounded by orange and lemon orchards, are heavily damaged, and since a third huge earthquake hit, the 130 villagers are without power. They gather at the tea house for shelter and warmth.

Vakifli is all we have, the only Armenian village in Turkey. It is our home. Seeing it like this is breaking my heart, said Masis, a 67-year-old retired jeweller, who moved back to his hometown after spending 17 years in Istanbul.

This village is tiny and our children mostly prefer to live in Istanbul This is the only home weve ever known. After this disaster, I dont know how long it will take for the village to be rebuilt. I get really scared that most people will leave and the village will be abandoned, he added.

Masis, who gave only his first name, vowed to stay as long as it takes to reconstruct.

Vakifli sits on Moses mountain in the province of Hatay, overlooking Samandag, a city on the western edge of Turkeys long border with Syria. Villagers speak to each other in a local Armenian dialect, known as Moses Mountain Armenian, which is diluted with Arabic and Turkish words.

Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim but hosts some ancient Christian communities  dwindling remnants of sizeable populations that lived in the Muslim-led but multi-ethnic, multi-faith Ottoman Empire, predecessor to modern Turkey.

Today, Turkey and Armenia are at odds primarily over the 1.5 million people Armenia says were killed in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire. 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.

Last week Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said humanitarian aid sent by Armenia for quake victims could boost efforts to normalise their relations.

TERRIFYING DARKNESS

Berc Kartun, the village head of Vakifli, said his two-storey house had been split open sideways and he was waiting for building inspectors. He had nowhere to store his valuables from the house, he added, sipping Turkish coffee in a paper cup outside the teahouse.

Armen Hergel, 64, said she has got used to living in the teahouse, which has a small generator and which she dubbed the Hilton, but the power outage in the village was a real problem.

We need heating. We are trying to stay warm by drinking tea but the nights are cold and really scary in pitch darkness, with constant aftershocks.

She was visiting her daughter in Istanbul when the first two quakes struck. She returned to Vakifli to tidy up.

We thought the earthquakes had stopped Then the third one hit on Monday evening and the damage was so much worse. Now our house is uninhabitable and we live half the time in the tea house and half the time in the tent.

Women and men work together in the small kitchen, making soup and rice.

Close to the edge of the village stands the Holy Mother of God Armenian church.

Pastor Avedis Tabasyan said the third quake had caused the most damage. The churchs stone walls had fallen down and the baptismal font was broken. An altar cloth with embroidered pictures of Mary and Jesus was strewn with pieces of paint from the ceiling. Since the Feb. 6 quake, no Mass has been said.

We were planning to renovate God has shown us a different way to fix and renew our beloved place, he said.

Can, a 26-year-old man, makes wine in the village, which is mostly sold to tourists.

I studied winemaking in northern Turkey to spend my life here. Now that everything has to be demolished and rebuilt, I have no idea when we will get back on our feet, he said.

SOURCE: REUTERS
[February 24, 2023] Juicer Market : APAC will account for 41% of market growth, Driven by rapid urbanization and changing consumer lifestyles- Technavio

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Technavio, the global juicer market size is estimated to decline by USD 2346.13 million from 2022 to 2027. The market is estimated to decline at a CAGR of 18.41% during the forecast period. APAC will account for 41% of the market's growth during the forecast period. For more insights on the historic (2017 to 2021) and forecast market size (2022 to 2027) Request a sample report Leading trends influencing the market The rising focus on manufacturing energy-efficient and lightweight juicers is a key trend in the global juicer market. This is due to the increasing demand for products that are energy-efficient and involve fewer emissions of harmful substances and less noise pollution.

is a key trend in the global juicer market. This is due to the increasing demand for products that are energy-efficient and involve fewer emissions of harmful substances and less noise pollution. The growing adoption of smart juicers, which are user-friendly, aesthetically appealing, and available with various features, is also a trend influencing the demand for the market.

The increasing online retail sales, which increased product visibility, coupled with the availability of a wide product portfolio, has contributed to the growth of online retail channels.

Know more - Buy The Report! Juicer Market - Segmentation Assessment Segment Overview Technavio has segmented the market based on type, Product (Centrifugal juicer, Masticating juicer, and Triturating juicer), End-user (Residential and Commercial), and Geography (APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The centrifugal juicer segment will be significant for the market's growth during the forecast period. Centrifugal juicers are preferred in small-scale juice making as they are easy to manage and clean. Masticating juicers, also known as cold-press juicers, are widely adopted in commercial applications because of their ability to retain the nutrients in the juice. Geography Overview By geography, the global juicer market is segmented into APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global juicer market. APAC is estimated to contribute 41% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. Western Europe is a major market in focus for vendors because of the increasing demand for nutrient-dense fresh juices, especially organic juices, in the region during the forecast period. The juicer market in North America is dominated by the US owing to the rising demand for healthy beverages such as fruit and vegetable juices. The awareness among consumers about the health benefits of consuming fruit and vegetable juices containing functional ingredients is driving the juicer market in the Middle East . The juicer market in Africa is expected to grow moderately due to the low spending capacity of people in the region. The market in South America is expected to register a significant increase in growth rate during the forecast period. Get a glance of the market contribution of various segments including country and region wise - Download a Sample Report Juicer Market  Market Dynamics Key factor driving market growth The rising urbanization and changing consumer lifestyles in developing countries in APAC have resulted in a significant increase in the growth of the market.

in developing countries in APAC have resulted in a significant increase in the growth of the market. The rise in the number of juice bars due to the increase in health consciousness among the younger generation worldwide is a major driver of the market.

The rise in discretionary income of consumers is leading to an increase in the annual household expenses in several regions of the world which consequently drives value sales in the global juicer market during the forecast period. Major challenges hindering market growth The fluctuations in raw material prices and operational costs directly impact the price of the juicer and the profit margins of manufacturers.

directly impact the price of the juicer and the profit margins of manufacturers. For instance, fuel prices in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries are fluctuating. An increase in crude oil prices will also lead to a rise in the cost of fuel for transportation.

The global juicer market also witnesses several counterfeit products.

The Stringent regulations and standards related to energy use, product description, packaging or labeling, hazards or safety issues for users, and the product lifecycle is also one of the major challenges to the market.

Consumers are increasingly preferring premium ready-to-drink juice products and are displaying a tendency to switch to convenient and time-saving methods to attain good health. This is leading to the international providers of packaged juices like Del Monte Food Inc. ( Del Monte ), and Tropicana Products Inc. (Tropicana) launching new products because of increasing growth opportunities in this segment.

), and Tropicana Products Inc. (Tropicana) launching new products because of increasing growth opportunities in this segment. For instance, Anand Milk Union Ltd. (Amul), an Indian dairy company, entered the packaged juice market, in March 2019 , by launching Tru. Such products are easy to make and cost-effective, which reduces the popularity of juicers among consumers. Driver, Trend & Challenges are the factor of market dynamics that states about consequences & sustainability of the businesses, find some insights from a sample report! What are the key data covered in this Juicer Market report? CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the Juicer Market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the Juicer 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 Juicer Market industry across APAC, Europe , North America , Middle East and Africa , and South America

, , 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 Juicer Market vendors Gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Related Reports: The juices market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.55% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 104.21 billion. The advantages of cold-pressed juice over traditional juice are making these products more popular among users. The cold-pressed juices market in the US size is expected to increase by USD 11.67 billion from 2020 to 2025, and the market's growth momentum will decelerate at a CAGR of 7.22%. The growth of organized retailing in the US is one of the key factors driving the growth of the cold-pressed juices market in the US.







Juicer Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 168 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Decelerate at a CAGR of 18.41% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 2346.13 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 26.56 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 41% Key countries US, China, India, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled AB Electrolux, Bajaj Electricals Ltd., Borosil Ltd., Breville USA Inc., Cuisinart, DeLonghi Spa, Donlim, Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co., Havells India Ltd., Hurom America Inc., Joyoung Co. Ltd., Koninklijke Philips NV, Kuvings, Midea India Pvt. Ltd., Newell Brands Inc., Omega Juicers, Panasonic Holdings Corp., SEB SA Co., Treasure Retail Pvt. Ltd., and TTK Prestige Ltd. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, 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.

Browse for Technavio's consumer discretionary market reports Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning 2 Market Landscape 2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics 3 Market Sizing 3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition 3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments 3.3 Market size 2022 3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 4 Historic Market Size 4.1 Global juicer market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global juicer market 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.3 End-user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  End-user Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 5 Five Forces Analysis 5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027 5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027 5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027 5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027 5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027 5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027 5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027 6 Market Segmentation by Product 6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%) 6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Product 6.3 Centrifugal juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Centrifugal juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Centrifugal juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Centrifugal juicer - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Centrifugal juicer - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 6.4 Masticating juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Masticating juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Masticating juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Masticating juicer - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Masticating juicer - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 6.5 Triturating juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Triturating juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Triturating juicer - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Triturating juicer - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Triturating juicer - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 6.6 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 46: Market opportunity by Product ($ million) 7 Market Segmentation by End-user 7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 47: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%) 7.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 49: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Comparison by End-user 7.3 Residential - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on Residential - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Residential - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Residential - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Residential - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 7.4 Commercial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Commercial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Commercial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Commercial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Commercial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 7.5 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 59: Market opportunity by End-user ($ million) 8 Customer Landscape 8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 60: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria 9 Geographic Landscape 9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 61: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%) 9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 63: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Geographic comparison 9.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 65: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 69: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.5 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 81: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 87: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 88: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 91: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.10 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 95: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 97: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 98: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 99: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 100: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.12 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 103: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 105: Market opportunity by geography ($ million) 10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 10.1 Market drivers 10.2 Market challenges 10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 106: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027 10.4 Market trends 11 Vendor Landscape 11.1 Overview 11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 107: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation 11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 108: Overview on factors of disruption 11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 109: Impact of key risks on business 12 Vendor Analysis 12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 110: Vendors covered 12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 111: Matrix on vendor position and classification 12.3 AB Electrolux

Exhibit 112: AB Electrolux - Overview



Exhibit 113: AB Electrolux - Business segments



Exhibit 114: AB Electrolux - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: AB Electrolux - Segment focus 12.4 Bajaj Electricals Ltd.

Exhibit 116: Bajaj Electricals Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 117: Bajaj Electricals Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 118: Bajaj Electricals Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 119: Bajaj Electricals Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 120: Bajaj Electricals Ltd. - Segment focus 12.5 Breville USA Inc.

Inc. Exhibit 121: Breville USA Inc. - Overview

Inc. - Overview

Exhibit 122: Breville USA Inc. - Product / Service

Inc. - Product / Service

Exhibit 123: Breville USA Inc. - Key offerings 12.6 Cuisinart

Exhibit 124: Cuisinart - Overview



Exhibit 125: Cuisinart - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: Cuisinart - Key offerings 12.7 DeLonghi Spa

Exhibit 127: DeLonghi Spa - Overview



Exhibit 128: DeLonghi Spa - Business segments



Exhibit 129: DeLonghi Spa - Key news



Exhibit 130: DeLonghi Spa - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: DeLonghi Spa - Segment focus 12.8 Donlim

Exhibit 132: Donlim - Overview



Exhibit 133: Donlim - Product / Service



Exhibit 134: Donlim - Key offerings 12.9 Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co.

Exhibit 135: Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co. - Overview



Exhibit 136: Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co. - Product / Service



Exhibit 137: Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co. - Key news



Exhibit 138: Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co. - Key offerings 12.10 Hurom America Inc.

Exhibit 139: Hurom America Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 140: Hurom America Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 141: Hurom America Inc. - Key offerings 12.11 Joyoung Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 142: Joyoung Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 143: Joyoung Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 144: Joyoung Co. Ltd. - Key offerings 12.12 Koninklijke Philips NV

Exhibit 145: Koninklijke Philips NV - Overview



Exhibit 146: Koninklijke Philips NV - Business segments



Exhibit 147: Koninklijke Philips NV - Key news



Exhibit 148: Koninklijke Philips NV - Key offerings



Exhibit 149: Koninklijke Philips NV - Segment focus 12.13 Kuvings

Exhibit 150: Kuvings - Overview



Exhibit 151: Kuvings - Product / Service



Exhibit 152: Kuvings - Key offerings 12.14 Midea India Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 153: Midea India Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 154: Midea India Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 155: Midea India Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings 12.15 Newell Brands Inc.

Exhibit 156: Newell Brands Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 157: Newell Brands Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 158: Newell Brands Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 159: Newell Brands Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 160: Newell Brands Inc. - Segment focus 12.16 Omega Juicers

Exhibit 161: Omega Juicers - Overview



Exhibit 162: Omega Juicers - Product / Service



Exhibit 163: Omega Juicers - Key offerings 12.17 SEB SA Co.

Exhibit 164: SEB SA Co. - Overview



Exhibit 165: SEB SA Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 166: SEB SA Co. - Key news



Exhibit 167: SEB SA Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 168: SEB SA Co. - Segment focus 13 Appendix 13.1 Scope of the report 13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 169: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 170: Exclusions checklist 13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 171: Currency conversion rates for US$ 13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 172: Research methodology



Exhibit 173: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 174: Information sources 13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 175: List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/ View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/juicer-market--apac-will-account-for-41-of-market-growth-driven-by-rapid-urbanization-and-changing-consumer-lifestyles--technavio-301754401.html SOURCE Technavio

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[February 25, 2023] Ten 5G SA Highlights Progressively Help Operators Unlock Greater Value in 5G

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The worldwide buildout of 5G is gathering pace. GSMA reports that about 240 5G networks have been commercially deployed around the world, among which 5G SA networks account for just 15% (36). During the early stage of 5G network construction, many operators choose 5G NSA because they want to quickly roll out 5G networks. With the large-scale deployment of 5G, the industry is shifting focus from network construction to user and service development. 5G networks must be well built and leveraged. As the target 5G architecture, 5G SA can offer better user experience and bring more commercial value to operators. The industry is focusing on the 5G SA thanks to its 10 highlights. Less Investment Required for 4G In 5G NSA networking, frequent service fallback to 4G networks causes congestion on 4G networks. The 5G SA network architecture was introduced to reduce service fallback triggered by 5G network access failures (caused by small-packet service fallback and short-time data transmission) and by 5G connection release for VoLTE services. This effectively relieves 4G network pressure caused by service fallback, reduces congested cells, and lowers operators' investments in capacity expansion for congested cells. Power Conserved for LTE The 5G SA network architecture increases the traffic offloaded to 5G networks. Statistical data on live networks shows that the base station power consumption can be reduced by 4% each time the 5G offloading ratio increases by 10%. As such, the 5G SA network architecture helps operators effectively reduce the power consumption of base stations. Virtual Private Networks for Industries Operators can provide virtual private networks for industries based on enhanced 5G SA capabilities, such as UL CL, 5G LAN, dual fed and selective receiving, and slicing. These networks  featuring large uplink bandwidth, stable latency, and massive connections  can play key roles in the core production, helping enterprises improve efficincy and achieve digital transformation.



Device Costs Lowered with RedCap RedCap is a new technical protocol launched by 3GPP Release 17 for 5G applications that are insensitive to the service rate and latency. It reduces the complexity of conventional 5G terminals while keeping the original service performance, achieving a good balance between network performance and terminal costs. It can be widely applied to scenarios such as wearable devices, industrial sensors, and video content analysis.

Experience Monetization Accelerated with Differentiated Service Assurance Priority-based service experience management for single users is evolved to differentiated service management. This allows operators to launch packages for different levels of service flow assurance, increase the ARPU, stimulate network traffic, and accelerate experience monetization. Through the 5G NF  NWDAF, closed-loop user experience assurance is achieved. That is, for users who have subscribed to specific services, the NWDAF can perform real-time experience awareness, intelligent analysis, and dynamic on-demand assurance. As such, differentiated service experience can be delivered to high-value users. Superlative VoNR Calling Experience VoNR adopts the Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) codec, and can therefore provide better voice quality. It increases the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) by 12% and shortens the call setup delay, greatly improving the security and quality of calls. VoNR is expected to bring users a fully immersive and interactive calling experience. 20% Power Saved for Mobile Phones In NSA networking, mobile phones need to stay connected to both 5G NR and 4G LTE networks. While in SA networking, they connect to only the 5G NR network, cutting power consumption by about 20%. Access Latency Shortened by 360 ms In NSA networking, 4G and 5G base stations coexist. When a UE accesses an NR cell, it needs to pass through the LTE cell, neighboring NR cell, and NR cell, leading to an access latency of about 400 ms. In contrast, the access latency in SA networks is only about 40 ms due to fewer air interface control negotiations and the RRC inactive mode. Uplink Bandwidth Doubled For a device that supports dual-channel transmission, it can use two transmission channels for uplink NR data transmission in an SA network. By contrast, there is only one channel exclusively used for NR transmission in an NSA network, because the other channel is used for LTE. 5G Signal Icon Always Displayed In SA mode, mobile phones are always connected to the 5G NR network and the 5G signal icon is always displayed on the mobile phones. This brings much better user experience compared with frequent shifts between 4G and 5G icons along with the NSA-SA network switching. The 5G SA industry is becoming increasingly mature. According to Deloitte, the number of mobile network operators investing in 5G SA networks is estimated to double by the end of 2023. MWC 2023 will run from February 27 to March 2 in Barcelona, Spain. At the conference, Huawei will showcase innovative services and experience solutions, and release innovative 5.5G core network products and solutions. Huawei will continue to innovate, to help operators develop 5G users and services, achieve business success, and additionally, bring optimal service experience to users. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ten-5g-sa-highlights-progressively-help-operators-unlock-greater-value-in-5g-301756028.html

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[February 25, 2023] Masdar Inaugurates 200MW Baynouna Solar Park, the Largest of Its Kind in Jordan

The Baynouna Solar Park produces over 560 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy annually  enough to power 160,000 homes

Project helping Jordan to achieve objective of meeting 50 percent of electricity needs from renewables by 2030

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber , Chairman of Masdar and COP28 President-Designate, hails role project is playing in keeping 1.5 degrees warming target in sight and in providing jobs and economic opportunities for Kingdom

COP28 UAE will focus on moving from goals to implementation, with a clear focus on demonstrable action, mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance ABU DHABI, UAE, Feb. 25, 2023 /CNW/ -- The Baynouna Solar Energy Company (BSCE), a joint venture between the UAE's world-leading renewable energy company, Masdar, and Finnish investment and asset management group Taaleri, has announced the formal inauguration of the 200-megawatt (MW) Baynouna Solar Park  the largest clean energy project in Jordan. The inauguration was held in the presence of His Excellency Bisher Al-Khasawneh, Prime Minister of Jordan, and was attended by HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Chairman of Masdar; HE Dr Saleh Al Kharabsheh, Jordan's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources; and HE Sheikh Khalifa Bin Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, UAE Ambassador to Jordan. The ceremony was also attended by other high-level officials from the government of Jordan and senior executives from Masdar. HE Al Jaber, said, "In partnership with the Jordanian government, the Baynouna Solar Park will contribute to Jordan's climate targets, provide access to clean energy, create jobs and ensure economic growth. Along with our other project here  the Tafila Wind Farm  Masdar is already helping Jordan to produce 29 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and will support its goal of increasing that to 50 percent by the end of the decade. Ambitious, transformative partnerships like these are precisely what we need if we are to deliver on the promise of the Paris Agreement and continue to ensure that we are holding back emissions, not progress. COP28 will focus on moving from goals to implementation, with a clear focus on demonstrable action on mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance, as we aim to keep the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees alive." HE Dr Saleh Al Kharabsheh, Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, said, "Under the directive of His Majesty King Abdullah II to make Jordan a regional center for green development, the Ministry is focused on developing local energy sources to achieve energy security, enhance self-reliance and limit the effects of climate change. If we look at the world today, we see that rnewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, are the fastest growing and widespread renewable energy sources and the time has come to maximize the benefits of renewables."



Developed through a power purchase agreement between Masdar and National Electric Power Company, Jordan's state electricity provider, the Baynouna Solar Park produces over 560 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy annually  enough to power 160,000 homes. The plant also displaces 360,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to taking nearly 80,000 cars off the road. HE Sheikh Khalifa Bin Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary representative of the UAE to Jordan, said, "This inauguration is a landmark moment in the history of our two nations and will serve to strengthen the already powerful relationship between us. The UAE is committed to helping our brother nations in the region achieve their clean energy objectives and we stand ready to share our expertise further with the Government and people of Jordan and to help deliver sustainable economic development."

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer, Masdar, said, "We are proud to witness the inauguration of this project, which is one of the fruits of Masdar's long collaborative partnership with Jordan. We would like to thank our partners in Government, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the National Electric Power Company of Jordan, and also the financial institutions that helped to make this project possible. We stand ready to support Jordan in its energy transition and will look to increase our presence in the Kingdom through the development of further clean energy projects that will drive economic growth for the nation." Financial institutions that supported the Baynouna project include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the KfW Group's DEG, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Peter Ramsay, Chief Executive Officer, Taaleri Group, said, "We are very excited to be inaugurating the largest solar park in Jordan. This impressive project is a testament to the strength of cooperation between Masdar and Taaleri, two pioneers who have been active in the renewable energy field for a long time. We are proud to advance our common global climate change mitigation goals together with our partners and investors." Masdar also operates the 117 MW Tafila Wind Farm, which was completed in 2015  the first commercial utility-scale wind project in the Middle East. In November 2022, Masdar signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to explore the development of a further 2 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects in the country. The energy transition is a central component of the UAE's priorities as it prepares to host the 28th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in November-December. The Conference, the largest annual gathering of policymakers and practitioners focused on climate change and sustainability, will see well over 70,000 officials from across the public and private sectors gather at Expo City in Dubai. For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar About Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) is the UAE's clean energy champion and one of the largest companies of its kind in the world, advancing the development and deployment of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Established in 2006, Masdar is today active in over 40 countries, helping them to achieve their clean energy objectives and advance sustainable development. Masdar is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), and under this ownership the company is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of at least 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and an annual green hydrogen production capacity of up to 1 million tonnes by the same year. This material is distributed by DJE Edelman Inc on behalf of Masdar. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington DC. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2009839/Masdar.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2009840/Masdar_2.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2009841/Masdar_3.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1973446/Masdar_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/masdar-inaugurates-200mw-baynouna-solar-park-the-largest-of-its-kind-in-jordan-301756042.html SOURCE Masdar

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It turns out not everybody is excited about the upcoming nuclear war.

Maybe it's because KC was part of The Day After TV movie history . . . Still, we notice a lot less enthusiasm about bomb shelter life following a year of the horrific conflict.

More to the point . . .

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS PRO-WAR PROGRESSIVES DESPITE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SILENCE ON THIS CONTRADICTION!!!



Sorry . . . But nobody who goes along with doubling down on billions worth of military spending should legitimately hold the moral high ground regarding social media mistakes by drunk uncles on Twitter.

Luckily, none of it REALLY makes any sense and might have more to do with the Earth's core tailspin than we'd like to believe . . . In the meantime, we merely mark the date . . .

"Kansas City's rally will be held at the Mill Creek Fountain on The Country Club Plaza beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

One year later: Rally to be held in support of Ukraine on Country Club Plaza in Kansas City More than 60 cities across the United States will be holding rallies in support of Ukraine on Saturday. Friday marks one year since Russia invaded the country. Kansas City's rally will be held at the Mill Creek Fountain on The Country Club Plaza beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Further reading . . .

Support for Ukraine aid softens in U.S. public, poll says WASHINGTON (AP) - 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, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Forty-eight percent say they favor the U.S.

The Bomb in the Background In a major speech this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was suspending his country's participation in the New START treaty, Russia's only remaining major nuclear arms control agreement with the United States. He also threatened to resume nuclear weapons tests. The declarations sent jitters through the international community.

Blinken suggests Russia might have used nukes in Ukraine already were it not for China and India China and India may have told Russia directly that they opposed any use of nuclear weapons by Moscow in Ukraine, according to US secretary of state Antony Blinken. Speaking on the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Mr Blinken credited China and India for having "a little bit more influence with Russia these days" in stalling a potential use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

Video Author on Ukraine war: 'Most people thought the country would fold' ABC News Phil Lipof spoke with journalist and author Anna Reid on her recently revised book Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine.

Why Russia's invasion of Ukraine still divides Africa A year since Russia invaded Ukraine, opinion about the war amongst African countries appears not to have shifted much. Thirty countries - just two more than last year - voted in favour of a UN general assembly resolution that condemned Russia, supported Ukraine's territorial integrity, and called for peace.

Canada, one year into the Ukraine war: 'It's not time to talk about peace' "It happened that we were a lot of new foreign ministers," Joly said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The Liberal politician was four months into her foreign affairs role when Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. She was not the only new face around the G-7 table.

Ukraine: this new cold war must end before the world faces Armageddon One year of war and Russia is still mired in its second invasion of its neighbour's internationally recognised territory - which turned out to be much bloodier and more devastating than the first due to Ukraine's incomparably stronger resistance.

Developing . . .
We think this question deserves more attention the public given that we might all have to share the road in the aftermath of this tragedy . . . Here's a glimpse at the showdown . . .

Dominic will do everything he can to retain his position on the fire department, wrote Attorney Kevin Regan. His team is prepared to vigorously fight to help him keep what the City has wrongly taken from him. We are disappointed by the Citys arbitrary decision and believe it will be overturned.



A city spokesperson previously stated the city will seek to terminate Biscaris employment.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Driver in Westport fire truck crash to 'vigorously' fight to keep KCFD job KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The attorney for Dominic Biscari says his client will fight to keep his job. "Dominic will do everything he can to retain his position on the fire department," wrote Attorney Kevin Regan. "His team is prepared to vigorously fight to help him keep what the City has wrongly taken from him.

KCFD firefighter's attorney claims city failed to fully install safety system at intersections KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The attorney for the fire truck driver involved in the deadly Westport crash from December of 2021 is now pointing fingers at the city. This comes after a plea hearing for Dominic Biscari on Tuesday when the KSHB 41 I-Team learned he'll serve three years of supervised probation .

Firefighter's attorney says technology could have prevented deadly KC crash KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City firefighter who was suspended Tuesday when he pleaded guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter says he will do everything he can to keep his job. FOX4 is also learning more about technology Dominic Biscari's attorney says could have helped prevent the crash.

Missouri EMT licensing authority requests Dominic Biscari's court records KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri state licensing authority that oversees emergency medical personnel has requested court documents related to suspended Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department firefighter Dominic Biscari's criminal convictions stemming from a deadly pumper-truck crash 14 months ago in Westport. Biscari pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Developing . . .
Zelenskyy would like to hold summit of Latin American countries and Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would like to hold a summit of Latin American and Ukrainian countries to convey his position on the Peace Formula.

"Latin America is very important, I would really like to make a conference, I would like to make a meeting, a summit of Latin American countries and Ukraine," Zelenskyy said at a press conference on Friday.

He noted that it is not easy for him to leave the country, but he would visit such a meeting.

"I would be able to convey to them, their media, their society [Ukraine's position on the war with Russia]," Zelenskyy stressed.

The President also noted that Ukraine needs to take steps to meet the countries of the African continent.

"We have been working very poorly for many years, we did not pay attention  this is a big mistake. Therefore, a special program has been adopted to expand the embassy presence in the region," he added.

Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would like to involve both India and China in the Peace Formula.

"There is a point of record of the end of the war, we need security guarantees. When there is fulfillment of the points, then there is respect for people, for Ukrainians," Zelenskyy said.
This is STL and not really our bag . . . But we're blogging it because it's probably the most important thing happening in the state right now.



Here are the basics . . .



St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner is no stranger to controversy, encountering admonishment for her handling of criminal cases on several occasions. She's been publicly reprimanded and fined by the Missouri Supreme Court and scrutinized for what critics have deemed soft-on-crime policies.



However, Gardner is currently facing an unprecedented push for her ouster after volleyball player Janae Edmonson, 16, was hit by a vehicle and lost both her legs while visiting St. Louis with her team last weekend.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links from both sides of the debate . . .

Special judge appointed in Missouri AG's case vs. Kim Gardner ST. LOUIS - A special judge has been appointed in the Missouri Attorney General's effort to remove St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner from office. John Torbitzky has been named as the special judge in this case, according to court documents obtained by FOX 2.

Missouri AG rejects Kim Gardner's 'ridiculous' attempt to inject race into legal fight to fire her Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey says embattled St. Louis circuit attorney Kim Gardner's decision to inject race and politics into legal proceedings to have her removed from office is "ridiculous." Bailey told Fox News Digital that "numerous Democratic lawmakers and politicians" have also called on Gardner to resign.

Kim Gardner calls removal attempt a 'political stunt,' defends handling of case ST. LOUIS - Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner spurned an ultimatum from Missouri's attorney general on Thursday, declining to step down and claiming that calls for her resignation are a "political stunt." Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Wednesday gave Gardner the ultimatum to resign by noon Thursday or face removal through a "quo warranto" petition.

Soros-backed prosecutor pushed by Missouri AG to resign has history of scandals, alleged misconduct The George Soros-bankrolled prosecutor in St. Louis who's facing calls from Missouri's governor and attorney general to resign for allegedly neglecting her duties already had a history riddled with allegations of misconduct and mishandled cases long before her latest scandal. St.

Hartmann: Missouri Gets Famous for 'Toddlers' Right to Carry' This year's legislative whoring for the gun lobby started out innocently enough in Missouri. The main focus of Missouri Republican politicians was to be an attack on Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. That's low hanging fruit in Jefferson City. Sure, it's pointless, hypocritical and unabashedly racist. That's why they do it.

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 unity of Ukraine, Germany and the whole free world will help Ukraine win this year and protect the security of its neighbors and the whole of Europe, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his address to the participants of the event of the Federal President of Germany dedicated to solidarity with Ukraine, which was also attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"Today is the year that everything has changed ... what the free world has become accustomed to over a decade of peace has turned out to be something that needs to be fought for. Diplomacy didn't work. The existing security architecture in the world did not work. The old European hope that economic ties are able to keep Russian tank columns from moving has not worked. But there was also something that worked. First of all, unity. Unity of Ukraine, Germany, the whole free world. And determination. Determination in protecting the foundations of our life with you," the head of the Ukrainian state said.

"We are fighting on Ukrainian soil for something without which all of you, friends, cannot imagine your own life. This is basic security. This is freedom and life according to the law  Simple things that 1,877 Ukrainian cities and villages are now deprived of. The occupier seeks to increase this number and add millions more broken destinies to those already broken," Zelenskyy added.

He recalled that the city of Mariupol, Donetsk region, was destroyed by 90% and the occupants demolish the remains of damaged houses to turn them into concrete chips for road construction.

"We must do everything possible and impossible to prevent Russia from turning Ukraine, our neighbors and the whole of Europe into concrete chips, which Russian revanchism wants to reach. Can we win? Yes, we are capable of it. In unity. Resolutely and unyieldingly. We can end the Russian aggression already this year," the head of the Ukrainian state stressed.

At the same time, he noted Germany's help in protecting against Russian terror and expressed gratitude for the support, faith in Ukraine and Ukrainians.

"Now is the time when our courage and weapons can bring peace back and create a historically important fuse for any aggression. No one else will dare to commit aggression against another people if they know that the free world will protect this people. No one will encroach on freedom anymore if they know that the free world has sufficient determination to defend freedom  We can provide it together with you! Together with everyone who values life," Zelenskyy summed up.
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted a bill on Ukraine's withdrawal from the agreement on the establishment of the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Group (BLACKSEAFOR).

Some 305 deputies voted for corresponding bill No. 0183 at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada on Friday, a member of the Holos faction Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on Telegram.

The Agreement on the establishment of the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Group was signed by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine in Istanbul on April 2, 2001. The Verkhovna Rada ratified the agreement with a statement of application [with a reservation] on June 5, 2003.

Among the goals of the creation of BLACKSEAFOR was to promote security and stability in the Black Sea and beyond, strengthen friendship and good-neighborly relations between the states of the region, increase interaction between the naval forces of the states.
The Verkhovna Rada decided to expand the border strip along the state border line with Russia and Belarus to 2 km, and also determined the procedure for involving units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to perform tasks to strengthen its protection.

The adoption of relevant bill No. 7475 was supported by 310 deputies at the plenary session on Friday, said Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of the Holos faction, on his Telegram channel.

The document provides for an increase of up to 2 km in the size of the land required for the engineering arrangement of the state border with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus and on nature-protected lands.

The bill also proposes to regulate the procedure and methods of involving military units and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to perform tasks related to strengthening the protection of the state border. In particular, its about the possibility of creating fire support posts, artillery and aviation units, selecting biometrics from all crossing the state border with checking them at checkpoints and facial recognition. According to the draft law, a special permissive border regime can be established in Ukraine within a two-kilometer zone.

In addition, the proposed amendments to a number of relevant laws will prevent abuse of the procedure for obtaining refugee status by persons who are prohibited from entering Ukraine or who pose a threat to the country's border security.
This week, the Ministry of Energy sent JSC "Ukrgazvydobuvannya", Ukraines largest gas producer, a batch of powerful generators and electric accumulators with a total weight of more than 62 tonnes. This energy equipment is another assistance package from Swedish partners to the energy sector of Ukraine.

"The transferred equipment is extremely important at this moment, it will contribute to the stable operation of gas production facilities and help in the restoration of the energy infrastructure which has been targeted by the enemy for a year," said the Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko, the Ministrys press service informs.

It is noted that Sweden actively supports Ukraine in the restoration of energy infrastructure facilities. In total, since the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion, Sweden has sent more than 665 tonnes of energy equipment and materials to Ukraine.

As reported, this week JSC "Ukrgazvydobuvannya" received equipment for the restoration of damaged oil and gas production infrastructure from EQT Corporation, the largest gas producer in the USA.
Ukrainian Peace Formula to become basis of new security in Europe and world  Zelenskyy's address to participants of Intl Forum in Kaunas

Ukraine intends to make its Peace Formula the basis of a new security strategy in Europe and around the world, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his address to the participants of the International Forum, which is being held in Kaunas (Lithuania).

According to the website of the head of state, Zelenskyy stressed that the Russian Federation "must lose in Ukraine."

"Russian revanchism should forever forget about Kyiv and Vilnius, about Chisinau and Warsaw, about our brothers in Latvia and Estonia, in Georgia and in any other country threatened by Russian murderers. We can do it. We have this historic chance  We will preserve our independence. We will definitely save it. Therefore, right now we must act in such a way as to give our peoples reliable guarantees of non-return of evil," the President stressed.

According to him, the Ukrainian Peace Formula is ten points that give exactly such guarantees. "These are obviously necessary security points. This is obviously a necessary de-occupation of Ukraine. And this is obviously necessary justice for all those who have suffered from Russian aggression," Zelenskyy said.

"No one on earth should ever again be threatened by famine and radiation disasters, aggression and terror, the destruction of energy and the blackout of international law, deportations and ecocides. Russia bears all this with its aggression. We'll clean it all up. Our heroic warriors will do it. Our cooperation with you and with the whole world will do it. Our formula of peace will do it. And, as a result, we will make our Peace Formula the basis of a new security for everyone in Europe and everyone in the world who values life," he added.

Zelenskyy thanked the Lithuanian people for their help and support, and also noted the commonality of the historical path with the people of Ukraine.
The Republic of Guatemala will be the first nation of Latin America to join the Core Group on establishing the Special Tribunal for Russia.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter, following his meeting with Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In New York, I was glad to meet with Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores. Guatemala is our true friend. We discussed joint efforts to hold Russia accountable, including for the crime of aggression. Guatemala will join the Core Group on the Special tribunal, the first nation of Latin America to do so, Kuleba wrote.

A reminder that, on January 26, 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) unanimously demanded the setting up of a special international criminal tribunal to prosecute Russian and Belarusian political and military leaders involved in Russias crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Photo: @DmytroKuleba
With our courage and weapons, we can restore peace and create a safeguard against any aggressions.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address to participants in the event of the Federal President of Germany, dedicated to solidarity with Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Now is the time when our bravery and our weapons can restore peace and create a historically important deterrent to any aggression. No one will dare to start aggression against another nation when they know that the free world will protect that nation. No one will ever again encroach on freedom when they know that the free world is determined enough to defend freedom. No one will repeat February 24 last year when they know that there is not a single occupier left on the entire territory of Ukraine, Zelensky said.

In his words, last year everything changed not only for Ukraine but also Germany, the whole of Europe and the free world. What the free world has become accustomed to over decades of peace has turned out to be something that needs to be fought for.

We are fighting on Ukrainian soil for what all of you, dear friends, cannot imagine your lives without. This is basic security. This is freedom and life under the law. This is human dignity and the right of every person and every community to be respected. This is happiness of living in a family and an opportunity to dream of a safe and free future for your children, the President of Ukraine noted.

According to Zelensky, a total of 1,877 Ukrainian cities and villages are now deprived of these simple things. The occupier seeks to increase this number and add millions more broken lives to the already broken ones.

In Mariupol, 90% of houses were destroyed by Russians, and the occupiers want to turn these terrible ruins into concrete crumbs that will be used to build roads.

We have to do everything possible and impossible to prevent Russia from turning Ukraine, our neighbors, and the whole of Europe, which Russian revanchism wants to reach, into concrete crumbs, Zelensky stressed.

The President of Ukraine expressed confidence that it is possible to win this war if we stay united, determined and unbreakable.

Additionally, Zelensky thanked Germany for providing assistance to Ukraine from the first minutes of the Russian invasion.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine
Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau joined a rally of thousands in Toronto, timed to the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tonight, I joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of National Defence Anita Anand, Ministers Carolyn Bennett and Marci Ien, MP colleagues, and thousands of Canadians in Toronto to #StandWithUkraine, Canadian MP Yvan Baker posted on Facebook.

He noted that on this solemn day, we commemorate the victims of Russias genocidal war, we honour the courage of the Ukrainian people who are fighting for their freedom and ours.

And we redouble our efforts to ensure that we are not here a year from now marking a second anniversary, to ensure Ukraine has won the war, and that we are looking ahead to a brighter future for the Ukrainian people and a more secure world for us all, the MP added.

Events to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine were held in more than 40 Canadian cities on February 24.
Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Kyiv, Yaakov Dov Bleich, addressed Jews and all citizens of Ukraine on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Russia, his press service reports.

"We need to pray to God now that the war is over, so that people can return to their homes, so that there is peace for everyone. Ukraine has never had any claims against Russia, we are not interested in what is being done in Russia. We need Ukraine to feel good. And that's what we're building. We are now building a future in Ukraine that will be for all of us, for our children and for future generations. A normal life, with a normal democracy," the Chief rabbi's press service said in a statement with reference to his video message on Friday, February 24.

According to Bleich, the Jewish community of Ukraine numbered more than 360,000 people before the war, but almost half of them left the country. And the rest suffer because of the lack of the usual peacetime needs: electricity, heating, and in some places water.

"There are a lot of people who left Ukraine, more than 15,000 left for Israel. We know that there are a lot of them in Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and America. We understand that these people ... want to return to Ukraine. We don't know when it will happen," he said.

The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Kyiv also recalled that Jews around the world are preparing for one of the main Jewish holidays  Purim. As Bleich noted, this holiday is a lesson for everyone when good always wins over hostile intentions.

"In 1953, Stalin also died on Purim. And that's why we pray that God will perform a miracle, that there will be peace, that the war will remain in the past, that there will be peace, and that we will be able to live our lives in peace, and that Ukraine will win," the chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Kyiv said.
Ethiopia's army chief said on Saturday the country had completed the dismantling of "special forces" created by some regions, finalising a policy which sparked recent unrest.
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Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar discussed important financial matters related to AJK and the pace of public welfare schemes and projects

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Feb, 2023 ) :Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar discussed important financial matters related to AJK and the pace of public welfare schemes and projects.

They discussed this in a called-on meeting here on Saturday, said a press release.

Prime Minister AJK apprised the finance minister of the initiatives of AJK government to enhance its revenue generation and sought the support of the federal government in this regard.

The meeting also discussed the ongoing and future development projects in AJK. Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar welcomed Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and expressed the federal government's commitment to the development and progress of AJK.

He further added that the welfare and development of the people of Kashmir were among the top priorities of the government and no stone would be left unturned for its development. He offered the full assistance of Federal board of Revenue (FBR) to the AJK government in its quest to increase its own receipts.

Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar highlighted the economic outlook of the country and said that despite the challenging situation, the government was determined to set the economy on stability and growth trajectory.

AJK PM Sardar Tanveer Ilyas thanked the finance minister for extending support for the progress of the people of Kashmir.
ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 25th Feb, 2023) Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, attended the reception hosted by Jamal Al Ghunaim, Ambassador of Kuwait to the UAE, on the occasion of the 62nd National Day of Kuwait.



The ceremony, which was held at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Hotel in Abu Dhabi last night, was also attended by Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Minister of State, and a number of officials and heads of Arab and foreign diplomatic missions accredited to the UAE.

During the Kuwaiti ceremony in Abu Dhabi, the Emirates Post Group announced the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp on the occasion bearing the slogan "The Emirates Loves Kuwait", and it was decorated with the flags of the two countries and their most prominent urban landmarks.


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Wellington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Feb, 2023 ) :James Anderson validated his elevation to top spot in the world Test bowling rankings as England took full control of the second Test against New Zealand on Saturday.

Veteran seamer Anderson took 3-37, sending the Black Caps stumbling to 96-6 at tea on day two in Wellington, after England declared their first innings at 435-8 just before lunch.

Spinner Jack Leach also took three scalps, leaving New Zealand staring at a 339-run deficit ahead of what looks like being a challenging final session under cloudy skies at the Basin Reserve.

England are on course for a sweep of the two-match series, having won the first Test by 267 runs in Mount Maunganui by employing the same mix of aggressive batting and potent seam bowling.

Joe Root was unbeaten on 153 when captain Ben Stokes declared, leaving his bowlers half an hour to attack the Black Caps before lunch.

Anderson answered the call, removing Devon Conway (0) and Kane Williamson (4) to have the hosts languishing at 12-2.

The exacting paceman removed Will Young (2) after the break to underscore why he'd been reinstated to No 1 in the ICC player rankings released this week - the oldest player to hold the perch, at 40.

All three batsmen feathered edges to gloveman Ben Foakes, extending the number of Test victims caught by a wicketkeeper off Anderson to 188 - 36 more than any other bowler.

Left-handers Tom Latham (35) and Henry Nicholls (30) launched a rearguard but both fell when attempting to reverse-sweep Leach (3-28), offering catches to fielders around the bat.

Leach dismissed Daryl Mitchell with the final ball before tea, leaving Tom Blundell as the unbeaten batsman on 12.

Earlier, England lost five wickets and added a further 120 runs in an entertaining opening session after resuming at 315-3.

Harry Brook fell in the third over for 186, having added just two to his overnight score.

His blazing knock formed part of a 302-run stand with Root - the second-highest in England's Test history against New Zealand - having rescued the tourists from 21-3 early on day one.

Root effortlessly advanced from his overnight 101 to surpass 150 for the 14th time in his career.

The 32-year-old received lively support from Stokes - who blasted 27 off 28 balls - Stuart Broad (14) and Ollie Robinson (18).

Root struck 10 fours and three sixes, including a reverse ramp shot that cleared the boundary rope off the fourth ball he faced on Saturday, from Tim Southee.

Seamer Matt Henry took the key wicket of Brook, holding onto a sharp caught-and-bowled chance, to return 4-100.
Brussels, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Feb, 2023 ) :The EU agreed a new round of sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine on Friday, the one-year anniversary of Moscow's invasion, the bloc's Swedish presidency announced.

The package -- the 10th the EU has imposed since Russia's February 24, 2022 invasion -- contains, it said, "targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia in the war".

Final approval of the sanctions was expected early Saturday if no EU country raises a last-ditch objection.

The details on the listed individuals and entities will then be published in the European Union's official gazette.

One EU diplomat told AFP that 120 individuals and entities, and three more Russian banks, were listed.

The EU's measures echoed sanctions announced earlier Friday by the United States and by Britain, and came in the wake of a G7 statement that warned of penalties for any country abetting Russia in its war.

Another EU diplomat said the agreement on sanctions held "no compromise" to a proposal put forward to member states by the European Commission.

That proposed package promised to cut off industrial goods worth 11 billion Euros ($12 billion) to Russia and target drone producers in Iran whose unmanned aircraft containing warheads Moscow has been using to attack Ukrainian targets.

Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had said the goods put under sanctions for Russia would include electronics and machine parts that can be used in Russian drones, missiles, helicopters and other weapons systems.

She had said that seven Iranian entities providing dual-use products to Russia were also included in the commission sanctions proposal.

The EU has already imposed nine waves of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, hitting key Russian exports like oil in a bid to cut Russian President Vladimir Putin's war chest.

Several EU diplomats had told AFP that complaints from Poland had slowed down agreement on the latest sanctions because Warsaw had viewed them as insufficient.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Friday, as he visited Kyiv before the EU sanctions agreement was announced, that the proposals from Brussels were "too soft, too weak".
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San Juan y Martinez, Cuba, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Feb, 2023 ) :Cuban farmer Maritza Carpio, 62, is optimistic. Five months after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on the island nation and its vital tobacco industry, she has started drying leaves for habano cigars again.

Carpio, who inherited a 5.6-hectare farm from her parents, said she will never forget September 27, 2022, when Cuba's west coast was battered for hours on end by Ian, with gusts of up to 208 kilometers (129 miles) per hour.

The Category 3 hurricane was particularly rough on the Vuelta Abajo region -- described as Cuba's tobacco triangle.

Trees were uprooted, roofs blown off, fields flooded, and tobacco drying houses collapsed.

Carpio is rebuilding hers, "stronger and more modern" this time, she told AFP while overseeing workers installing roof panels on the wooden structure.

Drying houses, with their roofs of palm leaves or tin, allow tobacco leaves to brown gradually without losing their flexibility due to a perfect mix of temperature, humidity and airflow.

Planting is pointless if the leaves cannot be dried in optimal conditions directly after harvest.

"Once I was sure the drying house would be ready, I decided to plant," Carpio said, showing off her plants now standing a meter (3.2 feet) tall.

Rolled tobacco is one of Cuba's main exports, along with fisheries products, nickel and vaccines.

As Cuba battles its worst economic crisis in three decades, the government and state-owned company Tabacuba -- which buys 95 percent of its crops from private producers -- provided aid to farmers like Carpio in the form of donations of materials, and cheap loans.

- Replaced by corn, beans - A few kilometers from Carpio's farm, 50-year-old Rafael Perez is adding finishing touches to his own tobacco drying house despite great obstacles finding materials.

He planted 60,000 plants on his two-hectare property, and has started harvesting. But he was relatively lucky.

"Many neighbors have been unable to grow tobacco because they do not have a drying house," Perez told AFP.

The remains of destroyed tobacco houses dot the landscape.

On some farms, corn or beans have replaced tobacco. Others gave up altogether.

"I used to be proud of growing tobacco. I like what I do. It was my family's livelihood," said Bisniel Benitez, 33, who went into tobacco farming four years ago.

But Ian lifted the roof off his drying house and ruined the turbine he and other farmers used for irrigation.

A father of one, Benitez now works as a day laborer, having used the little savings he had to repair hurricane damage to his home.

"To have worked so long for something that collapsed" in a few hours "makes you want to cry," he said.

Producers say it will take eight to 10 years for the province of Pinar del Rio, which produces 65 percent of Cuban tobacco, to get back to normal.

But that is only if there is not another hurricane in a region frequently ravaged by tropical storms.

In 2021, Cuba exported cigars worth $568 million, according to the latest figures published by Habanos S.A. -- a 15 percent increase from the year before despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Spain, China, Germany, France and Switzerland are the top buyers.

Next week, the 23rd edition of the Habano Festival opens in Havana after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The festival is the world's leading showcase for premium cigars.

Cuba's 2022 export figures are to be released there.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2023) Ukrainian troops blew up a dam near contested Bakhmut, previously known as Artemivsk, to slow down the Russian offensive and force civilians to leave the besieged city, an adviser to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic said on Saturday night.

"The dam was exploded and the resulting torrent of water flowed toward Artemivsk. They are likely trying to halt our offensive.

Maybe they want to try and cut off our assault units from the rear to slow down munition supply," Igor Kimakovsky told Sputnik.

He suggested that the move could also mean that Ukrainians were preparing to abandon the city to the Russian forces and were getting "desperate."

"They told civilians to evacuate... Their goal is to make living conditions unbearable. They do not care about the people, they only care about destroying the city so that it would be economically unfeasible for us to rebuild," the adviser to Igor Pushilin added.
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A judge at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against the request by relatives of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to seize $3.5 billion in frozen funds from the Afghan Central Bank in order to pay off debts owed by the ruling Taliban, court documents showed

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2023) A judge at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against the request by relatives of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to seize $3.5 billion in frozen funds from the Afghan Central Bank in order to pay off debts owed by the ruling Taliban, court documents showed.

Judge George Daniels ruled that US federal courts do not have jurisdiction over the frozen funds and are therefore legally prohibited from seizing them, the documents showed.

The judge said in his 30-page opinion that awarding the seized assets to the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks would be unconstitutional because acting otherwise would be an act of recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, which the current Biden administration has not done.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, approximately $7 billion of the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) were stored at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In February 2022, President Joe Biden froze the funds via executive order and declared that half of the money, or $3.5 billion, would be used for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan.

More than 10,000 family members of the victims of the terrorist attacks had asked the judge to put his decision on hold while they appealed, but the court documents show Daniels ruled an appeal was unlikely to succeed following Biden's February 3 decision to extend the asset freeze by one year.

Daniels said that the Taliban, and not the people of Afghanistan, should pay for its liability in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The money in the Afghan Central Bank includes assets such as currency, bonds and gold accumulated over the past 20 years in large part through foreign exchange funds attempting to generate economic activity in the region.
Israeli forces on Saturday beat Christian worshippers heading toward the Church of the Holy Sepulchre amid growing restrictions on the freedom of religion in Jerusalem, a video circulated by Sky News Arabia showed.
A Uyghur refugee from China's Xinjiang region died of alleged police neglect this month at the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center, raising concerns about the treatment of the more than 50 Uyghur refugees who have been held at the center since 2014.

The victim was Abdulaziz Abdullah, 49. His son, Muhammad Abdullah, who lives in Kayseri, Turkey, said in an interview with VOA that his family had fled Xinjiang because of the oppression and the repeated arrests of his father.

"The Chinese police would arrest my father every year since 2009 whenever they started a Strike Hard [anti-terrorism] campaign," Muhammad told VOA.

"My father was a street fruit vendor in Urumqi. When the oppression was almost unbearable, my parents decided to leave the country and took us to Thailand," he said. "My father had said that he only wanted a better education and life for his children. That was his only dream."

China has long been accused of mistreating Uyghurs. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said in August that there was credible evidence that China had committed "grave human rights abuses" against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang, including arbitrary detention, torture, forced sterilization, and cultural and religious erasure, which could amount to "crimes against humanity" under international law. The U.S. designated China's treatment of Uyghurs as genocide in January 2021.

China has repeatedly denied the allegations and contends that it is combating extremism, terrorism and separatism in the Xinjiang region.

Escaping China

Abdullah and his family fled China in late 2013 and, with the help of border smugglers, arrived early the next year in Thailand, where they were detained by Thai immigration authorities.

"My mother gave birth to my seventh sibling in that Thai immigration prison," Muhammad said.

In the summer of 2015, Muhammad, his mother and siblings were among nearly 170 Uyghur women and children taken by Turkey from Thailand on a humanitarian basis, while Thai authorities repatriated more than 100 Uyghur men to China. Rights activists said the men would face torture or other mistreatment for leaving China illegally.

According to Muhammad, his father and more than 50 adult Uyghur men remained in Thailand's immigration detention facilities.

Eyewitness account

A Uyghur refugee and former cellmate of Abdullah's at the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation by Thai immigration authorities. He said that Abdullah had been transferred in December from a different Thai detention facility to the Bangkok center, where he developed a cough.

Abdullah started vomiting blood. Despite receiving repeated requests for help, police guards and the Bangkok IDC doctor neglected to take Abdullah to the hospital, his former cellmate said.

"They came into the cell and they took his picture. He was still vomiting blood while they were taking pictures of him," the refugee said. "They said they would report the situation to their boss and said they would take him to the hospital but left without taking him."

The Bangkok IDC police ignored repeated pleas to help Abdullah, the refugee said, and his condition worsened while he was held in a cell for mentally ill prisoners for eight days without medical attention.

"He would let his urine and feces out without knowing it," the refugee said. "On February 11, 2023, in the afternoon around 4 p.m., he lost consciousness, and the police were informed, but they did not come and only sent security contractors to his cell. When he was taken down to the first floor, he had already passed away."

Abdullah was not the first Uyghur to die in immigration detention in Thailand, according to the Uyghur refugee.

"He is the fourth Uyghur who died in Thai immigration detention," he said, adding that in 2018, another Uyghur refugee also vomited blood and died while in detention in Thailand.

Thai response

VOA sought information from the Thai Embassy in Washington and the Thai Foreign Ministry about Abdullah's death. The embassy did not respond to VOA's email inquiry. The Thai Foreign Ministry did not answer VOA's call.

According to a report by the Bangkok Post, an anonymous source with knowledge of the case confirmed the death of a 49-year-old Uyghur asylum-seeker who had been detained for years. The source also stated that Thailand has provided all Uyghur asylum-seekers in its custody with essential items such as food and medicine.

Thailand's treatment of Uyghur refugees is a cause for concern, said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.

"[Abdullah] lost his life because of Thailand's refusal to recognize the humanity of an asylum-seeker, someone fleeing persecution, and at the end, even failed to provide the medical care he needed," Robertson told VOA.

He called for renewed efforts from the international community to persuade Bangkok to release all remaining Uyghurs in custody.

"The quickest way to ensure the resumption of the lives of these men is to immediately release them as free men," he said.

Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich, Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a Uyghur rights organization, has called for a full and public investigation into Abdullah's death.

"We have been closely following the situation since the beginning. The WUC has issued a report on their case and other similar cases," Isa told VOA. "Thai authorities should carry out a full and publicly available investigation into the death of Abdulaziz Abdullah, end the indefinite and arbitrary detention of the Uyghur refugee group, release Uyghur refugees detained in Thailand and allow Uyghur refugees to access resettlement."

Morgane Roussel-Hemery, associate external relations officer at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees office in Thailand, told VOA that the UNHCR has not been allowed into the Bangkok immigrant detention center to assist refugees in the facility.

"We have not been granted access and remain available to assist the Thai authorities in searching for a viable solution," Roussel-Hemery told VOA via email.
The death toll from heavy rains that devastated coastal areas of Brazil's southeastern Sao Paulo state reached 57 people Friday, official figures showed.

Massive downpours have caused landslides and flooding in coastal towns of Brazil's richest state since last weekend. The city of Sao Sebastiao bore the brunt of the human toll, with 56 of the reported deaths.

The Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that more rain was expected on Friday, while search and rescue efforts continued with dozens still missing. More than 4,000 people were forced from their homes, it added.

The local government also called on tourists not to travel to cities in the region in order to avoid overloading hospitals, roads and water and food supplies. It added it was conducting control measures to avoid abusive charges in food, water, fuel and other supplies on the coast.

On Thursday a Brazilian Navy ship arrived in Sao Sebastiao to help rescue victims.

The ship will serve as an emergency field hospital and is equipped with helicopters and landing vehicles, as well as hospital beds.

Regional Development Minister Waldez Goes said Friday that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had ordered him to maintain dialogue with local officials and ensure services are being provided to the affected population.

The government will also work to "restore and rebuild the city," Goes added.
El Salvador has moved approximately 2,000 prisoners, most of them suspected gang members, to a newly opened 40,000-person mega-prison.

Photos of prisoners displayed on the Internet showed the highly tattooed, barefoot men with shaved heads stripped down to white boxer shorts.

President Nayib Bukele has declared a war on violent gangs in the Central American country, and the mega-prison is part of that campaign.

He posted on Twitter: "This will be their new home, where they won't be able to do any more harm to the population.

Human rights groups have objected to the campaign because they say innocent people have been caught up in it, with some dying before they could prove their innocence.

The campaign, however, remains popular with many Salvadoreans, reports say.
The European Union agreed Saturday to impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions "are directed at military and political decision-makers, companies supporting or working within the Russian military industry, and commanders in the Wagner Group, the EUs presidency said in a statement.

The 10th round of EU sanctions targets about 120 individuals and entities, including those involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children, those who spread disinformation, Iranians involved in sending drones to Russia, and members and supporters of the Wagner Group mercenaries, including its activities in Africa.

The sanctions restrict exports of the electronic components used in Russian weapons, including missiles, drones and helicopters, and bans some rare earth minerals, electronic circuits and thermal cameras, the statement said.

The EU sanctions also prohibit transactions with three more Russian banks and lists 96 more entities, including seven from Iran that provide Russia with military drones used in attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy applauded the sanctions and said in his nightly video address that Ukraine is working to extend sanctions to Russias nuclear sector "and all those involved in the missile program and the nuclear blackmail of the terrorist state."

Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova, who is included in the sanctions, said listing her "violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other international legal acts concerning human rights."

Earlier Saturday, in its intelligence update, the British Defense Ministry said Russia has likely depleted its supply of Iranian one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicles.

The ministry said there have not been any reports of the vehicles being used in Ukraine since around February 15, while at least 24 were reported downed between late January and early February.

Scores were destroyed in the first few days of the year, the ministry said.

Ukrainian and Western officials have said that Western sanctions are hampering Russias ability to replenish its stocks of guided weapons that rely on imported microchips.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, responding to that report, said Moscow has increased military production "by tens of times" at some factories and was closely studying weapons fired into Russian-held areas from the Ukrainian side in an effort to gain an advantage.

"We are not just expanding production, but also introducing the latest technologies, perfecting them literally 'on the march,'" he said in an article published Saturday in the National Defense magazine.

It was funny to hear the Kyiv fantasists reasoning that 'missiles ran out' in Russia or 'production stopped.'

'Todays era must not be of war'

During the G-20 summit in Bangaluru, India, on Saturday, finance chiefs of the worlds largest economies condemned Moscow for its war on Ukraine, with only China and Russia declining to sign a joint statement.

With no consensus, India, which holds the G-20 presidency this year, said in what is called a chairs summary that "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy."

Stating that it is essential to uphold international law, the summary said that the use of or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue are vital. Todays era must not be of war.

The declaration noted that references to the war were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China.

U.S. offers more ammunition to Ukraine

On Friday, a year after Russias invasion of Ukraine, the White House announced that the Pentagon would commit $2 billion more in military assistance to Ukraines defense against Russia. The package includes additional ammunition for HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, 155 mm artillery rounds, munitions for laser-guided rocket systems, and funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment of equipment. U.S. President Joe Biden reasserted his vow that "Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia."

Zelenskyy has been pressing the U.S. and allies for fighter jets, but White House officials have said they are not the weaponry that Ukrainians need in the near term.

There is no basis on which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s, Biden said. I am ruling it out for now, he said during an ABC News interview Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to support Ukraines infrastructure. Blinken said the State Department, in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury Department, is offering $10 billion in assistance, including budgetary support to Ukraine and additional energy assistance to support Ukrainians suffering from Russias attacks.

The Treasury Department said it is sanctioning Russias metals and mining sector, among others. The action, taken in coordination with the G-7 leading industrial nations, seeks to punish 250 people and firms, puts financial blocks on banks, arms dealers and technology companies tied to weapons production, and goes after alleged sanctions evaders in countries from the United Arab Emirates to Switzerland.

VOAs Anjana Pasricha contributed to this story from New Delhi. The Associated Press and Reuters provided some information for this report.
Iran has developed a cruise missile with a range of 1,650 kilometers a top Revolutionary Guards commander said Friday, in a move likely to raise Western concerns after Russia's use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war.

Separately, Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace force, also spoke of Iran's often repeated threat to avenge the U.S. killing of a top Iranian commander, saying "We are looking to kill (former U.S. President Donald) Trump."

"Our cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km has been added to the missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Hajizadeh, told state TV.

The television broadcast what it said was the first footage showing the new Paveh cruise missile.

Hajizadeh said Iran did not intend to kill "poor soldiers" when it launched a ballistic missile attack on U.S.-led forces in Iraq days after Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020 in Baghdad.

"God willing, we are looking to kill Trump. (Former Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo ... and military commanders who issued the order (to kill Soleimani) should be killed," Hajizadeh said in the television interview.

Iranian leaders have often vowed to avenge Soleimani in strong terms.

Iran has expanded its missile program, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern by European countries. Tehran says the program is purely defensive and of a deterrent nature.

Iran has said it had supplied Moscow with drones before the war in Ukraine. Russia has used the drones to target power stations and civilian infrastructure.

In November, the Pentagon said the United States was skeptical of reports quoting Hajizadeh as saying Iran had developed a hypersonic ballistic missile.
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The latest developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. All times EST.

9:53 p.m.: Oleksandr Zinchenko was named captain of Premier League leaders Arsenal for their trip to Leicester on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Ukrainian international replaced Martin Odegaard as the Gunners' normal skipper at the King Power stadium and wore an armband in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

"Zinchenko will wear our captain's armband today, as a mark of respect and love on the first anniversary of the conflict in Ukraine," Arsenal posted on Twitter.

The 26-year-old joined Arsenal last summer from Manchester City, where he won four league titles in the past five seasons.

One of his country's most talented players, Zinchenko has played 52 times for Ukraine.

9 p.m.: Russia on Saturday accused the West of destabilizing the G-20 finance ministers' meeting in India by trying to force through a joint statement on Ukraine that stalled because of disagreements, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a foreign ministry statement.

Moscow accused the United States, the European Union and the G-7 nations of having "disrupted the adoption of collective decisions" by trying to impose their "diktat" by what they said was "clear blackmail."

Their aim had been to impose their interpretation of the Ukraine conflict in the joint statement by means of lobbying and "ultimatums," the ministry statement said.

G-20 finance ministers failed Saturday to agree a joint statement on the global economy at talks in India, after China sought to water down references to the Ukraine conflict.

8:12 p.m.: Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, the brothers who together dominated international heavyweight boxing for a decade, are much more than Ukrainian ambassadors to the world.

Vitali, 51, became mayor of Kyiv within months of Russias occupation and annexation of Crimea early in 2014.

Wladimir, 46, addressed crowds during the tumult of 2014, using his influence where possible before joining the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a reservist in the Territorial Defense Brigade shortly after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

Both men talked to RFE/RLs Georgian Service on the sidelines of last weekends Munich Security Conference.

They credited Ukrainians with growing through these battles and through our resistance, and exposing Russian weaknesses. They also talked about being on Russian President Vladimir Putins purported hit list, life in the crosshairs of constant Russian air barrages, and cowardice in the face of an authoritarian in the Kremlin.

7:08 p.m.: Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's Land Forces and Eastern Operational Command, visited embattled Bakmut in eastern Donetsk Oblast on Saturday as Russian troops try to advance on the outskirts, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing a Land Forces post on Telegram.

In his visit to command posts in the front-line city, Syrskyi assessed the state of units fighting in the area and listened to problems and requests raised by their commanders, the report said.

Intense fighting is ongoing around Bakhmut and reaching the outskirts of the city, the brief said. 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, said on Feb. 15.

Ukraine continues to hold Bakhmut despite the seven-month-long Russian attempt to capture the city. About 380 clashes have been recorded in the area since the beginning of February, General Oleksiy Hromov said Thursday.

6:18 p.m.: Thousands of people protested in Berlin on Saturday to condemn Germany's supply of arms to Ukraine and call for peace talks to end the war, The Associated Press reported.

The organizers were criticized before the protest for downplaying Ukraine's right to defend its territory from Russian aggression and failing to distance themselves from political extremists on the far right and far left, where pro-Russia views are common.

While most placards at the protest reflected traditional left-wing positions, some participants bore banners with the slogan "Americans go home" and the logo of a far-right magazine. Some waved Russian flags.

Police said that about 13,000 people took part in the rally at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate, while organizers claimed that 50,000 people participated.

There were several small counterdemonstrations. On Friday, about 10,000 people staged a protest at the same site in support of Ukraine.

5:30 p.m.

5:15 p.m.: NATO has to consider Ukraines membership after the war with Russia ends, the Czech Republic's president-elect, Petr Pavel, said. Speaking with Ukrainian publication Suspilne, the retired general and former senior NATO commander said that Ukraine has "done its homework" on common values, long-term interests, and technical interoperability with the alliance. He added that the Ukrainian military, which is probably "the most experienced of all," would be a big asset. However, he said, admitting Ukraine now would make NATO a party to the conflict, which might lead to nuclear war, The Kyiv Independent reports.

4:47 p.m.

3:46 p.m.: Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has commented about a document featured in a joint investigation by The Kyiv Independent and a group of U.S. and European media outlets. The document detailed Russia's future plans to take complete control of Belarusian political, economic, and military spheres by 2030.

Speaking to local journalists at a sporting event on February 25, Lukashenko said the document allegedly detailing Russia's plans to overpower Belarus and dismantle its independence might have been written three years ago, The Kyiv Independent reports.

According to one of the sources cited in the investigation, an unnamed Western intelligence officer, the document was created in 2021 by the Kremlin's Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation.

The plan outlined that by 2030, Belarus should have a single currency and tax system with Russia, and its military and media space will have come under Russian control.

Lukashenko told state-controlled news agency Belta that Belarus and Russia discussed the formation of integration roadmaps three years ago.

There were different points of view. Some said this way, and some said that way. Maybe some (in Putins administration) officials, a group of people, suggested which way they will go with Belarus, Lukashenko said, according to Belta, adding that he sees Belarus as an independent and sovereign state.

3:17 p.m.:

2:46 p.m.: The Metropolitan Opera marked the one-year anniversary of Russia's war on Ukraine with A Concert of Remembrance and Hope." Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily DAngelo appeared on stage wearing a skirt with a tally mark for each day of the 365 days of the war. Ukraine First Lady Olena Zelenska addressed the crowd in a prerecorded video speech, The Associated Press reports. Met music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducted Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov and bass-baritone Vladyslav Buialskyi and South African soprano Golda Schultz and DAngelo in the Mozart Requiem and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

Although an opera house doesnt have the offensive capacity of an Abrams tank or an F-16 jet, the Metropolitan Opera is proud to be a powerful cultural resource for Ukraine, helping to lead the fight for artistic liberty against (Vladimir) Putins cultural propaganda machine, Met general manager Peter Gelb told an intermission group that included U.N. Ambassadors Sergiy Kyslytsya of Ukraine and Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the U.S. We demonstrate the free worlds ongoing cultural resolve to defend Ukraines liberty in the face of brutal oppression, he said.

The Met has dismissed Russian singers who refused to distance themselves from Russia President Vladimir Putin.

2:12 p.m.: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said forces of his Russian paramilitary group had captured the village of Yahidne, just north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.

Ukrainian military reports issued a day after the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, contradicted Prigozhins assertion suggesting that villages near the key town remained under Kyiv's control.

Reuters could not independently confirm Prigozhin's claim, or the report by the Ukrainian military's general staff.

"A day earlier, he said Wagner had taken control of Berkhivka, an adjacent village on the outskirts of Bakhmut.

The months-long struggle for Bakhmut, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting since Russia's invasion.

1:35 p.m.: Members of the Ukrainian community in Washington hold a mass rally at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Later, the crowd will march to the White House and the residence of Russia's ambassador to the United States, Reuters reports.

12:52 p.m.: Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and currently deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council said Moscow had increased military production "by tens of times" at some factories and was closely studying weapons fired into Russian-held areas from the Ukrainian side in an effort to gain an advantage, Reuters reports.

A leading Western think-tank said last week that Russia had lost around half of its most modern tanks and was struggling to replace them. Ukrainian and Western officials have said that Moscow is running low on some types of missiles, and that Western sanctions are hampering its ability to replenish its stocks of guided weapons that rely on imported microchips.

"It was funny to hear the Kyiv fantasists reasoning that 'missiles ran out' in Russia or 'production stopped'. The reality convinced them of the opposite - they still cannot get over the shock," Medvedev said in an article published on Saturday in monthly magazine National Defense.

"We are not just expanding production, but also introducing the latest technologies, perfecting them literally 'on the march'."

11:43 a.m.: About 2000 secret recordings of intercepted conversations between Russian soldiers and their loved ones at home offer a bleak picture of Russias war on Ukraine. The AP identified calls made in March 2022 by Russian soldiers in a miliary division that Ukrainian prosecutors say committed war crimes in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv that became a symbol of Russian atrocities.

The calls throw light into how unprepared for war where these young soldiers and how many felt were deceived by assurances that they would return as heroes for liberating Ukraine against its Nazi oppressors and their Western backers, and that Kyiv would fall without bloodshed.

As violence increased, the soldiers said in those phone calls, they grew more and more afraid, missed their families and turned to alcohol to numb themselves from the killings. Some said they were following orders to kill civilians or prisoners of war.

11:05 a.m.:

10:33 a.m.:

10:15 a.m.:

9:47 a.m.: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff indicated Saturday a possible further delay in Budapest's ratification of Finland and Sweden joining NATO, saying a vote may take place only in the second half of March.

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the transatlantic defense alliance after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But all 30 NATO members need to back the applications and Sweden has faced objections from Turkey for harboring what Ankara considers to be members of terrorist groups.

With Hungary's ratification process stranded in parliament since July, Orban aired concerns about Sweden and Finland's NATO membership for the first time on Friday. Among other criticisms, he has accused both countries of spreading "outright lies" about the state of democracy in Hungary, Reuters reports.

9:15 a.m.: Various politicians have called for a protest at Berlins Brandenburg Gate to promote peace negotiations between Russia and the Ukraine. Police in Berlin have stepped up their presence over fears that the peace protest in the German capital Saturday could turn violent, local media reported.

Organizers of the Rebellion for Peace rally have received fierce criticism from many politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who say the demonstration could undermine public support for Ukraines fight against Russia.

8:45 a.m.: French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday he will visit China in early April, in part to discuss ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday and has put forward a 12-point peace plan.

"The fact that China engages in peace efforts is a good thing," Macron told reporters at an agricultural fair in Paris.

"China must help us put pressure on Russia so that it never uses chemical or nuclear weapons, (an effort) which China has already made, and that it stops its aggression as a precondition for talks," he added.

7:45 a.m.: The European Union is imposing new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The bloc is targeting more officials and organizations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones. It's also slapping trade restrictions on products that could be used by the armed forces. The EUs Swedish presidency said Saturday that the sanctions "are directed at military and political decision-makers, companies supporting or working within the Russian military industry, and commanders in the Wagner Group. Transactions with some of Russias largest banks are also prohibited. The measures were proposed by the EUs executive branch three weeks ago but only adopted after much internal wrangling, AP reports.

5:06 a.m.: Canada is sending four additional battle tanks to Ukraine, doubling its commitment, and sanctioning an additional 192 Russian individuals and entities, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday, Agence France-Presse reported.

"Canada has stood in solidarity with Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict," Trudeau said in a news conference on the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We will continue to do so," Trudeau told journalists, speaking in Toronto where he is to attend an evening vigil for the victims of the war.

The new sanctions target Russian lawmakers who've backed the invasion of Ukraine, including deputy prime ministers, ministers, others in Putin's office, its military and defense sector, as well as family members of individuals already on Canada's sanctions list.

Trudeau's office said four previously announced German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks have been delivered to Poland where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained on their use.

In addition to the four new Leopard 2 tanks, Canada is also sending an armored vehicle and munitions.

4:07 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said that since Ukraine hasn't shot down any Iranian drones lately, Russia's supply of the craft is probably running low. It's likely that Russia will get more drones.

"Although the weapons do not have a good record in destroying their intended targets," the update said, "Russia likely sees them as useful decoys which can divert Ukrainian air defenses from more effective Russian cruise missiles."

3:15 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest Ukraine assessment that Russian forces continued to conduct ground attacks northwest of Svatove and near Kreminna, made marginal territorial gains around Bakhmut and continued to conduct ground attacks across the Donetsk Oblast front line.

2:06 a.m.: The European Union, after hectic last-minute haggling, has approved a 10th package of Russia sanctions on the anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish EU presidency said late Friday, Reuters reported.

"Together, the EU member states have imposed the most forceful and far-reaching sanctions ever to help Ukraine win the war," the presidency announced on Twitter.

"The EU stands united with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will keep supporting Ukraine, for as long as it takes."

The package includes tighter export restrictions regarding dual-use goods as well as measures against entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia.

With two hours to go until midnight, EU member states made it across the finish line with little time to spare after Poland earlier threw a spanner into the works.

1:06 a.m.: U.S. President Joe Biden, in an ABC News interview Friday, said that the idea China would be negotiating the outcome of the Ukraine war was not rational, following the release of Beijing's peace plan for the conflict.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's applauding it, so how could it be any good?" Biden told ABC News on the one-year anniversary of the war.

"I've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia, if the Chinese plan were followed."

"The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that's a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational."

China's plan urges both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warns against the use of nuclear weapons.

The plan, set out in a foreign ministry paper, was largely a reiteration of China's line since Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" on Feb. 24 last year.

12:02 a.m.: Ukraine on Friday issued a postage stamp reproducing a mural by British street artist Banksy showing a boy defeating a grown man in judo, to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, Agence France-Presse reported.

It was painted by Banksy on a demolished wall in the town of Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv, where many buildings were reduced to rubble by Russian aircraft at the start of the invasion, which began a year ago to the day.

The image draws inspiration from Russian President Vladimir Putin, known to be a black belt in judo, and depicts a young judoka representing Ukraine knocking down a grown man.

The phrase "Get lost Putin" has been added to the lower left part of the new stamp, which reproduces the stencil.

A number of Banksy drawings also appeared in Kyiv at the end of 2022.

Residents of the capital flocked to buy the new stamps on Friday, from the main post office on Kyiv's central square, the Maidan.

Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Nigeria's presidential election was marked by long delays at some polling stations on Saturday, which did not deter large crowds of voters hoping for a reset after years of worsening violence and hardship under outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari.

Africa's most populous nation is struggling with Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom, conflict between herders and farmers, shortages of cash, fuel and power, as well as deep-rooted corruption and poverty.

Reuters reporters at locations across the country saw a mixed election day picture, with some polling stations closing at the planned time of 2:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT), while others had yet to open.

"I will wait here to cast my vote. If I don't vote how will things change?" said 23-year-old Halima Sherif, whose polling station in the northern city of Kano had not started operating by closing time.

By evening, some polling stations were already counting ballots while voting was still going on at others and had not taken place elsewhere. Some voting was now expected to take place on Sunday.

Some states were expected to announce results on Sunday and the final tally from all 36 states plus the federal capital Abuja was expected within five days of voting. The election is also for National Assembly seats.

'No one will be disenfranchised'

There were reports of scattered violent incidents on Saturday, though not on the scale seen in previous elections in the country of more than 200 million people.

Buhari, a retired army general, is stepping down after serving the maximum eight years allowed by the constitution but failing to deliver on his pledge to bring back order and security across Nigeria, Africa's top oil-producing country.

The contest to succeed him is wide open, with candidates from two parties that have alternated in power since the end of army rule in 1999 facing an unusually strong challenge from a minor party candidate popular among young voters.

Officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, cited technical problems with a new biometric anti-fraud voter accreditation system, the late arrival of vehicles to transport them, and the absence of voter registers as causes of delays.

"It is frustrating that INEC are not prepared for us. All we want is just to vote," said Sylvester Iwu, who was among a large crowd waiting at a polling station in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta.

In a televised news briefing, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said six biometric machines had been stolen in northern Katsina State and two in southern Delta State. He also acknowledged the delays but said voters would be able to cast their ballots.

"The election will hold, and no one will be disenfranchised," he said.

Yakubu said at a later briefing that voting would take place on Sunday in several wards in Yenagoa that had experienced severe disruption on Saturday.

Scattered violence

In northeast Borno State, the epicenter of Islamist insurgency, suspected fighters from the Boko Haram group fired mortar shells in the rural Gwoza area, killing one child, wounding four others, and disrupting voting, army sources said.

In Abuja, a team from the anti-corruption Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was attacked just after arresting a man on suspicion of paying for a group of people's votes using a banking app, the EFCC said.

In Lagos, a Reuters TV crew saw police arrest four men on suspicion of intimidating voters, while an election observer from a local civil society group said he had seen thugs armed with knives, chains and bottles smashing ballot boxes.

In most areas, however, the day appeared to have unfolded peacefully despite frustrations over the delays.

The main contenders to succeed Buhari are former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 76, of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, 61, of the smaller Labour Party.

All three voted in their home states, surrounded by chaotic scrums of reporters and supporters.

"The electoral process cannot achieve 100% perfection," Tinubu told reporters after voting. "People have to tolerate that. You've got to accept the results."

Tinubu and Atiku, as he is known in Nigeria, are both political heavyweights with decades of networking behind them.

Both Muslims, Tinubu is an ethnic Yoruba from the southwest and Atiku is a Fulani from the northeast.

Obi, a Christian from the Igbo ethnic group, has less of a political machine but has used a slick social media campaign to generate huge enthusiasm among young voters, with some even calling themselves the "Obidients."

INEC says its new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS, that identifies voters using biometric data would help avert fraud. Reuters reporters in some locations said officials were struggling to get the BVAS devices to work, while in others the system was functioning smoothly.

Despite INEC's precautions, analysts have warned there are still risks that cash-strapped citizens could be vulnerable to vote-buying attempts by candidates.
The normal trade and movement of people between Pakistan and Afghanistan fully resumed on Saturday after the two sides reopened a key border crossing that was shut nearly a week ago by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, stranding people and thousands of trucks carrying food and essential items.

The Afghan embassy in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, announced the reopening of the Torkham border on Saturday on Twitter. Pakistani officials and Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed administrator in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province also confirmed that the border crossing is open to passengers and trade.

The announcement sparked a wave of joy among those who had been waiting for the reopening of the international trade route since Sunday, when Afghanistan's Taliban rulers closed the crossing. The Taliban had claimed Islamabad was not abiding by an agreement with Kabul to allow sick Afghan patients and their caretakers to cross into Pakistan without travel documents for medical care.

Last Monday, Afghan Taliban forces and Pakistani border guards exchanged fire, wounding a Pakistani soldier. Since then, officials from the two sides were in talks to resolve the issue amid demands from people on both sides to immediately reopen the crossing.

On Wednesday, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Pakistan's defense minister, and Lieutenant General Anjum Nadeem, head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, traveled to Kabul and met senior Taliban officials to discuss the closure and other issues.

After the visit, the crossing was briefly reopened by the Afghan Taliban to allow some of the thousands of trucks that had lined up for days at the border  many with vegetables, fruits and other perishable food items  to cross and ease the backlog. But Pakistan shut the border on Thursday, saying it needed an explanation from the Afghan side about the abrupt closure of the border on Sunday.

Pakistani and Taliban officials on Friday held talks and finally agreed to reopen the border.

On Saturday, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said "we are happy to confirm that Torkham is fully open for trade and movement of people." He said jubilant Afghan and Pakistani truck drivers were crossing the key trade route with supplies.

The Torkham border crossing is a vital commercial artery and a trade route to Central Asian countries, but Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuary for Pakistani militants whose cross-border attacks have led to a spike in violence in Pakistan.

Pakistan recently warned that it has the right to target Pakistani Taliban sanctuaries in Afghanistan if the Afghan Taliban administration fails to rein in the militants, increasing the prospect of more cross-border violence. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power more than a year ago as U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from the country after 20 years of war.

The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP, which in recent months has stepped up attacks in Pakistan, where security forces often raid their hideouts.
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly has affirmed the UKs commitment to work with international and regional partners, especially Egypt, in order to contain the current tensions between the Israeli and Palestinian sides and encourage them to return to the peace talks.

In a phone call with Egypts Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry on Thursday, Cleverly expressed the UKs deep concern regarding the deterioration of the security and humanitarian situations in the Palestinian lands and the heightened violence between the two sides, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The phone call discussed the latest critical developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and means of enhancing international and regional efforts to contain the current tensions between the Israeli and Palestinian sides.

Shoukry reviewed with Cleverly the Egyptian efforts that have been made for reinforcing calm in the occupied lands, and encouraging the Israeli and Palestinian sides to return to negotiations and break the current stalemate in the peace process.

Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians and injured over 100 others during a Wednesday raid on Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, according to officials, in the latest incident of a series of bloody raids by the Israeli troops this year.

Egypt condemned the Wednesday raid in a statement by the foreign ministry, warning that the ongoing and dangerous escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories recently increases the complexity and aggravation of the situation.

Since the start of this year, Israeli raids in the West Bank has claimed the lives of 59 Palestinian, both adults and children, and triggered Palestinian retaliatory attacks.

The Israeli forces carried out a deadly raid on Jenin camp late in January, which killed nine Palestinians. On the following day, a Palestinian man opened fire outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem, killing seven people.

Egypt has repeatedly called on Israel to refrain from deadly attacks on Palestinians and urged both sides to exercise restraint to prevent any further escalations in the conflict.

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On January 31, when Uzbekistan found 22 Karakalpaks guilty of crimes against the state, VOA spoke with seven of them, including a prisoner who died four days later. Their stories reveal the complexities and contradictions prevailing in this part of Central Asia.

In Bukhara, the trial of 39 more Karakalpaks is underway with no reporters or outside observers present. The doors are wide open, said Aziz Abidov, the courts spokesperson.

The defendants in both trials, almost all men, were charged in connection with unrest on July 1- 2, 2022, that ended in the deaths of at least 21 people in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous western territory of Uzbekistan.

Authorities cited security concerns as justification for holding the trials in Bukhara, rather than Karakalpakstan, where large crowds gathered during hearings held after the arrests of 516 people suspected of involvement in the violence.

As the trial of the first 22 began in November, the Interior Ministry confirmed it had 59 people in custody, including those in the first batch prosecuted, and that two had been conditionally released.

The proceedings have attracted little attention or media coverage in the capital, Tashkent, where many people have simply assumed that the system would find all the accused guilty.

Several media outlets, including those in Karakalpakstan, said they lacked resources to cover the trials, and in any case preferred to avoid headaches with authorities. But the website Gazeta.uz had its cameras in the courtroom for a few days.

VOA observed the last part of the first trial and on January 31 carried the verdict live: six defendants were released with suspended sentences, and the others received prison terms. Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, 44, described as the mastermind of the attempt to overthrow the Karakalpak government, was sentenced to 16 years.

Denouncing the verdict, his brother Renat Tajimuratov told VOA that the family had no complaints about the process or the judge.

We will definitely appeal the sentence, Tajimuratov said. We proved that my brother did not commit any crimes against the state, did not engage in separatism nor urge people to commit violence.  This trial exposed the accusations were baseless. All should have walked free today.

He argued that the unrest was instigated by politicians in Tashkent and the regional capital, Nukus, who pushed for constitutional changes that would have deprived Karakalpakstan of its autonomous status. How come none of these folks are being held accountable? Why arent they on trial? Tajimuratov asked.

VOA heard similar grievances from every Karakalpak in Bukhara, including the defendants and their relatives. Almagul Seytimbetova appealed to the president to pardon her son Nurlan Sultamuratov, 24, who received a three-year prison sentence for threatening public safety.

Following the violence, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev quickly rescinded the proposed amendments to the constitution, which currently describes Karakalpakstan as a sovereign republic with the right to secede through a referendum, a special status thousands of citizens came out defending. On February 8, the Uzbek general prosecutors office announced that three law enforcement officers were under arrest for their role in the July unrest.

At trial, the defendants, including the only female, Lolagul Kallykhanova, 34, said the protest was prompted by concern that Karakalpakstan would lose its special status as a republic within Uzbekistan.

Kallykhanova, a journalist-blogger, and other co-defendants in the courtroom were tearful. Publicly expressing contrition, they stressed that they had been merely exercising their constitutional right to free expression.

None of those VOA spoke with complained about detention conditions or claimed to have been tortured. But during the trial, Tajimuratov described having suffered physical abuse at the time of his arrest.

When VOA asked Ahmet Smetullayev, 30, about his worst moment in jail, he said, I dont wish anyone to ever end up there.

Polat Shamshetov, 45, former internal affairs officer and son of a former Karakalpak leader, expressed relief that he had only received six years for what he described as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Shamshetov said the detainees were treated better now than in the past. Having been part of the system, I surely notice the difference.

But he died February 4 from a reported "thromboembolism of the pulmonary artery and acute heart failure." A parliamentary commission investigation confirmed that conclusion, but many Karakalpak activists remain unconvinced.

Bakhtiyar Kadirbergenov, 37, said he came back from Russia to help Karakalpakstan develop. As an engineer, he had opportunities abroad, but aspired to launch a social enterprise at home, plans destroyed by last year's events. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Baffled

Seyipnazar Kalimov, 43, who got a six-year sentence, insisted his participation in the protest was minimal. Calling himself "uneducated, lost in the crowd, he claimed he didn't hurt anyone and saw himself as victim of some conspiracy that "I don't understand.

Im not against anyone or any government, said Azamat Turdanov, 38, another of those who were released.

Like other defendants, Turdanov maintained that no foreign element supported the protesters, refuting a theory put forward by officials, including some of those in Karakalpakstans leadership.

We are not traitors, exclaimed Azamat Nuratdinov, 34, who wrote poems during his seven months of pre-trial detention. Reciting lines on Uzbek-Karakalpak unity, he urged people to stay calm, adding: Don't believe in everything you see online.

Domestic and foreign critics have cited the trial as evidence that the Uzbek court system still lacks an independent judiciary.

But Kallykhanova said she did not worry about such assessments. Ive never been afraid of telling the truth. I spent seven months behind bars and would not hide it if abused in any way. Weve had enough time and the opportunity to speak up, she said, rejecting suspicions that defendants were prepped for trial.

Prosecutors had asked for 11 years in prison; she got three years of probation. Kallykhanova said she had been bracing for the worst, speculating that the judge must have shown mercy to a woman of childbearing years.

Almost all the defendants, previous and current, have expressed remorse. They include journalists, entrepreneurs and other specialists. Karakalpak activists, including in Europe and neighboring countries, say fear drives these courtroom confessions.

Persecution

Watching from Kazakhstan, Aqylbek Muratbai sees only the persecution of Karakalpaks.

I'm convinced that arrests after [the] Karakalpakstan protests aren't carried out on principle. They arrested everyone who was somehow engaged in civic activity and is respected among Karakalpaks. There is a purposeful destruction of Karakalpak intelligentsia, Muratbai wrote on Twitter.

"Every Uzbekistan citizen (including me) risks being persecuted for civic activism, arrested on false charges, unfair trial, torture and accidental death in prison, he tweeted, adding this leads to even more radicalization of supporters of Karakalpakstan separation.

The parliamentary commission, tasked to report on the turmoil, includes rights defenders Azam Farmonov and Gulnoz Mamarasulova, representing local and foreign organizations.

Farmonov, a former political prisoner, told VOA, This has probably been the most open and fair court proceeding ever in Uzbekistan.

Extensive work is required to achieve judicial independence, but this trial demonstrated that if steps are taken accordingly, we can ensure freedoms and the rule of law, Farmonov said.

Mamarasulova admitted that Uzbekistans criminal justice system has long been corrupt: As a result, there is multifold distrust and hate among our people towards the system.

But in recent years, she has observed improvements: Thousands of people have been exonerated of baseless charges in trials nationwide.

She said Uzbekistan, including Karakalpakstan, will have to be resolute because an abysmal rights record still overshadows advancements.

Mamarasulova agrees with those demanding fairness and integrity: The government must be accountable to its people. If they wanted to amend the constitution, they should have checked with the Karakalpak people first. That kind of engagement could have prevented this unrest.

Editors Note: The 8th and 28th paragraph has been updated to clarify details and correct Kallykhanova's sentence.
Two police officers have been killed and three others injured in a suspected al-Shabab militant attack on a police vehicle near the Dadaab refugee camp in northeast Kenya.

Security officials in Kenya say two police officers have died and three others were injured when the vehicle they were traveling in came in contact with an improvised explosive device along Garissa Dadaab Road, in Kenyas Garissa County.

Security officials declined to respond to VOAs request for a comment.

Dadaab Parliament member Farah Maalim said in a telephone conversation the government needs to change its tactics.

The way to deal with al-Shabab is not to use mechanized conventional military system, the way to deal with them is to have people tracking them and bringing them down one by one," Maalim said.

The officers left the Dadaab police station only to strike an explosive device in Hagarbul village near the Dadaab refugee camp.

The incident that happened Friday morning comes barely a week after three police officers from the Border Patrol Unit were killed in the same area when an explosive blew up their vehicle.

Maalim says the government needs to make use of its elders and should empower them to help  a strategy he says has worked in Somalia.

We can put together Kenya Police Reserves (KPR) militia, the so-called local version of Macawisley, can finish the job," said Maalim. "The only thing we need is support from the government, like a structured command system, and we train them.

The Islamist militant group has in the past carried out a spate of attacks in Kenyan cities and towns in an attempt to get Kenya to withdraw its troops from the Africa Union-led peace keeping force in Somalia.
Turkey has begun work to rebuild homes following this month's devastating earthquakes, a government official said Friday, as the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria surpassed 50,000.

More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed tens of thousands in Turkey and neighboring Syria.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced the death toll in Turkey due to earthquakes rose to 44,218 on Friday night.

With Syria's latest announced death toll of 5,914, the combined death toll in the two countries rose to above 50,000.

Facing an election within months, President Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes within a year, although experts have said the authorities should put safety before speed. Some buildings that were meant to withstand tremors crumbled in the latest earthquakes.

"For several projects, tenders and contracts have been done. The process is moving very fast," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, adding there would be no compromise on safety.

Authorities say tents have been dispatched for the many who are homeless, but people have reported trouble accessing them.

"I have eight children. We are living in a tent. There is water on top (of the tent) and the ground is damp. We are asking for more tents and they don't give them to us," Melek, 67, who was waiting in a line to collect aid outside a high school in the town of Hassa.

The school was being used as an aid distribution center by a group of volunteers called Interrail Turkey. One volunteer, Sumeyye Karabocek, said the shortage of tents remained the biggest problem.

Half a million new homes needed

Erdogan's government has endured a wave of criticism over both its response to the devastation and what many Turks say were years of non-enforcement of construction quality control.

The Turkish government's initial plan now is to build 200,000 apartments and 70,000 village houses at a cost of at least $15 billion, he said. U.S. bank J.P. Morgan estimated rebuilding houses and infrastructure will cost $25 billion.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said it estimated that the destruction has left 1.5 million people homeless, with 500,000 new homes needed.

It said it had requested $113.5 million from the $1 billion in funds appealed for by the United Nations last week, adding that it would focus this money on clearing away mountains of rubble.

The UNDP estimates that the disaster had produced between 116 million and 210 million tons of rubble, compared with 13 million tons of rubble after the earthquake in northwest Turkey in 1999.

Turkey also issued new regulations under which companies and charities can build homes and workplaces to donate to the urbanization ministry for people in need.

Many survivors have left the region of southern Turkey that was hit by the quake or have been settled in tents, container homes and other government-sponsored accommodation.

In Antakya, Saeed Sleiman Ertoglu, 56, loaded up what remained of his stock from his waterpipe shop that was not damaged.

"The glassware was very beautiful, more than usual, but then we had this (earthquake), and it all got ruined," he said, after his home and shop survived the first tremors but not the later one. He estimated that just 5% of his merchandise survived.

"What can we do?" he said. "This is an act of God, and Gods will always bears gifts."
Russia has likely depleted its supply of Iranian one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicles or OWA-UAVs, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday in an intelligence update.

The ministry said there have not been any reports of the vehicles being used in Ukraine since around Feb. 15, while at least 24 were reported downed between late January and early February.

Scores were destroyed in the first few days of the year, the ministry said.

The British ministry said Ukraine will likely seek more stock of the unmanned vehicles, despite their bad track record for destroying their intended targets.

Russia likely sees them as useful decoys which can divert Ukrainian air defenses from more effective Russian cruise missiles, according to the ministrys report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday Russias killing of so many people in Ukraine cannot go unpunished. He said he wants the Russian military and political leadership brought before the International Criminal Court.

They must be held responsible, Zelenskyy said. I believe in accountability.

On Friday, a year after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, the White House announced that the Pentagon would commit $2 billion more in military assistance to Ukraines defense against Russia.

The package includes additional ammunition for HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, 155 mm artillery rounds, munitions for laser-guided rocket systems, and funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment of equipment. President Joe Biden reasserted his vow that "Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to support Ukraines infrastructure. Blinken said the State Department in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury Department are offering $10 billion in assistance, including budgetary support to Ukraine and additional energy assistance to support Ukrainians suffering from Russias attacks.

The State Department also marked the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Friday by sanctioning more than 60 top Russian officials, including Cabinet ministers and regional leaders, and three enterprises that run the country's nuclear weapons program.

Additionally, the U.S. announced broader global sanctions against companies for helping Moscow evade export restrictions and access key technologies.

The Treasury Department said it is sanctioning Russias metals and mining sector among others. The action, taken in coordination with the G-7 leading industrial nations, seeks to punish 250 people and firms, puts financial blocks on banks, arms dealers and technology companies tied to weapons production, and goes after alleged sanctions evaders in countries from the United Arab Emirates to Switzerland.

Our sanctions have had both short-term and long-term impact, seen acutely in Russias struggle to replenish its weapons and in its isolated economy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
Economic experts say the confrontation between the U.S. and China over a suspected spy balloon is spilling into the economic sphere as investors express concerns about the future of U.S.-China trade and a growing number of U.S. lawmakers and officials push for a tougher stance against Beijing, starting with faster action on economic issues.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo on Tuesday warned China and companies in China that they will face action by the U.S. and its allies if they help Russia evade sanctions.

"Fundamentally, we think, like other jurisdictions, China has to make choices about what they are willing to do, whether they want to be part of the global system that represents 50% of the global economy or whether they want to strengthen their ties with Russia," Adeyemo said at an event in Washington.



The U.S. first detected the balloon over Alaska on January 28. The balloon drifted east into Canada and then back into the U.S. China claimed it was a weather balloon, not a spy craft, but the U.S. shot it down on February 4 over the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina.

U.S. fighter jets detected and shot down three more airborne objects between February 9 and 12.

The U.S. Commerce Department subsequently blacklisted six Chinese entities linked to the Chinese balloon program and, on February 16, China responded with sanctions on two U.S. defense contractors.

Gary Hufbauer, trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the two countries remain motivated to maintain economic and trade relations, but the strained bilateral relations pose challenges.

Hufbauer told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview on February 21 that, "the strength of the economic ties was much stronger than the negative political tension between the two countries. However, if relations get much worse than they are now, the political forces will be stronger than the economic forces."

The growing risks are making some investors anxious about increasing production and investment in China.

According to a survey by the U.S.-China Business Council, a lobbying group representing more than 200 U.S. companies operating in China, 87% of respondents said the tensions have affected their business operations.

Craig Allen, president of the council, told VOA Mandarin via email on February 22, "Increased US-China tensions create a lot of uncertainty and are a concern for our members. The recent balloon incident and the war in Ukraine further complicate an already complicated situation."

War in Ukraine

Some experts believe that if China's involvement in Ukraine deepens, the U.S. and its allies will curtail their economic cooperation with Beijing.

China has strengthened economic ties with Moscow since it invaded Ukraine a year ago. China-Russia trade hit a record $190 billion last year, but that is far less than the $690.6 billion trade between China and the U.S. over the same period.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on February 18 that U.S. intelligence suggests China is considering assisting Russia with weapons and ammunition.

Gerard DiPippo, senior fellow with the Economics Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the multiple warnings from the U.S. to China in recent days show that Washington believes Beijing is considering aiding Russia.

DiPippo told VOA Mandarin on February 21 in a phone interview, "If in fact China is detected as sending weapons to Russia, which as far as I know has actually not happened yet, there will probably be some sanctions ... And I think the broader point [is] it's going to sour what remained of goodwill to try to resume talks."

Technology

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee is drawing up legislation targeting U.S. companies operating in China in hopes of preventing U.S. banks from funding the development of technology that could end up being used in China's military or surveillance, according to Politico, a political news site.

The Politico report pointed out that China hawks in Congress have also been pushing for legislation to establish a new federal oversight body to review and prevent American companies from investing in Chinese industries that may affect U.S. national security.

The Biden administration is rolling out a similar executive order to prevent U.S. technology from being used by China to enhance its military power.

Earlier this month, the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies at Georgetown University published a report citing U.S. investment in China's artificial intelligence industry as an example of U.S. investment bringing intangible benefits beyond capital to Chinese companies, including expertise, mentorship and name recognition.

Paul Triolo, senior vice president for China and technology policy lead at Albright Stonebridge Group, told VOA Mandarin that the key areas of U.S. foreign investment scrutiny will be advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Samantha Howell, research assistant at the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said investors should expect more technology export restrictions in the near term.

"A lot of these technologies are dual use and inherently difficult to monitor, so the Biden administration faces the daunting task of figuring out how to foster innovation and collaboration while also protecting national and economic security," she told VOA Mandarin via email on February 21.

Experts also see the future direction of the U.S. and Chinese economies depending in part on how China responds to U.S. warnings related to Ukraine. They pointed out that it is difficult for China to ignore the economic pressure that Russia has been subjected to by the West following its invasion of Ukraine.

DiPippo said China is "fairly cautious with the United States usually. They're more aggressive in terms of things like economic coercion with smaller countries but the United States doing things like retaliating, for example, either for the trade war or the balloon or export controls, they're quite restrained because I think they're aware that the United States still has a lot of economic power."

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
US first lady Jill Biden called for democracy and women's empowerment at the midpoint of her trip to Africa, arriving Friday in Kenya's capital to a lavish welcome after a stay in Namibia. But analysts note that the first lady wields only soft power, and that African nations may not be as keen to change as the US. would like. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Nairobi.
Voice of America placed two journalists in its Russian-language service on leave Friday following complaints over their prior employment at Kremlin-backed groups.



Staff at the agency flagged concerns to managers in November shortly after the two journalists  Harry Knyagnitsky and Daria Davydova  were hired.



The letter, signed by 15 of the Russian services 92 journalists, said that in their previous employment, Knyagnitsky and Davydova had promoted pro-Kremlin narratives on Ukraine.



After Ukrainian media reported on the internal criticism this week, more than 20 journalists who are part of the Ukraine Media Movement coalition on Thursday called for Knyagnitsky to be dismissed.



Some of those to sign the Media Movement letter work for VOA affiliates.



When asked Thursday about the hiring decisions and whether action would be taken, VOA public relations did not respond directly, saying that for decades the network has hired experienced journalists from repressive societies, including Russia.



Voice of America regularly hires foreign journalists who have language fluency skills and regional knowledge to produce credible, authoritative journalism in more than 40 languages. The agency says all of its journalists work is subject to editorial review before publication.



All VOA journalists work under editorial supervision and guidance that ensures that all of their work adheres to the highest journalism standards and our Charter. The work of Ms. Davydova and Mr. Knyagnitsky, like that of other VOA journalists, goes through the news agency's rigorous editing process.



In a follow-up request for comment when details of the employees being put on leave were reported in the U.S. media, VOA public relations wrote in an email late Friday, VOA can confirm that the two Russian language service journalists were placed on leave with pay as VOA reviews the issues involved. This action is standard practice, and as part of VOAs internal review, both journalists will be interviewed.



Knyagnitsky and Davydova were hired in October 2022 and had been vetted as part of the security process that all VOA staff undergo.



In the open call from the Ukraine Media Movement, the coalition reviewed previous reporting and flagged several instances where Knyagnitsky pushed pro-Kremlin narratives, including on the Donbas region and Crimea while working for NTV.



During his time at NTV, Knyagnitsky seems to have managed to support all Russias propaganda narratives, the open letter read.



The once independent broadcaster, which was known for pushing boundaries in Russias tightly controlled media scene, was taken over in 2001 by the state-run Gazprom energy company.

Knyagnitsky left NTV in 2017 and moved to the U.S. where he worked for another Russian-backed broadcaster, RTV1. He left that station when Russia invaded Ukraine.



Knyagnitsky and Davydova did not respond to emails Saturday requesting comments before publication.



In a comment to The Washington Post, Knyagnitsky denied he is a propagandist and said he had left RTV1 when management tried to control coverage of the Russian invasion.



After VOA staff raised concerns on the hirings on November 29, VOAs senior management held a meeting in December with the Russian division and the VOA standards editor, to discuss concerns.



After that meeting, VOA said one of the signatories removed their name from the letter.



At two staff meetings held since, no one in the Russian service raised the issue, according to VOA.



When hiring, newsrooms have a responsibility to prioritize integrity and journalism skills, analysts say.



Every case should be judged on its own, every journalist on their own work. VOA, like any media organization, has a responsibility to hire journalists who work with integrity, who have strong reporting skills, and who are committed to reporting the truth, said Ann Cooper, professor emerita, Columbia Journalism School.



Did VOA managers look at the journalist's prior and more recent work, and are they comfortable that the reporting the journalist is doing for VOA meets their standards? That's what matters here, said Cooper, an experienced foreign journalist who was NPRs first Moscow bureau chief.



VOA journalists, including its Russia division have produced hundreds of hours of programming to dispel Moscow disinformation and propaganda about the war.

VOA Russian is committed to continue delivering factual news and comprehensive reporting to its audience, VOA Public Relations said in a statement.

Vetting questions

VOAs employee hiring and vetting process has been called into question before.

Under the previous USAGM leadership, the then-CEO cited security lapses when putting several officials under investigation.

U.S. lawmakers and analysts said the action was retaliatory against whistleblowers and those officials were later exonerated and reinstated.

Some of the other VOA staff investigated for other issues during that period  some who also had protected whistleblower status  were later cleared by investigations under the Biden appointed leadership at USAGM.

However, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair has pressed USAGM leadership for more information about one of those cases.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add context about VOAs hiring and vetting processes.
One year after Russias invasion of Ukraine, the White House on Friday announced that the Pentagon would commit $2 billion more in military assistance to Ukraines defense against Russia.

The package includes additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) ammunition, 155 mm artillery rounds, munitions for laser-guided rocket systems, and funding for training, maintenance and sustainment of equipment. President Joe Biden reasserted his vow that "Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia."

"A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the peoples love of liberty. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free," Biden added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed U.S. commitment to support Ukraines infrastructure. Blinken said the State Department in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Treasury Department were offering $10 billion in assistance, including budgetary support to Ukraine and additional energy assistance to support Ukrainians suffering from Russias attacks.

These funds are crucial to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia and ensures the Ukrainian government can continue to meet the critical needs of its citizens, including health care, education and emergency services, the top U.S. diplomat said.

The U.S. State Department also marked the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Friday by sanctioning more than 60 top Russian officials, including Cabinet ministers and regional leaders, and three enterprises that run the country's nuclear weapons program.

"We remain committed to supporting the people of Ukraine and are redoubling our efforts to promote accountability for the Kremlin's war," Blinken said.

Additionally, the U.S. announced broader global sanctions against companies for helping Moscow evade export restrictions and access key technologies. The Treasury Department said it was sanctioning Russias metals and mining sector, among others. The action, taken in coordination with the Group of Seven nations, seeks to punish 250 people and firms; puts financial blocks on banks, arms dealers and technology companies tied to weapons production; and goes after alleged sanctions evaders in countries from the United Arab Emirates to Switzerland.

Our sanctions have had both short-term and long-term impact, seen acutely in Russias struggle to replenish its weapons and in its isolated economy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

World reaction

The United Nations approved a resolution Thursday demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspended Russia's membership on Friday, saying Moscow's war in Ukraine violated the organization's principles. FATF is an intergovernmental organization set up to combat money laundering and terrorism financing by setting global standards and checking on whether countries respect them.

"This is the first time a member of FATF is suspended," FATF President Raja Kumar said at a news conference. "Russia is effectively sidelined from the organization. Ukraine welcomed the decision but added it would continue to push FATF members to go further and blacklist Russia.

Meanwhile, China on Friday called for a cease-fire, along with the opening of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. It was part of a 12-point proposal urging the end of Western sanctions against Russia, suggesting measures to prevent attacks on civilian infrastructure, ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities and establishing corridors for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

China has sought to be seen as neutral in the conflict while at the same time refusing to criticize Russias invasion.

Reacting to Chinese de-escalation efforts Friday, the White House said the most important element of China's proposal for a cease-fire in Russia's war against Ukraine was the call for respecting national sovereignty.

"The first two lines in that document, really, is where it should have been left, which is respect for national sovereignty," said White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. He declined to characterize the rest of the Chinese plan.

During a press conference Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed some elements of the Chinese proposal based on the concept of national sovereignty.

"I think it's correct to think that if there are thoughts that, in one way or another, correspond with respect for international law, to territorial integrity  let's work with China on this point," he said during a news conference in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy also said he planned to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though he did not say when.

Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy said his nation would be victorious against Russia as the war with the neighboring country entered its second year with no apparent end in sight.

We endured. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year, Zelenskyy said in a statement released on social media. Ukraine has inspired the world. Ukraine has united the world.

The diplomatic moves came against the backdrop of continued fighting in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine said Thursday that it had repelled attempted Russian advances along the length of the front line of fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine.

In the most recent fighting, Moscows forces have made progress trying to encircle Bakhmut, with Ukrainian military spokesperson Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov saying Moscow was trying to use its manpower advantage to exhaust Kyiv's forces.

"The enemy, despite significant losses, does not abandon attempts to surround Bakhmut," he said.

But Ukraine said Russian troops had failed to break through Ukrainian lines to the north near Kreminna and to the south at Vuhledar, where they have sustained heavy losses assaulting across open ground.

Gromov said Ukrainian forces had repelled 90 Russian attacks in the northeast and east in the last day.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
WASHINGTON - Change Organization-led by a Zimbabwean citizen, Simba Tembo, has set up a petition online urging President Emmerson Mnangagwa not to sign into law the countrys dreaded Private Voluntary Organizations (PVO) Amendment Bill, which was passed recently by the Senate.

In the petition titled President Mnangagwa #Reject the PVO Bill, which has so far been signed by almost 400 people drawn from many countries, the organization is seeking at least 500 signatures for it to be recognized and adopted by Zimbabwean authorities.

The petition reads in part, We petition Your Excellency to refuse to lend your signature to the Private Voluntary Organizations (PVO) Amendment Bill H.B. 10 of 2021, which was passed by the Senate on 2 February 2023. We believe this law is one that will have perhaps the most far-reaching negative implications to the welfare of the generality of Zimbabweans, since your assumption of office. As a listening President, an attribute you have constantly reminded us of, we hope and believe you will listen to the truths regarding what this kind of law will cost.

Community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations and other civil society organisations in their various outfits provide complimentary support to government-led interventions. On several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), from reducing child and maternal mortality to reducing malaria and HIV infections, Zimbabwe stands with pride for scoring high, on account of the long-standing partnership between government, development partners and non-governmental organisations.

It further said some national goals wont be achievable without the help of non-governmental organization.

Development partners and civil society organisations are providing significant social protection and humanitarian assistance to Zimbabweans in all corners of the country. Our fiscal space simply does not allow for government to shoulder this responsibility single-handedly, given the state of the economy. A disruption of the above has far-reaching implications, the contours of which we may be unable to see now. Avoiding such implications would be the expedient and responsible thing to do.

Change Organization said the PVO Amendment Bill in its current form is problematic in multiple ways, including concentration of power in the hands of a Registrar of PVOs and dissolution of the PVO Board, with all powers to register, regulate and deregister being put in the hands of one official.

It noted that there are restrictions in receiving funding which is vaguely stated as illegitimate and immoral and also some numerous civil penalties and criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

There are provisions which violate the freedoms of association and the right to administrative justice. This includes the compulsory registration of civil society organisations as PVOs, and restrictions to trusts and universitas organisations. Freedom of association and the right to administrative justice are both standards under our own Constitution (section 58 and section 68, respectively), as well as international law to which Zimbabwe subscribes, which include the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR).

The Bill facilitates arbitrary decision-making regarding PVOs to be vested in the Minister and the Registrar. This includes the unilateral and unguided powers by the Minister responsible for PVOs to designate organisations as high risk, and the powers of the Minister to replace the Executive Committees of PVOs. This violates section 68 of the Zimbabwe Constitution as well as Article 26 of the ICCPR and Article 3 and 7 of the ACHPR, which guarantee the right to administrative conduct that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.

Bill, said Change Organization in the petition, further criminalizes PVOs that engage in what is vaguely stated as political support, infringing on section 58s and 67 of the Zimbabwe Constitution that guarantee freedom of assembly and association and political rights.

In terms of international law obligations, the Bill contravenes Article 25 of the ICCPR, Article 13 and 28 of the ACHPR, Principle 4.1.1 of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections and Article 12 of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG). These international instruments to which Zimbabwe is a party, recognize civil society organisations and their role in advancing these rights.

The organization reminded Mnangagwa that there has been continuous regional and international outcry over the ripple effects of the Bill if it is passed as law.

In December 2021, four United Nations special mandate holders wrote to you expressing their reservations on this proposed law, and outlining the ways in which many provisions of the Bill violate international law and standards. These four special mandate holders are the Special Rapporteur on the freedom on the rights to freedom of assembly and association; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders and the Special Rapporteur on the fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.

In addition to the violation of international law, the letter detailed in clear terms that the vagueness of several clauses in the Bill projects uncertainty on the scope of the law. This makes it difficult for organisations to clearly ascertain their legal obligations and act accordingly. The vagueness can also provide opportunity for broad detrimental interpretation of clauses by relevant administrative and judicial bodies, thus endowing them with wide discretionary powers to apply the law and impose burdensome requirements on a diverse group of community and informal associations that are currently excluded from regulation.

Change Organization said if the Bill is signed into law, this will have a huge impact on development funds.

The economic prejudice that the PVO Amendment Bill will have on the country if passed into law cannot be overstated. The country stands to lose up to nearly USD$1 billion in development support when the civil society sector is disrupted, resources which have made the difference between life and death for many citizens.

We bring to your attention that when this Bill was taken for public hearings, most of those consulted did not support this law. We also bring to your attention that the process of developing this Bill was defective in that citizens were denied of the opportunity to interface with the current text through an inclusive, comprehensive and broad-based process of consultation with citizens.

Yet the Constitution of Zimbabwe defines our democracy as one that is underpinned by the participation of citizens in legislative processes through a robust process of consultation. When extensive revisions were made to the Bill in June 2021, public hearings had already been completed using the original version of the Bill, such that members of the public never got the chance to comment on the new provisions of the Bill.

Change Organization stressed that Mnangagwa will dent his national and international status if he signs the Bill into law.

Your High Office is charged with signing into law, laws that are citizen centered, which embody the social contract espoused in the Constitution and that adhere to international law obligations. This proposed law is one whose blemish may be impossible to wash from your record. As Zimbabwe seeks re-engagement on the international arena, as Zimbabwe seeks to cast a new trajectory in its post-independent democratic project, signing a regressive law as the PVO Amendment Bill will only amount to shooting ourselves in the foot, regarding the democratic gains we have scored thus far, and the goodwill that has mounted on the international scene. There are more constitutional and less disruptive ways to deal with whichever NGOs are found wanting at law, and that route must be pursued instead. Your Excellency, we humbly submit that the PVO Amendment Bill is not a law you will want to be associated with, now and in your legacy.

President Mnangagwa indicated this week that he will sign the Bill into law without any hesitation.

His government says there are some NGOs that have a regime change agenda and as a result they need to be stopped from interfering in the affairs of the government.

Musa Kika, human rights defender and executive director of Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, said this petition is seeking what they have been calling for as non-state actors.

We are seeing this petition from Zimbabweans, this is not the first time we are seeing this. We have been seeing this since the days of the public hearings. The citizens are going to be hurt the most by this kind of law because they are the primary beneficiaries of CSO work and development support.

Kika said Mnangagwa should heed peoples calls and not go down in history as the president who signed this bill into law.

Kika said those that support the Bill have no idea or are just ignorant of what it will do and how it erases privileges to access help and support from NGOs that have been key in the struggle of the masses.

But Masimba Mavaza of Zanu PF said Mnangagwa should ignore the petition and sign the PVO Bill into law.

The Bill must be signed by the president. It enables the registrar to decide on which particular organizations should be allowed to participate and operate in Zimbabwe and its not peculiar in Zimbabwe alone. We have the same in England. A country must be allowed its own space to run the way people should behave in their own nation.
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Israeli settlers shot and seriously wounded two Palestinians in the northern occupied West Bank early Friday, Palestinian health officials said, in what authorities describe as the latest incident in a wave of settler violence.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the two wounded Palestinians were being treated at a hospital in the village of Qusra, near the West Bank city of Nablus. It did not identify the men.

A group of armed settlers from a nearby outpost descended on the village and Palestinians went into the street to see what was happening late Thursday, said Ghassan Douglas, the Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlements in the Nablus region.

One of the settlers opened fire at the residents, hitting one man in the stomach and another in the thigh. Douglas said the shooting was unprovoked.

The Israeli army said soldiers arrived to disperse the confrontation. It said it was aware Palestinians were evacuated to a hospital with gunshot wounds. Israeli police said they were investigating.

The northern West Bank in particular has seen a surge of settler attacks. Many villages in the area have gradually become sandwiched between settlements and unauthorized outposts that house particularly ideological settlers.

Last month, leading Israeli human rights group B'Tselem recorded a string of incidents near Nablus  from settlers attacking Palestinians with stones in Qusra to torching Palestinian cars in Aqraba. Earlier this month, a settler shot and killed a Palestinian in the farming town of Salfit.

This kind of event we are now seeing here every few weeks," said Douglas, describing the settler violence as an attempt to push villagers off their land.

The United Nations recorded over 630 settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank last year, up from 496 in 2021. That includes property damage as well as physical assaults.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek those lands for a hoped-for independent state.

At least 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in dozens of settlements that spread across the West Bank and are protected by the Israeli military.

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At the one-year mark of Russias brutal invasion of Ukraine, we, the Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), met with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes. Russias heinous attacks over the last 365 days have laid bare the cruelty of the ongoing aggression. We condemn Russias illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war, disregard for the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and indifference to the impacts that its war is having on people worldwide. We salute the heroism of the Ukrainian people in their brave resistance. We commit to intensifying our diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine, to increasing the costs to Russia and those supporting its war effort, and to continuing to counter the negative impacts of the war on the rest of the world, particularly on the most vulnerable people.

Russia started this war and Russia can end this war. We call on Russia to stop its ongoing aggression and to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the entire internationally recognized territory of Ukraine. In the past year Russian forces have killed thousands of Ukrainians, caused millions to flee, and forcibly deported many thousands of Ukrainians, including children, to Russia. Russia has destroyed hospitals, schools, and energy and critical infrastructure, and left historic cities in ruins. In areas liberated from Russian forces, there is evidence of mass graves, sexual violence, torture and other atrocities. We strongly condemn all of Russias outrageous acts. Amidst Russias assault, Ukrainians are more united, proud and determined than ever.

Russias war against Ukraine is also an attack on the fundamental principles of sovereignty of nations, territorial integrity of states and respect for human rights. We remain united and resolute in our support of the UN Charter. We reiterate our unequivocal condemnation and firm rejection of the attempted illegal annexation by Russia of Ukraines Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. As in the case of Crimea and Sevastopol, we will never recognize these illegal annexation attempts.

We reiterate that Russias irresponsible nuclear rhetoric is unacceptable, and any use of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences. We recall the consensus achieved in Bali of all G20 members, including Russia, that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. We also recall the importance of the 77-year record of non-use of nuclear weapons. We deeply regret Russias decision to suspend the implementation of the new START treaty. We express our gravest concern over Russias continued occupation and control over the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. The situation can only be resolved by complete withdrawal of Russian troops and equipment from the premises. We support the International Atomic Energy Agencys (IAEA) efforts to strengthen nuclear safety and security in Ukraine, including through the continuous presence of IAEA experts and the cessation of all combat operations in and around the plant and surrounding infrastructure.

We welcome the resolution A/ES-11/L.7 titled Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine resolution which was adopted with the broad support of the international community at the Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly yesterday. We remain committed to diplomacy and welcome and support President Zelenskyys earnest efforts to promote a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter by outlining basic principles in his Peace Formula. With a view to a viable post-war peace settlement, we remain ready to reach arrangements together with Ukraine as well as interested countries and institutions on sustained security and other commitments to help Ukraine defend itself, secure its free and democratic future, and deter future Russian aggression.

We remain committed to coordinating efforts to meet Ukraines pressing military and defence equipment needs, with an immediate focus on air defence systems and capabilities, as well as necessary munitions and tanks.

Building on the results achieved during the international conference held in Paris on 13 December, we also reaffirm our commitment to provide additional humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people, assistance to support Ukraines energy sector, and other assistance in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, including to ensure access to healthcare including mental health. We welcome the establishment of the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform to help advance Ukraines reform agenda, promote private sector led sustainable growth, and ensure close coordination among international donors to deliver assistance in a coherent, transparent and accountable manner.

We will continue to help maintain Ukraines economic and financial stability, including addressing urgent short-term economic needs. In this context, we welcome the progress made by our Finance Ministers to increase our budget and economic support to 39 billion US dollars for 2023 and look forward to additional commitments. We ask Finance Ministers to continue engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ukraine to deliver an ambitious program by the end of March 2023 and to continue working together, with the IMF and others for necessary budget support to Ukraine throughout and beyond 2023.

We support Ukraines reconstruction efforts, including the recovery of infrastructure destroyed by Russias aggression. It is essential that this process continues to involve a wide range of actors, including Ukrainian subnational entities and civil society, international financial institutions and organizations, and the private sector. The Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in London in June this year will offer a venue for Ukraine, international partners, private sector and civil society to further promote momentum behind Ukraines recovery. At the same time, we will continue to support the determination of Ukraine to build a society free from corruption. We support the Ukrainian governments efforts to advance necessary institution-building in line with Ukraines European path, including in the judicial sector and promotion of the rule of law by empowering the independent Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions. In this regard, we reiterate our full confidence in the role of the G7 Ambassadors Group in supporting the implementation of the reform agenda.

We reaffirm our commitment to strengthening the unprecedented and coordinated sanctions and other economic measures the G7 and partner countries have taken to date to further counter Russias capacity to wage its illegal aggression. We remain committed to presenting a united front through the imposition of new coordinated economic actions against Russia in the days and weeks ahead. Specifically, we are taking the following new measures, consistent with our respective legal authorities and processes and international law:

(i) We will maintain, fully implement and expand the economic measures we have already imposed, including by preventing and responding to evasion and circumvention through the establishment of an Enforcement Coordination Mechanism to bolster compliance and enforcement of our measures and deny Russia the benefits of G7 economies. We call on third-countries or other international actors who seek to evade or undermine our measures to cease providing material support to Russias war, or face severe costs. To deter this activity around the world, we are taking actions against third-country actors materially supporting Russias war in Ukraine. We also commit to further aligning measures, such as transit or services bans, including to prevent Russian circumvention.

(ii) We are committed to preventing Russia from finding new ways to acquire advanced materials, technology, and military and industrial equipment from our jurisdictions that it can use to develop its industrial sectors and further its violations of international law. To this end, we will adopt further measures to prevent Russia from accessing inputs that support its military and manufacturing sectors, including, among others, industrial machinery, tools, construction equipment, and other technology Russia is exploiting to rebuild its war machine.

(iii) We will continue to reduce Russias revenue to finance its illegal aggression by taking appropriate steps to limit Russias energy revenue and future extractive capabilities, building on the measures we have taken so far, including export bans and the price cap for seaborne Russian-origin crude oil and refined oil products. We commit to taking action in a way that mitigates spillover effects for energy security, in particular for the most vulnerable and affected countries.

(iv) Given the significant revenues that Russia extracts from the export of diamonds, we will work collectively on further measures on Russian diamonds, including rough and polished ones, working closely to engage key partners.

(v) We are taking additional measures in relation to Russias financial sector to further undermine Russias capacity to wage its illegal aggression. While coordinating to preserve financial channels for essential transactions, we will target additional Russian financial institutions to prevent circumvention of our measures.

(vi) We continue to impose targeted sanctions, including on those responsible for war crimes or human rights violations and abuses, exercising illegitimate authority in Ukraine, or who otherwise are profiting from the war.

We will continue our efforts to ensure Russia pays for Ukraines long-term reconstruction. Russia bears full responsibility for the war and the damage it has caused, including to Ukraines critical infrastructure. We collectively reaffirm the need for an international mechanism to register the damages Russia has inflicted. We are determined, consistent with our respective legal systems, that Russias sovereign assets in our jurisdictions will remain immobilized until there is a resolution to the conflict that addresses Russias violation of Ukraines sovereignty and integrity. Any resolution to the conflict must ensure Russia pays for the damage it has caused. We will work with partners beyond the G7 which hold those Russian sovereign assets to build the broadest coalition possible to advance these objectives.

We are united in our determination to hold President Putin and those responsible to account, consistent with international law. We support investigations by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine, and other national prosecutors who are able to establish jurisdiction under national law. In this regard, we support exploring efforts to develop an international centre for the prosecution of the crime of aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) which is linked to the existing Joint Investigation Team supported by Eurojust.

We deplore that many countries in the world have been severely affected by the repercussions of Russias war of aggression. Russias weaponisation of food has caused global economic hardship and a rise in global food prices, increasing the cost of living of people, compounding the economic vulnerabilities of developing countries, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity around the world. We reiterate the G7s united will to continue to provide rapid assistance, including food-related aid, to countries in need and affected populations and we will continue to design our restrictive measures to shield such populations from unintended consequences by ensuring food and fertilisers are carved out. We will continue to support food security and the availability and sustainable use of fertilisers to vulnerable countries in need of assistance and welcome the related work undertaken by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other relevant agencies. We recognize the importance of the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes, President Zelenskyys Grain from Ukraine Initiative and the UN and Turkiye-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI). In this context, we stress the importance of the automatic extension of the BSGI by 18 March and its expansion.

We also express our profound sympathy for all those affected by the horrifying earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria. We stand in solidarity with the people of Turkiye and Syria and pledge our continued support to tackling the consequences of this catastrophe. It is vital that humanitarian aid reaches all those who require it as efficiently as possible. We welcome the expansion of cross-border aid for an initial period of three months, and underscore that the humanitarian needs of those in northwest Syria should continue to be met. We also welcome the EU initiative to host a donor conference in support of the people in Turkiye and Syria in March.

Above all, our solidarity will never waver in standing with Ukraine, in supporting countries and people in need, and in upholding the international order based on the rule of law.
Palestinians posed for photos Friday at a new landmark -- the rubble of a house that was the site of Israel's deadliest raid in the occupied West Bank for nearly two decades.

Eleven Palestinians were killed and more than 80 wounded by gunfire as Israeli soldiers raided Nablus in the broad daylight of Wednesday morning, in what the army said was an operation based on the intelligence of an imminent threat from Palestinian militants.

Only 48 hours later, a Palestinian family gathered to take snaps in the ruins of the house that has become a memorial among the ancient Ottoman mosques and cobbled streets of Nablus' Old City.



Men stand on the rubble of a house that was demolished during an Israeli army raid in the Old City of Nablus, on February 24, 2023. AFP

A sabre of light cut through a gaping chasm in the ceiling -- an artificial porthole left by an Israeli rocket fired during the operation.

"How is it possible that... hundreds of soldiers armed with rifles and missiles enter an area inhabited by 200,000 unarmed civilians in order to arrest or kill a person?" asked Nasser Mahamadeh.



A man and a child stand inside a house that was demolished during an Israeli army raid in the Old City of Nablus, on February 24, 2023. AFP

"The people here are all with the resistance, and these incidents make the resistance more powerful and make people turn more towards the resistance," the 57-year-old said as he surveyed the destruction.

"If there were 10 resistors before, now they will become 1,000 resistors, and so on."

A spokesperson for the Israeli military said that "about 150 personnel" were involved in Wednesday's raid.

Nablus' Old City has become a focal point of increased tension in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the emergence of a new militant group known as the Lions' Den last year.

Israel has accused the group of carrying out attacks on Israeli targets, including the killing in October of a soldier in the West Bank.

Wednesday's raid was just the latest in a string of deadly military operations in the West Bank which have seen scores of Palestinians killed.

'Lions' Den'

In January, 10 Palestinians including children were killed in a raid further north of the Jenin refugee camp. Another five, alleged Hamas militants, were killed in an operation in the Dead Sea city of Jericho.

Among the dead in Nablus on Wednesday was 72-year-old Adnan Abu Ashraf.

Outside his bolted shop, his cousin Umm Tayseer al-Asalia, 60, described how he did not return after he headed "to the municipality to complete some paperwork".

"Killing the leaders of the resistance in Nablus does not weaken the resistance, but rather strengthens it, because there are always new youths joining the resistance," she said.

Ameed al-Masri, a local Fatah official, said the fighters even had the support of the representatives of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas' secular Fatah movement.

"The Lions' Den is a group of young people from various factions who chose the struggle, independent of any faction," he said.

"We in Fatah respect that. We are with anyone who wants to resist the occupation," he added.

The Islamic Jihad said one of its commanders was also among those killed in Wednesday's Israeli raid.

Yet while Israel's military lauds its own efforts to fight the group, in the Old City, locals said that regardless of how many fighters they claimed to have killed, Nablus' resistance had only hardened.



Children stand on the rubble of a house that was demolished during an Israeli army raid in the Old City of Nablus, on February 24, 2023. AFP

Asalia pointed to her eight-year-old grandson, Karim.

"He asked me to buy him a gun because he wanted to join the Lions' Den and become hunted like the martyr Ibrahim al-Nabulsi," she said, referring to the group's late leader, as her shy grandchild scuttled away.

Surrounded by rubble, a furious Mahamadeh cleaned the dust off his boots.

"The Lions' Den is an idea," he said.

"This idea is now spreading to all of Palestine, and every person has become a resistance fighter."

In a statement posted to the Telegram internet channel late on Thursday, the Lions' Den claimed that "nearly 50" more fighters had joined the group since Wednesday's raid.

AFP was unable to confirm the authenticity of the statement.

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In judging Vladimir Putins reckless invasion of Ukraine, moral fundamentalism is entirely appropriate. What hes done is evil. Judging what to do in response has always been more complicated  and, as the war enters its second year, still is. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Americas hawks like to say the war presents the US and its partners with two options: appeasement (cowardly and doomed to fail) and resistance (noble and, with Western help, leading to a Ukrainian victory). This is a false choice. From the outset, the US and Europe have both appeased and resisted, and rightly so. The challenge now, as throughout, is to swallow ones disgust at striking such a balance, and to think it through.

The idea that the US and Europe have appeased the Russians might seem odd, because appeasement is generally taken to mean surrender, which the West clearly hasnt done. Stripped of performative baggage, however, appeasement means accommodation or conciliation  of which theres been plenty.

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Many supporters of Ukraine frame the conflict as an existential fight between democracy and tyranny, one that the West simply cannot afford to lose. Yet the US and its partners are not yet at war with Russia. Theyve applied sanctions to Russia, provided economic support to Ukraine, and sent weapons in vast quantities  but much more slowly than Ukraine would like. They havent supplied the most lethal arms. Theyve decided to confine the fighting and destruction and death to Ukraine. Russian cities arent being bombed, and US and European soldiers arent laying down their lives alongside Ukraines heroes.

Measured against whatever it takes, this qualifies as appeasement. It belies the claim that were all in this together. And, crucially, these accommodations make it thinkable that Russia, having wrecked Ukraine and destroyed countless lives, might in the end prevail.

And yet: Hard as it may be to accept, some such appeasement is not just rational but also morally defensible  hence the rhetorical camouflage. Outright war with Russia might well escalate to nuclear conflict. The notion that most analysts think it is unlikely that Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons, as one columnist reported, is hardly reassuring. (When it comes to avoiding Armageddon, I would prefer something more solid than what most analysts deem unlikely.) I also notice that even those who set the risk of nuclear war at or close to zero, and/or believe that Putin will start a wider war of imperial conquest if hes allowed to win this time, arent saying the US should send its forces right now to fight Russia in a conventional war. Why is that?

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Western leaders are surely right to weigh the human costs of escalation  to say nothing of a possible nuclear war  in their calculations. A concern Ive had from the outset, however, is that US and European support for Ukraines resistance gives too little weight to the costs were urging Ukraine to bear. To be sure, Ukraine has been extraordinarily brave and wants all the support it can get. Even so, a policy that sustains its resistance  and the suffering it entails, without fully committing to the swiftest possible Ukrainian victory  is not beyond reproach.

These dilemmas can be disguised but not resolved by repeating, Theres no real choice, or Theres no turning back, and so forth. The awful challenge is how to calibrate the balance of appeasement and resistance.

Theres a good case for more of both. When Russias initial invasion was crushed, there was a chance to build an off-ramp for Putin, involving some combination of limited territorial concessions and lifted sanctions (appeasement) and guarantees of Ukraines future security (resistance). Neither side wanted it, and the US and its partners  wrongly in my view  didnt press for it. Now they want it even less. War hardens mutual enmity and strengthens the resolve to show that its losses havent been in vain.

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The off-ramp is still worth exploring  though the terms, given the hardening of positions, would need to change. Unfortunately, Chinas new position paper on a cease-fire and political settlement is useless as a blueprint because its almost entirely devoid of content. A plausible settlement proposal cant just call for peace. It has to advance Ukrainian and Russian interests such that neither side believes it has lost.

One such settlement could give Ukraine not just security guarantees but immediate full membership of NATO, plus close economic partnership with the EU and conspicuously generous aid for reconstruction and development. Russia would be granted some territorial gains, no sanctions, no demand for reparations and restoration of limited economic relations.

If they chose to promote such a deal, the US and its partners would also need to accelerate the supply of arms to Ukraine, including F-16s, and quietly let Russia understand that they might soon be unable to restrain Ukraines desire to take the fight to Russian territory. NATO members would commit, in any event, to spend more on defense and make it clear that this settlement would not be celebrated as peace in our time. NATOs members would need to understand that, even if the war on Ukraine ends, war on Putins Russia might well be in their future, and they have to be ready.

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Its clear to me, at least, that such an agreement would stop the killing and leave all parties better off than they can expect to be if this war keeps going. But the question of whether it would work may be premature. The question for the US and its partners right now is whether an agreement of this kind is worth a try.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 One Year On, Putin Must Wish Hed Read His Herodotus: Andreas Kluth

 Putin Has Decided to Normalize His War: Leonid Bershidsky

 Ukraines Future Is Not in NATO: Hal Brands

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Clive Crook is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and member of the editorial board covering economics. Previously, he was deputy editor of the Economist and chief Washington commentator for the Financial Times.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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It was a Frenchman who recently observed that every nation has its own massive, historically intractable problem. For France, he said, this is the stubborn popular opposition to raising the national pension age in response to ever-increasing longevity. For Germany, it is still the specter of Hitler. For the US, it is guns. For Britain, it is Ireland.

This week, fierce controversy broke out within the ruling Conservative Party about John Bulls other island, threatening to rend Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks government asunder. For more than five centuries, British rule over Ireland, almost unfailingly incompetent as well as cruel, inflicted misery on the Irish people and created military and political crises for England. The fact that the English were a Protestant society, while most Irish people were Catholic, made matters worse: Until the mid-19th century, England was in a state of almost permanent strife with Catholic Europe.

Then came Irish independence in 1921. It seemed that the boil had been lanced, the issue sort-of-resolved, despite lingering bitterness on both sides of the Irish Sea. But a historic blunder was committed at the time, when Conservative politicians forced Prime Minister David Lloyd George to exclude from the independence settlement the Protestant rump that dominated a portion of Ulster.

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A statelet, with a hapless Catholic minority, was carved from the six northernmost counties of Ireland, which remained attached to the UK, while the other 26 counties eventually became the Irish Republic. Today, Northern Ireland has a population of under 1.9 million, 42% of them Catholic, while 5 million inhabit the rest of the island, ruled from Dublin.

The Troubles, which for 30 years racked the North with bloodshed, seemed to end with Prime Minister Tony Blairs 1999 Good Friday Agreement. British and Irish membership of the European Union appeared to make much more real the prospect  which many of us English people welcomed  that within our lifetimes Ireland might once more become united.

But the UKs departure from the EU has proved a disaster for prospects of Irish togetherness. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated a Northern Ireland Protocol as part of his Brexit deal, which granted a special trading status, with provision for customs checks on goods that entered or left Britain via Ulster, while retaining free movement across the Irish border.

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Johnson misled the Protestant political class, many of them members of the Democratic Unionist Party, who are obsessed with preserving their link not to the real Britain, but to a fantasy Britain of long ago. He claimed that that the deal left their constitutional position unchanged; that there would be no border down the Irish Sea  over my dead body. In truth, there had to be customs checks, part of the inescapable cost of Brexit.

The Unionists, enraged by perceived betrayal, last year withdrew from the power-sharing body that has governed Northern Ireland since the 1999 peace settlement. They have boycotted the assembly ever since, partly in disgust that last years election made the Republican Sinn Fein party larger than their own grouping for the first time.

Sunak is now obliged to wrestle with the problem of how to square a circle: to fulfill Britains legally binding undertaking to the EU, and to sustain the Good Friday Agreement, while averting a Protestant revolt. In theory, the latter prospect should hold no terrors, because the Democratic Unionists are in historic retreat. But the right wing of Sunaks Conservative Party, as implacable and even fanatical as many US Republicans, remain committed to the Democratic Unionists, even at the potential cost of a trade war with the EU and renewal of the Troubles.

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Sunak has spent recent days striving to seal a new compromise deal with Brussels, while preventing a right-wing Tory revolt that breaks up his own party in Parliament. Many of us in England regard all this as madness at a time when our country faces huge problems: a tottering economy; collapsing health service; strikes in schools, hospitals and the rail system. Viewed amid a rational catalogue of UK priorities, Ulster simply does not matter much.

But the Conservative right  ironically including Boris Johnson, who seeks to destroy the deal he signed  are no better friends to the imperatives of reason than is the GOP. Johnson this week urged the government to persist with the legislation he initiated  in defiance of international law  unilaterally to cancel the Northern Ireland Protocol to the Brexit treaty. He threatens to wield a wrecking ball  doubtless as part of his campaign to regain the prime ministership.

It remains deeply uncertain whether Sunak, close to striking a pragmatic agreement with Brussels for Ulsters future relationship with Britain and the EU, will be able to secure the support of his own party to drive any deal through the House of Commons, or instead will be obliged to rely on the votes of the Labour opposition.

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If the latter outcome prevails, or worse still if the new deal is sabotaged, the blow to the prime ministers authority, as well as to the peace and prosperity of Ireland, will be serious indeed. US President Joe Biden has emphasized his commitment to the Northern Ireland Protocol. If Conservative rebels now wreck the proposed compromise, it is hard to suppose that the White House will be eager to do Britain any favors  and we need a few, heaven knows.

The political divisions in the UK over Ireland are, of course, far from unique. All over the world, we behold traditional loyalties fragmenting, old ideas of patriotism shaken by political divergence. Visiting the southern US last year, I was struck by how often I heard fans of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis make the joke, more than half serious, about their pride to be living in the independent republic of Florida.

Brexit has imposed enormous strains on British ideas of nationality, among all except our impassioned isolationists. Last month I met a distinguished English historian who told me with delight that he has just been granted a German passport, to which he is entitled because his mother, a Jew persecuted by the Nazis, came from Berlin. He needs the document, he said, because his work requires him to spend much time in Europe; he wants to escape the restrictions that increasingly weigh upon visiting non-EU citizens.

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So does my own daughter. By chance, she was born when we lived in Kilkenny, Ireland, and thus was equally delighted to be able to obtain an Irish passport; she is also seeking them for my grandchildren. Not for a moment would I reproach her, or my historian friend. Our nation has adopted a course that seems to reflect a desire to opt out of the international community that little Britain needs. Some folks are prudently seeking avenues through which to opt back in.

If Ireland is todays big focus of the UKs ongoing constitutional crisis, it is not the only one. This month, Scotlands first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced her intention to quit. The decision was greeted rapturously by English Unionists, who perceive her impending resignation as a historic defeat for the tartan independence movement.

In the short term, they are probably right. Sturgeon was a charismatic politician who thrilled many Scots with her defiance, even disdain, of English prime ministers. Yet her partys governance of Scotland for more than a decade has been a disaster, incompetent at managing education, health, transport and much else. Polls show Scottish support for independence drastically diminished.

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But the UK is still far from escaping a northern breakaway, because the demographics lean emphatically toward it. The last referendum on independence, nearly a decade ago, was won by Scottish remainers who were overwhelmingly older. Today, Scots aged between 16 and 24 are six times more likely to favor independence than are their parents or grandparents, heedless of Scottish dependence on English subsidy for state spending. They simply perceive their culture and values as incompatible with those of the English.

Two years ago in a column, I discussed the possibility of Britains fragmentation, and concluded that Wales would not go, Northern Ireland should go, and Scotland might go. Today, I would shift that view somewhat. Wales will remain attached, because it would not be viable on its own.

Irish unification remains the islands natural destiny. But for all Dublins protestations of enthusiasm, the Irish government flinches before the prospect of assuming responsibility for a Northern Irish economy that is dependent on costly state aid. It poses some of the same problems, on a much smaller scale, that East Germany inflicted on West Germany at their 1990 reunification.

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Marriage to the disruptive Northern Unionists also poses a threat to the Irish Republics social and political fabric that daunts many Irish people. But in Ireland as in Scotland, demographics and thus time are on the side of change. As old instinctive Unionists die off, the young favor a different agenda.

Brexit has changed many things. Where once England offered the poorer Scots and Northern Irish a link with a richer and more successful partner, today King Charles IIIs nation is languishing, and likely to continue to do so. Within a generation, I believe, Scotland will vote for independence and Northern Ireland for reunification with the South.

England will be a smaller place in consequence, in international influence as well as in land mass. But that is the consequence of choices that English people have made, in a world where localism is in fashion almost everywhere that votes are counted.

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More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Nicola Sturgeon Was Too English for Scotlands Good: Adrian Wooldridge

 The UKs Political Fever Dreams May Finally Be Over: Martin Ivens

 There Will Always Be an England, But Not a UK: Max Hastings

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Max Hastings is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former editor in chief of the Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard, he is author, most recently, of The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962.

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There was very little in the way of news in the annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders that Warren Buffett released Saturday morning. Buffett did mention that Berkshire had a good year in 2022, with operating earnings of $30.8 billion, and disclosed that subsidiary Sees Candies sold $400,309, or 11 tons, of its peanut brittle and chocolates at last years annual meeting in Omaha. But the main thing that stood out about the letter was its brevity  at 4,455 words, it was the shortest Buffett shareholder letter in 44 years.

Yes, I began assembling this data before the new letter came out  I suspected there might not be a lot else to discuss. The trajectory was already giving the unmistakable signal that the Berkshire chairman is winding things down. And, well, of course he is: Buffett is 92; his longtime business partner, Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger, is 99.

The big spike on the chart is from the 2014 letter (published in February 2015), when Buffett offered a look back at the 50 years since he had taken control of a faltering Massachusetts textile manufacturer and began its long transformation into an investment vehicle and industrial giant; Munger chimed in with his own 2,430-word review. This look back involved acknowledging lots of mistakes, which has become something of a Buffett trademark. His 25-anniversary review was even titled Mistakes of the First Twenty-five Years (A Condensed Version). The latest missive included four uses of the word, too, which relative to the letters small overall word count turns out to be a lot by Buffett standards.

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In the letter accompanying Berkshires 1985 annual report, Buffett attributed the focus on mistakes to Munger, who has always emphasized the study of mistakes rather than successes, both in business and other aspects of life. Such emphasis does not appear to be the norm among American investing icons and corporate superstars. I looked through the oeuvre of Amazon.com Inc. founder and former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, also known for his smart shareholder letters, and in 24 years of letters found just five uses of mistake, only three of which could be construed as Bezos acknowledging that he had made or might make one.

Not all the Buffett mistakes tallied above were his mistakes either, but most were. After attempting to separate the non-confessional uses of the word in the Berkshire letters and being stymied by a couple of judgment calls, I decided they should all count.

Does the frequency of their use tell us anything? The Berkshire shareholder letters feature a table comparing the companys stock price performance every year since 1965 with the total return of the Standard & Poors 500 Index. Subtract the second from the first to measure Berkshires relative performance, and the result turns out be correlated with the frequency of mistake appearances in the shareholder letter for that year. The r-squared is 0.33, implying that Berkshires relative performance explains a third of the mistake-frequency in the letters. Which makes sense  most of us tend to be more magnanimous about acknowledging our faults when things are going well.

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More generally, its easy to say things like most of my capital-allocation decisions have been no better than so-so, as Buffett does in his latest letter, if youre widely acknowledged to be one of the worlds greatest-ever capital allocators. This exercise might be more informative if it included more of the pre-success, pre-fame Buffett, with letters to investors in his Buffett Partnership and Berkshire shareholder letters predating those that the company makes available on its website. Maybe next time (getting all those letters into searchable form might take a while).

Or maybe not  all this number-crunching is, Ill admit, a bit silly. But its interesting, right? And you still want to know whether Buffetts mistake mentions predict future Berkshire performance, right?

On a short-term basis, the answer is no. The correlation between mistake frequency in the shareholder letter and Berkshires subsequent one-year performance relative to the S&P 500 is effectively zero. Buffett has always been disdainful of short-term performance metrics, though, so I also looked into the link between mistake mentions and average outperformance over the subsequent five years. Sure enough, there is one, with an r-squared of 0.32 and p value (the probability of obtaining such a result by random chance) of just 0.001.

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This is mainly testimony to the limitations of such statistical tests. I dont really think that Warren Buffetts heavy use of the word mistake in his late-1970s shareholder letters was responsible for Berkshire outperforming the S&P 500 by an average of 30 percentage points a year from 1979 through 1989. But there are worse lessons one can take from Buffetts investing success than that acknowledging and examining mistakes pays off.

More From Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Buffetts TSMC Selloff Backs Apple Over Its Supplier: Tim Culpan

 The Next Warren Buffett Curse Isnt Always Fatal: Justin Fox

 The Buffett Way to Profit From the Energy Crisis: Javier Blas

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In one decade, the risk to U.S. national security secrets has morphed from ideologically driven protesters to digital natives who live life online and think secrecy is for losers.
Ukraines leader pledged Friday to push for victory in 2023 as he and other Ukrainians marked the somber anniversary of the Russian invasion that upended their lives and Europe's security.

It was Ukraine's "longest day," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, but the country's dogged resistance a year on has proven that "every tomorrow is worth fighting for.

On a day of commemorations, reflection, and tears, the Ukrainian president's defiant tone captured the national mood of resilience in the face of Europes biggest and deadliest war since World War II. Zelenskyy, who has himself become a symbol of Ukraine's refusal to bow to Moscow, said Ukrainians proved themselves to be invincible during "a year of pain, sorrow, faith, and unity.

We have been standing for exactly one year, Zelenskyy said. Feb. 24, 2022, he said, was "the longest day of our lives. The hardest day in our modern history. We woke up early and havent fallen asleep since.

Ukrainians wept at memorials for their tens of thousands of dead  a toll growing inexorably as fighting rages in eastern Ukraine in particular. Although Friday marked the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, combat between Russian-backed forces and Ukrainian troops has raged in the countrys east since 2014.

New video from there shot with a drone for The Associated Press showed how the town of Marinka has been razed, along with others.

The killing continued: Russian shelling killed another three civilians and wounded 19 others in the most recent 24-hour spell, Ukraines presidential office said.

Around the country, Ukrainians looked back at a year that changed their lives and at the clouded future.

I can sum up the last year in three words: Fear, love, hope," Oleksandr Hranyk, a school director in Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, said.

Lining up in the capital, Kyiv, to buy anniversary commemorative postage stamps, Tetiana Klimkova described her heart as "falling and hurting.

Still, this day has become a symbol for me that we have survived for a whole year and will continue to live, she said. On this day, our children and grandchildren will remember how strong Ukrainians are mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Although China on Friday called for a cease-fire, peace was nowhere in sight. Ukraine previously rejected a pause in the fighting for fear it would allow Russia to regroup militarily after bruising battlefield setbacks.

Zelenskyy gave qualified support to Chinas apparent new interest in playing a diplomatic role, saying: The fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad.

But the question is what follows the words," he said during a wide-ranging news conference. "The question is in the steps and where they will lead to.

A 12-point paper issued by Chinas Foreign Ministry also urged an end to sanctions that aim to squeeze Russia's economy.

That suggestion also looked like a non-starter, given that Western nations are working to further tighten the sanctions noose, not loosen it. Both the U.K. and the U.S. imposed more sanctions Friday.

Ukraine is readying another military push to roll back Russian forces with the help of weaponry that has poured in from the West. NATO member Poland said Friday that it had delivered four advanced Leopard 2A4 tanks, making it the first country to hand the German-made armor to Ukraine.

The prime minister of Poland said on a visit to Kyiv that more Leopards are coming. Poland's defense minister said contributions from other countries would help form Ukraine's first Leopard battalion of 31 tanks.

Ukraine is entering a new period, with a new task  to win, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

It will not be easy. But we will manage, he added. There is rage and a desire to avenge the fallen.

Air raid alarms didn't sound overnight in Kyiv, alleviating concerns that Russia might unleash another barrage of missiles to pile yet more sadness on Ukraine on the anniversary.

Still, the government recommended that schools move classes online, and office employees were asked to work from home. And even as they rode Kyivs subway to work, bought coffee, and got busy, Ukrainians were unavoidably haunted by thoughts of loss and memories of when missiles struck, troops rolled across Ukraines borders and a refugee exodus began a year ago.

Back then, there were fears the country might fall within weeks. Zelenskyy referred to those dark moments in a video address.

We fiercely fought for every day. And we endured the second day. And then, the third, he said. "And we still know: Every tomorrow is worth fighting for.

The anniversary was also poignant for the parents of children born exactly a year ago as bombs began killing and maiming.

Its a tragedy for the whole country, for every Ukrainian, said Alina Mustafaieva, who gave birth to daughter Yeva that day.

"My family was lucky. We didnt lose anyone or anything. But many did, and we have to share this loss together," she said.

Tributes to Ukraines resilience took place in other countries. The Eiffel Tower in Paris was among the monuments illuminated in Ukraine's colors  yellow and blue. In Berlin, a wrecked Russian tank was put on display.

Anti-war activists in Belgrade, Serbia, left a cake covered with red icing representing blood and a skull on top on a pavement near the Russian Embassy, which police stopped them from approaching.

In Russia, media and rights groups reported more police arrests of protesters who took to the streets with antiwar slogans and flowers in various parts of the country.

In Ukraine, Zelenskyy was particularly busy  kicking off the day with an early morning tweet that promised: We know that 2023 will be the year of our victory!

He followed that up with his video address in which he also pledged not to abandon Ukrainians living under Russian occupation, vowing: One way or another, we will liberate all our lands.

He also held a news conference that was televised live. That was unusual because generally during the war, when Zelenskyy speaks, his comments are broadcast with a delay until he has left a location, to protect him from any possible attack.

Zelenskyy argued that Ukraine cannot negotiate with Russia while its aggression continues. Please respect our right to live on our land. Leave our territory. Stop bombing us, he said. He also argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin should be held responsible for war crimes.

This is not a child who broke something and can be forgiven," he said.

Zelenskyy said one of his biggest disappointments in the invasion had been to see people who could have fought leave  referring to officials who fled. He said a low point was when Russian atrocities were discovered in the recaptured town of Bucha near Kyiv.

It was very scary, he said. We saw that the devil is not somewhere out there, but on Earth.

Earlier Friday, the Ukrainian leader addressed troops on a Kyiv square and handed out honors, including to the widow and daughter of a fallen soldier, telling them: We will never forget." In a Kyiv hospital, he also decorated wounded fighters.

A year on, casualty figures are horrific on both sides, although Moscow and Kyiv keep precise numbers under wraps. Western estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of killed and wounded.

In Kharkiv, Ukrainian serviceman Dmytro Kovalenko has buried Friday in the city's main cemetery for soldiers, which has added 15 new rows of graves this past year.

Kovalenko was killed Monday in the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut. Those saying final goodbyes included Andrii Zatsorenko, a friend who lay red carnations on the grave.

I never thought Id be giving him flowers, Zatsorenko said.

The war will not end soon, he added. We have a powerful enemy.

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Fans of Australian Survivor would have been unsurprised to see writer Benjamin Law voted off the show earlier this week. Law had been on the outs with other players since the beginning, never able to form true alliances despite his best efforts  a necessity when looking to advance in the game  and repeatedly labelled by a number of players as shifty.

But his exit has prompted a larger discussion about the way people of colour can be disadvantaged on the show, and the issue of diversity on Australian TV more generally.

Im not exactly sure why I was questioned [by other players], says Benjamin Law, of his time on Australian Survivor. Credit: Nigel Wright/Network 10

When I watch the show back now, I feel for this past version of me whos just being suspected at every turn, Law said on the latest episode of Good Weekend Talks  a magazine for your ears featuring conversations between journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and the people captivating Australia right now.

Im not exactly sure why I was questioned [by other players], and I do find it interesting that several players who have described me as shifty  even while theyre saying that, they say and I dont know why; theres something I cant put my finger on.
The Swedish surgeon who performed the worlds first uterine transplant in 2012, Professor Mats Brannstrom, led the operations on Bryant and Hayton, sharing his expertise with the team at the Royal. The donor surgery to remove Haytons uterus, which began at 7am, was by far the longer and riskier of the two operations, Brannstrom said. After my hysterectomy, that was something that I really had to mourn ... to get that chance, yeah, Im gonna dream big. Kirsty Bryant The difficulty is because the blood vessels are small, and youre working in, like, a funnel. So, the access for you is very restricted. We dissect the organ, and that means that you actually remove all the other tissues around the uterus. There are small blood vessels going out, and we try to isolate those. The problematic thing is that there is a ureter on each side. And the ureter goes from the kidney to the bladder, and we cannot injure that.

The uterus was lifted from Haytons body about nine hours in and was passed across to a table where it was flushed out over ice, before being stitched onto Bryants blood vessels using extremely fine threads almost too small for the naked eye to see. The recipient surgery finished about 10pm, marking a huge moment in Australian medical history and opening an exciting new avenue in infertility treatment. Personally, professionally, it was just incredible, and I think everyone felt the same, Deans said. There were so many components to the team, the nursing staff, the anaesthetists and everyones saying that they felt the same way, that they really felt like it was one of those moments youll reflect on professionally and never ever forget. While the operations were free of major complications, the recovery for both patients has not been easy. Bryant experienced significant blood loss 24 hours after the surgery and required transfusions, while Hayton suffered a serious infection and is yet to feel any sensation in her bladder. However, a month on from the biggest day of their lives, Bryant and Hayton said they have no regrets  even though there is no guarantee of the reward of a baby.

To not put my hand up and give it a go, I think would be a massive regret for myself, Bryant said. Even if it doesnt go to plan, the research and the information that they will get from this, in Australia, is going to be worth it. I just want to give hope and give options for other women out there. The next step for Bryant is still resting on ice at the IVF lab at the Royal: six embryos frozen months before the operation. Deans will determine when she is ready for the transfer, but the early signs are that the uterus is responding well and Bryant could be pregnant by Christmas. It could be somewhere between three and six months from the surgery where we can start implanting those embryos  and each of those embryos has a 30 to 50 per cent chance of success. While transplanted wombs are typically removed after five years, some recipients overseas have managed to carry two pregnancies in their donated organ; an opportunity that Byrant is very much open to. If we can dream a little, Id love to carry two more pregnancies. After my hysterectomy, that was something that I really had to mourn; the fact that I wouldnt be able to be pregnant again. And then to get that chance, yeah, Im gonna dream big.
Federal senator Lidia Thorpe stood in the way of an Australian Federal Police officer with her arms spread wide at Sydneys Mardi Gras on Saturday night before she lay on the ground in front of a float, temporarily halting the parade until she was removed by police.

In videos of the incident, shared on social media, the independent senator could be seen walking backwards in front of an AFP officer on Oxford Street and holding her arms out to her sides, as the officer seemingly ignored her and continued to wave a rainbow flag.

Lidia Thorpe stands in the way of an AFP officer with her arms spread wide. Credit: Youtube/William Brougham

She then lay in front of a float when the parade moved onto Flinders Street in Darlinghurst at about 9pm. It is understood the float she halted was operated by Twenty10, an organisation offering support to LGBTQIA+ youth.

Two NSW police officers approached Thorpe as the crowd began to boo, with one person chanting get rid of her.
If anyone believed the Coalition would revisit the superannuations objective, that died in the final week of last years election campaign when Morrison unveiled a plan to allow first-time buyers to withdraw up to $50,000 from their super. And this week, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley signalled her support for expanding the ability to use super to buy a house despite warnings this would drive up house prices in a country with some of the most unaffordable property in the world. The opposition is backing opening super up to buy a house  even though it would pump up prices. Credit: Peter Rae While Chalmers outlined the case for an objective, he also noted that the cost of super  about $50 billion in tax concessions a year and growing  was putting extraordinary pressure on the budget. Right now, were on track to spend more on super tax concessions than the age pension by around 2050, he said. Im not convinced thats a sustainable way to get to our destination  good retirement incomes for more Australians, now and into the future.

Those comments started a political firestorm that was seized upon by the Coalition, the huge vested interests in super and by ordinary Australians fearful of yet more change to their most important asset outside of the family home. Ever since the Keating government introduced the superannuation guarantee in 1992 (at 3 per cent), there has been controversy. Both sides of politics have changed it, most recently by Morrison in 2016 in reforms that cost the Coalition plenty of political paint among Liberal voters. Almost all proposed reforms, including those floated since Chalmers comments, have gone to the cost of superannuation and the benefits flowing to high-income earners. But there are even larger issues coming to the fore. Paul Keating introduced superannuation 30 years ago. Credit: Peter Rae. Super was set up partly because humans are terrible at making long-term financial decisions. The superannuation guarantee is forced savings, giving Australians a lump sum when they finally retire. But 30 years on from its inception, another issue is emerging  the troubles we have managing large sums of cash while facing high degrees of uncertainty. And the biggest uncertainty in super is how much money we need to have a dignified and enjoyable retirement.

One often quoted benchmark is the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australias retirement standard. At present, the standard suggests that if you want a comfortable retirement, a couple needs $640,000 in savings when they leave the workforce. (A $70,000 lump sum will give you a modest standard). Just how comfortable is that comfortable? It means top-level private health insurance, fast streaming services, regular professional haircuts, confidence to use air conditioning, and an annual domestic holiday plus an overseas trip every seven years. If you think that comfortable retirement is better than your life in the workforce, youre not wrong.

The comfortable retirement allows for $128 a week on bathroom and kitchen renovations, $206 a week on travel and holidays, $82 a week on appliances and professional haircuts plus $135 a week on restaurant dining and quality food. While this standard is often quoted as the benchmark, the reality of what Australians spend in their retirement is vastly different. As we age, our spending levels fall dramatically. People find it hard to determine how much they need for a comfortable retirement. Credit: Ros Holcombe The 2020 Retirement Income Review, headed by Mike Callaghan, looked over the nations retirement settings. While prevented from making any recommendations, the findings were astonishing. A surge in large super balances was being driven by tax strategies. The number of balances greater than $10 million grew by 1110 per cent between 2005 and 2017. It appears that large balances are held in the superannuation system mainly as a tax minimisation strategy, separate to any retirement income goals, it found. About $1 of every $5 paid from super accounts in 2019 was as a bequest or inheritance. Thats excluding the family home, savings outside of super and any other asset a person might have. By 2059 this will reach $1 in every $3. Bequests from housing assets will also increase if housing assets continue to grow and retirees avoid drawing on their housing wealth, the review found.

It also found people, to their detriment, struggle to use their retirement savings as they were designed. Fearful of running out of money, they are dying with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in their super accounts plus their house and other assets. People could have a higher standard of living, either in retirement (by consuming more) or during their working lives (by saving less), it found. The review found a string of contributing factors to the problem. Retirees face a huge amount of complexity and little guidance about how to maximise their retirement incomes, they fear about their future health and aged care costs while many worry they will out-live their super. Even the nomenclature around superannuation is a problem. Who wants to dip into their savings or their investments or their nest eggs? These findings were reinforced this year when a review of the quality of financial advice (that had been ordered by the previous government) was released.

Report author Michelle Levy revealed her views on the superannuation system changed during her time heading the inquiry. Early in the review I was asked whether our superannuation system made it more important that people have financial advice, she wrote. My somewhat hasty response was no, because of the defaults in the system  the superannuation guarantee means most employees have superannuation and the MySuper rules set high minimum standards for default superannuation. On reflection and with the benefit of the review, my opinion has changed. Michelle Levy, who led the Quality of Advice Review, admitted her views on the need for financial advice in retirement changed. Credit: Rhett Wyman Levy discovered that Australians approaching retirement would benefit greatly with even some general advice. Contribution and tax rules are complex; superannuation fund, investment and insurance choices matter; and, decisions about retirement products are difficult and important, she found.

Decisions about all of these matters have long-term implications for our standard of living in retirement, our entitlement to social security and even decisions about aged care. This is an issue of concern to Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones who has just started consultation on Levys report. Jones says setting an objective for superannuation is the governments top priority, but issues such as making sure people have good financial advice when they retire must also be addressed. Australians are retiring with more money than ever. They need advice on how to make that money work for them, he said. There are 7.5 million people at or approaching retirement but only 16,000 advisers. The numbers dont add up. We need to do this advice differently. We need to do it better.

In the run-up to the 2019 election, Labors plans to change the tax arrangements around franking credits became a retiree tax in the eyes of opponents and the Coalition. Chalmers commentary this week has already set the political hares running with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accusing the government of breaking election promises and of seeking to retrospectively tax superannuation. There are also economic risks around any changes to super. In the early stages of the COVID pandemic, the Morrison government decided to allow people in financial distress to withdraw up to $20,000 from their superannuation accounts. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the government is breaking a pre-election promises by floating changes to superannuation. Credit: Joe Armao More than $38 billion was withdrawn with many young Australians effectively emptying their super accounts.

Analysis of the program by economists Tristram Sainsbury, Bob Breunig and Timothy Watson at the ANUs Crawford School of Public Policy found substantial unintended consequences as 3 million people accessed the scheme. Loading If someone withdrew their full entitlement, they were much more likely to be on JobSeeker over the next nine months. Over 15 months, 14 per cent were more likely to be on welfare. An additional 162,000 people who took money from their super accounts spent an average extra seven weeks on unemployment benefits, at a cost to the federal budget of $580 million. People used the money to stop looking for work.

We conclude that it was the COVID-19-related access to lump sums from otherwise locked-away private pensions that drove delayed exit from unemployment payments, they found. Loading Chalmers has made much of the $48 billion in foregone revenue due to the various tax concessions around super. But Breunig cautions that anyone who expects a fiscal windfall from tightening rules around super will end up sorely disappointed. He said people will change their superannuation and saving patterns if tax concessions are changed too much. Even a minor change is unlikely to bring home the financial bacon envisaged by many proponents.
President of the Arab Parliament Union and Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives Muhammad al-Halbousi called Saturday on the Arab countries to take a final decision to return Syria to the Arab fold, stressing the importance of unifying the efforts to face all challenges.

During the thirty-fourth conference of the Arab Inter Parliamentary Union, Al-Halbousi called on the Arab world "to work hard for [Syrias] stability and the rehabilitation of its infrastructure, and for the return of our Syrian brothers, who were displaced by the war, to their homes and country."

He pointed out that "Syria in recent days has gone through difficult circumstances following the devastating earthquake, which caused severe damage to lives and property, and all of this requires us all to strive and continue the duty of support until the repercussions of the crisis and its difficult effects are cleared."

Al-Halbousi said that "this summit constitutes an important step in strengthening relations between Arab countries."

"We are aware of the importance of this Arab support in advancing towards a secure Iraq, a stable Middle East, and an Arab nation that grows and progresses in parallel with the needs of the times and the requirements of the current and future stage."

In the same conference, Speaker of Syrian Peoples Assembly Hammouda Sabbagh called upon regional and international federations and parliamentary bodies and the UN member states to put more pressure on Western countries that impose unjust economic measures on the Syrian people to immediately lift them and to move quickly to break the unfair blockade and extend assistance to overcome the impacts of the earthquake.

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Egypt's Court of Cassation has upheld a one-month prison sentence and a one-year suspended prison sentence against the President of Zamalek Club Mortada Mansour for defaming Mahmoud Al-Khatib, the president of Zamaleks bitter Cairo rivals Ahly.

The verdicts were issued on Saturday after the court rejected two appeals filed by Mansour against the two sentences.

In August 2022, a Cairo Economic Misdemeanors Court of Appeal commuted a prison term issued against Zamaleks president from one-year imprisonment to one month for defaming Al-Khatib and tarnishing his family's reputation via social media.

In July 2022, a court of appeals accepted an appeal submitted by Mansour against a one-year imprisonment sentence, suspending the term, fining him EGP 10,000 and requiring him to pay an initial compensation of EGP 10,000.

Mansour has filed a conflict of jurisdiction lawsuit, in which he said the two courts issued two verdicts in the same case.

However, his complaint was rejected by the Court of Cassation during todays hearing.

Today's verdicts against Mansour are final and cannot be appealed.

This puts an end to the months-long legal dispute between the presidents of the two Cairo giants.

Zamalek club's president, who attended today's session, was ordered taken to prison to serve the one-month prison sentence.

Mortada Mansour, 70, who is no stranger to controversy owing to his remarks, is an infamous Egyptian lawyer and a former parliament member.

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Cypruss outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his appreciation for Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis contributions to consolidate fruitful cooperation with Cyprus over the past years.

El-Sisi called Anastasiades on Sunday to extend his appreciation for the outgoing presidents support towards the strategic relations between the two countries during his tenure, Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said in a statement.

Anastasiades stressed Cypruss commitment to continue enhancing their strategic partnership with Cairo under the leadership of the newly elected Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

On Twitter, Anastasiades said he reiterated to El-Sisi his "deepest appreciation for our close and fruitful cooperation which has led to the advancement of our relations at all levels and sectors."

I also thanked President @AlsisiOfficial for his friendship and support and conveyed my warmest wishes to the friendly people of the Arab Republic of Egypt for constant progress and prosperity.

  Nicos Anastasiades (@AnastasiadesCY) February 25, 2023

For his part, El-Sisi said Anastasiadess tenure witnessed many important achievements at the bilateral level and also at the trilateral level with Greece.

Anastasiades, Cypruss seventh president, had served in the position since 2013 until he was succeeded by former Foreign Minister Christodoulides in February elections.

In mid-February, El-Sisi congratulated Christodoulides for winning the presidential elections in a phone call, where they expressed their wish to enhance strategic partnership in the upcoming period.

During Anastasiadess term, Egypt and Cyprus have been keen to enhance their bilateral cooperation and also their trilateral cooperation with Greece in various fields, especially regarding the economy and energy.

Both Egypt and Cyprus are members of the EastMed Gas Forum, a Cairo-based international organisation that aims to establish a regional gas market in the Eastern Mediterranean and enhance trade relations among member states.

In October 2021, Egypt also signed an accord with Cyprus on linking the two countries electricity transmission networks and an agreement with Greece on an undersea cable that will transmit power from North Africa to Europe.

Egypt, Cyprus and Greece have held several tripartite summits over the past several years, the last of which was in October in Athens, to enhance tripartite cooperation in various fields, at the top of which is energy.

During the summit, the three countries signed a trilateral agreement on power linkage to establish power pipelines linking Africa with Europe.

Egypt, Greece and Cyprus have also shared similar visions on a number of regional issues, and have repeatedly stressed the need for holding elections in Libya and rejecting Turkeys oil explorations in recent years inside Cypriot territorial waters.

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READING, Pa. - Praying for peace and an end to war: People gathered in Reading to commemorate the one-year anniversary since Russia invaded Ukraine.

"There's no reason for this, not at all," said Debbie Marco, cantor for Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) Ukrainian Catholic Church. "A lot of people, who still have family over there, they worry every day: 'Are they going to be ok? Are they going to be safe?'"

Nativity BVM Ukrainian Catholic Church opened its doors to anyone who wanted to worship. They prayed the rosary and stations of the cross.

During the day, people could also pray privately for the people of Ukraine.

"All of the prayers said today are being said for Ukraine, for peace, for all of the lost soldiers and innocent people who have lost their lives," explained Marco.

Marco teaches Catechism at the church and feels for the kids she can't reach.

"They want a normal life, and their parents want them to have a normal life, and now, they have to grow up in a war zone," said Marco. "They have to go to school in underground tunnels in the subways."

The somber service marked the day that would turn into a year of fighting for freedom.

"We're very strong," stated Marco. "We've gone through a lot in our history. We're very caring, very devoted."

"We want to be independent," said Nataliya Halan of Lehighton, who is from Ukraine. "We want our own land. We have Canada and the United States. Canadian people don't want to come here and take a piece of land and do what they want."

Halan left Ukraine in '04, but she still has family, friends and old classmates who live in the country.

"Every day we're hearing from them, the noise from bombing. They're not safe," she explained. "We never know what the Russians are going to do."

She checks on them every day. The horrors being witnessed now, she says, are reminiscent of the war her elders lived through and told stories about.

"Our grandparents told us very bad stories about what happened during WWII. Them killing people. They take them from the house with nothing," explained Halan. "I didn't want to listen because I was so young. Right now, I understand: It's Russian people for us."

365 days of sadness, fear and unknowns, but congregants prayed to help Ukraine find a new, brighter tomorrow.

"Hopefully, all the devotions and prayer are going to bring about peace, not only in Ukraine but the whole world," added Marco.
READING, Pa.- In a time like this many people turn to prayer, one of the most universal ways to offer support.

The Nativity BVM Ukrainian Catholic Church in Reading opened its doors for open prayer, an evening rosary and stations of the cross in honor of those suffering on the other side of the world.

"We do have parishioners that have family over in Ukraine yet," said William Kazmierczak, a longtime parishioner.

The church has also been active in raising money for Ukraine through food sales and is currently holding its pre-Easter food sale.

"We're opening up for Lent, because Lent is big in our tradition," Kazmierczak said. "We sell pierogies, nut roll, apricot and poppyseed rolls and halushki, which is cabbage and noodles, and bread."
EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette College in Easton says a campus lockdown was lifted Friday evening.

The campus had gone on lockdown after a report of shots fired in the area.

There were reports of shots fired near Pearl Street, according to a Twitter post from the college's department of public safety.

The Easton Police Department believes the person who fired the shots fled away from campus, and an investigation continues, the college's department of public safety said.

Lockdown Lifted :: EPD believes suspect fled away from campus. Investigation continuing.  LafCol Public Safety (@LafayetteDPS) February 25, 2023

The college said the person who may have fired the shots was wearing a red sweatshirt. The department of public safety said Easton Police are searching along the Delaware River for the person who may have fired the shots.

69 News has reached out to Easton Police for more information.
EASTON, Pa. - Easton Police say a person is in custody after a woman was shot in Easton Friday, February 24, 2023 evening, in an incident that led to Lafayette College putting its campus on lockdown out of an abundance of caution.

Officers were sent to the area of North Union Street in Easton for the report of a shooting shortly before 5:30 p.m., according to police in Easton.

Police found a victim, age 22, at the scene. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive.

A suspect in the shooting is in custody in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, city police said. The suspect, Twyleak Sexton, 22, of Phillipsburg, will be extradited to Pennsylvania.

He faces charges in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including attempted homicide and two charges of aggravated assault.

Sexton and the victim had a previous relationship. The victim was targeted.

The incident led to a lockdown at Lafayette College, which was lifted after the suspect left the Easton area.

This is not Sexton's first run-in with the law.

Back in 2020, he was also charged with attempted homicide in Paterson, New Jersey for allegedly shooting a man.

Online court records show he pleaded guilty to lesser offenses as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

As part of that deal, he got 18 months in prison, according to a previous report by the Paterson Times.
The Saucon Valley School District in Northampton County has given the boot to a new controversial student group known as "The After-School Satan Club."

Just this week, disagreement over approval of the club led to a threat that shut down the Saucon Valley schools for a day.

In a message sent out Friday evening, Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty said she is rescinding approval of the club to use school facilities.

The superintendent said the club has failed to meet all district requirements and therefore violates policy.

She said that led to major disruptions in the district, including this week's threat from someone who referenced approval of the club in a phone call. Vlasaty did not elaborate on how the club violated district policy.

The after-school group falls under the umbrella of the Satanic Temple organization.

A statement from the Satanic Temple to 69 News said of the superintendent's decision: "We are disappointed and are considering our options at this time."

The Satanic Temple bills itself as an "alternative to religious clubs" that encourages "benevolence and empathy" through critical thinking, science and creative arts.

Earlier this week, 69 News talked with a representative from the Satanic Temple and a parent who opposes the club.

"Members of the Satanic Temple do not believe in a supernatural Satan. We look to Satan as a symbol to standing up to tyrannical authority," said June Everett, campaign director of the After-School Satan Club.

Marjulee Colon, a parent opposed to the club, said, "Christianity is constantly being made a mockery of, but we're expected to be gentle when it comes to other faiths."

The superintendent said disagreements over the club have led to "chaos."

She said in a statement, "Our students, staff and teachers have had to endure a threat to their safety and welfare. The gravity of feelings of instability, anxiety and fear have been profound."

The club told 69 News it has striven to be a positive symbol.

It's unclear if the club intends to fight the superintendent's decision.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Thousands showed their support Friday for fallen Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald.

His funeral was held at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. Watching his casket leaving the Cathedral, headed for its final resting place, brought emotions for his great aunts Joanne Niecy and Diane Clark that were difficult to put into words.

"Oh God. This is a hard pill to swallow," said Niecy.

"He didn't die in vain, if they bring unity to all the major, just to the world," said Clark.

It was a unity of thousands of his brothers and sisters in blue. During the service, Gov. Josh Shapiro vowed to back them moving forward.

"Let it be a calling to support our women and men in blue so they can have enough officers, enough equipment, enough training, enough community support to do their job safely and with collective pride," said Shapiro.

Officer Fitzgerald was shot and killed last Saturday night on the 1700 block of Montgomery Ave. near Temple University's campus. His accused killer, 18-year-old Miles Pfeffer, is now in jail without bond facing first-degree murder and various other charges.

As grief took hold at the first-ever loss of a Temple University Police Officer, Vice President of Public Safety Jennifer Griffin urged officers to be there for each other.

"One way that we can honor his legacy and live like Fitz is to take care of your own mental health, and support your fellow colleagues," said Griffin.

Griffin announced Fitzgerald is being promoted posthumously to the rank of Sergeant. That's an honor the Guardian Civic League also bestowed on him.

"Because he was one of ours, we are going to posthumously promote him to Sergeant also," said Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal.

And there was a round of applause for a man who now stands as an example for his brothers and sisters to follow.

"As they came out today, I knew that they respect, and they would try to be an example of what his life was. If that can happen, then I could see a cease of violence in this city," said Clark.
ALLAMUCHY TWP., Pa. - Officials say troopers were outside their vehicles on the highway, investigating one crash, when a tow truck came plowing headlong into the scene Thursday night on I-80 in Warren County. Amazingly, everyone walked away, mostly unharmed.

"We've all heard and seen the saying 'Slow Down and Move Over,'" a Facebook post from the Allamuchy Fire Department reads, shared with shocking pictures of the crash that happened after 11 p.m. Thursday.

Incredibly, all involved in the large I-80 crash walked away from it, according to New Jersey State Police, which says just one minor injury was reported.

Officials say it happened on I-80 heading east, in Allamuchy. Troopers were stopped on the highway for a crash that already occurred, which had caused closures to the center and left lanes.

Suddenly, police say, a heavy-duty tow truck that was pulling a box truck crashed right into the active scene, hitting three New Jersey State Police vehicles, plus an Allamuchy ambulance.

"By a miracle, every member from Fire, EMS, and police walked away last night and returned home to their families safely," Allamuchy Fire Department's post on Facebook continues.

According to state police, the troopers on scene were outside of their vehicles at the time of the crash.

State police add one EMT inside the ambulance did report a minor injury.

The tow truck driver was also uninjured, and received a summons for careless driving. The crash remains under investigation.
Egypts Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed on Sunday that it is following up on the results of the investigation into the killing of Egyptian citizen Mohamed Ibrahim Mansour in Italy.

Related Egypt follows up on case of citizen found dead in his car in Italy

The foreign ministry continues to follow up on the progress in the investigation in order to preserve the citizens rights and ensure the speedy return of his remains, the ministry said in a statement.

Italian police arrested last week three men, including two brothers and their sisters partner, on suspicion of murdering the 44-year-old Egyptian in Pavia province in northern Italy last month.

A search is underway for more suspects in the crime, the ministry added.

Mansours charred remains were found inside a burnt car in a wooded area in Cilavegna commune, where he resided. His body also had gunshot wounds.

The investigation revealed that a personal dispute between the victim and the family of his daughters Italian mother was the cause of the crime, the Egyptian ministry confirmed in todays statement.

The perpetrators ambushed Mansour and killed him in an industrial building with at least three shots before setting his body ablaze inside his car, Italian media quoted local authorities as saying on Tuesday.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said earlier this month that it is communicating with Italian authorities to follow up on the investigation into Mansours murder and that it is working on repatriating his body to Cairo.

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A high-level Egyptian delegation headed by the Minister of Justice Omar Marwan left for Geneva on Saturday to review the country's fifth periodic report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC).

The report, submitted by Egypt in November 2019, is scheduled to be discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a statement issued on Saturday by the Egyptian Ministry of Justice.

The Egyptian delegation comprises representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs and justice, the Public Prosecution, President of the National Council for Women Maya Morsy and Chairperson of the National Coordinating Committee for Combatting and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons Naela Gabr.

Egypt last presented its human rights report in November 2001.

"The submission of the fifth periodic report comes within the framework of an ambitious plan drawn out by the Egyptian state to preserve and guarantee human rights at various levels, and to fulfill its international obligations in this regard," read the statement.

Minister Marwan is scheduled to hold meetings with a range of international officials to shed light on the human rights situation in Egypt and the development it is witnessing during the present time, noted the statement.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee is one of the most prominent treaty bodies at the international level.

It was established under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is one of the most important international treaties in this field.

In 1981, Egypt joined the ICCPR and since then it submits periodic reports on the progress made in the field of the rights guaranteed in the covenant, the ministry pointed out.

In September 2021, the country launched the National Human Rights Strategy in support of the rights of women, children, youth, the elderly, persons with special abilities and all segments of society.

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Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Michael Screnock has issued an arrest warrant for a Madison man charged with driving under the influence of illicit substances before a crash that killed his passenger.

Johnathan Winston Churchill, 35, faces felony charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, homicide by use of a vehicle under a controlled substance, causing an injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle, injury by use of a vehicle under a controlled substance, possession of narcotics and marijuana as well as misdemeanor charges related to the crash.

According to the criminal complaint:

Churchill was driving a Honda Civic in early December 2021 west along Interstate 90/94 in the town of Fairfield. Just before 9 p.m. the Civic was disabled after striking something Churchill described as big and Churchill broke his leg. He had a passenger in the front seat and a woman in the backseat.

Churchill told police that he crawled out of the vehicle to the right shoulder after being unable to get the car to move. The woman in the backseat said she woke up from a nap with her dog as she lurched forward after impact. She could hear Churchill yelling for her to get out of the car. The woman told police she shook and yelled at the nice old man who had been riding with them in the front seat. He made soft noises but did not move, she said.

She got out of the vehicle with her dog and joined Churchill on the shoulder. She handed him the dog as he asked her to go back to the car and put on the hazard lights. She did before running back to the shoulder. Moments later, they both said a semi-truck hit the back of the Civic, which the woman said was the scariest thing she had ever seen.

The report notes that the electric system in the Civic was not working after the initial collision.

According to reconstruction of the collision, once the semi hit the car, it kept going into the ditch and down an embankment. The car came to a stop on its ride side against a tree, but the semi continued on. The trailer split in half, spilling some of its contents. The cab rolled, stopping upside down. Both the semi driver and the Civic passenger had to be extricated from the vehicles. The passenger, who is unnamed in the complaint, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the semi was extricated from the cab and flown to UW Hospital in Madison, where he was admitted as a level 1 trauma patient. The driver was intubated for 10 days until he was transferred out of the intensive care unit but returned less than a week later after having a heart attack.

His injuries in the crash included the collapse of both of his lungs, nearly a dozen rib fractures, a broken and cut nose, a small cut to the front left side of his head, multiple liver lacerations, interior bruising, a fractured pelvis, broken bones in his left leg, the fracture of both ankles and broken bones in both his foot and his right hand as well as multiple incidents of bruising.

Investigation of the crash showed that Churchill hit a Peterbilt semi-truck towing a trailer along the interstate. The driver of the truck told police in interviews that a bad injector caused him to drive more slowly, so he would turn his emergency lights on while driving under 60 mph. He recalled that because he had been going roughly 40 to 45 mph for up to four miles, he had the lights on when Churchill hit the trailer. Records from a crash data retrieval kit indicate that Churchill was driving about 70 mph before the collision. The driver of the truck was unharmed.

Churchill allegedly told police he had ingested heroin before sleeping for 10 hours that morning, waking around noon. Officers found a backpack which allegedly contained pills, marijuana, fentanyl, items used to ingest illegal drugs and others that counteract their effects.

Blood tests taken at SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo before workers administered any medication found that Churchill had THC, amphetamines, methamphetamine, fentanyl, norfentanyl, ketamine and norketamine in his system.

Churchill faces up to 50 years in prison and 36 years of extended supervision.

All of his charges are modified with a repeater designation due to his past felony convictions. According to court records, Churchill was found guilty of felony narcotics possession in 2018 in Dane County Circuit Court. He was charged in 2021 with possessing drug paraphernalia and released on a $200 cash bond from Columbia County Circuit Court with the condition that he not commit a crime or consume controlled substances. Another case in Dane County charging him disorderly conduct also stipulates that he be released on bond under the condition that he not commit a crime as well as not having any contact with the woman who was in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

GALLERY: Sauk County court, cops Arsonist sentenced Shores enters Spoentgen argues Amber Lundgren hearing 'I'm sorry, that's all I can say' 020221-bara-news-metzger1 Defense attorney Jeremiah Meyer-O'Day Amber Lundgren in shackles Medflight near Baraboo Judge sets $250K bond for Pulvermacher in Baraboo homicide case Amber Lundgren homicide hearing Albart B. Shores trial Sauk County ADA Rick Spoentgen Pulvermacher listens 102519-bara-news-sauk-co-homicide1 William Wenzel Judge Michael Screnock Judge Klicko and attorneys Martinez and Spoentgen Sauk County Assistant District Attorney Rick Spoentgen Drew Bulin testifies Wenzel and Van Wagner in courtroom 073021-bara-news-dogs1 Mike Albrecht sworn in 051121-bara-news-law-zunker
A Milwaukee man faces up to 105 years in prison after being charged with sexually assaulting a child during a stay at a Wisconsin Dells resort in 2019.

Jesse Simon Gonzales IV, 35, is set to appear March 15 in Sauk County Circuit Court on two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13. Family and Judicial Court Commissioner ordered the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun to produce Gonzales for that initial appearance.

According to the criminal complaint:

A 12-year-old spoke to an interviewer at Lakeshore Regional Child Advocacy Center in December 2020 about being sexually assaulted by Gonzales.

The child said the pair shared a bed while staying at Mt. Olympus. The child said it was weird that there was only one bed in the room when they arrived. The 12-year-old said after the pair laid down to sleep, Gonzales sexually assaulted the child.

The child said when confronted, Gonzales said, You were asking for it.

The next day, Gonzales girlfriend arrived. The child considered contacting their mother, but did not know how to explain what happened.

A search of past reservations at Mt. Olympus found Gonzales had booked a single room over two days in August 2019.

GALLERY: Sauk County court, cops Arsonist sentenced Shores enters Spoentgen argues Amber Lundgren hearing 'I'm sorry, that's all I can say' 020221-bara-news-metzger1 Defense attorney Jeremiah Meyer-O'Day Amber Lundgren in shackles Medflight near Baraboo Judge sets $250K bond for Pulvermacher in Baraboo homicide case Amber Lundgren homicide hearing Albart B. Shores trial Sauk County ADA Rick Spoentgen Pulvermacher listens 102519-bara-news-sauk-co-homicide1 William Wenzel Judge Michael Screnock Judge Klicko and attorneys Martinez and Spoentgen Sauk County Assistant District Attorney Rick Spoentgen Drew Bulin testifies Wenzel and Van Wagner in courtroom 073021-bara-news-dogs1 Mike Albrecht sworn in 051121-bara-news-law-zunker
The Dodge County Sheriffs Office announced on Friday the availability of the new Special Needs Alert Form on the sheriffs office website and app to aid first responders in responding to the various needs of the community.

Law enforcement, fire departments, and EMS professionals encounter individuals every day who struggle with disabilities such as blindness, cognitive impairment, deafness, being prone to seizures, according to a press release. First responders need to be prepared and able to respond to the needs of Dodge County citizens to the best of their ability.

Knowing that someone is autistic and also knowing what may upset them or calm them down, can be extremely helpful in finding the best solution possible for that person and their family, according to the press release.

The release stated that if you or a family member lives in Dodge County and struggles with a disability or has special needs, fill out the form on the Dodge County Sheriffs Office website at www.dodgecountysheriff.com or on the Dodge County Sheriffs Office App available for download from your Android or Apple App Store.

Once the sheriffs office receives the information, it will be maintained in its countywide records management system and available to first responders, as well as 911 communications professionals.

Additionally, as part of this request form, members of the public may sign up to be contacted regarding Dodge Countys Project Lifesaver program. This is available to the residents of the county to assist caregivers of loved ones who are prone to wandering, especially those with conditions such as Alzheimers, dementia, autism, and Down syndrome.

The program involves placing an FM transmitter, similar to a wristwatch, on the arm or leg of a person who is prone to wander. If the person wanders away, the caregiver can contact the Dodge County Sheriffs Office and trained personnel will respond and assist in locating the individual using equipment designed for locating the signal from the transmitter.

Since the programs inception in 2015, the Beaver Dam Police Department has also joined, enhancing the programs capabilities for citizens in Beaver Dam as well as throughout Dodge County.
Vital trade resumed at a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Saturday as their busiest trading waypoint reopened almost a week after being shut by Taliban authorities.

Relations between the countries have soured since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021, with Islamabad accusing its neighbour of harbouring militants that have carried out strikes on its soil -- a charge Kabul denies.

There have been frequent checkpoint closures and flare-ups of violence along the mostly mountainous dividing line splitting the two nations, which no Afghan government has ever recognised.

The Torkham border crossing was reopened at 6 am (0130 GMT) on Saturday, Afghan customs official Muslim Khaksar said at the site in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province.

"The border is now open from both sides for civilians as well as for traders," he said.

"Trucks carrying rice, cement, construction material, medicines and other edibles were sent to Afghanistan," a Pakistani customs official said, adding that lorries loaded with coal, vegetables and fruit had travelled the other way.

But around 1,400 trucks on the Pakistan side were still waiting to cross into Afghanistan as a backlog is cleared, he added.

Hundreds of people from both countries passed through the crossing on Saturday after being stranded for days, an AFP correspondent reported from the frontier.

"I was stranded here for five to six days with my sick mother," Haroon, a resident of the Afghan city of Kunduz, told AFP before entering Pakistan with his ailing parent.

"There are thousands of patients like my mother waiting to go to Pakistan for treatment. The border must always remain open, it will help patients and also boost trade."

The crossing was closed last Sunday by Afghan authorities, who objected to what they said were new documentation rules restricting people assisting medical patients from entering Pakistan.

Pakistani officials never confirmed or denied any rule change.

It was the first time the Torkham boundary had been officially closed since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan 18 months ago.

On Saturday, people attending to patients were allowed to enter Pakistan after showing their Afghan identity cards, the Pakistani customs official said.

Several patients in wheelchairs were escorted through the gates after border guards checked their documents.

A gunfight had erupted at the crossing between border guards from the two countries on Monday morning, with both sides blaming each other for initiating the violence.

Both nations are in economic turmoil, with Afghanistan reeling from a drop-off in aid after the fall of the US-backed government in 2021, and Pakistan hammered by ballooning energy prices and a foreign exchange crisis.

Since the Taliban's return, there has been a rise in attacks on Pakistani soil blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, which has deep ties with its Afghan namesake.

On Wednesday, a high-level delegation from Pakistan visited Kabul to discuss ways to counter the threat of militant attacks.

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Weather Alert

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 144 REMAINS VALID UNTIL 1 AM CDT SUNDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS IN ILLINOIS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 12 COUNTIES IN SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS EDWARDS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS GALLATIN HAMILTON HARDIN JOHNSON MASSAC POPE PULASKI SALINE WABASH WHITE WILLIAMSON IN INDIANA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 3 COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST INDIANA POSEY IN SOUTHWEST INDIANA GIBSON VANDERBURGH IN KENTUCKY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 16 COUNTIES IN WESTERN KENTUCKY BALLARD CALDWELL CALLOWAY CARLISLE CRITTENDEN FULTON GRAVES HENDERSON HICKMAN LIVINGSTON LYON MARSHALL MCCRACKEN TRIGG UNION WEBSTER THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALBION, BARDWELL, BENTON, CADIZ, CARMI, CLINTON, DIXON, EDDYVILLE, ELIZABETHTOWN, EVANSVILLE, FORT BRANCH, GOLCONDA, GRAYVILLE, HARRISBURG, HENDERSON, HERRIN, HICKMAN, MARION, MAYFIELD, MCLEANSBORO, METROPOLIS, MORGANFIELD, MOUND CITY, MOUNT CARMEL, MURRAY, PADUCAH, POSEYVILLE, PRINCETON, SHAWNEETOWN, SMITHLAND, VIENNA, WEST SALEM, AND WICKLIFFE.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of southern Pope, Massac, Marshall, eastern Ballard, McCracken, west central Lyon, southeastern Fulton, western Calloway, southwestern Crittenden, Livingston, eastern Carlisle, eastern Hickman and Graves Counties through 1045 PM CDT... At 959 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along a line extending from near New Columbia to 6 miles southeast of Lovelaceville to near South Fulton. Movement was east at 40 mph. HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and half inch hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible. Strong thunderstorms will be near... Paducah and Lone Oak around 1005 PM CDT. Reidland around 1015 PM CDT. Other locations in the path of these storms include Lynnville, Ledbetter, Calvert City, Burna, Murray and Salem. This includes the following highways... Interstate 24 in Kentucky between Mile Markers 1 and 35. Interstate 24 in Illinois between Mile Markers 24 and 38. Interstate 69 in Kentucky between Mile Markers 2 and 51. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 100 AM CDT for southern Illinois...and western Kentucky. && MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN; MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH
Chile on Monday will begin deploying troops to its borders with Peru and Bolivia in its latest attempt to control the flow of undocumented migrants, officials said Saturday.

Interior Secretary Carolina Toha said she would tour the deployment sites on Monday.

Soldiers will be posted -- initially for 90 days -- to the regions of Tarapaca, Antofagasta and Arica y Parinacota, according to a government decree.

Military units will be empowered to detain anyone attempting to pass through unauthorized border crossings and turn them over to local police.

The government decree argues that migratory flows have been increasing, causing a "massive arrival of people through unauthorized passages."

The Andean town of Colchane will be a primary focus of the military effort. Mayor Javier Garcia told local radio that some 400 people pass through unauthorized crossing points each day, with the largest number arriving from crisis-wracked Venezuela.

Colchane is the most heavily trafficked spot for foreigners attempting to enter Chile.

Some arrivals have set up tents in town; others wander around looking for assistance, and dozens have died of hunger, cold or disease in recent years.

The military deployment is the latest measure Chile has taken in an effort to control the migratory flow. A year ago the government widened a 600-meter (2,000-foot) trench dug years earlier.

Criminal gangs smuggling drugs and contraband have built bridges across the trench -- which undocumented migrants have used.

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Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has announced the recall of her country's ambassador to Mexico, citing its continued support for deposed president Pedro Castillo.

"I have ordered the definitive recall of our ambassador to Mexico," Boluarte said in a televised address Friday, citing Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's "unacceptable" interference in Lima's affairs.

The embassy will now be led by a charge d'affaires, she added.

Peru's leftist former president Castillo was impeached and arrested for attempting to dissolve parliament and rule by decree in December, and Boluarte has since seen weeks of anti-government protests across the Andean nation calling for her removal.

Castillo's ouster was criticized by leftist Latin American allies, including Mexico, which has sparked a diplomatic row.

The Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday that it "regrets" Peru's decision but that it will maintain its own diplomatic representation in Peru at the existing level "to promote ties" between the two and support Mexicans in Peru.

The Ministry added that it intends to "keep diplomatic communication channels open for the benefit of both societies."

The decision to withdraw ambassador Manuel Talavera Espinar came as Lopez Obrador again insisted that "Mexico will continue to support (Castillo), who was unjustly and illegally removed from office".

Boluarte, in her televised remarks, said, "I strongly reject the remarks made today by the president of Mexico on Peru's internal affairs and his repeated unacceptable questioning of the constitutional and democratic origins of my government."

She added that Lopez Obrador has "decided to support the coup d'etat carried out by the now former president Pedro Castillo on December 7, 2022".

Lopez Obrador has been one of Castillo's most fervent foreign supporters, along with the fellow leftist leaders of Bolivia, Argentina and Colombia.

Peru had already expelled the Mexican ambassador at the end of December, after Mexico granted political asylum to Castillo's wife and two sons.

At least 48 people have died in clashes between security forces and protesters since unrest broke out on December 7, following his impeachment and arrest.

The demonstrations are driven by poor southern, Indigenous Peruvians who perceive Castillo -- who is also from humble origins and has Indigenous roots -- as an ally in their fight against poverty, racism and inequality.

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The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) carried out a mass raid on the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday morning, killing 11 people and wounding 103 in a barbaric show of brutality and militarism. Those killed included two older men aged 72 and 66.

Mourners chant slogans and carry the body of Montaser Shawwa, 16, through an alley, during his funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, Nablus, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Shawwa succumbed to his wounds that were sustained during an Israeli army operation in the occupied West Bank on February 8. [AP Photo/Nasser Nasser]

It was by far the deadliest raid in decades, with soldiers preventing paramedics from evacuating the injured from the scene and firing on ambulances. Video clips showed a military jeep driving into a crowd of Palestinians who were confronting the raid, while another shows an elderly man lying motionless on the ground after he was apparently shot and left to bleed. Others showed three apparently unarmed people running along a sidewalk, one of whom fell to the ground after they came under fire.

These extra-judicial killings in broad daylight by the Middle Easts strongest war machine in a busy downtown area are nothing short of a war crime by the newly installed coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel, with its customary hypocrisy and cynicism, justified its murderous assault with claims that it was seeking to arrest three armed terrorists who had killed an Israeli soldier in October and were involved in the planning of shooting attacks in the future, without providing any evidence to back up the allegations. An army spokesperson said that the soldiers were met with heavy gunfire when they attempted to detain the three wanted men but did not explain why a further eight were killed.

The raid was a deliberate provocation calculated to precipitate revenge attacks in Israel and rocket fire from the besieged Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, the bourgeois clerical group affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood. Such attacks will in turn be used by the authorities to declare a security crisis and derail the growing protest movement against the governments efforts to assume dictatorial powers and neuter the judiciary. This is in pursuit of their broader plans to annex the Palestinian territories that Israel has occupied illegally since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

While the leaders of Israels protest movement largely share the Netanyahu governments agenda and are hostile to any appeal to Israels Palestinian citizens, they fear his fascist-backed power grab is endangering the stability of capitalist rule and the Israeli state. Very conscious that the growing movement is also animated by broader social discontent and opposition to Israels brutal suppression of the Palestinians and system of apartheid rule, they are determined that those participating in the rallies should not reach out to the Palestinians and unify their struggles. They have sought to restrict the protests to protecting the Supreme Court, which has nodded through Israels Jewish Nation-State Law and authorized settlements, land seizures and evictions in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

After the killings in Nablus, the IDF carried out airstrikes on two military sites operated by Hamas. This followed the firing of six rockets from the Gaza strip, that for the last 15 years has served as an open-air prison for its two million inhabitants, five of which were intercepted by Israels Iron Dome air defence system.

Wednesdays deadly raid was the third major operation in the West Bank in which several Palestinians have been killed since the new government took office at the end of last year. A raid on Jenin refugee camp in late January killed 10 Palestinian militants and civilians, while a similar operation in Jericho earlier this month killed five Palestinian fighters.

The latest massacre brings to 61 the number of Palestinians that have died at the hands of Israeli police, soldiers and settlers so far this year, as well as 10 Israelis and one Ukrainian national in the escalating violence. It follows last years record that saw at least 170 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including 30 children, the highest death toll in the occupied Palestinian territories in a single year since 2005.

The Nablus atrocity is part of Operation Breakwater, launched last March in response to a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, that has seen almost daily raids and arrest operations in the West Bank, focusing on the cities of Jenin, Nablus, Hebron and Jericho. These operations are fueling ever more resistance in the West Bank under the banner of new groups such as the Lions Den, the Nablus Brigade and the Tubas Brigades. Hostility is escalating towards the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, for its craven subservience to Israel.

Indeed, in a tacit admission that the assault would lead to further violence, especially in the run up to Ramadan that begins next month, a police spokesperson said it would deploy extra personnel across Jerusalem and the West Bank in anticipation of further attacks. The Jerusalem Post wrote that Israel was preparing for possible ripple effects from the operation such as revenge terrorist attacks in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the interior or rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

These events come just days after the cabinet approved the legalization of nine illegal outposts in the West Bank and the construction of 7,000 homes in existing settlements, prompting the United Arab Emirates, at the request of the Palestinian Authority, to table a resolution condemning the decision. The UAE, which has normalized its relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords, subsequently watered down the resolution at Washingtons insistence so that it could pass without the customary US veto.

Part of the backroom wheeling and dealing at the UN was that the PA would receive a financial aid package while Israel would not approve any more illegal settlements or settlement construction and would reduce its armed incursions into areas of the West Bank under the PAs nominal control. All this was for public consumption. Just three days later, Netanyahu rode roughshod over the deal and authorized the raid.

This latest atrocity met with the customary tut-tutting by the United Nations, the US, the European powers and their Middle East allies. It underscores the fact that they have given Israels fascistic government carte blanche to terrorise and suppress the Palestinians with ever greater force in pursuit of its agenda of annexing the Palestinian territories and implementing apartheid ruleas embodied in the Nation-State Law that enshrines Jewish supremacy as the legal foundation of the state. The Arab regimes that long proclaimed their support for a Palestinian state as a means of legitimizing their dictatorial rule over their own citizens stand exposed as outright accomplices of the Zionist state.

It also demonstrates the utterly opportunist use of the charges war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Biden administration excoriates Russia for such crimes in Ukraine while glossing over what its attack dog does on a daily basis as the quid pro quo for services rendered in pursuit of Washingtons predatory interests in the Middle East. What is defined as a war crime or crime against humanity and who is sent to the Hague tribunalwhose authority the US and Israel do not recognize for their own officialsdepends entirely on the geo-political and economic interests of the various imperialist powers.

There is no solution to the Palestinian workers desperate economic and social situation within the capitalist system, nor is there any national solution. No amount of pressure will change the policies of the Palestinian leadership, the Israeli government and their imperialist backers. That has been bitterly demonstrated over decades.

The only real ally of the Palestinian masses is the international working class. The wave of international protests and strikes in Europe and North America as well as the Middle East is part of a growing militancy among workers, who harbour a growing outrage and revulsion at Israels war crimes, imperialist militarism and the deepest economic crisis of the world capitalist system since the Great Depression.

It is the united mobilization of the working class of all countries, including Arab and Jewish workers, that holds the key to a genuinely democratic and progressive solution to a crisis that extends beyond the Palestinian territories to Israel itself, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran. This must take the conscious form of a struggle against Zionism, imperialism and the Middle Eastern bourgeoisie for a socialist federation of the Middle East, as part of the world socialist revolution. This is the international socialist perspective fought for by the Socialist Equality Parties and the International Committee of the Fourth International.
In a recent article, the World Socialist Web Site revealed that the initiators of the so-called Revolt for Peace have completely different objectives than the majority of those who have signed its petition. While resistance to the NATO proxy war in Ukraine is growing throughout Europe, Sahra Wagenknecht and Co. are abusing opposition to the war for a nationalist and militarist agenda, the WSWS wrote.

The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) placed the building of an international anti-war movement at the centre of its campaign for the recent Berlin House of Representatives (state assembly) election, meeting with great approval and support in working class neighbourhoods.

The correctness of the SGPs assessment of the Revolt for Peace is underscored by the leading role played in the initiative by figures such as retired Brigadier General Erich Vad, an ardent militarist and long-time insider of Germanys security policy apparatus. At a rally on Saturday, February 25, in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Vad will deliver one of the main speeches, along with Left Party politician Sahra Wagenknecht and feminist Alice Schwarzer, co-initiator of the peace petition.

German Leopard tanks practice in Grafenwohr [Photo by 7th Army Training Command / flickr / CC BY 2.0

In the media, Vad regularly warns of a third world war and criticizes the delivery of Leopard 2 battle tanks to the Ukrainian military as a military escalation that threatens to develop a dangerous momentum of its own.

But he formulates this criticism of the official war policy as a dyed-in-the-wool militarist. On the Maischberger talk show he recently stated: I am not against arms deliveries on principle. Nor am I a pacifist. Nor am I opposed to war in principle. The German government, he said, lacked the strategy and objectives to get through a conflict with a belligerent nuclear power. Currently, we are wasting young men with a high fighting morale every day for nothing, in their hundreds, thousands.

The general knows about what he speaks. From 1992 to 1995, Vad served on NATOs International Military Staff and in the General Secretariat of the Western European Union. He then served on the Armed Forces Command Staff in the Department of Defence and in the United States Central Command, where he was responsible for special operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After further service in the Foreign Ministry under Joschka Fischer, he became defence policy adviser to the Christian Democratic (CDU/CSU) opposition faction in the Bundestag (parliament) in 2001.

From 2006 to 2013, Vad was a group leader in the Federal Chancellery, secretary of the Federal Security Council and military adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, emerging as the most influential general in the Federal Republic, according to observers.

After Merkel promoted him to general in 2010, to keep him in office longer than planned, Vads duties during the war in Afghanistan included shielding the Chancellery from any responsibility in the parliamentary committee of inquiry into the Kunduz massacre. Currently, Vad works as an arms lobbyist in the Bundestag and advises, among others, the Swiss arms manufacturer Ruag and the military supplier Northrop Grumman Litef.

When such a figure criticizes the German government, he does so from the standpoint of the military interests of German imperialism. This becomes particularly clear when Vad complains in the media about the allegedly dilapidated state of the Bundeswehr (armed forces) and its lack of operational readiness. In May of last year, for example, he described the special fund of 100 billion for the Bundeswehr, which Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrat, SPD) announced in the Bundestag immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as completely insufficient to ensure German war readiness as a permanent task of the state.

Vad told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that the defence industry was faced with the task of increasing capacities in a wide variety of areas as quickly as possible, while delivering the required quality, dispensing with reviews under procurement law and serving the Bundeswehr as a premium customer in the best possible way at all times. This presupposed a correspondingly high level of defence spending, he said.

The insufficient militarization of society was due to German structural pacifism (Vad in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung) and an unrealistic hypermorality (Vad in Die Presse). Apparently, the general is incensed that war and rearmament are hated by large parts of the population because of German crimes in two world wars.

The WSWS already reported in detail on the ideological basis of Vads war policy in a background article in 2010. The general publishes in German nationalist journals from the environment of the radical right-wing Institute for State Policy and is an avowed follower of the constitutional lawyer Carl Schmitt, who as crown jurist of the Third Reich was one of the most important intellectual pioneers and admirers of Hitler.

In an article entitled Freund oder FeindZur Aktualitat Carl Schmitts (Friend or FoeOn the Actuality of Carl Schmitt), which appeared in April 2003 in the right-wing extremist magazine Sezession, Vad advocated Schmitts conception of a European metropolitan area that would have to raise an adequate claim to power and take action with appropriate geopolitical and geostrategic measures against powers foreign to the region. What should be sought, Vad said, was an equal partnership with America, but the political leadership of the time was too weak to implement it.

In the same article, Vad defended Schmitts collaboration with the Nazi regime, referring to the late right-wing historian Ernst Nolte, by saying that the latter alone seemed capable of preventing its complete collapse. In a piece for the far-right Junge Freiheit, Vad opposed the Wehrmacht exhibition, stating that it was not sufficiently apparent that much of what happened at the timeespecially in partisan warfare and reprisals as well as hostage shootingswas covered by the laws of war at the time.

That such a historical revisionist and aggressive militarist as Vad is a prominent figure in the so-called Revolt for Peace is no accident. His political orientation and goals coincide at their core with those of Sahra Wagenknecht and her husband Oskar Lafontaine. Like Vad, both advocate an extreme nationalist program and pursue the goal of strengthening German and European militarism, especially vis-a-vis the United States.

In his latest book, Lafontaine calls the Europeans, above all Germany the most loyal vassals of the United States. To carry through the liberation of Europe from the military tutelage of the US, Lafontaine says, an independent European security and defence policy was necessary. A joint defence alliance between Germany and France must also be able to assert its military interests against both the US and Eastern Europe, he added.

As for Wagenknecht, in her 2021 diatribe The Self-Righteous, she called for the creation of a national sanctuary that would have to be directed against left-liberal cosmopolitanism, urban elites, refugees and immigrants. Both Lafontaine and Wagenknecht have made it clear that their initiative is also open to politicians in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and far-right actors, as long as they conceal their imperial war flags and refrain from political propaganda for abstruse goals.

The extreme right-wing agenda of the leading political minds behind the peace petition is a warning. You cannot build a movement for peace with militarists, nationalists and right-wing extremists. Those who reject the arms shipments and warmongering of the German government and its NATO allies and want to stop the threat of a third world war need a clear political perspective and orientation.

The only way to prevent a catastrophe is to mobilize the international working class against capitalism and the national elites who are daily enriching themselves from war in every country. The International Committee of the Fourth International and its sectionsin Germany, the Sozialistische Gleichheitsparteiare fighting to give progressive expression to the widespread opposition to war and to arm it with a socialist programme.

To this end, the World Socialist Web Site and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) will host an online event on Saturday, February 25, at 1 p.m. US EST, where leading socialists from Germany, Australia and the US will oppose all varieties of nationalism and militarism and outline a strategy for the working class and youth to put an end to imperialist war.
A family in Pueblo, Colorado, has filed a civil lawsuit against the Pueblo County Sheriffs Office this past Tuesday for wrong doing in the death of their son, Richard Ward. Ward, a 32-year old white man, was shot and killed by two sheriffs deputies on February 22, 2022 in the parking lot of Liberty Point International Middle School.

A still from police body camera footage showing Deputy Charles McWhorter ripping Richard Ward from his mother's vehicle [Photo: Pueblo County Sheriff's Office]

Ward was with his mother Kristy Ward and her boyfriend Tommy Brown at the school to pick up his younger brother Chase. According to the lawsuit and the investigation of the incident, Ward exited his car to look for his brother and bring him back to the car, which was in line with several others. On his way back to the car he accidentally entered another vehicle similar to the one his mother was driving, thinking that it was her car. He realized the mistake, apologized to the woman and left the vehicle.

Following this, a call was made to the 911 dispatcher describing a suspicious person attempting to enter vehicles. Responding to the call, two deputies, Cassandra Gonzales and Charles McWhorter, arrived at the school to investigate.

Police body camera footage released by the familys attorneys show the officers approach Wards car, who opens the door to speak with them and explain he is looking for his little brother. His speech is somewhat fast paced and disjointed.

McWhorter placed his hand on Wards shoulder while he sits inside the car and asked, Why are you acting like this? Ward explained he has anxiety and that he had bad experiences with police before, stating that Theyve done things to me. He then imitated an officer punching someone saying Stop resisting! when youre not resisting.

Deputy McWhorter took issue with Wards reference to police violence and asked him how he had been treated badly by police. Ward was uncomfortable with the questioning and explained that he is Just a normal guy looking for my brother. He then asked who he bothered by searching for his brother, leading into his explanation of how he entered the wrong vehicle and that he apologized to the woman he bothered.

The officers then asked if he was under the influence of any drugs, to which he replied no, and requested his ID. As he searched for his ID the deputies asked if he had any weapons to which he responded that did not think so but, he might have a pocket knife on him as he produced two lighters from his pant pocket.

Ward then reached his hand into his jacket pocket and put a pill into his mouth. McWhorter aggressively asked, What did you just stick in your mouth? as he pulled Ward from the vehicle. Ward shouted It was a pill, let me go! as the officers attempted to grab him and place him in handcuffs.

The officers and Ward fell to the ground in a struggle for a few seconds before McWhorter fired three shots from his service handgun at point blank range into Ward. Just over 20 seconds had elapsed from when McWhorter pulled Ward from the vehicle and when he shot him. The deputies then ordered Wards family to remain in the vehicle as they stood over his motionless body. A third officer arrived on the scene shortly after but also did not offer any aid to Ward. Five minutes passed before fire department paramedics arrived on the scene where Ward was pronounced dead.

At no point leading up to the physical altercation did Ward fail to comply with the officers requests, nor did he appear to present any physical danger to the officers. It is only when they assaulted him to wrestle him from the car that he struggled physically as they demand he stop resisting.

The pill that Ward took was later determined to be an anti-anxiety pill and he was found to not have any weapons on this person.

The body camera footage clearly shows that Deputy McWhorter initiated the physical altercation by pulling Ward from the car and that there was no reasonable justification for the officers use of force. It is not surprising that it took an entire year for the body camera footage to be released to the public, given that the official police report on the incident claims that Ward jumped out of the car to assault the deputies. The footage exposes this as a blatant lie concocted by the Sheriffs Office to cover up a police murder.

Not only did the Sheriff's Office lie about the incident, the Tenth District Attorney Jeff Chostner absolved both officers of any wrong doing in a brief issued on October 22, 2022, claiming that their use of force was justified for self defense. The report includes a review of the body camera footage and interviews with the deputies who repeatedly claimed that Ward was aggressive and confrontational, despite the footage clearly showing that he was not. The Deputies claimed that they felt concerned for their safety to justify their use of force and failed to render medical aid because they were concerned for their safety with people still in the car.

The only witness testimony in the report is from Wards family and from a single bystander named Stacey Hoff, who claimed that Ward was combative and that he was reaching for the deputys gun. However, she says that she could not really see and the report notes that she was backing out of a parking space during the incident.

The murder of Ward has been difficult on the family. As mother Kristy Ward Stamp explained at a press conference Tuesday, Its just shattered the whole family Its been really, really horrible. I dont even know who I am anymore, but Im working on it.

Wards brother Eddie Stamp noted that the police lie that Richard had jumped out of the vehicle to attack the officers had hurt his younger brother Chase who attends the middle school. To hear my younger brother say that other peoples parents are reading that story and that other kids in his class are referring to my brother as this intruder and attacker, and to have him not know how to even deal with that.

At worst, civil rights lawyer Darold Killmer, who is representing the family, remarked, he had startled a lady by opening her car door, though it was accidental, and nothing further happened when he realized his mistake. The officers had no basis to believe Richard had committed any crime, and absolutely no basis to believe that Richard was a danger to them or anyone else.

Killmer added, Rather than providing emergency medical care to Richard, such as applying pressure to the wound area or other potentially life-saving measures, both McWhorter and Gonzalez did absolutely nothing. Rather, they satisfied themselves to wait until an ambulance later arrived, by which time Richard had died.

This was nothing short of state-sanctioned murder of a citizen who should not have been even arrested, let alone killed in broad daylight. . . We consider this an extraordinarily compelling case of unjustified police brutality, leading to the death of a young man with devastating consequences for his mother and family. The family has asked us to secure justice for Richard, and we intend to do so.

Adding insult to injury, the Sheriffs Office illegally detained Wards mother and her boyfriend after killing her son and then seized her car, phone, and ID and withheld them from her for months according to the lawsuit.

None of the officers involved have faced any repercussions for their actions and instead have been praised. On February 17, Deputy McWhorter received a Purple Heart award for injuries sustained while murdering Ward. He also received a Medal of Valor award in 2018 for shooting another white man, robbery suspect Dennis Flowers, 66, ten times in 2017.

District Attorney Chostner also found McWhorters use of deadly force to be justified in his investigation into that incident. Flowers reportedly pointed a firearm at the officers.

The sheer violence and callousness which with Ward was killed is emblematic of the savagery of the police in the United States and the increasingly violent means through which the rule of the capitalist system is enforced. Ward was just one of at least 1,176 people killed by police in US in 2022, an all-time high. An average of three people continue to be killed by cops every day across the country, on track for another year of more than 1,000 victims of police violence.
Journalist and author Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The New York Times 1619 Project, was lavished with over $1 million in speaking fees by dozens of colleges and universities last year as a reward for promoting a reactionary, race-centered view of American history and society.

Nikole Hannah-Jones attends the Legal Defense Fund's 34th National Equal Justice Awards Dinner at Jazz At Lincoln Center on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, in New York. [AP Photo/Evan Agostini]

According to an investigation conducted by the Daily Wirewhich filed a Freedom of Information Act request with 11 public-taxpayer funded collegesHannah-Jones was paid an average of $43,000 per speech. Assuming this pay rate for the other 22 colleges, Hannah-Jones would have raked in $1.4 million in speaking fees in 2022 alone. The report notes that this is likely an undercount, as the list of speeches is incomplete and doesnt take into account the private institutions that may well have handed out even more cash.

Her speeches generally lasted an hour or less. In a few instances, she never had to leave her home; Northern Illinois University paid Hannah-Jones $30,000 for a Zoom talk. Similar engagements at Metro State University-Denver and the Cleveland Library netted her $25,000 and $20,000 respectively.

In her biggest payday, she pocketed over $101,700 for 24 hours of workover $4,200 an hourat Indiana University, which consisted of a 1 hour speech followed by a book signing, 4 classroom discussions and a dinner party. Not bad for a days work.

Last September, Hannah-Jones charged a $40,000 fee for a 45-minute speech given at an event hosted by the Arlington Public Library in Virginia, breaking the librarys budget. More recently, she was paid $35,350 by the Fairfax County Public Library for a one-hour lecture given on February 19 at the McClean Community Center. A month earlier, county officials had paid $22,500 to racialist author Ibram X. Kendi for a one-hour virtual speech. Combined, the two speakers were paid a total of $57,850 to give lectures about their race theories. By comparison, the average starting salary of a county librarian amounts to $54,421 annually.

Last summer, Hannah-Jones was awarded nearly $75,000 as part of a legal settlement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hannah-Jones had threatened to sue the university after the administration had failed to act with sufficient haste in granting her tenure, claiming racial discrimination. Though the university ultimately relented to her demands, Hannah-Jones publicly turned down the offer in favor of a tenured position at Howard University. The whole episode testifies to the debased, money-hungry character of identity politics.

In 2021, Hannah-Jones, alongside Ta-Nehisi Coatesyet another racialist authorfounded the so-called Center for Journalism and Democracy at Howard University, financed to the tune of $20 million from the Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, and other major capitalist donors. She was also a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 2017 which came with a generous $625,000 payout over five years.

Hannah-Jones is best known as the creator of the 1619 Project, which the World Socialist Web Site has exposed as a racialist falsification of American history. It puts forward the view that the United States was explicitly founded upon racial oppression; that the American Revolution was a counterrevolution waged to defend slavery; that blacks fought alone against a racist and indifferent white society; and that the destruction of slavery during the Civil War was merely an incidental byproduct, utilized cynically by an otherwise racist Abraham Lincoln in order to preserve the Union.

These claims were taken up and thoroughly debunked by principled historians and scholars, including James Oakes, Victoria Bynum and Adolph Reed Jr. and Gordon Wood, among others. But the 1619 Project, whatever its pretensions, was never intended to provide an objective historical analysis. Its purpose was to manufacture a pseudo-historical narrative in order to justify present-day political ends.

To what end? The huge sums of cash being lavished upon Hannah-Jones and other racialist figures provide a clue. Hannah-Jones, who is an advocate of race-based reparationsa reactionary demand that serves to divide the working class along racial linesclaims that structural racism pervades the very DNA of American society.

Hannah-Jones is representative of a whole priestly layer of race and gender experts, tasked with preaching the preferred religion of the self-obsessed upper-middle classes grouped around the Democratic Partyidentity politics. They claim to represent the interests of black people. But speaking about race has made them very wealthy, with access to privileges that are denied to the vast majority of the population, of all races.

They present their views as oppositional, even dangerous to the establishment. If this is true, how is it that the racialist view has been embraced wholeheartedly by every powerful institution ofwhat they would callwhite society? Big business, academia and the Democratic Party, tied by a million threads to Wall Street and the Pentagon, have all thoroughly assimilated the racialist outlook. Clearly they do not perceive anything dangerous or subversive in these views. Quite the contrary.

Hannah-Joneswho has made millions speaking about the oppression experienced by enslaved African-Americans in the pastmaintains a discreet silence on the prevailing form of exploitation and brutality todaywage labor under capitalism. In fact, the recent documentary version of the 1619 Project aired on Disneys Hulu station pinned the blame for social and racial inequality on white workers.

Hannah-Jones holds a tenured position at Howard University, which has seen protests and threatened strikes by students and faculty over deplorable living conditions and exploitative working conditions. She was conspicuously silent on these struggles conducted by the universitys majority-working class student body and its underpaid staff.

The university administrationmade up of millionairesclaims that there is no money to fix these problems. The students and faculty might respond with an inquiry as to what exactly is being done with the $20 million that was donated to Hannah-Jones center, which so far has accomplished nothing to improve the lives or education of Howards students. More recently, the university signed a $90 million deal with the Pentagon, establishing a research center aimed at improving the US militarys killing machines.

For race politics and militarism, the institution finds tens of millions of dollars. For students and faculty, it scatters a few crumbs on the floor. This is the reality under capitalism, and Hannah-Jones, with her silence, has given it her implicit approval.

The latest revelations come as students, graduate workers and educators across the country enter into struggle against exploitative working conditions. At Temple University in Philadelphia, at least 750 teaching-assistants are waging a concerted struggle against low wages and tuition hikes, in the face of efforts by the graduate students union to suppress their strike.

Similar strikes have broken out across the country, from the University of California to the New School in New York, among others. These cannot be understood apart from a growing global movement of the international working classof all races, creeds and nationalitiesagainst austerity, the threat of war and inequality.

The race-obsessed layers grouped around the Democratic Party, which Hannah-Jones perhaps best epitomizes, are fundamentally fearful of and hostile to this growing movement. They do not seek to end capitalism, but to grab their own piece of the action. The last thing they want is for the party to end when there is yet so much money to be made.
On Thursday, Donald Dillbeck became the first death row inmate to be executed in Florida in more than three years. Dillbeck, 59, was sentenced to death in 1991 by a non-unanimous jury vote for the 1990 fatal stabbing of Fay Vann, 44, outside a Tallahassee mall.

This image provided by the Florida Department of Corrections shows inmate Donald Dillbeck, who was executed by the State of Florida via a lethal injection on Thursday, February 23, 2023. [AP Photo/Florida Department of Corrections via AP]

As Dillbeck was strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber at Floridas Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, he took the opportunity to lash out against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, as reported by Kathryn Varn of the Gannett-owned Tallahassee Democrat.

I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up, Dillbeck said. But I know Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse. Hes taken a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children. Hes put his foot on our necks. Dillbeck died at 6:13 p.m. local time after receiving an injection of toxic chemicals, according to prison authorities.

Varn incurred the wrath of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry for even reporting the condemned mans last words, commenting, This is USA Today [also owned by Gannett]. Journalism is dead in the big legacy media organizations. They all sing from the same hymn book.

Nate Monroe of the Florida Times-Union shot back at Curry, writing sarcastically in Varns defense, How dare you straightforwardly report a thing that happened. Jeff Schweers of the Tallahassee Democrat wrote, Covering an execution is one of the hardest jobs we have as reporters. Were there to bear witness and report the last words of the executed, whatever they say.

DeSantis has indeed put his foot on the necks of Floridas population in myriad ways, as Dillbeck alluded to in his final words. The governor, who is setting his sights on the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has distinguished himself by presiding over the deaths of more than 86,000 Floridians from COVID-19, shipping two planeloads of immigrants to Marthas Vineyard in Massachusetts, and seeking to ban teaching on racial and sexual discrimination in Florida public schools, to name but a few of his criminal and anti-democratic achievements.

DeSantis signed Dillbecks death warrant on January 23, three weeks into his second term, on the same day that he floated a change to Florida law that would allow a person to be sentenced to death after a non-unanimous vote of a jury. Speaking before a Florida Sheriffs Association conference, DeSantis said, So maybe eight out of 12 [jurors] have to agree or something, he said, but we cant be in a situation where one person can just derail this.

DeSantis and a group of Florida Republican lawmakers were outraged that a 9-3 split jury in the trial of Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 people five years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, derailed a death sentence in his case. DeSantis has also suggested expanding the death penalty in Florida to include certain sex crimes.

The jury vote that DeSantis seeks to revive in death penalty caseseight in favor, four againstis precisely what led to a death sentence in Dillbecks case. Varn wrote in the USA Today on Dillbecks trial: As the clerk read the sentence aloud, one juror wept uncontrollably. Readers wrote to the [Tallahassee Democrat] disturbed by how such an arbitrary split could still send someone to death row, or by how Dillbecks history of childhood trauma seemed to have granted him some, but not enough, mercy.

Until 2016, only a simple majorityseven in favor, five againstwas required to recommend a death sentence, and a judge could override a jurys recommendation and sentence an individual to death. However, in 2016 the US Supreme Court struck down parts of the Florida statute as unconstitutional, with the concurring justices finding that the state law did not give juries a big enough role in sentencing someone to death.

According to the Florida Supreme Courts interpretation of the high courts ruling, this meant that a unanimous jury vote was required to send a convicted defendant to his or her death. To do this, jurors must determine that there is at least one aggravating factor, which in Florida could mean the victim was a police officer, or that the defendant had been convicted previously of a violent felony.

They must also determine whether there are mitigating circumstances to spare a defendant of a death sentence, such as age or mental condition, and whether the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating circumstances.

In 2020, a more conservative group of justices on the states Supreme Court ruled that a jury must only be unanimous in establishing an aggravating factor making someone eligible for a death sentence. Florida legislators are now looking to revert to the previous statute, requiring only a simple majority to sentence a person to death. If passed by state lawmakers, DeSantis appears poised to sign this undemocratic and unconstitutional statute into law.

Alabama is the only state that currently allows a non-unanimous vote of a jury to sentence people to death, requiring 10 votes in favor. Both Missouri and Indiana allow a judge to impose the death penalty in cases where the jury is divided on the punishment.

Although Dillbecks jury did not unanimously recommend death, his death sentence stood because he was sentenced prior to the 2016 ruling, and Florida authorities have chosen not to make this ruling retroactive.

The US Supreme Court denied a last-minute appeal on Dillbecks behalf to stop the execution. And last week the Florida Supreme Court unanimously rejected an appeal that argued Dillbecks execution was in violation of the US Supreme Courts 2002 ruling that capital punishment for individuals with intellectual disability is a violation of the Eighth Amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Like so many people sentenced to death in America, Dillbeck endured severe abuse as a child. According to the petition filed by his lawyers seeking a review of his case by the Florida Supreme Court, Dillbecks birth mother drank 18-24 beers per day throughout her pregnancy, resulting in a catastrophic effect on Mr. Dillbecks intellectual and adaptive functioning.

The lawyers added, That Mr. Dillbeck suffered from Neurobehavioral Disorder associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE) is thoroughly medically documented, unrebutted, and factually beyond dispute.

A court document obtained by the Tampa Bay Times stated that testing of Dillbecks brain revealed widespread and profound neurological damage, including in areas responsible for regulating planning, mood, judgment, behavior, impulse control and intentionality. The Florida justices said the claim was too late to be newly discovered evidence and rejected the appeal.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that Dillbeck was put in foster care when he was four years old and began using drugs by age 13. At the age of 15, he was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison for the shooting death of a Lee County sheriffs deputy after the officer caught him with a stolen car. He was reportedly sexually assaulted in prison repeatedly. He fatally stabbed Faye Vann after escaping from an off-site vocational program while serving this sentence.

In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution protects those convicted of crimes committed when they were under age 18 from being sentenced to death. The Court had ruled in 1987 that the cutoff age should be 16. Twenty-two executions of juvenile offenders were carried out in the US between 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, and the 2005 ruling, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).

Florida has sent 100 people to their deaths since 1976, including two women. The DPIC estimates that as of April 1, 2022, there were 323 individuals on death row in Florida, second in number only to California. Thirty death row inmates in the state have been exonerated of their crimes. Donald Dillbeck was the seventh person put to death in the US so far in 2023.
While large parts of New Zealand are reeling from the flooding caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, which killed 11 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, February 22 marked the twelfth anniversary of another catastrophic event: the earthquake which devastated Christchurch, the South Island city of about 380,000 people.

Recovery operation personnel work on the destroyed CTV building in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the city was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Feb. 24, 2011 file photo. [AP Photo/Rob Griffith]

The quake, which was followed by months of damaging aftershocks, rendered entire suburbs uninhabitable. Tens of thousands of people were displaced and many spent years fighting insurance companies to replace or repair their homes. In the city centre, more than 1,200 buildings had to be demolished.

The earthquake claimed 185 lives. This toll was not simply the result of an unavoidable natural disaster: nearly two thirds of those who died, 115, were in the cheaply-constructed Canterbury Television (CTV) building, which collapsed in just 10 to 20 seconds.

Among the victims were employees of CTV, students and staff at an English language school, and medical centre staff and patients. They included citizens of New Zealand, Japan, China, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea.

There is overwhelming evidence that the CTV building failed to meet basic building standards and was extremely unsafe. Despite this, no one has been held accountable. Successive National Party and Labour Party governments, along with crown prosecutors and the police, have worked to protect the wealthy and well-connected individuals responsible for its design and construction.

All the capitalist parties bear responsibility for deregulating the construction industry to boost profits, during the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, tens of thousands of buildings and houses across the country are not watertight, and many face elevated risks of fire and/or earthquake damage.

A royal commission of inquiry into the earthquake in 2012 concluded that the CTV building design by Alan Reay Consultants was deficient and should never have been granted a permit by the Christchurch City Council in 1986. Its report noted that the councils inspector, engineer Graeme Tapper, feared that the design posed an earthquake risk but came under pressure from his superiors to sign off on it.

The CTV building in 2004. [Photo by Phillip Pearson, via Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 2.0

The inquiry also concluded that Dr Alan Reay failed to properly supervise his employee David Harding, the engineer immediately in charge of the project, who had no experience in designing multi-storey buildings.

Structural weaknesses were identified in 1990 by a prospective buyer of the CTV building. Some retrofitting work was carried out the next year but no permit was applied for and the inquiry found that the building remained non-compliant for seismic actions.

A three-year police investigation from 2014 to 2017 uncovered more evidence against Reay and his company. Police commissioned work by engineering firm Beca, which found more than 300 deficiencies in the design of the CTV building. Based on this and the royal commissions findings, police recommended that the crown prosecute Reay and Harding for manslaughter.

The states solicitors, however, rejected the recommendation. In November 2017 police announced that the prosecution would not proceed because it had little chance of success and was not in the public interest.

Since then, the families of the victims have continued to fight for justice for the 115 preventable deaths.

Professor Maan Alkaisi, whose wife Dr. Maysoon Abbas died in the CTV building, has played a leading role as spokesman for the CTV Families Group. In April 2018, he and seven other family representatives signed an affidavit sent to the Labour Party governments Attorney-General David Parker, outlining their opposition to the non-prosecution decision.

Maan Alkaisi [Photo]

The affidavit stated that during a meeting of senior Crown Law solicitors and police with the families on December 14, 2017, deputy solicitor-general Brendan Horsley appeared unaware of basic facts about the case. At one point, Alkaisi informed Horsley that there were 300 design deficiencies and that Reay was aware the building was unsafe. Horsley turned to crown solicitor Mark Zarifeh and detective superintendent Peter Read and said, in front of the families, that he did not know about this, and that it could be used to press charges for negligence.

The families demanded that the decision be reconsidered. Their affidavit also drew attention to Horsleys extraordinary and biassed outburst during the meeting, in which he denounced the families for baying for blood by calling for Reay to face charges.

In the past five years the attorney-general has refused to respond to the issues raised in the affidavit. Meanwhile, the Labour government has promoted Horsley: in May 2020, then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced his appointment to the position of Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, which oversees the countrys spy agencies.

The government has continually ignored and brushed aside the CTV families appeals for justice. It has washed its hands of any responsibility for the refusal to prosecute over the building collapse.

Alkaisi told the World Socialist Web Site that Ardern had refused to meet him to discuss the case. Whenever she saw me, she would look very uncomfortable and wanted to avoid any discussions, he said.

At an official function on the tenth anniversary of the earthquake, February 22, 2021, attended by Ardern and other senior politicians, Alkaisi gave a speech denouncing the mistreatment and injustice that the CTV families had endured for 10 years.

That afternoon the prime minister came to me and said: Maan, you were not right about one of the things that you said in the statement. She meant the mistreatment. I said: Okay, I would like to at least meet you for half an hour to discuss this. Ardern refused and referred him to Megan Woods, a Christchurch-based Labour MP.

In April 2021, Alkaisi met with Woods and then Police Minister Poto Williams, who told him that they would refer his complaint to Attorney-General Parker. After 10 more months of waiting for a reply, Alkaisi wrote to Ardern and Woods, who apologised for the delay. Parker then sent what Alkaisi described as a generic reply: that we dont interfere with the police decision, were sorry for your loss, blah blah blah.

Alkaisi said the attorney-general has not read his own job description, which states that he is responsible for intervening to ensure that justice is properly administered in cases of high public interest.

Alkaisi wrote again to Ardern, Parker and the leaders of other parliamentary parties, outlining the CTV Families Groups complaint against Horsley. This letter, dated June 15, 2022, said that Horsley had insulted and mistreated the quake victims families in violation of Crown Law guidelines and had displayed conduct which falls short of the standard of competence and diligence expected of a reasonably competent lawyer.

The letter states: There is no evidence of any behaviour or comments from the families in the past almost twelve years that suggests they were baying for blood as Mr. Horsley claimed. It added that the statement indicates Mr. Horsleys extreme bias when he advised the police not to prosecute.

Alkaisi objected to Horsleys statements that a prosecution over the deaths of 115 people was not in the public interest; that it would be too expensive; and that there was no major departure from normal practice in the CTV buildings design and constructiona claim that flies in the face of the royal commission and the technical investigation by Beca.

He also noted that Horsley referred to Reay as a person of good character in a letter to families of the Japanese victims, dated September 2, 2019. Alkaisi wrote that this ignored the fact that Mr. Reay was fully aware of the design deficiencies in the CTV building including the risk of collapse in case of earthquake, yet Mr. Reay did not take any effective action to rectify the design deficiencies or inform the council or the occupants, even after the building was damaged in the September 2010 earthquake.

Alkaisi also drew attention to revelations in a letter sent by police detective superintendent Peter Read to Crown Law on August 11, 2017 (made public through the Official Information Act). Read criticised Horsley for placing undue emphasis on a single affidavit in support of Dr Reay, which was based on information supplied by Dr Reay that Police believe is factually incorrect.

The same letter noted that there were approximately 20 other signed statements [from experts] which all support the position that Mr Harding should never have been permitted to work on his own and that in taking on the commission, Dr Reay should have satisfied himself that Mr Harding was competent to carry out the design.

On October 11, 2022, Alkaisi finally received a four-page letter dismissing the families complaint, signed by Solicitor-General Una Jagose. Jagose declared that she was confident in the process by which Police reached their decision not to prosecute, and in the outcome itself. She offered no evidence to back up this assertion.

She also said Horsley told her he does not recall saying that the victims families were baying for blood, despite the statement being witnessed by several people.

Jagose claimed that the decision not to prosecute was made by police, that the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) had upheld the decision, and she would not second guess that finding. She refused to conduct what would effectively be a peer review of the legal advice and/or the Police decision.

The implication that police could conceivably have prosecuted Reay and Harding against the advice of Crown Law is completely false. The decision not to lay charges was clearly taken at the highest levels of the state apparatus.

In a report defending the police, dated September 22, 2020, IPCA chair Judge Colin Doherty confirmed that it would be rare for Police to lay a charge contrary to advice given by a Crown Solicitor and the Deputy Solicitor-General. In more than 23 years as a Judge, I cannot recall ever presiding over such a case. If it were to happen, it would be open to the Crown Solicitor to withdraw the charge after he or she assumed responsibility for the prosecution.

Strikingly, the IPCA also found that police had decided that a prosecution was unlikely to result in a conviction but that the precise basis for that decision appears never to have been documented.

Alkaisi was astonished by this. He told the WSWS: This is the lives of 115 people. The police changed their position from 115 manslaughter charges to no charges at all, but theres no record of how that happened.

He noted that the CTV families had been left with nowhere to turn because in our system those Crown lawyers decisions or recommendations are not arguable. Nobody can discuss them, you cant review them. Youre not supposed to question them.

Alkaisi said the experience of the CTV families had broader significance, particularly in light of the destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. What had happened to those killed in the CTV building can happen to anybody, he said. The whole country was at risk from earthquakes and other natural disasters and we have to learn, we have to be careful, we have to be prepared.

The CTV families had spent 12 years trying to hold somebody to account so that we could send a message to others. At the end of the day, why did Reay do a bad design? He took shortcuts and put less steel, less supportive systems, to make more money. A lot of those houses, bridges, roads destroyed by flooding, Im sure, have similar stories.

Alkaisi also noted parallels with the 2010 Pike River mine disaster, in which 29 workers were killed in a series of underground explosions. To this day, no one has been held accountable, again despite overwhelming evidence from a royal commission of inquiry that Pike River Coal broke the law and cut corners on safety, turning the mine into a death trap. In 2021 the Labour government abandoned a manned reentry of the mine, refusing to retrieve bodies and recover vital evidence from the mine workings.

The CTV and Pike River cases are both damning examples of a system of class justice, in which the lives of ordinary working people are treated as expendable, while those who profit from deadly commercial practices go unpunished. Like the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, the recent rail disaster and toxic spill in Ohio, and the catastrophic loss of life following the Turkey-Syria earthquake, these avoidable tragedies in New Zealand underscore the need for the working class to take power out of the hands of corporations and the rich, and for society to be reorganised on the basis of social need, not private profit.
Living, directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus (Shirley Adams, Beauty, The Endless River), is a drama about a British civil servant in 1950s London who has come to lead an intensely stifled existence. When he learns he is suffering from a terminal illness, he attempts, in his last few months, to begin to actually live again.

Scripted by famed British-Japanese novelist Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of The Day, Never Let Me Go), Living is a reimagining of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawas 1952 masterpiece Ikiru (To Live), which in turn was originally inspired by Leo Tolstoys novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886).

Bill Nighy in Living

In 1953, Rodney Williams (Bill Nighy) is a frosty, emotionally remote senior bureaucrat with a military gait employed by the London County Councils Public Works Department. He and his subordinates ride the same train each and every day from the suburbs, but, typically, as one of them expounds to newcomer Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp), Williams never travels with us. But he always manages to be at exactly the right spot to greet us. The way he was just now.

Williams runs an officious department in which desks are heaped with folders stacked high like skyscrapers, including requests from citizens connected to rebuilding parts of the city damaged or destroyed by German bombing during the Second World War. The staff, which now includes Wakeling, who take their cue from boss Williams, are seat-warmers and pencil pushers. Their express purpose, as bowler-hatted gentlemen, is to make sure that almost nothing gets accomplished. Sticking ones neck out, going against the flow or standing up to ones superiors is simply not done.

Confronted with one or another document that has been passed around from department to department, Williams is wont to insert it into the middle of one of the giant piles of papers on his desk, with the fatal words, Then we can keep it here for now. Itll do no harm.

Williams spends his days shuffling papers with such deadly routinism that his secret office nickname, as we learn later, is Mr. Zombie (because zombies, he is eventually told, are sort of dead and not dead.) A widower, he is alienated from his son Michael (Barney Fishwick) and daughter-in-law Fiona (Patsy Ferran), who treat him like a piece of worn-out furniture and very much wish he would dole out more money to them.

Then, Williams learns he has a cancer diagnosis and only months to live. He withdraws half of his life savings intending to commit suicide in a coastal resort. Unable to go through with it (I did think about it. But I dont have it in me. That kind of thing.), he meets a local writer (Tom Burke) who introduces him to the seaside towns garish underbelly. A drunk Williams even gets to perform a lovely Scottish folk song, The Rowan Tree.

Dissatisfied and disquieted, however, he returns to London, where he runs into Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), a vivacious young woman and one of his former underlings. Her liveliness attracts and fascinates him, helping him come back to life. Williams ultimately returns to his desk intending to accomplish at least one good deed and help others, thereby also lifting himself out of his own previously petrified state.

At one point, he explains to Margaret how he became the way he was: How did it happen? I fancy it crept up on me. The days proceeding one after the next. Each with their little burdens and defeats. Small wonder I didnt notice what I was becoming. But then I looked at you and remembered. What it was like, to be alive like that 

Aimee Lou Wood in Living

Pushing aside all obstacles, Williams finds a final purpose in life by fulfilling the request of a group of working class women to build a park in a battered part of their neighborhood. They describe it as a cesspool. No other word for it. Theres no-one been near it since the Germans dropped that bomb. Rats as huge as that, and our houses backing right onto it. The women, weary but stoic, expect nothing to come of their request. One sums up the Public Works Department as a good old Punch and Judy show. We the citizens are Judy. And all you lot are Mr. Punch. Williams determines to overcome all obstacles on their behalf, even at the risk of challengingand affrontingthe lofty chairman of the London County Council, Sir James (Michael Cochrane).

Living has interesting antecedents and sources, and a talented screenwriter, and cast. It seems well-intentioned. Presumably, the filmmakers want to critique middle-class respectability, along with bureaucratic inaction and neglect, at its soul-destroying worst.

One of the most sensitive moments in the stylish and sleek-looking film occurs during an encounter at Williams funeral between his son Michael and Margaret. Williams, it turns out, never told Michael about the fatal diagnosis, and the older mans death came as a shock. Michael is devastated when he realizes his father was not able to reveal this most important, intimate fact to his own son. He has to approach Margaret to be enlightened as to his fathers illness and final months: Did my father know he was ill? That he was dying, I mean? he asks. Because if he knew. And he told you  You see what I mean?  Why wouldnt he tell me? Shame and bewilderment overcome him.

In Livings final scenes, Williamss former colleagues agree that he changed in the last days of his life, and it had been on account of that playground business. Their former superior, one of them maintains admiringly, became obsessed. He was prepared to make himself a right bugger about it 

In a final letter to Wakeling, Williams endeavors, he writes to counsel the young man, if I may. Should there come days when it is no longer clear to what end you are directing your daily efforts, when the sheer grind of it all threatens to reduce you to the kind of state in which I so long existed, I urge you then to recall our little playground, and the modest satisfaction that became our due upon its completion.

The films thrust is humane, but its themes and satirical efforts are somewhat diluted and diffuse. Nighy is a renowned and much-beloved performer (he was nominated for an Academy Award for the performance here), but the filmmakers are too easy on themselves in over-reliance on his characters comic mannerisms, both in his mummified state and during his eventual revivification. Livings concentration on Nighy, through no fault of his, becomes something of a diversion from its providing a fuller, more complex picture of the society.

Furthermore, Williamss son and daughter-in-law are treated more kindly than in Ikiru, in which they are portrayed as grasping, unpleasant petty bourgeois obsessed with an inheritance. A less pointed and urgent work than the Kurosawa film, Living does not paint an acute enough portrait either of the strangling of life or its possible alternative. Moreover, rather than playing a pivotal role, the three working class protesters who ardently petition for the park are given relatively short shrift.

Post-World War II Britain had an angry, restive and militant working class, socialistic in its general orientation, and that element is missing in Hermanus film, which offers a more-or-less one-sided picture of the period. It even threatens to become sentimental and complacent, especially in its extended closing scene.

Living

Kurosawa was a more exacting social critic. By the time he directed Ikiru, his earlier political radicalism (he traveled in proletarian art and Communist Party circles in the late 1920s and early 1930s) had been eroded by events, including no doubt the evolution of the Soviet Union under Stalin. At least, his 1952 film suggests, if a human being cant change the world in its entirety, he or she can do one important thing for others in his or her life and do it sincerely and passionately.

As the WSWS pointed out in a comment on Ikiru, at the time of its remastering and re-release in 2003, the film, whose title means to live  was released only a few years after the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the scenes of Tokyo nightlife in particular, Ikiru hints at desperation and hysteria, perhaps a mania to forget, that speaks in its own way to the wartime horrors.

Furthermore, in the great filmmakers view, submission to authority, self-abnegation and conformism had led the Japanese to the disaster of the war. The social cancer remained, not visible to the naked eye. Kurosawa argued that while a radical social transformation was no longer on the agenda, life could still have significance, despite its tragedies and absurdities, through the individual meaningful act. The director retained enough of his left-wing ideas to include the presence of the neighborhood women as an adjunct or necessary component of this act.

In an interview with rogerebert.com, Bill Nighy weighed in with his own thoughts about psychological repression, social decency and more general problems. Speaking of the character, Williams, and his extreme reserve, the actor pointed out that in those days, ones behavior was constrained to a much larger degree by society.

Nighy noted that the violent opposite of this inobtrusive heroism was often expressed in our leadership, the people who become eminent in the world, the people who make a lot of money. Not all of them, its not by definition, but often the damaged people who rise to whats called the top of our societies  do not reflect that. He went on to argue that quiet people like Williams, who persist in attempting to be straightforward in their dealings with everyone else, to be honest, and to be kind, they take on a heroic appearance within the context of all the dishonesty and lies, within the power-grabbing that goes on with those that are in less good shape.

Speaking with anger about societys tops, Nighy accused them of attempting to divide us all the time, and in so doing do intolerable damage to our communities in all areas. But there are millions and billions of decent people around, who attempt to do the right thing. He continued: Were up against an enormous amount of hugely time-honored, ancient, elaborate constructs that were built on lies, deception, and manipulation, by people hungry for power.

Living has certain positive qualities, but unfortunately, as a whole, the film does not measure up even to the perceptiveness of these comments.
The Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka, together with the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), held an open-air meeting at Oori village in Karainagar on February 19. About 60 people, including fishermen, farmers, daily wage workers, youth and housewives, along with SEP members and supporters attended the event.

SEP election meeting at Oori village in Karainagar, Jaffna district on 19 February 2023. [Photo: WSWS]

In addition to running 13 candidates for the Karainagar Pradeshiya Sabha, the SEP is also fielding candidates at two other local government bodiesthe Kolonnawa urban council in Colombo and the Maskeliya Pradeshiya Sabha in Nuwaraeliya.

Karainagar island is connected by a causeway to the Jaffna Peninsula in the Northern province, which was heavily damaged during the 26-year communalist war waged by successive Colombo governments against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Prior to the meeting, the SEP/IYSSE members and supporters campaigned among workers, farmers, youth and fishermen in Karainagar and beyond, explaining the SEPs call for workers and rural poor to build their own independent action committees at their workplaces, factories and neighbourhoods to fight for their democratic and social rights.

Thousands of copies of the SEPs election announcement were distributed by campaigners who also explained the importance of the International Committee of the Fourth Internationals fight for an international anti-war movement of workers and youth against the growing danger of world war. The campaign attracted significant support among workers, students and youth with thousands of rupees donated to the SEP election fund by Oori villagers.

Oori villager donating to the SEP election fund. [Photo: WSWS]

Addressing the meeting, SEP Political Committee and local government election candidate Paramu Thirugnanasampanthar explained how the Tamil bourgeois parties had propped up President Wickremesinghes oppressive government.

All the Tamil parties, including Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (Democratic), the Tamil National Alliance, the Tamil National Peoples Front and Tamil Makkal Koodani, are working as agents of the imperialist powers, he explained. As the US is preparing war against the China with the support of India, the Tamil parties are backing these moves, expecting in return, Washingtons support for a power-sharing arrangement with Colombo.

The speaker told the meeting that the Tamil bourgeois parties are exploiting the problems faced by the war-affected Tamil workers, youth and rural people to promote their pro-imperialist politics. They are standing against the class unity of the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim workers.

SEP Political Committee member Mahalingam Dilaxshan, who chaired the meeting, briefly explained the Trotskyist foundations of the SEP as the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. We are fighting to overthrow the outmoded capitalist system and build a socialist society, he said.

IYSSE member and local government candidate Muruganandan Suthan reviewed the grave issues confronting youth. Young people, he said, face rising unemployment in Sri Lanka.

In the Northern province, which was horribly affected by the war, youth face very bad conditions. They confront unemployment, dropping out early from school education and the dangers of addiction to narcotics, Suthan said. He invited youth to join the IYSSE and SEP to fight for socialism to counter this devastation.

Long-standing SEP member Rajaratnam Balagowry explained the grave economic situation in Sri Lanka. We are facing an international economic crisis that has been intensified by the pandemic and the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, she said. She stressed the need for the development of a unified international movement of the working class based on an socialist perspective and anti-war war program.

SEP Political Committee member Dinesh Heymaal pointed to harsh social issues confronting Karainagar residents.

Referring to Colombos decades-long communal war against the LTTE, he said: Even though the war ended more than 13 years ago, successive governments have failed to resolve the basic problems confronting the people. Many are still living in unsuitable homes and many youth are unemployed. People also face drinking water problems and are compelled to buy water from the private tankers.

Fishermen and farmers confront the skyrocketing cost of kerosene [which is essential for their work]. The capitalist rulers are now destroying social welfare which was won in past struggles by the working class.

SEP assistant secretary Saman Gunadasa delivered the main speech to the open-air event. He began by pointing out that President Wickremesinghes sabotage of the local government elections was unprecedented.

SEP assistant secretary Saman Gunadasa addressing election meeting at Oori village in Karainagar, Jaffna district on 19 February 2023. [Photo: WSWS]

The government is worried that it faces a humiliating election defeat because of the hardships it is imposing on the masses that could escalate political instability and scuttle the IMF-dictated austerity program, he said.

Gunadasa referred to Wickremesinghes speech the previous day to a Colombo Rotary Club event where he vowed to maintain law and order and prevent anarchy, declaring that his priority was economic recovery.

Gunadasa said this was a direct threat to the working class, youth and rural masses and indicated that his government is prepared to attack fundamental democratic rights. Wickremesinghes concern about economic recovery is not about the suffering of working masses, the speaker continued, but implementation of the brutal austerity measures dictated by the IMF. Wickremesinghe and the ruling elite have learnt from last years mass uprising which chased Gotabhaya Rajapakse out of the country and the presidency. They are trying to prevent this sort of mass movement occurring again.

How will the working class confront these threats? Gunadasa asked.

The SEP was the only political party which fought during last years mass uprising to provide the working class with the revolutionary program needed to fight for their basic social and democratic demands. The opposition parties, trade unions, pseudo-left parties and middle-class civil society organisations promoted an all-party government. This paved the way for Wickremesinghe to become president. They forcibly blocked a revolutionary program under the banner of no politics.

The SEP urged workers to set up their own independent action committees at workplaces, to take matters to their own hands and proposed the establishment of a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses as a power centre for the working class. This is the program the SEP is taking forward in this election campaign.

The ongoing war against Russia by the US and NATO, using Ukraine, Gunadasa stressed is threatening humanity with nuclear conflagration. The goal of the imperialists is preservation of their global hegemony over everything. Their plan is to loot Russia but their main target is China.

The speaker explained that the international working class was the only force that could stop imperialist war. He pointed out that the capitalist ruling elites had no concerns about the loss of lives, referring to the millions killed by COVID-19 and the tens of thousands killed in the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

He called on workers and youth to join the SEP and take up its fight for workers and peasants government to overthrow capitalism and to implement socialist policies. This program will repudiate the debts of successive capitalist governments. The working class will take control of production and distribution, seize the resources and wealth of the ruling elite, and distribute it on the basis of social needs, he concluded.
On Wednesday, over 3,000 workers protested outside the Colombos Fort railway station against the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-dictated measures being implemented by President Ranil Wickremesinghes government. Colombo Port and Electricity Board workers, as well as bank employees and other professionals, including doctors and university teachers, participated.

A group of bank workers who participated in the mass protest against tax increases at Colombo Fort on 22 February 2023. [Photo: WSWS]

The protesters in Colombo chanted slogans such as Chase away Wickremesinghe government, Prices are going too high and Withdraw unreasonable tax, a reference to the imposition of new Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes on monthly salaries over 100,000 rupees ($US274). Hundreds of public sector workers demonstrated in several other cities, including Kandy in the Central Province and Wadduwa in the Western Province.

The police attempted to get a court order banning any demonstrations in the Colombo Fort area from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, claiming that protesters were planning to block several roads and enter the presidents office.

The magistrate did not ban the demonstration outright, but imposed orders not to block roads, enter the presidents office and other buildings, or cause damage to public properties. The order gave the police wide powers to stop the event. Armed police with water cannon trucks and soldiers were stationed nearby to intimidate protesters and prepare for any crackdown.

Wednesdays demonstration was called by a collective of 40 trade unions that includes the Trade Union Collective of Professionals and the Joint Alliance of Trade Unions of electricity, port and petroleum workers. It was called as Wickremesinghe insisted that the IMF demands, including PAYE taxes, privatisation of public sector enterprises, public sector job destruction, wage cuts and higher electricity tariffs and other public utility charges, would continue.

Addressing a Rotary Club district conference in Colombo on Saturday, Wickremesinghe declared that his priority was economic recovery and that he would suppress any opposition to his policies.

This year, my first priority is economic recovery without public order there cant be economic recovery, he declared. On February 8, he told parliament, Remember, Im not here to be popular Im ready to make unpopular decisions for the sake of the nation.

Workers are determined to fight the social attacks, but the protests and limited strikes called by the trade unions are aimed at dissipating the opposition and confining it to single issues, such as PAYE taxes. Above all, the unions are determined to prevent a united movement of the working class against the government and IMF austerity.

Wednesdays demonstrations are part of series of protests and strikes involving tens of thousands of workers against the Wickremesinghe regime. These began late last year and were followed by a national strike on February 9 by 50,000 workers against the governments attacks. The increasing militancy of Sri Lankan workers is part of a rising global movement of the working class against government and employer attacks on social and democratic rights.

Workers protest government tax increases at Colombo Fort on 22 February 2023. [Photo: WSWS]

The trade unions are attempting to hoodwink workers with demagogic denunciations of Wickremesinghe and empty bluster, combined with appeals for cosmetic changes to his measures.

On Wednesday, Ceylon Bank Employees Union General Secretary Ranjan Senanayake told protesters that if the government did not withdraw its new tax policy by March 1, professionals of every sector will take to the streets.

Federation of University Teachers Association spokesperson Charudaththa Ilangasinghe declared: We have been insisting to government leaders that the tax issues must be solved. We have already built the largest trade union collective and although we have not yet put any pressure on the masses, in March an era of darkness may begin. Do not push us to such a situation.

Joint Trade Union Alliance of Ceylon Electricity Board Convenor Ranjan Jayalal said: If you [Wickremesinghe] do not withdraw the [tax] policy by April we will chase away the government. If the government requires general strike, then we will do it and it is certain this fight will end up with a victory.

Niroshan Gorakana, general secretary of the All Ceylon General Port Employees Union which is affiliated to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), warned the government: You have one week more until March 1. You must make a decision.

Jayalal and Gorakana are leading members of the JVP, which has no fundamental differences with the IMFs austerity program. The JVP and its National Peoples Power (NPP) is cynically attempting to exploit the mass anger to boost its parliamentary numbers. If it wins government, it will implement similar social attacks.

Workers and professionals protesting in Colombo on Wednesday spoke with WSWS reporters, voicing their anger over the government attacks and their mistrust of the unions. One petroleum corporation worker told the WSWS his fellow workers had not been told about the protest by their union.

A contingent of professional workers involved in the Colombo Fort mass demonstration against Wikremesinghe governments higher income tax rates on 22 February 2023. [Photo: WSWS]

An electricity engineer said that government income tax rates were totally unreasonable. This tax makes it very difficult for us. After I pay this tax, and other deductions are taken for housing and other loans, I will only have about 80,000 rupees left from my salary. But the problem is not just the tax. The price of everything is increasing so much that its difficult to cover the daily expenses and the education expenses of the children, he said.

The engineer said that the situation facing workers would be no different under the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya or the NPP. Yes, the people ousted the [Rajapakse] government. But what happened? Ranil Wickremesinghe became the president and now he is attacking people from every side and suppressing workers struggles. He is acting like a dictator, he said.

The war in Ukraine against Russia, he continued, was impacting on Sri Lankan industries, exports and the daily life of the people. It also affects the generation of electricity. The coal price increases are mainly due to this war. If it becomes a nuclear war the world will be destroyed. As you said, its very important to build an anti-war movement of the international working class.

The trade unions do not have a correct program to face this situation. I agree with you that workers must organise separately from the unions and need to build their own political movement independent from all the capitalist parties. I support your campaign for a workers and rural masses congress and would like to have more discussion on that, he said.

A Colombo harbour engineering division worker said that the rising cost of living was making it very difficult trying to manage his familys expenses I have to pay about 60,000 rupees for a bank loan, about 15,000 rupees for EPF (the pension fund). I have two children and their tuition fees is 20,000 rupees per month. Currently I only receive 50,00060,000 rupees per month after all these deductions. If this new tax rate is implemented, another 14,000 rupees will be cut from my monthly salary.

I do not believe that the government is going stop these attacks. The trade unions have protested for years about various issues but what has been the result? Privatisation is still going on. There used to be about 15,000 workers at Colombo harbour but its reduced to half through voluntary retirement schemes, he said.

Wednesdays protest revealed once again that workers need to take control of the fight for their rights. The essential starting point for such a fight is formation of their own democratically-controlled action committees at workplaces, factories and neighbourhoods, independent of all the capitalist parties and the unions.
U.S. law requires forfeited funds to be spent for law enforcement purposes. But in late December, Congress gave the Justice Department new authority to transfer proceeds of certain assets seized from Russian oligarchs for Ukrainian reconstruction.

The $4.5 million was confiscated from a Denver-based bank account of sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev last April, and prosecutors from the Justice Department's Task Force KleptoCapture were seeking their forfeiture.

Appearing alongside his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Kostin, Garland announced that he had authorized the transfer of millions of dollars' worth of seized Russian assets for Ukrainian reconstruction after a judge had ordered their forfeiture.

Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland used a Justice Department appearance to herald the work of a law enforcement task force he launched last March in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A State Department spokesperson said the department expects to receive the funds forfeited from Malofeyev in about 60 days and "will use them to provide assistance to Ukraine to help remediate some of the injury caused by Russia's aggression."

As Ukraine marks the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Russian assets, seized by Task Force KleptoCapture, remain subject to forfeiture, according to Andrew Adams, the task force head.

The amount is not insignificant but pales in comparison to the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to rebuild Ukraine. "But the contribution is important," Adams said, speaking at the Hudson Institute last month.

The interagency task force was launched just six days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Its mission: to seize the assets of oligarchs that U.S. officials say prop up President Vladimir Putin's regime.

Within four weeks of its launch, the team announced its first major asset seizure. Acting on a U.S. request, Spanish authorities seized a 77-meter-long luxury yacht belonging to sanctioned Russian billionaire Victor Vekselberg on April 4. The boat's price tag: $90 million.

Two days later, U.S. prosecutors charged Malofeyev with sanctions violation and seized his U.S. bank account. The following month came the task force's biggest catch: Fijian authorities seized a $300 million luxury superyacht belonging to another sanctioned Russian oligarch with suspected links to Putin: Suleiman Kerimov.

In the months that followed, the task force has targeted a string of other assets, from luxury properties belonging to Vekselberg and aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska to private planes that have yet to be seized.

Before the Justice Department can transfer any funds to Ukraine, it must first forfeit the seized assets, meaning take their ownership. There are two major types of asset forfeiture: criminal forfeiture and civil forfeiture.

Criminal forfeiture, used to take a piece of property used in a crime, requires a criminal conviction. A civil forfeiture complaint, on the other hand, is brought against a piece of property rather than an individual and does not require a conviction.

With most Russian oligarchs indicted by the Justice Department at large, the department is all but certain to pursue civil forfeiture against most seized assets, legal experts say. Molafeyev's bank account was forfeited through a civil complaint. On Friday, the Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit against six U.S. real estate properties owned by Vekselberg.

Ellen Zimiles, head of financial crime, fraud and investigative services at consulting firm Guidehouse, said the civil forfeiture process varies depending on the type of assets. Seizing cash or a bank account is "usually easier" than other forms of assets, Zimiles said. "When it's a bank account, you usually send a notice to the bank... and they will freeze the account," she said.

The more "bespoke" the property, the longer it will take to forfeit it, Zimiles said. "A yacht will take longer than a bank account. A house will take longer than a bank account," she said.

But sometimes even seizing a bank account can prove problematic. "There's a lot of problems involved in trying to determine what part of the money in that account is dirty money that's subject to forfeiture... and what part of it is legitimate," said David Smith, a lawyer in private practice and a leading authority on forfeiture.

Molafeyev's representatives did not contest his asset forfeiture. Nor are other oligarchs expected to file legal challenges. But if they do, it could lead to long drawn-out litigation.

Case in point: former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko's long-running battle with the Justice Department over hundreds of millions of dollars he's accused of stealing while in office. "The civil forfeiture case against him has been going on for 18 years and it's still not over," said Smith, who once represented Lazarenko.
Over the past two months, the cover-up of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by the capitalist political establishment and media in the United States and internationally has reached a new level. The fact that millions of people continue to be infected with COVID-19 and thousands die each week is now met with total indifference by the ruling elites, with virtually no reporting on this deepening world crisis.

US President Joe Biden, who falsely claimed last September that the pandemic is over, embodies this official apathy to the suffering of the population. Last month, in an offhand comment on the fact that over 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19, Biden bluntly told a conference of city mayors, I sometimes underestimate it because I stopped thinking about it.

This was not simply a sign of Bidens declining mental acuity, but an expression of the capitalists sociopathic outlook towards the working class, who account for the vast majority of deaths from COVID-19. It was also a backhanded admission of their intent to kill more.

One week after Bidens comment, the White House announced that it will allow the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency declarations to expire on May 11, which will have broad ramifications.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that between 5 million and 14 million Americans will lose access to health insurance through Medicaid when the declarations of emergency expire. Hospital systems across the US will face growing financial pressures, with the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform forecasting that 200 rural US hospitals could be forced to close in the next two to three years.

The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments will be privatized and roughly 30 million uninsured Americans forced to pay in full for these life-saving services. Pfizer intends to sell its vaccine for up to $130 per dose, unaffordable for the vast majority of the uninsured.

One week after the White House announcement, Johns Hopkins University stated that its Coronavirus Resource Center will shut down on March 10. The university justified this drastic move by noting that local, county and state jurisdictions across the US no longer report COVID-19 data adequately, the result of deliberate policy decisions by both the Democratic and Republican parties.

The ending of the Johns Hopkins University tracker is the final nail in the coffin of what little remains of accurate COVID-19 data reporting in the US. Other widely used trackers, including Worldometer and Our World In Data, have relied on the Johns Hopkins tracker.

Health data analyst Gregory Travis told the WSWS that the Johns Hopkins tracker is as close to real time as you can get. He added, Data in the form of death certificates being forwarded to the CDC have a lag of at least six months and often much longer, particularly for pediatric cases. Right now we can say with some confidence that we know what is going on now. In the future we will only be able to say with confidence what happened half a year ago.

According to a tracker maintained by Travis, 36 US states, or 72 percent, as well as Washington, D.C., have already gone dark, meaning they report COVID-19 cases and deaths only once a week or less. This is the end result of the official response to the emergence of the Omicron variant in November 2021, whose rapid spread was seized upon to systematically undermine COVID-19 testing and data reporting, a process which only the World Socialist Web Site has continuously exposed.

Going forward, the only reliable tools to track COVID-19 infections and deaths will be rough estimates from wastewater sampling and excess deaths, respectively. Although imprecise, both of these metrics make clear that COVID-19 continues to exact an enormous toll globally.

Wastewater data from the US and internationally shows that the lifting of all mitigation measures in response to the Omicron subvariants has created a new, highly elevated baseline of mass infection near the peak rates reached during the surges of the Alpha and Delta variants. As a result, millions of people are continuously being infected and reinfected with COVID-19 throughout the world, with growing long-term ramifications.

The worlds most comprehensive study on the impact of reinfections shows that each reinfection compounds ones risk of hospitalization, Long COVID, and damage to nearly every organ system, as visualized in the graphic below.

These health impacts, combined with the body blow that the pandemic has dealt to the health care system, have dramatically increased excess deaths above their pre-pandemic baseline. Throughout the world, hospitals are in a state of collapse. Emergency room (ER) boarding, in which patients remain untreated for hours, days or even weeks in ER hallways, is increasingly common, primarily the result of severe understaffing due to the pandemic.

According to The Economist, there are now 20.5 million excess deaths attributable to the pandemic. At present, there are over 10,000 excess deaths globally each day, making COVID-19 the worlds third-leading cause of death. In the European Union countries, excess deaths in December were 19 percent higher than before the pandemic, with Germany experiencing the highest increase at 37 percent.

The universal efforts to conceal this horrific reality show that the capitalist class of every country has drawn fundamental lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

First and foremost, public health is an impediment to the accumulation of profits. From the beginning, the use of lockdowns, mass testing, contact tracing and the quarantining of workers to prevent viral transmission was immediately recognized as a hindrance to the production process and the exploitation of the working class.

While Trump spearheaded the back-to-work campaign, he drew inspiration from New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who coined the anti-lockdown mantra, the cure cannot be worse than the problem. The full reopening of businesses and schools, combined with the lifting of mask mandates and all other mitigation measures, and now the complete ending of any official response to the pandemic, was then overseen by Biden and the Democrats.

Second, for the ruling elites the pandemic has reaffirmed their interest in lowering life expectancy in order to cut pension obligations and other social spending to the bone. The eugenicist and reactionary screeds of Ezekiel Emanuel, who in 2014 denounced Americans efforts to cheat death and prolong life as long as possible, have become the guiding ideology of the capitalist class globally.

All excess deaths above pre-pandemic levels, whether directly from COVID-19 or due to related effects, are a net gain for the ruling class, as over 90 percent of COVID-19 deaths are affecting those older than 65 who no longer generate profits. Underlying the efforts to cover up the ongoing impacts of the pandemic is a eugenicist strategy of killing older people in perpetuity.

Flowing from these two, the third fundamental lesson drawn by the ruling class is that nothing should be done to prevent or prepare for future pandemics. With access to the best medical care money can buy, as well as private bunkers to wait out the next disaster as they did at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the billionaires would welcome the next deadly pathogen as a means to further decrease the surplus population.

With climate change and unplanned urbanization, the threat of future pandemics is not stable, but rather steadily rising each day. Just in the past year, the monkeypox virus rapidly spread to over 100 countries where the virus had never been detected, infecting over 85,000 people and killing 266 so far. At the same time, over 140 million birds have been killed or culled by the highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza A bird flu.

Just this week, an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia was killed by the bird flu, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the situation worrying, calling for heightened vigilance globally. Should H5N1 develop mutations that allow it to spread quickly from human to human, the results would be catastrophic. The airborne virus has a fatality rate of at least 30 percent, far higher than that of COVID-19. Already crumbling health care systems would disintegrate overnight.

While the capitalists have drawn their reactionary lessons from the pandemic, the international working class must consciously assimilate their own. Above all, the future and progressive development of mankind is impossible under capitalism. At the same time as they falsely proclaim the pandemic over, the imperialist powers are rushing headlong towards World War III, which would inevitably involve the use of nuclear weapons.

To prevent the looming catastrophes that capitalism has in store, workers must unite internationally on the basis of a revolutionary socialist program. Through the reallocation of societys resources from war and private profit towards global economic planning and public health, a future socialist society could stop the threat of war, rapidly end the COVID-19 pandemic, halt and reverse climate change, prevent the development of future pandemics and provide a decent standard of living for all. These principles must animate the coming revolutionary struggles of the international working class.
This photo taken with a drone shows the continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed February 3 in East Palestine, Ohio, Thursday, February 9, 2023. [AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar]

On Friday night, environmental activist Erin Brockovich led a town hall meeting with experts and several attorneys involved in a potential class-action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern (NS) over the catastrophic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The most harrowing report in the town hall came from hydrology expert Bob Bowcock, who spoke on the dangers posed by vinyl chloride to the population. Youre in a situation where youre going to be dealing with this for the rest of your lives if you stay here, Bowcock told the audience.

The town hall meeting followed the release of Thursdays preliminary report on the East Palestine derailment by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

According to the report, the derailment was caused by a heat-related failure of an axle on the 23rd car in the train, which had more than 150 total. The report in particular cited readings from track-based monitors called hot bearing detectors, which were spaced at intervals of around 10 miles in the area where the train derailed. The last three readings showed elevated temperatures, first at 30 degrees above the ambient temperature, then 103, and finally 253 degrees.

Only this last reading triggered an audible alarm in the cabin to alert the crew, who responded by attempting to bring the train to a stop. By then, however, it was too late, and the 23rd car derailed due to the failure of the overheated axle, taking several cars with it. After coming to a stop, the crew could see fire and smoke coming from further back on the train, and they alerted dispatchers to a possible derailment.

This raises serious questions about the role of Norfolk Southerns safety policies in creating the conditions for the disaster. According to the report, company policy is to stop a train and inspect it only if an axle is reading 115 degrees above ambient temperature. But eyewitness footage from 20 miles before East Palestine, at approximately the point of the first reading, already showed flames shooting out from the axle.

There are two possible explanations for this. Either the train crew unknowingly traveled 20 miles with a fire on a tanker full of toxic chemicals before anyone in Norfolk Southern was alerted to the problem. The second is that the dispatcher knew of the elevated temperature readings but instructed the train crew to continue anyway, in accordance with company policy. In either case, policies designed to prioritize profit and minimize downtime must have played an immediate role in the lead-up to the disaster.

According to a report by ProPublica, Norfolk Southern also has an official policy in place allowing dispatchers to instruct crews to ignore potential mechanical problems indicated by track-based sensors. This played a direct role in a similar derailment in October in Sandusky, Ohio, involving an overheating wheel.

At the town hall meeting Friday, Texas-based attorney Mikal Watts raised many of these issues in his remarks, in particular questioning the temperature threshold for the alarm set by NS. The failure of the wheel bearing, he said, could have been caused by any number of problems which ought to have been picked up during routine inspections.

Mikal also pointed out the inadequate character of Obama-era regulations mandating pneumatic braking on trains carrying flammable liquids, which were later rolled back by the Trump administration. That rule only applied to trains with 20 cars or more carrying flammable liquids, while the East Palestine train had only three. This was a red herring raised by politicians pointing sideways to blame each other, he said.

Bowcock, the hydrologist, pointed a similar derailment which occurred in 1970 in La Roy, New York, where a single car containing a chemical similar to vinyl chloride derailed and released 30,000 gallons (compared to more than 100,000 in East Palestine). However, the Environmental Protection Agency only declared the site of the derailment a superfund site in 1991, and cleanup began in 1999. He spoke of personally visiting the site in 2011, where he found that multiple barrels filled with chemicals removed from the soil had simply been left on-site to rust out, leaking the chemicals back out again. The railroads groundwater plan is not due to the EPA until August 2024.

In spite of government promises to make NS pay for the accident, dont expect things to happen fast, he warned.

Vinyl chloride, the principal contaminant released in the disaster via controlled release and burn, poses particular problems for cleanup. It is highly mobile in soil and water and is not readily absorbed by carbon, making removal from the soil more difficult. The water supply in East Palestine is particularly vulnerable, Bowcock said.

Initially, I thought it would take six to 12 months for it to migrate in the soil over to the citys wells, he said. But the contamination has already spread.

An environmental protection plan for the East Palestine water system, he said, revealed that the state government determined that the groundwater protection from surface contamination is zero.

I have never read that line in reviewing more than 2,300 similar groundwater protection plans, he said. The groundwater needs treatment immediately, he concluded.

Essentially two separate types of disaster occurred in East Palestine, Bowcock concluded, the derailment that spilled chemicals which percolated down into the water table, as well as the release and burn which resulted in dioxins being released into the atmosphere. The potential for dioxin exposure would continue for years.

But the EPA is not even testing for dioxins, Dr. Steven Lester, science director for the Center for Health and Environmental Justice, told an earlier town hall. Dioxins are a broad category including dozens of different chemicals, he said, including one which is the most toxic chemical ever tested in the United States. They were almost pretending like it didnt exist in their testing, he said.

Whatever information eventually comes to light, two things are already clear.

First, the disaster was made possible by relentless cost-cutting, which has driven up profits on the railroads to record highs and has been backed to the hilt by the government. This was hinted at in comments made by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last week, when he sought to minimize the disaster by blandly citing the fact that more than 1,000 derailments occur every year in the US.

Since the East Palestine disaster on February 3, a number of serious accidents have already taken place. These include: the derailment Tuesday of more than 30 coal cars on a Union Pacific train in Nebraska; another derailment in the Detroit area last week involving 30 cars on a train which also carried toxic chemicals (which were not themselves involved the derailment); and a fatal crash February 13 between a Union Pacific train and a truck at a rail crossing which led to the derailment of more than 20 cars and the release of hazardous chemicals.

Second, whatever claims are being made now, the official government response will be a whitewash aimed at shielding NS from responsibility. While the Biden administration claims now that NS will be made to pay for the cleanup, there is not even the suggestion that any NS executives could be held criminally responsible. At any rate, even the former claim is not true; residents will be made to foot the bill in one form or another.

A pattern has been set long ago in environmental disasters, such as the lead poisoning of Flint, Michigan and the BP oil spill, which is being repeated in East Palestine. First, government officials try to deny that any danger to the public exists. When that is no longer possible, they try to minimize it. Finally, those responsible are let off the hook with minimal consequences.

The class character of the government and the political system is exposed in this catastrophe. While both parties swiftly came together to ban a strike by railroaders last yearin which the issue of rail safety would have been front and centerclaiming a strike would have unthinkable consequences, the same government creates the conditions where deadly accidents can take place, and then comes to the defense of the railroads in the aftermath.
Some 70 immigrants have been killed in a series of back-to-back bus accidents that have taken place this month on the perilous route from Latin America to a US border that has been locked down by the Biden administration, which is intent on abolishing the right to asylum.

The aftermath of a bus that crashed in Panama on February 15, resulting in the deaths of at least 39 people. [Photo: @FelizKarenP1]

The most deadly of them took place in Panama, near the Costa Rican border, on February 15, killing 41. Another crash happened on a Mexican highway between the states of Oaxaca and Puebla on February 19, claiming the lives of at least 17. In both these incidents there were dozens more severely injured.

On February 7, a bus was found overturned and submerged in a creek in an isolated area of the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon with the bodies of 14 people inside. The victims included 11 immigrants from Guatemala and a child from Honduras. The bodies of another child and a woman have yet to be identified. The area has become an increasingly active route used by polleros, or immigrant smugglers, to evade the crackdown on immigrants by the Mexican police and National Guard.

The victims in all three incidents were drawn from across the Americas and beyond. The bus that crashed in Panama carried 66 people, with some of them packed in the aisle. According to a report issued by the Panamanian government, they included 22 immigrants from Ecuador, 16 Haitians, 11 Venezuelans, six Brazilians, five Colombians, two Cubans, two migrants from Cameroon, along with one Eritrean and one Nigerian. There were 20 children on the bus, 12 boys and eight girls.

The driver of the bus had missed the turn into its destination, an immigrant shelter near the Costa Rican border, and slammed into another vehicle, losing control and turning over an embankment. Witnesses described a horrific scene, with the buss roof torn off, its seats along with passengers bodiessome of them dismemberedscattered around the wreckage, and with survivors screaming in agony.

The tragedy has served to expose a corrupt multi-million-dollar government-sponsored business of transporting migrants on ramshackle buses, part of their continuing exploitation and abuse after surviving the grueling 65-mile trek through the jungles of Panamas Darien Gap, where many have died and countless more have been robbed, raped and assaulted by criminal gangs. In 2022, Panama reported that a record of nearly a quarter of a million people had made the dangerous crossing.

The crash in Mexico resulted in carnage after the overloaded bus ran into a roadside barrier and broke in two. Police reported that the driver, who fled the scene, had lost control of the vehicle, which had no brakes. Volunteer rescuers struggled to recover two corpses that were thrown into a ravine.

The scenes of twisted and crumpled bodies and scattered belongings at the bus crash sites recall the searing protest song Deportee written by Woody Guthrie in the wake of a 1948 California plane crash that killed nearly 30 migrant workers being deported to Mexico:

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,

We died in your valleys and died on your plains.

We died neath your trees and we died in your bushes,

Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

Seventy-five years later, people trying to reach asylum in the US continue to die in the jungles of Panama, at the hands of police and criminals in Central America and Mexico, and in the Rio Grande and the southwestern deserts as they are driven by cruel and illegal US immigration policy to ever more dangerous border crossings.

The number of these deaths continues to rise. The Disappeared Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2022 alone recorded 1,212 migrant deaths in Central America, on the US border and in the Caribbean. This is unquestionably a vast undercount, given the unrecorded deaths of many migrants in areas like the Darien jungle or in the capsizing of rickety boats from Cuba and Haiti and the many unreported murders of immigrants in Mexico.

These deaths are not merely statistics, but catastrophes and tragedies for families on both sides of the Rio Grande. This includes both immigrant workers in the US losing husbands, wives and children making the journey north to reunite with their loved ones, and families in impoverished villages from Guatemala to Ecuador who borrow every cent they can to send their sons and daughters north for a better life, only to have them come home in a coffin.

Commenting on the recent migrant death toll, the OIMs regional director for Central America, North America and the Caribbean, Michele Klein Solomon, said that placing obstacles to migration will not stop it, but will make it more dangerous. True as far as it goes, but the obvious questions remain: what has created the unstoppable surge of migration and who is responsible for imposing these deadly obstacles?

The tragedies in Panama and Mexico are not mere traffic accidents but part and parcel of monstrous social crimes committed by US imperialism against the peoples of the countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond over more than a century, and cruelly continued to this day by US banks and corporations together with the Democratic administration in Washington.

Those heading north are not doing it on a whim. They are driven by intolerable conditions of life in their own countries, from the poverty created by US economic blockades against Venezuela and Cuba, to the rampant violence, misery and repression that are the end product of decades of dictatorships and near-genocidal US-sponsored counterinsurgency wars in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Compounding these crimes are Washingtons viciously inhumane immigration policies. The Biden administration is in the process of replacing the cruel and hypocritical use of Title 42 to ban immigration under the pretext that it threatened to spread COVID-19 with an outright abolition of the right to asylum on the grounds that migrants can apply for it in Mexico, where their lives are as much in danger as in their home countries. At the same time, the US government has contracted out the repression of immigrants to security forces in Mexico and Central America which operate in barely concealed coordination with the regions predatory criminal mafias.

It pursues these policies not because immigrants pose some existential threat to the American people, but rather as part of the lurch to the right by the entire political establishment, driven by growing social and economic crises and the steady march toward world war. The anti-immigrant policies of the Biden administration become ever more indistinguishable from those of the fascistic right within the Republican Party, with which it seeks bipartisan unity in support of the US-NATO war against Russia and the suppression of the working class at home.

The Biden administrations bid to abolish the right to asylum, a fundamental democratic principle guaranteed under both international and US law, is a warning to the working class of the United States itself, which faces the trampling of its own democratic rights in the interests of war and reaction.

The working class must pursue its own independent policy on immigration, defending the right of all workers to live and work in the country of their choice and fighting for the unification of the workers of Central, South and North America and the Caribbean in a common struggle to put an end to social inequality and capitalist exploitation throughout the Western Hemisphere and across the globe.
Even smartwatches can help. One office worker in his 40s bought a smartwatch last year for W300,000 hoping it would help him sleep better (US$1=W1,305). The device lets him see how long he slept and how much he snored. "My physical condition is determined by the quality of sleep I get, so it was money well spent," he said.

Manufacturers of beds and pillows as well as IT companies like Apple and Samsung are busy marketing products to help people sleep better, some using cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to help with diagnosis and treatment.

The market for insomnia is growing rapidly in Korea as people become more health-conscious but increasingly have trouble sleeping in a competitive world.

Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 released last year gauges the total amount of sleep, REM sleep, deep sleep and time spent awake at night. The user's snoring is also recorded and can be played back the following morning. The watch then recommends the best sleeping strategy for the user.

Apple offers a paid app called AutoSleep that lets users analyze their sleeping habits and assesses the quality of slumber, while Amazon's Halo Rise bedside sleep tracker for US$109.99 even gauges room temperature and humidity levels by using AI to promote sleep quality.

New pillows and beds are also being developed. Ace Bed's Ace Heritz and Simmons Beautyrest Black mattresses cost a whopping W20-30 million but have proved popular all the same. Continuous positive airway pressure devices to deal with snoring, massage eye patches and smart pillows are also selling well, while heated blankets adjust temperature automatically.

But when consultants McKinsey polled 2,000 people in the U.S., they found that 37 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the sleep-enhancing products. Experts said the most important factors are a regular routine and an environment that induces deep sleep.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends going to bed and waking up at set times, maintaining a quiet, dim bedroom, staying away from smart devices or TVs before sleeping and cutting out coffee or alcohol before bed.

Lee Heong-jeong at Korea University Anam Hospital said, "People usually get tired when they've been awake for 15 to 16 hours, so if you wake up late you shouldn't expect to become tired early. The body adjusts the biological clock through light, so you need to be exposed to plenty of light when you wake up in order to become active in the day and sleep well at night."

Jung Ki-young of the Korean Sleep Research Society said, "The key to sleeping well is to wake up at regular times even at the weekends. Not even the most expensive gadgets can help you get a good night's sleep unless your habits change."
KYODO NEWS - Feb 25, 2023 - 00:45 | All, World

The United States on Friday unveiled new sanctions on Russia, targeting over 200 individuals and entities, as well as more military and economic aid for Ukraine in a show of Washington's commitment with its allies to disrupt Moscow's ability to sustain its war machine.

As part of the wide-ranging package, coinciding with the one-year mark since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, the Treasury Department said the scope of its punitive measures has expanded to include metal and mining companies, in addition to taking further steps against the country's financial, defense and technology industries.

The targets of the new sanctions, rolled out in coordination with other Group of Seven partners, include Russians as well as others based in more than 30 countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, according to the White House.

To undermine Russia's efforts to evade existing sanctions, the group of major democratic economies, including Britain, Germany and Japan, will establish an "Enforcement Coordination Mechanism," which will be headed by the United States in the first year, the White House said.

While the United States started disbursing $9.9 billion in grant financing this week to back Ukraine in providing essential services such as health care and education for its people, the White House also said it will extend additional energy assistance to the war-torn country.

The package involves multiple U.S. agencies, with the State Department starting to impose visa restrictions on 1,219 members of the Russian military.

The Defense Department, meanwhile, said it will provide Ukraine with more weapons and drones as part of a new security aid package worth $2 billion.

"Today's solemn anniversary is an opportunity for all who believe in freedom, rules and sovereignty to recommit ourselves to supporting Ukraine's brave defenders for the long haul, and to recall that the stakes of Russia's war stretch far beyond Ukraine," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

Over the past year, the United States has committed over $32 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, according to the Pentagon.

With seemingly no end in sight to the conflict, the latest military aid will be provided by a fund called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which enables Washington to procure weapons from industry rather than from existing Pentagon stocks.

The aid also includes electronic warfare detection equipment and funding for training, according to the Pentagon. It comes as U.S. officials have warned that Russia could be planning a new offensive around the one-year mark, and that China could be preparing to provide lethal military aid to Moscow.

Austin said that "difficult times may lie ahead," but the United States and its allies should remain steadfast in their "commitment to ensuring that a world of rules and rights is not replaced by one of tyranny and turmoil."

Related coverage:

Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine ahead of Russia war anniv.

Zelenskyy assured of support in U.S. trip, rallies world against Russia

U.S. offers new security aid to Ukraine after Russia's annexations
KYODO NEWS - Feb 25, 2023 - 15:18 | Feature, All, Japan, Travel/Tourism, Coronavirus

A high-speed boat service linking South Korea's port city of Busan and Tsushima, the Japanese island that lies closest to the Korean Peninsula, resumed Saturday after a three-year lull due to the coronavirus.

The restart of the route between South Korea's second-largest city and Hitakatsu port in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, comes amid growing hopes in both countries for increased travel to Japan's "border island" just under 50 kilometers from Busan.

Two South Korean operators serve the route, mostly on weekends for the time being, with the number of passengers limited to 100 per sailing. Seats on passenger ships departing Busan are fully booked until the end of next month.

"I used to go fishing at least five times a month before the pandemic," said a 63-year-old from Daejeon in the central part of South Korea who boarded a boat from Busan on Saturday morning. "I'm excited about being back for the first time in a long while."

A regular boat service between the two ports began in 1999. With jetfoils entering into use in 2011, linking them by a roughly 70-minute ride, Tsushima's popularity soared.

The island with a population of 30,000 economically benefited as a record 410,000 people visited from South Korea in 2018. But visitors plummeted the following year due to a deterioration in bilateral ties.

The boat service was suspended in April 2020 as coronavirus infections soared globally, dealing a further blow to the island's economy.

Panstar Group, which began serving the Busan-Tsushima route when the route was resumed, hopes to see many people use its service. "Tsushima is a nearby place for the people of Busan," Kim Bo Jung, a senior company official, said.

Islanders, such as Yukihiro Yamada, the 59-year-old owner of a restaurant near Hitakatsu port, also pin their hopes on the resumption of the boat service.

Some local officials are girding themselves for an influx of tourists, in part because of concern it may affect the everyday lives of islanders.

Problems between tourists and locals have previously arisen over cultural and other differences between the two countries.

The Tsushima municipal government intends to consider loosening the limits on the number of passengers while keeping tabs on infection cases.
By May Masangkay, KYODO NEWS - Feb 25, 2023 - 09:12 | Feature, All, Japan

As evacuees from Ukraine try to carve out a niche in their adopted home of Japan, a Tokyo restaurant offering dishes from the Eastern European country is also hoping to serve up a little slice of home to its mainly Ukrainian staff.

Nataliia Glygalo, 44, came to Japan in April last year, shortly after Russia launched its invasion of her homeland the previous February. She wanted to work in an environment where she could be with her compatriots and speak her own language, and found the restaurant through a Ukrainian community network on Facebook.

The restaurant was opened last September in Tokyo's Shimbashi business district by artist Takane Ezoe, who had been looking for ways to help fleeing Ukrainians with jobs after reading about their plight.

Her main business is a Tokyo-based art and design company, but she thought that work opportunities there were too limited to make an impact.

"It seemed more effective to use a business that can hire many Ukrainians at once," she said in explaining why she decided to open a restaurant. She hired nine Ukrainians, of whom seven are evacuees.

Ezoe, who has lived in Europe but has no personal connection to Ukraine, said that while the government, nongovernment organizations and local governments are assisting the evacuees with many needs including housing, employment was one area where she could offer real help.

Japan has often been criticized for lagging behind in accepting refugees, but in a rare move in March 2022 it decided to open its doors to Ukrainians fleeing their homeland.

As of Feb. 22, 2,189 such Ukrainians were staying in Japan, of whom 2,009 had been issued a "designated activities" visa that allows them to work for up to a year, according to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.

Government data also showed that Tokyo topped the list of prefectures home to fleeing Ukrainians, who have been accepted in Japan under special provisions as evacuees rather than as refugees under the Refugee Convention.

As most Ukrainian evacuees arriving here lack Japanese-language skills, they face limited employment opportunities. Ezoe said that bearing this in mind, she wanted to provide a place where Ukrainians could feel at home and interact with other people.

The restaurant's name, "smachnogo," means "to have a tasty meal" in Ukrainian, and its walls are partly adorned in yellow and blue, the colors of Ukraine's national flag.

The restaurant has a cozy atmosphere, with customers and staff interacting. It serves a fusion of Japanese food and Ukrainian cuisine, with dishes cooked by Ukrainian evacuees also served. Customers can read laminated notes introducing the staff and their thoughts on the ongoing war at their tables.

"While the restaurant is, of course, for customers, it is also a place that was created for the Ukrainian staff," Ezoe said, adding she wanted to support their mental health and let them know they are "welcomed and supported by Japan."

Glygalo, who is from Cherkasy, a city in central Ukraine, says it still breaks her heart when she recalls her journey to flee Ukraine around the time Russian forces occupied a nuclear complex in the country. "Time for me stopped on Feb. 24," she said.

But the former economics teacher said that support from the staff and customers has helped her get through tough times, including the demands of learning Japanese and adjusting to work she was not accustomed to.

When she reads news about the travails of her homeland, "I don't feel as bad now as I felt before," said Glygalo.

For other Ukrainian evacuees still searching for work, the Tokyo Employment Service Center for Foreigners has a support center especially for them. A Ukrainian interpreter is present on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In cooperation with the job placement agency Hello Work, the Tokyo service center has thus far received nearly 270 inquiries from Ukrainians, a third of whom are in their 40s to 60s. The center has made around 90 case introductions and had nearly 30 successful applications.

Takao Ogaki, director of the center, said their staff and Hello Work have put particular effort into helping Ukrainian evacuees. Currently, some companies specifically recruit them and are being accommodating toward their situations.

Given that language skills are a hurdle for most of them, the government is set to begin a six-month course to teach business-level Japanese and work culture to Ukrainian evacuees.

The center also helps them fill out resumes in the Japanese format and prepare for interviews.

An online survey conducted in November and December by the Nippon Foundation found that among the 750 Ukrainian evacuees who responded, 60.9 percent said they were unemployed.

Yulia Naumenko, 30, is among those who visited the center searching for work. Having been in Japan since March last year, she hopes to land a job using English, as she finds Japanese "hard."

Until September, she worked online as a manager in an outsourcing company. Following that, she got a scholarship offered in Japan to Ukrainian evacuees to learn about web development and pick up technical skills.

Her future remains uncertain amid the volatile situation back home. "I really don't know what my future will be. Even if the war ends and I go back, will my home be there? Will there still be work for me and my mother?"

Like Naumenko, Glygalo eventually wants to return to Ukraine with her junior high school-age daughter and reunite with her husband and son, who remain in the country. But safety is an overwhelming concern.

Some of Glygalo's colleagues at the restaurant have started considering staying in Japan for the foreseeable future.

Whatever their decision, Ezoe hopes that in the meantime, "the restaurant can be a catalyst in inspiring others to take some action in helping Ukrainian evacuees."

Related coverage:

Photos, video show impact of 1 year of war on Ukrainians

Japan vows to keep supporting Ukraine 1 year on from Russian invasion
KYODO NEWS - Feb 25, 2023 - 10:00 | All, Japan

Japan's inventories of liquefied natural gas has surged since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, government data showed, in an effort to address concerns over potential disruptions of the biggest portion of fuel for power generation in the country.

LNG inventories in Japan stood at 5.9 million tons as of the end of August, up 17.6 percent from a year earlier and the largest since comparable data became available in 2008, according to the most recent data from the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, a government agency.

Nine major Japanese utilities ramped up their combined LNG stockpiles 56 percent from a year earlier to 2.63 million tons as of Feb. 19. The volume is above their average stockpiles in the previous five years, according to data from the Natural Resources and Energy Agency.

Concerns over LNG supplies increased after Russia reduced supplies to the European Union, prompting LNG importing countries to scramble to look for other suppliers and intensifying global competition.

Another reason for the increase in LNG inventories is the possible disruption of gas supplies from the Sakhalin 2 project in the Russian Far East. Japan buys about 9 percent of its overall LNG imports from the project, which is led by Russia.

"There is a risk that (Russia) may demand terms and conditions that are unacceptable" for Japan, Reiko Nakamura, head of the fuel operation division at Jera Co., said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.

Jera, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and Chubu Electric Power Co., buys gas from Sakhalin 2.

British oil major Shell plc pulled out of the project in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Resource-poor Japan depends heavily on fossil-fuel imports to meet its energy needs, with LNG accounting for about 35.5 percent of the total energy mix, the largest portion in fiscal 2021, according to data from the Natural Resources and Energy Agency.

Natural gas produces about 50 percent less carbon dioxide emissions than coal and 20 to 30 percent less than oil and is seen as a preferred option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Nuclear power generation emits no CO2 but many reactors remain idle in Japan, subject to government screening of stricter safety measures introduced after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Japan holds over 200 days' worth of oil reserves in stockpiles but there are only a few weeks of LNG inventories. LNG is not suitable for long-term storage due to the high costs involved and the speed at which it evaporates.

"Since there is no national reserve for LNG unlike oil and liquefied petroleum gas, it is necessary for the country to deal with risks that businesses cannot handle," Nakamura said.

In a bid to reduce geopolitical risks to a stable energy supply, Japan is also stepping up diversifying LNG procurement.

Oman LNG, for example, signed a long-term LNG supply contract with Mitsui & Co., Itochu Corp. and Jera in December with shipments expected to start in 2025 or later.

Japanese oil and gas explorer Inpex Corp. also recently signed a 20-year agreement with Venture Global LNG to purchase 1 million tons per annum of LNG from the United States, one of the world's leading LNG exporters.

Related coverage:

Japan vows to keep supporting Ukraine 1 year on from Russian invasion

Photos, video show impact of 1 year of war on Ukrainians
In a world thats seems increasingly fraught, theres a new collection of home sprays on the market developed to create inner peace and wellness.

Its like acupuncture for the home, is how interior designer Sara Bengur describes her Vastu Room Sprays and the ancient Indian philosophy of Vastu, the basis for the sprays. Bengur is certified in Vastu, a healing art based on arranging man-made environments to align with nature and the cardinal directions to improve the energy of a home, with the aim of helping people to work, sleep and live better.

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The five Vastu sprays each have a Sanskrit designation and their own intended effects. The ingredients are all organic. The sprays diffuse their sacred alchemy in every environment to elevate and invite a happier you, Bengur said.

Along with Subhakshi, an Australia-based brand of scents founded by Lucia Gill, Bengur developed the Vastu Room Sprays. Gill is also a devotee of Vastu. The two spent many seasons at Narayani Peedam, a spiritual center in Tamil Nadu, India, and with their spiritual teacher Sri Sakthi Amma. They define their mission as creating products to help people feel more peaceful and grounded in a world of challenges.

Bengur started her company, Sara Bengur Interiors, in New York in 1993. Its a high-end design firm that specializes in residential projects. She often works with architects and has a flair for color and texture.

Her sprays were launched on Valentines Day this year, on Sarabengur.com, and are available in 100-ml. bottles for $72; 50-ml. for $36, and the set of five 50-ml. bottles for $150. The large sprays are sold individually, and the small sprays can either be sold individually or as a set of five. I think buying the set to try all the scents is the best way to start using them. Then if there is a particular element that resonates most, buy the larger bottle.

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In the following Q&A, Bengur discusses her motivation for creating home sprays and the science of Vastu.

Sara Bengur

WWD: What inspired you to create a collection of home scents, at this particular time?

Sara Bengur: Post pandemic and with all the upheaval in the world, I find people are more anxious and need their homes to embrace and support them more than ever. The home sprays created with the principles of Vastu are meant to help relieve some of the stress that can build up in a home from imbalances in energy. I clear and balance spaces with Vastu but these sprays can be part of a personal tool box to elevate ones own space.

WWD: Have you done home scents before?

S.B.: I have not but have always been very sensitive to smell in environments and aware of how the scent of a space can affect me.

WWD: Interesting that you describe the collection as like acupuncture for the home, can you elaborate on that?

S.B.: The science of Vastu is to remove energy blocks and disharmony in the home and is based on the cardinal directions and five elements. We created five sprays each representing one of the five elements  and each element is associated with a cardinal direction [that] in turn affects different aspects of our lives, i.e., the northeast direction is the water element related to expansion and abundance in work and our spiritual lives. By using the spray in this part of your home, it can remove negativity and help manifest these intentions. The sprays were created with quartz, organic oils and ancient alchemic techniques that hold sacred energy to help clear the space and raise the vibration and frequency. We have actually tested these sprays in comparison to plain water and the results were remarkable in terms of the energy the sprays emit and their healing powers.

WWD: What is the desired effect of each of the five sprays?

S.B.: Each of the five names is based on the name of the element in Sanskrit: Vayu is the air element and can be used in the northwest part of your home to attract positive relationships and peace of mind and emotional well-being. Jala is the water element and can be used in the northeast part of your home to enhance spiritual and material growth and for meditation to help manifest intentions and affirmations. Agni is the fire element and can be used in the southeast part of your home to help with smooth transitions in life and increase vital energy. Bhu Devi is the earth element and can be used in the southwest part of your home to help with grounding ourselves and attracting support from family and friends and the universe. Akasha is the space element and can be used in the center of the home and promotes harmonious flow and prosperity through cleansing and removing obstacles.

WWD: What are some of the key ingredients in the sprays?

S.B.: In Agni, theres the scent of rose and tigereye gem essence. In Bhu Devi, theres the scent of frankincense and obsidian gem essence; Jala has scent of sandalwood and amethyst gem essence; Vayu, the scent of jasmine and celestite gem essence and in Akasha, theres the scent of clary sage and clear quartz essence.

WWD: How would you best characterize the Sara Bengur Interiors business, and its range of services?

S.B.: My business has been mostly focused on residential interior design over the years. It is a passion of mine to help people create an environment that reflects who they are and how they live. The design process in a way becomes like a journey of self-discovery; I love my clients to be very involved. I also like to collaborate with architects to form a team and inspire each other. I am also certified in Vastu and work with clients to clear and balance their homes. I design products mostly inspired and based on my travels, as well as create custom pieces for my clients.

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First Lady Jill Biden said her husband, President Joe Biden, is ready to run for a second presidential term.

"How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it?" Dr. Biden told the Associated Press today. "He says hes not done. Hes not finished what hes started. And thats whats important."

Biden, 80, has long faced questions about his age and how it might impact his ability to do the job. He would be the oldest president to seek a second term, and if he was reelected, he would be 86 at the end of his second term.

Politico reported this week, "But to the surprise of some Biden allies, they say he has talked only sparingly about a possible campaign, three people familiar with the conversations said. His daily focus remains the job itself. Except for the occasional phone call with an adviser to review polling, he spends little time discussing the election."

Still, all signs point to Biden running for a second term. His aides have indicated a formal announcement will likely come sometime in April 2023.

When Biden first announced he would run for president in 2019, he said he was embarking on a "battle for the soul of this nation." Earlier this month, in his State of the Union address, he referenced this phrase, saying, "I have come to fulfill my constitutional obligation to report on the state of the Union. And here is my  my report: Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the state of the Union is strong."



He added, Im not new to this place. I stand here tonight having served as long as about any one of you who have ever served here. But Ive never been more optimistic about our future  about the future of America."

Jill Biden's remarks about President Biden seeking reelection come as she wraps up a five day visit to Namibia and Kenya, where she was accompanied by her granddaughter, Naomi Biden.

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Naomi retweeted the journalist who conducted the interview with her grandmother, tweeting, "Preach nana."

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Some Washington County residents along with others in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle and other parts of Maryland got a surprise Thursday night when a fine white dust fell from the sky, coating cars and outdoor furniture.

Comments spread across social media, including some Hagerstown area residents reporting seeing unusual-colored hues around vehicle headlights as the material fell.

Sean Flaherty, who lives on McKee Avenue in Hagerstown's North End, said the dust was falling at his house about 10 p.m.

"I checked my security camera and it looked like it was snowing outside," said Flaherty. He provided The Herald-Mail with a video clip which shows particles flashing by in the light from his house.

Emergency officials, weather forecasters and environmental authorities on Friday were trying to determine what the dust was. Meanwhile, residents on social media theorized everything from pollen to chemicals from a train derailment in Ohio.

What's being done to analyze the dust?

Maryland Department of the Environment spokesman Jay Apperson said Friday that the agency was aware of the situation and believes that it's likely dust that was carried aloft from Texas and New Mexico. It settled to the surface in Maryland on Thursday night in connection with a weather front passing through, he said.

Meterologists with the National Weather Service office in Sterling, Va., on Friday weren't saying anything definite.

They were not sure what the dust was, and meteorologist Chris Strong said his office was in contact with its headquarters to to determine if there is another agency that might be able to track the material and "get a handle" on its origin.

"I guess it's uncertain at this point," Strong said.

He said it's possible the dust could have come from the West.

The Texas Tribune on Friday said state residents in the Lubbock area are used to wind and dust. But an ongoing drought and recent tropical-storm level winds up to 69 mph were creating "epic dust storms" there, the news organization said in an online story.

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The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said on its website Friday that it's working with state and local agencies to investigate "large amounts of dust" in the Eastern Panhandle.

The agency said it sent inspectors to gather samples and test them to determine if it could be dust from the West.

"No obvious sources have been identified at this time," the agency said. It said no shelter in place advisories had been issued.

Where was the dust reported?

Strong said his office received a lot of calls about the dust, mainly from Eastern West Virginia and into Western Maryland, although he said it appears some also came from the Westminster, Md., area.

The Daily Times of Salisbury, Md., also part of the USA TODAY Network like The Herald-Mail, said residents on the Eastern Shore also reported finding the dust.

Tom Brown, director of emergency management for Washington County, said the county 911 center got a handful of calls about the dust Thursday night. Officials there then contacted Brown. He said it appears a lot of the dust dropped in the southern part of the county.

Brown said Friday afternoon that he had not received any information from the state. He dug around himself and talked to others who believe it might have been the dust from the West.

The theory is that the dust was being carried by warm southerly winds that pushed temperatures into the 70s in the Hagerstown area Thursday, Brown said.

Could it have been from the East Palestine, Ohio train wreck?

The wind flow likely would not have carried any air from the East Palestine, Ohio, area, where a train crash on Feb. 3 derailed dozens of cars and released toxic chemicals, Brown said. Some local residents were wondering if the dust could have been toxic substances from the crash.

More:Ohio officials say East Palestine's water is safe. But where's the full data?

Brown emphasized that he is no authority on the dust, and added he knows of no testing being done on it.

"I haven't seen the dust. I haven't seen any data to determine what it is," he said. "We're still monitoring it."

Apperson, with the state Environment Department, said particulate matter of small size poses the greatest health risk in situations such as the derailment.

"Smaller particles were not elevated during the event," Apperson said in an email, and he added that air monitoring Friday by MDE "showed good air quality."

MDE urges Marylanders to follow the departments air quality forecasts, Apperson said. They are available online through AirNow, Clean Air Partners, the National Weather Service and on MDEs website.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland environmental officials: Dust may be from Texas
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko plans to visit China next week amid concerns about Beijing taking steps to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Belarus, which has long been an ally of Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, is one of the only countries in the world to openly stand by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war has progressed. China has officially been neutral, but U.S. officials have claimed that Beijing has been supplying Russia with nonlethal aid and is considering sending lethal aid  such as weapons and munitions too.

Top officials in the Biden administration have warned China of significant consequences if the government sends lethal aid, but have not specified what that would entail. China has denied that it is considering lethal support for Russia.

The Chinese state-run Beijing News reported that a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced President Xi Jinping has invited Lukashenko to visit China from Tuesday through Thursday.

A summary of a phone call between Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang showed that Aleinik said Belarus considers strong relations with China to be a priority and Qin promised that China wants to improve bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Lukashenko will be the most recent authoritarian ruler that China has hosted after it welcomed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month. Lukashenko has served as the president of Belarus since 1994, winning six consecutive elections that have not been recognized as free or fair by much of the international community.

Yauheni Preiherman, the director of the Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations, told the Times that Lukashenko has exclusive information on the state of the war between Russia and Ukraine that the Chinese government will be interested in going forward.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after China issued a 12-point plan calling for a cease-fire on Friday that he also wants to meet with Xi and is somewhat open to considering the proposal.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday said that she plans to introduce a bill to force an audit of the billions of dollars in aid that the U.S. has sent to Ukraine in its now yearlong war with Russia.

Its going to force Congress to give the American people an audit, Greene said in an interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Thursday. And that is exactly what the American people need, an audit of Ukraine, because we have no idea where all this moneys going.

Greene said she plans to introduce a resolution of inquiry in the House on Friday, which is also the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine. A resolution of inquiry is a method for the House to request information from the executive branch.

The Georgia Republican noted that she introduced the same resolution in the last Congress and secured complete Republican support. However, the GOP did not have a majority in the House at the time.

Im introducing this resolution, and Im looking forward to seeing my Republican colleagues support it, Greene said.

She also accused the Biden administration of being so disconnected with what the American people want that they are literally going to lead us into World War III.

Theres not bipartisan support among the American people for fighting a war in Ukraine that does nothing for Americans except force them to pay for it, Greene added.

According to a Fox News poll released on Thursday, 50 percent of Americans believe the U.S. should support Ukraine as long as it takes to win the war against Russia, while 46 percent believe there should be a limited time frame.

Republicans in the poll were more likely to say there should be a limit to U.S. support, with 61 percent saying there should be an end in sight. Sixty-six percent of Democrats said aid should continue for the remainder of the war.

House Republicans, including Greene, have previously suggested that they plan to rein in aid to Ukraine. Ahead of the midterm elections in November, Greene promised that not another penny will go to Ukraine in a GOP majority.

The only border they care about is Ukraine, not Americas southern border, Greene said of Democrats at a campaign rally. Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine. Our country comes first. They dont care about our border or our people.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was mocked after she mistakenly claimed that "6 billion" people illegally crossed the US border during Joe Biden's time in the Oval Office.

Ms Greene  who recently called for the dissolution of the United States  was hammering Mr Biden on immigration policies and for spending time in Ukraine over the last week.

Her talking points echo those of other Maga politicians, who have been using Mr Biden's Ukraine trip to claim that he is ignoring domestic issues like the Ohio train derailment and the border.

"$113 Billion has been appropriated to Ukraine in just 1 yr," Ms Greene tweeted. "Trump's wall would have only cost $22 billion, but Congress refused to fund it. 6 Billion people illegally crossed our border since Biden took office, but Ukraine's border is the only border that matters to Washington."

A report from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, found that Mr Trump's border wall was ineffective at curbing illegal border crossings. The report found that illegal crossings actually became more frequent beginning after October 2020. Ms Greene also failed to note that Donald Trump originally promised to make Mexico pay for the wall, making Congressional funding unnecessary.

Ms Greene's claim that six billion people crossed the border illegally is wildly incorrect. The population of the world is eight billion, meaning a majority of the planet's humans would have had to have crossed the border since 2021. The entire US population is only 332 million.

The Congreswoman quickly deleted and reposted the tweet with a correction to "6 million."

However the tweet was up long enough for commenters to screenshot and pass around the image along with their criticisms.

MTG tweeted that since Biden took office, 6 billion people have crossed the border illegally. Also:

- Lauren Boebert stole her Friends lunchbox

- 50 trillion Chinese spy balloons have been disguised as decorations at birthday parties

- The Jewish space lasers bleached her hair pic.twitter.com/JIOVbK8P8C  Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) February 24, 2023

"MTG tweeted that since Biden took office, 6 billion people have crossed the border illegally," Paul Rudnick, a writer, tweeted. "Also: - Lauren Boebert stole her Friends lunchbox - 50 trillion Chinese spy balloons have been disguised as decorations at birthday parties - The Jewish space lasers bleached her hair"

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Another commenter, author and psychologist Dr David Lustig, broke down the mathematics needed for Ms Greene's initial claim to have occurred.

"MTG humiliated herself by stating that 6 billion people (75% of earths population) came across the U.S. border from Mexico," he wrote. "For perspective, thats: 8 million people per day; 333,333 people per hour; 5,555 people per minute; 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, non-stop for 2 years."

MTG humiliated herself by stating that 6 billion people (75% of earths population) came across the U.S. border from Mexico.



For perspective, thats:



8 million people per day

333,333 people per hour

5,555 people per minute



24-hours a day, 365 days a year, non-stop for 2 years. pic.twitter.com/hUWVz6n4oL  Dr. David A. Lustig (@drdave1999) February 25, 2023

Some conservatives defended Ms Greene, noting it was likely just a typo, and insisting that her criticism was valid.

"MTG said 6 Billion when she meant 6 Million but please Twitter Dems, draw more attention to that absolute dereliction of duty by your Biden admin," one user commented.

Regardless of how the mistake was made, Ms Greene's comment, even corrected, is still dubious at best. US Border Patrol and Field Operations have said they've had millions of encounters with undocumented migrants trying to cross the border during the Biden administration, but there is no data available on the successful number of illegal crossings, meaning her six million number is, in the most gracious reading, conjecture.
If youve never visited Levantine Hill, a winery in the cool Yarra Valley region in the Australian state of Victoria, know that its perfectly normal to see a helicopter landing outside the restaurant beside the vineyards. In a dining room hugged by wraparound windows, three banquettes are set inside sleek wine-barrel sculptures that jut dramatically through the glass walls, adding curves to the buildings angular exterior and mirroring the structures gently arced roof and the surrounding hills. Wherever you sit, be sure to enjoy one of the stellar, Chef-Hatted (Australias equivalent of Michelin-starred) tasting menus. This is a culinary experience worth traveling across the world for.

The dining room at Levantine Hill, overlooking the vineyards.

In 2020, executive chef Vinnie Robinson, who got his start washing dishes in the cafe where his mom worked, revamped Levantine Hills menu, again with the goal of showcasing the wine. That is, rather than pair wines with recipes, he worked in reverse, building Mediterranean-inspired dishes around the winerys top bottles. With the creamy, earthy 2017 Katherines Paddock Chardonnayowners Colleen and Elias Jreissati name their wines after the women of Levantine HillRobinson pairs one of the restaurants most popular bites: goats curd cappelletti. Locally grown black truffles and chives complement the fresh pasta while the drizzle on top comes from pine needles sourced in the vicinity and pressed to extract their liquid. The pine needles pair a leathery element with the Chardonnays silkiness, Robinson says.

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For the 2019 Estate Pinot Noir, a savory, floral wine the color of polished rubies, Robinson concocted the Yarra Valley gin pork belly. The pork comes from free-range gin pigs raised on a nearby farm, so-called because the pasture the animals feed on contains grains mixed with used gin botanicals. To re-create the wines mouthfeel, which Robinson describes as sweet, plump and dry, he marries the rich belly to dates smoked with sugar syrup and mountain ash while the Middle Eastern spice blend ras el hanout enhances the Pinots nutmeg and cinnamon notes.

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And the helicopters? The winery offers heli packages ranging from $750 to $25,000 AUD (about $530 to $17,700 USD), the latter of which includes a round trip from Melbourne and lunch, with wine pairings and caviar service, for a group of up to six, plus 14 cases of wine.

Branded helicopters used for Levantine Hills heli packages.

If that doesnt make it clear that Levantine Hill enjoys its over-the-top opulence, its two Optume, or Super Premium, bottles are Yarra Valleys most expensive wines to date, at $800 AUD (around $565 USD). Its a fist in a velvet glove, says assistant winemaker Peter Shone of the Optume Shiraz (theres a Cabernet Sauvignon as well). Its soft, but it lets you know its there.

Yarra Valley is known for the diversity of its soils and elevations, from the sediment on the valley floor to the red volcanic earth in the middle to the granite in the south. Working through the areas 80-plus wineries tasting rooms (or cellar doors, as Aussies call them) makes for a compelling challenge, but after spending the better part of a day en routea direct flight from Dallas is a 17-hour haulyouve earned a little extended relaxation.

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EXCLUSIVE: Pope Francis is issuing a renewed plea for peace in Ukraine after attending an extraordinary screening at the Vatican of Evgeny Afineevskys documentary Freedom on Fire: Ukraines Fight for Freedom.

The screening at the New Synod Hall within the walls of the Vatican took place on the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of its neighbor, a war that has killed or wounded an estimated 180,000 Russian troops and 100,000 Ukrainian forces. Upwards of 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed. The pope sat next to several Ukrainian women who appear in the film and when the lights came up he led the audience of about 250 people in prayer.

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Pope Francis offers a prayer for Ukraine after a screening of Freedom on Fire. To his left is director Evgeny Afineevsky.

Speaking primarily in Italian, the pontiff asked the Lord to heal humanity from the river of hatred that feeds war: When God made man, he said to take the earth, to make it grow, make it beautiful. The spirit of war is the opposite: destroy, destroy Dont let it grow, destroy everyone. Men, women, children, the elderly, everyone.

Afineevsky earned an Oscar nomination for 2015s Winter on Fire: Ukraines Fight for Freedom  the film about the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014 that later prompted Russias annexation of Crimea and fomenting of armed revolt in Eastern Ukraine. On Friday night he presented a recut version of his latest documentary, updated with very recent footage from the conflict. Addressing Pope Francis moments before the screening began, Afineevsky said, Thank you for showing your solidarity with the Ukrainian people for the nine years of this war and the one-year of the major intervention of Russia and occupation of Ukraine For me, its really important and symbolic to be with you and all of you [the audience] here on the 24th of February, the day we are commemorating this tragic start of the war.

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Toddler Sviatoslav plays with the popes cane before a screening of Freedom on Fire: Ukraines Fight for Freedom at the Vatican.

The director told Deadline to his knowledge its the first time any pope has attended a film screening event on the Vatican grounds. Seated next to the pontiff were Nataliia Nagorna, a Ukrainian journalist and war correspondent who is a primary focus of the documentary, and several other characters from the film, including Anna Zaitseva, a young mother whose son Sviatoslav was just a baby when the invasion happened. The toddler, now 16 months old, attended the screening with his mom and appeared to delight the pope with his genial demeanor. At one point he played with the popes cane and even nibbled at it.

Afterwards, Zaitseva, Nagorna and a select group of others held a private audience with the pope. Zaitseva gave Pope Francis an update on her husband, who is seen in the film enlisting to fight in the Ukrainian army after the invasion started. She said he is being held somewhere in a Russian prisoner of war camp. Nagorna presented him with a white-tufted portion of a cotton plant  cotton having become a symbol of resistance in Ukraine.

Director Evgeny Afineevsky helps Pope Francis put on a bracelet presented as a gift by Ukrainian women from the documentary Freedom on Fire. Next to Afineevsky is journalist Nataliia Nagorna.

It was a very important event, Nagorna told Deadline exclusively, because we have to speak about Ukraine, about our people in captivity, about our soldiers in captivity, about our destroyed cities, towns, villages We have to say for all the world, they have to stop all of this. They have to stop Putin, stop Russia, stop totalitarianism, stop genocide, ecocide. She added, Its really important, we need the support of the pope and all civil people in this world We have to make our people free again.

Zaitseva said watching the film brought back vivid and wrenching memories.

It reminded me how it feels to be on the front line, how it was to be in the shelter with a three months-old baby. And, also, I have seen my husband there on the big screen Actually, it was very, very difficult. I was in tears and its very painful. Its difficult to get up every day and to understand that your husband is not near you and you cant even know where he is. Its difficult to understand that your home is destroyed, your city is occupied, your friends are killed and my family is totally [dispersed].

Director Evgeny Afineevsky sits next to Pope Francis at the Vatican screening of the documentary Freedom on Fire.

Zaitseva added, The war is not like in the Hollywood movies. The war is ugly. I dont like when people are trying to make war like in a more poetic way. In the war there is nothing poetic, there is nothing beautiful. War is ugly, war is something that shouldnt exist nowadays in the 21st century.

Afineevsky flew to Rome on the morning of the 24th after showing his documentary in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday night. He has forged a personal bond with Pope Francis through directing the 2020 film Francesco, about the papacy of the first pope from Latin America, who has prioritized healing the planet, acceptance and love for LGBT people, an ecumenical approach to world religions, and aiding the poor.

Regarding the screening of Freedom on Fire, Vatican News described the pope as visibly moved by this film so raw and realistic. In his prayer, Pope Francis said, Today, [after] a year of this war, lets look at Ukraine, pray for the Ukrainians and open our hearts to pain. Let us not be ashamed to suffer and cry, because war is destruction. A war always diminishes us. May God make us understand this.

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California did it. Massachusetts and Connecticut are trying. But new Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor isn't ready to say whether Rhode Island should try to compel cities and towns to allow more housing to be built.

In a wide-ranging interview on housing issues, Pryor said Rhode Island's lowest-in-the-nation new housing construction is a problem and major contributor to the state's housing affordability crisis.

But despite efforts by some communities and state lawmakers to head off statewide housing reforms before they launch, Pryor believes most local leaders genuinely want to build more housing  of some type, somewhere  to make it easier for residents to find a place to live. Last week he met with 25 local leaders to talk housing policy.

"There are barriers pertaining to the land-use processes as they're currently constructed, and we are already in a positive and healthy dialogue with the [League of Cities and Towns] and its constituent towns regarding that," he said.

Still, he said, the McKee administration, which has long championed local decision-making, is not taking more sweeping reforms off the table and he isn't under any instructions to avoid ideas that meet municipal resistance.

More:Woonsocket's blight fund tore down 30 buildings, but left vacant lots. Is it the best way?

"The only instructions I'm under are to create an effective system for the production of housing, inclusive of affordable housing, in our state," he said. "What I am trying to just convey to you is that there is high interest among many towns in doing more regarding housing. So it's important to at least in part begin the conversation with how we can ally ourselves with municipalities that, to their credit, are aiming to produce more housing."

In uncertain times, Rhode Islanders look to familiar faces, and in the housing world these are uncertain times. Shelter has never been so expensive. The state has never spent so much to make homes available. And the House of Representatives is working on a package of housing legislation, expected to be unveiled soon, that could bring big changes to what gets built.

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Enter Pryor, whose new office is just down the hall from the office he occupied for the better part of eight years as commerce secretary.

Pryor became the state's second ever housing secretary after the first, a fresh face from New York City, failed to convince key political and industry leaders he was up for the challenge.

Before he ran unsuccessfully for treasurer last year, Pryor helped develop the McKee administration's plan to spend a large chunk of Rhode Island's federal pandemic aid windfall on housing programs. And he's worked for years with the private organizations that will distribute and ultimately spend the money, giving lawmakers confidence it won't go unused.

More:Political Scene: How a Maryland public housing program could influence Rhode Island

Stefan Pryor, former Rhode Island commerce secretary and now a candidate for general treasurer.

What are Pryor's big ideas on housing?

Pryor delights in the fine print of public policy, so it is not surprising his prescription on housing, as much as he is ready to share it, is nuanced.

On the homelessness crisis, Pryor wants to prevent the "market tightness," that leads to evictions; improve behavioral health and substance abuse care; expand access to legal services for those facing eviction and invest in "permanent supportive housing for our most vulnerable residents"

The state is already working on these things on some level, but he said more can be done.

It has not been actively looking to turn underutilized office or commercial space into housing, but Pryor said that might be the future.

"The world is shifting towards hybrid live work environments," he said. "Rhode Island has the potential to pioneer high quality live-work scenarios that, if undertaken in key corridors in our state, can revitalize main streets, bring new life to commercial office spaces, and provide new housing opportunities. If we take a look at the old fashioned outmoded office space that exists above retail in some of our main street stretches, there may be opportunities for housing conversion."

Asked what the biggest barrier to converting old commercial space into housing is, he said: regulation, financing and lack of local planning capacity are all problems.

More:Pioneer tenants organized against their landlord. Now they say they're being pushed out

Where is the $250M for housing?

Of the $1.1 billion Rhode Island got from the American Rescue Plan, the $250 million budgeted for housing programs is more than in any other policy area, so it is no surprise many eyes are focused on what happens to that money.

But housing development moves at a pace usually measured in years, so putting that money to use has taken longer than some expected.

And the vast majority of it  $195 million  is being distributed by quasi-state Rhode Island Housing, not the state itself. A big chunk of the non-Rhode Island Housing money is going toward assistance and facilities to combat homelessness.

Rhode Island Housing has awarded $29.1 million of that total to various end users, and around $11 million has been spent, according to a presentation from the agency last month to a House commission studying affordable housing laws.

Further complicating the accounting, around half the $250 million was budgeted for next fiscal year and beyond.

Rhode Island Housing Chief Strategy Officer Christine Hunsinger said Tuesday that most of the remaining money will be awarded in April and May.

One chunk of the $250 million the state will distribute itself is $10 million for traditional public housing.

Pryor had no update Tuesday about where that money might be headed, when it will be awarded or who has applied to use it.

More:Did Rhode Island's real estate market cool off in 2022? Here's what the numbers show.

Who is calling the shots?

Shortly before he came under fire, Saal proposed consolidating housing authority within the Office of Housing, including bringing the 28-member Housing Resources Commission under his control.

Pryor, who is working on his own statewide housing plan, on Tuesday declined to say whether he agrees with Saal's reorganization proposals or if he wants to absorb the Housing Resources Commission. He did say Saal's November recommendation is not being thrown out.

When he hired Pryor, McKee appointed him chairman of the Rhode Island Housing Board of Commissioners pending Senate confirmation. Saal was one of seven members of the board, but was never made chairman.

What happens when warming stations close?

Faced with a large number of people living on the street and criticism of his handling of a tent encampment at the State House, McKee this winter turned the Cranston Street Armory into a temporary "warming station" shelter.

Between 180 and 200 people are sleeping in the Armory on a nightly basis, many more than the 50 originally envisioned, so McKee recently asked shelter providers for proposals to open more warming stations.

And the Armory is slated to close April 15. The administration has not said where the people staying there now are expected to go.

"We are evaluating all options right now," Pryor said when asked if those people will return to the street. "There are multiple ideas, just not ones that I'm fully prepared to share today. But among our highest priorities is ensuring that across the multiple facilities with April 15th ramp downs or deadlines we have transition plans."

He said the state is still looking at the use of temporary "pallet shelters," but would not elaborate.

The state still hopes Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket can be reopened as a shelter once uncertainty about its private ownership is resolved.

Whither the Fane Tower?

Pryor was Commerce Secretary during the years of debate over the proposed 46-story Fane Tower apartment building in downtown Providence, which has languished unbuilt since being first proposed in 2016.

Is it time to pull the plug?

"It is crucial that the I-195 Commission determine whether the Fane ownership group is truly capable of carrying out the project," he said. "That is, will the project be fully financed? The worst possible outcome here is a false start where Rhode Island is left with a partially completed structure. That's happened to us before. We cannot let it happen again."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Housing affordability in Rhode Island top on Stefan Pryor's priorities
Rev. Thomas Cebula talks about St. Louis parish in Louisville's upcoming Eucharistic revival.

LOUISIVLLE  Concerns over Catholics' beliefs about the Eucharist have become such an issue that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a three-year Eucharistic revival in 2022.

St. Louis/Sacred Heart Catholic Church is doing its part.

Starting Thursday, St. Louis, at 300 N. Chapel St., will host "Living the Eucharist Through Lent 2023," from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on March 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30.

Speakers include Walsh University theologians Chris Seeman, Joseph Torma, Monsignor Michael Cariglio, Phil Pillin, and Temple Israel Rabbi Emeritus John Spitzer.

The Rev. Thomas Cebula, parish administrator, said a growing number of Catholics have drifted from the core tenet of "Transubstantiation," the belief that Jesus literally inhabits the elements administered during Holy Communion.

"It's an attempt at adult formation but within the context of Catholic depreciation, what Catholics would term as the real presence of Jesus," he said. "In terms of public surveys, of Catholics being surveyed, you see the percentage is like 20% who believe in the real presence of Jesus. So many say it's simply symbolic, so that is quite a crisis in the Catholic church."

No easy answer for the drift

Cebula said there's no easy answer as to why some Catholics have drifted from this important tenet.

"It could be confusion over the Second Vatican Council, or poor catechesis (teaching)," he said.

In organizing the program, Cebula said, he reached out to contacts at Walsh University where he served as a campus chaplain for 10 years.

"I met with some of the representatives of the theology faculty and asked them, 'Would you be interested in putting on an adult faith formation in regards to helping Catholics understand and recoup their faith in Jesus and his real presence in the Eucharist as Catholics understand that?' So that was the origin of this, to try to respond to the crisis in the church in terms of faith and in the Eucharist."

Bonnie Witmer, a longtime parishioner who worked at the former St. Louis Catholic School under a district-funded speech, reading, and hearing program, agrees with Cebula that there's a dearth in religious instruction.

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"I am in total agreement with Father," she said. "I think that's where we dropped the ball. Nowadays, children, as a rule, have less and less Catholic schools offering the education, and parents are not getting their children to CCD (Sunday school) programs. These kids are receiving Communion as a thing you just do; they aren't really encountering the real presence of Jesus."

Fellow parishioner Shelly Swierz, who calls herself a "card-carrying Catholic," said she worries about the dwindling numbers attending Mass. Across the U.S., attendance of all worship services has been in a precipitous decline for decades. According to statistics, just 30% of Christians attend church more than once a month. It has resulted in closings and, in the case of Catholicism, merged parishes and shuttered schools.

Parishioner Shelly Swierz talks about St. Louis parish in Louisville's planned Eucharistic revival.

St. Louis currently has about 450 registered families, down from 850 families 10 years ago.

Wine returns to MassDiocese announces return of wine from chalices during Mass

"Carry, marry, bury"

"I just think it's so frightening," she said. "COVID didn't help. You almost go for two years, and now you have a new habit. A lot of people I know still watch it on TV. They just got into that habit, and then it carries on. Unfortunately, even the children, for CCD, it seems like the parents drop them off and pick them up. They don't even take their children to church."

Swierz recalled a conversation with a Catholic who described herself as "Carry, Marry, Bury."

"I was so shocked, I said, 'What is that?' She said, 'I got carried into the church for baptism. I went to the church and got married, and I'll go back to get buried.'"

Swierz said she thinks the revival will be enlightening.

"These programs, I think, will be a real eye-opener for people," she said. "I'm really looking forward to them."

Parishioner Bonnie Witmer talks about the Catholic faith as St. Louis parish in Louisville prepares to host an Eucharistic revival.

Cebula said doctrine of Christ in the Eucharist is based in Scripture and was embraced by the early church fathers, adding that the Orthodox Church also believes in transubstantiation.

"St. Justin Martyr in the second century explicitly stated that this is not a symbol; that Jesus is truly and really present," he said.

Cebula says goodbye to Walsh UWalsh, North Canton honor departing Chaplain Thomas Cebula

Cebula said many of the students he served at Walsh take their faith seriously.

"There was a group of students who were enthused about their faith and embraced this understanding of the real presence," he said. "But even at Walsh, we were dealing with a lot of nominalism. The challenges are greater, in terms of a wider segment of the university population, but I do think a significant number of students from Walsh are active with their faith."

Cebula reiterated that Catholics treating the Eucharist as symbolic is incongruent with church doctrine.

"I'm not saying to blame them, but this does not express what we truly believe," he said.

Eucharistic revival speakers schedule:

March 2 - 7 p.m., Professor Chris Seeman, "God in Our Midst: Divine Presence in Sacred Scripture."

March 9 - 7 p.m., Professor Joseph Torma, "The Social Dimension of the Eucharist."

March 16 - 7 p.m., Professor Chris Seeman, "The Commissioning Account in the Four Gospels."

March 23 - 7 p.m., Monsignor Michael Cariglio and Professor Phil Pillin, "Adoration Traditions in the Parish."

March 30 - 7 p.m., Rabbi John Sitzer and Chris Seeman, "The Seder and the Last Supper from a Jewish and Christian Perspective."

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: St. Louis/sacred Heart parish hosts 5-week Eucharist Revival
A farmer plants rice seedlings in a field in Nilphamari, Bangladesh, Feb. 9, 2023. (Xinhua)

NILPHAMARI, Bangladesh, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's Chongqing Zhong Yi is a frequent participant in China's aid and technical collaborations and a leader in rice technology cooperation in Bangladesh.

The Chinese seed giant exports 2,600 tons of seeds of high-yielding Chinese rice varieties to Asia and Africa each year.

Of the total, around 1,500 tons go to Bangladesh where the "Janakraj" strain is the most popular with its high yield, high resistance to pests, and high quality.

Currently Bangladesh's Ministry of Agriculture and Chongqing Zhong Yi Seed distribute at least eight hybrid strains in parts of the South Asian country including Nilphamari district, some 360 km northwest of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Badal Islam, a farmer from Nilphamari district, has grown Chinese rice varieties with good yields. "We've benefited immensely from the good yields."

"This is why we're cultivating Chinese rice again and again," Islam told Xinhua, adding "Now I'm cultivating Chinese rice in 3 bigha (0.3306 acre) land, this rice looks good, the yield is good and I like to cultivate it."

Farmer Md Asir Uddin said Chinese seeds are vital to their ambition to become self-sufficient in rice production. "We get 24-25 maunds of paddy after harvesting from 1 bigha," he said. He added they grow "Chinese Rice 28" and they benefit from the higher yield.

"We cultivate this rice because this rice is not affected by any viruses or insects," he said. The farmer said they expect a bumper production and a lot of profit if the market is good from Boro, or winter rice cultivation season, when most Bangladeshis eat rice three times a day.

Boro is the predominant crop in the three main crop-growing seasons in Bangladesh. It is also the dry season irrigating rice crop planted from December to early February and harvested between April and June.

Sahirul Islam, a representative of the seed supplier National AgriCare Group, said farmers in northern Bangladesh are widely cultivating high-yielding rice varieties, especially seeds brought from China.

Among high-yielding rice varieties, he said "Janakraj, National AgriCare Dhan 4, National AgriCare Dhan 1 have been widely accepted by farmers. Farmers received good yields last time so this time they are using our seeds."

"If we calculate the (amount of) seeds that the farmers have taken from us, then about 90,000 to 95,000 acres of land is being cultivated in (northern) Rangpur region," he said.

He said so far the weather is fine and seedbeds are good for farmers. "We hope this year's cultivation will be very successful," said Islam. He believed the advantage is that people are planting seeds in trays, following this Chinese machinery is used by farmers to plant rice.

Farmers pick up rice seeds from seedbeds and plant them through China-made machines, he said. "With the advent of Chinese machinery, rice cultivation in our country has become very easy."

In parts of Bangladesh, farmers do not want to plant anything other than high-yielding Chinese rice varieties because Chinese agriculturists work directly with farmers in their fields.

The Chinese experts understand the needs of particular crop and have knowledge of current trends in rice cultivation that Bangladeshi farmers can only dream of.

Ling Jiahu of Chongqing Zhong Yi said they have a world-class research team, seen as the backbone of China's seed industry. According to Ling, yields of high-yielding Chinese rice varieties can reach 11 tons per hectare, 30 percent higher than local Bangladeshi varieties.

Abu Bakkar Siddique of Bangladesh's Department of Agricultural Extension previously told Xinhua that hybrid rice is a winter crop in just over half of the country's paddies and plays an important role in food production.

"AgriCare hybrid seeds from China sold here are very satisfactory," he said. "Chinese companies are crucial to our agricultural development and we're very grateful for their support." 

A farmer uses a machine to plant rice seedlings in a field in Nilphamari, Bangladesh, Feb. 9, 2023. (Xinhua)

Farmers plant rice seedlings in a field in Nilphamari, Bangladesh, Feb. 9, 2023. (Xinhua)

A farmer transports rice seedlings in a field in Nilphamari, Bangladesh, Feb. 9, 2023. (Xinhua)
Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally and David Cross has joined the cast of the fourth and final season of Netflixs superhero drama series The Umbrella Academy.

Real-life husband and wife Offerman and Mullally will play Drs. Gene and Jean Thibedeau, a married pair of community college professors from New Mexico who wear sensible footwear and suffer from the most extreme case of deja vu this timeline has ever seen.

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Cross will play Sy Grossman, an upstanding, shy business owner and family man desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter, who will stop at nothing to get her back.

Production on the fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy is currently underway in Toronto. As previously announced, Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya, and Colm Feore will reprise their roles.

Steve Blackman will return to close out the series as Executive Producer, along with EPs Jesse McKeown, Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg, Scott Stuber and Beau Bauman; and co-executive producers Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. The series is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, for Netflix.

Parks and Rec alum Offerman is already getting Emmy buzz for his role as hardened survivalist Bill on HBOs hit series The Last Of Us, based on the widely popular PlayStation video game.

Former Will & Grace star Mullally can currently be seen in Starzs Party Down and will next be seen in Percy Jackson & The Olympians on Disney+.

Cross most recently teamed with Bob Odenkirk to develop Guru Nation, a docu-style comedy for Paramount+. His recent TV credits include Station Eleven and What We Do in the Shadows.

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A vast majority of extremism-linked mass murders in 2022 were committed by white supremacists, according to a report published by the Anti-Defamation League.

The advocacy groups Center on Extremism characterised 25 extremism-related murders last year, with 18 of those killings committed in whole or part for ideological motives, according to the report.

Two massacres  the murders of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a mass shooting inside a LGBT+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado  accounted for most of the extremism-related murders last year, the report found.

Payton Gendron, an admitted white supremacist who espoused the so-called Great Replacement theory, pleaded guilty last year to hate-motivated domestic terrorism and 10 counts of first-degree murder, among other charges, after the Buffalo attack.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, who is accused of running a neo-Nazi website and using racist and anti-gay slurs, will face a jury trial on more than 300 charges in connection with the attack at Club Q in Colorado. The suspect has pleaded not guilty.

White supremacists are behind the highest number of extremism-related murders in most years; last year, 21 of the 25 murders were linked to white supremacists. But all the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds, the report found.

The number of mass killings linked to extremism in the US within the past decade was at least three times higher than the totals from any other 10-year period since the 1970s, according to the report.

The report notes that there were fewer extremist-related murders overall in 2022, continuing a downward trend of extremist-related killings after a five-year span of 47-78 extremist-related murders per year between 2015-2019. Last years total would have been much lower if not for the two high-profile massacres in New York and Colorado.

The report also notes that 93 per cent of the killings in 2022 were committed with firearms, a consistent fact of extremist violence and a consequence of the countrys failure to take meaningful action to deal with gun violence, according to the Center on Extremism.

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Over the last few years, federal law enforcement agencies have repeatedly renewed domestic terror bulletins noting a heightened threat environment in the US, fueled by extremist ideologies and largely motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and/or personal grievances that pose threats to vulnerable communities, including LGBT+ people and people of colour.

Officials from the Department of Homeland Security and FBI have repeatedlytestified to members of Congress and issued law enforcement-wide advisories to warn against a rise in white supremacist violence, as well as online communities that have laundered disinformation and conspiracy theories tied to violence from obscure corners of the internet into mainstream channels across social media.

The agencies have identified domestic violent extremists, particularly white supremacists, as the most persistent and lethal terrorist threat facing the US.

President Joe Biden also has repeatedly condemned the poison of white supremacism and extremist violence. Last year, his administration established an inter-agency group focused on combating antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination, according to the White House.

The group will coordinate efforts to raise understanding about antisemitism and the threat it poses to the Jewish community and all Americans, address antisemitic harassment and abuse both online and offline, seek to prevent antisemitic attacks and incidents, and encourage whole-of-society efforts to counter antisemitism and build a more inclusive nation, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
'Anything they need is available," Biden tells ABC's Muir about East Palestine

Defending his administration's response to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Biden told ABC News anchor David Muir on Friday that he's "made it clear" to officials on the ground that "anything they need, we'll make it available to them."

In an exclusive interview at the White House, Muir asked Biden for his response to the East Palestine mayor, who called it a "slap in the face" that Biden traveled to Ukraine while his town felt forgotten in the weeks after the crisis. (He later said he would welcome a Biden visit).

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to ABC News 'World News Tonight' anchor David Muir in an exclusive interview on Feb. 24, 2023. (ABC News)

"Let's put this in perspective. Within two hours of that derailment, the EPA was in there. Within two hours. Every major agency in the United States government that had anything to do rail and/or cleanup was there, and is there," Biden said.

"In addition to that, I've spoken at length to the congresspersons, the governors, the senators from both states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. And I've made it clear to them anything they need is available or -- we'll make it available to them," he said.

PHOTO: This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at mid-day Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP, FILE)

MORE: Political fallout over federal response to Ohio train derailment

Asked if he's spoken to the mayor, Trent Conaway, Biden said he couldn't recall. But according to a timeline shared by the White House Friday evening, Biden's team has attempted to reach the mayor by phone four times since Feb. 6.

MORE: Ohio train derailment: Residents confront officials as Norfolk Southern announces new cleanup plan

Biden called for "full blown inspection of all the homes" and free housing for everyone in the near vicinity of the derailment, paid for by the railroad, during the clean-up. Biden also said the railroad should fully inspect the houses afterward and if they're not in "good enough shape," tear them down and compensate people to find a new home.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to ABC News 'World News Tonight' anchor David Muir in an exclusive interview on Feb. 24, 2023. (ABC News)

MORE: NTSB on East Palestine toxic train derailment: '100% preventable'

"Whatever happens here, we've got to understand it's the responsibility of the railroad company -- which has made, by the way, tens of billions of dollars in profits -- tens of billions of dollars of profits," Biden said.

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He said he had directed officials on the ground to launch a door-to-door campaign this weekend, checking in with residents about their needs.

MORE: 'My intention is ... to run,' Biden tells ABC's Muir on reelection decision

A White House official confirmed the team would reach 400 homes by Monday and be led by a combination of agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"So, there's a lot more to do, but we're there to the end to make sure it's done," Biden said.

PHOTO: Booms are placed in a stream that flows through the center of East Palestine, Ohio, as the cleanup continues following the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train over a week ago, Feb. 15, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

Norfolk Southern has given all residents a $1,000 "inconvenience check" and committed $5.6 million to East Palestine.

Norfolk Southern touted additional donations to the community of East Palestine Friday, announcing $300,0000 for the school district "without condition" three weeks after its train derailed in the community.

The company said it is also reimbursing the fire department roughly $825,000 for its equipment.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has promised to restore the site.

From day one, Ive made the commitment that Norfolk Southern is going to remediate the site, were going to do continuous long-term air and water monitoring, were going to help the residents of this community recover, and were going to invest in the long-term health of this community. And were going to make Norfolk Southern a safer railroad," he said.

For more from Muir's interview with President Biden, watch ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir" at 6:30 p.m. ET.

'Anything they need is available," Biden tells ABC's Muir about East Palestine originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: President Joe Biden has announced new sanctions on Russia and about 200 other individuals and entities, including Russian banks and players in third party countries. Alex Murdaugh returns to the stand in his double murder trial and thousands of animals have died in the wake of the toxic Ohio train derailment. Also, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been fined for hiding billions of investments. Finally, millions of men are leaving the workforce. What does it mean for the economy?

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know, Saturday, 25th February 2023.

Today, new sanctions against Russia, plus the latest from the trial of Alex Murdaugh, and thousands of animals are dead in the wake of the Ohio train derailment.

President Joe Biden has announced new sanctions against Russia. He and other leaders of Group of Seven nations reaffirmed their support for Ukraine yesterday on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion. They affirm that they're committed to new coordinated economic actions. These include limiting Russia's access to equipment and machinery that supports the country's military, and taking actions against third country actors who are supporting Russia.

The White House said yesterday that the US will sanction another 200 individuals and entities. They include Russian banks, the country's defense technology industry, and players in third party countries trying to avoid US sanctions. President Biden visited Europe this week, including an unannounced stop in Ukraine. There he pledged nearly half a billion dollars in additional security assistance for the country, though he still resisted their request for F16 fighter jets. For more on the war in Ukraine one year later, check out a special edition of 5 Things that we released yesterday. You can find it right here on this feed.

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Alex Murdaugh returned to the stand yesterday in his double murder trial, and he was pressed again about what he did the day his wife and son were killed. Lead prosecutor, Creighton Waters, pressed Murdaugh on inconsistencies in his memory. That came a day after Murdaugh revealed for the first time that he was at the scene where they were shot before they died. On Thursday, he admitted to lying to investigators about the last time he saw Maggie and Paul Murdaugh alive in June of 2021, though he continues to deny that he killed them.

Prosecutors allege that he did kill them to gain sympathy and buy time to cover up a slew of financial crimes that were about to be discovered. Murdaugh said he believes their murders were actually connected to a 2019 boat crash. In that incident, his son Paul, allegedly crashed his family's boat into a bridge killing 19 year old Mallory Beach. He was awaiting trial when he was killed. For more from the murder trial, stay with USAtoday.com.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates that more than 43,000 animals have died in and around East Palestine, Ohio as a result of the toxic train derailment earlier this month. So how concerning is this? I spoke with Canton Repository reporter, Paige Bennett to find out. Paige, welcome to 5 Things.

Paige Bennett:

Hi. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for being here. Officials in Ohio have released data on how many animals died in the wake of the East Palestine derailment. Paige, what do the numbers say?

Paige Bennett:

We found out recently from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that about 43,000 fish died in the train derailment in East Palestine. Of that 43,000, about 38,000 of them were minnows, and then there were about 5,500 other species, which included fish, crayfish and amphibians.

Taylor Wilson:

How did officials actually calculate these numbers?

Paige Bennett:

They have been on the ground since the days following the derailment, and they set up four different stations where they were doing collections in the waterways around East Palestine. From their initial observations, they had gotten a number of around 3,500 dead fish through sampling. Their actual sample number ended up being slightly below that, but they took that sample number and then applied it to a mathematical calculation to get that 43,000 number.

Taylor Wilson:

Paige, what do we know about animals who eat other animals that might have been poisoned from this disaster?

Paige Bennett:

Officials are saying that there's no concern right now about any of the land animals that were in contact with any of these animals. There's been some anecdotal reports of animals in and around the area getting sick and dying, but no official word on anything like that. They did have three dead birds and an opossum that were from the area that they sent to the Department of Agriculture for testing. But those came back negative of any chemical poisoning, so there's no concern of that right now.

Taylor Wilson:

Can we expect any other issues for animals in the area in the coming months and years from this disaster?

Paige Bennett:

Officials are saying not right now. There's no signs of suffering with any of the aquatic or land animals in the area. In fact, they said that some fish have actually started to return to Leslie Run, which is one of the waterways in the area that was affected.

Taylor Wilson:

What do these animal deaths mean for humans in this part of Ohio and Pennsylvania?

Paige Bennett:

They said there's really no comparison that they can make with humans. There's no particular concerns that they have about it affecting any future animals in the area. They're pretty much saying that everything as of right now seems like it'll be okay.

Taylor Wilson:

How are local residents reacting to this news about the animals?

Paige Bennett:

There is some concern and some just general skepticism among locals. I know there's been several lawsuits against the train company, but there is one that's alleging that animals as far as 20 miles away have been getting sick and dying, but nothing evidential from the officials yet.

Taylor Wilson:

Paige Bennett from the Canton Repository in Ohio. Fantastic insight on a disturbing problem. Thanks so much, Paige.

Paige Bennett:

No problem.

Taylor Wilson:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been fined after federal regulators accused the church of failing to properly disclose its stock market investments worth billions of dollars and other details. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the Mormon Church's investment manager with the church's knowledge went to great lengths to avoid disclosing that church's investments. The SEC says that the church was concerned disclosure of its portfolio might lead to negative consequences like a drop in donations. Some have estimated a church investment portfolio might be worth more than $100 billion. The church has agreed to pay $1 million in fines, while nonprofit investment firm Ensign Park will pay $4 million.

Millions of men are leaving the workforce. Employers continue to struggle to fill some positions, and the share of Americans working or looking for jobs is at 62.4%, well below its pre-pandemic level of 63.4%. Much of this shortfall can be attributed to older people who retired early during the pandemic, but a less publicized factor is that men aged 25 to 44 have been dropping out of the workforce for decades. That number rebounded from 2017 to 2019 right before COVID hit, but it's since slid back down. Right now, about 88.5% of that group is working or job hunting down from 89.2% before the pandemic.

An economist, Justin Begley, estimates nearly three million additional men would be in the workforce if the participation rate was at its 1990 level. There's a number of reasons why so many American men may have stopped working. Some may have done so to raise children while their spouse works, though economists have also put lots of stock on manufacturing jobs moving overseas. You can read the full story with a link in today's show notes.

Be sure to check out the Sunday edition of 5 Things tomorrow with host James Brown. This week, do dogs smile? You can find that episode right here on this feed. I'll be back Monday with more of 5 Things from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden announces new sanctions on Russia, dead animals in wake of toxic derailment.
More than 126,000 customers are without power in California as a major storm brings record rainfall, heavy snow and damaging winds. The storm will be moving from southern California across the entire country over the next few days, eventually moving northeast by Tuesday.

As of Saturday morning, more than 30 million Americans are under weather alerts in the West, ranging from blizzard warnings in the mountains near Los Angeles to wind chill alerts in the Northern Plains.

The Los Angeles area saw record rainfall on Friday, and it came along with 50- to 70-mile-per-hour winds. Burbank, California, saw 4.6 inches of rain Friday -- stranding cars in floods and causing dozens of flight delays and cancellations.

PHOTO: Tracking the storm weather graphic (ABC News)

Records for daily rainfall were also set at the Los Angeles International Airport and the cities of Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto and Oxnard.

Depending on where you are around the Los Angeles area, between 2 to 5 inches of rain have fallen in the last 24 hours alone. Five to eight inches of rain have fallen at higher elevations north of the city. The Flash Flood Warning from Saturday morning has been allowed to expire, but a Flood Watch continues through the afternoon.

Multiple stretches of I-5 in Los Angeles County were shuttered on Saturday due to rain and snow. A portion of I-5 near Atwater Village in Metro LA was blocked off in both directions for several hours after flooding inundated all lanes of the highway, preventing motorists from passing. The southbound lane has since reopened, but the northbound lane remains closed.

MORE: 5 dead, including patient and medical personnel, in Care Flight plane crash

Further north along the same stretch of freeway, more than 25 miles of I-5 Grapevine remains sealed off to travelers due to "heavy snow and ice," per California Highway Patrol.

PHOTO: A plow clears snow on Mount Baldy Road in the town of Mount Baldy, Calif., on Feb. 24, 2023. (Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images)

Heavy rain continues in southern California, with heavy snow in the mountains, mainly above 2,000 feet elevation. A few light snow showers may be found across the northeast this morning, with scattered minor accumulations.

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In the mountains outside of Los Angeles, anywhere from 2 to 6 feet of snow have fallen since Wednesday. Blizzard Warnings remain in effect until 4 p.m. local time due to the heavy snow and winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour. Snow has been falling at rates of 2.5 inches in places, like Lake Arrowhead, California.

Rain and snow will not be letting up on Saturday. More flooding rain is possible in the Los Angeles area, although the heaviest rain looks to move to the east of the city by end of day.

PHOTO: The Los Angeles River, swollen by storm runoff, flows strongly downstream toward the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 24, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

PHOTO: A person helps push out a vehicle that became stuck in the snow on a roadway in the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles National Forest, Calif., on Feb. 24, 2023. (Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images)

In the mountains, incredibly heavy snow is leading to treacherous travel. The central and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains are looking at an additional 2 to 4 feet of snow Saturday.

MORE: Avalanche kills 3 climbers after victims swept 500 feet down mountain

On Sunday, the majority of the rain from this major storm will be moving through Arizona, bringing rain in the lower elevations and snow in the mountainous terrain. Meanwhile, another wave of rain and snow will arrive in northern California during the morning hours, with precipitation from Sacramento all the way north to Seattle.

That storm moves eastward by Sunday, but will deliver a severe weather threat to Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas on Sunday afternoon. Tornadoes and damaging winds are possible.

More than 126,000 without power in California as storm brings rain, heavy snow, damaging winds originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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Helen Mirren, 77, stunned in a black form-fitting gown at the Golda film premiere in Berlin, Germany.

Mirrens look featured gorgeous, long gray hair.

We have the details on her red carpet beauty favorites and the best shampoos for bright silver strands.

Whether striking a pose with Sharon Stone, Drew Barrymore, and Mariah Carey for an epic photo on the red carpet or shocking fans with impactful new roles (check her out in Yellowstones prequel, 1923!), Helen Mirren seems to be thriving at 77. And her latest red carpet appearance proved just that. At the premiere of her latest film, Golda, the star stunned in a form-fitting black floor-length dress and extra-long gray hair.

The timeless, elegant look featured long sleeves with a puffed statement shoulder and a cowl neckline. Mirren wore her waves in a side part and minimal accessories, paired perfectly with a bold red lip. The event took place at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in Germany.

As for her red carpet look, Mirrens platinum-level gray was impressively bright. And although she had the help of Hollywood professionals and, likely, extensions, dermatologists previously shared with Prevention the best shampoos for gray hair to brighten and nourish natural salt-and-pepper strands.





LOreals Serie Expert Magnesium Silver Neutralising Shampoo contains violet micro-pigments that fight yellowing and amino acids that hydrate your locks, said Noelani Gonzalez, M.D., an instructor in dermatology at Mount Sinai in New York City. Gonzalez also recommended the best-selling and budget-friendly purple shampoo, Clairol Professional Shimmer Lights.

Dominique Charriau - Getty Images

The Golda premiere isnt the first time Mirren has rocked XL gray hair, either. The 77-year-old wore a similar look to the 2022 Cannes Film Festivaldramatic hair flip included.

Needless to say, the actress has found power in going gray. In 2021, she called it an easy transition, especially because she had blonde hair to begin with.

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The women of my age who have made the leap [to gray] recently look so spectacular, she said, adding that people should do whatever makes them feel comfortable.

Keep scrolling to shop shampoos for every gray hair journey, as well as Mirrens past red carpet beauty favorites.

Mirrens decades-long career has seen her transform into a number of charactersnot all of them well-received. The star has gotten some flack for playing Golda Meir in the new film, Golda. Mirren wore prosthetics and makeup to step into the character, and the films director, Guy Nattiv, has defended casting her. She totally got everything, every nook and cranny, everything in this character, he told Deadline.

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No passport? No problem  here are cruises you can take without a passport.

Courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line

Cruising is back after a few years of rough seas, figuratively speaking. Cruise lines worked behind the scenes during the pandemic, planning for their return to the worlds waterways. New ships, creative amenities, engaging shore excursions, a wide range of itineraries, and meticulous health protocols are now attracting first-time cruisers as well as long-time cruise fans. From mega-ships to smaller expedition vessels, theres a voyage for every type of traveler.

If youve been thinking about a cruise  perhaps you received an invitation from a friend to join an upcoming trip, or you noticed a last-minute cruise bargain  youll want to make sure you have all of your travel documents ready to go. If your passport has been gathering dust for the last two years, it may be expired. Does that mean you wont be able to take the cruise? Not necessarily  heres what you need to know about taking a cruise without a passport.

You can cruise to quite a few destinations without a passport, as long as you have proof of citizenship and a government-issued photo ID. A variety of documents are accepted as proof of citizenship, including a state-certified U.S. birth certificate. A complete list is provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and their recent publication also explains the requirements for taking a cruise without a passport. Note that enhanced drivers licenses are issued in very few states at this time, so its important not to assume that yours qualifies as identification and proof of citizenship.

The cruises must be closed-loop, meaning they begin and end at the same U.S. port. A one-way cruise that boards in a U.S. port and disembarks in a different U.S. port does not qualify. While you may leave and enter the United States on a closed-loop cruise with the required identification and proof of citizenship, you should be aware that some countries on your itinerary may require a passport. (Your cruise line should provide that information when you book your trip.) Its still a good idea to bring your passport on a cruise if its up to date, but if its not, weve got you covered. Here are eight destinations that you can cruise to without a passport (and dont forget to renew your passport so youll always be ready to travel).

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Places to Cruise Without a Passport

The good news is that you can cruise to quite a few popular destinations without a passport, including Alaska, the Bahamas, Mexico, Bermuda, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Canada, and New England. Just be sure that your cruise begins and ends in the same U.S. port, and double check your identification and proof of citizenship documents.

Alaska

Courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line

The majority of closed-loop cruises to Alaska originate and return to Seattle. However, American Cruise Lines Southeast Alaska cruise boards in Juneau and returns to the same port after visiting Glacier Bay and several Alaskan towns.

Norwegian Cruise Line offers a seven-day cruise from Seattle aboard Norwegian Bliss with stops in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, and Victoria before returning to Seattle. Holland America Lines seven-day Alaskan Explorer departs from Seattle and cruises the Puget Sound and Stephens Passage.

Bahamas

Courtesy of Disney

Floridas ports of Miami, Port Everglades (in Fort Lauderdale), and Port Canaveral (about an hour east of Orlando) offer the majority of closed-loop cruises to the Bahamas. In addition to those departure ports, Carnival Cruise Line sails to the Bahamas from Florida ports in Jacksonville and Tampa, while Royal Caribbean has departures from Tampa, Baltimore, Cape Liberty, New Jersey, and Galveston, Texas.

Disney Cruise Line offers a three-night Bahamian cruise from Port Canaveral aboard the spectacular Disney Wish with a day in Nassau and a day at Disney Castaway Cay before returning to Port Canaveral.

Mexico

Courtesy of Celebrity Cruises

Closed-loop cruises to Mexico depart from Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Galveston. From East Coast ports, cruise ships visit the Yucatan Peninsulas Costa Maya and the island of Cozumel in the Caribbean Sea. From West Coast ports, destinations along the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez include Cabo San Lucas, Ensenada, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Manzanillo, Loreto, La Paz, Guaymas, and Topolobampo.

Celebrity Cruises 12-night New Orleans & the Caribbean cruise departs from and returns to Tampa after stops in New Orleans, Key West, and Honduras as well as Costa Maya and Cozumel. Princess Cruises offers a seven-day Mexican Riviera with La Paz voyage that includes Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, and La Paz.

Bermuda

Courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line

Located 570 miles east of North Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda is a convenient cruise destination from the East Coast ports of New York City, Baltimore, Charleston, Boston, Port Canaveral, Miami, and Norfolk, Virginia.

Carnivals six-day Bermuda from Norfolk cruise spends two days at sea and three days in Bermuda. Bermuda Bliss, a seven-day Oceana cruise from New York City, visits Hamilton and St. George in Bermuda and includes two days at sea.

Hawaii

The Hawaiian islands are about 3,700 miles from the West Coast, so cruises from the mainland to Hawaii and back involve four or five days at sea in each direction. Closed-loop cruises depart from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego. There are also cruises that originate in Honolulu and tour the other islands.

Princess Cruises' 16-day Hawaiian Islands voyage from San Francisco visits Hilo, Honolulu, Kauai, and Maui before five days at sea and a stop in Ensenada on the return to San Francisco. Norwegian Cruise Line offers a seven-day Hawaii inter-island cruise that boards in Honolulu and visits Maui, Hilo and Kona on the Big Island, and Kauai before returning to Honolulu.



The Caribbean

Courtesy of Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Departure ports for closed-loop Caribbean cruises include Tampa, Miami, Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, Galveston, Baltimore, New Orleans, and New York City. Cruises also depart from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Regent Seven Seas features the Wonders in the Caribbean cruise that departs from Miami with stops in the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Key West. Royal Caribbeans seven-night Southern Caribbean Holiday cruise embarks in San Juan and visits Barbados, Trinidad, Tobago, St. Vincent, and St. Maarten.

Canada and New England

Courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line

Canada and New England are typically grouped together on itineraries that originate in Boston, New York City, and Cape Liberty, New Jersey.

Norwegian Cruise Line offers a seven-day Canada & New England cruise from New York City with visits to Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; and Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine, before a day at sea and a return to New York City.



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Alex Murdaugh Says 'There Was Nobody Around The Dogs Didnt Know' In Moments Before Wife, Son Killed Near Kennels

The cross-examination of Alex Murdaugh continued Friday, with the disbarred South Carolina lawyer admitting on the stand that the dogs at the kennels on his property didn't seem to detect any strangers in the moments leading up to his wife and son being killed nearby.

Murdaugh's remarks were in response to lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asking him if the dogs were "barking and carrying on" or "acting like they sensed somebody was around they didn't know."

Murdaugh, who's charged with the murders of wife, Maggie, and their son Paul, responded, "No. There was nobody around that the dogs didn't know," later adding, "There was nobody else around for them to sense."

RELATED: From Enron To Madoff, Learn About The Most High-Profile White Collar Cases In US History

The line of questioning appeared to challenge Murdaugh's defense team's theory that another person murdered Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, soon after Murdaugh left them at the kennels on the family's Colleton County, South Carolina property on the evening of June 7, 2021.

Prosecutors also focused heavily on another fact: that Murdaugh lied about his whereabouts that night. Murdaugh told authorities that he hadn't been with the pair at the kennels earlier  a falsehood he maintained for the next 20 months.

Alex Murdaugh prepares for jury selection

Alex Murdaugh prepares for jury selection to resume during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C. on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. Photo: AP

He admitted on the stand Thursday that he lied about being near the kennels with his wife and son the night they were murdered, blaming the lie on his opioid addiction, which he said fogged up his mind and made him paranoid of authorities.

The change of course only happened after jurors were shown video from Paul's phone from the night of his death in court earlier this month, footage that that prosecutors claimed proved Murdaugh was with the pair near the dog kennels just minutes before they were killed.

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Before Thursday, Murdaugh had told authorities he was napping at the property's main house while Maggie and Paul were at the kennels, saying he then went to visit his sick mom in another town. But two friends of Paul testified that they were "100 percent" sure that Murdaugh could be heard speaking in the video.

Murdaugh added on the stand Thursday he felt he needed to keep up the lie after initially telling police he wasn't at the kennels with his wife and son.

A police handout of Michael Hutto

The disgraced lawyer offered more details on keeping up the lie Friday, saying that he didn't tell police the truth about where he was that night, in part because he didn't trust the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, according to the New York Times.

Murdaugh explained that one of the reasons he distrusted that state investigative agency was because they were looking into a 2019 fatal boat crash his son Paul was involved in, in which Paul was accused of being drunk while crashing the boat, resulting in the death of passenger Mallory Beach, who was 19. Paul was facing charges in that crash at the time of his death.

On Friday, Murdaugh said he believes that his son was a target because of the boat incident, according to the Times. "I can tell you for a fact that the person or people who did what I saw on June 7, they hated Paul Murdaugh and they had anger in their heart, Murdaugh said.

Waters also attempted to show a pattern of lying Friday, bringing up a lengthly list of family and friends that Murdaugh allegedly lied to over the years, including his wife, brothers, friends and law partners, according to the Times.

Oxy App

The lead prosecutor also showed the court body camera footage of the first deputy showing up at the scene of the murders, pointing out that Murdaugh told the deputy that he hadn't seen his wife and son for a while before leaving their property, the Times reports.

Cross-examination of Murdaugh wrapped up Friday afternoon, after a total of about six hours on the stand. Murdaugh later returned to the stand to be questioned by one of his lawyers during a redirect examination.

Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted on the double-murder charges. He's also charged with nearly 100 other crimes, including tax evasion and stealing from clients, and is being held without bail for those charges, according to the Associated Press.
Joan Marcus

The break room in a workplace is a place of partial, momentary escape from the grind. The relaxation, eating, bitching, gossiping time is all-too-brief, your workplace is just beyond the door, and the presence of managementon noticeboards, or the hovering human clock-watchers in chargeis all around.

The break room at a Hobby Lobby store in Boise, Idaho, is the setting for Samuel D. Hunters Obie Award-winning 2010 play A Bright New Boise, and is no such refuge. In the revival currently playing at New Yorks Signature Theatre, to March 12, the at-first-unassuming Will (Peter Mark Kendall) is trying to both escape and find somethingif he doesnt break himself in the process, that is. Initially he seems folded in on himself with shame.

If You Want to Understand White Evangelicals, Tour a Hobby Lobby Store

Within Wilson Chins well-imagined, numbly plain set, the thing Will is trying to forget in this banal place is a terrible scandal at an evangelical church he was a member of. The thing he wants to reclaim is a relationship with his son Alex (Igancio Diaz-Silverio, drily surly and spiky) who he gave up for adoption 17 years previously. Alex nervously contemplates his overtures, both personal and religious.

Also suspicious of his beliefs and motives, with good reason, is Leroy (Angus OBrien), Alexs brother, who wears T-shirts with confrontational slogans. Anna (Anna Baryshnikov) is a quiet co-worker, who forms a bond with Will as a fellow employee who hides away at the end of the working day to spend quiet time after lights outand the store has been locked upin the break room.

Store manager Pauline (Eva Kaminsky) is in charge of this group of people; Kaminsky is the standout performer of the play, supplying a constant, very funny, scene-dominating comedy of exasperation as things and people fall apart, and she just wishes her underlings would get on with their jobs in service of the productive small-scale model of capitalism she is proud to have constructed and oversee. Will and his destabilizing presencehe is both recessive and combativethreaten to destroy all her best-laid plans.

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That Kaminsky emerges as such a forceful presence is one of the curios of this solid, if static-feeling play, directed by Oliver Butler. It is beached between comedy and drama, with the comedy a relief amid the plays darker interrogations of the soul and motivation.

Peter Mark Kendall and Ignacio Diaz-Silverio in A Bright New Boise. Joan Marcus

Will is a strange character to observe, and presumably to play. One moment we see the absentee dad trying to do the right thing, and get to know and help his clearly vulnerableboth physically and mentallyteenage son. The next he is a fulminating religious maniac, banging on about the Rapture and apocalypse.

In a 2017 PBS interview, Hunter explained: I went to a fundamentalist Christian high school in Idaho, so that makes my relationship to that worldview complex in some ways. I have so many objections to it, but Im also fascinated by religious extremism and religious people. Its an issue that begs us to understand it in a more profound way than we do right now As secular humanists in this country, our initial reaction is just to say that fundamentalists believe because they are either dumb or crazy. A Bright New Boise is trying to bring some humanity and empathy to these people who I think we have this knee jerk reaction to.

Yet, whatever the play intends, Will doesnt invite understanding. You want to move away from him, as you do any crazy-seeming person, not listen to any of his strident, disturbed rambling. Even Anna, a gentle, live-and-let-live Lutheran, who clearly likes Will, runs from his bug-eyed lunacy eventually, after he scorns what he perceives as her minor-key, non-committal Christian faith.

In Will, we get no sense of a person faltering between impulses; just the sporadic, inexplicable expressions of what he might be feeling in the moment. He is such a gross, intolerant zealot that whatever cries of confusion and pain he voices ring hollow. Even when we find out where some of this pain is rooted, it changes nought; he just seems unpleasant and damaged and possibly psychotic and a danger to others. The play doesnt seem to know what to do with him, and neither do his fellow characters, or we, the audience too.

The notion of a destructive, crazy religious sect is a familiar one, and an even more familiar and present one when Hunter originally wrote the play. This was also a time when the Hobby Lobby was a Christian-owned craft store, whose name did not more immediately summon up the social controversies and culture wars that became the hallmark of the brand from 2012 onwards.

While its central protagonist is such a weird, unknowable thorn, this is a fluent, well-acted production, with a striking lighting design by Jen Schriever that enlivens not just the charged airlessness of the break room, but also transports us outside to a busy highway. There, the damaged and damaging Will faces his destiny, and the key question of whether he will do right by his son, or remain in service to the reason-defying extremities of the faith he has thus far so zealously embraced. In that final respect, the title of the play is darkly ironic.

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UPDATE, writethru: Dominik Molls The Night Of The 12th swept the board at the 48th edition of Frances Cesar awards in Paris on Friday evening.

The film, which was nominated in 10 categories, also won best male newcomer for its star Bastien Bouillon, best-supporting actor for Belgian actor Bouli Lanners as well as best sound and adapted screenplay.

More from Deadline

The investigative drama world premiered in Cannes non-competitive Cannes Premiere section last May.

Bouillon plays a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim in a small town close to the city of Grenoble in the foothills of the French Alps.

Louis Garrels comedy The Innocent, which led the nominations making it into 11 categories, won best original screenplay for the director and co-writers Tanguy Viel and Naila Guiguet as well as best supporting actress for Tar star Noemie Merlant.

Brad Pitt & Virginie Efira presented David Fincher with his Honorary Cesar Award

Outside the main awards, the evening included an Honorary Career Cesar for David Fincher with Seven and Fight Club star Brad Pitt putting in a surprise appearance to present him with the trophy.

Other highlights included a performance by Charlotte Gainsbourg of her late father Serge Gainsbourgs 1974-hit song Comme Un Boomerang with French rapper young star Dinos.

Iranian-French actress Golshifteh Farahani, who is currently completing Berlinale jury duty with Kristen Stewart, also made an appearance via a recorded video address speaking in support of the Woman, Life Freedom protest in her native Iran.

This years edition unfolded amid debate about the future of the awards and ceremony which has struggled to garner viewership for pay-TV giant Canal+ in recent years, even though the signal is made available to everyone for the evening.

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A poor showing for female representation in the top categories of Best Film and Director at the nomination stage also sparked debate.

In spite of recent efforts by the Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema which oversees the awards to introduce more transparency, parity and diversity within its ranks in recent years, not a single female director was nominated in the Best Director category.

Forever Young by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was the only female-directed feature in the running for Best Film. The picture was mired in controversy, however, after it emerged that co-star Sofiane Bennacer had been indicted on allegations of rape and violence by four women.

Films by female directors generating buzz ahead of the nomination announcement had included Alice Winocours Paris Memories, which got one nomination, and Rebecca Zlotowskis Other Peoples Children which did not make it into a single category.

Ironically, the evening ended up being very much about women with Alice Diop and Virginie Efira both making a point of name-checking the female directors in the room as they picked up trophies for Best First Film for Saint Omer and Best Actress for Alice Winocours Paris Memories respectively.

In the technical prizes, Irene Dresel made Cesar history when she became the first woman to win Best Original Score for Eric Gravels Full Time. She also gave a rousing shout-out to all the other women in the room and the film industry in general.

Molls film, in the meantime, was produced by three women: Caroline Benjo, Barbara Letellier and Carole Scotta at production and distribution company Haut et Court alongside Simon Arnal as associate producer.

Benjo highlighted the theme of violence against women running through The Night Of The 12th.

In the film, two characters share their observation that there is something going wrong between men and women. Its a euphemism summing up the count of violence taking place against women, she said.

The fact that two men had led the project, Benjo suggested was a sign that the MeToo debate had moved on with solutions to be found through women and men working together for progress.

I say long live women but also long live the men who join their struggle because its a struggle we need to fight together, she said to applause.

Outside of the debates, Fridays ceremony was widely heralded as a success by the local media, with just one glitch when a climate change protestor appeared on stage early on in the evening, wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan We have 761 days left.

The broadcast cut away from the live show while the woman was removed to resume 30 seconds later as if nothing had happened.

The full list of 2023 Cesar Awards:

BEST FILM

The Night Of The 12th

BEST DIRECTOR

Dominik Moll, The Night Of The 12th

BEST ACTRESS

Virginie Efira, Paris Memories

BEST ACTOR

Benoit Magimel, Pacifiction

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Noemie Merlant, The Innocent

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Bouli Lanners, The Night Of The 12th

BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER

Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Forever Young

BEST MALE NEWCOMER

Bastien Bouillon, The Night Of The 12th

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Louis Garrel, Tanguy Viel, Naila Guiguet, The Innocent

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Gilles Marchand, Dominik Moll, The Night Of The 12th

BEST DEBUT FEATURE

Saint Omer, Alice Diop

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

My Sunny Maad, Michaela Pavlatova

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Returning To Reims (Fragments), Jean-Gabriel Periot

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Artur Tort, Pacification

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Laurens Ehrmann, Notre Dame On Fire

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Irene Dresel, Full Time

BEST SOUND

Francois Maurel, Olivier Mortier, Luc Thomas, The Night Of The 12th

BEST SET DESIGN

Christian Marti, Simone  The Journey Of The Century

BEST EDITING

Mathilde van de Moortel, Full Time

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Gigi Lepage, Simone  The Journey Of The Century

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

La Vie Sexuelle De Mamie, Urska Djukic and Emilie Pigeard

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Maria Schneider, 1983, Elisabeth Subrin

BEST SHORT FILM

Partir Un Jour, Amelie Bonnin

BEST FOREIGN FILM

The Beasts, Rodrigo Sorogoyen









Best of Deadline

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Click here to read the full article.
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Friday held phone talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Aleinik, on bilateral ties and the Ukraine crisis.

Qin noted that bilateral relations realized a historic leap as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko jointly announced the elevation of China-Belarus relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand last September.

China is ready to work with Belarus to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, maintain high-level exchanges, take the head-of-state diplomacy as the strategic guidance, deepen political mutual trust and push for more fruitful cooperation, Qin said.

China will continue to support Belarus in its efforts to safeguard national stability and development, and oppose external interference in Belarus's internal affairs and illegal unilateral sanctions against the country, he said.

For his part, Aleinik said Belarus always takes its relations with China as a diplomatic priority, firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and firmly supports China on issues concerning its core interests.

He calls for further deepening practical cooperation with China in various fields, and pushing forward the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership between Belarus and China in an all-round way.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis and other issues of common concern.

Qin briefed Aleinik on a paper stating China's position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, stressing that China always stands on the side of peace, supports efforts in promoting talks for peace, and calls on relevant parties to stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid escalation and expansion of the crisis, resume negotiations at an early date, respect each other, accommodate each other's legitimate concerns and build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture.

Aleinik said Belarus fully agrees with and supports the Chinese document, adding that China's relevant proposals are of great significance to resolving the crisis. 
(Getty Images)

Former Republican Senator James Inhofe, who retired at the end of last year, announced that he suffered from symptoms of long Covid after he voted repeatedly against Covid-19 aid packages.

Mr Inhofe, who represented Oklahoma for decades in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, told The Tulsa World that he left the Senate because of the lingering effects from contracting Covid-19.

Five or six others have (long COVID), but Im the only one who admits, he said. Senator Tim Kaine, the Democratic senator from Virginia, said last year that he suffered lingering effects of Covid-19.

Mr Inhofe, 88, retired earlier this year from the Senate despite his term not being complete. Senator Markwayne Mullin, a Republican, replaced him.

Throughout his tenure as a senator, Mr Inhofe voted against relief for people and businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, HuffPost reported. In March 2020, he voted against the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which expanded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the food stamp program, expanded unemployment benefits and provided paid sick leave for those affected by Covid-19.

Mr Inhofe did vote for the CARES Act around that same time, which offered relief for families, the $1,200 stimulus checks and the Paycheck Protection Program, which offered loans to businesses affected by the pandemic in an effort to keep employees on payroll. He also voted for a Covid-19 relief bill in December 2020 that offered $600 stimulus checks, among other provisions. Former president Donald Trump signed both pieces of legislation during the pandemic.

But Mr Inhofe voted against the American Rescue Plan, which included a $1,400 stimulus check, unemployment benefits and provisions to help with vaccination distribution.

Mr Inhofe earned a distinction throughout his time in the Senate for being an ardent denier of the effects of climate change, notably throwing a snowball on the floor of the United States Senate when he served as chairman of the Senate Environment Committee.
Jill Bidens granddaughter, Naomi Biden, took a moment to help the adjust the First Ladys dress in the wind during their five-day trip to Africa.

The pair arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Friday following a visit to Namibia. Naomi is the daughter of Kathleen Buhle and Hunter Biden, the eldest child of President Joe Biden, who he welcomed with his late wife, Neila Hunter.

As Naomi and Jill came off of the Air Force plane and waved to the press, the FLOTUS blue dress began to flow upwards due to the wind. Naomi then stepped in to help her grandmother by firmly holding onto the dress to keep it from rising up. With her hand on the skirt, Naomi proceeded to walk down the stairs of the aircraft with Jill as they greeted the public.

Along with her blue dress, Jill wore a pair of black heels while her granddaughter wore a multi-coloured dress and cheetah-print heels. The 29-year-old also had her hair in a high bun.

Jill is currently on her third day of her five day tour of Africa, marking her first visit to the country as First Lady. During this trip, she is focusing on empowering women and girls while also highlighting the devastating drought that is increasing food insecurity across the Horn of Africa.

During her visit to Namibia on Thursday, she expressed how grateful she was to be in Africa with her granddaughter by her side.

Its so great for me to be able to bring a member of the family. I think its a tradition, or, actually that weve seen other families from first families, bring members of their family to just see the rest of the world and just experience the world, she said, via Daily Mail.

Jills granddaughter is notably a newlywed and got married at the White House to now-husband Peter Neal in November. The occasion took place on the South Lawn and was the 19th wedding to be held at the Executive Mansion since 1800. The celebration also marked the first White House wedding with a presidents granddaughter as the bride.

Story continues

(AFP via Getty Images)

In an interview with Vogue ahead of the nuptials, Naomi revealed how stressed her grandmother was about a particular part of the wedding.

I do know she lost sleep over the fact that I was planning to serve turkey sandwiches at the lunch, she said.

Naomi also shared some of the advice that she gained from Jill before the event.

She has really stressed to me that every time I get anxious about wedding stuff to take a breath and remember that its just a day about Peter and me and being around the people we love, she explained. Shes taught me so much about being independent and self-sufficient. But that doesnt mean you cant also be a selfless and fiercely loyal partner.
A shooting alert led Fort Myers police to "puddles of blood" after an altercation on a driveway.

When officers arrived in 1700 block of Raleigh Street about 2 a.m. Tuesday, they found a victim laying on the ground behind a pickup, an a police report said.

The victim was screaming for help, the report indcates.

Officers report the victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the lower extremities but didn't see anyone in the driveway or near the residence.

As officers aided the victim, they learned others were inside the home and attempted to clear the residence.

Previous shooting:Early Thursday shooting at US 41 parking lot triggers response from consulting firm

January killing:Louisiana man arrested in fatal shooting at Fort Myers restaurant

The report indicates four residents exited the home. During this time, first responders took the victim to Gulf Coast Medical Center.

One of the residents told authorities two individuals were hanging out with the suspect, and added that they do so regularly. They don't have problems with one another, the witness said.

Two residents were behind the pickup in the driveway, the report indicates, as two acquaintances stood on the sidewalk directly in front of them.

That's when the suspect pulled out a handgun and fired at the resident twice in the leg, the witness said. The suspect then shot at another individual, but missed, the report indicates.

The witness said they last saw the two suspects running down Guava Street toward one of their grandmothers' houses.

Authorities haven't announced any arrests in the case.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: 'Puddle of blood' leads Fort Myers police to woman injured in shooting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he plans to meet Xi Jinping to discuss Beijings proposed peace plan to end the war. I am planning to meet with Xi Jinping, he told reporters on the occasion of the first anniversary of Russias invasion.

He said: I really want to believe that China will not supply weapons to Russia. This will be important for world security.

Mr Zelensky added: China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad.

Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden dismissed Chinas peace plan yesterday and added that there is nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia.

In an interview with ABC News, Mr Biden said: If Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good? Im not being facetious. Im being deadly earnest.

Earlier, Poland delivered four Leopard tanks to Ukraine and was prepared to deliver more quickly, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said yesterday, as Western nations increase their support to Kyiv a year after Russia invaded the country.

Key Points

Zelensky wants to meet Xi Jinping following Chinas peace plan

G7 vows to impose new 'coordinated economic actions against Russia

Zelensky says Ukrainians invincible as he pushes for victory on war anniversary

Poland has delivered tanks to Ukraine

Putin will face trial for war crimes, says US envoy

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

Zelensky wants to meet Xi Jinping following Chinas peace plan

04:56 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he plans to meet Xi Jinping to discuss Beijings proposed peace plan to end the war.

I am planning to meet with Xi Jinping, he told reporters on the occasion of the first anniversary of Russias invasion.

He said: I really want to believe that China will not supply weapons to Russia. This will be important for world security.

China offered a 12-point peace proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine one year into Russias war.

Story continues

Meanwhile, Russia has hailed Chinas peace plan and said we share Beijings views.

With its release, President Xi Jinpings government is reiterating Chinas claim about being neutral, despite blocking efforts at the United Nations to condemn the invasion.

India and China abstain from UN vote to demand Russian withdrawal on Ukraine war anniversary

08:00 , Eleanor Noyce

India and China were among the major global powers that abstained from a UN General Assembly vote calling on Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion.

The UN motion in New York was adopted after 141 UN member nations voted in its favour, while 32 abstained and seven voted against it on Thursday.

The non-binding motion underscored the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

India, walking a tightrope between Washington and Moscow, said it is constrained to abstain from the vote and pledged to always call for dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable way out.

The two nuclear-armed south Asian neighbours are engaged in a bitter border dispute since 2020 and have independently found common ground on Russia as both countries enjoy a long-standing relationship with Moscow.

Read more:

India and China abstain from historic UN vote condemning Russia for war in Ukraine

German leader Scholz arrives in India to boost economic ties

07:30 , Eleanor Noyce

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in the Indian capital on Saturday where he is expected to discuss with the Indian prime minister Russias war in Ukraine and ways to boost bilateral economic cooperation, officials said.

We will discuss intensely all topics relevant for the development of our countries but also the peace in the world, which is important, Scholz told reporters after he was received by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the presidents palace.

The trip is Scholzs first official visit to India, though it is his fourth meeting with Modi since taking office in 2021.

The German chancellor is expected to seek Indias support for the tough stance taken by Europe and the United States toward Russia over the war in Ukraine.

After a videoconference with fellow leaders from the Group of Seven industrial powers on Friday, Scholz said before leaving Berlin for India that internationally, we are endeavoring to make clear that Russia stands alone in the world with its aggression against Ukraine.

Ashok Sharma has the full story:

German leader Scholz arrives in India to boost economic ties

Even if war stops, you cannot retrieve your dead children

07:23 , Eleanor Noyce

A portable cabin barely bigger than the bunk bed in it is all that Maria Vasilenko, 78, has left, a year after Russian soldiers marched into her town and destroyed her life.

Most of her family were blown up in a Russian airstrike in March which levelled her home in Borodyanka.

Before the war, the sleepy river-side town of 13,000 people had been an anonymous suburb west of Kyiv. But after Russian forces rolled into Ukraine, it became a frontline area and then was occupied for several weeks.

On 1 March  just a few days into President Vladimir Putins invasion  Maria had taken shelter in the buildings basement. Her daughter Alona, 41, a medic, remained above ground with her husband and other family members to tend to the wounded. The decision turned out to be a fatal mistake.

Bel Trew reports:

Even if war stops, you cannot retrieve your dead children

Latvian minister lashes out at Russian delegates at a security meeting

07:01 , Maroosha Muzaffar

A Latvian minister, Rihards Kols called Russias inclusion at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting a disgrace.

His remarks were met with applause from other delegates.

At the meeting held in Vienna by OSCE, the Latvian delegate proposed that the Russian delegates should be barred from speaking.

We [say] right now that we stand up to our principles and values and statutes. We dont. Theres an elephant in the room called Russian Federation delegation. I mean, if I were a witness and someone asked me who is a war criminal, well I would point to the back benches in this room.

He continued: Its just disgrace. Its a disgrace that this delegation is here, particularly the delegation that consists of members who are sanctioned individuals, who voted to annex independent countrys territories  Donbas, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk.

Blinken credits India and China for preventing Russia from using nuclear weapons on Ukraine

06:28 , Maroosha Muzaffar

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said that Vladimir Putin might have used nuclear weapons on Ukraine already if not for India and Chinas influence.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Mr Blinken said India and China had a little bit more influence with Russia these days in opposing the use of nuclear weapons.

He said we know that they [India and Cjina] conveyed those messages. And I think that had some effect. Its something we always have to look at, but again, the track record to date suggests that the escalation that some feared has, at least to now, not happened.

He added: Putin might react more, even more irrationally, and there was language coming out of Moscow that suggested that he would look to the use of tactical nuclear weapons. It was a concern.

We urged, and I think successfully, other countries that might have a little bit more influence with Russia these days, like China, but also other countries like India, to engage him [Vladimir Putin] directly about their absolute opposition to any use of nuclear weapons. And we know that they conveyed those messages, and I think that had some effect, he added.

Russian troops carry 27 airstrikes and fire 75 rounds from rocket launchers on first anniversary of invasion

06:10 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Russian troops carried out 27 airstrikes and fired 75 rounds from rocket launchers, targeting communities across Ukraine yesterday, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Ukrainian forces fought 70 Russian attacks on the day of the first-year anniversary, the General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces was quoted as saying.

According to the General Staff, Russian forces concentrated their efforts near Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Shakhtarsk.

Over 80 per cent of homes in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, have reportedly been destroyed, the General Staff added.

Zelensky hails invincible Ukraine as world marks one year since Russian invasion

05:55 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Volodymyr Zelensky promised victory for Ukraine as he and his allies around the world on Friday marked the grim milestone of one year since the Russian invasion.

On a day of commemorations and defiance, Ukraines president said his people had proven invincible despite a year of pain.

And after receiving the first Leopard 2 tanks pledged by allies, he hinted that F-16 fighter jets might finally also be on the way, with other nations following Britain in offering to train Ukrainian pilots.

If our partners respect all their promises and deadlines, victory inevitably awaits us, he said.

Kim Sengupta has the full story:

Ukraine is invincible says Zelensky as world marks one year since Russian invasion

ICYMI: What is Chinas peace proposal on how to end Ukraine war?

05:43 , Maroosha Muzaffar

China has offered a 12-point peace proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine one year into Russias war.

The proposal follows Chinas recent announcement that it is trying to act as a mediator in the war that has re-energised Western alliances viewed by Beijing and Moscow as rivals. Chinas top diplomat indicated that the plan was coming at a security conference this week in Munich, Germany.

With its release, President Xi Jinpings government is reiterating Chinas claim about being neutral, despite blocking efforts at the United Nations to condemn the invasion.

The document echoes Russian complaints that Western governments are to blame for the 24 February 2022 invasion and criticises sanctions on Russia.

Matt Mathers explains:

What is Chinas peace proposal on how to end Ukraine war?

G20 leaders fail to reach consensus on Russia-Ukraine war

05:40 , Maroosha Muzaffar

G20 heads are unable to reach a consensus on describing the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported today.

Quoting sources, the news agency said it is likely that the leaders will end the meeting in India today without a joint communique.

India, the G20 host, is also pressing that the joint communique avoids using the word war, officials told Reuters.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there was no way the group could step back from a joint statement agreed at a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November, which said most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine but also acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently.

Either we have the same language or we do not sign on the final communique, Mr Le Maire told reporters yesterday.

ICYMI: The before and after images that show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

05:23 , Maroosha Muzaffar

These before and after pictures show the devastation on cities that have been shelled and bombed as part of the Russian offensive.

The before and after images that show the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Biden dismisses Chinas peace plan to end war

04:41 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Joe Biden dismissed Chinas peace plan yesterday and added that there is nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia.

In an interview with ABC News, US President Joe Biden said: If Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good? Im not being facetious. Im being deadly earnest.

He continued: Ive seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia if the Chinese plan were followed.

The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that is a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational, Mr Biden added.

Voices: China wants it to be Xi Jinpings peace plan for Ukraine  or no peace at all

04:31 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The world is much less familiar with the image of Xi as peace-broker  yet that is the one Beijing is trying to project this week as the war in Ukraine marks its one-year anniversary, Adam Withnall writes:

Opinion: China wants Xi Jinpings peace plan for Ukraine  or no peace at all

Biden rules out giving Ukraine advanced fighter jets for now'

04:06 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Joe Biden has ruled out giving Ukraine advanced fighter jets for now.

In an interview with ABC News, the US president was asked whether Volodymyr Zelensky needs F-16 fighter jets. Mr Biden responded by saying, he doesnt need F-16s now.

He added that there is no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s.

Look, were sending him what our seasoned military thinks he needs now, Mr Biden said. He needs tanks, he needs artillery, he needs air defence, including another HIMAR(s).

He added that the US is sending Kyiv what is necessary for Ukraine to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall.

Mr Zelensky has repeatedly asked Western allies to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

03:51 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Irans backing of Russias war efforts in Ukraine is expanding to include unprecedented defence cooperation that will see the Islamic Republic purchase advanced weaponry from Moscow in exchange for providing Russian forces with equipment meant for use on Ukrainian territory, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said the unprecedented cooperation Moscow is offering includes the provision of missiles, electronics and air defence equipment to Tehran, which in turn has been providing Russian forces with Iranian-made kamikaze drones, as well as artillery and tank rounds compatible with Russian-made weapons systems.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

G7 vows to impose new 'coordinated economic actions against Russia

03:45 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The leaders of the Group of Seven economies pledged yesterday to levy further sanctions on Russia, according to a joint statement.

The online summit on the first anniversary of Russias invasion of its neighbour was presided over by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The joint statement said: We condemn Russias illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war. We commit to intensifying our diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine and to increasing the costs to Russia.

Russia started this war and Russia can end this war. We call on Russia to stop its ongoing aggression and to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine, the G7 said.

The statement added that the G7 will impose new coordinated economic actions against Russia in the days and weeks ahead.

The before and after images that show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

03:37 , Maroosha Muzaffar

These before and after pictures show the devastation in cities that have been shelled and bombed as part of the Russian offensive:

The before and after images that show the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Zelensky hails invincible Ukraine as world marks one year since Russian invasion

03:29 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Volodymyr Zelensky promised victory for Ukraine as he and his allies around the world on Friday marked the grim milestone of one year since the Russian invasion.

On a day of commemorations and defiance, Ukraines president said his people had proven invincible despite a year of pain.

And after receiving the first Leopard 2 tanks pledged by allies, he hinted that F-16 fighter jets might finally also be on the way, with other nations following Britain in offering to train Ukrainian pilots.

If our partners respect all their promises and deadlines, victory inevitably awaits us, he said.

Kim Sengupta reports:

Ukraine is invincible says Zelensky as world marks one year since Russian invasion

The forgotten Black students caught up in Ukraine conflict

Friday 24 February 2023 22:30 , Martha Mchardy

Thousands of African students who fled Ukraine have been frozen out of receiving aid for those driven out by Russian attacks, The Independent has been told.

Before the conflict, around 76,000 international students, mostly from Nigeria and Morocco, Ghana, Zimbabwe and India, were based there.

But after grappling with racism at Ukraines borders while trying to flee, a large number of students are displaced in countries, including Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Romania and Belgium, unsure of their next move.

Many are unable to complete their studies, battling with the mental and emotional distress of having escaped Putins onslaught, some are facing poverty, while others have even taken their own lives, The Independent has learned.

Nadine White reports:

Forgotten: the Black, international students caught up in Ukraine conflict

Russia, Ukraine face off at UN with rival tributes to dead

Friday 24 February 2023 22:00 , Martha Mchardy

Russia and Ukraine faced off at the U.N. Security Council on Friday on the first anniversary of their war, with their confrontation even extending to dueling moments of silence for the dead.

The showdown began before the session formally began, with Russias ambassador demanding to know why Ukraine sat at the top of the speakers list. Most dramatically, in the middle of the meeting, the two countries even tussled over tributes to the victims of the war.

Edith M. Lederer reports:

Russia, Ukraine face off at UN with rival tributes to dead

Zelensky hails invincible Ukraine as world marks one year since Russian invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 21:31 , Martha Mchardy

Volodymyr Zelensky promised victory for Ukraine on Friday as he and allies around the world marked the grim milestone of one year since the Russian invasion.

On a day of commemorations and defiance, Ukraines president said his people had proven invincible despite a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.

And after receiving the first Leopard 2 tanks pledged by allies, he hinted that F-16 fighter jets might finally also be on the way, with other nations following Britain in offering to train Ukrainian pilots.

Kim Sengupta reports:

Ukraine is invincible says Zelensky as world marks one year since Russian invasion

Teenage pianist who fled Ukraine performs in Liverpool to mark anniversary of conflict

Friday 24 February 2023 21:30 , Martha Mchardy

A teenage pianist who fled Ukraine at the beginning of the invasion has performed in Liverpool to mark the anniversary of the war.

This footage shows 13-year-old Alisa Bushuieva playing a piano inside Liverpool ONE shopping centre.

She left Kharkiv last February, along with her mother, after the city was bombed by Putins troops.

The musician has also lifted the spirits of those in refugee camps in Ukraine and Poland by performing songs for them.

What fighter jets has Zelensky asked for and what might he get?

Friday 24 February 2023 21:00 , Martha Mchardy

The warplanes the Ukrainians are most likely to get are American F-16s. This would make sense in terms of operational support and maintenance, and they are the type of plane the Ukrainians need, just as German Leopard 2s are the logical tanks for their army.

Kim Sengupta explains:

What fighter jets has Volodymyr Zelensky asked for and what might he get?

Ive spent 20 years covering conflict, but nothing prepared me for Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 20:30 , Martha Mchardy

Ive spent 20 years covering conflict, from Iraq to Syria  but nothing prepared me for the horrors of Ukraine, writes Kim Sengupta.

Read more here:

Ive spent 20 years covering war  but nothing prepared me for Ukraine | Kim Sengupta

PM and G7 leaders pledge unwavering support as Ukraine invasion marked

Friday 24 February 2023 20:21 , Martha Mchardy

Rishi Sunak and other world leaders have pledged to stand with Ukraine for as long as needed, after a year of war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced.

Earlier, the Prime Minister led the UK in a minutes silence to mark the one-year anniversary of the war, as the world reflected on the conflict initiated by Vladimir Putins full-scale invasion last February.

A call on Friday afternoon saw Mr Sunak join fellow leaders, including US President Joe Biden, to discuss the war effort and how best to support Ukraine going forward.

Rishi Sunak is urging G7 leaders to move faster in arming Ukraine (PETER NICHOLLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

In a joint statement, G7 leaders committed to intensifying diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine as well as increasing the costs to Russia and those supporting its war effort.

They also pledged that solidarity will never waver in standing with Ukraine, in supporting countries and people in need, and in upholding the international order based on the rule of law.

According to a Downing Street readout, Mr Sunak urged allies to support Ukraine with long-term military and security assurances to send a strong message to President Putin that the global support was enduring.

Outside No 10 on Friday morning, the Prime Minister had been joined by his wife Akshata Murthy, Kyivs ambassador to Britain Vadym Prystaiko and dozens of Ukrainian troops being trained by the UK for the national pause on Friday morning.

The King also issued a message praising the remarkable courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people.

Leading UK political figures mark anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 20:00 , Martha Mchardy

UK political leaders have marked a year of Ukraines extraordinary resistance to Russias all-out assault, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced.

On Friday, Rishi Sunak was joined outside 10 Downing Street by wife Akshata Murthy, Kyivs ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, and dozens of Ukrainian troops, for a minutes silence.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also observed the pause from Cardiff, while Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, lit candles at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, alongside former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Oliver Browning reports:

Leading UK political figures mark anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Canada to send more Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 19:58 , Martha Mchardy

Canada is imposing fresh Russia-related sanctions and sending four more Leopard 2 Tanks to Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, marking the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine on Friday.

The new sanctions would target 129 individuals and 63 entities including Russian deputy prime ministers and other officials, Trudeau told reporters in Toronto.

The US will continue to provide humanitarian relief to people fleeing Russia-Ukraine war, says Secretary of Homeland Security

Friday 24 February 2023 19:48 , Martha Mchardy

The US will continue to provide humanitarian relief to people fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war, the US Secretary of Homeland Security has said.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said: The Department of Homeland Security remains committed to supporting the Ukrainian people and to honoring the United States commitment to provide humanitarian relief to those who are fleeing Russias unprovoked war.

From deterring cyberattacks to welcoming more than 270,000 Ukrainians to the United States, including more than 115,000 who have arrived through our Uniting for Ukraine program, DHS is proud to support Ukraine and its people. We will continue to do so in close collaboration with our international partners.

UK army camp holds service to mark anniversary of war in Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 19:15 , Martha Mchardy

Ukrainian troops on Friday took part in a service at an army camp in the southeast of England to mark the one-year anniversary of Russias invasion.

Padre John Power of the Royal Lancers led the sunrise service in the morning, which included Reveille sounded by a bugler and a rousing rendition of Ukraines national anthem.

The event finished with the Lords Prayer in English and Ukrainian and a chant of Slava Ukraini - meaning glory to Ukraine.

Ukraine war could end now if more weapons were sent, experts suggest

Friday 24 February 2023 19:00 , Martha Mchardy

To mark a year since Ukraine was invaded by Russia The Independent brought together a panel of experts on the eve of the anniversary to discuss what has happened since and what is likley to happen next.

News editor Steph Cockroft hosted the virtal event and was joined by Russia expert and columnist for The Independent Mary Dejevsky, The Independents international correspondent Bel Trew, live from Ukraine, and Tim White a journalist who has been reporting from the war torn country for much of the past 12 months and updating his thousands of followers on Twitter regularly from the ground.

Find out more here:

Ukraine war could end now if more weapons were sent, experts suggest

Zelensky marks anniversary of invasion by presenting medals to Ukrainian fighters

Friday 24 February 2023 18:59 , Martha Mchardy

Volodymyr Zelensky marked the first anniversary of Russias invasion by awarding state medals to the fighters who are taking part in the war.

The president of Ukraine handed medals to a number of people, including one solider walking on crutches.

We will never rest until the Russian murderers face deserved punishment, Mr Zelensky said, as he made a televised address early on Friday.

He also vowed to push for victory in 2023 for his country.

We had not been defeated. And we will do everything to win this year, he said.

EU war anniversary sanctions against Russia stalled

Friday 24 February 2023 18:49 , Martha Mchardy

European Union countries were unable for a third day running on Friday to agree on new sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine a year ago, with Poland rejecting Italys demand for laxer new curbs on rubber imports, diplomats said.

Poland said the proposed restrictions on EU imports of Russia rubber included such a big quota of imports exempted and such long transition periods that they would have no effect in practice.

Other EU countries were baffled that Warsaw - a leading Russia hawk in the bloc - was risking having no new sanctions announced on the one-year anniversary of Russias attack against Ukraine over just one element of a broader package.

President Zelensky (EPA)

This is very bad optics. What was supposed to be key here is a message of solidarity with Ukraine on this special day, said one diplomat involved in the confidential negotiations between the 27 EU countries in the blocs hub Brussels.

All 27 member states need to approve sanctions for them to be enacted.

The EU has said what would be its 10th round of sanctions against Russia since the war started was designed to make financing the war more difficult and starve Russia of tech equipment and spare parts for arms used against Ukraine.

It would blacklist more individuals including what the West says are Russian propagandists, those Kyiv holds responsible for deporting Ukrainian children to Russia and those involved in the production of Iranian drones deployed on the frontline.

It would cut more banks including the private Alfa-Bank and the online bank Tinkoff off from the global system SWIFT and cut trade between the EU and Russia by more than 10 billion euros, according to the blocs executive.

The before and after images that show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 18:40 , Martha Mchardy

Before and after images show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

(Maxar)

(Maxar)

(Maxar)

William Mata reports:

The before and after images that show the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Russian MP who hung noodles on ears during Putins speech faces punishment

Friday 24 February 2023 18:30 , Martha Mchardy

A Russian MP who hung noodles from his ears during President Putins State of the Nation speech is to face punishment, the party has confirmed.

Russias Communist Party has pledged to punish Mikhail Abdalkin, deputy of the Samara Duma, for seemingly mocking Mr Putin during his address on Tuesday.

The idiom to hang noodles on someones ears dictates that someone is lying, with the phrase dont hang noodles on my ears! meaning dont fool me or dont lie to me.

Eleanor Noyce reports:

Russian MP who hung noodles on ears during Putins speech faces punishment

U.S. targets Russia with sanctions on anniversary of invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 18:12 , Martha Mchardy

The United States marked the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine on Friday with $2 billion in weaponry for Kyiv and new sanctions against Russia aimed at undermining Moscows ability to wage war.

U.S. president Joe Bidens administration unveiled the sanctions as the Group of 7 bloc of wealthy nations and Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskiy met for over an hour to discuss more aid.

Among the steps were placing visa restrictions on Russian military members, freezing assets of allies of President Vladimir Putin, effectively banning aluminum imports from Russia, curbing Russian banking and arms-making activity and putting the countrys second largest mobile phone company Megafon on a trade blacklist.

President Biden with Zelensky (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Additional measures could be imposed at a later date, U.S. officials said.

The administration also sent a message to China and other countries that they should not try to help Russia evade sanctions.

We will sanction additional actors tied to Russias defense and technology industry, including those responsible for backfilling Russian stocks of sanctioned items or enabling Russian sanctions evasion, the White House said.

The United States suspects Iran, itself under U.S. sanctions, may provide Russia with fighter jets, John Kirby, a White House spokesperson, told reporters. He did not provide evidence.

Weve been very clear from the outset with China and with other countries that providing material support to Russia in evasion of sanctions would provoke very serious consequences, U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen said on MSNBC.

The aid to Ukraine fell short of providing the F-16 fighter jets that Kyiv has requested and some U.S. officials are raising doubts about the ability of such measures to slow the increasing hostilities on the battlefield ahead of an anticipated springtime offensive.

There was no immediate response from Moscow, which called its invasion of Ukraine a special military operation and has imposed its own sanctions on some Western nations while accusing Washington and others of leading a global campaign to destroy Russia.

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 18:02 , Martha Mchardy

Irans backing of Russias war efforts in Ukraine is expanding to include unprecedented defence cooperation that will see the Islamic Republic purchase advanced weaponry from Moscow in exchange for providing Russian forces with equipment meant for use on Ukrainian territory, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said the unprecedented cooperation Moscow is offering includes provision of missiles, electronics and air defence equipment to Tehran, which in turn has been providing Russian forces with Iranian-made kamikaze drones, as well as artillery and tank rounds compatible with Russian-made weapons systems.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

Zelensky on Russia

Friday 24 February 2023 17:51 , Chris Stevenson

Asked at a press conference what are the chances of him negotiating with Putin to try and bring an end to the war, President Zelensky said he had something to say to Moscow: Respect our right to live on our land, get out of our territory, stop bombing us, stop killing civilians... stop the bombardments.

US Secretary of Defense reiterates unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine'

Friday 24 February 2023 17:37 , Martha Mchardy

The US has reiterated its unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine, the Pentagon has said.

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Ryder said: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov today to reiterate the unwavering U.S. commitment to supporting Ukraine.

As Russias unprovoked and indefensible full-scale invasion reaches the one-year mark, Secretary Austin praised Ukraines courage and sacrifice that has inspired and rallied the international community to support its efforts to push back against Russian aggression.

During the call, Secretary Austin also provided an update on U.S. security assistance efforts, including the $2 billion security assistance package announced today. Minister Reznikov provided an update of developments on the ground in Ukraine.

The two leaders pledged to remain in close contact.

Zelensky delivers message to Putin on first anniversary of Russian invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 17:27 , Martha Mchardy

President Zelensky has delivered a message to Putin on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainian president marked the anniversary by hailing his nation for fighting back against Russian troops during a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.

In a video address, Zelensky said: We have endured. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year.

Ukraine has inspired the world. Ukraine has united the world... We will never rest until the Russian murderers face deserved punishment.

It comes as former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev today vowed that Russia would win the war.

Zelensky gives strong response when asked what it would take for him to negotiate with Russia

Friday 24 February 2023 16:40 , William Mata

Live: Ukrainians march in Athens to mark one year of Russia's invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 16:39 , William Mata

Flash quotes: Zelensky and Scholz

Friday 24 February 2023 16:38 , William Mata

- Asked about comment attributed to US General Milley that Ukraine won't be able to drive Russia out of entire occupied territory, Zelensky said he didn't hear this at meeting with Milley. - German chancellor Scholz, meanwhile, has said he will make a view on the Ukraine war once again clear to India's premier Modi during his visit.

Russia welcomes China peace plan, says it is open to talks

Friday 24 February 2023 16:30 , William Mata

Russia said on Friday that it appreciated China's plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and said it was open to achieving the goals of what it calls its "special military operation" through political and diplomatic means.

"We appreciate the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to contribute to resolving the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding however that this would also mean recognising "new territorital realities" in Ukraine.

China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday as part of a 12-point plan for dealing with the war. Kyiv has rejected the proposal unless it involves Russia withdrawing its troops to its 1991 borders - when the Soviet Union was dissolved - but has also said it is open to parts of the plan.

Update: Support for China proposals

Friday 24 February 2023 16:29 , William Mata

The president of Ukraine has given qualified support for China's new pronouncements about the war in his country, saying Beijing's interest is "not bad".

"China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad," President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a news conference on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

"But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to."

China called for a ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in a vaguely worded proposal released on Friday that analysts said was unlikely to deliver results.

Mr Zelensky said there were points in the Chinese proposals that he agreed with "and there are those that we don't".

"But it's something," he added

Dozens detained by Russian police on Ukraine war anniversary - rights centre

Friday 24 February 2023 16:19 , William Mata

Russia Ukraine (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Dozens of people were detained by police in Russia on Friday for actions to commemorate the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, in some cases just for placing flowers, a human rights group said on Friday.

Russian authorities have remained largely silent during the anniversary, which Ukraine has observed with a ceremony to remember soldiers and civilians who have been killed.

In Moscow, at least three people laying flowers on a monument to prominent Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka were quickly detained by police officers, rights centre OVD-Info said.

Ukraine is open to parts of China ceasefire proposal - Zelensky

Friday 24 February 2023 16:17 , William Mata

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he was open to considering parts of China's 12-point ceasefire plan to end Russia's war on his country.

He made the comments during a news conference marking the one-year anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion.

Blinken to UN Security Council: Don't be fooled by calls for unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 15:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The UN Security Council should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and should not fall into the false equivalency of calling on both sides to stop fighting, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the council on the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion on Friday.

Russia will use any pause in fighting to consolidate control of territory and replenish its forces, Blinken said after China called for a ceasefire as part of a position paper on the war.

No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russias war on Ukraine and on the UN Charter, Blinken said.

France, Germany and Poland to continue supporting Ukraine-statement

Friday 24 February 2023 15:56 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

France, Germany and Poland reaffirm their commitment to coordinate efforts to meet Ukraines pressing military and defence equipment needs, the countries leaders said in a joint statement published on Friday.

France, Poland and Germany are fully supporting Ukraine in exercising its right to defend itself against Russias invasion, including by providing military and defence assistance, and will do so for as long as it takes, the German chancellor, French president and Polish president said.

If all Ukraines partners do their homework, victory is inevitable- Zelensky

Friday 24 February 2023 15:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a news conference on Friday that victory over Russia was inevitable if all Ukraines partners did their homework.

He made the comments on the first anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

US secretary of state says spirit of Ukrainians is unbroken'

Friday 24 February 2023 15:47 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The US secretary of state Anthony Blinken has said the spirit of the Ukrainians is unbroken despite a catastrophic 12 months of war.

(AFP via Getty Images)

German foreign minister: China could have persuaded Russia of U.N. resolution

Friday 24 February 2023 15:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

China could have used its influence as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to persuade Russia to adhere to a U.N. resolution on peace for Ukraine backed by 141 countries, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday.

Chinas 12-point paper contains many familiar positions, said Baerbock, adding that it was important that China warn against nuclear escalation.

However, those who speak of peace must not mean submission, she added.

Ukraine says peace proposals must be aligned with U.N. demands

Friday 24 February 2023 15:41 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the U.N. Security Council on Friday, the anniversary of Russias invasion of his country, that any new peace proposals should be aligned with the demands made in a U.N. General Assembly resolution.

Ukraine will resist as it has done so far, and Ukraine will win. Putin is going to lose much sooner than he thinks, Kuleba told the 15-member Security Council.

Watch live: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives speech on first anniversary of Russias invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 15:02 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Watch live as Ukrainian President Zelensky gives a speech on the first anniversary of Russias invasion of his country.

Live: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives speech on first anniversary of Russia's invasion

Woman returns to Ukraine home frozen in time with phone still on charge

Friday 24 February 2023 14:53 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A woman who left her home in Ukraine has returned home a year later to find it frozen in time - with a phone still on charge.

Anna Malygon, 19, from Kharkiv, left home 18 months ago to study abroad  but had no idea that she would be unable to return after the war broke out.

Arriving back at the apartment this month, she said she was stunned to find it still standing.

A video showed plates unwashed and her mothers bed unmade after she woke up because of bombs before fleeing.

It was heartbreaking, Anna said. My apartment was dirty, cold and really smelly.

Woman returns to Ukraine home frozen in time with phone still on charge

Poland has delivered tanks to Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 14:11 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Poland has delivered four Leopard tanks to Ukraine already and is prepared to deliver more quickly, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday, as Western nations increase their support to Kyiv a year after Russia invaded the country.

Poland and Europe stand by your side. We will definitely not leave you, we will support Ukraine until complete victory over Russia, Morawiecki said during a visit to Kyiv, standing next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Warsaws commitment to its neighbour has been instrumental in persuading European allies to donate heavy weapons to Ukraine, including tanks, a move opposed by several governments, including Berlin, until recently.

Poland said last month it aimed to get training time for Ukrainian soldiers on Leopard 2 tanks down to five weeks.

Morawiecki also called for a stronger new package of European Union sanctions against Russia. The bloc is currently discussing a 10th round of sanctions.

As for the 10th sanction package, we are not happy because it is too soft, too weak ... I am in contact with our team and we are pushing our allies to make this package as extensive as possible, he said.

(AP)

Volodymyr Zelensky: Year of tragedy and turmoil that turned comedian president into Ukraines Churchill

Friday 24 February 2023 14:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

When he ran for leader, Zelenskys main job was to convince the public he was serious.

Now, writes Kim Sengupta, the whole world is taking the former TV star seriously as one of the great political leaders of his time.

Year of tragedy and turmoil that turned comedian president into Ukraines Churchill

A timeline of Putins invasion  and the fight to save Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 13:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

On the morning of 24 February 2022, life changed for everyone in Ukraine when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces into the country.

A year later, Kyivs forces have held Moscow at bay, with the help of support from Western weapons. Both sides are now seeking to change a bloody stalemate on the frontlines.

The Kremlin is sending more troops to the battlefield, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the West to send more heavry weaponry and ammunition to halt any potential Russian advance and replenish the countrys military stocks for a counter offensive.

A timeline of Putins invasion  and the fight to save Ukraine

Ive spent 20 years covering conflict, from Iraq to Syria  but nothing prepared me for the horrors of Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ive spent 20 years covering conflict, from Iraq to Syria  but nothing prepared me for the horrors of Ukraine

Friends died and many of us came under fire as we tried to report the fighting, writes our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta

These are human beings, they have thrown them away like bags of rubbish, whispered Iryna Bondarenka at a mass grave behind St Andrews church in Bucha as she searched for the body of her missing brother.

The corpses had been flung into a shallow pit in black plastic sacks. Some had split, limbs had broken free; one palm rose from the soil as if cupped in supplication.

Ive spent 20 years covering war  but nothing prepared me for Ukraine | Kim Sengupta

In pictures: Poland PM and Zelensky visit military hospital in Kyiv

Friday 24 February 2023 13:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Prime minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki and the president Volodymyr Zelensky attending a visit of a military hospital in Kyiv, on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)

(UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)

Canada announces more than $32 million in support for Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 13:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Canada announced more than $32 million in support to further strengthen Ukraines security and stabilization on Friday, the anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The aid includes $7.5 million for demining efforts and more than $12 million to counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

Zelensky holds back tears as he mourns dead

Friday 24 February 2023 12:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the first anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion on Friday with a sombre message of defiance to his people and tears for the thousands of soldiers who have died.

On a cold, cloudy morning in Kyiv, the 45-year-old addressed members of Ukraines armed forces and a small gathering of dignitaries in St Sophia Square, next to the green- and gold-domed cathedral that is a symbol of the citys resilience.

I want to say to all of you who are fighting for Ukraine ... I am proud of you. We all, each and every one, are proud of you!

As he has done throughout the war, Zelensky showed his feelings in the 30-minute ceremony, choking back emotion as he gave out Hero of Ukraine awards to troops - one of whom was on crutches - and to the mother of a soldier who had been killed.

As a band played the national anthem, there were tears in his eyes. Those present bowed their heads for a minutes silence.

Zelensky remains hugely popular in Ukraine, connecting with the population through daily messages filmed on a smartphone, and working to maintain international support in the form of financial aid and weapons.

In a packed programme, Zelensky gave state awards to military chaplains at Kyivs historic Lavra monastery complex, visited wounded soldiers undergoing treatment in a hospital, and hosted Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Poland allowed millions of refugees to cross from Ukraine early in the war and has been a close ally throughout. It announced on Friday that a first batch of Leopard tanks were already in Ukraine, as Zelensky pushes for more heavy weaponry.

(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)

Kim Sengupta speaks to Kyiv residents on first anniversary since invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 12:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Kim Sengupta, our World Affairs Editor, is in Kyiv and has spoken to some residents as they mark a year since the start of the invasion.

Maxim Kucher, an IT technician, volunteered for the army when the invasion started and fought in Kharkiv when the city, just 25 miles from the border with Russia, was under intense attack from Moscows forces.

He then also fought in Donbas  the area made up of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk where fighting as been particularly fierce.Maxim is in Kyiv recovering from an operation on a leg injury.

I had been a civil defence volunteer, but nothing had prepared me for what we had to do.

I am very happy we have survived as a country this year. But this will go on for a very long time. Ill go back [to the frontlines] when Im fit: I dont know where theyll send me.

All of this sorrow because of one man: Kim Sengupta speaks to Kyiv residents

Friday 24 February 2023 12:13 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Kim Sengupta, our World Affairs Editor, is in Kyiv and has spoken to some residents as they mark a year since the start of the invasion.

For Olena Kuznetsova, who had gone to light a candle at St Volodymyrs Cathedral, it is loss and sorrow which are the overwhelming emotions today.

She was mourning her 22 year old son Yuri , a student who had volunteered to fight for his country and died in Lyman in the Donbas.

He said he could not sit at home while others had gone to fight. He sacrificed himself for his country. Everyone says what he did was very brave and great. But he was everything. No one can know the pain of a mother who has lost a child, she said.

I do not wish this on anyone, Ukrainian or Russian: all this sorrow because of one man.

Russia says forces pressing attack along Ukraine's Donetsk front

Friday 24 February 2023 11:54 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russias defence ministry said on Friday that its forces continued to attack along the front line in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region, claiming to have killed up to 240 Ukrainian soldiers over the past 24 hours.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to conduct a special military operation, the defence ministry said in a daily briefing on the one year anniversary of Russias invasion.

In the Donetsk direction, units of the Southern Group of Forces inflicted a comprehensive fire attack on accumulations of the enemys manpower and equipment along the entire line of contact.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the defence ministrys claim.

The last weeks have seen Russia mount infantry assaults across frozen ground in battles described by both sides as the bloodiest of the war. Ukraine said on Thursday that its forces had repelled Russian assaults along the front line.

Nato and EU heads slas down China peace plan as Bejing lacks credibility

Friday 24 February 2023 11:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The heads of Nato and the European Commission have criticised Chinas peace plan as they hit out at Beijings friendship with Russia.

We will look at the principles, of course, but we will look at them against the backdrop that China has taken sides, said Ursula von der Leyen, EU commission president. It is not a peace plan.

China has taken side[s] by signing for example an unlimited friendship [with Russia] right before the invasion, she added.

China does not have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine, said Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of Nato.

(KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)

What is Chinas peace proposal on how to end Ukraine war?

Friday 24 February 2023 11:32 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

China has offered a 12-point peace proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine one year into Russias war.

The proposal follows Chinas recent announcement that it is trying to act as mediator in the war that has re-energised Western alliances viewed by Beijing and Moscow as rivals. Chinas top diplomat indicated that the plan was coming at a security conference this week in Munich, Germany.

With its release, President Xi Jinpings government is reiterating Chinas claim about being neutral, despite blocking efforts at the United Nations to condemn the invasion.

Matt Mathers reports:

What is Chinas peace proposal on how to end Ukraine war?

Watch: Rishi Sunak leads minute's silence outside No 10 to mark anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 11:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

UK falls silent on anniversary of Russian invasion as Sunak praises Ukrainian bravery

Friday 24 February 2023 11:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Britons across the UK fell silent this morning to mark the first anniversary of Russias bloody war in Ukraine.

Workers in offices and people in their homes observed a UK-wide minutes silence as they paid their respects to all those killed in the conflict.

King Charles and Rishi Sunak, the prime minister led tributes from Buckingham Palace and Downing Street.

The number of Ukrainian civilians killed in the war could be as high as 100,000, with both sides suffering tens of thousands of military casualties.

UK falls silent on anniversary of Russian invasion as Sunak praises Ukrainian bravery

King pays tribute to remarkable courage and resilience of Ukrainians

Friday 24 February 2023 10:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The King has paid tribute to the remarkable courage and resilience of Ukraines people on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Charles, who earlier this week met Ukrainian recruits being trained by UK and international forces, said he hoped the outpouring of solidarity with the nation would bring strength from the knowledge that, together, we stand united.

In a message to mark one year on from the start of the conflict, the King said: It has now been a year that the people of Ukraine have suffered unimaginably from an unprovoked full-scale attack on their nation.

They have shown truly remarkable courage and resilience in the face of such human tragedy.

The world has watched in horror at all the unnecessary suffering inflicted upon Ukrainians, many of whom I have had the great pleasure of meeting here in the UK and, indeed, across the world, from Romania to Canada.

Earlier this month I met President Zelensky at Buckingham Palace to express my personal support for the people of Ukraine. It is heartening that the United Kingdom, along with its allies, is doing everything possible to help at this most difficult time.

Therefore, I can only hope the outpouring of solidarity from across the globe may bring not only practical aid, but also strength from the knowledge that, together, we stand united.

King Charles meets Ukrainian president Zelensky at Buckingham Palace (Getty)

On Ukraine anniversary, EU pledges more support for refugees

Friday 24 February 2023 10:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

European Union officials on Friday pledged continued support to millions of Ukrainian refugees, as they marked the anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine can win this war, but we will be with Ukraine as long as it takes, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a conference on migration near Athens.

Johansson urged members to conclude long-running negotiations to adopt new EU-wide migration rules and to assist Ukrainians who wished to return home but maintain their temporary residence status in the EU.

More than 8 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war, according to the United Nations refugee agency, and nearly 5 million have registered for EU temporary protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe.

On Ukraine anniversary, EU pledges more support for refugees

Live: Rishi Sunak leads one-minute silence outside No 10 on first anniversary of Ukraine-Russia war

Friday 24 February 2023 10:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence outside No 10 on first anniversary of Ukraine-Russia war at 11am.

As the conflict enters its second year, there remains no end in sight, with a UN vote demanding that Russia withdraws its soldiers and global leaders calling for more aid to be sent to Ukrainian troops and more sanctions on Moscow.

Live: Rishi Sunak leads one-minute silence outside No 10 on first anniversary of Ukraine-Russia war

Forgotten and abandoned: the international students caught up in conflict

Friday 24 February 2023 10:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Thousands of African students who fled Ukraine have been frozen out of receiving aid for those driven out by Russian attacks, The Independent has been told.

Before the conflict, around 76,000 international students, mostly from Nigeria and Morocco, Ghana, Zimbabwe and India, were based there.

But after grappling with racism at Ukraines borders while trying to flee, a large number of students are displaced in countries, including Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Romania and Belgium, unsure of their next move.

Many are unable to complete their studies, battling with the mental and emotional distress of having escaped Putins onslaught, some are facing poverty, while others have even taken their own lives, The Independent has learned.

Our race correspondent Nadine White reports:

Forgotten and abandoned: the international students caught up in conflict

China says it is not aware of drone purchase talks between Russia and Chinese company

Friday 24 February 2023 10:18 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Chinas foreign ministry said on Friday it is not aware of reports about talks between Russia and a Chinese company for the purchase of drones.

There has been a large volume, too much disinformation spread about China on this point. We should be vigilant about the intentions behind this, ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a news briefing.

I also want to emphasise that China on the export of military products has always held a cautious and responsible attitude, not selling military products to conflict areas or warring parties.

German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Thursday, without citing specific sources, that Russia was in talks with a Chinese manufacturer about buying 100 drones, with a delivery date of April.

(Sputnik)

Ukraine supporters dump destroyed Russian T-72 tank outside Moscow's embassy in Berlin

Friday 24 February 2023 10:06 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Watch live as Ukraine supporters dump a destroyed Russian T-72 tank outside Moscows embassy in Berlin on the first anniversary of Putins brutal invasion.

Live: Ukraine supporters dump destroyed Russian T-72 tank outside Moscow's embassy in Berlin

Putin sacrificing soldiers for own vanity and is suffering huge losses in Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 09:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Defence secretary Ben Wallace has said Russia is sacrificing its own soldiers for the vanity of Vladimir Putin.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Mr Wallace said the good guys will win in the end.

The Tory minister added that Russia has been forced to adopt a meat-grinder approach after its forces failed to make a breakthrough in Ukraine.

Mr Wallace told Times Radio that the Russian army was suffering huge losses on the battlefield for very little gain in territory.

Putin sacrificing soldiers for own vanity and is suffering huge losses in Ukraine

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

Friday 24 February 2023 09:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russias special military operation in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russias neighbour needed to be demilitarised and de-Nazified, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putins warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Heres why Putin really invaded Ukraine

Independent TV to release first feature-length documentary The Body in the Woods

Friday 24 February 2023 09:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Independent TV is releasing The Body in the Woods on 1 March, a new feature-length documentary from International Correspondent Bel Trew, which delves into Ukraines unprecedented search for its missing and dead in the middle of Europes bloodiest war in generations.

Today a trailer (shown above) has been released which gives a first look at some of the material featured in the documentary.

It comes as the world marks one year since Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine. The 40-minute documentary, from the new TV and documentary team at The Independent, opens with the discovery of a body of a young man found bound, shot and burned beside an abandoned Russian camp in the woods outside Kyiv.

The Body in the Woods will be released on 1 March. Viewers will be able to watch it online at the Independent TV hub (independent.tv), on The Independents new smart TV app, and on the Independent mobile app.

The Independent TV app is available globally on a number of smart TV (CTV - connected TV) platforms: Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, and Sony smart TVs. In the coming weeks, LG, Samsung and Roku will be added.

Independent TV to release first feature-length documentary The Body in the Woods

Watch live: Von der Leyen, Jens Stoltenberg mark anniversaries of Ukraine war and Estonian independence

Friday 24 February 2023 09:06 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visit Estonia to mark anniversaries of Estonian independence declaration and the start of the Ukrainian invasion.

Live: Von der Leyen, Jens Stoltenberg mark anniversaries of Ukraine war and Estonian independence

When is the minute silence for Ukraine?

Friday 24 February 2023 09:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A minute silence will be held on Friday to mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Rishi Sunak will lead the country in the moment of solidarity with our Ukrainian friends to pay tribute to their courage at 11am.

The prime minister said: As we mark one year since a full-scale war broke out on our continent, I urge everyone to reflect on the courage and bravery of our Ukrainian friends who, every hour since, have fought heroically for their country.

I am proud that the UK has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine through this horrific conflict.

As I stand with brave Ukrainian soldiers outside Downing Street today, my thoughts will be with all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend freedom and return peace to Europe.

When is the minute silence for Ukraine?

Moscow must push its borders back as far as possible, says ex-president Medvedev

Friday 24 February 2023 08:52 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to eventually ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back its own borders as far as possible.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russias Security Council, forecast in a message on social media that what he calls Moscows special military operation would end with a Russian victory and some kind of loose agreement.

(AP)

Zelensky commemorates fallen soldiers in Ukraine war

Friday 24 February 2023 08:43 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended a commemorative event in Kyiv this morning to mark the first anniversary since the war in Ukraine began.

The president presented awards to soldiers posthumously and gave sincere condolences to grieving wives and mothers.

(AP)

(AP)

Watch: Defence secretary says UK not sending jets in 'short-term'

Friday 24 February 2023 08:28 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, said Britain will not be sending typhoon jets to Ukraine in the short-term.

Zelensky attends service in Kyiv

Friday 24 February 2023 08:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian president is attending a service in Kyiv to commemorate those who have given their lives to fight for Ukraine.

Britain is confident China wants Ukraine conflict resolved

Friday 24 February 2023 08:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

British defence secretary Ben Wallace said the notion that China could supply arms to support Russias invasion of Ukraine would not help resolve the conflict, an outcome he was confident China wanted.

It cant help the peace if China effectively supplies the one nation that has broken the international law on the sovereignty of Ukraine and been inflicting war crimes, Wallace told Sky News on Friday when asked about reports China could supply weapons to Russia.

But Im also confident that China is pretty clear that it wants this (war) to stop, he added.

(PA)

Learn fast or youll be dead: The bloody stalemate on Ukraines front line

Friday 24 February 2023 08:03 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In the eastern region of Luhansk, Kim Sengupta speaks to soldiers who have spent a year under intense shelling, battling Russians for every inch of ground as they fight for the survival of a nation:

There is a roar of noise in the far distance, echoing through the falling snowflakes. It fades away, leaving a moment of stillness over the frozen fields, and then the shells land  flame and ice, orange and white, bursting up from the ground.

The attacks on the Ukrainian positions have started once again on this front line in the eastern region of Luhansk, where Russian forces have been making small advances. It is attritional fighting, as both sides in the conflict try to claw their way out of a wider, and bloody, stalemate.

Learn fast or youll be dead: The bloody stalemate on Ukraines front line

Watch live: View of Kyivs Independence Square on first anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 07:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Watch a live view of Independence Square in Kyiv on the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

As the conflict enters its second year, there remains no end in sight, with a UN vote demanding that Russia withdraws its soldiers and global leaders calling for more aid to be sent to Ukrainian troops and more sanctions on Moscow.

Memorials, candle vigils and other remembrances for the tens of thousands of people who have died are planned for today as fighting continues.

Live: View of Kyivs Independence Square on first anniversary of Russian invasion

Britain imposes new ban on Russia on anniversary of Ukraine war

Friday 24 February 2023 07:41 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Britain has imposed an export ban on every piece of equipment Russia has been found using on the battlefield in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has announced.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the internationally co-ordinated package of sanctions includes aircraft parts, radio equipment and electronic components that can be used by the Russian military industrial complex.

The UK is also sanctioning senior executives at the Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom, as well as bosses at Russias two largest defence companies and four banks.

Mr Cleverly said: Ukrainians are turning the tide on Russia but they cannot do it alone. That is why we must do more to help Ukraine win.

Today we are sanctioning the elites who run Putins key industries and committing to prohibit the export to Russia of every item Russia has been found using on the battlefield.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly (PA)

Russia's Wagner claims control of Ukrainian village near Bakhmut

Friday 24 February 2023 07:28 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russias Wagner group of mercenaries has taken full control of the Ukrainian village of Berkhivka, a village on the outskirts of Bakhmut, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday.

Berkhivka is fully under our control. Units of Wagner Private Military Company are in full control of Berkhivka, he said in a post on social media.

Berkhivka is about 3 km (1.9 miles) north-west from the suburbs of Bakhmut, a frontline city that has seen intense fighting.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin (Getty/AP)

Zelensky says Ukrainians invincible as he pushes for victory on war anniversary

Friday 24 February 2023 07:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraines president pledged to push for victory in 2023 as he and other Ukrainians on Friday marked the somber first anniversary of the Russian invasion that changed their lives.

As dawn broke on a day of commemorations and defiance, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that Ukrainians had proven themselves to be invincible in what he called a year of pain, sorrow, faith and the unity.

We know that 2023 will be the year of our victory! the tweet said.

Matt Mathers has more:

Zelensky says Ukrainians invincible as he pushes for victory on war anniversary

UK issues export bans on every item used by Russia in war

Friday 24 February 2023 07:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Britain marked the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by issuing more sanctions against Russia, including export bans on every item it has used on the battlefield.

The Foreign Office said on Friday the internationally co-ordinated sanctions and trade measures would target aircraft parts, radio equipment and electronic components. It will also target more executives including those at the nuclear power plant Rosatom and defence groups.

100,000 Ukrainian civilian deaths: Shocking toll of Putins bloody invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 06:58 , Arpan Rai

More than 100,000 Ukrainian civilians are believed to have been killed in the year since Russia launched its brutal invasion  more than 10 times the current official death toll  according to the countrys leading war crimes prosecutor.

The horrific tally illustrates the scale of devastation in the country, which has fought a relentless onslaught from Vladimir Putins forces since their invasion on 24 February last year.

Speaking to The Independent, prosecutor Yuriy Belousov revealed his fears about the human cost on the civilian population.

Bel Trew reports:

100,000 Ukrainian civilian deaths: Shocking toll of Putins bloody invasion

Putin looking to degrade Ukraines military  MoD

Friday 24 February 2023 06:25 , Arpan Rai

The British defence ministry has claimed that Russia has likely changed its approach again in the continuing invasion of Ukraine.

Its campaign now likely primarily seeks to degrade the Ukrainian military, rather than being focused on seizing substantial new territory, the ministry said today in its latest intelligence update.

The Russian leadership is likely pursuing a long-term operation where they bank that Russias advantages in population and resources will eventually exhaust Ukraine, it added.

Pointing to Russias strategic goal in Ukraine since 2014, the MoD has said that Russia has highly likely been consistent: to control its neighbour.

Over 2014-2021, it pursued this objective through subversion, by fomenting an undeclared war in the Donbas, and by annexing Crimea, it said.

But a year ago, Russia pivoted to a new approach and launched a full-scale invasion which attempted to seize the whole country and depose its government.

By April 2022, Russia realised this had failed, and focused on expanding and formalising its rule over the Donbas and the south. It has made slow and extremely costly progress, the ministry said.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 24 February 2023



Find out more about Defence Intelligence: https://t.co/FlQbFgxAlv



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/3WHAZabLSA  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 24, 2023

Zelensky shares damning video on war anniversary

Friday 24 February 2023 05:47 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has shared a video encapsulating a year of war in Ukraine, broken down into parts showing families separating in the aftermath of conflict and Ukrainian forces helping rescue people in the worst-hit areas.

On February 24, millions of us made a choice. Not a white flag, but the blue and yellow one. Not fleeing, but facing. Resisting & fighting. It was a year of pain, sorrow, faith, and unity. And this year, we remained invincible. We know that 2023 will be the year of our victory! he said in a tweet.

On February 24, millions of us made a choice. Not a white flag, but the blue and yellow one. Not fleeing, but facing. Resisting & fighting.

It was a year of pain, sorrow, faith, and unity. And this year, we remained invincible. We know that 2023 will be the year of our victory! pic.twitter.com/oInWvssjOI    (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2023

The video shows citizens left without electricity coming out on the streets to charge their electronic devices.

A slide on a year of unity shows widespread protests against Vladimir Putin and Russia, who invaded Ukraine after weeks of denying intelligence reports that it was building up troops with a view to marching on Kyiv.

US working to make Putin face trial for war crimes, says envoy

Friday 24 February 2023 05:41 , Arpan Rai

A top US envoy has said that Russian president Vladimir Putin will have to face trial for committing war crimes and it is only a atter of time before he will be prosecuted.

More than 71,000 alleged war crimes have been recorded since Russia invaded the former Soviet nation.

Mounting evidence shows Russian forces carried out murders and executions, shelling of civilian infrastructure, forced deportations, child abductions, torture, sexual violence and illegal detention in the war-torn nation.

A global coalition of nations and international lawyers is working to build a case against the Kremlin, targeting the leaders right to the top, the US ambassador for global criminal justice Beth Van Schaack said.

China may provide Kamikaze drones to Russia  report

Friday 24 February 2023 04:50 , Arpan Rai

The Russian military is discussing the mass production of Kamikaze drones for Moscow with Chinese drone manufacturers, German news outlet Der Spiegel reported.

Chinese drone manufacturer Xian Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology has reportedly agreed to produce and test 100 ZT-180 prototype drones before delivering them to Russia by April 2023, the report added.

This comes amid warnings to China from the US, Germany and other Western countries, asking Beijing not to sell weapons to Moscow for its war against Ukraine, saying that any such move would have severe consequences.

US gives $2bn security aid to Ukraine, says White House official

Friday 24 February 2023 04:16 , Arpan Rai

The US has readied an additional $2bn (1.6bn) package of security assistance for Ukraine, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Were going to continue to look at what is necessary, and make sure that we provide what is necessary that Ukraine has what it needs to succeed on the battlefield, Mr Sullivan said as he announced the additional aid.

The White House official also added that the G7 nations will announce a new round of sanctions against the countries trying to support Russia by providing backfill products denied to the invading nation due to the Ukraine-related sanctions.

You will see as time goes on the continued erosion of the quality and capacity of the Russian economy, even as Vladimir Putin races to spend money in an effort to prop it up, he said.

Journalists recount start of invasion in Ukraine: Minutes after 5am and this is the moment

Friday 24 February 2023 03:47 , Arpan Rai

Journalists in Ukraine are recounting the horrific moment in the early hours of today, when the Russian invasion started at the exact moment last year on 24 February.

Its minutes after 5am in Kyiv and this is the moment when its been exactly one year since this nightmare started, said Olga Rudenko, chief editor of The Kyiv Independent.

A year ago, I woke up in the early morning not yet knowing that my life and those of millions of Ukrainians would be changed forever, that many lives would be lost as a result of Russias genocidal invasion. Yet, not for a moment during this year I doubted that Ukraine will win, said Ukraine-based journalist Olga Tokariuk.

Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina also took to Twitter and said:  Every Ukrainian needs a hug tonight. Numbers dont matter, and yet its hard not to imagine that from now on, were more than a year apart from our normal lives.

Live: View of Kyivs Independence Square on first anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 03:23 , Arpan Rai

Live: View of Kyivs Independence Square on first anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine

War in Ukraine enters second year as allies pledge more arms support

Friday 24 February 2023 03:21 , Arpan Rai

The war in Ukraine marked its one year anniversary today with looming fears and intelligence indicating that the Russian invasion could stretch for at least another year.

Ukraine has insisted that further support and weaponry can help bring the conflict to a conclusion, and its allies in the West are pledging to stand alongside the war-torn country for as long as is needed.

In London, PM Rishi Sunak will lead a national minutes silence to mark the anniversary, with G7 leaders set to meet to discuss a conflict that has scarred Europe and shaken the global economy.

For Ukraine to win this war  and to accelerate that day  they must gain a decisive advantage on the battlefield. That is what it will take to shift Putins mindset. This must be our priority now. Instead of an incremental approach, we need to move faster on artillery, armour, and air defence, Mr Sunak is expected to tell world leaders in a virtual meeting.

Read the full story here:

Ukraine marks one year of war as UK and allies pledge ongoing support

Editorial: Ukrainian resistance has been of historic proportions

Friday 24 February 2023 00:10 , Jane Dalton

Volodymyr Zelensky has become a much-loved and charismatic war leader, respected around the world:

Editorial: One year on, the Ukrainian resistance has been of historic proportions

Click here to read the full blog on The Independent's website
This week saw the one-year-mark since Russia invaded Ukraine, with President Joe Biden making a surprise visit in Kyiv and later stopping in Warsaw to recognize the anniversary and reiterate U.S. support for Ukraine.

The anniversary comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the country would be pulling back from New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia. The White House also announced that the U.S. will be imposing a sweeping set of new sanctions against Moscow.

Back at home, the Republican field for the 2024 presidential race is slowly but surely heating up. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley made the rounds in Iowa, a key early voting state, after a few campaign stops in New Hampshire. Her fellow South Carolinian, Republican Sen. Tim Scott, who is mulling a presidential bid of his own, also made a visit to the Hawkeye State.

President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Kyiv.

What happened this week in politics?

Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its war.

Democrats breathed a sigh of relief when Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced he will be running for reelection ahead of a tough 2024 Senate map for Democrats.

In other election news, California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee jumped in a soon-to-be fierce primary fight for retiring Sen. Dianne Feinsteins seat.

The foreperson of the Georgia grand jury investigating Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election went public in a series of media interviews, revealing provocative details about the now concluded investigation  and possibly undermining public confidence in the case.

Facing GOP blowback for the disastrous toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the White House fired back, blaming former President Donald Trumps administration for rolling back Obama-era rail safety measures.

Stay in the conversation on politics: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter

Story continues

Biden pledges continued support for Ukraine

Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv ahead of a scheduled trip to Warsaw to commemorate the one-year-anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine. It was his first trip to the war-torn country since Russia launched its war and there is little record of other U.S. presidents visiting an active war zone with no U.S. troop presence.

The meeting between Biden and Zelenskyy was symbolic, with Ukraine intensely lobbying the U.S. and the west for additional military aid. While in Kyiv, Biden announced the U.S. would be providing an additional $500 million in weaponry for Ukraine.

'We need to keep living': What life is like for Ukrainians a year into Russia's invasion

In Warsaw, Biden reiterated the wests continued support for Ukraine as it fends off Russia. He also made clear the U.S.s continued commitment to bolstering the NATO alliance, calling it more unified than ever in the face of Russian aggression on Tuesday.

(Putin) doubts whether NATO can remain unified, Biden said.  But there should be no doubt: Our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided, and we will not tire.

President Joe Biden arrives to deliver a speech marking the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the Royal Castle Gardens, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in Warsaw.

Haley continues the rounds as GOP 2024 race takes shape

The 2024 field for the GOP nomination for president is slowly shaping up. Haley continued her campaign in the crucial early voting state of Iowa after a trip to New Hampshire, another key primary state.

In Iowa, Haley made a direct appeal to GOP voters who might be considering Trump over her, telling them weve got to look forward, in Urbandale on Monday.

Who can beat Trump?: Republicans want to dump Trump. Will they rally behind a 2024 alternative fast enough?

President Trump is my friend. I think he was the right president at the right time, Haley said. He came in. He broke the things that needed to be broken, and he fixed them. And I was proud to serve in his cabinet. But as dire of a situation as this is, as much as all the media and everybody wants to talk about the past, we need to leave the status quo in the past. We've got work to do. We've got to look forward.

Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is reportedly considering a presidential campaign in 2024, also made a stop in Iowa on Wednesday, delivering remarks at an event at Drake University in Des Moines and also speaking at the Republican Party of Polk County Lincoln dinner.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to voters at a town hall campaign event, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Urbandale, Iowa.

Tester announces reelection bid, Democrats breathe a sigh of relief

In other 2024 news, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester delivered good news for national Democrats on Wednesday when he announced his reelection bid for Senate in his home state of Montana.

Senate Democrats are looking at a tough map for 2024. Of the 34 seats up for reelection, Democrats will be defending 23 of them. Tester, a rare Democrat representing the deep-red red-leaning state of Montana, will be in the crosshairs of Republicans hoping to take the Senate.

More elections: In historic first, Jennifer McClellan just won election to Congress. Black women say it's not enough

In California, Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee announced she will be running to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Lee enters an intensely competitive primary with Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff already in the mix.

The seat, which lies in deep-blue California, is expected to remain in Democratic hands, meaning whoever comes out on top of the Democratic primary will likely win the general election as well.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., arrives for a classified briefing on China, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at the Capitol in Washington. The Montana Democrat is expected to announce Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, that he will seek re-election to a fourth term.

Georgia grand jury foreperson goes public on a media tour

The foreperson of the Georgia grand jury investigating Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election went public this week, making the rounds with multiple media interviews.

Emily Kohrs gave provocative details about what is to come from the now concluded investigation, telling the New York Times that the grand jury recommended indictments against multiple people on various charges.

Its not a short list, Kohrs told the New York Times. While declining to give details on who specifically is in that list, Kohrs said Youre not going to be shocked. Its not rocket science.

While her public comments were highly unusual for any grand jury inquiry, legal experts told USA TODAY that her comments had no real legal implications but they could undermine public confidence in the process.

Related: Georgia grand jury foreperson's unusual media tour likely heartburn for Trump inquiry

Fulton County, Ga., Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney instructs potential jurors during proceedings to seat a special purpose grand jury on May 2, 2022, in Atlanta.

Buttigieg visits East Palestine after train derailment disaster

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine, Ohio on Thursday to assess damages after a toxic trail derailment that released hazardous chemicals into the town's ground, air and water.

Republicans have been attacking the White House, specifically targeting Buttigieg over the derailment, arguing Buttigieg was too slow to respond to the disaster. Buttigieg acknowledged at a news conference that he regretted not coming sooner, saying he was attempting to balance his role as transportation secretary while also not overstepping on the National Transportation Safety Boards investigation into the derailment.

Related: In another train derailment, 31 Union Pacific cars carrying coal derail in Nebraska

But Buttigieg argued that Republicans were playing political games over the disaster, pushing back against GOP lawmakers who were in favor of scaling back government rail regulations.

The White House also fired back at Republicans over the toxic train derailment in East Palestine Ohio, blaming the derailment on the Trump administration for rolling back Obama-era safety regulations that were implemented to avert such disasters.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (C) visits with Department of Transportation Investigators at the site of the derailment on February 23 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden visits Kyiv, GOP 2024 race takes shape: week in politics
The Biden administration is targeting the latest munitions in Russias war in Ukraine: coffee makers, toasters, air conditioner units, hair dryers and microwaves.

Those common household items contain microchips and other components that Russia has used to repair and replace military equipment, U.S. officials say.

The administration on Friday rolled out a slate of new rules seeking to cut off Moscows access to even low-level microchips found in basic electronics. The action recognizes a shift in how Russia is equipping its war-fatigued military and reflects how the U.S. and its allies are changing tactics.

Were seeing Russia increasingly use dual-use goods to further their military industrial complex, tearing out semiconductors from everything to fridges to microwaves in order to put them in military equipment, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in remarks on Tuesday that provided a broad preview of this weeks action.

What were going to do is further tighten our exports controls and sanctions to go after these dual-use goods we know are furthering their war effort, he added.



At the start of the war, the U.S. rallied a group of 36 countries to coordinate so-called export controls that prevented Moscow from procuring advanced microchips and software that could feed its war machine. Russia, however, continues to supply its military through unconventional means, which is testing the limits of the coalitions export restrictions. The experience has forced a rethink of how the U.S. applies the Cold War-era regulations not only to Russia but also long-term adversaries like China and Iran.

The Commerce Department on Friday added hundreds of items  from kitchen appliances to auto parts  to a list that now requires a special license to export to Russia, which in most cases will be denied. It also expanded export controls aimed at Iran, which has continued to provision Russias military, and slapped 86 entities on a trade blacklist due to their ongoing support of the war effort.

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The export control measures were part of broader enforcement actions taken by the U.S. and G-7 countries on Friday. The Treasury Department separately imposed sanctions on 200 people and entities in finance, defense, mining and other sectors critical to Russias economy. And the administration raised tariffs on 100 Russian metals, minerals and chemical products.

They're doing what I think sanctions experts knew was going to happen sooner or later, which is they're plugging holes, said William Reinsch, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former undersecretary of Commerce for export administration during the Clinton administration. Anytime you impose sanctions there's going to be leakage.

Even as the Biden administration has worked to block the sale of critical items to Russia, other countries have gladly stepped into the breach. Exports to Russia from China, Belarus, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Uzbekistan are now above pre-war levels, according to a report from Silverado Policy Accelerator, a non-profit organization.

That could happen with the latest round of restrictions, as well, unless the U.S. convinces more countries to adopt similar trade restrictions, experts say. The U.S. must also keep cracking down on companies that it discovers are selling prohibited technology to the Russian military.

The irony here is the U.S. doesnt make too many refrigerators, said Doug Jacobson, an export control attorney.

This is kind of the best you can do, keep identifying the people that are cheating and keep sanctioning them, Reinsch added. But there's always another move in this game, on both sides.

While theres certainly evidence global export controls and sanctions have debased Russias economy, its also clear they have not crippled it completely.

Russian exports grew by 15.6 percent in value in 2022 because of oil, gas and fertilizer prices spiking  a perverse effect of the war and sanctions tightening global markets and pushing prices up, according to a new report from the World Trade Organization. Its trade with several countries, including China, India and Turkey, increased last year.

Still, there are signs Russia is struggling. The Russian economy dipped 2.2 percent in 2022 as global sanctions took effect, according to the International Monetary Fund. Export controls have especially hampered the countrys automobile, aerospace and manufacturing sectors, while energy sanctions and price caps have taken a bite out of Moscows lucrative oil income.

Adeyemo asserted the efforts up to now have prevented Russia from being able to replace more than 9,000 pieces of military equipment. He also emphasized in his speech that China cannot provide the advanced semiconductors Russia needs for its war effort and nearly 40 percent of the less advanced microchips China is providing Russia are defective.



The multinational cooperation on sanctions since Russias invasion of Ukraine last year has been something of a test for how allied countries can use economic penalties to punish aggressive regimes. Some trade experts say that the coalition-building strategy is working, albeit slowly.

What the evidence would show is that the export controls have had a significant impact, said Michael Smart, the managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors. It's not immediate. It's not like flipping a switch. It's more of a strangulation. And it's something that you see over time.

The Biden administrations ability to quickly align foreign allies against Russia was likely facilitated by the international coalition that the Obama administration built in 2014 to push back against Putins invasion of Crimea, notes Edward Fishman, a State Department official during the Obama years who is now a senior researcher at Columbia Universitys Center for Global Energy Policy.

Hatching new export control coalitions could become key to economic warfare with another major power: China.

The administration is now trying to build a similar coalition for China, for the export controls it has been putting in place on the Chinese high-end semiconductors, for instance, Fishman said. And I think that's why, because it's much better to forge that coalition before a crisis breaks out than it is to scramble to build it after a crisis is already underway.

What we're seeing is the embryonic version of alliances like NATO, but built for economic war not military war, he continued.

But the challenges posed by China are distinctly different, and not only because China is a much more intimidating economic power. While alignment against China has been growing, the U.S. has had to actively persuade allies to join measures like the ban on telecom giant Huawei and export controls on microchip equipment.

A lot of our allies have basically made the point that China is not Russia, which isn't to say China isn't a threat, they would agree that it is, but just that the circumstances are not the same, said Smart, who served on former President George W. Bushs National Security Council.

You don't automatically get the same quick, unified approach that you had in response to the brutal invasion of Ukraine, he continued.

Gavin Bade and Adam Behsudi contributed to this report.
WORCESTER  Its been one year since Iryna Nos watched as Russia invaded her home country of Ukraine and started a war.

At the time, she was preparing to graduate from Boston University with a masters degree in business administration, but her thoughts were on her family and friends in Ukraine. She worried that she may never see her parents again.

Fortunately, Nos was able to secure safe passage for her parents and grandfather to the United States. She registered her family with the program for Ukrainian refugees, and Nos explained the process was very manageable on her end.

Then state Attorney General Maura Healey, left, speaks with student and Ukrainian native Iryna Nos before the Worcester Red Sox home opener at Polar Park last April.

MORE: WooSox opener was a welcome distraction for Ukrainian native Iryna Nos

Im happy they are safe, but today is very emotional for me and all Ukrainians, Nos said. Its been one year since the war started, and its been very intense.

Nos, 29, works for Skanska USA Building, Inc., which helped build Polar Park. Shes been in the U.S. for 10 years, and shes happy her father, Oleksii, and mother, Svitlana, are safe.

Nos explained shes felt mixed emotions in the last year and remembers what it was like when war broke out Feb. 24, 2022.

I couldnt eat. I couldnt sleep, she said. Its been a year and the feelings are still the same. The emotions are a lot of frustration, but weve had support from many different people and many different ways  mentally and financially. I feel very sad that the world has allowed this to happen for a year.

Ukrainian student Iryna Nos, left, and the Foladi family that recently arrived from Afghanistan stand on the field at Polar Park for the opening ceremonies before the Worcester Red Sox home opener last April.

I cant imagine how it is for (Ukrainian) people who dont have relatives over seas and who are trying to find a new home when theyre forced to leave their home country, Nos added.

Currently, Nos family is staying with her in Framingham. Her dad arrived in June, before her mother and grandfather made it here last August.

Im so grateful for all the people I have around me who have supported me, Ukraine and Im really happy I was able to bring my family to a safe place and receive the help weve been getting here.

Story continues

Nos father has health issues and has received the proper medical care. Her mother is learning English and was able to get a job.

As much as theyre going through a lot of emotions with everything that has happened in Ukraine, and its very sad to observe all the bad news, at the same time you have to realize life goes on and we need to continue living our lives, Nos said. Even though a lot of Ukrainians left Ukraine, they still support, and because of that, Ukraine still exists, and it will win this war.

Nos biggest fear was losing contact with her family. When the war began Ukrainians had limited food and water. She was able to stay connected through social media, texts and the occasional phone calls.

The Nos family is safe in the U.S., but the thought of the ongoing war in Ukraine continues to haunts them.

Even though Im physically in the United States safe with some of my family members, my heart and soul is still in the Ukraine, Nos said.

Contact Joe McDonald at JMcDonald2@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeyMacHockey.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Family of Ukrainian student honored by WooSox safe in United States
Which side should California be on in a federal war against Silicon Valley?

The question feels less hypothetical after the State of the Union address, when President Biden blasted Big Tech and promised new restrictions on the lifeblood of Silicon Valley  its ability to use our data. Republicans in Congress, while heckling the president in other parts of his speech, applauded these threats, which makes it even more likely that Californians soon will be in a conundrum.

Because Silicon Valley exposes our states hypocrisy: California likes to see itself as both a progressive force for the future and a seat of global power and wealth. But in reality, California tolerates Silicon Valleys worst practices, because we depend so heavily on it for our wealth.

We Californians will be tempted to take both sides of the coming war.

How can we not side with Silicon Valley when the feds come for it? The tech business fuels our economy, inspires innovation, and attracts smart people from around the world. We wouldnt be the fourth-largest economy on Earth without it.

But how can we side with Silicon Valley in good conscience? Tech firms proudly disrupt established industries that communities depend upon. They force automation that costs jobs, and lay off workers (over 100,000 so far this year) at the first sign of slowdown.

Of course, when we lose our jobs, we need support from the government. So how can we not back Silicon Valley, whose wealthy employees and investors pay the big tax bills that support generous programs for the poor? Big surges in capital gains taxes patch the holes in our broken school funding system. Dont we need to protect Silicon Valley to protect our children?

But dont we need to protect our children from Silicon Valley? Social media companies undermine kids mental health. Tech firms addict and isolate our children. Why shouldnt the Biden administration make war on firms that use our kids data to sell them things?

Story continues

Cmon, protecting children is the job of their parents. And Silicon Valley protects the families of the Bay Area, a rich place with high wages and benefits. Look at the pandemic: When tech firms shut their doors, workers in the service sector suffered.

But isnt that the problem  that California, and the Bay Area, are already too dependent on what trickles down from Silicon Valley? Have you seen how much the tech lords hoard? In the heart of the valley  Santa Clara and San Mateo counties  did you know that eight households hold more wealth than the bottom half of households combined?

Inequality is a problem, sure. But dont we need to fight for Silicon Valley because California is fighting for its democracy? Our tech firms provide the tools and platforms (and the campaign donations) on which our democracy runs, right? Where do we express ourselves freely except on tech platforms?

But how can you say that when Facebook, Twitter and other tech companies routinely undermine democracy around the world? Social media allowed Russia to interfere in our elections. Tech companies collaborate with tyrannical governments. Why should Californians fight for Elon Musk and other enablers of authoritarians?

Because wed be fighting for ourselves. Californians know that when Washington goes to war on our people and institutions, our freedom suffers. The federal government has recently sought to strip us of the power to protect ourselves against environmental pollution, climate change, and gun violence. The U.S. Supreme Court eliminated our constitutional reproductive rights. How can we ever trust the feds?

Fair point, but Silicon Valley doesnt respect our rights either. Tech firms steal our data, allow others to use their platforms to spread lies that destroy our lives  and hide behind liability shields. Silicon Valley thinks it can get away with anything because we need it.

How can we be on Silicon Valleys side?

And how can we not be?

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: California should back Silicon Valley. Or should it?
LANSING, Mich.  In the end, it didnt matter that Kristina Karamo had never won a statewide election, that she had frightened moderate voters by comparing abortion to a satanic practice or that she had refused to concede her resounding loss for secretary of state in November. After three tedious rounds of voting at a Michigan Republican Party convention last weekend, a majority of about 2,000 precinct delegates chose Karamo to lead this important swing-state political apparatus through the 2024 presidential election.

We will not betray you. We will not lie to you. We are committed to every promise that we made, Karamo told the crowd during her acceptance speech as party chair.

Karamo and her running mate, County Commissioner Malinda Pego, prevailed in the final round of voting last Saturday. And in a new sign of former President Donald Trumps diminishing influence, the women beat the Trump-endorsed ticket of Matt DePerno and Garrett Soldano to replace MAGA loyalist Meshawn Maddock and establishment fundraiser Ron Weiser. Maddock and Weiser had formed a tenuous alliance leading Michigan Republicans for the last two years.

It had taken nearly 12 hours to get to this moment. The Michigan GOP, awash in the baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election through some form of machine tampering, decided before the convention to shun electronic tabulators. It opted instead for what it believed to be a more secure paper and iPad-based method. The entire process had taken so long that organizers were forced to extend their rental of the Lansing Convention Center, with money it didnt have.

Karamo, who is tall with a gentle smile, delivered her acceptance remarks with just 15 minutes left on the rental contract, as volunteers snapped closed thousands of black folding chairs. We cannot wait to get work done as one Michigan Republican Party, she said to passionate applause, and we are gonna beat the Democrats in 2024.

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Few people outside of this room actually believe that Republicans can come close to beating the Democrats in 2024, or in any other year in the near term. Things have been going horribly for Republicans in this once-solidly purple state, a fact that delegates were forced to confront at their convention. First Trump lost Michigan in 2020, helping hand Joe Biden the presidency. Then Republicans nominated a painfully, almost comically flawed slate in Novembers midterm elections and ended up losing both chambers of the state legislature. Their nominee at the top of the ticket, Tudor Dixon, a conservative commentator and education activist, came barely within half a million votes of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Karamo stood out as the least electable Republican statewide, losing by the biggest margin following a campaign that sought to undermine confidence in Michigans election system.

Thanks to its hard pivot right in the midterms, the Michigan GOP is millions of dollars in debt and on the verge of a philosophical and organizational breakdown. Many donors have abandoned the party completely. And its lurch to the right will only accelerate under Karamo, who, three days after her elevation to party chair, told podcaster Steve Bannon that Michigan has become ground zero for the globalist takeover of the United States of America. In the same interview, Karamo called Biden a known traitor and illegitimate president, statements she said are known facts.

Far from a whacky conspiracist, Karamo supporters saw her as a well-intentioned true believer who pledged to empower the overwhelming number of Make America Great Again delegates elected since 2016. None of the people I spoke to ever mentioned that Karamo, whos in her mid-30s, would be the first Black woman to lead the Michigan Republican Party, an impressive feat in its own right for an organization that skews old and white. Karamo didnt even mention it herself in her brief acceptance speech.

We need change, said Elise Bennett, one of the dozens of precinct delegates I spoke to at the convention who were well aware of the partys financial struggles and itching for a leadership turnover that returned power to delegates. Bennett, a 40-year-old communications director wearing a patriotic cowboy hat, was backing Karamo. Theres a lot of stagnation. Theres a lot of self-serving. Theres a lot of working for the other team. We need to get back to a position where actual people from small towns are getting involved and really taking it back to the grassroots.

Just because Trump endorses you doesnt mean youre gonna win.Michigan GOP delegate Walter Bujack

Shockingly, few people seemed to care that Trump had endorsed another Republican for the job: DePerno, who along with Karamo and Tudor Dixon rounded out the GOPs trio of unsuccessful candidates for top offices. After years of knee-jerk fealty, Trump was a nonfactor in this race, an emerging sign that Republicans might be thawing out from his freeze as he seeks another term in office. The convention was even light on over-the-top MAGA gear  although one man was proudly sporting a T-shirt featuring Whitmer, a punching bag of the right, with an Adolf Hitler mustache.

Just because Trump endorses you doesnt mean youre gonna win, said Walter Bujack, a county commissioner who was supporting a lesser-known candidate for chairman, Billy Putnam II, because he considered both Karamo and DePerno too establishment. Look around here. This is a room full of precinct delegates that are America first, grassroots delegates. Yes, they understand and aspire to the Trump policies. But theyre looking for a leader, not necessarily just somebody who Trump tells them to vote for. This isnt just like Rush Limbaugh saying to go vote for somebody.

Eric Castigilia, director of the Brighter Michigan PAC, complained that people who continue to benefit from Trumps policies but who dont follow his endorsements are trying to have it both ways.

A lot of people in this caucus say theyre Trump supporters, but a lot are going against the Trump-endorsed candidate, said Castiglia, who was backing DePerno. He said he doesnt like Karamo because she didnt concede her race for secretary of state and address her supporters on election night in November. If youre really a Trump person, why wouldnt you support the person he endorsed? Theres a reason he did that.

Castiglia also lamented the lack of unity in the Michigan GOP. Were a big tent party, and I think our partys forgotten that. We have a lot of purists right now, he said.

The prevailing view from outside the convention hall was that DePerno was the better of two terrifying options. You had Karamo, whose nebulous professional experience includes teaching a community college orientation course and hosting a weekly live trivia show, as well as identifying as a Christian apologist. And then DePerno, a hard-edged election denier whos facing legal trouble for allegedly tampering with voting machines.

Its a situation that Michigan-based Republican strategist Jason Roe described prior to the convention as: Were fucked.

While DePerno had Trumps backing and a major grassroots following, he wasnt actually the Trumpiest candidate. Even before the Trump endorsement, theres a lot of people that believe Karamo is in a better position because DePerno made the unforgivable sin of accepting his defeat, Roe said. Apparently, even when you get your ass kicked, you are a traitor and a sellout to the cause. But when you look at how the 2022 election unfolded, DePerno was literally the top voice for Trump conspiracy theories in the state, and he had the strongest grassroots following within the election integrity block.

DePerno appeared the night before the big vote with election denier and pillow pusher Mike Lindell, who claimed during a closed-door caucus meeting that DePerno was cheated out of his race for attorney general, which, of course, he wasnt.

DePerno backer Raeann Fortin said she liked his plans to hold meetings across the state, not just in major metro areas. We are one election cycle away from losing our state and country, said Fortin, a 55-year-old medical intake coordinator from Grand Rapids. I support Matt because he has plans. Hes been through the election process, running for attorney general. I think he knows whats best for our state. And hes an attorney, so who better to have at the helm than someone who knows the constitutional law inside out and backwards? As for Trumps endorsement: It cant hurt, you know? But he endorsed Tudor for governor, and that didnt do much.

Republican strategist Scott Greenlee was sometimes called the only normal candidate running for Michigan GOP chair. The traditionalist pick, Greenlee managed to make it to the second round of voting, ultimately finishing third. Greenlees association with the establishment status quo may have dimmed his prospects in spite of his otherwise relevant credentials, which include running U.S. Rep. Lisa McClains first congressional race.

Asked before the convention why he was causing himself this headache, Greenlee offered the kind of answer he would probably advise one of his clients to give. Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenows retirement gives Republicans the opportunity to flip an open Senate seat, raising the stakes of next years election. Michigan Republicans havent held a Senate seat since Spencer Abraham lost his 2001 reelection. But Michigan elected a Republican governor, Rick Snyder, in 2014.

I thought to myself, Boy, somehow 2024 just got more important, which is hard to believe, because in 2024 Michigan has to deliver for a presidential nominee, Greenlee said. The absolute top priority has to be to win the statehouse back. Gov. Whitmer has the full strength of the legislature behind her, and that concerns all conservatives and all Republicans with regard to what the agenda is going to look like the next couple of years.

Roe, who was the national spokesperson for Sen. Marco Rubios 2016 GOP presidential campaign, believes the party wont be able to get any statewide candidates elected under the current leadership. Weve just got to figure out a way to work around the party and wait these people out, he said. That probably wont happen any time soon. Every two years, the state central committee has gotten more MAGA, and now were probably looking at the most MAGA composition.

But what does it even mean to be MAGA when the defining characteristic of the movement  the blind loyalty to Trump  isnt there? The delegates waving signs and wearing buttons and shirts proclaiming their support for DePerno and Karamo cared more about battling the status quo than about Trump. And at what point does a former president who keeps screwing things up for his party become himself the despised establishment? Karamo didnt expend a lot of energy trying to rationalize the lack of an endorsement. Instead, she focused on her commitment to empowering the new grassroots, the same thing that Trump did in 2016. She echoed the famous mantra of the former president, saying: We are committed to every promise that we made.

Kristina Karamo speaks Feb. 18 to delegates at the Michigan Republican Party convention in Lansing.

Kristina Karamo speaks Feb. 18 to delegates at the Michigan Republican Party convention in Lansing.

And these new delegates were very much in their power at the convention.

With the clock ticking Saturday, a rogue group that appeared to be associated with the election-integrity movement began forcing votes on amendments. No laptops! No flash drives! someone yelled from the convention floor, responding to one amendment that would have further reduced the reliance on electronics. Their final stand was a chaotic attempt to try to oust the acting chair. Theyre failing to follow Roberts Rules, said Joel Studebaker, one of the delegates leading the charge.

The most revealing aspect of the leadership turnover is who it left behind: Maddock, the GOP activist and power broker known for her close ties to Trump. In 2021, Maddock ran for co-chair with longtime GOP donor Weiser, a fundraiser for George W. Bush and John McCain. Weiser was sought after for his fundraising acumen and money, and Maddock for her connection to the grassroots. As co-chair, Maddock was the gateway to Mar-a-Lago, orchestrating events and endorsements, and using her relationship with the president as currency.

But even Maddock had had enough of being co-chair after two years, revealing in December that she wouldnt seek another term. In a letter to delegates, Maddock, who rose to prominence as a fixture in the 2020 Stop the Steal movement, admitted that it had become nearly impossible to raise money. There is no special well of funds bubbling up resources for us, and the radical left and their hostile media arm have been very effective at shaming our reliable big donors away from supporting the party, she wrote.

Maddock attended the convention, keeping a low profile. Weiser was a no-show, as far as people I spoke to could tell. The day of the vote for her successor, Maddock was wearing all black accented with a sparkly MAGA pin. The race for party chair wasnt the only one on her radar: Her son-in-law Parker Shonts was running for youth chair, and it seemed that Maddock had called in a favor to Lindell, who had recorded an endorsement video. But like Trumps seal of approval, an endorsement from the founder and CEO of My Pillow isnt what it used to be. Maddocks son-in-law lost by a decisive margin in the first round of voting.

It was nearly 8 p.m. when the newly anointed state GOP chair accepted her win. She mentioned neither Maddock, Trumps top ally in Michigan, nor Weiser, one of Michigans most prolific GOP fundraisers. And few people, if any, seemed to care.

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(Bloomberg) -- China called for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine in a position paper on ending the war that offered some reprieve to Moscow but was quickly dismissed by Kyivs allies as the conflict enters its second year.

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Several of the 12 points outlined by China in the document issued Friday would, if carried out, offer clear benefits to Russian President Vladimir Putin. That includes a cease-fire, which would freeze Russian troops in place on Ukrainian territory, as well as a call to immediately end all sanctions not endorsed by the UN Security Council, where Russia holds veto power.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, speaking on CNN, brushed off the Chinese proposal, saying it should have ended after the first bullet point, which calls for respecting the sovereignty of all countries.

This war could end tomorrow, if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine and withdrew its forces, he said.

Asked about the proposal, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, China doesnt have much credibility in light of its failure to condemn Putins war.

But US and European officials worry that the Chinese proposal may get some traction in the global South, which has largely resisted calls to join sanctions against Russia.

The Chinese announcement came a day after the country abstained from a United Nations resolution calling for an end to the war. The measure passed 141-7, with 32 abstentions. The UN resolution included a demand for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraines territory.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to continue fighting until Russian troops depart. Moscow has shown no sign of stopping its attacks and continues to claim portions of eastern Ukraine and Crimea as its territory after holding illegal referendums on annexation.

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The Chinese initiative is nothing that Ukraine could accept, Latvian President Egils Levits said on Bloomberg Television.

The criticism was more muted from Ukraine, which has tried to avoid alienating Beijing since the start of the war.

Of course Ukraine would like to see China on its side, said Zhanna Leshchynska, Kyivs top diplomat in Beijing. At the moment, we see that China is not supporting Ukrainian efforts, but we hope that they also urge the Russian Federation to stop the war and to withdraw its troops from the territory of Ukraine.

There was no immediate official comment on the Chinese plan from Russia, which was observing a public holiday Friday.

Beijing has repeatedly defended a few of Russias justifications for going to war  most prominently to resist the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization  while insisting it doesnt support the invasion itself.

The Chinese initiative is a diplomatic boost for Russia, said Alexander Gabuev, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Russia can say publicly its not against it, thank its Chinese colleagues and that its ready to sit down at the negotiating table.

Its clear no one would seriously agree to this but it will score political points for China and make the West look bloodthirsty and like obstacles to peace, he said.

Days before releasing the proposal, Chinas top diplomat, Wang Yi, met with President Putin in Moscow and called ties between the nations solid as a mountain. Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, hasnt spoken to Zelenskiy since the war started, despite speaking with Putin at least four times.

Much of Chinas proposal on Friday reiterated long-held foreign policy positions in dealing with the US on issues like Taiwan.

Not a Peace Proposal

Its not a peace proposal, said Jorge Toledo, the European Unions ambassador to China. Its a position paper.

Wang Wenbin, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman, hit back at the criticism on Friday, saying the proposal showed that China is committed to peace talks.

As the war drags on, theres rising concern that China may be playing a more active role to help Moscow.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Beijing probably approved of Chinese firms providing Russia non-lethal, dual-use support for its war in Ukraine, remarks that underscore growing US concern that Beijing may help arm Putins forces. China has rejected the allegations and accused the US of fanning the conflict by providing weapons to Ukraine.

--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs.

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In this photo provided by the interviewee, Fu Yong (1st L) gives instructions to technicians on how to perform aseptic inoculation of microalgae at a lab in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 15, 2015. (Xinhua)

HAIKOU, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Fu Yong has successfully cultivated Haematococcus pluvialis in south China's Hainan Province, and now plans to increase investment to establish a factory here.

Fu, 58, is the chairman of the Hainan Furuicom Biotechnology Co., Ltd. He is dedicated to pursuing his dream in Hainan Province. Hainan has introduced a slew of preferential policies to attract talents, including people like Fu, to help speed up the construction of a fledging free trade port (FTP).

In 2014, after living in Japan for 32 years, Fu returned to Haikou and started his own business. He served as the chief executive officer of Hainan Hai Rui Educational Investment Co., Ltd.

Official figures show that Hainan has attracted more than 500,000 talents since April 13, 2018. The province aims to recruit 800,000 more talents in the next five years, including a target of 150,000 this year.

Born and raised in Haikou, capital of Hainan Province, Fu was among the Chinese students selected to study overseas during the country's implementation of reform and opening-up policies in the 1980s.

Fu's excellent academic performance in school earned him a valuable opportunity to study in Japan with government funding in 1983. He majored in fisheries sciences and marine science at Nagasaki University.

"I chose these majors because they are closely related to the main industries in Hainan. The two places both have abundant ocean resources," said Fu.

Three years after graduation, he worked for Nagasaki University and the National Research Institute of Aquaculture in Japan. Later, Fu worked in Fuyo Ocean Development & Engineering Co., Ltd. and Japan Biogenic Co., Ltd.

In 2009, Biogenic appointed him to run its subsidiary in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

"I constantly paid attention to the development of my hometown when I was in Japan. When I got a chance to go back for work in 2009, I thought it was the right time to come back," Fu recalled.

In Kunming, Fu acquired expertise in biotechnologies of Haematococcus pluvialis and gained a thorough understanding of the cultivation process. Haikou and Kunming share similar warm climates, so Fu thought maybe the algae could be cultivated in Haikou as well.

"I look forward to more frequent technical exchanges with other countries and expect to introduce overseas funds, cutting-edge technologies and products to Hainan," Fu said.

In 2020, China released a master plan to build the whole of Hainan Island into a globally influential and high-level FTP by the middle of the century. Since then, a series of favorable policies have been issued to support the development of the Hainan FTP.

"I believe Hainan FTP has a promising future. That's why I set up my company (Hainan Furuicom Biotechnology Co., Ltd.) in 2020 to supply healthy products for customers," Fu said. 

This photo provided by the interviewee shows Fu Yong (L) working with a colleague at Yokohama Port in Japan, May 1998. (Xinhua)
Like other Republican governors, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is making school choice a high-profile political issue, declaring education reform her "top priority" and first big legislative play since taking office in January.

It's facing pushback from public school educators and some parents -- but Sanders is relishing the fight.

Thirteen days after painting her plan with broad strokes in the Republican response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union, Sanders unveiled the text of her much-touted omnibus education reform bill this week. While supporters applaud Republican lawmakers for quickly taking it up, critics are concerned the bill -- carrying massive implications on the state's education system -- is being "ramrodded" through the legislature, despite students' best interests.

"This will be the biggest overhaul in education, I think, anywhere in the country -- certainly in my home state of Arkansas -- and we look forward to setting the standard on how this can be done right and being a blueprint for other states across the country to follow," Sanders said in an interview Tuesday on Fox News, dismissing opposition as "the left mad that they're losing control of the system."

PHOTO: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, R-Ark., speaks while delivering the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union address, Feb. 7, 2023, in Little Rock, Ark. (Bloomberg/Pool via AP)

Two Republican state lawmakers on Monday filed the text of a 144-page bill, Arkansas LEARNS, just before close of business. By Wednesday, it had passed out of a Senate Education Committee, despite public opposition and bipartisan support for amendments, and by Thursday, the full Senate.

"I do probably like 60 to 70% of it," said State Sen. Greg Leding, Democratic Minority Leader, in Wednesday's hearing. "But as I've told a lot of people, if the last 30% of the cheeseburger is poison, it's still a pretty lousy cheeseburger."

More red states expand school choice

The bill lumps together dozens of policy changes, such as lifting teachers' starting salaries from the lowest to among the highest in the nation, banning teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity before fifth grade, as well as Critical Race Theory at all levels, and includes an ambitious proposal to install a universal school voucher program in Arkansas within three years -- a move advocates hail and critics warn against.

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If the legislation is passed and signed, Arkansas could be the fifth state -- following Arizona, West Virginia, Iowa and Utah -- to enact universal school choice, as more Republican-led legislatures prioritize taking up school choice policies.

School choice -- or the distribution of school vouchers or scholarships -- essentially reallocates state funding to individual families that sign up, allowing their children to leave the public school system for any reason and use the money budgeted for them on private or home school instead. That will be around $7,500 in an "Education Freedom Account" for each Arkansas student, according to the proposed legislation and current funding.

"Arkansas, in passing this, would be the latest state to join the universal school choice revolution," said Corey DeAngelis, a prominent school choice advocate and senior fellow at the American Federation for Children. "The dominoes are falling and there's nothing the government school monopoly can do about it."

MORE: COVID-19 may have impacted our children's learning progress in school: Where do we go from here?

But more than a dozen Arkansans with ties to public education told ABC News they were concerned about the changes and the speed with which they're happening.

"With a bill of this size that fundamentally changes the entire public school system in Arkansas, to give less than 48 hours for the public to review it before brought to the Senate Education Committee for testimony is not fair to the taxpayers of this state," said Veronica Paulson, a parent of two public school children in Little Rock.

PHOTO: Homemade signs opposing school voucher policies were left in front of the Arkansas Governors Mansion in Little Rock, Ark., Feb. 20, 2023. (Obtained by ABC News)

Stacey McAdoo, the state's "Teacher of the Year" in 2019, questioned whether Arkansas teachers were involved in writing the legislation.

"People need time to digest it. I'm still processing everything, " McAdoo told ABC News. "I don't think that I've had adequate time to be as prepared and comfortable with what exactly this is and what it means."

Asked about the two-day turnaround from filing to committee approval, Sanders' office dismissed the concerns raised by ABC News that there wasn't ample time to read the text.

"Arkansas LEARNS is something the Governor spoke about enacting for two years while she was campaigning," said spokesperson Alexa Henning. "The details of this legislation, which have been developed in collaboration with elected legislators for months, are not secret and have been available since the Governor announced the legislation on February 8. We welcome the conversation about how Arkansas LEARNS will give every child access to a quality education and set them on a path to success."

PHOTO: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders answers reporters' questions at a news conference at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Feb. 8, 2023, about an education reform bill she's proposing. (Andrew Demillo/AP)

Paulson, who did not vote for Sanders, was among a dozen protesters who gathered outside the governor's mansion in Little Rock on Sunday night -- anticipating the bill's release -- with signs reading "public $ for public schools" and "teacher over vouchers."

"I'm very concerned about taxpayer dollars going to private schools that can discriminate against children," Paulson told ABC News. "Saying the money should follow the student makes children compete for an education, which should never be the case."

MORE: Sarah Huckabee Sanders to deliver GOP's State of the Union response

"I personally feel like this bill is an attack on public education," said Latoya Morgan, a librarian at Carver Elementary School in Little Rock. "I understand everybody wants what's best for their kids, right? But what if that's taking away from somebody else's child?"

Morgan argued vouchers would help families already paying for private school and hurt public school students in Arkansas, particularly those in rural areas who don't have many alternative options available to them.

Private schools aren't required to meet the same accountability standards as public schools, Morgan added, like providing transportation to all students or accepting those with behavioral issues. And vouchers don't always cover the full tuition of a private school, making the switch unattainable for some low-income families, forced to stay in a school with now-diminishing resources.

PHOTO: Grace Thomas, 18, enters Rose Bud High School in Rose Bud, Ark., Feb. 20, 2023. (Courtesy Steve Grappe)

"Because if I'm in rural Arkansas, what other option do I have? What private choices do I have?" Morgan said. "And then if I have a behavior issue, because private schools can be selective about who they allow in, how will those kids be serviced by this system? Why are we not prioritizing a plan to invest in building a public education system that we can all be proud of in the state of Arkansas?"

Supporters of vouchers say they encourage competition among schools and allow parents the power to decide which schools work for their kids -- to "fund students, not systems."

"Maybe government schools would do a better job if they operated more like businesses and had incentives to cater to the needs of their customers," DeAngelis said.

'This will devastate Arkansas'

An hour's drive away from Little Rock, in Rosebud, a town with a population of less than 500, Steve Grappe, chair of the Rural Caucus of Arkansas, organized an emergency Zoom meeting Sunday night, where he and 40 other participants crafted a "mobilization plan" to defeat the bill.

"We're trying to get in front of as many people as we can to let them know the dangers of what's happening," Grappe told ABC News. "What we think is going to happen is they're going to drop this bill and ramrod it through as fast as they can  and not give the people of Arkansas even a chance to digest what is in this and make a decision. So what we're trying to do is get people organized right now."

PHOTO: Members of the Arkansas Rural Caucus meet over Zoom, Feb. 19, 2023, to discuss Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders education plan. (Courtesy Steve Grappe)

Grappe, a Democrat, shared the same concerns about how vouchers would impact rural areas which dominate the state's landscape.

"In many of our small towns, the school is the lifeblood of the town. It's the only thing keeping the town together," Grappe said. "Because rural Arkansas has been leaking population over the last two decades, this will devastate it. Try to get people to move into a town that doesn't even have a school, and you got to send your kids 30 miles to school. We're never going to recruit new business and new people and these talents are going to dry up."

MORE: Sarah Huckabee Sanders to deliver GOP's State of the Union response

Grappe said Sanders isn't necessarily thinking about what's best for Arkansas but what's best for her resume. (Sanders' office said, "The only people talking about 'national ambitions' is the media," when asked about the criticism.)

"School choice is a national Republican ambition, and I think that Sarah Huckabee Sanders has higher ambitions than a governor. She's trying to prove that Arkansas is the most conservative MAGA state in the country. And I don't think it has anything to do with the welfare of our citizens," he said.

He called efforts to slow or stop the legislation a "long shot" but "our only shot -- because this is going to devastate the state of Arkansas."

Despite opposition, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders the latest Republican to push 'school choice' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
U.S. Rep. John Olver speaks at a forum for students at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner with the college President Daniel Asquino and U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, May 3, 2012.

John W. Olver, who served both chambers of the Massachusetts Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives for a total of 44 years, died Thursday at his home in Amherst. He was 86.

Olver, a lifelong Democrat, represented the 1st Congressional District, which covered most of Western Massachusetts and a portion of northern Central Massachusetts including Fitchburg, Leominster and Gardner.

In 2012, after representing the district of 21 years, Olver did not seek reelection. He was 76 at the time.

More:US Rep. Olver looks back on solid 40-year career

A year before retiring from politics, Olver's district was chopped up when redistricting cost Massachusetts one House district. As a result, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, gained Fitchburg and Gardner in the 3rd Congressional District, while U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, gained Leominster in the 2nd Congressional District.

Im deeply saddened to learn of the death of my friend and longtime colleague, Congressman John Olver, McGovern said in a statement Friday. A humble public servant with the heart of an activist, John was truly a champion for the people of Western and Central Massachusetts.

His quiet demeanor and wry sense of humor concealed a razor-sharp understanding of the issues facing the American people and a deep faith in our ability to solve them together.

In March 2012, Olver was arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., along with Hollywood actor George Clooney and three other members of Congress  including McGovern  in protesting the blocking of food aid shipments to neighboring South Sudan.

John and I were arrested together twice while protesting the genocide in Darfur outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. The first time I asked him, I noted that we would likely be arrested and spend hours in jail. He agreed right away  his conscience would allow no less, recalled McGovern. The second time, I didnt have to ask. John knew what was right and just did it. It was an honor to share a cell with him.

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His integrity and support of human rights remains a source of great inspiration for me and so many others around the world.

Healey recalls advocacy

Late Friday, Gov. Maura T. Healey ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff at all state buildings.

Congressman John Olver dedicated his life to serving the people of Western and Central Massachusetts and always stayed true to his values, Healey said in a statement. He was a strong advocate for affordable health care, abortion access, public transportation and rural communities.

U.S. Rep. John Olver fills a dump truck with asphalt from the control room at PJ Keating in Lunenburg as plant foreman Eric Morin looks on, Sept. 1, 2011.

I will always be grateful for his kindness and his friendship. He will be dearly missed, and my heart goes out to his loved ones.

As he ended his career as senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Olver's accomplishments included creating intermodal transportation centers in several communities in his district.

The largest of these projects involved Fitchburg and included a new transportation center along with an extension and upgrading of the commuter rail line, at a cost of about $350 million.

Closer to home, Johns track record of accomplishments speaks for itself, McGovern said. On issues from clean energy to environmental protection to public transportation, he was a workhorse who went above and beyond to get the job done.

In 2012, U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Malden, the senior member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, credited Olver's service on the appropriations panel for "helping rebuild our country's infrastructure" through his work on transportation issues.

"Congressman Olver is a public service powerhouse and a transportation titan," Markey said in 2012.

Pennsylvania native

Born Sept. 3, 1936, and raised on a farm in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania, he tended cows with his father while his mother ran a boarding house.

He graduated from high school at 15, and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, at 18, completing a master's degree in chemistry at Tufts, and a MIT doctorate at age 24.

U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Mass., waves to supporters at a postelection rally in Holyoke, Nov. 7, 2000. The eight-year incumbent was running against Republican challenger Peter Abair for Massachusetts' 1st Congressional District.

Olver moved to Amherst in 1961 to teach chemistry at the University of Massachusetts for eight years. He also acquired an interest in public affairs at both the national and international levels.

In 1969, he went on sabbatical for a year, ran as a state representative for part of Hampshire County and won. What followed was two decades in the Massachusetts Legislature, where Olver dedicated much of his time to improving facilities and services for those with mental health issues.

Beginning in 1973, he served as a state senator for a district covering sections of Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire counties.

In 1991, when Republican U.S. Rep. Silvio Conte died of prostate cancer, Olver won a special election to succeed him by narrowly defeating former state House Minority Leader Steven Pierce. His only other close race since came in 1996, when he bested future acting Gov. Jane Swift, then a state legislator.

Olver was initially named to the Appropriations Committee in 1993. He was bumped off the panel in early 1995 when the Democrats lost their majority in the House, but regained the appropriations seat two years later.

Assigned to the Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee in 2007, Olver said, his emphasis there has been to advance renewable energy. He steered funds to Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner for construction of two wind turbines, one of which was dedicated in his honor.

Olver spent six years on the Appropriations Military Construction subcommittee, where he worked to procure funds to improve the state's Air National Guard bases in Westfield and Chicopee.

On both the local and national scene, Olver worked to keep water clean and forest and agricultural land free from development.

Olver's commitments were firm, steady and progressive. He believed in using diplomacy rather than military force in international disputes, consistently voting against increased funding and deployment for military operations, according to his obituary.

Olver co-sponsored a bill to introduce universal health insurance. On the question of abortion, he was solidly pro-choice. He supported efforts to reform immigration laws to allow entrance to qualified immigrants, convinced also that undocumented immigrants should be offered a pathway to citizenship.

Throughout his tenure, Olver has exhibited a strongly liberal voting record. On the whole, he believes his constituents are "quite satisfied" with his stances on issues, but acknowledged his district's changing nature. He said it has become "considerably more conservative" on its eastern side.

After retiring from politics, Olver worked with the Kestrel Trust and the Mount Grace Land Trust.

In 2014, UMass gave Olver an honorary degree in public service. His wife, Rose, died at age 77 that year.

Olver advocated for a high-rise building on the university's Amherst campus to be built of wood rather than steel. That building, the largest academic contemporary wood structure in the country, was named the John W. Olver Design Building in 2017.

Although he would change some decisions in hindsight, Olver, in 2012, emphasized he was comfortable with his voting record and he considered himself a "product of the committees" he served on during his 40-year state and federal legislative career.

"I came in as a liberal Democrat and I will go out as a liberal Democrat," Olver said as he packed up his office in the Longworth House Office Building before exiting for good back in 2012.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Former Mass. legislature and U.S. Rep. John W. Olver dead at 86
Rep Chip Roy GOP investigations budget - Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

Some House Republicans had expected that their new subcommittee dedicated to probing the so-called weaponization of the federal government would have the same funding as the previous Congress efforts to investigate the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In fact, House Judiciary Republicans have officially requested only a $2 million per year increase in the House Judiciarys budget for the new subcommittees efforts, alongside a $15 million reserve fund that could be tapped in an ongoing manner. The $2 million starting point is smaller than what Democrats spent on their investigation into the insurrection: more than $18 million, according to a senior congressional aide.

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The Committee on the Judiciary expects to have an aggressive oversight and legislative agenda in the 118th Congress, Jordan writes in a copy of the budget request reviewed by Rolling Stone. He asks for a $2 million annual increase in the House Judiciarys budget, an amount to meet the immediate needs of additional staff and resources for both the new weaponization subcommittee and House Judiciary Committee more broadly.

Such an amount would cover the hiring of some researchers and lawyers, but falls short of the scale of the Jan. 6 Committees efforts. At its peak, the committee had employed roughly 50 investigators across five teams to carry out more than 1,200 interviews and depositions, according to a former committee aide. Its hires included seasoned prosecutors, as well as outside intelligence contractors to move aggressively during the committees 18 months of operation.

Jordans budget request leaves room, however, to scale his ambitions. He asks for the ability to access up to an additional $15 million from the reserve fund in order to address ongoing and unforeseen needs  an amount that, when added to the $2 million per year, would total $19 million, roughly equivalent to the Jan. 6 spend. He adds that the Judiciary Committee may also require up to 50 additional staff slots. It isnt clear, however, under what circumstances that reserve fund would be tapped, or for how much. So far, the work of the subcommittee has been carried out by the staff of the full House Judiciary Committee.

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A spokesperson for Jordan says the chairman has not ruled out additional funding for the subcommittee. Republicans are fully committed to the mission and important work of the Select Subcommittee, and the Speaker has made clear that we will have access to all the resources needed to complete our task, the spokesperson said. The funding request is structured to achieve our mission in a fiscally responsible manner, recognizing that we work on behalf of the American people and we must be careful stewards of their tax dollars.

House Republicans have vowed to devote their control of the chamber to intense scrutiny of the Biden administration and deep state conspiracies across the federal government. The exercise would have a political aim, Jordan said at the Conservative Political Action Conference last February. All those things need to be investigated in order to help frame up the 2024 race when I hope and I think President Trump is going to run, Jordan said. We need to make sure he wins. In the days-long fight over the speakership, House Republicans far-right flank secured a promise from Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to create the subcommittee, a brainchild of the Trump-aligned Center for Renewing America.

We got what we call a Church-style committee, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said at the time, with the kind of budget and kind of staff  we said at least as much as the Jan. 6 Committee. The sum would provide more resources, more specificity, more power, to go after this recalcitrant Biden administration, he added. (Roy had been among the GOP members initially appointed to the subcommittee, but was quietly replaced by Rep. Matt Gaetz, with Roy citing his standing commitments on the Rules, Judiciary and Budget Committees.)

The first hearing of the subcommittee did not focus on the promised administration oversight. Instead, Republican lawmakers and their witnesses aired a market basket of right-wing grievances, including complaints over Hillary Clintons private email server. At its conclusion, Fox News host Jesse Watters lamented that the spotlight hadnt yielded anything fruitful for the rights war on the deep state. Im sick of these hearings, Watters lamented. Tell me this is going somewhere. Can I throw someone in prison? Can someone go to jail? Can someone get fined?

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Brooklynn Prince and Christian Convery in "Cocaine Bear." Pat Redmond/Universal

In "Cocaine Bear," two kids swallow a blade full of cocaine on a dare.

Director Elizabeth Banks told Insider that what they really swallowed was a mix of sugar and salt.

"I felt if we fed these kids just sugar, I don't think they are going to think it tastes bad," Banks said.

In "Cocaine Bear," a giant black bear eats a whole lot of cocaine  but it's not the only one that does.

In one scene, two teens who come across the drug decide to give it a try.

Child actors Brooklynn Prince and Christian Convery play friends Dee Dee and Henry who skip school and spend a day in Georgia's Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. What they don't know is a drug dealer threw pounds of cocaine out of his airplane the night before and now it's scattered throughout the preserve  and a bear has eaten a lot of it (this really happened).

"Cocaine Bear" is a fictional horror comedy based on true events, and in one scene, we watch what happens when Dee and Henry come across a pound of coke. The two dare each other to try it, leading to both taking a knife, scooping some of the white powder on the blade, and each taking a turn swallowing it.

Both are disgusted by the taste and run away soon after when the bear shows up looking for some more coke.

"Cocaine Bear." Universal

So what did Prince and Convery actually swallow in the movie?

"It was mostly sugar but we did add a little salt because we wanted their reaction to be as real as possible and I felt if we fed these kids just sugar, I don't think they are going to think it tastes bad," director Elizabeth Banks told Insider. "So there was a mix of salt."

Banks said that  even though the movie has fun with the idea of a bear going on a horrific rampage after ingesting cocaine  doing the drug is no laughing matter, which was made clear to the child actors on set.

"Listen, this movie is not pro-drug. That's obvious," she said. "We are not glorifying drugs in this film. So the kids got that. They weren't interested in it. And their parents were there the whole time. They were well supervised."

"Cocaine Bear" is currently playing in theaters.

Read the original article on Insider
Jurors in the capital murder trial of 24-year-old Hollis Reid Daniels returned to the 137th District Court Friday evening with a verdict sentencing the Seguin native to life in prison without parole for the Oct. 9, 2017 deadly shooting of Texas Tech University police officer Floyd East Jr.

Jurors deliberated for three days before deciding Daniels deserved to spend the remainder of his life in prison for killing the Texas Tech police officer who was a husband and father of two.

Hollis Daniels walks out of a Lubbock County courtroom Friday evening, Feb. 24, 2023, after learning he was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of Texas Tech police officer Floyd East Jr. in 2017.

East, 48, had been a certified police officer for five months before he was killed. A native of El Paso, East was in the midst of completing his training at the Texas Tech University Campus in Lubbock and was slated to serve at the El Paso campus when he was done.

Sighs of relief escaped the from the gallery, where Daniels' family sat as the sentence was announced.

Meanwhile, Juanita Cooper sat on the witness stand and unloaded on him the words she's waited more than five years to say since the merciless killing of her brother.

"You have the privilege to be anything in life that you choose to be, but you chose to be a cop killer," she said, staring at Daniels. "Not only did you choose to take our brother's life, Floyd was everybody's brother here: A kind, loving man.

She said Daniels repaid the respect her brother showed him by killing him without mercy.

"And like the coward that you are, you didn't give him a chance to fight for his life," she said. "I pray that justice show you the same - no mercy and may you rot in hell."

Floyd East and family

The trial process

The trial began in October, nearly five years to the day of the shooting, after attorneys on both sides stood before District Judge John McClendon and announced they were ready to try the case, which had been pending in the court for more than five years.

From November to about late January, attorneys worked to pare down a pool of hundreds of potential jurors to a 12-person jury panel with four alternates.

Parents recall Hollis Daniels' struggles with depression before deadly shooting of Tech police officer

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Before jurors heard testimony and opening statements on Feb. 6 Daniels entered an open plea of guilty to a count of capital murder of a police officer. However, since Daniels' plea did not arise from a negotiation with the Lubbock County District Attorney, he faced the full range of punishment.

From then on the trial focused on what Daniels, who testified in his trial, deserved for his actions the night he shot killed East.

To find Daniels deserved the death penalty, jurors had to answer two questions: Whether the evidence showed a probability that Daniels would commit criminal acts of violence that constituted a continuing threat to the prison population in which he will spend the rest of his life and whether there was proof of mitigating circumstances that should spare him the death sentence.

For Daniels to get a life sentence without parole, at least 10 jurors would have to agree that he wasn't a future danger and 10 had to agree that there was sufficient mitigating circumstances to spare him the death sentence.

However, all 12 jurors had to be unanimous to send Daniels to death row.

Jurors found that Daniels was a future danger but more than 10 of them believed there were mitigating circumstances to spare him the death sentence.

Attorneys on both sides were given four hours on Wednesday to present their closing arguments during which jurors were given two versions of the defendant.

Prosecutors argued that the evidence in the three-weeks of testimony portrayed the defendant as a cold, manipulative and deceitful killer, who fooled everyone in his life to keep living a drug-fueled, criminal lifestyle. They said Daniels executed East because the officer was on the wrong side of his moral world view.

They said Daniels' actions the night he shot East clearly showed he posed a future danger and that any change he's displayed in the five years of his incarceration at the Lubbock County Detention Center was just another form of manipulation to escape the death penalty.

However, defense attorneys argued Daniels killed the officer in the fog of a 30-hour mental health crisis stemming from drug abuse, unaddressed mental health issues and grief from the loss of a family member the summer before the shooting.

They argued to jurors that their client's clean disciplinary record in his five-years at the jail showed Daniels does not pose a threat to the prison community in which he will spend the rest of his life.

They called on jail volunteers and employees who described Daniels as a model inmate they've seen help others in class or even ease tensions among other inmates. They told jurors they believe Daniels would act the same way in a prison setting.

Chip Lewis, who led Daniels defense, told jurors that he believed the death penalty was a necessary tool to ride society of evil. But it was meant for the worst circumstances, which his client's case did not meet.

He said outside of the 30-hours leading up to the fatal shooting, there was no record his client engaged in violent criminal behavior.

Defense attorney Lauren Byrne told jurors that testimony from Daniels' friends and family showed that for years his parents missed, ignored or misinterpreted signs their son was on a path of self-destruction.

"Meaningful opportunities for treatment and intervention were missed," she said.

However, Byrne told jurors her client's drug use and mental instability at the time didn't excuse his actions.

"Reid, for the past five and 1/2 years has lived with his actions as he should," she said. "They were horrible and none of those contributing factors are excuses, but they can explain how we got here."

Family members told jurors that mental health issues were typically unaddressed or ignored because it was seen as a sign of weakness.

Byrne said as her client's mental condition deteriorated, his drug use, particularly Xanax, increased, making him more irrational and suicidal. By the time Daniels was alone with East at the police station he was in the throes of a mental health crisis.

"It wasn't until his state of mind, he irrationally thought the only way out of this was to do what he did," she said. "It's senseless and irrational and it was fueled by depression and drugs."

Byrne said once her client was immediately remorseful once he came out of the haze of drugs and has wanted to take responsibility for his actions at his first opportunity. She said he has and spent his time at the jail strengthening his faith and helping other inmates.

Audra Terzenbach, a volunteer at the jail, told jurors she has seen Daniels help a fellow inmate obtain a GED and ease tensions between other inmates during class.

She said while her client can never make sufficient amends for his actions he still can contribute to the prison community.

"He will never leave (prison)," she said. "But he can still give something."

However, prosecutors said the evidence showed that Easts shooting could have been prevented but Daniels rejected any help he was offered to pull him away from his path.

They said Daniels, who came from an affluent family that owned multiple properties in Seguin including a historical theater was given every advantage to succeed. Instead, they said he chose to live a life of drugs and crime that he hid from his family and friends.

"He chose his lifestyle he chose the path has gone down," Lubbock County District Attorney Sunshine Stanek told jurors in her closing argument. "Everything he chose his entire life is what put him here today."

Prosecutor Barron Slack told jurors that Daniels deserved the death penalty because he has shown an innate "callous indifference to human life and a disrespect for law enforcement" that made him a danger to anyone in prison.

He described the shooting as "senseless, needless, unnecessary and cold blooded." He said East finally achieved his dream job and was killed because of it,

"He died well in service to others, to sacrifice for others," Slack said.

He reminded jurors the shock and disbelief Daniels' friends and family expressed when they heard about the deadly shooting.

"Nobody should learn in the future at cost to themselves what you already know," he said. "The state's contention is and has been, the defendant's actions, manipulations, his capacity to deceive and kill is sufficient to prove a future danger."

During the trial jurors learned that in his sophomore year of high school, as his drug use was picking up, he was arrested for possessing synthetic marijuana. He was eventually placed on probation and went through the drug court program, which offered him drug education courses.

However, he said he never stopped using drugs and continued to smoke marijuana saying he drank cranberry juice to get around court-ordered urine drug tests.

Daniels said he started using drugs in high school and enjoyed getting high. But his drug use began to increase in frequency to smother the feelings of melancholy and insecurity that began to growing inside him. However, he also described his childhood as ideal, saying his parents provided him a wonderful childhood in Seguin where he went to private schools and all his needs were met.

"When I look back now, I didn't have anything to be sad about," he said.

He said his lifestyle choices were influenced by rap music, which he said glorified guns and drug use.

As he attended a private high school in New Braunfels he served as a middle man, providing his classmates with drugs, then began selling directly to them from his own supply.

He said he experimented with other drugs like LSD and psychedelic mushrooms and even tried getting high on household products such as canned air, developing a preference for the taste of a particular brand.

Then in his junior year of high school, he said he began using Xanax.

"It made all the anxiety go away," he said. "It gave me courage to do things and say things that I would not have ever done."

He said after high school, one of his main driving forces to go to college was to get as far away from his parent's scrutiny, though they were unaware of how bad his drug use had become.

By the end of high school he began using Xanax regularly. He told jurors Xanax gave him confidence to do things he wouldn't normally do, such as cope with stage fright when he was cast in school play. He said when the anti-anxiety drug took hold of him he felt as if there was a screen that separated him from reality.

"I felt it made me chill," he said. "I told people it was THE chill pill. It was epitome of a chill pill. I thought those were the effects ."

However, he said he also used Xanax to help him do things he wanted to do such as shop lift beers from gas stations.

He said Texas Tech's reputation as a "party school" appealed to him because knew he would be able to obtain Xanax.

Daniels told jurors in the hours before the shooting his Xanax supply was running low and he planned to steal a friend's gun so he could rob a Xanax dealer he contacted through another dealer. He planned to return the gun without anybody noticing.

However, after robbing the dealer, his friend called him back and confronted him about the stolen gun. He said he kept the gun and denied stealing it because he was embarrassed.

Slack said Daniels' actions that night was not a result of a combination of the defendant's depression, drug abuse and grief, as defense attorneys argued but part of a long pattern of criminal behavior Daniels engaged in for years.

"What you saw here is a result of someone's chosen path toward criminal behavior," he said.

He told jurors the unpredictable nature of Daniels' actions that night showed a great probability that he could commit future acts of violence in prison.

Evidence at the trial showed that East arrested Daniels after responding to his dorm room to investigate a report the then sophomore's roommates made after hearing a gunshot from his room. The investigation shifted when officers found drugs and drug paraphernalia strewn about Daniels' room.

Evidence at the trial included hours of video from police body worn cameras that not only caught Daniels' interactions with police but also East's shooting.

Daniels could be seen speaking with officers coherently and appeared to have no trouble with his coordination. Friends of Daniels told jurors that they knew the defendant was intoxicated on Xanax because he was often lethargic, forgetful, incoherent and uncoordinated.

The trial shed light on how Daniels was able to smuggle the stolen firearm to the Texas Tech police station after his arrest. Video showed Daniels shifting his legs and even maneuvering the weapon while sitting in the back of East's police vehicle.

For a little more than a half-hour Daniels sat with the officer alone in the station's briefing room. Moments before the shooting, Daniels' asked the officer about his family before pressing the weapon against his head and shooting him.

Daniels told jurors that when he encountered the officers in his dorm room, his immediate thoughts were about getting rid of the gun without the officers seeing it, but failed at every attempt.

He said he remembers shooting East but couldn't offer a reason for it.

"I thought I was stuck," he said. "I thought it was all over. I thought this was an opportunity to go out, to commit suicide ... This was me going out in a flash, in a splash, this is how I can go out without doing it to my self."

He told jurors that before shooting East, he asked the officer about his family and his children. He said East's answer might have determined whether he would pull the trigger. However, he said at the same time, he wanted the officer to think about something pleasant before he killed him.

Daniels said despite being suicidal he didn't try to kill himself with the gun and instead ran away prompting an hour and 1/2 long manhunt on campus. Police would later find the murder weapon in a drainage area by Marsha Sharp Freeway near the Texas Tech police station.

Slack told jurors that Daniels' actions that night and since has been driven by self-preservation.

"This is not someone who is incoherent," he said. "It was logical. It was not , contrary to the defendant's claim, irrational."

Jurors also watched videos of Daniels' arrest at the site of the former Lubbock Municipal Coliseum, during which he taunted and goaded law enforcement officers into shooting.

Evidence of Daniels behavior after the shooting showed him making irrational statements. During his interview with detectives he said he was on the phone with his mother as he ran around campus after the shooting. However, cellphone records showed he made no such call.

Defense attorneys called on a neuropharmacologist, who told jurors that an analysis of Daniels' urine three days after the shooting showed an alarming level of Xanax in his system. Dr. Wilkie Wilkins told jurors that based on Daniels' history of drug use it was possible that the defendant developed a tolerance to the drug's physical effects but could still be irrational.

However, Slack said it was unreasonable to believe that intoxication from Xanax, one of the most prescribed prescriptions drugs out there, compelled the shooting.

"It doesn't do this," he said. "This (shooting) is motivated by self preservation, and disrespect to law enforcement."

Stanek told jurors the shooting was enough to show Daniels was a future danger.

"The evidence of future danger is right there and his explanation as to why he asked that question because the question in and of itself wasn't bad enough  is unbelievable," she said.

She quoted a letter Daniels wrote in his first days at the jail in which he called himself a wolf in sheep's clothing. She said Daniels was a self-admitted liar and has known early in the case that he faced the death penalty and has lived in the jail with that possibility hanging over him.

"When there is no longer the death penalty over his head how will he behave based on what you know about him and what he's capable of?" Stanek asked jurors.

During his testimony Daniels struggled to express why jurors should show him mercy, saying he understood he deserved the death penalty.

"Because it's terrible. It's senseless. The crime itself is just unforgivable," he said. "But then on the other hand I think about my family and the truth is I'm biased in my own favor. I wanted to die, not any more."

Stanek told jurors her request for a death sentence wasn't an easy one.

"One of the hardest things I've ever had to do is to ask you to kill this man," she said pointing at Daniels. "But I cannot trust him to go to the prison system and not be a future danger based on what I know about him and what you know about him."

Slack told jurors their decision in the case wasn't a simple one.

"The issues encompassed (in this case) has much to do with other people besides the defendant," he said. "It includes the standards that protects police officers, punishment for the loss of an innocent life..."

However he said capital punishment was a reinforcement of a standard that protects people like East who wore a badge to protect everybody.

Stanek ended her closing argument by playing a recording of the Texas Tech Police Department's end of watch dispatch for East. Jurors heard dispatchers call out East's badge number three times to no response.

"Unit 635 officer Floyd East End of Watch Oct. 9, 2017. Thank you for your service. God speed," the dispatcher said.

Stanek said after the trial that she stood by her belief Daniels' character and the threat he posed to the prison population warrants a death sentence.

"That this office will always stand up for law enforcement," she said. "And we will try case after case after case to stand up for law enforcement. We respect the jury's verdict and have no idea why or how they arrived at it but we certainly respect it. And we're grateful for the time that they spent, the hours and hours and hours that they spent on this case."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Jury sentences Hollis Daniels to life in officer's deadly shooting
House Republicans are launching a probe of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigiegs response to the derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, marking the latest spark to partisan tensions surrounding the incident.

In a new letter to Buttigieg on Friday, 21 Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee said they were concerned about what they described as the Department of Transportations slow pace in resolving this matter.

This incident is an environmental and public health emergency that now threatens Americans across state lines, the lawmakers wrote in their letter. Despite the U.S. Department of Transportations responsibility to ensure safe and reliable transport in the United States, you ignored the catastrophe for over a week.

The American people deserve answers as to what caused the derailment, and DOT needs to provide an explanation for its leaderships apathy in the face of this emergency, they added.

The lawmakers requested documentation of when Buttigieg learned about the derailment, as well as documents related to the National Transportation Safety Boards progress on figuring out the cause of the incident, as well as the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrations handling of hazardous materials spilled due to the incident.

In response, Buttigieg noted in a tweet that the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident, is independent, not part of the Transportation Department.

I am alarmed to learn that the Chair of the House Oversight Committee thinks that the NTSB is part of our Department, he wrote.

Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately, he added.

The Hill has reached out to the Transportation Department for comment on the new letter.

In the wake of the derailment, Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and a 2020 presidential candidate, has pointed to Trump-era actions to roll back safety regulations.

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For many in Washington, the incident  which unleashed chemicals including carcinogen vinyl chloride into the area of East Palestine, Ohio  has become a political flashpoint.

Former President Trump visited the area and accused the Biden administration of indifference and betrayal.

Meanwhile, the White House has sought to blame Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration for loose regulations on rail and the environment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former President Jimmy Carter leans on a wall as he helps build a Habitat for Humanity house in Violet, La., in 2007. (Alex Brandon/AP)

In 2019, just hours after being released from a Georgia hospital following a fall that resulted in a pelvic fracture, former President Jimmy Carter, who had just turned 95, headed to Nashville to continue the volunteer work that had become an abiding passion of his life.

I fell down and hit my forehead on a sharp edge and had to go to the hospital. And they took 14 stitches in my forehead and my eye is black, as youve noticed, Carter told reporters gathered at the event organized by Habitat for Humanity, the nonprofit whose goal is to provide decent and affordable housing for families in need. But I had a No. 1 priority, and that was to come to Nashville and build houses.

For journalist and documentary filmmaker Jonathan Alter, author of the 2020 book His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, the episode epitomized the former presidents legacy.

So he fell and he was hospitalized and he insisted on going and working on the Habitat site. It was his last such work, and, you know, there's that famous photograph of him with the bruises on his face, Alter told Yahoo News. That picture is in some ways very characteristic of Carter, because it showed his extraordinary grit and determination, but also his habit of sometimes overdoing it.

Carter at the site of a future Habitat for Humanity home in Nashville in 2019. Prior to the event, he had a fall, causing a black eye. (Erika Boyce/Habitat for Humanity)

In the week following his hospital stay, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, the former first lady, chipped in to construct 21 new Habitat for Humanity houses and helped raise funding for an additional 21 new single-family homes and 26 new townhomes, according to a Habitat press release in 2019.

Carter famously came from humble beginnings, growing up on a farm in Plains, Ga., that was without running water and electricity. Following his decision last week to forgo further medical treatment and enter hospice care, Carter, 98, returned to his hometown, where he will spend his remaining time at home with his family, the Carter Center said in a statement.

Well, it's sad. I mean, his age, it's not tragic, because he's led a long and productive life  and my understanding was that he just didn't want to be apart from Mrs. Carter anymore, said Alter, who spent time with the former president on a Habitat build in Memphis in 2016.

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And he didn't want to die in the hospital alone. There's a kind of an interesting closure to it. He was the first American president born in a hospital, but you don't want to die in a hospital, and he wants to do it on his own terms. You have to respect that.

Carter works alongside other volunteers constructing a home in San Pedro, Calif., in 2007. (Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Working on a Habitat for Humanity house in Atlanta in 1988. (Margaret Miller/Photo Researchers History/Getty Images)

The former president and his wife first volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in March 1984, a little over three years after he departed the White House. Later that same year, they traveled to New York Citys Lower East Side to join other volunteers from the group in renovating an abandoned building. And that trip provided the impetus for the first Jimmy Carter Work Project with Habitat (later renamed the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project).

Carter and a bunch of his neighbors got on an overnight bus and they rode from Plains, Ga., to New York City, said Alter. So this is a former president of the United States, and he's on the bus like anybody else. I guess a Secret Service agent was with them. And they take the overnight bus. They arrive in New York City, and there's a really grungy-looking exterior of a church right when you enter the Lincoln Tunnel, and at that church they had a kind of a dormitory, and they had one private room that was going to be for the Carters. The Carters found out that there was a couple that was honeymooning, and so they gave that couple the room and they slept in the dorm. This is a former president and a former first lady.

The next day they started work on rehabbing this building and the New York Times learned about it and did a front-page story, and Habitat was on the map. That's how it took off. And every year from then until 2019 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter devoted one week to building a house somewhere in the world.

For the next 35 years, the Carters worked alongside more than 100,000 volunteers across the U.S. and 14 countries to build, renovate and repair more than 4,300 homes, according to Habitat.

Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, at a work project in Mishawaka, Ind., in 2018. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP)

All of us at Habitat for Humanity are lifting up President and Mrs. Carter in prayer as he enters hospice care, Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, said in a statement. We pray for his comfort and for their peace, and that the Carter family experiences the joy of their relationships with each other and with God in this time.

With the Carter Center, the former presidents volunteer work extended beyond Habitat for Humanity, focusing on three different areas, Alter noted.

Global health, where they've led to the near eradication of two major diseases, guinea worm disease and river blindness, he said. Democracy promotion is their second big area, and they have supervised elections in more than 100 countries. Then they're also involved in peacemaking  and that's harder to do. But you know, he's had some success over the years, particularly in the year 1994 in preventing wars in Haiti and North Korea.

All in all, not a bad legacy for a guy who grew up in Plains, Ga.  even one who went on to become president.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker talks about Smart Start Illinois at the Early Learning Center in Springfield Thursday Feb. 16, 2023.

Gov. JB Pritzker has announced a plan to expand and restructure mental health care for children in Illinois.

The plan is based on the Childrens Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative, a 92-page report in which six state agencies collaborated to produce.

Pritzker first introduced the initiative in March 2022. The goal -- give consistent guidance to families requesting behavioral and mental health services for their children and adolescents. The report serves as a blueprint to implement the plan which is expected to make its way to the governor's desk in October.

The governor said during a news conference in Maywood Friday, the need to address the mental health crisis was revealed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found nearly half of U.S. children had suicidal thoughts during the pandemic.

State News:House Democrats form cannabis working group to engage industry, equity advocates

In Illinois, despite one in five children experiencing a mental health disorder such as depression or anxiety, Pritzker said only 20% received the health care they needed.

"As a governor, as a father, I refuse to let our youth fall through the cracks," he said.

Chapin Hall child welfare expert Dana Weiner, named as the initiative's director by Pritzker, told The Associated Press the program will clear up any confusion for parents who question how they should help their children.

Its all really geared toward creating an experience for families, where the boundaries between those different state agencies that are there to serve them are less visible, she said.

Specifically, the initiative focuses on increased and earlier access to services while making mental health systems more adaptable to the needs of youth.

The agencies involved include the departments of Human Services, Health and Family Services, Juvenile Justice, Board of Education, and Public Health.

Pritzker's budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 calls for a $22.8 million investment into the initiative. Nearly half of the funding will go to expanding the Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services program.

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CCBYS, a program serving at-risk 11 to 17-year-olds, would receive $10 million and in turn provide housing and crisis stabilization to those in need.

Childhood investment

Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright answers questions in the County Board Chamber Wednesday Nov. 16, 2022 during a press conference on the Nov. 8, I-55 fatal.

The governor's announcement preceded a virtual news conference of civic leaders focused on supporting the early childhood workforce.

Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright, speaking as a member of the Fight Crime: Invest in Kids program, said the investment was needed to improve public safety.

Increased investment today could prevent incarceration or violence in the future and save money down the road, he pointed out.

"We spend less money on the criminal justice system by making sure folks are ready for their adult life," Wright said.

The state's attorney expressed support for provisions focusing on childhood education in the governor's $49.6 budget proposal.

Budget:Gov. Pritzker announces $49.6 billion budget proposal headlined by education spending

Pritzker's proposal, now requiring action from the Illinois General Assembly, creates the $250 million Smart Start Illinois plan with the goals of expanding childcare service and eventually providing preschool access to every 3-year-old and 4-year-old in the state.

His tour of the state touting the program started last week in Springfield and concluded with stops in Rockford and the Quad Cities on Wednesday.

Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: New Illinois initiative seeks to address youth mental health crisis
The commander-in-chief of the United States military visited Ukraine on Feb. 20, Presidents Day. Yes, that is what I said, President Joe Biden, commander-in-chief, visited a country that is involved in a war with Russia, one of our greatest adversaries.

The visit implies far more in U.S. involvement than any previous actions in support of Ukraines defense of its country. I think its just one more step in falling in to the quagmire of an already protracted war. Bidens presence in Ukraine brings on all kinds of implications.

Ask any military person if Ukraine can win a war with Russia, and the honest answer is a resounding no.

The conclusion of the Ukrainian war may be drawn out in terms of finalization, but Russia has the military might to defeat its present adversary. That is, if the only involvement by the U.S. is limited to supplying war materials.

John F. Floyd

But the way the prosecution of the war is being carried out by Russia, plus the entanglement of other Russian allies in combat positions and the ineptness of Bidens foreign policy, American boots on the ground may become necessary, at least from a political standpoint.

The hawkish position comes from a broad spectrum of politicians, news organizations and social advocates, especially from the Republican side. And one of the major network contributors, Fox News, has been front and center with its support of anything to pull the U.S. into a more contracted war.

Fox News contributor Brian Kilmeade, self-appointed military expert, has been noticeably supportive of military involvement, to the point of possibly depleting the United States military inventory. In Kilmeades conversations with Fox News military strategists, who also are advocates for more military hardware for Ukraine, he pushes the envelope for further tanks, missiles and ammunition.

I mentioned in a previous commentary that the Biden administration, as well as Republicans in Congress, have a cavalier mindset about the next conflict, which I see as potentially far more devastating for the U.S. population.

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President Vladimir Putin just announced that Russia is pulling out of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, a bilateral agreement signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dimitri Medvedev. Both the U.S. and Russia are capable of deploying more than the allotted nuclear warheads. Washington and Russia have more than 13,000 warheads, or 90% of nuclear capacity worldwide.

What if  and this is a big what if  Russia thinks this is the time for a final showdown with the Western powers, and decides to test the Wests resolve with a nuclear strike on the U.S. proper?

The U.S. military is in virtual stagnation. Manpower recruiting is down 30%. Thats a big number, and if continued could be catastrophic. Also, the U.S. military has always been known for its toughness, but with the milquetoast leadership now in place, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, it has been consumed by wokeness.

Russia could very well challenge the determination and will of the American people and the U.S. military. And if that challenge took the form of a nuclear attack, once that genie is out of the bottle, it would be almost impossible to get it back in.

Far-fetched, yes; possible, you bet.

I am not willing to chance a nuclear war over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Yes, the Ukrainian people are a fledgling democracy and I would like to help them survive this vicious assault on their country. Article 1 of the Ukrainian Constitution defines Ukraine as a sovereign, independent social welfare state. Article 5 says the single source of power is the people. Article 15 establishes that public life is based on principles of political, economic and ideological diversity. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by law.

By those basic elements of its constitutional system, Ukraine qualifies as a fledgling democratic society and the U.S. should support it  but not at all costs.

John F. Floyd is a Gadsden native who graduated from Gadsden High School in 1954. He formerly was director of United Kingdom manufacturing, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., vice president of manufacturing and international operations, General Tire & Rubber Co., and director of manufacturing, Chrysler Corp. He can be reached at johnfloyd538@gmail.com. The opinions reflected are his own.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: John F. Floyd looks at Ukraine's war with Russia
The doors of Knoxville College have been open for nearly 150 years. Leaders of the historically Black college want to make sure prospective students and the Knoxville community know those doors are still open now, even while it rebuilds.

Im just hoping that we can be that light again where we do advocate for our community, but provide a culture and provide a place, a sense of belonging and a sense of home, Knoxville College Vice President Dasha Lundy told Knox News.

Lundy is part of the team helping to revitalize the institution founded in 1875. Shes often reminded of the students, faculty members and even the great leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass who walked the campus before her. They motivate her to uphold the schools legacy after it has faced challenging times for nearly 30 years.

In collaboration with the University of Tennessee, Morris Brown College in Atlanta and other schools, regaining its accreditation by 2024 after losing it in the late 1990s is Knoxville Colleges main priority now.

Thirty-two dedicated students are currently enrolled, and the school only offers online courses for now. A modular leadership building under construction hopefully will bring students back to campus by the fall.

Throughout its storied history, Knoxville College has uplifted Knoxvilles Black residents, produced some of Knoxvilles greatest Black talent and played a crucial role during the civil rights movement. That is what Lundy wants for people to remember and for the school to return to.

This is the school where you find your liberation, she said. We will teach you how to combat (an oppressive) system, of course, not with hate but with a spirit of love and empowerment.

In an interview with Knox News, Lundy offered an in-depth update on Knoxville Colleges accreditation progress and the future of the HBCU.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When you look at the history of Knoxville College, what stands out the most and what drives you to continue its legacy?

Dasha Lundy: I think you always got to look back. Sometimes we forget how far we have come. Knoxville College was founded 10 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. There's a picture in my office from 1914. It's all these students and the faculty and I just think about the greats that have been here, the greats who walked the land, George Washington Carver, (Martin Luther) King, Frederick Douglass. So many greats walked this land and I think what keeps me going is that call. Its the call to educate. It's the call to empower. It's the call to elevate. It's the call that we know how to help each other. We understand the oppressive system. And we know that we have to create leaders who are ready to go out into not only the local city and the communities but go out across the world to share what those gifts that God has given you. I think it's just cause of the oppression that we continue to experience in 2023 and people thought all this was over.

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It's that driving force that is letting us know we have 52 acres of land and how do we use this land to serve? I'm just sharing my heart with you now, but I have people calling me because they've been evicted and they don't understand why and Im like, God, can we use this land to build housing and welcome our people in here so we can heal them? We can educate  I'm gonna keep using the words educate, empower, elevate, because to me, that's the path to liberation. I feel like this is the school where you find your liberation, where you don't have to be broken mentally and spiritually and physically through a system that's not designed for you. We will teach you how to combat that system, of course, not with hate but with a spirit of love and empowerment.

Can you talk a little bit about reaching out to the community and helping people become aware that Knoxville College is open and a resource for the community?

Reaching out to the community is intentional. We have a small staff, but we all are rooted in a love of restoring the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). It's just more of telling your neighbor, telling people and being out there. I spoke at a church and Im going to speak at another church (soon). I'm also county commissioner for District 1 and my colleagues know that I work for Knoxville College. Every room that Im in, I tell the Knoxville College story. And everyone who's here that works with us, they're always telling the Knoxville College story.

Knoxville College has historically produced some of Knoxvilles greatest Black talent, and the city is aiming to recruit and retain young professionals. What role does Knoxville College play in specifically retaining Black professionals?

When we were at our peak, I mean when you think about 3,000 students and then the faculty, and how we provided culture here, and a space of safety here, where you can come and be yourself and unapologetically yourself. This year, I want to engage community more and maybe having a Juneteenth event or some kind of events, just to say you can come here and you will be welcome here, no matter what.

We play a big role; I'm not sure if the government understands that role that we played in the past of providing that advocacy work when it comes to Black issues. We fill the void. Knoxville College students were the ones that organized the sit-ins during the civil rights movement. We have to have that back because we are under attack right now when people don't want us to know our history or people don't value our voice here.

Knoxville College's campus is home to several buildings on the historic registry. The historically Black college produced some of Knoxvilles greatest Black talent welcomed guests such Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglas in its storied past.

Its a historic campus with buildings on the historic registry. Are there other updates on the campus or any efforts to preserve or reopen some of the buildings?

Yes, (but) it costs a lot of money to do that. So, if anybody wants to donate, they can go to our website. Of course, we want to maintain the historic buildings, and having those conversations with historic preservation people around here and see if there's any grants. The city of Knoxville did give us a $200,000 grant last June and we put that money into stabilizing the library here. But there's no construction or anything with the historic buildings because they are in a state of disrepair, and it takes tons of money to do that. But we're not giving up on that because we know that we've been here for 148 years.

More: Knoxville College building sustains heavy damage in fire

We still have to tell our story because we still live in a space that people don't think we need a HBCU and were saying we do. With what's going on in the world and across the nation, people don't want us to learn our history more, as we celebrate Black History Month. We have to do a better job at telling our story, with HBCUs and the Knoxville College story, and how we have a purpose here to help transform our community.

What are some of the main goals and priorities for Knoxville College in 2023?

Accreditation, first and foremost! But really just bringing awareness that were here. I've been speaking a lot more, having opportunities to speak and I realize a lot of students don't know that we're open. The community doesn't know that we're open. We offer an associate degree in general studies and the tuition is waived. It's all virtual. And your credits will transfer within the state of Tennessee. Most of our students are working adults and it works for them.

There may be some students out there, especially in our community that may not want to go to school or feel like they can't afford it. Sometimes I get students that say, I'm not even sure if college is for me, and we try to encourage them to go ahead and apply. Since we are a small school and we are an HBCU, and HBCUs have always been rooted in helping people, we give a little bit more intention on making sure that we create a family atmosphere and an atmosphere of winning here. They know they can count on us. There are not too many schools that you can call on the vice president or anybody in the administration staff to talk through your issues, but we really make ourselves available and we can do that now. I hope we can continue to do that as we grow and create a culture to really educate, empower and elevate a community.

Regaining accreditation is key to Knoxville College's future. Whats the update on the process?

We got to this point of accreditation because we owned 50% of the Pilot gas station that was on Western Avenue. That sale put money in our bank to pursue accreditation because you really can't pursue it unless you're financially stable. We then hired Dr. Kevin James, the president of Morris Brown College, because he was going through the same thing (of regaining accreditation). It was inspiring because people kept saying, it's never been done that you can gain accreditation after it's been gone for several years. He agreed to help us, give us some pointers. He asked what schools around Knoxville can help. We asked the University of Tennessee if they can help, send some of their students that are working on their Ph.D. in higher education, would they mind being our team. They said yes and it's been quite a journey.

We had our accreditation launch in June and the team  I call them the A-Team  they have been working on our documents and getting them cleaned up, making sure that theyre compliant. We're going through accreditation with Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. We're still finalizing the documents. It's been a long road because accreditation is really about integrity. Are you doing what you say youre going to do? Do you have what you need? Do you have the money in the bank to do that? Are you compliant with paying your bills? So, hopefully we will be finishing up with the documents and turning in our self-study in to the accreditation agency and figuring out our next steps.

How have partnerships with Morris Brown College, the University of Tennessee and other institutions been?

As far as the partnership with Dr. Kevin James and UT, it's been a blessing. We feel like we have all become family through the process because its a stressful process and it's been some hard times. We also have a partnership with Meharry (Medical College in Nashville) to help build and inspire a workforce to go into the medical field. That's what was their answer to the declining workforce after COVID-19. Since we have few students, we actually reached out to the SMART Institute, a local nonprofit that works with the inner-city schools. We have a partnership with them to help expose at least 100 high school students to the medical field.

Spring registration was in January. How is the academic school year going so far?

Its been great. I think we have about 32 students enrolled. These students have been with us, and they keep showing up. I know people probably question, Where do they get their students from? Theyre all over the nation. Some have been recruited through alumni because alumni love their school and they want other people to experience it, but we are definitely grateful for our students and grateful for the semesters. Semester's kicked off fine, and we're prepping for graduation.

McMillian Chapel is the only campus building open to the community while students continue online courses. But a modular leadership building is under construction that will hopefully bring students back to campus by early 2024.

Are you seeing an increase in enrollment and people applying?

Yes, we are seeing an increase in enrollment and an increase in people applying. A lot of high school students have been applying more. It feels good because when we opened back up, it was probably just that one (student), and then you wonder, Is this real, can this happen? But people are applying. We even have people across the waters from a country in Africa applying. So, somehow our name is being spread. And we are rooted in faith here. We just believe that things happen organically because we are doing our part.

Are there any are new classes or academic programs being offered?

We're still sticking with our associate degree of general studies. But with the accreditation, we're hoping to add a bachelor's degree program. I have to go through the state level first. So, we're currently working on that application, to get a bachelor of science in business degree. We will probably have some changes because a lot of our students are interested in business.

Is there anything else that you'd like to share?

As we build capacity, hopefully we can do more, (we) just got to go through that process, but we see the end and we know the end will be great. You just got to go to the process, the troubled times to the other side. We want people to know we're open. We have (McMillan Chapel on campus) open, not (for) church services, but as a community space. If people want to come, if people want to inquire, our doors are open.

Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter for Knox News. He can be reached by email at devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com. Follow Devarrick on Twitter @dturner1208. Enjoy exclusive content and premium perks while supporting strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

Knox County Vice President Dr. Dasha Lundy is motivated to uphold the legacy of the 148-year old historically Black college through educating and empowering students and the city's Black communities.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville College seeks accreditation to uphold Tennessee HBCU legacy
* China on Friday released a paper stating its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, saying dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis.

* All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible to gradually de-escalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire, the paper said.

* China opposes armed attacks against nuclear power plants or other peaceful nuclear facilities, said the paper, adding that the threat or use of nuclear weapons should be opposed and that nuclear proliferation must be prevented and the nuclear crisis avoided.

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China has called for international efforts to create conditions for the resumption of peace talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

China on Friday released a paper stating its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, saying dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis.

Empty shelves for cheap eggs are seen at a supermarket in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

China's call came on the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The crisis has caused many casualties, displaced numerous people, aggravated geopolitical confrontation in Europe, intensified global energy and food shortages, and undermined regional and international security.

The international community should stay committed to the right approach of promoting talks for peace, help parties to the conflict open the door to a political settlement as soon as possible, and create conditions and platforms for the resumption of negotiation. China will continue to play a constructive role in this regard, said the paper.

All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control, it said.

All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible to gradually de-escalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire, it added.



"One year into this conflict, there is still no prospect of a peaceful settlement. On the Ukraine issue, China's position boils down to supporting talks for peace. China's proposals reflect its consistent stance that it stands for peace and dialogue," said Ding Xiaoxing, director of the Institute of Eurasian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

People walk past a damaged building in Mariupol, Feb. 18, 2023. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

All measures conducive to easing the humanitarian crisis must be encouraged and supported, and parties to the conflict should avoid attacking civilians or civilian facilities, protect women, children and other victims of the conflict, and respect the basic rights of prisoners of war, the paper said.

China opposes armed attacks against nuclear power plants or other peaceful nuclear facilities, said the paper, adding that the threat or use of nuclear weapons should be opposed and that nuclear proliferation must be prevented and the nuclear crisis avoided.

China has offered economic solutions to the woes brought by the Ukraine crisis, including facilitating grain exports, stopping unilateral sanctions, and keeping industrial and supply chains stable, said Li Ziguo, an expert with the China Institute of International Studies.

This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2022 shows the demolition site of a damaged building in Mariupol. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

"The vast majority of countries hope for an early end to the crisis. China's proposals are in line with the general historical trend of peace and development, and serve the interests of people globally and, more importantly, the interests of Russia and Ukraine," Li said.

"Without a ceasefire, there are risks of intensified spillovers," said Li Yongquan, head of the China Society for Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies. "Released at such a time, this paper carries heavy weight as it's a document from a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council." 

(Video reporters: Peng Zhuo, Zhou Xiaotian, Xie E, Zhang Mocheng, Chen Qiang, Meng Jing, Sun Ding, Hu Yousong; video editors: Zhao Xiaoqing, Wu Yuzhan, Peng Ying, Lin Lin, Liu Xiaorui, Zhang Zhihuan)


Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday urged the U.S. to boost its support for Ukraine and said there can be no room in the Republican Party for apologists of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a speech Friday in Austin marking the one-year anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Pence, a potential Republican candidate for president in 2024, spoke at the University of Texas Clements Center for National Security about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which he called unprovoked and unconscionable. Although the true death toll remains unknown, U.S. officials estimate that tens of thousands of people have died in the war's first year, including many civilians.

Pences criticism of Putin is a departure from his former boss and GOP presidential front-runner, former President Donald Trump, who has previously praised the Russian president for the Ukrainian invasion. Last year, Trump called Putins move to claim a large section of eastern Ukraine as independent savvy and smart despite concern among Western nations about international law violations.

More:We dont know what will happen tomorrow; Ukrainians adjust to life in Westlake

There was one person to blame for the unfolding tragedy of Russian aggression, and that's Vladimir Putin. Pence said. While some in my party have taken a somewhat different view, let me be clear, there can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin. There can only be room for champions of freedom.

During the speech, Pence criticized President Joe Bidens response to the war, accusing him of being repeatedly slow in providing Ukraine critical weapons systems like missiles and tanks. He said when the Biden administration has hesitated to provide aid, Russia has dug in deeper, ensuring that the war will be longer, costlier and deadlier.

The U.S has allocated $113 billion to benefit Ukraine in the past year, including direct support for the Ukrainian military and government and humanitarian assistance, according to PolitiFact. The White House announced several new measures Friday to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable, including additional security assistance and infrastructure support.

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Pence noted, however, that Biden said in January that the U.S. would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, but the tanks have not yet arrived, and they will take several months to procure and deliver.

More:University of Texas offers eight Ukrainian scholars temporary paid faculty positions

Make no mistake, this is not America's war, but if we falter in our commitment to providing the support to the people of Ukraine to defend their freedom, our sons and daughters may soon be called upon to defend ours, Pence said.

Although some Republicans have criticized the growing financial support the U.S. is giving Ukraine, Pence stressed the urgency with which Western nations should support the people of Ukraine, including providing military equipment to soldiers with increased urgency, accelerating the pace of military provisions and continuing to provide humanitarian aid.

America and our allies must continue with increased speed to impose sanctions and inflict maximum financial pain on Putin, his oligarchs, his government officials and his economy until he relents and withdraws from Ukraine, Pence said.

Misha Simanovskyy, a Ukrainian UT graduate student who introduced Pence at the event, said there shouldnt be any illusions about Russia after the countrys unthinkable, brutal invasion of Ukraine. He said Russia is destroying the very Ukrainian regions it claims to protect.

Russia has no regard, not only for the international law, but for the principles that it purports to represent, Simanovskyy said. Any hope for peaceful coexistence between Russia and Ukraine, as well as Russia's constructive position on the world stage has all but disappeared. ... There is no safe space in Ukraine.

Pence, a former Indiana governor and U.S. representative, is expected to announce a bid for the White House in the coming months and he has been firming up his policy positions and highlighting differences between him and other GOP presidential hopefuls.

More:Q&A: UT System Chancellor J.B. Milliken talks affordability, funding, Texas Legislature

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Pence in Austin: 'No room' for Putin apologists in Republican Party
New Mississippi parents Shawn and Haylee Ladner of Purvis welcomed quintuplets born at the University of Mississippi Medical Center on Feb. 16

The first set of quintuplets born at the University of Mississippi Medical Center are the talk of the city. And it took a small medical army and a lot of planning to pull it off.

On Feb. 16, starting a little after 9 a.m., Haylee Ladner delivered four girls and one boy at UMMC with the assistance of four surgeons, 30 to 35 neonatal, five anesthesiologists and an array of other physicians and therapists.

Quintuplets occur in one in 60 million births.

Adalyn Elizabeth was born at 9:19 a.m., weighing 2 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 13.38 inches long. Shortly after, little sister Everleigh Rose came along at 9:20 a.m., weighing 2 pounds, .8 ounces and measuring 12.59 inches. Sister Malley Kate followed at 9:21 a.m. at 1 pound, 11 ounces and 12.99 inches long. Magnolia Mae was the last sister delivered at 9:22 a.m., weighing 2 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 13.18 inches. The four girls are identical quadruplets, exceedingly rare at one in 10 to 15 million.

Little brother Jake Easton was the last to be born at 9:23 a.m., the biggest at 2 pounds, 5 ounces and 13.77 inches long.

The babies were not ready to be photographed.

The Ladner quintuplets are thought to be the highest number of multiple babies born at UMMC since the quadruplets of Craig and Kimberly Fugate were born at UMMC in 2014.

Most pregnancies usually last 40 weeks but in this case, the set of quintuplets came much earlier at 28 weeks. Premature births are common at UMMC, but this particular case is quite mesmerizing. Dr. Rachael Morris said all were born by caesarian section and are faring well for their gestational age of 28 weeks and one day.

The quintuplets have been admitted to neonatal intensive care since birth at Childrens of Mississippi. Haylee has also recovered.

Haylee and Shawn Ladner, 26, of Purvis called the births a true blessing from God. They had documented their journey on YouTube.

Quints at UMMC:Quintuplets born to MS couple at University of Mississippi Medical Center

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Haylee Ladner said they have miracle babies and she thought she'd never get the chance of being a mother after having prior complications.

"Being the mother of five is the greatest blessing in my entire life," Haylee said. "The one thing I'm glad I never gave up on was being a mother. I was blessed to have a great team of doctors beside me throughout my pregnancy and now as our children are being cared for... until they reach a healthy weight."

Haylee said the inspiration for some of the names came from their family lineage and some were thought of prior to the delivery.

Shawn Ladner said he is just as grateful to be a father of quintuplets as the mother of their children.

"When we went for our first check-up we thought we were having twins, but the doctors told us that it would be a possibility of having five," Shawn said. "We were terrified until we met with Dr. Morris, who assured us we'd be taken care of."

Morris, Associate professor in maternal-fetal medicine at UMMC, said Haylee was admitted to UMMC on Jan. 11 and that she is one of the strongest mothers she has worked with.

"This is an exciting day to talk about the Ladners and their precious babies," Morris said. "I had the pleasure of meeting the couple on Oct. 14 in 2022 after being referred to me by a reproductive endocrinologist in the community after being diagnosed with a quintuple pregnancy. Shortly after arriving at UMMC, Haylee underwent fertility treatments, which resulted in a monochorionic quadruplet set of females plus a singleton male pregnancy that totaled five."

Morris said the four females all survived on one placenta and the male had his own, which makes this particular pregnancy unique.

"Quintuplets are exceedingly rare with a 1 out of 60 million chance of a successful pregnancy," Morris said. "To my knowledge, this particular type of pregnancy has only been reported one additional time, which was a case in Hawaii in 2018 with male quadruplets plus a singleton female. I am fortunate enough to have the privilege to care for her and her children."

Morris said UMMC experienced a similar pregnancy and delivery in 2014 with quadruplets.

"This was the most exciting and humbling delivery I have been a part of," Morris said. "The quintuplets are in great condition and we look forward to giving them continuous care."

Dr. Mobolaji E. Famuyide, chief of the division of newborn medicine, said due to the risks of carrying five babies including premature birth, Haylee became a patient of Morris through the Center for Maternal and Fetal Care.

Once Haylee was admitted to Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants, a labor and delivery room was set aside for her.

"A daily schedule was put in place for the entire duration of her stay in the hospital, and team members were willing and happy to be called in even if this happened at 2 a.m., " Famuyide said. "There were five warmers and two rooms ready for the babies, and several neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses and respiratory therapists ready every day. We were ready for weeks for this birth."

Haylee said since the birth of their babies, they have been getting the best of care and have gotten the chance to hold three of the five thus far.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Quintuplets born to MS parents at UMMC include identical quadruplets
Booze cruise, but make it classy: Norwegian Cruise Line will sail a Johnnie Walker whiskey cruise through Northern Europe in September, the cruise line announced Thursday.

The two-week sailing is a first for the line and is part of the line's Meet the Winemaker series, which allows guests to travel alongside winemakers and culinary experts and participate in tastings, seminars, wine-paired meals and more.

"Our Meet the Winemaker series is back and better than ever," Harry Sommer, the line's president and CEO, said in a news release. "Every year we aim to elevate this exclusive experience and I believe weve done just that as we enter the programs seventh year with an impressive guest lineup. These unique sailings offer a rare opportunity to get one-on-one exposure to esteemed winemakers and their collection of wines, all while visiting multiple destinations and enjoying an unforgettable vacation aboard our innovative fleet."

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When is Norwegian's Johnnie Walker whiskey cruise?

The sailing will take place from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 on the line's Norwegian Prima ship, which debuted last year.

The cruise will take place on the Norwegian Prima ship, which debuted last year.

Where will the cruise sail?

The cruise will sail round-trip from Southampton, England, with stops in Le Havre, France, Belfast in Northern Ireland, Reykjavik, Iceland and Geiranger, Norway, among others, according to the line's website.

Emma Walker, a master blender at Johnnie Walker who heads up the brand's Whisky Specialist team in Menstrie, Scotland, will join guests on board. As they sail, passengers can taste a variety of whiskeys and learn about Johnnie Walker's history, according to the release.

How much does Norwegian's Johnnie Walker whiskey cruise cost?

The voyage starts at about $6,862 for two guests as of Friday, including fees, taxes and port expenses, according to Norwegian's website.

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Norwegian fares include many dining options on board, drinks like regular coffee and iced tea and more. The programming on Meet the Winemaker cruises cost between $22 and $100 per person, excluding taxes and tips, according to a blog post on the line's website.

Round-trip flights from New York to Southampton start at $846 for economy and $3,576 for business class, according to Google Flights. Round-trip flights from New York to London, which has train service to Southampton, start at $492 for economy and $2,260 for business class.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Norwegian will sail a Johnnie Walker cruise this September
WASHINGTON  Moscow suspending a nuclear arms treaty. The possibility of China arming the Russian military.

Even as the U.S. and its allies celebrated this week that Russia has been thwarted thus far in its attempt to take over Ukraine, certain developments could have repercussions far beyond whether Kyiv stays standing.

If the last remaining arms treaty between the worlds two largest nuclear powers collapses, there will be no limits on U.S. and Russian nuclear forces for the first time since the 1970s. The risks of a nuclear launch  intentional or otherwise  would rise.

A world without nuclear arms control is a far more dangerous and unstable one, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

And if China turns its economic and diplomatic support for Russia into full-blown military assistance, it would be a major change in how China has approached foreign policy, supercharging the already high tensions between the U.S. and China and making the world more dangerous.

It would also return us tothe kind of things we saw in the Cold War where you have all these major countries interfering in conflicts and proxy wars, said Brian Hart, who studies the evolving nature of Chinese power at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Heres what you need to know:

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Chinese Communist Party's foreign policy chief Wang Yi during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023.

What did Russia do?

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday he is suspending Moscows participation in New START, the last remaining nuclear arms reduction deal between the U.S. and Russia. It limits the number of long-range nuclear warheads Russia and the U.S. can have, including those that can reach the U.S. in about 30 minutes.

Whats the concern?

Without arms control, the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals could double in size, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Each nation could dramatically and quickly increase the number of nuclear weapons ready to launch on short notice, said Hans M. Kristensen, director of the federations Nuclear Information Project.

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Such an increase would be extraordinarily destabilizing and dangerous, especially with a full-scale war raging in Europe and Russia buckling under the strain of unprecedented sanctions, Kristensen wrote last year.

In this Tuesday, May 9, 2017 file photo, Russian Topol M intercontinental ballistic missile launcher rolls along Red Square during the Victory Day military parade to celebrate 72 years since the end of WWII.

Is it time to panic?

No. Putin hasnt yet pulled the plug on the treaty.

Hes said Russia wont participate in the inspections and other mechanisms to enforce the limits on nuclear weapons. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would respect the treatys weapons caps. And theres no sign that Putin will suddenly produce new weapons, according to Joe Cirincione, an arms control expert and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Cirincione thinks Putin is raising the nuclear specter to scare away Ukraines allies.

He understands that hes losing this war, Cirincione said on MSNBC. "He has to convince Western publics that they risk nuclear war by continuing to aid Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual state of the nation address at the Gostiny Dvor conference centre in central Moscow on February 21, 2023.

Hasnt Putin done this before

Yes. Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces on high combat alert shorty after invading Ukraine last February. In December, he said Russia would continue maintaining and improving the combat readiness of nuclear weapons that can be fired from land, air and sea.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has come to rely on nuclear weapons for coercion and bullying and will continue to make nuclear threats, Heather Williams, and arms control expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a recent analysis. The West may not be able to stop Putin from threatening to use nuclear weapons, but countries can work to prevent him from following through on those threats.

Even if Putins latest move is a gambit, said Ben Rhodes, who was a top national security adviser to President Barack Obama, it does just point to the fact that were in this kind of period of escalation with Russia where we dont quite know where its going to end.

Whats going on with China?

Since the invasion, China has helped Russia economically by buying its oil and gas. China has also sold Russia drones, microchips and other technologies that have both commercial and military applications. But Beijing hasnt allowed Russia to buy ammunition, artillery, armed drones and other weapons.

That could change. Top Biden administration officials warned this week they have intelligence suggesting China is considering providing lethal support to Russia.

In response, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman accused the U.S. of chasing shadows and smearing China.

But while the White House hasnt made its evidence public, the warnings are reminiscent of the administrations pre-invasion intelligence of Putins plans.

What could make China directly aid Russia?

The war in Ukraine has in many ways been good for China, said Hart of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Its made Russia more reliant on China and has distracted the U.S.  Chinas main rival. But China doesnt want Russia, its most powerful partner on the global stage, to be severely weekend by the war.

Overall, Beijings alignment with Russia is first and foremost fueled by collective concerns about the United States and competing with the United Sates. The more you have direct competition between Beijing and Washington, the more youre going to see a willingness for Beijing to strengthen ties with Moscow, he said. Thats the triangle that their facing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo prior to their talks in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2022.

How would the U.S. react?

The Biden administration has warned of severe consequences if China helps Russia replenish its military supplies.

Well not hesitate to target Chinese companies or individuals that violate our sanctions, said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

Chinas economy is already struggling. But major sanctions against China  which is a much bigger economic player than Russia  would also have blowback effects on the U.S. and other nations.

What would it mean for the geopolitical order?

Chinas direct involvement would mark a huge shift in its approach to foreign policy, one so shocking that China expert Oriana Skylar Mastro said she would have to rethink everything I know about China.

China has looked at the U.S.s foreign military interventions as expensive endeavors that havent made the U.S. more powerful. Theyve taken a different approach.

I would be much less concerned about what it means for Ukraine and much more concerned about what it means for the world if were dealing with a China now that engages in intervention and foreign conflicts, which is a key thing that they have argued for decades and decades is the reason for the U.S. decline, is a stupid thing to do, something that they would never do, she said.

But if China does make that radical shift said Mastro, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and at Stanford University, it would absolutely make the world a more dangerous place.

While China makes it harder for the U.S. to coerce autocrats by not, for example, joining in sanctions, she said, thats very different from them actively providing support.

In this file photo taken on July 8, 2022, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

A new Cold War?

Tensions have been rising with China, which the U.S. considers its biggest strategic and economic competitor. Even before the Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina this month, the nations have clashed over Taiwan, technology, human rights, Russias invasion of Ukraine and other issues.

The Biden administration has been trying to stabilize the relationship, building what its called guardrails as it normalizes interaction. But that may become increasingly difficult.

We have to make sure that the competition that we're clearly engaged in does not veer into conflict, into a new Cold War, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CBSs Face the Nation when discussing the new threat. It's not in our interest. I won't speak to theirs, but it's not in ours.

In a vaguely worded proposal China released Friday calling for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, it also called for an end to Cold War mentality  Chinas standard term for what it regards as U.S. hegemony, and maintenance of alliances such as NATO.

Contributing: Associated Press

Want to know more? Here's what you missed

New sanctions: Biden announces sweeping new sanctions against Russia one year into Ukraine war

Ukrainian refugees: Ukrainians are finding refuge at fast pace thanks to everyday Americans. But is it enough?

Lives lost, cities leveled: A visual look at the war in Ukraine one year later

'We need to keep living': What life is like for Ukrainians a year into Russia's invasion

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cold War fears rise as Russia pauses nuclear treaty, China may help
A year ago, Akron native Mark Merzweiler was in Dnipro, Ukraine, teaching English as Russian forces prepared to attack. On Feb. 24, 2021, they did.

Mark Merzweiler, bottom, waves to one of his Ukrainian students, Nastiya Khamurda, during an online class Thursday in Akron.

His initial intent was to remain as long as possible, but as fighting intensified, Merzweiler's plans changed. On March 12, he escorted two students to the border with Poland, hundreds of miles to the west.

More:From Dnipro to Krakow to Albuquerque to Akron: Walsh Jesuit alum leaves war-torn nation

Merzweiler, a Walsh Jesuit High School graduate who has taught English classes around the world, returned to the Akron area and continues to teach about 50 Dnipro students remotely.

On Thursday, he and one of his students, Nastiya Khamurda, reflected on the current situation.

Mark Merzweiler meets remotely with one of his Ukrainian students, Nastiya Khamurda, for an English class Thursday in Akron.

Life in Dnipro, 70 miles from Russian troops

Khamurda said her city is located about 70 miles from Russian-controlled territory, but she is confident troops won't reach Dnipro.

"There are no Russian troops here, and I don't think there will ever be," she said in an online interview.

More:'Everyone feels the noose tightening.' Akron native teaching in Ukraine awaits attacks

But there have been missile attacks in the city, leading to dozens of deaths and hundreds of people injured.

Last summer, Khamurda said, her husband experienced a close call, with a missile exploding less than a quarter-mile from his vehicle.

"That was one of the scariest days," she said.

Driving past the war damage, 'thrilled' to see Biden in Kiev

Khamurda said Dnipro residents have adjusted even though the city experiences power shortages and the possibility of more missile attacks.

She said some businesses are thriving despite the constant threat of conflict.

"So many bars have opened since the war," she said.

Mark Merzweiler, bottom, works through an English reading exercise with one of his Ukrainian students, Nastiya Khamurda, during an online class Thursday in Akron.

Every day is a reminder of the toll her city has endured in the war.

"I drive past (bombed areas) in at least three different places that are on my regular route," she said.

She said Ukrainians are grateful for U.S. assistance and President Joe Biden's visit on Monday.

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"Everyone was thrilled to see him in Kiev," she said.

Anger focuses on Russian President Vladimir Putin

Khamurda said she has friends who have lost loved ones in the war, and she blames Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I despise him; I hate him," she said.

Merzweiler said more atrocities become apparent as the war progresses.

"They've discovered half a dozen torture chambers," he said.

Khamurda said she is hoping the conflict is nearing its close.

"I do believe it will end soon."

More:6 reasons why you should subscribe to the Akron Beacon Journal

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron teacher continues to help students in Ukraine one year into war
With the war in Ukraine surpassing the one-year mark on Friday, the ongoing conflict with Russia will likely dominate this weeks Sunday talk shows circuit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine just over a year ago, on Feb. 24, 2022. Despite initial concerns that Kyiv would fall within days  an expectation Putin seems to have shared for his so-called special military operation  Ukraine continues fighting a full 12 months later with fairly extensive Western support.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared his countrys yearlong effort the year of invincibility, as he marked the one-year anniversary of the war on Friday.

It was a year of resilience. A year of care. A year of bravery. A year of pain. A year of hope. A year of endurance. A year of unity, Zelensky added.

The U.S. pledged another $2 billion in military aid to Ukraine on Fridays anniversary and unveiled additional sanctions on Russia in coordination with its allies in the Group of Seven. This comes just days after President Biden announced $500 million in security assistance during a surprise trip to Kyiv.

Bidens national security adviser Jake Sullivan is set to make the rounds on the Sunday shows this weekend, making appearances on ABCs This Week, NBCs Meet the Press, and CNNs State of the Union to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Sullivan doubled down on the U.S.s decision not to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets in an appearance on CNN on Thursday night, saying the fighter jets are not the key capability that Kyiv currently needs.

[The Ukrainians are] about to mount a significant counteroffensive, Sullivan told CNNs Fareed Zakaria. From our perspective, F-16s are not the key capability for that offensive. It is the stuff that we are moving rapidly to the front lines now.

The Biden administration is facing increasing pressure from Ukrainian officials, as well as U.S. lawmakers, to fulfill the latest request from Kyiv for more advanced military aid.

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House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who is also set to join ABCs This Week on Sunday, said last weekend that he is hopeful the U.S. will ultimately send F-16s to Kyiv.

The fact is, the longer they wait, the longer this conflict will prevail, McCaul said, adding, We need to throw everything we can into this fight so that they can win And I think the momentum is building for this to happen.

However, President Biden himself told ABC Newss David Muir on Friday that he is ruling out providing the fighter jets at the moment, adding that Zelensky doesnt need F-16s now.

Over the last week, the U.S. has also warned that China is strongly considering providing lethal assistance to Russia for its war effort  concerns that CIA Director William Burns echoed in an upcoming interview on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday.

Were confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment, Burns told CBS Margaret Brennan. We also dont see that a final decision has been made yet, and we dont see evidence of actual shipments of lethal equipment.

And thats why I think Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken and the president have thought it important to make very clear what the consequences of that would be  because it would be a very risky and unwise bet, he added.

Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this weeks Sunday talk shows:

ABCs This Week  National security adviser Jake Sullivan; Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas)

NBCs Meet the Press  Jake Sullivan; Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)

CBS Face the Nation  CIA Director William Burns; Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.); former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Drew Findling and Jennifer Little, attorneys for former President Donald Trump

CNNs State of the Union  Jake Sullivan; Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel

Fox News Sunday  Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures  Nikki Haley, Republican Presidential Candidate; Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R); Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.); Reza Pahlavi, exiled Iranian Crown Prince

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Slade Kyle Courtesy Slade Kyle

In a matter of days, Slade Kyles livelihood could land them in jail.

The Memphis-based drag queen was visiting their family on Thursday in West Tennessee when they first heard that the states ban on drag performances had passed the House.

The bill, HB 9, classifies male and female impersonators as adult cabaret performers and bans them from public property or anywhere a minor might be able to see them, invoking the states obscenity law.

HB 9, which is now headed to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lees desk, would also be the countrys first legal ban on drag. In 15 states across the country, there are more than 20 bills that target drag performances. At the same time, the governor could make Tennessee the third state to ban trans healthcare for minors this year, after Utah and South Dakota. A similar bill in Mississippi is also a governors signature away from becoming law.

I was not surprised, Kyle told BuzzFeed News. But it is still disheartening to sit there out in the middle of the woods on a rainy back porch trying hard to enjoy the beauty of nature and wondering why these people are sitting in a room debating my humanity and trying to strip my rights away.

The Republican governor now has a little over a week to sign the bill  but even if he vetoes it, the Legislature can override his actions and enact the bill into law as soon as April 1. A first violation of the law would be a misdemeanor, and subsequent violations would be classified as a felony charge, punishable by up to six years in prison and a $3,000 fine.

When Kyle, 42, who performs as Bella DuBalle (a play on the 17th-century idiom belle of the ball), started drag a decade ago, they could not have imagined such a law could prohibit  and potentially criminalize  their artistic career.

Last weekend, a patron at a drag brunch recorded Kyle, in drag as DuBalle, as they urged people to stand up against this legislation, drawing parallels to the 1969 Stonewall rebellion.

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Amazing defiant speech from Bella Duball in Tennessee against the anti drag bill there.If they try to take drag away, this year we will remind them we will fight for our liberation. We will raise our bricks high. 07:34 PM - 21 Feb 2023

The original Pride was a riot and this year we need to remind them that we will fight for our liberation, Kyle says in the video, which has garnered millions of views across TikTok and Twitter. We will raise our bricks up high again and let them know that we will not go quietly.

As a child growing up in rural western Tennessee, Kyle said drag helped them come to terms with their nonbinary identity.

As trite as it is to say, drag saved my life. Drag completely changed me, and I can't imagine having to give it up, Kyle said. I take deep personal offense to people telling me that its ugly or sexual or wrong when I know thats not true.

Republican state Rep. Chris Todd, who filed the legislation, however, has insisted that drag is inherently inappropriate and that the law would protect minors from obscenity. Todd first pushed for this bill after he took issue with a drag show at a public Pride event in Jackson, a two-hour drive from Memphis, in October last year.

The public event at Jackson Pride was initially billed as a family-friendly drag show, but after weeks of heated debate between city officials and members of the Pride committee, the event was moved indoors and restricted to patrons over the age of 18.

Todd, at the time, filed a request for an injunction to block the event from happening at all, calling the drag show a form of child abuse, the Tennessean reported .

Kyle, who performed at the Jackson event, said Todds actions were really harsh, and they worry about how this law could be enforced. They worry not only for their own safety and future drag career but also for the other performers and the Atomic Rose nightclub, where they are the show host and director.

There is a lot of fear among my performers, Kyle said. The others are worried about their ability to pay rent or feed their children, and the difficulty of finding other employment opportunities as trans or gender-nonconforming people, they added.

As Kyle and others across the state await the governors signature, advocates say the biggest unknown is how the law will be enforced. Tennessee already has laws on the books that regulate where adult cabaret can take place, but this legislation expands the definition of adult cabaret beyond a specific place to mean any kind of male and female impersonation performance.

Kathy Sinback, the executive director of the ACLU in Tennessee, said that because the bills language around what constitutes performance is not well defined, it could lead to broader attacks on trans people across the state.

[The bill] gives everyone whos enforcing it across the state a license to bully not only drag performers but potentially trans people who are doing any sort of performance.  It can be interpreted as broadly as the narrow-minded people in the state want to interpret it, Sinback said.

She also worries the bill will create a lot of confusion around what is and isnt legal  and could lead to people being harassed for expressing themselves in a way thats protected by the US Constitution.

Sinback said it has been terrifying to see how the introduction of this bill has already emboldened anti-trans legislators and protesters to target drag events across the state. Last month in Giles County , local lawmakers tried to stop a drag performance from happening in a public park. A week later in Cookeville , a group carrying swastikas and hurling accusations of child abuse protested a drag brunch.

Sinback said that the ACLU plans to sue the state if the bill becomes law. The civil rights organization also plans to immediately challenge Tennessees ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth through an injunction, if Lee signs it.

Lee is expected to sign both pieces of legislation, though his office did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News request for comment.

Kyle, however, plans to keep performing as usual at the club on Beale Street in Memphis; they said they plan to march today alongside dozens of other drag performers in the city and have organized with others about how they will take care of one another when the bill becomes law.

On April 1, the day the ban is set to go into effect, the Atomic Rose will host its Brick Ball, a drag show to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion. Kyle said they are inspired by trans advocates like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two trans women who are largely credited for throwing the first brick as police raided the New York gay bar in the 1970s.

Its a reminder that we will fight for our freedom, if necessary. Its not a threat. Its a promise, Kyle said. And I am terrified to have to hold that promise  but we have to fight even if were terrified. Nobody wants to have to be the next Marsha P. Johnson.

More on this
At least four Turkish journalists are under investigation for reporting on the earthquakes that killed about 50,000 people across Turkey and Syria, according to reports.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier warned those reporting on the devastating earthquake to refrain from fake news and said that those causing social chaos would be prosecuted.

One freelance journalist, Mir Ali Kocer who is now under investigation by the authorities has claimed that he did not share information without thorough research and analysis.

Reporters Without Borders [RSF] has called the investigation against Mr Kocer absurd.

A media advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ] has claimed that at least three more journalists are facing criminal charges for reporting or commenting on the earthquake and the humongous toll it took.

Merdan Yanardag and Enver Aysever criticised the governments rescue efforts in the days following the earthquake. They have both been detained by authorities now, according to reports.

The journalists could face up to three years in prison.

A few days ago, police prevented journalist Sibel Tekin and her lawyer from holding a press conference in front of the courthouse where the first hearing against Ms Tekin was held. At least five women journalists were obstructed, threatened, and followed by police.

Press freedom groups have claimed that dozens have been detained, harassed or prevented from reporting.

Meanwhile in #Turkey, when #womenjournalists are sent to court journalists are discouraged from covering the hearing. Ive been to many of these myself. Especially in the absence of Foriegn media or advocacy groups on location, we often see #police aggression against the #press. https://t.co/mMyjKYwMml  Kiran Nazish (@kirannazish) February 24, 2023

Critics of the government, however, claim that the crackdown on free speech has gone too far. The government is trying to suppress information coming from the quake zone, cyber rights expert Yaman Akdeniz who teaches at the Istanbul Bilgi University was quoted as saying by BBC.

More than 160,000 buildings, containing 520,000 apartments, collapsed or were severely damaged as a result of earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people across Turkey and Syria and left millions homeless in cold winter weather.

Mr Erdogan has also pledged to rebuild housing within one year.
The Alabama Highway Patrol hired three Black men in 1972, the first Black troopers to work for the law enforcement agency. Ret. Capt. Tyrone Anderson was one of them.

He might not have become a trooper if it had not been for his brother, Marshall. Marshall had wanted to become a trooper, but he was too short to apply. So he pressured Anderson, who was working as an art teacher, to put in an application.

He kept on bothering me. He kept on bothering me," Anderson said.

So alongside Elvert Dawson and Leon Hampton, Anderson made history.

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Ret. Capt. Tyrone Anderson poses for a photo at the Levi Watkins Learning Center at Alabama State University in Montgomery on Jan. 31, 2023. Hired in 1972, Anderson was one of the first Black Alabama State Troopers.

What did this mean?

Alabama state troopers were known throughout the nation as a force against the civil rights movement.

It was seen as an arm of a white supremacist government," said Howard Robinson, the associate director for the Archives and Cultural Heritage Services and Levi Watkins Learning Center at Alabama State University.

So when this organization began to hire men of color, it was an important moment in Alabama's history.

The selection and employment of Black men  these three Black men, he was one of them  to the Alabama State Troopers really marked a watershed in the experience in the state of Alabama," Robinson said. "For a long time, the Alabama state troopers were seen as a paramilitary law enforcement, state law enforcement force that supported, not only really supported, but was stood in the bulwark in the line against desegregation against the attack on white supremacy."

Being the first to break the glass ceiling for a profession, opens the door for those behind you, Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said.

Photos from Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Capt. Tyrone Anderson's career are shown at the Levi Watkins Learning Center at Alabama State University in Montgomery on Jan. 31. Anderson was one of the first black Alabama State Troopers in 1972.

Cunningham is Montgomery County's first Black sheriff.

So when I got elected, you know, youre still full of excitement. Youre still full of everything. But then knowing youre not just the sheriff, but youre the first African-American sheriff ever to be elected here. That really hits home when you look at Montgomery and you look at the history about Montgomery with Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and the people that really you know pretty much paved the way for African Americans to be able to vote. And then being right here in the same county in the same city where those people lived, oh yeah, thats significant," Cunningham said.

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Cunningham puts Anderson up as one of those people who broke barriers for Black people.

He really paved the way for others that came in," Cunningham said about Anderson.

More: Black History Month Dehumanizing details of fugitive slave ads reveal abuses, depravity

More: Black History Month Newspaper ads about runaway slaves in 1800s deepened their troubles

Anderson served 26 years with the Alabama Highway Patrol

My tour with the department, my 26 years, it was pretty good," Anderson said.

During his first three years as a state trooper, Anderson spent his time on highway patrol. He toured Elmore, Montgomery, Autauga and Lowndes counties.

Most troopers spend the bulk of their careers on highway patrol. But after those three years, Anderson joined the Alabama Bureau of Investigations.

The reason I actually decided to stay with the department was because I was able to adjust from the highway to the bureau," Anderson said.

With the bureau, Anderson investigated those in the medical field who were breaking laws and misusing prescriptions. He also worked in drug enforcement and at the academy, and he helped develop theories in drug enforcement and investigations in tandem with the FBI.

Anderson was involved with a drug bust in 1982 that led to the arrest of 18 people charged with violating state drug laws as well as the confiscation of marijuana valued at $6 million, an airplane and several other vehicles.

After retiring from the agency, Anderson, now 75, has spent the past 22 years working with the Montgomery County Family Court in its probation services.

More: App AccessThe Montgomery Advertiser app now gives you access to 200 e-Newspapers

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or 479-926-9570.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Tyrone Anderson 'paved the way' for Black law enforcement officers
Afghan children receive new notebooks donated by Chinese scholars in Bamyan province, Afghanistan, Feb. 10, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

BAMYAN, Afghanistan, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- In central Afghanistan's Bamyan Valley, where stands the famous Buddhas of Bamyan, Mohammad Ali Hasanyar was teaching local kids how to preserve the world's invaluable civilization in front of the Buddha site.

Bamyan province is famous for many cultural heritages, particularly the two widely-known giant Buddhas. The 53-meter and 35-meter tall Buddha statues, with thousands of caves for monk statues around them, are more than 1,500 years old -- reminders of the Buddhist civilization in the region.

In 2003, the cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamyan Valley was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

However, due to years of war and economic hardships, locals, many of whom even moved into caves, know little about the nearby World Cultural Heritage.

Hasanyar, in his 30s, is a local archaeologist. His courses are founded and guided by a group of young scholars from China's Peking University, Lanzhou University, Wenzhou University, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the Hong Kong-based non-profit Friends of Dunhuang.

According to Shao Xuecheng, a member of Friends of Dunhuang, kids from impoverished families were invited to attend the training activities on relevant knowledge by distributing bread.

"Thirty-seven students have been registered in the archeology course, which meets once a week, and the students are taught how to preserve ancient civilization and cultural heritages," Hasanyar told Xinhua.

Hasanyar thought these Chinese-funded courses are a good way to build public awareness of cultural heritage protection.

"It is a very important project because if we want to create a mentality in the society to protect cultural heritages, we have to start with children first," he said.

"I like coming here very much since our teacher has taught us a lot about the Buddha site," Hamida, 12, said after class. "I know that these are world cultural heritages and need to be protected now."

In addition, with specific suggestions and financial support from Chinese scholars, most of the caves near the Buddha site have been officially numbered and installed with introduction nameplates.

Expressing gratitude to the Chinese scholars, the provincial director for Information and Culture of Bamyan province, Saifulrahman Mohammadi, told Xinhua, "Chinese scholars have done a good job in preserving cultural heritages here and we are thankful to them." 

An Afghan girl receives bread in Bamyan province, Afghanistan, Feb. 10, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
Russias invasion of Ukraine one year ago marked the beginning of the deadliest war in Europe since World War II and heightened U.S.-Russia tensions to a level not seen since the Cold War.

Both the Ukrainian and Russian people have suffered tremendous losses while the war has rattled the global economy and shaken up the international order.

Here are answers to five common questions about the ongoing war.

When did the Ukraine war start?

Russia invaded Ukraine in the early morning hours on Feb. 24, 2022. Moscow had been massing troops at the borders for weeks.

But the roots of the conflict actually go back nearly a decade.

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

To understand why Russia launched a conventional war with its neighboring country, you have to understand a bit of history.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, member nations, including Ukraine, broke up into independent states.

At the turn of the century, Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, won election for the first time. Putin, who has railed against the U.S. and the Western security alliance NATO, has sought to reclaim Russian might and restore his country as a great power. He has served as either president or prime minister of Russia since 2000.

At the same time, Ukraine was slowly moving toward joining the Western economic bloc, the European Union.

In late 2013, when pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych suspended plans to sign an association agreement with the EU, Ukrainians erupted in protests called the Maidan Revolution that eventually forced Yanukovych to flee the country.

In 2014, Moscow reacted by illegally annexing the Crimean Peninsula and fomenting a rebellion of separatists in the eastern Donbas region.

Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists have fought in the Donbas region ever since.

In December 2021, shortly before the invasion, Russia also submitted a list of demands to NATO that included rolling back military activity in eastern Europe.

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The demands were rejected by the alliance.

Is the Russia-Ukraine war over?

No.

One year in, Russian forces and Ukrainian troops remain locked in tense combat in eastern Ukraine.

But the war has condensed. Russia sent troops marching toward Kyiv in western Ukraine at the beginning of last year, before its forces were pushed all the way back to the eastern part of the country in the ensuing months.

Still, Moscow conducts regular missile and drone strikes that hit critical infrastructure in cities across Ukraine.

When will the Russia-Ukraine war end?

Bringing an end to the war will depend on several nations and government leaders, as well as various extremely complex factors.

As such, its too hard to tell at this point in time when the war might end.

Both Ukraine and Russia remain firmly entrenched in their positions and are unlikely to budge on any negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to retake all territory occupied by Russia, including the Crimean Peninsula.

And Putin is unlikely to give up the four territories he illegally annexed last year: Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Peace proposals and attempts to get officials from both sides to the negotiating table have failed.

Theres also a lingering question of whether U.S. and NATO allies should engage in separate negotiations with Russia.

Who is winning the Russia-Ukraine war?

The war has brought victory for neither side, only deep suffering, death and a mass wave of refugees.

Still, Ukraine has won multiple, decisive battles and has inflicted serious casualties on the Russian army. By some U.S. estimates, Russia has lost around 200,000 troops.

In the first phase of the war, Ukrainian troops pushed Russia out of the western part of the country.

The second phase saw Russia condense operations in the eastern Donbas region, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia also has fortified positions in occupied Zaporizhzhia.

In the third phase, Ukraine carried out successful counteroffensives that liberated the southern region of Kherson and most of northeastern Kharkiv.

Brutal fighting continues mostly in Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia launched a massive offensive to retake the Donbas this month but has struggled to make significant progress.

Ukraine is likely to launch a counteroffensive of its own in the coming months.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A memorial stands outside of a 4-unit apartment building which was heavily damaged by an alleged arson fire on Bancroft Way in north Stockton on Monday morning, Jan 31, 2023. A 63-year-old woman was found dead inside. A 60-year-old man and a 2-year-old boy were also treated for burns.

U.S. Marshals arrested a woman in Minnesota this week who they believe killed a Stockton woman last month by setting her house on fire, Stockton police said.

Law enforcement arrested 37-year-old Cyntrail Anderson in Shakopee, Minnesota, on the outskirts of Minneapolis, on Wednesday, according to a police statement Friday. No new criminal charges had yet been filed Friday against Anderson, a search of court records showed.

Police allege that Anderson lit a fire that killed 63-year-old Leola Johnson at her home on Bancroft Way in January. The home is just east of the I-5 freeway.

"We know that the suspect knew the victim, but we can't confirm the (type of) relationship," police spokesperson Rosie Calderon said.

At about 5 a.m. on Jan. 30, the Stockton Fire Department got a call about a house fire on Bancroft, Battalion Chief Brandon Doolan said. A car parked on the street near the home was also on fire when firefighters arrived, he said.

Firefighters found Johnson's body inside the home, Doolan said.

A bedroom of a 4-unit apartment building which was heavily damaged by an alleged arson fire on Bancroft Way in north Stockton on Monday morning, Jan 31, 2023. A 63-year-old woman was found dead inside. A 60-year-old man and a 2-year-old boy were also treated for burns.

Johnson's son, Abdul Brown, said he rushed to his mother's home that morning after receiving some concerning text messages.

"I flew over here, and the house was on fire," Brown told The Record at his mom's home on Jan 31. He saw that his car, parked near the curb, was in flames.

Brown said Friday he had been in a relationship with a woman named Cyntrail Anderson in the past. The Record could not immediately confirm Friday whether it was the same woman arrested Wednesday. No evidence has yet been made public connecting Anderson to the deadly arson case.

Johnson used a ventilator and couldn't walk, and was likely in bed when she died, Brown said. A 60-year-old man and a 2-year-old boy were also injured in the fire.

Johnson was "always taking care of everybody," a family friend visiting her home the day after the fire said.

Anderson had an address in Stockton, according to Calderon, the police spokesperson. Calderon said she did not know why Anderson was in Shakopee.

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Officials plan to extradite Anderson to California, police said. If Anderson does not contest the extradition, she will be sent back to San Joaquin County within 14 days, Calderon said.

If Anderson does contest, San Joaquin County law enforcement must provide more evidence about the identity of their suspect to a judge, Calderon said.

Anderson is currently behind bars in Scott County, Minnesota, the statement said. Stockton law enforcement plan to seek homicide, attempted homicide and arson charges, the police statement said.

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers public safety. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Woman arrested in Minnesota after killing Stockton woman in fire: U.S. Marshals
Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and waived his first court appearance after being charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting on the set of his film "Rust," court officials announced Thursday.

Baldwin and the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were both charged last month with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.

First assistant director David Halls has already agreed to plead no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. The plea agreement is pending a judge's approval, prosecutors have said.

This file handout photo, courtesy of Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and part of the investigative files, shows actor Alec Baldwin being processed after the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Oct. 21, 2022. (-/Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office)

All three were scheduled to make their first court appearances remotely on Friday, though Baldwin and Halls filed a waiver of first appearance this week and no hearing will be held for them, a New Mexico court official said. Both pleaded not guilty to their charges in their waivers.

District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer also issued an order setting conditions of Baldwin's release, including that he must not possess any firearms, not consume alcohol and have no contact with any potential witnesses unless it's related to filming the movie.

During Gutierrez-Reed's virtual hearing on Friday, her attorney requested that she be allowed to possess a firearm in her home for her personal safety. The attorney, Jason Bowles, stated she has a restraining order against a stalker and has received multiple threats after the sheriff released personal information early in the investigation.

In setting the conditions for her release, Judge Sommers said Gutierrez-Reed can possess a firearm for self-defense at her residence, and is to have no contact with witnesses.

MORE: 'Rust' timeline: Key events in the Alec Baldwin on-set shooting

The charges followed a lengthy investigation into the on-set shooting, which has also spawned multiple lawsuits, including from Hutchins' family.

In the statement of probable cause, investigator Robert Shilling charged that Baldwin, who was listed as the primary producer of "Rust," "failed to act to mitigate or correct the reckless safety violations, neither in his capacity as actor nor producer."

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Shilling also said that evidence showed that Baldwin had his finger inside the trigger, and that the trigger was pulled -- contradicting Baldwin's statements saying he never pulled the trigger -- and that no safety meeting was conducted on the day of the fatal shooting, based on statements and evidence.

In Gutierrez-Reed's charging document, Shilling claimed that the armorer's "deviation from known standards, practice and protocol directly caused the fatal death of Hutchins." That included failing to insist that Baldwin have proper firearm training nor correct him on "dangerous" safety violations such as pointing the weapon at people and having his finger on the trigger, not ensuring that a fake gun was used in a rehearsal scene, leaving the set before the fatal shooting and allowing Halls to handle the firearm unsupervised, according to Shilling.

MORE: Alec Baldwin's attorney seeks to disqualify special prosecutor who investigated 'Rust' shooting

On Friday, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney's Office dropped the gun enhancement charge -- a crime that would have carried a maximum five-year sentence if convicted -- against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed.

The decision came after Baldwin's attorneys filed a motion arguing that prosecutors "committed a basic legal error," and that the firearm enhancement didnt apply at the time of the shooting. The accident occurred in October 2021, but the current version of the law did not take effect until May 2022, the attorneys said.

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said they removed the enhancement "in order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys."

PHOTO: FILE - A musician plays a violin behind a photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a vigil in her honor in Albuquerque, N.M., Oct. 23, 2021. (Andres Leighton/AP)

Baldwin's legal team has also filed a motion seeking to disqualify Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor appointed by Carmack-Altwies, arguing there is a conflict since Reeb is also an elected member of the New Mexico House of Representative.

Production of "Rust," which has been on hold since the shooting on the Santa Fe set, is scheduled to resume in the spring at Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana, producers announced this month.

Director Joel Souza, who was also injured in the shooting, is set to return, while Hutchins' husband, Matthew Hutchins, will serve as an executive producer, Rust Movie Productions said.

MORE: Alec Baldwin's attorney slams prosecution after gun enhancement charges dropped in 'Rust' shooting

New crew members will include two safety officers and cinematographer Bianca Cline, who will step in to "complete Halynas vision for the film," the production company said in a statement.

The production will also "bar any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition," the company said. "Live ammunition is -- and always was -- prohibited on set."

The release did not name Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed or Halls among the returning crew.

Plans to resume filming were first announced last year, when Hutchins' family reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against the producers of the film.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky, Jenna Harrison and Vera Drymon contributed to this report.

Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty, waives 1st court appearance for 'Rust' involuntary manslaughter charges originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
In this photo provided by Melissa Smith, a train fire is seen from her farm in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3.

(This opinion article represents the collective viewpoint of the Akron Beacon Journal's Editorial Board, which includes two editors and four community members.)

The nightmarish horrors inflicted on the tiny eastern Ohio town of East Palestine should serve as a wake-up call to all Americans.

While accidents are always part of life, what happened when the hazardous cargo of a Norfolk Southern train derailed Feb. 3 is unacceptable and again illustrates why proper safety standards can't be compromised in the name of corporate profits or political victories.

There's still much we don't know about why the train derailed and how much fault Norfolk Southern should bear. There are also unanswered questions on how the emergency was managed and whether the controlled release of vinyl chloride from five rail cars was the best solution.

East Palestine explained: Maps and graphics explain toxic train derailment

But we do know Norfolk Southern recently reported record operating profits, has a poor accident rate when compared to most of its peers, has lobbied against tougher safety standards and favors running heavier and longer trains to maximize profits.

ProPublica reported Thursday that Norfolk Southern policy "allows staffers to instruct crews to ignore alerts from track sensors that flag possible mechanical issues." In October, the company allowed a train with an engine wheel heating up to continue near Sandusky. Four miles later it derailed, dumping thousands of gallons of molten paraffin wax.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw pauses for a moment before responding to a reporter's question during an interview near the site of the company's train derailment, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio.

We also know federal rail standards have eroded, including dropping mandatory cabooses where personnel could report problems at the back of a train. And it's a fact that the Trump administration repealed a brakes requirement for some trains, stating the cost exceeded its benefits.

Norfolk Southern train likely passed through heavily populated areas

As awful as the scene in East Palestine has been, we keep imagining if this derailment had happened 60 miles earlier in a more populated area along the busy Norfolk Southern line. What would have happened if the same train derailed in Cleveland, Macedonia, Hudson, Ravenna or Alliance? All are along the Norfolk Southern main line, which also had a derailment in November near Ravenna.

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The fires alone could have killed many and destroyed buildings while disrupting tens of thousands of lives, not to mention the clear health and environmental concerns from the release of toxic chemicals.

Norfolk Southern route: Train carrying toxic chemicals traveled through many northern Ohio cities before derailing

Expert: East Palestine derailment a horror, but we should worry more about what's on trucks

We empathize with the people of East Palestine in every way possible. They did not ask for their lives to be turned upside down and deserve all the help they need, beginning with clear and factual answers.

We've also been reminded that few of us pay attention to what's inside tanker train cars and semis, although the latter carry much smaller quantities. Many Ohioans are surely looking at and listening to trains roar through their communities with a different state of mind the past three weeks. Local leaders along major rail lines should review their disaster plans.

Politicians worry about votes more than lives

The politics of East Palestine also have been predictably pathetic, with a war of words emerging between Republicans and Democrats about whom to blame, how the response is being handled and score keeping on who has visited the site. Politicians who could not be found near the disaster the first week have flocked in droves the past two weeks, issuing statements and making promises as they go.

With the lone exception of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's steady attempts to lead with facts, it's been a disgraceful reminder of how our broken political system harms people.

An employee at Fuller's True Value Hardware brings in a street sign thanking first responders at the end of the work day, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio. Many East Palestinians were told to evacuate the area after a Norfolk Southern train derailment on Feb. 3 led to a controlled burn of hazardous chemicals.

Most Americans expect our government to balance our safety with sensible regulations for interstate commerce such as rail lines. It's clear the threat of litigation and big damage awards is not enough to protect us any more.

We're tired of the see-saw era of Democrats creating new safety regulations and pro-big business Republicans rolling them back, knowing the proper solution is probably somewhere in the middle.

It's time for our elected leaders to set aside their petty games and craft immediate solutions that can prevent another rail disaster from destroying another community.

Let's hold Norfolk Southern and our leaders accountable for once.

More:Norfolk Southern alerted to overheated wheel bearing right before Ohio train derailment

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hold Norfolk Southern and politician enablers accountable
Heavy snow aims for B.C.s South Coast as disruptive system arrives

Snowfall warnings and winter storm warnings blanket much of British Columbia heading into the final weekend of February as a moisture-laden system looks to slide down the coast through Sunday morning.

Its been a couple of months since weve seen this kind of snowfall across the South Coast, so residents should prepare for travel disruptions and post-storm cleanup accordingly.

MUST SEE: Ice falls in Hollywood as wild setup fans Calif. blizzards, historic heat

The low-pressure system responsible for this weekends wintry weather will slide down the coast through the day Saturday.

North Vancouver Island will see snow as early as Saturday afternoon before precipitation becomes more widespread across the South Coast and Lower Mainland throughout the day.

Folks should prepare for the possibility of travel disruptions this weekend.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued snowfall warnings for all of the Lower Mainland, including Metro Vancouver, through Sunday morning.

Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions, ECCC said in its warning. Rapidly accumulating snow will make travel difficult.

BCSnow

Snow will grow in both intensity and coverage heading into Saturday evening, eventually tapering off to snow flurries through Sunday for the South Coast and Vancouver Island.

Gusty winds will accompany the cold fronts passage on Saturday evening. Low visibility is possible in spots where gusty winds accompany the snowfall.

We could see 5-15 cm of snow across Metro Vancouver by the end of the storm, with totals reaching 15-25+ cm farther east along the Fraser Valley.

Communities along the eastern shores of Vancouver Island will likely see lesser snow totals with only a few centimeters expected for Victoria.

BCLMLSnow

DON'T MISS: Jet streams can bring Canada wild winters and steamy summers

Behind the storm, temperatures will slowly improve across the South Coast heading into next week, though near to below-seasonal temperatures are likely to stick around through at least the first few days of March.

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Another round of unsettled weather will arrive early next week, bringing the potential for rain and snow across the region.

WATCH: Frigid air preludes weekend storm heading to B.C. south coast

Click here to view the video

Be sure to check back for the latest on this approaching wintry weather across B.C.
This wild, pristine corner of Canadas Northwest Territories is also considered sacred ground by the Indigenous people who are stewards of the land.

Pat Kane Peter Enzoe on the water in his boat.

You either love the North or you dont. I love the North and always have. Since I was young Ive been magnetized by it, compass-like. My inner needle points to where the roads end  and then beyond. Ive paddled solo from my home, on the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota, 250 miles north to Rainy Lake. Ive taken weeks-long canoe trips with my brother and my friends on the Berens and Bloodvein rivers, which flow from Ontario northwest into Lake Winnipeg. And I once spent an entire winter in northwestern Ontarios boreal forest trapping beavers and pine marten. So it was with massive excitement that I traveled last July as far north from Minnesota as Guadalajara is south: to Canadas newest national park, Thaidene Nene, in the Northwest Territories.

Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve encompasses more than 5,400 square miles on the eastern side of Great Slave Lake, the deepest lake in North America. It is shockingly remote. The park is contained within the Thaidene Nene Indigenous Protected Area, which is bordered on the northeast by the Thaidene Nene Wildlife Conservation Area; both are part of an Indigenous Protected Area. What this means broadly is that all of that land  once threatened by diamond and uranium mining  is safe from development. What it means specifically is that the park and the lands around it are administered and managed by the utsel Ke Dene First Nation, the government of the Northwest Territories, Parks Canada, and other Indigenous governments including the Northwest Territory Metis Nation, Deninu Kue First Nation, and Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

Pat Kane An aeril view of Wildbread Bay, part of Thaidene Nene Park

In short, Thaidene Nene  which means Land of the Ancestors in the Dene language  is big, and not just undeveloped but almost anti-developed. There are no designated campgrounds, no picnic tables, no trails, concession stands, or even roads to the park. To get there you have to fly from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, to the airport in the village of utsel Ke, and then take a boat or snowmobile to the park border. Getting there is hard. Being there is a different kind of hard. And this is where the fact that you either love the North or dont comes into play.

I dont normally like flying, but I liked the flight from Vancouver to Yellowknife because I got to chase the sun: in June and much of July it doesnt get truly dark on the 62nd parallel. (The only other notable place I could find on my map at that latitude is the Faroe Islands.) And so, mile after mile, as the sun hovered on the horizon, I was able to look out the window at the seemingly endless lakes and boreal forest. The farther north I traveled the smaller and more patchy the trees became.

Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve encompasses more than 5,400 square miles on the eastern side of Great Slave Lake, the deepest lake in North America. It is shockingly remote. There are no designated campgrounds, no picnic tables, no trails, concession stands, or even roads to the park. To get there you have to fly from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, to the airport in the village of utsel Ke, and then take a boat or snowmobile to the park border

I found Yellowknife strange and alluring. The population of the Northwest Territories is around 43,000, and half of those people live in Yellowknife. The city was settled in the 1930s, after the first visible vein of gold was discovered in the area, and incorporated in 1970. You wouldnt think a city 250 miles from the Arctic Circle would be diverse. But roughly 25 percent of the population is First Nations, Metis, or Inuit; there are 11 official languages and nearly 70 other languages spoken there. From the moment I arrived in Yellowknife, I felt in my bones that I was in a place where, for once, I was part of a majority. And it felt good.

Time starts to fall away the farther north you get. After a short nights rest I took a taxi (driven by an African-Canadian) across Yellowknife to the air terminal run by Air Tindi, which serves many remote communities. Its planes have tires to land on dirt runways and floats and skis to land on lakes. As I checked in, I noticed that the baggage handlers were Native, the desk agents were Native, and the majority of the seven passengers were Native. This is another thing I love about the North. Members of my tribe, the Ojibwe, are vested in our northern identity as much as in our sense of ourselves as a tribe, and I feel safe, happy, and at ease when Im around other Native people, especially northerners.

Pat Kane From left: Trout, beans and potatoes cooked over an open fire near Wildbread Bay; Ron Desjarlais preparing lunch, including trout and bannock.

At the Air Tindi terminal, I was joined by Pat Kane, an Anishinaabe photographer who lives in Yellowknife. When we touched down at utsel Ke an hour later, he checked his phone and said, Before we head to the lodge, we should go to the dock. A buddy of mine from the village shot a musk ox yesterday, and theyre handing out meat to whoever wants it.



Outside the airport we were met by James Stewart, one of the fishing guides at Frontier Lodge, where we would be staying for the next few days. After we threw our stuff in his truck, he drove us to the dock, where there was a table set up with musk ox meat divvied into gallon ziplock bags. (A few days later I would spot musk oxen in the wild, which confirmed that they are one of the strangest animals Ive ever seen. They are large  a bulls average weight is between 600 and 800 pounds, though they look much thicker because of their fur. Both males and females have horns. Their range is closely and exclusively circumpolar: they are unique to the Arctic.)

You wouldnt think a city 250 miles from the Arctic Circle would be diverse. But roughly 25 percent of the population is First Nations, Metis, or Inuit; there are 11 official languages and nearly 70 other languages spoken there. From the moment I arrived in Yellowknife, I felt in my bones that I was in a place where, for once, I was part of a majority. And it felt good.

We chatted with the Ni Hatne Dene Guardians, the group that had hunted the animal. They function as supercharged park rangers, but their mandate is much broader than that. They assert the utsel Ke Dene First Nation authority and treaty rights over the traditional homelands, manage Dene sacred sites, and live a subsistence lifestyle, which includes harvesting musk oxen and giving the meat to anyone who wants some. We definitely wanted some.



Pat Kane Frontier Lodge, Thaidene Nenes primary accommodation.

Not to sound too mystical about it, but the North isnt necessarily a destination as much as a way of moving, a way of being, a habit. I felt this keenly as we headed out via skiff across the mouth of the Stark River. James negotiated the low water and rocks at top speed, and Great Slave Lake opened up in front of us in all its massive glory. The lake is all about scale: its the 10th largest in the world in terms of surface area and volume. Its size is everything, and moving across it in a boat, no matter how quickly, feels incredibly slow.

Frontier Lodge is an example of a distinctly Canadian phenomenon: the outpost lodge on a remote lake, reachable only by plane, floatplane, or boat. Frontier was built in the 1960s and purchased by the utsel Ke Dene First Nation in 2020. A central building, outfitted with a kitchen, a dining room, and a lounge, is surrounded by seven modest cabins. There is no pool. There is no game room. There is spotty cell service. The Wi-Fi is bad. There is, however, excellent trout fishing. And there are (fairly) affluent guests, mostly Americans and Canadians, who have paid a lot to travel to the top

of the world to fish.

Related: Canada's 'Wilderness City' Has Gold Rushera Saloons, National Park Adventures, and Spectacular Northern Lights Views

After a quick lunch of cheeseburgers (since our flight was delayed, we missed the traditional Frontier Lodge welcome of fish chowder), Pat and I went fishing with Ron Desjarlais, a guide from utsel Ke with just about the nicest boat Ive ever caught fish from. We powered up and took off from the dock out onto the lake and it opened up and kept opening and then kept opening some more.

I fished shallows. I sight-cast rock piles. I jigged 100 feet down. I trolled enormous spoons behind the boat. If youre not into fishing it might be best to say: you can pretty much fish any way and anywhere you want on Great Slave Lake and youre probably going to catch fish. I caught fish. So many fish it isnt really accurate to call it fishing. On Great Slave it should just be called catching.

Pat Kane From left: Red Cliff Island, in Canadas Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve, rises hundreds of feet from Great Slave Lake; fishing guide Ron Desjarlais near Red Cliff Island.

Thaidene Nene is a huge place. There is no headlining attraction  no geyser or mountain or waterfall  around which the park is arranged. Instead there is water, and low hills, and cliffs, some of which soar hundreds of feet above the lake. The spruce and jack pine march down over granite to the waters edge, where they mix with birch and willow. That first afternoon, even the small corner of the lake I fished and explored with Ron and Pat felt vast. Its not a gentle landscape, not an intimate one. I had the distinct feeling, as we crossed from bay to bay, that the lake didnt care about me. Nor did the land. I felt small and vulnerable and at its mercy, and desperate to be let in. We stumbled upon a musk ox eating willow leaves on the shoreline. It didnt seem to care all that much about me either.

More Trip Ideas: Why You Should Take a Fly-fishing Trip With Your Dad

Ron  who works for Frontier Lodge and also has his own guiding service  was a great companion. He is from utsel Ke, fluent in the Dene language, and has a deep knowledge of the lake. Except for a few work-related interludes, he has spent most of his life at utsel Ke. Trim and fit at 61, he got almost as excited as I did every time I brought a fish in. He was uncommonly solicitous about the health of the fish: Oh, that ones bleeding. I dont think hell make it. Or Good fish. But he got banged up. Better keep him. I dont know if Ron was right about that. I kind of think Ron wanted to eat the fish, and who can blame him?

Pat Kane Labrador tea leaves gathered on a small island in the lake.

As part of his service, Ron offers guided backwoods camping, meaning hell bring you by motorboat wherever you want to go, set up the tents, cook, and guide you to the fish. If I could have, I would have pitched a tent out there. There are almost limitless places to camp. The land is fairly open, and much of the granite is flat. In many spots the rock juts out into the lake, where you can catch a breeze from either direction (which is helpful, because the black, deer, and horse flies are fierce), but there is enough tree cover to offer protection if the wind comes up. (Breezes on Great Slave Lake are good. Wind, on the other hand, can be terrifying.)

For me, it was a profound and comfortingly familiar feeling to be on the boat with my fellow Natives in a place that was, broadly speaking, ours. The park was created, to a large degree, because of Indigenous power.

For me, it was a profound and comfortingly familiar feeling to be on the boat with my fellow Natives in a place that was, broadly speaking, ours. The park was created, to a large degree, because of Indigenous power. It was something the bands in the area wanted (not exclusively, not completely, not in pure consensus) because the park protected their sacred lands. Aside from subsistence fishing and hunting and commercial fur trapping, there is little else that could be called industry in this part of the Northwest Territories, with the notable exception of gold, diamond, and uranium mining. When I brought up mining to Ron, he shrugged. If they opened all this up to mines it would be destroyed and wed be rich for maybe 20 or 30 years. After that? Wed be right back where weve been.

The park is the answer: it protects the land, and it could  though it doesnt yet  bring in revenue in the form of entrance fees, guided trips, and other travel services. And while there are no singular features that epitomize the park, no good place to take a selfie for the gram and then move on, it offers something much more profound: a landscape that is almost untouched, that exists as it has existed since the last ice age. Thaidene Nene is one of the few places on earth that can offer this. You could have stood on a cliff 10,000 years ago and it would have looked very much the same as it does today.

Pat Kane Seagulls scavenge for fish scraps near utsel Ke.

Frontier Lodge has its own pleasures. A snug cabin and comfortable mattress were luxuries I definitely didnt object to. Neither was the happy hour. I ate better at the lodge than I do in my normal life: barbecued ribs, chicken parm, steak. Each morning, the guides would take guests out in twos to different parts of the lake. At noon the guide would cook a shore lunch, a uniquely Canadian fishing-lodge tradition. From coolers and totes would emerge potatoes, breading, and sausage, and in a matter of minutes a meal would be conjured from the campfire. More fishing followed.

Since the sun doesnt go down until almost never, the evenings can be spent fishing, too, though boats have to be off the water by 10 p.m. The species in the Stark, a mile-long river that separates the lodge from utsel Ke, is Arctic grayling, a gorgeous salmonid much smaller than lake trout and an absolute blast to catch. In fast water, the fish hit hard on nearly any shiny thing. After dinner I could have walked down to the river in waders and fished as late as I wanted to. I didnt do this, but I should have.



Pat Kane From left: Moose-hide beaded moccasins on display in the utsel Ke Dene First Nations office; a musk ox on the shore of Moose Bay, near Yellowknife.

On my second day, Ron, Pat, and I set off to see more of the park. The weather was uncommonly hot and still for a place just below the Arctic Circle that is iced over for eight months of the year. (While the park is officially open year-round, planes with tourists arrive mainly in the summer.) When the prevailing winds hit from the west and north, the lake can be extremely dangerous, with rollers and breakers up to four feet high.

We, however, headed out into dead calm. Even so, as we approached Christie Bay  more than 12 miles of open water  Ron muttered a few times that it would have been good to pack tents and sleeping bags just in case the weather turned and we couldnt make it back. It was impossible to ignore the simple fact that, were the boat to flip, wed be dead.

Related: Canada's Kluane National Park Is a Remote Adventure Paradise With Glaciers, Hiking, and Rafting

We made it across peacefully, even meditatively  theres nothing like an outboard motor and the gentle nodding of the bow on glassy water to make you think about the infinite. We passed Fortress Island and dropped into the Gap, a small narrows with towering bluffs on either side. We immediately began catching fish. Everything about Thaidene Nene made me feel like I had somehow stepped into the Upside Down: night was day, the fish were often too big to eat, the fishing lodge was owned by Native people and staffed by non-Natives, there was rock where there was supposed to be trees, and trees where I expected rock.



Pat Kane Trout in Great Slave Lake.

As my stay wound to an end, we fished less and did more sightseeing. We went to Red Cliffs  sheer slabs of reddish stone rising a few hundred feet above the lake  and stopped into utsel Ke. With around 350 residents, the settlement doesnt have much in the way of development: tribal offices, a few municipal buildings, a community center, warehouses, around 80 houses, a diesel-powered generator, and the Co-op, which is the only place to buy groceries, gas, and household goods.

People seemed to come and go a lot. Its one of the paradoxes of isolated northern communities: they are so far from anywhere else, and yet people are in a state of perpetual arrival and departure. Every fly-in spot in a reserve is a hub for even smaller, scattered settlements. It was this way from the early days, before the arrival of Europeans; it remained so during the fur trade and, later, the early years of mineral exploration.

The park offers something much more profound: a landscape that is almost untouched, that exists as it has existed since the last ice age. Thaidene Nene is one of the few places on earth that can offer this. You could have stood on a cliff 10,000 years ago and it would have looked very much the same as it does today.

I imagine it will be no different should the number of visitors to the park increase, which I both hope it does and hope it doesnt. I liked that there was so little signage and no improved trails or historical markers or lines of people or long strings of motorcycles or bottlenecks or gatehouses or ice cream shops or key chains or commemorative T-shirts. I liked very much what I saw instead: people loading and unloading boats with hunting rifles, gill nets, bags of groceries; always at least one person just hanging out in front of the Co-op; clusters of Ni Hatne Dene Guardians and territorial and Parks Canada employees chatting and teasing each other; a guy at the dock who, when I offered him my sandwich, took it and chatted with me a little even though I didnt really understand anything he said (it could have been that he was speaking Dene or it could have been the sandwich); the dogs that slid between groups of people and houses on some mission or another.

Pat Kane A caribou-bone hat band on display in the utsel Ke Dene First Nations office.

And then it was our last night: a sauna and, finally, the musk ox seasoned and grilled over the fire, along with trout nuggies, breaded, deep-fried, and coated in Franks Red Hot. Easily the best meal at the end of a week of great food.

When the plane took me out the next day it was rainy and the bugs were bad. Once on board I got to see the lake in reverse: first, great fingers of land with cliffs shooting straight down to the waters edge, and then, over the land itself, small lakes scattered like coins in a giant lap of granite. I felt as I always do when flying over the Canadian Shield  filled with regret that I was there for only a few days.

Time in the North cant be bought with such small change. One would need a year, two, 10, a lifetime to know even a small portion of it. So I felt regret that I was leaving and heading south, where the land is more forgetful  because everything gets covered up with growth eventually  and more pliable for being so. Back south to where the hand of man is heavier and more visible. Regret as I looked out the window at all the beauty and mystery  unknown, unexplored, unlived by me  that I wouldnt get to solve. Until the next time.



Fishing packages at Frontier Fishing Lodge, which include accommodations, meals, guided fishing, ground transportation, and round-trip charter flights from Yellowknife, start at $2,750 for three days.

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Cardi B says that performing community service has changed her perspective on life.

After revealing on social media that she's started her 15 days of community service this week  the result of a plea deal stemming from an 2018 strip club brawl in Queens, New York  the "Bodak Yellow" rapper and mom (whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar) shared how the experience has opened her eyes to something bigger than herself.

"Community service has been the best thing that has happened to me. Almost like a spiritual journey because sometimes I leave these centers in tears. Those people that we leave behind they just need somebody to talk and a lil push and YOU might be able to change their life forever," Cardi, 30, tweeted.

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 17: Cardi B appears at Queens County Criminal Court after not meeting her requirements for her misdemeanor guilty plea on January 17, 2023 in New York City. Cardi B violated the terms of her agreement by not fulfilling the 15 days of community service she agreed to in her plea. The judge has given her a second chance and she must fulfill her agreement by March 1st or face jail time. (Photo by Adam Gray-Pool/Getty Images)

Adam Gray-Pool/Getty Cardi B

RELATED: Cardi B Appears in N.Y.C. Court as She's Given Deadline Extension to Finish Community Service

Cardi's court case was a result of an incident that occurred in August 2018, when two bartenders at Angel's Strip Club claimed that Cardi ordered an attack on them because she believed her husband Offset had had an affair with one of them, according to the The New York Times and TMZ.

The musician, who had 10 charges dismissed, pled guilty in September to two misdemeanor charges of assault in the third degree and reckless endangerment. She accepted a plea deal that handed her a three-year order of protection from the women involved in the scuffle, plus the slate of community service duty.

Cardi's original deadline to complete the service was last month, but has now been extended to March 1.

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"Part of growing up and maturing is being accountable for your actions. As a mother, it's a practice that I am trying to instill in my children, but the example starts with me. I've made some bad decisions in my past that I am not afraid to face and own up to," Cardi said at the time in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

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She continued: "These moments don't define me and they are not reflective of who I am now. I'm looking forward to moving past this situation with my family and friends and getting back to the things I love the most  the music and my fans."

Cardi B Community Service

Cardi B/Twitter (2)

RELATED: Cardi B Tackles Community Service Hours Wearing Her Fave Designer Clothes: 'Only Have Myself to Blame'

The rapper shared on Instagram Live recently that at least part of her service hours have been spent working with veterans. In an emotional message, she said she was moved by what she'd witnessed in her short amount of time at the facility.

"They go through so much," she said, adding that she thinks the U.S. doesn't "provide proper service to our veterans or ex-soldiers."

The Grammy-winning artist has also been updating her fans with Twitter photos of her chic community service looks, captioned with words of wisdom encouraging her fans to own up to their mistakes.

Her most recent post was uploaded on Friday morning. In the photo, she wears a casual athleisure ensemble accessorized by a black beanie with "Chanel" embroidered across it, plus a yellow Balenciaga handbag.

"My brains are burning from waking up early," she shared. "Community service then studiobut I did the crime 'I only have myself to blame.' "
Tom Tupitza could have landed most anywhere he wanted after he graduated from law school.

The Erie native was, after all, an honors graduate from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of Harvard's civil rights law journal.

Attorney Tom Tupitza has been honored by many community organizations for civic involvement.

Many of his classmates went on to big firms in big cities.

Tupitza, a graduate of Iroquois High School, returned to Erie.

Professionally, the choice turned out well for Tupitza, who has focused his practice on finance, real estate and governance.

More:Erie medical research institute has laid foundation for clinical trials in women's health

Since 2007, he's been president of Knox Law, one of Erie's largest law firms, and has been honored with a Best Lawyer designation and recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer. He has compiled a long list of professional accomplishments, including service as an elected member of the American Law Institute and past president of the Association of Bond Lawyers.

Attorney Tom Tupitza describes a historical family photo, recently sent to him by a cousin and displayed in his office.

The Erie community, by most accounts, has been just as well served by his decision.

Tupitza has emerged over the years as one of northwestern Pennsylvania's most sought-after volunteers, often serving in pivotal leadership roles at a time when the decline in Erie-based manufacturing has made community leadership roles harder to fill.

More:East Side Renaissance: Erie group eyes multimillion-dollar upgrades along Parade Street

That service was honored when he was named the recipient of the 2022 Tocqueville Award, presented by the United Way of Erie County for outstanding volunteer service.

He has filled dozens of public service roles over the years, including long stints on the board of the United Way and the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership.

Tuptiza also has taken on leadership roles with the Erie Community Foundation, the Nonprofit Partnership, Hamot Health Foundation, Erie City Mission, the Erie County Historical Society, VisitErie and the Warner Theatre Preservation Trust.

Barbara Chaffee, CEO of the Tom Ridge Environmental Center Foundation, has known Tupitza for years and worked with him in his former role as vice chairman of her board when she served as CEO of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership. Chaffee said she's also worked with Tuptiza professionally during his service as the legal counsel for her church, Erie's Luther Memorial.

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Through it all, Chaffee said, she's been struck by Tupitza's skill and insight as a lawyer and his wisdom and compassion as a person.

"He's a really decent person with a great mind," she said. "Erie has been so fortunate to have him."

Tom Tupitza

Be true to your school

Tupitza, who has served as president of the board of trustees of his alma mater, Westminster College in New Wilmington, counts that role among his favorites.

"I really do have a great fondness for Westminster," Tupitza said. "The faculty there spent a lot of time with me, encouraged me and helped me in many ways. I have been pleased to be able to give back there."

He has also given back to Erie, working on an improbably long list of pivotal initiatives, including the renovation of the Warner Theatre and the affiliation of Hamot with UPMC.

Tupitza, who received both the Eagle's Nest Leadership's Humanitarian Award and the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network's Excellence Award, followed the quiet example of his father, who was involved in a number of community service roles.

"You just grew up with it and you just think it's something you want to do to give back," he said.

Tupitza said attending a small liberal arts school for his undergraduate studies informed his decision to practice in Erie.

"You had the opportunity to get involved in things. That helped me make the choice not to go to a large city. I think that this size of community enables you to have a very satisfying professional career," he said. "It also gives you an opportunity not only to volunteer but to do it at a level that you can have an impact."

It's one thing to sign on to a long list of community roles outside of a demanding career. It's another matter to balance the two things.

"It's been a great opportunity and I appreciate that the firm has enabled me to spend the time," he said. "I have had some good role models who have done similar things."

An insider's perspective

So, what perspective have all those years of service given him?

And how, after being at the table for some of the most significant developments of the past 25 years, does Tupitza feel about where Erie is headed and what the community's priorities should be?

He said he sees plenty to celebrate as he looks back over the years, including the community schools program backed by the United Way and the development of the Magee-Womens Research Institute  Erie.

But for all the good things and investments taking place around him  Tupitza's office is flanked on one side by an ongoing $27 million Gannon project and on the other by a $8.25 million operations center opened by Marquette Savings Bank in 2021  there is a lot of work yet to be done, he said.

High on his list is the need for economic development.

"What gets in the way is a mindset where it becomes about false choices," Tupitza said. "I don't think it's about manufacturing versus tourism or recreation. I think we need to work on developing all of the above."

Tupiza said he's also been impressed by the technology companies that have been drawn to Erie to participate in the Fire Accelerator program. Like medicine, education, tourism and manufacturing, high-tech needs to be part of Erie's future, he said.

"I hope we can get out of this either-or way of thinking and work on trying to achieve all of this," Tupitza said.

A focus on equity

He's hopeful, though, that there can be a common theme that runs through Erie's future  a focus on the sort of economic development that leaves no one behind.

The May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered in Minneapolis by a white police officer, drew widespread attention to the issue of equity and the challenges facing minorities.

Tupitza said he recognizes that even now there isn't complete agreement on the priority that should be given to equity and inclusion.

"We are not always going to agree, but we need to treat everyone with dignity and respect," he said.

In most cases, Tupitza said he believes the increased attention to the topic is part of an honest effort to do better.

"I think that the business community realizes how important this is," he said. "It makes us a more attractive community. I think it's a real positive, but there is a long way to go here."

Fully involved

Whether the topic is equity and inclusion, economic development or promotion of Erie's proposed three forts initiative  a Tupitza favorite  Laurie Root, CEO of the United Way of Erie County, sees him as a key to Erie's ongoing effort to improve.

More: Group formed to explore replica forts

Root said she wasn't surprised when Tupitza won the United Way's top honor.

"Tom has immersed himself as a volunteer," she said.

"He did it his own way," Root said. "He is so quiet and gracious. People are surprised by the depth and breadth of his commitment to so many organizations.

"If he says he is going to do something, it's not lip service. He thoughtfully contributes to anything he is involved in. He brings so much insight and perspective and our community is better for it."

Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: United Way of Erie County named Tom Tupitza Tocqueville Award winner
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the closing meeting of the 39th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) concluded its 39th session in Beijing on Friday.

At the closing meeting, lawmakers adopted a decision to remove Tang Yijun from the post of minister of justice and appoint He Rong to the position.

President Xi Jinping signed a presidential order to promulgate the decision.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting.

Lawmakers voted to adopt a decision on adjusting the application of some provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law for the military during wartime.

Members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee adopted the committee's work report. The Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee proposed entrusting Li to deliver the work report to the first session of the 14th NPC on behalf of the committee.

Lawmakers approved a report reviewing the qualifications of the 14th NPC deputies and confirmed the validity of 2,977 deputies to the 14th NPC.

They also passed a report on the qualifications of some 13th NPC deputies. There are currently 2,918 deputies to the 13th NPC.

At the meeting, other bills of appointments or removals were approved.

Other documents adopted included a draft agenda of the first session of the 14th NPC, a draft name list of the presidium and secretary-general, and a name list of people invited to sit in on the session as non-voting participants.

Addressing the closing meeting, Li said that the 13th NPC Standing Committee has focused on the central task of the Party and the country, fulfilled its duties and responsibilities, and made major progress in the work related to people's congresses over the past five years.

Practice has fully proved that the system of people's congresses is in line with China's national conditions and realities, and has shown great vitality, Li said.

He also urged efforts to ensure that the upcoming annual NPC session in March is a success.

Li chaired a meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee before the closing meeting. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the closing meeting of the 39th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)
A bee hotel outside Slayter Hall, the Denison University student union at the center of campus. The hotels dotting the Granville campus are a collaborative effort by students in the studio art and biology departments, who worked together to create and monitor safe spaces for some of the 500 species of bees in Ohio.

The little structures are one part science and one part art, and they are all about creating a safe place for Ohios native bees.

The "bee hotels" dotting the Denison University campus in Granville are a collaborative effort by students in the studio art and biology departments, who worked together to create and monitor safe spaces for some of the 500 species of bees in Ohio.

Denisons efforts to protect and nurture native pollinators include a project to fill the universitys 10-acre solar array in its Biological Reserve with pollinator-friendly plants and by installing the bee hotels, which can be seen dangling from tree branches and university buildings on campus.

In 2021, Denison was named a "Bee Campus" by Bee City USA, a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon, which works to motivate communities to sustain native pollinators of crops, fruits, vegetables and flowers.

In Ohio, the native bee populations are decreasing by up to 40% every year, according to Bee City USA, so encouraging reproduction is vital to their survival. The bee hotels were created as a habitat for native bees to lay their eggs, which encourages the rebuilding of the bee population.

The hotels were built by the studio art students in a mixed media and sculpture class with Dr. Micaela Vivero and monitored by biology students under the supervision of Dr. Andrew McCall. The art class produces about 18 hotels each semester.

Vivero has been teaching Studio Art at Denison for 18 years, focusing primarily on sculpture and installation art. She said that "the native bees usually find places to nest in lawns or trees, but they cant really do that on this campus, so the bee hotels provide more chances for them to inhabit that space."

One of the artist bee hotels outside Doane Library at Denison University. The hotels dotting the Granville campus are a collaborative effort by students in the studio art and biology departments, who worked together to create and monitor safe spaces for some of the 500 species of bees in Ohio.

Vivero said that another benefit of the hotels as art is that they "encourage students and those coming to campus to ask what these things are, and then they get to learn about the native bees."

The hotels are made of untreated wood and special straws to provide nesting space. The students found that straws nearly the same diameter as the bees seem to be preferable, as well as soft edges around the entrance. These strategies are beneficial, for example, for leafcutter bees, one of Ohios native species. Many people think of the honeybee when discussing pollinators, although the honeybee isnt a native species, having been brought here by European colonizers.

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McCall has been teaching biology at Denison for 17 years with a focus on plant biology and evolution. He said that he became interested in bees because people cant think about plants without thinking about their pollinators, which typically are bees.

"I spent a lot of time just following bees around to see which flowers they prefer, and during that time, I came to the realization that many of these bees seemed to have personalities," McCall said.

The idea for the collaboration with art and science classes was sparked by Vivero, who later applied for a grant to help bring the ideas together.

"The project that they make has to be outside in nature for years, so it has to be really sturdy, Vivero said. "The hotels could probably be made in an hour-long workshop, but the ones we have created have been more complex."

In nature, leafcutter bees will cut off pieces of leaves to line the chambers of twigs to house their young. The straws seen in a lot of the hotels are made to mimic the twigs so that bees will use them to lay and hatch their eggs.

"My class would look to see if the straws had been inhabited, as well as if the physical structure of the hotel was attracting bees or other organisms," McCall said. "If youre going to make a free apartment, you cant decide whos going to come in, so sometimes ants will raid the bee cabins  and parasitic wasps also pose a big issue."

When the hotels begin to fall apart, they are moved out of circulation and replaced with hotels from the latest class.

"I think it helped my students think about how we can give nature a little bit of a push but also do it in a creative way," McCall said. "The students get to see how people with varied interests can work on the same project."

Jade Rasmussen, a senior majoring in creative writing and minoring in studio art, took the mixed media sculpture class in the fall of her first year at Denison.

"The class really showed Dr. Viveros talent as a professor, and her teaching was so animated," Rasmussen said. "I felt really inspired and encouraged as an artist, even when trying something Id never done before."

McCall said thats one of the goals.

"Art is very much like science in the sense that youre always exploring.  The artists that Ive known are always thinking about pushing ahead and trying experimental things," he said.

Laura Joelsson writes for The Reporting Project, the nonprofit news organization of the Denison University Journalism Program, which is sponsored in part by the Mellon Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Denison art, biology students nurture pollinators with 'bee hotels'
A driver led law enforcement on an approximate 25-minute chase, starting in Darke County and ending about 30 miles away in Wayne County, Saturday overnight.

>> TRENDING: 3 hospitalized from 3-vehicle crash in Dayton

Darke County deputies initiated a traffic stop at around 12:45 a.m. on U.S. Route 127 southbound near state Route 49, citing a nonfunctioning headlight and lanes of travel violation, a spokesperson for the county stated. However, the driver failed to stop and began to speed away in their blue Chevrolet Cruze. Within about five minutes, the driver reached speeds of over 100 mph.

As Darke County deputies pursued the driver within Ohios borders, law enforcement requested aid from the Preble County Sheriffs Office and the Dayton post of Ohio State Highway Patrol, state trooper dispatch told News Center 7.

Darke County deputies ended their pursuit near the Darke-Preble County Line, the spokesperson said. Preble County deputies then took over the pursuit.

An Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter assisted in maintaining vision and providing direction during the pursuit, state trooper dispatch continued. However, no car-state trooper helped because the suspect driver was reportedly speeding too fast for units to catch up.

The suspect driver reached top speeds of over 110 mph, according to emergency scanners.

Near the end of the pursuit, the driver closed in on the Ohio-Indiana border, prompting law enforcement to contact the Richmond Police Department.

After the approximate 30-mile pursuit, Richmond Police stopped and detained the driver and a passenger on Chester Boulevard in Richmond, Indiana, at around 1:10 a.m., according to the spokesperson and emergency scanners.

Richmond officers reported an odor of marijuana present in the vehicle along with marijuana residue, the spokesperson informed. Additionally, the driver was not valid and the vehicle was affixed with a fake license plate.

Darke County Sheriffs Office led the investigation into the pursuit.
A man was killed and a woman critically injured in a "horrific" dog attack in Texas on Friday, authorities said.

The owner of the dogs now faces felony charges, police said.

The incident occurred around 1:45 p.m. local time in a residential area of San Antonio.

PHOTO: First responders on the scene of a deadly dog attack in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 24, 2023. (KSAT)

The 81-year-old man and 74-year-old woman who were visiting friends in the area were attacked by two dogs from a neighboring property after exiting their vehicle, according to the San Antonio Police Department. Witnesses reported that the dogs had broken through the front gate of their home just before the incident, authorities said.

The couple were both mauled in the attack, which occurred on the sidewalk, and transported to a local hospital, according to San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood. The man died due to his injuries, while the woman remains in critical condition, Hood said.

MORE: Pack of dogs attacks and kills young boy, injures mother

A relative of theirs also suffered a bite to the hand and a fire captain was bit in the leg while responding to the attack, authorities said. Both were transported to the hospital and remained under medical care as of Friday night.

Responding firefighters arrived as the dogs were actively attacking the couple and had to fend off the animals with pickaxes and pipe poles, according to Hood, who called their actions "heroic."

PHOTO: SAFD Chief Charles Hood on the scene of a deadly dog attack in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 24, 2023. (KSAT)

"Horrific scene -- horrific for the people that experienced this and, again, horrific for our firefighters that were a part of this, basically, a rescue to save themselves and to save these people," Hood said.

Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, was later arrested in connection with the attack and is facing a charge of attack by dangerous dog causes death and a charge of injury to an elderly, both felonies, police said. ABC News was unable to reach Moreno for comment.

PHOTO: In this image posted to the FaceBook account of the San Antonio Police Department, Christian Alexander Moreno is shown. (San Antonio Police Department/FaceBook)

Two dogs determined to be involved in the attack and a third from the same household that was unrestrained and outside the property were taken into custody, according to Shannon Sims, director of San Antonio Animal Care Services.

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The three dogs -- American Staffordshire terriers -- were euthanized Friday night, authorities said.

MORE: Woman injured in dog attack trains with doctor who treated her scars

Police have responded to the property multiple times over the past two years, including for other bite incidents, authorities said.

At least two of the dogs in the deadly attack were involved in bite cases that resulted in moderate or mild injuries in September 2021 and this past January, authorities said. The dogs completed the state-required quarantine before their owners reclaimed them, and the individuals involved declined to file a dangerous dog designation.

In November 2022, police also responded to a dog-related call at the property, during which an officer told the owner that the dogs must be kept in the yard, authorities said.

Neighbors have also called the animal shelter to report dogs at the property that were astray and neglected, Sims said.

Elderly man killed, woman critically injured in 'horrific' dog attack in San Antonio originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Albert Wong Hak-keung had to stick to his guns when he took over as CEO of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) about six and a half years ago. With more than 30 per cent of the space at the technology-incubator campus sitting empty, Wong stood by a policy that turned away potential tenants unless at least half of their team members were dedicated to research and development (R&D) - a stand designed to protect the park's identity as a home for technology companies.

"It was not easy to enforce it while there were many empty buildings and spaces in front of you," Wong said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. "But after these years, tech companies recognise the park as the technology industry cluster. When start-ups and investors look for tech companies, they will come here."

Today the Hong Kong Science Park boasts more than 1,200 start-ups and has spawned a few listed companies. Occupancy is close to 90 per cent, and Wong's calendar is jammed with meetings with investors, interviews with start-ups and overseas trips.

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However, the current level of success does not fulfill the vision of the 20-year-old park. So Wong is spurring HKSTP to step up its role nurturing innovation, while dispelling the notion that Hong Kong - with the dubious honour as the world's most expensive urban centre - is a desert for entrepreneurship. The chief executive now wants to grow the roster of start-up tenants to as high as 6,000 over the next 10 years.

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) CEO Albert Wong Hak-keung, pictured at the Hong Kong Science Park on February 3, 2023. Photo: Jonathan Wong alt=Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) CEO Albert Wong Hak-keung, pictured at the Hong Kong Science Park on February 3, 2023. Photo: Jonathan Wong>

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New energy, biotechnology, AI and data science are among the target areas for the HKSTP, in keeping with the priorities in the Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint set out in December, which in turn followed the Policy Address by Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu two months earlier and President Xi Jinping's endorsement of the goal of turning the city into a technology hub.

HKSTP's Hong Kong Science Park, located along the Tolo Harbour waterfront on the eastern fringes of the Kowloon peninsula, provides office, production, and R&D space while helping to link investors and start-ups. It helped turn AI specialist SenseTime into a multibillion-dollar listed company, and helped nurture delivery firm Lalamove and advanced manufacturing company SmartMore into tech 'unicorns' - start-ups valued at over US$1 billion.

"We are Harvard University, we are MIT [The Massachusetts Institute of Technology]," Wong claimed. "Companies in the park must be of high quality. So we have investors coming here sniffing around opportunities every day."

However, a pool of 1,200 companies is "definitely not enough" to achieve critical mass for investment, and is far below the scale of the tech hub in Shenzhen and the Zhongquancun hub in Beijing, Wong said.

"Hong Kong needs to have the weight of 6,000 to 7,000 companies," he said. "In the next few years, [HKSTP] has to expand on a multiple scale. We need to attract global and local talent, attract global enterprises, and grow our local start-ups."

With an occupancy rate of 89 per cent, that level of growth could lead to a space crunch for HKSTP.

An aerial view of Hong Kong Science Park in Pak Shek Kok, Sha Tin on October 6, 2021. Photo: Winson Wong alt=An aerial view of Hong Kong Science Park in Pak Shek Kok, Sha Tin on October 6, 2021. Photo: Winson Wong>

"That is a good problem," Wong said. "We will expand the space via various ways such as reclamation. Some people describe us as a landlord. I agree. But we use the income to support and develop the tech ecosystem. After these years, our ecosystem is already taking shape."

In addition to the science park itself, HKSTP offers large-scale production space in its three Innoparks, in Tseung Kwan O, Yuen Long and Tai Po. It accelerates technological innovation through incubation programmes and assists with commercialisation, building up a technology industry cluster that the city had lacked over the years.

"Hong Kong start-ups are very influential in the biotechnology industry," Wong said. "[But] how to translate their scientific achievements into commercialised products and grow in the China and global market? This is our role."

In the past few years, the park has built up a network of private and institutional investors, and has collaborated with more than 200 public and private organisations, such as the Hong Kong Police, to provide opportunities for its 300 plus incubator companies to put their technology to work in real-world applications.

Park-based companies have raised a total of HK$80.2 billion (US$5 billion) since the 2017-2018 financial year. Setting aside SenseTime, that translates to more than HK$40 billion for over 200 companies. "That was a huge number for start-ups," Wong said.

The park has nurtured three listed companies. The first was Solomon Systech (International), a semiconductor company providing display chips, which listed in Hong Kong in 2004. The biggest listed company based in the park is SenseTime. The third is OrbusNeich Medical Group, a global medical-device manufacturer that launched a US$82 million listing on December 23, 2022.

"I believe more companies, such as AI and biotech companies, will seek listings in the next couple of years," Wong said. It has been reported that Beijing-based smart logistics technology company Geek+, has plans to seek an IPO. The specialist in robotics and artificial intelligence opened a global R&D Centre at HKSTP in 2021. Geek+ declined to comment.

The Hong Kong stock exchange's policies, which allow pre-revenue biotech companies to access international capital and to list, should boost the number of companies considering stock flotations.

Hong Kong's scale of fundraising for biotechnology is now the largest in Asia and the second largest in the world, with 53 pre-revenue/pre-profit healthcare and biotechnology companies listed in Hong Kong raising about HK$116 billion as of the end of October.

Wong said HKSTP also helps tech start-ups both overseas and in Hong Kong better understand the business environment and capture opportunities in the Greater Bay Area, while bringing mainland companies like New Horizon Health to set up R&D centres here to expand globally.

The Hangzhou-based biotech company opened a new research centre in the park on February 17. The first phase of development in Hong Kong includes an operations office and a 10,000 square-foot research laboratory.

"The park has given us some incentives," said the company's co-founder and chairman Zhu Yeqing. "But this is not the attraction. We are attracted by the ecosystem in the park, and we believe it is the strategic location for internationalisation."

Wong acknowledges that HKSTP is just a part of a broader government effort to turn Hong Kong into an international innovation hub. "We cannot do it all," he said.

The government's policies and the incentives and services offered by the HKSTP together encourage university professors and scientists to turn into entrepreneurs, said Francis Chan, the dean of medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

But a talent shortage and high housing costs remain as obstacles on the city's road to being a technology hub, said Chan, who is a co-founder of GenieBiome, a biotechnology company using microbiome research technology to develop treatments, health supplements and tests for a variety of diseases.

He proposed government housing subsidies to help attract more global tenants.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
I had a friend once who consulted the National Day Calendar as often as she checked her personal calendar, or so it seemed. Believing it is important to stay positive and increase celebration when possible, she knew when it was National Donut Day or National Fly a Kite Day or National Love People Day, and she invited others to celebrate.

This past week, I noticed a day of celebration I had never heard of that moves beyond merely national interest. Feb. 22 is World Thinking Day. Imagine my surprise when I learned that this day has been celebrated in 150 countries around the world since 1926 by Girl Guides and Girl Scouts as a day to think about sisters from different countries.

Each year there is a set theme for the day that focuses on a critical international issue that impacts the world, like Leadership (2019); Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (2020); Peacebuilding (2021); and a multi-year theme for 2022-2024 built off Our World, Our Future, with an emphasis in 2022 on equity, 2023 on peace, and 2024 on the link between poverty and environmental instability.

After teaching Sunday School at his church, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter pose with Candace and her grandson. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, pose with Candace and her grandson, Rowen in 2019.

Jimmy Carter: Role model for peace

It seems critically important that young people in the U.S. were thinking about peace during this particular World Thinking Day, as the day falls during the week that our 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, has entered hospice care. Beyond the remarkable courage and leadership he has shown in accepting his mortality and setting priorities for himself and his family in declining further curative treatments, former President Carter is also a strong role model for the pursuit of peace.

In a New York Times opinion about Jimmy Carter this week, his Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, Kai Bird, writes that his Presidency was more consequential than most recall, and goes on to list a number of accomplishments, including many involving peace. The Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II arms control agreement, and the normalization of diplomatic and trade relations with China to name but a few.

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His appointment of more African Americans, Hispanics, and women to the federal bench substantially increased their numbers, bringing greater equity to the justice system. In this and other decisions he was eager to do the right thing and right away according to Bird, the author of The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter.

Carter envisioned the Center that he and his wife, Rosalynn, founded in Atlanta in 1982, as a place to help people who wanted to resolve disputes. In partnership with Emory University, the Carter Center has focused on planting the seeds of peace around the world. Their website has an impressive list of peacemaking and healthcare initiatives. The mission of the Center is waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope.

Faith in working for peace

In 2002, Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development. The committee said, In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation based on international law, respect for human rights, and economic development.

In his Nobel Lecture, Carter reminded those present, We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes  and we must.

His confidence was not naive when he made that statement 21 years ago. He had seen enough to know that peace is not easily made or kept. But it was his faith then and now that we can choose to work for peace, which is exactly what he did. From the Carter Center on Feb. 24, last year, Jimmy Carter called on President Putin to halt military action and restore peace.

Much work to be done

As we remarkably have come to the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops this week, peace there seems more elusive than ever. Adam Russell Taylor, President of Sojourners and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community, speaks of this elusive peace in a recent article in Sojourner Magazine.

While initially seeing little alternative for the U.S. but to support Ukraine against the invasion, it now seems clear to Taylor and many others in the faith community and beyond, that neither side is likely to defeat the other anytime soon, and only at enormous cost of life. He fears helping Ukraine win the war has become more important to some than working toward a peaceful resolution. The remarkable strength of the underdog has been inspiring, but it may cloud our better wisdom that mediation, diplomacy, and negotiation are the peace waging steps that offer lasting conflict resolution.

World Thinking Day is observed by 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts worldwide. It seems like a healthy and healing endeavor, not only for sisters across the globe, but for us all to think about each other and to contemplate peace.

Then maybe when the National Day of Peace on Jan. 1, International Day of Living Together in Peace on May 16, the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21, or the World Peace Meditation Day on Dec. 31 show up on the calendar, we will have cause for celebration and gratitude. I pray we all will be intentional about waging peace.

The Rev. Candace McKibben

The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jimmy Carter is role model on World Thinking Day | Candace McKibben
Qantas Pride Flight

James D. Morgan/Getty Images @jamesmorganphoto

George Rogers was in for a surprise when he accidentally booked a pride-themed flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia

Rogers, 29, realized he had accidentally booked a seat on Australian airline Qantas's WorldPride flight after he checked in at LAX on Wednesday. The 13-hour trip was heading to Sydney for the city's 17-day pride festival.

Rogers, who is British but lives in Australia, was catching the flight to return home after vacationing in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica, he revealed to news.com.au.

"I had absolutely no idea it was a WorldPride flight," he told the outlet. "It dawned on me when check-in opened and I saw a lot of 'colourful' people and pride flags."

RELATED: PEOPLE Celebrates Pride: Inside the 2022 Pride Issue Featuring Robin Roberts, Christina Aguilera and More

According to the Australian news outlet, Rogers was "partying hard" during his travels in Latin America, which could have been a cause for mistakenly booking the clearly marked WorldPride flight on Qantas' website.

Despite the mixup, Rogers sees it as a happy accident. "I ended up on the gayest flight ever and I absolutely loved it," he said.

Joel Creasey

James D. Morgan/Getty Felicity Frockaccino and comedian Joel Creasy

He also enjoyed the pre-flight activities hosted at the Qantas lounge in LAX, where special guests G Flip, Hugh Sheridan and comedian Joel Creasy performed.

"After check-in, they took us all into the Qantas First Lounge at LAX," Rogers recalled. "There were drag queens and they gave me a hat and a rainbow flag and there were free drinks. There were great vibes."

g flip

James D. Morgan/Getty G Flip

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The special journey creates a celebratory space for members of the LGBTQ+ community through fun activities like in-flight drag bingo hosted by queens Qantana, Felicity Frockaccino and Vybe. Makeup masterclasses were also offered 40,000 feet in the air by Australian brand MECCA MAX professionals.

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Hugh Sheridan

James D. Morgan/Getty Australian actor Hugh Sheridan

Creasy even shared a few laughs with passengers as he cracked some jokes over the P.A. system throughout the flight.

"I've been to Mardi Gras in Sydney a few times and it's always my favourite day of the year," Rogers recalls, "so what better way to kick off the weekend than with a pride flight to Sydney."
ibrahim-traore-burkina-faso-coup.jpg Burkina Fasoas coup leader Ibrahim Traore sworn in as Burkina Faso transitional president - Credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

One year ago, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba was a military leader on the rise. The 41-year-old officer had just overthrown Burkina Fasos democratically-elected government and was about to be sworn in as the West Africas nations new president. Wearing a red beret and military fatigues, he appeared on TV and threw down a gauntlet. Togain the upper hand over the enemy, it will be necessary to rise up and convince ourselves that as a nation we have more than what it takes to win this war, he said.

Just nine months later, an upstart underling34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traoredecided Damiba did not have what it takes to win the war and toppled him. Traore, now the youngest world leader, recently shored up his popularity by ordering a withdrawal of French forces fighting a long-running Islamist insurgency by groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State in Burkina Faso.

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When Damiba seized power last year, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) admitted that the United States had mentored him over many years. Damibas putsch was just the latest in a recent spate of coups in West Africa by U.S.-trained officers. But when Rolling Stone asked AFRICOM if Traore was the latest to follow in this tradition, they couldnt say. We are looking into this, said Africa Command spokesperson Kelly Cahalan, noting the command needed to research it. I will let you know when I have an answer.

Four months later, AFRICOM still hasnt provided an answer. In fact, the U.S. government appears unwilling to address its role in mentoring military officers who have sown chaos in the region; men who have repeatedly overthrown the governments the U.S. trains them to prop up.

For decades, U.S.-trained officers from Haitis Philippe Biamby and Romeo Vasquez of Honduras to Egypts Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan have overthrown U.S.-allied governments all over the world. Rarely, however, have so many coups been so concentrated in a region over such a short period of time.

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Last fall, after returning from a trip, alongside other top State Department and Pentagon officials to the Sahelian states of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, Ambassador Victoria Nuland was upbeat. We went to the region in force. We were looking, in particular, at how the U.S. strategy towards the Sahel is working. This is a strategy that we put in place about a year ago to try to bring more coherence to our efforts to support increased security, she said during an October conference call with reporters.

After Rolling Stone pointed out that U.S.-trained military officers had conducted seven coups in these same countriesBurkina Faso, three times; Mali, three times; and Mauritania, one timesince 2008, Nuland was less sanguine. Nick, that was a pretty loaded comment that you made, she replied. Some folks involved in these coups have received some U.S. training, but far from all of them.

The fact is the leaders of all of these coups have received significant U.S. training. Before Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba overthrew Burkina Fasos president last year, for example, he twice participated in an annual U.S. special operations training program known as the Flintlock exercise. He was also previously accepted into a State Department-funded Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance course; twice attended the U.S.-sponsored Military Intelligence Basic Officer Course-Africa; and twice participated in engagements with a U.S. Defense Department Civil Military Support Element.

In 2014, another U.S.-trained officer, Lt. Col. Isaac Zidaschooled via a Joint Special Operations University counterterrorism training course at Floridas MacDill Air Force Base and a military intelligence course that was financed by the U.S. governmentseized power, during popular protests against a presidential power-grab, in Burkina Faso. The next year, yet another coup in that country installed Gen. Gilbert Diendere, another prominent Flintlock attendee.

Col. Assimi Goita, worked with U.S. Special Operations forces for years, participating in both Flintlock exercises and a Joint Special Operations University seminar at MacDill Air Force Baseand also headed the junta that overthrew Malis government in 2020. After staging the coup, Goita stepped down and took the job of vice president in a transitional government charged with returning Mali to civilian rule. But less than a year later, he carried out his second coup.

Similarly, in 2012, Captain Amadou Sanogo, who learned English in Texas, received infantry-officer basic training in Georgia, and underwent military intelligence schooling in Arizona, and overthrew Malis democratically elected government. America is a great country with a fantastic army, he said after the coup. I tried to put all the things I learned there into practice here. In 2008, the Pentagon-funded Stars and Stripes reported that Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the leader of a coup against Mauritanias elected president, had also worked with U.S. forces.

Why did these officers who were trained by the United States to defend their governments topple them instead? If Nuland has any idea, she wont say. You need to talk to them about why they are overthrowing their governments, she told Rolling Stone, referring to the coup-makers.

The State Department isnt the only arm of the U.S. government with its head in the sand. U.S. Africa Command or AFRICOM, which provides most of the training to African officers, doesnt know how many coups its charges have conducted nor does it keep a list of how many times its happened. AFRICOM does not maintain a database with this information, Africa Command spokesperson Cahalan told Rolling Stone. AFRICOM does not actively track individuals whove received U.S. training after the training has been completed.

Moving forward, the United States should ensure military coups are never seen by its partners as a viable option. That should include keeping track of the military officers it trains in order to identify them in the event of a coup, said Sarah Harrison, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group and formerly associate general counsel at the Defense Departments Office of General Counsel, International Affairs, who noted that such information could be used to improve future trainings and to immediately suspend military assistance in the event of a coup. If the U.S. government is ignoring the fact that it trained putschists, that would reflect a broader problem of a lack of long-term strategic thinking for its counterterrorism policies.

While security training gives the United States access, which some argue results in influence, to foreign militaries, I have concerns that such efforts are not coupled with comparably strong diplomatic policies to address failing, corrupt, or predatory civilian governments that the militaries are intended to be subordinate to, Harrison told Rolling Stone. Of course, the United States does not want to be in the business of state-building, but when it gets so closely involved in the development of security forces, to ignore the contexts in which they are situated and whether such efforts will actually have lasting and positive change is futile.

Coups arent the only unintended consequences or blowback stemming from U.S. efforts to mentor foreign troops. Lauren Chadwick of the Center for Public Integrity found that, according to U.S. government documents, at least 17 foreign officers schooled via the U.S. International Military Education and Training program between 1985 and 2010 were implicated in criminal and human rights abuses. An open-source study by the non-profit Center for International Policy also identified 33 U.S.-trained foreign military officers who committed human rights abuses.

More recently, reports emerged that elite Afghan commandos, trained by Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets, were being recruited by the Russian military to fight in Ukraine. Former Afghan general Abdul Raof Arghandiwal told the Associated Press that the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary force, was coordinating the effort.

On our conference call, Nuland also inadvertently drew attention to the fact that while the United States had trained Malis Goita, his government had thrown in with the Russians making, as she put it, some very bad choices in inviting Wagner forces to be part of their security mix. She said the result of this involvement, which reportedly began in December 2021, has been violence and terror going up.

Nulands assessment, however, ignored the fact that security trends have been in a free fall for years, despite the U.S. pouring more than a billion dollars of security assistancein the form of equipment, training, and weaponsinto Mali and its neighbors in West Africa over the last two decades. As Rolling Stone reported in October, the Pentagons own Africa Center for Strategic Studies chronicled catastrophic security failures that predate significant Russian involvement in the region. The western Sahel has seen a quadrupling in the number of militant Islamist group events since 2019, reads a recent Pentagon report. This violence has expanded in intensity and geographic reach.

In fact, the Africa Center found violent events linked to militant Islamist groups in the Sahel jumped from 76 in 2016 to a projected 2,800 for 2022, a 3,600 percent increase. The spike in fatalities stemming from these attacks has been almost as extreme, rising from 223 to 7,052 over that same span. Despite this record of failure, Americas playbook for the region remains largely unaltered with the United States continuing to provide security assistancejust as it has for almost two decadesas terrorist violence escalated, deaths rose, insecurity increased, and coups proliferated. So what we wanted to do in the countries that were working well with is talk about how we strengthen our support, Nuland said. In Burkina, in Niger, and in Mauritania, we are working very closely with those militaries, with their gendarmerie, with their counterterrorist forces to support them in their effort to push back and protect their populations from this poison in Mali.

Analyst Sarah Harrison sees this stay-the-course policy as a recipe for further disaster. Throughout four presidential administrations, foreign policy officials have leaned heavily on these counterterrorism tools despite evidence that theyre not workingand in some cases, could be prolonging conflict or making the situation worse, she told Rolling Stone. In many unstable countries where the U.S. fixates on counterterrorism approaches, what the local population is really suffering from is a lack of resources.

Its cliche to talk about root causes in conflict prevention and mitigation, but thats what it comes down to. What people are in need of is strong economies, healthcare, education, infrastructure which depends on resources. More military training and transfers of weapons arent going to solve those problems.

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Jun Sato - Getty Images

Guardians of the Galaxy, Jumanji and Doctor Who star Karen Gillan has, for the first time, publicly posted about getting married last year.

The actress tied the knot with American comedian Nick Kocher nine months ago, in Scotland's Castle Toward.

Neither mentioned it on social media at the time, but now, Gillan has acknowledged her marriage in an Instagram post comprising three pictures: one of her in a large white gown, another showing a man playing bagpipes, and one of her Next Exit co-star and director, Katie Parker and Mali Elfman, as her bridesmaids.

"Last May," Gillan wrote in the caption, tagging wedding photographer Holly Clark.

Related: Dave Bautista recalls emotional final Guardians of the Galaxy scene

Clark posted another photo of Gillan on the morning of her wedding day. She captioned it: "Beautiful @karengillan on the morning of her wedding day.

"Details of Karen's Scottish celebrations will remain private however of course, Karen looked absolutely incredible and the speeches were some of the funniest we've ever heard!"

Wedding producer Sarah Haywood shared one of Gillan's photos to her own Instagram page and wrote in the caption: "What an adventure! The Scottish wedding of the gorgeous, insanely talented and fun @karengillan and her hilarious husband...



A huge shout out to the dream team who met every challenge with grace and enthusiasm - thank you for keeping the secret all this time team work really does make the dream work!"

Recently, the actress spoke about her excitement about her newest film, the comedy Late Bloomers, playing at the South by Southwest festival next month.

Related: Jumanji's Karen Gillan explains why the new movie hasn't happened yet

"I loved making this film so much," she said, adding her own synopsis of the plot: "An aimless 28-year-old Brooklynite lands in the hospital after drunkenly breaking her hip being stupid.



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An encounter with a cranky elderly Polish woman who speaks no English leads to a job caring for her. Neither likes it, but its time to grow up."

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Mondo Duplantis

Mondo Duplantis broke the mens pole vault world record for a sixth time by clearing 6.22 meters at an indoor meet in France on Saturday.

Duplantis, a 23-year-old, Louisiana-raised Swede, has now raised the world record from Frenchman Renaud Lavillenies 6.16 meters in 2014 to 6.22 meters (20 feet and nearly 5 inches), upping it by one centimeter at each of his six record-breaking meets.

He broke it Saturday on his third and final attempt at the height. Lavillenie watched it trackside, sprinted to Duplantis and was the first person to embrace him.

Ukrainian Sergey Bubka broke the outdoor world record 17 times and indoor world record 18 times in the 1980s and 90s, including by one centimeter on many occasions, taking advantage of bonus money each time he raised it. It has since been changed to one world record combining indoors and outdoors.

Last year, Duplantis raised his world record three times, swept the world indoor and outdoor and Diamond League titles and was named Male Athlete of the Year across the sport.

Its probably been by far the best year that Ive ever had, Duplantis said after his season.

The next significant milestone is 6.25 meters, or 20 feet, 6 inches.

Well so how high, but I want to push it higher than people think is even possible, he said last year.

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Gabby Douglas returns to gymnastics training, coach confirms Kaitlin Hawayek, Jean-Luc Baker to miss world figure skating championships Alpine skiing TV, live stream schedule for 2022-23 World Cup season

Mondo Duplantis breaks pole vault world record for sixth time originally appeared on NBCSports.com
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The 1992 Consensus and the policy of "one country, two systems" are two concepts, a Chinese mainland spokesperson said on Friday.

The policy of "one country, two systems" is an institutional arrangement following national reunification, said Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, in response to a question from the media concerning the two concepts.

"In designing the specifics for implementing the policy in Taiwan, we will give full consideration to the realities in Taiwan and the views and proposals from all walks of life on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and fully accommodate the interests and sentiments of our compatriots in Taiwan," Zhu said.

The 1992 Consensus, embodying the one-China principle, clearly defines the nature of cross-Strait relations and serves as the common political foundation for promoting the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait, she added. 
The Last of Us Season 1 - Episode 6

Liane Hentscher/HBO

While the post-apocalyptic realm of HBO's The Last of Us may not look particularly inviting, the real-life filming locations are among the most stunning destinations to visit in Canada. And don't worry  clickers and infected have yet to be seen!

In episode 6 of the hit show, which was inspired by the video game of the same name, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) continue their cross-country journey from Kansas City, Kansas, in hopes of finding Joel's brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) in Wyoming. The duo brace themselves to encounter all types of humans-turned-zombies as a result of a deadly fungal outbreak that destroyed society 20 years prior.

Along the way, the unlikely pair pass by incredible snow-covered mountains and turquoise rivers until they reach the fully functioning city of Jackson, Wyoming. But the filming locations aren't actually spread across the American heartland. The real sites can be visited in the province of Alberta, Canada. Read on for the exact locations.

RELATED: 'The Last of Us' Fans Point Out HBO Editing Error  and It's Not a Starbucks Cup

Canmore, Alberta

real-life filming locations in Alberta, Canada seen in episode 6 of The Last of Us

Travel Albera / Mike Seehagel

Canmore, a cozy mountain town in Alberta, cosplays as Jackson, Wyoming  the safe haven where Tommy has been peacefully living with his wife Maria (Rutina Wesley) for the last few years. When Joel and Ellie are brought to the quaint location by townspeople, the pair are immediately in awe of the working society that appears to be untouched by the pandemic. The fictional oasis even offers working electricity, a movie theater and a charming Christmas tree in the town's center.

In real life, Canmore is nestled in the Kananaskis Valley with surrounding views of the Rocky Mountains. It's an ideal wintry escape that offers hiking, shopping, and a Nordic spa experience to entertain visitors.

real-life filming locations in Alberta, Canada seen in episode 6 of The Last of Us

Liane Hentscher/HBO

Fans of the show can also visit the nearby Canmore Engine Bridge that was built in the 1880s and offers panoramic views of the Canadian Rockies. Viewers may recognize it from the scene where Joel and Ellie make their journey to Wyoming  or perhaps from the editing error that went viral on social media.

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RELATED: 'The Last of Us' Proposes a Pandemic Based on Fungal Infection  Could that Happen?

Heritage Park Historical Village

real-life filming locations in Alberta, Canada seen in episode 6 of The Last of Us

Heritage Park Historical Village

After Ellie and Joel enjoy a home-cooked meal for the first time in years, Tommy takes his brother to the town saloon to catch up. The two share a drink at the real-life Heritage Park Historical Village's hotel replica, Wainwright Hotel, in Calgary, Alberta.

At the quaint bar, the brothers confront the tension from Joel after he searched for Tommy for years, only to find out that he's been living a peaceful life with plenty of food and shelter. They also discuss the upcoming journey that Joel has to take in order to get Ellie safely to the Fireflies, a rebel militia group, in Colorado.

real-life filming locations in Alberta, Canada seen in episode 6 of The Last of Us

Liane Hentscher/HBO

In real life, Heritage Park, Canada's largest living history museum, boasts over 200 exhibits that explore the history of the country through unique attractions like the Wainwright Hotel. The replica also serves as a dinner reception venue that offers a dining room and authentic saloon as seen in the show.

RELATED: Pedro Pascal Admits He Forgot He Landed Lead Role in 'The Last of Us' After Taking Ambien to Sleep

Mount Royal University and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

real-life filming locations in Alberta, Canada seen in episode 6 of The Last of Us

Mount Royal University

The university setting that sets the scene for episode six's epic cliffhanger took place at Calgary's Mount Royal University and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, not the University of Eastern Colorado like it appears in the show.

During production, Calgary students watched their campuses transform into an abandoned site in dystopian America where the Firefly base is supposed to be located. Crew members even had to remove snow from campus grounds and add in sand and leaves to make it look more realistic.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters

One year after Russias shocking invasion of Ukraine turned into a bloody war, much of the world is rallying around Volodomyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people. But in some corners of Europewhere support matters mostpatience is waning. Continued support in Europe comes on the back of staggering fuel prices after cutting the umbilical cord with Russia, the continued threat of nuclear war, and an expensive influx of more than 8 million refugees since the war began.

Emily Channell-Justice, director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at Harvard University, told The Daily Beast that Polands unwavering support for Ukraine has inspired other countries to follow suit. She says the most notable European detractor has long been Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who has recently amped up his rhetoric, suggesting that only Hungary and the Vatican want peace over war.

The Vatican has vehemently urged an end to sending arms to Ukraine and has previously blamed NATO for barking at Putins door, essentially baiting him. The continued pro-Russian position of Victor Orban is troubling, if not surprising, Channell-Justice told The Daily Beast. For the moment, I dont see Orbans influence spreading, but it wouldnt surprise me if Russian actors are still trying to find nefarious ways to get pro-Russian leaders into positions of more influence in Europe. This is one of the reasons Putin is committed to prolonging the warI think he hopes that the longer the war goes on, the more European leaders and citizens will tire of supporting Ukraine.

Orban recently accused Germany of taking orders from the U.S. over its sudden decision to send heavy tanks rolling eastward across Ukrainian soil, towards the Russian border, and says doing so has been a crucial factor in the wars escalation to a pan-European level. And he continues to plead that the conflict is between two Slavic states not Europe, calling it their war, not ours, at a recent security summit in Munich.

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Russia Celebrates Ukraine Anniversary With Threat to Invade Another Country

But other fans of Russian president Vladimir Putin have also sparked new controversy. Silvio Berlusconi, whose bromance with Putin is well documented, drew criticism from European conservatives over comments against Zelensky, saying he would not meet the Ukraine leader who he viewed as very, very bad.

Those comments drew Zelenskys ire at a recent press conference in Kyiv with prime minister Giorgio Meloni, during which Zelensky criticized the three-time prime minister. Berlusconis house has never been bombed by missiles, never have tanks come to his backyard, no one has murdered his relatives, Zelensky said as Meloni grimaced as the translation reached her. He never had to pack his suitcase at 3 a.m. to escape or his wife had to look for food, and all thanks to the brotherly love of Russia.

Berlusconis comments led to the threatened cancellation of the European Peoples Party (EPP) planned meeting in Naples later this year, saying they could not attend if Berlusconi were there. Berlusconi contends, instead, that he represents a growing number of voices who question the viability of continuing to send weapons to Ukraine.

Writing in Foreign Policy, Vasyl Cherepanyn, the head of the Visual Culture Research Center in Kyiv, dissected the notion that the world is increasingly reluctantly behind Ukraine despite rhetoric against Russia. An uncomfortable truth about Russias genocidal war against Ukraine, so plainly obvious that its usually overlooked, is that it became possible not only because it was conceived and carried out by the aggressor but also because it was allowed by bystanders, he wrote.

The biggest blow to democracy on a global scale was not the war itself but the fact thatdespite all never again claimsEuropean and Western countries in general agreed and accepted beforehand that another European nation might be deprived of its sovereignty, freedom, and independent institutions, and it might find itself militarily occupied. He justified the comment by underscoring that had they not felt that way, they wouldnt have evacuated their embassies in Kyiv.

And French president Emanuele Macron raised eyebrows last week when he told a newspaper that the aim has to be to defeat Russia, not destroy it or remove Putin. I do not think, as some people do, that we must aim for a total defeat of Russia, attacking Russia on its own soil, he told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper. Those observers want to, above all else, crush Russia. That has never been the position of France, and it will never be our position.

Fiona Hill, a former U.S. National Security Council, specializing in Russian and European affairs, has also posed the question about how much the support is for Ukraine or simply against Russia. Were constantly, again, always thinking about provoking Vladimir Putin, crossing Vladimir Putin's red lines, she told the Associated Press. But what about ours?

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Best Actor Oscar nominee Paul Mescal recently chatted with Gold Derbys Christopher Rosen about his role in the A24 film Aftersun, in which he plays Calum, a vacationing father who tries to hide his depression from his young daughter Sophie (played by Frankie Corio). Mescal candidly discusses working with director Charlotte Wells and how hes grateful she encouraged so much creative freedom on set. Wells recently won the DGA Award for Best First-Time Director.

Whenever he was filming scenes with Corio, there was a special rhythm on set, Mescal tells us. I wasnt expecting to go to Turkey and become friends with an 11-year-old, the Irish actor laughs about his on-screen daughter. I think the reason that the chemistry translates is because it exists. In addition to his Oscar bid, Mescal also earned notices at the BAFTA Awards and Gold Derby Awards.

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Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.

SEEOscar predictions in all 23 categories

Christopher Rosen: Welcome back to Gold Derby. Im Christopher Rosen. Im so pleased to be joined by Paul Mescal, a Gotham Award nominee, an Independent Spirit Award nominee, for his performance in the new drama Aftersun, which is in theaters now and its a great, great film, Paul. I read an interview with you. You said you enjoyed doing the detective work of creating a character and here, obviously, youre starting with a character thats based, at least in part, on Charlotte Wells father and, so I guess, when youre creating a character, where do you start then in your conversations with Charlotte and how your own view of the character versus like her view of the character, I guess? (laughs)

Paul Mescal: Yeah, I mean, its like the Regardless of how personal it is to a director in terms of where its being drawn from, I think the, the process of kind of sniffing around the, the background and the kind of motivations or the kind of interrogating the behavior is pretty much the same, or so far, its been, um, the same. And I think with Aftersun the challenge is, I perceive the challenge to be that its  You gotta really trust the kind of, um, the fact that theres not a lot of clues. Theres enough and theyre substantial, but theres not, theres Youre never gonna be satiated by having enough information, which I think is actually the power of the film.

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But, yeah, so it was a matter of kind of going off a set of hunches early days in prep and then Charlotte was just so good at kind of letting me Like I would say that this is kind of what Im thinking in this ballpark and for the most part she was always like, Yep, thats, thats where I think that should be landing in. So there, there was a lot of, um, creative freedom sent my way from Charlotte which Im very grateful for, you know?

CR: Yeah. Was there one Uh, a lot of things there I wanna go back to (laughs) but was there one thing I guess when youre reading the script that stood out to you as something that you would latch onto to play, to play Calum and stuff?

PM: Uh, one of the moments that sticks out to me like straight off the bat is when he spits in the mirror cause I think thats one of the first kind of, um, moments when hes, I think, pretty emotionally brutal with himself and I was like, Whoa, that re- like I remember reading it and kind of being like And it, the character that I thought he was changed totally in that moment. Cause like I was trying to imagine what it would take to hear your daughter talk about a form of depression and to feel like you were giving that to her and for that to then generate a response where you look at yourself in the mirror and you spit at yourself.

CR: (laughs)

PM: I just, I was like, Whoa. The, the wheels have turned further than I thought. And this was on a first read, so I was like, This is all, um I, I just found it really meaty and interesting and kind of, uh, unexplained.

CR: Yeah. I mean, I think thats one of the great Like you said, its one of the great things about the movie is its very much a show dont tell, right? So its like your And that puts so much pressure, I think, on you and, and, uh, Frankie as well because you guys are just so Like youre not saying a lot but you have to convey so many, uh, emotions and different feelings and I guess for you as an a- Like, how do you do that, but I guess like (laughs) how much of that Its just like its so compelling and you really do convey so many things. Are you like I mean, did you guys Do you do a lot of rehearsals? Like how do you do this? But like especially in these scenes where like there is so much silence or things not being said? Like I dont How do you prepare for those kind of scenes?

PM: Like the, uh, there were, I, I feel like there was two distinct rhythms on set. There was the rhythm that was present when Cha- when, um, Frankie was filming and then there was the rhythm when Frankie wasnt filming, just because of the kind of, the boring part of like working with a child is that the hours are really restrictive so youre moving at a quick pace. Were not really rehearsing a lot but were, were obviously rehearsing cause of the, the script wasnt shared with Frankie off the bat so it was like we  There was a discussion around the story. So we would rehearse quite quickly and then shoot pretty quickly. Um, but then there was a a very distinct shift when, say, Calums by himself. We actually had a lot of time to film those things. And I loved that. I loved being able to kind of, um, juggle between those two rhythms which I think is, like feeds into what Calum was having to do on that holiday as well. Uh, uh, like w- when the filming process matches up with what the characters internal rhythm is, its like a, a little gift.

CR: Yeah. You have a great You mentioned like, you mentioned how its like so much of like you going through (laughs) like the things he, he, that Calum is, I guess, or you know, in that One of the, a, a scene I really loved, too, that I found like really compelling is like we dont see him actually conversing with a lot of adults. Its like service workers or whatever but theres the one scene where youre talking to, I guess its the scuba instructor, and it, its so like, man, that scene really just crushes. I found it so compelling cause that guy has got like a life that it feels like Calum knows hes never gonna have, and then also like has the realization hes never gonna have that life and I found it so sad, (laughs) really, watching and then just like your performance here is so beautiful. Can you talk about that scene? Because I was, I was just like, yeah, thats like the one time where you get to see him as an adult with another adult and I found that really interesting.

PM: Well I feel like the thing with Calum is like its when he comes up a- Youre, youre so right. You hit the nail on the head. Its like when he comes up against another adult who he feels, who he perceives to be stable, he doesnt recognize himself. Hes like, I dont, I cant see myself. Im surprised I got to 30. And he means that genuinely. Hes like, I dont U and it kinda ties into the point that I was making in the start. Its like I think one of the discoveries around scenes like that with him in general was that like theres an, theres a temptation to like diagnose Calum. Or there was a temptation for me to diagnose him at the start and then I was like, Actually, diagnosis isnt important because he isnt diagnosed. He doesnt know what the feeling is. All, like he doesnt know what the, what the, what the end point is but what he does know is that the feeling is putting him in a position of discomfort and insecurity.

So when hes around these, this, the scuba instructor, hes talking about his family and all of these things. Calum was aware that the performance is to be happy and, wow, youre d- But he doesnt, he cant relate. He cant get inside conversations sometimes and I think thats pretty I find that pretty upsetting.

CR: Yeah, I mean and like that kinda carries through the whole movie. Again, I dont wanna like (laughs), keep hammering like, Oh, man. Every one of these scenes is so great, but and I know you talked about it, but like towards the end, obviously, when Sophie goes up to do karaoke, that scene I was like, w- was really heartbreaking because she is so expecting him a- as her father to come up, right, and like be there for her and he doesnt. So you watch her heart break and the way I think Charlotte films this whole movie is incredible, but youre watching her like heart break in like real time and then we cut back to y- Calum and you and its like youre so upset because you know you cant give her what she needs, I guess, right, or what she wants, and I just found that, again, like really, (laughs) uh, really powerful and stuff and I guess, can you talk, like I guess can you talk about doing that (laughs) sequence as well, for a lack of a better question? (laughs) But I just found that really just an incredible scene and it just is like so, again, like so powerful in like the way you guys are underplaying it but getting so much across, I guess.

PM: Yeah, I think thats one of the scenes like performance-wise as a collective like between me and Frankie that Im probably most proud of because its one of the, its one of the moments of actual tension in the relationship. Like we had to perform is Like we were within a scene where Im expressing one thing and its, it elicits some form of conflict and I, just find, the pull for Calum in that scene is like, God I want to be able to stand up and sing this with my daughter but my body will not let me. I cannot do it. So when Frankie, or when Sophie comes to sit down, he goes into dad mode and hes like, Well, we can fix this. I can give you singing lessons, and she knows him and she sees him and she knows that thats

But, uh, she also knows how to hurt him in that moment. She knows how to go, I know the thing that youre insecure about is money so Im gonna highlight that. And that it like I dont know. Like I, I find that pain It reminds me of my own family. Its like m- money stress is that thing that like you can really cut people down if you, if you go down that avenue and so yeah, it was pretty A- and again, the scene was so fun to film because the scene is so rich but its like It, hits a Its just one of those days you, you, you go home from work and youre like, That was a good days work, I think.

CR: Yeah. You, you mentioned like doing like dad mode and stuff. Obviously youre, youre not, (laughs) youre not a dad and youre playing a young father. I know youre younger than Calum is here and I was like Im, I was surprised  I guess I dont know if I was surprised but I was like, Oh man. You really nailed (laughs) the relationship of a father and daughter, uh, really well, I thought. And I think it comes across, like and I mean this as a huge compliment, like  like almost not acting at times, right? It just feels like very natural that you are like very fatherly (laughs) to her and the performance is so good. Can you talk about how did you guys, how did you approach that? How do you approach, Frankie as like, as an acting partner and then also like knowing the scenes you kinda had to do and getting the feeling across of being a father while obviously, obviously not being her father? (laughs)

PM: Well, I think its like anything. Its a Or not like anything but its like any relationship, be it platonic, familial, romantic, the healthy ones are rooted in the same thing. Its like love. Its like, w- like it doesnt really matter to me whether Well, yeah. I dont know what it is to be that but I know what its like to love somebody. I know what its like to like feel like a territorial animal and want to give, deliver joy to another human being and be the provider of that. So that was kind of the way that I went down and then also it just r- (laughs) I lucked out with Frankie, man. It was just like I found a friend. I lit- like I, I, it sounds so cheesy but I was like, That was the thing that I wasnt expecting. I wasnt expecting to go to Turkey and become friends with an 11-year-old. I was expecting to go to Turkey and I was hoping that this 11-year-old would be able to hold her, her, up her side of the bargain and act and not only did she do that, she just did pulled that off with flying colors but the, but the, the, I think the reason that the chemistry translates is because it exists. Theres like- There was a chemistry there that gave me an access point that I maybe wasnt expecting and, and it kind of opened up my eyes to the fact like, Oh, all relationships are kind of the same. Youre looking for love from them.

CR: Mm-hmm.

PM: And that can be a father daughter relationship. It can be a couple. It can be a friendship. But theyre all, I think, thats my theory, is that theyre all rooted in the same thing.

CR: Yeah. I mean I also think like as the I am not As, as a father of daughter, not to do that like cliche thing (laughs) but as, as an actual dad I was like, Oh. You, what you said there is really true because its like you are friends with your kid, in a way, right? Like you a- you actually like hanging out with your (laughs) kid and its like you, they dont, thats something you dont really realize, (laughs) I dont think, until you have one so its like great. I think that also helps Like you could tell watching the movie that you are enjoying just being like with, uh, Frankie and Soph- You know what I mean? Like Calum enjoys being with Sophie.

PM: Yeah.

CR: And its like that comes across and thats like, I think, what helps it feel more realistic as well, in the end. I think thats really cool.

PM: Yeah, I think so.

CR: Yeah. So, um, I, I was, I wanna ask you a little about, more about working with Charlotte and stuff. Obviously like coming from such a, a personal place, I guess, when youre like I guess, how did you f- like how was that collaboration and then like how do you feel like the finished film like stands up to like what it was like filming it, I guess?

PM: I think its really hard to be articulate in a way that is like not just superlatives when I talk about Charlotte. Like she is I think its fair to say that like I think were looking at a filmmaker thats gonna be here for, for the longest time. Like for this to be her first feature is just kind of astounding. But I feel like I, I had the privilege of knowing that before the rest of the world did. I kind of, I was reminded of that when the film came out because there was no part of working with Charlotte on set that I was like, Oh, is this gonna be I felt like if it was gonna fall down it was gonna be on my shoulders or it was gonna be on Frankies shoulders or it was gonna be a, I hate you. Like but I never for a second had any doubt that Charlotte didnt know the film better than anybody else and didnt know how to achieve it better than anybody else. And, um, shes just a, shes an incredibly gentle and kind presence on set and I think that thats Or to me thats a key for me to produce good work  or work that Im proud of. I cant work in a kind of tense, pressurized environment as well. I can do it but its not as conducive to good work for me. And I think she just provides an atmosphere and a diligence and a kind of understanding of what actors do and knows how to put those things in place on a day to day basis.

CR: Yeah, I mean, and I think like its really, that the movie is like a testament to that (laughs) as well. I think you can see that just in the filming. You, I mean obviously you kinda like broke out with Normal People. I feel like youve racked up, in a very short amount of time, incredible performances that people are either, you know, a lot of praise for them and stuff. Do you, are you, do you Are you the type of actor who goes back and like watches themselves and are you picking up things? Or do you not Like how do you Like how are you evolving, do you feel, as a performer in like just these last two years?

PM: I think I do, especially with, well I (laughs) cant watch myself on stage but, I do think at the moment its important to look at my work back. Id, I think would quite like to get to the point where I dont feel the need to do that but like Im learning as Im going along. Like this is my first leading performance out in the world so I think its like of course I dont think Im at like, Im able to do an Adam Driver on it and not like watch my work back but, hopefully Ill get to that position but its, uh, I just think its useful. Its like you, your kind of expectations versus reality in terms of what you thought a days work looks like versus the finished product of it for the time being is, important.

CR: Yeah, and like I mentioned at the top here, you were nominated for, the Gotham Awards. Its on a Monday. Its tonight, so congratulations on that nomination. Youre obviously a Spirit Award nominee as well and like you said, this is like your first like lead performance in, in a film like this, of this caliber. I mean to get that kind of recognition for this, I would imagine it feels great, but like, or like, I guess, how does that feel like, basically, to get that kind of recognition so far? (laughs)

PM: Its a, its a huge honor. Its like this film was made into Like it was the kind of film that was so small that we didnt even need to announce it until it was going. Like it wasnt It is, I dont know. I, I take great pride in the fact that people still watch small films and have an appetite to go to the theater and Like theres, theres, there, there is room for films like this to exist and kind of have an impact on people and for that to And if nominations and all of those things help an audience come to those films, I take great pride in it. And I, I also think its like a huge honor for people to look and engage with your work and, and deem it, um, worthy of something. I dont know. I think that theres It obviously has its pitfalls. Like you can, you cant be reliant on that to, to elicit a pride in your own work but it helps. (laughs)

CR: Yeah, for sure. I mean this is I think one of the movies, too, from an awards perspective where Im like, People genuinely love it. Like you know what I mean? Like theyre genuinely responding to it. Its not like in like a tradition Like I would say like you know like an award, you Like the kind of movies you would be like an awards bait (laughs) movie. This is definitely not it and I think its like-

PM: This is not, (laughs) this is the like-

CR: People are like But its like the fact that it has gotten so much recognition in such a short amount of time so far is like I think a testament to the power of the film and the originality and the performances and stuff like that, yeah, for sure.

PM: Its really  for sure.

CR: Yeah, great chatting with you. Paul Mescal, who stars in Aftersun, in theaters now. Its a great job. Thank you so much, Paul.

PM: Thanks very much. See you later.

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EAST PALESTINE, Ohio  When environmental activist Erin Brockovich took the stage Friday to share what she's learned over 30 years of work on similar disaster relief scenarios, she seamlessly put into words what many residents have felt over the past three weeks.

"I can't tell you how many communities feel that that these moments are the biggest gaslight of their life," Brockovich told an audience of a few hundred at East Palestine High School.

Brockovich's appearance, which was requested by many East Palestine residents who emailed her, put a cap on a week in which multiple notable figures descended upon the small Ohio village that sits near the Pennsylvania border.

On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine, where he donated bottles of water and cleaning supplies to the community still reeling from a Norfolk Southern train derailment and controlled burn that sent thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the air. Then on Thursday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the village to meet with investigators, tamp down criticisms of the Biden administration and call on congress to help reinstate stronger regulation and heftier fines when railroads violate safety rules.

There was also a CNN Town Hall and a visit from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

As he addressed the crowd Friday night in an event billed as a town hall but was more of an informational session, Texas attorney Mikal Watts told East Palestine residents to block out the political noise and stay focused on the many serious health complications the community has yet to face and the litigation that's still to come.

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.

Watts presented for the majority of the evening a slideshow detailing to residents what happened, what precedent says and what they could face moving forward. As an attorney presenting at an event billed as a town hall, Watts was unable to answer questions due to state law decided by the Ohio Supreme Court. What he did detail is just how often derailments happen.

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"It is a shockingly dangerous phenomenon," Watts said.

Attendees listened quietly as Watts went over just how many derailments Norfolk Southern has been involved in alone. Using federal data, his firm, Watts Guerra LLP, found that the rail company behind East Palestine's derailment has reported 3,397 events that could be classified as a derailment over the past 20 years.

"This is happening about every three days," Watts said.

Ohio train derailment:What is Norfolk Southern's safety record?

More than 2,500 people attended a Justice for East Palestine event in the East Palestine High School auditorium Friday.

Brockovich, the famed environmental activist who led efforts to build a groundwater contamination case against a natural gas company 1993, has been involved in similar activism for 30 years. But this case, she says, is different.

Water quality:Ohio officials say East Palestine's water is safe. But where's the full data?

'You burned me:' Norfolk Southern CEO blasted by East Palestine residents in CNN town hall

NTSB report:Norfolk Southern alerted to overheated wheel bearing right before Ohio train derailment

"I've never seen in 30 years, a situation like this," she said, warning residents that what her team was going to present them may scare them. " ... I feel your angst and I feel your frustration. And I want to share something with you, you're not alone."

East Palestine residents fill the East Palestine High School auditorium as Erin Brockovich and others held a Justice for East Palestine event Friday.

Brockovich has whistleblower history

In 1993, Brockovich was a whistleblower against Pacific Gas and Electric Company after discovering a mysterious widespread illness in Hinkley, California. Her efforts exposed that Hinkley's water had been poisoned for 30 years by PG&E, leading to a $333 million settlement for residents affected.

The lawsuit led to an eponymous film starring Julia Roberts in 2000. Brockovich has spoken out about the pollution in East Palestine and the response from the government on many occasions since the Feb. 3 train derailment, urging transparency instead of rampant confusion regarding the risks the community faces.

When lights at the event inadvertently went out, one resident quipped that it was a perfect representation of how they have felt during the process.

"That's how we feel, in the dark," the woman shouted.

Pennsylvania impact: Even 100+ miles from the derailment, residents are asking: Should I be worried?

Erin Brockovich held a Justice for East Palestine event Friday.

Residents report symptoms after derailment

Since the derailment and controlled burn, many residents have reported a number of ailments and symptoms. The state of Ohio set up a makeshift clinic in East Palestine earlier this week in response to help facilitate some of the medical needs of residents. Watts advised them to get blood tests at a local center to make sure they weren't exposed to the dangerous chemicals released into the air.

Maps and graphics:The toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, explained

Lisa Fulton, who lives on Taggart Street right by the scene of the derailment, said she has felt some symptoms since the derailment occurred and wanted to find out more information about what her next steps should be.

"I saw the fire come right down the tracks," she said after the event. "I've had a sore throat and some tightness in my chest. And I've been wheezing because I have asthma."

LuAnn Krause, a nurse practitioner, is concerned about the effect the chemicals will have on children.

"Their bodies are forming, their blood cells are forming, their bone marrow is forming" she said. "And they're at risk for leukemia."

Watts said the group of attorneys and activists may plan similar events as early as next week to continue to inform the public.

Bob Bowcock, a water expert and hydrologist, warned the aftermath of the derailment won't go away any time soon.

"You're in a situation that you're going to be dealing with for the rest of your lives if you stay here," he said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Erin Brockovich gives advice to Ohio residents after train derailment
The "Rust" film set in the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting. Jae C. Hong/AP

"Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed can keep a gun at home for protection, Deadline reported.

Gutierrez-Reed's lawyer cited threats she received in the aftermath of the fatal "Rust" shooting.

Police charged her with felony involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 25, the armorer for "Rust," will be allowed to have a gun in her home, according to Deadline.

The outlet reported that the New Mexico judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled on Friday that one of Gutierrez-Reed's conditions of release allowed her a firearm for "self-defense" during a virtual hearing.

Friday marked the first hearing in the criminal case since the fatal October 2021 on-set shooting of "Rust" Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer for "Rust."

In January, police charged Gutierrez-Reed and "Rust" star Alec Baldwin were charged with felony involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death. While on set, Baldwin was handed a gun, which he fired, fatally wounding Hutchins and injuring Joel Souza, the project's director. Production paused days after the incident and is set to resume this spring, according to Deadline.

During the hearing, Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed's attorney, said that his client received an onslaught of threats and filed a restraining order against a stalker after the Santa Fe Sheriff's office released private information about her, Deadline reported.

Per Deadline, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies objected to the firearm request. According to the outlet, Carmack-Altwies cited "Hannah's sloppy mishandling of firearms" as a reason to deny her a gun, and suggested she use "pepper spray or a bat" to protect herself.

Investigators photographing the actor Alec Baldwin following the October 21, 2021, shooting on the "Rust" movie set. Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office

In addition to granting Gutierrez-Reed's request for a gun, Sommer ordered that she not have any contact with potential witnesses to the case, including former "Rust" crew members, Deadline reported.

According to CBS News, Bowles said his client will plead not guilty, but Sommer did not take the plea during Friday's virtual court hearing.

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Deadline reported that Baldwin waived his right to appear in court on Friday after pleading not guilty on Tuesday. Since Baldwin will continue filming "Rust" in March, the court ruled that he can communicate with crew members on the DA's witness list, according to Deadline.

Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed's initial charges came with an enhancement of a mandatory five years in prison, if found guilty. Their legal representation argued those charges were "unconstitutional" and the district attorney removed the enhancement on Monday.

On Wednesday, Insider reported that emails from early February showed a prosecutor admitting it was "100 percent" wrong to upgrade the charges against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed.

Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are now facing felony charges with the possibility of up to 18 months in jail and a maximum $5,000 fine if found guilty, Deadline reported.

Read the original article on Insider
Its always shocking to see a mother-daughter celebrity duo that look so much alike, a la Reese Witherspoon and Ava Phillippe, along with Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber. Another beloved lookalike duo is Salma Hayek and her daughter Valentina Pinault! But Valentinas new hair truly shook up their lookalike status.

Over the past few years, weve seen Hayek and her lookalike daughter Valentina looking oh-so-stylish on the red carpet, but their newest appearance truly shocked everyone. On Feb 24, Hayek, Valentina, and Valentinas half-sister Mathilde arrived in style at Guccis Milan Fashion Week show, but no one could take their eyes off of Valentinas new do!

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See the photos below:

Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Gucci

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Gucci

Just like her mama, Valentina has experimented with her hair before, sticking with darker colors and lightening up to more of a honey-brown color in the past. But this curly blonde look is a total 180, and no one quite expected it! While Hayek has gone blonde briefly on the red carpet in the late 2010s, they were wigs, but this hair looks 100 percent real and 120 percent fabulous!

Click here to read the full article.

For the event, Valentina rocked not only her new, unexpected do, but a business-chic look of a blue button-down and a leather blue pencil skirt, while her mama rocked a sparkling royal blue Gucci dress and Mathilde turning heads in a draped black look.

The Bliss star and her husband Francois-Henri Pinault announced they were expecting and engaged back in March 2007. They welcomed their daughter Valentina, 15, in Sept. of that year. Hayek is also the proud stepmother of Francois-Henris children from past relationships named Francois, 24, Mathilde, 22, and Augustin James, 16.

In a previous joint interview with Hayek for Vogue Mexico, Valentina revealed her love for experimenting with her look. I love makeup, I have a lot of it, but I dont do it to be very pretty or because I want to remove imperfections, she said. Sometimes I dont want to apply concealer because I think dark circles add something else. I like to wear makeup in lots of colors and, I dont know, I like to explore it.

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Before you go, click here to see Salma Hayeks best photos with daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault.



Valentina Paloma Pinault, Salma Hayek

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I am among the Michigan State University faculty with a classroom in Berkey Hall, a room mere feet from where the horrors occurred on Feb. 13, when a gunman killed three students and wounded five.

My class was not scheduled to take place until the next day. I live 5 miles away and was not aware of what had taken place on campus until early the next morning, after waking up to a barrage of text messages.

I am sure that many of us in East Lansing and surrounding communities count ourselves lucky. But for some, the grief and the stifling sense of loss  of the victims, of the injured, of our sense of safety, of our education, of our beautiful Berkey Hall  overwhelm any ability to count our blessings. Many of us are just too overwhelmed by grief for the work required of gratitude.

Since that night, many of us have cried daily, and sometimes inconsolably. Weve had nightmares. Since that terrible night, weve thought of little else. Despite our communitys best efforts, I do not feel as though the healing process has begun. I can say with certainty that many of my students feel the same. Many faculty and students are not OK.

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Our students have inherited a world of battlefields

There is no way to quantify the level of mourning taking place across our community. Students are mourning each other and their innocence and safety; faculty are mourning for students and also themselves.

I was privileged to have come up in a time when gun violence, while present in some respect, was not an issue that narrated my school life. I have never, as a student, participated in an active-shooter drill. I have never, as a student, rehearsed for my own death because of elected officials who work first and foremost for gun lobbyists.

'Mom, I hear gunshots': Michigan State students live through a second mass shooting

Michigan State is my alma mater: But the story of this shooting isn't about me. It's about us.

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I have never had to do battle with the world our students have inherited. There is guilt about this, but most of all, there is overwhelming grief. Grief for what our students are going through, and grief for not knowing how to guide them through. As a student, I did not have direct experience with a country and government that valued guns more than it valued my peers and me, more than it valued education and doing everything within its power to keep our schools safe, the way theyre supposed to be.

And because I do not have direct experience with this, I feel a crushing sense of guilt, but also incompetence.

Mourners attend a vigil at the Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 15, 2023.

And still, school has resumed. Faculty are inundated with emails from our institution, informing us of the steps to take (and not take) in our classrooms when we see our students again for the first time since this tragedy. Despite our university's best, most trauma-informed efforts, I feel wildly ill-equipped to teach in the wake of run, hide, fight.

And yet, I must. And my greatest wish for myself and my colleagues is that our students know we're doing the best we can with the tools we have.

Navigating the layers of grief

As we navigate the wake of this tragedy, there are  for all of us  reminders of what the week should have been. I have projects and assignments that I know Im not going to assign now  it all feels so meaningless in the context of what weve been through. And because I taught in Berkey, my students and I have been displaced to another classroom. I am both grateful for the relocation and grieve its meaning.

The fact is that, for many of us, our new classroom will do absolutely nothing for our sense of safety and security. I have heard from several students who cant imagine returning to school. I wonder whether there are students I wont see again  another layer of grief.

This has to stop: After MSU, I have to tell my son about another shooting on campus

I lost my son to gun violence: Congress must spare other parents my grief

The only thing I know for sure is that the students I do see again will be different people. I will be a different instructor, a different person. We grieve what we had as a class, and what was taken from us. We grieve what their college experience should have been. I grieve what our experience together should have been this semester. There is no handbook for how to navigate this. So, we grieve.

And as we grieve, faculty and students continue to receive email communications from officials at all levels, assuring and reassuring us that we are safe. That there is no longer a threat to our community.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

I understand and respect where these sentiments are coming from. But however well-intended these words may be, teachers and students in the United States know that theyre aspirational more than they are true. What happened to Michigan State University  as with all schools in this country  was a matter of when, not if. As a country, we are too far gone.

Want fewer shootings?: Pass tougher gun laws. Our research shows lax laws fuel violence.

Students whove spent their lives required by their schools and politicians to practice for their deaths inside of their classrooms know better than the rest of us do.

Less than two days after the shootings, I attended the MSU student protest at the state Capitol in Lansing. These young people are prepared to use their votes to do something about the world they inherited. They are organizing and voting like their lives depend on it  because they do.

The only other thing there is to say at this stage is that our politicians are on notice. The students of Michigan State University are making sure of that.

More than 1,000 students rally on Feb. 20, 2023, at the Capitol in Lansing, Mich., as dozens of students recount their stories from the night three students were killed and five others injured in a mass shooting at Michigan State University a week earlier.

As our community learned last week, there is no limit to the layers of grief that narrate a mass shooting. In addition to everything else, I never imagined that I might also mourn a brick-and-mortar building.

Our beautiful Berkey Hall has trended on Twitter since horror and terrorism charged through its doors that tragic Monday night of Feb. 13. People from across the country, professors and students alike, have been sharing their fondest memories of a building that, before this tragedy, did not have a national reputation. At almost 80 years old, Berkey stood as a pillar of teaching and learning for those pursuing the social sciences.

Now, it will be remembered as something else entirely. I mourn for our beloved Berkey Hall as I mourn for us.

Christina Berchini teaches in the College of Education at Michigan State University.

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 Detroit Free Press: How Michigan State students, faculty navigate grief after shooting
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Pixabay

There was a palpable buzz in the air at Teslas Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, this Valentines Daybut it had nothing to do with romance.

On Feb. 14, 25 autopilot department employees launched a union campaign months in the making by distributing Valentine-themed leaflets to their coworkers. Within hours, the media had picked up the story, and Tesla Workers United was making headlines across outlets.

It was electric, Tesla employee and organizing committee member Alex Whetham told The Daily Beast. It was a feeling I hadnt had at Tesla in some time.

What Happens to the Future of Electric Cars if Tesla Dies?

That electricity didnt last long, though. Over the next two days, tensions skyrocketed as Tesla fired an estimated 40 employeesout of nearly 800 at the plantwithout warning. Management walked through the factory, tapping employees on the shoulder and pulling them into private meetings before sending people with boxes to clear out their desks, organizers said at a Feb. 18 press conference.

Tesla insisted the firings were due to performance issues, but employees werent buying it.

The firings are messages that are obviously being sent, fearing for your job, your security. employee and organizing committee member Will Hance told The Daily Beast. There were a few rough days there.

Steven Greenhouse, a longtime labor writer and expert, called it clear retaliation.

If you were a company that did not want to appear anti-union, even if the firings were scheduled, you would never carry them out the day after a union is announced, he told The Daily Beast.

Tesla did not respond to The Daily Beasts request for comment. Notably, Tesla disbanded its media relations department in 2020.

The idea for Tesla Workers United was initially sparked by the companys response to a wave of severe winter weather that first hit Buffalo in late November, according to Hance, who said that Tesladespite having closed the factory due to hazardous snow conditionssaid employees must either take the day unpaid or use accrued paid time off to receive compensation. Hance said that a new policy surrounding factory closures and compensation is a central demand of the union.

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Employees have also expressed concerns about the way Tesla monitors worker productivity on a day-to-day basis. The company uses software to track employees keystrokes down to the second, which can be unreliable and cause unnecessary stress for workers, employee and organizer Keenan Lasch said at the press conference.

This seems to be one of the first instances where white collar workers in the U.S. are standing up and unionizing because theyre so frustrated with and anxious about this constant monitoring, Greenhouse said.

Yet, it appears that quite a lot stands between these workers demands and their ultimate fruition. Their biggest obstacle?

Elon Musk.

The key to unionizing at a company headed by one of the richest, most powerful, and staunchly anti-union CEOs in the world? Not giving him a second thought, apparently.

I dont really care that much about Mr. Musk, to be frank, Hance said.

Whetham agreed: While it is scary to go against Elon Musk, it is something that has barely even crossed my mind. Currently, our strategy is not one that has Musk at the front of our minds at all times.

Their main drive may not be to stick it to their CEO, but these organizers still face a formidable opponent. While the autopilot employees began their mission in November, this isnt Teslas first encounter with union efforts.

In October 2017, Tesla fired union activist Richard Ortiz after he distributed pamphlets at a Tesla office in Fremont, California. In 2021, the NLRB upheld a ruling that Ortiz had been illegally fired and required Tesla to reinstate him with back pay. The board also ordered Musk to delete a 2018 tweetwhy pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?labeling it unlawfully coercive. The NLRB then told Tesla to post a notice of employees right to organize at their locations across the U.S.

Last year, Musk challenged United Auto Workers to hold a vote at Tesla, arguing the company has no choice but to pay its workers well or risk losing them.

Id like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience, Musk tweeted. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.

Our real challenge is Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we dont treat and compensate our (awesome) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!



Id like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022

Employees under Musk have alleged retaliation for speaking up about workplace conditions even outside of union organizing efforts. In November 2022, employees at Musks SpaceX drafted a letter to the tech giant condemning his tweets regarding sexual assault allegations made against him in 2018. SpaceX fired nine employees soon after the letter circulated; eight then filed with the NLRB alleging their termination was retaliatory.

For Greenhouse, Musks history, combined with recent union trends, means these autopilot organizers have a tough challenge ahead of them. The unionization effort at Tesla will face the exact same problems as the ones at Starbucks, he said.

Starbucks employees have made a push to unionize 100 stores across the country in the last 18 months. With this came dozens of terminations, which workers allege was retaliation. As of this month, the NLRB has filed 24 complaints involving 50 former employees alleging Starbucks illegally fired them in retaliation for organizing activity.

Just last week, a Michigan federal judge placed an injunction on all Starbucks stores, banning them from firing any employees due to organizing efforts; however, on Thursday the judge issued a correction and limited that to just a single store in Michigan, where a worker claims she was fired in retaliation for union activity.

The Woman Who Plans to Make Elon Musk Pay for His Twitter Sins

Greenhouse also cited the fact that NLRB cannot issue fines beyond ordering backpay or other compensation as a concern for organizers.

That lack of penalties gives real incentives to companies like Starbucks or Tesla to fire people illegally when they unionize, Greenhouse said. That makes it very hard.

Yet, despite these odds, Tesla organizers arent backing down.

While they may face a fierce opponent, Tesla autopilot workers said they remain determined to gain autonomy in their workplace.

One key to this movement, Hance said, is organizing with Workers United. An affiliate of the SEIU, Workers United has about 86,000 members across multiple sectors, including food service, fitness, hospitality and non-profit. They gained particular notoriety last year as the parent union for Starbucks organizers.

Hance, who has been a part of the organizing committee since its inception, said Workers United was a clear decision for organizers.

The thing that drew us to Workers United was their very intensive focus on complete autonomy, Hance said. Its not like United Auto Workers or a huge, company-esque, multi-million employee union. Theyre a huge union, certainly. However, they break it up into local unions, meaning people who are in the union get to determine what everything looks like. You arent handed down anything, you create everything.

Whetham told The Daily Beast he didnt decide to join the organizing committee until Feb. 13.

When I found out it was Workers United that was going to help us come to fruition, that was one of the main reasons I so eagerly joined, Whetham said.

Jaz Brisack, an organizer with Workers United who worked closely on the Starbucks union campaign while employed as a barista with the company, said that the union emphasized worker autonomy at both Tesla and Starbucks.

They are both very worker-driven campaigns, emphasizing strong organizing committees and local autonomy, which I think is the secretor not-so-secretrequirement of organizing, Brisack told The Daily Beast.

Lizzie McKimmiea Tesla employee and organizing committee membersaid that while the fear of termination is very real, her love for the job and a desire to make it better meant the threat was worth it.

Im a single mother, I live by myself in an apartment. Im paycheck to paycheck, McKimmie said at the press conference. So the fear that at some point Im going to lose it over something that I cant really control, is scary. But I am willing to lose itI want whats best for everybody.

For Hance, the opportunity for greater autonomy at work is what makes the uphill battle well worth it.

It really is just about having control over our lives, he said. It feels really bad when you dont have that.

Tesla Workers United is now taking multiple courses of action. They are primarily calling on the company to sign the Fair Elections Principles; they then hope to work towards a union vote. Organizers are also awaiting word from the NLRB on a charge they filed Feb. 15 accusing Tesla of retaliatory firings.

The Union seeks injunctive relief under Section 10(j) of the Act to prevent irreparable destruction of employee rights resulting from Teslas unlawful conduct, the charge reads.

Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act allows for the NLRB to pursue temporary injunctions against employers while the case is still being litigated. Tesla Workers United is seeking for these employees to be reinstated with back pay.

Tesla Workers United has also expanded their membership beyond the autopilot department, having won over some factory floor workers as well, employee and organizer Al Celli said at the press conference.

As they continue to spread the word and wait for a potential vote, Brisack said the union feels pressure from the community will likely work in their favor.

It actually means its a very risky move for Tesla to respond the way theyre responding to our union campaign, Brisack said. They dont need additional public scrutiny and public criticism. They need to be reassuring people that theyre stable and that their customers arent going to stand for this.

Their whole corporate mission is sustainability and a just transition, Brisack added. You cant have those things without providing sustainability and justice for workers.

Tesla consumers may play a role in how Tesla responds, according to Greenhouse.

Many Tesla consumers see themselves as good liberals who buy electric cars to fight climate change, Greenhouse said. So these progressives are buying from a company they see as progressive, but its as anti-union as the most conservative companies in America.

Regardless, Tesla Workers United has a long fight ahead of thema fight, Brisack said, that they believe can be won with cooperation between workers.

I think were under no illusions about what were fighting for and what Tesla will do, but workers fighting together can overcome anything companies throw at people, Brisack said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A shortfin mako shark swimming.

The meat from several threatened shark species is being served as fish and chips at restaurants across southern Australia and could become a public health hazard, a new study finds.

Researchers from the University of Adelaide analyzed DNA samples from meat served at 100 fish and chip shops scattered across the region and found that 23% of the samples contained shark meat filets (often referred to as flake) from shark species listed as threatened by The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species , the entity that tracks population numbers on a global scale. Those shark species include the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) and the smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena), according to the study, which will be published in the June 2023 issue of the journal Food Control .

"We know that seafood fraud is omnipresent and a large issue," Ashleigh Sharrad , the study's lead author and a research assistant in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide, told Live Science in an email, "but I was always wondering what shark[s] are we actually eating?"

Of the meat samples analyzed, only 27% contained meat deemed legal for Australian fisheries to label as flake by the Australian Fish Names Standard , a resource that provides information on the more than 5,000 fish species inhabiting Australian waters. Those included flake from the gummy shark (Mustelus antarcticus) and the New Zealand rig (Mustelus lenticulatus), both of which are considered sustainable, according to a statement .

In total, researchers identified nine different shark species, according to the study.

Related: Sharks do actually sleep, and sometimes with their eyes open

Researchers also discovered that of the samples, "only one in ten retailers could correctly identify the type of fish being sold, while 20% of the filets were mislabeled and the remainder had ambiguous labeling," according to the statement.

Here's why that's a potential health issue: In many cases, shark meat can contain high levels of mercury and other toxins. "In sharks, there is evidence of larger individuals and species that are higher up [on] the food chain having accumulated levels of heavy metals and other toxins," Sharrad said. "Some research has found shark meat with toxic levels for human consumption, so when there [are] umbrella terms such as' flake,' consumers are unable to know if they are eating species that are potentially harmful to their health."

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She added, "Although endangered shark species have been found globally to be served to consumers, it was a surprise to find out that Australians are unknowingly eating iconic species, such as endangered hammerhead."

Sharrad and her team are hopeful that their research will be the first step in creating stricter guidelines within the fishing industry.

"Change needs to occur on many levels," Sharrad said. "We can't place blame on any stage of the process as mislabeling (intentionally or not) could have occurred at multiple stages. However, there is a clear misguidance at the fishing level  where endangered species are legally caught and sold. This research will hopefully aid the efforts to strengthen our seafood labeling laws to align with more stringent regulations."
The meeting of G20 leaders in India ended in disagreement over the Ukraine war after China and Russia refused to condemn the invasion.

India, which holds the G20 presidency, issued a chairs summary and outcome document instead of a joint communique. It was backed by delegates from 17 of the groups 20 members.

Meanwhile, Russia likely ignored the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine because it has failed to achieve any of its objectives, a US think tank has said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has remarked that Moscows inability to secure major territorial gains could have influenced its decision.

President Putin made a number of appearances throughout the week, notably delivering the State of the Nation address, but he was silent on the 24 February anniversary.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he plans to meet Xi Jinping to discuss Beijings proposed peace plan to end the war, though one senior adviser has dismissed these motives as betting on an aggressor.

Key Points

China refuses to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine during G20

CIA confirms China considering sending lethal aid to Russia

Russian diplomat accuses West of arm twisting others during UN vote

EU slaps sanctions on top Russia officials, banks, trade

Zelensky wants to meet Xi Jinping following Chinas peace plan

EU slaps sanctions on top Russia officials, banks, trade

04:40 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The European Union agreed yesterday to impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine targeting more officials and organisations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones, as well as restricting trade on products that could be used by the armed forces.

The EUs Swedish presidency said the sanctions are directed at military and political decision-makers, companies supporting or working within the Russian military industry, and commanders in the Wagner Group. Transactions with some of Russias largest banks are also prohibited.

Story continues

Read the full story here:

EU slaps sanctions on top Russia officials, banks, trade

It will take decades to identify Ukraine war victims, authorities predict

04:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

It could take decades to identify Ukraines war dead, a leading forensics body has predicted.

As the war reached its one-year anniversary, The Independent revealed that at least 100,000 civilians are believed to have been killed in Russias brutal assault  more than 10 times the current official death toll, according to the countrys leading war crimes prosecutor.

Forensic anthropologist Photis Andronicou of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said identifying victims in the horrific war could take decades without significant help from the Ukrainian authorities and the international community.

From other contexts that I have worked on  and experience  I would say this process in Ukraine will take years, many years, Mr Andronicou told The Independent.

Thomas Kingsley reports:

It will take decades to identify Ukraine war victims, authorities predict

Peace in Ukraine will depend on one crucial thing

04:15 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The real gain in foreign commercial opportunities will be through investment in a revitalised nation, where reconstruction has delivered a broad-based and unifying peace dividend that will resolve many of the countrys pre-war challenges, writes Fergus Drake

Peace in Ukraine will depend on one crucial thing | Fergus Drake

CIA confirms China considering sending lethal aid to Russia

04:07 , Maroosha Muzaffar

CIA director Bill Burns has confirmed that China is considering sending lethal aid to Russia.

In an interview with CBS News, Mr Burns said: Were confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment.

He, however, emphasised that China has not yet made the decision to transfer lethal aid to Russia.

We also dont see that a final decision has been made yet, and we dont see evidence of actual shipments of lethal equipment.

He continued: And thats why, I think, Secretary [Anthony] Blinken and the president have thought it important to make very clear what the consequences of that would be as well.

Mr Burns said that sending this type of aid to Russia would be a very risky and unwise bet for Xi Jinping.

Russian diplomat accuses West of arm twisting others during UN vote

03:40 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Russias senior diplomat to the United Nations has accused the West of cowboy methods and arm twisting of some countries during last weeks United Nations General Assembly vote that demanded Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

The methods of achieving the result are again cowboy," Dmitry Polyansky, Russias deputy UN ambassador, said on the Telegram messaging platform.

He added that a number of representatives from developing countries complained to the Russian mission about pressure from their Western colleagues who are allies of Kyiv.

According to our calculations, almost 30 pairs of arms were twisted, Mr Polyansky said.

There were 141 votes in favour and 32 abstentions. Six countries joined Russia to vote no  Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua and Syria. Russias close ally China abstained on the UN vote.

Mr Polyansky dismissed the action at the United Nations as useless.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on Twitter: This resolution is a powerful signal of unflagging global support for Ukraine.

China refuses to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine during G20

03:34 , Maroosha Muzaffar

China has refused to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine just days after Beijing revealed a peace plan to end the war.

Finance ministers of the G20 countries failed to agree on a closing statement following a summit in India after China refused to condemn the war.

China reportedly declined to accept parts of the statement that deplored Russias invasion in the strongest terms.

Meanwhile, Moscow said that anti-Russian Western countries had destabilised the G20.

Russia's Prigozhin, Ukraine give varying accounts on fighting near Bakhmut

03:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said forces of his Wagner group had captured the village of Yahidne, just north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.

But Ukrainian military reports issued a day after the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine, suggested that villages near the key town remained under Kyivs control.

Reuters could not independently confirm Prigozhins claim, in a short audio message, or the report by the Ukrainian militarys general staff.

At 1900 on 25th February, storm units of the Wagner private military company secured complete control of the locality of Yagodnoye (Yahidne) to the north of Bakhmut, Prigozhin said in the audio clip.

A day earlier, he said Wagner had taken control of Berkhivka, an adjacent village on the outskirts of Bakhmut.

The months-long struggle for Bakhmut, where only about 5,000 of 70,000 residents remain, has seen some of the bloodiest attritional fighting of Russias invasion.

Wagner units have suffered heavy losses, prompting Prigozhin to complain bitterly that the Russian defence establishment has failed to properly acknowledge their contribution.

This week he even accused the army top brass of treason for failing to supply his men with sufficient ammunition, though he later said the situation had been remedied.

The prolonged siege has prompted Ukrainian analysts to consider openly whether its troops should consider abandoning their defence of the city.

On Thursday, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov acknowledged in a YouTube presentation that Berkhivka had come under Russian control.

The latest general staff report said Russian forces had made unsuccessful advances on villages around Bakhmut, including Berkhivka.

There was no mention in the report of Yahidne. But it said 18 localities in the area had been shelled by Russian forces, including villages on Bakhmuts southern and western approaches.

How Putin can cling on even if Russia loses the war in Ukraine

03:19 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The Russian presidents grasp is loosening both on the battlefield and at home, writes Mark Galeoti. But is it really the end of the road?

How Putin can cling on even if Russia loses the Ukraine war

Ukraine 'Art Weapon' show draws crowds in Berlin

02:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In a converted former mint in Berlin on Saturday, crowds danced in a blaze of strobe light as a rapper hollered Ukrainian lyrics to punchy beats.

In other parts of the complex, revellers looked at painted bullet-proof vests hanging from the ceiling and queued for plates of Ukrainian dumplings and borsch served by women with blue and yellow ribbons weaved into their hair.

The Art Weapon event - which opened at Berlins sprawling Alte Muenze complex on Saturday - also featured live painting by Ukrainian artists, Ukrainian-language theatre and the chance to sit for a Ukrainian tattoo artist.

Running non-stop till Sunday morning, the marathon event sold more than 1,000 tickets two hours after opening, its organisers said. Its aim - to show that Ukrainian contemporary culture has been flourishing since the start of the war.

The war boosted our artists and they are now super-passionate about what they are doing and understand their mission, said Harry Pledov, the Kyiv-based organiser.

Pledov organised several festivals in Ukraine before the war and has held two such events in the country since Russia launched what it calls its special military operation. But curfews and blackouts in Ukraine made it increasingly difficult to continue.

He decided to apply for funding through a German organisation supporting cultural initiatives, allowing him to organise Art Weapon in Berlin.

In one room at the Alte Muenze, artist Vitalii Shupliak explained the meaning behind a work comprising two prints showing buttered bread with nails poking through the surface. The images are mounted on separate stacks of cages.

Reading Famine comes with the sole of a Russian soldier, the work represents both the impoverishment of Ukraine and the detached soles of Soviet-era military boots, Shupliak said.

The invasion has definitely changed art in Ukraine, he added. It has forced us to reflect on our identities.

Opinion: Peace in Ukraine will depend on one crucial thing

01:20 , Holly Bancroft

The real gain in foreign commercial opportunities will be through investment in a revitalised nation, where reconstruction has delivered a broad-based and unifying peace dividend that will resolve many of the countrys pre-war challenges, writes Fergus Drake

All wars end in negotiations, as Indias former president Jahrwal Nehru once said. But a large part of those negotiations, in modern war at least, lies in securing a pathway to reconstruction and recovery.

Read more here:

Peace in Ukraine will depend on one crucial thing | Fergus Drake

How Putin can cling on even if Russia loses the war in Ukraine

00:25 , Holly Bancroft

It is impossible yet to know for sure when and how the war in Ukraine will end, but it is clear that Vladimir Putin will not achieve either his original grandiose goal of installing a puppet regime in Kyiv, nor his fallback of conquering all the regions of south-eastern Ukraine.

Even retaining the territories he was occupying before the February 2022 invasion looks like a difficult, if not wholly impossible task.

Although his myth is irretrievably tarnished and his system of control is in decay, Mr Putin could conceivably survive defeat, and the trajectory of a post-Putin Russia is equally uncertain. Three main variables will be crucial: the fate of Crimea (which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014), the speed of that victory, and Western policies.

Read more on How Putin could cling on to power here:

How Putin can cling on even if Russia loses the Ukraine war

Why Russias aggressive revisionism in Ukraine is a global threat

Saturday 25 February 2023 23:45 , Eleanor Noyce

24 February 2022 will forever be recalled as the day when Russia started its brutal, unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine.

This was  and remains  a case of pure aggression and a clear-cut breach of the UN Charter. This war is neither, just a European issue; nor is it about, the West versus the rest. It is about the kind of world we all want to live in: no one is safe in a world where the illegal use of force  by a nuclear power and permanent member of the Security Council  would somehow be normalised.

That is why international law must be enforced everywhere to protect everyone from power politics, blackmail and military attack.

One year on, there is a risk that people become inured to the images of war crimes and atrocities that they see  because there are so many; that the words we use start to lose their significance  because we have to repeat them so often; that we get tired and weaken our resolve  because time is passing and the task at hand is hard.

This we cannot do. Because every day, Russia keeps violating the UN charter, creating a dangerous precedent for the whole world with its imperialist policy. Every day, Russia keeps killing innocent Ukrainian women, men and children, raining down its missiles on cities and civilian infrastructure. Every day, Russia keeps spreading lies and fabrications.

Josep Borrell writes:

Why Russias aggressive revisionism in Ukraine is a global threat | Josep Borrell

Refugees, mass graves and liberation: A year on the ground in Ukraine  in pictures from The Independents Bel Trew

Saturday 25 February 2023 23:15 , Eleanor Noyce

At dawn on 24 February 2022 Russia shook the world by invading Ukraine, launching the bloodiest war in Europe in generations.

International Correspondent for The Independent, Bel Trew crossed the land border from Poland and began documenting the destruction, as millions of desperate Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes. She has spent a year photographing the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians across the country.

Twelve months on, as Russia has only ratchet up its attacks in the east and the south, there is little hope of peace.

Read more:

A year on the ground in Ukraine  in photographs by The Independents Bel Trew

Voices: Ive spent 20 years covering conflict, from Iraq to Syria  but nothing prepared me for the horrors of Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 22:15 , Eleanor Noyce

These are human beings, they have thrown them away like bags of rubbish, whispered Iryna Bondarenka at a mass grave behind St Andrews church in Bucha as she searched for the body of her missing brother. The corpses had been flung into a shallow pit in black plastic sacks. Some had split, limbs had broken free; one palm rose from the soil as if cupped in supplication.

Nicolai Bondarenko had been taken away by Russian troops after the town was captured. His body  fingers broken, ribs smashed, with a bullet hole in the back of the head  was eventually found in the basement of a burned-out house along with two others. This was just one episode in a systematic process of violent human rights abuse by Russian forces in occupied areas.

Torture, rape, murder and abductions of civilians, the echoing sadness of the families left behind, is the familiar sorrow and pity of war: scenes that those of us who have covered conflict have witnessed in many places around the world.

In the course of reporting war we have experienced targeted violence  like in Iraq, where our hotel in Baghdad was blown up by suicide bombers, killing more than 40 people. Fellow journalists, friends like James Foley and Steven Sotloff, have been kidnapped and murdered by Isis in Syria.

But even in this world of risk and strife, Ukraine feels different from other wars. What has been unfolding here for the past year is of seismic significance  a chapter in shaping modern history, akin to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. The norms of geopolitics, as we know them, have shifted fundamentally.

Kim Sengupta reports:

Ive spent 20 years covering war  but nothing prepared me for Ukraine | Kim Sengupta

Where are the African students who fled Ukraine one year on?

Saturday 25 February 2023 21:45 , Eleanor Noyce

When war broke out in Ukraine, African students trying to flee the country reported being blocked at the border.

Following outcry from the community, the UN acknowledged that Black people faced racism at Ukraines borders.

The Independents Nadine White spoke with Korrine Sky, 27, who says she was forced to abandon her dream of becoming a doctor after what happened to her.

Its very, very hard. And I empathize with a lot of my colleagues who have resulted in taking their own lives. I experienced an identity crisis, Korrine told The Independent.

Watch:

Where are the African students who fled Ukraine one year on?

Vladimir Putin: What is driving Russian leaders relentless assault on Ukraine?

Saturday 25 February 2023 21:15 , Eleanor Noyce

In the year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin. has been the figurehead of what he initially termed a special military operation. Russias president might have prepared the political ground with a show of collective responsibility  few will forget how he solicited the support of key ministers live on TV just hours before ordering the invasion  but he has fronted the invasion ever since, often alone, and it is he who will answer to history.

From the start, Russias military action tended to be seen as an old-fashioned war launched by an old-fashioned autocrat. As such, it was as surprising as it was shocking to all those who believed such wars to be over, at least in Europe. The scenes that have dominated our television screens ever since have been tragically reminiscent of black-and-white newsreel showing battles for the very same cities during the Second World War.

But the supposedly old-fashioned autocrat who gave the orders for this war is a more complicated figure than many think.

Read more:

What is driving Putins relentless war on Ukraine?

The before and after images that show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 20:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukraine is paying tribute to fallen loved ones as we reach the anniversary of Russias invasion  but President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed his country will fight on to victory.

Russia, having originally predicted what it calls a special military operation would be finished in a matter of weeks, is now locked in a battle of attrition with Kyivs forces, with fighting concentrated in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Mr Zelensky has said of the start of the invasion: [It was] the longest day of our lives. The most difficult day in our recent history. We woke up early and havent slept since.

These before and after pictures show the devastation on cities that have been shelled and bombed as part of the Russian offensive.

Read more:

The before and after images that show the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

How to donate to Ukraine as 18 million estimated to be affected by war

Saturday 25 February 2023 20:15 , Eleanor Noyce

It has been one year since Russia declared war on Ukraine.

Ever since the conflict, many people from around the world have donated millions of pounds to help families, individuals, and organisations impacted by the conflict.

One year later, Ukraine continues to recover from the damages caused by the war so far.

In order to offer financial support, however big or small, here are some of the ways one can donate to appeals benefiting Ukraine right now

Read more:

How to donate to Ukraine one year on

How Russias invasion of Ukraine spread global economic turmoil

Saturday 25 February 2023 19:45 , Eleanor Noyce

To understand the pervasive and deeply damaging impact of the war in Ukraine it is only necessary to glance at headlines here in Britain, far away from the shelling. Tomato rationing at your local Tesco, for example. The reasons for shortage are many and complex but one thats agreed on is that supplies from growers in Britain and the Netherlands are lower than usual because farmers cant afford to run energy-intensive greenhouses; in turn, thats because of sanctions on Russian oil exports imposed by the West and a deliberate policy by the Kremlin of restricting energy supplies to Europe.

Much the same goes for the loss of 300 jobs at the British steelworks in Scunthorpe, with possibly many thousands to follow. Steel takes a lot of energy to make, and the Chinese firm that owns the company says parts of the plant are no longer economical because of the high cost of energy. Or take the food bank in Flintshire that has reported a doubling of demand over the past year caused by the cost of living crisis and high inflation.

The war in Ukraine is again to blame  at least in part. Energy is an input into everything we consume or use, from a takeaway Dominos pizza baked in a hot oven and delivered via a petrol-powered moped to a new-build home made of energy-intensive brick. If you wanted to find a way of wrecking the global economy by squeezing every home and business on the planet, a war that reduces energy and food supplies would be the tool of choice.

Ukraine  a year of war: Financial struggles between Moscow and the West will be just as drawn-out as the battles in Ukraine, argues Sean OGrady:

How Russias invasion of Ukraine spread global economic turmoil

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

Saturday 25 February 2023 19:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Russias special military operation in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russias neighbour needed to be demilitarised and de-Nazified, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putins warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Battle tanks from the US, Britain and Germany are now being supplied for the first time and Mr Zelensky toured London, Paris and Brussels in early February 2023 to request fighter jets be sent as well in order to counter the Russian aerial threat, a step the allies appear to have reservations about making, although Joe Biden has since visited Kyiv in a gesture of solidarity.

Much of the fighting has been concentrated around the key eastern city of Bakhmut of late, with bombardments and heavy artillery fire taking place as Russian forces ramp up a major new offensive with the one-year anniversary of the war looming.

Read more:

Heres why Putin really invaded Ukraine

'Hard to process: Ukrainian teen returns to home frozen in time with phone still on charge and beds unmade

Saturday 25 February 2023 18:45 , Eleanor Noyce

A woman has shared the shocking reality of her home in Ukraine after returning one year after the war started.

Anna Malygon, 19, from Kharkiv, left home 18 months ago to study abroad  but had no idea that she would be unable to return.

After setting eyes on it earlier this month on a trip back, she was stunned to find it still standing.

It was heartbreaking, Anna told NeedToKnow.online.

My apartment was dirty, cold and really smelly. There was mould everywhere and food in the fridge which had expired one year ago.

Nuts and cereals were filled with worms. The water was rusty. There was unfinished coffee and a pastry that my mum didnt finish because the war started.

Read the full story:

Ukrainian teen returns to home frozen in time with phone still on charge

Pete Doherty sings Dirty Old Town in Ukrainian in rare TV appearance

Saturday 25 February 2023 18:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Pete Doherty made a rare TV appearance on Channel 4 comedy talk show The Last Leg on Friday night (24 February).

The Libertines frontman, 43, performed The Pogues 1985 classic Dirty Old Town, changing the one of the lyrics to brudne stare misto, which is Ukrainian for dirty old town.

At the end of the song, he smiled and shouted slava Ukraini!, meaning glory to Ukraine.

Friday was the one-year anniversary of Putins invasion of Ukraine. The number of Ukrainian civilians killed in the war with Russia could be as high as 100,000, with both sides suffering tens of thousands of military casualties.

Millions of Ukrainians have either been displaced or left homeless 12 months on since Russian tanks rolled across the border.

Ellie Harrison reports:

Pete Doherty sings Dirty Old Town in Ukrainian in rare TV appearance

The weapons the world is sending to Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 17:45 , Eleanor Noyce

On the first anniversary of Russias invasion, Nato members have pledged further support to Ukraines defence effort.

Ben Wallace has said more tanks could be sent from Britain to aid Kyiv forces, with the defence secretary expressing concern that the Kremlins meat grinder army could still be battling in another year.

He said on Thursday that he was open to sending more British tanks and suggested Ukraine was likely to receive fighter jets from Nato member countries.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on western allies for help in defending its borders against Russian insurgencies.

And while his request for fighter jets has not been honoured, here is what has been promised to help Ukraines effort so far.

William Mata reports:

The weapons the world is sending to Ukraine

G-20 meeting in India ends without consensus on Ukraine war

Saturday 25 February 2023 17:15 , Eleanor Noyce

A meeting of finance chiefs of the Group of 20 leading economies ended on Saturday without a consensus, with Russia and China objecting to the description of the war in Ukraine in a final document.

The meeting hosted by India issued the G-20 Chairs summary and an outcome document stating that there was no agreement on the wording of the war in Ukraine. The first day of the meeting took place on the anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The Group of Seven major industrial nations announced new sanctions against Russia on Friday, just as the talks of the G-20 group wrapped up in confusion in the Indian technology hub of Bengaluru.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen condemned the illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine at a session attended by Russian officials and reiterated calls for G-20 nations to do more to support Ukraine and hinder Moscows war effort.

At the last major G-20 meeting, in Bali, Indonesia, in November, leaders had strongly condemned the war, warning that the conflict was intensifying fragilities in the worlds economy. The group includes Russia and also countries like China and India that have significant trade with Moscow.

Read the full report:

G-20 meeting in India ends without consensus on Ukraine war

Refugees, mass graves and liberation: A year on the ground in Ukraine  in pictures from The Independents Bel Trew

Saturday 25 February 2023 16:45 , Eleanor Noyce

At dawn on 24 February 2022 Russia shook the world by invading Ukraine, launching the bloodiest war in Europe in generations.

International Correspondent for The Independent, Bel Trew crossed the land border from Poland and began documenting the destruction, as millions of desperate Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes. She has spent a year photographing the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians across the country.

Twelve months on, as Russia has only ratchet up its attacks in the east and the south, there is little hope of peace.

Across multiple trips since the start of Russias invasion, Bel Trew has been charting the devastating impact of the war on people all over Ukraine:

A year on the ground in Ukraine  in photographs by The Independents Bel Trew

Ukraine: Zelenskyy seeks more sanctions, fighting grinds on

Saturday 25 February 2023 16:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Fighting is grinding on in Ukraine after the country marked the anniversary of Russias invasion, with Ukrainian authorities on Saturday reporting dozens of new Russian strikes and attacks on cities in the east and south.

After a somber and defiant day of commemorations on Friday and a marathon news conference, Ukraines seemingly indefatigable president followed up with new video posts a day later in which he declared that Russia must lose in Ukraine and argued that its forces can be defeated this year.

In a separate tweet, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also pushed for more sanctions pressure on Russia after the U.K., U.S. and the European Union all announced new measures aimed at further choking off funding and support for Moscow.

The pressure on Russian aggressor must increase, Zelenskyy tweeted in English.

He said that Ukraine wants to see decisive steps against Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, and the Russian nuclear industry as well as more pressure on military and banking.

John Leicester reports:

Ukraine: Zelenskyy seeks more sanctions, fighting grinds on

How Britain  and Boris  led the way in global fight against Putin

Saturday 25 February 2023 15:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Rishi Sunak told the cabinet on Tuesday he was struck by the number of people at last weekends Munich security conference who noted that UK leadership had played an important part in the global response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

For once, it wasnt just spin. Ive talked to some of the participants in Munich. They confirmed the plaudits for the UK, and said the prime minister made a good impression, describing him variously as serious, smart and trustworthy.

Not everything went according to plan for Sunak. He spoke to a half-empty hall because, after she introduced him, the US vice president, Kamala Harris, departed  in her 35-car motorcade. Security staff closed the hotel entrance, so people couldnt get in to hear the PM. (There was much grumbling in the margins about the intense US security, which saw even a furious Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, caught in a 20-minute holding operation on his home soil).

Andrew Grice reports:

How Britain  and Boris  led the way in global fight against Putin

Football Arsenal make Oleksandr Zinchenko captain to mark Ukraine conflict

Saturday 25 February 2023 15:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Arsenal made Oleksandr Zinchenko for their game at Leicester as a gesture of love and respect to Ukraine to mark the first anniversary of Russias invasion.

Martin Odegaard, the usual captain, suggested left-back Zinchenko should instead lead the Gunners at the King Power Stadium and manager Mikel Arteta agreed.

Zinchenko, a former Shakhtar Donetsk player, has won 52 caps for his country.

Arsenal said in a statement: Zinchenko is our captain today, as a mark of respect and love on the first anniversary of the conflict in Ukraine.

Last season, Zinchenko captained his former club Manchester City in their FA Cup win over Peterborough when regular skipper Fernandinho decided to hand the armband to the Ukrainian after the invasion of his country.

Read more:

Arsenal make Oleksandr Zinchenko captain to mark Ukraine conflict

Ukraine protesters clash in London over supply of weapons

Saturday 25 February 2023 15:18 , Eleanor Noyce

Pro-Ukraine counter-protesters led by campaigner Peter Tatchell have clashed in central London with activists demanding Britain stops supplying weapons to the country.

Mr Tatchell shouted Chamberlain - a reference to prime minister Neville Chamberlains policy of appeasing Adolf Hitlers Nazi regime - in reply to protesters who angrily accused him of being an American stooge.

He was one of a group of 30 who interrupted a rally by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Stop the War coalition outside the BBCs Broadcasting House.

His fellow protesters chanted arm, arm, arm Ukraine, put an end to (Russian President Vladimir) Putins reign and self-defence is no offence.

Mr Tatchell told the PA news agency: Were here to protest Stop the War over its opposition to Ukraine. Their stance would leave Ukraine defenceless and result in Russia occupying and annexing all of Ukraine.

Russia is a fascist, imperialist state, and all progressive people should oppose the Putin regime and Russias war of aggression.

We should arm Ukraine in the same way that we armed anti-Nazi resistance during the Second World War. This is a war between Ukrainian democracy and Russian fascism.

His group held a banner reading Victory to Ukraine, arm Ukraine to defeat Russian imperialism.

Ukraine war in numbers: Shocking figures that define year of brutal conflict

Saturday 25 February 2023 15:15 , Eleanor Noyce

It is exactly a year to the day since Russian fighter jets first struck Kyiv and a huge battery of Moscows tanks rolled across the border of Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin began his shock assault on Russias sovereign neighbour.

Twelve months on, and it has long been clear that the lightning strike expected by Mr Putin to see his troops seize Kyiv in just 10 days has instead turned into a grinding war of attrition  on a scale not seen in Europe for decades.

With the conflict  currently centred in the Donbas region  showing no signs of slowing as both sides plan renewed counteroffensives, The Independent has taken a look at some key numbers illustrating the brutal impact of Russias invasion.

Read more:

Ukraine war in numbers: Shocking figures that define year of brutal conflict

Russia's ambassador to United Nations interrupts minute's silence for Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 14:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Russias ambassador to the United Nations has interrupted a minutes silence held for Ukraine.

Watch:

American actor and model Milla Jovovich joins with Ukrainian designer for charity auction on war anniversary

Saturday 25 February 2023 14:15 , Eleanor Noyce

American actor and model Milla Jovovich has collaborated with a Ukrainian designer on a charity auction following the first anniversary of the war.

Watch:

Vladimir Putin: What is driving Russian leaders relentless assault on Ukraine?

Saturday 25 February 2023 13:45 , Eleanor Noyce

In the year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin. has been the figurehead of what he initially termed a special military operation. Russias president might have prepared the political ground with a show of collective responsibility  few will forget how he solicited the support of key ministers live on TV just hours before ordering the invasion  but he has fronted the invasion ever since, often alone, and it is he who will answer to history.

From the start, Russias military action tended to be seen as an old-fashioned war launched by an old-fashioned autocrat. As such, it was as surprising as it was shocking to all those who believed such wars to be over, at least in Europe. The scenes that have dominated our television screens ever since have been tragically reminiscent of black-and-white newsreel showing battles for the very same cities during the Second World War.

But the supposedly old-fashioned autocrat who gave the orders for this war is a more complicated figure than many think.

He sold the invasion as a collective decision with his military chiefs, but it is the president alone who will have to answer to history, writes Mary Dejevsky:

What is driving Putins relentless war on Ukraine?

It will take decades to identify Ukraine war victims, authorities predict

Saturday 25 February 2023 13:15 , Eleanor Noyce

It could take decades to identify Ukraines war dead, a leading forensics body has predicted.

As the war reached its one-year anniversary, The Independent revealed that at least 100,000 civilians are believed to have been killed in Russias brutal assault  more than 10 times the current official death toll, according to the countrys leading war crimes prosecutor.

Forensic anthropologist Photis Andronicou of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said identifying victims in the horrific war could take decades without significant help from the Ukrainian authorities and the international community.

From other contexts that I have worked on  and experience  I would say this process in Ukraine will take years, many years, Mr Andronicou told The Independent.

As an example, the situation and events in Cyprus happened in the 60s and 70s ... it is now almost 2023 and the identification rate there is close to 50 to 60 per cent.

Half the people have not been identified 48 years later.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley reports:

It will take decades to identify Ukraine war victims, authorities predict

How Russias invasion of Ukraine spread global economic turmoil

Saturday 25 February 2023 12:45 , Eleanor Noyce

To understand the pervasive and deeply damaging impact of the war in Ukraine it is only necessary to glance at headlines here in Britain, far away from the shelling. Tomato rationing at your local Tesco, for example. The reasons for shortage are many and complex but one thats agreed on is that supplies from growers in Britain and the Netherlands are lower than usual because farmers cant afford to run energy-intensive greenhouses; in turn, thats because of sanctions on Russian oil exports imposed by the West and a deliberate policy by the Kremlin of restricting energy supplies to Europe.

Much the same goes for the loss of 300 jobs at the British steelworks in Scunthorpe, with possibly many thousands to follow. Steel takes a lot of energy to make, and the Chinese firm that owns the company says parts of the plant are no longer economical because of the high cost of energy.

Or take the food bank in Flintshire that has reported a doubling of demand over the past year caused by the cost of living crisis and high inflation. The war in Ukraine is again to blame  at least in part.

Financial struggles between Moscow and the West will be just as drawn-out as the battles in Ukraine, argues Sean OGrady:

How Russias invasion of Ukraine spread global economic turmoil

Senior Zelensky adviser accuses Beijing of betting on the aggressor, rejecting Chinas plans for peace

Saturday 25 February 2023 12:20 , Eleanor Noyce

Dismissing Chinas plan to involve itself in peace talks, an adviser to Zelensky has accused Beijing of betting on the aggressor.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, rejected Chinas unrealistic proposal which it hopes will end the conflict.

If you claim to be a global player, you dont offer an unrealistic plan, Mr Podolyak tweeted.

You dont bet on an aggressor who broke intl law and will lose the war. Its not far-sighted.

Ukraine war could end now if more weapons were sent, experts suggest

Saturday 25 February 2023 12:15 , Eleanor Noyce

To mark a year since Ukraine was invaded by Russia The Independent brought together a panel of experts on the eve of the anniversary to discuss what has happened since and what is likely to happen next.

News editor Steph Cockroft hosted the virtal event and was joined by Russia expert and columnist for The Independent Mary Dejevsky, The Independents international correspondent Bel Trew, live from Ukraine, and Tim White, a journalist who has been reporting from the war torn country for much of the past 12 months and updating his thousands of followers on Twitter regularly from the ground.

The war has had a multitude of repercussions, not only across the rest of Europe but across the world, and of course has left the nation at the heart of it in utter devastation.

Our panel looked back at some of the key moments from the past year.

Ms Dejevsky spoke about what provoked the Russians into invading in the first place.

Read the full story here:

Ukraine war could end now if more weapons were sent, experts suggest

Russian delegates defiant at hostile OSCE assembly meeting

Saturday 25 February 2023 11:45 , Eleanor Noyce

A contentious Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe parliamentary meeting ended Friday with condemnation of Russias invasion of Ukraine  as Russian delegates accused the West of preventing dialogue by arming Kyiv.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the 57-nation OSCE brought together lawmakers from member countries  including Russia  to discuss security and human rights issues at its annual winter gathering, which coincided with the anniversary of the invasion.

Ukraine and Lithuania boycotted the meeting in Vienna due to the presence of six Russian delegates, who were given visas by Austria despite being under European Union and United States sanctions.

We think it is immoral to sit in the same hall with war criminals who openly support the genocide of Ukraine, Yevheniia Kravchuk, a Ukrainian lawmaker from the Servant of the People party, told The Associated Press in Vienna.

Kravchuk said Russia had violated every single letter of the OSCEs founding document and should be suspended from the organization.

Read more:

Russian delegates defiant at hostile OSCE assembly meeting

Female scientists concerned about Ukraine brain drain after millions flee war

Saturday 25 February 2023 11:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Two Ukrainian scientists have described the importance of being a role model for girls interested in a career in their field and expressed concern over their countrys brain drain as young people flee the war.

Olena Pareniuk studies bacteria in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone while Kateryna Shavanova is a biologist who works on the efficiency of agriculture.

They both recently featured in the second season of the online docuseries Women in Science, which aims to make Ukrainian female scientists visible to society and inspire young women to build careers in Stem.

Dr Pareniuk, 35, and Dr Shavanova, 39, spoke to the PA news agency about how a year of the full-scale war  including the capture of Chernobyl  has impacted their work and why it is more crucial than ever that Ukrainian women are encouraged to pursue science professionally.

Lily Ford has the full story:

Female scientists concerned about Ukraine brain drain after millions flee war

Women of Ukraine: Where are they one year into Russias invasion?

Saturday 25 February 2023 10:45 , Eleanor Noyce

In the first few weeks of Russias invasion of Ukraine, Independent TV reached out to a group of women who were trying to figure out how to survive the conflict.

Victoria Bredikhina, Valeria Khrystoforova and Anna Labunet all shed light on their experiences over the past year  from being torn away from their families to being left to survive without electricity and water.

We have no plans, no certainty in the future.

Every one of us has one dream and one wish, that Ukraine wins as soon as possible, Miss Labunet added.

Watch:

Women of Ukraine: Where are they one year into Russias invasion?

The weapons the world is sending to Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 10:25 , Eleanor Noyce

On the first anniversary of Russias invasion, Nato members have pledged further support to Ukraines defence effort.

Ben Wallace has said more tanks could be sent from Britain to aid Kyiv forces, with the defence secretary expressing concern that the Kremlins meat grinder army could still be battling in another year.

He said on Thursday that he was open to sending more British tanks and suggested Ukraine was likely to receive fighter jets from Nato member countries.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on western allies for help in defending its borders against Russian insurgencies.

And while his request for fighter jets has not been honoured, here is what has been promised to help Ukraines effort so far:

The weapons the world is sending to Ukraine

Zelensky wants to meet Xi Jinping after Beijings peace plan

Saturday 25 February 2023 10:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he wants to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping to discuss his peace proposal for ending the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.

Speaking on the first anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion, Mr Zelensky said that he plans to meet Chinas president to discuss Beijings peace proposals.

I really want to believe that China will not supply weapons to Russia, he said.

China has offered a 12-point peace proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine one year into Russias war.

In the proposal, China has called for a ceasefire and peace talks, and an end to Western sanctions against Russia. It says relevant countries should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and do their share in de-escalating the Ukraine crisis.

Peony Hirwani reports:

Zelensky wants to meet Xi Jinping after Beijings peace plan

How to donate to Ukraine as 18 million estimated to be affected by war

Saturday 25 February 2023 10:06 , Eleanor Noyce

It has been one year since Russia declared war on Ukraine.

Ever since the conflict, many people from around the world have donated millions of pounds to help families, individuals, and organisations impacted by the conflict.

One year later, Ukraine continues to recover from the damages caused by the war so far.

In order to offer financial support, however big or small, here are some of the ways one can donate to appeals benefiting Ukraine right now

How to donate to Ukraine one year on

Forgotten and abandoned: the Black, international students caught up in Ukraine conflict

Saturday 25 February 2023 09:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Thousands of African students who fled Ukraine have been frozen out of receiving aid for those driven out by Russian attacks, The Independent has been told.

Before the conflict, around 76,000 international students, mostly from Nigeria and Morocco, Ghana, Zimbabwe and India, were based there.

But after grappling with racism at Ukraines borders while trying to flee, a large number of students are displaced in countries, including Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Romania and Belgium, unsure of their next move.

Many are unable to complete their studies, battling with the mental and emotional distress of having escaped Putins onslaught, some are facing poverty, while others have even taken their own lives, The Independent has learned.

But while Ukrainian citizens are able to receive aid from the international community, their African counterparts have been left to fend for themselves or rely on grassroots organisations for support.

My colleague Nadine White reports:

Forgotten: the Black, international students caught up in Ukraine conflict

Pence urges Ukraine support as GOP hopefuls split on US aid

Saturday 25 February 2023 09:17 , Eleanor Noyce

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday the U.S. should step up support for Ukraine, marking the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion with calls for more and faster military aid that put him out of step with some of his likely 2024 presidential rivals.

Make no mistake: This is not Americas war. But if we falter in our commitment to providing the support to the people of Ukraine to defend their freedom, our sons and daughters may soon be called upon to defend ours, Pence told an audience at The University of Texas at Austin. If we surrender to the siren song of those in this country who argue that America has no interest in freedoms cause, history teaches we may soon send our own into harms way to defend our freedom and the freedom of nations in our alliance.

Pence, who is widely expected to launch a bid for the White House in the coming months, also threw a dig at some in the GOP who have sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war that has upended the lives of millions.

While some in my party have taken a somewhat different view, let me be clear: There can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin. There can only be room for champions of freedom, Pence said.

Read more:

Pence urges Ukraine support as GOP hopefuls split on US aid

Not rational for China to be involved with Ukraine peace talks, says Biden

Saturday 25 February 2023 09:05 , Eleanor Noyce

US president Joe Biden has remarked that it is not rational for China to be involved in any negotiations on Ukraine.

When questioned on Beijings peace plan for the conflict, he told ABC News: Putins applauding it, so how could it be any good?

The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war thats a totally unjust war for Ukraine, is just not rational.

War in Ukraine has had huge impact on food supply, says National Farmers Union

Saturday 25 February 2023 08:45 , Eleanor Noyce

National Farmers Union deputy president Tom Bradshaw said we need to take command of the food we can produce for ourselves due to volatility thats happening around the world.

He told Times Radio: As we reposition ourselves in the world, weve left a trading bloc in the EU where we had very good trading relationships, weve had to go further afield.

We see geopolitics, and the war in Ukraine being a tragic example, having huge impacts and I dont think that unrest is likely to go away in the near future; we seem to live in a very volatile world.

Weve then got climate change, compounding all of those issues. What we saw last summer with 40C heat is climate change in action.

And we have 70 million people living on an island and we have to take responsibility for how were going to feed those 70 million people.

Imports will always be part of that but with all of that volatility thats happening around the world, we need to take command of the food we can produce for ourselves here and make sure that everybody in that supply chain is getting a fair return so that we can continue to provide the food that everybody needs.

Londoners march to Russian embassy to mark anniversary of invasion of Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 08:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Crowds marched to the Russian embassy in London in a show of defiance against the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Thousands gathered at the embassy on 24 February to mark the one-year anniversary of the war.

This footage shows the scene in London as the crowd demonstrated with Ukrainian flags and signs with anti-war messages.

A vigil was held the night before at Trafalgar Square, where Dame Helen Mirren was among those to speak out against the conflict.

Watch:

Londoners march to Russian embassy to mark anniversary of invasion of Ukraine

India and China abstain from UN vote to demand Russian withdrawal on Ukraine war anniversary

Saturday 25 February 2023 08:00 , Eleanor Noyce

India and China were among the major global powers that abstained from a UN General Assembly vote calling on Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion.

The UN motion in New York was adopted after 141 UN member nations voted in its favour, while 32 abstained and seven voted against it on Thursday.

The non-binding motion underscored the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

India, walking a tightrope between Washington and Moscow, said it is constrained to abstain from the vote and pledged to always call for dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable way out.

The two nuclear-armed south Asian neighbours are engaged in a bitter border dispute since 2020 and have independently found common ground on Russia as both countries enjoy a long-standing relationship with Moscow.

Read more:

India and China abstain from historic UN vote condemning Russia for war in Ukraine

German leader Scholz arrives in India to boost economic ties

Saturday 25 February 2023 07:30 , Eleanor Noyce

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in the Indian capital on Saturday where he is expected to discuss with the Indian prime minister Russias war in Ukraine and ways to boost bilateral economic cooperation, officials said.

We will discuss intensely all topics relevant for the development of our countries but also the peace in the world, which is important, Scholz told reporters after he was received by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the presidents palace.

The trip is Scholzs first official visit to India, though it is his fourth meeting with Modi since taking office in 2021.

The German chancellor is expected to seek Indias support for the tough stance taken by Europe and the United States toward Russia over the war in Ukraine.

After a videoconference with fellow leaders from the Group of Seven industrial powers on Friday, Scholz said before leaving Berlin for India that internationally, we are endeavoring to make clear that Russia stands alone in the world with its aggression against Ukraine.

Ashok Sharma has the full story:

German leader Scholz arrives in India to boost economic ties

Even if war stops, you cannot retrieve your dead children

Saturday 25 February 2023 07:23 , Eleanor Noyce

A portable cabin barely bigger than the bunk bed in it is all that Maria Vasilenko, 78, has left, a year after Russian soldiers marched into her town and destroyed her life.

Most of her family were blown up in a Russian airstrike in March which levelled her home in Borodyanka.

Before the war, the sleepy river-side town of 13,000 people had been an anonymous suburb west of Kyiv. But after Russian forces rolled into Ukraine, it became a frontline area and then was occupied for several weeks.

On 1 March  just a few days into President Vladimir Putins invasion  Maria had taken shelter in the buildings basement. Her daughter Alona, 41, a medic, remained above ground with her husband and other family members to tend to the wounded. The decision turned out to be a fatal mistake.

Bel Trew reports:

Even if war stops, you cannot retrieve your dead children

Latvian minister lashes out at Russian delegates at a security meeting

Saturday 25 February 2023 07:01 , Maroosha Muzaffar

A Latvian minister, Rihards Kols called Russias inclusion at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting a disgrace.

His remarks were met with applause from other delegates.

At the meeting held in Vienna by OSCE, the Latvian delegate proposed that the Russian delegates should be barred from speaking.

We [say] right now that we stand up to our principles and values and statutes. We dont. Theres an elephant in the room called Russian Federation delegation. I mean, if I were a witness and someone asked me who is a war criminal, well I would point to the back benches in this room.

He continued: Its just disgrace. Its a disgrace that this delegation is here, particularly the delegation that consists of members who are sanctioned individuals, who voted to annex independent countrys territories  Donbas, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk.

Blinken credits India and China for preventing Russia from using nuclear weapons on Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 06:28 , Maroosha Muzaffar

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said that Vladimir Putin might have used nuclear weapons on Ukraine already if not for India and Chinas influence.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Mr Blinken said India and China had a little bit more influence with Russia these days in opposing the use of nuclear weapons.

He said we know that they [India and Cjina] conveyed those messages. And I think that had some effect. Its something we always have to look at, but again, the track record to date suggests that the escalation that some feared has, at least to now, not happened.

He added: Putin might react more, even more irrationally, and there was language coming out of Moscow that suggested that he would look to the use of tactical nuclear weapons. It was a concern.

We urged, and I think successfully, other countries that might have a little bit more influence with Russia these days, like China, but also other countries like India, to engage him [Vladimir Putin] directly about their absolute opposition to any use of nuclear weapons. And we know that they conveyed those messages, and I think that had some effect, he added.

Russian troops carry 27 airstrikes and fire 75 rounds from rocket launchers on first anniversary of invasion

Saturday 25 February 2023 06:10 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Russian troops carried out 27 airstrikes and fired 75 rounds from rocket launchers, targeting communities across Ukraine yesterday, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Ukrainian forces fought 70 Russian attacks on the day of the first-year anniversary, the General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces was quoted as saying.

According to the General Staff, Russian forces concentrated their efforts near Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Shakhtarsk.

Over 80 per cent of homes in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, have reportedly been destroyed, the General Staff added.

Zelensky hails invincible Ukraine as world marks one year since Russian invasion

Saturday 25 February 2023 05:55 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Volodymyr Zelensky promised victory for Ukraine as he and his allies around the world on Friday marked the grim milestone of one year since the Russian invasion.

On a day of commemorations and defiance, Ukraines president said his people had proven invincible despite a year of pain.

And after receiving the first Leopard 2 tanks pledged by allies, he hinted that F-16 fighter jets might finally also be on the way, with other nations following Britain in offering to train Ukrainian pilots.

If our partners respect all their promises and deadlines, victory inevitably awaits us, he said.

Kim Sengupta has the full story:

Ukraine is invincible says Zelensky as world marks one year since Russian invasion

ICYMI: What is Chinas peace proposal on how to end Ukraine war?

Saturday 25 February 2023 05:43 , Maroosha Muzaffar

China has offered a 12-point peace proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine one year into Russias war.

The proposal follows Chinas recent announcement that it is trying to act as a mediator in the war that has re-energised Western alliances viewed by Beijing and Moscow as rivals. Chinas top diplomat indicated that the plan was coming at a security conference this week in Munich, Germany.

With its release, President Xi Jinpings government is reiterating Chinas claim about being neutral, despite blocking efforts at the United Nations to condemn the invasion.

The document echoes Russian complaints that Western governments are to blame for the 24 February 2022 invasion and criticises sanctions on Russia.

Matt Mathers explains:

What is Chinas peace proposal on how to end Ukraine war?

G20 leaders fail to reach consensus on Russia-Ukraine war

Saturday 25 February 2023 05:40 , Maroosha Muzaffar

G20 heads are unable to reach a consensus on describing the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported today.

Quoting sources, the news agency said it is likely that the leaders will end the meeting in India today without a joint communique.

India, the G20 host, is also pressing that the joint communique avoids using the word war, officials told Reuters.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there was no way the group could step back from a joint statement agreed at a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November, which said most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine but also acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently.

Either we have the same language or we do not sign on the final communique, Mr Le Maire told reporters yesterday.

ICYMI: The before and after images that show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 05:23 , Maroosha Muzaffar

These before and after pictures show the devastation on cities that have been shelled and bombed as part of the Russian offensive.

The before and after images that show the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Zelensky wants to meet Xi Jinping following Chinas peace plan

Saturday 25 February 2023 04:56 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he plans to meet Xi Jinping to discuss Beijings proposed peace plan to end the war.

I am planning to meet with Xi Jinping, he told reporters on the occasion of the first anniversary of Russias invasion.

He said: I really want to believe that China will not supply weapons to Russia. This will be important for world security.

China offered a 12-point peace proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine one year into Russias war.

Meanwhile, Russia has hailed Chinas peace plan and said we share Beijings views.

With its release, President Xi Jinpings government is reiterating Chinas claim about being neutral, despite blocking efforts at the United Nations to condemn the invasion.

Biden dismisses Chinas peace plan to end war

Saturday 25 February 2023 04:41 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Joe Biden dismissed Chinas peace plan yesterday and added that there is nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia.

In an interview with ABC News, US President Joe Biden said: If Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good? Im not being facetious. Im being deadly earnest.

He continued: Ive seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia if the Chinese plan were followed.

The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that is a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational, Mr Biden added.

Voices: China wants it to be Xi Jinpings peace plan for Ukraine  or no peace at all

Saturday 25 February 2023 04:31 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The world is much less familiar with the image of Xi as peace-broker  yet that is the one Beijing is trying to project this week as the war in Ukraine marks its one-year anniversary, Adam Withnall writes:

Opinion: China wants Xi Jinpings peace plan for Ukraine  or no peace at all

Biden rules out giving Ukraine advanced fighter jets for now'

Saturday 25 February 2023 04:06 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Joe Biden has ruled out giving Ukraine advanced fighter jets for now.

In an interview with ABC News, the US president was asked whether Volodymyr Zelensky needs F-16 fighter jets. Mr Biden responded by saying, he doesnt need F-16s now.

He added that there is no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s.

Look, were sending him what our seasoned military thinks he needs now, Mr Biden said. He needs tanks, he needs artillery, he needs air defence, including another HIMAR(s).

He added that the US is sending Kyiv what is necessary for Ukraine to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall.

Mr Zelensky has repeatedly asked Western allies to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 03:51 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Irans backing of Russias war efforts in Ukraine is expanding to include unprecedented defence cooperation that will see the Islamic Republic purchase advanced weaponry from Moscow in exchange for providing Russian forces with equipment meant for use on Ukrainian territory, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said the unprecedented cooperation Moscow is offering includes the provision of missiles, electronics and air defence equipment to Tehran, which in turn has been providing Russian forces with Iranian-made kamikaze drones, as well as artillery and tank rounds compatible with Russian-made weapons systems.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

G7 vows to impose new 'coordinated economic actions against Russia

Saturday 25 February 2023 03:45 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The leaders of the Group of Seven economies pledged yesterday to levy further sanctions on Russia, according to a joint statement.

The online summit on the first anniversary of Russias invasion of its neighbour was presided over by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The joint statement said: We condemn Russias illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war. We commit to intensifying our diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine and to increasing the costs to Russia.

Russia started this war and Russia can end this war. We call on Russia to stop its ongoing aggression and to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine, the G7 said.

The statement added that the G7 will impose new coordinated economic actions against Russia in the days and weeks ahead.

The before and after images that show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 03:37 , Maroosha Muzaffar

These before and after pictures show the devastation in cities that have been shelled and bombed as part of the Russian offensive:

The before and after images that show the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Zelensky hails invincible Ukraine as world marks one year since Russian invasion

Saturday 25 February 2023 03:29 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Volodymyr Zelensky promised victory for Ukraine as he and his allies around the world on Friday marked the grim milestone of one year since the Russian invasion.

On a day of commemorations and defiance, Ukraines president said his people had proven invincible despite a year of pain.

And after receiving the first Leopard 2 tanks pledged by allies, he hinted that F-16 fighter jets might finally also be on the way, with other nations following Britain in offering to train Ukrainian pilots.

If our partners respect all their promises and deadlines, victory inevitably awaits us, he said.

Kim Sengupta reports:

Ukraine is invincible says Zelensky as world marks one year since Russian invasion

How Putin can cling on even if Russia loses the war in Ukraine

Saturday 25 February 2023 17:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Russian presidents grasp is loosening both on the battlefield and at home, writes Mark Galeoti. But is it really the end of the road?

It is impossible yet to know for sure when and how the war in Ukraine will end, but it is clear that Vladimir Putin will not achieve either his original grandiose goal of installing a puppet regime in Kyiv, nor his fallback of conquering all the regions of south-eastern Ukraine.

Even retaining the territories he was occupying before the February 2022 invasion looks like a difficult, if not wholly impossible task.

Although his myth is irretrievably tarnished and his system of control is in decay, Mr Putin could conceivably survive defeat, and the trajectory of a post-Putin Russia is equally uncertain. Three main variables will be crucial: the fate of Crimea (which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014), the speed of that victory, and Western policies.

How Putin can cling on even if Russia loses the Ukraine war

The forgotten Black students caught up in Ukraine conflict

Friday 24 February 2023 22:30 , Martha Mchardy

Thousands of African students who fled Ukraine have been frozen out of receiving aid for those driven out by Russian attacks, The Independent has been told.

Before the conflict, around 76,000 international students, mostly from Nigeria and Morocco, Ghana, Zimbabwe and India, were based there.

But after grappling with racism at Ukraines borders while trying to flee, a large number of students are displaced in countries, including Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Romania and Belgium, unsure of their next move.

Many are unable to complete their studies, battling with the mental and emotional distress of having escaped Putins onslaught, some are facing poverty, while others have even taken their own lives, The Independent has learned.

Nadine White reports:

Forgotten: the Black, international students caught up in Ukraine conflict

Russia, Ukraine face off at UN with rival tributes to dead

Friday 24 February 2023 22:00 , Martha Mchardy

Russia and Ukraine faced off at the U.N. Security Council on Friday on the first anniversary of their war, with their confrontation even extending to dueling moments of silence for the dead.

The showdown began before the session formally began, with Russias ambassador demanding to know why Ukraine sat at the top of the speakers list. Most dramatically, in the middle of the meeting, the two countries even tussled over tributes to the victims of the war.

Edith M. Lederer reports:

Russia, Ukraine face off at UN with rival tributes to dead

Zelensky hails invincible Ukraine as world marks one year since Russian invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 21:31 , Martha Mchardy

Volodymyr Zelensky promised victory for Ukraine on Friday as he and allies around the world marked the grim milestone of one year since the Russian invasion.

On a day of commemorations and defiance, Ukraines president said his people had proven invincible despite a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.

And after receiving the first Leopard 2 tanks pledged by allies, he hinted that F-16 fighter jets might finally also be on the way, with other nations following Britain in offering to train Ukrainian pilots.

Kim Sengupta reports:

Ukraine is invincible says Zelensky as world marks one year since Russian invasion

Teenage pianist who fled Ukraine performs in Liverpool to mark anniversary of conflict

Friday 24 February 2023 21:30 , Martha Mchardy

A teenage pianist who fled Ukraine at the beginning of the invasion has performed in Liverpool to mark the anniversary of the war.

This footage shows 13-year-old Alisa Bushuieva playing a piano inside Liverpool ONE shopping centre.

She left Kharkiv last February, along with her mother, after the city was bombed by Putins troops.

The musician has also lifted the spirits of those in refugee camps in Ukraine and Poland by performing songs for them.

What fighter jets has Zelensky asked for and what might he get?

Friday 24 February 2023 21:00 , Martha Mchardy

The warplanes the Ukrainians are most likely to get are American F-16s. This would make sense in terms of operational support and maintenance, and they are the type of plane the Ukrainians need, just as German Leopard 2s are the logical tanks for their army.

Kim Sengupta explains:

What fighter jets has Volodymyr Zelensky asked for and what might he get?

Ive spent 20 years covering conflict, but nothing prepared me for Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 20:30 , Martha Mchardy

Ive spent 20 years covering conflict, from Iraq to Syria  but nothing prepared me for the horrors of Ukraine, writes Kim Sengupta.

Read more here:

Ive spent 20 years covering war  but nothing prepared me for Ukraine | Kim Sengupta

PM and G7 leaders pledge unwavering support as Ukraine invasion marked

Friday 24 February 2023 20:21 , Martha Mchardy

Rishi Sunak and other world leaders have pledged to stand with Ukraine for as long as needed, after a year of war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced.

Earlier, the Prime Minister led the UK in a minutes silence to mark the one-year anniversary of the war, as the world reflected on the conflict initiated by Vladimir Putins full-scale invasion last February.

A call on Friday afternoon saw Mr Sunak join fellow leaders, including US President Joe Biden, to discuss the war effort and how best to support Ukraine going forward.

Rishi Sunak is urging G7 leaders to move faster in arming Ukraine (PETER NICHOLLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

In a joint statement, G7 leaders committed to intensifying diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine as well as increasing the costs to Russia and those supporting its war effort.

They also pledged that solidarity will never waver in standing with Ukraine, in supporting countries and people in need, and in upholding the international order based on the rule of law.

According to a Downing Street readout, Mr Sunak urged allies to support Ukraine with long-term military and security assurances to send a strong message to President Putin that the global support was enduring.

Outside No 10 on Friday morning, the Prime Minister had been joined by his wife Akshata Murthy, Kyivs ambassador to Britain Vadym Prystaiko and dozens of Ukrainian troops being trained by the UK for the national pause on Friday morning.

The King also issued a message praising the remarkable courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people.

Leading UK political figures mark anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 20:00 , Martha Mchardy

UK political leaders have marked a year of Ukraines extraordinary resistance to Russias all-out assault, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced.

On Friday, Rishi Sunak was joined outside 10 Downing Street by wife Akshata Murthy, Kyivs ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, and dozens of Ukrainian troops, for a minutes silence.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also observed the pause from Cardiff, while Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, lit candles at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, alongside former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Oliver Browning reports:

Leading UK political figures mark anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Canada to send more Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 19:58 , Martha Mchardy

Canada is imposing fresh Russia-related sanctions and sending four more Leopard 2 Tanks to Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, marking the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine on Friday.

The new sanctions would target 129 individuals and 63 entities including Russian deputy prime ministers and other officials, Trudeau told reporters in Toronto.

The US will continue to provide humanitarian relief to people fleeing Russia-Ukraine war, says Secretary of Homeland Security

Friday 24 February 2023 19:48 , Martha Mchardy

The US will continue to provide humanitarian relief to people fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war, the US Secretary of Homeland Security has said.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said: The Department of Homeland Security remains committed to supporting the Ukrainian people and to honoring the United States commitment to provide humanitarian relief to those who are fleeing Russias unprovoked war.

From deterring cyberattacks to welcoming more than 270,000 Ukrainians to the United States, including more than 115,000 who have arrived through our Uniting for Ukraine program, DHS is proud to support Ukraine and its people. We will continue to do so in close collaboration with our international partners.

UK army camp holds service to mark anniversary of war in Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 19:15 , Martha Mchardy

Ukrainian troops on Friday took part in a service at an army camp in the southeast of England to mark the one-year anniversary of Russias invasion.

Padre John Power of the Royal Lancers led the sunrise service in the morning, which included Reveille sounded by a bugler and a rousing rendition of Ukraines national anthem.

The event finished with the Lords Prayer in English and Ukrainian and a chant of Slava Ukraini - meaning glory to Ukraine.

Ukraine war could end now if more weapons were sent, experts suggest

Friday 24 February 2023 19:00 , Martha Mchardy

To mark a year since Ukraine was invaded by Russia The Independent brought together a panel of experts on the eve of the anniversary to discuss what has happened since and what is likley to happen next.

News editor Steph Cockroft hosted the virtal event and was joined by Russia expert and columnist for The Independent Mary Dejevsky, The Independents international correspondent Bel Trew, live from Ukraine, and Tim White a journalist who has been reporting from the war torn country for much of the past 12 months and updating his thousands of followers on Twitter regularly from the ground.

Find out more here:

Ukraine war could end now if more weapons were sent, experts suggest

Zelensky marks anniversary of invasion by presenting medals to Ukrainian fighters

Friday 24 February 2023 18:59 , Martha Mchardy

Volodymyr Zelensky marked the first anniversary of Russias invasion by awarding state medals to the fighters who are taking part in the war.

The president of Ukraine handed medals to a number of people, including one solider walking on crutches.

We will never rest until the Russian murderers face deserved punishment, Mr Zelensky said, as he made a televised address early on Friday.

He also vowed to push for victory in 2023 for his country.

We had not been defeated. And we will do everything to win this year, he said.

EU war anniversary sanctions against Russia stalled

Friday 24 February 2023 18:49 , Martha Mchardy

European Union countries were unable for a third day running on Friday to agree on new sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine a year ago, with Poland rejecting Italys demand for laxer new curbs on rubber imports, diplomats said.

Poland said the proposed restrictions on EU imports of Russia rubber included such a big quota of imports exempted and such long transition periods that they would have no effect in practice.

Other EU countries were baffled that Warsaw - a leading Russia hawk in the bloc - was risking having no new sanctions announced on the one-year anniversary of Russias attack against Ukraine over just one element of a broader package.

President Zelensky (EPA)

This is very bad optics. What was supposed to be key here is a message of solidarity with Ukraine on this special day, said one diplomat involved in the confidential negotiations between the 27 EU countries in the blocs hub Brussels.

All 27 member states need to approve sanctions for them to be enacted.

The EU has said what would be its 10th round of sanctions against Russia since the war started was designed to make financing the war more difficult and starve Russia of tech equipment and spare parts for arms used against Ukraine.

It would blacklist more individuals including what the West says are Russian propagandists, those Kyiv holds responsible for deporting Ukrainian children to Russia and those involved in the production of Iranian drones deployed on the frontline.

It would cut more banks including the private Alfa-Bank and the online bank Tinkoff off from the global system SWIFT and cut trade between the EU and Russia by more than 10 billion euros, according to the blocs executive.

The before and after images that show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 18:40 , Martha Mchardy

Before and after images show the true extent of the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

(Maxar)

(Maxar)

(Maxar)

William Mata reports:

The before and after images that show the devastation of Russias invasion of Ukraine

Russian MP who hung noodles on ears during Putins speech faces punishment

Friday 24 February 2023 18:30 , Martha Mchardy

A Russian MP who hung noodles from his ears during President Putins State of the Nation speech is to face punishment, the party has confirmed.

Russias Communist Party has pledged to punish Mikhail Abdalkin, deputy of the Samara Duma, for seemingly mocking Mr Putin during his address on Tuesday.

The idiom to hang noodles on someones ears dictates that someone is lying, with the phrase dont hang noodles on my ears! meaning dont fool me or dont lie to me.

Eleanor Noyce reports:

Russian MP who hung noodles on ears during Putins speech faces punishment

U.S. targets Russia with sanctions on anniversary of invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 18:12 , Martha Mchardy

The United States marked the first anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine on Friday with $2 billion in weaponry for Kyiv and new sanctions against Russia aimed at undermining Moscows ability to wage war.

U.S. president Joe Bidens administration unveiled the sanctions as the Group of 7 bloc of wealthy nations and Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskiy met for over an hour to discuss more aid.

Among the steps were placing visa restrictions on Russian military members, freezing assets of allies of President Vladimir Putin, effectively banning aluminum imports from Russia, curbing Russian banking and arms-making activity and putting the countrys second largest mobile phone company Megafon on a trade blacklist.

President Biden with Zelensky (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Additional measures could be imposed at a later date, U.S. officials said.

The administration also sent a message to China and other countries that they should not try to help Russia evade sanctions.

We will sanction additional actors tied to Russias defense and technology industry, including those responsible for backfilling Russian stocks of sanctioned items or enabling Russian sanctions evasion, the White House said.

The United States suspects Iran, itself under U.S. sanctions, may provide Russia with fighter jets, John Kirby, a White House spokesperson, told reporters. He did not provide evidence.

Weve been very clear from the outset with China and with other countries that providing material support to Russia in evasion of sanctions would provoke very serious consequences, U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen said on MSNBC.

The aid to Ukraine fell short of providing the F-16 fighter jets that Kyiv has requested and some U.S. officials are raising doubts about the ability of such measures to slow the increasing hostilities on the battlefield ahead of an anticipated springtime offensive.

There was no immediate response from Moscow, which called its invasion of Ukraine a special military operation and has imposed its own sanctions on some Western nations while accusing Washington and others of leading a global campaign to destroy Russia.

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 18:02 , Martha Mchardy

Irans backing of Russias war efforts in Ukraine is expanding to include unprecedented defence cooperation that will see the Islamic Republic purchase advanced weaponry from Moscow in exchange for providing Russian forces with equipment meant for use on Ukrainian territory, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said the unprecedented cooperation Moscow is offering includes provision of missiles, electronics and air defence equipment to Tehran, which in turn has been providing Russian forces with Iranian-made kamikaze drones, as well as artillery and tank rounds compatible with Russian-made weapons systems.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

US says Iran expanding support for Russias war on Ukraine

Zelensky on Russia

Friday 24 February 2023 17:51 , Chris Stevenson

Asked at a press conference what are the chances of him negotiating with Putin to try and bring an end to the war, President Zelensky said he had something to say to Moscow: Respect our right to live on our land, get out of our territory, stop bombing us, stop killing civilians... stop the bombardments.

US Secretary of Defense reiterates unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine'

Friday 24 February 2023 17:37 , Martha Mchardy

The US has reiterated its unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine, the Pentagon has said.

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Ryder said: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov today to reiterate the unwavering U.S. commitment to supporting Ukraine.

As Russias unprovoked and indefensible full-scale invasion reaches the one-year mark, Secretary Austin praised Ukraines courage and sacrifice that has inspired and rallied the international community to support its efforts to push back against Russian aggression.

During the call, Secretary Austin also provided an update on U.S. security assistance efforts, including the $2 billion security assistance package announced today. Minister Reznikov provided an update of developments on the ground in Ukraine.

The two leaders pledged to remain in close contact.

Zelensky delivers message to Putin on first anniversary of Russian invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 17:27 , Martha Mchardy

President Zelensky has delivered a message to Putin on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainian president marked the anniversary by hailing his nation for fighting back against Russian troops during a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.

In a video address, Zelensky said: We have endured. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year.

Ukraine has inspired the world. Ukraine has united the world... We will never rest until the Russian murderers face deserved punishment.

It comes as former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev today vowed that Russia would win the war.

Zelensky gives strong response when asked what it would take for him to negotiate with Russia

Friday 24 February 2023 16:40 , William Mata

Live: Ukrainians march in Athens to mark one year of Russia's invasion

Friday 24 February 2023 16:39 , William Mata

Flash quotes: Zelensky and Scholz

Friday 24 February 2023 16:38 , William Mata

- Asked about comment attributed to US General Milley that Ukraine won't be able to drive Russia out of entire occupied territory, Zelensky said he didn't hear this at meeting with Milley. - German chancellor Scholz, meanwhile, has said he will make a view on the Ukraine war once again clear to India's premier Modi during his visit.

Russia welcomes China peace plan, says it is open to talks

Friday 24 February 2023 16:30 , William Mata

Russia said on Friday that it appreciated China's plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and said it was open to achieving the goals of what it calls its "special military operation" through political and diplomatic means.

"We appreciate the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to contribute to resolving the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding however that this would also mean recognising "new territorital realities" in Ukraine.

China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday as part of a 12-point plan for dealing with the war. Kyiv has rejected the proposal unless it involves Russia withdrawing its troops to its 1991 borders - when the Soviet Union was dissolved - but has also said it is open to parts of the plan.

Update: Support for China proposals

Friday 24 February 2023 16:29 , William Mata

The president of Ukraine has given qualified support for China's new pronouncements about the war in his country, saying Beijing's interest is "not bad".

"China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad," President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a news conference on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

"But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to."

China called for a ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in a vaguely worded proposal released on Friday that analysts said was unlikely to deliver results.

Mr Zelensky said there were points in the Chinese proposals that he agreed with "and there are those that we don't".

"But it's something," he added

Dozens detained by Russian police on Ukraine war anniversary - rights centre

Friday 24 February 2023 16:19 , William Mata

Russia Ukraine (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Dozens of people were detained by police in Russia on Friday for actions to commemorate the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, in some cases just for placing flowers, a human rights group said on Friday.

Russian authorities have remained largely silent during the anniversary, which Ukraine has observed with a ceremony to remember soldiers and civilians who have been killed.

In Moscow, at least three people laying flowers on a monument to prominent Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka were quickly detained by police officers, rights centre OVD-Info said.

Ukraine is open to parts of China ceasefire proposal - Zelensky

Friday 24 February 2023 16:17 , William Mata

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he was open to considering parts of China's 12-point ceasefire plan to end Russia's war on his country.

He made the comments during a news conference marking the one-year anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion.

Blinken to UN Security Council: Don't be fooled by calls for unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine

Friday 24 February 2023 15:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The UN Security Council should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and should not fall into the false equivalency of calling on both sides to stop fighting, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the council on the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion on Friday.

Russia will use any pause in fighting to consolidate control of territory and replenish its forces, Blinken said after China called for a ceasefire as part of a position paper on the war.

No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russias war on Ukraine and on the UN Charter, Blinken said.

France, Germany and Poland to continue supporting Ukraine-statement

Friday 24 February 2023 15:56 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

France, Germany and Poland reaffirm their commitment to coordinate efforts to meet Ukraines pressing military and defence equipment needs, the countries leaders said in a joint statement published on Friday.

France, Poland and Germany are fully supporting Ukraine in exercising its right to defend itself against Russias invasion, including by providing military and defence assistance, and will do so for as long as it takes, the German chancellor, French president and Polish president said.

If all Ukraines partners do their homework, victory is inevitable- Zelensky

Friday 24 February 2023 15:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a news conference on Friday that victory over Russia was inevitable if all Ukraines partners did their homework.

He made the comments on the first anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

US secretary of state says spirit of Ukrainians is unbroken'

Friday 24 February 2023 15:47 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The US secretary of state Anthony Blinken has said the spirit of the Ukrainians is unbroken despite a catastrophic 12 months of war.

(AFP via Getty Images)

German foreign minister: China could have persuaded Russia of U.N. resolution

Friday 24 February 2023 15:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

China could have used its influence as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to persuade Russia to adhere to a U.N. resolution on peace for Ukraine backed by 141 countries, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday.

Chinas 12-point paper contains many familiar positions, said Baerbock, adding that it was important that China warn against nuclear escalation.

However, those who speak of peace must not mean submission, she added.

Click here to read the full blog on The Independent's website
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) has agreed on the 10th package of sanctions against Russia, said the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU on Twitter Friday night.

"The package includes, e.g. tighter export restrictions regarding dual-use goods and technologies," the Swedish Presidency said.

It said the package also includes "targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities" that have supported Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and delivered drones for Russia to be used in the military operation.

The EU member states have imposed "the most forceful and far-reaching sanctions ever" to support Ukraine, it added.

Final approval of the sanctions is expected on Saturday when the details will be published by the EU.

The proposed package, announced in mid-February, indicated export bans of critical technology and industrial goods worth 11 billion euros (11.6 billion U.S. dollars) to Russia. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollar) 
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.
RFA/Health Care Access Reporter

Santiago Ochoa is a bilingual journalist covering health care access at the Yakima Herald-Republic in Yakima, Washington. Before joining the Herald, Ochoa reported for Flint Beat in Flint, Michigan, covering the citys Latino populationhealth care, education, community building and more, and winning top honors in the Michigan Press Associations feature category. He served as photographer and later editor for his college newspaper, The Michigan Times. When hes not working, Ochoa enjoys cross-country trips on his motorcycle, going to the movies, reading and skiing.
Education Reporter

Vanessa Ontiveros is the education reporter at the Yakima Herald-Republic. She grew up near Los Angeles but has happily made Yakima her new home. She is passionate about reporting stories that serve the community and highlight various aspects of the educational system.She also hosts a podcast that discusses local arts education, Yakima Arts Talk, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The daughter of two longtime public school teachers, she is always looking to include community voices in her work.
If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules:

Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy.

The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party.

We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste.

Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters.

Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month.
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- After achieving a major and decisive victory in its COVID-19 prevention and control efforts since late 2022, China has put its economy back on the fast track, with the vigor of its development impacting the whole world.

At a meeting last week, the Chinese leadership noted that China's COVID-19 response has accomplished a smooth transition in a relatively short time, citing continuous efforts made in optimizing relative prevention and control measures since November 2022.

With enhanced social mobility and international exchanges, the world's second largest economy is on course for a robust economic comeback.

ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

The strong resilience of the Chinese economy can be seen in certain key statistics.

In January, the country's manufacturing sector regained expansion after three consecutive monthly shrinkages, with the purchasing managers' index reaching 50.1, up from 47 in December, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

The national consumer price index last month rose by 2.1 percent year on year. Compared with the price surge of major developed economies in the world, China's overall price level runs in an appropriate range, making the country an important "stabilizer" of global prices.

According to an earlier State Council executive meeting, China aimed to consolidate and expand the momentum of economic rebound, accelerate the recovery of consumption and stabilize foreign trade and investment.

MARKET VITALITY

As China has optimized its epidemic prevention and control measures, the flow of people, goods and information has brought much vitality to the country.

As the world's second largest consumer market, China has been expanding its consumption, injecting new momentum into the global economic recovery.

After a three-year lapse, China's outbound group tour has restarted, with the first batch of tour groups arriving in Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.

According to a forecast of the UN World Tourism Organization, the orderly restoration of the outbound travels will greatly promote the recovery of tourism in the Asia-Pacific region and even the whole world.

The labor market has also been buzzing.

At the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New year, which started on Jan. 22 this year, labor-intensive provinces like Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian launched cross-province recruitment. Government departments have led teams to central and western provinces to offer job information from enterprises and explain the recruitment policies.

Yang Daoling, a researcher with the State Information Center, said that the average flow of people around 100 representative incubators in January increased by 17.6 percent from the previous month.

The Spring Festival travel rush, a mass-migration event marking the celebration of the Chinese New Year, witnessed more than 1.5 billion trips made by rail, highways, waterways and civil aviation in 40 days. The figure marked a 50.5-percent increase over the same period in 2022.

Goods also moved at a faster pace. The country's courier companies hit the 10-billion-parcel mark within the first 39 days of 2023, which is 40 days quicker than in 2019, before the COVID-19 epidemic struck.

This year's performance demonstrates the vitality, resilience and growth potential of China's express delivery industry, the State Post Bureau said, adding that it shows that consumer confidence is increasing, and the economic recovery is picking up pace.

GROWTH FORECAST

The rebound of the Chinese economy has attracted global attention as well as sparking interest among international investors.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 14.5 percent year on year to 127.69 billion yuan in January, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

High-tech industries saw a rapid FDI increase of 62.8 percent in January. Specifically, foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing surged 74.5 percent, while that in the high-tech service sector rose 59.6 percent.

Meng Huating, a Commerce Ministry official, said the country will actively guide foreign investment in sectors including advanced manufacturing, modern services, energy conservation and environmental protection, and will continue to attract investment in high-tech industries.

After international investment banks and financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Barclays and Natixis, upwardly revised their 2023 forecasts for China, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also lifted its growth forecast of China's economic growth rate this year.

"Growth in China is projected to rise to 5.2 percent in 2023, reflecting improving mobility," the IMF said in an update to its World Economic Outlook report. The updated number was 0.8 percentage points higher than the October 2022 forecast. 
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CPI MP Binoy Viswam has urged Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to form a commission to enquire into the "alarming" increase in flight take-off delays and emergency landings during recent times. In the letter to the Union Minister, the Rajya Sabha MP stated that there have been several news reports about hundreds of flights that have failed to take off on time due to various conditions.

"I am writing to bring to your attention the alarming increase in flight takeoff delays and emergency landings that has occurred in the last six months, which brings forth serious concerns in the travel needs and safety of the passengers," he said in the letter.

He said 176 passengers onboard when the Calicut - Dammam Air India flight made an emergency landing in Trivandrum, he said. "Such airline carriers are only concerned about making super profits and the safety of the people must be given priority over such profits," he said.

He also pointed out that 1937 Aircraft Rules have made clear guidelines regarding the proper checks that have to be made before each flight takes offs. "Given the circumstances, I urge you to look into this matter with the utmost urgency so as to ensure the safe and proper running of our airways.

"I also request that a high-level enquiry commission be instituted to look into all the details of aircraft maintenance and passenger safety," he said.
SHIJIAZHUANG, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The city of Langfang in north China's Hebei Province saw its first China-Europe freight train leave the station Saturday.

The freight train, carrying 55 40-foot containers, will complete a journey of 7,800 km. It will leave the country via Erenhot Port in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, pass through Mongolia and finally arrive at its destination in Moscow 17 days later.

The goods, with a total value of nearly 20 million yuan (about 2.88 million U.S. dollars), mainly include light industrial products, food, clothing and daily necessities, which are from local companies in Langfang, and import and export companies in surrounding areas.

The freight train service is of great significance to further promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and integrating into the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to the city's development and reform commission. 
Indian budget air carrier, SpiceJet, has launched a direct flight service from Delhi to Shillong, capital of Meghalya in North East India. The airline said the Delhi-Shillong flight would operate biweekly, on Monday and Friday. The inaugural flight landed from the Delhi Internationl Airport at the Shillong Airport with 18 passengers on Friday, February 24, 2023. The same flight took off with 12 outbound passengers from the Shillong Airport to Delhi Airport in the national capital, an Airport official told PTI.

With this, SpiceJet has become the third airline to start scheduled flights from Shillong after Indigo and Alliance Air. The route was awarded to Fly Big airlines earlier under the UDAN Scheme (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik). The regional airline had operated the Shillong - Delhi route, but an MoU with them was withdrawn last year.

Later, SpiceJet had entered into an MoU with the Meghalaya government in January 2023, to connect the Meghalaya capital with the national capital. Taking on Twitter, SpiceJet wrote, "Connecting the unconnected. Flying now to Shillong". The airline also shared a few glimpses of the inaugural flight to Shillong.

PTI reports that senior government officials including transport department secretary H Kharmalki and MTC MD KL Nongbri were present at the inaugural flight.
New Delhi: Hitting the consumers hard, the Mumbai Milk Producers Association (MMPA) has announced a steep price hike of Rs 5/litre of buffalo milk in the city from March 1, an official said on Friday. MMPA President C.K. Singh said that the price of buffalo milk which is sold by over 3,000 retailers in the city - will be increased from Rs 80 per litre to Rs 85 per litre, and will remain in force till August 31.

This is the second steep hike coming after September 2022, when buffalo milk price was hiked from Rs 75 a litre to Rs 80 per litre, making the domestic budget of the poor and middle-class families go haywire. Singh said that the unanimous decision was taken at the MMPA general body meeting late on Thursday. All the members felt that since the price of milch animals as well their food items like dana, tuvar, chuni, chana-chuni etc. have gone up by 15-25 per cent, besides steep hike in the rates of grass, hay, pinda etc., the rate of milk should also be increased.



Mumbai consumes over 50 lakh litres of buffalo milk daily, of which more than seven lakh is supplied by the MMPA through its chain of dairies and neighbourhood retailers, through their farms spread in and around the country`s commercial capital. Incidentally, in February this year, all the major cow milk producers` associations in Maharashtra, along with other major branded producers, have hiked the prices of cow milk by at least Rs 2 per litre.
World book fair, Delhi: Book lovers' favourite hangout is back in a new form. It's that time of year when you need to make room on your bookshelves for some new books. Pragati Maidan in New Delhi will serve as the venue for the book fair. For the past 50 years, it has been a significant publishing calendar event. The event officially begins this year on February 25, 2023.

The New Delhi International Book Fair's theme for 2023 will be "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav," in honour of India's 75th anniversary of independence, as well as to celebrate and remember 75 years of India and its illustrious past. Also, the New Delhi International Book Fair will feature a wide variety of items in addition to books.

World Book Fair: Date and time

Date: February 25, 2023 - March 5, 2023

Time: 11:00 am to 8:00 pm

World Book Fair: Venue

The venue of the 2023 International Book Fair is Pragati Maidan, located on Mathura Road in New Delhi, 110001. The entry to the fair would be from Gate no. 4 and 10.

World Book Fair: Entry fee

Tickets are available to the general public for Rs 10 for kids and Rs 20 for adults.

Entrance to the international book fair is free of cost for school children, senior residents, and differently-abled persons.

Visitors can avail of tickets online as well at itpoonline.gov.in.

World Book Fair: Theme

The NDWBF 2023 has the theme "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" this year. It is committed to the people of India for developing a venue for the advancement of progressive viewpoints regarding the sociocultural, political, and economic character of their nation.

World Book Fair: Interesting Facts

- G20 Pavilion: The world book fair's theme will be integrated, and events including an exhibition of books from G20 member nations will be planned.

- NEP Pavilion: The National Institute of Design will develop an exclusive NEP 2020 Pavilion measuring 1000 square metres and including an Ed-Tech zone, an event zone, and a presentation area.

- Foreign Pavilion: Since France will be the Guest of Honor at the 2023 World Book Fair, book lovers will have the exceptional opportunity to peruse several French books and translated works, as well as engage with a delegation of more than 60 French representatives.

They will feature authors, publishers, literary agencies, cultural ambassadors, and a host of literary events at the Foreign Pavilion.

- Children's Pavilion: In this pavilion, events encouraging children's literature and reading habits will be held, including skits, dramas, street plays, storytelling sessions, seminars, and panel discussions.

- There will be four corners at the World Book Fair 2023 Author's Corner, YUVA Corner, Child author's Corner and International events corner.
ICSI Result: The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) will shortly announce the Company Secretary (CS) Executive and Professional December 2022 exam results. While the CS Professional results will be published on ICSI's official website (https://www.icsi.edu) at 11 am, the CS Executive December 2022 exam results will be released at 2 pm.

"The result along with individual Candidate's subject-wise break-up of marks will also be made available on the website immediately after the declaration of the result," the ICSI said.

ICSI CS Executive December 2022 Result: Candidates can download e-Result-cum Marks Statement from www.icsi.edu

The ICSI said that the candidates of the Executive Programme December 2022 Examination can download their e-Result-cum Marks Statement immediately after the declaration of the result from the Institute's website www.icsi.edu.

It also said that no Result-cum-Marks Statement in physical form will be issued.

ICSI CS Result: Hard copy to be issued to candidates of Professional December 2022 Exam

The ICSI said that a hard copy of the Result-cum Marks Statement will be issued to the candidates of the Professional Programme December 2022 Examination.
Chinese Electric Vehicle brand JAC Auto has unveiled the world's first-ever EV to be powered by a sodium-ion battery. The sodium-ion battery, which is considered to be a cheaper alternative to lithium ion batteries was developed by Beijing-based startup Hina Battery Technologies, reports the South China Morning Post. The use of Sodium-ion battery is expected to reduce the cost of the Electric Vehicles by at least 10 per cent, increasing the viability of EVs as compared to petrol, diesel or CNG vehicles.



As per the industry experts, Sodium-ion batteries are made using cheaper raw materials, reducing the cost of the battery, and in turn, reducing the cost of the electric vehicle itself. Not only this, Sodium ion battery offers EV makers an alternative to existing technologies like the lithium-ion battery, which is expensive and made of rare materials. Apart from Lithium, Cobalt is also rare and expensive to procure.



As for the Chinese electric vehicle from JAC, the EV is fitted with a 25 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery that can go as far as 250 kms on a single charge, IANS reports. "A surge in lithium carbonate prices last year made many battery manufacturers and downstream users face ever-rising cost pressures," said battery maker Hina.



"Therefore, sodium-ion batteries offering better cost-performance, high safety as well as excellent cycle performance, have been widely expected as the most promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries." Sodium-ion batteries have lower density than their lithium-ion counterparts. These batteries have advantages such as low-temperature performance and charging speed.

Chinese electric vehicle brands are slowly making a mark on the global level, outnumbering many established automakers. Chinese electric carmaker BYD is expanding operations overseas, setting a unit sales target for 2023 to overtake Elon Musk-run Tesla. Operating in more than 40 nations, BYD plans to sell nearly two million EVs this year, including in Japan and countries in Southeast Asia and Europe, according to a Nikkei Asia report.

According to Juniper Research, the total number of plug-in vehicles will surpass 137 million globally by 2027, up from 49 million in 2023.
New Delhi: Sohum Shah is one of the most talented critically acclaimed actors in India and his releases always excite audiences. Recently, his upcoming web series Dahaad premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and the series along with the star cast roared louder than ever. While everybody from the star cast attended the festival, Sohum Shah couldn't make to the event and missed being part of the festival.

Taking to social media, he expressed his Fomo as he wrote SO MUCH FOMO! Missed out on joining my Dahaad family @berlinale- the FIRST Indian Series to Premiere at the film festival!!! Hearing such wonderful feedback! Cant wait to share for you guys to hear us ROAR on.

Fans could not keep their calm as saw the post and showered their love in the comments section. I will watch it only for you, a user commented. Waiting to watch this..roar, added another user.

See the pictures here

Sohum Shahs starring show Dahaad has received rave reviews from the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and has now become one of the most highly anticipated shows in India today. It is the first-ever Indian web series to compete in the film festival. Apart from Sohum Shah, the series also stars Sonakshi Sinha, Vijay Varma, and Gulshan Devaiah, produced by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti.

Apart from Dahaad, Sohum Shah has an interesting lineup which also includes his production venture 'CrazXy'.
Los Angeles: Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to an additional 16 years in prison on Thursday, but his lawyers will continue to fight for him to have a life outside of jail, pledging to appeal his Los Angeles conviction.

According to Variety, Weinstein`s defence team, led by Mark Werksman and Alan Jackson, is completing its notice of appeal. Variety has learnt that they want to submit it as soon as the middle of next week.Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein`s spokeswoman, told Variety that the actor had an unfair trial.

He said, "This whole process has been alarming and awful for our society.""The media coverage has been driven by a seemingly popular appeal, which I believe has led to biased legal and judicial processes by people more concerned about their political and professional lives, or their own extreme ideologies, than truly being arbiters of justice. Harvey Weinstein was the symbol, and truth or facts didn`t matter. He is universally reviled, so it was determined that fairness shouldn`t matter...That`s what this societal shift has caused: Just get him at any cost, no matter how laws and due process be damned. That`s a scary and slippery slope for us all."

Weinstein, who is 70 years old, will probably spend the remainder of his life in prison after adding 16 years to his 23-year term in New York. His defence team on the east coast is also challenging his New York conviction in addition to his Los Angeles conviction. Weinstein's case will be heard by the New York Court of Appeals, the state`s highest court.Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence in New York, after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in that jurisdiction in his 2020 criminal trial, reported Variety.

All three charges on which Weinstein was convicted were based on the counts relating to Jane Doe, a European model who testified she was raped by Weinstein at Mr C Hotel after the L.A. Italia Film Festival in 2013, reported Variety.

Weinstein has been accused by more than 100 women who have publicly come forward with allegations of sexual assault, abuse and harassment that have spanned decades. His monumental fall was triggered by #MeToo in 2017, and the story of his survivors coming forward even inspired a major studio film, "She Said," which was released in theatres last year.

Weinstein has consistently maintained his innocence, denying any accusations of rape or assault, and his legal team has repeatedly stated that their client has unfairly been painted as the poster boy of the #MeToo movement.
Patna, Feb 25 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that BJP has shut its door forever for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"Kumar is a person who dreams about the prime minister`s chair every three years and resorts to `paltimar` tactics. He did the same in August last year and went to those whom our NDA was opposed to right from the start. We have now decided never to open our doors for Nitish Kumar in BJP," Shah said while addressing the media persons in Loharia village of West Champaran district.

"During the 2020 Assembly elections, the people of the state had made BJP a single largest party in the state. But we honoured our promise and gave the chief minister`s chair to Nitish Kumar but he has the habit of changing the goal post," Shah said.

Nitish Kumar, always vocal against Jungle Raj, is now sitting in the lap of its progenitor. BJP will form a full majority government in Bihar in 2025 and the process will start in 2024. I urge the people of the state to bring in BJP and throw out those who brought Jungle Raj," Shah said.

"Nitish Kumar promised Lalu Yadav to make his son Tejashwi Yadav the chief minister but is not specifying the date. If he has promised it, then he should reveal the date of offering the CM post to Tejashwi. RJD leaders are demanding every day. If Tejashwi Yadav becomes the chief minister, there would be complete Jungle Raj," Shah said.

Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar had objected to the removal of article 370 in Rajya Sabha saying there would be blood shed in the Kashmir valley if it happens. Article 370 was removed from Kashmir. Leave aside the river, no one even dared to throw a stone in Kashmir. PM Modi managed to handle everything so meticulously and made the country proud," Shah said.

The alliance of RJD and JD(U) is like oil and water which cannot ever combine. Nitish Kumar went with RJD and Congress to achieve the post of prime minister and split Bihar. They are purchasing aircraft worth crores of rupees but I want to tell them that seats are not vacant in the centre. Narendra Modi will again become the prime minister of the country," Shah said.

There are many projects funded by the central government in Bihar, including three highway projects worth Rs 15 thousand crore.

During the UPA government, the Centre had granted Rs 50,000 crore to Bihar while the Narendra Modi government has provided a grant of Rs 1.09 lakh crore since 2014.

(The above article is sourced from news agency IANS. Zeenews.com has made no editorial changes to the article. News agency IANS is solely responsible for the contents of the article)
Purnea (Bihar): Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Saturday a frontal attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre. Addressing a rally of the Grand Alliance in Purnea on the virtual mode from Delhi, he alleged that the saffron party is trying to divide the country on caste and religious lines. The BJP and RSS are against the minorities in the country, he claimed. Prasad recently returned to the country after a successful kidney transplant surgery in Singapore. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lalu said, "Narendra Modi is doing what RSS wants. No one is being respected, they (BJP) are murdering democracy and neglecting the constitution. We all will unite and fight it to save the country. Democracy and constitution will remain only then we and our country will remain, India cannot be broken."

"The BJP and RSS are against minorities and weaker sections of the society ... We (the Grand alliance) will wipe out BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 assembly polls," he said. Both BJP and RSS are against reservation and are trying to change the Constitution and end reservation," Prasad alleged.

"Our fight is with the ideology of RSS. BJP is following the instructions of RSS. Bihar has taken the initiative and the BJP-led central government will be wiped out from the entire country in the coming polls," he added.

Prasad's comments came on a day Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaking at a rally at Lauruia in West Champaran district held Chief Minister Nitish Kumar responsible for plunging Bihar into 'jungle raj' for which he used to blame the previous RJD-Congress rule in the state. He also likened JD(U)'s alliance with RJD to "attempts to mix oil with water."

Addressing the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) rally in Purnea, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar asserted that the BJP will be restricted to under 100 seats if all the opposition parties, including the Congress, fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly.

"If all the opposition parties, including the Congress, come together and fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly, the BJP will be restricted to under 100 seats," he said.
New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) The Congress has decided to give 50 percent reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities, and Women.

The Congress on Saturday amended the party`s constitution to ensure 50 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, women and minorities in all party posts, including representatives at the state level (PCC) and national level (AICC).

Chairing a committee at the party`s convention, senior party leader former Union Minister Ambika Soni proposed the amendment to this constitution.

Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala termed the move as a `beginning of social justice` and said that the Ambika Soni-led committee has taken measures ranging from the Congress Working Committee for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women. 50 per cent reservation in all party posts from PCC representatives to AICC representatives were proposed.

Along with this, the committee has decided to increase the strength of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest body of the party, from 23 to 35. It proposed to make party membership paperless and record, mandatory introduction of mother`s and wife`s name in membership documents and automatic promotion of elected representatives of Panchayat Raj Institutions and Cooperative Societies as PCC representatives. He said that these proposals were accepted unanimously.

Surjewala and Soni claimed that the amendments to include more people from across the board were inspired by Rahul Gandhi who saw the need for such a move during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

(The above article is sourced from news agency IANS. Zeenews.com has made no editorial changes to the article. News agency IANS is solely responsible for the contents of the article)
BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Despite China's repeated explanation that the entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship into U.S. airspace was an entirely unintended, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure, the United States, without any evidence, slandered the airship as a "spy balloon" and abused force to shoot it down.

Washington's "unthinkable and hysterical action" blatantly violated its obligations under the Chicago Convention and many basic principles of international law, as some U.S. politicians insisted on such absurd things only for their own political need at the expense of China-U.S. relations.

ABUSE OF FORCE

Weather balloons are regularly launched around the world for weather forecasting and scientific research. Every day, free-rising latex balloons are released from almost 900 locations worldwide, with nearly 1,000 balloons gathering daily observations that provide input in real-time, the UN World Meteorological Organization counted.

However, in the first two weeks of February, U.S. fighter jets shot down four objects flying over North America, including the Chinese civilian balloon that the Pentagon said "does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground," or a significant risk of intelligence collection.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday also admitted the other three objects were "most likely tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions."

"A lot of balloons are flying over the Earth every day. Does the U.S. want to shoot them all down?" senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi raised the question on the sidelines of the 59th Munich Security Conference.

Washington's drastic reaction to the weather balloon not only goes against scientific common sense, but also violates customary international practice and conventions.

Above all, any international dispute shall be settled by peaceful means so that international peace, security and justice are not endangered, according to the UN Charter.

Based on general principles of international law, in the circumstances of force majeure, distress and necessity, aircraft unauthorized to enter other countries' airspace shall be exempt of legal liability.

Since last year, U.S. balloons have illegally flown over China's airspace more than 10 times without the approval of relevant authorities. But China handled those illegal flights in a calm and professional manner. That has demonstrated Beijing's respect for international law and sincerity in properly managing China-U.S. relations.

As far as the "stray balloon" is concerned, China has clearly asked the U.S. side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner, whereas the United States used "the most advanced U.S. weapons systems" -- as depicted by The Washington Post -- to eliminate the object.

Clearly, Washington has resorted again to double standards. In 2016, China seized an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) -- later claimed by the Pentagon -- in the South China Sea to prevent it from harming navigational and personnel safety of passing ships. The U.S. Defense Department called on China to "return our UUV immediately and to comply with all of its obligations under international law." Its urge stands in sharp contrast with its downing of the four civilian aerial objects.

SUPERPOWER OF SURVEILLANCE

The United States, as a superpower of surveillance, has a long history of sending surveillance balloons and blimps beyond its borders to gather intelligence. That helps explain why the ill-grounded "spy balloon" narrative can raise mass hysteria in U.S. media and political community.

Before the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and spy satellites came into service, the U.S. Air Force had developed reconnaissance balloon programs known as WS-119L and WS-461L for the mission of collecting intelligence over Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union between the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Nowadays, as the center of gravity for global Internet and intelligence activity, the United States has further consolidated its privileged position to monitor. Among the countries it snoops on is China, which has been harassed by U.S. spy devices multiple times over the past few years.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed in June 2022 that the United States has deployed many military aircraft and warships in the South China Sea on a regular basis and its reconnaissance aircraft have electronically impersonated civil aircraft of other countries there time and again.

The ministry said, citing statistics from institutions with professional knowledge, that the number of the U.S. close-in military reconnaissance missions against China has more than doubled compared with a decade ago.

In September last year, China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and cybersecurity company 360 respectively released investigation reports on the attacks on China's Northwestern Polytechnical University from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), which showed that the agency's Tailored Access Operations unit mounted hundreds of thousands malicious cyberattacks targeting Chinese objectives.

Permeating through every part of the world, the U.S. surveillance network also targets Washington's allies.

In May 2021, Denmark's national broadcaster DR News reported that the Danish Defense Intelligence Service had given the NSA open Internet access to spy on targeted heads of state, as well as Scandinavian leaders, top politicians, and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway and France, including then German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

That was not unfamiliar to European leaders. In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed that Washington had been spying on the email and cell phone communications of as many as 35 world leaders.

Snowden also disclosed that a U.S. surveillance program codenamed Stateroom ordered the installment of secret intelligence equipment in some 100 foreign diplomatic embassies and consulates in other countries for spying.

"Washington is losing its moral ground," the German magazine Focus once quoted an expert on foreign policy as saying.

With its global surveillance network, "the United States itself is the true eavesdropper," Focus said, though the country prefers to frame itself as a victim of spying. 
Amritsar: Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh has said that the incident concerning Ajnala police station in Amritsar on February 23 could have been avoided if police were alert and his aide Lovepreet Singh Toofan had not been arrested. Amritpal Singh said in an interview with ANI that incident and subsequent release of Lovepreet Singh will "change the course of the future". Amritpal Singh`s supporters, some of them brandishing swords and other weapons, stormed Ajnala police station on Thursday over their demand for the release of Lovepreet Singh. Asked about Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav`s remarks that there will be action regarding the Ajnala incident, Amritpal Singh said that the senior police official cannot say he was not aware of the case.

"We are going through the cycle...They way it happened before, it could have been avoided if they were alert. The DGP could not say that he did not know about the case. It was not that he did not know about the case. The decision could have been made earlier. The guy should not have been arrested. We will not run away and hide somewhere. It`s not that I am going to hide somewhere. No, I will not. I will get killed. I will face everything, I will not hide anywhere," he said.

Amritpal Singh said "Punjab Police acted in a hurry based on wrong intelligence reports and authorities gave false information about him that he does not have support. "When I am going to the public, this could happen any day if you have enough evidence to charge me."

Also Read: Waris Punjab De' Chief Amritpal Singh's Supporters Break Through Police Barricades With Swords, Guns in Amritsar- Watch

"What they did was in hurry and based on wrong intelligence reports. I don`t show everything on social media. They had some pressure and gave false information to the Central government that Amritpal Singh does not have any support in Punjab and he is isolated," he said.

"I have seen the news....(stating) Amritpal is desperate and isolated. Are they trying to test my patience or capability? Such nonsense case. I told them, don`t do this. I know there will be consequences. What happened yesterday will change the course of future. Everything changes everything. But what can I do about this? Yesterday, whatever happened could have been avoided. Talk to the police secretly someday, they love me....I never interrupted them... I kind of have power, but never did that (disrespected the authorities)...I let them do their duty," he added.

Thousands of supporters of Amritpal Singh had on Thursday staged a massive demonstration in Amritsar to protest against the arrest of Lovepreet Singh Toofan. The supporters holding swords and guns in their hands broke through police barricades erected outside Ajnala Police Station. The police later said that "in the light of the evidence presented before us, it has been decided that Lovepreet Toofan will be discharged."

Lovepreet Singh was released from jail on Friday following orders of a court in Ajnala on an application by the police. A day after the Ajnala incident in which some policemen were injured, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that appropriate action will be taken against the people involved. Referring to Operation Blue Star, Amritpal said that it was a moment of "trauma" for Sikhs and continues to be.

"When Golden temple was attacked and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was killed, it might have been a happy moment for many people, but it was a trauma for Sikhs. It is still a trauma. You don`t care about the judgment of law and society because you are the society. Not a single Hindu was attacked in Punjab.......When (former Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi was killed, Sikhs...were attacked," he alleged.

Amritpal Singh, a Khalistan sympathizer, said allegations were made against Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and huge money was spent "to destroy his image".

"When someone is in the power, they have the power to make anything evil. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale is evil in the eyes of the Indian people, and Indira Gandhi might be a hero. But that does not change the idea of us. We will love him. India has control over all the resources to make him evil and it did it. Billions of dollars were spent to destroy his image and to put allegations against him. But what happened? There is no village here that will not have his pictures. Youth is inspired, they did not see him. But what happens? The suppression finds its way come out of slavery," Amritpal Singh said.

Bhindranwale was the head of the Sikh religious sect Damdami Taksal. He was killed along with his armed followers during Operation Blue Star launched by the Indian Army at the Golden Temple complex. Amritpal Singh also said that steps should be taken to make policing system better.

"The Indian people should reconsider the policing system in the country. It is still pre-1947. The way they interrogate people, they way they pick them up, the way they work. Courts are filled with such cases because the policing system is not right. It`s not the problem of the police, but of law. They have to change the law to make policing system better and make things more transparent," he said.
Balasore: A senior official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was arrested on Friday for allegedly sharing secret information related to India's defence sector with a Pakistani spy, the Odisha Police said. The 57-year-old official was posted at the DRDO's Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha's Balasore district, it said.

Chandipur has two DRDO test ranges -- PXE (Proof and Experimental Establishment) and ITR. India evaluates the performances of its missiles, rockets and air-borne weapons systems at these two ranges.

"A senior employee of ITR-Chandipur has been arrested. He managed to transmit some sensitive information regarding missile tests to a foreign agent," said Himansu Kumar Lal, the Inspector-General of Police (Eastern Range).

The official was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed at the Chandipur police station, he said.

The details of the information he shared could be ascertained after a thorough interrogation, said Balasore's Superintendent of Police (SP) Sagarika Nath.

A case has been filed against him under IPC sections 120A and 120B (criminal conspiracy), besides the Official Secrets Act, police said.

He was allegedly sharing sensitive defence-related information with a Pakistani agent for "sexual as well as monetary gratification", they said.

WhatsApp chats and sexually explicit photos and videos were found in his phone, which was seized, they added.

In September 2021, five contractual employees of ITR-Chandipur were arrested in another espionage case.

A contractual employee of ITR-Chandipur was arrested in a similar case in 2015. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021 for sharing information with Pakistan's ISI.
New Delhi: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday (February 25, 2023) arrived in India and said that the two countries already have a "very good" relationship, which he looks to "strengthen" during his two-day visit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Scholz at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, where the German leader was accorded a ceremonial welcome.

"We already have a very good relationship between India and Germany. We hope that we will strengthen this very good relationship and that we will discuss intensely all the topics relevant for the development of our countries and also for the peace in the world," he said upon arrival in Delhi.

#WATCH | We already have good relations b/w Germany and India and I hope that we will strengthen this relationship. I hope we will discuss intensely about all the topics relevant to the development of our countries and also the peace in the world: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pic.twitter.com/IOtWGvuYYJ  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2023

#WATCH | Delhi: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan.



Chancellor Scholz met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers during the event. pic.twitter.com/5xNYxdRNZv  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2023

It is Scholz's first visit to India since he became the German chancellor in December 2021 following Angela Merkel's 16-year tenure at the top post.

Welcome to India!



German Chancellor @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz arrives in New Delhi on a State Visit. This is his first visit to India after assuming office.



Chancellor Scholz was received by MoS @FinMinIndia @mppchaudhary at the airport. pic.twitter.com/7VtIQIsJti  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) February 25, 2023

People familiar with the broad agenda of the Modi-Scholz talks said that the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war are expected to figure prominently during the deliberations.

They also said that the talks will also focus on expanding cooperation in the areas of trade, defence, clean energy, climate change, and new technologies.

The two leaders are also likely to delve into the overall situation in the Indo-Pacific, a region that has witnessed growing Chinese assertiveness in the last few years.

Earlier last year, Modi and Scholz held bilateral talks in the Indonesian resort city of Bali on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

The first meeting between the two leaders had taken place during Modi's visit to Berlin on May 2 last year for the sixth India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC).

It was followed by Modi's visit to the Alpine castle of Schloss Elmau in southern Germany on June 26 and 27 to attend the annual summit of the G7 grouping.

Scholz invited Modi to the G7 summit under the German presidency.

The ties between India and Germany have been on an upswing in a range of key areas in the last few years.
Mumbai: A day after a clash between supporters of the chief of suspected pro-Khalistan outfit 'Waris Punjab De', Amritpal Singh, and Punjab Police erupted in Ajnala, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said that the law and order situation is under control. While addressing a press briefing at the Mumbai residence of former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Matoshree, it appeared Mann was dodging the question on Ajnala violence.

To a question on the Ajnala clash, Mann said, "You have the wrong information. Law and order in Punjab is under control and Punjab Police is capable. Bullets were fired at social bonding in Punjab for 10 years. But people want to live together. Ours is a peaceful state."

#WATCH | When asked about Ajnala incident, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann says, "You have wrong info. Law & order in Punjab under control. Punjab Police is capable. Bullets were fired at social bonding in Punjab for 10 yrs. But people want to live together. Ours is a peaceful state..." pic.twitter.com/DogMwb1H1u  ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2023

"Big industries have started investing there. Earlier MoU used to be inked with a particular family, now MoU is being done with three crore people of Punjab," he added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Friday called on former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at his Mumbai residence.

Earlier on Thursday Punjab Police gave in after suspected pro-Khalistan outfit, Waris Punjab De, chief staged a massive demonstration in Amritsar against the arrest of Singh`s close aide Lovepreet Toofan. The supporters holding swords and guns in their hands broke through police barricades erected outside Ajnala Police Station.

This is Punjab



Tag every Dalaal So Called Journalist who hasnt questioned Arvind Kejriwal & Bhagwant Mann yetpic.twitter.com/8TTQY8H5zq February 24, 2023

Punjab Police, however, after talks with the 'Waris Punjab De' leader and his followers, decided to release Lovepreet Toofan.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Amritsar (Rural), Satinder Singh said, "In the light of the evidence presented before us, it has been decided that Lovepreet Toofan will be discharged. An SIT was constituted to investigate the case (against Toofan)."

"They ('Waris Punjab De' members) have furnished enough evidence to support his (Toofan`s) innocence. The SIT has also taken cognisance of the same. These people have decided to disperse peacefully now. The law will take its course," the SSP said.

Also Read: 'Waris Punjab De' Chief Amritpal Singh's Supporters Break Through Police Barricades With Swords, Guns in Amritsar - Watch

Amritpal Singh said on Thursday, "...FIR was registered with a political motive. If they don't cancel the case in one hour, the administration will be responsible for what happens next. They think we can`t do anything. so this show of strength was necessary."

"False news is being circulated that a police personnel was injured (during the protest). The truth is that he (a police personnel) was injured after a fall. In fact,10-12 of our men were injured (in clashes with the police). We demand that Lovepreet Toofan be released within 24 hours. We won`t even wait 24 hours," warned Amritpal.`Waris Punjab De` was founded by activist Deep Sidhu, who died in a road accident in February last year.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government will inaugurate a tourism circuit dedicated to the Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, famous as Swatantryaveer Savarkar on February 26, marking his 57th death anniversary, officials said here on Saturday. The Savarkar Circuit will comprise of five significant places linked with Savarkar in the state and will be launched at a grand event on Sunday at his birth place Bhagur in Nashik, Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha said. The circuit will take the tourists to Bhagur, the memorial of his brother Ganesh Savarkar in Sangli, his hostel room in Fergusson College in Pune, the Ratnagiri Jail where he was once lodged and the Patit Pawan Temple he built there, and the Savarkar National Memorial in Mumbai.

The announcement came barely days after the ruling alliance Shiv Sena`s Chief and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced that his party would demand the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna posthumously on Swatantryaveer Savarkar.

Also Read: Its Tipu Sultan vs Veer Savarkar: Karnataka BJP Chief on Upcoming Assembly Polls

The government will also develop a Savarkar theme park with a memorial and a museum in one year, and collaborate with tour operators to add the Savarkar circuit in their tour packages, Lodha said.

The archaeological state has already started a revamp of Savarkar`s birthplace, Savarkarwada in Nashik, and will create all tourism related infrastructure and facilities on the circuit.

In recent times, Savarkar has been targeted for his mercy petition to the British government seeking release from the Cellular Jail in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, besides his alleged involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

During the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) march in Maharashtra in November 2022, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had taken potshots at Savarkar which almost created a rift in the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance here.

Lodha said that from February 28, the government will start a sound-and-laser light show at the Gateway of India in Mumbai to commemorate the departure of the last of the British troops after Independence, from here.

He said initially the show will be on weekends and later it would be a daily affair for domestic and international tourists who throng the Gateway of India.

Earlier, on November 26, 2022 - on the occasion of the Constitution Day - the state government had launched an Ambedkar circuit in the state in memory of B. R. Ambedkar, the Chief Architect of the Indian Constitution, covering historical places linked with him in Mumbai, Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nagpur.
New Delhi: The Delhi government's Public Works Department, on Saturday (February 25), demolished religious structures including a mosque and a temple located on a footpath in central Delhi as part of an anti-encroachment drive. The religious structures were built on the footpath as per reports and a court ordered to have them demolished, an official told PTI. A Public Works department official said, "The drive is being carried out to remove religious structures that have been constructed on the footpath. There are court orders on this."

During the raze drive, security personnel was deployed to maintain law and order.

Delhi | A mosque and a temple were demolished in ITO by PWD as part of an anti-encroachment drive on the orders of the High Court, to ensure right of way. pic.twitter.com/ZaBStaSgWS  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2023

As part of anti-encroachment drives across the city, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in February had begun a demolition drive to remove encroachment from its land at Ladha Sarai village in Mehrauli Archaeological Park. This led to widespread protests by residents of the area. The DDA said that the park housed about 55 monuments under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the state archeological department of Delhi.

Residents of the area protested against the DDA raze drive and claimed that they had been living there for decades and now were rendered homeless overnight. The drive was halted by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on February 14. People whose homes were already razed expressed their financial struggle and claimed that rent in surrounding areas had shot up, as per a Moneycontrol report. This, they said, only added to their misery.
New Delhi: Congress MP and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi stated that "her innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo Yatra" on the second day of Congress' 85th plenary in Raipur. While addressing her party members at the 3-day plenary, she said that the Congress' victory in 2004-2009 was a source of great satisfaction to her. She also praised former Prime Minister Dr. Manmoman Singh's leadership to take the country forward. However, she said her political innings may have neared its end with the conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a "turning point for Congress."

"Our victories in 2004&2009 along with the able leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh gave me personal satisfaction but what gratifies me most is that my innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a turning point for Congress," she said.

The BJP-RSS has captured and subverted every single institution in the country.



It has caused economic ruin by favouring a few businessmen.



:- Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji pic.twitter.com/2tfD6t4e2w February 25, 2023

In her address, she also spoke about the ruling BJP and bashed the saffron party for "capturing" and "subverting" every single institution in the country. She said, "This is a challenging time for Congress & the country as a whole. BJP-RSS has captured and subverted every single institution in the country. It has caused economic ruin by favouring a few businessmen."

Similarly, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appealed to his party members to work on aligning with like-minded parties to beat the BJP as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections near. He labelled the BJP as an "anti-people party" and claimed he was willing to make sacrifices to defeat the BJP in future polls as reported by PTI.

Echoing the issues raised by Rahul Gandhi during Bharat Jodo Yatra, Kharge reiterated that the country's constitutional and democratic values are under threat. He also raised the recurring discussion on border incursions by China and territorial disputes.
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Saturday as Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav sought to corner the state government over the killing of a prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA murder case, drawing a sharp retort from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Adityanath alleged that Samajwadi Party not only nurtured criminals, but also made them MLAs and MPs, and said his government will "decimate" (mitti me mila denge) the mafia. Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal, was shot dead outisde his residence here, the police said. Police on Saturday registered an FIR against several people, including former MP Atiq Ahmed. The mafia-turned-politician is currently lodged in a Gujarat jail. Atiq was a SP MP from Phulpur parliamentary constituency (in Prayagraj).

When the House assembled for the chief minister's speech on the Governor's address at 11 am, the SP and Yadav tried to corner the government over Pal's killing. After the house proceedings began, Chief Whip of the Samajwadi Party Manoj Kumar Pandey demanded a discussion on the Prayagraj incident.

Also Read: 'What If Same Happened With Another Religion,' UP CM Yogi Adityanath Slams Samajwadi Party Over Ramcharitmanas Row

Yadav said, "The way in which a witness and a security personnel have been shot dead in Prayagraj, what is the double engine government doing?" He added if they (the injured) had got some treatment, their lives would have been saved.

UP | Government is working on the incident of Prayagraj on the basis of zero-tolerance policy. But the criminal who was involved in the incident, was he not nurtured by Samajwadi Party? Was he not made MP by SP. We'll not spare these mafias: UP CM Yogi Adityanath in Vidhan Sabha pic.twitter.com/Ng6Llt1Uej  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) February 25, 2023

Speaker of UP Legislative Assembly Satish Mahana said no notice has been received for discussion, and it was decided in advance that the Leader of the House (the CM) will speak on the motion of thanks on the Governor's address. The chief minister termed the Prayagraj incident "sad" and said the government has taken cognizance of it.

He said, "I would assure the House that the action which has been taken under the zero tolerance policy, its result will be out soon."

Without taking any names, the UP chief minister said, "Who had nurtured the criminals and the mafia? The mafia whose name is emerging in the Prayagraj incident, is it not true that the Samajwadi Party had made him an MP." "He was a mafia nurtured by the SP. Our government is working to break its back. We will decimate (Mitti me mila denge) them," Adityanath, who spoke for more than two hours in the Assembly, said.

Further attacking the Samajwadi Party, Adityanath said, "They are the mentors of criminals, and they have been doing it continuously. Crime flows in their veins. They have learnt nothing except crime. The entire state knows about this, and today they are giving justification."

"The mafia leader who had perpetrated this act yesterday, is out of Uttar Pradesh, and became MLA and MP because of the assistance of the Samajwadi Party. Is it not true that in 1996, that mafia leader became a MLA from Allahabad West seat. In 2004, these people made him the Lok Sabha MP. Our government will finish them off, he said.

Referring to the address by UP Governor Anandiben Patel, Adityanath said, "People who could not give respect to a woman Governor in the House, how can they give respect to women?" He also took a jibe at the SP whiel referring to SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav "boys commit mistakes" quote.

Pointing out to the state guest house incident in 1995 at Lucknow, Adityanath said their (SP) behaviour had become public during that time. To this, Akhilesh Yadav objected, saying, "Netaji has been honoured by the Centre...They should feel ashamed."

The guest house incident took place when Mayawati had withdrawn support from the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, reducing it to a minority.

According to reports, agitated SP workers cornered Mayawati at a guest house and besides hurling abuses, allegedly cut off the electricity and water supply. As Mayawati found herself surrounded by a mob of angry SP men, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Brahmdutt Dwivedi had come to her her rescue. The House passed the motion of thanks to the Governor's address.
Prayagraj (UP): Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case, was shot dead at his residence here, police said. One of his gunners, who too was hit in the firing, died later at a hospital, they said. Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma told reporters that Umesh Pal was attacked with crude bombs and shot outside his house this evening. Two of his gunners too were injured in the attack.

Both gunners were deployed in Pal's security by the government. One of the gunners, Sandeep Nishad, succumbed at the hospital.

Umesh was prime witness of 2005 murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal

Umesh was the prime witness of the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal. The main accused in the Raju Pal murder is mafia-turned-politician Atique Ahmed, who is currently lodged in a Gujarat Jail.

A severely injured Umesh Pal was rushed to Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital where he succumbed during treatment, police said.

Nishad, critical, was put on a ventilator before he succumbed. The other gunner is being operated upon by doctors, police said.

Sharma said that efforts are being made to identify the attackers on the basis of CCTV footage of the area.

"The incident occurred right outside the house of Umesh Pal. So far it has been confirmed that two bombs were thrown and he was fired at by a small firearm," said Sharma.

A case was registered at the Dhoomanganj Police Station on the complaint of the family members of the victim.

"We have formed eight police teams to investigate every aspect of the incident and arrest those behind the attack," the officer added.
Lucknow: Retorting to the Ramcharitmanas row in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday launched an attack on the Samajwadi party saying what would have happened if religious scriptures of other religions and faith were insulted. Yogi accused the party of attempting to "insult" the Hindu community in India and across the world, and also of manufacturing the controversy during the Global Investors Summit which concluded in Lucknow earlier this month.

'What would happen if the same thing happened with some other religion': Yogi Adityanath

"The moment Global Investors Summit was about to begin, the Samajwadi Party started the Ramcharitmanas row about Tulsi Das ji. Some people tried to tear Ramcharitmanas. What would have happened if the same thing would have happened with some other religion? Does it mean whoever wants to insult Hindus, can do it? You want to insult the entire (Hindu) community," he said during his address in the ongoing budget session.

The Chief Minister read out the lines of the Hindu scripture and explained the meaning of the words.

"Shudra means labour class. Ambedkar ji has also said not to call Dalit community shudra. Your behaviour towards Ambedkar is well known to the world. The names of the organisations under his name were changed. Nari means women. Are you not insulting the Hindus living in India and the world by burning the Ramcharitmanas?" he asked.

Row over Ramcharitmanas

Yogi's remarks came after Samajwadi Party leader Swamy Prasad Maurya's sparked a major controversy as he demanded the deletion of "insulting comments and sarcasm" targeted at particular castes and sects in Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic Ramayana.

Also Read: WATCH: Supporters of Ayodhya Seer Raju Das, Samajwadi Party Leader Swami Prasad Maurya Clash Amid Ramcharitmanas row

Maurya had claimed that in the Ramcharitmanas, which was composed by Tulsidas, there are words hurting the sentiments of the Dalit community. On January 30, Maurya has also taken a jibe at Mahant Raju Das by stating that he could have just cursed him instead of spending Rs 21 lakh to get him killed.

Maurya had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding an amendment and ban on parts of the epic which he claimed are disrespectful to women and Dalits. "For revising/banning some of the objectionable parts of some couplets of Ramcharitmanas in which all women, tribals, Dalits and backward people have to be insulted on a daily basis at the social, and religious level and to give respect to the victim class, a letter has been sent to President and Prime Minister," Maurya had tweeted in Hindi.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaks during a daily news briefing at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie E)

"I think the call on the need to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is particularly important," a UN spokesman said.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's position paper on political settlement of Ukraine crisis represents "an important contribution," a United Nations spokesman said on Friday.

"I think the plan put forward by the Chinese government is an important contribution," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a regular press briefing.

"I think the call on the need to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is particularly important," he added.

China on Friday released a paper stating its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, saying dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis.

China has called for international efforts to create conditions for the resumption of peace talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis. 
Mumbai: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday appealed to the Muslim community in Maharashtra to unite, cast their votes and become leaders. The AIMIM chief while addressing a public meeeting in Mumbra said, "You can't become one just by raising slogans. Unite, cast your votes & become leaders. When talks will be held, you will be able to look them in the eyes."

Owaisi also took a dig at the leaders hailing from the political families of Maharashtra including Uddhav Thackeray. "When NCP's Ajit Pawar, Supriya Sule can become leaders, Uddhav Thackeray can become a leader solely on the virtue of being his father's son, Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis can become leaders, can't Maharashtra's Muslims be like Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde," he said.

The AIMIM chief is in Navi Mumbai, where the national executive meeting of his party is being held.

'State Sponsored Violence': Owaisi On Activities Of 'Cow Vigilantes'

Earlier on Saturday, Asaduddin Owaisi on attacked the Narendra Modi government for going soft on 'gau rakshak' vigilante groups claiming these serve the purpose of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Speaking to reporters in Navi Mumbai, he also said alliances for the upcoming civic polls, as well as Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Maharashtra next year will be decided in due course.

Referring to the killings of two men from Rajasthan in Haryana on February 16, Owaisi said the Modi government had given a long rope to such 'gau rakshaks' (cow protectors).

Nasir and Junaid, both residents of Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, were allegedly abducted by cow vigilantes on February 15 and their bodies were found in a charred car in Loharu in Haryana's Bhiwani the next day.

"This is nothing but state sponsored violence against Muslims. The activities of such groups further the purpose of the BJP. They (BJP) want to create hatred against Muslims," Owaisi said.

An FIR was registered on February 16 at Gopalgarh police station against five people under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) 143 (unlawful assembly), 365 (kidnapping), 367 (grievously hurt after kidnapping) and 368 (wrongfully keeping in confinement) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).

The Modi government can take action against the BBC for an adverse documentary, an apparent reference to Income Tax department searches against the new agency, while such "terror groups" go untouched, Owaisi alleged.
New Delhi: Actor Anupam Kher recently attended the `Global Kashmiri Pandit Conclave` in New Delhi where he spoke at length about the ordeals of Kashmiri Pandits and how his film `The Kashmir Files` highlighted them. He cited the atrocities that were meted out to the Kashmiri Pandits and urged the audience to volunteer in monetarily supporting charities working on the issues centric to the community and even announced an amount of Rs 5 lakhs for the same.

He said, "`The Kashmir Files` showed problems of Kashmiri pandits. We`ve earned a lot. We give charity to foreign organisations that are already doing financially well. Now it`s important to give charity to our own people. I pledge Rs 5 lakhs for them."

The conclave is being organised by the Global Kashmiri Pandit diaspora. It is a two-day-long conclave and Sadhguru is also one of the keynote speakers at the event. Talking about `The Kashmir Files`, the film recently bagged the `Best Film` award at Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards. Anupam Kher also bagged the award for being the `Most Versatile Actor Of The Year` for his role in `The Kashmir Files`.

`The Kashmir Files,` a film on the life of Kashmiri pandits during the 1990 Kashmir insurgency, is based on first-generation video interviews of victims of the Kashmiri massacre, making an account of their pain, suffering, struggle and trauma. Talking about Anupam Kher, on the work front, he will be seen in Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri`s `The Vaccine War`, and Kangana Ranaut`s directorial `Emergency`. He was last seen in `Shiv Shastri Balboa` which hit the theatres earlier this month. The film also stars Neena Gupta, Nargis Fakhri and Sharib Hashmi.
Mumbai: Lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar on Friday said his comments on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks during his recent visit to Pakistan have become "too big" but he had to set the record straight on certain things while he was there. Calling himself as someone who has made remarks that were "slightly controversial and sensitive in nature" in India, Akhtar said he was not scared to speak his mind while in Pakistan.

Akhtar, who was in Pakistan for a festival in memory of celebrated Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz last week, said Pakistanis should not feel offended when India talks about the 2008 terror attack. "It became too big. It's embarrassing for me. Now I think I should not gloat over it. When I came here, I felt like I won World War III. There were so many reactions from people as well as media that I just stopped taking calls. I was embarrassed that 'aisa maine kya teer maar diya'. I had to say these things. Should we keep quiet?" the lyricist said during a session at the ABP Ideas of India 2023 Summit.

The writer-poet said he has now got to know that his comments have caused a stir in Pakistan. "I got to know that people are abusing me there. They are asking, 'why was he given a visa?' Now I will only remember what kind of place it was. I have been saying things that are slightly controversial and sensitive in nature in the country where I was born, I live and where I will die, then what was to fear there? When I don't feel scared here, then why would I fear anything there?"

The lyricist-poet had also spoken about Pakistan not welcoming Indian artistes, the way India welcomed talent from across the border. At the summit, Akhtar said he had to answer that question as it came from the audience. "During a Q&A session in a huge hall... They were asking very friendly and warm questions. It was going nicely but someone asked me if they meet us very nicely but they don't get that warmth from us. There was little room for me to move away without answering, so I did. And in the most polite manner possible. I told them to set their record right," he said. Akhtar said India had hosted ghazal great Mehdi Hasan and even Faiz Ahmed Faiz visited the country during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time.

"We don't have anything against them, but they never hosted Lata Mangeshkar." The writer, however, said "no country is a monolith" and should not be defined by the policies of the government and establishments.

"The fact is that it is very unfortunate that we're unaware that it is a huge segment of Pakistan that wants to have good relations with India, and it is totally understandable. They are seeing a country next door that witnessed so much development, industries, corporates, culture, films, music. So naturally, an average citizen would be curious and would like to come and witness this himself," he said.

He also said that it is not wise to club "every Pakistani with Pakistani army, bigots and its establishments".

"That's not a wise thing to do. We should see to it they get more credibility. When I went, the kind of reception I got from young people and students was unbelievable. If I say all Pakistanis are the same, then it wouldn't be correct," he added.
Los Angeles: Socialite Paris Hilton shared that she had an unsavoury incident with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival when she was only 19 years old. Hilton was at the festival to attend the annual amfAR gala for AIDS research, which Weinstein was hosting that year.

She said she met Weinstein the day before the gala, reports 'Variety'. "I was at lunch with my girlfriend and he came up to the table and was like, 'Oh, you want to be an actress?' And I said, 'Yeah, I really want to be in a movie'," Hilton said.

"I was a teenager, so I was impressed by him. I was like, 'Oh my god, Harvey Weinstein is so cool!' and he said, 'Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts' and I just didn't want to go, so I never went."

Hilton said Weinstein got aggressive with her at the gala the next evening. She said that Weinstein followed her to the ladies bathroom and yelled at her, "Ya wanna be a star?"

"I went into the bathroom and then he followed me," Hilton said. "He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it. And I wouldn't open it, because I was like, 'I'm in a stall, why do you want to come in here?' And I just wouldn't open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like (shouting), 'This is my party'. going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out."

When asked by Glamour UK if she had heard rumours about Weinstein's behaviour before meeting him at Cannes, Hilton replied: "Yeah, and it was just someone so powerful in Hollywood who everyone was terrified of. I didn't even want to say anything about it because I was like, 'I don't want people getting mad at me for saying anything', because it was just a known thing. He was just like that and people were like, 'OK, just turn a blind eye'."

Hilton's interview with Glamour UK published on the same day Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted in Los Angeles on three counts of rape and sexual assault.

The former film producer was already serving a 23-year sentence in New York after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in that jurisdiction in a 2020 criminal trial.

The Los Angeles judge ordered Weinstein to serve his LA sentence consecutively after New York, effectively ensuring he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
New Delhi: A farmer Rajendra Tukaram Chavan from Solapur, Maharashtra received a net Rs 2 as a profit after selling his hard-earned onion crop of 512 kg in Solapur Mandi on February 17, 2023. The trader bought the crop from the farmer at Rs 1 per kg after considering it a low-grade. The amount he received was Rs 2.49 after deduction for carriage, weighing and wages. Hence, his overall net profit was mere Rs 2 for over 512 kg onions. The farmer hailed from Barshi Village in Solapur and travelled almost 17 km to sell his crop in the market.

A Twitter user Ravindra Kumar Adi shared the pity of the farmer along with the pictures of receipt and cheque. Rajendra Tukaram Chavan, a farmer from Barshi Village in Solapur sold 500kg of onions in the market on Feb 17th. After deducting the money for carriage, weighing and wages he got only 2 rupees. The bill and cheque is here, he tweeted on February 24, 2023.

It is clearly mentioned in the receipt that the farmer sold over 512 kg onions to a trader named Surya Trading at the cost of Rs 1 per kg. The receipt dated on February 17, 2023 on the name of Rajendra Tukaram Chavan. After the deductions of money for carriage charges of Rs 15, weighing of Rs 24, and and other charges, he got only Rs 2.49.

The next picture also showed the cheque in the name of the distressed farmer. A Rs 2 cheque was cut for his name.

While Chavan claimed that the produce was of good quality, the trader said it was low-grade.

According to PTI, Chavan Said, "I had sent 10 bags of onions weighing more than five quintals to an onion trader in Solapur for sale. But after deducting charges towards loading, transport, labour and others, I received a net profit of just  2.49 from him."
The Indian Railways is fast moving towards modernization of its railway network, infusing new-gen high-speed and semi-high speed trains like Vande Bharat Express, along with redeveloping the Railway Stations across the country with Airport like design. While Indian Railways runs the one of the largest train networks in the world, it lacked Urban Transport System connecting major towns in the near vicinity, like many of the European Nations. To solve this problem, Indian Railways announced Vande Bharat Metro, which will be based on the Vande Bharat Express, but will run smaller distances of 100 km to connect two major towns within 10 km of each others.

Although the railways is working to introduce this new type of urban commuting soon, Delhi-NCR is ready to launch India's first Urban Rail Network called Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) on Delhi-Meerut route. The project is being executed by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which finalized the 88-km long Delhi Meerut route to be the inaugural run of Rapid Rail in India.

The NCRTC is fast developing infrastruture along the route that will pass through cities like Ghaziabad. The antipicated date of launch of the complete project is 2025, but commuters can enjoy the ride in the modern Alstom-made trains from March 2023 itself. The 17-km Duhai-Sahibabad priority stretch of the country's first Delhi-Meerut RRTS train corridor is expected to get operationalised by late March this year, officials told PTI. The priority stretch has four stations - Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar and Duhai.

Delhi-Meerut RRTS: Speed

According to the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), RRTS trains will have a design speed of 180 kmph and operational speed of 160 kmph. This makes the RRTS fastest operational metro in India, with 3 times more speed than Delhi Metro.

Delhi-Meerut RRTS: Fare

Asked about the fare, an NCRTC official said it is yet to be decided. However, reports suggests the RRTS will charge Rs 2 per km, which means a Delhi-Meerut ticket will cost Rs 170 to passengers.

Delhi-Meerut RRTS: Design

The modern RRTS trains will get 2x2 transverse cushioned seating, wide standing space, luggage racks, CCTV cameras, laptop/mobile charging facility, dynamic route maps, auto control ambient lighting system, WiFi facility, heating ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC), among other amenities.

Delhi-Meerut RRTS: Stations

One official told PTI that lakhs of passengers are expected to commute daily from RRTS stations. To facilitate their travel and ensure easy access to the station, the NCRTC is going to create a dedicated pick-up and drop-off zone at the stations away from the main carriageway.

In addition, there will be pedestrian-friendly paths, lifts, escalators, seating areas and other commuter-centric amenities that will facilitate universal access at the stations. The NCRTC is constructing the entry and exit points of the elevated stations on the RRTS corridor on both sides of busy roads such as the Link Road and the Delhi-Meerut Road.
New Delhi: Apple iPhone lovers are desperately waiting for the upcoming flagship iPhone 15 lineup in 2023, which is expecting to sport USB-C port, instead of its trademark lightning bolt charging port. Now, some leaked images have surfaced on the internet, giving the glimpses of upcoming iPhone 15 with USB-C port. Tech website MacRumours shared the exclusive images of incipient iPhone 15 base model, showing off the USB-C port at the bottom of the iPhone.

The images were also shared on Twitter by a Twitter handle Unknownz21 and said to have an early base model iPhone 15. Nothing major changes will happen in respect to design of the iPhone which is looked-alike iPhone 14. However, the company replaced the lightning bolt port with USB-C.

Who needs half-baked renders when you have the real thing?



Heres an early base model iPhone 15.



(More info exclusively via @MacRumors, for now ) pic.twitter.com/LKPzJ8YwfE  Unknownz21 (@URedditor) February 22, 2023

Last year, in a historic judgment, European Union ordered all tech companies to bring USB-C port in their devices by 2024 in order to give a relief to customers to manage different type of chargers for different devices. However, EU has given relaxation for companies for laptops to comply with the rules by 2026.

The Brazil Court put a massive fine on Apple for selling the iPhones in the country without the charger. In which response, Apple termed it a move toward protection of environment and reduce the pollution in comply with policies.

Apple iPhone 15 and 15 Pro Models in Different Colours

According to the 9to5Mac, it is possible that iPhone 15 lineup will come in dark red, Silver, Gold, and White. Apple's dark red color would presumably be offered for the titanium finish rumored for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
New Delhi: After Microsoft ChatGPT and Google's Bard, Meta is joining the AI chatbot race with its own state-of-the-art foundational large language model designed to help researchers advance their work in the field of artificial intelligence. However, Meta's Large Language Model Meta AI (LLaMA) isn't like ChatGPT-driven Bing at the moment as it can't yet talk to humans but will help researchers.





"Smaller, more performant models such as LLaMA enable others in the research community who don`t have access to large amounts of infrastructure to study these models, further democratising access in this important, fast-changing field," Meta said in a statement. ( Also Read: "Dear SBI User...:" Are You Also Getting This SMS? Check Truth About SBI Fake Message Scam Meta is making LLaMA available at several sizes (7 billion, 13 billion, 33 billion, and 65 billion parameters). Large language models -- natural language processing (NLP) systems with billions of parameters -- have shown new capabilities to generate creative text, solve mathematical theorems, predict protein structures, answer reading comprehension questions, and more. ( Also Read: From SBI to BoB: Here Are 5 Govt Bank FDs Compared-- Check Latest Fixed Deposit Rates For Senior Citizens "They are one of the clearest cases of the substantial potential benefits AI can offer at scale to billions of people," said Meta. Smaller models trained on more tokens- pieces of words- are easier to retrain and fine-tune for specific potential product use cases.Meta has trained LLaMA 65 billion and LLaMA 33 billion on 1.4 trillion tokens. "Our smallest model, LLaMA 7B, is trained on one trillion tokens," said the company. Like other large language models, LLaMA works by taking a sequence of words as input and predicts the next word to recursively generate text."To train our model, we chose a text from the 20 languages with the most speakers, focusing on those with Latin and Cyrillic alphabets," Meta informed. To maintain the integrity and prevent misuse, the company said it is releasing the model under a noncommercial license focused on research use cases at the moment.
Washington: The US is deeply concerned that the loans being given by China to India's immediate neighbourhood -- Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- may be used for coercive leverage, a senior State Department official has said.

"Concerning Chinese loans to countries in India's immediate neighbourhood, we are deeply concerned that loans may be used for coercive leverage," Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, told reporters ahead of the India trip of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The top American diplomat is travelling to New Delhi on a three-day official visit from March 1 to 3.

Lu said that the US is talking countries in the region comprising India to take their own decisions and not feel compelled by any outside partner.

"We are talking to India, talking to countries of the region about how we help countries to make their own decisions and not decisions that might be compelled by any outside partner, including China," Lu said.

Earlier on Friday, Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that the Board of China Development Bank (CDB) has approved a USD 700 million credit facility to the country.

Responding to a question Lu said that there has been a serious conversation between India and the US on the issue of China.

"We have had serious conversations about China, both before the latest scandal over this surveillance balloon but in the aftermath. So, I fully expect those conversations will continue," he said.

Lu, in response to a question, insisted that Quad is not a military alliance.

"The Quad is not, in fact, an organisation that is against any single country or group of countries. The Quad stands for trying to promote activities and values that support the Indo-Pacific, free and open Indo-Pacific, but Indo-Pacific that's prosperous and supports the values that we as these four countries represent," he said.

When asked about India's military relationship with Russia, he said globally Russia is having a really difficult time fulfilling orders for military contracts.

"We see plenty of evidence of that around the world. And if you look at press reporting, I think you can see the Indians are also wondering whether Russia will be able to provide for its defenses," Lu said.

Lu strongly refuted the allegations that India avoids the use of war when it comes to Russia.

"India uses the word 'war' all the time," he asserted.

"You heard Prime Minister Modi say, in August, now is not the era for war. You heard External Affairs Minister Jaishankar say in September, at the UN, that we need this war to end through diplomatic means and along the principles of the UN Charter, reinforcing territorial integrity and sovereignty," he said.

"And then, in November you heard the Indian Defense Minister say the threat to use nuclear weapons by Russia is totally unacceptable and at odds with the basic tenets of humanity. So, I don't particularly see a reluctance to use the word 'war.' I think they use it all the time," Lu said.


Karachi: The intriguing story of how a "shy" teenage Pakistani girl travelled on her own to Bengaluru to meet and marry an Indian man was revealed by her uncle who said she sold her jewelry and borrowed money from friends to buy air tickets to Dubai and onwards to Kathmandu from where she crossed into India. The girl, identified as Iqra Jeevani, was recovered last month from Bengaluru where she was living with a Hindu man, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is now in jail. She was handed over to the Pakistani authorities on Sunday at the Wagah border.

They met online and fell in love and later decided to get married. Following this, she reached Nepal a few months ago and they got married.

Family sources in Pakistan's Sindh province, who didn't want to be named, claimed Iqra had returned home after her father, uncle, and mother went to Lahore to receive her after Indian authorities handed her over to their Pakistani counterparts.

The intriguing story started in September last when Iqra went missing after going to college.

Requests to speak to Iqra were not successful but her father, Sohail Jeewani, said the matter was now closed forever.

"We still don't know how she could muster up the courage to go to India by herself. She has always been a shy girl. We are as mystified as everyone else," he said.

One family source said the family was still to recover from the shock of what took place in the last four months.

Questions still remain over how the 16-year-old Iqra managed to travel from Karachi to Dubai then to Kathmandu and from there to India.

"And she undertook this long and dangerous journey because she had fallen in love with an Indian man who she thought was a Muslim software engineer Sameer Ansari," the family source said.

Ansari in reality was 26-year-old Mulayam Singh Yadav, a security guard in Bengaluru whom Iqra met while playing online Ludo games.

Iqra sold her jewelry and borrowed money from her college friends to buy air tickets to Dubai and onwards to Kathmandu from where Yadav, from Uttar Pradesh, had arranged for her to be brought into Bengaluru via the India-Nepal border where he met her and took her to his home.

Her uncle, Afzal Jeewani, said Iqra went to Dubai and then to Kathmandu as she couldn't obtain a visa for India.

Iqra was only recovered by the Indian police after neighbours in the locality where Yadav took her complained to the police after seeing her offering prayers, he said.

"Some of the neighbours got suspicious when they saw a girl offering namaz in a Hindu's home as she was living there under the Hindu name of Rava," Afzal said.

He also confirmed that Indian police had recovered Iqra soon after the complaint but kept her in a shelter home where she was questioned by police and intelligence people about how she got into India.

Yadav even got an Aadhaar card done for Iqra after changing her name to Rava and later she even applied for an Indian passport.

"But we are thankful to the Pakistan and Indian governments for helping us in recovering her and ending this terrifying chapter for us," Afzal said.

He said the girl has constantly been asking for forgiveness since her return to Pakistan. He claimed that the Indian man had deceived his niece by posing as a Muslim boy when the two met on social media while playing online Ludo games.

The Jeewani family, which has a business in Shahi Bazar in Hyderabad city in the southern Sindh province, said Iqra realised her blunder after reaching Bengaluru and meeting Yadav as she started calling her mother on WhatsApp to inform her about everything.

A senior police official said the family informed them about the call and they got in touch through the required channels with the Pakistan foreign office who then contacted their Indian counterparts to help find and recover the girl.

Dr Fatima Sehgal, a psychiatrist who specialises in addiction and the effects of social media, told PTI that Iqra's case was not a big surprise to her as such is the power of online friendships.

"When someone, especially a girl, comes from a conservative family background and is an introvert he or she is easily enticed into friendships on online platforms and they develop a very strong trust, bond and at times even love with someone they have met online," she said.

Fatima said that when such a girl or boy befriends someone who listens to them, patronises them and expresses love for them they start visualising a film-like future with them.

"That is why it is so necessary for parents these days to learn about the bad effects of social media and use them in their parenting," she added.
Press Release

February 24, 2023 REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP (RCEP: THE WAY FORWARD PRESS BRIEFING) Date : Friday, February 24, 2023 Time : 11:00 a.m. Venue : Centennial Hall A, Manila Hotel Rizal Park, Ermita, Manila ATTENDANCE SENATORS: HON. JUAN MIGUEL "MIGZ" ZUBIRI - Senate President HON. LOREN LEGARDA - Senate President Pro-Tempore GUESTS/RESOURCE PERSONS: Hon. Alfredo E. Pascual - Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Hon. Allan B. Gepty - Assistant Secretary, DTI Hon. Ann Claire C. Cabochan - Assistant Secretary, DTI Moderator Ms. Cely Bueno - DWIZ, Broadcast Media Radio Reporters Mr. Raymund Dadpaas - DZRH, Broadcast Media Radio Reporters Ms. Sherrie Ann Torres - ABS-CBN, Broadcast Media TV Reporters Mr. Wilnard Bacelonia - Philippine News Agency, E-News/Online Media Mr. Paolo Romero - Philippine Star, Print Media Reporters Mr. Marlon Ramos - Philippine Daily Inquirer, Print Media Reporters AT 11:38 A.M., ASSISTANT SECRETARY ANN CLAIRE C. CABOCHAN, THE MODERATOR, CALLED THE PRESS BRIEFING TO ORDER. THE MODERATOR (MS. CABOCHAN). Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Assistant Secretary Allan Gepty, esteemed members of the media, a very good morning. Thank you for joining us for RCEP Way Forward Press Briefing. I am Assistant Secretary Ann Claire Cabochan of the DTI, and I will be your moderator for this event. This morning we will be hearing insights on the benefits of the world's largest free trade deal for the Philippines, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) of which the Senate concurred its ratification last Tuesday, 21st of February, 2023. To recall, in November 2020, ASEAN member states and five of its FTA partners, Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, signed the RCEP agreement. Considered to be the largest FTA in the world in terms of population and trade upon its entry into force, the agreement is seen by many as a renewed commitment of the region to open markets, facilitate trade, and achieve deeper economic cooperation as a way to build back better and stronger from the global and regional economic uncertainty brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The DTI, in cooperation with the offices of the Senate President, Senator Zubiri, and Senate Pro Tempore Legarda is spearheading this briefing as part of our efforts to inform the stakeholders of the FTA that is expected to advance economic integration and play an important role in the post-pandemic recovery of our country and of the region. For today's engagement, we will be hearing messages to be delivered by the DTI secretary, as well as our distinguished co-sponsors of the RCEP. This will be followed by an open forum where participants will be given the opportunity to comment or to raise the questions to the points conveyed by the speakers. So, at this point, it is my honor to call on Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri for his message. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Thank you very much, Asec. Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat, sa Senate reporters. Alam ko ang alam ninyo, magla-lunch tayo pero mas bongga itong lunch na ito because I invited, of course--we invited Secretary Pascual with the DTI, together with Senator Loren Legarda and DTI Assistant Secretary Allan Gepty. And we would like to, of course, focus muna on the discussions on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. And I know, marami pa kayong katanungan dito sa RCEP at mayroon din po tayong kailangang mga liwanagin dahil pagkatapos natin ipasa noong last Tuesday ang RCEP, may mga grupo pa rin, siyempre, bumabatikos dito sa partnership na ito, but--sana po, kaya natin na sagutin ito lahat. So, I will keep the introduction short. Let me just briefly reiterate the most important points about RCEP. We are joining the largest free trade agreement in the world. Ito po ang pinakamalaking free trade agreement sa buong mundo. Talo po iyong North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA. Talo pa po iyong ibang mga trade agreements in other countries. This comprises 30 percent of the world's population; 30 percent of the world's GDP; 30 percent of the world's trade in 15 countries. Iyong sampung bansa ng ASEAN or Association of Southeast Asian Nations and you have China, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. So, talagang napakalaking trade body ito. And sabi nga nila, ito ba ay makakatulong--nakatulong na ba ito sa ibang bansa sa ASEAN? I'm happy to announce that in 2022, when several ASEAN countries have already ratified this measure--for example, Vietnam's exports to RCEP countries reached 108 billion in 2022, 16.4 percent ang pag-akyat, 16 percent increase. Thailand's exports to RCEP countries since they started with RCEP reached 140 billion in 2022, that is a 7.1 percent increase. Iyong Cambodia, lalo na iyong garments industries, they earned $10 billion in just the first three quarters of 2022, that is 20 percent year-on-year growth pagpasok po nila sa RCEP. Kaya sinasabi ko nga, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, hindi ba? Sabi nila, may mga studies pero ito na, ito na ang pinakamagandang study which is, basically, the outcomes of these countries. And also, if we join RCEP, we are looking at possibility of 2 percent increase in GDP. Pag talagang ginamitan natin itong mga advantages ng RCEP, kaya pa nating umakyat ng 2 percent increase in GDP. At ito siguro ang pinakamaganda, within eight years, by 2031, as studied by Dr. Cesar Curaraton, is that we will have about an additional 1.4 million jobs by 2031. That is 308,000 jobs in agriculture; 77,000 jobs in industries; and 991,000 in services. Ganoon kadami ang aming expectations sa pag-approve nitong measure na ito. On the agricultural concerns, kasi, marami ngang bumabatikos sa atin na, "Bakit naman natin nai-rush ito? Kawawa naman ang agrikultura," nakikita naman namin ni Senator Loren Legarda, my Senate President Pro Tempore, that number one, hindi kasama ang major agricultural products dito sa RCEP na ito. Ang ibig ko pong sabihin, as is. Status quo ang tariff rates ng mga agricultural products katulad ng mais, palay, bigas, rice, corn, iyong grains, fruits and vegetables - walang maiiba. Pati iyong karne ng baboy, ng manok at baka, walang maiiba sa taripa nito. So, whether we join RCEP or not, it is the status quo. So, definitely, joining RCEP will be an advantage to many other industries that need the export markets. Kaya napakaganda at napakahalaga nito for the garments industry ng Pilipinas; furniture industry ng Pilipinas; manufacturing industries ng Pilipinas; iyong paggawa po ng tuna; paggawa po ng sardinas; paggawa po ng canned fruits, puree, and the like; fruit cocktails and the like, para makapasok po sa mga panibagong markets katulad ng New Zealand at Australia, and of course, in China, and Korea as well as ASEAN countries, and of course, in Japan. So, I would like to reiterate, all our major agricultural products are excluded from tariff liberalization. Pero, kahit papaano, gumawa po kami ng hakbang at hindi ko na babanggitin iyon. I will leave it to Senator Loren Legarda because she was leading the special technical working group (TWG) kasama ng stakeholders. Iyong nailagay po namin dito sa Resolution na ito, which are the guidelines--Ito po iyong guidelines. Ito po iyong tinatawag nating instructions to government agencies ay galing po sa mga stakeholders, and I will allow Senator Loren Legarda to discuss this further. I also want to congratulate her because we also are setting up a special oversight committee which she will be heading. Because, also, she believes in putting our money where her mouth is, basically, iyong sinabi niya, "We will oversee this all," iyan ang mangyayari. And mayroon ding isang--well, Mr. Ordonez came out with an article the other day. Ang sabi niya, nagpapasalamat siya dahil nailagay itong mga guidelines dito--Ernie Ordonez, you know, is one of the oppositors. Pero may kakulangan pa, dahil ang pangako daw ni Senator Zubiri, we will come up with a multi-stakeholder advisory board. Ang sagot ko po diyan, let us elect first the Special Oversight Committee on Monday. Once we elect the Special Oversight Committee on Monday, the head of the Special Oversight Committee now will come up with her--sorry, we did it na pala, tapos na pala. Wednesday, we elected the Special Oversight Committee which the Senate President Pro Tempore is in charge, the chairperson. She will now come up with her advisory board. So, iyan na. At least, pati iyong mga oppositors, kasama na sa advisory report. So, with all that, now it is in the hands of government on how we can make this work. Kamay na ng Executive iyan. Wala na po sa aming kamay. Nagpapasalamat po ako sa dalawampu na senador na sumama sa amin sa pag-ratify nito. We also thank, of course, the opinions of Senator Risa Hontiveros who said "No," as well as Senator Imee Marcos who abstained. We respect each and every position of each and every member of the Senate. But I would like to make special mention to the 20 that stood fast and looked at the totality, in totality of how this can help our country move forward. Hindi po tayo puwedeng maging isolationist. Ibig ko pong sabihin, parang North Korea. Hindi po tayo puwedeng parang North Korea sa ASEAN. We have to join the largest trading group to avail of all the benefits for our people. And I stand by my vote, I stand by my position that this will be able to be a springboard for our country as a major trading hub in the region. So, maraming salamat. Asec, thank you. Thank you again to my dear Senate President Pro-Tempore, Senator Legarda; Allan, our chief negotiator and DTI Assistant Secretary; and, of course, our very dear secretary, Secretary Pascual, for the support. Day one, hindi po siya absent; nandoon po siya sa deliberations nito. Again, maraming salamat po. Pleasant good morning to all. THE MODERATOR. Thank you, Senate President Zubiri. And now we kindly call on Senate President Pro-Tempore Loren Legarda for her message. SEN. LEGARDA. Thank you very much. The Senate President has said it very briefly and comprehensively. First of all, I would like to thank you, Senate President Migz Zubiri, for giving me the challenge to head the subcommittee. When no one else wanted to do it, I heard my name being called in plenary. I don't think they even asked me. In short, si Majority Leader designated--they volunteered me when I was in the comfort room, and I heard my name being called. And I said, "What is that?" "You are chairing the subcommittee on foreign relations for RCEP." I said, "Why?" He said, "You are designated. That is your leadership role." "Okay." So, I take on the responsibility. And right away, I approached the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, I said, "Tell me, what is wrong with RCEP?" And I was assured, there is nothing wrong with RCEP. It is the agriculture sectors neglect and the smuggling and many other issues in the trade deficit, but not RCEP itself. I went to the other former Chair of Foreign Relations who defended it for one year. I said to Sen Koko, "What is wrong with RCEP?" He said that, essentially, there is nothing wrong with RCEP; it is the smuggling and the lack of support in the agriculture sector. So, thank you for giving me the challenge. But thank you all the more for the support that you and the leadership and our colleagues had given me. You are correct, the RCEP is the biggest trade agreement the world has ever seen to date. As the Senate President mentioned, that is one third--29 percent of all our trade around the world; 29 percent of the global population; 29 percent of global GDP. Now, let us go to the bottomline. Ano ba ang magagawa ng RCEP para sa atin? According to studies conducted--and one is by Dr. Cororaton--by 2031, there will be an increase in GDP, real GDP, by almost 2 percent--1.93 percent. Hindi natin matatawaran ang 2 percent na pag-akyat ng gross domestic product and reduction, pagbaba ng consumer price index, by almost point five (.5) percent--0.48 percent; and increase in factor prices for skilled wages by 1.61 percent; increase in 1.47 percent for unskilled wages; increase in factor prices for returns and capital by 1.45 percent, and land rent(?) by 0.74 percent. Ano ba ang ibig sabihin...? There is projected--I hope it comes true--and this is the collaborative effort, not of the legislature but of the executive departments - DA, DTI, NEDA, Customs, DOF, everyone. There will be a reduction in poverty incidence. Bababa, hopefully, ang paghihirap by 3.62 percent; reduction in poverty gap by 3.49 percent; reduction in poverty severity by 3.82 percent. Babantayan natin. Kaya salamat kay Senate President Zubiri at napaunlakan niya ang ating mungkahi na magtatag, hindi lamang ng oversight committee kung saan kasama ang liderato at ang mga mahahalagang Chair ng Komite, kundi na rin ang isang resolusyon na nagpapaloob ng lahat ng hinihingi ng sektor na umaangal. Saan ka nakakita po ng ganoon sa kasaysayan ng Senado, na lahat ng hinihingi ng mga sektor na hindi raw nakonsulta sa nakaraang sampung taon sa negosasyon sa tatlong administrasyon o dalawang nakaraang administrasyon ay isinama po natin sa almost 15-page concurring resolution? Another study said that there will be a 10.47 increase in exports and 2.02 increase nga in real GDP. You know, this agreement is so complicated. It has 510 pages. Honestly, I endeavored--I tried to read all, but I could not read all the annexes of 14,000 pages, the language on international trade. I know the media asked me when I arrived, baka daw--joking ha--dudugo ang ilong nila sa pag-recitation. Hindi ko po kayo tatanungin sa 14,000 annexes. Puwede ninyong tanungin si Asec Gepty. But levity aside, that's how complicated it is, but we tried to simplify it by citing the benefits. It is true that agriculture in the Philippines has suffered for decades. Tanggap namin iyan. Farmer ito eh, si Senate President. At saka doon nanggagaling ang pineapple and many products. Ako naman ay weekend farmer ng gulay, so alam natin kung gaanong kahirap ito. So, alam natin na maraming dapat gawin because of decades of neglect, mismanagement, and even corruption. So, government must set up safety nets and budgets to make us competitive. But the trade deficits have remained, and the agriculture sector remained stagnant. So, we cannot allow those who produce our food on our table to be neglected and have no food. So, it is their sentiment that they carry on their objections to RCEP, and that is also the reason why we included the recommendations in our resolution, which I hope, by now, we have given you a copy. So, the tariff line, as the Senate President mentioned, are 15 products--one-five. There are 33 agricultural tariff lines and 15 products. ...na po natin, siniyasat natin, in-assure tayo ng DTI at DA na iyong sensitibong mga produkto na kinatatakutan ng ating mga magsasaka, mangingisda, MSMEs--bakit po naman tayo papayag po na maaapektuhan sa masamang paraan ang MSMEs? Tayo po ang nag-author niyan noong 2007. So, we will not allow that to happen. So, I have a very long 10-page opening statement. I would just give you a copy so you can see the passion we put into this. But what is important is that we know the benefits of RCEP. And just maybe an example of a foreign trade agreement that you will recall was very recent. You were all covering the Senate on my last term--on the third term, where we sponsored the FTA with the non-EU countries, namely: Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. At the time that we sponsored it with a unanimous concurrence of senators, there was a trade deficit between the four FTA, non-EU countries and the Philippines. Ang ibig sabihin ng trade deficit ay iyong balance of trade ay hindi pabor sa atin. Pero noong tinanong ko sa briefing bago tanggapin iyong mungkahi na ako ay mag-head ng subcommittee, sinabi sa akin ng DTI, in less than four years, even considering the three-year pandemic, the balance of trade turned in favor of the Philippines, especially, because Switzerland, one of the four FTA countries, continues to import electric fans and vacuum cleaners from the Philippines made in Laguna on the Dyson brand, which is a UK brand which located in the Philippines So, how micromanage ba o paano ang magandang example ng isang trade agreement na kabenepisyo sa ating manufacturing sector? And so if a small FTA, like EFTA, during pandemic had favorably balanced the trade in our favor, what more the biggest trade deal in the world? So, I hope that EFTA is a good example and the biggest trade deal will go the same way. But we cannot do it alone. The DTI has to do its work. When they say--when the oppositors say that it will affect the trade deficit, alam ninyo, panahon namin, tumanda na kami sa paglilingkod, the trade deficit has always been there. The trade deficit has been there since the '70s, right? It has been creeping in '60s and '70s. So, we cannot say that it is RCEP which will cause the trade deficit or previous trade agreements. Dapat gumalaw nang maliksi ang DA at ang DTI at lahat ng ahensiya ng gobyerno. Ang ASEAN po, nagratipika na lahat. Imagine, kung hindi po sumali ang Pilipinas? Tayo lang po--kagaya ng sinabi ni Senate President, we cannot be isolationist--ang hindi magpapababa ng taripa pagpasok ng ating mga produkto sa mga bansa na hindi ASEAN, pero kasama sa RCEP, gaya ng bansang Hapon. I made it an example and I will say it again. Iyong mga nagtatanim ng cacao sa Pilipinas na gustong mag-export ng tsokolate--at marami niyan sa Mindanao, masasarap na Philippine chocolates, I think it is an emerging industry--pagpasok sa Japan, pinapatawan ng, ilan--ilang porsiyentong taripa pagpasok sa Japan ng chocolate?--23.8, almost 24 percent. But neighboring country, Indonesia, which ratified RCEP, dahil nagratipika, ibababa ng bansang Hapon sa Indonesia sa kanilang tsokolate galing sa cacao farmers dahil sila ay RCEP. Ano ang bibilhin ng mga hapon? Iyong 24 percent cheaper tsokolate from Indonesia or iyong mas mahal na tsokolateng galing Pilipinas? Again, I am simplifying by setting examples of how our non-ratification of RCEP would have impacted on just one small sector. Of course, that is not all there is to it. And so, having said that, we are justifying and giving you the rationale why the Senate concurred by a majority, big majority vote of 20 votes. And this started, not in this administration--2012. Noong 2012, nagdesisyon ang mga ASEAN ministers at mga pamahalaan na pumasok sa RCEP. Sampung taon nagnegosasyon at ang chief negotiator ang siyang naging briefer, nag-brief sa amin ni Senate President noon. At sampung taon niyang pinaghirapan at talagang tinanggal iyong mga sensitibong produkto. Nilagdaan iyan ng Pangulong Duterte administration after many years of the Aquino administration negotiations. Hindi naipasa dahil sa kakulangan sa panahon at maraming katanungan, para bigyan naman ng pansin ang mga nag-o-oppose. Dininggin ko po. Una, kinalap ko lahat ng materyales mula kay Senator Pimentel at Senator Marcos at binasa ko at ng tanggapan ko at lahat ng staff, ang gagaling, ni OSP ay tumulong sa akin. Salamat sa kanyang magagaling ng mga abogado rin na staff. And so, in two weeks, halos wala kaming tulog, nagbabasa. From two former senators who chaired it and from the DTI and DA--information overload nga. And then, we finished it in record time in two weeks. Hindi po natin minadali dahil sampung taon na nga--no, 11 years. since 2012, and negotiations were very detailed. Hindi pa rin kami kontento diyan kaya nga naglagay po ng resolution. And this resolution is a manifestation of the opposition of sectors. It is also a guideline and recommendation for the agencies of government to comply. We are happy that the Ways and Means chair and the chair of Finance will be a member so that even in the crafting of the NEP of every agency--please, Sec Pascual, and whoever in charge of doing the NEP of DA--must take into consideration the protection, safety nets, and support we need to give our MSMEs and our agriculture sector. Having said that, I am grateful to the media for helping the Senate explain to the Filipino people that we are with you in this together. Thank you. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. [Off-mike] Thank you. THE MODERATOR. Thank you, Senate Pro Tempore Legarda. And now, I would like to give the floor to DTI Secretary, Alfredo Pascual. MR. PASCUAL. Thank you. Let me greet, of course, our Senate President Migz Zubiri and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda. Colleagues from DTI, members of the media, good morning to all. In my business meetings during presidential visits to our partner countries, I had invariably been asked by prospective foreign investors as to when the Philippines would ratify RCEP. Several of these investors were looking at the Philippines as a production hub from which they will export to other countries around us, particularly to countries that were already members of RCEP. As you know, DTI is the government department mandated to facilitate trade industry and investments in our country. Thus, as DTI secretary, I have taken the responsibility to strongly push for RCEP's ratification in the executive branch. Happily, in a cabinet meeting last October 2022, a decision was reached to formerly request the Senate's concurrence with the ratification of RCEP. Fast forward, we are here now. We got the Senate's ratification last Tuesday and we are now discussing with you our way forward. Let me thank, again, Senate President Migz Zubiri and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda for carrying on with the Senate's ratification of RCEP. Given the challenges and issues we have faced, we also commend their leadership in explaining RCEP to the Senate and in shepherding its ratification. On DTI's part, of course, our chief negotiator, Asec Allan Gepty, provided technical support and inputs in the Senate RCEP's deliberation. Last Tuesday, the favorable action by the Senate was a clear demonstration of the value of close collaboration and cooperation between the executive and legislative branches of the government in expediting action which are important in boosting the country's economic development and growth. We take note of the innovative approach adopted by the RCEP sponsors in the Senate. The idea of creating an oversight committee to monitor the implementation of RCEP, which is a very much welcome move. We welcome this development and see it as a signal to further intensify our efforts to support and assist our many local stakeholders, particularly, as mentioned, the agricultural sector and the MSMEs. We are also thankful to those groups and sectors who submitted opposing views on RCEP as they gave us a good understanding of issues that have to be addressed. We will continue to engage with them and work towards the betterment of our country. The concurrence of the Senate on this important trade deal comes at a time when our President has been diligently promoting the country as a prime investment destination in the region. He supports our message that the Philippines is open for business and that we are able to provide a conducive and enabling environment for investments. RCEP is also critical in attracting more investments in the country, investments that will spur our country's industrialization which in turn will create more sustainable and high-paying jobs for our people. RCEP is aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s directive to bring in more investments into the country to further spur economic growth to generate the jobs that I referred to earlier and bring shared prosperity to all. At the regional front, RCEP aims at maintaining ASEAN centrality within the broader region. It is not just a simple trade agreement providing enhanced market access and a stable regulatory framework. RCEP is a strategic tool in ensuring the region's continued economic advantage globally and will help maintain a balance of power within the region. On this note, the Philippines must make its mark in the region where we are a part of. Let me just highlight some benefits to add to what we've heard already of what the RCEP agreement will bring about. RCEP promotes economic efficiency of member states including the Philippines. So, with the competition to be brought about by RCEP, we are looking forward, and with our support in making our companies in the Philippines more productive and more competitive. RCEP strengthens linkages in sectors such as manufacturing technology on agriculture. This is in line with our industrialization strategy which is to integrate investment trade and industry. RCEP reinforces MSMEs participation in the global value chain network. Through improved market access for goods and services, as well as stable and predictable rules, RCEP provides a platform to encourage more investment in the country. RCEP provides a framework of rules and disciplines to ensure regulatory consistency, create a conducive environment that is key to ensuring the confidence of the business sector and investors, and spur further economic growth. Note, however, that these advantages that we have been referring to are anchored on how we utilize the RCEP agreement on how we get our companies in the Philippines make full use of the advantages offered by RCEP. As we move forward, the Department will have to work closely with other agencies in the government such as the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Customs, National Economic Development Authority, the Department of Finance, and, of course, our private sector partners as has already been pointed out by Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda. On this endeavor, we call on the support of media and help us in furthering our advocacy for the development of our country. Thank you. THE MODERATOR. So, thank you, Secretary Pascual. And, again, thank you to Senate President Zubiri and Senate President Pro Tempore Legarda for your messages. Indeed, the RCEP presents an important opportunity for our businesses due to the improved regional trade rules and more resilient supply chain connectivity. It similarly provides benefits to Philippine consumers as they stand to gain from a lower cost and access to a wider array of goods and services. We hope this forum will serve as a platform for participants to have a clear understanding of what RCEP is and what it can provide. So, now, we go to the open forum. I would just like to request for anybody who would like to ask any questions, to approach any of the two microphones and state your name and the company you represent. Yes, please. MS. BUENO. Cely Bueno from DWIZ. After the ratification of RCEP, when can we expect to feel and enjoy benefits of joining the RCEP? MR. PASCUAL. I will just talk about the technicalities between the time the ratification was made and the time we submit our instrument of ratification to the ASEAN secretariat, we will have to do the necessary paperwork. So, that will take about 30 days. Then, after the date of lodgment of our certificate or instrument of ratification, we will count 60 days before the effectivity of our membership in RCEP. So, from then, it is already open for full use of our investors, of our companies, so that they can take advantage of the provisions of RCEP. MS. BUENO. Sir, since were in the period of recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, so iyong pag-join natin sa RCEP mas mapapabilis po ba iyong economic recovery? MR. PASCUAL. Surely, mapapabilis. Because the way to recover is to stimulate investment in our country, so new businesses can be established and new businesses will create the jobs that were lost during the pandemic. And also, strengthen--create the possibility of strengthening our MSMEs that will act as suppliers, you know, to the bigger businesses to be established here. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Just to add, Ate Cely. Nakita naman natin iyong experience ng Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, immediately after they entered the partnership, talagang gumanda ang kanilang export industry. So, depende din sa ating mga exporters iyan at manufacturers. Kailangan mabilis din sila gumalaw to take advantage of this partnership agreement. But, for example, ang sinabi ni Secretary, iyong foreign direct investment alone, pag hindi po tayo sumali sa RCEP, hindi po tayo papansinin. Kasi kung may Amerikanong grupo na gustong pumunta dito, may taga-Europe na gustong pumunta dito para mag set up ng isang factory para mag-export ng mga gamit sa ASEAN and these other free trade areas like South Korea, China, New Zealand, Japan, and Australia, siyempre, doon sila sa bansa na kasama sa RCEP. I will give you an example. I brought to the office last week iyong grupo and we recognized them in the plenary, as a matter of fact, we had lunch with them. Si Phil Aldridge of EVT Vehicles, electric vehicles. The biggest American producer of electric vehicles in the United States for public utilities, iyong mga para sa school bus, para sa mga truckers, they are looking at relocating to the Philippines. Pero tinawagan nga niya ako last week, after he left and asked are we part of RCEP. Because if we are part of RCEP, it makes it easier for him na makabenta po sa 15 countries or 14 countries at that time. And I said to him, "I guarantee you, by next week, we will be able to ratify it." So, na-excite po siya. He is coming back in three weeks' time with a bigger delegation to close the deal sa Clark. Galing po siya ng Clark. So, ibig sabihin, magkakaroon talaga tayo ng mas maraming foreign direct investments. That is the--how do you say it--that is the immediate effect. That is the consequence of our ratification. Magkakaroon talaga ng mas maraming locators, pupunta dito, who should bring in jobs. Which will have a domino effect kasi, siyempre, iyong EVT, iyong grupo nila is the biggest manufacturer of electric vehicles. They are also looking at now, manufacturing the batteries in the Philippines kasi iyong kinukunan nila ng battery is Taiwan. So, they said to be able to avail of RCEP, they asked the Taiwanese partners to move to Clark to build now the batteries in Clark and get these raw materials from the Filipinos. Kasi iyong nickel and the chromite, and mga nickel ore na dinadala pa sa China o sa Taiwan para gawin ang battery doon, dito na nila gagawin. So, it opens up a whole new level of trade and commerce in the Philippines. Kaya ako, excited na excited. Kasi kung hindi po tayo sumali diyan, hindi tayo papansinin. He was going to move to Johor, Malaysia. Ilalagay daw niya dapat iyong head office niya sa Singapore, manufactured in Johor, which is one hour away from Singapore, and then ship all over this region. Eh ngayon na napasok tayo sa RCEP, they have committed to put up the plant here in Central Luzon. Kaya ang ganda, ang ganda ng benefits. Thank you. MS. BUENO. Last na lang. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Opo. MR. PASCUAL. Puwede ba akong magbigay ng isa pang example on a smaller scale? Halimbawa, iyong garments making natin, hindi ba, nawala, nawawala na sa Pilipinas iyon. Nawawala iyon kasi nga wala tayong textile mills who supply the fabrics needed. At pag mag-e-export ka sa Japan, kailangan mo 40 percent local content to avail of iyong benefits ng tariff reduction, hindi natin ma-meet iyon. Now, with RCEP, we can buy the raw materials from China, for example, do the garments making work here. Kahit na ang domestic content less than 40 percent, we can export to Japan, to South Korea, and avail of the preferential tariff, and we will be competitive. So, hopefully, pwede nating ma-revive iyong mga industries na nawala dati because wala tayong full supply ng raw materials. SEN. LEGARDA. I would like to give one quotation from the Asian Development Bank, and I quote, "The signing of the RCEP among 15 members provides a crucial momentum to redouble their strong commitment to pursuing free trade and expanding open and inclusive trade and investment regimes to enhance economic recovery beyond the COVID-19 pandemic." So, maganda po ang timing na sa pag-ahon natin mula sa pandemya ay mayroon tayong bagong merkado ng ating mga produkto na sana sa pagpasok sa mga bansang iyon ay magbigay ng pagkakataon sa maliliit na negosyante dito pati na rin sa sektor pang-agrikultura, na bumaba ang mga taripa sa pagpasok sa mga ekonomiya ng bansang Hapon, Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand. At kung hindi tayo pumasok, paano na lang ang ating competition sa ibang ASEAN countries kung ang pagpasok ng produkto nila sa malalaking RCEP economies ay ibaba ang taripa sa mga bansang malalaki at tayo, mataas pa rin dahil hindi tayo kasali sa trade deal? Thank you. MS. BUENO. Ma'am, last na lang. Are we ready na ba? Iyong mga iba't ibang sector, ready na ba na makipag-compete? Alam na ba nila kung paano nila ia-avail itong benefits ng pag-join natin sa RCEP? Kasi, ang impression nga parang minadali. In one week's time-- THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Actually, ngayong umaga lang, nabasa ko sa Manila Bulletin at sa Manila Times, iyong statement ni Joey Concepcion ng Go Negosyo, "The MSMEs are going to hit the ground running." Handa sila, excited sila. Nagpapasalamat sa Senado sa pagratipika. I think we are more than ready kasi kung sluggish tayo ay walang mangyayari sa ating ekonomiya. They have to take this opportunity na--jump into the bandwagon, jump into the momentum, and let's do trade. So, I think the next best thing for the DTI to do is come up with trades shows, of course, market our goods now to the different countries; iyong road show with the businessmen, umpisahan na natin iyan para, at least, maumpisahan na rin ang trade of goods and services to these countries. MR. PASCUAL. Mayroon tayong malaking event na darating sa March 3, SP. We have invited the diplomatic corps--SITEM ang nag-o-organize nito. And this will already communicate the fact, you know, that we are ready, and we have the businesses that will make full use of the benefits of RCEP. Isa pang dapat nating tingnan, for the past couple of years, there have been economic reforms or regulatory reforms that had been done. We amended the Public Service Act; we amended the Foreign Retail Liberalization Act; we amended the Retail Act and Foreign Investment Act, and we passed the CREATE law. These were all meant to attract foreign investments. And then, we amended the IRR of the Renewable Energy Act to allow 100 percent foreign ownership of renewables like wind, solar and tidal. Kapag hindi tayo sumali sa RCEP, parang it is a reversal of what we wanted the world to see, you know--that we are open for business. We have done everything that is needed to attract them and then, magiging--run counter our signal if we are not able to get RCEP ratification, like what we did last Tuesday. It will nullify all the things we have said, you know, that we are open for business and that we have prepared the ground work; we have amended a number of laws; we have harmonized the incentives available to investors. Tapos, bigla, hindi pala tayo sasama sa RCEP. Parang mababalewala lahat noong mga preparatory work na nangyari during the past couple of years. SEN. LEGARDA. Gusto ko rin banggitin kung bakit ko tinanggap ang assignment na ito mula kay Senate President Zubiri, at kung bakit ako sumang-ayon, dahil ito lang, ang tingin ko, ang free trade agreement na nagre-reaffirm. Binibigyan ng halaga ng mga parties iyong karapatan nila at kanilang obligasyon sa convention on biodiversity. It is Article--is it 17 point 10 (17.10). Kung titingnan ninyo--maybe I can send you that, nagbibigay ng halaga, ha, sa convention on biodiversity. This convention na, ano na iyan, existing--yes, but it gives importance. So, it even specifies it. So, that helps. THE MODERATOR. So, thank you. And now, may we recognize Paolo Romero of the Philippine Star. MR. ROMERO. For Secretary Pascual, and for Senate President Zubiri, and for Senator Loren, ma'am, if you want to comment. You have a long list--the Senate passed a resolution yata--it is a long to-do list, and for Secretary Pascual, how soon can you actually implement this--at least, the one in your shop, as listed by the Senate? And then, ma'am and Senator Zubiri, is there already existing budgets--I mean, the budget for 2023 has already been approved, but there is enough fund for this, at least for a couple of years, to implement what you have listed in these long guidelines. Thank you, ma'am. MR. PASCUAL. Iyong mga nire-require sa amin dito, sa DTI, ginagawa lang namin iyon. Of course, i-intensify pa with further support. Sa budget ngayon, mayroon na kaming funding for--ito, formulation of exports and investment program. Tinutulungan na namin iyong mga exporters, i-intensify lang natin ito, okay? I cannot speak for the Department of Agriculture na may mga requirements din sa kanila na ini-expect na mangyayari or gagawin under this Senate Resolution. Kami, sa DTI, ginagawa na namin. Ang question lang, kapag nakakuha kami--kapag madadagdagan iyong budget namin, say, in 2024, we will further intensify all these efforts to support export and investment development, industry development, MSME development--iyan ang mga ginagawa namin; consumer protection, kasama rin iyan. Making sure that iyong mga products that will come from these--kasi, iyong mga investors na iyan, tatatargetin (target) nila iyong domestic market. So, babantayan din natin whether they are observing quality standards for products that are being sold to the domestic market. MR. ROMERO. Senator Zubiri, ma'am, there is a budget already for this, ma'am? THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Yes. Let me just read, for the record. Ito iyong pinasa ko kanina kay Secretary kasi. The secretary naman has not memorized the budgets of all these programs of theirs. But iyong Export Investments Development Program, we have 773 million for this year; Industry Development Program, we have 529 million for this year; iyong MSME Development Program, we have 736 million; the Consumer Protection Program with 443 million; the Consumer Education Advocacy Program of 82 million. They have locally funded projects, as well as iyong OTOP program; Go Negosyo Centers/Establishments is about half a billion. But it is not enough. We have agreed, together with Senator Angara and Senator Loren Legarda, dagdagan namin iyong pondo nila sa shared service facilities. Kaunti lang po iyong nailagay doon. And we are going to make sure that in 2024, we guarantee it, secretary, that we will be doubling or even tripling the funds for the shared service facilities. Ito po iyong program ng DTI which gives mga equipment--modernizing equipment of cooperatives, farmers' groups, iyong mga MSMEs. For example, they want to come up with the coffee production--iyong coffee, from beans, to coffee powder. They have a machine that can avail of that for the shared service facilities. For example, from cassava chips to actual--parang cassava powder. They also give those machines out. So, kaya napakahalaga nitong Shared Service Facilities Program. They also have iyong napakagandang bangko nila, which is the SB Corp, Small Business Corporation. Iyan iyong sagot sa five-six, para hindi na po kailangang mag-five-six sila. So, dadagdagan din namin ang pondo niyan para mabuhay po itong MSMEs, and we can now start making them globally competitive. 'Ika nga, kung ngayon, nagbebenta lang sila sa Malabon, nagbebenta lang sila sa Navotas ng mga isda na produkto, with this new Shared Service Facilities and the training that is being given by the DTI, they can now package it well, vacuum-packaged, or packaged really well, and export na to Thailand, to Malaysia, to Indonesia. So, it is exciting time. Sabi nga namin ni Secretary, these are exciting times. SEN. LEGARDA. Thank you. I am a firm believer. And some of the programs of the DTI--in fact, in my previous term, when I was Chair of the Finance Committee, I saw that the DTI shared services facilities' budget was 50 million. The DTI who were there in the previous term know that we increased it, the Senate, to one billion. And, I think, it should be much more than that. As Senate President mentioned, the shared services facilities are targeted to local communities that have existing businesses but need assistance in terms of equipment and tools. And this is everywhere. And you will recall that before 2007, it was small and medium enterprises. But the Congress, at that time--and we authored the MSME Law--to include the microenterprises. I am sure in Bukidnon, all of those are benefiting. And ang daming pangangailangan. An example: I was so happy during the pandemic that there was a group of women in Quezon City that had been a recipient of the DTI shared services facilities na sewing machines. I saw it on social media when I was on Zoom in lockdown, in a small NGO, by a lady named Maica Teves(?) said, "Senator, ito po iyong batas ninyo. Ito po iyong hiningi ng kababaihan. Nagbago na po ang tinatahi nila. Ngayon, PPE." So, noong nabuhay sila, iyong maliit na kababaihan na grupong iyon sa Quezon City noong panahon ng pandemya na nag-innovate, gumawa ng PPE. Isa lang iyan sa SSF. Sa Antique, ito po ang ginawa kong tulay para pag-ahon mula sa pandemya, mula sa brick-making facility, hanggang sa pottery making, hanggang sa mga chips, iba-iba. Ngayon, sasabihin ko lang iyong totoo sa SSF. Kailangan ang DTI, inaaral pati ang equipment. Kasi minsan, ayaw noong komunidad. Baka hindi sapat ang konsultasyon ay nabibigay iyong equipment, tengga lang, or sayang. Pati iyong quality ng pag-procure noong equipment, baka hindi magandang klase. So, hindi ito magic pill, itong RCEP. Hindi rin magic pill iyong mga program ng gobyerno, bagama't magandang tingnan sa computer, magandang sabihin ng senador, sa pag-implement sa baba. Dahil kami ay mga naging congressman, alam namin iyong lokal, maraming pagkakamali at maraming dapat ituwid. Hindi lang ang DTI, pati ang DA, lalo na, at may iba pang ahensiya ng gobyerno. Gaya ng DOST, science and technology, mayroon silang community empowerment through science and technology. So, we are not limiting it to these two agencies of government--all agencies, especially, those who are part of the Innovation Council. Remember, there is a 2019 law--patapos na iyong termino noon, tapos nagkaroon ng pandemic--iyong Innovation Act, iyong pag-implement ng Innovation Act na kinonvene (convene) ni President Marcos noong isang araw. First time na kinonvene ng isang Pangulo ang Innovation Council mula noong 2019 noong naipasa ng Senado iyong ating batas na iyon. And for your information, that law is an output of the 2015 APEC meeting in the Philippines. I had a staff. She is now a commissioner of a government agency. I said, "Can you get the output of all of these APEC countries so that we go ahead with innovation?" It was an originally drafted bill by the Senate; it became a law, 2019. It was Senator Sherwin who sponsored it; the Majority Leader was SP. Now, fast forward, the Innovation Act could be at the center of RCEP implementation. So, we mainstream innovation and research on development in every agency of government. MR. ROMERO. Ma'am, last question. How soon and how often will you convene the oversight committee? Thank you, ma'am. SEN. LEGARDA. Baka magsawa kayo sa mga hearing. Makulit ako. How soon? It has been created. I can call for a hearing, perhaps, week after next. We will talk about it with the majority. You know, tinalaga lang ako na Chair, but I have members also. And I have to consult the Senate leadership. But I am sure that you would want it to be as often as possible. And we will not make it Manila centric. No. We discussed it. We will do regional consultations with the stakeholders who are still anxious. Angry, anxious, opposing, we will listen to all of you. You teach us because you know it best. We will listen to you. Kaya natutuwa ako na mayroon tayong--you know, our ears will be on the ground. So, in the next few, not months, years, we will listen, and that will be inputted in the budgetary process. THE MODERATOR. Thank you. We now call on Mr. Wilnard Bacelonia of the PNA. MR. BACELONIA. To Sec Pascual. Sec, you recently met with the EU Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights. And I think you brought up the PH-EU FTA and GSP Plus renewal. Now, my question is, what are your objectives in pushing to resume the Philippines-EU FTA talks? MR. PASCUAL. Right now, our preferential tariff comes from the GSP Plus. And that the coverage will expire by the end of this year. So, we have been working. I have gone to Brussels to campaign for the renewal of the coverage of the Philippines under GSP Plus. Now, GSP Plus is available only for low-income countries. But, as you very well know, the Philippines with the rate at which we are growing now, we hope and we expect to become an upper middle-income country soon. And if we are able to achieve that, we will no longer be eligible for GSP Plus coverage. Of course, there is a transition of three years. During that time, we hope to be able to negotiate a free trade agreement between the Philippines and EU, so that we can have a more stable and more permanent platform to govern our trade and investment relations with the EU. MR. BACELONIA. And then, now that you have already have RCEP ratified, and then, what would you think the ... for the Philippines if, all together, you would also be able to achieve these objectives with the PH-EU FTA talks, then it would also be renewed, the GSP Plus. Maybe you can just give us a picture. MR. PASCUAL. Yes. Are you asking whether RCEP will affect the GSP Plus coverage? MR. BACELONIA. Yes, yes. MR. PASCUAL. No. MR. BACELONIA. Or is there any connection? MR. PASCUAL. They are separate. But with RCEP, we might be able to accelerate our becoming an upper middle-income country, because industry will grow; there will be more investments here. And the moment that happens, we really need to go for a free trade agreement with the EU. Otherwise, some of those companies or industries that thrive on the basis of the preferential tariff and joined under GSP Plus will be disadvantaged. MR. BACELONIA. Thank you. THE MODERATOR. Next, Ms. Sherry Anne Torres of ABS-CBN, please. MS. TORRES. Hi, sirs and ma'am. Good morning. To Secretary Pascual and also to our senators. Sir, may we ask, during the first year of the observance or implementation of RCEP with us, the Philippines included in the program, what specific industries are we expecting to initially attract? And how many, at least? MR. PASCUAL. Iyong industries that will export nga, like I explained before, iyong specific industries, what comes to mind, iyong new lower tariff will be made available to certain agricultural products so far. I think iyong canned tuna--yes. Canned tuna will gain reduction in tariff in Japan and other member countries. So, that industry will benefit right away from RCEP. That is just an example. We have a list which we can provide you. Asec Allan Gepty can do that. But in my notes here, I can see that RCEP represents a number of sectors. In the Philippines, 50 percent of our manufacturing output could benefit, you know, from RCEP. Our electronic products, 70 percent of electronic products represented by RCEP region. There are very specific--we have listed this down and we can provide a list of these products that will immediately benefit from the tariff reduction brought about by RCEP. Asec Allan, can you rattle off some of the other specific products? MR. GEPTY. Thank you, sir, for giving the floor. So, for this RCEP agreement, in addition doon sa mga existing FTAs natin, we were able to secure enhanced market access for certain products of interest of the country. So, for example, in the case of China, were able to secure enhanced market access for preserved pineapples, pineapple juice, coconut juice, diesel oil, printed paper, ignition wiring set, flexographic plate. Marami ito. We can, of course, give you the list. Sa Japan, maybe products of interest for the Philippines would be fish fillet, kasama rito iyong tilapia, cooked pineapple, coffee, canned salmon, oyster, mussels, chocolate, even ginger bread, leather gloves--we are very strong on leather products here--and also footwear. Sa South Korea, dried salted tilapia, papaya, of course, durian, canned tuna, preserved pineapple, cement, even our alcoholic beverages. So, iyong mga beer, gin, rum natin will definitely benefit with this enhanced market access. Of course, bicycle garments, among others. So, marami po siya. Pero kung immediate impact agad nito, pag nag-take effect iyong RCEP, ang pinakamahalagang bagay diyan, iyong tinatawag nating wider resourcing of raw materials. Kasi iyong ating mga manufacturers, producers, immediately, they can source these raw materials and intermediate goods from these 14 countries and the product that they manufacture will enjoy preferential market access to these RCEP parties. MS. TORRES. And, Asec, may I just do a follow-up. That is also part of the would-be-benefits of MSMEs that the secretary and our senators have been mentioning earlier. MR. GEPTY. Yes. Because as far as micro, small, and medium enterprises, there are many ways by which they can integrate into the global value chain. Number one, puwede silang mag-export directly to the country concerned, kung saan iyong may market. Pangalawa is that they can also supply to those big companies who are integrated into the global value chain. And then, number three is that they can also partner with other investors who are willing to venture in their particular business. MS. TORRES. Thank you, sir. SP, SP Pro Temp, may I be allowed to ask a question that is not related to this activity? THE SENATE PRESIDENT. [Off-mike] Yes, of course. SEN. LEGARDA. As long as it will contribute to the real GDP of the Philippines. [Laughter] It will generate employment. MS. TORRES. [Laughter] Yes, ma'am. Just one question from my end. Because today--this week actually, we are celebrating, we are commemorating the EDSA People Power Revolution anniversary. And as far as I can recall, you started your political careers after the 1986 revolt. So, as a public servant, as Filipinos, may we just ask, what have you learned so far, or what have you gained so far as far as the EDSA People Power Revolt is concerned, and how are you going to mark this occasion, sir? Thank you. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Maybe we can ask our Senate President Pro Tempore? SEN. LEGARDA. I was a journalist in America at that time. Because I left during Martial Law and EDSA People Power happened while I was working as a young journalist. I am only a few years older than you. Akala mo. Yes, I was working in Los Angeles when it happened. Yes. But there are always lessons of EDSA. First, we value our democracy. We value our free speech. We value our diversity, and still find unity in our diverse opinions and in our diversity. But first of all, we value our freedom. We value our democracy. We value what we have fought for in different milestones in our history as a nation and as a people. And we appreciate that the President has declared a holiday today. But as you see, your working Senate and your working DTI are here with you working. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. [Off-mike] And the media. SEN. LEGARDA. And the media. That is why--since you asked that question, may I ask the media, what do you think RCEP can do for you? Kayo naman ang tanungin namin? MS. TORRES. Ma'am, before that-- SEN. LEGARDA. Maybe you can submit to us--how do you think RCEP will impact on your lives, on small businesses, and improve the state of affairs in our country in the post-pandemic recovery? Iyan. I would like--maybe Cely can collect one-liners or one-pagers from our media today. And maybe you can submit to us, what does EDSA mean to you? Because it means different things to different people of different generations. To me, it means giving value to our democracy and our freedom. Right? Okay, now we go to free trade. MS. TORRES. No, ma'am. Before our submission, can we ask the thoughts of SP Zubiri on the same question? Thank you, sir. Thank you, ma'am. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Well, I was a 16-year-old boy in high school. And it was--of course, we were not as politically astute as we are now. Nakita po natin ang samahan ng taong-bayan na pumunta sa ESDA para sa isang malaking pagsama-sama. And all I could remember were the thoughts of my father and mother at that time. And, of course, these are different milestones. There was EDSA 1; there was EDSA 2. And many other milestones, as mentioned by our dear Senate President Pro Tempore. So, what is important is, remember history and that history doesn't repeat itself, which is to make sure that along the way, we use the laws that we have done in the last three decades, maybe four decades, to further enhance growth for our people. I think what is important here is learning the lessons of the past, whatever political color you may be. Kasi I know whatever I say, you will put a political spin to it kaya I am very careful. I promise myself today, I will not speak off the cuff. And because I know magkakaroon ng spin kaya ang akin diyan is, what is important is the future. Ako, I am future thinking. Ika nga sa--ano iyong committee ni Senator Pia? Futures thinking. So right now, I am futures thinking. How can we make use of all our historical knowledge that we have gone through from every decade on how to make our country a stronger nation? Iyan ang mahalaga. And that is why we passed RCEP because we felt that this is the key. We are prepositioned in Asia, hindi ba? We have ports in every major island groups. We can send goods to all over the region. Unlike landlocked countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, dehado sila. Tayo, we have ports in every--Cagayan de Oro, we can ship out to New Zealand, to Korea. And Northern Luzon can also ship out to China. Walang problema iyan. Iyan ang pag-usapan natin. Let's do it forward thinking and futures thinking rather than being divisive. I don't like to talk about divisive issues and I really feel that we should move forward, look forward with no politics. Set aside politics, get-together, unite with one another, and work for the benefit of our people, especially the 16 percent who continue to still be in poverty. Thank you, sir. MS. TORRES. Thank you, sir. Thank you, ma'am. THE MODERATOR. Thank you. We have five more who would like to ask questions. So, we would like to request that we confine it to RCEP and one question and probably, just one follow-up, please. Mr. Marlon Ramos of the Philippine Daily Inquirer? MR. RAMOS. Good morning po. Kay SP at saka kay Pro Temp. Since the two of you shepherded the Senate concurrence of RCEP, if the opposite happens, SP, will you also be willing to initiate the move to withdraw from the agreement? Kung sakali lang? THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Actually, we have a line, the last two lines of the resolution--bigyan na namin sa inyo iyong resolution, we have copies. "Resolved furthermore that the Senate of the Philippines may recommend to the President the withdrawal from the agreement." Naisama namin. And the last line, "Resolved further that the President of the Philippines may, with the concurrence of the Senate, withdraw from the agreement." So, mayroon tayong--so, guaranteed. Kung mukhang dehado tayo and there is an influx of goods from all over that swamp our manufacturing, swamp our garments, swamp our agriculture, then definitely, a review will be in place. Will be in place and will be in order. And that we can recommend to the President, if need be. MR. RAMOS. And both of you are willing to initiate those action, if it happens? THE SENATE PRESIDENT. I guess any member--yes, all of us. I mean, even it says here, "The President may," "and the Senate may," so each and every Senator has the opportunity to make that review. But let's look forward. Why are we looking at worst? Let's look at the best. Palagi tayong the worst. We look at the best that may come, hindi ba? Let's not look at the worst. But it is there, the safeguard is there. Thank you, Marlon. SEN. LEGARDA. First, yes, there is a provision. But even we go to as far as that provision, there are safeguard measures already in the agreement. There are trade remedies, available trade remedies. Should there be a surge, let's say, in imports or unfair trade practices in the implementation of the RCEP agreement, there are trade remedies not just in RCEP, even in WTO agreement, such as safeguard measures, general safeguards, special safeguards, anti-dumping, countervailing duties. These are all available--WTO pa iyan. And... whatever we entered into previous to RCEP, its trace, nandiyan. So, there is also an RCEP safeguard measure. It must be ... that RCEP safeguard measures is under Article 7.2, that is an additional trade remedy available to all RCEP parties. And the fact remains that in the RCEP agreement, it should all safeguard the rights of all parties. So, kung ano iyong pinasukan natin matagal na sa WTO, nandiyan pa rin diyan, pero nagdagdag pa ang RCEP ng karagdagang safeguard measures. At saka, alam ninyo, hindi sapat na pumasok ka ng RCEP, "Ah, baka umasenso na ang buhay ng Pilipino." Hindi po eh. Kung patuloy pa rin ang smuggling, kung mismanaged pa rin ang sector sa agrikultura, kung kulang tayo ng suporta sa magsasaka at mangingisda, kung hindi natin lakihan ang investment sa agrikultura at sa paggamit ng pondo na mahalagang iyan para sa--diretso sa tao, kung ang DTI ay hindi rin gagawin nang husay ang shared services at saka ease of doing business and all of these, then it would not be successful. So, hindi lang iyan. It is not just one FTA that can change the way things are in our country for the good or for the bad, it is a whole of government approach. MR. RAMOS. Last, follow up lang. How will this new FTA affect iyong proposed ASEAN integration, or is there such a thing po ba, the ASEAN integration? SEN. LEGARDA. ASEAN? MR. RAMOS. Integration, ma'am. SEN. LEGARDA. ASEAN integration. How will it affect ASEAN integration? MR. RAMOS. ..., sir? SEN. LEGARDA. Secretary. MR. PASCUAL. Well, we are already--we have achieved ASEAN integration through our ASEAN trade in goods agreement. Okay. That is why, you know, for us to join RCEP, we are going to avail of what's there already. But what will happen with RCEP, we will be able to enhance the regional integration, expand it from the current 10 countries to include five more in the region. That is the impact of RCEP on regional integration. We are able to integrate a larger region, as has already been pointed out, a region that accounts for close to 30 percent of population, close to 30 percent of GDP, close to 30 percent of trade. MR. RAMOS. Thank you. MR. GEPTY. If I may add, sir, with your permission? MR. PASCUAL. Sige, please. MR. GEPTY. Okay. The RCEP agreement is very important in the role of ASEAN here in the region because when it comes to development right now in economic activities in the global scale, the shift is towards Asia. And when you talk about Asia, you cannot afford not to talk about Southeast Asia. So, basically, what we are saying is that, almost all economic activities are happening now here in Asia, and in particular, the RCEP region. Nabanggit kanina that RCEP region is the largest trading block. But more than GDP, trade and population, I just want to highlight that the RCEP region, basically, accounts to 50 percent of the global manufacturing output. So, you could just imagine, kalahati ng manufacturing activities nandito. Also, when it comes to automotive products, 50 percent are coming from the RCEP region. And with respect to electronic products, RCEP region accounts to 70 percent. And notably, the RCEP region is the main global value chain hubs of three emerging big economies; China, South Korea, and Japan. In fact, this is the first FTA na nagsama-sama itong tatlo; China, South Korea, and Japan. That is why every economy right now is expecting that production, research and development, and even manufacturer will further intensify here in the region. At iyon ang gusto nating i-capture, na mapasama tayo doon sa pag-increase ng mga investments. MR. RAMOS. [Off-mike] Thank you, sir. THE MODERATOR. Thank you. So, we have Mr. Raymund Dadpaas of DZRH, please. MR. DADPAAS. Good afternoon. Mag-a-ala una na pala. Anyway, sir, ganito, it is good nabanggit ninyo naman tungkol doon sa--iyong protection noong agriculture products, protected pa rin ng tariff. Pero paano natin--ano ang naging commitment dito--kasi nabanggit din ni Senator Loren na iyong agriculture sector kasi is one of the--ito ang talagang neglected sector. Papaano ito at sila iyong nangangamba ngayon with the approval of the RCEP--binanggit ninyo rin may problema pa rin tayo sa smuggling. So, papaano ito naire-reconcile doon sa--sapat ba iyong sinasabi ninyo na tariff protected sila, then papabor na sa kanila itong RCEP na ito? THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Well, kaya kailangan natin gumalaw bilang gobyerno. Iyong ating executive--dinagdagan namin ng pondo noong DA this year, bigger than last year's budget. And because of that, we put money on the high value crops program, iyong livestock program--ito, babanggitin ko: National High Value Crops Program, 1.8 billion iyong nilagay natin; iyong National Livestock Program para sa swine, poultry, and beef, 4.5 billion; promotion of development of Organic Agriculture Program, 900 million; iyong National Corn Program, five billion; iyong National Rice Program, ito ang pinakamalaki, 30 billion sa National Rice Program. Yes, so, ang laki. Kaya nasa Department of Agriculture na iyan. Maybe you can ask your BIP(?). May BIP naman kayo sa Department of Agriculture, hindi ba? So, tanungin natin sila. Ano ang gagawin nilang mga hakbang para mapaganda ang agrikultura sa ating bansa? I think the ball is now in their court. Let's put it this way, right now, pasok tayong RCEP, walang gagalawin sa kanilang taripa. So, in other words, status quo sila, excluded sila. So, walang papasok na napakaraming mga produktong mais, rice, and other products dito sa Pilipinas. Walang flooding, 'ika nga. Kaya dapat, magbantay ang ating Bureau of Customs, kailangang bantayan iyan. But, ang importante diyan is palakasin na natin sila-ang industriya. We cannot be business as usual sa agriculture sector. Ibig pong sabihin, kung iyong rice farmer ay nagpo-produce lamang po ng 40 cavans per hectare, talagang hindi tayo magiging competitive. Kailangang pumasok talaga iyong DA diyan at sabihing, "Bakit ganoon kababa iyong per hectare mo? Gumamit na ba kayo ng certified seeds? Gumamit na ba kayo ng tamang abono? Mayroon ba kayong mga-ano ito, mekanismo para modernized na, hindi na iyong kalabaw." Mayroon tayong rotavator, mayroon tayong rice-planter, hindi na po kalabaw ang gagamitin, para tumaas po ang ani nila nang 80 cavans per hectare, para sa ganoon ay kumita naman po sila, which is the average in the whole region. So, they have to step in. They have to help our farmers. Kaya bumuo tayo ng oversight committee para kukulitin namin every quarter itong mga ito. Anong nangyari sa pondo? Baka maging savings na iyon o baka mapunta sa iba. Kaya, rest assured, to our friends in media, babantayan talaga namin sila--not only agriculture but also, DTI and all the other departments that are tasked to increase our exports and to strengthen our local economy. Salamat, pare. MR. DAPDAAS. Salamat po. May question pa ako pero okay na. MR. PASCUAL. Could I just say something about this, Your Honor? I had pointed out, I mean, again, that with or without RCEP, those measures that we are going to undertake to help agriculture--the agricultural sector, will have to be done. For example, curbing the smuggling of agricultural products, we need to do that with or without RCEP; helping the farmers achieve high productivity, we need to do that, without RCEP. I, myself, have had meetings with agricultural group and we all agreed, you know--they understand fully that RCEP will not directly affect agriculture as it is now because of the things we have done. We have not compromised the tariff protection of several agricultural products we produced. But they would like us that this--the RCEP discussion, to be the opportunity for them to be heard about their plea from the--the plea with the government to take measures, to take care of agricultural smuggling, and also, address the productivity programs in our farms. So, iyon iyong--what is clear. Kaya, at the end of the day, separate iyong ano--ang makikinabang sa RCEP, at least 90 percent of the Philippine economy. Iyong mga nasa industry, MSMEs. So, mahirap naman--because of the things we still have to do for agriculture, hindi naman talaga maaapektuhan ng RCEP, made-delay iyong ano. Iyon ang palagi ko namang ine-explain. Wala namang reason na kailangan i-delay iyong ratification ng RCEP o not to ratify RCEP at all. Kailangan natin iyan for the bigger part of our economy. And also, for agriculture because we have given examples of agricultural products that will gain market access in Japan, Korea and China because of RCEP. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. Okay. Ma'am Ann, maybe to speed up the process. I have with me the enrolled copy--ito iyong isa-submit namin sa Malacanang, enrolled copy. I will be signing it officially now. This is the process to finish our ratification process in the Senate. This is the last stage. Ito, dadalhin na po natin ito sa Malacanang. So, I will sign it officially today, with the witnesses: Secretary Pascual; Senator Loren Legarda, Senate President Pro Tempore; and Sir Allan Gepty who was negotiating this for so many years. SEN. LEGARDA. [Off-mike] He is the happiest, ano. THE SENATE PRESIDENT. He is the happiest. Pipirmahan po--Pirmahan ko muna, pirmahan ko muna, as Senate President. THE MODERATOR. So now, the Senate President is signing the enrolled copy of Senate Resolution No. 42 on the Resolution concurring in the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. After this signing, the Senate will transmit to the executive department and will be part of the instrument of ratification, which will be sent to the ASEAN secretariat. So, a round of applause for this momentum occasion. [applause] So, with this, we conclude this press briefing. On behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Senate, we once again, thank all our speakers; our esteemed senators, Senate President Zubiri; Senate President Pro Tempore Legarda; DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual; DTI Assistant Secretary Allan Gepty, our chief negotiator; and all media who were here this afternoon. We hope that this engagement has contributed to knowledge building and familiarization of the RCEP agreement following the Senate's concurrence and entry into force for the Philippines. So, kindly join us for lunch. Maraming salamat po and see you at our next event. [THE BRIEFING ENDED AT 1:05 P.M]
BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- All four prototypes of China's AG600M aircraft, a full-configuration firefighting model belonging to the AG600 large amphibious aircraft family, have kicked off the flight test mission, the aircraft developer announced Saturday.

The fourth AG600M firefighting aircraft prototype successfully completed its maiden flight on Saturday in Zhuhai in south China's Guangdong Province, said the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's leading plane-maker.

During the 17-minute flight, the aircraft carried out a series of planned flight test subjects. The aircraft demonstrated excellent performance, with its control system and all other systems operating stably.

The successful maiden flight of the aircraft indicates that all four AG600M aircraft prototypes have commenced their flight test mission to acquire the type certificate, the AVIC said. 
New Delhi: A Pakistani TV news anchor Marvia Malik was targetted in a gun attack in Lahore on Thursday (February 23), as per several reports by Pakistan media. She is the first transgender news anchor in the country and escaped an alleged assassination bid on Thursday. Later, on Friday, a case was registered against the unknown assailants for attempting to shoot Malik when she was returning to her residence in the Lahore Cantonment area at night.

She was attacked by two unidentified gunmen according to Geo News. Marvia told the police that people had been sending her death threats after she shared her opinion on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018. To protect herself, Malik has left her Lahore home and has moved elsewhere.

News anchor Marvia Malik has just survived a gun attack. This is the direct consequence of the hate speech & incendiary words that the likes of Maria B, Senator Mushtaq or Youth Club use against the trans community. Your words can cost people's lives. Say NO to transphobia pic.twitter.com/PKvDfhaiGg  Muneeb Qadir (@muneebqadirmmq) February 24, 2023

In September of last year, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) stated that the Transgender Persons Act was not compatible with Islamic principles, as certain provisions contradicted Shariah law. According to Geo News, the CII cautioned that the law could give rise to fresh societal issues and urged the government to set up a committee comprising CII members, religious scholars, legal experts, and medical professionals to review the legislation related to the transgender community.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act provided transgender individuals in Pakistan with the freedom to select and alter their gender identity as they personally perceived it, and permitted them to update their gender information on official documents issued by the government.

Marvia Malik is a news anchor in Pakistan who studied journalism as part of her higher education. She had worked in the fashion industry before joining the media business, reported Geo News. As a transperson herself, she has advocated for transgender people in the country.
People walk past a collapsed building in Adiyaman, Turkiye, Feb. 18, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

Offering psychological support to those impacted by a disaster involves a long process, Turkish health professionals say, as tiding through stages of trauma takes time.

by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- As survivors of the earthquakes in Turkiye are facing devastating trauma and loss, psychological support is essential for healing after a disaster of such proportions that has affected millions, experts said.

Tens of thousands of people died in the massive earthquakes striking Turkiye and Syria on Feb. 6. The Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation put the cost of the disaster in the country at 84.1 billion dollars, but the mental health consequences remain incalculable.

"The most vulnerable groups are women, children, people with prior mental health disorders, and people with disabilities," said Ankara-based psychiatrist Hande Karakilic Ucer.

Not to mention the children who have lost both parents to the disaster and been separated from their extended families, she told Xinhua.

A boy cries at a shelter camp in the quake-hit city of Kahramanmaras, Turkiye, Feb. 19, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

Research conducted by the Turkish Health Ministry following the 1999 earthquake showed that children and adolescents are more prone to developing mental health problems than adults are when they have been exposed to traumatic natural disasters.

People around children should not act as if nothing happened, Ucer noted, referring to the danger of victims shutting down their emotions in face of the trauma.

"We have to be open with children and explain this disaster to them in a language that they can comprehend," she said, adding that "play therapy" and establishing a daily routine are essential for children to survive a grieving period.

In Turkiye, the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes have claimed 44,218 lives, according to the latest statistics on Saturday. Expert psychologists and psychiatrists have been dispatched to the quake-hit regions to help residents cope with the profound impact.

This photo taken on Feb. 19, 2023 shows personal items in the rubble of a damaged building in the quake-hit city of Kahramanmaras, Turkiye. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

Experts also recommend survivors limit their consumption of bad news and disturbing social media posts over the catastrophe.

"Media exposure can influence our behavior following a natural disaster, and trigger mental disorders," Ucer said.

Seda Ozcan is a 27-year-old earthquake survivor from Antakya, a city near the Syrian border leveled by the earthquakes.

Since the disaster, she is experiencing debilitating anxiety attacks that keep her up at night and from going through normal daily tasks.

"It's not the earthquakes itself, it's the whole situation we are facing, homelessness, concerns about the future, it's hard," she told Xinhua in Ankara, to which her family has been evacuated.

Offering psychological support to those impacted by a disaster involves a long process, health professionals say, as tiding through stages of trauma takes time.

The vastness of the quake-hit zone spanning over 10 Turkish provinces home to 13.5 million people adds to the challenge.

"In six months, survivors will enter the disappointment phase, and then will they face the bitter reality of things, ultimately followed by the healing phase," Ucer said.

A woman weeps while attending a memorial activity in front of the Brandenburg Gate to mourn victims of the earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria, in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 11, 2023. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
NANNING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- For generations, the longest distance that many villagers in Zhadong, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, could fathom is travel between their village and Nanning, the regional capital.

In 2018, the arrival of a Luxembourg man expanded their horizons across continents.

"The first time I came to Zhadong Village, I was overwhelmed by its natural beauty. The adobe homes fit perfectly with the green environment," recalled Hansen Nico Rene, a 63-year-old retired policeman from Luxembourg.

"But when we entered the houses, we found people were poor. There was a fireplace, a table, and some chairs. The bathroom, if it was, was in the pigsty. Tap water and electricity were the only things to remind me that they were in the second millennium."

The village Hansen visited is in a remote mountainous area in Guangxi's Hechi City. Tucked away in deep mountains, Zhadong Village was known for its spectacular karst landscape but also its grinding poverty.

Before coming to Zhadong, Hansen had settled in downtown Hechi for six years. What brought the retiree to Zhadong was a notice recruiting volunteers to aid the poverty alleviation campaign in March 2018.

In 2015, of some 600 residents in the village, over half lived under the national poverty line, meaning their per capita annual income was lower than 2,300 yuan at 2010 constant values, or 2.3 U.S. dollars in terms of purchasing power parity per person a day. At the time of Hansen's first visit, there were still some parts of the village that were not accessible by roads.

Villager Bi Yonghong, 41, remembers the first time he saw Hansen. "People flocked to see him out of curiosity. They took pictures of him with their phones, as it was the first time we saw a foreigner in our village."

During that visit, Hansen met Xie Wanju, then the first Party secretary of Zhadong. It was a rainy day, but dozens of people were busy in the fields working with cables, bamboo, and iron posts, so Hansen went up to check what was up.

Xie told him they were preparing to grow passion fruit to help people out of poverty. He told him he was the first Party secretary of the village.

"We will never forget the first moment (we met) because this changed my whole life. I met the first secretary, and he was working for the government for poverty alleviation. That was amazing. I said if you need help, I have time," Hansen said. Since then, he picked up a new identity -- the village's first Party secretary's assistant.

Across the hills and rivers, the duo have thenceforth worked closely, day and night, to explore a path toward prosperity for residents. They visited each household, asking about villagers' income and taking careful notes. "I know everyone in the village," Hansen said.

"We first thought he was a tourist, as he was carrying a camera with him," Bi said. "But later, we learned he was a volunteer. He is a warm-hearted and hardworking man, always giving a hand to the villagers in their farm work when he sees them. When he visited my home, he helped us shuck the corn, pick mulberry leaves from the fields, and feed our silkworms."

After the visits, Hansen suggested the village use its backyard to build a farm, and he also participated in the building himself.

"In the backyard, there was land and a jungle. We brought electricity and water, and then we built a small farm. Now there are nearly 2,000 pigs and 200 cows. It is still growing," Hansen said.

Today, this farm brings over 100,000 yuan (about 14,400 U.S. dollars) in revenue to the villagers each year.

Under Hansen's assistance, Xie, with the village's officials and other poverty alleviation workers, developed featured industries, including cattle and sheep breeding and fruit planting.

Their efforts paid off. As of November 2020, the whole of Zhadong Village successfully eradicated poverty. Now local authorities are leading the villagers on a new journey to rural revitalization.

Hansen was quite satisfied with his work in the village. "Now everything has changed. The adobe homes have gone. Today everyone lives in new houses with a separate kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedrooms. There is also electricity and internet connection."

Hansen returned to the city in May 2021 after finishing his voluntary work. However, with a deep attachment to Zhadong, he often goes back to the village to see his old friends and promotes local tourism by sharing pictures of local landscapes and cultural events on social media with his friends in Europe and beyond.

"I was worried that he came just for fun, but it turned out that he wanted to lend a hand," said Xie, who has now returned to his original work as an official in a governmental agency in Hechi.

"He went up and down the mountains with me without any complaint. In him, I see the spirit of Lei Feng - enthusiastic about public welfare and always ready to help others," Xie added.

"Volunteerism in China is amazing. That, in my view, is also a core spirit of the Party. The world is changing, and the mentality of society is changing. I believe the Lei Feng spirit maybe needs more promotion," Hansen said.

Lei, an ordinary young Chinese soldier in the 1960s, is a household name in China known for devoting almost all of his spare time and money to selflessly helping the needy. He died in an accident at the age of 22 in 1962. In his diary, compiled and published posthumously, Lei likened himself to a small yet indispensable "screw" inside a machine and vowed to "never rust" and to serve the people wholeheartedly.

In 1963, Chairman Mao Zedong called on the nation to learn from Lei, and each year's March 5 has been designated as "Lei Feng Day." Since then, people who volunteer to help others and devote themselves to society selflessly and altruistically are lauded by Chinese people as "living Lei Fengs."

For villagers in Zhadong, the images of "living Lei Feng" now include a foreign face. 
People walk near the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow March 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)

"We highly value the aspiration of our Chinese friends to contribute to a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine through peaceful means," Zakharova said.

MOSCOW, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday praised a paper released by China stating its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

In the document issued earlier in the day, China calls for international efforts to create conditions for the resumption of peace talks, saying that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis.

"We highly value the aspiration of our Chinese friends to contribute to a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine through peaceful means," the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

"We share the views of China. We are committed to complying with the principles of the UN Charter and the provisions of international law, including humanitarian law and indivisibility of security," she said.

"As for the Ukraine crisis, Russia is open to achieving the goals of the special military operation via political and diplomatic means," Zakharova said. 
Michel Doukeris, chief executive of Anheuser-Busch InBev, receives an interview in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- After optimizing its COVID-19 response, China's unleashed growth potential has made it an unrivaled magnet for global business leaders. The unwavering confidence of the world's second-largest economy in its future prospects has resulted in droves of visitors.

Among the trendsetters is Michel Doukeris, chief executive of the world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, who met Wang Wentao, China's Commerce Minister, on Friday.

Speaking to Xinhua, Michel said China's booming consumption is a great business confidence booster for the world.

Noting that China has the largest beer market and beer industry in the world, Doukeris rejoiced at seeing the country's economy and consumption recovering from the impact of COVID-19.

"At the country level, consumption is rebounding very fast and we see this in the number of restaurants and bars that are open, as well as the consumption turnover in the supermarkets and key accounts that we serve," he said.

The senior executive described China's booming consumption as "a big engine of economic development," and expressed his confidence in the company's reaching for a more promising future in the Chinese market.

"We need strong consumption and economy to have a good business, and we are optimistic about what is happening in China," Doukeris said.

He remarked that China is fully committed to development and growth, and its quality growth is extremely important for the company.

China boasts a fast-growing, premium and innovation-oriented market, which attracts global players like AB InBev to continuously expand investment, he said.

"We always use the Chinese market as a source of inspiration and learning for other markets and operations that we have globally, and it is definitely an important market for our growth as a company globally," he said.

With long-term, large-scale investments of over 30 billion yuan (about 4.35 billion U.S. dollars) since 1984, the brewer optimized its value chain in China and made great progress in the construction of new breweries, facilities and warehouses, as well as establishing localized teams and talent.

"China's economy is thriving, its communities are growing, and people are enjoying more consumption; our business needs to catch up," said the chief executive, brimming with confidence. "We need to continue to invest."

Thanks to China's growing economy and burgeoning market, the beer giant sees its products getting more and more distribution and being present in more regions of China, he added.

"We have operations across the entire country, with a very open environment to invest and to develop our business," he said, impressed by China's sound business environment.

Moreover, Doukeris highlighted the company's policies on sustainability and carbon neutrality, which are contributing to China's green development.

In China, the company built its first carbon-neutral brewery and its best globally in terms of water consumption, he said.

"We continue to invest, in accordance with the directives of the countries where we operate, in our own goals in sustainability, to become an even better company each and every day," said Doukeris. 

Michel Doukeris (R), chief executive of Anheuser-Busch InBev, visits a market in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 23, 2023. (Xinhua)
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- More than 100,000 homes and businesses across California were left in the dark early Friday as a heavy winter storm continued lashing the most populous state in the United States.

According to PowerOutage.US, a website that tracks, records and aggregates power outages across the country and updates its data every 10 minutes, about 116,000 California customers were without electricity as of 10:00 a.m. local time Friday.

The storm, which first rolled into the state on Thursday with rain, hail and snow, continued to bring unusually heavy snow as well as cold, strong winds, and it will last into weekend, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The NWS released a blizzard warning for the Ventura County and Los Angeles County mountains from Friday to Saturday, the first blizzard warning for the Southern California mountains since from 1989.

The Sierra Avalanche Center also issued an avalanche warning for parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains from Friday morning until Saturday morning.

In total, about 3 million Californians received a winter storm warning on Friday.

According to social media posts from local agencies, besides of power outages, the weather resulted in multiple road and highway closures after snow and ice accumulated on the surfaces.

Meanwhile, over 720,000 customers in Michigan lost their electricity on Friday morning and authorities predicted that those customers would have power back sometime Sunday. 




NILPHAMARI, Bangladesh, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Chongqing Zhong Yi is a frequent participant in China's aid and technical collaborations and a leader in rice technology cooperation in Bangladesh.

The Chinese seed giant exports 2,600 tons of seeds of high-yielding Chinese rice varieties to Asia and Africa each year.

Of the total, around 1,500 tons go to Bangladesh where the "Janakraj" strain is the most popular with its high yield, high resistance to pests, and high quality.

Currently Bangladesh's Ministry of Agriculture and Chongqing Zhong Yi Seed distribute at least eight hybrid strains in parts of the South Asian country including Nilphamari district, some 360 km northwest of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Badal Islam, a farmer from Nilphamari district, has grown Chinese rice varieties with good yields. "We've benefited immensely from the good yields."

"This is why we're cultivating Chinese rice again and again," Islam told Xinhua, adding "Now I'm cultivating Chinese rice in 3 bigha (0.3306 acre) land, this rice looks good, the yield is good and I like to cultivate it."

Farmer Md Asir Uddin said Chinese seeds are vital to their ambition to become self-sufficient in rice production. "We get 24-25 maunds of paddy after harvesting from 1 bigha," he said. He added they grow "Chinese Rice 28" and they benefit from the higher yield.

"We cultivate this rice because this rice is not affected by any viruses or insects," he said. The farmer said they expect a bumper production and a lot of profit if the market is good from Boro, or winter rice cultivation season, when most Bangladeshis eat rice three times a day.

Boro is the predominant crop in the three main crop-growing seasons in Bangladesh. It is also the dry season irrigating rice crop planted from December to early February and harvested between April and June.

Sahirul Islam, a representative of the seed supplier National AgriCare Group, said farmers in northern Bangladesh are widely cultivating high-yielding rice varieties, especially seeds brought from China.

Among high-yielding rice varieties, he said "Janakraj, National AgriCare Dhan 4, National AgriCare Dhan 1 have been widely accepted by farmers. Farmers received good yields last time so this time they are using our seeds."

"If we calculate the (amount of) seeds that the farmers have taken from us, then about 90,000 to 95,000 acres of land is being cultivated in (northern) Rangpur region," he said.

He said so far the weather is fine and seedbeds are good for farmers. "We hope this year's cultivation will be very successful," said Islam. He believed the advantage is that people are planting seeds in trays, following this Chinese machinery is used by farmers to plant rice.

Farmers pick up rice seeds from seedbeds and plant them through China-made machines, he said. "With the advent of Chinese machinery, rice cultivation in our country has become very easy."

In parts of Bangladesh, farmers do not want to plant anything other than high-yielding Chinese rice varieties because Chinese agriculturists work directly with farmers in their fields.

The Chinese experts understand the needs of particular crop and have knowledge of current trends in rice cultivation that Bangladeshi farmers can only dream of.

Ling Jiahu of Chongqing Zhong Yi said they have a world-class research team, seen as the backbone of China's seed industry. According to Ling, yields of high-yielding Chinese rice varieties can reach 11 tons per hectare, 30 percent higher than local Bangladeshi varieties.

Abu Bakkar Siddique of Bangladesh's Department of Agricultural Extension previously told Xinhua that hybrid rice is a winter crop in just over half of the country's paddies and plays an important role in food production.

"AgriCare hybrid seeds from China sold here are very satisfactory," he said. "Chinese companies are crucial to our agricultural development and we're very grateful for their support."





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Dai Bing (C, front), charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, addresses a high-level Security Council briefing on Ukraine at the UN headquarters in New York, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to continue to play a responsible and constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis, a Chinese envoy said Friday, while expounding China's position on the political settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.

Addressing a high-level Security Council briefing on Ukraine, Dai Bing, charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, said that China issued earlier Friday a paper stating its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

"We have always taken an objective and impartial stance based on the merits of the issue," he said.

Dai stressed that when handling and solving international disputes, universally recognized international law, including the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, must be upheld.

The sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively guaranteed. Observing universally recognized international law and the basic norms governing international relations bears on the stability of the international system and international fairness and justice. They should be equally and uniformly applied in every place and on every issue without exception, he said.

"Some country, while stressing sovereignty and territorial integrity on the Ukraine issue, is blatantly interfering in other countries' internal affairs and undermining their sovereignty and territorial integrity," Dai said. "This reveals its double standard at full display. The international community is clear-eyed about this."

He underscored the need to pursue common security to facilitate a political solution to the Ukraine crisis, saying security is not an exclusive right enjoyed only by some countries.

The security of one country should not be pursued at the expense of others. Strengthening or even expanding military blocs will only undermine regional security and will never bring about peace, he said.

Russia, Ukraine and European countries are neighbors that cannot be physically moved away. To realize lasting peace and stability in Europe, the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation must be abandoned, and the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously and addressed properly, so as to build a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture, said Dai.

Highlighting diplomatic negotiations as the only right way to solve the Ukraine crisis, he said "conflicts have no winners" and called on the international community to promote peace talks with the highest sense of urgency and work to create enabling factors and platforms for the resumption of negotiation.

Bringing parties to the conflict back to the negotiating table is not going to be easy, but it is the first step toward a political solution, he said.

"We call on Russia and Ukraine to resume negotiations without any preconditions," the envoy said. "Ukraine is not an arena for fights between major countries. No one should seek to benefit from the conflict at the cost of the Ukrainian people."

Dai emphasized that it is imperative to never cross the red line of nuclear security under any circumstances.

Nuclear weapons must never be used, and nuclear war must never be fought. Faced with the risk that the Ukraine crisis could lead to an escalation of the conflict, major countries bear special and important responsibilities to maintain communication and coordination and to do everything they can to prevent a nuclear crisis, he said.

The international community should jointly oppose armed attacks against nuclear power plants or other peaceful nuclear facilities, ensure strict compliance with the Convention on Nuclear Safety, among others, and support the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in playing a constructive role in promoting the safety and security of peaceful nuclear facilities, he added.

The humanitarian crisis is worsening and should be proactively and properly addressed, Dai said.

The international humanitarian law is a code of conduct that must be strictly observed in conflict situations. Relevant parties should avoid attacking civilians or civilian facilities, protect the vulnerable, including women and children, ensure humanitarian access, and respect the basic rights of prisoners of war, he said.

The international community should increase humanitarian assistance, help restore civilian infrastructure, and ensure the basic livelihood of refugees and displaced persons, with a view to preventing a humanitarian crisis on a larger scale, Dai said.

"At the same time, humanitarian operations should earnestly follow the principles of neutrality and impartiality and avoid politicization," he stressed.

The envoy also urged efforts to be made to manage the spillovers of the Ukraine crisis, which he said has far-reaching impacts, noting that developing countries that are not parties to this conflict should not pay an excessively high price for it.

Some relevant parties have been resorting to unilateral sanctions and maximum pressure, which cannot solve any issue, and can only undermine the stability of the global industrial and supply chains and exacerbate the global food, energy and financial crises, he said.

"We hope that the relevant parties will take responsible actions and stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction," said Dai.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United Nations and Russia on the export of food products and fertilizers have great significance for ensuring global food security and should be implemented fully and effectively in a balanced manner, he said. 
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspects the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Feb. 23, 2023. Li inspected the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Thursday. He also chaired a symposium on the same day. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has underscored the need to shore up economic growth and stabilize employment and prices, stressing efforts to consolidate the upward trend of economic recovery and promote high-quality development.

Li made the remarks during an inspection of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Thursday. He also chaired a symposium on the same day.

After listening to a report at the NDRC, Li hailed the crucial role of development and reform authorities in stabilizing the economy and promoting the construction of major projects and equipment upgrades.

At the MOF, Li said that the finance departments have played an important role in implementing the tax refunds, tax and fee cuts and deferrals and ensuring people's basic livelihoods.

China has made great development achievements in recent years despite severe challenges, Li said at the symposium.

He praised the contribution of development and reform authorities and finance departments in implementing the macro policies, stabilizing the economy, promoting the reform and innovation, and solving the most pressing difficulties of high concern to the people.

He also called for a good job in drafting the economic and social development plan for 2023 and the budget report, aligning them with the government work report, urging efforts to sum up the government's work in a down-to-earth manner, arrange key tasks scientifically, and accept the oversight of the people in accordance with the law.

Currently, China's economy is picking up momentum, as the consumption recovered at an accelerated pace in January and February and the market expectation strengthened significantly, Li said.

However, he cautioned the risks and challenges ahead, underlining continuous efforts to consolidate the growth momentum, and promote sustained and healthy economic and social development. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang chairs a symposium during his inspection to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Feb. 23, 2023. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspects the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Feb. 23, 2023. Li inspected the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Thursday. He also chaired a symposium on the same day. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)
BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Cao Guangjing, former vice governor of central China's Hubei Province, has been indicted on charges of taking bribes and leaking information, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Saturday.

According to the indictment, Cao took advantage of his various posts to seek gains for others and illegally accepted massive amounts of money and valuables in exchange.

It also mentioned that Cao was found to have leaked confidential information to others, which was then used in relevant stock trading activities.

Following the conclusion of investigations into Cao's case by the National Commission of Supervision and the public security department of Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, the prosecution was brought by a procuratorate in the city upon the designation of the SPP.

The prosecutors had informed the defendant of his litigation rights, questioned him, and listened to the defense counsel's opinions. 
Press Release

February 24, 2023 Villanueva: RCEP ratification, other feats fruits of Senate President's leadership Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva lauded the leadership of the chamber for its accomplishments in its first eight months since the beginning of the first regular session of the 19th Congress. "We are grateful to Senate President Migz Zubiri for showing sterling leadership that steered the Senate into greater heights," Villanueva said. Adding to the Senate's latest accomplishments was its concurrence to the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a major free trade agreement, seen to boost investments in the Philippines and aid its economic recovery. "Concurrence to the RCEP is a major hurdle because we need two-thirds vote of all senators. Its ratification demonstrated the Senate's solid voice to push for initiatives that will give the Filipinos and the economy opportunities to thrive," Villanueva said. Senate President Zubiri co-sponsored and defended the RCEP ratification after going around the country consulting with stakeholders.* The resolution was adopted last February 22 with 20 Senators voting in the affirmative to the concurrence. To recall, the 18th Senate was not able to adopt the resolution before its adjournment sine die. President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Finance and Department of Trade and Industry hailed the Senate's concurrence, saying it will strengthen the Philippines' position as an investment hub in the region. Last year, the current Congress passed the landmark Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration bill that was signed into law in October 2022. It also completed thorough deliberations of the 2023 General Appropriations Act yet ensuring its timely passage. Villanueva said the Senate remains laser-focused on the passage of priority measures including the National Employment Action Plan (NEAP) and the proposed Salt Industry Development and Revitalization Act which he both authored. The upper chamber is also expected to pass the Condonation of Agrarian Reform Debt bill next week. "Our Senate President is known to be a consensus-builder that is why we were able to accomplish a lot since he was elected into the position. We can also see that the employees in the Senate are satisfied and confident with his leadership," Villanueva said. Villanueva noted that Zubiri's leadership style helped keep a harmonious relationship between Senators despite having different views. "I'm a living witness how SP Zubiri works tirelessly day and night so that the Senate will continue to pass legislation that will empower and improve the quality of life of our people, especially the disadvantaged sectors. He's truly a trabahador ng Senado," Villanueva ended. Villanueva: Ratipikasyon ng RCEP, iba pa bunga ng magandang liderato ni Senate President Zubiri Pinuri ni Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva si Senate President Migz Zubiri dahil sa mga accomplishment ng Senado sa unang walong buwan mula nang simulan ang unang regular na sesyon ng 19th Congress. "We are grateful to Senate President Migz Zubiri for showing sterling leadership that steered the Senate into greater heights," sabi ni Villanueva. Dagdag pa sa bagong nagawa ng Senado ay ang pagpapatibay sa ratipikasyon ng Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), isang pangunahing free trade agreement na magpapalakas sa investment at makakatulong sa pagbangon ng ekonomiya mula sa epekto ng pandemya. "Concurrence to the RCEP is a major hurdle because we need two-thirds vote of all senators. Its ratification demonstrated the Senate's solid voice to push for initiatives that will give the Filipinos and the economy opportunities to thrive," lahad ni Villanueva. Si Senate President Zubiri ang isa sa mga co-sponsor at nagdepensa ng ratipikasyon ng RCEP matapos umikot sa bansa para makipagpulong sa mga stakeholder. Noong ika-22 ng Pebrero, 20 senador ang bumoto para sa ratipikasyon ng RCEP. Noong 18th Congress, nabigo ang Senado na mapagtibay ang nasabing free trade agreement bago ang adjournment sine die dahil sa kakulangan ng oras. Pinuri naman ni President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Finance and Department of Trade and Industry ang pagsang-ayon ng Senado sa RCEP na siyang magpapalakas sa posisyon ng bansa bilang investment hub sa rehiyon. Noong nakaraang taon, naipasa ng kasalukuyang Kongreso ang makasaysayang Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration bill na nilagdaan para maging batas noong Oktubre 2022 at tiniyak din ang maagang pagpasa ng 2023 General Appropriations Act. Sabi pa ni Villanueva, nananatiling nakapokus ang Senado para ipasa ang ilang prayoridad na mga panukala tulad ng National Employment Action Plan (NEAP) at ang Salt Industry Development and Revitalization Act na siya ang may-akda. Nakatakda ring ipasa ng mataas na kapulungan ang Condonation of Agrarian Reform Debt bill sa susunod na linggo. "Our Senate President is known to be a consensus-builder that is why we were able to accomplish a lot since he was elected into the position. We can also see that the employees in the Senate are satisfied and confident with his leadership," diin ni Villanueva. Sinabi rin ni Villanueva na dahil sa istilo ng liderato ni Zubiri kaya payapa at maganda ang samahan ng mga senador kahit magkakaiba pa ito ng mga pananaw. "I'm a living witness how SP Zubiri works tirelessly day and night so that the Senate will continue to pass legislation that will empower and improve the quality of life of our people, especially the disadvantaged sectors. He's truly a trabahador ng Senado," pagtatapos ni Villanueva.
GOMA, DR Congo, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) took control on Friday morning of the strategic town of Mushaki, located in the territory of Masisi, about 40 kilometers from Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said the Congolese army.

Guillaume Ndjike, Congolese military spokesman who confirmed the information, assured that the army is committed to "putting an end to this aggression" by the M23.

"Even though the city has fallen under the control of the rebels, our army is committed to fighting to end this aggression against our country and our people. We are working to restore the state authority by all possible means in our possession," said Ndjike.

For more than three days, the Congolese army has been clashing with the M23 in this part of the country after the M23's advances in the territory of Masisi. Near the city of Mushaki, the rebels have also taken control of several other villages alongside the road leading to Goma.

According to local sources, the fall of Mushaki would allow the M23 to cut off the Goma-Masisi road axis in order to asphyxiate Goma, which largely depends on this road for daily supply. Goma had fallen into the hands of the same rebellion for 10 days in December 2012.

The intensive fightings, lasting for several months in the territory of Masisi, have already displaced thousands of people to find refuge in the internally displaced persons (IDP) site of Bulengo, located on the outskirts of Goma.

Thousands of other civilians have also found refuge since last year in various IDP sites in Nyiragongo territory near Goma.

Since last year, the M23 has seized several cities and large towns in the North Kivu province, including Bunagana, a town lying on the border with Uganda, which is extremely strategic in cross-border trade.

M23's resurgence has also reignited tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, as Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting the M23. Meanwhile, Kigali in return accuses Kinshasa of being in coalition with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, whose members are blamed for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group. 
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The deputies to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, make up a broad cross-section of people, with every region, ethnic group and sector of society having an appropriate number of representatives.

On Friday, the NPC Standing Committee confirmed the validity of the qualifications of the 2,977 NPC deputies and published the list of names.

Among the 14th NPC deputies, 442 are from ethnic minorities, representing all of China's 55 ethnic minority groups.

The new lineup includes 790 female deputies, accounting for 26.54 percent of the total, up 1.64 percentage points from the 13th NPC.

A total of 497 deputies are workers and farmers. Their share has grown by nearly one percentage point to 16.69 percent of the total deputies.

Technical personnel, altogether 634 in number, make up 21.3 percent of all deputies, with a 0.73-percentage-point increase from the previous NPC.

A total of 969 deputies are Party and government officials, whose share has dropped by 1.38 percentage points to 32.55 percent.

There are also 36 deputies elected from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and 12 from the Macao SAR. Thirteen deputies representing Taiwan Province will sit on the national legislature. Forty-two deputies represent those overseas Chinese who have returned to the motherland.

Altogether, 797 deputies were re-elected, accounting for 26.77 percent of the total.

The 2,977 deputies to the 14th NPC were elected from 35 electoral units across the country between December 2022 and January 2023, according to a report on the election of the deputies.

All the new-term deputies support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the report said.

They set a good example by abiding by the Constitution and the law, maintain close contact with the people, and win extensive recognition from the people, it noted.

The successful election of the 14th NPC deputies laid a solid organizational foundation for the new NPC to perform its duty in accordance with the law. The election is of great significance to developing whole-process people's democracy, upholding and improving the system of people's congresses, and modernizing China's system and capacity for governance. 
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's top emergency management watchdog on Friday ordered immediate safety rectifications at the nation's coal mines to eliminate major risks after a coal mine collapsed in Alxa League, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Wednesday.

Comprehensive inspections and rectifications should be conducted to root out the major hidden safety hazards in key sectors and fields, said the Ministry of Emergency Management, calling for efforts to resolutely prevent major accidents from happening, in order to safeguard people's lives and property and maintain social stability.

Efforts should be made to intensify safety oversight in coal mines and continue to crack down on the illegal mining, production and construction, the ministry said.

It also stressed strict safety management of other high-risk industries and strengthening disaster prevention and relief efforts. 
Workers operate at the construction site for a transaction center in Qianhai, Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, on Sept. 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

GUANGZHOU, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank and four other authorities have released measures to deepen financial reforms and opening up in Qianhai and Hengqin in southern Guangdong Province.

The nation's central bank and banking and insurance, securities, and foreign exchange regulators, as well as the Guangdong provincial government, on Thursday released 30 measures to support Shenzhen's Qianhai in achieving a high-level interconnection with Hong Kong's financial market by 2025.

The measures are aimed at establishing a financial rule system in line with international standards and a world-class financial environment inside the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone by 2035.

Focusing on deepening financial cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the newly-released measures will help Hong Kong residents to open accounts with mainland banks and beef up credit reporting cooperation, while helping enterprises to conduct credit financing, the central bank's sub-branch in Shenzhen said.

The measures will comprehensively facilitate cross-border trade and investment as well as cross-border Renminbi settlement for new trade models.

Data shows that over 2,000 Hong Kong-funded financial institutions have registered in Qianhai.

The five government authorities also released 30 measures to boost financial cooperation between Zhuhai's Hengqin and Macao on Thursday.

According to the new measures, services regarding the livelihoods of residents in the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, including individual cross-border transactions, mobile payments, credit financing, insurance and employment, will be facilitated.

The new measures stress strengthening financial support for tourism, commerce and exhibition industries in Hengqin, as well as promoting the development of international financial leasing and factoring.

The measures expand the scope of cross-border asset transfer and promote cross-border Renminbi settlement, eyeing building a financial rule system on a par with international standards in Hengqin. 
BAMAKO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 13 civilians were killed and three others wounded in a Thursday raid on a village in central Mali by armed men, local media reported, citing witnesses.

In a video posted by a news website, crackling automatic weapons could be heard as the village of Kani-Bonzon was set on fire on Thursday afternoon.

The attack and casualties were confirmed by Amadou Yaro, president of the Bankass Circle Council, who said the governor of the region went to the scene at night to support the victims of "this barbaric attack."

"It is horrible what we have just seen. It is a cowardly, barbaric and inhumane attack on this village, which was completely burned down with motorcycles and granaries also burned to ashes," Yaro added.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a local elected official from Bandiagara, a nearby town, told Xinhua that this attack was predictable as "9 of the 12 communes in the Bankass circle have pledged allegiance to the terrorists. Kani-Bonzon is one of the villages that have not pledged allegiance."

Residents took to the streets in Bandiagara on Friday to denounce the attack and demand more security.

Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by insurgencies, jihadist incursions and inter-community violence that have left thousands of people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. 
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) greets German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a ceremonial reception at Indian Presidential Palace in New Delhi, Feb. 25, 2023. India and Germany on Saturday signed two government-to-government agreements on cooperation in innovation and technology and cooperation in green hydrogen and clean energy technologies.

The pacts were signed during the ongoing two-day visit of Scholz, in the presence of Modi. This is Scholz's first visit to India as the German Chancellor. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)

NEW DELHI, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- India and Germany on Saturday signed two government-to-government agreements on cooperation in innovation and technology and cooperation in green hydrogen and clean energy technologies.

The pacts were signed during the ongoing two-day visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is Scholz's first visit to India as the German Chancellor.

The two sides also signed a business-to-business memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Skill Council of Green Jobs and Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft. An announcement on the organization of the Asia Pacific Conference (APK) in India next year was also made on the occasion.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict was also discussed between the two leaders. Modi said that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict have been felt across the world. These have had a particularly negative impact on developing countries.

The two leaders also heard useful thoughts and suggestions from industry leaders of both countries, on topics such as Digital Transformation, FinTech, Information Technology, Telecom, and Diversification of Supply Chains, according to Modi. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R, front) greets German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a ceremonial reception at Indian Presidential Palace in New Delhi, Feb. 25, 2023. India and Germany on Saturday signed two government-to-government agreements on cooperation in innovation and technology and cooperation in green hydrogen and clean energy technologies.

The pacts were signed during the ongoing two-day visit of Scholz, in the presence of Modi. This is Scholz's first visit to India as the German Chancellor. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)
COLOMBO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Around 25 people were injured after a bus carrying pilgrims to a popular religious site skidded off the road and fell down a precipice on Saturday in Sri Lanka's central district of Kandy, said police.

The bus was carrying approximately 48 passengers who were heading to a temple, police told media, adding that the injured had been taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.

The victims are residents of Moratuwa in western Sri Lanka.

Road accidents are common in central Sri Lanka, especially when it's raining. The meteorology department has warned of rainy weather in the coming days. 
YANGON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Four members of a family were killed on Friday night in an accident involving a car and a motorcycle in Myanmar's commercial city of Yangon, local traffic police said.

The incident happened when a car reportedly driving on the wrong side of the road crashed into a motorcycle in North Okkalapa township of Yangon at around 9 p.m. local time on Friday, a traffic policeman said.

"Three died on the spot. A six-year-old girl was dead while receiving treatment at the hospital," the policeman said.

He said that the dead included two males and two females of a family, and they all are those who were riding the motorcycle.

The car driver was arrested on suspicion of negligent driving, police said. 
SYDNEY, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from Australian businesses expressed their anticipation and interest in opportunities in west China, as the latter is eyeing more investment and trade cooperation with foreign countries.

"Western China International Fair is a fantastic opportunity for Australian businesses to showcase their products and to explore investment opportunities in western China," said Alison Airey, Chief Executive Officer of the New South Wales branch of the Australia China Business Council.

She made the remarks at a promotion presentation, held in Sydney on Friday, for the upcoming 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF), an international platform for western China to promote investment and trade, and carry out cooperation.

This year's WCIF is scheduled to be hosted in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, from June 29 to July 3. It will feature an exhibition scale of 200,000 square meters with the participation of nearly 10,000 businesses from over 80 countries and regions, according to Yang Qinglong, secretary general of the secretariat of the WCIF organizing Committee.

The exhibition will not only include professional exhibitions themed digital economy, new energy, new industrialization and health care service, but also showcase local gourmets, snacks and special commodities all over China.

Airey told Xinhua that as many international businesses have been gravitating towards cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the western part of China offers new opportunities for foreign investment.

"The benefit of western China is that it is less crowded. There is a very warm welcome for foreign investment, as there are very affluent markets," she added.

Former Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb said that the promotion is "extremely timely" and he could sense "a wave of enthusiasm" around the commercial sector.

As one of the Australians who will be present in Chengdu in June, Marcello Pinto, investment director of a local company, told Xinhua that he is excited about the trip and is looking forward to gaining a deeper understanding of China through this opportunity.

"China is our (Australia's) biggest trading partner, almost all business owners who are international have some sort of deal with China," said Pinto.

"We're looking to basically learn to see what China is doing and what we can learn from, because in China, many of the things are at the cutting edge." 
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Four people have been killed as an avalanche hit a village in Arghanjkhwa district of Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan province, said Qari Maazudin Ahmadi, head of information and culture of Badakhshan province on Saturday.

The incident took place in Tak Archa village late Friday, killing four people, the official told reporters without providing more details.

A similar incident claimed four lives and destroyed 30 houses in Kofab district of the province last week.

Avalanches have killed more than three dozen lives and destroyed scores of residential houses in the mountainous Badakhshan province over the past weeks.

Heavy snowfall, freezing weather, flooding and avalanches have killed nearly 200 people, including women and children, across Afghanistan over the past month. 
Tugon sa Sentimyento ng Ilang Fil-Am Cast ng 'Plane'

Ihahatid ko sa Ingles ang aking tugon para mas maintindihan ng ilang Fil-Am cast ng 'Plane' na naiulat na nalungkot sa pagtutol ko sa pagpapalabas ng pelikula:

First, I would like to congratulate you, dearest brethren in race and arts. As an actor, definitely, I support all workers in the industry. Citizenship is not the issue - it has never been and it will never be.

But when racism is present in a film and when our country is misrepresented, we have no choice but to defend our country and our people. This is true especially in my case, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

That said, the local distributor of the film already agreed to recall it and cut the scenes and dialogues that depict racist comments on Jolo, the Philippines, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and our government.

After the changes are made and they are found to be satisfactory, I will watch and personally endorse the film.
COLOMBO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is to launch a mobile app from March 1 to protect tourists, Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said on Saturday.

The minister, addressing an event in Colombo, said this is one of the best mobile applications in the region for tourist safety.

He said the app can be operated in seven languages.

The mobile app will register all three-wheelers and a barcode will be displayed on the vehicle for foreign tourists to scan, the minister said.

Once a tourist reports an incident by scanning the barcode, police and tourism officials would take action, he said.

The ministry will operate a 24-hour active call center to support the app, he said.

The police can also monitor the app and take appropriate action in the event of any incidents that inconvenience or endanger tourists.

Tourism, one of Sri Lanka's leading foreign exchange earners, has suffered a setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic and political crises in the country.

Sri Lanka aims to attract around 1.5 million tourists in 2023 and 3 million tourists in 2024. 
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Swedish government said on Friday the country will provide Ukraine with "around 10" Leopard 2 tanks as well as air defense systems.

"On Germany's initiative and after discussions in what we refer to as the 'leopard family,' we have decided to deliver Swedish Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in close coordination, in particular, with Germany," Swedish Television (SVT) quoted Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson as saying at a press conference.

Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson told SVT that "up to around 10" units will be sent to Ukraine and that "we are building joint capabilities. Together with international partners, we are assembling battalions as well as brigades."

Sweden will also deliver Hawk and Iris T anti-aircraft systems, something that Jonson said was "important and central" for Ukraine.

The aid package announced on Friday was Sweden's 11th support package to Ukraine.

"Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe," Russia's State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said on Sunday. 
by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- As survivors of the earthquakes in Turkiye are facing devastating trauma and loss, psychological support is essential for healing after a disaster of such proportions that has affected millions, experts said.

Tens of thousands of people died in the massive earthquakes striking Turkiye and Syria on Feb. 6. The Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation put the cost of the disaster in the country at 84.1 billion dollars, but the mental health consequences remain incalculable.

"The most vulnerable groups are women, children, people with prior mental health disorders, and people with disabilities," said Ankara-based psychiatrist Hande Karakilic Ucer.

Not to mention the children who have lost both parents to the disaster and been separated from their extended families, she told Xinhua.

Research conducted by the Turkish Health Ministry following the 1999 earthquake showed that children and adolescents are more prone to developing mental health problems than adults are when they have been exposed to traumatic natural disasters.

People around children should not act as if nothing happened, Ucer noted, referring to the danger of victims shutting down their emotions in face of the trauma.

"We have to be open with children and explain this disaster to them in a language that they can comprehend," she said, adding that "play therapy" and establishing a daily routine are essential for children to survive a grieving period.

In Turkiye, the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes have claimed 44,218 lives, according to the latest statistics on Saturday. Expert psychologists and psychiatrists have been dispatched to the quake-hit regions to help residents cope with the profound impact.

Experts also recommend survivors limit their consumption of bad news and disturbing social media posts over the catastrophe.

"Media exposure can influence our behavior following a natural disaster, and trigger mental disorders," Ucer said.

Seda Ozcan is a 27-year-old earthquake survivor from Antakya, a city near the Syrian border leveled by the earthquakes.

Since the disaster, she is experiencing debilitating anxiety attacks that keep her up at night and from going through normal daily tasks.

"It's not the earthquakes itself, it's the whole situation we are facing, homelessness, concerns about the future, it's hard," she told Xinhua in Ankara, to which her family has been evacuated.

Offering psychological support to those impacted by a disaster involves a long process, health professionals say, as tiding through stages of trauma takes time.

The vastness of the quake-hit zone spanning over 10 Turkish provinces home to 13.5 million people adds to the challenge.

"In six months, survivors will enter the disappointment phase, and then will they face the bitter reality of things, ultimately followed by the healing phase," Ucer said. 
WARSAW, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Poland expects Chinese tourists and is well-prepared for their arrivals, a representative of Polish Tourism Organization has said, after outbound tourism began to recover in China earlier this month.

"I'm very happy to notice the changes in China's outbound tourism policy," Malgorzata Tanska, head of the organization's Beijing office, told Xinhua in a written interview recently, referring that China has resumed outbound group travel to certain countries after a three-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

China has just resumed outbound group travel for tourists to 20 countries, including Hungary and Switzerland in Europe, but Poland is not yet among the destinations, she said, voicing her hope that Poland would be added to the destinations soon.

The resumption of outbound travel, part of the measures of China's optimization of the pandemic control measures, has been welcomed by the global tourism industry.

Noting that the number of Chinese people travelling to Poland reached 130,000 in 2019, Tanska said that the Chinese tourism market is one of the most important for Poland.

"We worked hard to let the Chinese people not forget about Poland and its tourist attractions. We actively organized live streams from Polish cities on Chinese social media platforms," she said.

She noted that practical information about Poland attractions, hotels and restaurants is also provided through WeChat, a popular social media platform in China.

Tanska said that Poland's nature, culture and the friendly travel cost are what Chinese tourists most interested in.

She also said that the Polish consulates in China have already resumed issuing visas for individual tourists, and LOT Polish Airlines and Air China have both relaunched direct flights between Beijing and Warsaw with increasing frequency, which will facilitate Chinese travelers.

"After years of pandemic, the Polish hospitality industry is well-equipped for the arrival of international tourists, with higher hygiene standards and stricter sanitation measures in hotels and restaurants," she added.

"There is a Polish saying: 'A Guest at home is like God,'" said Tanska, "We see great opportunity for Poland to win the hearts of Chinese tourists." 
OTTAWA, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that Canada will donate four additional Leopard 2 main battle tanks to support Ukraine.

Trudeau said Canada will also donate an armoured recovery vehicle and over 5,000 rounds of ammunition, and impose new sanctions on nearly 200 more individuals and entities including members of Russia's lower house of parliament and ministers.

Also on Friday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly announced a contribution of more than 32 million Canadian dollars (25.6 million U.S. dollars) to Ukraine for demining and other efforts to address conflict-related sexual violence and counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

Last month, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said the country would send four battle tanks to Ukraine. The Canadian Armed Forces currently has 82 German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks.

Since February 2022, Canada has committed over 5 billion Canadian dollars (4 billion U.S. dollars) in multifaceted support to Ukraine.

According to a new poll conducted by Ipsos, 48 percent Canadians agreed that Canada can't afford to give financial support to Ukraine.

Canadians' interest in the conflict and support for Ukraine may be starting to wane as the war drags on. Canadians appear to be turning inwards more as they experience increased economic hardship, said Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs. 
HOUSTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Heat-related deaths in south central U.S. state Texas last year hit a two-decade new high amid a sharp rise in migrant deaths and soaring temperatures enhanced by climate change, according to a Texas Tribune report on Friday.

At least 279 people in Texas were killed by heat in 2022, the highest annual toll for the state since at least 1999, said the report based on the newspaper's analysis of state data.

Many of the dead were likely migrants who died after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the report noted.

The U.S. Border Patrol reported locating 853 bodies along the entire U.S.-Mexico border in the 2022 fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The figure included deaths from heat, drowning and other causes.

Texas also saw its second-hottest summer on record during its worst drought in more than a decade, said the report, citing data provided by state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.

The population in the second largest U.S. state grew from just over 20 million in 1999 to around 30 million in 2022. 
USA: Facing the rising Republican pressure to audit US aid in US aid in Ukraine, the President Joe Biden's administration on Friday suggested that there is no reason to be worried that the fund is being misunderstood.

"We have not seen any indication till date that any of the resources or weapons we have provided to Ukraine has been misused, wrongly, theft, sold in the black market, or captured by the Russians. Has gone,

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a press briefing. He made a similar claim in January, apparently ignoring the report.

Also Read: 30 celebrities, including Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, and Matt Damon, sent their prayer services and "love" to Ukraine

In August, CBS News reported that only 30% of Western weapons sent to Ukraine created it in the front lines, citing a complex network of "Power Lords, Oligarks, and political players" to reach the soldiers.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelansky fired several senior officials last month to make profits with Western assistance. Transparency International continues to rank Ukraine in Europe's most corrupt countries.

Also Read: Saudi Arabia becomes a "new destination" for tourists from India

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began a year ago, Washington has provided $ 113 billion to Kiev. Even though the Pentagon has admitted that the sheer scale of the program creates a "very real" risk to misuse resources, MPs at Biden's Democratic Party and even some Republicans for strong inspection of large -scale support packages. The call has been rejected.

Along with controlling the Republican Congress in the midnight election in November, the Biden administration has faced increasing calls for accountability.

On Wednesday, the House Oversite Committee demanded that the administration prove the documents that military and financial assistance in Ukraine was not being released through "waste, fraud and abuse".

Also Read: Bedfordshire's asylum seekers are afraid to go outside because of protests

Georgia Republican Representative Marjori Taylor Green announced on Thursday that it would introduce the law to require an audit of the Ukraine aid program.

In an interview by Fox News, he said, "An audit of Ukraine really needs American people, because we do not know where all this money is going."

According to the recent voting, public support for the United States participation in the Ukraine crisis is decreasing. Recently, according to the Associated Press-NORC poll, only 48% of Americans continued military assistance to Kiev.
USA: Two Pakistani brothers were detained by the US at the Cuban detention facility Guantanamo Bay for 20 years without being given any legal proceedings. Mohammed and Abdul Rabbani assert that they were tortured while under CIA control.

The men were returned to Pakistan, according to a Pentagon statement on Thursday. It is still unknown why they remained at the facility until now given that both had their releases approved for 2021.

The brothers, who are both in their 50s, arrived at Islamabad Airport, according to Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, who gave the confirmation on Friday.

Also Read: The White House sees 'no evidence' of Kiev misusing aid

They were unjustly detained at Guantanamo Bay, he claimed in a tweet. "There were no charges brought against them, no trial, and no court proceedings. Thank you for their release.

Also Read: On Friday EU member states approved the tenth round of anti-Russia sanctions

In order to hold foreign civilians there without a trial, the Bush administration used its wartime authority to open the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in 2002. Around 780 people went through the facility, and there were numerous reports of torture, inhumane treatment, and other forms of physical and mental abuse.

The brothers Rabbani were detained by Pakistani authorities in 2002, given over to the CIA in 2004, and then sent to Guantanamo. They were accused of giving Al-Qaeda rudimentary logistical support, a charge they both denied and which was never proven.

In its lengthy account of both men's arrest and detention from 2014, the US Senate noted that Pakistani authorities had mistaken Mohammed, who also went by the name "Ahmed," for a wanted terrorist by the name of Hassan Ghul.

Mohammed was tortured at a CIA "black site" in Afghanistan for more than a year following his arrest. The 2014 report details how he was frequently restrained with his hand extended over his head, a painful situation that prompted him to make an attempt to cut off his own hand.

Also Read: 30 celebrities, including Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, and Matt Damon, sent their prayer services and "love" to Ukraine

Rabbani's case attracted attention from around the world, and in 2018, he wrote an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times in which he complained about being force-fed while on hunger strikes to protest the conditions of his detention and claimed that other prisoners had been sexually assaulted by guards.

According to US President Joe Biden, Guantanamo Bay will be shut down by the time he leaves office, keeping a promise made and broken by his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

32 prisoners are still being held there, of whom 18 are waiting to be transferred to other nations, three are eligible for parole, nine are involved in military tribunals, and two have been found guilty of crimes.
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Archer Exploration Corp. (CSE: RCHR) (the "Company" or "Archer") is pleased to announce the voting results from its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting"), held on February 24, 2023.

Archer Exploration Corp. logo (CNW Group/Archer Exploration Corp)

Shareholders voted in favour of all matters of business before the Meeting. Each of those matters is set out in detail in the Management Information Circular published in connection with the Meeting, which is available on the Company's website www.archerexploration.com .

A total of 32,236,840 common shares, representing approximately 35.55% of the Company's outstanding common shares, were voted in person and by proxy at the Meeting. Shareholders voted in favour of (a) reappointing De Visser Gray LLP as auditors of the Company (99.94% in favour), (b) setting the number of directors at six (99.87% in favour), and (c) continuation of the Company's Equity Incentive Plan (96.15% in favour).

Election of Directors

The following nominees listed in the Management Information Circular were elected as directors of the Company until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until the successors are elected or appointed, with the voting results being as follows:

Nominee Votes For % For Votes Withheld % Withheld Tom Meyer 31,939,306 99.58 134,096 0.42 David Cobbold 30,992,928 96.63 1,080,474 3.37 Christian Kargl-Simard 30,797,666 96.02 1,275,736 3.98 Michael Konnert 29,328,550 91.44 2,744,852 8.56 Marz Kord 31,995,827 99.76 77,575 0.24 Brian Penny 32,021,022 99.84 52,380 0.06

About Archer

Archer is a Ni-Cu-Co-PGE focused exploration and development company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. The Company's flagship and core asset is the Grasset Project, located within the Abitibi greenstone belt approximately 55 kilometres west-northwest of Matagami, Quebec. In addition, the Company holds an extensive portfolio of 37 properties comprised of 300 square kilometres in the world-class mining district of Sudbury, Ontario. The Company's growth strategy is focused on the exploration and development of its nickel sulphide properties within its portfolio, as well as other battery metal assets it may acquire that fit its strategic criteria. Archer's vision is to be a responsible nickel sulphide developer in stable pro-mining jurisdictions. Archer is committed to socially responsible exploration and development, working safely, ethically, and with integrity.

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Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and Uzbek Investments, Industry and Trade Minister Laziz Kudratov discussed mutual investments and trade turnover, Azernews reports.

The discussion was held during the Azerbaijani minister's visit to Uzbekistan.

The sides discussed the measures aimed to develop trade and economic partnership, noting that both countries are taking targeted steps for the implementation of the agreements signed during a meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation in August 2021.

"The trade turnover between our countries increased significantly in 2022. Along with this, great chances exist for enhancing trade cooperation. The expansion of investment partnerships with Uzbekistan is also of utmost importance. In this regard, the Intergovernmental Agreement on the establishment of the Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Investment Fund also plays a paramount role, which will contribute to strengthening ties between the regions and business circles of both countries. The issues reflected in the document will contribute to the growth of mutual investment and trade, as well as will reinforce economic cooperation," Jabbarov stressed.

Further, the parties emphasized the great potential for attracting Uzbek companies to projects in trade, investment, industry, and activities in the Araz Valley Economic Zone Industrial Park, the Aghdam Industrial Park, and the Alat Free Economic Zone, to the digital economy partnerships, and other areas.

Additionally, they discussed the current activity of the Joint Azerbaijani-Uzbekistan Intergovernmental Commission to expand economic cooperation and explored ways of increasing mutual investment.

Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan were established on October 2, 1995. The embassy of Azerbaijan in Uzbekistan was established in August 1996, while the embassy of Uzbekistan in Azerbaijan was opened in July 1998.

The friendly relations between the two countries are based on shared values ??and historical ties, as well as a number of joint statements and agreements signed during bilateral visits and meetings.
Blender Bites Limited

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blender Bites Ltd. (the Company, Blender Bites or Blender), (CSE: BITE, FWB: JL4, WKN: A3DMEJ), an award winning Canadian company involved in the development and marketing of a line of premium, organic and plant-based pre-portioned frozen functional foods, is pleased to announce that it has finalized product formulations, and is awaiting final packaging materials and product art work, in connection with a two-year private label business contract (the Contract) entered into with a large Canadian retailer (the Retailer), dated November 25, 2022. The Contract allows Blender Bites to create a new line of exclusive smoothie flavours under the Retailers private label brand of organic smoothies.



As part of the Contract, the Company will supply the Retailer with three flavours of smoothie mixes for their private label branding with an anticipated launch in September 2023. The new line of smoothies will be available under multiple banners in approximately 300 of the Retailers stores across Quebec and Ontario. The Company will be responsible for the costs associated with developing the initial product mix for the Retailer, following which the Retailer will be entitled to purchase product from the Company at a fixed cost during the term of the Contract.

As a retailer, franchisor, distributor, and manufacturer, the Retailer operates and/or services a network of 963 food stores under several banners as well as 649 drugstores, making the Retailer a food and pharmacy leader in Quebec and Ontario. The Contract presents an opportunity for sales and revenue growth given the Retailers large existing consumer-base, as well as its network of some 1,600 points of sale, and 15 distribution centers.

We are thrilled to be advancing our partnership with one of Canadas leading grocers as private label partners for their new line of organic smoothies. As more and more North American retailers put a focus on building out their own private label brands, we have made the strategic decision to capitalize on both branded and private label opportunities. Private label could be a great profit center for the business as it includes far less deductions and marketing expenses than the branded side and it comes with multi-year contracts. With profitability top of mind more than ever, the Company is actively working on multiple private label opportunities in both Canada and the US which should help to strengthen revenues and diversify our offerings, stated Chelsie Hodge, the Companys CEO and Founder.

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ABOUT BLENDER BITES

Blender Bites is an award winning Canadian company involved in the development and marketing of a line of premium frozen food products with a focus on functionality. Blender Bites was founded in 2016 and was first to market in Western Canada with a pre-portioned easy smoothie product that is free of any unnecessary inner plastic packaging. Blender Bites products are certified organic, vegan, non-GMO, gluten free, dairy free and soy free. They contain no added sugars and are made in Canada. Blender Bites products are distributed internationally across Canada and the US, and are currently sold in over 900 stores, including Sobeys, Loblaws, Safeway, Save on Foods, Real Canadian Superstore, Whole Foods Market, Buy-Low/Nesters, IGA, Thrifty and Fresh Street.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Blender Bites Limited

Chelsie Hodge, Chief Executive Officer

Email  chelsie@blenderbites.com

Telephone  236-521-0626

For further information, contact Blender IR Team at:

Email  investors@blenderbites.com

Telephone  1-888-997-2055

CAUTIONARY DISCLAIMER STATEMENT

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political, and social uncertainties, and uncertain capital markets. Readers are cautioned that actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.




What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. So on that note, Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd (KLSE:BOXPAK) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.041 = RM9.0m  (RM540m - RM319m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

Therefore, Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd has an ROCE of 4.1%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Packaging industry average of 12%.

Check out our latest analysis for Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd

roce

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Can We Tell From Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd's ROCE Trend?

It's great to see that Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd has started to generate some pre-tax earnings from prior investments. Historically the company was generating losses but as we can see from the latest figures referenced above, they're now earning 4.1% on their capital employed. Additionally, the business is utilizing 30% less capital than it was five years ago, and taken at face value, that can mean the company needs less funds at work to get a return. The reduction could indicate that the company is selling some assets, and considering returns are up, they appear to be selling the right ones.

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For the record though, there was a noticeable increase in the company's current liabilities over the period, so we would attribute some of the ROCE growth to that. The current liabilities has increased to 59% of total assets, so the business is now more funded by the likes of its suppliers or short-term creditors. And with current liabilities at those levels, that's pretty high.

Our Take On Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd's ROCE

From what we've seen above, Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd has managed to increase it's returns on capital all the while reducing it's capital base. Given the stock has declined 25% in the last five years, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. That being the case, research into the company's current valuation metrics and future prospects seems fitting.

Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd does have some risks, we noticed 3 warning signs (and 2 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

While Box-Pak (Malaysia) Bhd isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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C2C Gold Corp.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- C2C Gold Corp. (CSE: CTOC, OTCQB: CTCGF) (C2C Gold or the Company) announces a non-brokered private placement of 10,000,000 units (the Units) at a price of C$0.05 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of C$500,000 (the Offering).

Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a Warrant). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder to acquire an additional common share at a price of $0.10 for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Offering.

The Units will be offered by way of the listed issuer exemption under National Instrument 45-106  Prospectus Exemptions in all the provinces of Canada with the exception of Quebec. A potential investor resident in Canada (except Quebec) is not required to be an accredited investor under applicable Canadian securities laws to participate in the Offering. The securities forming part of the Units are expected to be immediately freely tradeable under applicable Canadian securities legislation if sold to purchasers resident in Canada.

The proceeds from the sale of the Units will be used for advancing exploration at the Companys Newfoundland projects and general working capital purposes.

The closing of the Offering may occur in one or more tranches with the final tranche expected to occur on or before April 10, 2023 and is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.

An offering document related to the Offering will be filed and accessible under the Companys profile at www.sedar.com and at the Companys website at www.c2cgold.com. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision.

The securities issued pursuant to the Offering have not, nor will they be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons in the absence of U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

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The Company will not be proceeding with the offering announced on January 12, 2023.

About C2C Gold Corp.

C2C Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on advancing gold projects in Canadas Newfoundland. C2C Gold holds one of the largest land positions on the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt and through the acquisition of The Rock Gold Corp., now includes numerous projects lying along the major gold bearing crustal scale structural zones. C2C Golds portfolio covers a pipeline of projects from early exploration stage through drill-ready with known gold occurrences. C2C Gold also holds a portfolio of projects within the prolific White Gold and Klondike districts in Canadas Yukon.

For additional information:

Peter Bures

Chief Executive Officer

(833) 888-2862

info@c2cgold.com

www.c2cgold.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties and can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as expected, will be, anticipated, may, are subject to or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results will occur. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Forward looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, the closing of the Offering and the proposed use of funds. 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 forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.




HelpRansomware

HelpRansomware

HelpRansomware: By 2025, the Healthcare Industry Will Invest $125 Billion in Cybersecurity

Castello de la Plana, Castellon, Spain, Feb. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The medical sector has become a top target for ransomware due to its sensitive data and room for digital improvement

There are many ways that medical information can be compromised, including human error, phishing, or ransomware attacks.

Ransomware is extremely malicious and has the ability to shut down networks and cause catastrophic damage to an infrastructure.

The medical industry is aware of this threat and plans to spend $125 billion on cybersecurity between now and 2025.

HelpRansomware's capabilities have been based on ransomware prevention, removal and decryption for 25 years.

The company, led by Andrea Baggio and Juan Ricardo Palacio, is a world leader in cybersecurity and decryption.

The healthcare industry, the primary target of ransomware

Hospitals are ransomware attacks targets for two main reasons.

First and foremost, the health industry has a lot of confidential patient data that attackers might use to blackmail or extort money from companies or individuals.

The second reason is that most hospitals' medical equipment and services still need to be digitized, making them vulnerable to cybercrime.

Criminals exploit their vulnerability by spreading malware, forcing hospitals and medical centers to pay a ransom to recover encrypted files.

Medical organizations are the most likely to pay the ransom, ranking first among all sectors (61%).

Never pay ransom to hackers, said Andrea Baggio, CEO EMEA HelpRansomware.

Indeed, the healthcare organizations that paid the ransom recovered only 65% of their data.

In addition, communicating with cybercriminals reveals vulnerability and interest in negotiation.

The power of information in the ransomware attack

About five years ago, we noticed a change in the trend: some companies did not want to pay because they knew that even if they did, they would not get the data;

At that moment, hackers decided to go one step further: extract important information and post it on the Deep Web, said Juan Ricardo Palacio, CEO America HelpRansomware.

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On sites located on the Deep Web or Dark Web, they sell the data to the highest bidder or simply offer it to the general public.

Kidnapping is not removing the data, kidnapping is encrypting the data. This is how they prevent access to the information, Palacio points out.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the cost of a data breach in healthcare has reached $10,10 million.

In the digital age, ransomware has become a real risk for businesses.

This virus causes significant inactivity in companies by encrypting financial, personal or patent data, concludes Baggio.

HelpRansomware offers 24/7 global assistance, guaranteeing data decryption in a determined and fast time.

The company is part of the ReputationUP Group, a multinational company specialized in online reputation management.



Disclaimer: The information and views set out in this press release are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of PR Distribution, its staff, its associates, its partners or the media outlet(s) that this press release may be distributed on. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this press release lies entirely with the author(s). If you have any questions(s) pertaining to this matter, please contact the author(s) directly at: press@helpransomware.com

To view the original news story, please visit https://www.prdistribution.com/news/helpransomware-by-2025-the-healthcare-industry-will-invest-125-billion-in-cybersecurity/9557570



Attachment

CONTACT: Full Name : HelpRansomware Company : HelpRansomware Phone Number : 600790569 Website : https://www.helpransomware.com/en




DUBLIN, Feb. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Mass Flow Controller Market by Material Type (Stainless Steel, Exotic Alloys, Bronze, Brass), Flow Rate (Low, Medium, High), Media Type (Gas, Liquid, Vapor), End User Industry (Semiconductor, Chemical, Pharmaceutical), Region - Global Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





Research and Markets Logo

The market for mass flow controllers is expected to be worth USD 3.3 billion in 2028 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 14.0% from 2023 to 2028. Mass flow controllers are increasingly adopted in various end-user industries, such as pharmaceutical, semiconductor, and chemical due to their high capacity to deal with corrosion and superior oxidation resistance, enabling them to withstand extreme pressure and temperature.

Gas mass flow controller to hold the largest market share in the year 2022.

By Media Type, gas mass flow controller holds the largest market share in the year 2022. Catalyst research is the key application of gas mass flow controllers in chemical and petrochemical industries. Catalyst is an important substance that stimulates the reaction rate in various chemical processes, such as hydrogenation, polymerization, gas-to-liquid conversion, and chemical synthesis. Chemical decomposition is another application where gas mass flow controllers are widely used. The chemical decomposition process or reaction uses differential pressure-based gas mass flow controllers owing to the advantages of fast response time and their ability to measure and control gas flow in low-line pressure applications.

Pharmaceutical industry is likely to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The pharmaceutical industry is likely to grow at the highest CAGR in the forecast period 2023-2028. Mass flow controllers with low flow rates play a vital role in measuring and controlling different media (gas and liquid) in the pharmaceutical industry. In medical applications, mass flow controllers are used in ventilation devices. The ultra-low flow rate and control capability of the controllers improve the accuracy of ventilation devices and offer efficient control and safety for the patient. The use of mass flow controllers in pharmaceutical, medical, and healthcare devices for enhancing safety and accuracy would drive the growth of the mass flow controller market.

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The Asia Pacific is likely to grow at the highest CAGR in the forecast period 2023-2028.

The mass flow controller market in the Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 14.6% from 2023 to 2028. Countries covered under the mass flow controller market in the Asia Pacific are China, Japan, India, Taiwan, South Korea, and the Rest of Asia Pacific. Increasing investments in the semiconductor industry, rising demand for efficient devices for measurement and control, and industrial automation are among the major factors driving the market growth in this region. Most key players operating in the mass flow controller market have their production capacity in Asia Pacific, as the production cost in this region is lower than that of other regions. Asia Pacific is expected to acquire the majority share of the mass flow controller market during the forecasted period. Due to surging technological advancements in medical and healthcare devices, the market of mass flow controllers is expected to grow in the emerging countries of India, China, and Japan.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Increasing Use of Mass Flow Controllers by Semiconductor Manufacturers

Rising Demand for Mass Flow Controllers in Chemical and Water & Wastewater Industries

Growing Need for Mass Flow Controllers in Fuel Cells for Renewable Energy Applications

Restraints

Tuning and Flow-Related Issues in Control Valves Caused by Variations in Differential Pressure

High Initial Cost and Physical Restraints of Mass Flow Controllers

Opportunities

Emerging Applications of Mass Flow Controllers in Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Industries

Increasing Use of Mass Flow Controllers in Space Applications

Challenges

Media Dependency in Calibration of Mass Flow Controllers

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 193 Forecast Period 2022 - 2027 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $1.7 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2027 $3.3 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 14.0 % Regions Covered Global



Key Topics Covered:





1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Connectivity Technologies Used in Mass Flow Controllers

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Analog

6.3 Profibus

6.4 Rs-485

6.5 Profinet

6.6 Ethercat

6.7 Ethernet/Ip

6.8 Modbus Rtu

6.9 Modbus Tcp/Ip

6.10 Devicenet

6.11 Foundation Fieldbus

7 Applications of Mass Flow Controllers

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Catalyst Research

7.3 Gas Chromatography

7.4 Spray and Coating Processes

7.5 Fluid & Gas Processing and Control

7.6 Fuel Cell

7.7 Solar Cell

7.8 Heat Treating

8 Types of Mass Flow Controllers

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Direct

8.3 Indirect

9 Mass Flow Controller Market, by Material Type

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Stainless Steel

9.3 Exotic Alloys

9.4 Others

10 Mass Flow Controller Market, by Flow Rate

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Low

10.3 Medium

10.4 High

11 Mass Flow Controller Market, by Media Type

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Gas Mass Flow Controllers

11.3 Liquid Mass Flow Controllers

11.4 Others

12 Mass Flow Controller Market, by End-User Industry

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Semiconductor

12.3 Oil & Gas

12.4 Chemical

12.5 Pharmaceutical

12.6 Metal & Mining

12.7 Water & Wastewater

12.8 Food & Beverage

13 Mass Flow Controller Market, by Region

14 Competitive Landscape

15 Company Profiles

16 Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Aalborg Instruments & Controls, Inc.

Alicat Scientific

Axetris Ag

Azbil Corporation

Bronkhorst

Brooks Instrument

Christian Burkert GmbH & Co. Kg

Dwyer Instruments

Fcon Co., Ltd.

Fctechnik Ag

Golden Mountain Enterprise Co., Ltd. (New-Flow)

Hitachi Metals, Ltd.

Horiba, Ltd.

IMI plc

Kelly Pneumatics, Inc.

Kofloc

MKS Instruments

Ohkura Electric Co., Ltd.

Omega Engineering Inc.

Parker Hannifin Corp

Sensirion Ag

Sierra Instruments

Teledyne Hastings Instruments

Tokyo Keiso Co., Ltd.

Vogtlin Instruments GmbH

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/symu19-flow?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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Research and Markets

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SOURCE Research and Markets
/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN/

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 24, 2023 /CNW/ - Nevada Lithium Resources Inc. ("Nevada Lithium" or the "Company") (CSE: NVLH) (OTCQB: NVLHF) (FSE: 87K) is pleased to announce that today it closed its non-brokered private placement offering of 38,530,000 Subscription Receipts (as defined below) at a price of $0.125 per Subscription Receipt (the "Issue Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of $5,120,998 (the "Offering").

Nevada Lithium Resources Inc. Logo (CNW Group/Nevada Lithium Resources Inc)

Stephen Rentschler, CEO of Nevada Lithium stated, "We are very grateful for the overwhelming demand on this offering which included strong support from existing sophisticated shareholders as well as new strategic investors. The consolidation of this world-class asset greatly enhances the Company's ability to negotiate with strategic investors and lithium end-users. We continue to advance the Bonnie Claire Project on multiple fronts and believe the Bonnie Claire Project is one of the most attractive global lithium assets remaining in junior developers' hand."

The Offering was undertaken in connection with the Company's previously announced consolidation of 100% ownership interest of the Bonnie Claire Lithium project (the "Bonnie Claire Project"), which is currently jointly held by Iconic Minerals Ltd. ("Iconic") and Nevada Lithium, by way of a court approved plan of arrangement (the "Transaction"). For further details regarding the Transaction, please refer to the press releases of the Company dated January 9, 2023 and January 23, 2023 available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Offering was comprised of: (A) concurrent non-brokered private placement financings completed by the Company and the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, 1396483 B.C. Ltd. ("Nevada MergeCo"), whereby Nevada Lithium issued 14,780,000 Subscription Receipts (the "Nevada Lithium Subscription Receipts") at the Issue Price and Nevada MergeCo issued 23,750,000 Subscription Receipts (the "Nevada MergeCo Subscription Receipts" and together with the Nevada Lithium Subscription Receipts, the "Subscription Receipts") at the Issue Price; and (B) the issue and sale of promissory notes of Nevada Lithium (the "Promissory Notes") in the principal amount of $304,748. The Nevada Lithium Subscription Receipts were issued pursuant to and are governed by the terms of a subscription receipt agreement dated February 24, 2023. The Nevada MergeCo Subscription Receipts were issued pursuant to and are governed by the terms of a subscription receipt agreement dated February 24, 2023.

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The Subscription Receipts issued pursuant to the Offering will automatically convert, without payment of any additional consideration or further action on the part of the holder thereof, as follows: (i) each Nevada Lithium Subscription Receipt will be converted into one unit ("Nevada Lithium Units"), consisting of one common share of Nevada Lithium (a "Nevada Share") and one-half of one share purchase warrant of Nevada Lithium (each whole warrant, a "Nevada Warrant"); and (ii) each Nevada MergeCo Subscription Receipt shall be converted into one unit ("Nevada MergeCo Units"), consisting of one common share of Nevada MergeCo (a "Nevada MergeCo Share") and one-half of one share purchase warrant of Nevada MergeCo (each whole warrant, a "Nevada MergeCo Warrant"). Upon completion of the Transaction, each Nevada MergeCo Share and each Nevada MergeCo Warrant will be exchanged on a one-for-one basis for, respectively, Nevada Shares and Nevada Warrants. Following completion of the Transaction, Nevada Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one additional Nevada Share at a price of $0.20 until the date that is 24 months following the closing of the Transaction.

In connection with the issue and sale of the Promissory Notes, Nevada Lithium entered into debt conversion agreements with the holders of the Promissory Notes, providing for the conversion of the principal amounts owing under the Promissory Notes into Nevada Lithium Units upon closing of the Transaction.

PowerOne Capital Markets Limited and Primary Capital Inc. acted as finders (the "Finders") in connection with the Offering. Eligible finders were paid a cash commission of 7% of gross proceeds sold be each finder, which will be payable upon closing of the Transaction and finder warrants (the "Finder Warrants"), being equal to 7.0% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold by each finder. Each Finder Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Nevada Lithium Unit at the Issue Price for a period of 24 months following closing of the Transaction.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for general corporate purposes following the completion of the Transaction.

The Offering constitutes a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101") as certain officers and directors of the Company subscribed for Subscription Receipts pursuant to the Offering. The Company relied on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in Sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(b) of MI 61-101 with respect to the insider participation in the Offering.

Bonnie Claire Project

The Bonnie Claire Project is located within Sarcobatus Valley, which is approximately 30 km (19 miles) long and 20 km (12 miles) wide. Quartz-rich volcanic tuffs containing anomalous amounts of lithium occur within and adjacent to the valley. Drill results from the salt flat include 2,054 ppm Li over 67.1 m (220 ft) in drill hole BC-1601 as well as a 475 m (1560 ft) vertical intercept that averaged 1153 ppm Li. Bonnie Claire is one the largest lithium resources in North America with a current NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource 3,407 million tonnes (Mt) grading 1,013 ppm Li for 18,372 million kilograms of contained lithium carbonate equivalent, at a cut-off grade of 700 ppm Li. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The gravity low that characterizes the valley is approximately 20 km (12 miles) long, and the current estimates of depth to basement rocks range from 600 to 1,200 meters (2,000 to 4,000 feet). The current claim block covers an area of 74 km2 (28.6 mi2) with potential for brine systems and further sediment resources.

About Nevada Lithium Resources Inc.

Nevada Lithium Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company focused on shareholder value creation through its core asset, the Bonnie Claire Lithium Project, located in Nye County, Nevada, where it currently holds a 50% interest. A recently completed NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment returned attractive investment metrics and the Company is actively advancing the Project towards Pre-Feasibility. Learn more: https://www.nvlithium.com/.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Nevada Lithium Resources Inc.

"Stephen Rentschler"

Stephen Rentschler, CEO

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. These statements relate to matters that identify future events or future performance. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "could", "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "will", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved.

The forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to statements regarding: the completion of the Offering and the terms on which the Offering is intended to be completed; the conversion of Nevada Lithium and Nevada MergeCo subscription receipts and the anticipated timing herein; the exchange of Nevada MergeCo Shares and share purchase warrants of Nevada MergeCo; the conversion terms of Nevada Warrants; the sale of non-convertible promissory notes by Nevada Lithium and conversion of the aggregate principal and accrued interest into Nevada Lithium Units or Nevada MergeCo Units; the completion of the Transaction and the terms on which the Transaction is intended to be completed; the terms and payment of cash commission and Finder Warrants to eligible Finders; and Nevada Lithium's intended use of net proceed from the Offering.

In making the forward looking statements in this news release, Nevada Lithium has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation: Nevada Lithium obtaining TSX Venture Exchange and Canadian Securities Exchange acceptance; Nevada Lithium obtaining requisite regulatory and shareholder approvals and the satisfaction of other conditions to the consummation of the Offering on the proposed terms herein; the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the Transaction; Nevada Lithium's ability to comply with all applicable regulations and laws, including environmental, health and safety laws; Nevada Lithium's ability to offer Nevada Lithium and Nevada MergeCo subscription receipts on the terms contemplated herein; Nevada Lithium's ability to complete the Transaction; Nevada Lithium's ability to satisfy the terms and payment of cash commission and Finder Warrants to eligible Finders; and Nevada Lithium's ability to use the net proceeds from the Offering for general corporate purposes.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but instead reflect expectations of Nevada Lithium's management, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of managements considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although Nevada Lithium believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and under reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by Nevada Lithium. Among the key risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are the following: changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; the inability of Nevada Lithium to close the Transaction on the terms provided herein; the inability of Nevada Lithium to complete the Offering on the terms contemplated herein; delays or the inability of Nevada Lithium to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required, including TSX Venture Exchange or Canadian Securities Exchange acceptance; financing or other planned activities; changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations; currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities; risks relating to epidemics or pandemics such as COVID-19, including the impact of COVID-19 on Nevada Lithium's business; the potential impact of the announcement or consummation of the Offering on relationship, including with regulatory bodies, employees, suppliers, customers and competitors; and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Nevada Lithium's latest Management Discussion and Analysis and other filings of Nevada Lithium with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the respective party's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialized, 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. Although Nevada Lithium has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Nevada Lithium does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.

SOURCE Nevada Lithium Resources Inc

Cision

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Nurses say patients are unsafe

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 25, 2023 /CNW/ - The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) is deeply alarmed by reports of private orthopedic surgeries now being performed under a veil of secrecy on weekends at the Riverside campus of The Ottawa Hospital.

Ontario Nurses Association Logo (CNW Group/Ontario Nurses' Association)

ONA is demanding answers to a number of serious concerns about patient safety, poaching of public-sector nurses and other staff from The Ottawa Hospital and which  if any  standard regulations are being followed.

Every patient under anesthesia is potentially unstable. Patients would be wise to ask questions about what supports are available.

Riverside is a taxpayer-funded facility where day surgery is performed five days per week, with a full staff complement available to provide care and support to surgical patients. The facility is closed on the weekends.

ONA says The Ottawa Hospital currently has at least 515 RN vacancies. The surgeons performing these private hip and knee surgeries are approaching RNs at work to ask them to assist with these surgeries on weekends. ONA has concerns about liability issues for The Ottawa Hospital and the staff who assist with the surgeries out of the public system. There are also concerns about private surgeons using taxpayer-funded utilities.

ONA is calling for immediate transparency from The Ottawa Hospital and Premier Doug Ford. Nurses and the public deserve to know details of this practice and where and how their tax dollars are being spent.

ONA is the union representing 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals as well as more than 18,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care, public health, home and community care and industry.

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association

Cision

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Allied Market Research

Effective pain management by usage of PCA pumps, low risk of complications, and improving patient outcomes drive the growth of the global patient controlled analgesia pumps market. By application, the oncology and hematology segment contributed major share in 2021. By region, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR by 2031.

Portland, OR, Feb. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global patient controlled analgesia pumps market was estimated at $277.67 million in 2021 and is expected to hit $407.89 million by 2031, registering a CAGR of 3.9% from 2022 to 2031. The report provides a detailed analysis of the top investment pockets, top winning strategies, drivers & opportunities, market size & estimations, competitive landscape, and evolving market trends. The market study is a helpful source of information for the frontrunners, new entrants, investors, and shareholders in crafting strategies for the future and heightening their position in the market.

Download Free Sample of the Report- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/13755

Report coverage & details:

Forecast Period 20222031 Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 $277.67 million Market Size in 2031 $407.89 million CAGR 3.9% No. of Pages in Report 209 Segments Covered Type, Application, End User, and Region. Drivers Rise in cases of chronic pain diseases Technological advancements in analgesic pumps Increase in number of surgeries Restraints Lack of awareness regarding analgesia pumps Stringent government regulations Opportunities Lucrative growth opportunities in developing countries Development in analgesic pumps

Impact of Covid-19 on Patient Controlled Analgesia Pumps Market:

Increase in COVID-19 cases led to decline in the number of surgical procedures this had led to decrease in demand for patient controlled analgesic pumps and, thus negatively impacted the market growth.

However, as the global situation has recovered, the market has now got back on track.



Story continues

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The global patient controlled analgesia pumps market is analyzed across type, application, end user, and region. The report uses tabular and graphical representation to provide a comprehensive study of the segments and their sub-segments. The segmentation can help investors and market participants develop strategies based on the top revenue-generating and fastest-growing segments identified in the study.

By type, the electronic and wireless segment held the largest share in 2021, garnering around three-fourths of the global patient controlled analgesia pumps market revenue, and is projected to maintain its dominance by 2031. The same segment would register the fastest CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period.

By application, the oncology and hematology segment contributed to nearly two-third of the global patient controlled analgesia pumps market share in 2021. The same segment would display the fastest CAGR of 4.2% throughout the forecast period.

By end-user, the others segment accounted for the highest share in 2021, generating nearly half of the global patient controlled analgesia pumps market revenue. The same segment would also register the fastest CAGR of 4.4% during the forecast period.

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By region, North America held the major share in 2021, garnering more than half of the global patient controlled analgesia pumps market revenue. Asia-Pacific, simultaneously, would showcase the fastest CAGR of 4.9% from 2022 to 2031.

The key market players analyzed in the global patient controlled analgesia pumps market report include Ace-medical, Arcomed AG, B. Braun SE, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Changzhou Medical Bioengineering Co., Ltd., Fresenius SE and Co. KGaA, Henan Tuoren Medical Device Co., Ltd., ICU Medical, Inc., Micrel Medical Devices SA, SCW Medicath Ltd.

These market players have embraced strategy including acquisition to highlight their prowess in the industry. The report is helpful in formulating the business performance and developments by the top players.

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Hong Kong: Govt rejects US remarks

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today said it strongly disapproved of and rejected the smearing of the situation in Hong Kong, as well as the explicit mention of no hesitation to express its so-called deep concern about it, by the spokesman for the US Consulate General in Hong Kong.

Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the Hong Kong SAR Government has been fully, faithfully and resolutely implementing the principles of "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law.

It said: The Hong Kong SAR Government firmly rejects any false accusation, vilification or smearing in respect of the Hong Kong SAR affairs by the US Government and its consulate general in Hong Kong.

The US' insistence on scaremongering, in the belief that repeating prejudice-driven self-created misrepresentation numerous times will turn it into a truth, simply reflects its lack of integrity as well as its ill intent.

The Hong Kong SAR Government also stressed that Hong Kong has entered a new stage of advancing from stability to prosperity following the transition from chaos to order.

Under "one country, two systems", Hong Kong commands an irreplaceable standing with the distinct advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world. There lies a plethora of opportunities ahead.

Any attempt by foreign countries or external forces to undermine Hong Kong's prosperity and stability by slandering its situation will only expose their own weakness and faulty arguments and be doomed to fail.

The Hong Kong SAR Government said it will continue to discharge its duty to ensure the successful implementation of the principles of "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy, so as to better serve Hong Kong citizens and foster the city's development.

It strongly urged the US to stop acting against international law and the basic norms of international relations as well as interfere in Hong Kong's affairs.

This story has been published on: 2023-02-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A number of documents were signed within the framework of the Uzbek-Azerbaijani inter-regional forum, Azernews reports via the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan.

The First Uzbek-Azerbaijani Inter-regional Forum was held in Tashkent on February 25, with the support of the Ministry of Investments, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan.

During the event, an intergovernmental agreement on the establishment of an Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan investment fund, documents on the establishment of twin city relations between the cities of Khiva and Shusha, Samarkand and Ganja, Bukhara and Lankaran, Kokand and Shaki were signed.

Besides, the parties signed a roadmap to expand practical cooperation in trade, economic, scientific, technical, cultural and humanitarian spheres between the Tashkent Executive Power and the Baku Executive Power Baku for 2023-2025, and Memorandum of Understanding between the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Agency (AZPROMO) under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan and the Agency for Regulation of the Alcohol and Tobacco Market and the Development of Winemaking of Uzbekistan.

The signed documents also include Memorandum of Cooperation between the Azerbaijan Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA) under the Ministry of Economy and the Agency for Entrepreneurship Development under the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction in Uzbekistan, Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation Agreement between AzerGold CJSC and the Ministry of Mining and Geology of Uzbekistan Memorandum of Cooperation and Interaction between Mega Invest Industrial and NABUCCO A&C companies, as well as cooperation agreement between Cahan Industrial Complex LLC and Azimut Plus company.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Mikayil Jabbarov noted that last year an increase of more than 63 percent took place in the sphere of trade, one of the main directions of economic cooperation.

The minister noted a wide potential between the countries for effective partnership in the areas of investment, metallurgy, automobile production, agricultural and household appliances, organizing joint activities in the industrial zones of Azerbaijan and in other areas.

According to him, the Azerbaijani-Uzbek Investment Fund under establishment will play a significant role in economic cooperation, the implementation of new investment projects, and the creation of jobs.
Quebec City, Feb. 24, 2023 /CNW/ - The day after Sollio Cooperative Group's 101st Annual General Meeting, the new Board of Directors held its first meeting to elect the President and vice-Presidents. Following a democratic vote, the members of the Board of Directors elected:

Sollio Cooperative Groups Board of Directors (CNW Group/Sollio Cooperative Group)

Richard Ferland, President

David Mercier, Vice-President

Jean Bissonnette, Vice-President

As of today, Sollio Cooperative Group welcomes Richard Ferland as the new President of the Board of Directors, succeeding Ghislain Gervais who had held this position since 2016.

Mr. Ferland is a dairy and maple producer from the Beauce region. He has sat on Sollio Cooperative Group's Board of Directors since 2014.

"I am deeply honoured to take on the role of President of Sollio Cooperative Groupa cooperative that has been contributing to the prosperity of farming families for over a century. I am grateful to the members of Board of Directors for the trust they have placed in me and am fully aware of the great responsibilities that this role entails. I would like to thank Mr. Gervais for his dedication to the cooperative and his tireless advocacy of the interests of agricultural producers in his seven years as President. I am ready to pursue this mission with passion to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for our members," said Mr. Ferland.

Ghislain Gervais, outgoing Sollio Cooperative Group President, also expressed his congratulations to the newly elected President: "After seven years as President of the Board of Directors, I am now handing over the reins to Mr. Ferland. I would like to congratulate him on his appointment and wish him every success in his new role. I would also like to thank my Board colleagues who have been a real pleasure to work with over the years. I would also like to thank the network's elected representatives and Sollio Cooperative Group's Executive Committee. It has been a great honour and privilege to lead Sollio Cooperative Group, a Quebec flagship with over one hundred years of rich history."

Story continues

Sollio Cooperative Group welcomes three new members to the Board of Directors. Four other directors had their terms renewed.

Sollio welcomes three new directors

Today, Sollio Cooperative Group welcomes three new members to its Board of Directors, including a guest director.

Jean-Francois Roy, a director at Vivaco, groupe cooperatif, has four years of experience in the administration of agricultural cooperatives. He is the sole owner of Ferme Marjobert inc. and owns 170 hectares of land. From a young age, he has been involved in various organizations, including the Releve Agricole and the Club-conseil Agro-Champs in Thetford Mines. Mr. Roy has been mayor of his municipality for 17 years and a member of the Cooperative Pork Network since 2015. He has served as vice-president of the Agriconseil network since the same year.

Jeannine Chartrand has co-owned a pork business in central Quebec since 1995. Ms. Chartrand graduated from the ITA de Saint-Hyacinthe in animal production and has 10 years' experience as director of an agricultural cooperative. She has taken courses in administration at UQTR and is actively involved various organizations, including as vice-president at Caisse Desjardins de Nicolet. Ms. Chartrand is also a director, member of the executive and treasurer of the board of the Eleveurs de porcs du Centre-du-Quebec and the Regional UPA.

Paule Tetu has also joined the Board of Directors as a guest director. She brings strategic planning expertise in the forestry sector, having held various management and leadership roles in public- and private-sector organizations. A graduate in forestry engineering from Universite Laval with a master's degree from the University of Georgia in the United States, she currently sits on the boards of Solifor and the non-profit Les Amis du Mont-Sainte-Anne. She has also held senior management positions at Kruger Inc., the Institut national de recherche sur les produits du bois and the Association des industries forestieres du Quebec. She was recognized by the Conseil du statut de la femme as one of 400 women who made a special contribution to the development of Quebec society.

"I am very pleased to welcome these three new directors to our Board of Directors. Their election demonstrates their commitment to our organization and their desire to play an active role in key decision making," said Mr. Ferland.

Richard Ferland, Jean Bissonnette, Normand Lapointe and Francois R. Roy were also re-elected to a new term on the Board of Directors. Their experience and vision are valuable assets for Sollio Cooperative Group, and their re-election is a testament to their commitment to the cooperative.

Outstanding dedication

Mr. Ferland also expressed his admiration for the remarkable dedication of the outgoing directors, Muriel Dubois and Jean-Philippe Cote.

"I would like to express my appreciation for the work done by Muriel and Jean-Philippe on our Board of Directors. Their commitment to our organization and agricultural expertise have been invaluable to our company. I thank them for their contribution to the development of our cooperative and wish them every success in their future endeavours."

The composition of the 20232024 Board of Directors is as follows:

Sector 1: Richard Ferland, Denis Levesque, Adrien Pitre and Patrick Soucy

Sector 2: Jean-Francois Roy, Jeannine Chartrand and Marc-Andre Roy

Sector 3: Jean Bissonnette, Ghislain Gervais and Guy Labrecque

Sector 4: Normand Lapointe, David Mercier and Cathy Fraser

Sector 5: Lucie Boies

Sector 6: Sophie Gendron

Guest Directors: Francois R. Roy and Paule Tetu

Sollio Cooperative Group's 2022 Annual Report and its Corporate and Cooperative Responsibility Report are available on the organization's website. They provide detailed information such as the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD & A), consolidated financial statements, results of the business divisions, as well as the organization's overall corporate responsibility action plan and results.

About Sollio Cooperative Group

Sollio Cooperative Group is Canada's largest agricultural cooperative with Quebec roots. Founded in 1922, we cultivate, grow, produce, process and build the economy of tomorrow. We are 15,850 employees and 7,000 affiliated cooperative workers. With 48 agricultural and consumer cooperatives and over 123,000 members, producers, and consumers, Sollio Cooperative Group helps feed people by helping farm families prosper, ensuring a sustainable future for everyone. Sollio Cooperative Group's three divisions, Sollio Agriculture, Olymel L.P. and BMR Group Inc., contribute to regional economic and social development, generating sales of $8.9 billion (over $11.6 billion, including affiliated cooperatives). Sollio Cooperative Group is ranked among Canada's best-managed companies. To learn more, visit sollio.coop.

SOURCE Sollio Cooperative Group

Cision

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When I was a teenager, the church in which my private school was located would hold revivals every year. These multi-day events featured guest speakers and musicians from across the area. We were encouraged to bring our friends and neighbors so that they could experience the call to spiritual awakening alongside us.

While I believe that the church leaders intentions were good, I found myself wondering how someone could schedule revival. Genuine spiritual revival is dependent upon the Holy Spirit to move upon the hearts of men and women. Anyone who has walked with the Lord for any length of time will tell you that the Spirit of God most definitely doesnt follow our schedule or timetables.

Furthermore, nothing ever really came of these events. Yes, people gathered together to listen to sermons, sing, and socialize, but then they went home and for the most part, lived their lives exactly the same way as they did before. True revival is marked by changed lives, changed communities, and changed nations.

When we look back on previous revivals such as The Great Awakenings, we can see evidence of widespread cultural and social change as a result of these spiritual movements. For example, the abolition movement that fought to abolish slavery grew from the Second Great Awakening that took place in the early 1800s.

Many have labeled the spontaneous 24-hour worship and prayer services that have taken place at Asbury University (and now other college campuses across the country) over the past two weeks as revival. While there is no denying that something incredible is happening, only time will tell if this is the beginning of a true spiritual awakening in our country.

What I do know is that widespread revival begins in the hearts of individuals. We may not be able to schedule revival, but we can certainly pray that God would create a renewed and revived passion for Him and the things of His Kingdom in our hearts. Like the psalmist, we can cry out, Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? (Psalm 85:6)

Theologian, A.W. Tozer, believed that any Christian at any time could experience a radical spiritual renaissance by doing the following:

1. Get thoroughly dissatisfied with yourself. Complacency is the deadly enemy of your soul.

2. Set your face like a flint toward a sweeping transformation of your life. Timid experiments are tagged for failure from the start.

3. Put yourself in the way of blessing. There are plainly marked paths that lead straight to green pastures; let us walk in them.

4. Do a thorough job of repenting. Hasty repentance means shallow spiritual experience and lack of certainty in the whole life.

5. Make restitution wherever possible. If you have quarreled with anyone, go as far as you can in an effort to achieve reconciliation.

6. Bring your life in accord with the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount and other New Testament Scriptures are designed to instruct us in the way of righteousness.

7. Be serious-minded. You can well afford to see fewer comedy shows on TV.

8. Deliberately narrow your interests. The jack-of-all-trades is the master of none. The Christian life requires that we be specialists. The mansions of the heart will become larger when their doors are thrown open to Christ and closed against the world and sin. Try it.

9. Begin to witness. Find something to do for God and your fellow men. Make yourself available to your pastor and do anything you are asked to do. Do not insist upon a place of leadership. Take the low place until such time as God sees fit to set you in a higher one.

10. Have faith in God. Begin to expect. Look up toward the throne where your Advocate is at Gods right hand. All heaven is on your side. God will not disappoint you.

Tozer concluded by saying, If you will follow these suggestions you will most surely experience revival in your own heart. And who can tell how far it may spread? God knows how desperately the church needs a spiritual resurrection. And it can only come through the revived individual.

I can only imagine the impact it would have if every follower of Christ did just a portion of the above. Our lives, families, communities, nation, and ultimately, our world would be forever changed.
A man suspected of robbing a bank in Spotsylvania County this week was arrested Thursday in Prince William County, police said.

David Emanuel Andrews, 27, of Dumfries, is charged in Spotsylvania with robbery. He is charged with the same offense for a robbery in Prince William earlier this month.

Spotsylvania Sheriffs Maj. Troy Skebo said the Carter Bank and Trust at 10407 Courthouse Road was robbed shortly after noon Wednesday. The suspect entered the bank, displayed a note and drove away with an undisclosed amount of money.

Skebo said detectives recovered evidence at the scene. They also learned the description given by witnesses matched a person of interest in a similar crime that occurred in Prince William on Feb. 9.

Detectives raided a home in Dumfries on Thursday and took Andrews into custody. He was placed in the Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center.

Court records show that Andrews was convicted of armed robbery in Prince William in 2013.
American Airlines is adding a second daily nonstop flight between Omahas Eppley Airfield and New York Citys LaGuardia Airport.

The second daily flight, which starts June 1, represents an expansion of a route that American started in November 2021. Delta Air Lines also operates a route between the two airports.

The American flights will take off from Omaha around 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively.

Both American routes will be serviced by Embraer E-175 jets. They will fly under American Airlines regional brand American Eagle.

No. 25 Illinois loses to Nebraska Illinois huddles Geovana Lopes Kendall Bostic
Like many of the emerging technologies of the 21st century, the new artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT  and its growing list of competitors  has cast looming shadows on the future of education.

Despite concerns at colleges, universities and school districts across the country, some officials at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln say the technology could serve as a bridge to new frontiers in higher education.

ChatGPT utilizes a technique known as machine learning to predict and generate language from a broad set of data. Developed by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research and development firm, the program was released in November and has taken the internet and higher education by storm due to its ability to, among other things, mimic human speech and generate passable writing and code from a prompt.

UNLs Center for Transformative Teaching, which formed in 2019 to collaborate with educators across departments and programs to promote evidence-based, inclusive, innovative and effective teaching for all learners, has taken a leading role in helping professors determine ways to implement the new technology.

Nate Pindell, one of CTTs instructional design and technology specialists, said hes been surprised by the universitys response to ChatGPT, from executive offices to the classroom level.

I was kind of worried we were going to stay away from it and say, This is evil, but the universitys response has been, This is a tool; lets talk about the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful, and not rush into things, said Pindell, who has a background in science, holding masters degrees in geoscience, physics and education of physical sciences.

Pindell is focused on the positive applications of the technology, including generating essays for students to edit, assisting in lesson-planning for professors, and even providing impersonal feedback on students work.

He said the majority of the opposition hes encountered has come from professors who havent given much time to working with the program, and while the universitys embrace of the technology has still been cautious, changes to higher education are inevitable.

ChatGPT is now challenging some of these standard normative practices, these traditions that faculty might have been a little too comfortable with, he said. We live in a world where its very easy to be afraid of what we dont know.

Skepticism about bringing the chatbot into the classroom hasnt just been limited to instructors, however.

Justin Morrow is a senior majoring in computer engineering at the UNL Raikes School. Initially, the chatbot was little more than an amusing, if effective, tool for providing world-building for his Dungeons and Dragons campaigns and producing hilarious responses to odd prompts to share with his friends.

Since then, however, Morrow has grown more weary about its potential consequences.

I think ChatGPT is an amazing tool.  The fact that we have something like it is a tribute to peoples ability to just be amazing, Morrow said. The problem is, I have a very big feeling its going to have an extremely negative effect on the next generation.

Although he agreed with Pindell that education has largely failed to adapt in the face of rapid technological innovation, and while he sees no issue in applying it to industry, Morrow worries that AI technology will de-incentivize learning, especially with regards to programming.

Its kind of like the idea of why you learn to do math by hand before you get to use the calculator, Morrow said. Its so you still have the fundamentals.

That potential issue hasnt gone unnoticed by the university. June Griffin, the associate dean of undergraduate education for the College of Arts and Sciences and an English professor, has been another key player in UNLs exploration into AI-assisted instruction. She hosted a meeting on the subject with about 20 other members of the university, including members from the CTT, over winter break.

Much of Griffins focus has been less on the what of the learning experience and more on the why. In that way, she hopes to counteract the potential educational ills of tools such as ChatGPT that might render some assignments useless.

We have a responsibility to help students understand why the activities and assignments we give them are worth their time and attention and how it helps them learn, so that it becomes less a question of, Is this busy work? Griffin said. As a longtime teacher myself, sometimes the why  seems self-evident, but I dont think it always is, so we do better to help connect the dots between this work and this learning.

In light of many universities beginning to employ AI detection software to catch and punish students for using ChatGPT to complete their assignments, Griffin said how the university addresses cheating is a central piece to the puzzle.

I think, in some sense, we do ourselves as committed teachers a disservice if we focus on trying to catch people; that just really distorts the relationship in the classroom, Griffin said. Its not that cheating wont happen  it will  but I think if we focus on chasing down the tools to catch cheating, we diminish our ability to teach.

Instead, Griffin advocated for professors to rethink what work they assign students to target things that AI struggles with. In writing assignments, for example, she sees weaknesses in current AIs ability to recognize the audience it is addressing, as well as the context in which information is being conveyed.

She also said that learning to use AI for education is a shared experience for everyone involved, pointing to how professors are already creating assignments using ChatGPT.

We are figuring this out  saying honestly to students, How is this helpful to you? Griffin said. We will do our best work with this new tool if we work together on figuring out, How does this work? How does this help us? How does it kind of interfere with our learning?

While many might see ChatGPT as the easy way out, Pindell sees the end goal of learning how to properly use it as one of the most important skills students can take away from their college experience.

Were living in the knowledge age now; with all these resources, all this information, its not rote memorization like it used to be.  Its trying to give students the ability to understand the power that they have, that they need to understand what theyre doing, Pindell said.

He even foresees the potential for future experts to rise in the art of crafting AI queries, carving out a career of their own in the process, all while learning a skill with value in any profession.

Maybe people find really amazing ways to do it, to ask questions or use it in ways that weve never thought possible, he said. And how are they going to do that? Theyre going to be people who ask the most unique questions, and thats what we should be teaching now.
Saturday

HomeStore open, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 701 E. Dodge St., Fremont. The HomeStore sells donated items at discounted prices. Proceeds support the mission of Fremont Area Habitat for Humanity.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous womens heart-to-heart group, noon, Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Fremont Eagles Club open, noon to midnight, 649 N. Main St. The club may stay open later or close early depending on business.

Fremont Area Veterans Coalition chili cook-off and axe throwing event, noon to 9 p.m., Bucks Axe Throwing, 550 N. Main St., Fremont. There is no entry fee, but a freewill donation is requested to taste the chili. Prizes will be awarded at 4 p.m. for the best three chilis. All donations will support local active-duty veterans.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Spiritual 12-Step Recovery Program, 7 p.m., Lighthouse, 84 W. Sixth St., Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous The Lie is Dead meeting, 8 p.m., LifeHouse, 723 N. Broad St., Fremont. The hotline number is 402-459-9511.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10:30 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Sunday

Alcoholics Anonymous Happy Sober Sunday Group, 9 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Wahoo Toy Show, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Starlite Event Center, 3  miles west of Wahoo on Nebraska Highway 92. The show will feature farm toys, collectibles and memorabilia. Admission is $5 for ages 11 and over, and free for kids 10 and under.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous Seekers of Serenity meeting, 10:30 a.m., LifeHouse, 723 N. Broad St., Fremont. The hotline number is 402-459-9511.

Fremont Eagles Club open, noon to 6 p.m., 649 N. Main St., Fremont. The club may stay open later or close early depending on business.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous Freedom Works Group, 7 p.m., Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1440 E. Military Ave., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous Sunday speaker, 7:30 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Monday

TOPS Club (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), 9 a.m., First United Methodist Church, 850 N. Broad St., Fremont. Weigh-ins begin at 8 a.m. Visitors (preteens, teens and adults  male and female) are welcome. The first meeting is free.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Lightkeepers Womens Group, 10 a.m., Lighthouse, 84 W. Sixth St., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, noon, Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Fremont Eagles Club open, 3 p.m. to midnight, 649 N. Main St., Fremont. The club may stay open later or close early depending on business. There will be a trustees meeting at 4 p.m.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Celebrate Recovery, 6:30 p.m., Fremont Church of the Nazarene, 960 Johnson Road.

Fresh Hope Mental Health Support Group, 7 p.m., Lighthouse, 84 W. Sixth St., Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous Freedom Works Group, 7 p.m., Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1440 E. Military Ave., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous 12x12 meeting, 8 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.
Imagine living in a world that always looked upstream to address the problems we face. Instead of repeatedly putting out fires (whether real or metaphorical), we looked at how to prevent them in the first place. That is precisely the approach numerous organizations are taking across Nebraska when it comes to addressing dental health. Intervene early  prevent suffering later.

February is National Childrens Dental Health Month and there is no better time to talk about the important work being done across the state to improve lives and help children get the care they need. Nebraska Community Foundation has been fortunate to play a convening role in this effort  a role we often find ourselves in because of the relationships we nurture with more than 270 communities across the state.

We are also fortunate to have connections with so many generous donors  the kind of people who want to leave the world a little better than they found it and alleviate the challenges they faced for the next generation. One particular anonymous donor struggled with dental issues throughout their life due to a lack of access to care as a child. That hardship transformed into motivation to ensure young Nebraskans didnt suffer the same fate.

Almost 65% of Nebraska third graders have experienced tooth decay of some variety, according to the Department of Health and Human Services 2016 Nebraska Oral Health Survey. Nearly half of the children enrolled in Head Start programs throughout the state reported tooth decay as well. Thats troubling for experts like Nebraska State Dental Director Dr. Charles F. Craft because, among other concerns, untreated decay can lead to a condition known as Early Childhood Caries (ECC) which can lead to long term difficulties with drinking, eating, sleeping and school performance.

Access to quality dental care is especially challenging to those living in rural communities across the state  the kind of communities we work with at Nebraska Community Foundation. I personally know many Greater Nebraskans who have to take off a half day of work (or more) to take their kids to the dentist. For many parents, thats simply not an option. In response, the Nebraska DHHS Office of Oral Health created a statewide program, called Nebraska Teeth Forever, that set up dental disease prevention teams within local health departments. Nebraska Community Foundation now supports several of these health departments and teaches them how to reach sustainability.

In 2022, North Central District Health Department (NCDHD) in ONeill completed a 5-year, $125,000 challenge grant issued by Nebraska Community Foundation and an anonymous donor for the benefit of the Miles of Smiles school-based dental disease prevention program. The department matched those funds on a one-to-one basis, receiving donations from local foundations, Nebraska Community Foundation affiliated funds, county governments and individual donors, many of whom made multi-year pledges. These local donors contributed nearly $219,000  above and beyond challenge requirements.

The challenge grant enabled NCDHD to expand Miles of Smiles, which offers education, oral screenings, fluoride varnish, dental sealants, and supplies in school-based settings. The department provides services to the 38 elementary and middle schools within its nine-county service area. Theyve increased participation to 56% in 2022 (up from 49% in the 2017/2018 school year). Miles of Smiles also added more sealant programs, boosted marketing efforts for the program, increased social media use, visits with school administrators, radio advertisements and more. The funding also allowed NCDHD to hire two contracted dental hygienists and a community health worker to conduct clinics and assist with education and marketing.

Similar challenge grants are underway with the Panhandle Public Health District in Scottsbluff, Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department in Wisner, Two Rivers Public Health Department in Kearney and Four Corners Health Department in York.

The Panhandle Public Health Districts Miles of Smiles equivalent is called Keeping Teeth Strong. The program partners with 19 school districts across the Panhandle along with Head Start to provide preventive dental services to children. Issues of access are even more pronounced in places like the Panhandle. Out of the 12 counties, eight are state-designated shortage areas for general dentistry.

Keeping Teeth Strong is making a huge impact by administering thousands of dental screenings, fluoride varnishes and dental sealants every year. Like Miles of Smiles, a challenge grant opportunity has empowered them to grow their reach with 57% of students participating in the program and eight new schools enrolled. Future goals include growing the number of dental hygienists in the region and continuing to add schools to the program.

Keeping Teeth Strong also hopes to distribute more Early Dental Health Starter Kits for babies and toddlers made possible through a partnership between Nebraskas Department of Health and Human Services, the University of Nebraska Medical Centers College of Dentistry, NCF and the same anonymous donor. The four entities are putting these starter kits in the hands of thousands of families, guiding Nebraska children down a path toward comprehensive wellness for the rest of their lives. The kits include brushes for multiple stages of development accompanied by instructions and a two-minute timer. The DHHS Office of Oral Health and Dentistry began distributing kits seven years ago to local health departments throughout Nebraska. As of 2022, NCF had sponsored the distribution of nearly 37,000 kits. The partners agreed to continue the effort through at least 2023 and distribute another 25,000 kits.

I am in awe of the ways these innovative Nebraskans have come together and looked upstream to solve the challenges that childrens dental health present. I am proud of the Nebraska Community Foundation affiliated funds who have stepped up to support the furtherance of these important programs. I wonder how many other issues we face might be improved with this kind of collaborative, upstream thinking?

Jeff Yost is President and CEO of Nebraska Community Foundation. Learn more about the Foundations work at NebraskaHometown.org.
May 5, 1940  February 22, 2023

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 5-7 p.m. at Dugan Funeral Chapel.

The funeral service will be Thursday, March 2, at 1 p.m. at Dugan Funeral Chapel.

Please come dressed to celebrate her life. Animal prints, bright colors and sequins are welcome at both events.

Memorials may be sent to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org), Nebraska Childrens Home Society (www.nchs.org), or the Alzheimers Association (www.alz.org).

Condolences may be left at duganchapel.com.

Dugan Funeral Chapel

402-721-2880
A Florida man is the second to face charges in Nebraska in connection to an investment fraud scheme that swindled more than 10,000 people of more than $55 million.

Federal prosecutors charged Michael "Mike G" Glaspie, 72, of Palm City, in U.S. District Court of Nebraska on Thursday.

Later that same day, Glaspie pleaded guilty at a hearing held by video.

"Were you involved in a scheme whereby you were defrauding others out of money or property or property rights?" U.S. Magistrate Cheryl Zwart asked him.

"Yes, I was involved in such a scheme," Glaspie answered.

In a news release Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice said Glaspie orchestrated the scheme, marketed as an investment opportunity under the name CoinDeal.

Another man, Neil Suresh Chandran, was indicted last June for his alleged role in the same scheme. He is awaiting trial.

In court, Glaspie said he didn't come up with the scheme, but participated.

At times during the lengthy hearing, he hesitated. After being asked if he wanted to wait 30 days before entering a plea, he spoke privately with his attorney, Jeff Gorman, before the hearing restarted and he said he wanted to enter the plea.

"Your honor, I plead guilty to those charges," he told Zwart.

Later, Glaspie said: "I accept responsibility, of course, but ...," and trailed off.

He said it was never his intention to defraud people.

"But I did aid and abet others who had the intent to defraud," he said.

After another break to speak with his attorney, he admitted to taking the specific actions alleged by the government in the plea agreement.

In it, federal prosecutors alleged that Chandran held himself out as the owner of a group of companies that operated as ViRSE, which purported to develop virtual-world technologies, including its own cryptocurrency.

And they allege he repeatedly and falsely claimed one or more of his companies was about to be purchased by a consortium of wealthy buyers.

Enter Glaspie, who marketed the investment opportunity online with the Chandran Companies under the name CoinDeal.

Don Kleine of the U.S. Attorney's Office said Glaspie and Chandran solicited investors, who "were enticed by false representations and promises to invest money into investments that they were told would result in extremely high returns."

"Ultimately, as a result of those false statements and the concealment of in fact what the money was really being used for, which was the personal benefit of the defendant and others, those investors suffered a significant loss," the prosecutor said.

Kleine said Glaspie and others who were part of the scheme communicated online and through email with the various investors and individuals, "one of whom was in Nebraska," resulting in the wire fraud charge here.

He said the plot went on from March 2020 through July 2022, with Glaspie making false claims to investors about exclusive and lucrative contracts with AT&T for phones and an app for the Better Business Bureau.

When some investors began to question Glaspie's claims, like whether the central bank of South Korea was involved, Glaspie came back with continued false claims, Kleine said.

He said a substantial number of investors invested primarily due to Chandrans false statements rather than Glaspie's own false promises and statements.

"In this circumstance, the gain to the defendant was $2,424,971. The government and the parties agree this is a better measure of the defendants true culpability," Kleine said at Thursday's hearing.

He said Glaspie understands he will be ordered to pay restitution of at least $54,647,930  along with Chandran should he be convicted  as part of the plea agreement.

Near the end of the hearing, Zwart asked Glaspie if the facts the government had alleged all were true.

"Yes, your honor," he said.

Glaspie is set for sentencing in June, when he will face up to 20 years in federal prison.

In a news release, U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said: Thanks to the tireless efforts of our law enforcement partners to untangle this fraud, Glaspie will now be held accountable for this serious crime.

Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBIs Criminal Investigative Division said the FBI and their law enforcement partners will continue to "work diligently to identify and pursue those who seek to deceive and defraud the American public.
Vardanyan is not different from illegal settlers, as he has nothing to do with Karabakh, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said.

The minister emphasized that Armenia has long been pursuing an illegal settlement policy.

Talking about the recent dismissal of Ruben Vardanyan from his "post", the official remarked that those behind Vardanyan have realized that putting him as "representative" of the Armenian population has no prospects.

The position of Azerbaijan in relation to a person who is trying to present himself as a "representative" of the Armenian population was that we are ready to talk with representatives of the population, but not with a person who has nothing to do with Karabakh, who appeared or was introduced from outside and plays a role in someone's game. Such a person cannot be a representative of the population for us, he also noted.

He reiterated that when discussing decisions regarding the reintegration process, it would be carried out in formats consistent with Azerbaijan's Constitution and within the framework of international treaties to which Azerbaijan is a party.

Bayramov stressed that after the Second Karabakh war, Azerbaijan talked about a peaceful agenda and presented its future vision.

"In this context, from the first day there have been open, logical and consistent messages of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev about the readiness to begin the social, political and economic integration of residents of Armenian origin living in Karabakh into Azerbaijani society, as well as about the development of the region under the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, he said.

Besides, the minister talked about the relations between Turkiye and Azerbaijan amid the horrible earthquake that hit Turkiye. In this regard, he underlined that everyone saw the "Azerbaijan-Turkiye brotherhood exist in deeds, not in words".

Bayramov noted that the devastating earthquake in Turkiye and its grave consequences shocked everyone.

There is no person who would not take this tragedy as his own. From the first hours, Azerbaijan, declaring that it was close to Turkiye, sent its rescuers there. After the tragedy, I visited the affected regions. It was very hard to see the consequences of the earthquake. Despite the trouble, we have witnessed how strong these people are in spirit," the minister added.
Its happening every day in America. Doctors and, in some locales, school personnel are pressuring parents to allow gender affirming surgeries on underage children.

The reality is that innocent children are being coerced into having their breasts removed or taking chemicals previously used to castrate sex offenders.

The hospitals that we used to trust, even well respected ones, are removing the perfectly healthy breast tissue of teenage girls. All in the name of wokeness and protecting the feelings of the woke mob.

Must this continue? How long do we protect those who would mutilate our children?

Transgenderism is running rampant in America, and numerous books in the children, teenage, and adult sections of our Fremont Public Library suggest that changing ones gender ought to be considered as a viable option to deal with ones personal issues. How is this necessary? Is this really what honest, forthright sex education is meant to be about?

Are decisions regarding what is provided for us to read, solely in the hands of one un-elected librarian and an appointed library board, who would prefer that their decisions be final with no appeal? And when a public library board meeting is conducted to decide a citizens appeal of the decision of the head librarian, how is it that the public or the person making the appeal are forbidden to speak?

And when a final decision is voted on, it is blatantly obvious that the decision was made beforehand. Such rulings, coupled with the boorish and unbridled behavior of elected officials, operating freely within a City Council that is willing to condone and accept this manner of behavior, are deplorable and cast a dark shadow on the entire Community of Fremont, Nebraska.

Fremont deserves better.

Kyler Nelson

Fremont
Dear WSU Community,

I hope you are all settled into the new semester and enjoying the relatively mild weather weve been experiencing throughout the state of Washington (at least until recently). Like many of you, I suspect, the lack of snow over the last couple of weeks had me envisioning longer, warmer days with plenty of sunshine for walking the dog and firing up the grill. Until then, Ill begin preparing my Airstream for the summer camping season this March  Noel and I cannot wait.

During this busy time across the WSU system, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for our incredible faculty and staff. Thanks to you, WSU continues to fulfill the core tenets of our land-grant mission. From supporting student success to enriching our communities statewide, the highlights included below reflect a large body of work where Cougs came together to cultivate change on behalf of our students and the state.

While we consider the challenges and opportunities ahead of us, I want to ensure that we continue to celebrate all that weve achieved together as a system.

Thank you for all that you do to support Washington State University and Go Cougs!

Kirk

Kirk H. Schulz

System President

Washington State University
Microchip Technology, whose products are found in everything from coffee makers and cars to NASAs James Webb Space Telescope and Mars Rover vehicle, plans to spend $880 million to expand production at its Colorado Springs semiconductor manufacturing plant  an investment that local business leaders and government officials say will add more than 400 jobs and pump $1.4 billion into the areas economy over the next decade.

The global tech company, based in suburban Phoenix, made the announcement during a Friday news conference attended by several local and state officials, who praised Microchips decision to invest in Colorado Springs and beamed over a string of recent economic development successes.

Well folks, it is yet another great day in Olympic City, USA, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told about 50 people who attended Fridays news conference, referring to the citys moniker as home to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements. Ive been saying that a lot over the last several years and Im very excited to do it again today.

In December, Massachusetts-based Entegris said it will spend up to $600 million to build what it called a manufacturing center of excellence on the Springs northwest side that could add as many as 600 jobs over the next several years. That facility will make critical products used to manufacture semiconductors, company officials said.

Also, while not a semiconductor company, Zivaro, a Denver-based information and technology firm that works with government and national defense partners, said it will bring more than 300 new jobs to Colorado Springs.

Microchips expansion rivals those announcements.

The company operates a manufacturing plant on its nearly 50-acre campus west of Venetucci and Cheyenne Mountain boulevards on Colorado Springs south side. Mircochip, founded in 1989, took over the property when it purchased semiconductor manufacturer Atmel in 2016.

At its Colorado Springs plant, Microchip makes chips used in everyday consumer items and some of the worlds most sophisticated equipment, said Rich Simoncic, Microchip senior vice president of analog businesses.

When you woke up this morning and made coffee, you were probably using a Microchip device in that appliance, Simoncic said. 

When you step into your car and use your keyless entry, you were using a Microchip device to enter your car. Your anti-lock brakes, your seat heaters, your steering wheel heater  all driven by Microchip technology.

More than 100 chips from Microchip Technology were part of the Mars rover that drove around that planet, Simoncic said, while the Webb telescope was outfitted with the companys driver technology that enabled pictures to be taken and sent back to Earth.

The Atlas rocket that just circled the moon? Simoncic said. We had lots of engineers cheering at Microchip because literally hundreds and hundreds of devices from Microchip were on that Atlas rocket.

Microchips work, said Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer, president and CEO of the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, affects our entire nation. That is why were so glad that they continue to call our region home and will continue to expand.

In Colorado Springs, Microchip employs about 850 people and expects to add 418 more as part of its $880 million expansion, city officials and business leaders said.

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Those jobs will pay an average of $72,000 a year and include production specialists, technical roles in equipment procurement and management, process control and test engineering. Theyll also have a spinoff effect and create an additional 779 indirect jobs at other businesses, Suthers said.

All told, Microchips investment will have an annual economic impact of $144 million or $1.4 billion over 10 years, Suthers said.

Microchips $880 million investment in its Colorado Springs operation, which will play out over the next several years, will include adding more high-tech equipment to develop the companys chips, Simoncic said.

The company produces products from 6-inch wafers or thin slices of semiconductors; new manufacturing technology to be installed will run on 8-inch wafers, which will significantly increase the number of chips produced at the Colorado Springs plant, according to a news release.

We already have a great deal of infrastructure, or buildings, but the insides are being removed, modernized and then new modern equipment is being brought in there, Simoncic said.

City and El Paso County officials, in conjunction with the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, said that Microchip was approved for state and local incentives of approximately $47 million to help fund its expansion.

Microchip, Simoncic said, also is seeking financial assistance through the federal CHIPS Act, which became law last year. The bipartisan legislation  which stands for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science  was passed to encourage funding for the construction of microprocessor manufacturing facilities in the United States, among other initiatives.

This is Microchips second major upgrade in recent years to its Colorado Springs plant. A year ago, it announced plans to spend $40 million to upgrade the facility new technology and add 50 to 75 jobs.

Microchips announcement Friday conjures up images of Colorado Springs high-tech industrial past  when companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, Ford Microelectronics, Ramtron and even Intel had a major presence in the city. Some business and civic leaders even began using the term Silicon Mountain to compare the Springs to northern Californias Silicon Valley.

But much of Colorado Springs tech industry disappeared as overseas competition led to the closing of many local manufacturing operations.

Suthers, however, sought to use Microchips expansion announcement to reclaim the citys high-tech title.

As someone whos lived in Colorado Springs all my life, Ive got to tell you, I am particularly excited to see us return to our high-tech, industrial roots, he said.

We are becoming Silicon Mountain once again.
Forty Years Ago This Week: Four Democratic candidates for Denver mayor  Monte Pascoe, Wellington Webb, Federico Pena and Steve Schweitzberger  spoke at a panel hosted by the Denver Young Republicans at Crestmoor Downs.

Pascoe, who was the most recent entrant into the race for mayor, had resigned his potion as executive director of the Department of Natural Resources to campaign full-time. Pascoe gave the highlights of his resume and then criticized incumbent Mayor Bill McNichols for failing to plan for the citys future.

Former state Rep. Webb, D-Denver, director of the states Department of Regulatory Agencies, also criticized McNichols, arguing that the mayor had exercised poor management.

A manager, Webb said, should use his intuitive to make changes in government. Citizens of Denver deserve more than to pick up the newspaper and read about the administrations latest fiascos.

His work at the Department of Regulatory Agencies had convinced Webb that regulatory reform could be initiated city-wide. He advocated for the establishment of a city office that would provide all the information needed for starting a business.

Webb also argued that a greater emphasis should be placed on procuring more cultural events for Denver.

Luciano Pavarotti would just as well perform here in Denver, Webb said, as in New York and Los Angeles.

Former House Minority Leader Pena, D-Denver, argued that the biggest issues facing Denver were fiscal management and planning and growth.

We can no longer tolerate inaction, myopia and indecision, Pena said, which unfortunately are some of the qualities of the current administration.

Speaking last, Schweitzberger attacked Pena, citing an article that the former legislator had written, How the Republican Legislature Hurts Denver, which had been printed in several newspapers.

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Youll never see me attacking the Republicans, Schweitzberger told the gathered GOP youth. Instead, Schweitzberger said, he was running against the system that puts a Bill McNichols into office.

He continued to tell the audience that he was running the sort of campaign that form state Sen. Sam Zakhem, R-Denver, had taught him about, going door-to-door and garnering support from the grassroots.

Twenty Years Ago: Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, told The Colorado Statesman that he was appalled when the Republican-controlled House voted to axe Senate Bill 03-183, which would have provided breakfasts to low-income students in public schools.

This is outrageous to take money away for breakfast programs for poor students and spend money on charter school construction, Gordon said. First order of business should be to feed these children who need fuel to learn, then worry about construction costs and funding.

Rep. Alice Madden, D-Boulder, agreed, stating, Studies have shown that kids in breakfast programs have improved test scores. Its a sad day when my colleagues vote against hungry children and academic performance.

SB 183 had initially passed both the Senate and House, but with intense discussion about whether the breakfast program should be cut, and differing views between the two chambers. An eventual vote in conference committee decided on an amendment, by unanimous vote, that stated if there was spillover from the Charter School Capital Construction Fund, then as of January 1, 2003, up to $500,000 would go to the school breakfast program.

In other news, Lakewood Democrat state Rep. Betty Boyds bill, House Bill 03-1252, which would have made emergency contraception (better known as Plan B) available at all hospitals for victims of sexual assault, received preliminary approval after passing with a 6-5 vote in the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

Women who have been assaulted need to be informed about all of their options, Boyd said. They shouldnt have to endure the added trauma of an unwanted pregnancy. By creating a standard procedure for hospitals to follow when treating rape victims, women can be assured quality care and the ability to make good choices.

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Gazette.
A recent survey confirmed how wide open the race for Denver's next mayor is, with 60% of voters undecided with just a month to go before they head to the polls.

To learn more about the candidates and how the contest is shaping up, Colorado Politics and The Denver Gazette are hosting a townhall with political experts.

Here are a few other questions: Who are the frontrunners and why? How are the candidates positioning their campaigns in a very crowded 17-person race? What are the major issues? What challenges will the next mayor face?

And don't hesitate to send in your questions to luige.delpuerto@coloradopolitics.com and ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com

The townhall is free to attend. To join, register here.

The panelists are Ian Silverii, a veteran Democratic strategist; Alan Salazar, the chief of staff of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock; strategist Kate Roberts at the 76 Group and Mike Kopp, President and CEO of Colorado Concern.

The next mayor faces big challenges magnified by Denver's unique characteristics, including homelessness, housing affordability and crime.

Denvers all-mail municipal election is set for April 4. If none of the candidates secures more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will face off in a runoff election in June.
During an affordable housing crisis, a state legislator wants a law that would reduce rental stock, increase rents and leave more pets without families and homes. Political voodoo doesnt get much goofier than House Bill 23-1068. We can laugh, but this bill would do real harm to animals and humans.

Most have witnessed individuals experiencing homelessness along with a dog on a cold winter night. Finding basic shelter is expensive and difficult in Colorado, where demand far exceeds supply. Beloved pets cause additional hurdles for people in need of affordable housing.

Rep. Alex Valdez, a Denver Democrat, wants to rescue renters and their pets. At least, he wants the appearance of doing so. Valdez introduced HB-1068 and titled it Pet Animal Ownership In Housing.

The meat of the bill is simple to grasp. It flat-out prohibits security deposits or rent for pet animals. Just make a law and these costs will vanish.

Finally, someone figured out the art of governing to make life easier for humans, dogs, cats, green alligators, long-necked geese, cats and rats and elephants ... and lets not forget the unicorn. The law would force fat cat landlords to eat the cost when a poorly trained animal destroys the carpets or scratches up the doors. The only possible equation for this bill is more make-believe than ingenious: landlords bad + tenants good x animals adorable = affordable housing bill for pets.

If politicians can do this, think what else they could do. They could pass a law to forbid rent and make housing free. A new law could tell homeless people to just buy a house. If legislation can dramatically alter human transactions and defy economic principles, we need more utopian mandates like the Pet Ownership In Housing act.

Of course, HB 1068 would not cause the desired effect. It would, beyond question, reduce the rental stock for people with pets. More humans with dogs would live outside. Even the most pet-friendly landlords encounter tenants who allow one or more pets to destroy a living space.

Heres the good news. In economies built on voluntary trade, renters and tenants work things out among themselves.

Those willing to accept the risks of tenants with pets are free to absorb the costs of unfortunate outcomes. They are free to declare no pets. They are free to accept only lightweight dogs, or cats but not dogs. In the vast middle, landlords, hotel managers and bed-and-breakfast owners allow pets for anyone willing to pay a damage deposit. If something goes wrong, the deposit covers all or most of it.

Pets create costs, including damage deposits. Those who cannot afford the costs should forgo pets until their fortunes change.

In a clumsy effort to correct faulty economic equation, HB-1068 would establish The Pet-friendly Landlord Damage Mitigation Program. The state would pay landlords up to $1,000 for damages caused by pets.

Theres one small catch. It would help landlords on a first come, first served basis, which means funding only for those who prove their cases before the money runs out.

The bill would force any landlord seeking the states Affordable Housing Tax Credit to accept pets, with no deposits or questions allowed and no limitation on sizes or breeds. This, of course, would reduce the incentive for property owners to participate in a program intended to expand affordable housing. The math: landlords in tax-credit program + costly new mandate = less affordable housing (squared).

The bill would prohibit insurers from considering any homeowners dog breed when assessing risk and setting rates. That would render insurers unable to mitigate the potential costs of injuries or fatalities caused by dog attacks. Instead, insurers would spread that risk among all homeowners. The dogless would subsidize the dogged, increasing the cost of homeowners coverage.

House Bill 1068 should inspire a childrens book, call it Fido-nomics, to show how regulatory fantasies pose more harm than good  for humans and our four-legged friends.
A Colorado Springs high school student was arrested Friday after allegedly bringing a handgun to campus, police said.

The student was arrested on various weapons-related charges at District 49's Sand Creek High School in the east part of the city, according to a police blotter entry and a letter to school parents obtained by The Gazette.

"Acting on information received through Safe2Tell, the student was found carrying a handgun. We want to assure you the firearm has been secured, and that students, staff, and guests are safe," the district said in its letter.

School staff and police were notified through a Safe2Tell report at 10:10 a.m. that a student was in possession of a handgun at the school.

"SCHS administrators immediately contacted our law enforcement partners and located the student in an SCHS classroom," the district said in its letter. "Administrators placed SCHS on a temporary hold while they searched the student and confirmed the student had a loaded handgun."

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The student was then arrested, and the hold lifted shortly after 10:20 a.m., according to the district.

School officials do not know how the student obtained the gun.

There is no ongoing concern for student or staff safety at this time, police said.

The incident at Sand Creek High School is at least the third this academic year in which a student was arrested at a Colorado Springs-area school for firearm possession.

A Sierra High School student was arrested after allegedly bringing a gun to the District 2 school earlier this month. Deputies with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office arrested a student who reportedly brought a handgun and ammunition to class at Evans Elementary in District 49 in October.
The Khojaly genocide is proof of the courage and fortitude of Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said.



He made the remarks during a commemorative event dedicated to the 31st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, organized by the Foreign Ministry.

The ministry's leadership and employees, as well as heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Azerbaijan, and media representatives, attended the event.



The participants discussed the events that preceded the Khojaly genocide, its consequences and got acquainted with the exhibition stands.

Speaking at the event, Bayramov noted that 31 years ago, the Armenian armed forces, with the support of the 366th motorized rifle regiment of the former USSR, entered the city of Khojaly, killing hundreds of Azerbaijani civilians, including women, children and the elderly. Having honored the memory of the victims of the Khojaly genocide, the minister said that the Khojaly genocide, imprinted in the national memory of the Azerbaijani people, is not forgotten.

The official underlined that the atrocities committed during the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, the war crimes against the civilian population of the Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Barda, Terter during the Second Karabakh War are based on Armenia's policy of ethnic hatred and racial discrimination against Azerbaijanis.



"Despite the military-political provocations committed by Armenia, which impede the process of peace and normalization in the post-conflict period, as well as steps aimed at manipulating the international community, Azerbaijan is determined to promote a peaceful agenda aimed at establishing peace and security in the region," the minister added.



Furthermore, he stressed that Armenia continued its atrocious crimes during the 2020 second Karabakh war in Azerbaijans Barda and Ganja after Khojaly and if now wants peace, then it must abandon such an aggressive policy.

Then, the performance of the Azerbaijan State Pantomime Theater dedicated to the Khojaly genocide was presented under the title "Khojaly - it was."

The Khojaly genocide is seen as the pinnacle of the systematic crimes and atrocities committed by Armenia against Azerbaijanis.

As a result of the Khojaly genocide, 613 Azerbaijani civilians, including 63 children, 106 women, and 70 elderly people were killed. Simultaneously, 487 civilians were seriously injured, and 1,275 people were kidnapped. The fate of 150 hostages, including 68 women and 26 children remains unknown.

During the genocide, 56 people were killed with extreme cruelty, with their heads peeled off, various limbs severed, eyes removed, and pregnant women's bellies pierced with bayonets. As a result, eight families were utterly destroyed, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children were orphaned.

Relevant documents adopted by the parliaments of Mexico, Pakistan, the Czech Republic, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Sudan, Guatemala, and Djibouti recognized the Khojaly massacre as an act of genocide. The parliaments of Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Jordan, Slovenia, Scotland, and Paraguay, as well as the executive and legislative bodies of 22 U.S. states, have strongly condemned the Khojaly tragedy as a massacre. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation recognized Armenia as an aggressor and the Khojaly tragedy as genocide.

Azerbaijan annually commemorates the victims of the Khojaly genocide on February 26.
A Black rancher at the center of a highly publicized dispute in east El Paso County appeared in court Thursday to request a continuance on a case in which she is accused of assaulting a peace officer.

Nicole Mallery faces charges of second- and third-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and a first responder, respectively, stemming from an incident that allegedly occurred during an arrest on her property in Yoder in April 2021.

El Paso County sheriffs deputies arrested Mallery after she allegedly chased a process server off her property with a shotgun and fired it as the man was running away. During the arrest, Mallery  who has accused the Sheriff's Office of ignoring an alleged racist intimidation campaign against her and her husband, Courtney  complained that officers were hurting her.

She reportedly bit and kicked a deputy during the incident.

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Last week, the Mallerys and several of their supporters attended a rally at the Capitol in Denver, where they advocated for the General Assembly to pass the CAREN Act, which stands for Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies. The legislative proposal, which New York adopted and is under consideration in other states, would create a civil penalty for people who call the police on people of color in nonemergency situations and when there's "no reason to believe a crime or offense, or imminent threat to person or property, is occurring."

The Mallerys, who also face pending charges after allegedly stalking a white neighbor, are scheduled to appear in court on March 30.
Six men have been arrested for allegedly using the internet to lure and exploit minors, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Police said the arrests of all six men were between Feb. 9 and Feb. 11 and followed a 3-day joint undercover investigation by the CSPD Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, comprised of CSPD and EPCSO detectives, along with the US Army Criminal Investigation Unit and Homeland Security Investigations.

According to CSPD, the following suspects were arrested as part of the undercover investigation:

 Aaron Thompson - 31 years old

 Mark Gasgonia - 31 years old

 Richard Castro - 30 years old

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 Travis Anderson - 46 years old

 Noah Casady - 23 years old

 Steven Marks - 58 years old

Jail records showed that both Thompson and Marks are being held on a $100,000 bond, as of Thursday evening.

If you suspect a child has fallen trap to being exploited online, you can report it by calling 1-800-THE-LOST or by clicking or tapping here.
Dozens of Colorado Springs community members congregated downtown on Friday, wielding familiar blue-and-yellow flags in support of Ukraine on the anniversary of Russia's invasion.

The gathering transpired against a backdrop of persistent local and national support, even as some public attention has drifted.

Vigil coordinator Larysa Martyniuk said bringing people together in front of the Pioneers Museum was an opportunity to reinstate some public focus on the war. In the beginning, it was gung-ho. People were very supportive, but lately there has been less, she said.

Martyniuk credited faltering attention to other pressing current events. People want to see whats happening in their own backyard, and theyre not looking as much to Ukraine at the moment. Were here because we need the support.

Martyniuk and another Ukrainian American vigil attendee, Rostia Stoecker, praised the U.S. governments response after announcing more aid for Ukraine and more sanctions against Russia Friday in its latest stance with the war-torn country since President Joe Biden made an unexpected visit to Kyiv on Monday.

We are so grateful, because Biden and a lot of the people in Congress and Senate realize that if we dont fight now, we will end up fighting years later, Stoecker said. Its costing money, but at least were not spilling American blood.

The Colorado government also honored Ukraine on Friday's anniversary.

Ukraine native Yana Malyk was among those at the downtown Colorado Springs vigil but spent that morning on the state Senate floor in Denver. A joint resolution there recognized organizations supporting Ukraine, including Malyks two-month-old nonprofit, Ukraine Power, after she said state Sen. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, read about her work in The Gazette.

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Malyk was just one among many at Friday's vigil who have fled Ukraine in the past year. The congregation sang in Ukrainian and held a moment of silence for the lives lost over 5,700 miles away.

Malyk, 35, and her two daughters, ages 16 and 12, were in their eastern Ukraine hometown one year ago when bombs began flying. Armed with just two suitcases, the family drove west in pursuit of safety. In July, they traveled to the U.S., sponsored by Marc Luckett and his family in Colorado Springs.

Malyks support of her home hasnt ceased since her arrival, according to Luckett, but they made the efforts official by establishing Ukraine Power. Since its inception in December, they have gotten 48 generators and hundreds of lamps and heaters to people suffering, many without power, through the winter in Ukraine. Malyks parents, grandmother, in-laws and friends are among those there.

I like America; I like my new family but, of course, I would like to come back home. Now, its occupied territory. Its impossible to come back home, Malyk said.

Luckett said they are working directly with Ukrainian government officials to achieve their goals We had a short-term reactive vision, but we are moving toward a long-term proactive strategy so we can plan ahead with the (Ukrainian) government as they figure out rebuilding plans.

Since December, the nonprofit has raised more than $100,000, the majority of which has come from southern Colorado, according to Luckett, who serves as the nonprofits treasurer. The donations are a testament to the persistent local support for Ukraine one year later.
For 43 years Bob Loevy worked with young minds at Colorado College, where he still holds an office following his 2011 retirement.

But Loevy, a published author and regular Gazette news columnist, has a legacy extending far beyond the classroom.

In the 1970s, he served on the city planning commission during one of the fastest-growing periods in Colorado Springs history, passing a parks bond to create Ute Valley Park. He worked with a symphony director to contact every voter in the county to support financing the Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts. Loevy even helped reconfigure boundaries for state Senate and House seats with Colorados Reapportionment Commission.

On Sunday, the stalwart Coloradan with a penchant for public service will celebrate his 88th birthday as he continues impacting the city he loves.

I came ready to have a different experience. I was charmed, as so many are, both by Colorado College and Colorado Springs, Loevy said. I never, ever thought of leaving.

Loevy cut his teeth in the political realm at the height of the civil rights era as a journalist at the Baltimore News-American.

Sit-in coverage was the norm as Black Americans fought for equal rights at local establishments. Protesters would refuse to leave a restaurant until they were served, or theyd clog the line to a movie theater that refused to sell them tickets.

He remembers one story where two bricks were thrown through a kindergarten classroom window after the previously all-white school began accepting Black children.

Those early years of his professional career were spent breaking down Baltimores cotton curtain, an unofficial tenet that held that mentioning Black people in the news was taboo in a segregated America, unless it was related to crime. There were no social or business stories, no stories of their successes. No matter how big the news, he said, it was all but ignored.

He told their stories.

It had a tremendous influence on what happened afterward, Loevy said. I was exposed to the civil rights movement sort of at the nuts-and-bolts level of what was happening locally.

What he learned covering state courts and police districts would support his graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University and, later, as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill in Washington. Working with U.S. Sens. Thomas Kuchel and Hubert Humphrey, he had a front-row seat to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed racial discrimination.

It was during his time in Washington that he met his wife, Constance, with whom he would caravan across the country in 1968 to start his career as a Colorado College professor.

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His gig as planning commissioner caught the attention of the Old North End Neighbors homeowner's association, with whom he'd collaborated on several projects. The association approached him to lead their group as president before he'd even officially moved into his North Tejon Street home.

He held the role for four years, leading the effort to acquire the neighborhood's national historic district status. Two tangible products of that work, seen by passersby each day, include the historic streetlights lining Tejon and the entryway signs denoting the Old North End's boundaries.

"When you've had a hand in things you can look at" and "lots of others are looking at it, too, that is one of the rewards of doing this sort of thing," Loevy said.

He continues to serve on the board today, and his friend and colleague Tom Cronin endearingly bestowed upon him the title of Unofficial Mayor of the Old North End.

At home, however, hes always just been Bob. Or "Dad." Or "Pop Pop."

Rachel Loevy, one of seven grandchildren, remembers little rumblings here and there as a child that alluded to her grandfathers impact.

I had no idea who my grandfather was, Rachel Loevy said. I would have a substitute teacher in school who would say my last name correctly, and then they would look and me and theyd be like, Are you related by chance to Bob Loevy?

At the time, she chalked it up to his status as a college professor, and a pretty good one at that. It wasnt until much later, her late high school or early college years, she said, that he would reveal the extent of his local legacy through an impromptu story.

Shell point to a landmark she enjoys while out on the town with her grandfather, she said, and hell reveal he played a role in its creation.

He usually doesnt overly sing his own praise, Rachel Loevy said. Theres always a new story where were like, Wait, you what?

But to her, hes always just been Pop Pop, a "complete sweetheart" who would join her siblings for "Scooby-Doo" movie nights as a kid and, after some prodding, cave in to their pleas for ice cream.

In much the same spirit, Loevy plans to ring in his 88th year not by patting himself on the back or holding an extravagant event at a banquet hall. Rather: Dinner, a movie, ice cream and cake with my grandchildren and son, Loevy said.

Im perfectly delighted. Thats exactly what I want and all I want.
The memory of the victims of the Khojaly genocide was commemorated in Paris with the joint organization of the Azerbaijani Embassy in France, the Permanent Representation to UNESCO and the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

As Azernews reports, citing Azertac, Azerbaijani Ambassador to France Leyla Abdullayeva, Permanent Representative to UNESCO Elman Abdullayev, Head of the Azerbaijan-France Inter-parliamentary Relations Working Group, Department Director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Soltan Mammadov spoke about the actions of Armenia against Azerbaijan at the event held at the Cultural Center of the country's embassy in France.

Speaking at the event, they stressed that the bloodiest page of the armed conflict was the genocide committed in the city of Khojaly 31 years ago, providing detailed information about the blockade of Khojaly, a strategic point in the region, by the Armenians, and the brutal killing of 613 women, children, and elderly people by Armenian armed forces on a cold winter night. It was noted that peaceful residents were taken hostage, and hundreds of people are still missing.

Ambassador Leyla Abdullayeva stated that the tragedy grossly violated international and humanitarian law, and cited articles published in the world media that clearly reflected the Armenian brutality in the Khojaly genocide. She noted that in the words of the Armenian president at that time, Serzh Sargsyan "Before Khojaly, Azerbaijanis thought that Armenians could not raise their hands against civilians. But we were able to break this stereotype", are his admission to a British journalist that he was one of the organizers of the bloody event.

Further, the ambassador compared the Khojaly genocide with the "martyr settlement" of Oradour-sur-Glane in France and said that this genocide will never be erased from memory as one of the most terrible tragedies in human history.

The diplomat noted that the events of Khojaly should be heard all over the world. She highlighted that with this purpose, on the initiative of the vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, since 2008, the "Justice for Khojaly!" international campaign was launched, and thanks to this campaign, the parliaments of 17 countries of the world, 30 states of the USA and 2 international organizations recognized the Khojaly tragedy as genocide.

"I hope that the authorities of France will also recognize this massacre committed by Armenians against civilians. Justice cannot be restored until the criminal is punished. We do not demand revenge, but justice," Abdullayeva emphasized.

Moreover, Soltan Mammadov spoke about the facts and evidence that Armenia committed the crime of genocide against Azerbaijanis on the night of February 25-26, 1992. He spoke about the steps taken towards the recognition of the Khojaly genocide, the European Court of Human Rights assessment of the massacre of Khojaly's civilian population as "war crimes or crimes against humanity".

He also talked about the importance of the "Justice for Khojaly!" campaign which promoted this tragedy worldwide. He pointed out that Khojaly is an unparalleled page in the martyrdom history of the Azerbaijani people, and at the same time, it will always be publicized and studied as a universal crime.

Additionally, Permanent Representative to UNESCO Elman Abdullayev drew attention to the fact that Armenian militants killed people in Khojaly on a national basis and said that it is everyone's moral duty to build a future free from hatred and discrimination. Speaking about Khojaly's deep mark in the history of Azerbaijan, Abdullayev said that the killers of Khojaly should be brought to justice.

The event also presented a photo exhibition of the Khojaly genocide of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which made a worthy contribution to the dynamic development of Azerbaijan in all fields and the acceleration of the process of civil society building in our country, visually conveyed the inhuman murders of Armenian usurpers to the participants of the event.

The photo exhibition of the genocide presented by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which made a worthy contribution to the dynamic development of Azerbaijan in all fields and to the acceleration of the development process of the civil society in Azerbaijan, visually conveyed the inhuman murders of Armenian aggressors to the participants of the event.

The event continued with a concert dedicated to the memory of the Khojaly victims. At the concert, Honored artist, Tar player Sahib Pashazada, Azerbaijani violinist Sabina Rakcheyeva, a music group of French composer Pierre Thiloin performed samples of works by Fikret Amirov, Gara Garayev, Khayyam Mirzazade, and foreign composers.

The composition "Khojaly 613" dedicated to the Khojaly genocide by the French composer Pierre Thiloin was also performed at the concert.

Ambassadors accredited to France, permanent representatives to UNESCO, Ali Onaner, ambassador of Turkiye to France Gulnur Aybet, permanent representative of Turkiye to UNESCO, diplomats, representatives of the local community, as well as the Azerbaijani community, took part in the memorial ceremony.




Among the worst-kept secrets around the the state Capitol these days is that Gov. Jared Polis has a big problem with his partys political fringe. In particular, the left wing of the ruling Democrats over at the Legislature.

They keep coming up with nutty legislation that not only defies logic  on law and order, on basic economics; the list goes on  but also risks sabotaging his presidential ambitions.

As adult in chief at the Capitol, he knows he cant continually cave in to his partys clueless kids. It would wreck the economy and wreak even more havoc on our streets, among other things. And hed get blamed. Yet, reining in the radicals is a tricky matter, even for a governor.

It would be easy enough to veto legislation from the opposing party  should Republicans retake the Legislature  but its a lot harder to swat down ridiculous ideas from fellow Democrats. It might upend alliances on other pending legislation the governor needs.

And he fears publicly betraying the increasingly collectivist Democratic platform even if some of it strikes him as nonsense. He is the state partys standard-bearer, after all.

So, he is by all accounts doing what governors tend to do in such circumstances. Hes pulling strings, having private conversations, probably calling in favors, deploying his lobbyists to whisper in ears, and so forth. The end game is to derail the worst of the bad bills and water down some others  discreetly and without his fingerprints.

That approach might blunt some bad legislation, but only for so long as legislative radicals grow restive and enlist ever more lawmakers against a governor some deride as Democrat-lite. And it will do nothing to burnish his carefully cultivated image as a moderate Democrat  even a libertarian-leaning Dem  for a national political bid.

Which is why its time for Polis to be brave and draw the line.

Pick a bad bill  there are many  and publicly declare it dead on arrival. Tell the sponsors not to bother amending it.

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He could start with House Bill 23-1118, the fair workweek legislation. Widely denounced by the states employers, the bill would devastate our service economy. It would make day-to-day operations nearly impossible for a host of businesses, especially restaurants, that rely heavily on flexible-shift workers.

Employers would have to post work schedules before even they knew how many workers they would need on a shift. And the businesses would have to pay workers anyway if their shifts got canceled.

Of course, the governor is painfully aware of the bill. As an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur, he gets the threat it poses.

As reported the other day by our news affiliate Colorado Politics, the bill is on hold pending a rewrite. Which means the sponsors know the governor isnt happy and are desperately trying to morph it into an acceptable version. Standard procedure at the Capitol.

But this time, why let it end there? Governor, heres your chance to stand tall. Threaten to veto the measure  with a harpoon.

Sure, the loopy Democratic Socialists and their ilk will be furious. But who cares? The rest of Polis fellow Democrats in the Legislature  too timid to shout down the radicals  will thank him. So will everyday Coloradans, spared another blow from the legislative agenda.

It also could give Polis bona fide bragging rights for a White House run  as an independent thinker who stared down his party. The national media never seem to tire of that narrative.

And it just might embolden Colorados moderate Democrats  before they go extinct.

The Gazette Editorial Board
Earlier this month, Colorado's Supreme Court justices appeared less than enthusiastic about adopting a proposal that aims to curb lawyers' ability to remove people of color from criminal juries for reasons related to their race.

During a nearly three-hour hearing, prosecutors from across the state uniformly lined up to condemn the suggested change, with some alleging it amounts to "affirmative action" for juries. Meanwhile, defense attorneys, trial judges and the NAACP  those who spoke were Black, Latino, Asian, as well as white  urged the justices to take action to halt more subtle forms of racial bias in the justice system.

In response, some members of the court bristled at the push to enshrine the proposed implicit bias protections into its procedural rules.

"Weve already been called racist for not immediately adopting these rules," said Justice Melissa Hart. "And Im not happy about it. Im really uncomfortable with some of these changes."

For more than 35 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that intentional race-based discrimination in jury selection is unconstitutional. Following the court's 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky, in which state prosecutors removed all of the Black people from a Black defendant's jury, judges now must evaluate whether a lawyer has provided a "race-neutral" reason for excusing, or striking, a juror of color when one of the parties raises a "Batson challenge."

In contrast to for-cause strikes, which occur when a juror cannot be fair and unbiased, Batson challenges arise through the use of a mechanism called peremptory strikes. Typically, parties to a case do not need to provide a reason when removing a juror with a peremptory strike during jury selection. In the face of a Batson challenge, they do.

But when an attorney, usually for the defense, raises a Batson challenge, judges may nonetheless allow prosecutors to remove a juror of color for reasons that may correlate with race  like having poor experiences with police  yet are race-neutral on the surface.

Denver County Court Judge Olympia Z. Fay, who testified to the Supreme Court in favor of the rule change, estimated she has presided over 100 jury trials and ruled on a half-dozen Batson challenges. Under Batson's existing standard, Fay said prosecutors have been able to cite race-neutral reasons when asked to justify their action.

"But the effect of it is to get that juror of color kicked off the jury," she said.

Multiple attempts at addressing bias

The proposal to change procedural Rule 24 would expand on the existing constitutional prohibition against intentional discrimination and build new safeguards for less obvious race-motivated strikes.

As presented, the rule contains multiple reasons that are presumed to be invalid for striking jurors of color. Those include a juror's stated distrust of law enforcement or belief that police engage in racial profiling, as well as living in a "high-crime neighborhood" or not being a native English speaker. Demeanor-based reasons, such as a juror failing to make eye contact, would also be invalid without corroboration from other parties in the courtroom.

Instead of Batson's standard of purposeful racial discrimination, the change to Rule 24 would also direct trial judges to examine whether an "objective observer could reasonably view" race as a factor in an attempted juror strike.

"In the last eight or 10 years, theres been some recognition in some of the appellate courts around the country that the purposeful discrimination test of Batson v. Kentucky has not fulfilled its promise, as far as trying to enhance greater participation by racial minorities," testified Court of Appeals Judge John Daniel Dailey, who chairs the criminal rules committee that brought the proposal forward. "So, therefore, they've looked for other ways to consider, and other possible proposals to enhance, the participation of racial minorities."

But the prosecutors who testified, all of whom appeared to be white, blasted the implicit bias proposal as one that would slant juries in favor of defendants by ensuring people who distrust police will decide criminal cases.

"The phrase that comes to mind is its affirmative action in jury selection," said Christian Champagne, the elected district attorney for La Plata, San Juan and Archuleta counties.

"Any prosecutor is naturally gonna be afraid to ever use the strike again" against a person of color, added Johanna Coats of the Denver District Attorney's Office.

"I think that is the goal," interjected Hart.

The Washington Supreme Court became the first state court to adopt an implicit bias rule in 2018, and California followed suit legislatively. Colorado's criminal rules committee attempted to propose a similar rule in 2021, but the Supreme Court declined to consider it, citing a lack of consensus among the committee.

Last year, four Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation resembling the Washington rule, but withdrew the bill in the face of solid opposition from Colorado's 22 elected district attorneys. Instead, they urged the criminal rules committee to try again to enact a Washington-style rule judicially.

The committee subsequently voted, 8-4, to send the Rule 24 changes to the Supreme Court for consideration. Defense lawyers and trial judges on the committee joined together in the majority, while representatives of district attorneys' offices voted against it.

During the public hearing and through written comments, prosecutors lobbed multiple criticisms against the rule change: Getting jurors of color to show up in the first place should be the focus. Better training will address lawyers' bias. Attorneys will find a way to dismiss jurors of color anyway. The proposal is racist itself.

"I thought the courtroom was to be color-blind, not color obsessed," wrote retired Denver District Court Judge Morris B. Hoffman, who added the rule change is "woke window dressing."

'You should not use a peremptory challenge'

Earlier this year, prior to the Rule 24 hearing, the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys sent its counterpart in Colorado, representing the state's district attorneys, a summary of appellate cases so far that have interpreted its own implicit bias guidance, known as General Rule 37.

The analysis from King County prosecutor Kristin Relyea also contained a piece of advice.

"I have no idea what the landscape looks like in Colorado," she noted, "but if it appears that adopting a similar rule has momentum, then I think prosecutors would be best served by joining the movement and drafting a rule that avoids some of the pitfalls and unanswered questions that weve had to sort through."

The Washington Court of Appeals has taken up General Rule 37 cases on multiple occasions, sometimes upholding prosecutors' decisions to strike jurors of color and other times finding jurors were improperly removed  including the sole Black person in a jury pool who expressed skepticism of the justice system based on personal experience and an Asian woman who the defense attorney tried to excuse because she made him "feel uncomfortable."

Some prosecutors in Colorado singled out one decision, State v. Orozco, as problematic. John Kellner, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District in metro Denver, testified the case was emblematic of the "absurd results" of an implicit bias rule.

In Orozco, a trial judge allowed prosecutors to strike the only Black woman from the jury pool after the prosecutor disclosed that he had pursued charges against her previously for minor offenses. The Washington Court of Appeals overturned the defendant's murder conviction after determining the strike violated General Rule 37.

Colorado prosecutors who commented to the Supreme Court claimed the decision meant the government cannot remove a juror even if they had personally been prosecuted by one of the lawyers in the courtroom. In reality, that was not why the defendant's convictions were overturned.

It was only because the prosecutor had elaborated that the Black juror was allegedly associated with people involved in criminal activity  a presumptively-invalid reason under the implicit bias rule  that the appellate court issued its reversal.

"In my personal opinion," Relyea wrote to her Colorado counterparts, "the takeaway is that you should not use a peremptory challenge to strike a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) juror because there is a strong likelihood that your case will be reversed on appeal."

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More data needed?

Some members of the Supreme Court noted a lack of data documenting the frequency of juror strikes against people of color. Instead, there was only anecdotal information from the legal community in Washington and Colorado. Justice William W. Hood III suggested those experiences may be enough to justify the implicit bias proposal.

"I think all of the trial judges (on the rules committee) who have collectively presided over hundreds of trials, to a one, thought this rule change made sense," he mused.

But when it comes to data collection, Hart countered, "would one good first step be for us to do that? To try to figure out where is the problem before we come up with a solution?"

"For communities of color, were always waiting for studies and for somebody to find out something in order to support the anecdotal evidence that we know exists," responded Joyce Akhahenda, a public defender and representative of the Sam Cary Bar Association, a professional group for Black attorneys. "That was the same issue with police brutality cases until we had video cameras."

In recent years, Colorado Politics has reported on multiple criminal appeals involving the dismissal of jurors of color, in which prosecutors' race-neutral reasons could have faltered under the proposed standard:

 An Arapahoe County prosecutor struck a Hispanic woman who talked about racial profiling in law enforcement.

 An El Paso County prosecutor struck a Black woman for the "sour look on her face."

 An Arapahoe County prosecutor struck a Black woman for "often staring up above, staring not at the ceiling but off into the distance."

 Weld County prosecutors struck the only Hispanic man because he "appeared very disinterested."

 Adams County and El Paso County prosecutors struck the only Hispanic person and the only Black man, respectively, based on incorrect claims of what the jurors actually said.

 An Arapahoe County prosecutor struck three Black jurors in a row from a Black defendant's trial, including one who had negative experiences with police.

 Weld County prosecutors struck a Hispanic man for his poor experience with police and a Hispanic woman because she "didn't seem fully engaged."

 An El Paso County prosecutor struck a Black juror who had negative experiences with law enforcement.

A 'blatant example of bias'

Some of the most concrete testimony about the effect of the rule change came from trial judges.

Fay, of the Denver County Court, said she sees prosecutors offer reasons for striking jurors of color that the new procedures would strongly discourage. Fay indicated jurors generally do not state explicitly they will be unfair to police officer witnesses.

"Its much more subtle than that. Its 'the police officers are in my neighborhood.' 'When I see them, theyre behaving a certain way and Im not sure I can always believe them when they say something,'" she said.

Judge Chelsea Malone, also of the Denver County Court, told the story of a prosecutor who struck a Hispanic man from a jury pool without questioning or talking to him. The prosecutor explained their colleagues had looked up the juror and found he had a criminal history. Malone asked if the prosecutor had done the same with any of the other jurors. "No" was the response.

"I havent seen a more blatant example of implicit bias in jury selection," she said.

Members of the Supreme Court were most hesitant about two specific elements of the proposal: allowing trial judges to decide if an observer simply "could" view race as a factor and making the distrust of law enforcement an invalid reason to excuse a juror, without more.

"A juror who expresses great trust in law enforcement could readily be excused on a peremptory by the defense," said Justice Monica M. Marquez. "That strikes me as an asymmetry that ends up disfavoring the prosecution, favoring the defense."

Defense lawyers and trial judges countered that the prosecution should spend time talking with a juror who is skeptical of police in order to understand whether that viewpoint is intertwined with their race.

For that to happen, argued Portia Prescott of the NAACP's Colorado Montana Wyoming State Area Conference, jurors of color need to feel comfortable even entering the courthouse. Knowing that there is less of a chance a lawyer will remove them from a jury, she said, could increase the willingness to respond to a juror summons.

"When I'm walking into a room with all white people, theres a feeling that I have to over-qualify myself to just be in the room, standing," Prescott said. "If we're making it easier and safer to respond to it as opposed to saying, 'Well, girl, if you take that day off, Im sorry, youre gonna get kicked out anyway. So, why lose a whole days worth of work if you know they're going to kick you out?'"

What about gender, religion or status as crime victim?

Some prosecutors suggested the Rule 24 revisions should encompass bias more broadly, discouraging lawyers from striking jurors based on their gender, sexual orientation or religion. The justices also questioned whether someone's status as a crime victim, which could also correlate with race, should be an additional presumptively-invalid reason for removing them.

Kevin McGreevy, a member of the rules committee who authored the proposal, said one prosecutor had, in fact, made the latter suggestion during deliberations, but eventually withdrew it.

Finally, members of the court repeatedly asked whether abolishing peremptory challenges altogether would be preferable. Many witnesses said yes, but it would require a change to state law.

Still, the trial judges who testified felt as though they could administer the new process for Batson challenges, even if it takes longer to hear jurors explain their points of view.

District Court Judge Vincente G. Vigil of Weld County volunteered that, growing up, he harbored a distrust of law enforcement. But now, during bench trials in which Vigil acts as the jury, he can decide criminal cases fairly when a police officer appears in front of him. He supported adopting the implicit bias rule.

"I dont think its enough to just talk about it. I dont think its enough to acknowledge it," Vigil said. "I think we have to take a step forward."
Turkiye's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca met with Azerbaijani medical personnel in quake-hit Kahranmaras, Azernews reports per the minister's Twitter page.

Brotherly Azerbaijan stands by us with its support and sharing our grief. One of the mobile field hospitals in Kahramanmaras was set up by Azerbaijan. We express our gratitude to Azerbaijans medical personnel who spares no efforts to work together with our doctors and healthcare workers, the Turkish minister tweeted.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs praised Brasilia for its sovereign posture of respect and appreciates the fact that it does not supply arms to the Ukrainians

ANNA MONEYMAKER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House after a bilateral meeting with the US



A Russia is considering the Presidents proposal Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to mediate peace in Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with Russian news agency Tass. We take note of the statements by the President of Brazil on the subject of a possible mediation, in order to find political ways to avoid the escalation of the war in Ukraine, correcting miscalculations in the field of international security based on multilateralism and considering the interests of all those involved, he declared and added that they are examining the initiatives, mainly from the point of view of Brazils balanced policy and, of course, taking into account consideration of the situation on the ground. Galuzin also stated that he sees the country as a strategic partner bilaterally and globally and appreciates the fact that Brazil does not supply arms to Ukraine. I would like to emphasize that Russia values Brazils balanced position in the current international situation, its rejection of unilateral coercive measures taken by the US and its satellites against our country and the refusal of our Brazilian partners to provide weapons, military equipment and ammunition to the Kiev regime. Galuzin still saluted the country for its sovereign attitude of respect even as Washington pressured Brazil to join them in condemning Russia. Since the beginning of the conflict, Brazil has remained neutral in the war. Despite condemning the Russian invasion, he has not taken any sides in the conflict and has refused to send weapons so Ukraine can defend itself. The neutrality of Brazil is a tradition of the country, which always tries to value peace.
MADISON  Unexplained noises have convinced Madison Dry Goods new owner that he doesnt want to be alone after dark in the historic store he adopted just three weeks ago.

Michael Smitty Smith, 29, has paid great care to detail as he revamps the upstairs of the former Penn Hardware store and T.B. Knight Funeral Parlor, where paranormal investigators, former store owners and plenty of patrons believe that ghosts dwell.

Weve heard foot steps, and weve heard knocking noises in different rooms, mostly after hours, said Smith, who bought the popular downtown store at 104 W. Murphy Street from Richard and Kathy Miller, who were proprietors for 27 years.

Rockingham Countys largest embalming room once operated on the second floor of the old time general store, now chock full of casual clothing and homespun gifts.

And on Christmas Day 1929, its cold tables received the bodies of eight members of one family.

Germanton tobacco farmer Charlie Lawson had shot and bludgeoned his wife and six of his seven children, including an infant daughter. He then turned his rifle on himself and ended his life in the snowy woods of his Stokes County farm.

Indeed, the elevator used to transport the Lawson bodies to the second story is still working in the 1908 brick building.

On March 12, Smith plans to unveil an expanded Lawson Family Murders Museum with new memorabilia and an audio tour through several rooms of the former funeral parlor.

Spirits of the slain Lawson family members make themselves known with footsteps, odd utterances and through an apparition of a young girl, psychics and lay people alike, agree.

Stories of the haunted building helped inspire the Netflix series, 28 Days Haunted, which aired last fall and featured psychic mediums who lived alone inside Madison Dry Goods for the time span.

Episodes chronicled the mediums claiming to conjure the spirits of Charlie Lawson and other family members through seances and video surveillance.

Smith seeks to resurrect Lawson haints with the help of Netflix medium Brandy Miller of Detroit and is in discussions with her about returning to Madison for a public event, he said.

Since Smith took the keys to the homey store three weeks ago, business has been phenomenal, he said.

Ive had a lot of support from friends and family and local folks, said Smith of Winston-Salem, who looks every bit the part of a 1920s general store proprietor, his waxed mustache finessed with a twist and donning his sartorial trademark flannel shirts.

Its been great. And weve had people from around the world come in because of the Netflix show.

In recent weeks, tourists from Argentina and the Netherlands have stopped in to tour the Lawson exhibits, which include family photos, an embalming table and machine and news clippings about one of the regions bloodiest crimes ever.

Smith is also launching a marketplace on the second floor with 14 booths for antique dealers and artisans with crafts to sell.

The Richard and Kathy Miller Community Room, Smiths homage to the former owners, is also available for rental for private events, Smith said.

Weve already rented it out this Sunday for a family gathering, he said. And thats what we wanted it to be for  bringing family and community together.

As owner of the largest collection of Lawson family memorabilia, Smith said he plans to share his curiosities with the public.

Were going to open up a room adjacent to the museum room that has never been open to the public, he said, adding that a display case will house artifacts from the Great Depression era, as well as original pamphlets given out to tourists who once stopped to take a 25-cent tour of the blood-soaked rooms of the Lawson cabin.

One of those tourists was notorious mobster John Dillinger. After breaking out of prison, he motored through Stokes County and stopped with a girlfriend to see the gruesome crime scene. A photo of Dillinger in Germanton, along with Dillingers death mask and a lock of his hair, will be featured in the new exhibit, Smith said.

With an appreciation for style, Smith has also commissioned a replica of Marie Lawsons dress to be sewn for the improved museum.

Well also have newspapers from around the country that show (the crimes) impact and how the news spread and made its way around the world, Smith said.

Fans of the store can also look forward to Scary Movie Nights beginning in the fall and a Ghost Walk of Madison Smith will debut in October, he said, encouraging locals to contribute ghost stories to the project.

As for the ghost of a little girl that many guests to the store claim to see, Smith said: People say shes still around.
G.K. Chesterton, the English writer, philosopher and Christian apologist once wrote, I never discuss anything else except politics and religion. There is nothing else to discuss. . . Nothing of importance can be separated entirely from its social effect, which is politics, or from its ultimate value, which is religion. With our legislative session in full swing, I can relate well to those words of Chesterton.

Sometimes, when people ask what I do for a living, I explain that I specialize in uncomfortable dinner party conversation religion and politics and the space where they intersect. I suppose some would say those things should not intersect and, to the extent one thinks they do, that should be kept private and out of public discourse.

But faith isnt something we put on and take off like a costume. Its not something we simply believe or do within the four walls of a church. Faith is integral to who we are. When we enter into discussions about important social matters, we bring our entire selves whether Catholic, Presbyterian, Muslim, agnostic, atheist, etc. In so doing, we make ourselves a gift to others. Its a gift I deeply value when I discuss abolishing the death penalty with a Jewish colleague or how to address issues of homelessness with a Methodist or what does human dignity entail with someone who isnt religious.

Mature persons are able to interact, dialogue and disagree in a manner that builds up society. They join willingly in a shared mission of truth-seeking marked by genuine love of neighbor. But is this what most of us think of when we reflect on the current state of political discourse?

The good news is that within the halls of our state Capitol, I think the political climate is better than what most people would imagine. Impressions arent always accurate. By the same token, its no secret that civil discourse in our country isnt marked by a high degree of virtue and respect. And this is poisonous to our very existence.

When we think of how elements of society debate and disagree about serious social and moral issues do we witness interactions reflecting humility, mercy, hope, justice and love? Lacking those virtues, debates turn into ever-widening divisions where individuals and groups fall into echo chambers where humility dies and destructive ideologies sprout a social poison.

That toxicity grows, slowly inching from saying ones opinion is not to be valued, to ones right to an opinion is not to be valued, eventually moving to the individual holding that position is not to be valued. Its a recipe for the dehumanizing of broad categories of people.

But as obvious and dangerous as this cancel culture mode of engagement has become, I think theres an even more dangerous temptation into which many of us can fallhopeless indifference. I would gather we know a fair number of people who, when they look at politics and our social fabric, feel defeated. Not in the sense that their side is losing or what they value is being devalued by broader society.

I think its a defeat in the sense they begin to believe that what they do, or dont do, to help build a healthy society, especially in the realm of politics, doesnt matter because they cant really make a difference. And, if one person cant make a difference, how important can this be for me as an individual?

That indifference can grow and eventually bring one to the point of refusing to make judgments about justice and mercy, good and evil. Why stand for anything?

In Dantes Inferno theres a scene where Virgil leads Dante to the Gates of Hell where Dante hears the suffering cries of the uncommitted soulsthose who in life didnt make conscious moral choices. They are denied entry to both heaven and hell because, in a sense, they are the persons who in life were never alive.

Our decision to be invested concretely in the just structuring of society through political engagement has a transcendent dimension. Caring about important social issues matters and taking action impacts not just those around us but our own souls. It grows love in our hearts and that love is impossible to contain. It bursts forth and transforms the world one loving act, one relationship at a time. Instead of seeing social ills as unsolvable problems, the loving heart sees endless opportunities to serve as an instrument of Gods grace.

Love of neighbor naturally feeds a sense of solidarity and reminds us that we are one human family bound together. We are not individuals who simply choose to interact for our own benefit. We are more. We are social by our very nature and inextricably connected as we weave through the myriad of challenges of ordinary life. Thats a beautiful and boundless gift. But its one we too often neglect and, because of that, I fear we are in danger of forgetting how to love.

As religious and social institutions decline and convenience drives us further away from each other, the tangible reminders of our interconnectedness are fading. Our sense of shared responsibility for the common good wanes and power becomes operative. But exercises of power dont in and of themselves produce justice, let alone mercy. And thats especially true for the vulnerable.

In the Catholic Churchs document Lumen Gentium, there is a passage that says, God . . . does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people. . . This doesnt refer to simply a time in the past or an anticipation of the future. Its about the here and now.

As our lawmakers go about the work of policymaking, we need to pray for them and encourage them in this difficult task. But we, too, need to ensure we are bringing our voices into that process sharing the best of ourselves, advocating for what is true, good and beautiful, and giving voice to the voiceless. We can elevate civil discourse in this country and rediscover the great gift it is to be bound together. Its good for all of Montana, but most importantly, its good for your soul.
The claims of the Armenian side that Azerbaijan allegedly "blocked" the road, imposed a "blockade" against Armenian residents, and that a "tense humanitarian situation" arose, are unfounded, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said during a meeting with the Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Azerbaijan Dragana Kojic, Azernews reports citing the MFA.

Bayramov noted that the above assertions are unfounded taking into account the fact of passing more than 3,000 vehicles along the Lachin-Khankendi road in recent months, as well as other facts.

At the same time, it was noted that back in December 2022, the Azerbaijani side expressed its readiness, if necessary, to provide assistance to local residents of Armenian origin directly or through the ICRC.

The peaceful protest on Azerbaijans Lachin-Khankendi road against the illegal exploitation of Azerbaijan's mineral resources in the area of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment has been going on since December 12, 2022.

Previously, following the talks with the Russian peacekeepers' command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC were going to begin preliminary monitoring of the illicit mineral resource exploitation, as well as emerging environmental implications on Azerbaijani lands, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, on December 10, 2022.

The expert team was expected to inspect the environmental condition at the 'Gizilbulagh' gold deposit and the 'Damirli' copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to the environment, as well as to underground and surface water sources.

However, the expert group, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, faced provocations when arriving in the monitoring area. The planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create necessary conditions but also prevented the entire process from carrying on.




A bill proposed Friday could see fewer cases assigned to the overburdened public defenders office, albeit at the expense of more people going to court without representation.

The constitutional right to a court-appointed attorney extends to those charged with crimes for which imprisonment is a possible penalty.

The state public defenders office, meanwhile, would have needed 63 additional attorneys since 2019 to handle all the cases assigned by the courts and maintain a workload limit that it deems ethical toward its attorneys.

House Bill 692 from Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, would require a prosecutor and then the judge at the outset of misdemeanor cases, where jail penalties are low and not uniformly sought, to declare they will not seek or impose imprisonment if the case ends in a conviction.

Mercer chairs the appropriations subcommittee that examines the public defenders budget each biennium, and is attuned to its workload issues, which are controlled entirely by prosecutors who charge people and courts who assign cases to the agency.

He said Friday HB 692 could be a novel solution to the logjam.

The office of public defender has no ability to turn the spigot off, he told the House Judiciary Committee.

Office of the State Public Defender Director Brett Schandelson said its unclear how the experiment would affect the agency. People charged with misdemeanor crimes, however, would have to navigate several other penalties  such as fines, fees and community service  without an attorney.

Thomas Jodoin, representing the League of Cities and Towns, said the bill would take away prosecutors ability to negotiate with defendants. City attorneys may not often seek jail time if alternative treatment programs fit the crime.

They wouldn't do that without the possibility of jail time, Jodoin said.

After lengthy debate, a bill to ban foreign adversaries from purchasing, leasing or renting critical infrastructure and agricultural production land cleared a second reading on a 49-0 vote.

Senate Bill 203 is from Sen. Kenneth Bogner, R-Miles City. Bogner said his bill became even more critical after a Chinese spy balloon flew over Montana.

The only opposition in the Senate came from Sen. Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, who said he had concerns the bill was counter to the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. Molnar attempted to amend the bill, but the effort failed on a 17-33 vote. The bill faces one final vote before it would move to the House.

Following two small amendments, a bill outlining Montanas grizzly bear management policy for dealing with livestock conflicts post de-listing is nearing passage in the Senate following a vote on Friday.

As amended, Senate Bill 295 directs state wildlife managers prior to delisting from the Endangered Species Act to adopt grizzly 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. An earlier amendment highlighted nonlethal measures that may be used to mitigate conflicts.

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.

Gillespie called the bill a step along the way as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it is considering petitions from Montana and Wyoming to delist grizzlies in parts of their range.

The bill saw significant debate in committee over the definition of threatening with some opponents believing the term to be subjective and undefinable.

A bill allowing electric-assist bicycles anywhere regular bikes are allowed on non-federal lands in Montana was voted down for a second time in the House.

House Bill 261 from Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Libby, would revise state code to state that electric-assist bicycles are not motor vehicles, mopeds or off-highway vehicles. The bill would also revise state law to reflect the generally recognized classifications of electric-assist bicycles, generally referred to as e-bikes.

The bill saw a mix of support and opposition with groups such as Bike Walk Montana in support of the bill but some conservation and wildlife groups raising concerns that it mandated e-bikes as a default and local governments would then have to pass regulations should they want to prohibit them.

The bill easily passed committee and a narrower initial vote on the floor before being voted down by one vote earlier this week. The House then voted to reconsider the bill, but it again died on Friday by a single vote.

Legislation to establish a process for vetting whether new Montana voters are U.S. citizens failed to clear a vote in the state House Friday.

House Bill 402 follows a recent case in which two foreign citizens appeared to have voted illegally in a 2021 municipal election in Montana.

The two voters were in the country legally with working visas, and appeared to have been able to register and cast ballots for a mayoral race in the small Hi-Line town of Dodson. The prosecution stalled after they failed to show up for a hearing and could not be located afterwards.

HB 402 would have tasked the Secretary of States office with writing rules to verify citizenship when someone registers to vote in Montana. It failed on second reading 46-54, with some Republicans joining most Democratic lawmakers to vote it down. Several GOP lawmakers objected to language that would have let people vote while their citizenship was still being verified.

A separate Republican-sponsored bill would require that illegal aliens be disallowed from voting in the states elections, but does not set forth any process for determining that status. That measure passed a committee vote Thursday.
DECATUR  Akorn Pharmaceuticals was hit with at least two class action lawsuits on the same day it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, per court documents obtained by the Herald & Review.

One of those lawsuits was filed by a group of Decatur employees who believe Akorn violated federal law by not providing advance notice of its mass layoffs.

Akorn shocked workers with an abrupt announcement of their termination and the companys closure on Wednesday morning. The company laid off an estimated over 400 employees in Decatur without offering severance pay or extended health insurance coverage.

The plaintiffs in the Illinois lawsuit, filed Thursday in a federal court in Urbana, allege that this action violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The WARN Act requires employers with 100 or more full-time employees to provide 60 days notice of pending plant closures or mass layoffs.

The four plaintiffs are seeking all damages available to them under the law, including wages and accrued benefit pay they claim the company failed to pay due to the lack of 60 days notice.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all individuals across the U.S. who suffered an employment loss due to the Feb. 22 layoffs.

According to the lawsuit, all four plaintiffs worked at Akorns Decatur production center and had each worked for the company for at least eight years. They said they were called into a meeting with all other employees early on Wednesday morning, when Akorn President and CEO Douglas Boothe eventually notified them of their termination.

Mr. Boothe was very clear when addressing Plaintiffs and all other employees that they would not receive any other severance or compensation, the lawsuit states.

The Herald & Review previously obtained a recording of Boothes statements. Boothe said the companys board and ownership and management team had no other alternatives than to file for bankruptcy.

As you all know, last year, we initiated processes to sell the company. And despite the best efforts from all parties and interest from multiple potential buyers, the company did not receive an appropriate bid that would address outstanding liabilities, including outstanding debt, Boothe said at the time. The company owners have just informed us they will not provide the additional financing required to continue to run the business and search for alternative options.

Akorn did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Herald & Review on Friday, including emails to a number of corporate addresses, calls to its corporate office and a call with its registered agent, Illinois Corporation Service Company.

In its bankruptcy filings, Akorn presented a financial predicament.

The company estimated it has approximately $500,000,001 to $1 billion in assets but somewhere between 50,001 and 100,000 creditors.

According to the petition, the company believes there will be no funds available to unsecured creditors after any administrative expenses are paid.

This isnt the first time Akorn has filed for bankruptcy.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 but was sold to its existing lenders later that year. As opposed to the financial reorganization allowed in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidates the debtors assets and distributes them to its creditors.

A copy of omnibus resolutions adopted by Akorn's Board of Directors at a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21, was submitted by the company as part of its 2023 bankruptcy filings.

According to those resolutions, board members "determined that the companies do not have sufficient capital to continue their operations" and determined it was in the best interests of "stakeholders, creditors, and other interested parties" to terminate all employees.

The board authorized management to let employees know they were being terminated in connection with the bankruptcy petitions, "including the provision of any and all notices that are required by law or otherwise deemed advisable, including under Warn or similar laws, rules, or regulations," the resolutions read.

But multiple former employees across the country think their terminations did not follow the proper procedures required by law.

An additional class action lawsuit was filed by a New York employee as part of Akorns bankruptcy proceedings in a Delaware federal bankruptcy court. Similar to the Illinois lawsuit, the Delaware suit was filed on behalf of other similarly situated former employees and alleges that Akorn violated the federal WARN Act and various New York state labor laws.

The Delaware plaintiff is seeking damages in the amount of 60 days' pay and ERISA benefits lost due to the alleged violation.

Akorn could still face additional legal battles.

A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity told the Herald & Review the state will be investigating Akorns actions.

WARN exists in order to coordinate resources and support for employees impacted by layoffs, the statement read. Not only did the company fail to submit a WARN notice to the State, it gave its hardworking employees only 24 hours notice of permanent layoffs, which is inconsistent with industry best-practices and lacks basic consideration for their employees.

The Illinois Department of Labor launched its investigation this week. If violations are found, the department said, it will assess civil penalties against the company.

MORE COVERAGE:

Photos: Akorn Pharmaceuticals in Decatur
SPRINGFIELD  A mental health crisis among children in Illinois will be fought by streamlining and easing access to necessary treatment and coordinating between six separate state agencies, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday.

A report examining the capacity and condition of Illinois' response to behavioral health in young people has been in the works for nearly a year. It sketches avenues to help families understand mental illness, then makes it easier for them to get required care without navigating, in Pritzker's words, the "serpentine" paths of disparate state agencies.

"Government doesn't work very well between silos of one department and another," Pritzker said at a school in the Chicago suburb of Maywood. "People feel like they have territory that they need to protect. And the fact is that our territory is all of the children of the state of Illinois."

The mental health of children nationwide rapidly unraveled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021 found 44% of American children had depressive episodes lasting at least two weeks and nearly half had thought about suicide, according to the report.

Lawmakers and advocates weary of wrestling with seemingly unyielding bureaucracies were impressed by the number of agencies working together.

"You think of a parent who's in crisis at their wit's end ... having to call each and every one of these agencies and trying to keep track of it," said Senate Public Health Committee Chairperson Karina Villa, a West Chicago Democrat. "All they want is to get their baby the help that they need. Now we have a blueprint as to how they're going to be able to do that."

The report's authors were a team led by Dana Weiner, on loan from the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, where she is senior policy fellow.

"What families (should) experience is a simplified, centralized, clear way to get access to services to understand what their children are struggling with and to identify the things that might help address those challenges," Weiner said.

Friday's announcement marks the beginning of work to ready the plan for implementation, a report on which Pritzker expects by October. There's $22.8 million in the governor's fiscal 2024 budget proposal to complete the planning.

The report identifies technological, practical, legislative and other means for marshaling the expertise among the Departments of Human Services, Children and Family Services, Juvenile Justice, Healthcare and Family Services, Public Health and the State Board of Education.

The program must be agile for responding to changing needs, given the volatility of mental illness, the report says. It suggests widespread screening of children which might telegraph future suffering and emphasizes the necessity of early intervention.

Recognizing problems quickly is critical, Weiner said. The U.S. Surgeon General discovered in a 2021 study that on average, there is an 11-year gap between recognizing a child's potential mental health issue and that child getting treatment.

At the same time, the report recognizes that worker shortages across industries will severely impact the mental health care program. It says the government must provide incentives, both in making education more attainable but also drawing upon paraprofessionals or aides to conduct critical work which doesn't need extensive formal education.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford of Maywood noted the planned outreach to parents to help them understand an issue, dismiss the stigma and recognize that a child's altered behavior or mood swings aren't necessarily circumstances the child "will grow out of."

"Too often, children's mental and behavioral health challenges are overlooked or minimized by adults, believing that these struggles are something their child can overcome on their own," Lightford said. "The social stigma around seeking mental health care ... unfortunately leaves many children to not get the care they need."
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois House Democrats announced the formation of a cannabis working group Thursday that will aim to steer the burgeoning industrys expansion in a business-friendly way while still satisfying the equity goals of the landmark 2019 legalization law.

The group is led by Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, who has sponsored numerous cannabis-related bills and is an outspoken advocate for racial equity.

The working groups main priority, according to Ford, is to make sure individuals who have invested in the newly-created industry are successful. A part of that is to address the disproportionate impact the war on drugs had on communities of color, particularly when it comes to cannabis-related arrests.

According to the ACLU, Black people in Illinois were 7.5 times more likely than white people to be arrested for cannabis-related offenses prior to the states decriminalization of the drug in 2016.

The same law that legalized recreational cannabis use in 2019 also made individuals previously charged with minor cannabis offenses eligible to have their records expunged. At the end of 2020, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced 492,129 cannabis-related convictions had been expunged and 9,219 low-level cannabis convictions had been pardoned.

The recreational cannabis law was also designed to give social equity applicants  or those whose ownership consists of minorities, people with drug convictions or individuals hailing from disproportionately impacted areas  easier access to new dispensary licenses.

Our goal was to make sure that those communities that were hardest hit by the war on drugs actually were able to benefit from this industry by having the ability to open up in those communities and hire people from those communities, Ford said in an interview.

Ford was the sponsor of House Bill 1443 in the previous General Assembly, a measure that created 110 additional social equity dispensary licenses beyond the initial 75 created by the original legalization law.

Over 30 cannabis-related bills have already been filed in the current General Assembly which began in January, addressing areas including licensing, distribution of cannabis tax revenue and the expungement of past offenses. The working group will comb through these measures to more effectively address the industrys most pertinent issues.

Illinois recorded a record-high $1.5 billion of recreational cannabis sales in Fiscal Year 2022, generating about $445 million in tax revenue. Under law, 25% of the taxes collected from recreational cannabis sales are to go to economically distressed communities or those impacted by the war on drugs. In Fiscal Year 2022, about $115 million in tax revenue went to the states General Revenue Fund.

Beyond an equity focus, Ford said the working group will also aim to make state policy more accommodating to the industry from a business perspective.

We have to make sure that we legislate with the industry because they are the investors, Ford said. If we could empower the businesses, its going to mean more revenue, and were going to realize what we intended for the [cannabis legalization] law to do. And that is increase employment, develop communities, reduce crime in the state.

Ford is joined on the working group by Assistant Majority Leader Marcus Evans, D-Chicago; Assistant Majority Leader Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora; Assistant Majority Leader Bob Rita, D-Blue Island; Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview; Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago; and Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield.

Theyll work with other lawmakers, state agencies, businesses and associations that work directly with the cannabis industry.

One of the involved organizations is the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, a statewide trade association for cannabis businesses.

The associations legislative priorities include re-implementing curbside pickup and drive-thru services after pandemic-era measures expired, decoupling Illinois cannabis tax code from the federal tax code, and extending the right to work in the medical cannabis industry for those who have previous cannabis-related convictions.

Currently, the recreational statute allows individuals with previous drug convictions to gain access to the cannabis industry, Pamela Althoff, executive director at the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, said in an interview. That is prohibited in the compassionate and medical statute. Wed like to see both of them mirrored.

The Cannabis Equity Illinois Coalition, a grassroots nonprofit that advocates for cannabis-related reform, has their own priorities for the legislative session, including expanding support for the craft grow industry, creating a singular cannabis oversight commission to streamline cannabis programs, and creating licenses for clubs and lounges so people other than homeowners are able to legally consume cannabis.

The goal is moving away from having 13-plus state agencies who are not talking to each other, Peter Contos, deputy director of the coalition, said in an interview. We need one cannabis body who just does all the work, similar to what the state did with the liquor commission.

Evans and Ford have both introduced bills  House Bills 1436 and 1498  to create a cannabis oversight commission. Contos said the coalition is currently trying to work with both lawmakers to reach an agreement on the legislation.

Contos added theyre excited to be involved with the working group because it shows theres a concerted effort to continue cannabis-related reforms.

We have a long way to go in Illinois to get back to the goals we set a few years ago when we legalized [cannabis] but this is definitely the first step we need to take, Contos said.

States with the highest revenue from cannabis taxes States with the highest revenue from cannabis taxes #11. Maine #10. California #9. Massachusetts #8. Michigan #7. Arizona #6. Illinois #5. Oregon #4. Alaska #3. Washington #2. Nevada #1. Colorado
Born in Oakland, California on Oct. 20, 1964, Kamala Devi Harris had two major role models from the start: Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan (whom Harris has described as the most important influence on her life) was a breast cancer researcher from India, and her father, Donald Harris, immigrated to the United States from Jamaica and worked as an economics professor at Stanford University. Her parents met during graduate school at UC Berkeley while attending political protests, and although they divorced when Harris was a child, both are said to have had a significant influence on her professional trajectory and political leanings. (Gopalan died from colon cancer in 2009 and Harris retired early from Stanford in 1998 and has since worked as a researcher and economic consultant for the Jamaican government.)

Harris earned her undergraduate degree from Howard University in 1986 and her law degree from the University of California, Hastings three years later. She then kicked off her career in the Alameda County district attorney's office and worked as an Oakland deputy district attorney from 1990 to 1998. In that role, she garnered a reputation for being tough on issues like gang violence, drug trafficking and sexual abuse.

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In 2003, she became the district attorney of the City and County of San Francisco, and six years and two terms later, was elected attorney general of California by a margin of less than 1 percent. The narrow win made history as Harris became the first female and the first Black person to hold the post.

One of Harris' hallmark moves during her time as attorney general was refusing to defend Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in the state and was later deemed unconstitutional in federal court. In 2013, Harris officiated the first same-sex marriage in California shortly after the federal appeals court decision.
RALEIGH Every day thousands of people stream into Wake County's two courthouses for so many significant reasons.

They could be dealing with speeding tickets, misdemeanor or felony criminal charges or civil lawsuits. They seek domestic violence protection orders, changes to an estate, or custody of a child.

Until recently, all of those transactions were paper based. Judges' physical signatures turned orders into actions like warrants for arrests, child support payments or permission to drive to the doctor's office on a suspended license.

That changed last week as the North Carolina Judicial Branch moved to further digitize the state court system, starting with pilots in Wake, Johnston, Lee and Harnett counties.

The transition, which started Feb. 13 for Wake and Johnston, has not gone smoothly, according to interviews this week.

Attorneys expressed many frustrations, from private information being made public to clients being potentially wrongfully detained and glitches to getting driving privileges restored.

The system seems "half baked," Wake defense attorney Charlie Gray said.

"Even stuff that works well is unbelievably slow," he said.

Andrew Heath, director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of Courts, said he understands that some people are frustrated.

He also asks that people judge the changes after six months, not after several days.

"There is just no easy way to go through a transition of this magnitude without feeling that pain," he said.

$100 million project

The shift to the new system, called eCourts, is intended to allow the public to pull up court information online, pay fines and fees and file court documents, like a small claims complaint or a name change.

The project is expected to cost more than $100 million over a 10-year contract that ends in 2029. Mecklenburg County is expected to roll out their eCourts around May, with additional county clusters expected to follow every 60 to 90 days until all courts are using the new system by 2025.

The system was rolled out before it was ready, Raleigh-based attorney Seth Blum said this week. Crucial functions didn't exist.

It has improved, but the general public should expect slow downs, Blum said.

"The public, under the best of circumstances, finds the courts a bewildering place," he said. "Now, they must be finding it bewildering and frustrating beyond belief."

One concern, Grey said, was that after arrest warrants are canceled, the information isn't making it to the database that police use.

Gray was also concerned about the court system's inability to communicate with the Division of Motor Vehicles, and is concerned how that could affect people with recent tickets if it isn't resolved.

"Little stuff like that was not thought out well," he said.

Steven Gurley, who practices in Johnston, said he is worried the new system resulted in one of his clients spending a few extra days in jail. The charge was dismissed Feb. 13, the day the new system was rolled out, but Gurley's client wasn't released until later in the week because he and others weren't notified, he said.

Gurley also expressed concern about his private cell number being shared on the new system.

A monumental transition

The state entered into a contract with the Texas-based Tyler Technologies in 2019 after a commission of court officials recommended the modernization of court record keeping.

Since then Tyler Technologies has successfully launched three elements in the lead up to the February pilot launch in Wake.

The first two, an online guide that helps people file out court documents and an electronic ticketing application, launched successfully, Heath said.

The third, which focused on warrants, was custom built and launched in July 2022. Delays and challenges with that product forced the state to push back the launch of the eCourts pilots from October to February, Heath said.

"It was a rough beginning," he said, but the errors have been resolved,

Tyler Technologies and state officials are working through the challenges on the most recent launch.

The issue with officers being informed about recalled warrants is resolved, Heath said, and he is meeting with the Division of Motor Vehicles on Friday.

'Growing pain stage'

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said there have been improvements and proficiencies in the first few days of the change, but also a fair number of outstanding issues.

A Wake County court leadership team discusses the issues daily and reports them to Tyler Technologies and state officials.

Freeman says if the software issues are addressed quickly, she thinks the system will iron out. But if some of the issues continue for weeks and months, she said, it would be problematic.

In addition to working out all the kinks, it also takes some time for employees and attorneys to learn and adjust to the new system and even out work load shifts, Freeman said.

"We are building the plane while we are flying it," said Wake District Judge Ashleigh Parker Dunston, who is president of the 10th Judicial District and Wake County Bar Association.

Dunston, who has been working in civil court on child support cases, said she has already seen improvements from last week to this, even from Monday to Thursday.

"We were like 'this was a great day' ," she told The News & Observer Thursday.

Wake County Chief District Judge Ned Mangum stressed that the change is historic and needed.

The old mainframes are more than 40 years old, he said.

"It is hard to find anybody that works on them," he said.

Once the changes are finished, it will provide unprecedented access to court documents, Heath and others said.

Instead of having to drive and find a parking place at the local courthouse, people will be able to pull up that information online, for instance.

Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The News & Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.

This story was originally published February 24, 2023, 12:47 PM.
MATTOON  Lake Land College presented the Non-traditional Student of the Year Award to Ron Mason of Mattoon and Stephanie Sample of Sullivan.

Sample and Mason were among 14 nominees who were honored for their perseverance and outstanding achievements in returning to college to pursue their dreams.

The nominees were: Derek Clark, Charleston; Benjamin Wilson, Paris; Brianna Sexton, Charleston; Anthony Gasperini, Mattoon; Travis Fox, Windsor; Holly Cornell, Montrose; Chelsea Rouleau, Effingham; Tashia Carter, Mattoon; Kyler Roan, Paris; Christina Dickenson, Pana; Brooklyn Cook, Neoga; and Hollie McCarty, Paris.

The individuals we honor this evening have not had an easy path to success, yet you would never know it. They inspire the people around them with their positive attitude and determination to succeed, said Kelly Allee, director of marketing and public relations. We are humbled by their accomplishments and are grateful for the opportunity to celebrate with them. We cannot wait to see what they accomplish in the future.

Mason is a non-traditional student who came to Lake Land with a GED and quickly became involved in student activities. He tutors both students and other tutors in a variety of subjects: calculus and physics, composition and chemistry.

Sample relocated from Omaha, Nebraska to East Central Illinois facing personal health issues and enrolling in Lake Land in the midst of pandemic. After settling in, she flourished and worked hard in the broadcast communication program to make the deans list and produce exceptional work in the classroom and laboratory environment.

Sample served as the Broadcasting Club President for two years, helping resurrect the organization following the COVID-19 pandemic. She volunteered her time by participating in the many philanthropic efforts the club was involved in, including a local food drive and the video production of commencement exercises on campus.

Additionally, Sample is a two-time winner of the Illinois Broadcasters Association Student Silver Dome Award, received a P1 learning sales certification and positively impacted the college through her work with the Vibe group.

Derek Clark is an industrial maintenance mechanic apprentice through Hydro-Gear.

Benjamin Wilson is seeking an associate degree in accounting. As he works toward his degree, he is earning stackable certificates and recently completed a Management Certificate. Just a short time later, he was promoted to manager on the night shift at Walmart. He also volunteers at his church and is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success.

Brianna Sexton is majoring in psychology and will be pursuing a bachelors degree in studio art or art therapy. She balances being a wife, mother and student.

Anthony Gasperini is a veteran who recently graduated from Lake Land and transferred to Eastern Illinois University where he is majoring in interpersonal communications with a minor in sociology.

Travis Fox is a veteran majoring in ag business.

Holly Cornell is majoring in early childhood care and education.

Chelsea Rouleau is majoring in practical nursing.

Tashia Carter has overcome personal challenges to return to Lake Land to pursue a degree in psychology.

Kyler Roan works as an LPN while going to school to become an RN.

Christina Dickenson is majoring in IT-graphic design. Dickenson is a single mother, raising three children, going to school and working numerous hours each week. A devoted student, she recently volunteered to work with the Presidents Office on an extensive board policy manual for the college.

Brooklyn Cook is pursuing a degree in nursing. Cook works part-time and is a single mom to four young children, with one child who has intellectual disabilities.

Hollie McCarty is majoring in office management.

Mattoon-area places through the years Young Radiator Oil well New post office Memorial District Hospital Mattoon Mounters Kozy Log Illinois Central Railroad depot Downtown Downtown
MATTOON  Students in Mattoon High School's class of 2023 will have the opportunity to gather together, like past classes have, to celebrate in a safe environment after their graduation ceremony.

The annual Project Graduation is an all night, substance-free party that was started decades ago by a group of high school parents. Over the years, each new group of parents has set a goal of making the event fun and unique for their graduating seniors.

Project Graduation will be held this year at The Fields Church, 900 Dewitt Ave., in Mattoon immediately after the 2023 graduation ceremony on Friday, May 26, at the high school. Check-in will begin at 10:30 p.m., and all students must be checked in by midnight.

Students are required to stay for the entirety of the event in order to be eligible for prizes. The event will end at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, May 27. Activities this year will include casino games, "minute to win it" games, video games, karaoke, and more. Food is also provided throughout the evening thanks to contributions from community partners.

As in years past, every student will receive gifts and cash at the end of the event. One student also will win a 2023 Hyundai Venue courtesy of KC Summers, retail value of $21,310.

In order to fund the activities and prizes, the Project Graduation committee is raffling off a second 2023 Hyundai Venue to the public. Tickets are $100 each. No cash option is available this year in place of the vehicle.

The winner of the car will be announced at a celebration at 10 a.m. May 6 in the KC Summers Toyota Showroom. A complimentary breakfast and 10 consolation prizes will be provided courtesy of KC Summers. The consolation prizes are worth $100-$200 each. Ticket holders drawn for consolation prizes must be present to win.

Tickets are available from any Mattoon High School senior or can be purchased at Crites Title Co., 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Participants are asked to call to confirm availability for ticket purchase and pick up via Bobbi Campbell, 217-317-1757 or Julie Willingham, 217-273-9039.

Tickets will also be available the day of the raffle until 9 a.m. at KC Summers.

Photos: Mattoon 63, Taylorville 57
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has met with the Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Azerbaijan Dragana Kojic, Azernews reports citing the Foreign Ministry.

During the meeting, issues of cooperation between the ICRC and Azerbaijan, the situation around the Lachin-Khankendi road, as well as the activities of the ICRC in the Azerbaijani city of Khankendi were discussed.

At the meeting, Bayramov noted the importance of the activities of the ICRC in Azerbaijan.

Satisfaction was expressed with the efforts to ensure the free movement of vehicles along the Lachin-Khankendi road, including the transport of the ICRC, goods and citizens.

The importance of eliminating the situation that caused the peaceful protests was also noted.

The minister stressed that, taking into account the fact of passing more than 3,000 vehicles along the Lachin-Khankendi road in recent months, as well as other facts, the assertions of the Armenian side that Azerbaijan allegedly "blocked" the road, impose a "blockade" against Armenian residents and that a "tense humanitarian situation" arose, are unfounded.

At the same time, it was noted that back in December 2022, the Azerbaijani side expressed its readiness, if necessary, to provide assistance to local residents of Armenian origin directly or through the ICRC.

During the meeting, there was also an exchange of views on other issues of mutual interest.

The peaceful protest on Azerbaijans Lachin-Khankendi road against the illegal exploitation of Azerbaijan's mineral resources in the area of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment has been going on since December 12, 2022.

Previously, following the talks with the Russian peacekeepers' command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC were going to begin preliminary monitoring of the illicit mineral resource exploitation, as well as emerging environmental implications on Azerbaijani lands, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, on December 10, 2022.

The expert team was expected to inspect the environmental condition at the 'Gizilbulagh' gold deposit and the 'Damirli' copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to the environment, as well as to underground and surface water sources.

However, the expert group, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, faced provocations when arriving in the monitoring area. The planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create necessary conditions but also prevented the entire process from carrying on.
CHICAGO  Each day for Tim Kosiek, an education prep teacher at Buffalo Grove High School, is a new opportunity to inspire students in Ed Academy, an elective class he teaches as part of the Education Career Pathways program.

Once a week, those students work at internships with partnering school districts.

They are out in classrooms, teaching, Kosiek said. They send me pictures and they look the part, they act the part. ... They are so well equipped. I look back to when these opportunities didnt exist and its amazing. These kids get to be in classrooms and really see if they love it.

The class is part of an Illinois State Board of Education grant program that gives over 10,000 high school students the tools and insights they need to explore a career in education at a time when schools across the state are facing teacher shortages.

The grants  open to all Illinois public school districts  are just a starting point. Districts use the grants to design and implement their own Education Career Pathways program for their students.

At Buffalo Grove, the variety of electives offered through the program includes an in-house lab preschool.

Right across from my classroom is a preschool, Kosiek said. Its got 16 kids that are there all day long, every day.

Kosiek recently took 40 of his students to a Future Educators Conference at Harper College that hosted 500 students from Township High School District 214 and Barrington Community Unit 220 School District, among others. The students ranged from freshmen to seniors, and many are in the education pathway at their respective schools.

Kosiek said the conference furthered some students interest in education. Even some of the students that were on the fence and are still debating if education is for them enjoyed seeing more people say they love what they do, he said.

Education Career Pathways and other initiatives have increased enrollment in educator preparation programs in Illinois by 41%, from 8,534 in 2017 to 12,069 in 2021, according to ISBE.

Despite the increase in student interest, ISBE reported Illinois had 2,139 unfilled teaching positions in October 2021, with most of the unfilled positions concentrated in underresourced communities and in bilingual and special education roles.

When ISBE launched the grant program in 2020, one of the main goals was to help school districts better meet the needs of their local teacher pipeline, said ISBE spokeswoman Jackie Matthews.

ISBE said it has released $18 million in total Education Career Pathways grants through three rounds of grant funding.

According to ISBE, a total of 171 high schools now offer the program for 10,805 students, including students in the Barrington Community Unit 220 School District.

District 220s Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Melissa Byrne said the education pathways program allows students to get a seal on their diplomas indicating that they participated in individualized course plans that included a 60-hour internship as part of work-based learning.

Students interested in elementary can go work with an elementary school teacher within District 220, or middle school or high school teacher, said Ben Rodriguez, assistant principal and coordinator of career pathways and community partnerships at Barrington High School.

Rodriguez said the program is built for students to explore future careers while having the resources to try new things.

We dont ever want to lock a student into a pathway  there should always be on-ramps and off-ramps to every experience, he said. Both choices are powerful  whether students decide they want to explore a field in education after taking courses in the education pathway or not.

ISBE officials noted that the grants aim to increase the diversity of the states teacher workforce.

According to ISBE, 45% of students in the pathway program identify as Black or Hispanic, compared with just 14% of current teachers.

We really want to make it accessible to all students, Rodriguez said. Our student population demographics are changing, so we want to make sure the teaching force also reflects our student population.

Kosiek stressed how important it is to have a relationship with his students that isnt reduced to curriculum or grades.

Keysie Barrios, a Hispanic student at Buffalo Grove High School, says her goal of becoming a teacher is due to the schools variety of education classes that allow students to explore different levels of teaching.

Barrios, a junior, is interested in teaching middle school, sort of the lost group no one wants to teach, she said.

Barrios began taking classes in the education pathway at the beginning of the school year and Kosieks teaching style made her want to continue in the program, she said.

I kind of had a rough start to my high school career, she said. COVID really changed me and this year was a whole new start.

Barrios works every day after school at the nearby Cafe Zupas to help her parents and siblings pay household bills.

I work right after school. I start around 4:30, she said. My dad works two jobs and my parents are getting older, so Ive just been helping them out and helping with my little sister.

For students who have external challenges to deal with on top of the rigors of high school, a fast-track formula like the education pathway gives back some control over their futures, Kosiek said.

While hes been teaching education pathway courses for four years, Kosiek has watched students get to the end of their college careers and into their own classrooms.

I was an engineer for four years. I never thought about being a teacher when I was in high school, Kosiek said of the program. I dont expect enrollment to explode, but I hope that students who wouldnt have thought of it or considered it know that it exists and that maybe they can try it out,

Sophomore Iranett Camacho from Rolling Meadows High School in District 214 has been following the education pathway since freshman year and is enrolled in the lab class where students can teach preschoolers.

I knew I wouldnt want to do high school or middle school, but I was stuck between late elementary or early elementary, Camacho said. And taking this class, I was like, lets see if I like being with younger kids. Definitely, its one of the deciding factors so far. I like that I got hands-on experience.

Camacho, who is Hispanic and uses they/them pronouns, said they appreciate the diversity at Rolling Meadows High School and hopes the future crop of teachers is more reflective of the student population.

I really like that Im going to be able to teach kids, and theyre not going to see just one type of person, Camacho said. Theyll learn that anyone can do any job they want.

Camacho also noted the surprising number of male students in the early childhood education electives.

I like to see that  teaching is not just for women, Camacho said.

So far, Camacho has taken three education pathway classes in a year and a half, starting with a course on how childrens brains are developed and influenced.

I might change my mind as (the courses) go, but I like that I have a choice, Camacho said. Its not like I came into the preschool lab and Ive decided to do preschool my whole life. There are other classes I want to take and maybe my opinion will change. Maybe Ill end up wanting to teach high school."
EDWARDSVILLE  State Rep. Katie Stuart, a Democrat from Edwardsville, said Friday she received "violent threats" that were spurred by a bill she sponsored to establish privacy and safety standards for bathrooms without a posted gender.

As a result of the threats, Stuart said in a news release that she had canceled a "constituent coffee" event scheduled Saturday in Collinsville. The event was called "Coffee with Katie."

Stuart said she had contacted the Illinois State Police and other law enforcement about the threats, according to an email a spokesman sent to the News-Democrat.

A representative from ISP acknowledged the complaint about the threats and said Friday no additional information will be released.

The threats and "malicious false information" have been spread by "special interest groups," Stuart said in the news release.

The proposed bill, House Bill 1286, "does not require gender-neutral bathrooms," the news release stated. It would only establish toilet and urinal safety and privacy standards should a developer decide to include gender-neutral bathrooms, it said.

Those standards would apply only to new construction projects.

"Extremist groups and some politicians have attempted to misrepresent the true purpose of the bill in an attempt to score cheap political points and divide people," the release stated.

"We've seen how hateful misinformation just like what is now flooding into our community can result in real violence, and I will not put my staff and my constituents in harm's way," Stuart said in the release. "I want to be very clear: Out-of-touch special interests are manufacturing controversy where none should be. These actions are inciting violence, and now preventing people from peacefully participating in our democracy. I will reschedule this event when it is safe to do so, and will continue to confront misinformation with truth."

Details about the threats were not listed in the news release.

A spokesman said Stuart was not available for an interview Friday but he emailed the BND additional comments from Stuart regarding the threats.

She wrote that the threatening messages came over the phone, but she did not want to "give those individuals any more attention by broadcasting their words or sharing their name."

Stuart has received phone and email messages "filled with vile language, prompted by the very groups that are misinforming people about the bill."

"Of course I was concerned for my safety," she said in the email. "But I am also disappointed in organizations that are choosing to instill fear and promote falsities for political gain. This bill is written to allow entities who have been interested in creating gender neutral multi-stall restrooms the ability to do so under the law. Under current law, that is not possible.

"We need to return to a time of respectful discourse. It is okay to have a difference of opinion. It is not okay to attempt to settle that difference through violence or intimidation."

Stuart explained why she introduced House Bill 1286:

"I was approached by college students who were asking about facilities like this," she wrote. "Since I made sure we provided public lactation spaces in the buildings on the Capitol grounds, they were interested in trying to do the same type of thing with the implementation of one gender neutral bathroom space in the Capitol building, in the name of inclusivity. In doing the research, I learned that the law actually couldn't allow that, and that actually students at a law school had wanted to do the same thing, but weren't able to do so. That's why I drafted the bill, and consulted with builders to make sure it was workable."

Edwardsville Police Chief Michael Fillback and Collinsville Police Chief Steve Evans said Friday they had not received complaints regarding the threats.

The House Bill was approved in a committee on Wednesday, according to a report from Capitol News Illinois.
Services

Ardmore Baptist Church, 501 Miller St., Winston-Salem, will celebrate the first Sunday of Lent services at 8:15 and 10:45 a.m. Pastor Tyler Tankersley will begin the Lent season with a sermon titled Struggling with Temptation. The 10:45 service will be live streamed on YouTube and Facebook. All Together Ardmore will resume March 5 with a new semester of classes. For more information, go to www.ardmorebaptist.org.

Mount Carmel United Methodist Church, 4265 Ebert Road, Winston-Salem, will have worship at 10 a.m. Sunday. Sunday school is at 8:45 and childrens church starts at 9:30 a.m. There will be a New Beginnings dinner church for all ages from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month for all ages. Everyone is invited for a free meal, a message and music in the church fellowship hall.

Victory on the Frontline Church and Event Center, 4307 Welcome-Arcadia Road, Arcadia, Victory on the Frontline Church and Event Center, Sunday mornings begin with a fellowship breakfast. Fellowship breakfast is at 9:30 a.m. Sunday school for all ages begins at 10 a.m. The Victory worship service with Pastor Michael Duffield begins at 11 a.m. Contemporary and traditional gospel music will be performed by Victory Praise Band and the Victory Choir. Victory@pm starts at 6 Sunday with Preacher Don Faulkner. Contemporary and traditional gospel music will be performed by Victory Praise Band and the Victory Choir. On Wednesday, choir practice is at 6 p.m., the fellowship meal at 6:30 and the Just as I Am service with Pastor Duffield is at 7. For more information, email mktvfl@att.net or call 336-577-2873.

Green Street United Methodist Church, 639 S. Green St., Winston-Salem, will have an in-person service at 8:45 a.m. Sunday. The 11 a.m. service is held in-person and is streamed online via Facebook and YouTube and is a blended service featuring jazz and blues musicians as well as hymns, spirituals and elements of social gospel. The 8:45 a.m. service is a quiet, contemplative space including prayer, scripture, preaching and communion. Masks are optional in the building for services with some exceptions. For more information, go to www.greenstreetumc.org.

Trinity United Methodist Church, 3819 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, invites you to worship with us at 10 a.m. each Sunday. The Rev. Doug Miller is the lead pastor. During worship there will be special music, busy bags for children plus a kids message each Sunday. There are two Sunday school classes for adults. One is at 9 a.m. and the other is at 11 a.m. You are invited to the Connection Cafe which consists of a continental breakfast at 9:15 a.m. in the fellowship hall. For more information, call the church office at 336-765-0150.

Burkhead United Methodist Church, 5250 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem, will celebrate worship at 10:30 a.m. Sunday with guest speaker the Rev. Russell Peak. There will be two Sunday school classes, one beginning at 9:15 and the other at 9:30. If unable to attend, the worship service will be on Facebook or on the churchs website, burkheadumc.org under Pastors Messages. Masks are optional.

First Baptist Church, 700 Highland Ave., Winston-Salem, will have a service at 10 a.m. Sunday. The Rev. A. Ray Campbell will continue his sermon series Seven Last Words from the Cross, with a sermon titled Second Word: Promise Kept. The scripture will be Luke 23:39-43.

Lewisville United Methodist Church, 6290 Shallowford Road, Lewisville, will have contemporary worship at 9 a.m. Sunday in the fellowship hall. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. and traditional worship is in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. For more information, go to lewisvilleumc.org.

Unity Moravian Church, 8300 Concord Church Road, Lewisville, will have adult Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. and worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday. The service at 11 is in-person and live streamed. A nursery is provided. Childrens church is offered during the worship service. For more information, go to www.unitymoravianchurch.org or call 336-945-3801.

Mount Tabor United Methodist Church, 3543 Robinhood Road, Winston-Salem, offers two Sunday services: 9 a.m. modern worship in the Alspaugh Worship Center, and 11 a.m. traditional worship in the sanctuary. Both services are available online at http://youtube.com/MountTaborUMCVideoStreaming and the Mount Tabor United Methodist Church Facebook page. Persons not fully vaccinated, immune-compromised or uncomfortable without a mask, are encouraged to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing. For more information, visit www.mttaborumc.org or call 336-765-5561.

Winston-Salem Friends Meeting, Quaker church, meets at Fairview Moravian Church, 6550 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem. Sunday morning live services begin with Unprogrammed (silent) Worship at 9:15, First-Day (Sunday) school for adults at 9:30, and Meeting for Worship at 10:30. Judith Dancy and Oliver Andree Bowen will have a conversation about an 8th graders experience exploring the legacy of slavery, segregation and racism through his visit to Montgomery, Alabama. We are a community of seekers who meet together to worship God; we seek to express our faith through action, focusing on peace and social justice; we seek to find the Light of God in ourselves and in others; we seek to treat all persons with equality and integrity. For more information, email mary.simmons51@icloud.com.

New Philadelphia Moravian Church, 4440 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, will meet in-person at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. Sunday and will live stream its 9:30 service on Facebook.com/newphiladelphiamoravianchurch. You do not need a Facebook account to view the service. If you are unable to view the live stream, a recorded version is on the churchs YouTube page.

Ardmore United Methodist Church, 630 S. Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, has a traditional service at 10 a.m. and a contemporary service at 11:15 a.m. Sunday. The Rev. Neill Shaw and the Rev. Katy Medinas-Lockley welcome all and lead the worship service. Both services are streamed on Youtube. For more information, go to ardmoreumc.org or call the office at 336-723-3695.

Lewisville Baptist Church, 125 Lewisville-Clemmons Road, Lewisville, invites all to celebrate Jesus Christ at 10 a.m. Sundays. Services are live streamed on Facebook and YouTube. Sunday school is at 9 a.m. There will be midweek activities for all ages at 6 p.m. Wednesdays. For more information, go to lewisvillebaptist.com.

Olivet Moravian Church, 2205 Olivet Church Road, Winston-Salem, will have Sunday school at 9 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall and an inside worship service at 10 a.m. Sunday. The worship service will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. For more information, call the church office at 336-924-8063.

Salem Creek Friends Meeting (Quakers) meets in the parsonage of Fries Memorial Moravian Church, 271 N. Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem. The unprogrammed meeting for worship starts at 10 a.m. each Sunday. For more information, email clerk@salemcreekfriends.org.

Konnoak Hills Moravian Church, 3401 Konnoak Drive, Winston-Salem, will have a worship service at 10 a.m. Sunday. The church receives a drive-thru food offering for Sunnyside Ministry each Sunday. Drop off non-perishable donations from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Primary needs are canned vegetables, crackers, pasta, rice, cereal, dry/powdered milk and bread. For more information, call 336-788-9321.

Clemmons First Baptist Church, 3530 Clemmons Road, Clemmons, will have Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. and an in-person worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday. The service will be live streamed on FaceBook and YouTube. The Rev. David Pace will bring the message. For more information, call 336-766-6486 or go to cfbctoday.org.

First Waughtown Baptist Church, 838 Moravia St., Winston-Salem, front doors will open at 8 a.m. for in-person Sunday school at 8:15 Sunday. This weeks lesson is Results of the Call (Devotional Reading1 Thessalonians 5:1-10; Background Scripture1 Peter 2:1-25). Morning worship service begins at 9:45 with devotion and announcements, followed by the morning message. Senior Pastor Dennis W. Bishop will continue his message on Trusting the Timing of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 40:1) from the series Characteristics of the Holy Spirit. Completed waiver forms and masks that cover the nose and mouth are required and are available in the church lobby. People who prefer to worship virtually can find the service on YouTube, www.youtube.com (First Waughtown); Facebook, www.facebook.com/FirstWaughtown/; and the First Waughtown website, www.firstwaughtown.org. Services posted online are a one-week delay.

Home Moravian Church, 529 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, will have in-person and live stream worship at 10 a.m. Sunday. Bible discussion via Zoom and in-person after the service using the adult programing link on the churchs website.

Clemmons Presbyterian Church, 3930 Clemmons Road, Clemmons, will have a worship service at 10 a.m. Sunday. The services are in-person and live streamed on YouTube at youtube.com/ClemmonsPresbyterianChurch. For more information, go to www.clemmonspresbyterian.org or call 336-766-4631.

Kingswood United Methodist Church, 6840 University Parkway, Rural Hall, will have in-house Sunday school at 10 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. Sunday in the sanctuary. The Rev. Bruce Updyke will lead the service which includes live music. Masks are optional for Sunday school and the worship service. The service will also be available on Kingswoods Facebook page. Visitors are welcome. For more information, email bruceupdyke@yahoo.com or call 336-969-5437.

Rural Hall Christian Church, 280 Bethania-Rural Hall Road, Rural Hall, will hold the following in-person services on Sundays: The BLEND at 10 a.m. with Christian classes for all ages and congregational worship at 11 a.m. Youth ministries will continue at 6 p.m. Sundays, unless otherwise announced. For more information, go to RuralHallChurch.org and the churchs social media pages.

Shallowford Presbyterian Church, 1200 Lewisville Clemmons Road, Lewisville, offers a service in-person and livestream via YouTube at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Masks are optional. The outdoor Labyrinth is open for walking every day from dawn to dusk. For more information, go to spcnc.org or call 336-766-3178.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 4055 Robinhood Road, Winston-Salem, the 10:30 a.m. service Sunday will be held in-person, and also livestreamed at uufws.org/virtual-worship-service. The Rev. Ed will discuss The Power of the Cut-Off. The Forum will be at 9 a.m. Angelika Pettit will present Is it Normal Aging or Dementia. The Forum will be in person, and also live streamed at https://uufws.org/virtualforum. For more information, go to www.uufws.org.

St. Philips Moravian Church, 911 S. Church St., Winston-Salem, is worshipping regularly in the brick church in Old Salem at 11 a.m. Sundays. All are welcome for traditional Moravian worship in the historically African American church.

Bible Fellowship Baptist Church, 4950 Warner Road, Pfafftown, will have services at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday. The topic at 11 a.m. will be Discovering the Beautiful Son of God, based on the Gospel of John. The topic at 5 p.m. will be Unusual Things in the Bible. There will be Bible study at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The topic will be Doing the 52, studying 52 chapters, 52 verses, in 52 weeks. On the last Sunday of each month there will be a Singspiration. The Joyful Sounds Trio will be the guests Feb. 26. For more information, go to BFBCnow.org or call 336-462-4844.

Faith and Family Baptist Church, 105 Nathan Ave., Winston-Salem, schedule of services: Sunday worship services are at 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sunday school is at 9:45 a.m. and the midweek service is at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The church live streams all services at www.facebook.com/faithandfamilybaptist. A Facebook account is not required to access the video, scroll down for the live stream. Archive services are available there if you are unable to watch live. For more information, contact Pastor Robert Hutchens at 336-782-3747.

Liberty Baptist Church, 1548 Old Hollow Road, Winston-Salem, is open for all services and also broadcasts all services on Facebook Live on Pastor Gary Styers Facebook page. Masks, gloves and hand sanitizer are provided. The entire facility is sanitized each week. For more information, go to www.libertybaptistnc.org.

Rural Hall Moravian Church, 7939 Broad St., Rural Hall, has in-person Sunday School for all ages at 10 a.m. Sundays, followed by worship service at 11 with the Rev. Andrew Craver. Worship services are also available via online streaming at https://www.youtube.com/user/RHMoravian. For more information, go to www.rhmc.org.

Pfafftown Christian Church, 3323 Transou Road, Pfafftown, will have indoor worship service in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Sunday. CDC guidelines will be observed requiring masks and social distancing. For more information, call 336-692-5214 or the church office at 336-924-9925.

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 357 Old Hollow Road, Winston-Salem, will have Sunday school at 10 a.m. and a worship service with Pastor Emily Schlaman Larsen at 11 a.m. Sunday in the sanctuary or in your car (tune to 88.7 FM). Masks are optional. The nursery is open. Weekly sermons are available on YouTube for people who prefer to join worship remotely. Search for: St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Winston Salem NC. For more information, go to www.standrewsnc.org.

First Christian Church, 2320 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, will have an in-person worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday. Childrens worship and youth worship are available. A noon-day prayer service will be held at noon Wednesday. Worship services are also available by online streaming at www.wearefcc.church. For more information, go to www.wearefcc.church or call the church at 336-722-2714.

St. Paul United Methodist Church, Winston-Salem, will live stream its 11 a.m. worship service Sunday at www.facebook.com/stpaulumcws/live. Facebook does not require an account for access to the page. Additional information regarding prayer services and Bible study may be found on the churchs website at www.stpaulumcws.org or by calling the church at 336-723-4531.

Black History Month program

Wentz Memorial United Church of Christ, 3435 Carver School Road, Winston-Salem, Winston-Salem African American Archive will present Spirit of a Living Winston-Salem: The African American Story of Winston-Salem. It is a play chronicling the African American experience in the city of Winston-Salem from the late 1600s to the present. The play is written, produced and performed by Ron Jones of Dialogues on Diversity. Performances will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $15 and $10 for students and seniors. For more information, contact Wentz Memorial United Church of Christ at 336-722-0430.

Fundraiser

Hickory Ridge United Methodist Church, 6012 Germanton Road, will host a Fundraiser Friday Night Supper on from 4:30 to 6:30 Friday. Dine-in and takeout are available. Menu will consist of breakfast fare. Meals are $9 per person. Proceeds will go to the churchs insurance fund. For information, call 336-406-8669 and leave a message.

Lent services

Shallowford Presbyterian Church, 1200 Lewisville-Clemmons Road, Lewisville, will offer a service of Taize Prayer for the time of Lent at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The service will include the sung prayers of the Community of Taize, scripture readings, and a period of silence. An introduction to the sung prayers of Taize will begin at 7:25 p.m. The outdoor Shallowford Labyrinth (weather permitting) and indoor Stations of the Cross will be open for meditation prior to the service. For more information, go to www.spcnc.org or call 336-766-3178.
In the pantheon of notable North Carolina public servants, none stands so tall as Jim Broyhill.

The Broyhill family story is essentially the North Carolina story. From humble beginnings, the Broyhills learned to work hard, persevere, be humble and serve others.

Jims father started at age 11, working as a blacksmith, lumberman, logger and, ultimately, a furniture maker. Ed Broyhills mantra was, God forges us on an anvil of adversity for a purpose known only to him. He started Lenoir Chair Co. to provide low-priced furniture. It evolved into Broyhill Industries with a payroll of 7,500.

Ed Broyhill was a Republican in the era when our state was overwhelmingly Democratic. Just about every big-name national Republican came to Lenoir to discuss politics with Ed. Jim Broyhill remembers many discussions around the family kitchen table. Not only did he listen, but they helped to form his own political philosophy.

After graduating from Carolina, Jim came into what was by then a successful family enterprise, learning the business and making his mark by helping to develop a highly successful national sales force. He also adopted the family value of giving back and serving others, becoming a leader in his local community and national furniture trade associations.

He fell in love and married the beautiful and gracious Louise and started a family, but politics was always a strong interest and in 1962 he made his first foray.

The Democratic-controlled legislature wanted to rid the state of its only Republican in Congress, Charles R. Jonas. After the 1960 census, Democratic legislators figured a way to eliminate Jonas by gerrymandering his district, moving many of his Republican voters into a new district. But the scheme backfired because, in so doing, they formed a new ninth district that was more competitive. Jim saw an opportunity and seized it, defeating a five-term Democrat. The end result was two Republicans representing our state in Congress.

In Washington, the young Carolinian quietly and deliberately learned how things worked in Congress and how to get things accomplished by making allies in both parties. He landed a spot on the House Commerce Committee and established a record of effectiveness rarely seen in a North Carolina representative from either party.

People in the foothills will tell you Broyhills most important contribution was that he wrote the book on outstanding constituent service. He was always willing to listen and consider, and if he thought an idea was worthy, he would pursue it. Its no wonder he was reelected 10 times by huge margins.

In July 1986, Gov. Jim Martin prevailed on Broyhill to fill an unexpired U.S. Senate term, and he complied. After losing the seat in the November election (the only election he ever lost), Jim returned to Lenoir, but not for long. Martin asked him to serve as secretary of commerce, and he was influential in attracting new business to North Carolina. Upon his retirement, he remained active, especially in the Broyhill Foundations efforts to help others.

But merely citing Jim Broyhills record, outstanding as it was, doesnt help us understand the man. He remained a stalwart Republican, but not todays loud, headline-seeking, combative and divisive kind. He always looked to involve himself in the betterment of our state and in making a positive difference. No wonder leaders from both parties who knew Jim Broyhill are paying glowing tributes to him in death.

To be welcomed into Jim and Louises home was to see grace and hospitality in action. Yes, there was a plethora of pictures displaying the Broyhills with presidents and politicians but just as many of his family. I was privileged to spend time with him in 2012, producing a 90-minute television interview with him on his life and times. It was a rich moment with this hero of mine. He was so humble he would deflect credit for his accolades and achievements. That was Jim Broyhill.

Well probably not see Jims likes again. He was a citizen of the nation, a cheerleader for our state and a mentor for many.

The best and most lasting tribute we could pay him would be to learn from him, to live as he lived and to serve as he served.
A group of Haymarket businesses has announced plans to launch a more formal effort to oppose a downtown skyscraper project.

Calling themselves the Lincoln Haymarket Business Association, members said they want a seat at the table in the city's negotiations with developers of the Lincoln Bold project, a 22-story, mixed-use building on the northwest corner of Ninth and P streets.

Russ Bayer, who owns a building in the Haymarket, said that while the development group has talked to many business owners individually, "we want to be able to have this organization talk to them as a group."

Though the group has some long-term plans, "the most important thing right now is tackling and negotiating with Lincoln Bold," said Matt Taylor, who owns Tavern on the Square and The Other Room.

Lincoln Bold is seeking to build the 254-foot-tall building, which would include 36,000 square feet of office space on floors 2-5, 70 luxury apartment units on floors 7-15 and 33 condo units on floors 16-21.

Taylor said the group's main concerns are parking, street closures and the overall economic effect of the project on Haymarket businesses. One estimate has put the potential loss to the businesses closest to the project at more than $12 million over the estimated 24- to 30-month construction timeline.

Dan Sloan, who owns The Mill Coffee & Tea with his wife, Tamara, said the project is going to impact Haymarket business owners "pretty significantly," both in the short term and long after it is built.

"We want to make sure our interests are recognized," he said.

Taylor said the group's main goal is to get the developers to move the project to another location, and he mentioned a city-owned lot at 10th and M streets as a potential location.

"The easiest thing is to move the project," Taylor said, although he conceded that's unlikely.

"We don't want to kill the project," Taylor said. "We want to move the project. If we cannot move the project, we want to work with the developers."

Steve Glenn, one of the members of the development group, said it has worked with businesses and is willing to continue to, but Lincoln Bold is not interested in moving the project to another location.

Glenn said the developers have already made concessions, such as proposing to pay for valet parking for Haymarket visitors during construction, and he said there also are talks about closing a smaller portion of P Street to affect fewer businesses.

But he also said he believes some of the opposition is disingenuous and people have a goal to delay the project, "with hopes that they kill the project."

Taylor said that's not the case, but he and his fellow business owners do feel like they have been left out of the process, with none of them even finding out about it until the Journal Star ran a story on it last fall.

He cited the fact that no one from the public spoke at a Nov. 2 hearing of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission as proof that the developers and the city were not being transparent and had failed to notify those affected by it.

Business owners also have complained about the fact that the project is set to receive more than $24 million in tax-increment financing, which would be the largest amount any project has received in Lincoln's history.

Many have questioned why a project that includes luxury condos should get millions of dollars in city tax incentives.

Much of that money will pay for expenses such as environmental remediation of the site, which is now a gas station, but several million dollars would go to sidewalk, street and other improvements in the Haymarket. The project also would contribute more than $700,000 to the city's affordable housing fund.

Urban Development Director Dan Marvin said the owner of the site currently pays $8,900 a year in property taxes. Once the 20-year TIF payback period is over, its projected property taxes will be about $2 million a year.

"That to me doesn't describe a bad deal," Marvin said. "That seems like a good deal for taxpayers."

The TIF money is the only reason the developers have to submit the plan for city approval beyond getting a building permit.

Because they are seeking TIF, they had to go through several layers of review, with hearings in front of the Urban Design Committee, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Planning Commission and the City Council.

"This is a really great project for our city," Glenn said. "I'm proud of this project."

The project is scheduled for a hearing in front of the City Council on March 6, and members of the Lincoln Haymarket Business Association say they will be in attendance.

The 10 tallest buildings in Lincoln 10. Wells Fargo Center 9. Terminal Building 8. Georgian Place 7. University Towers 6. Abel Hall 5. Sharp Building 4. Graduate Hotel 3. U.S. Bank building 2. Lied Place 1. State Capitol
A Lincoln judge this week gave the state a deadline to comply with his order to provide the Flatwater Free Press with a new cost estimate to carry out its public records request related to drinking water and nitrates.

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy previously told the nonprofit news organization it would need to pay a deposit of $44,103.11 before the department would start searching five years of emails.

The price tag prompted Flatwater to sue in November. And the case went to trial early this month.

In an order Feb. 14, Lancaster County District Judge Ryan Post said, while Nebraska law allows public officials to charge a fee for making records available in certain circumstances, it didn't allow them to charge for anything other than time spent physically redacting.

He said Flatwater had 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.

In an order late Thursday, Post said the department still had not provided Flatwater with a new estimate of the expected cost of the copies as he directed in his Feb. 14 order.

And he directed the records manager, Shawnna Lara, to provide it, in compliance with the law, within seven days and to notify the court when it had been done.

That hadn't yet happened as of late Friday afternoon.

In a separate order, Post ordered the state to pay Flatwater $22,175 for its attorney fees and $103 in costs, as is customary when the side has "substantially prevailed."

The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, which represents the Department of Environment and Energy, had disputed the number of hours Flatwater's attorney, Dan Gutman, had spent on the case.

But Post found the fees requested "fair and reasonable."

"The court has considered the nature of the case, the services performed and results obtained, the length of time required for preparation and presentation of the case, the length of time in trial, customary charges of the bar, and the unique questions raised by this case," he said.

At trial, Gutman said NDEE's fee included time spent by staff reviewing and withholding documents under statutory exceptions to disclosure, which isn't authorized by the Public Records Act.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Christopher Felts said it was the state's position that the statute 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.

In Post's order, 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 wrote.

The Attorney General's Office is expected to appeal.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
Long before this months fiery derailment, railroad industry leaders battled regulations meant to boost freight train safety, including plans to bolster some of the very same tank cars that ruptured and released toxic chemicals in eastern Ohio.

Norfolk Southern Corp. joined in fighting proposed speed limits and brake system requirements spawned by a series of high-profile accidents, including a lethal 2005 collision involving one of the company's own trains.

The intense lobbying campaign  which unfolded over years of direct appeals to lawmakers, regulators and White House officials  underscores the industrys political sway in Washington and illustrates the challenge now facing Congress and the Biden administration as they vow a new crackdown.

Our experience is that the rail industry pushes back hard on both safety and public disclosure rules  and keeps that opposition up long after the public scrutiny of tragic accidents abates, said Kristen Boyles, managing attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice. There should be a renewed push for safer trains and safer rail cars following the disaster in Ohio, and that pressure will need to be applied for as long as it takes to get new safety requirements and regulations in place.

Norfolk Southern pledged in a statement it would learn from this terrible accident and work with regulators and elected officials to improve railroad safety. And the companys chief executive officer, Alan Shaw, said it will rip up tracks that had swiftly returned to use, so chemical-soaked soil under the rails can be removed.

On Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the Feb. 3 accident, citing an overheated wheel bearing as the likely cause.

Roughly a decade ago, Norfolk Southern was among the rail companies combating a host of proposed requirements for high-hazard flammable trains  generally those transporting at least 35 tank cars carrying particularly combustible liquids or 20 of them in a single block. The train that derailed Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio, did not fall under that category, though the accident still unleashed a torrent of toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride used in PVC pipes and the solvent ethylene glycol monobutyl ether.

The Transportation Departments Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration had moved to propose tank car standards in response to a number of incidents in which cars ruptured and released their contents. That included a 2005 crash in which a Norfolk Southern train hauling chlorine plowed into another, killing nine people in Graniteville, South Carolina. Regulators also sought to require the use of electronically controlled pneumatic braking systems that are designed to rapidly halt trains by applying brakes across their entire span simultaneously, instead of each car individually.

The industrys top lobbying group, the Association of American Railroads, argued the technology would yield minimal safety benefits at a tremendous cost.

And in a March 2015 meeting with the White House, the industry doubled down, with representatives of Norfolk Southern and other major railroad operators  including CSX Corp., Union Pacific Corp. and BNSF Railway Co.  insisting that the brake requirement would not have significant safety benefits, would not have significant business benefits and would be extremely costly.

There was tremendous pushback, recalled Cynthia Quarterman, who played a major role in crafting the rules as head of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. It was intense.

Though the industry supported more stringent tank car standards, it took issue with the methodology and cost-benefit analysis underpinning the governments plan for bolstering specific rupture-prone DOT-111 models with prescriptions for thicker walls and more robust pressure-relief valves. At least 16 of the tanker cars that went off the tracks in Ohio were those older models.

The Obama administration still imposed speed limits, braking system mandates and new tank car standards in 2015, but only after they were narrowed in response to industry pressure. The government also rejected a bid by the AAR to expand the new tank car standards so they applied evenly  even when a train is using only a few to haul hazardous material.

But the industry didnt stop fighting the braking mandates.

When former President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to winnow rules two years later, Norfolk Southern offered encouragement. Railroads operate under a mountain of safety regulation, the company told the Transportation Department in 2017, and the substantial costs of the brake requirements cannot be justified.

The Trump administration rescinded the brake mandates a year later.

The episodes reflect a classic power dynamic in the nations capital, where the balance is tilted in favor of industry, said James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform.

There is not a single step of the rulemaking process that industry does not dominate, Goodwin said. Businesses and industry groups wield unmatched influence and economic might to shape federal rules, he said, one that dwarfs the voice of other public stakeholders, such as workers and community residents.

The rail industry also successfully won more time to phase in more durable rail cars  until 2029 from an originally envisioned date of 2025, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a recent letter to Norfolk Southerns chief executive officer. These steps that Norfolk Southern and its peers lobbied against were intended to improve rail safety and to help keep Americans safe.
The economic impacts on Nebraska from a nationwide shift to renewable energy should be studied, Sen. Bruce Bostelman told a panel of lawmakers Friday.

Bostelman told the Legislature's Executive Board he wanted an independent consultant to look at the short- and long-term costs of replacing coal, natural gas and other plants with resources like wind and solar.

His bill (LB566) would appropriate $30,000 to examine the trends and potential economic impact of growing reliance of renewable energy sources in Nebraska.

It would also look at the economic benefits of maintaining coal, natural gas and nuclear plants, as well as whether or not the current shift toward more renewable resources "threatens the ability of power suppliers in the state to maintain existing baseload generation."

"As energy policy around the nation is shifting to a more diverse set of generation sources, it is prudent for the Natural Resources Committee to examine the potential effects of those policies," Bostelman told the Executive Board.

The shift to more renewable resources  what the Brainard senator referred to as "intermittent generation facilities"  could impact the lives of thousands of Nebraskans, he added, and could also affect the state's ability to ensure electricity is there when Nebraskans need it.

But a trio of Omaha high school students, all part of Students for Sustainability, a chapter of Fridays for Future, part of a global movement started by environmental activist Greta Thunberg, told senators they thought the scope of the study was far too narrow and that the result was pre-determined based on the language of the bill.

Mia Perales, a student from Omaha South High School, said the proposed study appears poised to ignore previous reports that show the cost of generating electricity from renewable resources like solar and wind has dropped 80% in the last decade.

She said Nebraska has already fallen behind states like Iowa, which have become champions of renewable energy.

"A lot of people in Nebraska, politicians specifically, want to know why young Nebraskans are leaving," Perales said. "I can tell you it's not because the price of property taxes are raising, it is because our voices aren't being heard and they aren't being taken seriously."

Omaha Central student Hunter Oakley told lawmakers the language in LB566 showed a "blatant bias." The study would examine the negative economic impacts of renewable energy without doing the same for coal and gas, he said.

And Chloe Johnson, also a student at Omaha Central, said days like Friday in Nebraska, where it was cold but also sunny and breezy, would be ideal for solar and wind generation.

"While it makes it pretty miserable to be outside right now, it is a huge asset to our economy that is going underutilized," Johnson said, adding the bill would put Nebraska further behind its neighboring states in renewable energy generation than it already is.

"There is a clear purpose to how this bill is written," she said. "It is only looking at the negatives of renewables and the positives of fossil fuels because the person who wrote this bill knew that if it were a direct comparison, renewables would win economically and morally."

Following the testifiers, Bostelman said the study was intended to take a snapshot of Nebraska's current power generation and look at potential costs and risks associated with current trends.

Answering a question from Omaha Sen. Tony Vargas, Bostelman said he was amenable to expanding the scope of the study to include other factors.

The Executive Board did not take any action on Bostelman's bill Friday.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
Azerbaijani citizens affected by the earthquake in Turkiye and their family members who are citizens of other countries are undergoing rehabilitation at the relevant social service institution of the Azerbaijani Social Service Agency, following a medical examination and treatment in the country's healthcare facilities, Azernews reports.

At first, six families, making up a total of 22 people, evacuated to Azerbaijan were provided with rehabilitation services in the Agency's relevant social service institution. Meanwhile, rehabilitation efforts with another family (a total of five people, including three children) are currently underway.

Based on the assessment of each person temporarily placed in an institution, the Agency develops a social rehabilitation plan and takes measures for their social reintegration.

Earthquake rehabilitation involves a comprehensive approach that addresses the physical, emotional, and psychological needs of individuals affected by the disaster. It requires a coordinated effort between medical professionals, mental health providers, community organizations, and other stakeholders to ensure that individuals have the resources and support they need to recover and rebuild their lives.
Members of the Legislatures Executive Board on Friday heard a plan to create a special committee to study the feasibility of building and operating small modular nuclear reactors in Nebraska.

Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon said the new technology shows great promise and could serve as a reliable baseload generator that complements Nebraskas shift into renewable energy and reduce or eliminate the need for long-haul, high-voltage transmission lines.

Its clear to me Nebraska has an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with exciting new opportunities with nuclear energy, Brewer told the board. I would like to see a special committee, in partnership with the public power utilities, chart a realistic course ahead for Nebraska.

The special committee created by his resolution (LR21) would be made up of chairs of several legislative committees  Natural Resources; Government, Military and Veterans Affairs; Transportation and Telecommunications; and Appropriations  and other members appointed by the Executive Board.

During an Executive Board meeting over the lunch hour, Brewer pointed to a project being developed by NuScale, an Oregon-based company whose design for a small modular nuclear reactor was certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in January, as one possibility for Nebraska.

NuScales model requires a tiny fraction of the space of a traditional nuclear reactor and is capable of producing up to 77 megawatts of electricity, according to the company. A prototype reactor opened at the Idaho National Lab in 2021, and the company is planning several reactors to serve electric customers in Idaho in 2029 and 2030.

Brewer said in the future, small modular reactors like those being built in Idaho could be located at existing power generation facilities such as the Gerald Gentleman coal-fired plant near Sutherland  one of Nebraska Public Power Districts largest energy generators  or spread out across a grid to ensure reliable energy sources for all Nebraskans.

While the new technology has been welcomed in states across the country, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in an analysis published last year, called into question the viability of the NuScale project as too late, too expensive, too risky and too uncertain.

The institute said NuScales estimated $58 per megawatt hour was nearly twice that of the price of energy generated through renewable sources, while the actual cost has since risen by 50%, the Washington Post reported earlier this month.

The report also cast doubt on a claim that the modular reactor could run at 95% capacity throughout its lifetime  a target not met by any of the 93 nuclear reactors operating in the U.S.

Omaha Sen. Tony Vargas asked Brewer if it was necessary for the Executive Board to move legislation creating a special committee, or if a study of small modular nuclear reactors could be done within the existing structure of the Legislature.

Brewer said the committee would be responsible for looking into the future and charting a path for ensuring Nebraska and its public power system have reliable energy into the future.

I think the realistic challenge is going to be we have to keep up with technology, Brewer said.

Seth Voyles, a lobbyist representing Omaha Public Power District, said the public power utilities in Nebraska supported the proposed special committee as a way to study the option in-depth, particularly the costs, where modular reactors could potentially be located, and other factors.

The good part about what this study does is it gets us in a position to know what we dont know and know what we have to do going forward so we can actually start putting these things down, he said.

The Executive Board did not take action on Brewers proposal Friday.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
As permanent settlement became legal with the establishment of Nebraska Territory in 1854, Iowans quickly crossed the Missouri River with plans of making a fortune and quickly moving on.

Some, like Thomas Doane, arrived and, in less than five years, were gone, but few left as indelible a mark as Doane, lasting over 150 years.

Thomas Doane was born in September 1821 to John and Polly Doane, with John recorded as being a member of the original Plymouth Colony. After elementary school, Thomas attended an academy in Cape Cod, which had been established by his father, who was also a well-respected attorney.

At 19, Thomas attended Phillips (English) Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Upon graduation, at 21, he studied civil engineering under Samuel Felton for three years before starting an engineering practice in Charlestown, Massachusetts, with his brother Charles.

In 1847 Thomas was appointed resident engineer for the Cheshire Railroad in New Hampshire but returned to Charlestown two years later. In 1863 Doane was commissioned, as chief engineer, to build the five-mile Hoosac railroad tunnel in Massachusetts, which was to begin his worldwide fame and professional career in engineering. On its completion, the two borings, headed inward from each side of the hill, met midway at the unprecedented variation of only 9/16th and 5/16th of one inch.

After his wife Sophie died, Doane in 1869 was appointed chief engineer and superintendent of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska, an extension of the C. B. & Q. Railroad system.

In June and July of 1870 Doane and Cyrus Woodman, who oversaw construction, set up their offices above a Plattsmouth saloon when other quarters proved unavailable. Because there was no Missouri River bridge, one of Doanes first responsibilities was to purchase the steamboat President and create a ferry system bringing construction and operating materials across the river at Plattsmouth, then contracting for 60 miles of grading and, in less than four years after moving to Nebraska, complete surveying and building 241 miles of track.

In 1858 Nebraska University was established on a 112-acre tract at Fontanelle. Operating under the Congregational Church in Nebraska, the school, and along with it the hopes of Fontanelle obtaining the state capital, withered, causing the schools end in August 1873. Although many contended it simply moved to Crete, the universitys minutes show it was abandoned.

Among Thomas Doanes personal plans was the establishment of a college or university in Nebraska, and that idea grew as he oversaw the railroads expansion. It was Doane who designated the Burlingtons lines west from Lincoln in alphabetical order from Asylum to Inland, with many names stemming from his Massachusetts home  Dorchester, Exeter, Harvard and eventually Lowell.

Doane, along with his personal friend George S. Harris, land commissioner for the Burlington Railroad in Lincoln, held several meetings at Plattsmouths Brooks House hotel which included Rev. Frederick Alley. Alley, who became the first minister at Cretes Congregational Church with help from Doane, incorporated the Crete Academy in May 1871.

That June, Thomas Doane moved from Plattsmouth to Crete with his family and second wife. Doane and his associates arranged to have the railroad set aside 80 acres of land, which ultimately increased to 600 acres, for a college, with the academy supplying entrance-level students.

The city of Crete was platted by the railroad in 1870, which subsequently gave the college 50 city lots in addition to the 600 acres. The two railroad land grants were contingent on the college raising $30,000, which prompted Doane to pledge $10,000 personally to the proposal. The same year, Doane built a 1 -story frame house, The Grange, just south of the proposed College Section.

The college was formally organized July 11, 1872. As the preparatory department opened, Doane personally gave an additional $20,000. It was only natural for Alley to then suggest the college be named Doane in Thomas Doanes honor.

In the summer of 1873, Thomas Doane and family moved back to Massachusetts, though daughter Helen remained in Crete, marrying David Perry, the first president of Doane College, with the couple then moving into The Grange.

In Massachusetts, Doane continued his engineering practice, surveying the Northern Pacific Railroad and becoming its chief engineer. Thomas Doane died in October 1897 in Vermont with his will leaving a considerable provision for Doane College and its permanent endowment.

During his few years in Crete, Doane organized a town band, was instrumental in establishing the Congregational Church, organized and was the first president of the State Bank of Crete, designed the Doane College seal, was on the college board for years and nearly always attended its annual commencement. The Grange succumbed to a fire in 1942, but his Nebraska tenure is still active over 150 years after his 1869 arrival.
Patrice Onwuka celebrates American opportunity in her Opinion column Why we love America, (Feb. 12).

Yes, compared with many world countries, America does appear to covet and engender opportunity. Americans believe they openly assert their free will in a variety of contexts.

However, America embraces opportunity as a concept but fails to actualize in practice. Opportunity is often weaponized.

Initially, opportunity can be an element of denigration. Onwuka employs Horatio Alger narratives to prove opportunity allows individuals to pursue their God-given gifts and abilities, passions and skills. She uses herself as an example: ... a little Caribbean girl raised in a poor crime-ridden Boston neighborhood ... [became] ... a PBS commentator.

She also employs the story of Shark Tanks Robert Herjavec, who was a guy off the boat from Croatia and went on to become a successful businessman.

Inspiring. But the tacit assumption is that anyone rises above their station given the magic wand of opportunity. Onwukas stories proceed from poverty of resources to, voila, unbridled success.

The conclusion is inescapable: those who cant accomplish the feats of Herjavec and Onwuka (whose superhuman talents plus opportunity overcome misfortune) are blameworthy for their condition. Catastrophe, illness, financial ruin: Sorry, no excuse.

Ironically, Herjavec and Onwuka surely had help. No one accomplishes anything without the aid of parents, teachers, mentors, friends, public services and financial aid. However, Herjavecs on-line autobiography, for instance, contains numerous first-person singular references: I did this, I accomplished that, I succeeded, I made riches.

In opportunity mythology, the virtuous (Onwuka, Herjavec, et al.) are richly compensated by their own hand. Otherwise, you are to blame. So, suffer the humiliation and shame of failure. Alone.

Libertarians and Republicans use this mythos to deny welfare to the poor and disadvantaged. Political scientist Yascha Mounk points out: responsibility now refers to our responsibility to take care of ourselves  and to suffer the consequences if we fail to do so.

Onwuka cynically argues that the playing field has been leveled for minority races, creeds and colors. Her viewpoint compounds the degradation. In other words, no one has any excuse not to enjoy her type of success.

Onwuka states: American people [recognize] that every persons humanity and dignity are upheld. Yes, if you are the elect whose support systems push them through the morass of opportunitys jungle.

The mythology of opportunity as an equal gift from the gods is also pierced by institutional traditions and behavior. Harvard political philosophy professor Michael Sandel calls one of these traditions The Sorting Machine.

The agency of this machine: The Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Historian Nicholas Lemann observes the SAT evolved as the basic mechanism for sorting the American population. SAT scores are lined up, high to low. A line is drawn. High scorers are lauded and showered with scholarships, grants and loans. Below the line? Well, like the mythos of singular accomplishment, they suffer the humiliation and shame of not being one of the elect. And, the machine says, youre on your own. Good luck!

Sandel notes that SAT scores are highly correlated with wealth. Indeed, wealthy families afford test tutors, mentors and organized training to teach the gimmicks to boost a score.

The Sorting Machine deepens the divide between rural and urban education. Rural areas often dont feature opportunity for test tutoring.

Every student has the opportunity to try the SAT, but the few can afford the instruction to enhance a score. Sandel notes: Most students at selective colleges ... are from affluent families; very few are from low-income backgrounds.

The first concern is the invidious judgment of sorting and second the damaging consequences for a civic life. Top scorers from prestigious universities garner wealth. Low scorers create that wealth.

Onwuka makes the outrageous look normal and functional. She fails to see that opportunity is a social obligation to all, not an excuse to crow about singular successes.
WATERFORD  A Waterford man is accused of kneeing an officer in the groin after being arrested for his third OWI.

Carlos A. Colon Sr., 58, of the 7100 block of N. Tichigan Road, was charged with a felony count of battery to a law enforcement officer and misdemeanor counts of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (third), obtain prescription drug with fraud and resisting an officer.

According to a criminal complaint, at 8:35 p.m. Monday, an officer saw a black sedan with a very loud exhaust traveling southbound on Highway 164, and learned that the registration had been suspended for emissions.

The officer stopped the vehicle in the Sol Y Luna parking lot and spoke to the driver, who was identified as Colon.

Colon reportedly said he was aware of the exhaust problem and a lack of insurance.

During a pat down, Colon reportedly kept reaching into his pockets and said he had a knife.

According to the complaint, a metal tin with Buprenorphine and Suboxone was found and Colon did not have information about a doctor or a prescription for the drugs.

Inside the vehicle, the officer reportedly found more Suboxone in the center console and a prescription nasal spray with no patient information attached.

The complaint said Colon admitted to taking the Suboxone around 6 p.m., and after failing sobriety tests he was placed under arrest for his third OWI.

Colon was taken to the hospital and allegedly said he said could not do a blood draw because he was a Jehovah Witnesses.

The complaint said that when his cuff was removed so officers could get the blood draw, Colon began resisting and kneed a sergeant in the groin.

Colon was detained again and placed in handcuffs.

Colon was given a $1,000 signature bond in Racine County Circuit Court on Tuesday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 1 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, online court records show.

Mugshots: Racine County criminal complaints, Feb. 21, 2023 Today's mugshots: Feb. 21 These are images of people charged with a crime in Racine County. Booking photos are provided by Racine County law enforcement officials. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty and convicted. Edward Wayne Carman Edward (aka Edward Love) Wayne Carman, 6800 block of Beech Road, Racine, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (5th or 6th offense, general alcohol concentration enhancer). Douglas R. Barrow Douglas (aka Ryan Jackson) R. Barrow, 3700 block of Sovereign Drive, Racine, attempting to flee or elude an officer, possession of THC. Bernard Carpenter Bernard Carpenter, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, attempting to flee or elude an officer, first degree recklessly endangering safety, second degree recklessly endangering safety, failure to install ignition interlock device, operate motor vehicle while revoked. Carlos A. Colon Sr. NO PHOTO AVAILABLE Carlos A. Colon Sr., 7100 block of North Tichigan Road, Waterford, battery to a law enforcement officer, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (3rd offense, general alcohol concentration enhancer), obtain prescription drug with fraud, resisting an officer. Anthony M. Pietsch Anthony M. Pietsch, 6300 block of Douglas Avenue, Racine, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia. Matthew T. Shepherd Matthew T. Shepherd, Rutledge, Tennessee, obstructing an officer. Amy R. Woodward Amy R. Woodward, 1300 block of Summit Avenue, Racine, uttering a forgery, unauthorized use of an entity's identifying information or documents, felony bail jumping, possession of drug paraphernalia, obstructing an officer. Ryan Christopher Kyburz Ryan Christopher Kyburz, Eagle, Wisconsin, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance.
1. Yes. Having a community member interview panel is an excellent opportunity for input.

2. Yes. Its good that the city will allow residents to meet the finalist at a reception.

3. No. The city should have conducted a public survey early in the process, as KISD is doing.

4. No. Residents should be able to meet candidates before a lone finalist is chosen.

5. Unsure. Its hard to know how to gauge the proper level of public involvement.

Vote

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Sandy played the flute and was an A student in high school, and in many ways she was the typical girl-next-door. But life changed when she got pregnant.

Her parents were angry, the now 23-year-old Temple woman said. After so much fighting, I took off and stayed with some people I met. That didnt go well.

A man in her new home tried to pimp her out to his friends, so Sandy took off  she had no choice but to leave, but she had no place to go. Years later, her daughter is now staying with family and Sandy lives under a bridge off Loop 363.
GIBBON  Rowe Sanctuary will break ground in early April for a $12.5 million expansion of the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center and outdoor improvements.

Plans include, but are not limited to, additions at the northeast and southwest ends of the visitor center; a relocated, larger parking lot; a wetlands exploration deck along the Platte River, and an ADA-accessible path to a blind used by visitors during crane season.

These investments will touch everything, from education to working lands, from science-based programming to operations, that Audubon Nebraska does, said Lizzie Gilroy, director of development for Audubon Nebraska in Omaha.

Rowe Sanctuary consists of 2,900 acres along the Platte River. It is located at 44490 Elm Island Road, between Gibbon and Kearney.

The work is projected to be completed before the 2024 crane season, but if it is not, provisions will be made so visitors and viewing blinds will not be disturbed during that time, according to Bill Taddicken, the center director at Rowe Sanctuary.

The visitors center

The visitors center will get a new entry hall and renovations at the gift shop area, offices and restrooms.

A community space and kitchen will be added on the northeast end of the building. An education room/lab and large pavilion are planned on the southwest end.

A new, larger parking lot will be created directly south of the building so visitors can enter the visitors center directly from the front instead of coming in from the east. This will shield birds roosting on the river from vehicles headlights at night. The new lot will provide better parking for buses.

Along the Platte River, a new wetlands exploration deck, with boardwalk segments and guardrails, will be constructed so visitors can get close to the river.

Elevate campaign

Taddicken said Audubon Nebraska began assessing Rowes future needs in 2015. Participants in that process included Audubon staff, volunteers, donors and partners.

Out of that came a visionary 50-year plan that will allow Rowe to expand programs both inside and out during crane season and year-round, he said. Rowe and Audubon Nebraska are part of the non-profit National Audubon Society.

In addition to that, the Audubon Society will build a structure for land management demonstrations and research at Spring Creek Prairie, its 850-acre tallgrass prairie nature preserve near Denton, southwest of Lincoln. It will also repair the Creek Bridge and renovate center trails there.

Both the Rowe and Spring Creek projects are part of Elevate: The Campaign for Audubon Nebraska, a $34 million fundraising campaign that began in 2020.

Of that amount, $12.5 million will go for projects at Rowe. So far, 78% of that goal has been raised or pledged. The Spring Creek Prairie project will cost $1.5 million, and 66% of that has been raised or pledged.

The capital campaign also includes nearly $8 million for program support, including general operations and programming at Rowe. The remaining $12 million will go for future legacy projects funded by donors who have included Audubon Nebraska in their wills.

Audubon hopes to complete fundraising by June 30, 2023. The project went out for bid this month, but no contracts have been awarded yet, Gilroy added.

Space for volunteers

A new, larger break room will be built for crane season volunteers in the new east wing, near the new catering kitchen, conference room, multipurpose room and additional restrooms.

There will also be better and more useful space for volunteers, and more day use space, plus a community room we can use or rent out for outside groups, Taddicken added.

Volunteers come from all over the country during crane season Feb. 5-April 15 and stay for a week or more in a retreat house nearby. Right now, they often make lunches and dinners in the retreat house kitchen and take the food to the visitor center to share with other volunteers, who often have limited time to prepare meals due to busy schedules.

That break room is noisy and crowded, and its near our staff offices. With this expansion, they will have a volunteer room, and they can fix meals in our catering kitchen, Taddicken said.

Gilroy added that the kitchen "will be an asset to the broader community year-round.

The gift shop will be relocated inside the visitor center, but it will have collapsible walls so that it can be expanded into the Great Hall for increased capacity. The walls will also allow merchandise to be easily secured during large events, Gilroy said.

Rowes improvements also include trail expansion along the Platte River, including an ADA-compliant trail that will provide accessibility to one blind for close-up crane viewing.

Timing

Elevate campaign funds will also address issues facing the Platte River, including better resourcing Audubons work with private landowners to improve conservation practices, and improving education programs to inspire the next generation of conservationists, Gilroy added.

Rowe Sanctuary was established thanks to Lillian Annette Rowe, who, in 1967, left much of her estate to the National Audubon Society to establish a bird sanctuary anywhere in the United States.

In 1974, the 440-acre Lillian Annette Rowe Sanctuary was established with this money on land purchased from Louis and Margaret Triplett, Donald and Margaret Nutter and Rose Jacobson. The site was considered one of the most pristine Sandhill Crane habitats along the Platte River.

Named for Rowe's husband Ian Nicolson, it has since been enlarged with the 1988 purchase of a 362-acre farm. New office space and the visitor center were built in 2002. It now has seven full-time staff members and 2,900 acres.

Rowe Sanctuary and Spring Creek Prairie serve as hubs for everything we do throughout our state and region. It is critically important that we make these places accessible to as many people as possible, as well as elevate them to world-class status, Gilroy said.
KEARNEY  Labor and housing shortages are hobbling Nebraskas economy, but another critical factor isnt getting the attention it ought to.

Childcare has become a crippling issue across Nebraska, according to women who spoke Friday in Kearney about their challenges finding quality care for their children.

This isnt just isolated to our community, said Heidi Pieper, a farm wife from Farnam.

She described scrambling for three years to find caregivers. She said the shortage frequently prevented her from finding care for her children, and frequently has been unable to take in foster children.

Farnam, a community of 275 in southwest Nebraska, isnt the only rural town with childcare issues. During Fridays session, other speakers told about waiting months on a list for openings at daycares.

One woman said her caregiver used a lottery system. If there was a temporary opening, the lottery determined which children on the waiting list would be cared for.

Another said she complained about the crisis to a top state official who responded, Theres no childcare shortage. The place for women is at home taking care of the kids.

One woman in Fridays crowd shouted, Weve got to be a burr under their skin. The governor and state senators need to be told about this problem.

Without childcare, employers cant fill jobs, educational institutions suffer, and people need to rely more on state agencies for assistance, according to information shared during Fridays discussion.

According to presenters, 91% of Nebraska counties with licensed childcare providers do not have enough availability to meet demand. In fact, 12 Nebraska counties have no childcare at all.

While the shortage may be contributing to Nebraskas labor problems, Holly Hatton-Bowers, an Extension educator from Lincoln, said childrens wellbeing is at stake.

Ninety percent of brain development takes place in the childs first five years, Hatton-Bowers said. Children need those trusting, healthy relationships to set them up for success later in life.

She said parents and grandparents were caregivers in the past, but that tradition is giving way to the necessity for both parents to work. Unfortunately, grandparents cant always be available to help.

Morgan Williams, a farm wife from Eustis, said when she became pregnant with her third child, the childcare expense would have been about two-thirds of her teaching salary.

It was a tipping point, and she decided to stay home with the children.

Williams said when other parents heard about her decision to stay home, there was an avalanche of phone calls asking her if she would care for other children.

Parents in Eustis finally pooled their efforts, and the community of 475 will open a childcare center in January.

Kyla Habrock said when she moved to Hastings from Lincoln several years ago, she wasnt prepared for the struggle that awaited her. She said she made dozens of calls before finding childcare.

Habrock happily announced to the group on Friday that Hastings is building a childcare center. Another person said Columbus is building a center, as well, as is Gothenburg. After a generous outpouring of community support, Albion spent several million dollars to open a center. It offers quality care and boosts the local economy because more parents can hold jobs, if they desire.

Hatton-Bowers described other factors complicating Nebraskas childcare shortage, including an insufficient number of caregivers. Hatton-Bowers said low pay is a major reason for the shortage and so is mental and physical stress.

Hatton-Bowers said some Nebraska regulations deter people from becoming caregivers. She said the weeks-long wait for a state license to be approved gets in the way. By the time an application is processed, the applicant can find other jobs, she said.

Fridays session was organized by We Care for Kids with help from the Nebraska Extension Office.

Sarah Landell of Dannebrog, population 375, said she wants to focus on improved pay for caregivers. She encouraged others to lobby elected officials for change.

Tell your senators what is important. They want to know from their constituents whats going on, Landell said. Who are the people in your community who can elevate your voice?
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) has announced that its operating and maintenance subsidiary Nawah Energy Company (Nawah), has commenced commercial operations of Unit 3 of Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the Al Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi.

On the key milestone, Nawah said Unit 3 of the Barakah Plant has completed the process from Fuel Load to Commercial Operations more than four months faster than Unit 2 and more than five months faster than Unit 1.

This demonstrates how the operations teams utilised and implemented the experience gained from the previous two units, while adhering to all national regulations and international standards, as confirmed by assessments of the UAE regulator FANR and the World Association of Nuclear Operators.

According to Enec, the third unit has been delivered efficiently and in one of the shortest time-frames compared to other third-generation reactors built worldwide, demonstrating a new era for nuclear new-build.

As the third unit to be delivered in three consecutive years, this major accomplishment adds a further 1,400 MW of zero-carbon emission electricity capacity, boosting total production from Units 1, 2 and 3 of Barakah to 4,200MW of baseload, reliable, clean electricity for the UAE national grid.

The first multi-unit operating plant in the Arab World, Barakah, has already powered more than 80 percent of Abu Dhabi emirate's clean electricity consumption in December 2022, it stated.

Playing a significant role in the UAE's clean energy transition, ENEC and its subsidiaries are now one unit away from completing the four-unit Barakah plant and realising its commitment to deliver up to 25 percent of the UAE's electricity demands, said its top official.

Enec Managing Director and CEO Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi said: "In the Year of Sustainability for the UAE, we are proud to take the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Programme another step forward with Unit 3 beginning commercial operations."

"This has been achieved less than a year after successfully starting commercial operations for Unit 2. Barakah is a successful global benchmark for other nations looking to diversify their energy portfolio during a time of international energy crises," he stated.

"With three units now operating commercially, we are delivering energy security, powering sustainable economic growth, driving innovation, and contributing to achieving our Net Zero strategy by 2050. We look forward to showcasing just how critical nuclear is in tackling climate change, using proven solutions available today, at COP28 in the UAE in November,"

he added.

The commercial operations of Unit 3 have begun with the continuous support of Ewec and Abu Dhabi Transmission and Dispatch Company (Transco), which ensure that the clean electricity generated at Barakah is delivered to consumers across the UAE safely and sustainably.

Barakah One Company CEO Nasser Al Nasseri: "Today, we reaffirm our commitment to clean electricity generation for Ewec as per the Power Purchase Agreement signed in 2016. The sale of clean electricity further supports Abu Dhabi's Clean Energy Certification programme, allowing more businesses to demonstrate their sustainability credentials, creating unique competitive advantage, and stimulating the growth of our Net Zero economy."

Nawah CEO Ali Al Hammadi said: "This is a key achievement for Nawah, as we safely and efficiently begin commercial operations for Unit 3, following national regulations and international standards."

"Today, Barakah represents just 20% of the wider UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Programme, with Enec investing in research and development, and innovation to further accelerate the opportunities within the UAE's clean energy transition," he noted.

"This includes major opportunities in clean electricity exports, development of Net Zero molecules, including clean hydrogen and ammonia, and steam, in addition to overseas investments and financing of new clean energy projects," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
PHOENIX  Arizona's former attorney general suppressed findings by his investigators who concluded there was no basis for allegations that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud, according to documents released Wednesday by his successor.

Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, who took office in January, said the records show the 2020 election was conducted fairly and accurately by election officials.

Previous Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, never released a March 2022 summary of investigative findings, which ruled out most of the fraud claims spread by allies and supporters of former President Donald Trump. Yet a month later, he released an interim report" that claimed his investigation revealed serious vulnerabilities that must be addressed and raises questions about the 2020 election in Arizona."

He released his April report despite pushback from his investigators who said some of its claims were refuted by their probe. Brnovich was at the time in the midst of a Republican Party primary for U.S. Senate and facing fierce criticism from Trump, who claimed he wasn't doing enough to prosecute election fraud.

Brnovich, whose primary bid was unsuccessful, also did not release a September memo that systematically refuted a bevy of election conspiracies that have taken root on the right, including allegations of dead or duplicate voters, pre-marked ballots flown in from Asia, election servers connected to the internet and even manipulation by satellites controlled by the Italian military.

In each instance and in each matter, the aforementioned parties did not provide any evidence to support their allegations, the September memo read. The information that was provided was speculative in many instances and when investigated by our agents and support staff, was found to be inaccurate.

The September memo, which was among the documents released Wednesday, describes an all-encompassing probe that became the top priority for the attorney general's investigators, who spent more than 10,000 hours looking into 638 complaints. They opened 430 investigations and referred 22 cases for prosecution. President Joe Biden won Arizona by a little over 10,000 votes.

Mayes said the fraud claims were a waste.

The ten thousand plus hours spent diligently investigating every conspiracy theory under the sun distracted this office from its core mission of protecting the people of Arizona from real crime and fraud," Mayes said in a statement.

Attempts to reach Brnovich for comment were unsuccessful.

Brnovich's interim report claimed that election officials worked too quickly in verifying voter signatures and pointed to a drop in the number of ballots with rejected signatures between 2016 and 2018 and again in 2020. He also claimed that Maricopa County was slow in responding to requests for information.

He made those claims even after investigators who reviewed a draft pushed back, publishing his report largely unchanged following their feedback.

The investigative staff concluded that the county recorder's office followed its policy/procedures as they relate to signature verification; we did not uncover any criminality or fraud having been committed in this area during the 2020 general election," investigators wrote. They also said they found the county was cooperative and responsive to our requests.

Arizona became the epicenter of efforts by Trump allies to cast doubt on Biden's victory. Republican leaders of the state Senate subpoenaed election records and equipment and hired a Florida firm led by a Trump supporter, Cyber Ninjas Inc., to conduct an unprecedented review of the election in Maricopa County.

The Cyber Ninjas review gave Biden more votes than the official count but claimed that their work raised serious questions about the conduct of the election in Maricopa County, home to metro Phoenix and the majority of Arizona's voters. The investigation by the attorney general's office found the allegations did not stand up to scrutiny.

Our comprehensive review of CNIs audit showed they did not provide any evidence to support their allegations of widespread fraud or ballot manipulation, Brnovich's investigators wrote.

Photos: A look inside Arizona's election audit
WASHINGTON  Even as Democrats celebrated the 100th judicial confirmation of Joe Biden's presidency, they are clamoring for more  and some are flirting with ending a century-long Senate practice to help make it happen.

The rising friction over what in Washington parlance is known as the blue slip is creating tensions on the Senate panel that handles judicial nominations and prompting stern warnings from Republicans about a dangerous escalation in the partisanship that already dominates the judicial confirmation process.

The clash over Senate procedure could have major ramifications for Biden as he seeks to fill as many court vacancies as possible during the final two years of his term. Aghast at the speed with which Republicans approved judges during the Trump era, Democrats have made the confirmation to the courts a top priority, vowing to fill every seat possible. Their focus on the nominations is even greater now that Republicans control the House and can stall much of Biden's broader legislative agenda.

Since at least 1917, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has sent a blue-colored form, or blue slip," to the senators representing the home state of a judicial nominee. A blue slip returned with a positive response signals the senator's approval of moving forward with a nomination hearing. But if the blue slip is not returned or comes back with a negative response, that means the home state senator objects, which can doom the nomination.

Republicans during Donald Trump's presidency determined the lack of a positive blue slip would not stop them from moving forward with considering appellate court nominees  and they did so 17 times. Democrats were livid, pointing out that Republicans blocked several of President Barack Obama's appellate nominees by declining to return a positive blue slip.

Now, Democrats are being encouraged to follow suit and do away with the blue slip when it comes to the district judges whose courts serve as the starting point for federal civil and criminal cases.

In many respects, it is an archaic holdover from a different era, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. I think were maybe reaching the point of deciding whether it will be continued.

Advocates for doing away with the blue slip say fast action is critical if Democrats want to have the kind of success Trump had in year three of his presidency, when he secured more than 100 judicial confirmations out of 231. They believe Democrats can't afford to wait months on Republican senators to give their go-ahead for a nominee.

Besides, they argue, if Democrats don't do away with the blue slip now, Republicans will abolish it when they return to the majority.

Democrats would be chumps to say, Oh well, we're not going to do this because it's a tradition,'" said Russ Feingold, the former three-term Democratic senator from Wisconsin who now serves as president of the American Constitution Society. The group is a liberal counter to the conservative Federalist Society.

The New York Times editorial board also weighed in recently, saying it was far past time" for the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to end the blue slip practice.

The chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has clearly heard some of the concerns voiced by progressives. He has made it a point recently to emphasize how Democrats submitted 130 positive blue slips for district court nominees during the Trump presidency, but so far, Republicans have only done so about a dozen times.

That's essentially because Biden has been filling judicial vacancies of predominately Democratic-appointed judges in blue states. Soon, it will get harder. There are about 40 district court vacancies that will require a blue slip from at least one Republican senator. Many of those vacancies dont have a nominee yet, and Durbin is clearly sending a signal to GOP senators to work expeditiously with the White House on submitting prospective nominees.

Durbin said he wants to continue with the blue slip tradition, but he's adding a caveat: that they aren't used for discriminatory purposes" to block consideration of nominees based on race, gender or sexual orientation.

His comments have alarmed Republican senators. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the blue slip courtesy is very much at stake and at risk here." He also questioned how Durbin is going to discern the motivations of Republicans senators if they object to a nominee.

The last thing left in this body that makes the Senate the Senate, in my view, and gives a senator a say about a consequential decision in their state that will last a lifetime is the blue slip process," Graham said. So I would just hope we could agree, if possible, that no matter how frustrated we get, we're going to honor this system."

Blumenthal said he will bring lessons learned from the Obama years to the debate, and hes determined not to let Republicans block district judges through the blue slip process the way they did appellate court judges.

The history is undeniable that Republicans succeeded in blocking many of the Obama nominees, and therefore held open judgeships, which they then filled with alacrity, Blumenthal said. Were not going to let that happen again.

Landmark Supreme Court cases and Chief Justices of the time Landmark Supreme Court cases and Chief Justices of the time Marbury v. Madison McCulloch v. Maryland Dred Scott v. Sandford Plessy v. Ferguson Korematsu v. United States Brown v. Board of Education Cooper v. Aaron Mapp v. Ohio Engel v. Vitale Gideon v. Wainwright New York Times Company v. Sullivan Miranda v. Arizona Loving v. Virginia Terry v. Ohio Tinker v. Des Moines Roe v. Wade US v. Nixon Goss v. Lopez Regents of the University of California v. Bakke New Jersey v T.L.O. Texas v. Johnson Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health Bush v. Gore Grutter v. Bollinger Lawrence v. Texas Roper v. Simmons District of Columbia v. Heller Citizens United v. FEC National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius Obergefell v. Hodges Department of Commerce v. New York Rucho v. Common Cause Bostock v. Clayton County R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen Kennedy v. Bremerton School District
NEW YORK  Early estimates suggest the flu vaccine performed well in a U.S. winter flu season that has already dissipated.

The vaccines were more than 40% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor's office, clinic or hospital, health officials said during a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccines meeting Wednesday. Officials generally are pleased if a flu vaccine is 40% to 60% effective.

One reason is the vaccine was a good match against the strains that spread over the fall and winter, officials say.

But one expert at the meeting was underwhelmed and said it points out the need for better flu vaccines. It is still disappointing that the vaccine was a good match and yet effectiveness was still modest, said Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University.

Annual flu vaccines are recommended for everyone 6 months and older in the U.S. About half of eligible kids and just under half of adults got flu shots in the last several months, according to CDC data. Vaccination rates were up compared with 2021-2022, but below what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, said the CDCs Brendan Flannery.

Initially, it looked like it might be a bad flu season. The virus took off in early November as COVID-19 and another respiratory virus, RSV, roiled emergency departments. Among kids, flu-related hospitalization rates in November and December were as high as any seen in recent years, Flannery said. At least 111 flu deaths have been reported in children, the most since the 199 reported in the 2019-2020 season.

The dominant flu strain was the kind typically associated with higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among older people. In some years, the vaccines were virtually ineffective against that strain in people 65 and older. But this season's vaccine has done unusually well, with the best results seen in at least 10 years, said Flannery, who is responsible for the CDCs flu vaccine effectiveness data.

Flu also apparently made a very early exit, with the virus declining since the end of November. Some pockets of high flu activity have persisted this month, including in New Mexico and New York City. But for the vast majority of the country, it's low.

It's not clear exactly why the wave crested so early, but flu seasons have been unusually mild or otherwise strange since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Flannery said. CDC officials also caution that flu season might not really be over  late winter or spring second surges have occurred in the past.

The CDC uses several systems to track flu vaccines. One is a network of hospitals that offer information on how well the vaccine prevented flu-related illnesses bad enough to require admission to a hospital. Another is a collection of urgent care clinics and hospital emergency departments, which produce estimates of how well the vaccine worked against in preventing those kinds of medical visits.

Among the findings:

The vaccine was 44% effective in preventing adult lab-confirmed flu visits to urgent care clinics and hospital emergency rooms, and 39% effective for seniors age 65 and older.

It was 43% effective against flu-related hospitalizations of all adults, and 35% against flu hospitalizations of seniors.

In kids, the vaccine was 68% effective in preventing illnesses severe enough to require hospitalization, and 42% effective for pediatric visits to the emergency department.

How the flu shot is determined each year Flu shot 101 Why you need a flu shot What goes into developing the flu vaccine? How the virus strains in the flu shot are selected Myths about the flu shot
BEIRUT  The Syrian so-called "miracle baby"  who was born under the rubble of a collapsed building following the huge earthquakes earlier this month  has been adopted and is now living in a tent.

"She will be like my children. I will do anything for her. I have four girls and two boys and she will be my seventh child," Khalil Sawadi, the husband of her aunt Hala, who adopted her, told dpa by phone.

The mother died following the quake but the baby was somehow found alive in a rebel-controlled area in northwestern Syria.

Sawadi lost his home in the Feb. 6 disaster in Jindires, but he moved with his family to live at a friend's house.

"But after the (new) earthquake that hit our region yesterday (Monday), we moved and we now live in a tent in Jindires," Sawadi, 34, told dpa.

Sawadi added that the baby's grandfather has sent him a voice message and told him "you are now her father and you take care of her."

The baby's new family gave her the name of her late mother, Afraa, after she had previously been known as Aya.

Videos of the baby girl being pulled from under the rubble covered with dust filled social media in the hours after the earthquake.

All members of her immediate family were killed  including four siblings  and a rescue worker had to cut the umbilical cord, which was still attached to her mother when she was saved.

Dr. Khaled Attiyeh, director of the hospital where the baby was taken to after she was rescued, confirmed to dpa that she had been adopted.

"The judicial authorities took her two days ago and handed her over to her aunt after they did DNA tests and proved a blood relative," Attiyeh said.

"Of course my heart was broken when she left, but I wished her a comfortable life with her new family."

He added that the baby left in good health.

The story of the so-called "miracle baby" has touched the hearts of people across the globe, with many reaching out to adopt her.

A rights group said that several Syrian government officers posing as merchants from Damascus had previously attempted to adopt her under the name of a charitable organization.

Meanwhile a relative of the baby, who requested to remain anonymous, told dpa "the aunt's husband is not the right person to adopt the little girl and that he got her because he belonged to an opposition rebel group which control the area she was in."

The relative said that according to tribal rules, the father of her late father should care for her.

He added that the grandfather lives in a U.S.-led coalition-controlled area in Deir al-Zour, in eastern Syria, and could not come to the area because "emotionally he is not well after he lost his son (baby's father) and his family."

The relative said the girl's father belonged to the large Al Quaidat Syrian tribe and they are worried that the girl will be "exploited for money reasons."

The baby's family previously fled west from the province of Deir al-Zour because of the civil war.

A look at global humanitarian efforts in the face of earthquakes over the past 22 years A look at global humanitarian efforts in the face of earthquakes over the last 20 years January 2001: India December 2003: Iran October 2005: Pakistan May 2006: Indonesia May 2008: China January 2010: Haiti April 2015: Nepal
Finances will no longer be as much of a barrier for upcoming Winona high school graduates looking to extend their education.

Minnesota State College Southeast announced Friday that through its new College Opportunity Program all Winona residents who graduate from a Winona high school in 2023 and 2024 will be eligible for two free years of education at the college, totalling up to 70 credits.

Additionally, students graduating locally in 2025 will be eligible for one year of their college education at MSC SE covered, as the pilot program is funded currently through 2026.

Students in this program will also receive a $500 stipend per year for books, supplies and tools needed for their education.

Students can be eligible for the program if they reside within the Winona Area Public Schools district and graduate from Cotter High School, Hope Lutheran High School, Riverway Learning Center, Winona Area Learning Center, Winona Senior High School or a homeschool program.

To be a part of the program, students are required to apply for financial aid, so that they can receive federal and state grants that are available to them.

Then, once any support is gained from that toward their cost of tuition, the College Opportunity Program will cover the rest, so that no loans or other payments out of pocket should be needed.

The program will also provide funding to the college to employ individuals who can help students as they enroll and apply for financial aid, along with provide support to the students during their time studying at the college.

The College Opportunity Program will be transformative for the students that it serves, Marsha Danielson, president of MSC SE, said Friday.

Danielson said the program stands out compared to many others like it throughout the United States, as many have an extensive list of eligibility guidelines that must be met.

State Rep. Gene Pelowski, who represents Winona and is the chair for the House Higher Education Finance and Policy committee, said about the new program Friday in a statement, The College Opportunity Program at MSC SE fits perfectly into what the House Higher Education Committee has been working this session  making technical programs affordable and providing students the opportunity to obtain an employable skill set. President Danielson is to be congratulated for her work with the private sector to create the College Opportunity Program at MSC SE possible.

Its clear that the new program is designed to help local entities find employees who have technical training and education in their work fields.

The program is supported and made possible by local investors, which include Benchmark, Bob Kierlin and Mary Burrichter, Fastenal, Gundersen Health System, Miller Ingenuity, RTP, The Watkins Co. and Winona Health.

Dan Florness, president and CEO of Fastenal, shared Friday during the announcement of the program, (The College Opportunity Program) is good for the area businesses. Its also good for the community.

He added, Its good for the medical side of the community, because I know firsthand from my exposure to the medical community in and around this area is the need for folks to be employed in that environment has never been greater.

Florness has high hopes for the program, wanting it to expand in the future from the point its starting at.

I sincerely hope this becomes a program that goes on indefinitely and extends beyond Winona, but we need to start somewhere and this is where we chose to start, he said.

The local high schools showed their gratefulness for the new program also Friday.

Annette Freiheit, superintendent of Winona Area Public Schools, spoke on behalf of all the local high schools about the new opportunity.

I believe that the College Opportunity Program will help alleviate serious barriers to students post secondary success, Freiheit said. This program will reduce the financial burden, reduce equity gaps, instill the realization that every student can attend college, improve retention of students attending Winona area high schools, encourage our students to graduate from high school, continue to build a partnership between Winona area high schools and Minnesota State College Southeast. The College Opportunity program will offer great options for Winona area high school students to continue their education in pursuit of their passion and career.

She shared, Nelson Mandela is quoted, It always seems impossible until its done. The College Opportunity Program makes the impossible possible for the students of Winona area high schools.

And, as a message to area students, Freiheit said, Students, please take advantage of this opportunity. It is waiting for you.

For more information about the new College Opportunity Program, visit www.southeastmn.edu.

Photos: Ribbon cutting for Minnesota State College Southeast's Manufacturing Initiative Program MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony MSC Southeast Advanced Manufacturing Initiative Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
UW Health orthopedic surgeons will operate at SSM Healths St. Marys Hospitals in Madison and Janesville, the organizations said Friday.

The partnership, to start in March, comes after 11 orthopedic surgeons who resigned last year from SSM Health Dean Medical Group opened a competing practice this week in Madison.

Under the new agreement, SSM Health will provide time, facility space and support services for UW Health orthopedic surgeons to operate at St. Marys Hospitals in Madison and Janesville.

The UW Health doctors will care for UW Health and SSM Health patients at the St. Marys hospitals. UW Health also will continue to provide orthopedic surgeries at its current locations.

Patients who need orthopedic surgery should continue to work with their respective health care organizations to schedule procedures, the organizations said.

The surgeons who resigned last year on Monday opened Orthopedic and Spine Centers of Wisconsin in the Arbor Gate complex off the Beltline near Todd Drive. The group is being managed by Phoenix-based Healthcare Outcomes Performance, or HOPCo.

Orthopedic and Spine Centers was started by Dr. Jason Sansone, who was SSM Healths regional director of orthopedics, and 10 other surgeons who worked for SSM Health in Madison, Baraboo and Janesville: Kashif Ali, Aaron Carpiaux, Rajit Chakravarty, Richard Glad, Brian Keyes, Dayton Opel, James Prosser, Joseph Sizensky, Brian Steffin and David Wolff.

Sansone, who is CEO of the new group, said early this month that all of the surgeons had maintained privileges to operate at all SSM hospitals in the region, even though they are no longer employees, and planned to expand to other hospitals.

He said the practice has contracts with Monona-based WPS Health Insurance and The Alliance, a Fitchburg-based cooperative of 300 self-insured employers that purchase medical services collectively, along with Humana, Aetna and others. It is at various stages of contracting with all other payors in the region and can take patients on Medicaid and Medicare, he said.

Regarding the collaboration between UW Health and SSM Health, Sansone said Friday: We support any efforts to create better access for orthopedic patients in the communities we all serve.

SSM Health Dean in November sued Sansone and Keyes, saying the doctors violated their employment agreements through actions designed to disrupt, sabotage and harm Dean Medical Group. The doctors used property and equipment during business hours to plan a competing business, and induced and encouraged the other surgeons to breach their contracts, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said Sansone violated another agreement saying he could not work as a medical executive for a year after his departure within a 45-mile radius of Madison.

In a response filed early this month, Sansone and Keyes said their contracts didnt prohibit the actions they took to start an independent practice. The 45-mile stipulation for Sansone is overbroad, their response said.
Masdar, a global clean energy powerhouse, is entering the geothermal energy sector, through a strategic investment in Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), one of the worlds largest geothermal players.

The investment marks Masdars entry into geothermal energy, in the second-largest geothermal market in the world, said the company in a statement.

Geothermal energy harnesses the heat generated within the Earths core to provide a constant energy source, unlike solar or wind, which are intermittent in nature. Its energy plants also have high-capacity factors, meaning they can run at maximum power for longer periods.

These attributes mean geothermal energy could potentially play a significant role in the clean energy transition, helping nations with a high concentration of geothermal activity to reduce carbon emissions, it stated.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Chairman, Masdar, said: "Achieving the 1.5C target set out in the Paris Accords will require humanity to leverage all sources of low-carbon energy, including sources that are currently under-utilized, like geothermal."

"Through its investment in PGE, Masdar is demonstrating its continuing commitment to Indonesias energy transition and its support of one of the major focus areas of the upcoming COP28, which is to provide practical energy security solutions while reducing emissions," he stated.

PGE Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Yuniarto said: "We look forward to working with Masdar in the areas which complement and grow further our capabilities to be a world class green energy company, with the largest geothermal capacity globally. We endeavor to develop 600 megawatts (MW) in additional installed capacity over the next five years to support Indonesias renewable energy mix.

Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi pointed out that its strategic investment in PGE will complement the group's strong footprint in Indonesia.

Indonesia, he stated, has a goal of increasing its installed geothermal capacity from 2.8 gigawatts (GW) in 2022 to 6.2 GW by 2030.

The government is targeting net-zero emissions by 2060 and having renewables provide 23 percent of the energy mix by 2023. PGE has been operating geothermal facilities in Indonesia for the last 40 years, with a portfolio capacity exceeding 1.87 GW, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Ludwig van Beethoven has long been considered one of the greatest composers of classical music. Critics say that his final complete musical work, the Ninth Symphony, is possibly his best.

The symphony was first performed on May 7, 1824, in Vienna, Austria. Beethoven already had lost his hearing when he was composing the Ninth. He never fully heard the performance himself. And nearly 200 years after the first performance, there is still disagreement over how fast the work should be performed.

Benjamin Zander is the music director of the Boston Philharmonic, a classical music performance group he founded in 1979. The nearly 84-year-old conductor is leading the Boston Philharmonic in a performance on Friday night at Bostons Symphony Hall. Then, on Sunday afternoon, he will do the same at New Yorks Carnegie Hall.

Zander believes that Beethovens Ninth Symphony should sound far different than the way it is usually performed. He plans to finish the symphony in less than one hour during the performances in Boston and New York.

Theres so much information from Beethoven and so little information about how to interpret it, Zander told the Associated Press.

Zander said he sought advice from violinist and scholar Rudoph Kolisch. In the 1993 issue of The Musical Quarterly, Kolisch discussed how Beethoven marked his work using a metronome, a device that produces a steady beat to help musicians with the speed, or tempo, of musical work.

Beethoven wrote in an 1817 letter that he wanted to drop musical terms like allegro for fast, andante for slow, or presto for extremely fast. He added, the metronome gives us the best opportunity to do so.

In 1992, Zanders recording with the Boston Philharmonic for the music company Pickwick International came in at 57 minutes, 51 seconds. His 2018 recording of the same music was 58 minutes, 39 seconds long.

For the recording, I really set out to be a devoted servant, Zander said. He said he had a little statue of Beethoven and looked at it from time to time to see if it was smiling.

Some of the worlds most famous conductors, however, took more time with Beethovens Ninth in their performances.

Arturo Toscanini took 65 minutes for RCA Victor with the NBC Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1952; Wilhelm Furtwangler needed 74 minutes at the Bayreuth Festival in 1951; and Leonard Bernstein stretched the music for 78 minutes during his 1989 performance with members of six orchestras to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall.

After Zanders performance at Carnegie Hall on October 10, 1983, Andrew Porter wrote in the New Yorker, If Mr. Zander is right, we have been hearing the music of the greatest composer only in misrepresentation.

Many conductors noted Beethovens loss of hearing as a reason to ignore his metronome markings.

James Conlon is the music director of the Los Angeles Opera and main conductor of Italys Orchestra RAI. He said, There are powerful arguments on both sides. I am not against performing Beethoven at the speeds suggested by the metronome. He added that if the resulting performance lacks expression, emotion, and dynamics, then it should not be followed.

Andrew Price regularly plays oboe with several orchestras in Boston. He said, The hardest thing is just to keep an open mind about itAll the stuff I learned as a 20-year-old student, I had to go back and relearn it all, just to have a completely different approach.

Im Jill Robbins.

Hai Do adapted this report for VOA Learning English from Associated Press and other reporting

______________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

composer n. a person who writes music

classical adj. relating to music of a European tradition including opera and symphony music

conductor n. a person who leads a band or orchestra

interpret v. to explain the meaning of something or to perform a work in the way that you understand it

opportunity n. a chance to do something

devoted adj. having a strong love or loyalty for someone or something

dynamics n. (pl.) changes in how loudly a piece of music is played or sung

oboe n. a musical instrument shaped like a tube that is known as a woodwind instrument

stuff n. (informal) things

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Hong Kong: John Lee meets Macau CE

Chief Executive John Lee today welcomed Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng and his delegation to Hong Kong, and met him at Government House to exchange views on promoting Hong Kong's co-operation with Macau and the high-quality development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.



Mr Lee pointed out that travel between Hong Kong and Macau has been vigorous since the full resumption of normal travel on February 6, demonstrating the close ties and connection between the two sides.



He said Hong Kong and Macau, as the country's special administrative regions, uphold the principle of "one country" while leveraging the advantages of "two systems". With the unique advantages under "one country, two systems", both places are integrated into the Mainland and having strong international connectivity, serving as a bridge linking the Mainland and the rest of the world.



In addition, the two places jointly promote the regional development of the bay area, while participating in, contributing to and benefiting from the country's prosperous development.



Mr Lee also introduced to Mr Ho the establishment of the Steering Group on Integration into National Development, which is chaired by him with three secretaries of departments as deputies. The strengthened top-level co-ordination and leadership will enable Hong Kong to more proactively integrate into the country's overall development.



He emphasised that Hong Kong and Macau has all along been maintaining close co-operation in various important areas, including commerce, cross-boundary infrastructure and cultural tourism, with a view to jointly promoting the development of the bay area. For example, since the signing of the Hong Kong & Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement in 2017, Hong Kong enterprises have captured more and better business opportunities in Macau's market, facilitating the flow of commerce and investment between both sides.



Meanwhile, Mr Lee said he was pleased to know that Mr Ho had visited the Science Park and the Centre for Chinese Herbal Medicine Drug Development under the InnoHK in co-operation with the University of Macao this morning to learn about Hong Kong's achievements in promoting innovation and technology development.



He also welcomed the Macao Government Tourism Office's invitation to a large-scale delegation formed by members of the Hong Kong tourism sector to visit Macau this month so as to step up joint tourism promotion and the development of tourism industry of both sides.



Noting that he will visit Macau next week, Mr Lee said he looks forward to have an in-depth discussion with Mr Ho on further deepening Hong Kong's co-operation with Macau, with a view to generating stronger impetus to the growth of the bay area and making a greater contribution to national development.

This story has been published on: 2023-02-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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A 75-year-old man who allegedly fired his rifle into the air on the morning of Tuesdays primary election because he believed his tree was going to be cut down  forcing the village of Brooklyn to move its single polling place  was charged Thursday with making terrorist threats for also allegedly threatening to shoot police.

Paul W. Douglas, of Brooklyn, came out of his home at 110 Hotel St., located just around the corner from the polling place at the villages Community Building, when a truck and workers from Arbor Systems arrived around 7 a.m., a criminal complaint filed in Green County says.

The crew was there to perform a job across the street, at 105 Hotel, they later told police, although they had earlier been asked to do an assessment of Douglas property. When Douglas saw them he called 911 and told a dispatcher they are going to steal my tree. They are going to cut down my tree without my permission, according to the complaint.

The dispatcher told Douglas a deputy would be sent to his home and urged him not to get his gun, but Douglas said the deputy better have a bulletproof vest on because (expletive) going to happen today.

Douglas fired a single rifle shot in the air before leaving the scene, according to the criminal complaint. Police at first assumed Douglas had retreated back into his home and brought in a SWAT team to try to arrest him before learning hed turned up a couple of hours later in the village of Oregon, where he was arrested, the complaint says.

Douglas is charged with making terrorist threats and second-degree recklessly endangering safety  both felonies  as well as with disorderly conduct.

Brooklyns polling place was moved to the villages Public Works Building at 102 Windy Lane shortly after the incident began Tuesday. A judge later extended the sites hours an extra 90 minutes until 9:30 p.m. to accommodate voters who might have had to wait to cast a ballot because of the incident.

Brooklyn, with a population of about 1,500, is about a half-hour south of Madison and is split between Dane and Green counties.

Students and staff at Brooklyn Elementary School and Heart of Brooklyn preschool were put on a secure hold during the incident, the Oregon School District said in an email to parents Tuesday morning. A hold means all students and staff remain in the building with doors locked.
A wanted and armed man who Madison police shot at was found dead in a store bathroom he barricaded himself in after gunfire was heard in the bathroom, authorities reported.

The incident began late Friday afternoon while police were searching for Justin D. Kopmeyer, 38, a suspect in the death of a woman whose body they discovered Wednesday.

Madison Assistant Police Chief Matt Tye on Friday night would not confirm that the dead man was Kopmeyer until the dead man is identified by the Dane County Medical Examiners Office.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation in a statement later Friday night identified the dead man as a wanted subject without naming him or specifying what he was wanted for.

Shortly after 4 p.m., Madison police officers attempted to apprehend the man at the Kwik Trip at 3528 E. Washington Ave. and during the interaction, the man produced a weapon, DCI said.

One officer attempted to use a Taser on the subject without success, another officer fired their gun in the direction of the man, and the man then barricaded himself in a bathroom. Officers heard gunfire in the bathroom and later found the man dead, DCI said.

Madison police and DCI both said no one else was injured during the incident.

Madison police said there were customers inside the store, but it was unclear whether they all had escaped the store at the time of the gunshots.

Tye said police initially confronted the suspect outside the Kwik Trip bathroom, and the whole incident took a matter of minutes.

Tye said an unidentified number of shots were fired by both the Madison police officer involved and the suspect, and he also said another Madison police officer attempted to use a Taser on the suspect.

The suspect was later located inside the bathroom of that Kwik Trip, deceased, Tye said.

A Dane County 911 dispatch supervisor had said at 4:45 p.m. Friday that Madison police were working on an incident and they located a suspect who went into the store.

Police said that officers were in the area looking for Kopmeyer, who had been identified as a suspect in the East Side homicide. A warrant had been issued for Kopmeyers arrest in the death of the woman Wednesday in the 3400 block of Richard Street. The woman has not been identified.

Jesus Nolasco said he was inside the Kwik Trip buying food with his family when a man being chased by police came running in.

Suddenly a (man) came in and in that moment all you could hear was screams, coming from the fridges in the back, Nolasco said in an interview while waiting at the nearby La Taguara restaurant. A gun went off.

Thats when Nolasco grabbed his wife and daughter and ducked behind the shelves.

Nolasco said he heard what sounded like a Taser and that the man then ran into the store kitchen, where Nolasco believes there was an employee. Thats when Nolascos family and everyone else in the store were evacuated.

Friday afternoon, in announcing that a warrant had been issued for Kopmeyers arrest, authorities had said he has ties to the North and East sides of Madison as well as the Lodi, Baraboo, Beaver Dam and Belleville areas.

Authorities closed East Washington Avenue in both directions between Wright Street and Highway 51 at 4:50 p.m. Friday. The road was reopened at 6:14 p.m., according to the state Department of Transportation.

The Madison Police Department is responding to an incident at the Kwik Trip located along the 3500 block of E. Washington Ave.



Please use alternate routes if you need to travel this portion of E. Washington Ave.



More information will be released later this evening.  Madison Police (@madisonpolice) February 24, 2023

The Madison officers who were involved have been placed on administrative assignment, per department policy.

DCI is leading the investigation and is assisted by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, Wisconsin State Patrol, and a DCI Crime Response Specialist. All involved law enforcement are fully cooperating with DCI during this investigation. DCI will turn over its investigative reports to the Dane County District Attorney when the investigation concludes.

State Journal reporter Jeff Richgels contributed to this story.

6 serial killers who left deep scars on Wisconsin Serial killer Ed Gein Serial killer Ed Gein Serial killer Ed Gein Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin Serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer Serial killer David Spanbauer Serial killer David Spanbauer Serial killer Walter Ellis Serial killer Walter Ellis Serial killer Edward Edwards Serial killer Edward Edwards
A man slated to go to trial in April for attempted homicide was charged in a separate case Thursday with reckless homicide for allegedly selling a man the fentanyl-laced pills that killed him nearly two years ago.

Steven L. Price Jr., 26, of Madison, was identified from interviews with friends of the victim  identified only by the initials DMF  and phone record and credit card searches, according to a criminal complaint.

Price has been in Dane County Jail on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges since April 14, 2021. DMF was found dead the morning of March 4, 2021, at his stepfathers DeForest home.

According to the criminal complaint, DMF and Price were both users, and Price sold DMF pills from his Portage Road home.

Price was one of two people charged in April 2021 with being parties to attempted first-degree intentional homicide for a shooting that month on Madisons Southwest Side that left a woman with a bullet lodged in her face.

A criminal complaint charged Price and a then-19-year-old Fitchburg woman with the shooting of the mother of Prices child. Prosecutors said Price had threatened to kill the woman and her grandmother and that many of the pending cases against Price at that time were for prior domestic incidents involving the woman.

Prices co-defendant in the case was found not guilty by a jury on Feb. 16.

Price currently has eight open felony cases and two open misdemeanor cases in Dane County dating back to July 2019, for charges including the homicide counts, possession of narcotics, criminal damage to property and bail jumping.
RACINE  Two law enforcement officers are under investigation within their departments after both were cited on suspicion of drunken snowmobiling during an off-duty excursion to northern Wisconsin.

Racine County Sheriff's Lt. Shawn Barker and Racine Police Investigator Todd Lauer were arrested Feb. 11 in Eagle River.

According to a police report, Barker refused to submit to a breathalyzer test, but Lauer was found to have a 0.14 blood-alcohol content  nearly double the 0.08 threshold for drunken driving or snowmobiling.

The report also states that both Barker and Lauer flashed their police credentials before either was asked for identification.

Both are facing non-criminal traffic citations for operating a snowmobile while intoxicated in Vilas County, which is north of Rhinelander near Lake Superior.

Contacted at his home, Lauer declined to discuss the incident.

"Respectfully, I don't have anything to say," he said.

Barker could not be reached for comment.

Both officers live in the Town of Burlington in western Racine County.

Neither Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling nor Racine Police Chief Maurice Robinson could be reached for comment, although both of their departments issued statements regarding the arrests.

Lt. Michael Luell, public information officer for the Sheriff's Office, said Barker has been placed on administrative leave while the department conducts an internal investigation into the Vilas County incident.

Barker has been on leave since Feb. 13, but Luell would not say whether the lieutenant is continuing to collect a paycheck during the investigation.

"The sheriff has nothing further to say regarding this issue," Luell said.

Sgt. Kristi Wilcox, public information officer for the Police Department, would not disclose Lauer's employment status. Wilcox said the department is investigating the allegations against Lauer.

"This incident is being addressed as an internal investigation, and as such will not be commented on by department personnel," Wilcox said.

Barker, 50, has been with the Sheriff's Office for 25 years. He was promoted in 2013 to lieutenant in the jail division, making him one of seven officers to reach the department's fourth-highest rank, between sergeant and captain.

Barker was suspended for five days in 2019 after he crashed a vehicle into a utility pole near his home but did not report the traffic incident to law enforcement until the next day. He later paid about $500 in fines for two traffic citations.

Lauer, 38, joined the Police Department in 2015 and was promoted to investigator last October.

According to the Vilas County Sheriff's Department, Barker and Lauer were snowmobiling together in Eagle River shortly before 1 a.m. Feb. 11 when Deputy Jacob Colassaco saw them running through stop signs on a public trail.

The deputy reported that Lauer also drove his snowmobile in front of a truck, nearly colliding with it.

"I explained to both Todd and Shawn I observed them both completely ignore the stop sign where I was parked," the deputy wrote. "Shawn then showed me an identification which I observed to be a law enforcement identification card. Todd also pulled out his wallet (in) which I observed a badge."

Barker and Lauer reportedly told the deputy that they had been snowmobiling with a group, and that they were heading to Eagle River to refuel before returning to where they were staying in nearby Conover.

According to the report, the Vilas County sheriff's deputy observed that both men emitted "a strong odor of intoxicants" and both slurred their speech.

Lauer reportedly told the deputy that he had been drinking beer, but that he and Barker had stopped drinking at 10 p.m., about three hours earlier.

"Shawn appeared defensive as I asked him questions in regards to consuming alcohol," the deputy reported. "Shawn appeared visibly upset where I explained I need to continue my investigation."

After Barker and Lauer both took field sobriety tests, they were handcuffed and placed in separate squad cars.

In addition to snowmobiling under the influence, both were cited for failing to stop at a stop sign. Barker was cited for refusing to take a breathalyzer, and Lauer was cited for operating a snowmobile with a prohibited alcohol content.

If found guilty, each could face fines of several hundred dollars, although the exact amounts were not immediately clear.

Both have court dates in Vilas County Circuit Court, Lauer on March 27 and Barker on April 3.
A 33-year-old Fairfield man was charged Friday with a pair of felonies after a confrontation that led a deputy to discharge his service weapon Thursday afternoon in Gooding.

No one was injured by the gunfire, but a deputy was treated and released after an altercation with Silas Roland Brand II in the North Canyon Medical Center parking lot, court reports say.

Brand was charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, leaving the scene of an injury accident, and a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, records say.

A second deputy fired his service weapon during the encounter which appears to have been triggered when Brand became upset that he wasnt allowed to go into a room with his girlfriend while she was to be examined. He grabbed the woman near the back of her head and left the hospital, court records say.

Hospital staff requested the deputy to check on the situation and a physical altercation ensued.

The deputy was at the passenger side of Brands vehicle, holding onto the door when Brand started his car. The vehicle started moving and sideswiped a parked SUV, and appears to smash (the deputy) between the car door and the car, court records show.

The deputy was later treated and released.

Brand, who was taken into custody near the Gooding Municipal Airport, wouldnt give his name to investigators during an interview and said the deputy was trying to abduct him and his girlfriend, along with other allegations.

Brand was not injured in the incident.

Minutes of the arraignment indicate he didnt respond to Magistrate Judge Casey Robinsons questions and refused to identify himself and gave no response when asked if he understood his rights.

Robinson took Brands silence as an indication he will represent himself and set a bond of $250,000.

His preliminary hearing has been set for March 2.

Due to the Gooding County deputy firing his weapon, the Magic Valley Critical Incident Task Force was activated, and the Twin Falls Police Department has been named the lead investigative agency.

The task force is composed of members of area law enforcement agencies, with an aim of conducting an unbiased investigation.
Looking over the past years progress, Henry County officials leave no doubt that a plot of land holds the key to a very bright economic future for the region.

Even though it didnt happen in 2022, our biggest win since last years progress report would have to be the recent announcement about the $22.2 million we are receiving from the state to grade at Commonwealth Crossing, said Brandon Martin, Henry Countys public information officer.

Just hours after he heard the exciting news in January, Henry County Administrator Dale Wagoner was one of the featured speakers at the annual Stop the violence event in Sandy Level, and he shared his excitement with everyone attending the event.

Last week Wagoner sat down with the Bulletin to explain why the project is such a huge opportunity for Henry County to fully realize the potential the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre holds for the future of the region.

The state had $90 million to share across the Commonwealth and they got $330 million in requests, so were pretty excited to get 25% of the total funds, said Wagoner. Initially it started with the application process with multiple pages, questions and engineering reports, so basically you couldnt pull a number out; you had to have the engineering reports to back it up.

Wagoner said they had to prepare the reports in minute detail and to do that, he depended upon the expertise of Henry County Public Service Authority (PSA) Director of Engineering Tim Pace.

The Virginia Ready Sites Program has been around a few years and we were fortunate to get the money to build the [water] tank and we were already awarded $1.8 million to make this a Tier V industrial site, said Pace. We didnt have much funding at first, but the work we have already done went a long ways toward our application at Commonwealth Crossing.

After Henry County completed the first step of the process, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick brought her team to Henry County and was given a tour of Commonwealth Crossing.

It was an opportunity for us to let her see Commonwealth Crossing and why its important, Wagoner said. The next step was a virtual presentation where we joined a virtual meeting to pitch the first phase to the review team.

The team involved contractors throughout the state and provided Henry County officials with an outside perspective.

We went through our case and discussed what would be a good fit, said Wagoner. Once that was done and narrowed down to the actual site visit we were then presented with follow-up questions and that generated alternative proposals. All our alternative proposals were considered and our first proposal proved to be the best and what they accepted.

There are some odd or unique developed sites in Virginia, but there is not a lot of space for new projects and even through there are industrial projects much larger than us, none of them are ready to put an industry on it, said Pace. To have a site greater than 100 acres with all utilities and rail access including broadband cant be found anywhere else in the state.

With Pace and Martinsville and Henry County Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Mark Heath leading an economic development team, Patrick & Henry Community College, Norfolk & Southern, Southwestern Virginia Gas and Appalachian Power were all invited to the table where the full case for funding Commonwealth Crossings newest project was presented.

Maybe it was the good local food from Hamlet Kitchen that we had for lunch onsite while we were presenting, Wagoner said. We got in our vehicles and drove onsite through the mud, took them to the rail and showed them where everything was located. Then the official word came out on a Monday morning and it was signed by the Secretary of Commerce and Trade and then to the Governors Office.

Press Glass brought an $85 million initial investment to Commonwealth Crossing and that was followed by Crown Holding with a $155 million capital investment that was quickly expanded to $175 million, making it the biggest single investment ever in the history of Henry County, but Wagoner says the real prize is yet to come.

Were going to be very selective. We want to make sure we get the best, said Wagoner. This is the type of site thats needed across the United States for growth. Weve seen this through previous and current inquiries and the data points to a much higher capital investment and more jobs.

And Commonwealth Crossing will still not be fully occupied.

Crown is a 50-acre site and this will be a 150-acre site, Pace said. We still have Lot #3 that will include a 90-acre pad and also have rail service and we just finished grading Lot #5 and there are a couple of other potential smaller lots.

Wagoner added that Commonwealth Crossing is a revenue shared industrial park and the Countys partner in the venture is the city of Martinsville.
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:

In this photo provided by UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences, neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Gerszten tells study participant Heather Rendulic how electrodes will be implanted on her spinal cord at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh on May 7, 2021. A stroke left Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, so she volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment that stimulates her spinal cord in spots that control upper limb motion. Credit: Tim Betler/UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences via AP

A stroke left Heather Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, putting certain everyday tasks like tying shoes or cutting foods out of reach.

"I live one-handed in a two-handed world and you don't realize how many things you need two hands for until you only have one good one," the Pittsburgh woman told The Associated Press.

So Rendulic volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment: Researchers implanted a device that zaps her spinal cord in spots that control hand and arm motion. When they switched it on, she could grasp and manipulate objectsmoving a soup can, opening a lock and by the end of the four-week study, cutting her own steak.

It's not a curethe improvements ended after scientists removed the temporary implantand the pilot study included only Rendulic and one other stroke survivor. But the preliminary results, published Monday, mark a step toward one day restoring mobility for this extremely common type of paralysis.

"They're not just getting flickers of movement. They're getting something important," said Dr. Jason Carmel, a Columbia University neurologist who wasn't involved with the new experiment but also studies ways to recover upper-limb function. "It's a very exciting proof of concept."

In this photo provided by UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences, a medical team at UPMC Presbyterian hospital prepares research participant Heather Rendulic to get electrodes implanted in her spinal cord in Pittsburgh on May 7, 2021. A stroke left Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, so she volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment that stimulates her spinal cord in spots that control upper limb motion. Credit: Tim Betler/UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences via AP

Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. alone suffer a stroke each year. Even after months of rehabilitation, well over half are left with permanently impaired arm and hand function that can range from muscle weakness to paralysis.

Experiments by multiple research groups have found that implanting electrodes to stimulate the lower spine shows promise for restoring leg and foot movement to people paralyzed after a spinal cord injurysome have even taken steps. By using electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University help restore arm and hand movement in patients who survived severe strokes. Credit: Tim Betler, UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences

But upper-limb paralysis has gotten little attention and is inherently more challenging. The brain must signal multiple nerves that control how the shoulder lifts, the wrist turns and the hand flexes. Stroke damage makes it harder for those messages to get through.

"People still retain some of this connection, they're just not enough to enable movement," said University of Pittsburgh assistant professor Marco Capogrosso, who led the new research with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University. "These messages are weaker than normal."

In this photo provided by UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences, occupational therapist Amy Boos, left, and Carnegie Mellon graduate student Nikhil Verma connect sensors on the arm of research participant Heather Rendulic in Pittsburgh on May 19, 2021. A stroke left Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, so she volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment that stimulates her spinal cord in spots that control upper limb motion. Credit: Tim Betler/UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences via AP

His idea: Stimulate a pathway of related nerve cells so they're better able to sense and pick up the brain's weak signal.

"We're not bypassing their control. We're enhancing their capabilities to move their own arm," he said.

Researchers turned to implants the size of spaghetti strands that already are used to stimulate the spine for chronic pain treatment. The implants carry electrodes that are placed on the surface of the spinal cord to deliver pulses of electricity to the targeted nerve cellswhich for hand and arm control are in the spine's neck region.

Rendulic and a second, more severely impaired volunteer could move better as soon as the stimulator was switched onand by the study's end showed improved muscle strength, dexterity and range of motion, researchers reported Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. Surprisingly, both participants retained some improvement for about a month after the implants were removed.

In this photo provided by UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences, research participant Heather Rendulic takes a test to measure arm strength in Pittsburgh on May 19, 2021. A stroke left Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, so she volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment that stimulates her spinal cord in spots that control upper limb motion. Credit: Tim Betler/UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences via AP

Rendulic, now 33, was performing some fine-motor tasks for the first time since suffering a stroke in her 20s. That unusually young stroke, caused by weak blood vessels that bled inside her brain, initially paralyzed her entire left side. She learned to walk again butwith the exception of those four weeks with spinal stimulationcannot fully open her left hand or completely raise that arm.

"You feel like there's a barrier between your brain and your arm," Rendulic said. But with the stimulation on, "I could immediately sense that, like, oh my arm and hand are still there."

Two other researchers who helped pioneer experiments stimulating the lower limbs of people with spinal cord injuries say it's logical to now try the technology for stroke.

While bigger and longer studies are needed, the new results "are really promising," said Mayo Clinic assistant professor Peter Grahn.

In this photo provided by UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences, research participant Heather Rendulic prepares to grasp and move a can of soup at the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs of the University of Pittsburgh on May 24, 2021. A stroke left Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, so she volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment that stimulates her spinal cord in spots that control upper limb motion. Credit: Tim Betler/UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences via AP

In this photo provided by UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences, research participant Heather Rendulic cuts and eats a piece of steak for the first time since recovering from a series of strokes in 2012, at Pitt's Rehab Neural Engineering Lab in Pittsburgh on June 6, 2021. A stroke left Rendulic with little use of her left hand and arm, so she volunteered for a first-of-its-kind experiment that stimulates her spinal cord in spots that control upper limb motion. Credit: Tim Betler/UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences via AP

Scientists have learned from research with lower limbs that "it may not matter where that injury occurs, if it's something in the brain or it's a spinal cord injury," added University of Louisville professor Susan Harkema. "Targeting the human spinal cord circuitry has a lot of potential."

With National Institutes of Health funding, Capogrosso is studying the approach in a few more stroke survivors. The researchers also have formed a company to further develop the technology.

More information: Marco Capogrosso, Epidural stimulation of the cervical spinal cord for post-stroke upper-limb paresis, Nature Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-02202-6. www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02202-6 Journal information: Nature Medicine

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
As the state health department tamps down fires at the Montana State Hospital, the embers of poor patient safety, staffing shortages and disagreeable leadership have flared at other state-run facilities.

Triggered by a complaint, a state inspection at the Montana Mental Health Nursing Care Center in Lewistown in January revealed 42 instances of noncompliance with federal regulations.

The citations ranged from inadequate staffing, to improper infection control and a preventable outbreak of COVID-19, to neglect and sexual, verbal and physical abuse between patients.

The patients at the Lewistown care center often suffer severe behavioral issues or severely debilitating cognitive conditions that must be monitored closely by staff members. Some reside at the facility because theyre wards of the state and need skilled nursing care.

Though a difficult population to work with, the CMS Care Compare tool, a federal rating system where consumers can compare health inspection ratings, reports of abuse, and vaccination rates at Medicare-certified nursing homes, has not rated the facility above two stars for many years.

Several former care center employees were interviewed for this article. They criticized new management at the facility and at the state health department, saying that the attitude and atmosphere has eroded under new leadership as normal standards of care were abandoned to serve cost-cutting agendas.

Mike Zwicker became the new administrator in early November, months after the previous administrator left for early retirement. Zwicker has acted as CEO for at least three health systems, two of which were marked by his sudden departure.

His starting salary at the Lewistown care center is about $110,000 a year.

Mike Zwicker came in like a bulldozer. He fired lots, and lots left too, said Scott Dion, a traveling nurse who witnessed the change in leadership while fulfilling a 13-week contract at the facility.

Numerous traveler contracts were cut during Zwickers first two months, according to Dion and other former employees. Traveling clinicians are employed by an outside agency and are assigned to facilities needing staffing support.

When a traveler is contracted to a facility, they work alongside permanent staff for about 13 weeks.

The reduction in travelers at the care center is evident in the monthly reports performed by Alvarez and Marsal, the consulting company the state hired to examine and hopefully stabilize state-run health care facilities.

The monthly traveler expenditure dropped from $224,525 to $161,703 in November and dropped again by the end of December to $120,885.

The state health department announced a plan in October to consolidate traveler staffing contracts to reduce costs at state-run health care facilities. When asked if the department directed Zwicker to cut traveler contracts to fulfill consolidation goals, DPHHS Communications Director Jon Ebelt did not respond or acknowledge those questions.

One former employee, who asked to go unnamed for fear of retaliation, said that the permanent staff were told to take on more patients and work more hours to fill the gaps left by traveling workers.

These demands from Zwicker, and his allegedly disagreeable demeanor, lead to an exodus of permanent staff, the former employee said.

It was starting to feel like Warm Springs did just before (it lost its CMS certification). I didnt want to go down with this ship, the former employee said.

Employee turnover jumped from 1% in November to 8.1% in December, bringing the employee vacancy rate to 31.3% by New Years Eve, according to the Alvarez and Marsal reports.

Increasing patient volumes

Despite the deficits at the care center, health department officials said the facility will serve as the landing spot for as many as 25 geriatric residents being moved from the Spratt Unit at the Montana State Hospital. These residents have been committed to the state hospital due to advanced dementia, Alzheimers or traumatic brain injuries.

In a presentation given to legislators earlier this month, health department officials said they were committed to closing the Spratt Unit after years of battling staffing issues and patient safety concerns. The consulting company Alvarez and Marsal recommended that the state close the facility.

Health department officials said patients are being assessed for community-based nursing homes, but added that its unlikely there are community facilities that have the resources to take care of these patients.

There were 43 patients in the Spratt Unit on Feb. 1 and capacity for only 25 more patients at the Lewistown care center.

Former care center employees were appalled when hearing the plan to increase patient volumes at the state-run nursing home, saying there isnt adequate staff to safely care for the 66 patients living in the 117-bed facility  a claim substantiated by the recent state inspection.

Patients right to freedom from abuse

The vignette most thoroughly described in the state report explained that the facility failed to provide sufficient staff to meet the supervision needs of residents with behavioral issues and failed to ensure vulnerable residents were protected from abuse.

The facility has two locked wards for patients with varying levels of behavioral health challenges, and some residents have specific nurse-to-patient ratios listed in their care plan that protects employees and residents.

A convicted sex offender resides at the nursing home and in his care plan is a requirement for constant nurse supervision while out of his room, according to the inspection report. There is also a sign that hangs on the patients wheelchair reminding staff to keep him an arms length away from others at all times.

Due to staffing issues, the patient has not been closely supervised, and, according to the report he has likely sexually abused vulnerable female patients on more than one occasion.

The offender wheeled himself over to a patient on multiple occasions and made sexual panting sounds, made rude hand gestures of a sexual nature, was found touching her thigh and later found rubbing her ankle under her blanket, the report stated.

The woman being abused has severe cognitive health conditions and needs support in all activities in daily living. She also struggles with speech, making it difficult for her to communicate with others.

Though the offender was reprimanded, the incidences were not identified as possible abuse and therefore not reported or investigated by the facility.

A description included in the report suggests that the man had abused other residents as well.

When a nurse was escorting the man to the dining area, they passed a female resident who appeared to be afraid of the man, according to the report.

She moved as if to stand up, but then scooted to the edge of her seat as if she was moving as far away from him as possible. She kept a diligent eye on the mans every move like she feared him, the report said.

A review of the mans behavior notes showed seven incidents of inappropriate sexual gestures and speech or touching of two different residents. No revisions to the offender's care plan were made, and no revisions were made to reflect potential victimization of the recipients of abuse, according to the inspection report.

Low staffing on secure wings

Just before noon on Jan. 17, only one staff member was working on the E-Wing, where the sex offender patient resides with the two female residents described above.

The wing is reserved for residents with wandering tendencies and is typically locked, though the patients are free to move throughout the wing.

As a necessary safety precaution, one staff member must stay in the wings lobby at all times. But because of staffing shortages, its not unusual for a single nurse to work an entire wing alone.

Once, when a nurse was working alone in the E-Wing, a resident asked for help to go to the bathroom. The staff member told the resident that they had to wait until a second person was on shift because she could not leave her post in the lobby.

On another occasion, a nurse was left to work on the E-Wing alone until a coworker was to arrive at 6 p.m. to help her. But when the coworker didnt show up for their shift, the nurse ended up managing the wing alone for another hour and a half.

(The staff member) stated she was not able to meet the needs of the residents on the unit when she was there alone, the state inspection report said.

When The Gazette contacted the state health department with questions about staffing solutions or strategies for the facility, Ebelt did not answer or acknowledge the queries.

Rep. Mary Carferro, D-Helena, is on the Legislature's Health and Human Services subcommittee and said she has not seen any staffing strategies laid out by the department.

Lewistown is notorious for a lack of housing, making it difficult to attract employees to the small health systems in the rural town.

Health care leaders in Bozeman have made it a priority to build affordable housing for staff. Otherwise, the housing market would make it impossible to fully staff their facilities.

While the Gianforte administration touts historic investments in capital projects, electronic health records and billing systems for state-run facilities and investment projects meant to bring existing health care structures up to code, Ebelt made no mention of an investment in affordable housing for employees.

The state health department is committed to investing in Montanas behavioral health system, which has endured more than 10 years of neglect, Ebelt said in an email.

He attributed the current dysfunction of the system to previous administrations.

Unqualified staff

In addition to low staffing, many of the current employees are entry-level clinicians with limited work experience, according to Dion, the traveling nurse who was recently contracted at the Lewistown care center.

Records of resident behaviors were not recorded in individual medical records, according to the report. Instead clinicians referenced inconsistent notes jotted in a notebook and kept at the nurses station, referred to as soft files by staff.

COVID-19 test results were recorded similarly with the information written out on slips that were stored separately from the patients medical record.

The employees interviewed during the inspection did not know if the COVID-19 results were ever added to the medical records.

A review of 11 different medical records failed to show any COVID-19 test results for the residents despite an outbreak among residents and staff.

During the final weeks of January, an employee still working at the facility said that the unused D-Wing was converted to quarantine the residents with COVID-19, but it had reached capacity. Patients were then being isolated in other wings.

The employee, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation, estimated there were more than 30 patients with COVID-19 at the facility.

Skilled nursing facilities are required to have infection preventionists (IP) on staff who have completed specialized training in infection control. At the time of the survey, the care center's new IP had not received any specialized training and had not received certifications for the role.

The IP said the COVID-19 test results were not entered into the residents medical record and could not explain why the test results were kept separately. She added that she was unaware that there should be a process for handling residents who refuse to test for COVID-19.

The facility was also faulted for failing to notify patient families in a timely manner regarding a positive COVID-19 test or the status of the outbreak.

Dion and a former employee told The Gazette on Feb. 23 that the providers plan of correction was initially denied by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Ebelt denied the claim, saying the plan has been accepted. However, the signed-off report has not been added to the DPHHS certification website.

Administrator with spotted past

Zwicker described himself as having executive leadership experience as the CEO at multiple rural health care facilities, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Not included in the profile are two missteps in his career that led to one sudden departure from a Montana facility and termination from a Washington health system.

The first was in May 2015 when he served as the CEO at Wheatland Memorial Healthcare, a critical access hospital in Harlowton. He was there for two years before hospital tax records show that Zwicker was given a $50,000 severance.

The Gazette did not receive copies of the Wheatland Memorial Healthcare board minutes leading up to Zwickers departure in time for publication.

It is unclear why Zwickers relationship with the hospital ended so abruptly, but within the month he started another job as CEO of a health system.

Zwicker began work at North Valley Hospital in Tonasket, Washinton, in May 2015. By August 2016, just over a year later, the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune reported that hospital board members had fired Zwicker. He was put on administrative leave while the board fulfilled legal obligations, but when his termination was finalized, he was escorted off the premises.

Just days before the board made its decision, a letter to the editor ran in the local newspaper. The letter writer, Arnese Stern, claimed she was wrongly fired by Zwicker after she reported unethical and unfair practices taking place at the hospital.

Zwicker, CEO, had a difficult time managing his emotions to the point that he discontinued meeting with me, cancelled all meetings with me, would not speak to me, Stern wrote. I had hoped (Zwicker) would investigate the organizational at-risk concerns with objectivity versus retaliation. However, I have not experienced ethics to be his strong suit.

The state's new Office of Public Information Requests did not provide the hiring materials that were considered before hiring Zwicker, citing right to privacy laws.

The Gazette sought documents related to Zwickers qualifications, information provided by references, experience, previous employment, salary and more.

Ebelt did not answer questions related to Zwickers employment with the department and did not make Zwicker available for a comment.
A man is facing an attempted deliberate homicide charge after he was arrested on suspicion of running over and injuring a Montana Highway Patrol trooper on Feb. 16.

Jason A. Miller is charged with three felonies: attempted deliberate homicide, criminal endangerment and criminal mischief resulting in a loss of more than $1,500. If convicted of all charges, Miller faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years in the state prison.

Trooper Lewis Johnson, 36, was severely injured near Eureka after he was hit by a pickup, according to officials.

Lincoln County charging documents allege that last month, Miller failed to report to probation and parole. The Lincoln County Sheriffs Office got an alert that Miller was staying in Flathead County and selling fentanyl.

On Feb. 16, after an arrest warrant was issued for Miller. At 2:30 p.m., a deputy alerted that he located Miller. The deputy said Miller refused to stop and took off in a pickup truck, traveling south on Highway 37.

Deputies and Johnson pursued Miller, who allegedly drove at speeds between 65 and 100 miles per hour. Miller turned off Highway 37, according to the affidavit, onto a U.S. Forest Service road. The pickup stopped in a snow-covered area.

Johnson drove past Millers car and stopped about 30 to 40 yards away. Johnson and a deputy got out of the cars and walked to Millers car with their weapons drawn, the affidavit reads. Miller drove his car out of the snow.

The defendant accelerated towards Trooper Johnson, who was standing near the rear of his own patrol vehicle, the affidavit reads. The defendant struck Trooper Johnson, then ran him over with the defendants pickup and fled up the Camp 32 road.

Medical services were immediately called for the hurt trooper.

Miller was apprehended shortly after, but not before he allegedly rammed into a game wardens truck. Miller made his initial appearance in Lincoln County Justice Court on Thursday. His bail is currently set at $1.5 million.

Johnson has been recovering at Logan Health in Kalispell. He sustained a punctured lung, damaged liver, head injury, broken ribs, broken arm, broken leg and severe spinal trauma. His wife, Kate Johnson, who is also an MHP trooper, thanked medical staff profusely for the care given to her husband.

A public support rally for Lewis Johnson is planned for Sunday in Kalispell at Logan Health.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks announced late Friday afternoon that Director Hank Worsech will take medical leave for a personal, private health matter.

Worsech was appointed in 2021 to lead the states wildlife agency by Gov. Greg Gianforte. He had previously worked as FWPs legislative liaison and licensing bureau chief before coming out of retirement to lead the agency.

Deputy Director Dustin Temple will manage the departments day-to-day operations, FWP announced. In a statement, Temple requested privacy for Worsech and said the agency would not comment further on the directors health.
Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This weeks contribution is from Michael Poland, geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey and scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

The volcanic character of Yellowstone has long been known. An indigenous map drawn on a bison pelt and indicating a volcano on the Yellowstone River was described by the governor of Louisiana Territory in an 1805 letter to Thomas Jefferson. The first formal geological studies of the region, however, were not undertaken until the 1870s.

In 1871, the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, led by geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, took on the task of conducting a detailed exploration of the region that is now Yellowstone National Park. The exploration provided a preliminary assessment of the geology of the area, and the maps, reports, photographs, paintings and descriptions were the primary motivation behind the creation of the national park. The work even involved mapping the coastlines and depths of Yellowstone Lake  incredible work for the time done using an 11-foot-long boat.

Additional work occurred in the years that followed, prompted by the attention that the region had received after the 1871 survey. The United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories returned to Yellowstone in 1877 and 1878, when topographical surveys by cartographers Henry Gannett and Allen David Wilson established the most accurate map of elevations and landforms of the time. It was also in 1878 that William Henry Holmes conducted a detailed geologic investigation of the new national park. Although a few investigations of the parks geology had been undertaken by that time, Holmes pointed out that geologists have but glanced at the surface features of the country, and that the more profound and intricate problems remain almost untouched.

Holmes spent about two months mapping the parks geology during that summer, although, as he says, during nearly one-half of this time storms of rain and snow prevailed to such an extent as to greatly interfere with the work. Ah, summertime in Yellowstone.

Despite the conditions, Holmes was meticulous and thorough. He charted the course of his exploration and noted the locations where specific observations were made. His geological field work is stunning in its detail, with descriptions of rock units that include their thicknesses and physical characteristics  critical information for understanding the areas geological history. Holmes also produced numerous sketches and descriptions of the relations between rock units  for example, of the Mount Everts unconformity between sedimentary rocks (that he correctly recognized as being over 65 million years old) and much younger rhyolite ash flow deposits.

The map that Homes produced  a work of art in itself  represents the first complete geological map of Yellowstone National Park, and it is surprisingly accurate. Although the current geological map, published by Robert Christiansen and collaborators in 2001 after decades of work, contains far more detail about rock units and structures, like faults and eruptive vent locations, the 1878 map correctly represents the major features of Yellowstone. These insights included the large extent of relatively recent rhyolite rocks, the presence of a much older series of volcanic rocks in the eastern part of the park (these being derived from the Absaroka volcanoes that existed 4353 million years ago), the geological epochs to which the various rock units belong, and that the area had been recently glaciated based on the presence of granite bowlders sitting on the surface in many locations (this surficial geology was later mapped in detail by USGS geologist Ken Pierce and collaborators). Holmes did not recognize that the region was home to several calderas  that came much later, in the 1950s and 1960s  but did understand the widespread importance of volcanic activity in the region.

Many of the rocks that Holmes collected were examined under a microscope, in thin section, by Clarence Dutton, a geologist who later led the branch of volcanic geology for the fledgling U.S. Geological Survey (founded in 1879) and who spent several months in 1882 observing active volcanism in Hawaii. Also in 1878, geologist Albert Charles Peale (great-grandson of Charles Wilson Peale, the famous artist of the American Revolution era) observed the geyser basins of Yellowstone, keeping meticulous notes of the characteristics, eruptions, temperatures, and sizes of individual geysers and hot springs  information that is still used today to understand how those features have changed over time. Peales geyser basins are clearly depicted on the 1878 geological map of Yellowstone National Park.

It is difficult to imagine the challenge of mapping the geology of Yellowstone in 1878. Roads were limited, and transportation was by foot and by horse  much of the time in the field was spent simply trying to get from one location to another. In addition, the tools were the eyes of the geologist, compass, notebook and pencil. Cameras were cumbersome, so many geologists had to double as artists, sketching the field relations they observed on scales ranging from small outcrops to expansive mountain vistas. Mapping today is aided by air photos and satellite images that are important for precisely locating contacts between geologic units; in 1878, there were no such tools to help guide field investigations.

At the end of this exceptional effort, Holmes recognized that he was merely investigating the tip of the iceberg in terms of the geology of the region. "If I could have consumed years instead of months in the study of the 3,400 square miles comprising the Park, I might justify myself in putting my observations on paper  I have, consequently, gone just far enough to get glimpses of the splendid problems of the rocks, and to enable me in the future to appreciate and understand the classic chapter that this district will some day add to the great volume of written geology.

Indeed, Yellowstone has become one of the best places in the world to study caldera systems. The 1878 geological map provided a foundation upon which all of that subsequent work has been built.
For two years without success, Rep. Marty Malone, R-Pray, has attempted to draw a landowner preference tag to shoot cow elk on his property in the Paradise Valley.

In the Montana Legislature on Thursday he introduced a bill to reduce the amount of land needed to qualify for the tags from 640 acres to 160. No one spoke in favor of the measure, House Bill 600, during the Thursday hearing before the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee.

Kevin Farron, representing the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, said the state is already throwing out (elk) licenses like candy. He said its better to use the existing programs to target problematic concentrations of elk.

Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, complained his property sometimes houses 1,000 head of elk, eating forage his cattle could graze. In the spring, he said elk have the ability to come in and wipe out his hay crop.

Youve got to look at the landowners putting up with this crap, Butcher said.

Farron said his group is sympathetic to such problems, but added that elk are a public resource, and providing habitat for wildlife is a part of owning land in Montana.
The hope for a better world depends on young people, Russian journalist and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dmitry Muratov told a group of Montana State University students on Wednesday.

I have no hope in anyone with the exception of 20-, 25-, 30-year-olds, Muratov said through an interpreter. Your generation is connecting to the future.

Muratov is founder and editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper that has reported on government corruption and human rights since 1993. Since 2000, six journalists working for the paper have been killed, believed to have been targeted for their investigative work. One was kidnapped and severely beaten while uncovering evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin's government ordered the missile that shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, which killed 298 people.

When asked by a student if, looking back on his career, he would do anything differently, Muratov spoke about wanting to shut the paper down after the reporters were killed.

If we had been a little smarter or more cautious, some of the journalists could have been saved, Muratov said. Even the best reporting, the most important investigations, are not worth their lives.

Novaya Gazeta has continued to publish, despite having its print and online media licenses in Russia rescinded. The papers reporting is disseminated via email and on YouTube, which somehow has not yet been blocked in Russia, but its going to be  its just a matter of time, Muratov said.

According to Muratov, since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine a year ago, the Russian government has shut down all independent media outlets. Thousands of journalists, he said, have been forced to leave the country, many labeled enemies of the state, foreign agents or undesirables.

Merely uttering the word war in Russia is a criminal offense, he added, and nobody seems to be immune to prosecution.

Thats why, my friends, free speech is mutually exclusive with war  war is impossible when there is free speech, he said. In order to start a war, you have to shut down free speech and silence alternate forms of information.

Muratov called the remaining newspapers, along with all 12 federally owned Russian broadcast channels, government propaganda outlets. But he added their influence is undeniable. After Russia invaded Ukraine, a split took place within the nation, he said, adding that Russians 18-40 tend to be radically against the war while the older generations  products of the propaganda  support Putin.

Propaganda is the new religion, he said.

Though Muratov said he no longer believes that hope will effect change, he does believe members of civil society can do so by the assisting the 14 million Ukrainian refugees who need housing and medical services.

He also reminded the students that they have tremendous power to influence public opinion.

We are standing on the verge of the third world war  where is the young generation of students? he asked. Without strong emotion, the public will grow weary and come to accept dictatorship.

He ended the session by telling the story of a 10-year-old girl in war-torn Ukraine who prayed amid bombed-out ruins for life for herself and her country. He said he would like to see the worlds media outlets, social media platforms and influencers display and broadcast the prayers of that girl and countless other Ukrainian children.

Whats important to get across to every person is that the life of this child is in your hands, he told the students. In that sense, each one of us is media.

Students who attended the class said Muratovs remarks about propaganda and the power of free speech to deter war were particularly affecting.
A vehicle sits in a ditch after spinning out near the exit ramp to Knighton Road in Redding as a semitruck and an SUV make the exit. on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.

The late-winter snow surprise that blanketed Redding and Shasta County overnight on Friday was unexpected but not unusual for this time of year, according to weather experts.

Snow began falling in the Redding area on Thursday night as an Alaskan cold front swept south and was expected to continue driving into Southern California in the coming days.

By 9 a.m., accumulation of about 5 inches to 8 inches of snow in Redding was being reported anecdotally on social media, said Katrina Hand, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

Official snow tallies for Redding were not yet available from the National Weather Service on Friday morning, she said.

"January, February, March, we're still in the winter months, so it's not unusual to have snowfall in there," said Hand.

But this week's snowfall is reminiscent of the Valentine's Day "Snowmageddon" that overwhelmed Redding in 2019, snarling traffic and shutting businesses down.

More:Rogue snowstorm sours Redding's Valentine's Day

That storm dumped 3 inches of snow on Feb. 12, followed by 6 inches on Feb. 13 for a total of 9 inches, said National Weather Service Sacramento Meterologist Bill Rasch.

This week's snowfall is "unusual, but not uncommon. It's not a once-in-a-lifetime type thing," Rasch said.

He said the snowfall also would help the region's drought status.

"It's just one storm in the series that we've had this winter, which is definitely helping and it's knocked down our drought status quite a bit. So every little storm is helping," Rasch noted.

Temperatures in Redding, though, remained moderate, rising to about freezing by mid-morning and prompting snowmelt.

Warmer weather is expected in Shasta County next week, bringing more precipitation in the form of rain, forecasters said.

The latest date that Redding has observed snow was May 23, 1990, when 1.5 inches was recorded, Hand of the National Weather Service said.

The region's biggest one-day February snow total happened in 1968, when 16 inches fell, Rasch said.

Story continues

The second largest snowfall happened in 1950, when 10.5 inches of snow were recorded.

The Lister family has a snowball fight in the cul-de-sac of Emily Way in the County Heights subdivision in Redding on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.

There was a three-way tie for the third largest February snowfall, as 10 inches fell in 1988, 1950 and 1916, said Rasch.

"It's still going to snow for at least a good part of the day yet," he said.

Michele Chandler covers criminal justice issues for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @MChandler_RS, call her at 530-338-7753 or email her at michele.chandler@redding.com. Please support our entire newsroom's commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding wakes up to late winter snowfall in February
HICKORY  Lenoir-Rhyne University announced a partnership with 14 regional community colleges, including Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton. The agreement will reduce barriers for students looking to transfer to the university.

President Fred Whitt joined with presidents and representatives of 13 of the 14 colleges at LRU on Wednesday to sign the contracts formalizing the agreement known as the Bear Bound Partnership.

Whitt told the crowd that students who graduated from the community colleges can come to Lenoir-Rhyne without having to worry about general education requirements, something he said could save the students 20 credit hours.

He also said the university will be opening up its Lenoir-Rhyne Promise scholarship which allows students with higher GPAs to reduce their tuition by half.

With the scholarship program, the overall reduction in tuition from $43,000 to $30,000 and additional Pell Grant funds, some students who completed community college and then transferred to Lenoir-Rhyne could obtain a four-year degree for as little as $12,000.

Regarding the partnership, Whitt said: Its not about what we want to do. Its how do we meet (students and families) where they are and how do we partner in collaboration  not in competition  with our local community colleges in the region? And what we want to do collectively is provide those clear, affordable pathways to those who want to complete a four-year degree.

Leaders in the community college system heralded the partnership, with WPCC President Joel Welch saying it would provide a strong option for Burke County students looking to transfer as many credits as possible toward a bachelors degree. He said it also will provide lower tuition, joint advising and improved accessibility to financial aid for community college students who transfer to LRU.

We want as many options for our WPCC students as possible, he said. Our agreement and partnership with LRU will provide enhanced and improved transfer options for our students. Our students perform extremely well when they transfer and we look forward to seeing them be successful at LRU.

Bill McBrayer, a Hickory resident who serves as the vice chair of the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges, said the partnership helps to remove obstacles that might otherwise interfere with students pursuing higher education.

You know, if they dont have easy access to a community college or a four-year institution, if they have one little roadblock, they might just say, Forget it. Its not worth it. Its too much trouble. Im out of here, McBrayer said.
With just over five months to go before the deadline for Burke United Christian Ministries to find a new home, the factors behind the ouster from the West Union Street property that has been its home for more that two decades still arent entirely in focus.

Doug Setzer is the board president of Burke Charitable Properties, the nonprofit that owns the property. On Feb. 10, told The News Herald, the decision to sell was made due to a new direction for BCP and also due to local concerns.

While details on BCPs new direction are still being worked out, Morganton City Manager Sally Sandy said the city also has been feeling community pressure concerning BUCMs location. She said while the pressure did not originate with city government, city officials have communicated the concerns they were hearing to BCP.

Weve had several conversations with them, Sandy told The News Herald. We have shared with them the community pressure that were getting. We have shared the kinds of things that we are dealing with.

She said the city is not against BUCM, but she does think a move away from downtown would help quell some of the poor behaviors the city is dealing with.

Downtown proper is in close proximity to this facility and to some other facilities, she said. I think that lends itself to groups that have nothing to do and nowhere to go during the day to congregate. And I think when that happens is when the bad behaviors and the challenges were dealing with daily happen.

She cited the importance of downtown Morganton to Burke County, calling it the countys front door, and a focal point for how the area attracts investment.

There is not an economic development client or an investor or anyone who has come to this community, in the 30 years Ive been here, that we havent toured (downtown) and that downtown isnt a focal point for how we sell the community and how we attract investment, she said.

Major hurdles

But BUCMs downtown location is also an important factor for it and its clients, which means the impending move will be a major hurdle.

For the ministry, the biggest hurdle right now is the uncertainty of where to go. Beyond a few ideas of places  the old Food Lion on East Fleming Drive and the former lighting center on East Meeting Street  agency leaders admit the number of properties in Morganton that would check all, or even most of their boxes, is extremely limited.

For the clients, access is likely to be the biggest hurdle even after the agency moves.

Were walking, so its going to be a little bit harder, said Jessica, a Morganton resident who has been homeless for 12 years. Anywhere they go, itll be worth it to walk, though.

Still, Jessica said some will be unable to make the trip if BUCM moves too far out of downtown.

Theres a few people out here who couldnt make it because some are in wheelchairs or can barely walk, she said.

Safety concerns

Some of BUCMs neighbors, however, are glad the ministry is moving. Frank lives a few blocks from BUCMs current location. He said, as a Christian, he appreciates the work it is doing, but believes it attracts problem behaviors to the neighborhood.

Being a Christian and helping your neighbor is a great thing, he said. What I have some issue with is the transient people that are being fed and helped to live in the woods behind my house.

Frank said several kids live on his street and he worries some people living in the woods are on drugs or may have criminal histories. He doesnt think moving BUCM out of downtown will solve these problems, but he does think it will help.

Jordan, a Morganton man currently experiencing homelessness disagrees. He told The News Herald that BUCM actually improves the situation because it is one of the few safe places for him and other homeless individuals. He said the agencys zero tolerance policies toward drugs and violence are well known in the community.

Everyone knows, you argue, you get banned, so everyone respects it, he said.

And if somebody does argue, theres like four other people telling them to chill, said Nick, another homeless man.

Both men said BUCM is the one place they feel they can go without risking trouble or being cited for trespassing.

Its a safe place, Jordan said. We cant go anywhere, parking lots, I get in trouble for just walking through.

Theyre like, he was loitering, Nick added. Naw, I was just walking through.

Chief Jason Whisnant with the Morganton Department of Public Safety said issuing citations is generally never the first action his officers take.

Were talking about the most problematic behaviors of habitual repeat offenders for trespassing, he said. And were talking about people who are violating the property rights of others where they have clearly posted their own property and directly asked homeless individuals dont be on my property.

When that happens, Whisnant said his hands are tied. And he said his officers have seen a lot more of those kinds of situations in recent months.

Weve had to start issuing more and more citations because everybody has run out of warnings, he said.

Sandy agrees, noting that something has changed over the past year or two.

It used to be that when we ran into homeless people in the community, we recognized them and knew them, she said. That is no longer the case. What does that mean?

Continuing support

Sandy doesnt think BUCM moving out of downtown will solve the citys issues with homeless residents either, but she does think it will help. Still, she said the city will continue to support the agency during and after its move.

Obviously the city has funded BUCM for years, she said. We have given rental assistance money; we have given utility help money ... We help fund a lot of their refrigerators, freezer equipment, things like that.

Frank doesnt want to see it close either.

Im totally for trying to help some people out, he said. If its not near our residential area, thats great. I feel bad for wherever it goes.

Many in the local faith community have expressed that, wherever BUCM ends up, they are still behind it too.

We fully support the ministries of BUCM and, wherever they land, we will continue to walk with them in this very important work, said the Rev. Paul Carlson, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church.

At Grace Episcopal Church, just down the street from Calvary  and from BUCM, The Rev. Marshall Jolly agreed.

I am going to do everything I can, both as Marshall Jolly and as the Rector of this church, to help BUCM in figuring out whats next, he said.

Carlson expects to see a lot of collaboration in the coming months.

We are all working together to try to support and help, he said. In a time when we need more resources and more assistance for this fastest growing demographic in the country  people experiencing homelessness, we are going backwards here in Morganton.
Jerry Tam knew he had some big shoes to fill when his father and long-time proprietor of the iconic Butte restaurant, The Pekin Noodle Parlor, died Nov. 30, 2020. Owner Ding K. Tam, more affectionately known among Butte residents as Danny Wong, was just as revered as the restaurant he had run for decades.

The Pekins history encompasses 112 years, making it Americas oldest family-run Chinese restaurant.

A graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York City where he studied fashion, Jerry spent 10 years working in the fashion industry before returning home to Butte in 2009 when his mom, Sharon Chu Tam, had a stroke.

Butte has always been home and it was a good time to come back, Tam said. My returning enabled my dad to spend more time with my mom.

It allowed father and son to spend quality time together, as well.

After his mother died on Dec. 23, 2014, Tam stepped up to the plate even more and took over more of the day-to-day duties of running the restaurant. He not only welcomed the challenge, but now, nearly nine years at the helm, has made an even bigger name for the restaurant.

This restaurant enabled my parents to achieve the American dream, and it is still all about family, said Tam, who works alongside his cousin, Nelson Lee.

In the last few years, The Pekin has been featured in The New York Times and Smithsonian magazine, has been the subject of lifestyle segments on nationwide networks, and in March 2020, was in the running for a James Beard Foundation Award.

Beard, who died in 1985, was affectionately called the Dean of American Cookery. He was not just a famous chef, but an author, lecturer and television personality. The not-for-profit foundation, based in New York City, was established a year after his death, and according to its website, the foundation celebrates and supports the people behind Americas food culture.

Without a doubt, it was great to be nominated, but the award was not to be. Three years later, the foundation came knocking again, but this time with better news.

On Wednesday it was announced that The Pekin, 117 S. Main St., was one of six nationwide recipients of the foundations 2023 Restaurant and Chef America's Classics Award.

This award is like the Oscars of food, grinned Tam. You cant buy your way into it.

Jerrys not exaggerating. The award is worth noting.

The Pekin is a Butte tradition, said Tam. I am proud of that.

According to the foundations news release, the national awards were handed out to six locally owned restaurants that have timeless appeal. The release further explained the recipients were chosen for their exceptional talent in the culinary and food media industries, as well as a demonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive.

Tam is thrilled to have such an honor bestowed on the family-run restaurant, but feels the award also belongs not only to his family, but to the Butte community, his customers and his staff.

If it wasnt for them, this award would never have come to fruition, said Tam.
Anyone wondering what the coming years might hold for residents of East Palestine after the devastating train derailment and toxic chemical spill in the Ohio town would do well to read a new book from Missoula's Ron Scholl.

Scholl, 66, has dedicated the past 24 years to exhaustively researching and documenting a different derailment that, like East Palestine's Feb. 3 crash, resulted in a massive release of a chlorine chemical, the evacuation of a small town and concerns that harmful health effects far exceed what officials say. That spill, a Montana Rail Link derailment, happened just after 4 a.m. on April 11, 1996, in Alberton, Montana, about a half-hour drive west of Missoula on Interstate 90. About 65 tons of chlorine gas from a ruptured tank car choked the air in Alberton, killing one person riding the train and forcing the closure of I-90 and the evacuation of Alberton for 17 days. Some residents affected by chlorine exposure still struggle with health effects today.

Back then, Scholl was a graduate student in the environmental studies program at University of Montana. Before his graduate studies, he was in UM's creative writing program. He'd moved to Missoula a few years prior, at 28 years old. Coincidentally he grew up in northeast Ohio, in a suburb on Cleveland's west side, about 85 miles northwest of East Palestine  although the latter was "not a town Id ever heard of" until Feb. 3.

Starting about a year after the Alberton spill, Scholl began documenting Alberton residents' efforts to draw more attention to what they felt were mostly overlooked, or outright denied, long-term health effects that persisted among some people exposed to chlorine. What started as an introduction to the issue from a classmate who filmed the protests became a decades-long obsession for Scholl, who feels there's much more to the story  including lessons learned  than anyone knew. And almost no one outside the Missoula area has even heard of the Alberton spill at all, he said.

"To me there was a story there," he said Feb. 1, before the Ohio derailment. "As time went on and the litigation played out  it was like 2001 that I realized this was an archival project and it would end up being a book."

His comprehensive research spans thousands of pages of court records, original emergency dispatch recordings, accident reports, MRL records, studies of health effects, and more than 100 recorded interviews with residents, first responders and a slew of government officials and rail workers. He committed to writing it all down, hopefully someday in a book, as early as 1999. By 2003, he was "basically flat broke" and took a job at MCAT, where he now serves as supervisor for media assistance grants. That meant his Alberton research and writing was "on the back burner" for years  which, for Scholl, meant he still devoted 15 hours a week to the effort.

By 2019, he had a lengthy draft that he released in blog form, and then an April 2020 e-book. It took another two years to redraft and produce the final version.

The book, "Gassed: The True Story of a Toxic Train Derailment," is currently available only on Amazon and in the Missoula Public Library's permanent collection, meaning it must be read in the building. Scholl hopes to get the book into this year's Montana Book Festival, which would entail availability at a local bookstore.

"Gassed" is a two-volume edition. The two books total nearly 1,000 pages of text, not including citations. They comprise strategic selections from Scholl's e-book, a tome that according to Amazon is the equivalent of nearly 3,200 print pages.

The first book, "The Spill," covers the derailment, the evacuation, and "everybody gets to go home at the end," he said. The second book, "The Long Haul," catalogs the subsequent litigation and health effects.

"Thats where I really get into the weeds about MRLs rail, for example," he said. Despite known problems and an ongoing federal investigation into worn rails on MRL's system that predated the derailment, a jury in 2001 found the company was not negligent or liable for the derailment's health impacts.

Lessons learned

"Things have gotten better, Montana Rail Link cleaned up their act by the end of the century," Scholl noted. "I think its a really good story. It has a lot of value to local readers because it happened here, it happened in western Montana. But the lessons learned are universal."

One of the key lessons, he said, is the long-term health effects of chlorine exposure.

"It was unrecognized at the time of the spill and people were basically being told, Youre going to be OK,'" he said, characterizing residents' return home as "returning to crisis." Even for people who eventually moved away, "What they found out was that their disease followed them."

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, within the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, surveyed Alberton residents' symptoms about two weeks after the derailment. But even though the ATSDR had been looking into chronic chemical sensitivity in the '90s, in Alberton it didn't use its own survey on mass chlorine exposure.

Dr. Cynthia Lewis-Younger, the associate clinical director and associate professor of occupational medicine at the University of Utah Occupational Medicine Clinic, went to Alberton to study residents' health.

"What she diagnosed was previously undiagnosed cases of RADS, a type of multiple chemical sensitivity," Scholl said. RADS, or reactive airways dysfunction syndrome, involves "the sudden onset of asthma following a high level exposure to a corrosive gas, vapor, or fume," according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

"The people generally were showing signs of sensitivity, in a broad sense," Scholl said. "It all kind of falls under an immune response of chemical sensitivity."

Even before the health impacts, the initial response to the spill was problematic. The incident commanders Scholl interviewed later said everything went fine, he said. But some individual first responders, including sheriff's deputies, volunteer firefighters and hazmat specialists, reported confusion and miscommunication.

"Nobody knew where the spill was even though MRL knew where the spill was  nobody was sharing that information," he said, noting that responders set out to find it themselves about three hours after the derailment. "That same lack of precision was passed on to 911 ... Theyre telling all the responders, Go to Petty Creek,'" which was 4.2 miles away on I-90.

Gordy Hughes, now the chief of the Missoula Fire Department, was on shift when the Alberton derailment occurred.

"Alberton created a stir in the state of Montana to the effect that we were ill-prepared and ill-equipped to deal with something of that magnitude," he said Thursday. "And we quickly had to learn the hard way that we had to take that situation and mitigate the factors involved there. A lot of what we know today more or less came to light here in the state, and moreso in the local community."

The lessons Scholl explained Feb. 1 would find a new application just two days later.

Tale of two spills

As soon as he heard about the East Palestine derailment  and the resultant spill, fire and intentional release and burn-off of staggering amounts of vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials  "It sent me back into my research mode. When I was doing the book I was constantly keeping my antennae out for new spills," Scholl said Wednesday.

"I immediately started downloading all the stories on it," he said. "What struck me immediately was that it blew up in the media the way other spills didnt 10, 20 years ago. Here its being covered by everybody, including social media. So its really getting a lot of attention, scrutiny, that Alberton didnt have. Alberton happened in a vacuum in a way. If you didnt live in Missoula you probably didnt know about it."

And there are other differences between two incidents with 1,727 miles and 27 years between them. If Alberton was bad  one of the largest spills of its kind  East Palestine is horrific. In Alberton, one tank car spilled 65 tons, or about two-thirds, of its chlorine. There was no fire. In East Palestine, multiple tank cars spilled and were burned off in a toxic plume visible from space.

East Palestine residents are more vocal than those in Alberton were about health concerns, Scholl said. While some in Alberton raised alarm about chronic impacts, others just wanted to go home and move on, creating a rift in the community.

Also, he said, the Alberton derailment didn't immediately become politicized in the way Ohio's has, with conservatives accusing President Joseph Biden's administration of underplaying the disaster, liberals blaming the derailment on former President Donald Trump's deregulation of railroad braking systems, and progressives blaming it on Biden's intervention in a recent rail-worker labor dispute on behalf of railroad companies.

Norfolk Southern, the East Coast rail giant whose train derailed in Ohio, has so far taken a drastically different role than MRL did in Alberton, Scholl said. In Alberton, MRL took control of the spill scene immediately, even shutting out the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for three days after the derailment, he said. But in Ohio, Scholl said, "it seems more like Norfolk is sort of running scared. They know they have a major PR problem. Theyre also ordering that they're going to have to do cleanup of residents homes and properties. And in Alberton that was absolutely off the table.

"It seems like the complaints in Ohio are being taken much more seriously, and in Alberton they were basically ignored after they determined the testing didnt show a problem, and if you complained you were basically ignored," Scholl said. "A lot of the health officials missed the point that theres going to be a spectrum (of symptoms): Some people are going to be fine. The people who moved back were literally on their own. There was no publicity, it was nothing like Ohio."

Echoes of Alberton

In other ways, East Palestine is probably starting down much of the same path that Alberton was thrust down decades ago. Specifically, Scholl believes residents in East Palestine are likely already experiencing symptoms emblematic of the chronic conditions that afflict many people who endured the Alberton spill. And, he believes the Ohioans who say their health problems show that the disaster there is far worse than official accounts acknowledge.

"I can believe what the residents are saying based on what happened in Alberton," he said, adding that there's a lot of nuance to contamination levels measured days after a spill and residents' health problems after the spill. "Youre getting your initial dose that day (of the spill) and that could set the course for your future health problems to come," he said. But while contamination levels could drop off after the initial spill, health effects from people's initial exposure could persist.

"Going around town and saying all is safe doesnt necessarily mean it was previously safe at all," he said. "I would say right now that the residents that are complaining might already be hyper-sensitized."

That hyper-sensitization to chemicals, he said, means that people may forever experience significant health effects when they encounter even the slightest amount of a chemical. Household cleaners or even walking down the soap aisle at a supermarket could trigger a response, he said. But large industry has a vested interested in downplaying or outright denying chronic chemical sensitivity, Scholl said, arguing that there's "an industry built around denial," just like with cigarette companies.

"I think its a lesson Ohios going to learn.  I think probably chemical sensitivity is going to be one of the problems that people have, and they wont realize it until six months later," he said. "I think thats probably going to be an outcome, but time will tell on that one."

Many lessons could have been learned already from Alberton, but "I think a lot of the lessons I learned from Alberton havent been recognized at all, especially as far as the health symptoms," Scholl said. "I dont think there were very many lessons learned at all. Alberton probably remains the biggest chlorine spill ever from a U.S. railroad  and yet it didnt even make The New York Times and it doesnt have a Wikipedia page. So who knows about it in popular culture? Almost nobody."

Meanwhile, East Palestine has exploded into popular consciousness across the U.S. Scholl believes his book can put it in perspective, as well as offer a road map for the future. Across its volumes, the book covers "every facet that you can think of  the health effects, the litigation outcomes.

"Especially people from East Palestine, if they want to know what might happen with their lawsuits, its going to be a multi-year process and they might get nothing from it," he said. "The book is a template for these types of spills. I just hope being printed, being able to be read, will kind of give it a legacy that goes beyond what happened in Alberton and helps victims of future spills."
MUSCATINE  As she waited for the Democrat candidate seeking the presidency to enter the room at Muscatine Community College, Betty McMahon thought of all the things she had heard about the dark horse contender who was not well known outside of his home state of Georgia.

She had heard from her husband that he strongly supported the growing civil rights movement in the Democratic Party, which left many segregationists in the party feeling betrayed. He had served in the Georgia State Senate and then as governor. Still, in the Iowa caucus, he was competing against 16 other candidates, most of whom had greater name recognition than did he. It led to Carter putting an emphasis on his name, which he did as he entered the room.

Hi! My name is Jimmy Carter, he said with his pleasant southern drawl. Im running for president.

At that moment, he had McMahons vote. Plenty of other peoples as well, as he swept the Iowa Caucus of 1976 and went on to gain the Democratic nomination. He would narrowly beat incumbent President Gerald Ford and become the 39th president of the United States.

McMahon and her friend Mary Ann Schepers were active in the Muscatine County Democrats at the time. They remember Carter visiting Muscatine many times during the caucus. During that time they became friends with the Carters, having many discussions about things ranging from current events to what was happening in the community.

It was after the campaign was over they got their biggest surprise. As part of a promise to Iowans made during the caucus for Iowas support, he invited 35 people from Iowa to his first State of the Union Address on Jan. 19, 1978. McMahon and Schepers were on the guest list.

The two found ornate invitations mailed to them. The two accepted the invitation to Washington, D.C. for the event, flying there one day and back the next.

It was quite a deal, McMahon said. The Secret Service came and checked on us. I found out later my husband could have gone. We thought he couldnt go.

When they arrived, there was an unusual snow for Washington, D.C. and many things were stopped that night. The two checked into their hotel prior to the event.

First of all you had to decide what to wear, Schepers said. When asked what she did wear, she commented I dont remember.

As they approached the White House, they had to have their invitations ready. The Secret Service agents had a list of all the people invited. As other guests arrived, McMahon and Schepers were given a tour of the White House.

Guests at the address remained in a special room at the White House, where they watched the speech on a monitor. After the event, there was a reception where the Marine Band played. There was a reception line where the Carters greeted the guests before dinner. They also danced with the guests during the evening. All the officials from Iowa attended the event.

It made you feel like all the hours and hard work and telephone calls and miles you put on your car finally was worth it, Schepers said. Finally you had someone who was in there and appreciated it.

Both remember the Carters as being gracious people who treated others well. Schepers recalled the southern charm, and said even if the Carters hadnt liked someone, they still treated them with respect.

And it isnt fake, McMahon said. It is the way they are.

McMahon commented that current President Joe Biden, to her, is Jimmy Carter the Second. She said neither Biden nor Carter is given credit for the achievements they had made. Schepers said she felt Carter had a hard time as president because he was not one of the insiders.

The next day, the two returned to Muscatine, promising to remember the presidential speech they had been part of.

It was a long night, McMahon said. A beautiful night. One that I will never forget.

Earlier this week, Carter, 98, entered hospice care in his home in Plaines, Georgia. His two friends from Muscatine were sorry to hear that and can only wish he isn't suffering.

In thinking of her friend, Schepers remembers a time she took her son Eric to a caucus event. As the members of the Muscatine County Democrats were setting up, Eric sat at the back of the room at a desk eating candy corn and coloring. Arriving early, Carter saw the boy, walked over and asked for piece of candy. Eric refused. Later before Carter left, he told Eric I like a man who makes up his mind and sticks to it.

Stanley Center for Peace and Security CEO Keith Porter interviewed Carter twice  once in 1995, which can be heard at https://archive.org/details/RTFM-Comm-951024, and once in 2001, which can be heard at https://stanleycenter.org/common-ground/carter-reflects-middle-east-conflict/.
The public is invited to join City of Muscatine staff in congratulating Police Chief Brett Talkington on his retirement from the department after nearly 35 years of service to the community with the last 12 years as the chief.
A Chicken Guy fast food restaurant operator wants to come to American Canyon, though this fowl endeavor could run afoul of climate change concerns.

The restaurant proposal includes both indoor dining and a drive-thru. Some county residents say idling autos at the drive-thru would add to greenhouse gas emissions.

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Im concerned if new drive-thrus continue to be developed, we adults will be sending the message to our youth that we value convenience today over their chance for a livable future tomorrow, county resident Lori Stelling said.

On Thursday, the American Canyon Planning Commission continued its Chicken Guy hearing. That delay came at the request of the property owner, who wanted more time to look at staff-recommended conditions of approval.

City staff recommended approving Chicken Guy with the drive-thru. It also called for conditions ranging from burying utility line to showing the drive-thru vehicle pathway is safe.

Chandi Hospitality Group is seeking a use permit for a Chicken Guy to be built at 200 American Canyon Road. This shopping center already hosts a Walgreens pharmacy and a 7-Eleven store.

Chicken Guy is a chicken sandwich chain co-founded by the celebrity chef Guy Fieri of television fame and Planet Hollywood restaurateur Robert Earl. Chandi says it has rights to open Chicken Guy restaurants in nine Northern California counties.

Napa City Council denies Raising Cane's drive-thru A Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers restaurant will not be coming to Napa after the Napa City Council upheld an appeal of a proposed drive-thru.

But proposed chicken fast food restaurants with drive-thrus have faced a tough road in Napa County of late.

The city of Napa in 2021 rejected a Raising Canes Chicken Fingers. The reason was that restaurant planners wanted a drive-thru, but a majority of the City Council didnt want idling autos spouting greenhouse gas emissions.

Napa Climate NOW! made a similar argument to the American Canyon Planning Commission over a Chicken Guy drive-thru.

Bayard Fox of the group noted American Canyon last year set the goal of reaching net zero climate pollution by 2030. He cited a restaurant industry publication as saying the average drive-thru wait time at leading fast food chains is more than five minutes per vehicle.

The pandemic has revealed the solution: expand curbside and walk-up service, Fox wrote to the city.

County resident Yvonne Baginski told commissioners that idling cars damage air quality, causing not only such problems as climate change, but such health woes as asthma.

We dont have to pick on Chicken Guy to do whats best for us all, Baginski said. Chicken Guy can open their indoor space and still have a very successful business.

American Canyon resident Tammy Wong also made the point about air quality.

Who lives here, who suffers through that? Wong said. We do. The residents.

Later in the meeting, after the Chicken Guy item had already been postponed by the commission, Commissioner Andrew Goff took up the topic of not allowing new drive-thrus.

I would like to see the city take some action on that, sort of a moratorium, similar to what we do for gas stations," Goff said.

In fact, he said, he'd like to see a citywide policy that prohibits people from just letting cars sit and idle.

In November, the owner of the proposed Chicken Guy site made the argument to the city that a restaurant can be developed there without obtaining a new Planning Commission-approved use permit. The reasoning was that the city in May 2008 approved the shopping center as a phased project.

But American Canyon responded that the original project approvals have expired unless already used.
New co-ownership opportunity: Own one-eighth of this professionally managed, turnkey home. This 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in the heart of St. Helena has been completely reimagined and rebuilt inside and out. The result is a modern retreat in the heart of wine country. Chevron-patterned wood floors run throughout this welcoming second home. The living room has high ceilings warmed by wood beams and a sleek, modern fireplace. A few steps down, light pours through a glass atrium into the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen is as functional as it is beautiful, with cabinets that echo the chevron floor and a waterfall island with breakfast bar. Both rooms enjoy a view of a second fireplace. Doors in the atrium open to an expansive brick deck with a new pool, spa and covered lounge area - perfect for relaxing after a day exploring nearby Napa Valley vineyards or the shops along Main Street, just a block away. And when it's time to retire for the night, four serene bedrooms await, two with ensuite bathrooms. The master suite opens to the backyard deck, and the master bath features a double vanity, rain shower and soaking tub. The home's exterior is clad in stunning stone and features modern black windows. The home comes fully furnished and professionally decorated.

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More than two dozen Napans, all currently homeless, will soon receive a new and permanent address.

The first phase of a remodel of the former Wine Valley Lodge motel at 200 S. Coombs St. is more than half finished, said Jocelyn Lin, associate director of housing development with Burbank Housing.

Come April 10, one group of about 28 tenants is expected to start moving into new studio apartments. The complex will be renamed Valley Lodge Apartments.

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By the end of summer, when renovations are complete, about 54 adults will live at the former motel.

I'm feeling very excited, said Lin. Theres a lot of work to be done, but we've got a great team. We're looking forward to welcoming those first residents.

The reopening can't come soon enough, said Molly Rattigan, Napa's deputy city manager.

Those 54 units of permanent supportive housing represent about 11% of the city's homeless population, she said, so that's pretty significant.

Progress was visible during a construction tour on Tuesday. Where before the units were traditional motel rooms, space has been created to install a kitchenette in each unit.

Additionally, a new fire sprinkler system will be installed in each unit, and the units will receive new furniture, flooring and painting. The pool has been removed and will be replaced with another use. Solar power has been added.

The former motel property was acquired by Burbank Housing in August 2022 for $16.4 million.

Napa roomkey residents face eviction as state funding dries up They got back on their feet but these Napans are now facing homelessness, yet again.

Most of the funding for the conversion came from Californias Project Homekey initiative, a multibillion-dollar effort to increase the amount of supportive housing for unhoused residents across the state. But in order to fully fund the project and demonstrate local support, the city of Napa, Napa County and other donors kicked in several million dollars as well.

In total, the cost of the project is roughly $24.4 million, with a cost per unit of $443,836, according to Burbank.

Once the Valley Lodge Apartments are up and running, Abode Services is set to provide services to residents of about 40 of the units, and VOICES will serve homeless or at-risk youth in 14 units set aside for that purpose.

All 54 units at Valley Lodge will be restricted to people earning no more than 30% of the area median income, which means units will be leased to those earning less than $26,500 in annual income, said Lin.

Most units will have a Section 8 project-based voucher to help subsidize operating costs, said Rattigan. Tenants will generally contribute no more than 30% of their income toward their rent.

Pets are allowed at Valley Lodge, however, since due to new laws on pets in affordable housing, "we are required to allow one pet per tenant," said Lin. Each additional pet will require a reasonable accommodation request.

Smoking is prohibited within 20 feet of each entrance (including apartment doors) and within each apartment. The use of marijuana, medical or recreational, is also banned on-site.

Rattigan explained how tenants are selected for the Valley Lodge studios.

Future residents at Valley Lodge can come from anywhere in Napa Countys homeless system or community, such as a shelter, RV or tent.

We want to be clear that the services are available for people that are here in Napa already and have gone through our enrollment process, said Rattigan.

Rattigan said its a common misconception that if a city is known to offer more housing or services, it will attract homeless people from outside that county to that city.

Thats not what we find to be the case, said Rattigan. Our data shows that clients receiving service in our community have typically been a part of our community for some time.

The city uses the federally required coordinated entry system to assess the needs of tenants and determine their level of vulnerability, she explained.

Its not a process left to the last minute, said Rattigan.

We essentially know who the 54 top referrals are at this point, said Rattigan. Most of those folks are in various phases of paperwork and know that moving into a studio is a possible opportunity. Some are fully through the paperwork process and just waiting for the unit to be ready, she said.

If a client finds another unit between now and the move-in date, staffers continue to move down a coordinated entry list.

From past Register interviews, some potential residents have expressed confusion about how the coordinated intake process works, or how to initiate it.

Rattigan wants locals to know that the intake process can start anywhere at any time. A street outreach team regularly visits areas of the city looking for clients who might be experiencing homelessness, she said. Or clients visit the south Napa shelter.

There is no wrong front door to our coordinated entry system, she said. The person just has to be willing to do it.

In an earlier interview, Rattigan pointed out that more units of supportive housing will soon be coming. Heritage House and Valle Verde will be leased for an additional 88 permanent housing units no later than December, along with other affordable housing units. At least 32 units of the 88 come with supportive services, just like at Valley Lodge.

And the third round of Project Homekey grant applications will open soon, said Rattigan.
A doctor found cysts in Lilia Becerrils right breast five years ago, but the 51-year-old lacks health insurance. She said she cant afford the imaging to find out if theyre cancerous.

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Becerril earns about $52,000 a year at a nonprofit in Californias Central Valley, putting her and her husband, Armando, at more than double the limit to qualify for Medi-Cal, the states Medicaid program for people with low incomes and disabilities. Private insurance would cost $1,230 a month in premiums, money needed for their mortgage.

Weve been resorting to home remedies to get through the pain, Becerril said through a Spanish translator. Her husband has needed hernia surgery for 20 years. Its frustrating because we pay our taxes, but we cant reap any of the benefits of where our taxes are going, she added.

While many Californians who earn too much to be eligible for Medi-Cal can get subsidized coverage through Covered California, an estimated 460,000 residents arent allowed to buy insurance through state-run insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act because they lack legal status. One Democratic lawmaker says its a small but glaring gap and is crafting a bill that could test Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsoms commitment to reach universal health care.

Were going to need to figure out how to provide universal coverage for all who call this state home, said the bills author, Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula. Its an area our state has not leaned into enough, to provide coverage for those who are undocumented.

Arambulas bill would direct the state to ask the federal government to allow immigrants living in the state without authorization to get insurance through Covered California. Arambula sees the move as the critical first step to expand coverage. If approved, the Fresno lawmaker intends to push for state subsidies to help pay for insurance.

Both elements are essential for immigrants lacking legal status, said Jose Torres Casillas, a policy and legislative advocate with Health Access California, a consumer health group working with Arambulas office on the measure.

Access is one thing, but affordability is another, Torres Casillas said.

Since taking office in 2019, Newsom has approved expanding Medi-Cal to all qualified residents regardless of immigration status. In doing so, the politician continuously rumored to be preparing for a presidential bid described the state as moving one step closer toward universal health care. But in January, Newsom announced a $22.5 billion state deficit and made no mention of new proposals for the states estimated 3 million uninsured residents.

Newsoms health secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, acknowledged the pressure to go further but he would not commit to a timeline.

Up until now weve had so many other things to focus on, Ghaly said. This will become, frankly speaking, one of the most important next issues that we take on.

California needs permission from the federal government to open Covered California to immigrants without legal residency because it is currently closed to them, and Arambula said he is in talks with Newsom administration officials about how to structure the bill.

Once the federal government opens Covered California up to all migrants, the state could set aside funding for subsidies. About 90% of enrollees in Covered California qualify for financial assistance, which is paid for with both state and federal funds. Since 2020, the state has spent $20 million a year on those subsidies, a fraction of the cost, because Congress has given states an infusion of money during the pandemic.

Previously, lawmakers had allocated roughly $300 million to lower insurance premiums for Covered California enrollees. Any financial assistance to people living in the state without authorization would likely have to come from state funds, and the costs could vary widely.

For instance, Colorado enrolled 10,000 such immigrants into a new insurance program designed solely for them at a cost of $57.8 million in state funds, said Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. The program covered the full cost of insurance for enrollees.

In Washington state, immigrants who lack legal status can take advantage of a state fund next year to help all income-eligible state residents pay for insurance, said Michael Marchand, chief marketing officer for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. State lawmakers have added $5 million to the fund for immigrants without legal authorization.

It would serve as an incentive for additional undocumented immigration into our country, said Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, a think tank that advocated against Medi-Cal expansion to immigrants without legal standing. And put taxpayers on the hook for additional government health care costs and the inevitable higher tax bills to pay for them.

California officials have previously considered allowing all immigrants to buy insurance from its state-run program before, submitting a request to the federal government in 2016. But the state rescinded its application after President Donald Trump took office, given his anti-immigration rhetoric and policies.

The Biden administration in December approved an exception to federal law for Washington state  a game changer in the eyes of immigration advocates, said Rachel Linn Gish, a spokesperson for Health Access.

Seeing what other states have done and the waivers that are happening under Biden, it makes a huge difference in our approach, she said.

But even if lawmakers pass a plan to open Californias insurance marketplace to all immigrants regardless of status, advocates said the state will have to wait until Jan. 1, 2024, to ask the federal government for permission, and it could take half a year or longer to get a response.

That means it could be years before Becerril can get coverage. Instead, shes preparing for the worst.

Im paying for funeral coverage, she said. Its more economical than paying the health coverage premium.

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
A state appellate court has reversed a San Bernardino gang member's murder conviction stemming from a 2014 drive-by shooting, ruling that a rap video he appeared in was prejudicial and should not have been admitted as evidence at his trial.

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It is the first criminal conviction in California to be overturned under a new law requiring judges to weigh more carefully "forms of creative expression"  explicitly rap videos and lyrics  that could be racially biased and prejudicial against defendants before admitting them as evidence at trial, said Jacquelyn Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office.

Travon Rashad Venable Sr., 34, of San Bernardino was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to 129 years to life in prison in connection with the fatal shooting of Enon Damon Edwards, 20, and the wounding of another man in a drive-by shooting at Medical Center Drive and Union Street in San Bernardino on March 5, 2014.

Venable was the alleged driver of the white Kia used in the killing. Under a plea agreement, co-defendant Elgin Johnson, 28, the alleged shooter, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in December 2019, and was sentenced to 22 years in prison, court records show.

'New avenue' for court challenges

"The potential impact of this decision, if it stands, is that it would likely raise a new avenue for convictions to be challenged," Rodriguez said in an email Tuesday. It was unclear whether the District Attorney's Office will retry the case. "We would examine each case individually for retrial," she said.

Defense attorney James Gass, who represented Venable, said in a telephone interview that the prosecution's case relied heavily on the rap video evidence.

Initially, a witness who had been a police informant came forward in 2014 and identified Venable and Johnson as the perpetrators. Police presented that evidence to prosecutors, who declined to file charges. The case languished for two years, until investigators discovered the video and felt they had their clincher, Gass said.

"Police saw the video, saw that it referenced the shooting, took it back to the D.A., and they filed," Gass said. "They took the video as confirmation."

He said he didn't believe the video should have been admitted in the first place, and argued against it during trial.

"It wasn't a statement by Mr. Venable, and it wasn't a statement implicating anyone in murder. It was just a statement that vaguely mentioned the shooting," Gass said. "So we'll see if they're willing to try it again without the video. I thought it was a weak case to begin with. I don't think there's much evidence that (Venable) is guilty of anything."

New law

The law that took effect in January, Assembly Bill 2799, added a new section to the Evidence Code requiring trial judges to consider specific factors before admitting evidence of a form of creative expression in a criminal proceeding. The amendment was designed to avoid injecting racial bias and improper consideration of criminal propensity at trial.

When the judge presiding over Venable's trial allowed the video evidence in, it illustrated everything the new law was tailored to prevent, according to the opinion handed down Feb. 17 by the three-justice panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Riverside.

"There's no question the trial judge's admission of the rap evidence in this case did not comply with the new requirements for admission of creative expression. There's also substantial concern that admitting the evidence may have had the precise effects the Legislature sought to avoid," Justice Marsha Slough said in the 20-page opinion, in which Justices Manuel Ramirez and Frank Menetrez concurred.

Slough concluded it was "clear the prosecution used that evidence to tie Venable to the specific crime."

Rap video

The video, made by Venable's younger brother, who goes by the name "Young Trocc," contains offensive language, including frequent uses of the n-word, depictions of guns and drugs, and references to violent gang activities. Most of those who appear in the video are young Black men.

Venable didn't say anything in the video, although he was seen holding a rifle with an extended magazine. A .22-caliber rifle was one of the firearms used in the 2014 drive-by, according to the opinion.

Most of the lyrics had nothing to do with the shooting, though one line could be interpreted as referring to the shooting:

"Got word from a bird that they did that (racial slur) dead wrong/Slid up Medical and left that (racial slur) head gone."

The appellate justices, however, concurred that nothing in the song indicated the rapper or others in the video had personal knowledge or involvement in the shooting, only that they had heard about it. Still, the prosecution placed a lot of emphasis on the video, playing it twice for the jury during trial and a third time during closing arguments, according to the opinion.

"In closing, the prosecutor argued, 'There he is (Venable). There he is. They kill them on-scene. They kill. Slid up Medical, left that (racial slur) head gone. That's our victim's murder. There he is. There he is (Venable). There he is,' " Slough said in the opinion.

Weak evidence

The justices concurred the video was prejudicial and that the prosecution's remaining evidence against Venable was lacking, that there was substantial doubt whether the trial judge would have admitted the video evidence under the new standard, and that it was clear "the prosecution used that evidence to tie Venable to the specific crime."

"The remaining evidence of Venable's involvement was not strong. The only witness who identified him as being involved was Doe, a police informant who gave a series of conflicting accounts of the incident and had testified Venable was being framed," according to the opinion. "Meanwhile, Venable's aunt provided an alibi for him, and Venable testified he was not involved in the shooting. The prosecution's emphasis of the rap video at various points in the trial, including in closing arguments, likely had an effect on the outcome."

Racial Justice Act

While Venable's conviction was reportedly the first in California to be reversed under AB 2799, a Contra Costa County judge in October ordered a new trial for two men charged with murder, citing violation of the state's Racial Justice Act of 2020.

Judge Clare Maier cited the use of the n-word by the prosecutor, defense attorneys and a police gang expert when quoting rap lyrics by the defendants, Gary Bryant Jr. and Diallo Jackson. Prosecutors argued that the lyrics showed the defendants' gang ties and helped to discredit Bryant's claims the killing was an act of self-defense.

The Racial Justice Act prohibits the state from seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin.

Both AB 2799 and the Racial Justice Act are retroactive, meaning they can be applied to criminal convictions predating passage of both laws.
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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
A consensus has emerged among the G20 member countries, guest countries and international organisations for the four main themes of the Culture Working Group of G20. The third and fourth working group session of the first Cultural Working Group meeting was organised on Friday at the Maharaja Chhatrasal Convention Centre in Madhya Pradesh's Khajuraho. Presentations were made on the working process along with the presentations by knowledge partner Unesco. Govind Mohan, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, in his remarks said the first meeting of the Culture Working Group under India's G20 chairmanship ended on Friday. In the meeting, there was a discussion on the priorities set by India in four important sessions. The official said that India had put forward four main themes for this meeting. These include Protection and Restitution of Cultural Property; Harnessing Living Heritage of Sustainable Future; Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries and Creative Economy, and Leveraging of Digital Technology for Protection and Promotion of Culture. In the two-day brainstorming, a consensus has emerged among the G-20 member countries, guest countries and international organisations that took part in the meeting that these topics should be taken forward strongly. All countries supported our proposal, he added. Govind Mohan said that it was agreed in the meeting that experts should now work on micro-level detailing through webinars so that by August, "we can announce a new initiative and, based on that, a new path can be carved out". He said that bilateral talks have also taken place in the meeting between many countries, including the UK, Mauritius, Japan, Singapore, and the US. Later on Friday evening, the G20 delegates also visited the Adivart Tribal and Folk Art Museum in Khajuraho. --IANS kvm/pgh ( 298 Words) 2023-02-24-22:34:02 (IANS)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 25 (ANI/NewsVoir): India's largest and most-loved prayer brand N. Ranga Rao & Sons (NRRS), the makers of Cycle Pure Agarbathi, has been certified a 'Great Place to Work' organization. NRRS was conferred the certification at the sixth edition of the Best Workplaces in Manufacturing in 2023. In terms of the five features of a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture-credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie-NRRS scored highly on the 'Great Place to Work' assessment. The certification is the result of an employee survey to empower leaders with feedback, real-time reporting, and insights they need to make strategic decisions. Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture. It has surveyed more than 100 million workers globally since 1992 and used these insights to identify what makes a successful workplace: trust. The organization's employee survey platform equips managers with the insights, real-time reporting, and feedback they require to make informed decisions about their workforce. The Institute has performed ground-breaking research on the qualities of excellent workplaces for more than three decades and serves corporations, non-profits, and governmental organizations in more than 60 countries. Some of the practices that the organisation follows are Trust with Employees where hierarchical structure is fluid, and employees contribute for desired results continuously. To sustain a business in today's time, maintaining trust with Distributors and Suppliers is very important as they are invested in the partnership and grow with the company. Some of the other practices that the organisation follows are Trust across the supply chain-Operational Transparency, building trust by serving society and by building trust in the brand. Expressing his pleasure over this global recognition, Guru Ranga, Chairman, NR Group, said, "As an organization that is value-driven and ethical in its practices, this certification is an evidence of our ethical practices, and dedication to developing a working culture that creates value in everyone's life be it employees, customers, or our stakeholders. We are working towards the vision set by the founders of the company and strongly believe in doing the right thing for our future." Speaking about this certification, Arjun Ranga, Managing Partner, N. Ranga Rao and Sons Pvt. Ltd. says, "We acknowledge the contribution made by each and everyone at NRRS in achieving this certification. As rightly said, hope is mankind's greatest invention, and we hope that we bring a difference to everyone's life that is associated with the organization. We continue to put an emphasis on the employee experience and understand that by fostering a supportive, cooperative, and high-trust workplace, we are giving our employees the tools they need to succeed in their current roles and over the course of their careers as well. Winning this recognition makes us believe that we are on the right path of making a difference." "This prestigious certification is a result of the tireless efforts of our employees and leadership team to create a positive and supportive work environment. Our commitment to fostering a culture of inclusivity, transparency, and trust has paid off, and we couldn't be prouder. This recognition is a testament to the dedication of our team and their passion for excellence in all they do. We will continue to strive for greatness, on a foundation of fairness to foster a "for all" culture that's 'all equal', ethical, responsible and sustainable." NRRS has turned itself into a 'Great Place to Work' by excelling with an overall of 92% score on the TRUST INDEX. The Great Place to Work certification is the only one that is entirely based on the feedback that employees provide about their workplace experiences, specifically how frequently they report a high-trust environment. This certification serves as the industry standard for identifying and recognising exceptional employee experience. Learn more at (www.greatplacetowork.in) and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The Mysuru-based NRRS was founded by N. Ranga Rao in 1948. A true visionary and philanthropist, Ranga Rao created the ubiquitous Cycle Pure Agarbathi which has today become the largest selling incense stick brand in the world. From a modest beginning, NRRS has evolved into a successfully-run business conglomerate with an established presence in India and abroad. The Group has diversified into various business categories like functional air care products (Lia brand of room fresheners and car fresheners), wellness home fragrance products (IRIS) under Ripple Fragrances, floral extracts (NESSO), and Rangsons Technologies. Today, it is truly an Agarbathi to Aerospace conglomerate as it is also involved in making parts for defense helicopters. The organization has largely committed itself towards social responsibilities and fulfills them through its charity arm NR Foundation. NRRS today is managed by the third generation of the Ranga family. For more information, please visit (www.nrgroup.com). This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) [India], February 25 (ANI/BusinessWire India): The KIIT DU on Thursday played host to the prestigious Indian Universities Forum conclave, organised by the Times Higher Education. Inaugurating the event Odisha Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal emphasised the value of education for the emancipation of the masses. The theme of the event was 'optimising learning landscape'. "The purpose of education is social upliftment, renouncing negativity and leading a fulfilling life that transforms the earth into a heaven," Prof Lal said. Talking about the virtues of peace and harmony in society, he said that when the world was busy waging wars, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained engaged in giving vaccines (to fight the pandemic) and committed himself to spreading the message of amity in society. Country director (India) of British Council Alison Barrett commended the role of KIIT and its Founder Dr Achyuta Samanta for education and playing a significant role in the socio-economic development of the poor and the tribals of Odisha. She hailed KIIT's transformation as nothing short of 'grass to gold'. Barrett, in particular, praised the objectives of KISS in promoting the multi-lingual language for the spread of education and winning the UNESCO Literacy Prize in 2022 for this endeavour. She said that the British Council was committed to supporting the shared future of both India and the UK in the fields of online education, research and collaboration and also supporting the traditional crafts sector that employs 200 million Indians. The Global Chief Affairs Officer of Times Higher Education Phil Baty highlighted the remarkable journey of KIIT which has become one of the prominent centres of higher education in just 25 years of its existence. He underlined the Times Higher Education report of 2022 that has placed KIIT at the 8th position in the world in tackling inequality. KIIT, he said, is among the few universities in India which have done remarkably well in the field of research. Talking about the overall rankings, he said Indian institutes are well represented in the ranking surveys, adding that the rankings give the institutes an opportunity to spread their visibility and an opportunity for potential collaboration with other universities. The Founder of KIIT and KISS Dr Samanta spoke about the transformation of KIIT from a two-room institute to becoming one of the largest universities in the country and its contribution to tribal empowerment. He said that KIIT's education model is aligned towards inclusive education where every student is given equal opportunity to excel in academics. "We are not confined to education only, we are serving the society as well," he said. The theme of the conference, he added, is relevant, especially at a time when the Covid pandemic has brought major disruptions in the academic landscape. KIIT Vice Chancellor Prof Sasmita Samanta said education is vital because knowledge is life and it helps individuals develop good values. About Times Higher Education, she said it is providing a platform to recognize talents among universities and encourage the institutes to perform with confidence at the global level. The conference is being attended by academicians from India and outside along with key functionaries from the British Council and Times Higher Education. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI)'s President-Designate Gautam Ray said the Chamber over the last several years is committed towards facilitating industrial development with sustainable approaches. Addressing the media, after an annual programme in Asansol-Durgapur Region to build a sustainable roadmap, the president-designate said, "The Bengal Chamber is keen to work with WBPCB (West Bengal Pollution Control Board) and industries here. Asansol-Durgapur Industrial Belt has contributed significantly to the economy of the state and the country." The sixth edition of the discussion forum on Ecological Sustainability in the Industrial Region of Asansol-Durgapur was organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with West Bengal Pollution Control Board and Asansol Engineering College at the college premises here on Saturday. Moloy Ghatak, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Law, Government of West Bengal, along with Gautam Ray, BCCI President-Designate, and Executive Director (HR & Admin.), CESC and President (HR), Power Group, RPSG, and other dignitaries inaugurated the programme. During Ray's interaction with the media, he said, "Asansol has a long tradition of contributing to the Indian economy and the state economy. There is enough resource available in Asansol and we believe there is a potential to harness the resource in a very effective manner to foster the way of industrialisation for the country as well as the state." He said, "In today's world, sustainability is the keyword and there is writing on the wall that tomorrow we have to be very careful in the utilisation of resources, particularly to build a sustainable environment." He also said there had been COP26 -- the conference of parties held in Glasgow during November 2021 -- where all the heads of the states participated and committed to the needs and objectives. He added, "India has also made a significant commitment towards achieving net zero by 2070. We know that in every field of settlement and trasportation, that energy migration towards sustainability has taken place." (ANI)
Ariana Grande and The Weeknd are back again. The duo released their latest collaboration on Friday, a remix of The Weeknd's 2016 Starboy hit "Die for You", reported People. In a newly added verse, Grande, sings, "I'm findin' ways to stay concentrated on what I gotta do / But, baby boy, it's so hard 'round you / And yes, I'm blamin' you / And you know I can't fake it, now or never / And you insinuatin' that you think we might be better / Better me and you / Yeah, I know you do." Grande and The Weeknd both celebrated the release of their "Die for You" remix with posts shared on their respective Instagram pages Friday. "DIE FOR YOU REMIX OUT NOW @theweeknd," Grande wrote alongside the images of herself and The Weeknd from over the years. In another post, she shared a snippet of the new track and captioned it with an emoji of a pink heart being struck by a blue arrow. The Weeknd, meanwhile, shared a similar selection of shots of himself and Grande in his own post, captioning it, "DIE FOR YOU REMIX // the journey continues @arianagrande." "Die for You'' marks the fourth time that Grande and The Weeknd have collaborated together, reported People. The Weeknd is featured on "Love Me Harder" from Grande's 2014 sophomore album, My Everything and "Off the Table" from her most recent album, 2020's Positions. Back in 2021, the artist also recruited Grande for his After Hours remix of "Save Your Tears." (ANI)
Maintaining a healthy family life contributes to an actor's public image to a great extent. He is a doting husband, a dutiful son, a big brother in the true sense of the term and a loving father as well. Playing all the roles beautifully is not an easy task, especially for an actor. But Shahid Kapoor flies high as he balances his work and personal space in a perfect manner. As the actor turns a year older today, let's wish him a happy birthday with some family snaps. Shahid and Mira Rajput Shahid and Mira are one of the loveliest couples in B-town. They tied the knot in 2015. Shahid seems to be head over heels in love with Mira as their PDA (public display of affection) never goes out of fashion. From family get-togethers to filmy parties, the lovebirds never miss setting couple goals. Shahid and Pankaj Kapur Shahid shares a very healthy bond with his father Pankaj Kapur. During the shooting of their film 'Jersey' the actor shared a picture with his father and captioned it," Papa ke sath kaam karna mushkil nahi scary hai.' Shahid and Neelima Azeem Shahid maintains a cordial relationship with his mother Neelima. On family occasions, they are often seen spending time together. Shahid and Ishaan Khattar Ishaan's birthday would never be complete without his 'bhai's' wish. From mentoring in childhood days to guiding on the professional front, Shahid is always there for Ishaan. Even Ishaan shares a good rapport with Mira as well. The family frame Shahid and Meera are proud parents to Misha and Zain. On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan 2019, Mira shared an adorable family picture in which Shahid could be seen holding his son Zain, whereas Mira can be seen holding Misha. "Promises to keep," she captioned the post. Shahid and Sana Kapoor Shahid shares good vibes with step-sister Sana. "How time flies and little bitto is now a bride. All grown up all too soon my baby sister ... an emotional beginning to a wonderful new chapter. Dearest @sanahkapur15 wishing you and Mayank sunshine and good vibes always," Shahid wrote after wishing Sana a happy married life. Quoting one of the titles of Shahid's movie, we can say 'Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!' (ANI)
Tom Cruise is reuniting with James Corden for one final sketch before 'The Late Late Show' ends. According to the Hollywood Reporter, The CBS programme revealed that the Top Gun: Maverick actor is switching things up from his typical action-packed guest segments and joining the host for a musical performance during The Lion King at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The segment will be featured in a primetime special, the last Late Late Show, on April 27, which will air before the final episode of the late-night talk show later that night. The show also shared a sneak peek on its social media of Cruise dressed up as the lovable warthog and Corden holding a figure of the infamous meerkat. "Here's to finding the Pumbaa to your Timon," read a message posted to the talk show's official Instagram account. "And to one last sketch with @tomcruise before we turn out the lights on the #LateLateShow." The Mission: Impossible star has previously teamed up with Corden on the show for segments including piloting fighter jets and skydiving, which left the host terrified both times. The final episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden is set for April 27 at 12:37 p.m. The primetime special will premiere at 10 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+. The last show comes after Corden took over as host in 2015. (ANI)
Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, and David Cross have joined the cast of "The Umbrella Academy" on Netflix for its upcoming fourth and final season. Variety, a US-based media house, has confirmed the news. The fourth season of the popular series would be its last, it was confirmed in August 2022. According to Variety, Offerman ("The Last of Us," "Parks and Recreation") and Mullally ("Will & Grace," "Party Down"), who are married in real life, will star as Drs. Gene and Jean Thibedeau. The characters are described as "a married pair of community college professors from New Mexico who wear sensible footwear and suffer from the most extreme case of deja vu this timeline has ever seen." Cross ("Arrested Development," "Mr. Show") will play Sy Grossman, described as "an upstanding, shy business owner and family man desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter, who will stop at nothing to get her back." Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya, and Colm Feore are among the cast members who are returning. According to Variety, season 4's episode count has not yet been confirmed by Netflix, however numerous sources indicate that it will be less than the previous 10-episode seasons. The third season of "The Umbrella Academy" debuted on Netflix in June 2022. The second and first seasons aired in 2020 and 2019, respectively. The television programme is based on the identically named graphic novels by Gabriel Ba and Gerard Way. It centres on an adopted family of superpowered siblings who are attempting to avert the end of the planet. (ANI)
Actor Anupam Kher recently attended the 'Global Kashmiri Pandit Conclave' in New Delhi where he spoke at length about the ordeals of Kashmiri Pandits and how his film 'The Kashmir Files' highlighted them. He cited the atrocities that were meted out to the Kashmiri Pandits and urged the audience to volunteer in monetarily supporting charities working on the issues centric to the community and even announced an amount of Rs 5 lakhs for the same. He said, "'The Kashmir Files' showed problems of Kashmiri pandits. We've earned a lot. We give charity to foreign organisations that are already doing financially well. Now it's important to give charity to our own people. I pledge Rs 5 lakhs for them." The conclave is being organised by the Global Kashmiri Pandit diaspora. It is a two-day-long conclave and Sadhguru is also one of the keynote speakers at the event. Talking about 'The Kashmir Files', the film recently bagged the 'Best Film' award at Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards. Anupam Kher also bagged the award for being the 'Most Versatile Actor Of The Year' for his role in 'The Kashmir Files'. 'The Kashmir Files,' a film on the life of Kashmiri pandits during the 1990 Kashmir insurgency, is based on first-generation video interviews of victims of the Kashmiri massacre, making an account of their pain, suffering, struggle and trauma. Talking about Anupam Kher, on the work front, he will be seen in Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri's 'The Vaccine War', and Kangana Ranaut's directorial 'Emergency'. He was last seen in 'Shiv Shastri Balboa' which hit the theatres earlier this month. The film also stars Neena Gupta, Nargis Fakhri and Sharib Hashmi. (ANI)
American media personality and businesswoman Paris Hilton has alleged that when she was 19 she had an uncomfortable incident with Harvey Weinstein at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. According to Variety, an American media company, Hilton made the claim in an interview with Glamour UK. She was at the festival to attend the annual amfAR gala for AIDS research, which Weinstein was hosting that year. Hilton said she met Weinstein the day before the gala. "I was at lunch with my girlfriend and he came up to the table and was like, 'Oh, you want to be an actress?' And I said, 'Yeah, I really want to be in a movie,'" she said. Hilton continued, "I was a teenager, so I was impressed by him. I was like, 'Oh my god, Harvey Weinstein is so cool!' and he said, 'Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts'... and I just didn't want to go, so I never went." According to Hilton, Weinstein became aggressive with her at the event the following night. She claimed that Weinstein chased her into the women's restroom and yelled, "Ya wanna be a star?" at her, reported Variety. Hilton said, "I went into the bathroom and then he followed me... He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it. And I wouldn't open it, because I was like, 'I'm in a stall, why do you want to come in here?' And I just wouldn't open it." "And security came and literally carried him away and he was like [shouting], 'This is my party,' going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out," she continued. When asked if she had heard rumours about Weinstein's behaviour before meeting him at Cannes, Hilton answered, "Yeah, and it was just someone so powerful in Hollywood who everyone was terrified of." When contacted by Variety regarding the allegation, a spokesperson for Weinstein denied Hilton's claims. Speaking through his spokesperson from L.A. County Jail, Weinstein said "that this never happened" and that he "never yelled at her and never followed her." "He had always treated Paris Hilton with the utmost respect and kindness, and always believed they had a cordial relationship," his spokesperson told Variety. Hilton's interview with Glamour UK was published on the same day that Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison for three counts of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles. The former film producer was already serving a 23-year sentence in New York after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault in that state during a criminal trial in 2020, as per Variety. (ANI)
Taking to Instagram, Mohsin dropped a few pictures and videos from his meeting with the 'Krissh' star.

In the images, we can see Hrithik posing with Mohsin, his sister Zeba Khan Ahmed and her son Mikhail Ahmed. Dressed in a black T-shirt, matching pants, and shoes, Hrithik looked super cool. Mohsin was dressed in a denim shirt, pants, and sneakers. Zeba opted for a pink shirt, black pants, and shoes.

The highlight of their meeting is Hrithik asking the little boy to give him a high five and a fist bump. However, Mikhail ignored the actor's high-five.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpDYLzQPaYL/?hl=en

As the toddler looked away, Hrithik said, "No? Okay. Next time." The video ended with Hrithik patting the child on his back and saying, "Nice to meet you guys."

Mohsin captioned the post, "An honour to meet with This Beautiful Human One of d Biggest Actors and d Best Looking Guy in d World.. Thankyou for Welcoming us into your gorgeous home."

Glimpses from Mohsin's meeting with Hrithik left netizens in awe.

"Hahaha so cute," a social media user commented.

"Hrithik and this kid are cuties," another one wrote.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Hrithik is currently busy working on his film 'Fighter', which also stars Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, Karan Singh Grover and Akshay Oberoi. It is being helmed by Siddharth Anand.

Fighter will be India's first aerial action film. It's also the first time Hrithik shares screen space with Deepika. The film intends to appeal to a global audience with its story deeply rooted in India. (ANI)
The Odisha police on Friday arrested a senior technical official of DRDO's Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur on charges of leaking classified information to Pakistan, a senior police officer said. Briefing mediapersons in Balasore, IG (eastern range) Himanshu Kumar Lal said, "We have arrested a senior technical officer of ITR Chandipur for passing sensitive information to one foreign agent working in Pakistan." Like the 2021 case, the ITR official was allegedly honey-trapped by some female operatives from Pakistan. They were sending some videos to the official through WhatsApp and in lieu of that, he (the ITR official) had shared sensitive defence information with them, said Lal. Following the 2021 case related to leakage of secret information to Pakistan, the local police along with a central agency were continuing with their investigation into the case, said Balasore SP Sagarika Nath. "Recently, we came to know that some sensitive information in the form of visual images as well as sensitive communication had been transmitted to Pakistani agents. Following interrogation, we have apprehended the ITR official," she said. The cellphone of the official has been seized and further investigation into the matter is going on, the SP added. The police will sensitise the ITR Chandipur officials about the modus of operandi of the foreign agents, she said. The Odisha police will now take steps to stop foreign agents from getting vital information from the defence establishment, Lal said. Notably, the Odisha police on September 14, 2021 had arrested five contractual employees of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) unit in Chandipur on charges of sharing classified defence information with unknown foreign agents, suspected to be from Pakistan. --IANS bbm/arm ( 293 Words) 2023-02-24-20:38:03 (IANS)
Accordingly, Aurangabad will now be known as 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar' and Osmanabad shall be called 'Dharashiv', as per a Central notification.

This comes after the Maharashtra government wrote to the Centre on October 20, 2022, seeking the change of names that were cleared by the state cabinet.

While Osmanabad reverts to its ancient name of 'Dharashiv' after a group of caves near the town, Aurangabad will honour the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's son and successor - Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj - who ruled after his father for 8 years (1681-1689), till his death at the age of 31 in March 1689.

Soon after the Centre's communication, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for making this possible.

--IANS qn/uk/

( 160 Words)

2023-02-24-20:40:03 (IANS)
The incident took place near Barkhada village close to the Mohania tunnel. The buses were carrying people returning from Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally.

As per officials, the mishap happened due to a tyre burst in the truck.

The injured were immediately rushed to the nearby hospital.

Mukesh Srivastava, SP, Rewa said, "two buses were parked, a truck came from behind and got uncontrolled after its tyre got burst, leading to the collision. Seven-Eight people died, however, a probe is going on, and around 50 people are injured out of which 15-20 are severely injured."

The police's investigation into this matter is underway. Further information is awaited.

Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also expressed grief over the incident.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah condoled the loss of lives.

https://twitter.com/AmitShah/status/1629188186655100928

Taking to Twitter, Shah said," The road accident in Sidhi (M.P.) is very sad. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this accident. May God give them the strength to bear this sorrow. Treatment is being provided to the injured by the administration. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured." (ANI)
'The Book of Bihari Literature' edited by Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K. and published by HarperCollins India has received The Kalinga Literary Festival Book Awards 2022 in KLF Lifestyle/Biography/Environment & Emerging Trend Book Award - Category.

'The Book of Bihari Literature' is a vibrant collection of writings--poems, essays, stories--that have flowed from the pens of the great poets, thinkers and writers across millennia, who were born or lived in what is modern-day Bihar. This book makes accessible to English-speaking readers the bounty of Bihari literature, and brings to the fore works in neglected languages by ancient philosophers and celebrated contemporary authors alike.

Abhay K. is the author of a dozen poetry books, including Celestial, Stray Poems, Monsoon, The Magic of Madagascar and The Alphabets of Latin America. He is also the editor of The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, Capitals, New Brazilian Poems and The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems.

His poems have appeared in over a hundred literary magazines, including the Poetry Salzburg Review and Asia Literary Review. His 'Earth Anthem' has been translated into over 150 languages.

He has received the SAARC Literary Award (2013) and was invited to record his poems at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, in 2018. His translations of Kalidasa's Meghaduta and Ritusamhara from Sanskrit had won the KLF best poetry books of the year award 2021.

Others who received the KLF Book award on the occasion included writers Geetanjali Shree, Akshaya Mukul, Navtej Sarna, and Ranjit Hoskote among others. (ANI)
The Bihar government on Friday sacked tainted Block Development Officer Jaywardhan Gupta, who was also involved in question paper leak of 67th BPSC preliminary examination, on the charge of taking bribes. The decision was taken during the cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Gupta, who was posted in Ghoswari block of Bhojpur district as BDO, was nabbed by a team of Economic Offences Unit (EOU) for taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from Dinesh Gop in 2017. Following his arrest, the Home Department removed him from the post of the BDO. However, he managed to regain his post after a few months and was posted in the Barhara block. His name again came up in the preliminary examination of 67th BPSC held on May 9, 2022, when he was deployed as a static officer at Veer Kunwar Singh College in Arrah. The question paper was leaked at that time and EOU arrested four persons including Gupta. The other accused are identified as Dr Yogendra Prasad Singh, Principal-cum- Centre Superintendent, Sushil Kumar Singh, Professor-cum-Examination Cxontroller, and Agam Kumar Sahay, Professor-cum-Assistant Centre Superintendent of the college. The cabinet has decided to sack him from his service on the basis of an investigation report filed by EOU, finding him guilty of taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from Dinesh Gop in 2017. --IANS ajk/vd ( 240 Words) 2023-02-24-21:30:03 (IANS)
Former Union minister and Hindutva leader Uma Bharti, who till recently was taking on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh over its liquor policy, seems to have clamed down, at least for now. On Friday, Bharti announced to organise an event to felicitate Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Bharti has sent an invitation to the Chief Minister, stating that the 'Mata Beti Bai Smriti Sikshan Samiti' has decided to felicitate Chouhan for his decision to introduce a new liquor policy keeping the safety and security of women in mind. The 'Mata Beti Bai Smriti Sikshan Samiti' is a social organisation run by Bharti. As per sources, the event will be organised at the Ravindra Bhavan in Bhopal on Saturday (February 25), during which Bharti will felicitate Chouhan for accepting her demands in the new liquor policy, which will come into effect from April 1. The move came after Chouhan announced the closure of 'ahatas' or taverns attached to liquor outlets and shop bars in Madhya Pradesh. The state government has also decided that liquor shops located close to educational institutions, religious places etc. will be shifted to distant locations. Notably, Bharti was criticising her own party's government over its liquor policy, and now the Chief Minister has made this announcement ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls, creating an impression that the new policy came after Bharti's sustained campaign against the earlier liquor policy. Hours after state Home Minister Narottam Mishra had briefed the press about the Cabinet's decision to introduce a new liquor policy last Sunday, Bharti took Twitter to express her happiness, terming the announcement as "historic and revolutionary". The veteran BJP leader, who stepped down from the Narendra Modi government in 2018 citing health reasons ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle, returned to Madhya Pradesh last year after spending months on a campaign for clean Ganga. Many political observers feel that Bharti, a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, is making an effort to regain her space in state politics. --IANS pd/arm ( 351 Words) 2023-02-24-21:50:06 (IANS)
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan on Friday criticised the ruling Congress over the murder of a lawyer in Jodhpur, claiming the Ashok Gehlot government is busy with the Congress' plenary session in Raipur instead of paying attention to the protests by the lawyers over the killing. As lawyers have been protesting on the streets since the last five days, the BJP slammed the Ashok Gehlot government, saying "the attack on lawyers who are an integral part of the judicial system is unfortunate and worrying". Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, said that the incident of the murder of advocate Jugraj Chauhan in Jodhpur -- the home district of Chief Minister Gehlot, has angered lawyers across the state. "While they have boycotted the judicial work, the Congress government on the other hand is busy with the party's plenary session in Raipur," he said. The BJP leader said that there have been continuous attacks on lawyers but the government is silent. "Earlier, the failure of the state government also came to the fore in the case of advocate Hansraj Mavaliya in Sikar and Vijay Singh Jhorad in Sriganganagar," he said. Rathore said that before coming to power, the Congress had also announced the Advocates Protection Act. "It is unfortunate that this announcement has been left on the papers of the public manifesto," he said. --IANS arc/pgh ( 245 Words) 2023-02-24-22:54:05 (IANS)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next-of-kin of those, who died in Sidhi's road accident. CM Shivraj also announced that an amount of Rs 2 lakh each has also been sanctioned for the persons, severely injured in the incident and Rs 1 lakh for people with normal injuries. Condoling the incident, CM said that the mishap in Sidhi is heartbreaking. The incident took place near Barkhada village close to Mohania tunnel, where eight persons were killed, and several injured after a truck, who lost control allegedly after its tyre got burst, rammed into two buses from the rear on Friday late at night. CM Chouhan also rushed to Rewa Medical College to meet the injured soon after receiving the information. The buses were carrying people returning from Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally. Mukesh Srivastava, SP, Rewa said, "two buses were parked, a truck came from behind and got uncontrolled after its tyre got burst, leading to the collision. Seven-Eight people died, however, a probe is going on, and around 50 people are injured out of which 15-20 are severely injured." Union Home Minister Amit Shah condoled the loss of lives. Taking to Twitter, Shah said," The road accident in Sidhi (M.P.) is very sad. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this accident. May God give them the strength to bear this sorrow. Treatment is being provided to the injured by the administration. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured." Further information is awaited. (ANI)
Highlighting the lack of proper testing of quality medicines in Gambia, the country's High Commissioner to India Mustapha Jawara on Friday laid thrust on the importance of quality and reasonably priced medicines in the Western African country. Participating at a Conference on Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana in Delhi, he said, "I think the conference is a transforming experience. Especially in Gambia, I am sure you are all aware of the share of the cases, just because of lack of proper testing of quality medicines, this would often, especially in a country like the Gambia opportunity to kind of have access to these pharmaceuticals is important." The Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers jointly organised an interactive session for Heads of Missions from almost 100 partner countries in the Global South on the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadi Pariyojana' (PMBJP) programme here in the national capital. The conference was graced by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Minister of Chemicals & Fertilisers and Health & Family Welfare Dr Mansukh Mandaviya. Speaking at the conference Jaishankar highlighted that PMBJP is a flagship public welfare programme championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last eight years. "This conference is a great initiative that brings all the stakeholders together to work towards the larger goal of an equitable, inclusive and healthy planet as envisioned by PM Modi," said Jaishankar. "Explained the powerful impact of this scheme on the Affordability, Accessibility and Availability of medicines to the general public. Shared these experiences and discussed how this can be applied in other countries. MEA will make it a new element in its development partnership," he added. He offered all the necessary support to partner countries to help them establish and implement public-centric schemes akin to PMBJP in their countries. "For every country health cost is very central to the quality of governance. Even for developing countries also it is central to their progress and their prosperity," added Jaishankar. Highlighting the health aspect of globalization, S Jaishankar stated that Health cost is central to the core of governance and prosperity. "Even among developed countries, given the income disparity, the whole global debate on how to make health accessible has brought us together". He also said that in this globalized world, the "Triple A linkage" of Affordability, Accessibility and Availability needs to be focused upon," he said. Mandaviya stated that PM Modi had described India as the 'pharmacy of the world'. Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers with a vision to enable the Indian pharmaceuticals industry to play a leading role in the global market and to ensure abundant availability of good quality pharmaceuticals of mass consumption at reasonable prices, had been working tirelessly to contribute towards the greater good of mankind. "One of every five generic pills worldwide is produced in India. Janaushadhi Kendras provide generic medicines to masses at 50 per cent to 80 per cent lower than the market price," Mandaviya said. (ANI)
Following ruckus for the third straight day, the House of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was on Friday adjourned till Monday morning with Mayor Shelly Oberoi announcing that re-election to pick the Standing Committee members will be held at 11 am on February 27. All hell broke loose on Friday after Oberoi stalled the recounting of votes for electing the members of the all-powerful MCD Standing Committee following objections raised by AAP. It was free for all in the MCD House with BJP and AAP councillors trading blows at each other, showing scant disregard for the sanctity of the House. Protesting against the Mayor's decision to stall the recounting process, BJP councillors started breaking mikes, tearing ballot papers and even damaged the polling booths amid sloganeering. "The poll to elect the members of the Standing Committee will be held on February 27," Oberoi said amid sloganeering by councillors from both sides in the House. "Today is a most unfortunate day. The House's reputation was not taken care of. Before the Standing Committee election, we heard BJP's demands and made sure that they were met. But when the counting started and they (BJP) realised that they are losing, BJP councillors created a ruckus," Oberoi said while addressing the media after the House was adjourned. "They have not just targeted me, but other women councillors were also targeted. They are not just disrespecting the House, but the Chair of the Mayor too. Today, I want to appeal to the BJP to accept defeat," said Oberoi. AAP leader Atishi said, "I appeal to the BJP to accept the mandate of the people of Delhi. The people have thrown them away and let AAP run the show. If the Mayor is not safe, how can the other women feel safe?" On BJP's allegations, Atishi showed a video and said, "You can see all the videos chronologically and you'll see who started the ruckus. AAP councillors who were standing up, I was trying to back them off. After this presser, we will go to the Kamla Market police station and file an FIR against the BJP for the 'murder attempt' on a women councillor of AAP." Oberoi later tweeted: "Requested an urgent appointment with the @DelhiPolice Commissioner tomorrow regarding the attack on me by BJP Councillors in the MCD House." Earlier, Oberoi had said while stalling the recounting process that one party is ready for the process, while the other is not. "So I am stopping the recounting process," Oberoi said. --IANS avr/arm ( 434 Words) 2023-02-24-23:20:05 (IANS)
"PM Modi's today's roadshow in Shillong has become a rock show and people enjoyed the entire programme," he said on Friday.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Meghalaya, especially his roadshow will help BJP to increase the party's vote share. We are very much hopeful that, our vote share may increase to 25-30 per cent. In 2018, our vote share was 9.6 per cent and this time our vote share will be increased after the Prime Minister's visit to the state," he added.

Ahead of the Meghalaya Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Shillong on Friday.

The roadshow started at Central Library and concluded at the Police Bazar where he addressed a public rally. The roadshow received a massive response as people queued up on both sides of the road through which the Prime Minister's cavalcade passed.

The Prime Minister was also seen greeting people and waving at them.

PM Modi also paid floral tributes to three freedom fighters of the state - U Tirot Sing, U Kiang Nangbah and Pa Togan Sangma in Shillong.

Security was beefed up in Shillong in view of PM Modi's visit.

More than 1,000 security personnel including Meghalaya Police and Central Armed Police Forces were deployed in the route of the roadshow and Police Bazar point in Shillong.

"Special security arrangements have been made in Shillong for the Prime Minister. More than 1000 security personnel have been deployed in the city," Assistant Superintendent of Police, Shillong Pawar Swapnil Vasantrao told ANI.

This time BJP is contesting in all 60 seats in Meghalaya.

The Meghalaya assembly polls will be held on February 27 along with Nagaland and the counting of votes will take place on March 2. (ANI)
The 17-year-old juvenile along with his accomplice allegedly nabbed two persons, identified as Mohd Azhar (32), a resident of Farash Khana and his cousin on the intervening night of February 11-12.

As per the police, the other accused is absconding.

According to a complaint filed by Azhar, he along with his cousin was returning after attending a marriage function over two weeks ago. At around 11.45 pm, they visited a petrol pump. They had an altercation with the petrol pump staffers before two unidentified men reached the spot and intimidated the duo.

"The accused person stabbed the complainant and his cousin with a knife, but somehow they managed to escape," Delhi Police said.

The police were alarmed after the victims made a PCR call immediately.

Later, they were taken to Aruna Asif Ali Hospital for treatment.

Accordingly, a case under the 307/34 sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered at PS Civil Lines and a probe was launched.

"After examining the CCTV footage of the area, the police zeroed in on the accused and on Thursday he was apprehended from Sabzi Mandi, near the mortuary," police said.

"During interrogation, the 17-year-old revealed that his associate Badal had used a knife to attack the victims," police said, adding that Badal is on the run.

Police's investigation into this matter is underway. Further information is awaited. (ANI)
Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar on Friday lashed out at the ruling BJP over the non-fulfillment of promises made by the BJP and also for the announcement made by Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai that a Ram Temple would be built by the Karnataka government. "Open the BJP manifesto. What have they done for farmers, the electricity, and many other promises made? It is not the duty of government to build temples and mosques," the Congress leader said on Friday. "Is it what has to be mentioned in the budget (referring to Ram Mandir to be built in Ramanagar)," questioned Shivakumar. Commenting on Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that the BJP would provide a corruption-free government in the state, the Congress leader said, "BJP has made this state the corruption capital of the country. Congratulations to Amit Shah who says he will give a corruption-free government in the state." Reacting to Shah's statement that infighting is going on within the Congress, he said, "Are we doing wrestling here? What is BSY, CP Yogeshwar, Yatnal, all senior leaders speaking within the BJP? There is infighting within BJP only. What will they speak about us?" he said. (ANI)
Farmers in Maharashtra's Nashik district have asked the Modi government to grant them permission to commit suicide as they have been facing difficulties due to the low prices of onions in the state. Farmers complained of facing difficulties due to low prices of onions and alleged that it has become difficult for them to even recover the amount of money that's being used to grow onions after selling their produce. While talking to ANI, a male farmer said on Friday said, "The onions are being sold at Rs 300-400 per Kg in the Mandi. I have already spent Rs 3.5 lakhs. I would not be able to make even Rs 1 lakh now. I do not know how to deal with the issue. Modi's government should look after the farmer issues. Modi is least bothered about us. "We deserve to get fair prices for our crops. Or else the government should give us permission to commit suicide. We can't even think of buying a Rs 10 chocolate for our children," the farmer added. A female farmer also expressed disappointment over the low prices of onions. While talking to ANI, she said, "We have onions in a one-acre area. I have grown onions after a gold mortgage. My total expense was Rs 50,000 and when I went to the market, I could not even get Rs 20,000-25,000. The central government should do something about it." "Centre must increase prices, we can't pay the school fees of our children. We work hard to grow onions, but unfortunately, we are not getting the right price. We want permission to just end our lives," the woman rued. Another male farmer said, "We started the preparation three to four months ago, now when we go to the market, we are only getting Rs 300-400. The farmers have spent almost Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 on the land. We are only getting Rs 10,00-11,000 on one tractor. There is no profit, we are only suffering loss." "We want the government to take immediate actions or we will resort to a big movement against the government," added the farmer. (ANI)
"At around 1:27 am a PCR call was received at Police Station Anand Parbat and the caller informed that a truck has overturned. The caller further informed that four to five are stuck in an injured state inside the truck," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Central) Sanjay Sain said.

"On reaching the spot at main Rohtak road, one MCD truck which had turned turtle was found. With the help of a crane, the truck was lifted and labourers who were stuck beneath it were pulled out," the DCP added.

Three people died on on the spot and one person succumbed to the injuries at the hospital.

According to police, the deceased have been identified as Ramesh (30), Ramesh's wife Sonam (25), Killu (40 ) and Killu's son Anuj (4).

The deceased are migrant labourers from Tikam Garh, Madhya Pradesh.

All four bodies were shifted to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) mortuary, the police added.

It was revealed by the eyewitnesses that the speeding truck lost its balance on the curve to the main road where the labourers were paving cemented bricks.

According to police, the truck driver is yet to be traced as he was not found on the spot. (ANI)
The death toll in Friday night's accident in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district has risen to 14 people, while the count of injured has gone to 56, the police said. "A total of 14 deaths have been confirmed in the accident so far and 56 people injured. Of these injured, 39 people are undergoing treatment at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Rewa district," Rewa Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukesh Srivastava said. Out of 14 deaths, eight died on the spot, two were declared dead at Sidhi district hospital and four died at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, he added. The accident occurred near Barkhada village close to the Mohania tunnel in the district. Sustained injuries after a truck rammed into two buses from the rear in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district late Friday night, a police official said on Saturday morning. The buses were carrying people returning from Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally. The truck reportedly lost control which resulted in the bursting of the tyre. The injured were immediately rushed to the nearby hospital. Rewa SP Srivastava said, "Two buses were parked, a truck came from behind and got uncontrolled after its tyre got burst, leading to the collision." The police's investigation into this matter is underway. Union Home Minister Amit Shah condoled the loss of lives. Taking to Twitter, Shah said, "The road accident in Sidhi (M.P.) is very sad. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this accident. May God give them the strength to bear this sorrow. Treatment is being provided to the injured by the administration. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured." Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also expressed grief over the incident and he announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next-of-kin of those, who died in Sidhi's road accident. He also announced that an amount of Rs 2 lakh each has also been sanctioned for the persons, severely injured in the incident and Rs 1 lakh for people with normal injuries. (ANI)
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday lashed out at Bihar's Co-operative Minister and RJD leader Surendra Yadav for his remarks on Agniveer scheme, and said that the remark was 'shameful and offensive'. "Nitish Kumar's minister has given a shameful & offensive statement about Army. What does Bihar CM think the country will be silent about after this comment? I don't want to take the name of the one who said offensive words for our Army," Ravi Shankar Prasad said. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad also demanded that Surendra Yadav should be sacked for his remark. "The minister has no right to be in his position. Nitish Kumar should at least save the credibility of the army. The people of Bihar want a change in state and they are looking towards our party. BJP will win both Lok Sabha elections and Bihar elections in 2025," Prasad added. Earlier Bihar Co-operative Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Surendra Yadav while talking to the media in Katihar had said, "Exactly 8.5 yrs from now, country's name will be included among 'Hijdon ki fauj' (Army of eunuchs). I want to know from Prime Minister how our army will be able to compete with different armies of the world. What kind of training our army personnel will receive in mere 4.5 years? Hang those who came with this proposal." The Agniveer scheme has come under fire from some quarters that it is overlooking the fact on training and tenure aspects of the soldiers. The scheme was approved by Union Govt in June 2022. The government will offer four years of employment in the Indian army under this program for all three services. The recruitment process for all three services has already been started. (ANI)
The incident took place between Jagargunda and Kunded under Jagargunda police station limits at around 9 am on Saturday, said Bastar Range Inspector General of Police (IG) P Sundarraj.

The officer further elaborated that the deceased DRG security personnel were identified as ASI Ramuram Nag, assistant constable Kunjam Joga and Sainik Vanjam Bheema.

"This morning, a team of DRG was out on a combing operation and when they reached Jagargunda and Kunded, the Naxals opened firing," IG said.

The officer further elaborated that as the firing was opened from naxals' side, and security personnel launched a retaliatory action.

Based on precise input about the presence of naxals, security forces launched an operation and came under ambush.

According to the police source, the Naxals also suffered major damage in the encounter.

Earlier on February 5, Neelkanth Kakem, president of BJP's Awapalli mandal in Bijapur, was killed by Naxals.

On February 10, vice president of BJP in Narayanpur district Sagar Sahu was shot dead by Naxals in Narayanpur district while a former sarpanch identified as Ramdhar Alami (43) was hacked to death in Dantewada district on February 11.

In the backdrop of the killing of public representatives in the Bastar region, Chhattisgarh's Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Juneja has written a letter to National Investigation Agency (NIA) requesting a probe into the killings.

Amid the recent incidents, Bastar Range IG Sundarraj P had recently chaired a meeting attended by the office-bearers of political parties and briefed them about the protocols to be kept in mind during political rallies, meetings and movements in sensitive areas.

Earlier, lashing out at the government over the killing of public representatives, former Chief Minister and BJP national vice president Raman Singh had dubbed the incidents as a part of the conspiracy. (ANI)
Emphasizing a practical-based and industry-oriented education system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the central government is focused on providing internships and apprenticeships to the country's youth to give them "outside the classroom exposure". Laying emphasis on a practical-based and industry-oriented education system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the central government is focused on providing internships and apprenticeships to give "outside the classroom exposure" to the country's youth. PM Modi addressed the post-budget webinar on 'Harnessing Youth Power - Skilling and Education' on Saturday. It is the third of a series of 12 post-budget webinars organized by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023. Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister underlined that Skill and Education are the two principal tools during India's Amrit Kaal and it is the youth who are leading the nation's Amrit Yatra with the vision of a developed India. "In Amrit Kaal budget, the youth and their future have been given the most importance. For years, our education sector has been a victim of rigidity, we have tried to change it. We have reoriented education and scaling according to the aptitude of the youth demands of the coming times," he said. Highlighting the special emphasis given towards the youth and their future in the first budget of Amrit Kaal, the Prime Minister said that this year's budget strengthens the foundations of the education system by making it more practical and industry oriented. He lamented the lack of flexibility in the education system over the years and mentioned the efforts of the government to bring about change. "Education and skilling have been reoriented according to the aptitude of the youth and the demands of the future," the PM said. He further added that equal emphasis is being given to both education and skilling as part of the new educational policy and expressed delight that this step has garnered the support of teachers. The Prime Minister stated that the move encourages the government to undertake further reforms in the education and skilling sectors while unburdening our students from the regulations of the past. Noting the experiences during the Covid pandemic, PM Modi underlined that new technology is helping create new types of classrooms. He noted that the government is focussing on tools that ensure 'anywhere access to knowledge' and gave the example of SWAYAM, an e-learning platform with 3 crore members. He pointed out the possibility of Virtual Labs and National Digital Library becoming a huge medium of knowledge. He also mentioned the opportunity to study in local languages through DTH channels and said that many such digital and technology-based initiatives are going on in the country which will get more strength from the National Digital University. "Such futuristic steps are going to change the entire space of our education, skills and knowledge-science. We have got a lot of support from the teachers. This has encouraged the government to reform our education sector. Now, the role of teachers is not limited to the classroom. Now, the world is at their disposal due to technology," PM Modi said. He mentioned that more variety of teaching material will be available for our educational institutions from all over the country which will open new doors of opportunities for the teachers while filling the gap between village and city schools. Throwing light on 'on-the-job learning' the Prime Minister noted the special emphasis by several countries and highlighted the efforts of the central government in "providing focused internships and apprenticeships to give 'outside the classroom exposure' to its youth." "Today there are about 75,000 employers on the National Internship Portal where requirements for 25 lakh internships have been posted so far", PM said. He urged the industry and educational institutions to make maximum use of this portal and further expand the culture of internship in the country. PM Modi hoped that apprenticeships will make our youth future-ready and highlighted the efforts of the government in promoting apprenticeships in India. He mentioned that it will help the industries in the identification of the workforce with the right skills. Throwing light on this year's budget, the Prime Minister highlighted the provision of a stipend that has been made available for about 50 lakh youth under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme. He said that it is creating an environment for apprenticeships and also helping the industry in payments. New technology is helping to build new-age classrooms. This Budget focuses on and builds the foundation for a practical and industry-oriented education system: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing post-budget webinar on Harnessing Youth power- Skilling and Education Underlining the need for a skilled workforce, the Prime Minister underlined that the world is looking at India as a manufacturing hub and noted the enthusiasm of the world about investing in the country. He underlined the focus on skilling in this year's budget and mentioned the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 that will skill, reskill and upskill lakhs of youth in the coming years. He said that tailor-made programmes are being made according to the needs of tribals, differently-abled and women through this scheme. He also highlighted the focus on creating a skilled workforce for Industry 4.0 sectors like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Internet of things (IoT), and Drones, thereby making it easier for international investors to scout talent without having to spend much energy and resources on re-skilling. The Prime Minister also gave the example of PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman Yojana where the emphasis is laid on the skill development of traditional artisans, handicraftsmen, and artists to prepare them for a new market and also help in availing better prices for their products. The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the role and partnership of academia and industry in bringing rapid changes in the education sector in India. He underlined that research will be made possible according to the needs of the market while also creating room for adequate funding from the research industry. Highlighting this year's budget, PM Modi mentioned the three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and said that it will strengthen the industry-academia partnership. He also stated that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Labs will now be made available to medical colleges and private sector research and development (R&D) teams. The Prime Minister urged the private sector to take maximum advantage of every such step to strengthen the R&D ecosystem in the country. Laying emphasis on the 'whole of government' approach of the government, the PM said that education and skilling are not limited to the concerned ministry or department but their possibilities remain in every sector. PM Modi urged the stakeholders related to skilling and education to study these opportunities coming up in different sectors and help in creating the required workforce. Giving the example of India's fast-expanding civil aviation sector, the Prime Minister said that it showcases the growing travel and tourism industry of India while opening doors to huge sources of employment. The Prime Minister expressed the desire to prepare an updated database of the youth who have been trained under the 'Skill India Mission'. He emphasized that the trained workforce of India should not be left behind after the advent of digital technology and AI and urged industry experts to work in this direction. (ANI)
Retorting to the Ramcharitmanas row in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday launched attack on the Samajwadi party saying what would have happened if religious scriptures of other religions and faith were insulted. Yogi accused the party of attempting to "insult" the Hindu community in India and across the world, and also of manufacturing the controversy during the Global Investors Summit which concluded in Lucknow earlier this month. "The moment Global Investors Summit was about to begin, the Samajwadi Party started the Ramcharitmanas row about Tulsi Das ji. Some people tried to tear Ramcharitmanas. What would have happened if the same thing would have happened with some other religion? Does it mean whoever wants to insult Hindus, can do it? You want to insult the entire (Hindu) community," he said during his Address in the ongoing Budget Session. The Chief Minister read out the lines of the Hindu scripture and explained the meaning of the words. "Shudra means labour class. Ambedkar ji has also said not to call Dalit community shudra. Your behaviour towards Ambedkar is well known to the world. The names of the organisations under his name were changed. Nari means women. Are you not insulting the Hindus living in India and the world by burning the Ramcharitmanas?" he asked. Yogi's remarks came after Samajwadi Party leader Swamy Prasad Maurya's sparked a major controversy as he demanded the deletion of "insulting comments and sarcasm" targeted at particular castes and sects in Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic Ramayana. Maurya had claimed that in the Ramcharitmanas, which was composed by Tulsidas, there are words hurting the sentiments of the Dalit community. On January 30, Maurya has also taken a jibe at Mahant Raju Das by stating that he could have just cursed him instead of spending Rs 21 lakh to get him killed. Maurya had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding an amendment and ban on parts of the epic which he claimed are disrespectful to women and Dalits. "For revising/banning some of the objectionable parts of some couplets of Ramcharitmanas in which all women, tribals, Dalits and backward people have to be insulted on a daily basis at the social, and religious level and to give respect to the victim class, a letter has been sent to President and Prime Minister," Maurya had tweeted in Hindi. (ANI)
Son of an Army jawan who went missing after the India-Pakistan war in 1965 and was reported to be lodged in Lahore prison has urged the Centre to intervene and ensure the release of his father Anand Patri from Pakistan jail. Anand Patri's son, Bidyadhar Patri who is 65 and lives in Odisha has appealed to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get his death certificate if his father has died in the Pakistani jail. "Anand Patri (my father) was serving as a sepoy in the Bengal Defence Regiment during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 when he went missing. My family staying in the Dhamnagar block of Odisha's Bhadrak district. If he (father) died in prison, we need a death certificate from Pakistan authorities. I also appeal to President of India Droupadi Murmu and PM Narendra Modi to get justice for him," he said while speaking to ANI. He said that he came to know about his father in Pakistan's prison through a publication in 2003 and described his struggle to look for his missing father. He said that he knocked on every door for help, however, only failed to gain any support. "He did not return after the 1965 war. A publication in 2003 said that my father is locked in Lahore jail in Pakistan. Since ever I came to know that my father is alive, I knocked on every door for help but didn't get any. If my father had returned 20 years ago, our family would have spent some time with him. I urge the government of India to bring him back, and if he is dead, then bring a death certificate from the Pakistani authorities. I urge the President who is also from Odisha to take cognizance," he said. Bidyadhar said that the Pakistani authorities were supposed to release him in 2007, however, they took back my father as he was an Indian army prisoner and was not ready to release as an army man. "Pakistani authorities had made a condition to release Anand Patri as a civilian but Indian authorities refused to accept," he said. "I don't know if my father is alive or passed away after 20 years from 2003. I want my father's recognition as a freedom fighter of India," the son added. Uttam Roy, International Human Rights Activist, said that Anand Patri was recruited into the Army from Kolkata and also fought in the 1962 India-China war. "He was recruited from Kolkata into the Indian Army. He also participated in the 1962 India-China war. He fought in the Indo-Pak war in 1965. He is missing since 1965. We had met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, also met Pranab Mukherjee earlier. If he is alive, he would be nearly 88 years old. He has been in jail for nearly 58 years, if he is alive. The government of India and Odisha should ensure his return and also give financial assistance to his family. If he has died, the Pakistani authorities should give us his death certificate," Roy said. He called for assigning him with the status of 'martyr' to the jawan, if he has passed away. "Bidyadhar Patri has given a letter to the President recently. If he has died, we would want him to be declared a martyr," Roy said. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday launched an attack on Samajwadi Party for nurturing the mafia in the state and said our government would destroy the mafia. The CM Yogi expressed grief over the Prayagraj incident while taking part in the assembly proceedings ahead of the discussion on the motion of thanks on Governor Anandiben Patel's address on Friday and assured the house that no mafia would be allowed to flourish in the state. Describing the Prayagraj incident as sad, CM Yogi said "The government has taken cognizance of it and that the results of his government's policy of zero tolerance for the crime would be there for everyone to see very soon and no one should have any doubts about it." A key witness in the sensational 2005 murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, a prime witness was shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj in broad daylight on Friday. Hitting out at the opposition Samajwadi Party in this context, CM Yogi said that the party has been nurturing mafias and the main accused in this case too became a Member of Parliament on an SP ticket. "Is it not true that the accused against whom the FIR has been lodged, was made an MP by Samajwadi Party? You will raise all the criminals, garland them and then blame others when a crime takes place. By doing this, you are just making a spectacle of yourself," he said. Without naming Atique Ahmed, CM Yogi said that he is a mafia supported by the SP and who has been punished for his criminal acts by the current government. Taking a dig at Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav, CM Yogi said, "You needed an excuse for your misdeeds. They have been patronizing the mafia and criminals continuously. Crime runs in their veins. They haven't learned anything except crime. The whole state knows this. And today, they have come to give clarification." CM Yogi further added that the mafia who has carried out this act is absconding from the state. He said that the accused became an MLA from Allahabad West in 1996 and an MP in 2004 and 2009 with the support of the Samajwadi Party. Yogi's remark came while addressing the state Assembly during the ongoing Budget Session. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday lashed out at Samajwadi Party and termed the party as anti-women. "Those who cannot respect the Governor, the symbol of mother power, how will they respect half the population of the state?," CM Yogi said. The Chief Minister said that in every state the constitutional head discusses the achievements of the government. This happens not only in UP but in the whole country. This is our parliamentary tradition. The opposition should have shown respect towards mother power. There is a house for agreeing and disagreeing with the government, but the opposition has tarnished the dignity of the house with its rude behaviour. CM further said, "What message do we want to give to the country by raising slogans when a woman Governor is addressing the House? Those who cannot respect a governor, how can they be expected to respect half the population? His conduct came to the fore when the State Guest House scandal took place, his conduct also came to the fore when it was said that boys make mistakes." He said that there is no such party which has not been in power in the state. But seeing the exploits of ththatosition, the public rejected them. The CM said that the leader of the opposition party should blame his actions and not the public. We should be proud of the achievements in which UP got the number one position. But the opposition takes pride in how to tell that UP is backward and sick. This is because they could not do anything when they were in power. Today, the government of double engine has put the schemes on the ground without any discrimination with speed. Every member should feel proud of the achievements of the state. But the opposition does not have the courage to accept the truth, he said. The Chief Minister pointed out all the sectors in which the State is at the top position in the country. Hitting out on the Opposition CM Yogi said, "It is easy to get power, but it is difficult to get wisdom. Power can be inherited, but wisdom cannot be inherited. The opposition has always divided people in the name of caste, creed, and religion. We talk about everyone's support, and everyone's development, and then the opposition talks about caste. We talk about toilets, houses, employment, irrigation, farmer's produce, ease of doing business, and traditional enterprise, but the opposition only talks about caste, he said. Recalling the SP regime, the Chief Minister said that then in the UPPSC examination, out of 86 posts of SDM, 56 people of a particular caste were recruited. Such people are talking about social justice today. It is not hidden from anyone that there was discrimination against the youth at that time. What used to happen in the Police Recruitment and Selection Commissions is not hidden from anyone. CM Yogi further said, the opposition always looks for opportunities to create a new Mahabharata in the state. "The opposition only works to mislead the public. Except for one special caste, the opposition does not even know about other castes. He said that the opposition party would not know about Vantangiya, Kol, Sahariya, Dharu, Chero, and Buxa, these castes, only know about one caste. Not only this, but when we talk about national pride, Sardar Patel and national unity, then they glorify Jinnah. They do not see any difference between those who unite and those who break the nation. Yogi's remark came while addressing the state Assembly during the ongoing Budget Session. (ANI)
A 22-year-old woman was allegedly burnt alive by her aunt and cousin in connection with an alleged land dispute in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district, the police said on Saturday. The woman was identified as Rajkumari Lodhi and she succumbed to burn injuries. The incident occurred in Chaurai village under Dehat police station limits in the district. According to Rajkumari's mother, Imarti Lodhi, there was a long-standing dispute about the land in her family, and the family of her younger sister-in-law was constantly troubling her and threatened to kill her. As a result of which she used to live at her daughter's in-laws house. Imarti said that during the time of the incident, Rajkumari was going to take a bath. She was caressing her nine-month-old granddaughter and her son-in-law was also not at home. He had gone to Jabalpur. "When I heard the sound of my daughter's cry, I reached the spot and saw that my younger sister-in-law and her son were seen running away from there. My daughter was seen burning from behind. By the time she could get help, she succumbed to her injuries. The accused fled from the spot after committing the crime," she added. On the contrary, Damoh Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Kumar Singh said, "We received information about the incident from Dial 100. Acting on it, the police reached the spot and brought the body to the district hospital. The spot has been sealed. Along with this, the statements of the family members were being recorded." After the post-mortem of the body, the actual reason will be clear whether she was set on fire or something else. Based on the investigation and PM report, further action will be taken, he added. The deceased's mother had accused her younger sister-her-law and her nephew (sister-in-law's son) that they set ablaze her daughter and she spotted them going away from the spot. Though the matter would get clear after the PM report, SP Singh added. (ANI)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will bring new faces and have an organisational revamp in Kerala after the local body polls, said party State election in-charge Vinod Mathew Wilson on Saturday. "AAP has decided to contest in three panchayat wards and one block panchayat ward in Kerala in the upcoming local body bypolls. AAP is contesting against the immoral politics of the CPI(M) in Kerala. We will perform well in these seats and open an account in Kerala," the AAP leader told media persons. Wilson said, "AAP National Committee has decided to find new faces who can influence Kerala and bring them to the leadership of the party in Kerala." He said such names will be announced in the coming time. Attacking Congress, the AAP leader said the main opposition party in Kerala has been showing a "disappointing performance". Wilson said AAP's new organizational structure in Kerala will soon be in place. He said the party had already held protests across Kerala including the Raj Bhavan March against the Adani issue and issues pertaining to the budget. AAP is contesting in Ozhakkanad ward in Erumely gram panchayat, Thalikkulam block panchayat in Thrissur, ward 11 in Pothanikkad grama panchayat and ward 5 in Vilakudy grama panchayat. Voting will take place on February 28 and counting on March 1. Pertinent to mention, AAP after its electoral success in Punjab last year has been seeking expansion in other states to set its foot strong. The party had contested in states like Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat last year. (ANI)
A 22-year-old man allegedly killed his friend for texting and making calls to his girlfriend, who was previously in a relationship with the victim, police said on Saturday. The accused later beheaded the deceased, removed his heart and private parts, chopped his fingers, and later walked to the police station to surrender himself on Friday, the police said. Police launched a detailed investigation after registering a case on the accused's statement and recovered the deceased's body shifting it to a local government hospital for autopsy. As per the police, Naveen and Harihara Krishna completed their intermediate together at college in Dilsukhnagar. The girl at the center of the incident was also a student of the same college. The two fell in love with the girl, however, Naveen first expressed his love for her and she accepted her proposal, although a couple of years later the two parted ways, and the girl got into a relationship with Harihara Krishna after the latter proposed to her, Police said. Despite breaking up, Naveen was in constant touch with the girl and kept on texting and making calls to her which got Krishna badly upset. The accused waited for more than three months for an opportunity. On February 17 the two men got into an ugly scuffle after getting high on alcohol, and Krishna throttled Naveen to death, Police said adding that the accused separated victim's head, removed his private parts, heart, and chopped fingers. "The accused allegedly took pictures and sent them to his girlfriend on WhatsApp," the police said, adding that a detailed probe into the matter is underway. (ANI)
'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh on Saturday denounced that he does "not" consider himself a citizen of India calling the passport merely a "travel document" and said that it does not make him an Indian. He said that his remarks against Amit Shah were "not a threat" to the Union Home Minister, but rather a threat to them. "Amit Shah had said that he won't let the Khalistan movement rise. I had said that the same was done by Indira Gandhi and if you do the same then you'd have to face consequences. If the Home Minister says the same to those demanding 'Hindu Rashtra', then I'll see if he remains Home Minister," Amritpal had said on February 23. His remarks had come after his supporters allegedly clashed with the Ajnala Police demanding the release of his associate Lovepreet Singh Toofan. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Amritpal dubbed militancy as a "very natural phenomenon" and said that violence will not be under his control if the police try to stop their non-violent protest. "Militancy is not something that I am able to start. Nobody can start or end militancy. Militancy is a very natural phenomenon. It happens after a long period of suppression anywhere. Is militancy a constructive thing to start? I can order someone to start militancy, it does not happen like that. There is a peaceful protest. When Amit Shah said that he will suppress things, I said there will be consequences. It's not just about Indira Gandhi's murder as consequence. It's not a threat to Home Minister. I would say is a threat to us. What options do we have when there are legal binaries in India? I don't consider myself a citizen of India. I just have a passport, which does not make me Indian. It's a travel document," he said. "But there are laws. What they do, they give some rights to the people who are fighting against the establishment. There are some rights for those also who rebel. There is a line until it becomes violent, until I am harming somebody, or I am trying to implicate by force, it could be illegal. When they try to stop us way before it's not even close to violence, it will reach to violence. It will not be in my control. For example, if they arrest me, if something happens to Punjab, who is responsible for that? I am trying to get the youth out of drugs. How can I motivate them? We are a warrior race. When they say militancy, it is a very complex thing," the 'Waris Punjab De' chief said. When asked about the Khalistan slogans being reported in his addresses, he said that Khalistan is a "very normal discussion" in Punjab. He drew a parallel between the idea of 'Hindu Rashtra' and 'Khalistan' and said that the former is exclusive while the latter is "pure". "That's what the problem is. When you are not Punjabi and do not visit the state very frequently, and when you see everything through media, it looks very scary. But it is not. Khalistan is a very normal discussion here. When Supreme Court says anybody can say Khalistan Zindabad, it's not a crime. An MP got elected saying 'Khalistan Zindabad' from Sangrur," he said. "When you say saying 'Khalistan Zindabad' is bad, you are trying to challenge the Supreme Court. When somebody says 'Hindu Rashtra' zindabad, what is 'Hindu Rashtra'? Where is it established? People don't feel threatened with it. Then why if 80 per cent people are advocating it, sometimes they are doing it very violently, that we will not let anyone live, and will make everyone Hindu. The idea of Hindu Rashtra is totally opposite to the idea of Khalistan. Hindu Rashtra does not include other identities, either you are a Hindu or dead. They don't give you options. The idea of Khalistan is so pure, it's idea is the raj of Khalistan," Amritpal added. (ANI)
Within 10 days of the Pulwama attack of February 14, 2019, in which 40 CRPF troopers had lost their lives, Indian security forces averted another similar suicide attack by killing three terrorists, including two Pakistanis, reveals the book 'Kitne Ghazi Aaye, Kitne Ghazi Gaye' authored by former Chinar Corps Commander Lt General KJS Dhillon (retd). In the book, Dhillon writes that many people are not aware about a similar suicide attack which had been planned in February 2019 itself where a potential suicide bomber terrorist had made a video showcasing, explosives and other weaponry to indicate his intentions. The main attack had taken place on 14 February 2019 when is a suicide, a bomber rammed his vehicle into a CRPF convoy bus in which 40 personnel lost their lives and many others were injured. "However, when intelligence and other agencies intercepted information about the plans of this operation, they moved in instantly to neutralize the module urgently," Dhillon writes. The former Chinar Corps commander says that after the Pulwama incident, intelligence agencies, Jammu Kashmir police and the Indian Army had intensified their operations and were highly successful in infiltrating the network of terrorist organisations like Jaish-e- Mohammed in the South Kashmir area. He mentions that agencies were working relentlessly and gathered intelligence about the presence of this module of Jaish terrorists in the Turigam Village where they were planning the attack. The officer credits Jammu and Kashmir police Deputy Superintendent of Police in Kulgam Aman Kumar Thakur for sharing the input about the terrorists with the local Rashtriya Rifles (RR) unit and leading the operation with his men from the front. Dhillon says that the army and other security agencies which he refers to as Team Security Forcee planned a joint operation on the night of 24 February 2019 as they could not afford to fail in this operation as this would have allowed the terrorists to execute another suicide attack within 10 days of their success in Pulwama. "Acting with stealth, speed and surprise the joint team was successful in trapping three. Just tell us inside the cotton soon a contact was established and heavy exchange of fire followed," he writes. Highlighting the camaraderie between the Jammu and Kashmir police and the Indian Army, troopers deployed in counter-terrorist operations in the Kashmir Valley, Dhillon says that during the operation, DSP Thakur saw an Indian Army soldier Baldev Ram getting hit by terrorist bullets. Thakur disregarding his personal safety, evacuated the injured soldier to a safe location but was hit by a bullet fired by a terrorist from a concealed location. Displaying rare courage and steely determination Thakur subsequently closed in on the terrorist and engaged him from close quarters and eliminated him in a fierce gunfight. The slain terrorist was identified as Noman, a resident of Pakistan belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group. He also mentions the gallantry shown by Naib Subedar Sombir of 34 RR who killed Osama, a Pakistani terrorist in a close gun battle and sacrificed his life for the country. Both DSP Thakur and Naib Subedar Sombir were awarded the Shaurya Chakra for their indomitable spirit and valour sacrificing their lives in the operation. Highlighting the importance of the success of this operation in the Turigam village area, Dhillon says that "if these terrorists had not been neutralised, 10 days after Pulwama, it would have been a huge disaster". Dhillon says that other people involved in the planned but filed terror attack were caught from their respective places in real time due to the alertness and perfect coordination among the security and intelligence agencies operating there. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Saturday in a special hearing stayed the re-election of the Standing Committee of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which was scheduled to be held on February 27, 2023. The Bench of Justice Gaurang Kant while staying the re-election for Standing Committee members, also issued notice to all respondents including newly elected Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi. Delhi's Mayor on Friday announced to hold fresh elections on February 27 at 11 am after chaos at MCD House. The chaos on Friday broke out after Delhi Mayor had declared one vote invalid in the election to six members of the Standing Committee. The bench of Justice Gaurang Kant stated that the Mayor's decision to announce re-elections without declaring the results of the previous poll "prima facie violates regulations". The court fixed the matter for March 22, 2023. The court also issues directions to preserve the ballot box. The direction of Delhi HC came on Friday on two petitions filed by Delhi BJP's councillors Shikha Roy and Kamaljeet Sehrawat challenging mlMayor Shelly Oberoi's decision to declare a vote invalid during MCD's standing committee election. MCD House in Delhi witnessed chaos on Friday as BJP and AAP members resorted to punches, jostling and rained blows at each other over the results of the election to the six-member standing committee. The unruly scenes erupted after Mayor Shelly Oberoi declared one vote invalid. It was the third day of commotion in the House. BJP Councillor Meenakshi Sharma later filed a police complaint at Kamla Market Police Station against AAP Councillors for "causing grievous harm and injury and committing criminal assault with women Councillors of BJP intending to outrage the modesty and giving threat of life with criminal conspiracy" AAP members also reached the Kamla Market police station to file an FIR against BJP. They alleged an "attempt of murder on AAP's women councillor". Shelly Oberoi, who belongs to Aam Aadmi Party, declared that the election of members of the MCD Standing Committee will now be held on February 27. The House was adjourned till February 27. In the unprecedented fight in the House and resulting commotion, AAP Councillor Ashok Kumar Maanu collapsed. He later recovered and joined the party's protest. Both BJP and AAP blamed each other for the violence. AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed AAP received 138 votes in a poll of 6 members of the Delhi MCD Standing Committee and BJP received lesser. "AAP has 134 Councillors, one joined BJP. Since Congress Councillors are not here, it means there are some BJP Councillors who voted for AAP," he said. Delhi BJP leader Harish Khurana accused AAP of violence and not following the norms. Shelly Oberoi said standing committee elections were held as per BJP demands. "Still, they created a ruckus and came up on stage to attack me. I thank female Civil Defence personnel for saving me. BJP members physically assaulted AAP female members. BJP accept your defeat," she said. (ANI)
Terming the storming of the police station in Ajnala by 'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh and his supporters earlier this week for the release of his aide as "worrisome", veteran journalist and former MLA Kanwar Sandhu has said the situation can get better in the state if Punjab Police and AAP government in the state take appropriate steps. Talking to ANI, he also said that policing was a serious business, especially in a border state like Punjab, and the state should have a fully dedicated Home Minister. "There is no talk towards Khalistan... I think it is too premature to jump to that conclusion. Whatever happened in Ajnala, I think it is worrisome. It seems like the police were not ready or they had no idea this was going to happen. I wish the police were well prepared," Sandhu told ANI. He was responding to queries in the wake of the Ajnala incident which has caused widespread concern. Thousands of supporters of Amritpal Singh, a Khalistan sympathizer, had on Thursday staged a massive demonstration in Amritsar to protest against the arrest of his aide Lovepreet Singh Toofan. The supporters, who were holding swords and guns in their hands, broke through police barricades erected outside Ajnala Police Station. The police later said that "in the light of the evidence presented" it has been decided that Lovepreet Singh Toofan will be discharged. Lovepreet Singh was released from jail on Friday following orders of a court in Ajnala on an application by the police. A day after Ajnala incident in which some policemen were injured, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that appropriate action will be taken against the people involved. Sandhu, a former Editor of Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Day & Night News and The Tribune in Chandigarh, raised questions over the decisions of police and state government authorities and said it looked as if the mob was controlling the situation. "As they are talking about the incident of Ajnala, the person who was arrested earlier, the police should have investigated before arresting the person whether he was involved or not. If he was involved, then evidence should have been collected. Now, it has become a kind of spectacle when you arrest someone, keep him in your custody and when the mob gathers and takes over the police station and the mob is giving you the evidence that this person is not involved. You are assuring him that you will release him. What kind of policing is this? What kind of governance is this? It looks like the mob is controlling the situation," he said. Asked if the Khalistan issue could be raised again, Sandhu said it is obvious that people outside Punjab "will guess that perhaps this Khalistan issue is emerging again". "The situation is definitely worrying." The veteran journalist said that it seems that the police were neither prepared for the incident nor had done their homework. "When Amritpal Singh had threatened the police, then immediately police should have held a conference to find out that the person they have verified... that the arrest is legal and justified. If they had already done their assessment then, maybe, when the protest started they would have released him from jail or maybe they would have satisfied the protesters by showing them the evidence they had against the person. But it seemed as if the police did not have any evidence. When the crowd gave them the evidence that the person was not involved at all and he was not even there, then the police said that they will release him," he said. Sandhu, a former MLA from Kharar, said similar incidences had occurred during the initial phase of militancy in Punjab. "What happened after 1980, what happened in 1984, after that whatever happened in the decade of 1980-90, whatever happened at that time started like this and this is a matter of concern. In those days also similar cases were registered, people were caught and released and when the pressure was created, police said that now we will not arrest anyone at the time too, the matter started like this." Sandhu said Punjab police and the state government should take steps to control the situation and said the real test of rule of law is not during not the best of times but in the worst time. "I think there is a very interesting term in our law, the rule of law. The rule of law has various meanings, it is necessary to understand them and we will have to train the police, that the rule of law has to be followed in letter and spirit. The rule of law is not only for the best of times, the real test of the rule of law is the worst of times. It's just the beginning. Even now, if the Punjab Police and the government take care, then the situation can definitely get better," he said. He questioned Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's decision concerning the two-day investment summit when the state had faced the Ajnala incident. "Ajnala incident was happening on one side and the Chief Minister was busy with the two-day investment conference," he said. Sandhu said that it is important to have a full-fledged Home Minister in Punjab as well as a full-fledged DGP in the state. He said that it seems the government and other institutions are not playing their proper role. "What is happening since the last eight-ten months, I have been thinking for a long time that how this government is running. There is no home minister, the CM is holding the Home portfolio. Does he have enough time to devote time to the Home department which is such an important department? So we need a Home Minister. Not only that we need a full-fledged DGP. Officiating DGP is there for the last four-five months. There are clear guidelines for this. We are not following those guidelines. For the last six-seven months, several times SSP has been changed. What kind of administration is this? So I think policing is very serious business and we need to take it seriously," he said. (ANI)
As soon as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reiterated his conviction to destroy the mafia nexus in the state while speaking in the assembly on Saturday, enthusiasm spread among his supporters across the country and three hashtags supporting the CM's campaign against the mafia were trending on Twitter, stated an official release. "#'Yogi Means Governance, '#Yogi Adityanath and #Yogi Surgical Strike started trending on Twitter simultaneously. #YogiAdiyanath trended more than 33 crore times whereas #YogiMeansGovernance hashtag remained among the top trends for more than 65 crore times," it read. The opposition parties did try to hard corner the Yogi-Adityanath Government over the murder of Umesh Pal, the main witness of the Rajupal murder case, allegedly by the henchmen of SP-backed mafia don Atique Ahmed in Prayagraj, but in vain as CM Yogi countered their allegations with facts, leaving them without an answer. In a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party, the CM held it responsible for nurturing and patronizing criminals and mafia in the state. He said, "The Samajwadi Party not only glorified the mafia during its tenure but also garlanded them." He said that the mafia involved in the Prayagraj incident has been enjoying power under the patronage of Atique Ahmed of SP and that the party had no moral right to blame the current government. The Chief Minister also assured the House that the government would leave no stone unturned to destroy the mafia. (ANI)
After Union Minister, Nisith Pramanik's car was allegedly damaged by a mob on Saturday in Cooch Behar district in North Bengal, violent clashes erupted between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers. While commenting on the situation local police official stated that both parties had come prepared for this violent engagement. "Since today morning, tension was prevailing in the Burirhat area of Sahebganj PS over the issue of visit of MOS Nisith Pramanik at the house of BJP supporter at Burirhat bazar. Since morning, TMCP supporters gathered at their Burirhat Party office to show black flag. At about 12/30 hrs, MoS visited to the area and after sometimes, proceeded towards Dinhata. But after 10 minutes, few BJP supporters came to the spot with lathi, stones and bricks," as per the official statement released by the office of Additional SP, Cooch Behar district Police. District Police attempted to control an unruly mob from both sides (TMC and BJP supporters), but things got out of control and they had to engage with the crowd. "OC Sahebganj PS along his team (under the guidance of SDPO) tried to stop them and also advised them not to proceed towards the TMCP crowd. But they declined and started pelting stones. In the mean time, police tried to restrain both the parties to disperse them from the spot, and fired stun shell inorder to restrict them," said the official press note. Police have suggested the situation is currently under control. "At present, all the supporters of both sides left the PO. Now area is under control. Keeping close watch over the issue." said the official statement. Union Minister Nisith Pramanik is visiting his Lok Sabha constituency, Cooch Behar. (ANI)
Punjab minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal today met Amritsar Rural SSP Satinder Singh, SP D Jugraj Singh and SP Tejbir S Hundal who were injured in the Ajnala incident. The three police officers were present in Ajnala when supporters of Amritpal Singh attacked the police station and were seriously injured. On Thursday, thousands of supporters of the group broke barricades at a police station in Amritsar using guns and swords and threatened to disturb law and order. Senior Superintendent of Police said, "As per the evidence presented before us, Lovepreet Toofan will be discharged. SIT constituted to investigate the case." They have given enough proof that he (detained Lovepreet Toofan) is innocent. SIT has taken cognizance of it. These people will peacefully disperse now and the law will take its own course, said the SSP. Punjab Police have decided to release Lovepreet Toofan, a close aide of 'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh. Talking on the matter, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) Harpal Singh Blair said, 'We had come to talk to the administration that an FIR has been lodged against Lovepreet Toofan. Amritpal Singh's name is also included in this. No false case should have been registered. The administration accepted that Lovepreet was not involved, so they will release him tomorrow and cancel the FIR." Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh says, "...FIR registered only with a political motive. If they don't cancel the case in 1hr, Admin will be responsible for whatever happens next...They think we can't do anything, so this show of strength was necessary..." "False news being circulated that police personnel was injured. The truth is that he was injured after he took a fall. In fact,10-12 of our people were hurt. Within 24hrs, Tufan Singh should be released. We won't even wait for 24 hrs," he added. Earlier on February 25, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said that appropriate action will be taken against the people involved in Thursday's violence. "As far as yesterday's incident is concerned, appropriate action will be taken. Video footage is being analyzed. SP has been injured with 11 stitches. Five other Police personnel were also injured. Their statement will be recorded and further legal action will be taken," Punjab DGP Yadav said on Friday. Terming the attack on Policemen as cowardly, Yadav said, "Police worked with utmost restraint to maintain the dignity of Guru Granth Sahib. Attacking the Police under its cover was an act of cowardice." (ANI)
Addressing the huge campaign rally, Sangma said that the NPP will have a clear victory in the Assembly elections.

"We bring forward Meghalaya in last five years. We did development works in Meghalaya in last five years which was not done in previous 20 years. It's now the time of peace and development and this is the time of NPP government," said Sangma.

The campaign for Meghalaya assembly polls ended at 4 pm today.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a gala road show in Shillong as part of the election campaign. The roadshow started at Central Library and concluded at the Police Bazar where he addressed a public rally.

The roadshow received a massive response as people queued up on both sides of the road through which the Prime Minister's cavalcade passed.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier sought permission for the Prime Minister's rally at PA Sangma Stadium in Tura. BJP alleged that permission to hold the rally was denied by the National People's Party (NPP) government, citing the stadium was still under construction. (ANI)
The Centre has defended its decision to extend the tenure of the director of the Enforcement Directorate and said that petition challenging it is motivated and urged the top court to dismiss the plea. The Centre government submission came on an affidavit filed countering the submission of the petition challenging the extension of the ED director. The government told the Supreme Court that the petition challenging the extension of ED tenure is without merit, and urged the top court to dismiss it. Centre informed the apex court that the petition is clearly motivated by an oblique personal interest rather than any public interest litigations. The Centre also said that the petition is a misuse of Article 32 of the Constitution, which is clearly being filed in a representative capacity for and on behalf of the President and the office bearers of the Indian National Congress, who are being investigated by ED and are otherwise fully competent to approach respective courts for appropriate statutory relief and remedy under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Centre said the petition has been filed for espousing the cause of her political masters when there is nothing barring the concerned persons who are under investigation from approaching the competent court for any appropriate relief. Centre submitted that the present Writ Petition, styled as a Public Interest Litigation, is clearly motivated and is admittedly intended to scuttle the legitimate statutory investigation being carried out by the Directorate of Enforcement against certain politically exposed persons. Centre said that the real motive of the petition is to question the investigation being carried out against the President and certain office bearers of the Indian National Congress Party Centre submitted that It is a well-known fact that the menace of corruption, black money and international financial crime and its intricate links with drugs, terrorism and other criminal offences pose a serious threat to national security and the stability of the financial systems of our country. Further, corruption in public life often has the consequence of the economic and social rights of common people being violated. "The spectre of corruption at times totally erodes the confidence of people in the systems that are meant to provide them good governance. Effectively tackling corruption is therefore essential for the realization of economic and social rights of people and for maintaining their faith in institutions and governance," Centre said. "It is respectfully submitted that certain leaders of the aforesaid political parties are under investigation of the Directorate. The investigation is strictly going on in accordance with the law which is reflected from the fact that in most of the cases, either the competent Courts have taken cognizance of the offence or Constitutional Courts have refused to grant any relief to such leaders of the above political parties," the affidavit read. "It is apparent that the subject petitions are filed for and on behalf of such leaders of political parties of the petitioners and to ensure that the Enforcement Directorate does not and cannot discharge its statutory duties fearlessly. There is a manifest political interest in filing the above writ petitions, which is apparent. It clearly appears that to achieve such political advantage the petitions are camouflaged as Public Interest Litigation without even bothering to mention details about the important leaders of the parties to which each of the petitioners belongs are being investigated. As a matter of fact, the petitioner in the present case makes the said thing apparent though she has also failed to disclose serious cases of money laundering under investigation against several other leaders of the party to which she belongs," the affidavit read. Centre said these facts in reply to a petition filed by the General Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee Jaya Thakur through advocate Varun Thakur and advocate Shashank Ratnoo. The petitioner Jaya Thakur has said the extension has been granted despite the matter being subjudice and initial adverse order against the respondent ED Director SK Mishra in another petition filed by activist Dr Jaya Thakur in the Supreme Court of India. The petitioner has challenged the Centre decision dated November 17 2022 whereby the government has extended the third tenure of the director of Enforcement Directorate SK Mishra. The petitioner said that democracy is a part of the basic structure of our Constitution and rule of law and free and fair elections are basic features of democracy. "The respondents destroyed the basic structure of democracy by misusing the enforcement agencies against the political opponent. The Supreme Court in a number of the cases held that appointment in Enforcement Agencies must be fair and transparent manners if their appointment will be done in biased nature, then they can be used as tools," the petition said. (ANI)
The two main Dravida political parties DMK and the AIADMK are vying with each other to win the Erode East by-election with an array of leaders descending in the constituency during the last day of the campaigning. The bypoll to the Erode East constituency is scheduled to be held on February 27. Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin led the last day's campaign for the DMK front candidate and senior Congress leader, EVKS Elangovan. Stalin's statement that women heads of homes would be provided Rs 1000 as honoriroum per month in the next budget was questioned by the AIADMK. AIADMK leader and former MLA, I.S. Inbarasu, told media persons that the action of Stalin announcing such a dole during an election campaign was violation of the model code of conduct (MCC). He raised a complaint with the Returning Officer of the constituency, R. Sivakumar. However, local people told IANS that both the Dravidian parties are wooing people by paying money and gifts. Silver anklets were distributed to people and pressure cookers were also given as gifts to the voters. People, however, do not want to be identified as the money and gifts are handed over by local politicians of both the parties. A woman voter told IANS that that a local leader had come to their home two days before and paid Rs 12,000 as they had four votes in their home. The party paid Rs 3000 per vote in a home. The other party also paid Rs 2500 per vote and this amounted to Rs 10,000. However, most of the voters refused to take money from both the sides barring some exceptions. Sources in the DMK told IANS that the DMK-led front is far ahead of the AIADMK-led front. The leaders showed the lead of 8904 votes with which E. Thirumahan Everaa won in the 2021 assembly elections against Tamil Maanila Congress candidate, M. Yuvaraja. The East Erode by-election has been necessitated aftre the passing away of E. Thirumahan Everaa. With his father EVKS Elangovan contesting the polls, the sympathy factor is likely to work in his favour. The support extended by Tamil super star Kamal Haasan-led party, the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), has also given a shot in the arm for the DMK front. It is to be noted that MNM had garnered 10,000 votes in the 2021 assembly polls. AIADMK leadership, however, said that the Front will easily win the polls and pointed out the chief minister announcing Rs 1000 honorarium to the women heads of families per month in the next budget was an indication that the DMK was rattled with the feedback from the ground. With silent campaign commencing from now onwards, the Election Commission has deployed several flying squads to check whether money was changing hands. Sources from Erode East constituency, however, told IANS that money, liquor, and biriyani were free-flowing in the constituency for wooing the voters in secret places. However, the allegation could not be confirmed. --IANS aal/uk/ ( 508 Words) 2023-02-25-20:32:01 (IANS)
The Congress on Saturday amended the party's constitution to ensure 50 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, women and minorities in all party posts, including representatives at the state level (PCC) and national level (AICC).

Chairing a committee at the party's convention, senior party leader former Union Minister Ambika Soni proposed the amendment to this constitution.

Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala termed the move as a 'beginning of social justice' and said that the Ambika Soni-led committee has taken measures ranging from the Congress Working Committee for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women. 50 per cent reservation in all party posts from PCC representatives to AICC representatives were proposed.

Along with this, the committee has decided to increase the strength of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest body of the party, from 23 to 35. It proposed to make party membership paperless and record, mandatory introduction of mother's and wife's name in membership documents and automatic promotion of elected representatives of Panchayat Raj Institutions and Cooperative Societies as PCC representatives. He said that these proposals were accepted unanimously.

Surjewala and Soni claimed that the amendments to include more people from across the board were inspired by Rahul Gandhi who saw the need for such a move during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

--IANS ptk/uk/

( 256 Words)

2023-02-25-20:54:04 (IANS)
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday criticised External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for the latter's recent remark during an interview that "China is a bigger economy" while defending India's policy on China amid tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) "It is shocking to hear from the External Affairs Minister that China is too rich to stand up to," Tharoor said while speaking on the international resolution passed by the Congress during the party's 85th plenary session being held here. Tharoor said the future of India is bright as long as the Congress fights the good fight and we have to send a message from here.A The MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that the party should be absolutely clear about its ideology if it wants to take on the BJP with full might. Stressing on the idea of inclusive India, Tharoor said that Congress could have been more vocal on the release of Bilkis Bano rape case convicts and cow vigilantes. Tharoor also targeted the Central government for 'rampant crony capitalism' and 'accumulating wealth in the hands of a few friends of the Prime Minister'. Meanwhile, the Congress in its political resolution said that it will bring a law to punish and prevent hate crimes to combat hate politics and violence. The resolution said, "In the last eight-and-a-half years under the BJP government, the politics of hate has assumed alarming proportions and religious polarisation has reached its peak. Hate crimes and atrocities have increased manifold. Vigilante right wing groups incite violence on various trivial issues. "These groups operate with impunity and have started acting like police, spreading anarchy and fear. This fear in the minds of minorities is the aim of the BJP/RSS regime." The resolution said that during the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, it was clear that majority of Indians yearn for love, peace and harmony. --IANS miz/arm ( 322 Words) 2023-02-25-21:20:03 (IANS)
The Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, on Saturday targeted the BJP during a mega rally of the Mahagathbandhan in Purnia. "We are Biharis and don't think of us as fools (Ham Log Bihari Hai, Hamko Burbak Mat Samjhiye)," Tejashwi said while taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the promises he had made before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It was a show of strength for the Mahagathbandhan on Saturday as each and every MLA, MP and minister were present at the rally. "During a rally at this same venue in 2014, Narendra Modi had promised to give special status to Bihar. But it turned into a 'jumla'. Don't assume that we Biharis are fools. We understand everything. The Centre had said that the income of the farmers would double by 2022, but what happened to that promise? What happened to the promise of concrete houses for every countryman? Please tell us one promise made by the Centre which has been fulfilled," Tejashwi said. "What was there for Bihar in the Union Budget this year? Zero. It is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is developing Bihar in his own capacity," the RJD leader said. "BJP does not have any leader, all of them are dealers. They are only trying to divide the society on religious lines. I'm the son of Lalu Prasad, who never compromised with the communal forces in his entire life. I will not bend before these forces," Tejashwi said. --IANS ajk/arm ( 264 Words) 2023-02-25-21:52:03 (IANS)
CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said on Saturday that the country will get freedom from the Gujarat model only when the Mahagathbandhan get united. Speaking at the mega rally of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar's Purnis, Bhattacharya said, "During the recent national convention of the CPI-ML in Patna, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid made a very important point that the Gujarat model has destroyed the country. The are many lies in the Gujarat model. The Bihar model is an appropriate answer to counter it. The unity of the seven parties of the Mahagathbandhan strengthens the Bihar model," Bhattacharya said. "The BJP has promoted the Gujarat model of governance, but I want to point out that the 2002 riots was also part of the Gujarat model. The accused in the Bilkis Bano rape case were released from jail and were welcomed like heroes -- this is the Gujarat model that the BJP promotes. Massacres happened in Bihar as well. But we cannot promote them as Bihar model," Bhattacharya said. "If we become blind supporters of any person, we are inviting dictatorship in the country. Bihar will not tolerate if someone tries to tamper with our history. We have a big fight ahead in 2024. And Mahagathbandhan unity is crucial for winning this fight," the CPI-ML leader added. --IANS ajk/arm ( 229 Words) 2023-02-25-22:20:04 (IANS)
Reacting to Siddaramaiah's statement that the Chief Minister told lies regarding the Arkavathy Layout identification scam, Bommai told reporters here that he read the Kempanna Commission report which was prepared after gathering all pieces of evidence and there was no question of telling lies.

"... it was Siddaramaiah who was bluffing," Bommai said.

The Congress leader wrote on the document saying "officials brought files, I have endorsed". "This means Siddaramaiah has accepted committing the mistake. What more evidence is required than this?" Bommai questioned.

The Chief Minister said it was important what the Advocate General had said, and the judge had made remarks after hearing the arguments.

The judge, in his orders, has mentioned that it had been done to shield the corruption of the politicians and officials.

"I have said the same thing. I have read the commission's report and the judgment.... I have also seen what action they have taken based on the report. We will take the next course of action," the Chief Minister said.

--IANS mka/pgh

( 209 Words)

2023-02-25-22:22:03 (IANS)
Vice President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo on Saturday, before leaving from India, said that with India's growing strength Internationally, its presence in the world is well respected. Speaking to ANI about his 5-day visit to India, Jagdeo said, "It was an excellent visit. I'm really grateful to the Indian government for all of the attention that they have paid to the issues in Guyana and the access they have given to us." When asked about the relationship between Guyana and India, Jagdeo said, "Well, it's always historic, Indians historically been very strong but we are hoping now to enhance that relationship in several areas. And that's one of the reasons I came here to discuss the expansion of the relationship." On being asked about India-Guyana Air Services Agreement, Jagdeo said, "Well, that hopefully will set the framework for maybe greater connectivity between the two countries. One of the biggest problems with people-to-people contact is the difficulty of transit. So, we're hoping that this may solve some of those problems." When asked about India being President of the G20 grouping, and how does he see India becoming the voice of the Global South, he said, "Well, India historically has played that role and with its growing strength internationally, India's presence in the world now is well respected. And so even from what Prime Minister Modi has been saying, we know that India instinctively will be representing the global south." On being asked about Guyana's plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with India to enhance cooperation in the energy sector, Jagdeo said that Guyana "is exploring the runabout exports to India on terms that are beneficial to both countries. But it goes as you said beyond that, it will also involve cooperation on the development of the gas sector. We believe that has enormous potential in Guyana. India has enormous skills in many areas and they can hopefully help us build a regulatory framework that would allow us to better manage the sector and strengthen our environmental credentials so that we can hold the oil companies to account." President Droupadi Murmu on Friday held a meeting with Jagdeo at the Rashtrapati Bhavan While welcoming Jagdeo to Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Murmu said that India attaches very high importance to its ties with Guyana. She noted that the trade between the two nations is on an upward trajectory, President's Secretariat said in the press release. President Droupadi Murmu emphasised the need to further bolster bilateral trade between the two nations, according to the press release. She called the development partnership a "major pillar" of India-Guyana ties. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the signing of the Air Services Agreement between the Government of India and the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, as per an official release. According to an official release, the Air Services Agreement will come into force after the exchange of diplomatic notes between the parties confirming that each party has completed the necessary internal procedure for entry into force of this Agreement. (ANI)
US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu on Friday said the US is deeply concerned that Chinese loans to countries in India's immediate neighbourhood may be used for coercive leverage. Lu was addressing a special press briefing previewing Secretary Antony Blinken's upcoming travel to India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. "Concerning Chinese loans to countries in India's immediate neighbourhood, we are deeply concerned that loans may be used for coercive leverage. And we are talking to India, talking to countries of the region about how we help countries to make their own decisions and not decisions that might be compelled by any outside partner, including China," Lu replied to a question on Chinese loans to Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Blinken will on March 1 travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, which will focus on strengthening multilateralism and deepening cooperation on food and energy security, sustainable development, counter-narcotics, global health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, gender equality and women's empowerment, the US State Department recently said in a statement. US Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Ramin Toloui during the Friday briefing with Lu said: "Secretary Blinken looks forward to going to Delhi as part of India's G20 presidency year. We look forward to doing everything we can to support India's work to make its G20 presidency a success. There is no shortage of common challenges, and we want to deepen our partnership with other G20 countries to address these challenges." Lu during the briefing said: "The Secretary will be meeting, while in New Delhi, with his counterpart, the Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar. They'll talk about our strategic partner partnership but really focus on how we're working together in the Asian Quad, in the G20, what we're doing on defense cooperation, and the Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies that is being run out of the White House and the prime minister's office." "On March 3rd, the Secretary will also participate in a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Asian Quad, which is the United States, India, Japan, and Australia," Lu said according to the US Department of State. "What will be even more interesting is immediately following that ministerial meeting, the Secretary will participate in a panel at the Raisina Dialogue," Lu added. Lu during the briefing also expressed the US viewpoint on India's stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The top US diplomat for the region emphasized that the US doesn't think India is going to end relations with Russia anytime soon and hopes India will use its influence with Russia to end the Ukraine conflict. (ANI)
A 75-year-old Ahmadi Muslim, Dr. Rasheed Ahmad, well-known for his humanitarian service to the most neglected villagers, was on February 19 shot dead in Goteriala, a village in the Gujrat District, in Pakistan's Punjab Province, The Bitter Winter magazine reported. International Human Rights Committee (IHRC), a non-profit and non-governmental organization focusing on freedom of religion or belief based in London, broadcasted the news. Ahmad was hit by several shots in the health centre where he worked, the "Dr. Rashid Jatt Clinic," a homoeopathy clinic that he established to serve the poorest villagers. The tragedy is an international incident that goes beyond Pakistan's borders. Dr. Ahmad was born in Pakistan but years ago became a Norwegian citizen. In this new hate crime, a foreign citizen was murdered in Pakistan because of his faith, according to Bitter Winter. Secretary General of IHRC, Nasim Malik, who lives in Sweden, told Bitter Winter, "As a Scandinavian, Ahmad knew me and my work in denouncing the persecution of the minorities in Pakistan and especially the Ahmadiyya Muslims. Dr Ahmad's heart was full of humanity. He was a retired doctor in Norway who travelled back to his native Pakistan to serve the inhabitants of his village, Goteriala, even at the risk of his own life." According to The Bitter Winter Magazine, the assassination of Dr Ahmad appears to have been premeditated. Those living near the place of the murder, IHRC reported, knew the killer as an outspoken and active opponent of the Ahmadis, a Muslim community that both the Muslim government of Pakistan and private thugs persecute as heretical. Religion-based hate crimes, including lynching, happen daily in Pakistan. The problem is the tolerance of local police, which sometimes escalates to complicity with the mobs. Recently, in yet another instance of hatred against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, their place of worship was desecrated in Karachi by unknown attackers. "Qadiani prayer place being attacked by extremists in Karachi, Hashoo Market Saddar," tweeted The Rise News, a non-profit news organization. In the video posted by them on Twitter, unknown persons wearing helmets were seen breaking the minarets of the Ahmadi Masjid in Saddar, Karachi, and escaping thereafter. Police were also present at the spot and as per local sources, the attackers were from Pakistan's Islamic political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).This is the second incident in a month, earlier the minarets of Ahmadi Jamaat Khata on Jamshed Road in Karachi were demolished. With mob attacks and killings becoming a regular affair against the Ahmadiyya community, Pakistan has become a country where the people of this community are subjected to extensive persecution including hate speech and violence. (ANI)
This aerial photo taken on Feb. 20, 2023 shows blooming canola field on the outskirts of Gujranwala district in Pakistan's Punjab province. To help the country meet its edible oil demand and support its foreign exchange reserves, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng and a Pakistani company Evyol group jointly provide high-quality hybrid seeds to Pakistani farmers.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

by Misbah Saba Malik

GUJRANWALA, Pakistan, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- On a sunny February morning, the air in a small village in Pakistan's east Gujranwala district carried the sweet scent of the canola flowers, which were dancing gently in the breeze.

Bees whirling on the profuse yellow blossom beaming with lush green pods were not only a view to behold, but also heralded the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of local businesspeople and farmers, who are shifting to a Chinese hybrid variety of canola seeds to reap higher yields and produce cooking oil at home.

"We sowed the new variety on 100 acres of land because of their potential to produce higher yields and more oil as compared to other oilseeds including mustard and rape, which we previously used to cultivate," Intisar Ahmad Chattha, the farm's manager told Xinhua while carefully watching the pods.

Pakistan's annual consumption of cooking oil is around 5 million tons, but due to the low economic potential of oilseeds in the local market, they are not preferred by the farmers. The country has to import about 89 percent of oil to meet the demand, spending 3.6 billion U.S. dollars annually.

To help the country meet its edible oil demand and support its foreign exchange reserves, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng and a Pakistani company Evyol group jointly provide high-quality hybrid seeds to Pakistani farmers.

Ghazanfar Ali, head of marketing in Evyol group told Xinhua it took them 10 years to produce a variety that is compatible with the local climate, produces a good yield and is good for human health.

The crop provides an increased profit for the farmers as its standard 2 kg pack is enough to cultivate 2 acres of land, and the farmer can get 1.5 tons of yield out of it, which is over 10 percent more than the yield from other varieties currently available in Pakistan, he said, when talking about the potential of the crop.

Zhou Xusheng, director of the international business department of Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Seed company, told Xinhua that his company is working on transferring technology to Pakistan to make it efficient in smart agriculture.

"Through this project, we want to transfer the harvesting technology through which the farmers can use some attachments on the harvesters they already have and reduce the wastage," he said.

His company also wants to introduce processing units across the country, through which even in villages people can install them and produce processed oil for themselves and sell it to others, Zhou added.

He said that the seed is suitable for the environment across Pakistan, and this year they sold 11 tons of seeds across the country, which will be cultivated on 20,000 acres, and their target for next year is 100 tons, which will bring a great change to Pakistan by helping the country become self-sufficient in edible oil production.

The Chinese company will also buy back the canola harvest from some of the farmers and send it to the edible oil factories so that both farmer and the factory owners can realize the potential and health benefits of the oil, Zhou added.

"When Pakistan imports oil, it spends a lot of money and receives only the finished product. But when oil is produced locally, it will generate job opportunities, build an industrial chain and utilize the cakes after oil extraction as power-packed canola meal for cattle," he added.

Talking about the demand for canola meal in Pakistan, Chattha said that they have over 800 cows in the dairy farms in the area and to provide them with good quality food they have to import canola meals, which is a big financial burden due to the devaluation of the local currency.

"Besides getting and selling edible oil, our main purpose to sow canola was to produce the meal for cattle," he said, adding that he observed swarms of bees on the flowers during its ongoing full bloom season, and that they are also planning to work on beekeeping next year.

"The yellow flowers in the vast plain of Gujranwala symbolize the beauty of the Pakistan-China friendship, through which a revolution can be brought to Pakistan's agriculture sector, and the edible oilseed production is a step forward in that direction," Ali said, while standing near a promotional board educating people about the health benefits of the Chinese canola. 

Zhou Xusheng (L), director of the international business department of Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Seed company, works with a seed expert from Pakistani company Evyol group in canola field on the outskirts of Gujranwala district in Pakistan's Punjab province on Feb. 20, 2023. To help the country meet its edible oil demand and support its foreign exchange reserves, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng and a Pakistani company Evyol group jointly provide high-quality hybrid seeds to Pakistani farmers.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

Zhou Xusheng (L), director of the international business department of Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Seed company, works with a seed expert from Pakistani company Evyol group in canola field on the outskirts of Gujranwala district in Pakistan's Punjab province on Feb. 20, 2023. To help the country meet its edible oil demand and support its foreign exchange reserves, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng and a Pakistani company Evyol group jointly provide high-quality hybrid seeds to Pakistani farmers.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 20, 2023 shows blooming canola field on the outskirts of Gujranwala district in Pakistan's Punjab province. To help the country meet its edible oil demand and support its foreign exchange reserves, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng and a Pakistani company Evyol group jointly provide high-quality hybrid seeds to Pakistani farmers.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 20, 2023 shows blooming canola field on the outskirts of Gujranwala district in Pakistan's Punjab province. To help the country meet its edible oil demand and support its foreign exchange reserves, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng and a Pakistani company Evyol group jointly provide high-quality hybrid seeds to Pakistani farmers.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

This photo taken on Feb. 20, 2023 shows blooming canola field on the outskirts of Gujranwala district in Pakistan's Punjab province. To help the country meet its edible oil demand and support its foreign exchange reserves, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng and a Pakistani company Evyol group jointly provide high-quality hybrid seeds to Pakistani farmers.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said that he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. This comes after Beijing called for peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war, New York Post reported. Zelensky, however, refused to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US media reported. "I am planning to meet with Xi Jinping," he said. However, the Ukrainian President didn't say when or where the meeting would take place. "It's an important signal that they are preparing to take part in this theme," he said from Kyiv, referring to China's bid to broker peace between the two countries, according to New York Post. "So far, I see this as a signal, I don't know what will happen later," he said. Zelensky warned Russia-allied China to not provide Moscow with arms. "I very much want to believe that China will not deliver weapons to Russia, and for me, this is very important," he said. "This is point number one." He rejected the idea of negotiating with Putin. Responding to a question from a Turkish reporter, Zelensky said that in the lead-up to the invasion, he had asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to broker negotiations with the Russian president in a desperate bid to avert a full-scale war, New York Post reported. "[Erdogan] was unable to do it at that time. Now he thinks he could [get Putin to negotiate]," Zelensky said. "But now we cannot do it because it is not the same person. There is no one to talk to." China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dai Bing, on Thursday, said that sending weapons to Ukraine will only add fuel to the war and will escalate the tension instead of bringing peace. Addressing the eleventh emergency Special Session on Ukraine in the UN, China's deputy ambassador, hinting towards West countries, said, "The international community should make joint efforts to facilitate peace talks when aired into the Ukraine crisis, brutal facts offer ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions." "Prolonging and expanding the conflict will only make ordinary people pay an even heftier price. We reiterate our appeal that diplomacy and negotiation cannot be abandoned efforts towards a ceasefire and talks must go on," he added. Dai urged the international community, rather than fending off the flames and seeking self-interest, they should "stop abusing Unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction." Instead, they should act in a way conducive to de-escalation. (ANI)
The political coalition in Nepal has changed within two months after its formation before the Presidential election. The Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the Rastriya Swatantra Party was forced to move out after Maoist Center formed an alliance with the Nepali Congress and Unified Socialist. The decision to change the political course of the Himalayan Nation after the general election of November last year comes ahead of the Presidential election slated for next month. A successive and final round of meetings held at Nepal Prime Minister's residence Baluwatar which concluded late on Friday evening decided to form a new alliance of eight political parties, including the Nepali Congress, Maoist Centre and Unified Socialist. "Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' called the meeting of the eightparties including those out of the government. The only agenda discussed in themeeting was President's election," Prakash Jwala, a leader of the CPN-Unified Socialisttold ANI over the phone. In the meeting, Nepal PM Dahal proposed to support the Nepali Congress nominee for the President for being the largest political party in the federal parliament. "From today (Friday) onwards, a new political journey begins. Let's take it ahead; let's be united for the country's prosperity, national independence, sovereignty and people's livelihood. We can go together on power sharing as well," Jwala quoted PM Dahal as he briefed about the meeting. Eight parties, including Nepali Congress, Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Janamat Party, Rashtriya Janamorcha and Nagarik Unmukti Party attended the meeting on Friday. The Election Commission has scheduled the nomination of the President for February 25 and the election on March 9. The meeting of the top leaders of NC, Maoist Centre, JSP and CPN (US) on Friday morning had agreed to restore the previous alliance- the alliance before that of the November 20 election. Although the CPN UML had been insisting that the UML nominee would be the President asper the agreement made on December 25, Nepal's PM and Maoist Centre Chairman Dahal was forging national consensus in the election of the President. The weightage of the vote cast each by members of the Nepal Federal Parliament and Provincial assemblies will be counted on the basis of the electoral college. A vote cast by a member of the Nepal federal parliament, including both upper and lower houses, will be considered to have a weight of 79 votes whereas a vote cast by a member of a provincial assembly will be considered to have a weight of 48 votes. It means, there will be a total of 52,786 electoral votes in the Electoral College. The weight of the vote has been decided according to the ratio of lawmakers to the total population of the country as calculated in the 2011 census as the final report of the latest 2021 population census is not yet out. A person who secures more than 50 per cent of the total votes in the voting in Nepal presidential election shall be elected as the president. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Hyderabad House in New Delhi here today. "The focus of the talks between the two leaders will be on bolstering bilateral ties, building on the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership and economic ties, and forging closer ties in defence," Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet. Arindam Bagchi tweeted, "PM @narendramodi welcomes @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz at Hyderabad House for bilateral talks. Focus of the talks will be on strengthening bilateral cooperation, building on the Green & Sustainable Development Partnership and economic partnership, & forging closer ties in defence." "PM@narendramodi holds talks with German Chancellor @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz. Leaders will review progress on key outcomes of the 6th IGC held in May'22. Will discuss ways to strengthen defence & economic cooperation, enhance talent mobility and widen S&T collaboration," Bagchi said in another tweet. He noted, "This is the fourth time that the two leaders are meeting in the span of a year, underscoring the mutual commitment to growth of the Indo-German partnership." PM Modi and Scholz will also interact with CEOs and business leaders of both sides. Olaf Scholz arrived today in New Delhi for a visit to India from February 25-26. He is accompanied by senior officials and a high-powered business delegation. Scholz, who is on a visit to India, said both countries already have "good relations" and expressed hope that they will discuss intensely all the topics relevant to the development of both nations. "We already have good relations between India and Germany and I hope that we will strengthen this very good relations. I hope we will discuss intensely about all the topics relevant for the development of our countries and also the peace in the world which is important," Scholz said. Scholz made the remarks after he was accorded ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan. PM Narendra Modi received Scholz at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Both leaders met officials and ministers of both nations. During his visit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu. He will travel to Bengaluru on February 26. Scholz's visit to India is the first standalone one by any German Chancellor since the commencement of the Inter-Governmental Consultation (IGC) mechanism between the two nations in 2011, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press release. According to MEA, Olaf Scholz's visit to India will enable both nations to take stock and progress on the key outcomes of the 6th Inter-Governmental Consultation (IGC), strengthen security and defence cooperation, work towards closer economic ties, enhance the opportunity for the mobility of talent and give strategic guidance to ongoing collaboration in Science and Technology. "The India-Germany Strategic Partnership is underpinned by shared values, trust and mutual understanding. Robust investment and trade linkages, cooperation in the areas of green and sustainable development and growing people-to-people ties have strengthened bilateral relations," the MEA said in the press release. Both nations also work closely at multilateral and international platforms. (ANI)
US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen on Saturday held a meeting with the chief of various IT companies like Infosys Technologies Limited Nandan Nilekani, Wipro's head Nishad Premji and others in Bengaluru. Yellen, who arrived in India for the G20 Finance Ministers meet, had addressed the roundtable with US and Indian tech business leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in southern Bengaluru city on Saturday. Yellen, in the roundtable meeting, said that under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and investment (PGII), the US announced investments in agri-tech to enable climate-smart agricultural production, and in digital payments systems for microentrepreneurs. Yellen said going forward, "I am eager to deepen our ties in the technology sector." She said the US was advancing an approach called "friend-shoring" to bolster the resilience of its supply chains. The treasury secretary said, "We are doing this by strengthening integration with our many trusted trading partners -- including India. We are seeing progress; as an example; technology companies like Apple and Google have expanded their phone production in India." Yellen said through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), the US is investing in digital technologies that will drive inclusive and resilient growth in India. She said these stand alongside investments in renewable energy, health and other infrastructure sectors in India. Overall, the United States aims to mobilise USD 200 billion through 2027 for PGII, and we look forward to partnering with India to continue investing in its future, the US treasury secretary said in a statement released on Saturday morning. Yellen said one of the most rewarding parts of my job is meeting with innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders across the globe and this is especially true in India, which has one of the most dynamic economies in the world. Yellen said the US is India's biggest trading partner. She said in 2021, bilateral trade between the two countries was over USD 150 billion. "Our people-to-people ties affirm the closeness of our relationship. 200,000 Indians are studying in America and enriching our schools and universities," she said. Yellen said, "We depend on each other on a daily basis: Indians use WhatsApp to communicate and many American companies rely on Infosys to operate." (ANI)
Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel filed his candidacy for President on Saturday, according to The Kathmandu Post. Poudel's candidacy was proposed by Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. The candidacy was seconded by President of Loktantrik Samajbadi Party Mahanta Thakur, Congress vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka, Nagarik Unmukti Party Chairperson Ranjita Shrestha, Chairman of the Rastriya Janamorcha Chitra Bahadur KC and Maoist Centre's Hitraj Pandey. Earlier today, Nepali Congress picked their party's senior leader Poudel as its presidential candidate, reported The Kathmandu Post. On Saturday morning, a meeting of the party's central work execution committee took place and decided unanimously to select Poudel as the candidacy for the Presidential post, said Dhan Raj Gurung, the party's vice president, after the meeting. The party's decision came a day after eight political parties including the ruling CPN (Maoist Centre) decided to support a NC candidate in the election of President scheduled for March 9, as per the report in The Kathmandu Post. The parties had taken the decision during a meeting held at the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar on Friday evening. The Election Commission has scheduled the nomination of the President for February 25 and the election on March 9. The meeting of the top leaders of NC, Maoist Centre, JSP and CPN (US) on Friday morning had agreed to restore the previous alliance- the alliance before that of the November 20 election. Although the CPN UML had been insisting that the UML nominee would be the President asper the agreement made on December 25, Nepal's PM and Maoist Centre Chairman Dahal was forging national consensus in the election of the President. The weightage of the vote cast each by members of the Nepal Federal Parliament and Provincial assemblies will be counted on the basis of the electoral college. A vote cast by a member of the Nepal federal parliament, including both upper and lower houses, will be considered to have a weight of 79 votes whereas a vote cast by a member of a provincial assembly will be considered to have a weight of 48 votes. It means, there will be a total of 52,786 electoral votes in the Electoral College. The weight of the vote has been decided according to the ratio of lawmakers to the total population of the country as calculated in the 2011 census as the final report of the latest 2021 population census is not yet out. A person who secures more than 50 per cent of the total votes in the voting in Nepal presidential election shall be elected as the president. (ANI)
"Welcoming Chancellor Scholz on his first visit to India as German Chancellor, the President said that India and Germany have a long-standing relationship, which is underpinned by our common values and shared goals. Our bilateral relationship encompasses a wide range of areas, reflecting the mutual trust that has been nurtured over decades," the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.

President Murmu noted that Germany is India's largest trade partner in Europe and also among the top investors in India. She said that Germany is also India's second-largest development cooperation partner and has played an important role in India's developmental journey.

In recent years, Germany has emerged as a favoured destination for Indian students and researchers wishing to pursue higher education, especially in Science and Technology.

She said that India and Germany also have strong cultural connections, with a long tradition of German Indologists working in India.

The President said that India and Germany had shared aims in upholding democratic values, the rules-based international order, multilateralism, and the reform of multilateral institutions.

As two vibrant, pluralistic democracies, India and Germany can play an essential role in addressing new and emerging global challenges.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Rajghat in New Delhi on Saturday. During the visit, Scholz laid a wreath at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial in Rajghat.

Scholz, who arrived in India early today, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi and discussed bolstering bilateral ties, building on the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership and economic ties forging closer ties in defence. (ANI)
Protests continued in Quetta, Karachi, Kech, Khuzdar, Mand and other parts of Balochistan against the enforced disappearances of Baloch women. New series of these protests are taking place after the enforced disappearances of Baloch women. On February 3, Pakistan Army in collaboration with intelligence agencies forcibly disappeared Rahim Zehri, his mother Mahbas Khatoon, his wife Rasheeda Zehri, and their two children from Gishkori Town in Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan. In the same fashion, Pakistan Army whisked away Mahal Baloch, her two daughters and other women, and shifted them to an unknown location. The family of Rahim Zehri were tortured, hence due to a mounting reaction from the masses, the women were released later on. However, the fate of Rahim Zehri is still unknown. Mahal Baloch was tortured as the eyewitness of her two daughters. The following day, two elderly ladies along with Mahal's daughters were released but Mahal Baloch is still in Police detention. Enforced disappearances of Baloch women: Enforced disappearances are common in Balochistan. People forcibly disappear daily at the hands of the Pakistan Army and other law enforcement agencies, where mostly young people become the victim of enforced disappearances. In the recent past, a few cases of the enforced disappearances of women have been also reported. Though in the last several months, a hike has been noticed in the enforced disappearances of Baloch women too. In the last six months, a dozen of women have become the victim of enforced disappearances in Quetta, Karachi, Bolan, Kech and Panjgur. Even Balochistan High Court also confirmed some cases of enforced disappearances of women. Prior to this, such incidents were reported in District Panjgur and other parts of Balochistan, where the Pakistan Army whisked away women; tortured and abused them sexually. Women are kept in Nazi-style concentration camps where a woman was raped and became pregnant. Later on, she was forced to abortion. The enforced disappearances of Baloch women have been reported since 2015; however, in the last few months, the abduction of Baloch women has increased. Last year, in August, Pakistan Army took away thirteen women in the Uch Kaman area of district Bolan. A known poetess of Balochi, Habiba Pir Jan was abducted from Karachi and another woman was detained from District Kech. The cases of forced disappearances of Baloch women were also reported in 2018 and 2019. Baloch Nationalists claim that the Pakistan spy agency abducted a school teacher, Zarina Marri with her one-year-old child in 2007. Since then her whereabouts and fate are unknown. Renowned Pakistani journalist, Hamid Mir in one of his tweets claims that Zarina Marri forcibly disappeared from Khohlu and later on she was shifted to central detention in Karachi. Origin of Enforced disappearances in Balochistan: The enforced disappearances are not a new phenomenon in Balochistan. The available records show that on 28th October 2001 Pakistani spy agency whisked away Ali Asghar Bangulzai and Mohammad Iqbal in front of Degree college Quetta. After passing of 24 days Mohammad Iqbal was released; however, after two decades there is no trace of Ali Asghar Bangulzai. Similarly, Jalil Rekhi, the Central Information Secretary of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) was abducted by Pakistani security forces in the Kechi Baig area of Quetta in 2009. After three years of disappearance, he along with Tekadar Younis Baloch's mutilated dead bodies were thrown away in the mountainous area of Mand, Kech. After this, the enforced disappearances of Baloch became so frequent and have unabatedly continued to date. Pakistan is not only targeting political activists but also forcibly disappearing and killing their relatives as the policy of collective punishment. Enforced disappearances of Baloch women: Regarding the recent cases of forced disappearance of the two women Baloch, the nationalist circles' opinion is that they have been subjected to collective punishment. After failing to counter the Baloch national movement, the state is targeting the families of those who are associated with the Baloch national struggle. Even before this incident of forcible disappearances of the Zehri family on February 3, the Pakistani forces did immense levels of brutality. Even before this, many people belonging to the same family have been victims of enforced disappearance, killed in fake encounters and their mutilated bodies thrown in the deserts. On June 21, 2021, the forces abducted two youths named Tabish Waseem and Liaqat from the same family and moved them to an unknown location, while Tabish was killed along with four other people in a fake encounter after being missing for seventeen months and the fate of Liaqat is still unknown. Apart from this, Tabish Waseem's father was shot and seriously injured by unknown gunmen in Zehri Bazar and the shooters are said to have belonged to a state-backed armed group. Another youth Zahoor belonging to the Zehri family was forcibly disappeared by the forces on April 11, 2017, and his mutilated body was recovered twelve days later. Zakria Zahri is of the same family, became the victim of enforced disappearances and there is no clue of his fate and whereabouts. On 18th February 2023, Mahal Baloch forcibly disappeared from Quetta. She belongs to a political family in district Kech. Her, late father-in-law Muhammad Hussain is one of the founding leaders of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), the most active and strong party for the independence of Balochistan. Bibi Gul Baloch, the chairperson of the Human Rights Council of Balochistan, an organization working on human rights violations in Balochistan, is the sister-in-law of the forcibly disappeared Baloch woman Mahal Baloch. In the past, their houses in the Gumazi area of Kech district were destroyed and burnt several times by the forces due to which their family was forced to migrate from there and live in a rented house in Quetta. It is believed that her husband and brother-in-law have also been killed by Pakistan forces.0 Enforced Disappearance of Women and the stance of Government: Regarding the enforced disappearances of the Zehri family, who went missing on February 3, the provincial government of Balochistan has maintained its stance that they are not in the custody of law enforcement agencies. However, after the forced abduction of Mahal Baloch, the people of Balochistan sharply reacted against her extrajudicial arrest. The Pakistani forces showed her arrest by the notorious Counter Terrorism Department of police and accused her that she was a member and suicide bomber of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), an armed organization active in Balochistan. It is cited in the police's FIR that she was arrested with a suicide jacket in a ladies' Park near Satellite Town, Quetta. While it is evident in photos of her home that have gone viral on social media and from the statements of her family members that security forces broke into her house and took her to an unidentified place and tortured Mahal Baloch in presence of her two minor daughters. Baloch Liberation Front also in its statement categorically rejected Mahal Baloch's affiliation with the organization. In Balochistan, previously CTD has carried out several suspicious activities. Many times, CTD has killed forcibly disappeared Balochs in a fake encounter. Similarly, a woman, Noor Jan, forcibly disappeared from the Kech district last year, which sparked public outrage. As a result of mounting pressure from the public, later on, forces announced her arrest through the CTD, accusing her of being a suicide bomber. Hence, the court rejected these allegations and acquitted her honourably. Mahal Baloch has been accused of being a Fedaayen of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), but journalists covering the Baloch national struggle assert that the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) has no such Fedaayen (self-sacrificing unit). Among the armed organizations active for the independence of Balochistan, only the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has the Fedaayen Brigade. Fidayeen Majeed Brigade of BLA has been targeting Pakistani forces, Chinese engineers and Chinese officials in Karachi Panjgur, Nushki, Dalbandin, Quetta and Gwadar. The Response of Baloch Nationalists with regard to Enforced Disappearances of Women: Human rights and political organizations are demanding the immediate recovery of all enforced disappeared people of Balochistan. In the same way, maintained that the allegations levelled against Mahal Baloch are false and fabricated. Last day, women protested in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, and staged a sit-in protest for several hours by blocking the main entrance to Quetta city. They ended their protest after negotiating with an administrative official ensuring that Mahal Baloch would be released within 48 hours and all false accusations levelled against her would be withdrawn. Apart from Quetta, protests and demonstrations are also going on in Kech, Mand, Lahore and Karachi. While on social media, Mahal Baloch and the forced disappearance of women have been trending for the past several days. Effects of the enforced disappearance of women on the Baloch nation: Baloch society is very sensitive about women. Experts say that such incidents will further worsen the situation in Balochistan and the reaction of Baloch youth to such incidents is a bad omen for the state of Pakistan. The Baloch independence movement, especially the Baloch resistance organizations, will become stronger after such incidents, and the youth will choose the path of armed struggle in order to protect Baloch women against Pakistani atrocities. Such events will prove to be very dangerous for Pakistan. The forced disappearance of Mahal Baloch and other Baloch women has given rise to a new debate in the political circles of Balochistan, where Baloch consider such actions as a violation of Baloch cultural codes and traditions, while the forced disappearance of women is also increasing. Baloch youths are willing to break their silence against state-led oppression and adopt any measures that would be a path to preserve their national identity. This is an opinion of a Baloch-based Journalist Safar Khan Baloch. (ANI)
Two brothers, who were jailed in the infamous Guantanamo prison camp in the United States without any charges for a period as long as two decades, will finally reunite with their family in Pakistan, Dawn reported. The US Department of Defence on Friday announced that it has repatriated two Pakistani brothers after a prolonged period of 20 years. Mohammed Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani (53) and his brother Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani (55), were held by the US police over their alleged links to terrorism. Dawn reported, citing The New York Times, that during their 20 years of custody, the two detained brothers were never charged with a single crime. The Foreign Office of the US said that the brother duo was released following "an extensive inter-agency process". The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantanamo, GTMO. The prison, which was opened by President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks came to symbolize harsh detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. The prison with high walls and barbed wires was opened in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the US by then president, George W Bush, to jail terrorism suspects captured overseas. Soon, Guantanamo became notorious with harsh practices, opening the United States to criticism of torture. However, over the few years, the inmate population came down. The Rabbani Brothers were arrested in Karachi in 2002. Another Pentagon statement read that on May 13, 2021, a review committee came to the conclusion that the elder brother's detention was "no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States." The committee's findings were later approved by a review board on August 17, 2021. The board determined that the "national security risk" from Mohammad could be "adequately mitigated". US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, on January 18 had told the Congress that the two Pakistani brothers would be sent back to their country and that the formalities necessary for their transfer were completed, reported Dawn. The Department of Defence's statement said that the US appreciates the Pakistan government's and of other partners' willingness to extend support to the US efforts on responsibly reducing the inmates' population and finally closing the Guantanamo Bay facility. Even as their transfer was finalised in 2021, it is yet to be ascertained why the two brothers remained in prison, the NYT report said. With the release of this brother duo, the number of Pakistani prisoners repatriated from Guantanamo Bay prison rose to four. Another Pakistani inmate, Majid Khan (42) was shifted from Guantanamo Bay prison to Belize in Central America by the Biden administration. The facility's oldest inmate, Saifullah Paracha (75), was repatriated to Pakistan in October 2022. The prison still has 32 detainees, of which 18 are eligible for transfer, three are eligible for consideration of the Periodic Review Board, nine are in the military commission's process and two are convicted by the military commission, according to the Dawn newspaper. (ANI)
Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Saturday said that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis was extensively discussed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He also mentioned that Prime Minister said in his remarks that India is there to support what relates to peace. "Ongoing situation in Russia-Ukraine being one of the important issues on the global front featured fairly extensively in discussions between PM Modi and Chancellor Scholz. PM Modi has said in his remarks that we are there to support what relates to peace," Kwatra said. Elaborating further, Kwatra explained that Prime Minister Modi has always been saying that dialogue and diplomacy are the paths for resolving any conflict. Peace is not something that is beneficial for just Russia and Ukraine. Peace is also something which is usually beneficial for the rest of the developing countries, he added. Kwatra touched upon that one of the most serious impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been in terms of food, fuel and fertiliser insecurity in developing countries. When asked about defence collaboration, Kwatra said, "PM Modi and Chancellor Scholz also took forward their discussions on enhanced defence cooperation. Both of them noted that this defence cooperation is an essential pillar of the India-Germany strategic partnership." On the question of Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, Foreign Secretary maintains that the two leaders talked extensively about the regional (Indo-Pacific) and global situation. "Naturally, when they talk of the regional situation, the opportunities and challenges form an essential constituent," he said. After meeting the German Chancellor, Prime Minister Modi tweeted, "Held productive talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Our talks focussed on ways to boost India-Germany cooperation and further augment trade ties. We also agreed to deepen ties in renewable energy, green hydrogen & biofuels. Security cooperation was also discussed." Olaf Scholz called on the President of India Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday. "Welcoming Chancellor Scholz on his first visit to India as German Chancellor, the President said that India and Germany have a long-standing relationship, which is underpinned by our common values and shared goals. Our bilateral relationship encompasses a wide range of areas, reflecting the mutual trust that has been nurtured over decades," the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Rajghat in New Delhi on Saturday. During the visit, Scholz laid a wreath at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial in Rajghat. Scholz, who arrived in India early today, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi and discussed bolstering bilateral ties, building on the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership and economic ties forging closer ties in defence. (ANI)
TUV NORD Chairman of Management Board Dirk Stenkamp on Saturday said that India is at forefront of leading nations with increased self-confidence in recent years. Under the 'Make in India' initiative, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of German companies had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and discussed new opportunities for the German Companies to expand education and business opportunities in India. TUV NORD Chairman of Management Board Dirk Stenkamp told ANI and said that they have a very successful joint venture with the Indian family and have grown tremendously. Regarding the meeting with the Prime Minister, Stenkamp said, "The meeting with the Prime Minister was very impressive, I think India is at the forefront of leading nations and there has been an increase in self-confidence in the last two years." "I think India is at the point where it really starts to take off," he added. Speaking on the 'Make in India' initiative he said, "I know about Make in India since the beginning and we're supporting many German companies to come to India and start producing in India. Currently, there's an initiative going on in German Mittelstand invited by India to come and become part of Make in India". Currently, an initiative is going on in German small and medium-sized enterprises where they are asked to come to India and become part of the make-in-India initiative, he informed. Regarding growth and expansion, he said that the opportunities in India are tremendous. "We are very active in energy transition, which means turning fossils to watts, wind and so on," he added. He further said that they educate people in India and invite people from Germany to get educated in India because they have formed a hotspot, particularly for green and renewable energy. TUV NORD is running its own operations in India for more than 30 years and it has more than 1000-1200 employees located at 37 locations across all India. TUV Headquarters are situated in Mumbai. The TUV NORD Chairman while speaking to ANI said that the company runs food labs, does product testing, certification etc. and tests for 80 per cent of the economic delegation of the Indian side. (ANI)
Stating India has skill and talent and it's a "privilege to use those resources," Klemens Rethmann, CEO of the German-based Rethmann company said on Saturday that "India will become bigger in the production world." Under the 'Make in India' initiative, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of German companies had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and discussed new opportunities for the German firms to expand education and business opportunities in India. "You've got the workforce here. So, Germany is lacking in the workforce. You've got such wealth and skilled work and so many intelligent young people who wanted to do something. This is a privilege to use those resources. And therefore, PM Modi asked us to produce in India but for us, it's not only because he asked us because this is where the resources are and we see our chances," Rethmann told ANI. Talking about the manufacturing production in India, Rethmann said, "India will become bigger in the production world and India will grow. And we are proud to be here in the Indian market and have the possibility to grow with the market." He also recalled the 2019 visit, when he came with former German Chancellor Angela Dorothea Merkel and said since then he witnessed remarkable development in India even during the Covid-19 period. Rethmann further stated that PM Modi fulfilled all the promises that he made four years ago. "And for us, it's a privilege to be here and to serve the Indian economy and grow the possibilities in the market worldwide. And this is what we do. Being a logistics, service-oriented company, we provide services for everything that puts the business and investment," he said. "India is another country, it's another culture and you have to adapt yourself to the culture because we can't come here and tell the beautiful and great Indian country that they should behave like we want them to behave... And together with our Indian partner, we are able to invest here in the market. We are able to make money in the market and we are able to grow here," the CEO of Rethmann added. German companies' CEOs came along with Chancellor Olaf Scholz to India on Saturday. Taking to Twitter earlier today. PM Modi said, "Chancellor @OlafScholz and I met top CEOs to discuss ways to strengthen economic relations between our nations. Sectors like digital transformation, FinTech, IT and Telecom featured prominently in the meeting." (ANI)
French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain on Saturday said that it is a matter of pride that France is the guest of honour at the World Book Fair, which kicked off on Saturday and will continue till March 5th. "It's a great matter of pride that France is the guest of honour. Last year, we had the pleasure of having India in Paris as a guest of honour for the national book fair in front of the Eiffel tower and this year we are here with a French delegation", said the French envoy. A delegation of French authors, led by Annie Ernaux, the French Nobel Laureate, was present at the fair in addition to many illustrators and publishers from France. Sharing views on France being the Guest of Honour country, Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens, Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of France in India earlier said that France is happy to be a part of the 50-year celebration of the New Delhi World Book Fair, and this is an important event for strengthening bilateral ties between France and India. Last year, India was designated as the Guest of Honour Country at the Paris Book Festival. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed satisfaction and said that India's participation as a guest of honour at the Paris Book Festival 2022 served as a platform to celebrate literary and linguistic diversity. This year, coinciding with the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations and the Year of India's G20 Presidency, the New Delhi World Book Fair is one of the most awaited calendar events and is one of the world's largest book fairs. The 9-day book fair will see many Indian and foreign publishers put up a vast collection of books at the new International Exhibition Centre in the centrally located Pragati Maidan in all its glory. The Inauguration of the G20 Pavillion at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2023 was done by Rajkumar Ranjan Singh Minister of State for MEA and Education. (ANI)
If word-play is permitted to describe the plight of a people, the political power games in Pakistan leave its northern region powerless - energy starved. Prolonged power cuts have led to frequent angry demonstrations in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The provincial authorities are using police force and issuing stern warnings to the protestors. Skardu city has been left totally without electricity for the past three months. Load-shedding has become a daily occurrence. "The governments are stone-hearted and people are disgruntled as nothing is happening positively, Baad-e-Shimal said in its editorial. Protests led by the Awami Action Committee have highlighted the suffering of the people. But claiming that everything is under control, the Gilgit-Baltistan government has put a ban on protests and blocking by the protesters of the Karakoram Highway, Jiglot and the Skardu Road. Power shortage is not the only issue for the ACC protesters. Wheat and flour have disappeared from the shops, according to reports in Baad-e-Shimal, Daily K2. The power situation has worsened over the years despite the abundance of water resources in a region that is reputedly Pakistan's principal water reservoir. But only 16 per cent of the capacity for hydropower generation has been utilized so far. The estimated total hydropower potential of Pakistan is around 60,000 MW. Currently, the hydro installed capacity is only 10,251MW, which is around 25 per cent of the total installed capacity. Successive governments have resorted to imports as an easy solution. Writing in The News International (February 21, 2023), irrigation and power engineer Ali Rehmat Shimshali points to the overall neglect of hydropower and preference for fuel-based power generation. The conditions in this sector have worsened over the last year since the Ukraine conflict has sent oil prices through the roof and Pakistan has no money for imports due to its foreign exchange crises. There have been several price hikes in fuel. The situation has only worsened across Pakistan after the latest one dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to whom the country has urgently turned for an economic bailout. Shimsali argues that Pakistan cannot afford the fluctuation in fuel prices dictated by external factors and needs to focus on hydropower to ease the shortage. "The country is not utilizing its full potential. Much of the untapped potential for hydropower is in the northern regions along the Indus River in the provinces of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Jhelum River in Punjab," he says out. "Unfortunately, approximately 51 million people in Pakistan lack access to electricity, and 90 million experience daily power outages due to unreliable power supply, both of which are having a negative impact on the economy. "The reliance on imported fuels for thermal generation, which are subject to price fluctuations, is a major contributor to the energy crisis. The government is under significant pressure to address an annual average power deficit of 4,000MW," he states. The Gilgit-Baltistan region, he points out, is the 'water reservoir of Pakistan' with more than 7,000 glaciers. He points to faulty conception and planning in power generation. Common challenges to energy access include a gap between the demand and supply of electricity, a gap between installed capacity and power generation, poor construction of hydropower projects without proper environmental impact assessments, seasonal variability in the availability of hydropower, short lifespans of micro-hydropower projects, lack of technical staff and maintenance services, and delays in execution of construction projects. There is a huge gap between the generation and installed capacities of the hydropower stations. The micro-hydro stations due to less power generation capacity can only fulfil the lighting requirements of the region but not commercial needs. Due to a lack of electricity, hotels have faced huge losses. Fresh produce like meat, vegetable, and dairy products are spoiled due to unscheduled load shedding. He complains that people pay a high price for mixed energy sources - gas and wood to meet their daily life needs. This in turn has caused large-scale deforestation that is bad for the region's ecology. While these are long-term measures that are required to be conceived and planned, there is no immediate relief for the northern region that remains neglected, the writer says. (ANI)
The first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meet that concluded in Bengaluru on Saturday, instead of issuing a communique of its resolutions, released a 'Summary and Outcome Document' after China and Russia opposed paragraphs related to the Russia-Ukraine war. Secretary Department of Economic Affairs Ajay Seth on Saturday said that the language used by India has been taken from the Bali G20 declaration and the only change is the para where the Bali declaration said that this year we have witnessed the war. "Obviously, the year has gone by. The ministers' outcome statement is talking about since February 2022, we have witnessed a war, so that is the only difference," Seth said during a media briefing by the Indian presidency's 1st G20 FMCBG Meeting in Bengaluru. The Economic Affairs Secretary said: "Both Russia and China took a position that Finance Ministers and Central bank governors, their mandate is to deal with economic and financial issues. They should not get into the global geopolitical issues. They did not comment on the language part. They said it is not their domain so they'll not comment on the language part." Seth said, "There was no demand or request to remove the word war but to just remove the paragraph itself because this is not the right place for having those paragraphs." "On the other hand, all other 18 countries felt that the war has got implication on the global economy. So, this is the right place to have those paragraphs," Seth added. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said China and Russia had reservations about the G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration and added "That is why we came up with Chair Summary, not with Communique." In G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration, the members reiterated their national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, which, in Resolution No. ES-11/1 dated 2 March 2022, as adopted by majority vote (141 votes for, 5 against, 35 abstentions, 12 absent) deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine. During the press conference held jointly by the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India on the G20 Presidency and the outcome of the G20 meeting, the finance minister said, "Indian Presidency got strong support for all our priorities. I am grateful to the US Secretary Janet Yellen who had really come forward, putting her support." She also said, "I was glad to hear a lot of finance ministers praised the work of the Indian negotiating team. Each one of them came to me to say you have a fantastic team, which has gone through the negotiation process and the team leaders." She also said: "I am grateful to the US Secretary Janet Yellen who had really come forward, putting her support." (ANI)
The completion of a nine-kilometre-long farm road has uplifted the lives of people in Bhutan's Yuejug village. The village is one of the most remote villages in Singye Gewog, The Bhutan Live reported. According to The Bhutan Live, access to a farm road contributes to generating increased agricultural income and easing the marketing of agricultural produce, thereby enhancing the quality of rural life. Yuejug village, located about 20 kilometres from Bhutan's Sarpang district, has remained cut off in the absence of a road. But with the completion of the first cutting, the people said their lives have become convenient and easier Orange is one of the main sources of income for the people in the village. And access to a farm road is expected to open up economic opportunities and provide easy access to the market, according to The Bhutan Live. Nainda Bdr Khural, a resident of Yuejug, said: "With the arrival of the road, it has become convenient for us. In the past, we had a hard time incurring more expenses and fetching less amount for oranges. But now we hope the arrival of the road would help us fetch a better price." Another resident Gukul Sing Chhetri, said: "We are very happy and hope it will be convenient for us. We had to carry rations on our backs from town in the past. But not anymore with access to a farm road." "We had a hard time in the past because we grew varieties of vegetables but were not able to sell in the absence of a road and access to the market. We had to feed them to our cattle. Now our vegetables will not go to waste," said Guma Maya Dahal. "It used to take around three and half hours to reach Sarpang town on foot and would take four and half hours to return to our village. But now it takes a little more than half an hour," said Ram Badhur, as quoted by The Bhutan Live. Singye Gup said the first cutting of the 6.5-kilometre farm road from Labtsakha chiwog was constructed in 2021 at Nu 2 M. The remaining 2.5 kilometres to Yuejug village which began in December last year was completed recently. It was constructed spending Nu 750,000. The Gup added that although there are only two households in Yuejug village, access to a farm road might encourage other thram holders to return to the village for settlement, according to The Bhutan Live. About all the remote villages of twelve gewogs in the district now have access to a farm road. Sarpang has constructed more than 90 farm roads so far. (ANI)
Pack smart and save big with these spring break deals at Amazon, Aerie, Allbirds and so much more.

 Recommendations are independently chosen by Revieweds editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

If you've already splurged on flights and hotels for spring break 2023, you're probably looking to save on all the essentials you need to ensure your trip goes off without a hitch. Whether you're jetting off to Las Vegas, Orlando or Miami, we've rounded up all the best deals on items you'll want to pack at Amazon, Aerie and Allbirds.

Heres the deal: Sign up for Reviewed's Perks and Rec newsletter to get the best holiday sales dropped right in your inbox Sunday through Friday.

Keep your cash in your pocket (or put it towards a fun excursion) when you score price cuts on all the packing must-haves you need this spring break. From swimsuits and sunscreen for beach days to suitcases and packing cubes to keep you organized on the go, we found ways to save on it all.

Spring break is coming: Get ready by shopping the 10 best swimsuit sales today

Tory Burch: Save up to 78% on Cloud Miller sandals, purses and more at this exclusive sale

Deals on items you need for spring break 2023

A stylish swimsuit for beach days and beyond Durable sneakers that can take on any hike The suitcase of our dreams This fanny pack that will keep you organized on the go Spring break excursions you can book on a budget Packing cubes to keep your suitcase tidy A phone holder that will make your spring break roadtrip a breeze This portable charger to keep your devices powered up A hat that is equal parts pretty and protective Water-resistant sunscreen for fun in the sun

1. A stylish swimsuit for beach days and beyond

Head to Aerie to find the bathing suit of your dreams just in time for spring break 2023.

Whether your spring break plans entail lounging on the beach or kayaking through mangroves, you'll definitely need to pack a cute and comfy swimsuit. For that, Aerie has incredible deals on its collection of one-pieces, bikinis and bathing suit accessories. Swimsuits are among our favorite products at Aerie and right now you can shop the brand's size-inclusive bathing suits and save up to 30% while supplies last.

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Shop Aerie swimsuits

2. Durable sneakers that can take on any hike

Perfect for spring break hikes and bike rides, you can get these Allbirds sneakers for a steal right now.

Take on bike rides, hikes and more on your spring break adventure with a sustainable, stylish and sturdy pair of Allbirds sneakers. Right now, select Allbirds shoes for men and women are ringing up for as much as 40% off, plus you can use coupon code ALLSOCKS2 at checkout to score a free pair of socks with orders of $48 or more through Sunday, February 26. In testing we found Allbirds sneakers to be lightweight, supportive and super comfy.

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3. The suitcase of our dreams

Pack all your spring break essentials with the help of our favorite suitcase.

Perfect for your spring break getaway, the Travelpro Platinum Elite 29-inch expandable spinner is the best checked luggage we've ever tested and it's on sale now at Amazon. Ringing up at 15% off, the Reviewed-approved bag will cost you $399.49 and will easily fit all your travel essentials. In testing we loved that the spinner could hold tons of clothes and was easy to navigate through busy train stations and airports. We were especially thrilled that it was reasonably affordable and had a premium build quality.

$399.49 at Amazon

4. This fanny pack that will keep you organized on the go

Keep your travel essentials close this spring break and save on this fanny pack right now at Amazon.

We love a good fanny pack when we're traveling. Perfect for keeping your essentials close and your hands free, you can snag the Amazon customer-favorite Aikendo fanny pack for as little as $13.99 todaya 26% markdown from the full $18.99 list price. The large-capacity fanny pack features plenty of pockets, smooth zippers and a convenient adjustable strap so you can wear it on your waist, on your shoulder or across your chest.

From $13.99 at Amazon

5. Spring break excursions you can book on a budget

Book your spring break activities now and save with our exclusive Tripadvisor coupon code.

Already have your flight and hotel booked for spring break? Time to start thinking about what excursions you want to do while on vacation! Luckily, you can book activities in advance and save big thanks to our exclusive Tripadvisor coupon code. Whether you want to go for a boat ride, take a cooking class or go horseback riding, you can save 8% on Tripadvisor experiences with our coupon code REV8.

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6. Packing cubes to keep your suitcase tidy

Keep your suitcase organized with packing cubes on sale ahead of spring break 2023 at Away.

Don't get stuck paying extra fees for oversized baggage. Instead, make the most out of the suitcase space you already have by picking up some top-tier packing cubes. Right now you can snag Away's F.A.R. organizational cubes for as little as $21 for the small size or just $31 for the extra-large sizea savings of $9 to $14. Perfect for maximizing space in your suitcase, the cubes are designed to pack flat and keep your clothes, shoes, beauty products and more organized. Away makes some of the best packing cubes we've ever tested, so we're sure these pouches will please.

From $21 at Away

7. A phone holder that will make your spring break road trip a breeze

Road trippers will love this phone mount from Beam Electronics, and it's on sale now ahead of spring break.

Hitting the road instead of the air this spring break? The Beam Electronics car phone holder is a game changer for lengthy road trips. The top-rated phone mount features easily-adjustable cushioned jaws and holds phones as large as 3.7-inches wide. While we weren't completely sold on the phone holder in testing, it's low price makes it a win. Usually priced at $29.99, you can get the air vent mount for just $12.99 today, an impressive 57% markdown.

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8. This portable charger to keep your devices powered up

Keep your gadgets charged this spring break with these portable chargers from Miady.

There's nothing worse than traveling with a dead phone battery. Avoid any spring break travel hiccups by keeping your phone and other smart devices powered up with the help of the Miady 2-pack dual USB portable charger, down from $27.99 to just $21.99 at Amazon. The customer-favorite backup charger works with iPhone and Galaxy smartphones and can help you avoid the risks of using a public phone charger while traveling.

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9. A hat that is equal parts pretty and protective

Going somewhere warm for spring break? Pick up this budget-friendly sun hat now at Amazon.

When it comes to protecting our hair and skin from the sun's powerful rays, we don't mess around. Avoid any unwanted sunburns or damaged locks this spring break by picking up the Solaris wide brim sun hat, down from $19.99 to as little as $9.99 at Amazon. We rated the hat as something you must pack if you're traveling somewhere tropical for spring breakit has UPF 50+ sun protection and a full-coverage 3.15-inch brim.

From $9.99 at Amazon

10. Water-resistant sunscreen for fun in the sun

This sunscreen works to protect your skin and the ocean and it's on sale at Amazon now.

Everyone always forgets to pack sunscreen, but this spring break you can be prepared and save with incredible deals on sunscreen at Amazon. The Australian Gold Botanical sunscreen is a spring break essential. The SPF 30 mineral lotion is not only water resistant, it's also reef-safe, so you can apply liberally and feel good about protecting your skin and the planet. Usually priced at $15.99, you can get the 5-ounce bottle for just $5.69 today thanks to a 53% markdown and an additional $1.90 price cut when you click the on-page coupon.

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Your office chair is, arguably, as important as your mattress. You spend as much time drudging from 9 to 5 as you do catching some Zzzs, which means you have every right to be selective. And if you work from home, youre able to pick a prime perch that will carry you through the daily grind in ultimate comfort and style. Youre able to pick from the variety of materials available, including leather, velvet and sturdy polyester. Youre able to pick between armrests or no armrests. Youre able to make a space pop with a bold color. Regardless of your preferences, the best home office chair should feel like a pristine throne.

More from Robb Report

Unlike most seats in your humble abode, especially dining and accent chairs, youll be sitting on an office chair for hours and hours on end. This means it has to be comfortable. When you are typing away to various clients and coworkers, you want to be focused on your work, not fidgeting uncomfortably wondering why on earth you bought such a painful piece to begin with. You want to limit distractions and do away with anything that will make you less productive. You need durability and dependably from your home office chair, something that has an ergonomic shape, sturdy construction and spectacular features. When you think about it, its really the most important seat in the house.

Here, check out the 10 best home office chairs for working in prime comfort all day long.

Best Home Office Chair for Design Enthusiasts

Its not every day you come across a home office chair with a design inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge, much less one designed by the iconic Yves Behar. The Sayl chair is outfitted with a unique back webbing made of elastomer strands that are stretched to create tensionsimilar to the design of a suspension bridgein the areas where you need a little boost in posture. Basically, its the ultimate support system for your back. The chairs ventilated back will also keep you cool and composed all day long, while its Harmonic Tilt tech and a comfy padded seat mean this itll move with you, not against you, as you shift from phone calls to analyzing spread sheets and back again.

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Material: Recycled polyester and elastomer.

Dimensions: 40.75 x 24.5 x 36 inches.

Warranty: 12 years.

Pros: Fully adjustable and customizable.

Buy Now on Herman Miller: $750

Most Elegant Home Office Chair

This home office chair from Pottery Barn is definitely elegant, but its not just a pretty seat. The Baldwins arm rests are made to envelop you as you work, and the deep-set design will keep you comfortable; you wont feel like youre literally on the edge of your seat. The office chair also comes in a wide variety of colors and fabricsthink linen, tweed, velvet and moreso you can match it to your existing decor with ease.

Material: Boucle, among others available.

Dimensions: 26 x 26 x 33.5 inches.

Warranty: None.

Pros: Comes in a wide variety of materials and colors to match your home.

Buy Now on Pottery Barn: $549

Best Vintage-Inspired Home Office Chair

West Elm is known for its fantastic furniture staples, and this Cooper Swivel chair is no exception. This home office chair has sturdy beechwood arms, which will add slightly vintage element to your space. Theyre also prepped and ready to be leaned on throughout the day. The roller also comes in over 50 (yes, 50) different fabric options, so you can customize it to whatever strikes your fancy. Its five wheels, meanwhile, allow you to cruise around your home office with no fuss.

Material: Linen, with other fabrics available.

Dimensions: 26 x 27.5 x 34.4 inches.

Warranty: None.

Pros: Solid wooden arms provide extra support.

Buy Now on West Elm: $399

Best Home Office Chair for Lumbar Support

If youre looking for the pinnacle of fantastic lumbar support, youve found it here. Designed in Italy, this Branch Ergonomic chair has an industry-leading eight points of adjustmentalong with an amazing backrestthat truly cradles you as you work. It virtually erases any aches and pains youve been feeling. Aside from its incredible backing and handy-dandy adjustable settings, the seat will make you feel like youre sitting on a plush cloud, thanks to its high-density foam cushion. Whats more, this office chair truly does live up to its name: ergonomic. Now all thats left to do is add to cart and try it out for for yourself.

Material: Double woven nylon mesh.

Dimensions: 25 x 24 x 42 inches.

Warranty: 7 years.

Pros: Top-quality lumbar support, along with eight points of adjustment.

Buy Now on Branch: $349

Most Unique Home Office Chair

Alright, stick with us on this one. While this may be the funkiest home office chair youve probably ever seen, but the Capisco chair by HAG has this unique shape for a reason. The non-traditional saddle seat and back, inspired by your bodys form and movements, allow you to sit in a variety of positions comfortably and easily, without worrying about strain. It definitely promotes healthy blood flow. No matter what pose you chosewhether its sideways, forward or backwardthe Capisco will adapt to you. Plus, the seat is adjustable in height, so you can change your vantage point depending what your workspace looks like and how tall you are. If you need any more proof of the Capisco chairs prowess, just look at this declaration from one thrilled buyer: I dont think Ive ever been happier with a piece of furniture.

Material: Polyester, vinyl or leather.

Dimensions: 27.5 x 16.54 x 31.9 inches.

Warranty: 5 years for upholstery, lifetime warranty for moving parts.

Pros: Unique shape allows you to sit comfortably in a variety of positions.

Buy Now on Amazon: $1,116

Best Home Office Chair for Comfort Kings

Ah, La-Z-Boy, that bastion of comfortable lounging. But the furniture brand offers much more that its signature recliners. Case in point: The Melrose Executives contemporary high-end look will fit perfectly in many home office spaces, and its plush foam seating ensures youre sitting pretty while taking your meetings and hitting your deadlines. The chair also lets you control its height, tilt and lift to find that prime seating position and give you optimized body alignment. And the quality leather exterior ensures the Melrose will be a home office staple for years to come.

Material: Leather.

Dimensions: 25.25 x 30 x 40.25 inches

Warranty: 1 year.

Pros: Sleek look will fit any modern office space; perfectly plush foam seating.

Buy Now on La-Z-Boy: $389

Most Colorful Home Office Chair

Want to add a pop of color to your office? This chairs got your back. The Elowen from Anthropologie, a brand known for its whimsical furniture, is inspired by vintage Italian designs, which is why its outfitted in a cozy velvet (or linen, if youre so inclined). This chic fabric comes in a plethora of colors, from forest green to this fun mustard yellow yellow to every hue in between. With stunning brass legs and a sleek, swooping profile, this home office chair will bring your abode just the right amount of suave styleand you wont have to sacrifice comfort to make it happen.

Material: Velvet or linen.

Dimensions: 33.25 x 17.5 33.25 inches.

Warranty: None.

Pros: Wide color range and plump foam cushions.

Buy Now on Anthropologie: $698

Best Home Office Chair for Weightless Support

Named one of the 100 Best Inventions by Time magazine in 2019, the Cosm chair is a choice that simply wont fail you. This piecer, designed for Herman Miller by Studio 7.5, has whats called Auto-Harmonic Tilt, which means the it molds to your body as soon as you sit on itno adjustments or fiddling with levers needed. Simply plop down on the Cosms swivel seat, and youll be surprised how quickly the chair conforms to your posture and provides you with instant and total weightless support. Along with the its breathable back and sturdy frame, this innovative chair is ready to tackle whatever you throw at it.

Material: Polyester elastomeric seat mesh.

Dimensions: 40.25 x 26.7 x 26.7 inches.

Warranty: 12 years.

Pros: The Auto-Harmonic Tilt tech, so you dont have to make a single adjustment to the chair.

Buy Now on Design Within Reach: $1,305

Best Home Office Chair for Executives

With its hand-tufted back, arms and base, plus that suave hand-finished leather, the Addy is ready to take its rightful place in your home office. And while the chairs effortlessly luxe exterior is fantastic, of course, its really the contoured back cushions that stand out, providing you with the ultimate lumbar support, which is evenly dispersed through the chairs webbing to protect your back from aches and pains. A home office chair that looks and feels this good? Thats a piece we can get behind.

Material: Leather.

Dimensions: 41.5 x 26.5 x 31 inches

Warranty: 5 years.

Pros: Supple leather that ensures the chair will hold its shape, along with prime lumbar support.

Buy Now on Arhaus: $2,899

Best Home Office Chair for Extra Comfort

AllModerns Acosta home office chair is ideal for those looking for a plush chair thatll support you from 9 to 5 (and beyond, if youre burning that midnight oil). The piece comes with extra seat padding to maintain a perfect posture easily, along with a firm back to support you through the most tedious of work meetings. And the Acosta chair also has a variety of neutrals fabrics that you can pick from, including navy, gray and a sleek black.

Material: Polyester.

Dimensions: 35 x 25 x 26 inches.

Warranty: None.

Pros: Firm back support, high-quality fabric and extra built-in seat padding.

Buy Now on AllModern: $720

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Between pageant competitions, dancing and acting, Amelia Lisowe, 12, has a lot going on  but still finds time to brighten the worlds of foster children.

The Arkansas natives family motto is Find something you're good at and use it to make the world a better place, Amelia told USA TODAY. The young volunteer has done just that.

In 2018, she founded her nonprofit organization Lisowes Lights, which provides night lights to children in the foster care system.

Sometimes, foster kids have to leave in the middle of the night because of neglect, abuse or drugs, said Amelia, who is now in the sixth grade. Having that night light makes it more comfortable in a new house where they may not know anybody and makes them feel more safe.

Amelia Lisowe, 12, holds up a custom Lisowe's Lights night light donated by promotional merchandise marketing company, 4Imprint.

The Bryant Middle School student raised enough money in 2018 to donate more than 500 night lights to foster kids across central Arkansas, according to the organization.

Since then, Amelias nonprofit has extended its reach to 50 U.S. states and nine countries, People.com reported.

MIRROR AFFIRMATIONS: Second grade boys teach us to love ourselves

HEIRLOOMS RETURN HOME: Long-lost love letters bonded a couple separated by WWII. 80 years later, the family has them back.

'A need in my community'

Lauren Lisowes involvement as a board of directors member of Court-Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, influenced her daughter Amelia's decision to make a difference in the foster community.

I got to go along with her to a lot of events when I was younger, Amelia said. Finding a way to help foster kids was easy for me to do when I saw there was a need in my community.

Amelia, then 8, searched for places to volunteer  but kept being turned away. She was too young, she was told.

I felt kind of defeated, because I love to volunteer, she said.

Nonprofit organization Lisowe's lights founder Amelia Lisowe, 12, loads up lights that were boxed at a packing party at the Saline County Boys and Girls Club in Benton, Arkansas, in summer 2022.

One day as her mother mentioned that foster children occasionally have to leave their homes overnight, Amelia considered her own fear of the dark.

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I couldn't imagine being in a new home and being in that darkness, Amelia said.

She shared her idea of collecting night lights for foster children with a school counselor. Her school then hosted a drive collecting $1 donations, and Lisowes Lights expanded from there.

PROPOSAL AND A PARTY: Woman surprised inside her childhood home

Finding out that I could help foster kids and make my own place to volunteer instead of having to go somewhere was really helpful, because I could encourage other kids that they're never too young to make a difference, said Amelia, whose lights have since been shipped as far as England, Poland, Ukraine, France and New Zealand.

See the smiles on their faces

This month, Lisowes Lights launched an Ambassadors of Light program. Twelve young ambassadors from across the U.S. host night-light-packing parties in their communities and promote the organization via social media. The program, Amelia says, encourages young people to get involved with the foster care system and helps them earn volunteer hours.

In her own community, Amelia has hosted events with an organization called Second Chance Youth Ranch, a private placement agency that serves and supports foster families.

Amelia Lisowe, 12, founder of Arkansas-based Lisowe's Lights, holds night lights at a packing party with a local Cub Scout group in Bryant, Arkansas, in April 2021.

The night lights (are) a wonderful blessing and a big help to kids who are sleeping in a strange place, said the youth ranchs co-operations director and former foster parent, Rachel Hubbard.

Amelia says she finds the experience of helping fellow children rewarding.

A foster care organization in Tennessee said the first thing the kids always pull out of their bags is the night light, and they can just see the smiles on their faces, she said.

The nonprofit's growth over the past few years has been surreal, Amelias mother and Lisowes Lights president, Lauren Lisowe, told USA TODAY. The organization has sent more than 15,000 lights to children.

As adults, we don't always think about things like that  we don't think about being afraid of the dark when you stay somewhere new, Lauren Lisowe said. For her to have that idea and have the initiative to follow through with it, and to be able to make that impact, it's been a really neat experience.

More good news to know (and share!)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How 12-year-old's night light nonprofit helps foster kids: Good news
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office arrested two Santa Maria residents after finding two firearms and large quantities of narcotics during a traffic stop, the agency said in a Friday news release.

Deputies pulled over a vehicle occupied by 40-year-old Salvador Pompa and 34-year-old Jessika Zepeda on Guadalupe Road at Via Concha Road in Nipomo around 5 a.m. Tuesday due to a vehicle code violation, the release said.

At the time, both people were under the influence of a controlled substance, the Sheriffs Office said.

Pompa was allegedly carrying a concealed, loaded 9mm handgun, which the release called a ghost gun because it lacked a serial number.

According to the release, deputies discovered four ounces of suspected methamphetamine, three ounces of suspected fentanyl and a large amount of suspected heroin.

The amount of suspected fentanyl seized potentially could have contributed to thousands of overdose deaths, the release said.

Deputies confiscated $2,700 in cash in addition to the drugs, which have a combined street value of approximately $18,000, the release said.

A replica of an M4-style assault rifle was also found in the vehicle, the Sheriffs Office said.

Zepeda was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for sale, under the influence of a controlled substance and knowingly bringing a controlled substance into the jail, the release said.

Pompa was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm with a prior felony conviction, possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm, transportation for sale of narcotics, transport a controlled substance, knowingly bringing a controlled substance into the jail and several other drug0related charges, the release said.

Pompa and Zepeda were both booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail, the release said.

Neither were in jail custody as of 4:20 p.m. Friday, according to jail records.
A 30-year-old man was arrested for murder and sexual assault Saturday, according to the Dallas Police Department.

The U.S. Marshals Task Force took Keldrick Hines into custody on the 15000 block of Addison Road Saturday.

He is being charged with murder and aggravated sexual assault and is being booked into the Dallas County Jail, according to police.

Hines was wanted on active warrants for a homicide that occurred on Ables Lane in Oct. 2022 and an aggravated sexual assault from Sept. 2022.

Hines is also a suspect in an additional case in Dallas and has ties to Louisiana, police said.
FatCamera / Getty Images

Not every fraud artist is a sketchy identity thief in the dark corners of the internet. In fact, you might end up committing accidental tax fraud or accidental tax evasion yourself if you dont pay careful attention during this tax season.

Read: 8 IRS Secrets To Know for the 2023 Tax Filing Season

Learn: 3 Signs Youre Serious About Raising Your Credit Score

Individual slip-ups usually result from negligence rather than ill intent, but either way, it will likely draw scrutiny from the IRS. The agency is serious about nipping fraud in the bud, which is why you should check and double-check your return before filing your taxes. Get the deductions and credits youre entitled to  but make sure you do it legally.

GOBankingRates has put together this guide explaining what tax fraud is, what to do if you see it and how to avoid it by keeping your own return honest and accurate.

What Is Tax Fraud?

The IRS defines tax fraud as intentional wrongdoing on the part of a taxpayer with the specific purpose of evading a tax known or believed to be owing. To meet the IRSs tax fraud definition, there must be both a tax due and owing, and fraudulent intent.

Take Our Poll: Are You Concerned About the Safety of Your Money in Your Bank Accounts?

What Is Considered Tax Evasion?

Tax evasion is a category of tax fraud. The IRS defines tax evasion as some affirmative act to evade or defeat a tax, or payment of a tax. Affirmative acts the IRS considers evasive include concealing assets, understating or omitting income and improperly claiming credits or exemptions.

Tax evasion is different than tax avoidance, which simply means using tax deductions and other loopholes that let you avoid paying taxes legally.

Ways You Might Be Accidentally Committing Tax Fraud

Do you wonder how you might be committing tax fraud? Keep reading to find out about seven tax fraud examples that might surprise you.

1. Filing a Return With Missing or Incorrect Information

Its crucial to file complete and accurate tax returns to avoid committing tax fraud. For example, if you paid thousands of dollars to attend college this year, you might be eligible to claim an education tax credit to reduce your taxes. But dont forget to include Form 8863  for education credits  with your return. Forgetting to include the right forms or vital data such your Social Security number  or entering them incorrectly  could be the red flags that lead to an audit.

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How to avoid it: Professional tax preparers or tax preparation software can help prevent inaccurate or incomplete returns. Some tax software offers built-in e-filing that wont let you submit your forms unless all your necessary data is included.

2. Incorrectly Claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit

Claiming the earned income tax credit when youre not eligible for it is a major IRS audit trigger. The credit is designed to offset the burden of Social Security taxes for low-to-moderate earners. Taxpayers who qualify for it can get $560 if they have no qualifying children, $3,733 for workers with one child and $6,935 for workers with three or more children.

How to avoid it: Dont file for the EITC if you have investment income exceeding $10,500. Child support, alimony, Social Security benefits and unemployment benefits do not contribute toward earned income. Your eligibility might fluctuate from year to year, so read the requirements closely each tax season.

3. Abusing Tax Shelters

A tax shelter that sounds too good to be true likely is. Often, accountants and wealth planners tempt taxpayers with vague or deceptive tax shelter opportunities, or offer captive insurance structures that are at odds with your genuine financial needs, duplicate your existing coverage or provide coverage for totally implausible events. Your barbershop in Indiana probably isnt going to get attacked by tigers, so dont use that excuse as a tax shelter.

These scams can end up costing taxpayers more in penalties, back taxes and interest than they saved in the first place, former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a 2017 IRS news release.

How to avoid it: If you find yourself in over your head on tax shelters, seek out an independent opinion from a tax expert. Abusive tax shelters have been highlighted for the past several years on the IRSs annual Dirty Dozen list of tax scams.

4. Claiming the Wrong Deductions

Although job-related expense deductions have been eliminated for individuals, you can still deduct necessary business expenses if you are a small business owner or self-employed. Just make sure an expense is really necessary before you try to deduct it. If you think its clever to take the family along on a business trip just to deduct the vacation as a business expense, think again. When tax time rolls around, forget about claiming your familys side trip to Disneyland.

Some commonly misused deductions  such as writing off groceries that you mistakenly thought were for clients or employees  are simple errors. But knowingly lying on your tax return to get more money invites trouble.

How to avoid it: Again, tax prep software helps prevent errors because it typically shows the deductions for which you qualify. Another good idea is to explore the IRS website, which offers tips for deducting business expenses and full breakdowns of what you can legally deduct. Key IRS documents such as Publications 334, 535 and 538 detail eligible business expenses and offer tax guides for small businesses.

5. Taking Inflated Deductions

Your chances of being audited are low. In 2018, the IRS audited 1 million tax returns, which represented less than 1% of all returns filed in the calendar year 2017, the latest year for which this information is available. That might make it tempting to claim your whole basement as a home office deduction, but dont. Even though the chances of getting audited are low, inflated deductions are still illegal.

How to avoid it: Dont stretch the truth. If you think youll have trouble paying what you owe all at once, work out a payment plan or installment agreement with the IRS via its Online Payment Agreement Tool or Form 9456.

6. Failing To Report Income

Its easy to not claim all your tips or cash income, especially if you dont track it consistently. But dont get too comfy  failing to report all of your income to the IRS might count as tax fraud and evasion, or at least failure to supply information.

How to avoid it: Tipped employees should keep a daily record of all tips received and use Publication 531 to report their tip income. Even if youre not a tipped employee, dont fall victim to common misconceptions about hard-to-track income. Use the most recent version of Publication 525 to keep track of what the IRS considers taxable and nontaxable income.

7. Falling Victim to Tax Preparer Fraud

In the 2017 IRS news release, Koskinen said its important to choose your tax return preparer carefully because you entrust them with your private financial information that needs to be protected. Many U.S. taxpayers use tax professionals to prepare their returns. If youre among this group, keep in mind that its always possible the preparers you rely on might dupe you into claiming credits or deductions youre not entitled to in order to increase their own fees.

How to avoid it: When choosing a tax preparer, always confirm their IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number and professional credentials via the online IRS Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications.

What Happens If You Commit Tax Fraud?

An individual who commits tax fraud can be fined up to $100,000 and sentenced to up to three years in prison. You might also be assessed a penalty of 75% of the amount you failed to pay due to fraud. The penalty for tax evasion is even steeper  up to $100,000 in fines and/or up to five years in prison. Willfully failing to file a return, pay taxes or keep or produce records can result in a fine of up to $25,000 and/or one year in jail.

How Do You Report Tax Fraud? Can You Report Someone to the IRS?

You can report suspected tax fraud using Form 3949-A, Information Referral. The form asks for information about the suspected fraudster and the violation you suspect they committed. Youll also have to enter your own contact information, but the IRS wont share it with the person or company youre reporting. Mail the completed form to the address indicated:

Internal Revenue Service

Stop 31313

Fresno, CA 93888

To report a tax return preparer for fraud or abusive practices, use Form 14157, Return Preparer Complaint.

What Is the Penalty for an Incorrect Tax Return?

The penalty for an honest mistake on your tax return is far less painful than the penalties for fraud and evasion. In the case of an error due to negligence, the IRS can charge you 20% of the amount you underpaid.

If you forget to include information or simply make a mistake on your tax return, it will typically take longer to process the return. It will also extend how long it takes to get your tax refund if youre entitled to one. But keep in mind that omissions sometimes prompt the IRS to take a closer look at your forms and perhaps target you for tax fraud. Honesty and accuracy will keep you out of trouble with the IRS and ensure that you dont pay out a cent more than you owe in tax.

More From GOBankingRates

Gabrielle Olya contributed to the reporting for this article.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Ways Youre Accidentally Committing Tax Fraud
After learning he was a fan, Philadelphia 76ers star guard James Harden chatted with one of the victims from the deadly Michigan State University shooting  and made a donation toward his behalf.

The 10-time NBA All-Star called 20-year-old John Hao and offered words of encouragement. ESPN showed their video chat on Thursday's "NBA Today" show.

"Everything will work itself out, be strong," Harden said. "You're alright, you're alright. I promise you are ... I love when you're smiling too. I love when you're smiling, alright? I'm with you."

Last week, 20-year-old John Haos life was changed forever. He was one of the students shot at Michigan State University and was left paralyzed from the waist down. Hao is a huge fan of James Harden, and when Harden heard Haos story, he stepped in: pic.twitter.com/Htm2RXRdQ2  Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) February 23, 2023

"I know it's tough right now but you have to stay physically strong, you know what I mean?" he added. "You just gotta think positive things and keep pushing and keep fighting. I got you."

Hao, who is an international student from China, was paralyzed from the chest down after being shot in the back, according to a GoFundMe fundraiser created by his roommate.

Harden also gave Hao a pair of game-worn sneakers and contributed an unspecified amount to Hao's GoFundMe, ESPN reported. Following the 76ers' win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night, Harden said helping Hao was "bigger than basketball."

"I'm fortunate and blessed to be in a position where I can make an impact on people's lives. That's what I really care about," he told reporters after the game.

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Hao was one of the five survivors of the shooting that left three people dead on Feb. 13. Michigan State University said it will cover funeral costs and hospital bills for the victims.

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Feb. 24AUSTIN  Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday the release of the Final Report of the Teacher Vacancy Task Force that focuses on three primary areas of policy recommendations to address school district staffing challenges in Texas.

In March 2022, Abbott directed Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath to immediately create a task force to help school districts address ongoing staffing retention and recruitment challenges.

"Educating Texas students is crucial for the continued success of our great state, and teachers play a pivotal role in that success," Abbott said in the press release. "I thank the teachers and school leaders on this task force for their work addressing full-time and substitute teacher vacancies in Texas schools. Their recommendations will help ensure that best practices and resources are available for teacher recruitment and retention. Working with the Texas legislature, we will develop and implement strategies that attract, retain, and support highly qualified educators to provide students across the state with even greater opportunities to learn and grow."

"Teachers are the single most important in-school factor in the educational outcomes of students, and we must ensure they feel valued, supported, and able to remain in the classroom, if they so choose," Commissioner Morath said in the press release. "The work of the task force has further illuminated critical issues facing Texas public schools and has provided concrete steps to move forward. I am grateful for their thoughtful and insightful approach to developing practical policy recommendations that help address these challenges."

Within three main policy categories  compensation, working conditions, and training and support  prioritized recommendations include:

>> Funding an increase to overall teacher salaries through an increase to the basic allotment, an increase in the minimum salary schedule, and expansion of strategic compensation systems, such as the Teacher Incentive Allotment.

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>> Expanding high-quality Grow-Your-Own pathways; teacher apprenticeships; and full-year, paid teacher residencies.

>> Funding for and increasing the scale of the Mentor Program Allotment (MPA).

>> Funding, professional learning, and support for teachers to access and utilize High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM).

>> Conducting teacher time studies and providing technical assistance for districts to develop strategic staffing and scheduling models that respect teacher time.

The 46-member Teacher Vacancy Task Force is comprised of teachers and school leaders representing all 20 Education Service Center regions and school systems of various sizes and demographic makeups.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington says conditions inside the King County Jail have become so unsafe for inmates, the organization is now suing the county and King County Executive Dow Constantine.

The ACLUs lawsuit says the suicide rate in the jail is eight times the national average. The lawsuit details how in the last year, some people have been kept in isolation for 23 hours a day for several days in a row  without a change of clothes, medical attention, or mental health evaluations.

The suit claims the issues are due to staffing issues at the jail.

Unfortunately, over the past year conditions in the jail have really become pretty concerning and people are again not being transported to medical appointments that have been deemed necessary, said La Rond Baker, the legal director for ACLU Washington.

Family members of people arrested and jailed claim in the suit that the conditions, the isolation, and the lack of resources made mental health challenges far worse.

The ACLU brought a class-action lawsuit against the jail in 1989, representing people incarcerated and the King County Corrections Guild.

The ACLU of Washington sued King County over conditions in the King County Correctional Facility in 1989. There was overcrowding, lack of access to medical care, lack of access to mental health care, people werent regularly being transported to court, conditions were not great, Baker said.

The lawsuit was settled nine years later, and the county agreed to improve medical care, protect people from assaults, and make other improvements in jail conditions. It was called the Hammer settlement, and the ACLU says King County is not complying with it.

The county declined an interview with KIRO 7 but sent this statement from Chase Gallagher, the communications director:

King County remains committed to providing safe, secure, and constitutional conditions for persons incarcerated in the King County Correctional Facility, and the County has worked collaboratively with the ACLU for many years to fulfill that commitment. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, the downtown jail has experienced significant operational challenges of testing, quarantining, and vaccinating, as well as staffing challenges much like those experienced by other industries and public sector institutions throughout the country. King County does not control who is booked into the jail or how long they remain in custody. King County has already taken substantial steps toward remedying staffing shortages, including offering signing bonuses for new hires, and important operational changes that have already resulted in demonstrable improvements. The ACLUs proposed solution of restricting felony bookings is not the answer. The King County jail is the custodian of inmates who are arrested by a law enforcement agency. King County has no authority to unilaterally release or refuse to book persons arrested on felony charges. It is unfortunate that the ACLU has rejected continued dialogue and partnership in favor of a lawsuit, but regardless, King County will continue to work toward solutions that preserve public safety and provide appropriate conditions of confinement for persons housed in the downtown jail.
Listening to Timothy A. Barber, the seven-months-new Director of Museum Operations at FAMUs Meek-Eaton Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum, you cant help but feel the excitement of a curator and archivist who has found rarely seen artifacts placed in his hands.

Timothy Barber is the new director of FAMU's Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum.

In a collaboration with the new Lola Hampton Frank Pinder Center for Agroecology and the African American Studies Department of the university, the Meek-Eaton Archives will unveil 10 original 19th century sculptures, hand-carved by the Loli craftsmen of Ghana at a gala reception on Monday, Feb. 27, at the museum.

The sculptures are what are called field spirits, large wooden entities used for protection  in this case of agricultural crops.

Ghanian protector sheep sculpture from the "FIeld Spirits of the Fante" art exhibition at Meek-Eaton Museum at FAMU, opening with gala reception Feb. 27, 2023.

To the Fante people they were living spirits who watched over them. Today, such carvings, often called bateba, are recognized widely in the art world. One has only to look at art from the early 20th century  Picasso, Klee, Matisse and others to see the influence of African forms that have become synonymous with modern art.

The collection, which arrived at the Meek-Eaton Archives in 2019, is a gift of Dr. Richard Douglass and his wife, Marian Horowitz who themselves had inherited the works from a dear friend and academic colleague, Dr. Nanna Apt.

Apt was a Ghanian professor and dean, whose grandfather, a member of the Fante people had had many of the spirit forms placed about his lands for protection and benevolence. The pieces in the collection date from the 1870s to the 1940s.

A Fante protector provider sculpture from the "Field Spirits of the Fante" collection, which arrived at the Meek-Eaton Archives in 2019, as a gift of Dr. Richard Douglass and his wife, Marian Horowitz.

Nashid Madyun, the former executive director of the Meek-Eaton Black Archives had begun to communicate with Douglass who wanted to donate the rare collection of wooden sculptures from Ghana to FAMU. With the assistance of Florida State University Professor Robbya Green-Weir the unique group of statuary would arrive, beautifully preserved by Douglass in 2019.

Madyun, now the executive director of the Florida Humanities Council in St. Petersburg, says that each piece of the collection is hand-carved to protect the fields, families and property from snakes, predatory animals, and people.

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At that time, centuries ago, their purpose made them valuable and ubiquitous. Yet saving them and their unique heritage from the ravages of the climate and time has been a project of the many involved.

Richard Douglass will discuss his book, "Field Spirits of the Fante" at a reception at the Meek-Eaton Museum on from 7-10 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, 2023.

Today, director Barber is eager to expand research and scholastic exploration of the sculptures, including not only their importance to the art world and their place in African history, but in agricultural practices of the diaspora as well.

In partnership with the new Lola Hampton-Frank Pinder Center, these sculptures represent the inaugural exhibition in which the roles of art, agroecology, as well African American Studies can be seen. This tree has many branches, says Barber. He also mentions that their archives hold other such art treasures that have yet to be researched.

The Boxer, one of the sculptures at the Field Spirits of the Fante art exhibition of original Ghanian sculpture at the FAMU's Meek-Eaton Black Archives.

In addition to the extraordinary collection seen for the first time at the reception from 7-10 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Meek-Eaton Museum, Douglass will be present with his 48-page book, Field Spirits of the Fante, which discusses the creation of the sculptures by Lobi craftsmen, the Fante spiritual beliefs, and the efforts by Douglass and Horowitz to preserve this fragile legacy.

If you go

What: Field Spirits of the Fante, Art exhibition of original Ghanian sculpture

Where: Meek-Eaton Museum, Florida A&M University, 445 Robert and Trudie Perkins Way

When: Reception from 7-10 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27. Exhibition runs through Dec. 16

RSVP/Attire: fieldspirits.eventbrite.com; all bakc chic/formal attire recommended

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: African 'Field Spirits' exhibit greets guests at FAMU's Black Archives
Nathan Watson for the Bama Buzz

This is an excerpt from the book The Moment: Changemakers on Why and How They Joined the Fight for Social Justice, edited by Steve Fiffer and published by NewSouth Books. The author of more than a dozen books, Fiffer most recently collaborated with the late civil rights icon Dr. C.T. Vivian on his memoir, Its in the Action. For The Moment, Fiffer interviewed more than 35 activists of all ages, backgrounds, and professions. Among those featured in their own words are Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative; Michael Strautmanis, executive vice president of the Obama Foundation, and award-winning author Edwidge Danticat. Excerpts featuring Jackson, MS Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Professor Ebony Lumumba, Zev Shapiro, Renee Montgomery, Doug Glanville, Don Katz, and Christian Picciolini appeared here previously.

Ashley Michelle Jones, 32, is a poet, instructor of creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts and Converse University Low Residency MFA, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Alabama (2022-2026). She is the youngest person to hold this position. Her works deal with race and history inspired by Alabama's historical enslavement of Black men and women in the Deep South. She is the author of Magic City Gospel, dark//thing, and Reparations Now! Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Jones founded the Magic City Poetry Festival. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Florida International University.

You look at the history and wonder: What would I have done? Would I have been one of those children marching in Birmingham in 1963? Would I have marched over the Edmund Pettus bridge from Selma to Montgomery in 1965? I never really knew what that would look like for me. I am very anxious around police or any sort of dangerous situation.

And then in 2020, George Floyd was murdered and everyone mobilized. Luckily, I had just taught March by John Lewis. And I thought, Okay, this movement had so many pieces to it. We, of course, see the images of those who were on the ground doing sit-ins and protesting, but there was a whole network of people making sure the structure was there. People working in offices, writing letters, getting food together. So I figured out that where my strengths lie in the movement are with my writing and with my ability to organize people around a cause.

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I was totally aware of my history from an early age. My dad was part of a school integration growing up in Bessemer, Alabama. My parents made sure that we interacted with Blackness all the time. My dad painted a Santa Claus brown because we couldn't find one in the stores. We were allowed to imagine our God looking like us.

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I've been writing poetry since I was seven. The poem that turned me toward that is called, Harriet Tubman. It's by Eloise Greenfield and is from a book called, Honey, I Love. I love that book. Its sort of radical because it celebrates Black existence, Black joy. So my beginning was reciting this piece about Harriet Tubman, who freed so many slaves. And from there I started writing poems about everything, including racism.

I went to a fine arts high school in Birmingham where there werent that many Black students in my department. I got away from writing about social issues for a while. I was just trying to sound like the other kids basically. But then I read Rita Dove's Selected Poems.

Reading that book showed me that I could write about my own people. Then in college, I found my poetry patron saint, Lucille Clifton. Her work pushed me even further back into my authentic self. So it was finding people who were like me and understanding that they gave us permission to write about ourselves. As people of color, we have to do that on our own because we don't necessarily get that in the traditional education system.

I knew that poetry had some changing power for me personally, but it was really at the end of graduate school in South Florida when I cemented the idea that it could effect social change. I was working with young people in a spoken word project and saw this was making a change in their lives. I could see in them a sort of confidence being born as they wrote, instead of just reading other people's words. Having the opportunity to speak and be listened to. I started to understand that its really important for any child, but especially for children of color, to feel like their opinions matter and that people will listen to them.

When I came back home to Birmingham, I started working with a wonderful worldwide program called One Hundred Thousand Poets for Change. On the last Saturday of September, we have an event where people share poetry that has a social justice theme. In Birmingham, we added an element where we do fundraising for organizations.

Governor Kay Ivey hosted a ceremony in the Old House Chamber in The State Capitol for the incoming Poet Laureate for Alabama Ashley M. Jones on Dec. 1, 2021 in Montgomery, Alabama. Hal Yeager/Governors Office

Using poetry to free people

One year we worked with a group involved in immigrant justice. They were trying to get people out of the Etowah County Detention Center, which is one of the worst in the nation. We had two events where we were reading poems about justice, and we had one of the organizations representatives read some letters from people who were detained.

After this event, we were able to raise over one thousand dollarsenough to help free somebody from the detention center. Incredible! For me, it was, OK, I was right. I knew that poetry could do something. And here, now, I had something tangible. Our words changed people's hearts to give money and to change someone's life to let them go free.

Since then, we've kept raising money. I wish we didn't live in a society where money meant anything, but because it does, we're going to use our art form to help free people or to help in other ways.

Also since returning I started a nonprofit, the Magic City Poetry Festival. In 2020, we did a fundraiser where if you show us the receipt for a donation you made to a liberation or human service organization, well write a poem for you. So this is where Ive really found myself in being an activist.

I write poems on many subjects, including myself and historical pieces. With some poems, I've had to understand the moment Im writing about. In my first book, Magic City Gospel, there are a lot of poems about the Civil Rights Movement. I immersed myself, watching videos of Bull Connor at the Children's March in Birmingham or of the segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace. Its scary when you realize, Oh, wait, these are humans doing things to other humans.

In a couple of poems about Wallace, I had to get deep into his life to understand his motivations. Looking at the facts, I could sort of see in between them. That's where the poetry comes into look at, for example, an image of Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door on June 11, 1963, trying to block desegregating the University of Alabama. Looking at his body and seeing something as small as his suit jacket being buttoned incorrectly, thats where the poetry allowed me to open up that moment and say, Maybe he was nervous. Maybe he was rushed.

Facts arent a trap. They allow the creativity to bloom. At the same time, I don't really feel like I have the liberty to make things up. I don't want people to dismiss or be able to say, Well, you're just exaggerating. People love to tell a Black person that it's not that bad, you know?

I titled my poem about that day, Rammer Jammer,

Between the thighs

of the doorway,

you are powerful.

The confetti of camera clicks

and your smart business suit

and the swamp of teenaged protesters

swaddle you with sweat.

June in Alabama is rife with heat.

Important men from Washington have come

to clear you out.

Tension,

thick and bitter

as a watermelon rind.

From the doorway,

you see Vivian and James

waiting in the government car.

They wish to register here.

From the doorway,

you see walls and waves of

ballot-faced whites. They are checkmarks

in the next election.

It is only after

your speech is delivered that you realize how thirsty you are

your cottonmouth

is unbecoming

for a state leader.

How nice it would be

to sit on your porch

with Lurleen and a glass of sweet tea.

How nice it would be

to get out of this heat

and out of Tuscaloosa

and back to marbled Montgomery

and its halls that echo

obedient, loud, and white.

I teach now at the fine arts school I attended. The students are already there to write, so I don't have to fight with them to do that. As for getting them excited to write about social justice, I try to approach the classroom in a way that they feel free to do that. They're not forced per se. We might be writing sonnets, we might be doing meter, whatever. I'm teaching the concept like anyone else might teach it. But it's the example poems that I give that open that door. So instead of reading Shakespeare, we might read a sonnet by Patricia Smith about Emmett Till that allows me to give them the historical context.

There are many more students of color than there were when I was there some fifteen years ago. That's one reason why I wanted to come backjust to be visible and offer another perspective for all the studentsbecause I do think it benefits the white students as well to be able to interact with a teacher of color and to think about some of these issues that they may not have thought about before.

NewSouth Books

Every art form is a way to find your voice

Expressing yourself is so important. It doesnt have to be poetry. Every art form is a way to find your voice. I truly believe that we all are given some avenue to take. Many times I wish I had been given dancing or singing ability, but I was given writing. So that's what I do. The advice I give is to really listen to yourself and hear what it is that you need to do. For me, I hear very clearly when I recite a poem, this is the thing I need to do. If you feel in your body, I must make movement in order to express myself, then you should listen to it, be authentically who you are.

Storytelling is so vital. At least in America. All of us have been suffering from silence for a really long time. That's why art is so important for me and many of my peers. Because we had art, we could tell our story. So we were able to develop into adults in a different way than some other people. I can make no claims about some of these people who commit horrible crimes against others, but I do wonder: Did they have a chance to really express themselves in any other way? Is that a way to cut off some of these behaviors or at least to start the empathy-making process?

People of all ages come to workshops or readings, and they say, Im glad that you're telling our story, or, I feel like I can now tell my story. And it always comes back to us just being able to express our humanity.

I've dedicated my career, so far, to honoring my ancestors and what they went through in Americato educating people about what happens to Black people in America, and to being my full authentic self on and off the page to make room for others to do the same. I'm hopeful that I can keep that going as poet laureate, and that I can inspire those who see themselves left out, who are marginalized and oppressed, who are constantly fighting for our humanity to be recognized, to continue showing up and speaking out.

Of course, Black people have been trying to express that forever, that we are human beings. This system of white supremacy that we are in hurts all of us. None of us are able to fully express ourselves if we are all trying to operate under this ridiculous system or operate under a need for power and money in all of this, when really none of that has anything to do with our souls, our hearts, who we are.

That's what I see in the classroom every day. The students are excited. Its great to be able to say, I am here. Here is what I feel. Here is who I am. I love being a Black woman! I love Black women! We should be celebrated. That in no way detracts from anyone else's worthiness of celebration.

If we could all do that in America, that's a great first step to reparationsbecause we're self-aware. We can then be more aware of our history and not feel like people are judging us or saying that we are bad because the history exists. If we're able to have those hard conversations, knowing that we both acknowledge our shared humanity, everything I think could fall into place.

Excerpted from The Moment: Changemakers on Why and How They Joined the Fight for Social Justice, edited by Steve Fiffer and published by NewSouth Books.

Steve Fiffer is the editor of The Moment: Changemakers on Why and How They Joined the Fight for Social Justice, and co-author with Adar Cohen of the nonfiction book Jimmie Lee and James. Recently he collaborated with the late C.T. Vivian on the memoir Its in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior.

For more information: www.ashleymjonespoetry.com

Ashley M. Jones books:

Magic City Gospel, 2017

dark//thing, 2019

Reparations Now!, 2021

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Aldi Lidl

In the well-heeled London suburb of Balham, shoppers could argue that there's too much choice when it comes to grocery shopping.

Turn one way out of the Underground station and locals will find a Tesco Express. In the other direction lies Waitrose and Sainsburys. All three are within a few minutes walk of each other.

Yet Aldi has never shied away from competition. The German discounter found a site close to Balham station  a one-minute walk away  for the first of its smaller convenience-style Local stores in Britain, which it opened in 2019.

The thing is, if you put stores closer to where people are, then they will use it, says Paul Foley, the former UK and Ireland boss of Aldi and managing partner of Foley Retail. Yes, there are already enough convenience stores in the country. But of course, its still perfectly possible to displace weaker players with a stronger one.

The Aldi Local is emblematic of a new battleground for the fight between Britains supermarkets and the German discounters. After opening a string of larger locations to compete with homegrown megastores, Aldi and Lidl are now coming for the corner shop.

Aldi - Mike Kemp/In Pictures

Earlier this month, Aldi said it would double the number of its stores within the M25 from its current 60. It is on the hunt for locations that could be used for Aldi Locals, which are around a quarter of the size of its standard supermarkets.

Ben Shotter, the grocers regional managing director, says there are still many areas, particularly in the capital and within the M25, that dont have access to an Aldi.

Lidl, too, has said it is aiming to take on the established supermarket convenience offering, despite recently scaling back its ambitious expansion plans and instead focus on improving its warehouses.

That may be good news for bargain hunting shoppers who dont live near a branch of either grocer, but it is another headache for British supermarkets that have been forced into a costly price war by their German rivals.

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Industry experts say a shift towards smaller, city centre shops was inevitable. Aldi already has more than 990 stores across the UK, whilst Lidl has more than 950. That is comparable to Tesco, Britains largest supermarket, which has just over 1,000 larger stores.

The vast majority of Aldi and Lidl's locations are in retail parks and suburbs. However, Tesco long ago shifted focus towards opening smaller, urban Express stores to catch commuters on their way home.

The discounters were bound to want to compete, says Shore Capital analyst Clive Black.



Aldi and Lidl are maturing at quite a pace, he says. Both of them are probably somewhere like 85pc through their British development plan. London was always going to be the last frontier for Aldi and Lidl.



Aldi has already leapfrogged Morrisons to become Britains fourth largest grocer and Lidl is not far behind. However, the gap between Aldi and the top three  Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco  is still large. Cracking big cities will be key to continuing the rapid ascent.

Urban expansion comes with its own unique challenges, however.



London is not just going to be more expensive from a real estate point of view, but also labour costs and logistics costs, says Black.



Part of Aldi and Lidls recent success has been its ability to keep prices low, which is helping them win new customers during the cost of living squeeze. Smaller, more expensive stores could challenge this model.



A former Aldi director says: If you think about convenience stores, this often means less space so you have to fill it more often and that means its more expensive to run.



Higher costs filter through into prices. Shoppers visiting convenience stores spend hundreds of pounds more a year than those visiting larger stores, according to a study from Which? released earlier this month. Some items are selling for as much as 20pc more in convenience shops compared to supermarkets.

Discounters will be aiming to find sites where they can operate as closely as possible as to how they function in their larger stores so they can keep costs low.



Another former Aldi director believes executives will also be considering how they can use so-called walk-out technology.



This type of sensor-based tech was rolled out across Amazon Go stores and allows shoppers to leave without paying. What customers pick up and put down is captured by cameras and sensors, with customers billed later through details held by Amazon on file.



While this sort of technology is costly to install upfront, in the long run it could allow stores to avoid hiring staff to work on the tills.



Id imagine theyll use that as a way of helping them with the convenience store format, says the former director. If you can get that model to work, you probably reduce your costs and you can keep prices lower for customers.



Aldi and Lidl can stomach heavy investment into walk-out technology more easily than listed rivals who are beholden to shareholders. Even Amazon recently announced it was pausing the rollout of its checkout-free stores.



The kindest way you could put it is that they are taking a very long-term view  a multi generational long term view of the UK market, says Black. Let's say the build costs are high and they pay high wages. The reality is they just accept very poor returns on their investment.



If Aldi or Lidl can master the trick of keeping prices low in smaller stores, that would be good news for shoppers.



Already, the German discounters are helping to drive down many prices across supermarkets with their aggressive pricing. Both Tesco and Sainsburys have put in place Aldi price match guarantees on certain items to stop people switching.

Equalising prices across larger and smaller shops should theoretically be achievable. After all, the goods themselves are the same price. Ged Futter, a former buyer for Asda, says companies selling to Aldi will simply be supplying warehouses, and then it gets split out by them down to which stores it goes to.



However, if the discounters do crack it, that will force the British supermarkets into another costly round of investment to ensure they compete.



Perhaps fearing yet more competition, and pressure on their profits, established players are doing their best to stymie the advance of Aldi and Lidl.



Aldi had 40 stores being held up by planning objections from rival supermarkets with branches nearby, according to analysis compiled by the Grocer in December. Since 2020, Lidl has faced at least 87 objections from competitors, mostly Tesco, the Grocer found.



They cant put down the stores they want to put down, says one former Aldi director. What they're looking at is compromised options now.



Ultimately, however, this form of resistance is only likely to slow, rather than halt, the march of Aldi and Lidl. If Aldis Balham store is anything to go by, the discounters will not be shying away from their rivals with new store openings. Urban shoppers are the next frontier.



Soon, there may be a grocer on every corner.
Amanda Knox speaks to the media during a brief press conference in front of her parents' home March 27, 2015 in Seattle, Washington after being acquitted by Italy's highest court in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher on November 1, 2007 in Perugia. Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Amanda Knox recalled having her "first ever epiphany" after she was wrongly imprisoned in Italy in 2007.

"I was not some lost tourist waiting to go home. I was a prisoner, and prison was my home," she wrote.

Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison before she was exonerated.

Amanda Knox recalled having her "first ever epiphany" after she was wrongly imprisoned in Italy in the notorious case of the murder of her British roommate in 2007.

In a lengthy Twitter thread on Friday, Knox wrote,

"My epiphany was this: I was not, as I had assumed for my first two years of trial and imprisonment, waiting to get my life back. I was not some lost tourist waiting to go home. I was a prisoner, and prison was my home."

Describing the feeling of "something deep down that I hadn't known before," she realized that she was no longer in "limbo" between the life she "should have been living" and "the life of a murderer."

Instead, she was forced to succumb and reckon with the fact that she would be "locked away for the best years of my life."

Knox's case became internationally known after her roommate Meredith Kercher was murdered during their year abroad at a university in Perugia, Italy.

Knox, and her then-boyfriend, were convicted of the crime and handed lengthy prison sentences. She was 20 years old at the time.

Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison before she was definitively acquitted in 2015 after a complicated series of court decisions. A European court later ordered Italy to pay Knox about $21,000 in damages for the wrongful conviction.

Rudy Guede was later sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder but was freed in 2021 after serving most of the time, according to the Associated Press.

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Knox wrote that despite the horrors that surrounded her in prison, through her epiphany, she could make meaning out of her life, even though it was cruel and unfair.

She would ask herself, while imprisoned, "How can I make my life worth living today?" to have some control over the unjust situation. Through doing situps, walking laps, writing letters, and reading books, she was able to "walk a tightrope across a bottomless foggy abyss" with nothing but her "instinctual sense of balance."

Knox received an outpouring of support and thanks from social media users who called her writing "profound" and "remarkable.".

"This thread is one of the best descriptions of radical acceptance I've ever come across," one Twitter user wrote. As of Saturday, the post has been viewed nearly two million times.

She ended the thread with guidance and a photo of her smiling while in prison.

"Everyone is going through something, even when they're smiling. If that sounds like you, I hope reading this helps," she wrote.

Read the original article on Insider
Petro Andriushchenko, Adviser to the Mayor of Mariupol, has reported that a Russian ammunition storage point exploded in the city.

Source: Andriushchenko on Telegram

Quote: "Effects of Mariupol cotton (an explosion) yesterday [24 February  ed.]. [Russian propaganda, initially refusing to use the word vzryv (explosion), used khlopok (a bang) instead. However, khlopok also means cotton, and this has since become a meme  ed.]

Mariupol Resistance Group confirms the explosion at an ammunition storage point due to the bright fire near Novoselivka in the Central District, as well as detonation of shells.

Details: Later, Andriushchenko stated that the explosions were heard in the morning of 25 February near the villages of Yalta and Yurivka.

According to Andriushchenko, "a large concentration of occupiers" is stationed there.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
By Valerie Volcovici and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ajay Banga, U.S. President Joe Biden's pick to run the World Bank, will face a tough slate of issues around the institution's finances and capital structure from the get-go, thorny problems he must address as he reshapes the bank into a force for combating climate change on top of its traditional role as a poverty fighter.

Biden and his team have ambitious plans for overhauling the 77-year-old World Bank, which critics have said under its outgoing chief David Malpass was too timid in financing climate initiatives and still funds substantial fossil fuel projects across the developing world.

The key to it all, of course, is money, and as organized and funded now, the World Bank would be stretched to meet those goals.

Banga's nomination, announced on Thursday, won a round of rapid endorsements as top finance leaders met on Friday in India, a sign his ascendance by early May - or possibly sooner - is all but assured, though other member countries can also submit nominations through March 29 before the World Bank's governors choose the president.

Even before he takes office, the former Mastercard Inc chief is expected to start working his numerous constituencies as early as April when top officials meet in Washington at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's spring meetings. Member countries are expected to approve initial moves to stretch the bank's balance sheet to free up more funds for climate projects, pandemic preparedness and other priorities.

If confirmed, he will jump into high-profile talks in June hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley focused on developing a new global financial pact to reform how rich countries finance poor countries grappling with climate-driven damages.

Under Banga's leadership, Mastercard became among the first companies to set net-zero emission targets under the Science Based Targets initiative. He also serves on the advisory board of Beyond Net Zero, a climate finance fund.

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Biden administration officials touted Banga's decades of experience building global companies and public-private partnerships to fund responses to climate change and migration.

"Ajay has proven his ability as a manager of large institutions and understands investment and the mobilization of capital to power the green transition," said John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate change.

SEEKING RESOURCES

An even tougher challenge then awaits Banga in winning a capital increase from member countries. This will be especially difficult for the World Bank's top shareholder, the United States, due to political brawling between the Biden administration and the Republican-majority House of Representatives. The House has major sway over the country's purse strings and its leaders are not disposed to widen the World Bank's role in fighting climate change.

In fiscal 2022, the World Bank committed more than $104 billion to projects around the globe, according to the bank's annual report. Experts say countries will need trillions of dollars to fight and adapt to climate change.

Before an increase can even be considered, U.S. officials say changes in World Bank debt-to-equity ratios and other rules could free up more funds for the climate fight, given the reluctance of a politically divided U.S. Congress to appropriate more funds in a direct capital increase.

An independent report prepared for the Group of 20 major economies said changing the way the bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) operate could unlock hundreds of billions of dollars in additional funds.

But some middle-income countries worry that could weaken the bank's AAA credit rating and raise borrowing costs, Mark Malloch Brown, president of the Open Society Foundations told Reuters.

"The middle-income countries worry ... that the cost of borrowing will increase because of the refusal of the West to put up more cash."

Iskander Erzini Vernoit, director of the Morocco-based climate think tank Imal Initiative for Climate and Development, said the U.S. - which has only contributed $2 billion of the $100 billion in climate finance rich countries have pledged - needed to invest more.

"Playing the blame game with management of the MDBs will only get you so far, and not far enough to finance tackling the polycrisis at scale," he said.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Dan Burns and Josie Kao)
An extensive legal battle is brewing after the Biden administration declined to veto an International Trade Commission (ITC) import ban on the Apple Watch.

The ITC ruled in December that Apple infringed on wearable heart monitoring technology patented by California startup AliveCor. Apple currently uses an electrocardiogram sensor in question in its high-end Apple Watch models.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Tuesday allowed the ITC decision to go through, despite Apples apparent lobbying effort to get the Biden administration to block the potential ban on its popular smartwatch.

From here, the two companies are set to engage in a drawn-out legal dispute. Heres what will happen next.

Appeals court will decide Apples fate

The Commerce Departments Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in December that the AliveCor patents at the center of the ITC case were invalid. The PTAB decision put the ITCs Apple Watch import ban on hold.

AliveCor is appealing the PTAB ruling, while Apple is appealing the ITC ruling. A federal appeals court will ultimately decide whether Apple Watches will face an import ban.

William Mandir, a partner at intellectual property law firm Sughrue Mion, said that appeals courts typically side with the PTAB decision around 75 percent of the time, giving Apple an early advantage.

In general, its an uphill battle, which on its face seems to favor Apple, Mandir said. But youd have to really dive into the specifics to see what the merits are on appeal.

Biden declines to veto Apple Watch ban

AliveCor first shared its technology with Apple in 2015 in hopes of securing a partnership with the tech giant.

The startup said that Apple introduced Apple Watch models in 2018 that had built-in heart monitoring sensors  and blocked third-party app providers from accessing users heart rate data  forcing AliveCor to cancel sales of its Apple Watch heart monitoring accessory.

Those claims would be moot if an appeals court affirmed the PTAB ruling. Apple said in court filings that it first began developing and patenting its own heart monitoring systems more than a decade ago.

Story continues

The patents on which AliveCors case rest have been found invalid, and for that reason, we should ultimately prevail in this matter, an Apple spokesperson said in a statement.

Import ban wont happen anytime soon

The appeals process is expected to drag into the middle of 2024, as the general timeline for PTAB appeals is 12 to 18 months, according to AliveCor.

That means Apple Watch models wont face an import ban for some time, and Apple could explore several avenues to avoid the ban entirely.

AliveCor is open to a settlement where Apple pays the startup to license its heart-monitoring technology. That would prevent an Apple Watch import ban, but AliveCor said that Apple hasnt shown interest in settling.

We can license our IP to them tomorrow or the next second if they would like to, but they dont want to have a conversation. Its all about going with litigation rather than innovation, AliveCor CEO Priya Abani told The Hill.

Is there any difference between Apple Watch models? We tested the 6 and 7 series to find out

Even if Apple lost the appeal and chose not to settle, the company could still keep Apple Watch sales alive by making modifications to the device.

They would have to take out the feature that was found to infringe or disable it. Another option is they could keep the feature if theres a way to redesign it so it still works but doesnt infringe the patent, Sughrue Mion managing partner John Rabena said. The watches wouldnt go away, but maybe a feature would.

Apple Watch sparked other legal challenges

AliveCor is pursuing a separate antitrust lawsuit against Apple, which it expects to go on trial in early 2024.

The startup claims that Apple made software updates accompanying the introduction of its own heart monitoring app that prevented other companies from accessing Apple Watch users heart rate data, blocking competition and cutting off AliveCor users.

With a single update, Apple thus eliminated competition that consumers clearly wanted and needed, depriving them of choice for heart rate analysis that is better than what Apple can provide, AliveCor wrote in its May 2021 complaint. And all for an incremental value gain for an already-two-trillion-dollar company.

Apple argued that its under no obligation to to provide its platform for use by another company.

A federal judge in March 2022 ruled against Apples bid to dismiss the lawsuit, stating that the updates purpose was to prevent third parties from identifying irregular heart rate situations and from offering competing heart rate analysis apps.

Tester hands Democrats 2024 boost with tough road ahead

Abani said that Apple frequently uses a similar tactic with other app developers to quash competition, saddling users with fewer choices and less innovative technology. She described AliveCors lawsuit as a David vs. Goliath battle with enormous implications for the future of startups in the U.S.

Apple was dealt another blow last month when an ITC judge ruled that Apple infringed on pulse oximeter sensors patented by medical tech company Masimo.

The case will go before the full commission this year, where the ITC could enact yet another import ban on Apple Watch models that use the technology.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has signed onto a multistate lawsuit that's part of an intensifying national fight over access to one of the drugs used in medication abortions.

The federal lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeks to end restrictions on mifepristone.

It accuses the FDA of ignoring science that shows mifepristone is safe, a news release from Mayes' office says. The legal action alleges the FDA has singled out mifepristone for "excessively burdensome regulation, despite ample evidence that the drug is safer than Tylenol," according to the news release.

The Democratic attorneys general who filed the legal action are asking the court to halt the enforcement of the FDAs restrictions on mifepristone while the case continues, according to Mayes' office.

The two drugs used in a medication abortion, often referred to as abortion with pills, are mifepristone and misoprostol.

More than half of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions, a two-drug combination recommended for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, though many clinics prescribe it at up to 11 weeks of pregnancy, and the World Health Organization has authorized its use up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum are leading the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, Mayes office said. Other states that have joined are Nevada, Delaware, Illinois, Connecticut, Colorado, Vermont, New Mexico, Michigan and Rhode Island.

Then-candidates Katie Hobbs and Kris Mayes host a news conference outside then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office in Phoenix on Sept. 24, 2022. They addressed the Sept. 23 ruling from Pima County Superior Court in the case of Planned Parenthood of Arizona v. Mark Brnovich.

Lawsuit is part of a growing battle over access to abortion pills

The lawsuit from the attorneys general comes at a time when anti-abortion groups are seeking to stop sales of mifepristone. A coalition led by the conservative legal advocacy organization Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuit Nov. 18 in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, arguing the drug comes with medical risks and should be pulled from the market, USA TODAY reported.

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Anti-abortion advocates have argued that abortion pills leave women to face the physical and emotional risks of a medication abortion alone.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says medication abortions are a "safe and effective method" of providing an abortion.

Mifepristone is safe and effective and has been used for over two decades by millions of people," Mayes said in a written statement. "Access to this drug allows patients to make their own private medical decisions without interference by the government or anti-abortion politicians. The bottom line is that individuals should be able to make decisions about their reproductive lives without unnecessary restrictions like these."

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on June 24, it meant that states could set their own laws without any federal standard protecting abortion access, which has "created a new focus on medication abortion as an option for expanding access to people facing barriers to abortion care," the Kaiser Family Foundation wrote in a Feb. 24 health policy brief.

The lawsuit Mayes joined says the restrictions on prescribing and dispensing mifepristone, which includes mandatory certification from the manufacturer for anyone who prescribes and dispenses the drug, are "unduly burdensome, harmful and unnecessary and expose providers and patients to unnecessary privacy and safety risks."

Administrative burdens deter health providers from dispensing mifepristone, Mayes says

While the FDA in December removed an in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone and expanded the distribution to include certified pharmacies in addition to certified clinicians, prescribers are still required to be certified by the manufacturers.

The administrative burdens associated with becoming certified "deter health care providers and pharmacists from signing up to prescribe and dispense mifepristone in the first place," according to Mayes' office.

"Disclosure of a providers or pharmacys certification to prescribe mifepristone, or a patients agreement to receive it, all required by the FDA, could expose them to violence, harassment or abuse," the statement from Mayes' office says. "This documentation may also be used to threaten providers or patients with legal liability in states with extreme anti-abortion laws."

While some retail pharmacies have said they are going through an application process to dispense mifepristone in brick-and-mortar facilities, that won't be able to happen in Arizona because of the restrictive abortion access laws here.

Abortion pills in Arizona are only available via an in-person visit to a clinic that offers abortion. That's because Arizona requires mandatory in-person counseling, followed by a 24-hour waiting period and then another office visit to obtain either a surgical or a medication abortion, providers here say. Arizona also prohibits the use of telemedicine for medication abortions.

Mayes on Feb. 16 added her name to a letter with 22 other Democratic attorneys general urging Walgreens and CVS to ship the medication to anti-abortion states.

"I'm obviously supportive of a woman's ability to access medication abortions," Mayes told The Arizona Republic at the time. But the issue is "complicated because of these barriers that the Legislature has thrown up," she said.

Providers from outside the U.S. will ship abortion pills to U.S. residents. Those include Aid Access, operated by a Dutch physician, and Women on Web, which is based in the U.K.

Arizona has a law that says a "manufacturer, supplier or physician or any other person is prohibited from providing an abortion-inducing drug via courier, delivery or mail service," but the law doesn't say anything about whether it is legal for a person to receive the drugs in the mail.

Reach health care reporter Stephanie Innes at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or at 602-444-8369. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieinnes.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona AG Kris Mayes joins lawsuit over restrictions on abortion drug
Harrison Marshall converted a dumpster into a tiny home in London. Katie Edwards

Harrison Marshall converted a dumpster into a tiny home and moved in last month.

The artist came up with the idea after struggling to find a home he could afford to rent in London.

The project cost $4,800 and has a mezzanine bed, sink, and kitchen area  but no bathroom.

When Harrison Marshall, an architect and artist, started looking for a new home to rent in London last summer, he was struck by the "crazy" prices.

"I was trying to find somewhere that would fit my budget and criteria, but if I found somewhere there'd be 100 other people also looking for the same spot and it'd be gone in five minutes," he told Insider. "So it made me start thinking that there's got to be another way for me to do this."

The 28-year-old came up with the idea of converting a dumpster, which are called "skips" in Britain, into a tiny home. They are a common sight outside renovation projects, for example, and can easily be moved to another location if desired.

"It also gave quite a good juxtaposition between what you don't typically think of as a house and almost the polar opposite of that, which is a bin or dumpster, and how actually that could be turned into something which is relatively cozy and homely," he said.

His dwelling is in Bermondsey in southeast London, a short distance from Tower Bridge.

Harrison Marshall designed and built the tiny home after spending the last seven years working on design and construction projects for charities overseas.

Katie Edwards

He set up an organization called Caukin Studio with some friends he met studying architecture at university.

Katie Edwards

They built schools, health centers, community halls and playgrounds, and so he applied that expertise to the construction and design process.

Harrison Marshall

The tiny dumpster home was inspired by another Caukin Studio project: an art installation in a skip.

Katie Edwards

It was in collaboration with a company called Skip Gallery, which commissioned artists to create artwork in the confines of a skip.

Marshall built the tiny home in a few months mostly in his spare time in the evenings. He started living in the tiny home last month.

Story continues

Harrison Marshall

I had help from a bunch of my friends that are involved in Caukin on days they could spare, which was great, he said.

Katie Edwards

He's had to use several quilts to keep warm at night as until this week it's not had electricity, meaning there was no heat.

Harrison Marshall

I picked the worst time of year to build it as it was in December through a cold spell and the snow and the worst time of year to move into it, Marshall said.

Harrison Marshall

Once Im in bed its not too bad. The structure is insulated well, but getting out in the morning and sticking my leg outside of the covers is something I dread each morning, he added.

Harrison Marshall

The tiny home has a mezzanine bed, sink, and a kitchen area where he makes sandwiches.

Harrison Marshall

There's also a small water tank, which he refills from a hose belonging to the neighbor's property, so he can wash dishes, and brush his teeth. There's no flushing toilet, however.

Harrison Marshall

On one side of the structure he stores most of his clothes and some tools.

Harrison Marshall

On another side he has a portable toilet that he takes outside and he showers at work or at the gym.

The materials including all fixtures and fittings cost about 4,000 ($4,800).

Katie Edwards

His main outgoing cost is the 50 ($60) a month cost of renting the dumpster.

Marshall plans to live in the tiny dumpster home for a year but is open to staying for longer.

Katie Edwards

He wants to move it outside an art gallery or exhibition space as he thinks it could bring a different way of talking about the project as well.

"High rent prices is an issue which is affecting millions of people," Marshall said.

Harrison Marshall

He added: "The goal is to spark more creative thinking about it, get people talking about the different ways that people are living now, and how more thought could be put into social housing."

The artist believes that complying with rules on public, or social, housing in the UK feels like a "tick-box exercise" for property developers.

Katie Edwards

He believes affordable housing should be better integrated into the design process of large-scale housing developments.

I've been lucky enough to find a site in London to do this, which was always going to be one of the biggest challenges, he said.

Katie Edwards

"It's provided by an arts charity who has access to this location. That's been a real blessing to the whole project," Marshall added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he held a long conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday, the one-year anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "I'll tell you a secret, last night he and I spoke for a long time on various topics," a social media channel linked to Lukashenko's press service quoted him as telling reporters, without giving details.

The Kremlin has yet to provide any statement about the conversation.

Lukashenko is a close ally of Russia and is beholden to Putin for shoring him up in 2020 after mass protests broke out against a presidential election that the Belarus opposition and Western governments accused the veteran leader of rigging.

Lukashenko has denied the election was rigged and accused the West of funding protesters. He has supported Putin in his year-long war with Ukraine, including by letting him invade from Belarusian territory and by allowing Russia to train newly mobilised troops in Belarus.

Ukraine's army, fighting Russia at full stretch in the south and east of the country, has also been forced to divert troops to guard its northern flank in case Belarus were to intervene directly in support of Russia - something Lukashenko says it will not do unless directly attacked by Ukraine.

Russia and Belarus are allied in a "Union State" in which Moscow is by far the dominant partner, but Lukashenko dismissed media reports this week that Russia had drawn up a plan to absorb Belarus by 2030. "Don't listen to this nonsense and chatter. It was created to divide us," he was quoted as saying.

Separately, the state news agency Belta said Lukashenko would start a three-day visit to China on Tuesday.

China, which has a close partnership with Russia and has refrained from criticising its invasion of Ukraine, published a ceasefire proposal on Friday that was greeted with scepticism in the West.

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Helen Popper)
Anadolu Agency - Getty Images

Bella Hadid made a charitable outing to help out in the wake of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and northern Syria.

The supermodel was photographed during her trip to NYC's Turkevi Center (Turkish House), where she donated supplies for survivors of the series of earthquakes that have hit Turkey's southeastern Kahramanmaras province this past month.

During her visit, Hadid met with volunteers who have been facilitating aid efforts at the center since the 7.8 magnitude quake struck on February 6. She also shared pics from her visit on Instagram, where she revealed in the caption that she'd dropped off "blankets, diapers, and sleeping bags."

Anadolu Agency - Getty Images

For the outing, the style star wore an elevated spin on a '90s-era grunge look, comprised of a slightly-oversized suede tan jacket, a striped wrap blouse in shades of brown and white, and baggy faded jeans. She finished the look with a classic pair of Doc Marten boots, a white belt, a black leather shoulder bag by Bench.

The model also wore her hair in a low bun, covered with a white scarf featuring embroidered black flowers. While she wore gold-rimmed glasses during the visit, she later switched them out for oval-shaped sunglasses with orange lenses and a nude-toned rim.

Raymond Hall - Getty Images

Bella has previously made donations towards humanitarian and refugee aid in the past. Last March, she and her sister Gigi Hadid donated their fashion month 2022 earrings to aid residents of Ukraine amid the start of the Russian invasion, while at the same time continuing to support Palestine. The Palestinian-Dutch models also often send help to Palestinians in need.

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President Biden issued an order Friday directing federal agencies to check-in with residents of East Palestine, Ohio, after a train derailment earlier this month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency will go door-to-door, visiting homes to see how families are doing and connect them any resources they may need.

After hurricanes and other natural disasters, similar walk teams perform the same duties. Biden didnt specifically say how many homes need to be visited, but he said he told employees to visit as many homes as possible by Monday.

The announcement comes amid frustrations from Republicans toward the administrations response to the disaster. House Republicans opened an investigation into the Feb. 3 derailment and have slammed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for what they have called a delayed response.

Democrats meanwhile have blamed former President Trump and his administration for rolling back rail and environmental regulations during his term.

Buttigieg also criticized the rollbacks when he visited the site of the derailment on Thursday, one day after Trump delivered a speech in East Palestine, slamming Buttigieg and Bidens response.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Biden said that Zelenskyy does not need F-16 fighters now

When asked by the interviewer whether Kyiv needed the fighter jets that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had repeatedly requested, Biden replied: "No, he doesn't need F-16s right now."

The interviewer asked whether this meant that there would never be a delivery of fighter jets, to which Biden said that it was impossible to know exactly what Ukrainian defense would need in the future.

The U.S. leader added that there is currently "no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s."

Read also: Sullivan provides details of Biden-Zelenskyy discussion on delivery of F-16s

"I am ruling it out for now," Biden said.

He explained that the U.S. military considers other support more important at this stage.

"Look, we're sending him (Zelenskyy) what our seasoned military thinks he needs right now. He needs tanks, he needs artillery, he needs air defense, including another HIMARS," Biden stated.

Read also: UK could be first to send Ukraine fighter jets, Zelenskyys aide says

According to him, Washington will provide the assistance necessary to achieve success on the battlefield in the spring and summer.

"There's things he needs now that we're sending him to put them in a position to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall," Biden said.

Read also: Biden comes to Kyiv, Russia blocks IAEA rotation at ZNPP, Zelenska on her marriage

Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked the United States and other allies to provide Ukraine with fighter jets.

Earlier, Biden rejected this request, telling reporters in late January that he would not send F-16s to Ukraine.

At the same time, Zelenskyy and U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said the discussion was open.

Read also: Group of US lawmakers urge Biden to send F-16s to Ukraine

Earlier, U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said that "some countries in Europe" are interested in making deliveries of fighter jets. She added that "this is an evolving picture" which changes depending on what Ukraine needs at any given moment.

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The issue of fighter jets was also discussed by Biden and Zelenskyy during their meeting in Kyiv on Feb. 20.

Ukraine's other allies have not made a final decision on the fighter jets either. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously objected to the transfer of aircraft to Ukraine. Poland said it was ready to act only if the West made a collective decision.

The United Kingdom was the first and so far the only country to announce that it would train Ukrainian pilots. At the same time, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace stressed that British Typhoon fighter jets would be delivered to Ukraine only after the war.

According to Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, a positive decision on the transfer of aircraft to Ukraine is a matter of one or two months.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
President Biden in a new interview said he is ruling out providing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine for now, despite pleas from Ukrainian leadership for the planes in their war against Russia.

He doesnt need F-16s now, Biden told ABC Newss David Muir when asked about the requests from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

I am ruling it out for now, Biden said, adding that there was no rationale at the moment to provide the planes, according U.S. military leaders.

Ukrainian officials have in recent weeks ramped up the pressure on the U.S. to provide F-16s in the war effort, particularly after the Biden administration and European allies finally agreed to provide the war-torn country with tanks.

The Biden administration has also provided billions of dollars in military aid since the war began one year ago, including long-range missile defense systems, air defense systems, ammunition, armored vehicles and more.

Some critics have argued the Biden administration has been too slow to deliberate and respond to Ukrainian requests for equipment before ultimately acquiescing and providing what is requested.

But Biden officials have been adamant that Ukraine does not need F-16s based on the current state of the war.

[The Ukrainians are] about to mount a significant counteroffensive, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a CNN town hall event on Thursday night. From our perspective, F-16s are not the key capability for that offensive. It is the stuff that we are moving rapidly to the front lines now.

Biden traveled to Kyiv earlier this week to mark the anniversary of Russias unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. He appeared alongside Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital, vowing that U.S. support for the country would not waver as the war enters its second year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Joe Biden said Friday he doesn't have plans to visit East Palestine, Ohio, where a train derailment three weeks ago led to a toxic chemical spill that's endangered residents and wildlife for miles.

At this moment [I'm] not, Biden told reporters at the White House when asked whether he planned to visit the town near the border with Pennsylvania.

The answer is that I had a long meeting with my team and what they're doing. You know, we were there within two hours that the train went down, two hours."

The Biden administration has faced harsh criticism from congressional Republicans, as well as residents of East Palestine, over its response to the derailment, with some arguing that the president should have visited the site instead of making a surprise trip to Ukraine earlier this week.

Biden on Friday disputed that his administration was not engaged with the response efforts, telling reporters that he is keeping very close tabs.

Former President Donald Trump, joined by GOP Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and other local Republicans, made a campaign stop in East Palestine on Wednesday, where he criticized Bidens handling of the crisis.

The next day, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine and vowed that his department will work with the administration and Congress to prevent future disasters similar to the Feb. 3 train derailment.

Several GOP lawmakers, however, have demanded that Buttigieg resign.

On Friday, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Buttigieg over his response to the derailment.

Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and other Republican members requested documents related to maintenance and procedures, including for trains carrying hazardous materials.

While Buttigieg has highlighted rail deregulation during the Trump administration, some Democrats have said the Biden administration is not without blame.

Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have criticized the federal response, suggesting that authorities should be doing more to help recovery in the area.

Story continues

During a visit to East Palestine on Feb. 16, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the administration would work to hold Norfolk Southern responsible for the derailment.

That same day, Manchin said in a statement it was unacceptable that it took nearly two weeks for a senior Administration official to show up.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
One year ago, Russian troops and armor poured into Ukraine. Most defense analysts assumed Vladimir Putin would take his neighbor within weeks.

The Ukrainian people thought otherwise.

Russia currently controls less than a fifth of the war-torn country, including the territories they illegally seized in 2014. Both sides are planning future advances once the spring thaw hits.

President Biden marked the anniversary with a secret trip to Kyiv followed by a defiant speech in Poland promising never to abandon Ukraine.

Democracies of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow, and forever, Biden said, adding thats the message I carried to Kyiv yesterday, directly to the people of Ukraine.

Support for arming Ukraine is dropping

Forever is a very long time. The U.S. made similar promises to our Afghan allies before chaotically abandoning the country in President Bidens first year.

While the current presidents support is sincere, he cant promise anything beyond his administration. Especially if the American people turn against it.

In Africa:Sen. Kelly, Ambassador McCain see effects of Ukraine war

According to the Associated Press, the turning has begun. In May 2022, 60% of Americans supported arming Ukraine. As of last month, that has dropped to 48%.

This still makes up a plurality but is trending the wrong way for the White House.

Most still want to help the beleaguered nation but question the unlimited funds being promised.

We've already spent billions to help

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Joe Biden shake hands during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. Biden has made an unannounced visit to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The U.S. has already sent $112 billion to Ukraine with little debate and less oversight. For comparison, Ukraines entire GDP in 2020 was about $200 billion.

On his recent visit, Biden casually announced a half a billion more, along with artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments.

We are saddled with a national debt of more than $31.5 trillion; the firehose of money cant continue indefinitely. Biden shouldnt make promises his checkbook cant keep.

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Most people empathize with the brave Ukrainian people and condemn Putins evil invasion. But it raises eyebrows when Biden jets to Kyiv yet avoids the rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio.

Politicians in both parties must understand that their first responsibility is to their own nation; allies come second. Forget this, and the people will turn them out of office.

There are costs to never-ending war

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wore a Ukrainian blue-and-gold tie to the State of the Union address, without so much as an U.S. flag lapel pin. At the last SOTU, Kevin McCarthy added a lapel pin  of Ukraines flag.

A nationalistic fervor has swept D.C. No, not American nationalism  that would be dangerous. Ukrainian nationalism has swept Washington.

Nancy Pelosi unfurled that countrys flag from the House rostrum. And when someone warned against expanding the war, GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger called them a Putin apologist.

One year in, our politicians need to stop the chest-thumping and soberly consider the costs of never-ending war, both in blood and treasure.

They also should remember that Americans can reject foreign wars as quickly as they endorsed them. Whatever happens, Ukraine will look much different in November 2024.

Biden cannot promise infinite support forever

Reagan-era Secretary of State George Shultz asked every new U.S. ambassador a simple question. Im going to spin the globe and I want you to put your hand on your country.

When they pointed to the nation assigned to them, Shultz corrected them. Your country is the United States.

America should continue to support Ukraine, at least for the time being. But every dime spent should be accounted for, and our policy adjusted as facts change.

Promising infinite support forever is not only unwise but untrue.

We elect politicians to represent us, not people overseas, no matter how noble and righteous their cause.

Jon Gabriel, a Mesa resident, is editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. On Twitter: @exjon.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Biden may rue his 'forever' pledge to help arm Ukraine
Jubilee singers at Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee, pose for promotional photograph, circa 1871. William L. Clements Library

Frederick Douglass is perhaps best known as an abolitionist and intellectual. But he was also the most photographed American of the 19th century. And he encouraged the use of photography to promote social change for Black equality.

In that spirit, this article  using images from the David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan  examines different ways Black Americans from the 19th century used photography as a tool for self-empowerment and social change.

Black studio portraits

Cabinet card portraits of African Americans from the David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography. Left: Man with Pipe, circa 1887. Right: Woman in Silk Dress, circa 1888. William L. Clements Library

Speaking about how accessible photography had become during his time, Douglass once stated: What was once the special and exclusive luxury of the rich and great is now the privilege of all. The humblest servant girl may now possess a picture of herself such as the wealth of kings could not purchase fifty years ago.

To pose for a photograph became an empowering act for African Americans. It served as a way to counteract racist caricatures that distort facial features and mocked Black society. African Americans in urban and rural settings participated in photography to demonstrate dignity in the Black experience.

The first successful form of photography was the daguerreotype, an image printed on polished silver-plated copper. The invention of carte de visite photographs, followed by cabinet cards, changed the culture of photography because the process allowed photographers to print images on paper. Cartes de visite are portraits the size of a business card with several copies printed on a single sheet. The change from printing images on metal to printing on paper made them more affordable to produce, and anyone could commission a portrait.

Collecting kinship: Arabella Chapman albums

Arabella Chapman poses for a portrait from her public carte de visite album, circa 1878 - 1880s. William L. Clements Library

During Victorian times, it was fashionable for people to exchange cartes de visite with loved ones and collect them from visitors.

Arabella Chapman, an African American music teacher from Albany, New York, assembled two cartes de visite photo albums. The first was a private album of family pictures, while the other featured friends and political figures for public viewing. The creation of each book allowed Chapman to store and share her photographs as intimate keepsakes.

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Innovative entrepreneurs: The Goodridge Brothers

Children stare at the burned remains from the Washington Street fire, circa 1870s. David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography. William L. Clements Library

When photography became a viable business, African Americans started their own photography studios in different locations across the country. The Goodridge Brothers established one of the earliest Black photography studios in 1847. The business, opened first in York, Pennsylvania, moved to Saginaw, Michigan in 1863.

The brothers  Glenalvin, Wallace and William  were known for producing studio portraits using a variety of photographic techniques. They also produced documentary photography printed on stereo cards to create 3D images.

Saginaw, Michigan, was an expanding settlement, and the brothers photographed new buildings in the town. They also documented natural disasters in the area. Photographers would capture 3D images of fires, floods and other destructive occurrences to record the impact of the event before the town rebuilt the area.

Documenting communities: Harvey C. Jackson

Burning the Mortgage of the Phyllis Wheatley Home in Detroit, Michigan, on Jan. 4, 1915. By Harvey C. Jackson. David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography. William L. Clements Library

The development of Black photography studios allowed communities greater control to style images that authentically reflected Black life. Harvey C. Jackson established Detroits first Black-owned photography studio in 1915. He collaborated with communities to create cinematic scenes of important events. In one photo, Jackson documents a mortgage-burning celebration at the Phyllis Wheatley Home, established in 1897. Its mission was to improve the status of Black women and the elderly by providing lodging and services.

Mortgage-burning ceremonies are a tradition churches observe to commemorate their last mortgage payment. Harvey Jackson documented this occasion with each person holding a string attached to the mortgage to connect each person in burning the document.

African Americans engagement with photography in the 19th century began a tradition for Black photographers use of photography today to promote social change. African Americans, whether they are in front or behind the camera, create empowering images that define the beauty and resilience contained within the Black experience.

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This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: Samantha Hill, University of Michigan.

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Samantha Hill is affiliated with the Society of American Archivists
8:15 p.m. UPDATE: Danyella Tolbert has been located, according to Boston Police.

CANCEL - BPD Missing Person Alert: 15-Year-Old Danyella Tolbert of Dorchester has been located https://t.co/lNTTGgOGVS  Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) February 26, 2023

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Boston Police are looking to the public for help in finding 15-year-old Danyella Tolbert of Dorchester, who has been missing since Thursday.

Danyella was last seen at about 7 a.m. Thursday in the area of 14 Fayston St., police said.

She was last seen wearing a black puffy jacket, black blouse, black torn jeans, and a Pandora bracelet.

Police described her as a Black female, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing about 120 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, and wearing a nose ring and braces.

Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is urged to call 911 or 617-343-4275.

Citizens may also share information anonymously by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800 (494) -TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Samuel Augustus Maverick came to Texas with a dream of making a fortune in land sales. In the process, he became one of the most memorable characters in the history of the state and an important figure in its early history. In the process, he became the original maverick.

Maverick was born in 1803 in South Carolina. His father was a planter and real estate speculator. The younger Maverick was educated by tutors at home and later attended Yale University, graduating in 1825.

Ken Bridges

Upon graduation, he returned to the family plantation where he inherited his fathers passion for dabbling in real estate investments. He decided to become a lawyer and apprenticed himself under a Virginia judge, becoming part of the Virginia bar in 1829. He returned home once again and opened a law office. In 1830, he ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives but lost the race. Maverick was a committed Unionist in a state where secessionist sentiment was growing. Frustrated, Maverick left for Georgia in 1833 and then to Alabama in 1834.

He saw the many opportunities to be had in Texas and arrived in March 1835. When he arrived, he found a land on the brink of war. He arrived in San Antonio in October as Texas settlers began surrounding the city and laying siege to it. Gen. Martin Perfecto de Cos, commanding the 650 troops in San Antonio, did not trust the motivations of Maverick and immediately had him arrested. He was released in December, upon which Maverick immediately told the Texans to attack.

In 1847, he bought a herd of 400 cattle. Soon, Maverick became synonymous with the term maverick, meaning an unbranded calf. He claimed that he refused to brand his cattle because he did not want to inflict unnecessary pain on the creatures so his cattle remained unbranded. His contemporary critics claimed that it made it easier for Maverick to claim other unbranded cattle as his own though there is very little evidence of his claiming cattle that were not his own. Branding is a routine practice among ranchers to this day, with its use dating as far back as ancient Egypt thousands of years ago. It was a common practice in Spain during the Middle Ages, and the tradition was brought to the New World and used by cattlemen in what was then Spanish territories like Mexico and Texas. Mavericks defenders pointed out that his primary interest was in real estate and not cattle. Whatever Mavericks true motivations were remain clouded, but his stubbornness on the subject became widely known. As a result, maverick gained another popular meaning, someone who is independent or unconventional in his thinking.

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With Mexico preparing to take the Alamo with overwhelming force, Texans were attempting to organize a new, independent government. Alamo defenders decided that he should leave the garrison to represent the defenders. Maverick managed to leave the Alamo and escape the Mexican Army on March 2, just as Texas delegates were declaring independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos. He arrived on March 5 and participated in the early discussions about the future government of Texas and how it would win the fight with Mexico. The Alamo would fall on March 6, and Maverick would learn the sad fate of the defenders shortly afterward. He fell ill, which left him largely unable to participate in the remainder of the conflict.

He married just after the war in 1836. He and his wife would have ten children together. In 1838, he built a home in San Antonio and was elected mayor. At that point, San Antonio was still a small city of around 3,000 souls, tiny compared to the modern metropolis that it has since become.

In 1850, he was elected to the state legislature. He would serve for the next twelve years. Maverick worked for an efficient justice system and for fairness for both German and Mexican residents of his district. And he worked to ensure it was easier to buy land. By 1851, he owned more than 140,000 acres; and his holdings were growing. He was already one of the largest landholders in western Texas. After doing some construction work on his property in 1852, he discovered that the retreating Mexican Army in 1836 had buried 13 out of the 21 cannons used at the Battle of the Alamo. Maverick donated them for historic preservation. Out of respect for his achievements, Maverick County was established on the Rio Grande in his honor in 1856.

When Texas considered secession in early 1861, Gov. Sam Houston was strongly opposed. Maverick supported Houston and the Union. Unionists across the state faced strong-arm tactics and death threats, including Houston. Seeing that secession was inevitable and facing intense pressure, Maverick reluctantly voted at the secession convention in favor of Texas leaving the Union.

He was elected mayor of San Antonio once again, serving a second two-year term in 1862 and 1863. San Antonio now had a population of nearly 10,000, swelling as the war progressed. During this time, Maverick also served as a judge for Bexar County.

Maverick remained active in Democratic politics in the years after the Civil War. His land holdings expanded to 300,000 acres. He died quietly at his home in 1870 at age 67. His grandson, Maury Maverick, became a congressman representing San Antonio in the 1930s and was himself a respected figure in the city.

Ken Bridges is a writer, historian and native Texan. He holds a doctorate from the University of North Texas. Bridges can be reached by email at drkenbridges@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Bridges: An original Texas Maverick
A significant storm over the last several days created many impacts across California, causing some cities to flood, and higher elevations to record several feet of snow.

More than 7 inches of rain fell in Ventura County, causing flash flooding early Saturday morning according to The Associated Press. The excess rain caused roads to flood, which stranded cars on roadways. On Saturday morning, the Los Angeles Fire Department ground and air responders rescued four people and five animals from flooding in Encino. Two of the individuals were suffering from hypothermia and were transported to an area hospital. The other individuals and the five animals were all uninjured.

Air travel was halted for a majority of Southern California when a ground stop was issued for Los Angeles International Airport, impacting all departing and arriving flights on Friday. A number of inbound flights during the stop were diverted to Ontario International Airport, approximately 55 miles east, according to ABC7 journalist Brittany Silverstein. The stop expired around 1 a.m. PST Saturday morning.

Power outages across the state surpassed 100,000 on both Friday and Saturday morning, with the highest amount of outages Saturday coming from Los Angeles County, where 26,770 outages were reported. Outages were still above 50,000 in the state as of Monday afternoon.

Flooding also impacted many roads across the state, including Interstate 5 which was closed in several spots on Saturday morning due to flooding and icy roads.

On Friday afternoon, Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer was in the mountains near Pasadena, California, and witnessed water gushing off the mountains and flowing toward the Los Angeles area. Timmer was standing near an area that is usually dry but was transformed into a raging river following several inches of rain in less than 24 hours.

"Every single one of these washes are flooded out. These are normally dry," Timmer said.

The official rain gauge in downtown Los Angeles were filled with 2.29 inches of rain on Friday, making it the wettest February day since Feb. 12, 2003, when 2.45 inches fell. The single-day rainfall was also orders of magnitude greater than the total rainfall from the past three Februarys, which combined for only 0.10 of an inch of rain.

Story continues

Roughly 30 miles to the northwest, flash flooding swept away several campers near Santa Clarita when an embankment washed out. Video footage showed at least one of the campers lying on its side.

Californians who were looking to experience snow did not have to travel far to find some snowflakes. Typically, snow is limited to the higher terrains, but snowflakes were occasionally seen Friday and Saturday, even at elevations below 1,000 feet.

The heavy snow in the lower elevations was too much for some tree limbs with the added weight causing branches to snap, and in extreme cases, entire trees to come tumbling down.

On Monday, San Bernardino County declared a local emergency after heavy snowfall trapped several mountain community residents in their homes, as well as preventing others from reaching home. The declaration seeks both state and federal help to clear snow from mountain highways and neighborhood streets.

Snow reached some of California's famous wineries in Napa County. Vineyard operator Mark Neal told CBS News that he woke up to a foot of snow on Friday, causing some tree limbs to snap.

"It's pretty much a battleground if you look at it. Some of them are over 200 years old," Neil said. Fortunately, the grapes were unscathed, as the vines are currently dormant. Neil added that this storm has been the biggest snowstorm he has seen in the area since the 1970s.

In the higher elevations, an all-out blizzard unfolded. Ahead of the storm, the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Los Angeles issued its first blizzard warning since 1989, and the NWS office in San Diego issued its first-ever blizzard warning in its history.

California's mountain areas have received up to nearly 6 feet of snow over the past several days, including Snow Valley, which recorded 66 inches of snow since Wednesday. Bear Mountain and Soda Springs both had over 50 inches of snow. Bear Mountain received 57 inches of snowfall and over 100 inches for the whole week. Big Bear Mountain ski resort spokesman Justin Kern told The Epoch Times Friday that the snowfall this week exceeds the retreat's yearly average.

Those traveling near the mountains had to deal with several road closures, including Interstate 80 which shut down at Donner Pass twice on Friday. On Friday evening, all westbound lanes of the interstate at the Nevada state line were being turned around due to multiple crashes. California State Route 17 between Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County was also closed due to snow and trees down.

High wind gusts also impacted the state as a result of the storm, topping 90 miles per hour in two locations. A 98-mph wind gust recorded on Mammoth Mountain was the highest of the day for the state as of Friday afternoon. San Guillermo was the other location in the state to record a wind gust over 90 mph. Magic Mountain, Kirkwood and Pilot Rock also had wind gusts above 80 mph.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Photo: The Canadian Press People demonstrate against the war in the Ukraine in front of the Russian embassy in Ottawa on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Canada is providing Ukraine with more weapons, which he says will help the country win on the battlefield against Russia.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced more weapons for Ukraine on Friday as people rallied across Canada to mark 365 days of death and violence since Russia's invasion began.

Canada will donate four additional Leopard 2 main battle tanks to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, growing Canada's contribution to eight tanks in total, Trudeau said.

It will also donate an armoured recovery vehicle and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

New sanctions are also being imposed on nearly 200 more people and entities that Trudeau said are complicit in Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine.

That includes Russian deputy prime ministers, ministers, members of the Russian military, and producers of artilleries and weapons used in Ukraine. It also includes others who have voted in favour of legislation related to the invasion and attempted annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

The added support is on top of the $5 billion Canada has pledged already to help Ukraine following Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade one year ago.

"He is cowardly and he is weak. His brazen disregard for human life, his irresponsible rhetoric, and his willingness to inflict terrible violence on innocent people may seem to have no limits," Trudeau said Friday at a press conference in Toronto marking the one-year anniversary.

"But what is truly without limits is the courage and resolve of those who fight every day for their freedom."

Meanwhile, just hours after Ottawa announced the added armaments, thousands of Canadians took part in a series of rallies and vigils alongside Ukrainians displaced by the war.

Spearheaded by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, some 40 "Stand With Ukraine" events had been planned for major cities across the country, from St.John's to Whitehorse.

During a rally in Halifax, word of the added tanks drew a loud round of applause from a crowd of about 200 gathered on the city's central square next to City Hall.

Seventeen-year-old Polina Kozlova, a refugee who escaped from the city of Kherson after it was occupied, said she came to the ceremony to remember Ukrainians who have died  and to show solidarity with her homeland, where her parents and brother still live.

Despite the fact its really cold today I feel warm in my heart and my soul because Im with my people and Im hearing my native language and songs, and I feel the support of our nation, she said.

A few hundred also braved cold weather in Montreal to gather at Dorchester Square. People carrying Ukrainian flags and candles chanted and sang in support of family members and friends in their homeland.

"For me, it was very important (to come here today) because I still have my family and friends over there," Vlada Polishchuk said.

"I also went to Ukraine in November, and I saw with my own eyes what was happening in Ukraine. I am standing here for the children I saw in Ukraine and for women who have been through hell in occupied territory."

Sebastien Bouffard said that he has friends in Ukraine whom he talks to every day and he has become aware of the devastation the country has endured over the past year.

"They send me pictures, and what Russia is doing is disgusting. Sometimes I tear up when I see the picture. I am 100 per cent with Ukraine.

In Toronto, more than a thousand people marched through the downtown before settling in front of City Hall, with many draped or waving the Ukrainian flag while others donned its bright blue and yellow colours.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called Putin "nothing more than a tyrant" and a "thug," and said his war has revealed the strength and resilience of Ukrainians.

Defence Minister Anita Anand said Canada began training Ukrainian troops in 2015 and has trained over 35,000 since then.

"We will keep going. We have trainers in England and Poland right now training members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces so they fight and win this unjust and illegal war," she told the crowd.

International student Simran Chawla, who attended the rally, said, "You've got to help people who are in trouble ... I feel like Canada gets that message."

In a news conference Friday in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters more weapons will allow Ukrainian people to regain their territory.

"We're getting ready. We're ready in spirit. And we're getting ready as far as weapons are concerned, as far as forming attack brigades are concerned," Zelenskyy said through a translator.

The yearlong conflict has taken a deadly toll on the Ukrainian population, with tens of thousands of civilians killed and millions more displaced.

With weapons and training from NATO nations and other allies, Ukraine's military has been able to regain thousands of square kilometres of territory.
Winter weather pounded much of California on Friday and Saturday, and more is on the way, prompting concerns for the unhoused population in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County responded to the storm by issuing its first blizzard warning since 4 February 1989.

The city of Los Angeles saw heavy winds, rain, and hail on Friday and Saturday. The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, advised city residents to help individuals without permanent shelter find lodgings for the duration of the storm.

"This storm is a matter of life or death for many of our unhoused neighbors," she wrote on Twitter. "If you know someone who is unhoused or if you see tents near you  help them find shelter. We can all play a role in helping Angelenos come inside."

Strong winds, snow, heavy rains, and flooding will continue to be a concern throughout the west over the weekend as the storm travels inland.

A homeless persons tent is seen under a roadway overpass as water rushes down the Los Angeles River channel near Griffith Park (AFP via Getty Images)

Flooding in Southern California resulted in numerous water rescues on Friday and early Saturday, according to the New York Times. At least one person was injured in Santa Barbara County when a tree was toppled onto a home. Another individual in Los Angeles was found dead following the storms, but authorities have not determined if the weather contributed to that death.

Winds upwards of 65mph ripped through Los Angeles, even stirring up a weak EF-0 tornado for a short time, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Grapevine portion of Interstate 5 in California was shut down on early Saturday due to snow obstruction throughout the valley, according to the California State Highway Patrol.

San Francisco also recorded near-record lows over during the storm. Temperatures fell to 41 degrees (5 C) overnight between Friday and Saturday. The record low is 38 degrees (3 C).

A worker uses a broom to sweep rain water from a shop along the Venice Beach Boardwalk (REUTERS)

More than a foot of snow fell in California's wine country. A snowboarder took advantage of the rare snowfall and carved a route alongside grapevines at CADE vineyard in Napa Valley.

The National Weather Service in Las Vegas also advised on early Saturday that travelers in eastern California, southern Nevada, and western Arizona should be on alert for road closures.

Story continues

The Hollywood sign is seen through a mix of fog and dust snow during a rare cold winter storm (REUTERS)

"A powerful winter storm will impact areas of the southern Great Basin and Mojave Desert through Sunday. Significant travel impacts expected with snow, wind, and rain," the National Weather Service said in a tweet. "Check road conditions before departing, dial 511 in your state."

The storm left more than 100,000 power customers in the dark as it rolled through California.

Cars are seen covered in snow at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California (Getty Images)

A separate storm earlier in the week left a million power customers without power throughout the northeast and north central portions of the US. Many power customers in Michigan are still waiting for their power to be restored.

The storm in California is currently moving east over the Sierra Nevada mountains, where it is expected to dump more snow over the mountain peaks before it flattens out over the Great Basin.
California is in for a punishing weekend of heavy snow, torrential rain and bitterly cold temperatures.

Its the states first blizzard warning since 1989 with record snowfall forecast in some high-elevation areas. Up to 8ft of snow is expected in the mountains outside of Los Angeles on Saturday. The National Weather Service warned that travel would be very difficult to impossible.

Friday morning also brought the threat of ocean water spouts and land-based tornadoes in the Los Angeles area of southeast Santa Barbara and southern Ventura counties.

A coast-to-coast winter storm has pummeled much of the western and northern United States this week, styming travel plans and leaving nearly 1million people without power.

But the country was a landscape of climate extremes: While deep Arctic air caused temperatures to plummet as much as 30 to 40 degrees below average in parts of the West and Plains, the US also experienced its first 100-degree day of 2023. Falcon Lake in Texas hit 100F on Wednesday as temperature records were broken across the Southwest.

Key points so far

Weather warnings and advisories issued in two dozen states by the National Weather Service

Flight woes continue on Thursday

Watch: SUV goes off road and into neighbors yard as California struck by heavy snow

07:05 , Graeme Massie

Hollywood sparkles

06:10 , Graeme Massie

The iconic Hollywood sign in Los Angeles has had a light sprinkling of snow, ABC7 reported on Friday.

The local news station flew their helicopter over the hills above the city and reported that dense fog was hovering around the famous lettering and small chunks of snow along the trail below the sign.

SNOWY HOLLYWOOD SIGN: This is certainly a sight SoCal doesn't see often!



AIR7 HD flew over the iconic sign and captured some dense fog hovering above and small chunks of snow along the trail below the sign.  https://t.co/Ymmlwc3BHl pic.twitter.com/grgSHCr1Kf  ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) February 24, 2023

What is a snow squall?

05:04 , Graeme Massie

Story continues

As California is threatened by dangerous blizzard conditions, The Independents Megan Sheets explains what a snow squall is - and what to do if you become caught in one.

What is a snow squall?

Mountains near Los Angeles hit by snow

04:04 , Graeme Massie

A vehicle drives through a snow storm in the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernardino County near Los Angeles County, on February 24, 2023 in Mount Baldy, California.

(Getty Images)

(AFP via Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Mammoth Mountain gets hit hard by snow

03:03 , Graeme Massie

(AP)

(AP)

LAPD says three traffic deaths so far during storm

02:28 , Graeme Massie

Roads are very wet, with large amounts of standing water in some places. Weve already had three traffic fatalities todaythree too many. Please slow down & keep extra space between cars, if you have to go out at all, LAPD tweeted on Friday evening.

LAFC game against Galaxy rescheduled

02:02 , Graeme Massie

The match, which was due to be played at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, will now take place on 4 July at the same iconic venue.

Southern California shivers in blizzard conditions as tornadoes threaten LA and 114,000 without power

01:45 , Graeme Massie

The state had its first blizzard warning since 1989.

California shivers in blizzard as tornadoes threaten LA and 114,000 without power

Six million people under flash flood warning in LA County

01:02 , Graeme Massie

The warning will stay in place until 10pm on Friday.

A Flash Flood Warning is in effect for interior portions of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties through 10pm TONIGHT. Heavy rain will likely continue through much of the day with additional rainfall of 2 to 5 inches possible, tweeted NWSLA.

More than 100,000 without power in California

00:35 , Graeme Massie

As of 4.30pm PT there were 101,146 customers in California without power, according to poweroutage.us.

Heavy rain continues to slam California

00:31 , Graeme Massie

Traffic makes its way along interstate 5 during a rainstorm Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, in Santa Clarita, Calif. California and other parts of the West faced heavy snow and rain Friday from the latest winter storm to pound the US.

(AP)

Flash flood warning for Santa Barbara

00:05 , Graeme Massie

Flash Flood Warning including Simi Valley CA, Santa Barbara CA and Lompoc CA until 10:00 PM PST tweeted the National Weather Service Los Angeles on Friday afternoon.

Flash Flood Warning including Simi Valley CA, Santa Barbara CA and Lompoc CA until 10:00 PM PST pic.twitter.com/t8Y2A5FLdr  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 24, 2023

Interstate 5 shut down by snow

Friday 24 February 2023 23:54 , Graeme Massie

In this image from a Caltrans remote traffic video camera is an empty Interstate 5 at Dunsmuir, Calif., Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Interstate 5, the West Coasts major north-south highway, was shut down south of the Oregon border as snow fell to the floor of the Sacramento Valley and in a high mountain pass north of Los Angeles, where blizzard warnings were in effect.

(AP)

Winter Storm Olive: In pictures

Friday 24 February 2023 22:35 , Louise Boyle

An abandoned electric car is buried in snow in Draper, Utah, on February 23, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

In pictures: Winter Storm Olive

Friday 24 February 2023 20:50 , Louise Boyle

Icicles hang from the hat of a figure that is part of the Hometown Hero baseball sculpture outside Jackson Field in Lansing, Michigan on February 23 ((Nick King/Lansing State Journal/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS))

Michigan shivers without power

Friday 24 February 2023 20:31 , Louise Boyle

While this weeks winter storms meant nearly 1 million homes and businesses from coast to coast lost power, Michigan was the hardest hit.

The storm coated branches, power lines and utility poles with ice as thick as three-quarters of an inch, putting more than 820,000 customers in the dark at one point in the state.

By Friday, that was down to under 700,000, most in the states populous southeastern corner, around Detroit. Promises of power restoration by Sunday, when low temperatures were expected to climb back above zero (minus 18 Celsius), were of little consolation.

Thats really vague and thats really long, said Apurva Gokhale, of Walled Lake, Michigan. Thats four days without power in such weather. Its unthinkable.

Her home lost power early Thursday. By that evening, the temperature inside had dropped to 55 degrees (12 Celsius). She, her husband and son stayed the night with relatives.

Tom Rankin, 70, said he and his wife were unable to reach his 100-year-old mother-in-law on Friday morning by phone. The couple drove to her home in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, to find her in bed with a whole lot of blankets, Rankin said.

She was fine, Rankin said, and the temperature in her home was about 65 degrees after she lost power on Thursday afternoon. But they helped her to their car, planning to ride out the outage at another relatives home.

The Associated Press

Californias winter storm in pictures

Friday 24 February 2023 19:30 , Louise Boyle

People walk along a snow covered Twin Lakes State Beach in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Thursday (Karen Krenis via AP)

Winter storm in pictures

Friday 24 February 2023 18:30 , Louise Boyle

Kamal Rahm, aged three, of Carlsbad, enjoys the snow at Yucaipa Community Park in California, on Thursday (Terry Pierson/The Orange County Register via AP) ( The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Severe weather begins to ease in Midwest and Plains

Friday 24 February 2023 18:10 , Louise Boyle

A storm that battered the Plains and Midwest for days began to diminish on Friday, the weather service said, but gusty winds could still cause blowing and drifting snow.

The weather has closed major roads around the US, caused pileups, closed schools and snarled air travel.

Friday morning, nearly 300 flights were canceled and over 900 were delayed, according to FlightAware.com. That was down from more 2,000 canceled and 14,000 delayed flights on Thursday.

All told, the storms have blacked out nearly 1 million homes and businesses from coast to coast. Michigan was hardest hit after a storm coated branches, power lines and utility poles with ice, putting more than 820,000 customers in the dark at one point. By Friday, that was down to under 700,000, most in the states populous southeast corner, around Detroit.

Some 3,000 power lines were toppled after being coated with ice as thick as three-quarters of an inch, and crews struggled to get power back by the end of Sunday, utilities said.

The Associated Press

Tornado and water spout warnings in Los Angeles area

Friday 24 February 2023 17:24 , Louise Boyle

Intense showers and thunderstorms are shifting eastward toward southeast Santa Barbara and southern Ventura Counties, the National Weather Services Los Angeles office warned on Friday morning.

Expect potential for very heavy rain, road flooding, small hail, & gusty winds. Ocean waterspouts & land-based tornadoes are possible through noon, forecasters said.

Intense showers & isold thunderstorms are shifting eastward toward southeast Santa Barbara & southern Ventura Counties. Expect potential for very heavy rain, road flooding, small hail, & gusty winds. Ocean waterspouts & land-based tornadoes are possible through noon. #CAwx #rain pic.twitter.com/wXgYU7qh5o  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 24, 2023

California governors office shares list of warming centers as state braces for bitter cold

Friday 24 February 2023 16:50 , Louise Boyle

The California governors office shared a list of warming centers, travel alerts, and tips on how to prepare and stay safe during the severe winter weather.

To find a list of open Warming Centers, travel alerts, and tips on how to prepare for and stay safe during these winter weather events. Visit Cal OES at: https://t.co/QenOx2VXJe pic.twitter.com/ciQMYN0K6b  California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (@Cal_OES) February 24, 2023

National Weather Services latest update for California

Friday 24 February 2023 16:10 , Louise Boyle

A very cold, slow-moving storm is moving south along the West Coast of California on Friday before slowly pivoting into the Southwest.

California will see the greatest winter storm impacts on Friday with multiple rounds of heavy snowfall coupled with strong winds causing blizzard conditions over some of the higher terrain and mountain passes, according to the National Weather Services (NWS) latest report.

This includes the central and southern Sierra Nevada, and the high terrain of Transverse Range in southern California.

Downed trees and power lines which will contribute to power outage concerns, NWS said.

For a state thats used to 72F and sunny, it will be unusually cold. In some areas very close to the Pacific Coast and also into the interior valleys that are not accustomed to seeing snow, there may be some accumulating snowfall, forecasters noted.

There will be as much as three to five feet for the Sierra Nevada, with more snow possible at the highest peaks.

One other big issue will be the threat of heavy rainfall and flooding for coastal areas of southern California below the snow level. Several inches of rain are expected locally, increasing the risk of runoff.

California weather in pictures

Friday 24 February 2023 15:52 , Louise Boyle

Treacherous road conditions were taking hold in the Angeles National Forest. Forecasters warned that travel would difficult if not impossible in places due to heavy snow and high winds.

A driver on the road in Angeles National Forest (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Where are the power outages in California?

Friday 24 February 2023 15:34 , Louise Boyle

More than 124,000 people were currently without power in California, according to utility tracker Poweroutage.us

The worst impacts were currently in the north of the state with Lake County experiencing the heaviest impacts.

Power outages in California on Friday morning (poweroutage.us)

Watch: Snow blankets the Santa Cruz mountains in northern California

Friday 24 February 2023 15:10 , Louise Boyle

Californias winter storm in pictures: Calm before the storm

Friday 24 February 2023 14:55 , Louise Boyle

Snow blankets the town in the San Gabriel Mountains, in San Bernardino County along the border of Los Angeles County, on February 23 in Mount Baldy, California A major storm, carrying a rare blizzard warning for parts of Southern California, is expected to deliver heavy snowfall to the mountains with some snowfall expected to reach lower elevations in LA County. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Warnings issued for California

Friday 24 February 2023 14:35 , Louise Boyle

A coast-to-coast storm that paralyzed roads and blacked out nearly 1 million homes and businesses was set to pound California on Friday, sparking warnings about floods and blizzards.

The National Weather Service warned of a cold and dangerous winter storm through Saturday.

Up to eight feet of snow could fall in some mountains near Los Angeles, which could create whiteout conditions as winds gust to 75 mph and an increased risk of avalanches, forecasters said.

The weather service issued rare blizzard warnings for Southern California mountain areas and urged drivers to avoid dangerous roads.

The Associated Press

Watch: Winter Storm Olive continues to hammer the Midwest

Thursday 23 February 2023 23:25 , Louise Boyle

Watch: Wind whips up sand blizzard on South Carolina shoreline

Thursday 23 February 2023 22:30 , Louise Boyle

Impassable roads from coast to coast

Thursday 23 February 2023 22:10 , Louise Boyle

Police and emergency workers try to free a U-Hall moving truck from the snow on Mountain View Parkway in Lehi, Utah, on February 22, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Southwest gets a heavy doze of snow and ice

Thursday 23 February 2023 21:50 , Louise Boyle

A winter storm knocked out power to thousands of customers and shut down major roadways in northern Arizona and New Mexico, and is expected to keep an icy grip on much of the Southwest through Friday. Another storm could be close behind.

Ten inches of snow was reported in the mountains of northeast Arizona, with wind-whipped drifts up to two feet high near McNary, south of Holbrook, the National Weather Service said.

A unique sunset at the NWS Flagstaff this evening. Our version of the arctic. #azwx pic.twitter.com/mfvTySmqg4  NWS Flagstaff (@NWSFlagstaff) February 23, 2023

Another 15-21 inches is possible by midday on Friday in Flagstaff, where the local National Weather Service office was among those without power much of Wednesday.

It said the heaviest snow was expected Thursday afternoon into the night, with periods of near-blizzard conditions possible, snowfall up to a half-inch per hour and visibility under a half-mile at times.

The Associated Press

Watch: Massive coast-to-coast winter storm rips across the US

Thursday 23 February 2023 21:31 , Louise Boyle

Got ice?

Thursday 23 February 2023 21:10 , Louise Boyle

The National Weather Service in Buffalo, New York explained how local people can measure the ice accumulation in their areas.

Got Ice? We prefer you measure ice on a flat surface, but we know that can be tricky. Here is a way to convert an ice measurement from a radial surface, like a tree branch to a flat ice measurement. The NWS uses flat ice measurements to support the aviation community. pic.twitter.com/SGhyeGJ3dY  NWS Buffalo (@NWSBUFFALO) February 23, 2023

Treacherous conditions close roads is a number of states

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:50 , Louise Boyle

Winter Storm Olive created treacherous driving conditions up and down the country this week.

Some drivers were left stranded on iced-over roads and many major highways were closed.

In Wyoming, the state Transportation Department posted on social media that roads across much of the southern part of the state were impassable.

Photo sent from Elk Mountain/Arlington Area Maintenance Supervisor. Our crews are working to cut back major drifts on I-80, this one is at mile marker 250 near Halleck Ridge. #wyoroad pic.twitter.com/vtBWQjabzE  WYDOT District 1 (@wydot1) February 23, 2023

Rescuers tried to reach people stranded in vehicles but high winds and drifting snow created a near-impossible situation for them, said Sgt Jeremy Beck of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

Unexpectedly heavy snow during afternoon rush hour on Wednesday sent dozens of cars spinning out in Portland, Oregon, and caused hourslong traffic jams. The regional bus service offered free rides to warming shelters for homeless individuals.

In Arizona, several interstates and other highways were closed due to high winds, falling temperatures and blowing snow. The Arizona Department of Transportation advised people not to travel as forecasters said snow could fall at a rate of two to three inches per hour on Thursday.

Many roads also remain snow-covered and in some cases closed in Minneapolis.

AP

Watch: Snow-covered eagle captured on nature cam in Minnesota

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:27 , Louise Boyle

In pictures: Winter Storm Olive

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:10 , Louise Boyle

Cathy Morgan-Mace cleans snow and ice off her family's car during a snowstorm in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

Rarer-than-rare blizzard warning issued in California

Thursday 23 February 2023 19:50 , Louise Boyle

A blizzard warning was issued in California this week for the first time since George Bush (Senior) was in the White House.

The National Weather Service (NWS) announced the warning for Southern California mountains through Saturday for the first time since 1989.

There will be several rounds of snow leaving three to five feet of powder across the Sierra Nevadas.

The Mount Baldy ski resort, located in the Angeles National Forest in southern California, is forecast to be the snowiest ski resort on Earth over the next five days with 100-plus inches of snow expected, tweeted Colin McCarthy from the popular weather account US_Stormwatch.

But the moisture-laden air will also mean increased risk of flash flooding into the weekend, according to NWS. Coastal areas have already begun to see large waves which could reach 10-14ft today.

Hard-hit Minnesota posts snow totals with warning for drivers

Thursday 23 February 2023 19:32 , Louise Boyle

The Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St Paul received around a foot in most locations, the National Weather Service reported on Thursday.

Overall totals as of 6am Thursday were 12.5 inches in Chanhassen; 8.3 inches in St Cloud; and 9.8 inches in Eau Claire.

The last band of snow will finish up by noon with additional accumulations of 1-3 inches, NWS reported.

Thankfully this storm didnt produce the amounts it had the potential to, but it still produced a lot, and combined with the windy conditions it is simply not safe to travel right now. Many roads remain completely snow-covered and in some cases closed. Stay safe out there! forecasters added.

NWS warning of how to drive behind a snow plow (NWS)

Watch: Winter weather leaves bare shelves at UK grocery stores

Thursday 23 February 2023 19:10 , Louise Boyle

In pictures: Winter Storm Olive brings bitter cold to South Dakota

Thursday 23 February 2023 18:49 , Louise Boyle

Carolyn and Dan Ellwood shovel snow outside Second Edition in Pierre, South Dakota on Wednesday. Blizzard conditions continued on Thursday with warnings of wind gusts as high as 35mph, and wind chills as low as 30 below zero which could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. (AP Photo/Amancai Biraben) (AP)

Californias last big storm put a dent in states megadrought problem

Thursday 23 February 2023 18:30 , Louise Boyle

Storms that rolled across California from late December into January have put a dent in the states drought, officials said on Wednesday.

US officials cautiously announced a jump in initial allocations of federally-controlled water to agricultural, municipal and industrial users of the Central Valley Project system.

Nine atmospheric river storms at the turn of the year greatly improved the water supply outlook following three years of record drought, US Bureau of Reclamation Regional Director Ernest Conant said in an online briefing.

Major Central Valley Project reservoirs that were dwindling have since been rising, and the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a key source of water when it melts, is well above average.

However, were all too aware of uncertainties that exist and how rapidly conditions in California can change, Conant said. And not all river basins were equally improved, highlighting the need that late winter and early spring rain and snow is still needed.

Associated Press

Watch: Chicago area rocked with power outages

Thursday 23 February 2023 18:10 , Louise Boyle

Air travel update

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:50 , Louise Boyle

More than 1,600 flights have been cancelled in the United States as Winter Storm Olive brings heavy snowfall, significant ice and dangerous whiteout conditions from coast to coast.

The storm, which prompted the National Weather Service to issue weather warnings in more than two dozen states, began Tuesday and will continue through the end of the week.

The winter storm has already impacted travel, with tracking site FlightAware reporting that 1,600 flights were cancelled in the US on Thursday morning. An additional 5,000 flights were delayed on Thursday morning,

More than 400 of those were heading in or out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Chicagos OHare, Boston Logan and Detroit Metro were also badly impacted.

Watch: How much snow has fallen in Minnesota?

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:29 , Louise Boyle

A smorgasbord of severe weather

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:10 , Louise Boyle

The National Weather Services Cleveland office summed up the wild variation in extreme conditions across the United States this week in this map below.

Nearly every region was experiencing severe conditions, from heavy snow and blizzards across the Midwest to significant ice in the Northeast and high winds and fire danger in the Southwest.

Weather extremes impacting the US from coast to coast this week (NWS)

First 100-degree day of 2023

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:45 , Louise Boyle

The first 100 degree (Fahrenheit) day of 2023 arrived in the United States on Wednesday.

Falcon Lake, Texas hit 100F (37.8C), reported the climatologist and weather historian Max Herrera on his Twitter account Extreme Temperatures Around the World.

Falcon Lake is a reservoir on the Rio Grande about 40 miles south of Laredo, Texas.

As the US north shivered, daily heat records were being broken across parts of the south and southeast this week.

Atlanta rose above 80F in winter for the first time in its history, Herrera added.

In Pictures: Winter Storm Olive

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:29 , Louise Boyle

A Southwest Airlines plane is de-iced before takeoff at Salt Lake City International Airport on Wednesday in Utah as temperatures plummeted well below zero during Winter Storm Olive (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

800 flights cancelled over historic winter storm - heres what you need to know

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:10 , Louise Boyle

Some 800 flights have been cancelled in the United States as Winter Storm Olive brings heavy snowfall, significant ice and dangerous whiteout conditions from coast to coast.

The storm, which prompted the National Weather Service to issueweather warnings in more than two dozen states, began Tuesday and will continue through the end of the week.

The winter storm has already impacted travel, with tracking site FlightAware reporting that 800 flights were cancelled in the US on Thursday morning. An additional 1,305 were delayed as of 10am ET.

Chelsea Ritschel reports.

How can you find out whether your flight is cancelled and what are your rights?

Watch: Highway patrol trooper has narrow escape from truck on icy interstate

Thursday 23 February 2023 15:50 , Louise Boyle

The latest brief from the National Weather Service

Thursday 23 February 2023 15:10 , Louise Boyle

The latest short-range forecast from the National Weather Service was issued on Thursday at 2.27am (EST), stating that:

- Heavy snow is coming across the terrain of California and heavy rainfall across southern parts of the state

- More heavy snow and significant ice in some areas will stretch from the Great Lakes to the Northeast

- Record-breaking warmth expected over the East throughout Thursday

-Extreme cold will grip the Northern Plains and the Intermountain West

The weather forecast on Thursday in the US (NOAA)

Air travel woes continue

Thursday 23 February 2023 14:50 , Louise Boyle

Passengers wait in a security line at Denver International Airport on Wednesday. Winter storm Olive has prompted hundreds of flight cancellations (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Nearly one million without power

Thursday 23 February 2023 14:30 , Louise Boyle

Nearly one million people were without power across United States on Thursday.

The most heavily-impacted areas were in the Midwest and Northeast. More than 681,000 people in Michigan were in blackout, 84,000 in Illinois and 58,000 in Wisconsin.

Power outages were impacting states across the US amid winter storm Olive (poweroutage.us)

Forecasters share their snow scenes

Thursday 23 February 2023 13:50 , Louise Boyle

The National Weather Service in the Twin Cities shared a picture of the huge snow drifts outside their office early on Thursday.

The drifts on our office sidewalk are around 20 to 24 inches. With the average cars ground clearance being 6 to 9 inches, can you imagine running into one of these going 45+ MPH on the road? Not good.. It doesnt take much to get stranded! Stay safe out there, NWS tweeted.

The drifts on our office sidewalk are around 20 to 24 inches. With the average car's ground clearance being 6 to 9 inches, can you imagine running into one of these going 45+ MPH on the road? Not good..



It doesn't take much to get stranded! Stay safe out there.#MNwx #WIwx pic.twitter.com/zHyZ8msrv4  NWS Twin Cities (@NWSTwinCities) February 23, 2023

WATCH: Extreme driving conditions in Minnesota

Thursday 23 February 2023 13:30 , Rachel Sharp

Flight woes continue on Thursday

Thursday 23 February 2023 12:30 , Rachel Sharp

Flight woes have continued into Thursday as Winter Storm Olive pummels parts of the US with heavy snowfall, freezing temperatures, and powerful winds.

By around 7am ET on Thursday morning, more than 1,400 flights in and out of the US had been impacted by the extreme weather, according to Flightaware.

In total, 724 flights within, into, or out of the United States have been delayed.

An additional 750 have been cancelled altogether.

Southern California battered by high winds

Thursday 23 February 2023 11:33 , Louise Boyle

Emergency workers assess the damage after a large tree was blown into an apartment building during a winter storm in San Diego in southern California on Wednesday (REUTERS/Mike Blake) (REUTERS)

Extreme weather: Cyclone Freddy batters Madagascar, killing four people

Thursday 23 February 2023 10:34 , Louise Boyle

Cyclone Freddy is continuing to wreak havoc in Madagascar.

The storm pummelled the Indian Ocean nation on Tuesday with heavy rains and destructive winds, killing four people.

Freddy battered the western city of Mananjary and left 16,660 people displaced and damaged nearly 5,000 homes in the country, according to the latest provisional assessment by Madagascars risk and disaster management office. But somewhat weaker winds and better preparation staved off further damage.

The cyclone had waned slightly over land, with the states meteorological office measuring average winds of 31 miles per hour and reduced gusts of 43 miles per hour.

Cyclone Freddy (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The UKs supermarket rationing caused by severe weather could last for weeks, retail experts warn

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:33 , Louise Boyle

Food shortages in British supermarkets could last for weeks, experts have warned as the UK government is told the clock is ticking.

Major supermarket chain Tesco joined Asda, Aldi and Morrisons as the latest to ration fresh produce as shelves across the country lay empty.

National Farming Union (NFU) president Minette Batters said this week at the NFU conference that the production of tomatoes and cucumbers is expected to drop to the lowest levels since records began in 1985.

Supermarket rationing could last for weeks, retail experts warn

How to find out if your flight is cancelled and what your rights are

Thursday 23 February 2023 08:34 , Louise Boyle

More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled by severe Winter Storm Olive which brought heavy snowfall and dangerous whiteout conditions to parts of the country.

The storm, which prompted the National Weather Service to issue weather warnings in more than two dozen states, is forecast to have impacts from coast to coast.

The winter storm has already impacted travel, with tracking site FlightAware reporting that more than 1,100 flights were cancelled on Wednesday morning in the US.

Chelsea Ritschel has more on what to do if your flight is cancelled and what your rights are.

How can you find out whether your flight is cancelled and what are your rights?

Watch: St Paul, Minnesota braces for back-to-back weather emergencies

Thursday 23 February 2023 07:34 , Louise Boyle

Powerful winds down trees and threaten power outages in California

Thursday 23 February 2023 06:33 , Louise Boyle

An emergency worker assesses the damage after a large tree was blown into an apartment building during a winter storm in San Diego, California on Wednesday (REUTERS/Mike Blake) (REUTERS)

Strong winds batter California with more wintry weather on the way

Thursday 23 February 2023 05:34 , Louise Boyle

Powerful winds were the biggest and most imminent problem in California, toppling trees and power lines.

More than 109,000 customers were without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us, on Wednesday morning.

A one-year-old child was critically injured when a redwood crashed onto a home in Boulder Creek, a community in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco, KTVU reported.

Chief Mark Bingham of the local fire protection district said crews had to cut up the tree to free the victim.

And more is on the way. A blizzard warning was issued for the mountains of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, effective from 4am on Thursday to 4pm on Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

The Associated Press

Large waves crash against an ocean pier due to strong winds in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California, February 22, 2023 (REUTERS/Mike Blake) (REUTERS)

What is a snow squall?

Thursday 23 February 2023 04:34 , Louise Boyle

Warnings of snow squall conditions were being issued in the United States on Wednesday as the historic Winter Storm Olive tightened its grip.

But what is the lesser-known weather phenomenon?

What is a snow squall?

Watch: Late Winter Storm Olive disrupts more than 1,000 flights

Thursday 23 February 2023 03:33 , Louise Boyle

Pictured: Winter Storm Olive drops heavy snow in parts of US

Thursday 23 February 2023 02:34 , Louise Boyle

A family walks through blowing snow as weather conditions worsen on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Erin Woodiel /The Argus Leader via AP) (AP)

New York officials warn of dangerous conditions on the road from Winter Storm Olive

Thursday 23 February 2023 01:30 , Louise Boyle

New York officials including Governor Kathy Hochul were warning citizens to take extreme precautions on the roads as Winter Storm Olive hit the state with ice, snow squalls and freezing rain.

A winter storm is bringing a mix of snow, rain, and freezing rain to much of the state this afternoon. New Yorkers: Please be careful traveling tonight and through tomorrow mornings commute. If youre driving, take it slow and dont crowd the plows, Gov. Hochul tweeted.

Travel conditions will deteriorate from south to north from Wednesday afternoon as snow overspreads the area and begins to change to a wintry mix. Be prepared for a slow and slippery drive home in many areas this afternoon and evening, the National Weather Service added.

Travel conditions will deteriorate from south to north this afternoon as snow overspreads the area and begins to change to a wintry mix. Be prepared for a slow and slippery drive home in many areas this afternoon and evening. #nywx pic.twitter.com/9xWxK0EFUE  NWS Buffalo (@NWSBUFFALO) February 22, 2023

Dangerous ice accumulations

Thursday 23 February 2023 00:33 , Louise Boyle

A dangerous build-up of ice will accompany the snowy conditions in many parts of the US, the National Weather Service reported on Wednesday.

A combination of snow, sleet, and freezing rain is expected across the Upper Mississippi Valley and into the Lower Great Lakes, with lighter accumulations heading east across the Central and Northern Appalachians and southern New England.

Ice accumulations of 0.1-0.25 inches are expected with more than 0.5 inches possible in some places, especially across the Lower Great Lakes overnight into Thursday.

Here's a look at the ice forecast with our winter storm. Live reports through the afternoon on @weatherchannel @wunderground with @mikeseidel in Ann Arbor, MI. pic.twitter.com/CMu7ZycgVo  Mike Bettes (@mikebettes) February 22, 2023

Watch: Crazy snow day caught on cameria in Flagstaff, Arizona

Wednesday 22 February 2023 23:33 , Louise Boyle

Sun Country Airlines issues flight waivers for snow-impacted flights

Wednesday 22 February 2023 22:33 , Louise Boyle

Sun Country Airlines has announced waivers for flights impacted by Winter Storm Olive in parts of the Midwest.

The company will allow passengers who bought tickets to/from Minnesotas Minneapolis/St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth airports; and Wisconsins Eau Claire and Green Bay, to rebook to another Sun Country flight one time with no additional cost, if they meet the conditions listed here.

Storm waves strike Californias beaches

Wednesday 22 February 2023 22:11 , Louise Boyle

A person walking their dog stands next to the ocean as large wind-driven waves hit the pier in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California on February 22 (REUTERS/Mike Blake) (REUTERS)

Storm to bring high winds to Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada

Wednesday 22 February 2023 21:50 , Louise Boyle

A winter storm making its way through the western US is expected to carry winds capable of downing power lines and trees in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, while dropping rain and snow, The Associated Press reported.

Gusts could hit 55mph in metropolitan Phoenix on Wednesday and even higher in Prescott and Flagstaff to the north, at 70 mph, the National Weather Service said.

Up to a foot of snow is expected by Thursday morning in elevations above 5,000 feet in Arizona, forecasters said.

Some schools in Flagstaff announced closures ahead of the storm thats expected to hit Arizona on Tuesday night. Weather forecasters and local and state officials encouraged drivers to stay off the roads.

Damaging winds and treacherous to impossible driving conditions are expected due to blowing dust and snow, the weather service in Flagstaff said.

The storm system will carry over into New Mexico with high winds, rain and possibly snow across the state Wednesday, including in the Albuquerque area.

A high wind warning is in effect for most of New Mexico through Thursday morning, with wind gusts of up to 70 mph, the weather service there said.

Associated Press

Watch: Wild weather blasts Southern California amid rare blizzard warning

Wednesday 22 February 2023 21:30 , Louise Boyle

Which parts of the country will have most severe impacts from Winter Storm Olive?

Wednesday 22 February 2023 21:10 , Louise Boyle

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Severity Index (WSSI) Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, showing where moderate, major and extreme winter weather impacts are expected from the West Coast to New England.

The NWS also noted that travel is not advised in the Upper Midwest due to blizzard conditions.

The areas which will be most impacted by the winter storm from February 22-24 (NOAA/NWS)

Thousands of Californians plunged into darkness due to fire

Wednesday 22 February 2023 20:50 , Louise Boyle

With more severe weather forecast for California, residents in Oakland had already had their share of issues after being left in the dark due to a fire earlier this week.

The blaze at a PG&E substation caused widespread power outages in the region when it broke out on Sunday and damaged a transformer.

Graig Graziosi has more at the link below.

Thousands of California residents plunged into darkness after fire at PG&E substation

Winter Storm Olive in pictures: Shivering from state to state (part II)

Wednesday 22 February 2023 20:31 , Louise Boyle

Pedestrians struggle to keep warm while walking along Tejon Street as temperatures hovered in the single digits after a winter storm packing light snow and high winds rolled into the Pikes Peak region on Wednesday Colorado Springs, Colorado (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) (AP)

For those without snow - theres rain and strong winds

Wednesday 22 February 2023 20:10 , Louise Boyle

Widespread showers and thunderstorms were on the radar for those not being pummelled by heavy snowfall, the National Weather Service said on Wednesday.

There is a slight risk of excessive rainfall from northeast Missouri into northern Illinois, northern Indiana, and southern Michigan and some spots of flash flooding.

Severe weather was also a risk from central Oklahoma northeast through central Missouri with blustery winds. Gusts of 35-45 mph are possible for the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

Parts of the west and High Plains will experience strong winds of 50-60 mph too, and as high as 80 mph in some locations. The risk of weather that can spark fires will be elevated across the southern High Plains.

Pictured: Winter Storm Olive

Wednesday 22 February 2023 19:51 , Louise Boyle

A man crosses a snow covered South Sixth St on Wednesday, February 22 in downtown Minneapolis. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP) (AP)

UK supermarkets ration fruit and vegetables after suppliers badly hit by winter weather

Wednesday 22 February 2023 19:33 , Louise Boyle

In the UK, grocery stores are rationing fresh food items in a move that is expected to last weeks.

A poor harvest in Europe means that major supermarket chain Asda is now limiting customers to a maximum of three items like peppers, lettuce and broccoli.

Morrisons supermarkets will also start a ban of more than two items this week, with limited produce including tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers.

Supplies from Britains major winter source, Spain, have also been badly affected by weather.

Growers and suppliers in Morocco also have had to contend with cold temperatures, heavy rain, flooding and cancelled ferries over the past three to four weeks  all of which have affected the volume of fruit reaching Britain.

Rich Booth and Eleanor Noyce report.

Supermarket issues warning as it rations fruit and vegetables

Winter Storm Olive in pictures: Shivering from state to state

Wednesday 22 February 2023 19:10 , Louise Boyle

A youngster walks home from school in Minneapolis as snow falls from a winter storm hitting the Twin Cities on Tuesday (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP) (AP)

An axis of heavy snow'

Wednesday 22 February 2023 18:51 , Louise Boyle

The arrival of a large arctic air mass from Canada was delivering an axis of heavy snow to many parts of the northern US, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported on Wednesday.

The snow will continue to move east across the Northern Plains into the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes today.

More than a foot of snowfall is likely from South Dakota heading east throught southern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, NWS reported.

Southern Minnesota could see two feet of snow, forecasters said, amid dangerous blizzard conditions on roads and possible power outages.

Snow will start making an appearance in the Northeast and New England late on Wednesday into Thursday.

An estimated four to eight inches of snow is forecast from Upstate New York into central New England. Over a foot is possible at higher elevations in New Yorks Adirondacks and the Green and White Mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont.

More than 1,000 flights cancelled over historic winter storm - heres what you need to know

Wednesday 22 February 2023 18:33 , Louise Boyle

More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled in the United States as a severe winter storm brings heavy snowfall and dangerous whiteout conditions to parts of the country.

The storm, which prompted the National Weather Service to issue weather warnings in more than two dozen states, began Tuesday and is set to worsen Wednesday as it stretches from coast to coast.

The winter storm has already impacted travel, with flight tracking site FlightAware reporting that more than 1,100 flights were already cancelled in the US Wednesday morning. An additional 1,382 were delayed as of 10.54am ET.

Chelsea Ritschel reports.

How can you find out whether your flight is cancelled and what are your rights?

Winter storm in pictures: Snow plows on the move

Wednesday 22 February 2023 18:09 , Louise Boyle

Snow plows hit the interstate highway I-35 as Minnesota prepares for a winter storm, early on Wednesday, in Minneapolis. Brutal winter weather bringing snow, dangerous gusts of wind and bitter cold settled over much of the northern US on Wednesday (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP) (AP)

Three killed in avalanche in Cascade Mountains as heavy snow blocks rescuers

Wednesday 22 February 2023 17:49 , Louise Boyle

Heavy snowfall and high winds on Tuesday kept searchers away from a remote, jagged peak in Washingtons Cascade Mountains, where an avalanche killed three climbers from the northeastern US over the weekend.

The slide struck Sunday as a group of six climbers were ascending a steep, snow-packed gulley on the 8,705-foot Colchuck Peak, about 70 miles east of Seattle in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Chelan County sheriffs Sgt. Jason Reinfeld said Tuesday.

Four of the climbers were swept about 500 feet down the slope. One of the four survived, a 56-year-old man from New York, and despite some injuries he was able to confirm that the other three were killed before working his way back to their base camp at Colchuck Lake, Mr Reinfeld said.

Three killed in avalanche in Cascade Mountains as heavy snow blocks body recovery

AP

North of the border, more winter storm warnings

Wednesday 22 February 2023 17:31 , Louise Boyle

North of the border, Canadians were also receiving alerts due to the severe winter weather conditions caused by the Arctic blast.

Toronto was under a winter storm warning on Wednesday with up to 12 inches of snow possible in the Ontario city by Thursday night, CTV reported.

Toronto is under a winter storm warning with up to 31 centimetres of snow possible in the city by Thursday evening. https://t.co/mHzIArFmHE  CTV Toronto (@CTVToronto) February 22, 2023

Winter weather makes travel hazardous in Arizona

Wednesday 22 February 2023 17:10 , Louise Boyle

Arizonans were being strongly advised against getting on the road on Wednesday by the states department of transport as they shared pictures of whiteout conditions caused by the storm.

Crews were removing downed trees from the Arizona 260, a scenic highway running eastwest through the middle of the state.

If you do decide to travel, be prepared for lengthy delays due to impassable roads, the transport department tweeted.

NOW: Crews are removing downed trees on SR 260 on the Mogollon Rim.



ADOT strongly advises against traveling during the current Winter Storm Warning. If you do decide to travel, be prepared for lengthy delays due to impassable roads. #aztraffic #azwx pic.twitter.com/T0tQHv1dJd  Arizona DOT (@ArizonaDOT) February 22, 2023

Watch: Weather forecast as coast-to-coast storm hits the US

Wednesday 22 February 2023 16:52 , Louise Boyle

Businesses, schools shuttered and roads closed

Wednesday 22 February 2023 16:33 , Louise Boyle

Many schools throughout the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin were called off for Wednesday, ahead of the storm, The Associated Press reports.

Offices closed, and so did the Minnesota Legislature. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem shut down state executive branch offices in several parts of the state, and employees were working remotely.

In Wyoming, virtually every road was impacted, and many were closed. Officials warned they may stay that way for days.

Associated Press

While the Midwest shivers, record-breaking heat in Florida

Wednesday 22 February 2023 16:18 , Louise Boyle

While temperatures plummeted in the northern half of the United States on Wednesday further south, daily high temperature records were being matched or broken.

In Marathon, Florida, the daily high temperature record was tied for the second day in a row as the town hit 86F on Tuesday.

Is everyone ready??? SECOND DAY in a row: #MarathonFL tied the daily high temperature record for today.



A ridge will continue to promote warm, dry, and calm weather conditions, with nil (Pops) through the rest of the week.#FLKeys #FLwx pic.twitter.com/pMtFmCEYnx  NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) February 22, 2023

St Paul sees dangerous whiteout conditions

Wednesday 22 February 2023 16:07 , Louise Boyle

Snow begins to fall around the Cathedral of Saint Paul, on Tuesday, February 21 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota. A monster winter storm took aim at the Upper Midwest on Tuesday (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP) (AP)

Flight cancellations pile up at US airports

Wednesday 22 February 2023 15:53 , Louise Boyle

Travel woes were beginning to mount up at US airports on Wednesday morning as the severe weather conditions took hold.

More than 1,000 flights had been cancelled in the US and another 1,000 or so delayed, according to FlightAware.

The worst affected airports were in Minneapolis-St Paul, Denver and Detroit.

Twin cities to get slammed by historic storm

Wednesday 22 February 2023 15:37 , Louise Boyle

In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, the first round of wintry conditions dropped three to five inches of snow across the area. The flurries will pick up in intensity by Wednesday afternoon, NWS reported.

The February record of 13.8 inches of snow from a single storm in Minneapolis is likely to be smashed, reported AccuWeather meteorologist Matt Benz.

There seems to be some confusion this morning because the sun has come out. Does this mean all we got was a measly 3-5" and it's over?

Nope! As we've talked about for days, round 2 is on the way and it will pack a punch! Expect an ADDITONAL 10-15" by tomorrow morning. #mnwx #wiwx pic.twitter.com/boVp5fK4PR  NWS Twin Cities (@NWSTwinCities) February 22, 2023

California to get rare blizzard

Wednesday 22 February 2023 15:33 , Louise Boyle

In California, a rare blizzard warning was issued for mountains in Los Angeles County and Ventura County from early on Friday morning until Saturday afternoon.

In the meantime, California can expect yet more rainfall after being deluged by a wave of atmospheric rivers at the beginning of the year.

Moderate rainfall, but heavy in some spots, and thunderstorms are forecast in the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday before moving south and settling over California on Thursday.
(Victoria Grande / SWNS)

A woman who was so bloated she looked 20 weeks pregnant discovered she had a cancerous ovarian cyst that grew hair and skin.

Victoria Grande, 29, had been suffering with abdominal pain for 10 years before a CT scan revealed she had an 11cm cyst on her right ovary in April 2022 - which had been growing for 28 years.

She was told the cystic teratoma  a type of germ cell tumour  was growing hair and skin and she needed surgery to remove the cyst and stop it growing.

Victoria underwent the operation a week later and tests on the cyst revealed it was cancerous.

Doctors had to open her up again and discovered 100 tumours growing inside her  diagnosing Victoria with growing teratoma syndrome  a rare complication of teratoma.

Victoria had a 10 hour surgery in June 2022 to remove the tumours as well as two pieces of her lung, right fallopian tube, her right ovary, gallbladder and appendix  which all showed signs of cancer.

Victoria then started six rounds of chemotherapy, which caused her to lose her hair, but has now been told there is no evidence of the disease.

Despite everything, Victoria remains positive and decided to colour her shaved hair pink in February 2023  and decorated it with blonde hearts and a little cancer ribbon at the back of her head.

Victoria, a bartender, from Charlotte, North Carolina, US, said: My stomach had got so huge I looked pregnant.

After my CT they told me it was an 11cm cyst. They told me it had hair and skin. It was crazy to me.

(Victoria Grande / SWNS)

It had been growing for 28 years but so slowly it was hard to detect.

Growing teratoma syndrome is so rare the Facebook group I found had only six people in it.

I love my bald head. I wanted to turn it into something fun and my favourite colour is pink.

I love it.

Victoria has struggled with abdominal pain all her life and was used to suffering with urinary tract infections at least once a month.

Doctors would put her pain down to constipation, but Victorias symptoms got worse in March 2022 and left her bent over in pain.

Story continues

She ended up at the emergency room and was taken for a CT scan which revealed an 11cm cyst on her right ovary in April 2022.

(Victoria Grande / SWNS)

Victoria said: They told me it was likely wrapping around my ovary and cutting off my blood supply.

They said it would keep growing unless I had surgery to get it out.

The cyst was so big it was pushing my organs up and it was like I was 20 weeks pregnant inside my body.

Victoria had keyhole surgery to cut the cyst up and remove it in April 2022.

She said: It was a really painful recovery as all my organs were going back into place.

The cyst was taken off a biopsy and the results came back as positive for cancer.

Victoria said: I saw it on my health app and I said to my fiance, Austin Cureton, 32  I think I have cancer.

(Victoria Grande / SWNS)

It turns out the cyst had grown skin which had developed cancer and now it could be inside of me.

She was told she needed surgery to see if the cancer had spread to other areas of her body and doctors were shocked to find 100 growing tumours when they opened her up.

Victoria said: They closed me back up and told me what they had found.

They said they would have to take everything out that has a tumour.

She underwent a 10 hour operation in June 2022 to remove the tumours and had 42 stiches put in.

A month later Victoria was started on chemotherapy, which she finished in October 2022 after six rounds.

Shes now on medication and has a CT scan every 13 months to check the cancer hasnt returned.

Victoria said: I never told people I had cancer instead I said I was experiencing it. Keeping positive saved my life.

(Victoria Grande / SWNS)

At the start of chemotherapy Victoria had tried cold capping in an attempt to keep hair but now loves her shaved head.

She said: I always said I wanted to shave my head once in my life.

I dont think I ever really would have done it.

I thought this is my only opportunity.

I like being bald now.

In February 2023, Victoria decided to dye her hair pink, enlisting the help of hair stylist Ethan Matthew.

She said: Having this hairstyle really helped me keep my confidence and positive attitude toward all this.

Victoria hopes to be able to travel as much as she can in the next few years and tries to keep her life as normal as possible.

SWNS
Aside from giving up something, those that observe Lent will also be spending the next seven Fridays whipping out those fish recipes and abstain from eating meat.

Lent, which typically is the time period from Ash Wednesday through Easter, is meant to be observed with self-sacrifice, prayer and other religious activities leading up to Easter, and one of the rituals is not to eat meat on Fridays during Lent.

A 2017 Lifeway Research survey found that 43% of people who attend church services at least once a month said they observe Lent, including 82% of Catholics who regularly attend services and 30% of Protestants.

Those who observe often cook seafood or attend fish fries to eat. It's even the reason why McDonald's Filet-O-Fish exists. However, the rules of what people are allowed to eat can get confusing.

Here's what to know about what people can and can't eat on Fridays during Lent:

What is Ash Wednesday? What is Lent? Here's what to know as Christians, Catholics begin Lent

Filet-O-Fish: How McDonald's Lent staple was created

Volunteer Rodney Ford, who replenishes the cod with help from Tanya Myers for the lunch crowd at a fish fry on Friday, April 19, 2019, at the VFW Post 3944 in Overland, Mo. Fish fries are common on Fridays during Lent.

Why can't you eat meat on Fridays during Lent?

It wasn't that long ago when Catholic Church law said worshipers weren't allowed to eat meat on Fridays at all, according to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, as it was in place until 1966.

"That's when Catholics started eating meat on Friday, because it wasn't strictly forbidden anymore," William Johnston, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton, told USA TODAY.

In 1983, the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church revised the rule to where meat wasn't allowed to be eaten on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the Archdiocese says, adding the U. S. Catholic Conference of Bishops extended the law to include all Fridays during Lent.

Children and elderly people are usually exempt from fasting and giving up meat.

Giving up meat? Restaurants offering up deals on shrimp, fish sandwiches

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What is the meaning of not eating meat?

Abstaining from eating meat reflects the life of Jesus Christ.

"Since Jesus sacrificed his flesh for us on Good Friday, we refrain from eating flesh meat in his honor on Fridays," the Archdiocese said.

Johnston adds refraining from eating meat is a form of penance  admitting to any wrongdoings and sins while turning back to belief in God.

What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day

What can't you eat on Fridays during Lent?

Johnston says worshipers aren't suppose to eat anything that is "flesh meat," as the Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose, California, says the restricted meats come from land.

Here's what people aren't suppose to eat on Fridays during Lent:

Beef (cow)

Pork (pig)

Chicken

Turkey

Sheep

The Parish said meat juices and liquid foods made from meat  such as broth, soups, meat gravies, sauces and seasonings  are allowed.

What can you eat on Fridays during Lent? Fish, eggs and alligators

While flesh meat isn't allowed, the Archdiocese says non-flesh products of the animals is good to have. This includes:

Milk

Eggs

Cheese

Butter

All fish, salt and freshwater, are good to eat and are among the most popular options to have during the time period. Here are some other options:

Fish

Shrimp

Crab

Lobster

Shellfish

The Holy Spirit Parish adds amphibians and reptiles also allowed to be eaten on Fridays. A 2022 article from the Lafayette Daily Advertiser, part of the USA TODAY Network, noted alligators and other animal are allowed because of their swimming abilities.

Johnston said while fish is allowed, having expensive types of fish or seafood is discouraged.

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fish fries pick up on Fridays in Lent: What Catholics can, can't eat
Automakers are emphasizing subscription features more as a way to boost profits, particularly for EVs. For example, Mercedes offers an "Acceleration Increase" feature for an annual fee. Mercedes-Benz

Electric cars are less profitable for automakers than gas-powered ones.

That means auto companies have to make up that margin elsewhere.

Automakers could be looking to upsell EV-buyers with added features.

Pricey add-ons could start ruffling EV-buyer feathers  but automakers might struggle to survive without them, a new study said.

There's a simple reason why: EVs aren't very profitable for automakers  and certainly nowhere near how profitable gas-powered cars. A Ford executive recently told the Detroit Free Press its EVs won't be profitable until 2026. GM has said it won't make money on them until 2025. And Tesla didn't bring in a full year of profits until it had been running for over a decade.

But automakers say they are all-in on electric, so they'll have to make that up elsewhere. That could mean selling their customers on all sorts of things after-sale, like subscriptions and additional features or upgrades.

Automakers have been moving toward more pay-for features, anyway  though consumers haven't always responded well. BMW, for example, got backlash for a heated seats subscription. On the electric side, Mercedes is offering an add-on "acceleration increase." EV player Polestar also offers a horsepower upgrade, though for a one-time fee of $1,195.

"For automakers, because EVs aren't so profitable in the first place, the bigger gain is in generating revenue from that customer month over month," Alex Oyler, director of North America for SBD Automotive, said.

Subscriptions and additional offerings post-initial transactions are part of why automakers are especially interested in leasing their EVs. If they can get consumers locked into an EV lease at a reasonable monthly payment, they could capitalize on that to later upsell them on more functionalities  made possible through over-the-air software updates  throughout the contract of the lease.

While consumers might need to warm up to the idea, the industry might not have much of a choice, according to Deloitte's recent future of automotive mobility to 2035 report. The consultancy estimates 50 to 60% of future profits might be at stake if companies keep going on with business as usual.

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So major changes are in store as automakers navigate shifting consumer behaviors, industry headwinds, and especially, increasingly attractive competition.

"To be blunt, the price for inaction by industry players could be fatal, especially in an industry on the move in so many directions," the report said. Changes, including vehicle feature subscriptions "are expected to unlock a variety of new revenue streams."

A profitability crisis could also mean car-buying changes

Until now, only EV startups and Tesla have eliminated the dealer as a middleman and strictly use direct-to-consumer sales models. But even traditional automakers are considering the idea, driven by supply-constrained profitability gains and "a long-term trend toward tightening margins on vehicle sales," according to the Deloitte report  largely due to the EV transition.

"This looming threat adds pressure on the traditional dealer model and threatens to impact the bottom line," the report says. Automakers "are moving to create direct sales channels to forge relationships with the end customer."

Indeed, some are teasing the idea. Ford CEO Jim Farley, for example, has mentioned shifts in the company's go-to-market strategy for EVs, including more online sales  noting Tesla's model as a guidepost for getting more profit out of each EV.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Central Florida law enforcement officials caution residents to be aware of hate crimes in the area.

Volusia County deputies will provide extra patrols at places of worship this weekend.

Read: Sheriff: Cowardly scumbags spread anti-Semitic flyers throughout Volusia County

The Volusia County Sheriffs Office said that in light of recent anti-Jewish hate speech incidents, additional deputies would monitor potential acts of hate.

Imagine hating yourself so much that you participate in a National Day of Hate. 



Deputies will be conducting extra patrols to protect all those targeted for acts of hate, bigotry and intimidation.  Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) February 24, 2023

Read: Ormond Beach police investigating after anti-Semitic propaganda distributed, chief says

Orange County Sheriff John Mina released a statement about the recent antisemitic crimes and said the sheriffs office would provide resources to Jewish institutions in Orange County this weekend.

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.
FatCamera / Getty Images

An IRS audit is a review of an individual, partnership or organizations tax return and financial information to verify that reported information is correct. Tax return audits are serious events that should be taken seriously. An audit and its findings dont always mean big trouble; if you do owe taxes, you might be eligible for an IRS payment plan.

Learn: Medical Expenses You Can Deduct From Your Taxes

More: 3 Signs Youre Serious About Raising Your Credit Score

Heres what you need to know about your chances of being audited by the IRS.

How Is Your Tax Return Selected for an Audit?

Statistically, your odds of getting audited are low: The IRS audits less than 1% of filers per year. For example, the financial reward to the government for discovering an error on a return with annual reported income of $40 million would be far greater than an error on a return with annual reported income of $40,000. If you make less than $200,000 a year, unless theres something very unusual about your tax return like a large charitable donation deduction or an out-of-proportion Schedule C deduction, its unlikely you will be selected for a tax audit.

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

IRS Red Flags

If youve ever sat down with a tax professional or CPA to do your taxes, your tax professional might have talked to you about IRS tax return red flags and triggers, as well as audit statutes of limitations and how long to keep tax records. Common audit trigger events include failing to report income from foreign bank accounts and investments, overstated cost basis on assets, early retirement account withdrawals and charitable donations.

You might be selected for an audit randomly or based on an algorithm. The IRS might compare your tax return against normal numbers for similar returns. If a math error is suspected, you could be audited to check your tax preparers work. Other audit trigger factors could be less random. A study led by the University of Kansas suggests that a companys geographic proximity to an IRS office makes it more likely public companies will face an audit. That same study found those companies also engage in greater tax avoidance.

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Types of IRS Audits

The IRS conducts three primary types of audits:

Correspondence by mail

In-person interviews at a local IRS office

Field audit that takes place at a taxpayers home office, place of business, or tax preparers office

The majority of individuals being audited will receive a letter in the mail that outlines the IRS audit process.

Avoiding Audit Scams

If youre audited, youll be notified by mail. The IRS will not initiate an audit by telephone, email or personal visit. The IRS frequently warns the public of audit phone scams: If you receive a call demanding money, asking for personal information or threatening to have you arrested, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration by phone at 800-366-4484 or on the TIGTA website.

What To Do If Youve Been Selected for an IRS Audit

In most cases, the IRS will only audit returns from the last three years. If youre selected for an audit, speak with a tax professional about the best ways to prepare for an audit. If you need additional time to respond to the audit, you can file for an extension.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: What Are Your Chances of Being Audited by the IRS?
Photo: Images courtesy VPD. Vancouver police released two images of a man they suspected of multiple flashing incidents reported at Langara College.

A man charged in connection to a series of indecent exposures across the Lower Mainland has been sentenced to 30 days in jail in addition to time already served.

Christopher Kumar Ram, 36, had seven charges of committing an indecent act in a public place.

He pleaded guilty to four of those charges as well as two charges of breaching court orders relating to release conditions, court documents said.

Ram has pleaded guilty to:



exposing himself in a UBC womens washroom on April 21, 2022;



masturbating in front of others in Vancouvers Foster Park on April 17, 2022;



committing an indecent act at Langara College on March 27, 2022; and



masturbating on a SkyTrain in Surrey on Oct. 19, 2021.



Ram also pleaded guilty to breaching an undertaking and breaching a court order. In the first instance, he attended a community centre; in the second, he cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet while at an addiction recovery centre.

Crown prosecutor Joseph Zondervan sought a sentence of 12 to 15 months; defence lawyer Adrian Picard asked for one day, with Rams record, to reflect 11 months of credit for time already served.

Mr. Ram has shown significant acceptance of responsibility by pleading guilty to six of the offences, Picard said. Mr. Ram is very remorseful for these offences.

Picard said drug use contributed to the offences.

Zondervan characterized the Langara and UBC offences as predatory.

Ram has a previous record of a Quebec drug conviction for which he served nine years and a B.C. assault with a weapon conviction for which he served 171 days.

Provincial court Judge Laura Bakan noted Rams mental health issues, including drug addiction where he used crystal methamphetamine. She gave Ram a 12-month sentence  which, with time served credited at 11 months, means a further 30 days in custody.

He must also serve 18 months of probation and take counselling as directed by his probation officer.

He must not go to colleges, universities or schools without court permission, court heard. Ram also can't go to public parks, gyms or pools without written permission from his probation officer.

The rest of the charges were stayed.
US President Joe Biden has suggested that Chinas proposed peace plan would only benefit Russia.

Source: Biden in an interview, cited by CNN

Quote: "If Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good?"

"I've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia if the Chinese plan were followed."

Details: Beyond his criticism of the peace plan, Biden outright rejected the notion of China negotiating peace in the war between Ukraine and Russia. The US president called such an idea irrational.

"The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that is a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational," Biden said.

Background: The Chinese Foreign Ministry has published a so-called "peace plan" with its ideas for the settlement of Russia's war against Ukraine.

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Milwaukee Police took Queivonta Moffett from a holding cell after he was found unresponsive. He was later declared dead at Froedtert Hospital.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm's office announced Friday that the Milwaukee Police Department has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the in-custody death of 27-year-old Queivonta Moffett in 2021.

A clearance letter from Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern addressed to Police Chief Jeffrey Norman says that officers "responded immediately and appropriately to (Moffett's) emerging medical needs."

Ascension St. Francis Hospital released Moffett back into police custody during the early morning hours of Dec. 9 after it was determined his vital signs were normal, Lovern said.

Moffett was arrested on Dec. 8, 2021, in the 1600 block of South Cesar Chavez Drive. He was pulled over after the department received information he was engaging in drug activity, according to police.

However, during the "Community Briefing" footage release last year, police told Moffett he was being pulled over for failing to use his turn signal. An officer asked Moffett to step out of the car after asking for his identification. The officer then mentions what was believed to be cocaine in Moffett's lap.

Police later recovered more cocaine and drug paraphernalia from his vehicle and person, Lovern said.

Moffett was taken to District Two police station. Later that evening, Moffett began to show signs of illness. According to Lovern, officers repeatedly asked Moffett if he consumed any drugs, to which he initially indicated he had not, but eventually admitted to swallowing bags of cocaine. Medical assistance was called for at 11:43 p.m., Lovern said.

Moffett's vital signs were normal, but a police sergeant insisted Moffett should be transported to Ascension St. Francis Hospital, Lovern said. Moffett was admitted to the hospital by 12:05 a.m., according to the letter.

According to Lovern, first responders told hospital personnel that Moffett admitted to ingesting bags of cocaine, adding that the cocaine may contain fentanyl. "The hospital kept Moffett under observation until discharging him back to the custody of MPD at 2:28 a.m. Moffett was then returned to the District 2 station where he was placed in a holding cell," he said.

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Roughly three hours later, Moffett said he wasn't feeling well again so an officer gave him some food to eat, Lovern said. At roughly 5:38 a.m., Moffett suffered a seizure in his cell, officers responded, and called for medical assistance again, Lovern said.

Moffett was transported to Froedtert Hospital, where a CT scan revealed the presence of bags of cocaine in his stomach, according to the letter.

Moffett suffered cardiac arrest, and medical personnel removed three bags of cocaine from his stomach, including one that still contained cocaine, Lovern said. Despite medical intervention, Moffett was declared dead at 9:47 a.m.

According to an autopsy report, Moffett died from acute methamphetamine intoxication after consuming a lethal quantity of methamphetamine.

"The officers at District 2 immediately and appropriately obtained emergency medical assistance for Moffett, through the Milwaukee Fire Department and local hospitals. My office has completed its review of this matter and will take no further action," Lovern said.

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: Milwaukee Police cleared of wrongdoing in death of Queivonta Moffett
jason-rapert.jpg jason-rapert - Credit: Photograph in composite by Danny Johnston/AP

Jason Rapert has likened himself to an Old Testament seer, conveying hard truths on behalf of an angry God. On his broadcast Save the Nation, the 50-year-old preacher and former Arkansas state senator calls himself a proud Christian Nationalist, insisting: I reject that being a Christian Nationalist is somehow unseemly or wrong.

Long a shadowy force in American politics, Christian Nationalism is having a coming out party. The movement seeks a fusion of fundamentalist theology with American civic life. They believe that this country was founded for Christians like them, generally natural-born citizens and white, says Andrew Whitehead, author of Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. Whitehead emphasizes that the danger of Christian Nationalism to democracy is that the movement sees no room for compromise  their vision must be the one that comes to pass.

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Thanks to Rapert, the Christian Nationalist movement now commands a burgeoning political powerhouse, the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. A first-of-its-kind organization in U.S. history, NACL advances biblical legislation in Americas statehouses. These bills are not mere stunts or messaging. Theyre dark, freedom-limiting bills that, in some cases, have become law.

NACLs impact has already been felt nationally. The group played a significant role in the legal fight that culminated in the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. NACL member Bryan Hughes, who serves in the Texas legislature, led passage of S.B. 8, the bounty-hunter bill that all-but outlawed abortion in Texas by allowing private citizens to sue women who terminate pregnancies after six weeks, and their doctors, in civil court.

By the time that bill passed in Texas in Sept. 2021, it had been adopted by NACL as model legislation. The reproductive-rights group NARAL later tracked copycat legislation in more than a dozen states. Rapert takes substantial credit for that spread: NACL was the first and only para-legislative organization in the country to adopt the Texas methodology as a model law, he tells Rolling Stone, and we promoted it to be passed in every state.

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The NACL logo is a crusaders shield: red emblazoned with a white cross. Rapert says the red represents the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross as a sacrifice for the salvation of all humanity. The emblem, he says, is meant to evoke the biblical shield of faith that promises to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Yet far from the defensive posture suggested by its shield, NACL is unabashedly on the offense. Rapert brags that NACL is at the forefront of the battles to end abortion in the individual states and also seeks to drive queer Americans back into the closet. For far too long, Rapert insists, we have allowed one political party in our nation to hold up Sodom and Gomorrah as a goal to be achieved rather than a sin to be shunned.

Today, NACL has legislative members in 31 states, and touts a dozen model laws that its members can introduce in legislative bodies around the country. NACL previously made four of its model laws public  including the Texas-style anti-abortion bill and a bill to mandate the display of In God We Trust in public buildings.

Rapert would not share NACLs current legislative lineup, though he promised the groups website would soon be updated with its model bills posted for public viewing. Meantime, Rapert shared that NACLs top priorities include the fight to block radical LGBTQ indoctrination in our public schools and to halt radical transgender ideology and irreversible genital mutilation of minor children.

With a national agenda and a state-by-state focus, NACL is emulating the American Legislative Exchange Council. An infamous corporate front group, ALEC pioneered the strategy of pushing for national political goals by advancing carbon-copy bills through state legislatures. But where ALEC serves far-right billionaire masters and polluting special interests, NACL sees itself as serving the Lord on high. Rapert has touted NACL as basically ALEC from a biblical worldview.

Founded in Aug. 2020, NACL is tied to top Christian spiritual and political leaders. The groups advisory board includes onetime presidential candidate Mike Huckabee  the former governor of Arkansas and father of the new governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders  Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, and Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel. (Liberty Counsel is a frequent litigant before the Supreme Court; the head of its ministry, Rolling Stone exposed, bragged of praying with SCOTUS justices.)

Rapert declares that America was founded as a Judeo-Christian nation. And he believes that from the moment the founding fathers dedicated this nation to God that Satan and his forces [have] put a target on the United States of America, trying to take us out.

Rapert sees America embroiled in a spiritual struggle that is predicted and prophesied in the 66 books of the bible. He rails against the separation of church and state as a myth, and insists that Americas struggles with debt and division are the result of straying from a Godly path. To regain heavenly favor, he says, the country must free itself from the yoke of bondage [to] the LGBTQ movementand the abortion movement.

Typical of Raperts political views, in December, NACL called on Congress to reject the Respect for Marriage Act, which now requires all states honor the marriage licenses of same-sex couples. Rapert condemned the act as Satan dressed up as a family man arguing the law demands respect for every kind of marriage except the only acceptable one  the sacred union of one man and one woman.

Rapert accuses the current administration of using the reigns of government to drive our nation into unrighteousness. And he levies a warning for the White House: Im telling you Joe Biden, you cannot keep mocking God and expecting there not to be a consequence. There will be a consequence.

Theologically, Rapert is a dominionist, who believes that Christians are charged by God to remake the world according to Old Testament mandates. God told us to go out there, fill the Earth  subdue it and have dominion over everything, he said on a recent episode of his broadcast. The reason this country is struggling  is because the Christians in America have failed to take authority.

To join NACL, legislators must agree to a statement of faith that anchors them on the fundamentalist fringe. It calls the bible the supreme and final authority and proclaims belief in the imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as well as the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust and the everlasting conscious punishment of the latter.

NACL legislators must also agree to a mission statement that inveighs against the spiritual decay of our culture (including churches). It blasts the aggression of atheists and anti-Christian groups and it blames these godless entities for trampling on the Christian liberty we have enjoyed in this country for centuries. Despite this decried downfall, it proposes that the fervent prayer and action of the Christian remnant in America can make a positive difference.

As a matter of policy, NACL members must pledge to uphold the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death; to define marriage as the sacred union exclusively between one man and one woman; and to oppose unhealthy influences such as alcohol abuse, drug addiction, pornography, prostitution, violence, gambling and crime. Ironically, NACLs website is Powered by GoDaddy, a web service firm that sells .sex and .porn domains.

NACL is a natural outgrowth of Raperts own history as a member of the Arkansas state Senate from 2011 until he retired this year, due to term limits. Rapert has a nose for controversy  and intolerance. At the beginning of his career, he was caught on tape ranting that then-President Obama didnt represent the country that I grew up with and vowing to his constituents: Were not going to let minorities run roughshod over what you people believe in. (Today, Rapert insists that NACL stands publicly against racism and antisemitism.)

In 2013, Rapert spearheaded passage of what was then the nations first heartbeat anti-abortion legislation, prohibiting the procedure after fetal cardiac activity is detectable. (That law was ruled unconstitutional). In 2015, Rapert successfully got a revolutionary war banner, featuring a pine tree and the words An Appeal to Heaven, raised over the state Capitol in Little Rock. The flag-raising was nominally an homage to George Washington. But the Appeal To Heaven banners revolutionary and Godly sentiment have been adopted by Christian Nationalists who believe a Christian America is fated to remake the world, biblically, in advance of Jesus Second Coming.

Taking a page out of Roy Moores handbook, in 2017 Rapert passed a bill to install a 10 Commandments monument at the state Capitol in Little Rock. (The monument was almost immediately destroyed by a vandal driving a Dodge Dart, but later rebuilt.) Last year, Rapert settled a related legal case, after being sued for blocking atheist constituents on his official social media accounts.

The June 2022 Supreme Court decision Dobbs legalized direct limits on reproductive freedom. That decision, in turn, activated previously-passed, state-level legislation known as trigger laws. These bills specified that if Roe were to fall, abortions would immediately be banned. The lead sponsor of the trigger law in Arkansas was one Jason Rapert, and he brags: Now the Little Rock surgical abortion clinic has completely shut down.

Rapert founded NACL because, he believes ungodly leaders have led to ungodly results. He calls his organization the strongest force for good this nation has seen since the American Revolution. Even the groups acronym is biblical: NaCl is the chemical composition for salt. It is meant as an allusion to the biblical instruction that Christians should act as the salt and the light to preserve and purify holiness on Earth. To Rolling Stone, Rapert insists: I am simply a child of God who understands that Psalm 33:12 says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

In a sign that NACL is not just targeting state legislatures, but also governors mansions, a top member of the groups governing board, Hunter Lundy, recently launched his bid to become the governor of Louisiana, promising to be a fighter for Faith, Family and Freedom. (Lundy, in a legitimate excuse for a man from Southern Louisiana, was unavailable to be interviewed due to Mardi Gras.)

Apart from his leadership of NACL, Rapert has recently made waves seeking friends in high places  and even on the high court. During a recent trip to Tallahassee, Rapert visited with Florida state legislators and left a a hand-written note on the desk of Ron DeSantis, telling the GOP governor, Were proud of your stand for God and Country. (Rapert later praised DeSantis as one of the best governors in America, calling him a Proven leader with a Backbone of steel.)

While in Florida, Rapert also bragged about meeting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Rapert said he approached the justice after a dinner meeting, saying he shook his hand and told the conservative justice we have been praying for them before telling Roberts about the National Association of Christian lawmakers and handing the justice our NACL card. (A spokesperson for Roberts has described the encounter as a passing greeting of a stranger.)

Rapert is a paradoxical figure, a man who wraps himself in language of Christian love while preaching a doctrine that sounds a lot like hate. Rapert calls gay marriage a stench in the nostrils of God. He sees the growing rights of trans Americans, whom he calls the transgenders, as a mortal threat: Now is the time to fight to save the country, hes said. Do you think that America is going to be free with a bunch of drag queens running this place?

On Twitter, Rapert often seems possessed of the Trolly, rather than the Holy, Spirit. Last week he praised a headline-making exchange in the Arkansas legislature, where a GOP senator demanded that a trans witness identify the makeup of her genitals before the body:

You said that youre a trans woman, the legislator asked.

A trans female, yes sir, replied the witness.

The senator then probed, to horrified gasps in the room: Do you have a penis?

Rapert was equal parts pleased and amused. The Arkansas Senate is in good hands! he tweeted, offering congratulations to his former colleague for refusing to play the crazy LGBTQ games and demanding truth.

The head of NACL added, for good measure: It was a fair question!

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In an exclusive interview with CBS News, CIA Director Bill Burns confirmed the possibility that China may send lethal aid to Russia in its war against Ukraine.

"We're confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment," Burns told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan on Friday.

The revelation that China's President Xi Jinping is mulling this escalation is a dramatic change from past Biden administration assessments. Earlier this month, Burns told students at Georgetown University that Xi had been "very reluctant to provide the kind of lethal weapons to Russia to use in Ukraine that the Russians are very much interested in."

Burns emphasized that China has not yet made the decision to transfer lethal aid to Russia, and shed light on the logic behind the Biden administration's decision to make this intelligence public.

CIA Director William Burn during an event as part of the Trainor Award ceremony at the Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center on Feb. 2, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Getty Images

"We also don't see that a final decision has been made yet, and we don't see evidence of actual shipments of lethal equipment," Burns said. "And that's why, I think, Secretary Blinken and the president have thought it important to make very clear what the consequences of that would be as well."

Brennan asked if the administration's goal  by sharing the CIA's intelligence  is to deter China from making the decision to transfer lethal aid. Burns confirmed that this is the plan, adding that for Xi to provide it, "would be a very risky and unwise bet."

Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Face the Nation that China is actively considering providing lethal support, including weapons and ammunition, to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine. Weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi reaffirmed their partnership. The US has already sanctioned Chinese companies that have provided non-lethal support to Russian mercenaries, including satellite imagery to help target weapons in combat.

"I think the Chinese are also trying to weigh the consequences of, you know, what the concerns we've expressed are, you know, about providing lethal equipment," Burns said, when asked if the CIA knew where Xi stands. "Where's the point at which, you know, they would run into some pretty serious consequences. And that's what we've tried to make clear."

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Burns noted that Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the ensuing worldwide response, has been of particular interest to Xi.

"There's no foreign leader who's watched more carefully Vladimir Putin's experience in Ukraine, the evolution of the war, than Xi Jinping has," said Burns. "I think, in many ways, he's been unsettled and sobered by what he's seen."

Last month, Taiwan's top envoy to the U.S. said that the island nation is learning important lessons from Russia's invasion. Burns said the CIA does not believe that Xi has yet made a decision on whether to invade Taiwan.

"I think we need to take very seriously Xi's ambitions with regard to ultimately controlling Taiwan. That doesn't, however, in our view, mean that a military conflict is inevitable," Burns said. "I think our judgment at least is that President Xi and his military leadership have doubts today about whether they could accomplish that invasion."

President Biden has repeatedly dispatched Burns, a Russian-speaker and former ambassador to Russia, to speak with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as Russia's top spy chief. He described to Brennan a secret trip he took to Kyiv in the days prior to the Russian invasion.

"President Biden had asked me to go to Kyiv to lay out for President Zelenskyy the most recent intelligence we had, which suggested that what Vladimir Putin was planning was what he thought would be a lightning strike from the Belarus border to seize Kyiv in a matter of a few days," Burns said. "I think President Zelenskyy understood what was at stake and what he was up against."

Burns made particular note of how the intelligence provided by the U.S. helped Ukraine to strengthen its resolve.

"Our Ukrainian intelligence partners also had good intelligence about what was coming as well. But I do think that the role of intelligence in this instance, what we're able to provide to President Zelenskyy, not just on that trip, but you know, throughout the course of the war, have helped him to defend his country with such courage and tenacity," Burns said. "And I think that made a contribution early, you know, just before the war started."

Three months ago, Mr. Biden sent Burns to meet with Sergey Naryshkin, his Russian counterpart, and to deliver a warning not to use nuclear weapons. Burns described the meeting as "pretty dispiriting."

"There was a very defiant attitude on the part of Mr. Naryshkin as well. A sense of cockiness and hubris," Burns said. "A sense, I think, reflecting Putin's own view, his own belief today, that he can make time work for him, that he believes he can grind down the Ukrainians, that he can wear down our European allies, that political fatigue will eventually set in."

Ukraine marks one year since Russian invasion with no sign of peace in sight

Reps. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi say a new House select committee will "have a conversation" with companies that do business with China

Condoleezza Rice says "we have to do everything we can to convince" Putin that he is wrong on Ukraine
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.
Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Commander of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has visited military units of the Ukraines Defence Forces in the city of Bakhmut and its outskirts.

Source: Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Quote: "The enemy does not stop attempting to break through the defence line and capture Bakhmut.

Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Eastern Group of Ukraines Armed Forces, has visited the military units that are defending the city and its outskirts.

Russian occupiers have focused their main efforts on capturing Bakhmut and near-by areas. Battles are ongoing around the city and on its outskirts."

Details: It is noted that Syrskyi has checked the situation in units, listened to unit commanders speak regarding problematic matters, assisted in resolving them and supported the soldiers there. He has also awarded the best defenders with valuable presents.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Three weeks after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed, frustrations continue to mount in East Palestine, Ohio.

Saturday, interagency teams with FEMA, the EPA, HHS, and CDC were slated to go door-to-door, canvassing the community about their concerns, as property values and health on the minds of many.

Its bad. Crazy. And they dont tell you the truth, said Jim Cope of East Palestine.

The long-term effectsI feel sorry for these people, said Conrad Mueller of Pittsburgh, who drove to East Palestine to see the aftermath for himself.

NBC News reports several cases of bronchitis and other conditions that doctors suspect are linked to chemical exposure.

I got COPD, one lung outsometimes I go out and it stinks, other times it doesnt, Cope said.

As the EPA and other agencies planned to make their way through neighborhoods, officials said they also planned to keep an eye on air quality monitors that are strategically placed throughout the community.

We did have a customer request a sample batch that she was going to send to the EPA, said Paul Goist of Stanley Steemer. A lot of people are afraid to be in their homes.

Stanley Steemer workers said theyve seen an increase in calls for air duct cleaning.

We are seeing a lot of debris, Goist said. We use a medical-grade disinfectant called Vital Oxide, that we push through the systemand the fogging machine, we go from vent to ventanything inside the system gets destroyed.

Four tractor trailer loads of bottled water, collected and donated by a group of Ohio truck drivers, were going fast Saturday morning.

Do what we could, got here as soon as we could, these nice people let us use their parking lot, and here we are, said volunteer Michelle Archer.

Cope had a message for the EPA in preparation for their visit.

Youre here to help the railroads, youre not here to help the people of East Palestine, Cope said.

The EPA announced a new hotline for residents and businesses to help provide various services, including guidance for accessing ongoing air monitoring, water sampling, as well as information about scheduling cleaning services. Those seeking assistance can contact 866-361-0526 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

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Falling in love with a city in September is like falling in love with a FaceTuned Tinder photothe weather is just too good, the population too refreshed from summer and their kids being back in school. But if you find yourself charmed by a place in the depths of winter, say, a blustery rainy long weekend in February, and still want to go backyou know its the real deal.

Such was my experience just a couple of weeks ago in Hamburg, Germany, where for four days I visited in the rain. Its the countrys second largest city and the seventh largest in the EU. However, its one that, other than to conduct business, Americans rarely visit. A perfect fit, then, for our series on underrated destinations, Its Still a Big World.

Charmed is precisely what I was after my four days there. Whether its architecture, music, food, history, or urban curiosity that motivates you, Hamburg has something for everybody. And, as its a city focused more on work and play for its own citizens and not for non-German tourists, there is a sense that as a total foreigner youre experiencing a place, a way of life, relatively unscathed by our tourism.

Chilehaus Esther Westerveld/Wikimedia Commons

The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as it is formally known, sits in the north of Germany near Denmark, where the rivers Elbe and Alster meet. For centuries it was at the center of a loose confederation of free city states called the Hanseatic League that dominated trade in Northern Europe and the North and Baltic Seas. While its status as a completely independent entity went away long ago, it still sees itself as apart. Some refer to it as the southernmost Scandinavian city and native son Karl Lagerfeld once said he felt Hanseatic first, German second. As home to some of the highest concentrations of millionaires and billionaires in Germany, its leafy upscale neighborhoods have plenty of mansions, but theyre often in Anglo styles like Victorian or Georgian.

Mexicos Hot New Wine Region Is a History Lovers Dream

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While it may not bring in Americans, Germans love Hamburg. Its the worlds third largest musical theater market, with German-language reproductions of The Lion King, Frozen, and Hamilton. Its port, the countrys largest, is a draw. And the odd but overwhelming collection of large-scale miniature cities at Miniatur Wunderlanda place few Americans other than model train enthusiasts have heard ofis often rated Germanys most popular attraction, higher than Neuschwanstein.

A light drizzle greeted me after a complicated train ride from Amsterdam. Hamburgs biggest obstacle as a tourist destination is the lack of connections. The sole direct flight from the U.S., operated by Emirates, ended a few years ago, and theres no direct train from Amsterdam, leaving you especially vulnerable to the vagaries of the Deutsche Bahnin my case, their decision to park a cargo train without an engine at the only platform available for use along the way.

The walk from the central train station to my hotel in the citys central business district gave a good taste of what much of this SimCity-like place is like, where all the buildings look like renderings and even when not matching one's taste, are all done with high levels of quality. Throw in the canals that once made this the Venice of the North, and youve got a rather exquisite city.

Very little of the city is historic in the sense that just one tenth of it is older than a centurythe result of Allied bombing and a lack of sentiment when it comes to historic preservation. While there are a few historic buildings, like the neo-Renaissance city hall, most contemporary work pays homage to Hamburgs great contribution to architectural historyBrick Expressionism.

My hotel was the Renaissance, a standard Marriott but housed in an elaborate Brick Expressionist work by Fritz Hoger, one of the styles giants. Brick Expressionism was a strain of Expressionist architecture, wherein buildings were pulled and contorted past their historical shapes and proportions (Expressionist painters like Munch and Schiele would do the same to the human form). Brick Expressionism, popular in Northern Europe, was distinct in its use of patterns of clinker bricks to create dizzying facades. Hogers Broschek House, now the Renaissance, was no different with strings of pyramids of gold jutting out from the brick facade.

The hotel was a quick walk to most of the citys sights, whether the Elbphilharmonie, the Kunsthalle, Hafencity, and Speicherstadt, and a nice stroll to the cool neighborhoods of Schanze and Karolinenviertel. Especially close is Hogers greatest work, the work that was synonymous with the city until the Elbphilharmonie was completed, and the work that made me always want to visitChilehaus.

A dream for the visually hungry

Hamburg is a city of business. To walk its streets on a weekday is to see people with their heads down, on a mission. At the turn of the century, its giant merchant and shipping houses built colossal office buildings across the city. The greatest were concentrated just off the canal warehouses in a district that is now a UNESCO heritage site, Kontorhaus.

With the wind ripping through its streets, turning the rain into a sort of rough-day-at-sea spray, I walked around the area with Tomas Kaiser, one of the citys top guides who is steeped in all things Hamburg. Chilehaus is the most famous of the group, its ocean liner shape being most apparent when standing before its bow: youd swear it just might come crashing down upon you.

But the neighborhood as a whole is a dream for the visually hungry. Sprinkenhof, just next door, has a facade decorated with diamond-shaped brickwork and circular terracotta sculptures that are meant to be redolent of the Doges Palace in Venice. It was Europes largest office building when it was completed. It was initially the work of the Jewish brother architects Hans and Oskar Gerson and the aforementioned Fritz Hoger, but after the rise of the Nazis, Oskar was not allowed to work on it (Hans died early) and so it was finished by Hoger, who had joined the Nazi Party. While you can just wander the neighborhood and easily spot the works, dont miss Messberghof, Miramar Haus, Bartholomayhaus, and Montanhof.

Hamburg, Speicherstadt, Wasserschloss Dietmar Rabich/Wikimedia Commons

After the Chilehaus, the site most synonymous with Hamburg is likely its Speicherstadt, the staggering row upon row of warehouses perched on canals that make up the largest waterfront warehouse district in the world. Size isnt the only impressive thing here, the historic buildings are done in a fetching sort of Flamboyant Gothic Revival and the ones that replaced those destroyed during World War II are a range of Modernist and Postmodern concoctions. While the views down each of the canals are spectacular, sadly they are no longer lit at night due to cost cutting from the Ukraine War. Kaiser showed me old photographs of what the canals and warehouses looked like in their heyday, and you can really see why, with its crush of ships and boats and elaborate buildings on the water, the city was compared with Venice, without being facetious.

After touring the warehouses, Kaiser took me to HafenCity Hamburg, the former docks area where more than 2 square kilometers have been filled in with modern apartments, offices, hotels, and shopsconsidered the largest urban redevelopment project in Europe. The scale is mind boggling, but its provided an opening for interesting entrepreneurs like those behind foodlab, which occupies a couple floors of one of the newer buildings. There, spaces are available for potential restaurateurs, aspiring food video creators, and experimentation. (When I visited, a hummus concept was the pop-up of the moment.) There is a permanent cafe overlooking the river which features items from a variety of tenants theyve had, and has given training and jobs to Ukrainian women who fled the war.

There is an addendum to the idea that Hamburg is the southernmost Scandinavian city, and its that Munich is the northernmost Italian city. That sort of Protestant chauvinism is a funny historical anecdote now (anecdotes being all we care about, not actual history, Karl Lagerfeld once said) but that sort of northern Protestantism is still tangible. On my first night, I ate at Hobenkook, a delightful industrial spot specializing in North German cuisine. If I ever needed a sign that I was in the land of self-abnegation it could have been when the friendly waitress told me I didnt need the bread to start.

A sort of Protestant commercialism is also evident at one of the citys other highlights, the Kunsthalle.

What you are looking at, one could say, is the German Mona Lisa.

When the communications aide told me this, I grinned, but not because I was so happy to finally see this painting but because Caspar David Freidrichs The Wanderer Above the Sea isnt really well known in the U.S. and I thought she was being somewhat tongue in cheek. (A feeling that was reinforced when I posted it to my Instagram with that moniker and every German friend replied with some version of excitement and every American with a snicker.) The painting was revolutionary for the Romantic movement, and its positioning of the wanderer facing away from the viewer, looking out into the possibilities beyond has captured many an imagination. Id just never heard of it.

Caspar David Friedrich

The collection as a whole, the museum notes in one of its placards, reflects a community with bourgeois priorities and tastes. So, for instance, there is not a huge collection of over the top Italian Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque works. There are, however, a lot of landscapes and still lifes and the like. As the collection progresses into the 19th century, it picks up steam with a number of delightful works you wont want to miss, from a tiny oil on mahogany by Edgar Degas of a ballet dancer to Ferdinand Hodlers View into Infinity painting of a nude male youth. The museum also goes out on a limb here and there, for instance by have a room placing the giants of late French 19th-century art (Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Degas) alongside Germans whose work is less well known (Slevogt, Corinth, and Ury). The room of Expressionist work is a key for those looking to compare it to the citys architecture, so make a beeline for it. Particularly well done are the placards introducing concepts or artists, like that explaining the wily career of Lucas Cranach the Elder, who managed to be best friends with Martin Luther while still getting commissions from Catholic cardinals.

Elbphilharmonie Hackercatxxy/Wikimedia Commons

The highlight of any visit to Hamburg today, though, and reason enough for every traveler to book a trip here, is a concert at the Elbphilharmonie.

The shimmering facade of the Elbphilharmonie is a sort of visual dealers choice that it reminds you of waves, sails, icebergs, your call. The complex comprises three concert halls, a hotel, apartments, restaurants, and a spa. It was built on top of an existing brick warehouse and designed by the famed firm Herzog & de Meuron. Without going too far into the details of its story, lets just say that the project was intended to cost 250 million euros and ended up costing nearly 900 million euros.

Inside the concert hall is jaw dropping.

I had tickets for a Friday-night show in the main hall in which the Philharmonie Sudwestfalen led by Nabil Shehata would perform works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. Before going, I went to dinner at Heldenplatz, a nearby restaurant that is trying to take a casual approach to Michelin star-type dining.

People attend the opening ceremony and concert of the Elbphilharmonie. Christian Charisius

Its recommended you get to the concert a bit earlier than you normally might, because the honeycomb structure inside can be a bit much to navigateand especially time consuming if you opt to take its famed curved escalator. Inside the concert hall, though, is jaw dropping. The plates covering the walls, engineered by Yasuhisa Toyota, look almost like pebbled leather, and the room just feels immediately cozy and intimate. (My ear is not so finely tuned to have a judgment on the debate about the acoustics, but I will say that once the coughing started it was basically a cacophony.) The solo for Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, one of my all time favorite compositions, was performed by Michael Barenboim, the son of conductor Daniel Barenboim. Put him under the nepobabies with talent column, because once this bobbing Jay Leno-look alike started playing he cast an absolute spell.

Rounding out the citys cultural options are three other major museum-type attractions. The first, the citys history museum, was, alas, closed while I was in town. The second is its Maritime Museum, housed in the citys oldest standing warehouse. The third is the citys biggest attractionMiniatur Wonderland. The complex of miniature model cities, airports, and mountain ranges opened in 2001. When Frederik and Gerrit Braun opened it in 2001, the idea had been to have the worlds largest model railway. Since then its grown to have over 50,000 feet of railway across models of cities like Hamburg, Vegas, Rio and stupefying landscapes like the Swiss Alps and the North Sea coast.

The Swiss Alps recreated at Miniatur Wunderland. William O'Connor

I spent that afternoon wandering the neighborhoods of Schanze and Karolinenviertel, where friends my age in Hamburg lived. Here, the visuals are more Berlin, lets say, than orderly Hamburg. There is a lot of street art, vintage stores, dive bars, and fewer people in suits. Around the corner from the former Nazi bunker thats being turned into a hotel, I stopped in for gourmet American-style donuts from Brammibal's. From there I wandered St. Pauli and Groe Freiheit, where the Beatles launched their career (Lennon famously said he was born in Liverpool but grew up in Hamburg) and which comes alive at night with an array of neon signage. Transecting it is the famed Reeperbahn, once Hamburgs famed redlight district avenue where sailors and tourists got up to no good. The party is still going, but its less violent and less risque than it once was, and certainly more commercial.

A day exploring in the wet and cold calls for warmth and coziness in the evening. A friend and I started at the M&V Bar, a popular spot thats technically a gay bar but in the era of openness seemed to be for everybody. From there it was on to neighborhood bistro Cox, one of two stalwarts that people kept recommending to me, along with Vienna Restaurant. Cox was everything youd hope for in a bistrofood that is comforting but not boring, service that is friendly but not obsequious, and a crowd that all seems to compete for who is going to linger past closing the longest.

We finished the night at Lion Bar, a popular spot back toward the commercial center of the city, which means that if you get there and theres no room you will likely stick around and wait because theres nothing else open around. The service is funny here: nobody was answering the bell so when a couple of patrons slipped out for a smoke, we slipped in, only to be smilingly told we must be summoned in. So we stepped back out, and, wouldnt you know it, not even a minute later the door reopened and we were summoned in. The drinks, for what its worth, were great.

My final day in Hamburg was a tease, because the sun broke through and the whole city lit up. Grey was replaced by blue, and the textured surfaces of the clinker bricks dazzled in the direct sun. The city of Hamburg seemed to be walking, running, jostling around the Outer Alster Lake, one of the two ponds made from the damming of the river. Wandering its northern shores, one starts to see the grander villas and apartments of the citys upper crust. I was supposed to take a boat tour of the canals, a great idea in theory, but one I was unwilling to do after a very late night out with Germans.

When will my next date with Hamburg be? In summer, for sure, although not because one cant still have a great time in winter. But I want to see its parks, streets, and terraces filled with people. I want to make a trip to one of the islands its denizens visit in the summer.

And I want to attend another performance at the Elbphilharmonie.

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William Jackson Harper as Quaz, David Dastmalchian as Veb and Katy O'Brian as Jentorra in 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' Marvel Studios' (Photo: Marvel Studios)

Warning: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania spoilers ahead!

Jonathan Majors is getting major love for his performance as Marvels latest supervillain, Kang the Conqueror, in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. And rightfully so. Majors delivers a layered, soulful performance as the multiversal big bad who will eventually fill Thanoss giant shoes as the MCUs Public Enemy No. 1 in 2025s team-up Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Kang, who previously arrived in variant form in the first season finale of Disney+s Loki, isnt the only new character making noise in the Peyton Reed-directed Quantumania, which introduces a multi-species ensemble that has drawn comparisons to Star Wars.

Corey Stolls M.O.D.O.K. (short for Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing), a longtime comic book villain who is also the subject of a stop-motion-animated Hulu series, has elicited a giddy response from Marvel fans and bloggers. The goofy supporting cast also includes William Jackson Harper, who gets plenty of laughs as the mind-reading Quaz, and David Dastmalchians walking bag of ooze Veb, while Katy OBrians freedom fighter Jentorra is one of fandoms new favorite shipping candidates.

We talked to Stoll, Harper, OBrian and Dastmalchian for more insights into the MCUs eclectic new inhabitants.

Corey Stoll as M.O.D.O.K. in 'Quantumania' (Photo: Marvel Studios)

M.O.D.O.K.

Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, played by Corey Stoll, was the central villain Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangaline Lilly) face off against in 2015s Ant-Man. He was presumed dead seemingly shrinking into oblivion during the films climax.

In the original script for Ant-Man, he gets arrested, and then we did a version where he turns into goo, reveals Stoll (The Many Saints of Newark, House of Cards). Then in the final version, he just sort of shrinks infinitely, which left it open, obviously. So I was really glad to see thats how they ended up, with possibility of him coming back. But I wasn't expecting anything. And then after Ant-Man and the Wasp came out [in 2018], I just assumed that it was one and done. Then out of the blue, I got this call from Peyton and he asked me if I was familiar with this character named M.O.D.O.K."

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Turns out Reed imagined Cross was transported to the quantum realm, and in Quantumania, was reinvented as M.O.D.O.K., a Marvel Comics favorite heretofore presumed unadaptable, at least in live-action form (Patton Oswalt voiced the animated character in the Hulu series). M.O.D.O.K. is now a henchman, er, cybernetically enhanced man, for Kang, with his comics-accurate giant head and hilariously tiny limbs.

I was like, That's the craziest thing I've ever heard, and if that were to happen, that would be the craziest role I would ever play, Stoll recalls, after hearing Reeds pitch. And, you know, of course I was gonna do it.  I got this sense from him that he sort of felt like he had to sell me on the idea. But I felt like Id just struck the lottery, to play this insane character.

M.O.D.O.K. is played for fun  mainly at the expense of his absurd appearance  right down to his funny-slash-touching death as an Avenger. The character has also been a lightning rod for criticism given his intentionally wild design.

I mean, I knew that it could go down in flames. It was definitely scary, says Stoll, who admits it was really disturbing to see his giant face on a massive movie screen at the films Los Angeles premiere. But I also thought there's no way I couldn't do it.

William Jackson Harper and Katy O'Brian in 'Quantumania' (Photo: Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Quaz

William Jackson Harper (The Good Place, The Underground Railroad) had never done anything of the scale of a Marvel movie, and he was dying to try. Im a huge geek for these movies, man, he gushes. Ive watched them all so many times, and I wanted to be in one.

Now hes a new fan favorite as Quaz, a new character created for Quantumania who has telepathic powers  something he views as more curse than blessing.

Hes just over it, Jackson says. Its right there in the script. Its a great little grace note, which is that everyones gross, and he's just been seeing gross stuff all of his life. There are these big stakes, and people are thinking about gross stuff. So I think hes burned out. I think hes a little bit over it. That felt right to me. [Every time he meets someone], its just sort of like, Oh Lord, here we go.

The experience made Harper quickly realize hed never want to be a telepath: I know what Im walking around thinking about when Im by myself, and it aint pretty all the time, he laughs. Sometimes its noble, sometimes it is not. So I definitely dont need to hear anybodys thoughts ever.

Quaz owns one of the movies funniest lines when Veb asks Scott how many holes he has. Seven, Quaz interjects, with the camera cutting to Rudds face as Lang quickly does the math and nods in agreement. Its a moment that, judging from social media, has viewers also doing the math in their head right there in the theater.

Do you count things that you have that are a pair? Jackson asks. Is that two separate holes, or is it essentially one hole? Theyre just bifurcated in some way. I dont know. I've gone down the rabbit hole myself a couple of times. (Heres the easy explainer on Twitter.)

Katy O'Brian as Jentorra in 'Quantumania' (Photo: Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios)

Jentorra

As Evangeline Lilly recently professed to us, the most exciting thing for her about Quantumania was the number of women she got to work with. Theres her onscreen mother (Michelle Pfeiffers Janet van Dyne), Scott Langs daughter Cassie (now played by Kathryn Newton) and the newcomer Jentorra, a freedom fighter also battling Kang.

Jentorra is played by Katy OBrian, who has seen plenty of action in big genre properties (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Lightning, The Mandalorian), but who felt like Quantumania was a significant change of pace.

I havent gotten to play very many good guys, so that was a really big plus for me. And I was really excited to play not only a good person, but like a leader, she says of her Jentorra, who in the comics appeared in Hulk storylines but was reinvented for Ant-Man. Oftentimes, Im just a henchman or something. This was kind of a really big part for me because I actually get to be powerful. I get to be strong. I get to be emotional. I get to be all these things that I kind of feel like I am more of in real life than a bad guy.

Jentorra has become an instant hit among fans, including those who are convinced that Cassie has a crush on Jentorra due to a look the teen gives the warrior. Its probably more of a respect crush, OBrian laughs. Like, Oh man, that persons really cool. But you see what you wanna see.

And there are other viewers who are already shipping Jentorra with Valkyrie (while Tessa Thompsons Thor character is known to be bisexual, Jentorra fans are presumably playing off the fact that OBrian is married to a woman in real life.)

I can totally see that, she says. And thats more age-appropriate, in my opinion.

David Dastmalchian as Veb (center) in 'Quantumania' (Photo: Marvel Studios)

Veb

Like Stoll, David Dastmalchian is an Ant-Man series vet taking on a new character in Quantumania. But unlike Stoll, Dastmalchians previous character was never killed off. His fan favorite Kurt was one-fourth of Langs X-Con security crew, along with Michael Penas Luis (known for his hilarious play-by-play reenactments) and Tip T.I. Harriss Dave. So where was the X-Con crew during the events of Quantumania?

If youve seen the movie, its pretty obvious there was no room for the guys, given the majority of the action takes place in a new world. I think [Peyton] tried his dangedest because he had contacted me previously and just said, Dude, it kills me. Theres not space. This story is so packed, and were spending our whole story in the quantum realm. He didnt wanna just throw some silly cameo at the wall. He wanted it to be a proper exploration because he cares about these characters. So I know that was a really hard choice for him.

Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, Dune) was admittedly sad after the conversation. But then soon after came a call with another offer from Reed. He wanted to know if the actor would play a character never seen in the comics: the inquisitive slime-like Veb, who spews goo that, once ingested, allows those in the quantum realm to understand each others languages. He goes, Im not doing this without you. Its gotta be you, the actor recalls. So I wore the mo-cap suit and it was one of the most joyful acting experiences Ive ever had.

To get into character, Dastmalchian says he revisited Marvels The Micronauts comics. I was thinking about a lot of the adventures I've read over the years of teams like the Fantastic Four and the West Coast Avengers, and the different kinds of odd intergalactic interdimensional beings that they've come in contact with, he adds. I also felt like there was so much heart in this. I felt like my kids would really love and cling to Veb. And so stuff like SpongeBob, which we all really love as a family  some of the characters that live in that world had an influence on me.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing.

Watch the trailer:
Photo: The Canadian Press Anti-tank barriers in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.

A meeting of finance chiefs of the Group of 20 leading economies ended on Saturday without a consensus, with Russia and China objecting to the description of the war in Ukraine in a final document.

The meeting hosted by India issued the G-20 Chairs summary and an outcome document stating that there was no agreement on the wording of the war in Ukraine. The first day of the meeting took place on the anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The Group of Seven major industrial nations announced new sanctions against Russia on Friday, just as the talks of the G-20 group wrapped up in confusion in the Indian technology hub of Bengaluru.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen condemned the illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine at a session attended by Russian officials and reiterated calls for G-20 nations to do more to support Ukraine and hinder Moscows war effort.

At the last major G-20 meeting, in Bali, Indonesia, in November, leaders had strongly condemned the war, warning that the conflict was intensifying fragilities in the worlds economy. The group includes Russia and also countries like China and India that have significant trade with Moscow.
Oneida Indian Nation Representative, Ray Halbritter, and Cornell University President Martha Pollack, signing documents that repatriate ancestral remains from the university to the Oneida Indian Nation on Feb. 21. (Photo: Jason Koski)

Dean Lyons, an Oneida Nation Turtle Clan member, spoke to three of his ancestors during a transfer ceremony at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, on Feb. 21.

You will be back in Mother Earth. You will hear the waters again, Lyons said. You will hear the animals again. You will hear the thunders again. You will remain here undisturbed amongst your relations.

After nearly 60 years, university staff returned the human remains of three Oneida ancestors who were dug out of the ground and kept by Cornells anthropology department in the campus archive. This week, the ancestors have finally returned home for reburial.

In August of 1964, a property owner digging a waterline ditch in upstate New Yorks Broome County, unearthed the human remains of at least three people, according to a Federal Register notice. The property was near the site of Onaquaga, a large multinational settlement on the banks of the Susquehanna River that was occupied by the Oneida people for centuries, according to the tribe. The property owner called the local police, who brought the ancestors to a Cornell anthropologist, professor Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, for identification. When Kennedy died in 2014, the ancestors were transferred to Cornells Department of Anthropology, where they have remained ever since, the federal register notice details.

In addition to three ancestorsidentified as one young adult male of Native American ancestry and two childrenCornell also returned the 22 funerary objects that were unearthed with the individuals.

Although the ancestors came to Cornell more than two decades before the passage of Congressional legislation that requires all institutions and museums receiving federal funds catalog and return all Native American ancestors and belongings in their possession, the university has dragged its feet on returning ancestors for the last 30 years.

Cornell University reported to the federal government in the 90sas required by federal law that it was in possession of four Native American remains. This year marks the first time it has made any of those ancestors available for repatriation to tribal nations. According to the governments public database, Cornell still holds one Alaska Native ancestor from Nome, Alaska.

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According to Matthew Velasco, an assistant professor of anthropology at Cornell, Matthew, the one individual from Alaska is likely culturally unaffiliated  a term that describes a loophole in the federal law. Since 2010, regulations detailed in the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) have provided a process for museums and institutions to return culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains, but the vast majority of museums have chosen not to. Recent proposed changes to the law will swap out culturally unidentifiable for geographically affiliated, matching the known geographic origins of each set of human remains to a present day tribe.

To date, no claims have been made to these remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Velasco said in a statement to Native News Online. Nonetheless, the ongoing audit in the Department of Anthropology will be reviewing their provenience to determine if an Alaska Native group(s) with cultural or geographical affiliation can be reasonably identified.

In 2001, the university returned a totem pole to an Alaska Native corporation, Cape Fox Corporation, according to federal records. The totem pole was gifted to the university in 1899 by the former dean of forestry who was involved in the expedition that removed the totem pole and other objects from Cape Fox Village, Alaska, in 1899.

When an ancestor's remains and cultural artifacts are returned to a tribe, that tribe takes another step forward in a long journey toward recognition of our sovereignty as a Nation and our dignity as people., Oneida Indian Nation Representative, Ray Halbritter, said at the Feb. 21 transfer ceremony in remarks provided to Native News Online.

In November 2022, Colgate University returned 1,520 stolen Oneida funerary objects that were excavated by an amateur archeologist from burial sites within the Oneida Territory in upstate New York between 1924 and 1957. It took 27 years for Colgate to return every Oneida ancestor and burial object it held.

Today, universities and institutions across the country still hold more than 108,000 ancestors, based on their reports. At least 825 of those ancestors and 4,624 of their belongings were removed from burial sites and locations across New York, the federal database shows.

Some say the repatriation process is too complex, time-consuming and costly. Events like this do not happen overnight, Halbritter said in his remarks. Still, universities, museums and other cultural institutions cannot claim these challenges as a reason to avoid doing what is right  what is required in a just society that acknowledges the sovereignty and dignity of Native people and our long fight for this acknowledgment.

The return of our ancestors to our sacred homelands is a basic human right. It is about our dignity. To delay their repatriation to us  presumably because admitting the wrongs was uncomfortable  is a continuation of the violations.

Cornells Velasco said on Tuesday that, while the university commemorates the return of the ancestors to their homelands, its important to ask why they were taken to Cornell to begin with.

Confronting this painful history is the first step to acknowledge that the pursuit of knowledge and education never again displace respect for the dead, and the rights of their descendants, Velasco said. As a biological anthropologist, I am an inheritor of this troubled legacy, and I feel shame acknowledging it.

On behalf of the Oneida Nation, Halbritter commended Cornell University for finally working with the Oneida Indian Nation to right its historic wrong.

You are confirming that the complexities of this process are worth solving and that the outcome is worth the time and cost required, said Halbritter, speaking to university staff. Yes, it can be uncomfortable. Yet, in taking this major and courageous step today, you are recognizing that the Oneida people are so much more than relics of the past.

About the Author: "Jenna Kunze is a staff reporter covering Indian health, the environment and breaking news for Native News Online. She is also the publication's lead reporter on stories related to Indian boarding schools and repatriation. Her bylines have appeared in The Arctic Sounder, High Country News, Indian Country Today, Tribal Business News, Smithsonian Magazine, Elle and Anchorage Daily News. Kunze is based in New York."

Contact: jkunze@indiancountrymedia.com
Two families  including one with an 8-month-old baby  are safe after fire broke out at a two-family home in Brookline.

The fire started just before 9 a.m. Saturday on Beaconsfield Road.

Fire companies arrived and found heavy fire in the top floor of the duplex-style condo building, said Brookline Fire Chief of Operations Colin OConnell. The hydrant system stood up to the cold, but we are having some ice problems. Theyre putting some salt and sand down mainly to reduce slip and fall hazards. OConnell said no firefighters were hurt fighting the 3-alarm fire. Crews from several other cities including Cambridge, Boston and Newton assisted at the scene.

OConnell estimates the house suffered $500,000 worth of damage.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but its believed to have been accidental.

We think it originated on the second floor, OConnell said. The family did notice there was some electrical issues and then a slight odor of smoke.

MORE: @BostonFire drone operations unit assisting at 3-alarm fire on Beaconsfield Road in #Brookline. @Brooklinefire chief says two families got out of duplex-style home safely, no injuries. Cause of fire under investigation but was definitely accidental @boston25 pic.twitter.com/U6qRNc8JYr  Julianne Lima (@JulianneLimaTV) February 25, 2023

BREAKING: @BrooklineFD battling a house fire on Beaconsfield Road. Smoke is pouring from the roof and firefighters are going inside the home@boston25 pic.twitter.com/7HwLmmwlmV  Julianne Lima (@JulianneLimaTV) February 25, 2023

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 Dallas Police Department is asking for the publics help locating a missing elderly man.

Arthur Henry Page, 83, is described as a black male, grey-haired, brown-eyed, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, and weighing 200 pounds.

He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a grey shirt on Thursday in the 3000 block of West Mockingbird Lane. He was driving a grey Chevrolet Cruze with a Pennsylvania license plate, number LLN1582, according to police.

Page may be confused and in need of assistance, police said in a statement Saturday.

Flock cameras showed him to be in Fort Worth early Saturday, at around 6:40 a.m.

Anyone with information about Pages location is asked to call the police department at 911 or (214) 671-4268 referencing the case number 031992-2023.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Germany believes an independent justice system is a tenet of democracy and is closely watching the Israeli dispute over a government plan for judicial change, its envoy said, as protesters flooded the streets for an eighth straight week on Saturday.

The new nationalist-religious government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ploughed ahead this week with its proposed changes as parliament took first steps in legislating limits to the Supreme Court's power to strike down laws.

Another change pushed by the ruling coalition would give it more sway in picking judges. The bills have won initial votes in parliament but have yet to be written into law.

"We have a strong interest in Israeli democracy remaining strong because ... this vibrant democracy is an important part of why we feel so committed to Israel," German Ambassador Steffen Seibert told Israel's N12 television in an interview.

The government's plan has sparked nationwide protests in Israel and caused alarm among economists, former security officials and legal experts at home and abroad.

Critics say it undermines the courts' independence while handing the government unbridled power, which in turn would endanger minority rights, encourage corruption, isolate Israel diplomatically and wreak havoc on its economy.

Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges that he denies, says the reforms will strengthen democracy and boost business. He has dismissed protesters as "anarchists" unwilling to accept the decisive right-wing victory in a Nov. 1 election.

"Democracy is more than the temporary power of the democratically elected majority," Seibert said.

"It is also about the preservation of the rights of minorities, and it is also about the proper balance of power and that's where an independent judiciary comes in," said Seibert, adding that Germany was closely watching the fierce debate.

Numerous opinion polls have shown a majority of Israelis against the government's planned judicial overhaul as it presently stands. Nationwide protests drew tens of thousands on Saturday.

"We are demonstrating against the government because we are afraid for our future, for the future of our children," said Gabi Goldstein, who attended the largest protest on Saturday, in Tel Aviv.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Rami Amichay in Tel Aviv; Editing by Frances Kerry)
California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu hit back at Texas GOP Rep. Lance Gooden after he responded to her criticism of a Republican effort to investigate Biden economic appointee Dominic Ng. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Judy Chu criticized Lance Gooden after he seemingly questioned her "loyalty" to the US on Fox News.

Gooden called out Chu after she blasted GOP attempts to investigate Biden economic appointee Dominic Ng.

Chu responded to Gooden, describing his remarks regarding her allegiance to the US as "racist."

Rep. Judy Chu, the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, on Thursday blasted Texas GOP Rep. Lance Gooden over recent statements that he made where he seemingly questioned her loyalty to the United States.

During a Wednesday interview on Fox News, the third-term Gooden suggested that the California Democrat, who has served in the House since 2009, should be barred from accessing sensitive classified materials over her defense of Dominic Ng  the chairman and chief executive of the California-based East West Bank and President Joe Biden's appointee to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council.

Several Republicans, including Gooden, have said that Ng needs to be investigated by the FBI after a Daily Caller investigative article was published alleging the banker had ties to a Chinese Communist Party front group.

Gooden, while on the Fox News program "Jesse Watters Primetime," rebuked Chu, calling her "out of touch."

"I question her either loyalty or competence," he said during the interview. "If she doesn't realize what's going on then she's totally out of touch with one of her core constituencies."

Earlier this month, Chu, the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, released a joint statement with Reps. Ted Lieu and Mark Takano of California and Rep. Grace Meng of New York that condemned the GOP move.

Gooden while on Fox News criticized Chu for issuing the statement, while also accusing her of being the "ringleader" behind the effort.

"I think she has drug along the other Chinese American members to sign this letter. But I do think she's the ringleader," Gooden said. "I'm really disappointed and shocked that someone like Judy Chu would have a security clearance and be entitled to confidential intelligence briefings until this is figured out."

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Chu and top Democratic lawmakers quickly slammed Gooden over his comments.

"Rep. Gooden's comments on Fox News questioning my loyalty to the USA is absolutely outrageous," Chu said in a statement. "It is based on false information spread by an extreme, right-wing website. Furthermore, it is racist. I very much doubt that he would be spreading these lies were I not of Chinese American descent."

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York also zeroed in on Gooden, needling him over his actions after the 2020 presidential election, when then-President Donald Trump sought to overturn now-President Joe Biden's electoral victory. In January 2021, Gooden voted against the certification of electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 election. Biden narrowly won both states over Trump, flipping them into the Democratic column, a point of contention for many Republicans who questioned the integrity of the results despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

"Lance Gooden's slanderous accusation of disloyalty against Rep. Chu is dangerous, unconscionable and xenophobic," Jeffries said in a statement. "Congressman Gooden appears to sympathize with violent insurrectionists and spreads big lies to the American people, having voted not to certify the election of President Joe Biden."

"Look in the mirror, Lance. You have zero credibility," he added.

Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on Friday excoriated Gooden over his comments.

"At a time when anti-Asian hate continues to threaten communities, it's critical that we condemn these racist and xenophobic attacks immediately and hold our fellow colleagues accountable to rid our politics of such dangerous statements and hatred," she said in a statement.

And Rep. Adam Schiff of California, a 2024 Senate candidate and former Intelligence Committee chairman who last month was removed from the panel by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, also decried Gooden's comments.

"Questioning @RepJudyChu's loyalty to the United States is xenophobic and racist," Schiff tweeted. "Shame on you, @LanceGooden. And on @FoxNews for airing such hate. We cannot allow anti-Asian bigotry to go without condemnation."

Rep. Gooden accused Democrats of bringing up race after his criticism of Rep. Chu. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

All eyes on China

Gooden hit back at the Democratic charges, accusing Chu and Jeffries of inserting race into the discussion.

"Rather than following facts that indicate the presence of Chinese espionage, Chu and Jeffries are playing the race card in a sick display of disloyalty to our nation," Gooden remarked in an email.

During his Fox News interview, Gooden also voiced his frustration over the Democratic response to the GOP request for a probe into Ng.

"We're standing up to communist China and these Democrats' first reaction is to come to their defense and call us all racists," Gooden said at the time.

The jockeying among both parties comes as many lawmakers are pushing for a firm line against China, especially after a spy balloon operated by the Chinese traversed the interior of the United States before being taken down over the Atlantic Ocean.

While Biden and top military officials in his administration were closely monitoring the balloon, with the president even remarking that he sought to take down the object shortly after he found out about its existence, the commander-in-chief was ultimately advised that it would be safer to shoot down the balloon over water.

Many Republican lawmakers immediately launched a wave of criticism against Biden, stating that the balloon should have immediately been taken down.

But Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the party's 2012 presidential nominee, defended the administration's stance while speaking with CNN earlier this month after a congressional briefing on the matter.

"I believe that the administration, the president, our military and intelligence agencies, acted skillfully and with care," he told the network. "At the same time, their capabilities are extraordinarily impressive."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Depop reseller Jacklyn Wells went viral for showing off her vintage finds (TikTok/Jacklyn Wells)

A 19-year-old vintage fashion dealer on Depop has hit back at critics who accused her of being greedy and lazy for marking up the prices of the clothes she resells.

Jacklyn Wells runs her small business through the resale platform under the storefront Jacks Vintage and regularly posts TikTok videos about her vintage hauls.

Recently, she posted a video about her most insane thrift haul and showcased a number of vintage leather coats and Noughties denim maxi skirts that she had found and would list on her Depop shop. The video went viral, racking up more than 5.9 million views.

Wells fans loved the clothes she found, with many praising her for her sense of style. One person commented on the TikTok video and wrote: This is legitimately the best thrift haul Ive ever seen, wow, you got some great finds!

But the video received backlash after it was shared to Twitter, where some people took issue with the prices Wells was selling some of the clothes for.

One of the items was a suede coat with a fur trim that Wells later listed for US$175. A second was a brown leather trench coat she listed for US$120.

On Twitter, one person accused Wells of being greedy and lazy.

The same social media user added in a separate tweet: Like a 1,600 per cent plus up charge [sic] for what she bought it for is INSANE, its valid to charge a little extra because you put in the work thrifting, its like a personal shopper, but US$170, be for f***ing real??

Another said: I wholeheartedly despise resellers who are THIS f***ing greedy.

But others defended Wells, including author Cora Harrington, who formerly ran the popular Lingerie Addict blog.

Harrington tweeted: US$120 for a vintage leather coat is astoundingly reasonable.

$120 for a vintage leather coat is astoundingly reasonable. https://t.co/a9Z4k6bkSt  Cora Harrington (@lingerie_addict) February 21, 2023

Im not super involved in the thrift reseller conversation because thats not my ministry, but believing a really cool vintage leather coat  that you didnt have to go hunting for yourself  is overpriced is well, we need to unpack what people think an accurate price is.

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A second person said: Not gonna [sic] lie, I have zero issue with this, I would rather people do this than sell fast fashion, theres so much clothing in thrift stores they literally throw them out a lot of the time.

Wells took to Instagram to address the criticism in a recent post and said she began reselling vintage clothes at the age of 16 while she lived with her sister and worked in fast food to earn money through high school.

Where I live, there are 20 Goodwills, she wrote, referring to an American non-profit organisation that raises funds through thrift stores. All overflowing, all restocking hourly, and all sending truckloads of excess clothing to the bins.

Reselling pushes circular fashion, sustainable consumption and helps low-income individuals earn a living wage off of endless clothing, she continued.

Wells has since set her Instagram account to private, but her TikTok and Depop pages remain public.
The Supreme Court wont have far to look if it wants a personal take on the crushing weight of student debt that underlies the Biden administrations college loan forgiveness plan.

Justice Clarence Thomas was in his mid-40s and in his third year on the nations highest court when he paid off the last of his debt from his time at Yale Law School.

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Thomas, the courts longest-serving justice and staunchest conservative, has been skeptical of other Biden administration initiatives. And when the Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday involving President Joe Bidens debt relief plan that would wipe away up to $20,000 in outstanding student loans, Thomas is not likely to be a vote in the administrations favor.

But the justices own experiences can be relevant in how they approach a case, and alone among them, Thomas has written about the role student loans played in his financial struggles.

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A fellow law school student even suggested Thomas declare bankruptcy after graduating to get out from under the crushing weight of all my student loans, the justice wrote in his best-selling 2007 memoir, My Grandfathers Son. He rejected the idea.

Its not clear that any of the other justices borrowed money to attend college or law school or have done so for their childrens educations. Some justices grew up in relative wealth. Others reported they had scholarships to pay their way to some of the countrys most expensive private institutions.

Of the seven justices on the court who are parents, four have signaled through their investments that they dont want their own children to be saddled with onerous college debt, and have piled money into tax-free college savings accounts that might limit any need for loans.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch have the most on hand, at least $600,000 and at least $300,000, respectively, according to annual disclosure reports the justices filed in 2022. Each has two children.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett, who has seven children, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has two, also have invested money in college-savings accounts, in which any earnings or growth is tax free if spent on education.

None of the justices would comment for this story, a court spokeswoman said.

Thomas wrote vividly about his past money woes in his up-from-poverty story, recounting how a bank once foreclosed on one of his loans because repayment and delinquency notices were sent to his grandparents house in Savannah, Georgia, instead of Thomas home at the time in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Thomas was able to take out another loan to repay the bank only because his mentor, John Danforth, then-Missouri attorney general and later a U.S. senator, vouched for him.

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Thomas noted that he signed up for a tuition postponement program at Yale in which a group of students jointly paid for their outstanding loans according to their financial ability, with those earning the most paying the most.

At the time, Thomas first wife, Kathy, was pregnant. I didnt know what else to do, so I signed on the dotted line, and spent the next two decades paying off the money I borrowed during my last two years at Yale, Thomas wrote.

When he was first nominated to be a federal judge in 1989, Thomas reported $10,000 in outstanding student loans, according to a news report at the time. The Biden administration has picked the same number as the amount of debt relief most borrowers would get under its plan.

Personal experience can shape the justices questions in the courtroom and affect their private conversations about a case, even if it doesnt figure in the outcome.

It is helpful to have people with life experiences that are varied just because it enriches the conversation, Justice Sonia Sotomayor has said. Sotomayor, like Thomas, also grew up poor. She got a full scholarship to Princeton as an undergraduate, she has said, and went on to Yale for law school, as Thomas did.

Keeping people from avoiding the kinds of difficult choices Thomas faced is a key part of the administrations argument for loan forgiveness. The administration says that without additional help, many borrowers will fall behind on their payments once a hold in place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago is lifted, no later than this summer.

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Under a plan announced in August but so far blocked by federal courts, $10,000 in federal loans would be canceled for people making less than $125,000 or for households with less than $250,000 in income. Recipients of Pell Grants, who tend to have fewer financial resources, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

The White House says 26 million people already have applied and 16 million have been approved for relief. The program is estimated to cost $400 billion over the next three decades.

The legal fight could turn on any of several elements, including whether the Republican-led states and individuals suing over the plan have legal standing to go to court and whether Biden has the authority under federal law for so extensive a loan forgiveness program.

Nebraska and other states challenging the program argue that far from falling behind, 20 million borrowers would get a windfall because their entire student debt would be erased, Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilgers wrote in the states main Supreme Court brief.

Which of those arguments resonate with the court may become clear on Tuesday.

When she was dean of Harvard Law School, Justice Elena Kagan showed her own concern about the high cost of law school, especially for students who were considering lower-paying jobs.

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Kagan established a program that would allow students to attend their final year tuition-free if they agreed to a five-year commitment to work in the public sector. While that program no longer exists, Harvard offers grants to students for public service work.

At the time the program was created, Kagan said she wanted students to be able to go to work where they can make the biggest difference, but that isnt the case now. Instead, she said: They often go to work where they dont want to work because of the debt burden.
Oleksiy Danilov

The war began when Putin attacked the Crimean Peninsula (in February 2014), Danilov said.

And, unfortunately, at that time he did not receive a rebuff from Ukraine, and he moved forward, the official said.

Read also: US imposes fresh sanctions against Russia on anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine

Danilov noted that the first alarm bells about a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation began (to ring) on Oct. 30, 2021.

Read also: Over 16,500 civilians killed in Ukraine since Russias full-scale invasion

Read also: Kuleba announces big events on anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Starting from 2020, we destroyed the Russian agent network here, and removed the role of the Russian media, which were called media, but in fact were propaganda, Danilov said.

We were preparing the country for war, the he added.

Russias full-scale invasion and war on Ukraine started on Feb. 24, 2022, following a troop buildup next to Ukraines borders that lasted several months.

The war has now lasted more than nine years, having commenced with Russias first military intervention in Ukraine in February 2014, when the Kremlin seized control of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Oh my gosh. I missed a deadline. Id committed a cardinal sin of the newspaper business! Stubbed my toe in public. A terrible blunder and embarrassment. I missed the mark for a Presidents Day column because of that dad-blamed apostrophe! I took too much time trying to decide where to put it. Should I write "Presidents Day," or "Presidents Day," or "Presidents Day?" Im never sure whats right  nor am I sure about the day itself. Just exactly who or what were celebrating.

As a kid, I celebrated Washingtons birthday on Feb. 22. Fair enough. I gave a hurrah, pleased he was the first American honored with a federal holiday. I paid no mind to his misdemeanor of chopping down the cherry tree, or throwing silver dollars across the river. He was practicing to be a politician. But lets not forget Abraham Lincoln. He was born on Feb. 12. What about him?

Magee

When in grade school, we celebrated both Washington and Lincolns birthdays. It worked just fine. The schools closed both days! But some folks couldnt leave well enough alone. Back in the 1950s, the National Association of Travel Organizations touted a plan that would shift certain holidays to a Monday. This would give federal employees some three-day weekends  and time for a trip.

It took until 1968 for Congress to realize this could be good politics. So, it passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. One of the days caught in the holiday shuffle was Washingtons Birthday. It was moved to the third Monday in February. I didnt know Congress could change a persons birthday. Id like it to change mine. Im getting too old too fast.

So, what about Lincoln? Well, Congress snuck Lincoln into Washingtons day. It was still called Washingtons Birthday, but supposedly Lincoln was there, too  in some way  as the junior partner. Doesnt seem right. Washington helped create the country; Lincoln saved it.

The hybrid Washingtons birthday holiday finally morphed into Presidents Day, or Presidents Day, or Presidents Day. Take your pick. But note that Washington has been downgraded. Hes just one of the boys now. Theres a big difference.

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Congress found a way to honor all presidents, not just the few. Politicians hate to be left out of anything good. Or was this Congresss first attempt at inclusiveness? It went generic, with a clever twist - to have the Day celebrate the office of the president  not the person. They knew its hard for us to get mad at an office but easy to get mad at a president. Politicians spend a lot of time on foolishness. Better they take a look at the national debt.

Originally, they proposed March 4 for the new Presidents Day. But they ran into trouble. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has authority over federal holidays (I havent the slightest idea why) put the old kibosh on this. It feared having so many holidays in such close proximity would be unduly burdensome!" Of course, nobody understood what unduly burdensome meant, but the ruling held true.

So, weve muddled through. But Ill no longer fuss about clarity. Ill go with the flow; call the day whatever they want. Honor the office. And put that blasted apostrophe where I think itll do the most good. And then Ill take a trip to Walgreens. Im getting low on pills.

Every year in February, a United State senator reads Washingtons Farewell Address in a legislative session. The most important of Washingtons seven thousand words is when he warned, ... that the forces of geographical sectionalism, political factionalism, and interference by foreign powers in the nations affairs will be the greatest threats to the Republic. I wonder if anybody in the hall is listening.

Lincoln, in his 242-word Gettysburg Address, adds that equality and freedom are the bedrock of country. Hopefully all of America hears these words.

Oh, before I forget  Michigan still calls the day  Washingtons Birthday. Who knows why? But good for us. Maybe the governors not sure how to punctuate president.

(Oh shucks  for those who care  Presidents Day means all presidents. Presidents Day pertains to a specific president. And Presidents Day is just the name of a day, with no special meaning. There, Ive said it  and will wait patiently for a possible onslaught of English teachers ready with their red pens.)

 Dick Magee is a resident of Klinger Lake and a frequent columnist for the Journals opinion page.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Dick Magee: The Presidents Day column that almost never was
As allies around the world rallied to support Ukraine as it marked one year since the start of Russia's invasion, a group of diplomats in London showed their support in an unusual way: swimming in a Hyde Park lake.



Estonia's Ambassador to the U.K. Viljar Lubi invited his colleagues and fellow countrymen to take a swim in Hyde Park's Serpentine lake in central London on Friday to not only honor Ukraine's perseverance in the face of Russia's aggression, but also to celebrate Estonia's Independence Day, which falls on the same day.

Participants line up for a chilly dip in Hyde Park's Serpentine Lake in central London to honor Ukraine's perseverance and to celebrate Estonia's Independence Day, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. / Credit: CBS News

Dozens of people stripped down to their bathing suits first thing Friday morning as the temperature hit 37 degrees Fahrenheit.



"For centuries, Estonians believed that taking a dip in freezing water improved your health and also built resilience, so this is all about building resilience, which we all need," Lubi said.

Ukraine's own ambassador to the U.K. was there, cheering on the swimmers. But he politely declined to go for a dip. Vadym Prystaiko admitted to CBS News the tribute was "unusual," but welcomed the display.



"People courageous enough to jump into the water [are] showing their support for the citizens of Ukraine who are now struggling with a very cold winter back home," he told CBS News.

As Ukraine marks 1 year since Russia's full-scale invasion began, many around the world are offering messages of support in unique ways. https://t.co/f5bKgVVZIU pic.twitter.com/PMPertS8oB  CBS News (@CBSNews) February 24, 2023

Prystaiko offered a message of hope for Ukrainians at home and abroad, saying he believed his country would survive Russia's aggression.



"I know we will get through this war, and we will come to the reconstruction of Ukraine, which has been devastated by Russians," he said.



Later Friday morning, Prystaiko joined Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Downing Street to observe a solemn minute of silence, as Big Ben's and Elizabeth Tower's bells rung out to mark one year of war.

Elsewhere, vigils and ceremonies were held worldwide in support of Ukraine. Even in Serbia, which maintains friendly relations with Russia, hundreds of protesters demonstrators turned up for a march against the war.

In Germany, pro-Ukraine activists defiantly dumped a destroyed Russian T-72 tank in front of Berlin's Russian Embassy.



One of the organizers of the stunt said the scrapped tank "stands as a symbol of the downfall," and said Putin's regime will collapse.

Grueling second day of Alex Murdaugh cross-examination

Storm moves east after walloping Southern California

Rare winter storm wallops Southern California
A screenshot of a Dish website error message Aaron McDade

Dish Network's websites and customer service lines were down for much of the last week.

Employees reportedly were kept in the dark about the cause of the issue, with some unable to work.

The company confirmed Tuesday the cause of the issue was a "cybersecurity incident."

Dish Network confirmed in a statement Tuesday that a "cybersecurity incident" was the reason for outages of the company's websites and customer service phone lines over the past week.

"On February 27, we became aware that certain data was extracted from our IT systems as part of this incident," Dish said in its Tuesday statement. "It's possible the investigation will reveal that the extracted data includes personal information."

The statement continued: "The forensic investigation and assessment of the impact of this incident is ongoing. The security of our customers' data is important to us, and if we learn that information was compromised, we'll take the appropriate steps and let any impacted customers know."

Beginning last Thursday, customers reported issues calling the company and paying bills on social media, and Dish's support account repeatedly cited an "internal systems issue" as the cause.

Many found the Dish.com website blank except for the company's logo with a message that read: "We apologize for any disruptions you may be having. We are experiencing an internal system issue and our teams are working hard to restore systems as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience."

By Saturday morning, a similar message still was displayed, but information was added about available TV packages and getting more information about the company's services by email. Several other Dish sites still were offline as of Saturday morning, and attempting to go to a URL like Dish.com/contact returned a "Not Found" message.

More of Dish's websites are up as of Wednesday morning, and some still display a "thank you for your patience" message at the top, stating that the company is still working to improve services since last week's outage."

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Dish's stock has fallen over the last year since it surpassed $33 per share in April 2022, and slid further during the outage, and particularly on Tuesday when the cause of the outage was confirmed.

Beyond impacting Dish's bottom line, the outage also reportedly wreaked havoc inside the company. According to The Verge, on Friday many employees said they had not worked in more than a day because the company's internal systems were out.

Employees told The Verge they received very limited information about the outage, but were told not to worry about the inability to contact IT or connect to the virtual private network, commonly called a VPN, used by the company.

On Tuesday, The Verge reported that employees were under the impression they would be expected to work overtime to address the backlog of support issues that would be rolling in.

The error message on Dish.com as of Saturday morning Aaron McDade

Adding to Dish's woes, the outages took place around the time the company was set to have a scheduled earnings call, and caused delays in executives accessing numbers and data.

CEO Erik Carlson blamed an "internal outage" when speaking on the call, noting that Dish, Sling, and wireless networks still worked.

In last week's earnings call, Dish reported 9.75 million TV subscribers split between its satellite operations and streaming provider Sling TV, according to Deadline. The company also reported just under 8 million subscribers to its wireless phone service.

Read the original article on Business Insider
While EnerSys (NYSE:ENS) might not be the most widely known stock at the moment, it saw a significant share price rise of over 20% in the past couple of months on the NYSE. With many analysts covering the mid-cap stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stocks share price. However, could the stock still be trading at a relatively cheap price? Lets examine EnerSyss valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if theres still a bargain opportunity.

View our latest analysis for EnerSys

Is EnerSys Still Cheap?

EnerSys appears to be expensive according to my price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average. In this instance, Ive used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stocks cash flows. I find that EnerSyss ratio of 26.01x is above its peer average of 20.25x, which suggests the stock is trading at a higher price compared to the Electrical industry. But, is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since EnerSyss share price is quite volatile, this could mean it can sink lower (or rise even further) in the future, giving us another chance to invest. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.

What does the future of EnerSys look like?

Future outlook is an important aspect when youre looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Although value investors would argue that its the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. In the upcoming year, EnerSys' earnings are expected to increase by 57%, indicating a highly optimistic future ahead. This should lead to more robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value.

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What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has well and truly priced in ENSs positive outlook, with shares trading above industry price multiples. At this current price, shareholders may be asking a different question  should I sell? If you believe ENS should trade below its current price, selling high and buying it back up again when its price falls towards the industry PE ratio can be profitable. But before you make this decision, take a look at whether its fundamentals have changed.

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping tabs on ENS for some time, now may not be the best time to enter into the stock. The price has surpassed its industry peers, which means it is likely that there is no more upside from mispricing. However, the optimistic prospect is encouraging for ENS, which means its worth diving deeper into other factors in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

If you'd like to know more about EnerSys as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of EnerSys.

If you are no longer interested in EnerSys, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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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An elderly man was killed and a woman critically injured by a small pack of dogs that attacked them and first responders who came to their aid Friday afternoon in San Antonio, officials said.

Two other people were bitten  one on a hand and the other, a city fire department captain, on a leg, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said at a news conference Friday. By Saturday evening, all three survivors had been treated and released from the hospital, the city's Animal Care Services and police departments said in a joint statement.

San Antonio police had arrested the owner of the dogs in connection with the attack.

The identity of the man who was killed has not been publicly released, and the medical examiner's office did not respond to a request for information Saturday. Police said he was 81 years old and the woman who was critically injured is 74. The city described her in a statement as his companion.

Firefighters defend themselves from a dog that was involved in a deadly attack in San Antonio on Friday. (Courtesy WOAI/KABB)

The couple were visiting relatives and had just stepped out of a vehicle shortly before 2 p.m. when at least two of the canines breached a gate on the property where they were kept and attacked, the city said.

The first city fire rescue crews on scene saw a bloodied man being dragged around a corner by dogs, Hood said. The first responders fended off the canines with pickaxes and pike poles, he said.

This is not something normal for us, the chief said. We dont usually show up and have to defend patients from animals.

The man was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Hood said.

The suspect, Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, faces charges of possessing a dog involved in a fatal attack and injuring the elderly, both felonies, police said.

The three dogs involved in the attack or which were off their property at the time were euthanized, Animal Care Services said Saturday. The dogs were described as American Staffordshire Terriers.

A dog that was involved in a deadly attack on a man in San Antonio on Friday. (Courtesy WOAI/KABB)

The dogs, two females and a male, were quickly put in the custody of Animal Care Services after the attack, San Antonio Animal Care Services Director Shannon Sims.

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Animal Care Services workers seized all the dogs at a property believed to be home of the three terriers, Sims said.

In 2021, dogs from the same residence were impounded by Animal Care Services after fight in which minor biting was noted, Sims said. The dogs were quarantined but then freed because a case wasnt possible without an affidavit from a witness.

During the last two years, dogs from the same residence have been the subject of reports of unleashed canines displaying aggressive behavior, he said.

An additional "confirmed bite" case involving at least two of the dogs believed responsible for Friday's attack was reported in January, the city said.

Hood called the incident horrific and said firefighters took responsibility for protecting neighbors and themselves from the dogs.

The firefighters were very heroic in this instance, he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg owns a property on Park Avenue in New York, per the DoJ. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images; Insider

The Department of Justice has moved to seize six luxury properties owned by a sanctioned oligarch.

Viktor Vekselberg's homes in New York, the Hamptons, and Florida, are worth $75 million.

Vekselberg bought the homes via shell companies in Panama and The Bahamas, prosecutors alleged.

The Department of Justice said it has moved to seize six properties in New York, the Hamptons, and Florida worth $75 million owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

On Friday, on the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the DOJ's KleptoCapture taskforce announced its intention to seize the luxury properties owned by Vekselberg, including one on Park Avenue in New York City, alleging they were the subject of sanctions evasion and money laundering.

Court documents show Vekselberg purchased the properties using two shell companies based in Panama, and The Bahamas. Vekselberg, who was first sanctioned by the US in 2018 over the annexation of Crimea, wasn't allowed to conduct business with American citizens without a special license.

The documents say he was aided by his associate and fugitive Vladimir Voronchenko, who funneled at least $4 million into the US to maintain the properties. Prosecutors say Vekselberg attempted to sell two properties without informing the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Voronchenko instructed an attorney on how to use funds that Vekserlberg transferred into a trust account that prosecutors said amounted to about $18.5 million between 2009 and 2019.

Head of KleptoCapture, Andrew Adams, said in a press release: "Strawmen, corrupt professionals, and shell companies may be the hallmarks of money laundering and sanctions evasion, but they are obstacles that diligent, dedicated investigators and prosecutors will surmount."

He added that the filing was another step the DOJ and partners "have taken toward dislodging ill-gotten gains from those who would attempt to evade US sanctions, and toward making the value of these properties available for aid to Ukraine."

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The properties that will be seized are located at 19 Duck Pond Lane, Southampton, New York; units 21 and 22, 515 Park Avenue, New York; and three units on Fisher Island Drive, Miami Beach, Florida.

Vekselberg, worth more than $7 billion according to Bloomberg, had his superyacht and private jet seized in March 2022 as part of the US and its allies' efforts to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin in ending his war with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the US introduced fresh sanctions on Friday, targeting more than 100 entities both within Russia and worldwide, including banks and defense suppliers.

The DOJ didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Douglas County grand jury has now indicted several elected officials, county employees and more on allegations that they rigged a bid for janitorial services.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced the indictment on Friday afternoon.

The indictment, obtained by Channel 2 Action News, names County Chairwoman Romona Jackson Jones, Commissioner Henry Mitchell, Tax Commissioner Greg Baker, former Purchasing Director Bill Peacock and Anthony Knight, the owner of S & A Express.

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

All five are being charged with conspiracy in restraint of free and open competition in transactions. Jones is also facing an additional charge of making false statements.

The indictment states that between May and June 2018, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners was accepting bids for a janitorial contract at an annex building.

Prosecutors allege that Jones, Mitchell, Baker and Peacock had already promised the contract to Knights company, S & A Express.

TRENDING STORIES:

The indictment says that Knight missed the window for submitting a bid, to the defendants asked for a second window to accept bids. When he missed that one as well, they looked at all of the bids submitted and accepted Knights late submission that matched the lowest bid that was submitted on time.

They ultimately gave the contract to Knight.

Jones charge of making false statements comes from a June 2022 interview with the GBI in which she told agents that she had not signed a contract with S & A Express before the contact went through the Board of Commissioners.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) - A major Ecuadorean Indigenous organization said on Friday it will not continue talks with the government of President Guillermo Lasso, saying the government has not complied with accords, and called for Lasso's resignation over alleged corruption.

The government has said it reached dozens of accords with the CONAIE indigenous organization, including a temporary moratorium on oil blocks in the Amazon and suspension of new mining concessions in ancestral territory until community consultation laws can be passed.

CONAIE agreed last year agreed to end weeks of protests in exchange for negotiations on the deals, but said on Friday Lasso has not kept his word.

"CONAIE breaks this process of dialogue and retires from monitoring efforts," its president Leonidas Iza told journalists after meeting with other Indigenous groups. "It is evident there does not exist the political will from the government to comply."

Iza said the organizations are calling for Lasso to leave office and asking lawmakers to hold impeachment proceedings, but stopped short of calling for national protests.

"Mr. Guillermo Lasso for the dignity of our country, for your inability to govern and resolve the most important problems of Ecuadoreans, present your resignation," Iza said.

It was not immediately possible to reach the government for comment.

Lasso has clashed repeatedly with the opposition-controlled national assembly, where some lawmakers tried to oust him during the 2022 demonstrations.

He has promised to improve the economy and fight rising crime, but though his government has renegotiated oil deals and some debt, efforts to make security reforms failed to get voter backing in a recent referendum.

Prosecutors raided offices at state oil company Petroecuador and an office at the presidency earlier this month as part of an investigation into alleged graft. Lasso's office has said it has zero tolerance for corruption.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Kim Coghill)
This aerial photo shows the movie set of "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., on Oct. 23, 2021. (Jae C. Hong/AP)

A weapons supervisor charged with a felony for her alleged role in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie made her first formal court appearance Friday.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reeds attorney said his client will plead not guilty but the judge did not take that plea during the virtual court proceeding. Instead, the judge issued conditions of release that allow Gutierrez-Reed to keep a gun at home for self-defense.

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Gutierrez-Reed and Alec Baldwin were charged last month with felony involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in October 2021.

Gutierrez-Reeds attorney told the judge his client has received numerous threats and was forced to file for a restraining order against a stalker. He said authorities released documents related to the case and failed to redact identifying information that included phone numbers.

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District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told the judge she adamantly opposed the request because of Gutierrez-Reeds sloppy mishandling of firearms and guns on the set. She suggested Gutierrez-Reed could either move or keep a bat or pepper spray in her house instead.

Gutierrez-Reeds attorney, Jason Bowles, challenged the district attorneys characterization and disputed the claim about sloppiness.

There is no allegation that she is a danger to anyone having a firearm within her home and its for self-protection because of actions that the state took in releasing private information. That is the reason for that request, he said.

In addition to allowing Gutierrez-Reed to have a gun at home, the judge ordered her not to have any contact with witnesses who might testify as part of the case.

A day earlier Baldwin agreed to forgo a hearing to have his rights explained to him and entered a plea of not guilty.

The judge allowed Baldwin to have limited contact with potential witnesses in connection with plans to complete the filming of Rust. Other provisions included a prohibition on consuming alcohol and against any possession of weapons, including firearms.

Work on Rust was halted with Hutchins death. Rust Movie Productions says filming is expected to resume this spring, without the use of real weapons or ammunition.

The involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin, a lead actor and co-producer on Rust, and Gutierrez-Reed, the films armor, are punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine under New Mexico law.

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Prosecutors and defense attorneys are preparing for a likely preliminary hearing within a few months to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.

Authorities said Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwins attorney Luke Nikas said when the charges were announced that they were a terrible miscarriage of justice. He said Baldwin relied on the professionals with whom he worked and had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun.

Bowles had said the charges were the result of a very flawed investigation and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts. He said he believed jurors will exonerate his client.

Prosecutors say assistant director David Halls, who oversaw safety on set, has signed an agreement to plead guilty in the negligent use of a deadly weapon, explaining that he may have handled the gun improperly before it was given to Baldwin.

A judge is scheduled to consider approval of the plea agreement in March. Halls waived his first appearance in court.

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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Associated Press writer Morgan Lee contributed from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The opening part of Eirik Tveitens Oscar-nominated short film, Night Ride, was actually inspired by a real instance that happened to a friend of his in Oslo. He came into the same situation as the main character does. He takes off with a tram and he sees there are passengers waiting for the tram freezing, so he stops and picks them up, he tells Gold Derby during our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video interview above). What happens in the second half of the short came from Tveitens own hypothetical of what he or other people might do if they saw someone being harassed. They let things happen because the dont feel that this applies to them and we tend to not speak up.

Night Ride is a short film from Norway that can currently be viewed on YouTube and through The New Yorker website. It centers on Ebba (Sigrid Kandal Husjord), a woman of small stature, who is waiting in the freezing cold for a public tram. When the driver leaves one vacant, Ebba decides to drive the tram and pick up people at stops along the way. When she finds that a passenger is being subjected to harassment from other passengers, she must decide whether or not get involved in the provocation and stand up to bullies in a public setting. It is currently nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar and it marks the first nomination for Tveiten and the shorts producer, Gaute Lid Larssen.

More from GoldDerby

SEEdozens of interviews with 2023 Oscar contenders

When Tveiten wrote the script, he hadnt imagined that Ebba would be a little person. We went to Trondheim, where we were gonna shoot because it would be easier for us to check out the professionals. They also have their dialect from the area which is nice to use. Sigrids audition blew him away and made sense considering what the film was ultimately about. Its about being different and speaking up when people get harassed or there is prejudice. Shes encountered those situations where shes been a victim of this. So she was very much perfect for the role.

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The feelings coming from getting nominated for an Oscar are still a little difficult for Tveiten to describe. In the start, I dont think I really grasped what was going on. I didnt expect that. When you stand there on set, you dont imagine in your wildest dreams that it will make it so far. Even after attending the nominees luncheon, it all feels kind of overwhelming for him but its something hes found himself getting used to. I couldnt really connect in my own feelings when it was nominated. I was like, okay, what do we do now? I have to schedule my flights and do that. But being here, I have to say youre living the dream.

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An elderly man was killed and three others injured in a violent dog attack in a residential neighborhood of San Antonio Friday afternoon, authorities said, with responding firefighters themselves having to fight off the dogs to reach the victims.

At about 1:45 p.m. local time, firefighters dispatched to a report of a dog bite arrived to find an elderly man "being dragged by a dog," San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters.

"They could see him completely bloodied before they got off the fire truck," Hood said.

Hood, who called the scene "horrific," said the firefighters had to fend off multiple pit bulls with "pick-axes and pipe poles" just to reach the two victims, a man in his 80s and a woman. The attack occurred on a sidewalk, Hood said.

The man was given blood at the scene and then rushed to a hospital, where he died, Hood said. The woman was hospitalized in critical condition. Their names were not released.

A fire captain was also bitten on the leg during the ordeal, and a fourth victim was taken to a hospital with a bite to the hand, Hood said.

Hood described the actions of the firefighters as "very heroic."

"This is not something normal for us. We usually don't show up and have to defend patients from animals or ourselves," Hood said.

Shannon Sims, director of San Antonio Animal Care Services, said that three dogs were seized by animal control, all of whom were Staffordshire Terriers. At least two of those dogs were involved in the attack, Sims said. All three belong to the same property owners, who were questioned by officers at the scene.

He added that the investigation is in its "early stages," and the owners could face "potential charges."

Sims said the same dogs were involved in a "previous bite" incident in 2021 for which they were briefly impounded, but then eventually returned to their owners.

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Elon Musk and Ralph Nader have traded barbs on Twitter. Getty Images/WireImage

Elon Musk accused Ralph Nader of lying after claiming he took "taxpayers to the cleaners" with Tesla.

The former presidential candidate described Musk in a tweet as a "gigantic corporate welfare king."

The Tesla CEO defended himself and tweeted that Nader was "lying."

Elon Musk accused consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader of lying after he claimed the billionaire had taken "taxpayers to the cleaners" with Tesla.

In a Friday tweet, Nader wrote that Musk "started Tesla with a huge US government welfare grant." However, Musk did not start Tesla as it was founded in 2003 by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

Nader, 88, accused Musk of taking "taxpayers to the cleaners for his factories and for Starlink. He is a gigantic corporate welfare king masquerading as a capitalist businessman."

It was not clear why Nader made the accusations about Musk and Tesla. The tweet ends with "-R," meaning it was written by Nader himself rather than one of his staff.

Musk responded: "Ralph Nader, you are lying  shame on you! I personally provided almost all Tesla funding, based on my proceeds from PayPal."

Musk got about $175 million when eBay bought PayPay for $1.5 billion in 2002.

He became the largest shareholder in Tesla after making a $6.5 million investment in 2004 and took over as CEO in October 2008.

"In late 2008, I gave Tesla the last money I had. It was that or the company would have died. We closed that funding round at 6pm on Christmas Eve," Musk tweeted. "If we had not closed that round, Tesla would have gone bankrupt 2 days after Christmas. I gave my last money thinking Tesla would probably still die, not thinking that it would be lucrative."

Musk added in his tweet to Nader that the "first meaningful government funding" Tesla received was in the second quarter of 2010. According to its website, Tesla got about $465 million from the Department of Energy to accelerate the production of electric vehicles.

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Musk concluded that "Tesla paid back that loan early with interest" and "taxpayers actually made a profit." In a press release in May 2013, the EV maker said it had repaid the loan nine years early.

"I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate," Musk at the time. "I hope we did you proud."

In an open letter on February 17, Nader called on Apple CEO Tim Cook and "hedge fund titans" to use their wealth to organize direct relief for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and "other major refugee areas such as the starving children of Somalia."

Tesla and Nader didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
It has to end: US lawmakers arent letting junk fees fly, putting pressure on airlines to stop ripping off travelers  but is it enough to lower the cost of your next trip?

Of all the so-called "junk fees" currently drawing the ire of lawmakers, it is the hidden airline charges that seem to irk them  and Americans  the most.

It would appear the skys the limit for ticket prices as U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows Americans are paying around 25% more for flights than they were a year ago.

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UBS says 61% of millionaire collectors allocate up to 30% of their overall portfolio to this exclusive asset class

As families are forced to dig deeper into their pockets to make travel plans, politicians want to ban the so-called junk fees plaguing the airline industry  and their heightened pressure and scrutiny is having an impact.

Airline executives have taken consumers for a ride, charging exorbitant fees and providing lackluster service. It has to end, tweeted Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) earlier this month.

In the past week, two major airlines have announced fee changes and other airlines may follow suit if a string of consumer-friendly bills take flight in Congress  heres how they could help reduce your travel costs this year.

New laws are in the works

Airlines have been a central focus in an ongoing Congressional debate around junk fees  a topic championed by President Biden, who wants to eliminate hidden fees that hurt Americans pocketbooks and the economy.

Biden took airlines to task in his State of the Union address earlier this month, saying he would make them disclose the full ticket price upfront and refund money if a flight is canceled or delayed.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed a rule in September that would protect travelers by ensuring they know the full price of airline tickets before they buy  including any family seating fees, baggage fees and charges for flight changes or cancellations.

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Similar wording was included in Bidens Junk Fee Prevention Act, introduced in October 2022 with the aim of cutting out pesky fees that are ripping off Americans in everything from banking services to internet bills, concert tickets, and airline services.

But for some frustrated lawmakers, things are not moving quickly enough.

Markey, along with other senators, are ready to take matters into their own hands, tackling unfair or deceptive practices by airlines through a series of bills.

He was part of a group that reintroduced the Forbidding Airlines from Imposing Ridiculous (FAIR) Fees Act to put an end to the nickel and diming of passengers with unreasonable fees, and is a lead cosponsor of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)s Airline Passengers Bill of Rights  a comprehensive law to expand protections for air travelers.

If there's one thing that really ticks people off, its how theyre abused by the airline industry, said Markey at a press conference in Bostons Logan airport earlier this month.

Airline executives have continuously turned a deaf ear to the complaints of the flying public in our country. The day of reckoning has arrived.

Read more: Rich young Americans have lost confidence in the stock market  and are betting on these 3 assets instead. Get in now for strong long-term tailwinds

Airlines respond to mounting pressure

Government efforts to tackle junk fees are starting to have an impact, even as the proposed laws are yet to take off.

Markey reintroduced his Families Fly Together Act earlier this month to stop airlines from emptying parents pockets just so they can sit with their kids.

Flying with children [is] hard enough, he said  and two major airlines are now making moves on that front.

On Feb. 20, United Airlines announced a new dynamic seat map feature that will sit children under 12 years old next to an adult in their party for free  regardless of the type of ticket purchased.

A day later, Frontier Airlines made a similar announcement about changes to its seating system.

Uniteds new family-friendly policy will take effect in March. Before the change, the airline charged seat reservation fees from $9 to $169 each way, depending on ticket class, flight duration and other variables.

Also, the DOT has published a dashboard of airline policies for when flights are delayed or canceled due to issues under the airlines control.

This led nine airlines  including giants like Southwest, American and Delta  to change their policies around guaranteeing coverage of hotels, and 10 airlines guaranteeing coverage of meals for stranded passengers.

Junk fees may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter to most other folks in homes like the one I grew up in, like many of you did, Biden said during his State of the Union address.

They add up to hundreds of dollars a month. They make it harder for you to pay your bills or afford that family trip.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Key Insights

Engtex Group Berhad's estimated fair value is RM1.10 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of RM0.67 suggests Engtex Group Berhad is potentially 39% undervalued

Peers of Engtex Group Berhad are currently trading on average at a 2,497% premium

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Engtex Group Berhad (KLSE:ENGTEX) by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Engtex Group Berhad

What's The Estimated Valuation?

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 begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM55.5m RM86.6m RM87.8m RM89.5m RM91.7m RM94.3m RM97.1m RM100.2m RM103.5m RM107.0m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 1.96% Est @ 2.44% Est @ 2.78% Est @ 3.02% Est @ 3.18% Est @ 3.30% Est @ 3.38% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 20% RM46.4 RM60.6 RM51.3 RM43.8 RM37.5 RM32.2 RM27.8 RM23.9 RM20.7 RM17.9

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM362m

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We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 20%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM107m (1 + 3.6%)  (20% 3.6%) = RM692m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM692m ( 1 + 20%)10= RM116m

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is RM478m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM0.7, the company appears quite good value at a 39% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

Important Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. 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 Engtex Group 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 20%, 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.

SWOT Analysis for Engtex Group Berhad

Strength

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Trade Distributors market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Paying a dividend but company has no free cash flows.

Next Steps:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. 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. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Engtex Group Berhad, we've put together three fundamental items you should further research:

Risks: Case in point, we've spotted 3 warning signs for Engtex Group Berhad you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning. Future Earnings: How does ENGTEX'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 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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By Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A 655,000-barrel cargo of Venezuelan heavy crude chartered by a unit of Italy's Eni SpA departed on Friday from a port operated by state-run PDVSA, shipping data showed, marking Venezuela's first export to Europe after a three-month pause.

Eni and Spain's Repsol SA last year received U.S. authorizations to take Venezuelan oil to Europe as compensation for outstanding debt in an easing of American sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry.

But the shipments were allocated intermittently last year. And so far this year most Venezuelan crude exports have been halted during a sweeping audit by new PDVSA boss Pedro Tellechea, who revised contract terms to avoid a series of failed payments by some customers.

The Greece-flagged Aframax tanker Minerva Alexandra, which had arrived in Venezuelan waters this month, loaded some 315,000 barrels of Boscan crude and 340,000 barrels of diluted crude oil, according to internal PDVSA shipping documents and Refinitiv Eikon data.

PDVSA and Eni did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The vessel is bound for Repsol's Cartagena refinery, according to the documents and data, a Spanish facility that has processed Venezuelan heavy crudes in the past.

Eni received two cargoes of Venezuelan diluted crude in June-July last year and two more shipments in November, according to PDVSA's documents. The oil has helped Italy and Spain ease a lack of specific crude grades in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions.

Another energy firm authorized by the United States to receive and export Venezuelan oil, Chevron Corp, is on track to ship more than 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the United States this month under a U.S. license issued in November.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; additional reporting by Francesca Landini in Milan; editing by Will Dunham)
A large plume of smoke rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, on February 6, 2023. AP

Norfolk Southern Railway Company is facing simmering legal issues in the wake of a toxic derailment.

Class action lawsuits are piling on, with federal and state authorities zeroing in on the company's liability.

Soon, insurance companies could be asking the train company to foot hefty bills, a legal expert told Insider.

Norfolk Southern Railway Company's bill for a disastrous chemical spill and train derailment in Ohio could continue to increase, with tightening federal cleanup rules and big money lawsuits.

On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency made Norfolk Southern responsible for the cleanup of the chemicals and the derailment site, with the ability to charge the company $70,000 a day if the cleanup is insufficient.

In the background, a growing number of lawsuits are claiming the company was strictly liable for transporting and spilling the ultra-hazardous materials, and insurers could soon look to sue the company, Michael Miguel, a principal at law firm McKool Smith focused on insurance claims, told Insider. Miguel is not connected to any ongoing cases against Norfolk Southern.

In the weeks since the derailment, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a preliminary report, which stated that a wheel bearing on the train overheated to 253 degrees Fahrenheit above ambient temperatures ahead of the derailment.

Thirty eight train cars derailed, with 11 of them containing hazardous chemicals, according to the report.

"We call things accidents. There is no accident," NTSB chief Jennifer Homendy said at a press conference on Thursday. "Every single event we investigate is preventable," calling the derailment "100% preventable."

The company has agreed to comply with regulators and donated $25,000 to the town and residents within a one-mile radius are eligible to get a $1,000 "convenience" check from the company. The company also released its proposed remediation plan, but will likely face lawsuits from states, locals, and insurers.

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Norfolk Southern did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

Beyond class action lawsuits, insurance companies may target Norfolk Southern

After residents make their claims to their various insurers, the train company then could be in the line of fire of insurance companies.

"Norfolk Southern has its own direct insurance issues," Miguel told Insider. "And then they will likely face direct lawsuits from insurance companies who had paid out to the homeowners and the businesses by way of subrogation, alleging a parade of horribles as to why they should be covered."

Class action lawsuits from residents have already flooded in.

One new lawsuit from law firms Johnson and Johnson and Hagens Berman claims that Norfolk Southern was strictly liable and caused public nuisance through their negligence, and that they should pay back residents and cover future medical expenses.

Hagens Berman represented Ohio in public nuisance litigation against big tobacco companies in 1998, which led to a $260 billion settlement in multiple states.

Residents as far as 20 miles from the crash site have reported health issues, according to the new lawsuit.

"After the derailment, Ms. Hutton noticed a strange odor in her home and her dog became ill and started to vomit," attorneys said in the suit. "In addition, Ms. Hutton's eyes burned, she developed a headache, experienced difficulty and pain while breathing."

The latest lawsuit focuses on the company's 'ultra-hazardous activity'

Their lawsuit, which includes a resident who owns 100 rescue animals, also brings a claim of strict liability for ultra-hazardous activity against the train company, and claims the company violated federal law for not immediately reporting the derailment.

"Defendants were engaged in abnormally and inherently dangerous or ultra-hazardous activity in the distribution, transportation, storage, maintenance, inspection, monitoring and use of hazardous chemicals," attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.

Miguel said that the spacing of the train cars and the controlled release of the chemicals could also be nitpicked by lawyers.

"In terms of culpability for the accident, questions are certainly going to be asked about whether there was appropriate spacing of the chemicals from each other?" Miguel told Insider.

"Writing a bunch of a thousand dollars checks for people that are local isn't going to be the end of the liability for Norfolk Southern," Miguel said.

Read the original article on Insider
For beginners, it can seem like a good idea (and an exciting prospect) to buy a company that tells a good story to investors, even if it currently lacks a track record of revenue and profit. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses. A loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the inflow of external capital may dry up.

In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like Petards Group (LON:PEG), which has not only revenues, but also profits. While profit isn't the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it's worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.

See our latest analysis for Petards Group

How Fast Is Petards Group Growing?

If you believe that markets are even vaguely efficient, then over the long term you'd expect a company's share price to follow its earnings per share (EPS) outcomes. So it makes sense that experienced investors pay close attention to company EPS when undertaking investment research. It certainly is nice to see that Petards Group has managed to grow EPS by 31% per year over three years. If the company can sustain that sort of growth, we'd expect shareholders to come away satisfied.

It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. Unfortunately, Petards Group's revenue dropped 16% last year, but the silver lining is that EBIT margins improved from -0.8% to 2.1%. That falls short of ideal.

The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.

Since Petards Group is no giant, with a market capitalisation of UK6.1m, you should definitely check its cash and debt before getting too excited about its prospects.

Are Petards Group Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Prior to investment, it's always a good idea to check that the management team is paid reasonably. Pay levels around or below the median, can be a sign that shareholder interests are well considered. For companies with market capitalisations under UK167m, like Petards Group, the median CEO pay is around UK281k.

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The Petards Group CEO received UK170k in compensation for the year ending December 2021. That comes in below the average for similar sized companies and seems pretty reasonable. CEO remuneration levels are not the most important metric for investors, but when the pay is modest, that does support enhanced alignment between the CEO and the ordinary shareholders. It can also be a sign of good governance, more generally.

Is Petards Group Worth Keeping An Eye On?

If you believe that share price follows earnings per share you should definitely be delving further into Petards Group's strong EPS growth. With swiftly growing earnings, the best days may still be to come, and the modest CEO pay suggests the company is careful with cash. So this stock is well worth an addition to your watchlist as it has the potential to provide great value to shareholders. Don't forget that there may still be risks. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Petards Group that you should be aware of.

Although Petards Group certainly looks good, it may appeal to more investors if insiders were buying up shares. If you like to see insider buying, then this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying, could be exactly what you're looking for.

Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Vietnamese designer to debut collection at Paris Fashion Week

Vietnamese designer Tran Phuong Hoa is set to present her wedding dress collection on March 4 during Paris Fashion Week.











Vietnamese designer Tran Phuong Hoa (fourth from left) and models in New York Fashion Week.



Hoa will be the only Vietnamese ready-to-wear clothing designer attending the prestigious fashion event this year.



At present, she is busy completing her 15 designs using traditional natural materials of Vietnam Lanh My A, a delicate cloth woven from the finest silk fibres produced in Tan Chau Silk Village in the southern province of An Giang.



The 31-year-old designer is residing in Ha Tinh province and graduated from National Economics University in Hanoi. She now mostly lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City.



She built the wedding dress brand Eleven S, which has proved to be a favourite among many Vietnamese artists and celebrities.



Paris Fashion Week is one of the four largest fashion weeks across the world, alongside the likes of London, New York, and Milan fashion weeks.



This years Feb. 27  Mar. 7 event will feature the participation of nearly 100 designers from around the globe, introducing fashion collections performed by more than 1,000 models.
Chicago police Officer Zaida Sanabia, a member of their LGBTQ+ liaison team, helps Erica Hungerford and Peter Charnley paint a rainbow on their garage on Oct. 23, 2022, in Jefferson Park. The homeowners said they have experienced five incidents of anti-LGBTQ harassment. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Reported hate crimes skyrocketed in Chicago in 2022, nearly doubling from the year before, police data shows.

And as hate crimes rise sharply , several authorities are warning of a heightened threat this weekend because of a neo-Nazi-planned National Day of Hate.

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The Illinois State Police are urging heightened vigilance as antisemitic groups share extremist messaging online encouraging hate actions this weekend.

The antisemites have pushed plans to drop banners, place stickers and flyers, and vandalize on Saturday, according to a community alert from the Chicago Police Departments 24th District, which includes large Jewish communities on the North Side.

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CPD said Friday there was no actionable intelligence on specific hate threats in a statement to the Tribune. The department is working closely with leaders in the Jewish community and faith-based communities, according to the statement.

The Cook County states attorneys office said in a Friday statement it is working with law enforcement and would aggressively prosecute any acts of hate.

The weekend threat comes as hate crimes are on the rise across the country in recent years.

In Chicago, 202 reported hate crimes were reported in 2022, up from 109 in 2021, according to CPD data.

The attacks included a man smashing windows and spray-painting swastikas on synagogues and at a Jewish girls school and the defacement of a rainbow Love Wins mural on a Jefferson Park garage.

[ I just want to be safe: Chicago native worries after finding vandalism, hate speech at her Bridgeport cafe ]

In early January, a Black-owned Bridgeport cafe was vandalized with messages saying Black Lives Dont Matter.

Over the last decade, the number of hate crimes reported annually hovered around 60 per year before steadily rising and finally reaching 100 in 2021. Hate crimes last surpassed Chicagos 2022 total in 2001, according to CPD data.

Last years hate crimes were most commonly motivated by bias against Black people, Jewish people and gay men. Assault, battery or criminal damage were the most common hate crimes and typically occurred at residences or on city streets, the CPD data shows.

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The 2022 spike included a rise in hate acts committed with anti-Black and anti-Jewish bias. Acts motivated by bias against Asian people, white people, LGBTQ+ people and Latino people also were up substantially last year.

While the numbers are concerning for David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, they werent surprising.

We had responded to more incidents by Halloween of last year than we had the entire year previously, Goldenberg said.

The ADL reported 97 white supremacist actions in Illinois in 2021. That number rose to 162 in 2022, Goldenberg said. The FBI and ADL have tracked national highs in hate crimes too, he added.

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 >

The threats for this weekend started with a neo-Nazi group in Iowa but have been endorsed and shared online by various extremist groups, Goldenberg said.

While they might be calling for this National Day of Hate, weve seen a steady uptick in these types of incidents in the state and across the country, he said.

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The broad uptick in hate crimes might stem in part from better tracking and reporting, he noted.

But the reality is more incidents are actually occurring, Goldenberg said. We see groups being targeted based on their identity. We see dramatic increases in hate crimes and hate incidents targeting members of the Black, Jewish, LGBTQ+ and Asian American communities in particular.

Goldenberg noted that a 2021 ADL report showed an even greater problem. While hate acts had been steadily rising, the percentage of Americans expressing antisemitic attitudes sharply rose, he said. Its incumbent on everyone to speak out against hate, respond to misinformation with facts and show support and strength with targeted communities, he said.

Theres a clear choice here, Goldenberg said. Are you going to hate or are you going to love? Are you going to hate or are you going to be tolerant? Are you going to hate or are you going to be inclusive?

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
The best and worst TikTok credit card hacks NurPhoto / Contributor/Getty Images

Western lawmakers have expressed concerns over TikTok's cybersecurity threats in recent years.

The EU joins other authorities to ban the app from staff phones over cybersecurity concerns.

The US Senate as well as more than half of US states also ban the app on government phones.

The European Commission banned TikTok from staff phones over cybersecurity concerns, Reuters reported.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, accused the EU of not consulting with it before making the move.

"So we are really operating under a cloud. And the lack of transparency and the lack of due process. Quite frankly one would expect, you know, some sort of engagement on this matter," Caroline Greer, TikTok's director of public policy and government relations, told Reuters. The company did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

At a news conference on Thursday, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said the decision was an internal one, and the agency does not have to give a reason for it, Reuters reported.

EU staff members will also have to remove TikTok from their personal devices if those devices access corporate services, Reuters also reported.

Western lawmakers and cybersecurity experts have grown wary of the security threats TikTok may pose in recent years. Authorities are worried that China could collect users' personal data through the app, a claim that TikTok has repeatedly denied.

There have been several debates in the US over either banning or enforcing stricter oversight on TikTok.

More than half of US states have banned TikTok from government devices, Insider previously reported. Additionally, the app is banned on the government-owned devices of US Senate employees.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The EU Council decided to introduce additional sanctions against individuals and companies associated with the Wagner Group; among them are commanders of units involved in the war against Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda citing EU Council's press office

The communique states that the mercenaries of Wagner's Group are currently operating in Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, and Sudan, in addition to Ukraine.

"The Wagner Group's activities are a threat for the people in the countries where they operate and the European Union. They endanger international peace and security as they do not operate within any legal framework," Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said.

The Council decided to list eight individuals and seven entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime responsible for or involved in serious human rights abuses; one individual is listed under the Mali sanctions regime. Two individuals were also listed in connection to actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

"The listed individuals include two commanders of Wagner Group forces actively involved in the capture of the town of Soledar in Ukraine in January 2023, the head of the Wagner Group in Mali, where Wagner mercenaries have been involved in acts of violence and multiple human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, as well as various high-profile members of the group in the CAR," the communique states.

Among the legal entities, the companies Meroe Gold, M-Invest and its manager, Lobaye Invest Sarlu and Diamville, which are connected to the activities of the Wagner Group in Sudan and the CAR, have fallen under the restrictions. The Foundation for the Defence of National Values (FDNV), the public relations arm of the Wagner Group, is also listed, as is its head.

Sanctions include the freezing of assets, a ban on entry and transit through EU countries, and a ban on EU citizens and companies providing them with funds.

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These sanctions are in addition to measures agreed upon in December 2021, which were directed against eight individuals and three entities, as well as the Wagner Group as a whole. In addition, at that time the Council of the EU created a separate sanctions regime for those involved in the threat to peace and stability in Mali.

The EU's global sanctions regime for human rights violations was established in December 2020.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for the death of his 7-week-old daughter after pleading guilty to injury of a child, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorneys Office announced on Friday.

Zachary Watson plead guilty to abusing his daughter, Noriah Helmer.

Noriah died on May 14, 2022, at the ICU at Cook Childrens Medical Center in Fort Worth, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiners Office. She had been physically abused by Watson at their Euless home, according to authorities.

A specific cause of death has not been reported by the medical examiners office.

The babys mother, Shanice Helmer, 23, faces a charge of child endangerment for allegedly allowing Watson to abuse Noriah and another child, according to Tarrant County court records. She was indicted in August. Her trial date has not been set.

Assistant Criminal District Attorney Deanna Franzen prosecuted this case. Investigators Brent Ezelle, Tiffany Johnson, and Euless police also worked on the case.
Rhonda Harris doesnt sleep much.

The registered nurse often works overtime at the Miami VA Medical Center, picking up shifts whenever she can. On her days off, Harris, who also has a nurse practitioners license, works in telehealth. She and her husband have three kids to care for, and lots of bills to pay, including their daughters college tuition.

Everythings gone up. My mortgage has now doubled since the beginning of the year so I need to work extra hours, said Harris, 40, a charge nurse who lives in Cutler Bay and has worked at the hospital since 2018.

Other VA employees are also feeling the strain of inflation and rising housing prices. Earlier this month, a group of nurses rallied outside the Miami VA near Jackson Memorial Hospital to seek better pay, improved working conditions and quality care for veterans.

I dont think theyre doing enough to keep and attract nurses. Thats just reality. ... You can see it at the bedside  if you dont have enough nurses, youre not going to deliver enough care for the veterans, said Riezl Paraiso, a critical care nurse at the Miami VA and the associate director of the Miami VAs chapter of National Nurses United, the union of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide. Shes worked at the Miami VA for nearly 14 years.

On Feb. 9, 2023, VA nurses rallied outside the VA Hospital in Miami for fair pay and quality patient care.

Registered nurses in the U.S. made an annual mean wage of $82,750, according to May 2021 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Florida, which has one of the highest numbers of registered nurses, the annual salary was $72,000 in 2021, the data show. In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area, the annual salary was higher than the state average in 2021, but lower than the national average, at $74,220.

At the Miami VA, salaries were even lower. In 2021, a Grade 1, Step 1, registered nurse  often an entry-level job  at the Miami VA made $65,771, according to the Miami VAs pay schedule. Miami VA registered nurses have pay scales of grades 1, 2 and 3 with 12 salary steps per grade. Most nurses at the Miami VA are Grades 1 and 2, according to the union. The grades and steps often have to do with education and performance.

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If youre not paying nurses, if your nurses are so grossly underpaid that you cant retain and recruit nurses, youre not going to be taking care of veterans. Its that simple,  said Bill Frogameni, a registered nurse who works in acute psychiatry at the Miami VA and is director of the unions Miami VA chapter.

The Miami VA didnt answer questions about staffing, retention rates or provide examples of recent bonuses and retention incentives. A VA spokesman said questions on staffing, retention rates and examples of recent bonus and retention incentives for nurses had to be filed as a public records request. The Herald filed the request earlier this week but did not receive an answer to its queries.

Instead, the Miami VA forwarded a statement from the federal agency:

We at VA are so grateful for the work that VA nurses do to deliver world-class healthcare to Veterans daily. This has been particularly critical during the pandemic, when nurses across the country risked their own lives to save and improve the lives of Veterans. One of VAs top priorities right now is recruiting, hiring, and retaining our great nurses. To do that, VA advocated strongly for the PACT Act and RAISE Act  both of which have given us increased authorities to raise pay caps for VA nurses across the country, said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes in a statement. We have also maximized bonuses and retention incentives to reward VA nurses for their excellent work and keep them at VA, where they belong....

Nonetheless, nurses say they are feeling economic pressures, especially with higher food, housing and gas prices.

Jacques Masse, 30, a registered nurse in the ambulatory surgery department at the Miami VA, is concerned about the rising cost of living in Miami, especially with a growing family.

Better pay will mean a better life. ... Better pay means a lot to all of us. It means that were being appreciated, it means that we can actually care for our family and care for ourselves, said Masse, who has worked at the VA for three years.

Masse said nurses received a 4.3% cost-of-living adjustment in January. At the Miami VA, Grade 1 registered nurses will be paid between $74,172 and $98,647 in 2023, depending on their salary step, according to the VAs 2023 pay schedule. Grade 2 nurses will make between $86,692 and $115,292.

Pandemic hurt nursing shortages

Hospitals across the country have increased pay and benefits, including signing bonuses, to help attract workers during a nursing shortage exacerbated by the pandemic, when many nurses retired or quit, but the VA has trailed behind, union leaders say.

Miami VA nurses told the Herald that the lack of competitive pay is one reason why nurses have left the medical center. The union says the hospital lost 146 registered nurses and advanced nurse practitioners from the start of the pandemic through the end of 2021. Some left to become travel nurses or went to work at other hospitals.

Some VA nurses like Dina Walters and Lowella Baptista have had to get a part-time job to help make ends meet. Baptista, for example, left her more than decade-long career at Jackson Health, Miami-Dades public hospital system, to work at the VA in 2019. The VA offers a variety of benefits, including better job security, she said, but the pay isnt enough. Shes still working part time at Jackson.

Harris, the RN who often works overtime, said a higher salary would help ease her familys concerns.

Better pay would be peace of mind, Harris said, helping her have a savings for my children, and for me, for my future, for my retirement and peace of mind and quality of life, being able to spend time with my family and being able to afford basic things.
By Shivani Tanna

(Reuters) - Roger Ng, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker convicted for helping to embezzle Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, appealed to a New York court on Saturday not to force him to spend more time in prison.

In anticipation of his sentencing hearing scheduled for March 9, Ng's lawyers asked the court to show mercy and to sentence him to the prison time he has already served in Malaysia.

Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, spent six months in a Malaysian prison before he was picked up by the U.S. authorities on Nov. 1, 2018, according to the court filing.

In October 2020, Goldman agreed to pay $2.9 billion and its Malaysian unit pleaded guilty to a corruption charge, to settle probes into the looting of billions of dollars from 1MDB and payment of bribes to win business for the Wall Street bank.

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Ng in April last year of conspiring to violate an anti-bribery law and commit money laundering. Ng faces up to 30 years in prison.

"Stripped of his dignity in a Malaysian prison, he has been made to be sick, afraid, alone and hopeless, and still suffers the debilitating effects of PTSD," the lawyers said while they asked the judge to allow him to return to Malaysia, where he is still subject to criminal charges related to the massive theft of Malaysian funds.

Reuters was not immediately able reach Malaysian prison officials to comment on the conditions.

Prosecutors said that he helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from the fund, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman.

"Ng's role in the offense was minimal, and the only claim to the contrary was provided by Tim Leissner, who was patently incredible," the defense said in the court filing.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Famed environmental advocate Erin Brockovich is fighting for the people of East Palestine.

Brockovich is part of a town hall meeting set for Friday at the high school.

>>> Vinyl chloride: What we know about the toxic chemical released at East Palestine train derailment

PHOTOS: Massive explosion at start of controlled release of chemicals at train derailment

Channel 11s Rich Pierce spoke with her one-on-one ahead of that meeting.

Pierce: What have people been telling you? Whats their fear about this whole situation?

Brockovich: Their fear is just that. Whats their future? Weve seen it too many times. We hear about these communities; I work in these communities and ten years later they call and say my daughter has cancer.

Pierce: What advice do you have for them when it comes to making sure that theyre being taken care of?

Brockovich: Norfolk is not your friend. They never will be and theyre not. They are there to protect themselves.

What I want the community to know is they already know. They are already responding. Theyve got good instincts, good common sense. They know what happened. They were there.

Pierce: How would you rate the response so far, government, Norfolk, everybody?

Brockovich: I honestly dont, Ive never seen anything like it. Its been slow.

It just seemed slow, almost concealed for a moment - or, certainly not pushed out there for us to talk about. Then, the frustration from the community.

Also appearing at the town hall will be trial attorney Mikal Watts.

There is very specific case law as to what needs to be proved in order to recover for fear of cancer, which these people obviously have because of the Vinyl Chloride release, Watts said. My main message tomorrow night is going to be get your blood tested. Get your urine tested.

RELATED >>> PEMA launches dashboard for concerned Pennsylvanians following train derailment

The meeting is at 6 p.m. at East Palestine High School. Registration ahead of time is required to attend. You can do that by clicking here.

Story continues

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NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter

Scrutinizing images from a large telescope in Spain, a team of mostly European astronomers have found what seems to be a very rare kind of exoplanet 31 light-years from Earth.

The seemingly wet, airy planet called Wolf 1069 b could very well possess the key factors in making it indeed a habitable world, a team led by Diana Kossakowski, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, wrote in a peer-reviewed study, the latest version of which appeared online on Feb. 2. The study is slated to be published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Wolf 1069 b could be Earths cousin. But if so, its that weird third cousin you avoid at the family reunion. Yes, it seems to be the right size, temperature, and composition to make a pretty good home for life as we know it. But Wolf 1069 b apparently spins at just the right speed to keep the same side facing its star at all times. That means theres constant light or constant dark depending on which half of the planet youre on. Equally weirdly, Wolf 1069 b might be all alone in its star system. No neighboring planets. Not even a moon to keep it company.

With its mix of familiarity and utter alienness, Wolf 1069 is unique among exoplanets. Imagine Earth, but take away its day-night cycle, delete its moon and erase all the nearby planets in its night sky.

The uncanny exoplanet could help us redefine what we consider a livable planet. Wolf 1069 b is a noteworthy discovery that will allow further exploration into the habitability of Earth-mass planets, Kossakowskis team wrote.

Webb Telescope Captures First Direct Image of a Planet Outside our Solar System

Color Out of Space

Kossakowski and her coauthors discovered Wolf 1069 b in data gathered by the Carmenes instrument on the 11.5-foot telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. Carmeneswhich became operational in 2016detects the color shifts of a very faraway object in space.

Those shifts, the results of accordion-like changes in the wavelengths of light reflecting from the object, can indicate that objects movement relative to the observer. An object that changes color in certain ways, in certain spans of time, might be a planet.

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Analyzing images that Carmenes captured between 2017 and 2020, Kossakowskis teamincluding scientists in Cyprus, Germany, Spain and the U.S.noticed something odd. Spectral patterns indicating a solitary planet orbiting the dwarf star Wolf 1069.

The planet appears to be roughly the same size as Earth and similar in composition. That is, rocky rather than gassy. Equally importantly, Wolf 1069 b orbits its low-mass star at a distance of around 650,000 miles, placing it in the habitable zone of the star. Just close enough to maintain a cozy temperatureand, therefore, potential life.

Wolf 1069 as seen by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Wikimedia Commons

Scientists have identified more than 5,000 exoplanets. Not many of them are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone of their stars. In fact, there are just 20 confirmed exoplanets that meet these criteria. Of them, Wolf 1069 b is the sixth closest to Earth.

All things being equal, Wolf 1069 b should be one of the top priorities as scientists both search the cosmos for signs of alien life and build a roster of habitable planets that our descendants might eventually colonize. But Wolf 1069 b has a few weird features. It seems the planet spins around its own axis at the same rate that the planet itself orbits around its star. In other words, the same half of the planet is always facing the sun. There's a permanent night on the far side, and a permanent day on the near side.

That doesnt mean Wolf 1069 b cant support life. It does mean its probably only half-inhabitableand only by species that can adapt to around-the-clock light or dark.

Giant Impact

Theres also the fact that theres no clear evidence of other planets orbiting the Wolf 1069 star. Thats really rare. So rare that Kossakowskis team speculated there once was at least one other planet in the systembut, a long time ago, they collided with Wolf 1069 b. Perhaps Wolf 1069 b had a violent formation history, the scientists wrote.

That kind of planetary collisiona so-called giant impactis actually pretty common in the early eons of a star systems formation. A possible giant collision between Earth and a long-gone neighboring planet 4.5 billion years ago may have reshaped our then-young planet.

Massive collisions are unimaginably destructive. But they can also be enormously productive once the proverbial dust settles, millions of years after impact.

This Tiny Planet in the Solar System Has a Ring That Shouldnt Exist

Thats especially true with Earth. I think that impacts created a great diversity of environments on Earth, possibly including the continents themselves, that ultimately enabled complex macroscopic organisms to evolve, Tim Johnson, a geologist at Curtin University in Australia who wasnt involved with the study, told The Daily Beast.

A collision on that scale can also eject massive amounts of debris into the larger planets orbit. Debris that, over time, can clump together and form a moon. Thats apparently how our own moon formed.

Another thing thats strange about Wolf 1069 b is that the planet seems to have benefited from all the geological mixing resulting from an apparent giant collision, but doesnt have a moon that we can see with our existing telescopes. Maybe the moon is there but we havent found it yet. Or maybe a moon never formed and, having absorbed all its planetary neighbors, the exoplanet really is alone in its corner of the galaxy.

The absence of a moon has some fascinating implications. Our own moon tugs on our oceans with its gravity, thus creating our tides. Billions of years ago, tides repeatedly stranded simple aquatic organisms on dry land, forcing them to adapt. Tidal displacement of the surface water  seems to have helped life on Earth to emerge from the oceans, Thomas Fauchez, a space scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and a member of Kossakowskis team, told The Daily Beast.

Our Best Tool to Find ET May Have Finally Arrived

To be clear, evolution is theoretically possible without tides. It is not necessary that a large moon needs to be present for a planet to have life, Rajdeep Dasgupta, a planetary scientist at Rice University who was uninvolved with the study, told The Daily Beast.

But these tides would definitely impact the planet's subsequent evolution, Dasgupta said. Theyre an astrobiological bonus. So if theres already life on Wolf 1069 b, it probably followed a very different evolutionary path than Earth life did.

Surveying the Future

Its possible Kossakowskis team is wrong, of course. Everything we currently know about Wolf 1069 b, we gleaned from a few colorful but blurry images. As our telescopes improve, our data should improve, too. Maybe well discover we were wrong about the half-dark but apparently habitable planet.

Fauchez is especially keen to confirm whether Wolf 1069 b really is all by itself. Future surveys of Wolf 1069 b could search for an inner planet within the system, he said, pointing out that the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b seemed to be all alone until a follow-up survey spotted a nearby planet.

On the other hand, these same future surveys could discover even more weird planetary attributes. Kossakowski and her colleagues stressed that a planet with no moon and no tides can lead to unique atmospheric circulation pathways that, at present, we can only really guess at.

On Earth, for example, it tends to rain more when the moon is high in the sky, its gravity slightly warping our atmosphere. On Wolf 1069 b, there might not be a moon to weigh on weather patterns.

Right now, Wolf 1069 b appears to be really odd but perfectly liveable for us or some alien species. Further study could make it seem more liveable, or less. Maybe its less like Earths strange third cousin and more like a sister. Or maybe it doesnt belong in the family at all.

Either way, we should know more soon. Fauchez said he and his colleagues are already putting together a plan for further investigation of the uncanny exoplanet.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A Hardin County girl was suspended last fall following an incident after another student attempted to remove her hijab  a punishment her mother and the Council on American-Islamic Relations say was harsher than what was given to the boy they say initiated the confrontation.

Kenneisha Turner Wright, said her 14-year-old daughter was suspended for three days after the Oct. 25 incident while the other student involved was back in class at Vine Grove's James T. Alton Middle School the next day. The discrepancy in punishments was unfair, Wright contends, and the incident has remained on her daughter's permanent record, forcing her to miss school events she'd looked forward to including an end-of-the-year field trip.

The Islamic relations group, which called the case a "possible hate crime," said in a release that Wright was able to privately view a video of the incident, though it did not include audio  which she believes exists, because she said school personnel told her what was said. The organization said it has pushed the school district to re-evaluate disciplinary actions against the student and expunge her record.

Subscribe:5 reasons to subscribe to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Courier Journal

Hardin County Schools spokesperson John Wright told The Courier Journal on Wednesday the district could not comment on another student's punishment, which he said is set using predetermined guidelines along with district policy and a student code of conduct.

Wright, who is unrelated to the girl or her family, added that the district will not release footage of the incident. He would also not confirm any details, including whether the incident had even taken place, when asked Friday if the district disputed anything in the Council on American-Islamic Relations release.

The student's mother and the American-Islamic council said the video shows another student, a white male, attempting to remove a hijab being worn by her daughter, a Black Muslim.

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In the release, the group said the video shows the boy talking to the girl and her friend and then pursuing her after she walked away. The video then reportedly shows the boy starting to grab her hijab, "making (physical) contact with her religious head covering." She's then seen trying to adjust her hijab and pursues him after he appears to say something to her while running off. A "physical back and forth conflict" ensues, the release said.

The Courier Journal has not watched the video and cannot independently confirm what it shows.

Kenneisha Turner Wright said she understands why her daughter faced some discipline following the conflict, as she was involved in a fight, though she said when"someone attacks, you tend to react with the same type of energy."

The incident is unlikely to hurt her academic standing moving forward. Jenny Sawyer, executive director of admissions at the University of Louisville, said the school only asks applicants about high school expulsions, as "suspensions tend to, from a data perspective, impact underrepresented students and under-resourced students." A University of Kentucky spokesperson said the school does not receive or take into account disciplinary records from applicants outside of their high school years.

But Wright disagrees with the apparent difference in punishments between her daughter and the other student, claiming the school told her he just "tapped at her hijab." She said that's still an offense in her religion while the district "really downplayed" the incident.

She wants the suspension to be pulled from her daughter's record and students to be educated on diversity, with an emphasis on respecting people who practice the Muslim religion and other cultures.

More:Longtime Louisville seasonal restaurant Dairy Kastle is reopening. Here's when

Wright has six children that, at one point, were homeschooled. They enrolled in public school last year after expressing a desire to attend classes with other children. Now, she's considering pulling her kids out of school again.

This isn't the first time they've experienced anti-Islamic behavior or actions, either, Wright said.

She said her daughter has had other kids try to take her hijab off before, and she has been targeted with comments about the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But her daughter told The Courier Journal she used to ignore them.

Another daughter, in elementary school, was not helped by a teacher after a classmate pulled off her hijab, Wright said. Other teachers helped her put it back on and her daughter was moved to another classroom after she told the principal what had happened.

The Islamic-American organization published a report last year that recorded more than 6,700 nationwide complaints in 2021 of mistreatment towards Muslims. According to the report, 171 of those were incidents at school including instances of "bullying, Islamophobic school curriculums, and holiday denials."

More:2 Louisville vegan bakers join forces to open The Flour Shoppe. Where to find the shop

Reach Ana Rocio Alvarez Brinez at abrinez@gannett.com; follow her on Twitter at @SoyAnaAlvarez.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Muslim family wants action after girl's hijab removed at Kentucky school
The orca female and pilot whale calf. orcaguardians.org

A female orca appeared to adopt a baby pilot whale in the first known case of its kind.

Scientists observed the orca caring for the calf in western Iceland in 2021, a new study says.

The study noted that the orca had never had a calf of her own.

A female orca appeared to have adopted or abducted a baby pilot whale in the first known case of its kind, scientists say.

The orca, known as "Sdis," was first observed swimming with the pilot whale calf in August 2021 in the Atlantic Ocean near western Iceland.

Scientists observed that Sdis was not simply accompanying the calf but was actively caring for it.

Two other orcas, likely from Sdis' pod, were also present, but no other pilot whales were seen  which is unusual because pilot whales also travel in pods.

This marks the first scientific documentation of orcas nurturing and tending to a long-finned pilot whale calf.

The findings recently published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology document the orca's maternal care for a pilot whale calf and suggest that the relationship between the two species is more complex than previously thought.

Marie Mrusczok, the lead author, told Newsweek that there were clear signs the orca was looking after the calf.

"The orca was swimming with the pilot whale calf in the echelon position, which means the calf was swimming right behind the pectoral fin of the orca," she said.

"The echelon position allows a calf to make fewer tail fluke movements than when swimming on its own and overcome physical limitations during high-speed travel  in other words, the calf is 'carried' by the pressure wave created by the adult's larger body."

However, Elizabeth Zwamborn, an academic on the research team, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Maritime Noon show that it was unclear whether it was an altruistic adoption.

She said the relationship could be interpreted as a "lovely warm adoption story" or a case of killer whale abduction.

The female orca and pilot whale calf. orcaguardians.org

"But there's also a decent chance that she actually abducted this calf from a group of pilot whales. Off Iceland, there's been quite the interaction between both species, and oftentimes pilot whales are seen chasing the killer whales," she said.

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"We don't know the reasons for it, but if there's a chance that there might be a female orca here and there that tries to take a calf from the pilot whales, that would certainly give them reason to chase."

The study noted that Sdis had never had a calf of her own, so it is possible she took in the pilot whale calf as a substitute.

Zwamborn said that the calf appeared to be emaciated and seemed to have not been fed recently, which would make sense as the female orca would probably not be able to nurse, having not birthed her own calves.

Both orcas and pilot whales have similarly close-knit family structures in the wild, which could explain the relationship.

About a year later, Sdis was observed with a group of long-finned pilot whales, but the calf was not present. Further encounters between Sdis' and the pilot whale pod indicated a deliberate attempt to acquire a new calf, the findings said.

Zwamborn told CBC that Sdis' observed interactions with pilot whales appeared to be unique and that she could have been attempting to abduct another calf.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Educator prep instructor Tom Kosiek works with sophomore Sara Wojcik in an Ed Academy class at Buffalo Grove High School on Feb. 13, 2023. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Each day for Tim Kosiek, an education prep teacher at Buffalo Grove High School, is a new opportunity to inspire students in Ed Academy, an elective class he teaches as part of the Education Career Pathways program.

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Once a week, those students work at internships with partnering school districts.

They are out in classrooms, teaching, Kosiek said. They send me pictures and they look the part, they act the part. ... They are so well equipped. I look back to when these opportunities didnt exist and its amazing. These kids get to be in classrooms and really see if they love it.

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The class is part of an Illinois State Board of Education grant program that gives over 10,000 high school students the tools and insights they need to explore a career in education at a time when schools across the state are facing teacher shortages.

The grants  open to all Illinois public school districts  are just a starting point. Districts use the grants to design and implement their own Education Career Pathways program for their students.

At Buffalo Grove, the variety of electives offered through the program includes an in-house lab preschool.

Right across from my classroom is a preschool, Kosiek said. Its got 16 kids that are there all day long, every day.

Kosiek recently took 40 of his students to a Future Educators Conference at Harper College that hosted 500 students from Township High School District 214 and Barrington Community Unit 220 School District, among others. The students ranged from freshmen to seniors, and many are in the education pathway at their respective schools.

Kosiek said the conference furthered some students interest in education. Even some of the students that were on the fence and are still debating if education is for them enjoyed seeing more people say they love what they do, he said.

Education Career Pathways and other initiatives have increased enrollment in educator preparation programs in Illinois by 41%, from 8,534 in 2017 to 12,069 in 2021, according to ISBE.

Despite the increase in student interest, ISBE reported Illinois had 2,139 unfilled teaching positions in October 2021, with most of the unfilled positions concentrated in underresourced communities and in bilingual and special education roles.

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When ISBE launched the grant program in 2020, one of the main goals was to help school districts better meet the needs of their local teacher pipeline, said ISBE spokeswoman Jackie Matthews.

ISBE said it has released $18 million in total Education Career Pathways grants through three rounds of grant funding.

According to ISBE, a total of 171 high schools now offer the program for 10,805 students, including students in the Barrington Community Unit 220 School District.

Educator prep instructor Tom Kosiek teaches an Ed Academy class at Buffalo Grove High School on Feb. 13, 2023. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

District 220s Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Melissa Byrne said the education pathways program allows students to get a seal on their diplomas indicating that they participated in individualized course plans that included a 60-hour internship as part of work-based learning.

Students interested in elementary can go work with an elementary school teacher within District 220, or middle school or high school teacher, said Ben Rodriguez, assistant principal and coordinator of career pathways and community partnerships at Barrington High School.

Rodriguez said the program is built for students to explore future careers while having the resources to try new things.

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We dont ever want to lock a student into a pathway  there should always be on-ramps and off-ramps to every experience, he said. Both choices are powerful  whether students decide they want to explore a field in education after taking courses in the education pathway or not.

ISBE officials noted that the grants aim to increase the diversity of the states teacher workforce.

According to ISBE, 45% of students in the pathway program identify as Black or Hispanic, compared with just 14% of current teachers.

We really want to make it accessible to all students, Rodriguez said. Our student population demographics are changing, so we want to make sure the teaching force also reflects our student population.

Kosiek stressed how important it is to have a relationship with his students that isnt reduced to curriculum or grades.

Keysie Barrios, a Hispanic student at Buffalo Grove High School, says her goal of becoming a teacher is due to the schools variety of education classes that allow students to explore different levels of teaching.

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Barrios, a junior, is interested in teaching middle school, sort of the lost group no one wants to teach, she said.

Barrios began taking classes in the education pathway at the beginning of the school year and Kosieks teaching style made her want to continue in the program, she said.

I kind of had a rough start to my high school career, she said. COVID really changed me and this year was a whole new start.

Barrios works every day after school at the nearby Cafe Zupas to help her parents and siblings pay household bills.

I work right after school. I start around 4:30, she said. My dad works two jobs and my parents are getting older, so Ive just been helping them out and helping with my little sister.

For students who have external challenges to deal with on top of the rigors of high school, a fast-track formula like the education pathway gives back some control over their futures, Kosiek said.

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While hes been teaching education pathway courses for four years, Kosiek has watched students get to the end of their college careers and into their own classrooms.

I was an engineer for four years. I never thought about being a teacher when I was in high school, Kosiek said of the program. I dont expect enrollment to explode, but I hope that students who wouldnt have thought of it or considered it know that it exists and that maybe they can try it out,

Sophomore Iranett Camacho from Rolling Meadows High School in District 214 has been following the education pathway since freshman year and is enrolled in the lab class where students can teach preschoolers.

I knew I wouldnt want to do high school or middle school, but I was stuck between late elementary or early elementary, Camacho said. And taking this class, I was like, lets see if I like being with younger kids. Definitely, its one of the deciding factors so far. I like that I got hands-on experience.

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Camacho, who is Hispanic and uses they/them pronouns, said they appreciate the diversity at Rolling Meadows High School and hopes the future crop of teachers is more reflective of the student population.

I really like that Im going to be able to teach kids, and theyre not going to see just one type of person, Camacho said. Theyll learn that anyone can do any job they want.

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Camacho also noted the surprising number of male students in the early childhood education electives.

I like to see that  teaching is not just for women, Camacho said.

So far, Camacho has taken three education pathway classes in a year and a half, starting with a course on how childrens brains are developed and influenced.

I might change my mind as (the courses) go, but I like that I have a choice, Camacho said. Its not like I came into the preschool lab and Ive decided to do preschool my whole life. There are other classes I want to take and maybe my opinion will change. Maybe Ill end up wanting to teach high school.

zsyed@chicagotribune.com
SheKnows

It seems as though Meghan Markle may have had a change of heart in the past few months. While many believe Meghan wants nothing to do with the royal family, quite a few insiders say the opposite. In fact, they say she wants her and Prince Harrys children Archie and Lilbet, to have a relationship []
Dmytro Kuleba with his Guatemalan colleague Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores

In New York, I was glad to meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores. Guatemala is our loyal friend, Kuleba wrote.

Read also: Ukraine sees no alternative to special tribunal for Russian atrocities, says Zelenskyy

He added that during the meeting the parties discussed joint efforts to bring Russia to justice.

Guatemala will become the first Latin American country to join the Main Group for the establishment of the Special Tribunal for crimes of aggression against Ukraine, noted Kuleba.

Read also: International war crime tribunal for Russian atrocities may launch in summer

On Jan. 19, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of the creation of an international tribunal to bring to justice those guilty of the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

A meeting of the Main Group on the creation of a special tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression against Ukraine was held in Prague on Jan. 26. Representatives of 20 countries took part.

Read also: PACE resolution calls for international tribunal to investigate Belarus role in Ukraine war

Earlier, Kuleba said that the special tribunal was in fact the only possible way to hold Russias highest political and military leadership accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The West Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force led the investigation of the aircraft, its passengers, and their luggage last Friday. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

A flight from El Paso to Chicago was delayed for hours last Friday after passengers received a cryptic message.

The plane returned to its gate just before takeoff so officials could investigate the aircraft for a bomb, officials say.

The threat came in the form of an AirDrop message only visible to those with an Apple device.

Passengers on a plane traveling from El Paso, Texas, to Chicago were delayed for hours after many of them received the same threatening message just before takeoff.

Last Friday, on American Airlines flight 2051, which had 125 passengers on board, those with Apple devices received an AirDrop notification, local news reported. The cryptic message read: "I have a bomb would like to share a photo," according to a news release by the Texas Department of Public Safety obtained by NBC-affiliated KTSM.

The flight was set to depart at noon and had pulled away from the gate, but after the threat was received, the plane was grounded while a bomb squad searched the aircraft, its passengers, and their luggage.

The investigation  led by the West Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force  found no explosives on board, officials said. Four hours after its scheduled takeoff, the flight was allowed to fly to O'Hare International Airport.

According to the KTSM report, investigators said the suspect, who is a minor, later confessed to sending out the threat, "deemed non-credible" by officials. The suspect's name and age haven't been released, but officials confirmed the teen was a Pennsylvania high school student returning from a mission trip near the Texas-Mexico border, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Investigators had seized the suspect's mobile phone and found evidence that supported the confession before arresting the individual.

The El Paso County Attorney's Office has said it will prosecute the suspect on a state felony charge of false alarm or report. If convicted, the student would face up to two years in jail and a maximum fine of $10,000.

Apple's AirDrop feature allows users to share photos, files, and links with other Apple devices within 30 feet of each other. In January, a flight from Israel to Turkey was delayed for two hours after passengers received images of plane crashes via AirDrop, Insider's Stephanie Stacey reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A former Northern Kentucky police officer admitted in court earlier this month to initiating sexually explicit conversations online with a girl he believed to be 15 years old, court records show.

That girl turned out to be an undercover officer, according to Boone County Circuit Court filings.

In March of last year, 30-year-old Ryan Hill was indicted on one count of prohibited use of electronic communications to procure a minor for sexual activity, court records show.

Hill, a former officer with the Augusta Police Department, pleaded guilty on Feb. 9 to an amended charge of unlawful transaction with a minor, according to court records.

Prosecutors have recommended a sentence of four years probation that would require Hill to complete a sex offender treatment program.

In a criminal complaint, a Boone County Sheriff's Office detective said Hill, via the social media platform Whisper, described in detail the sexual acts he wished to perform on the young girl.

He asked for nude photographs, even though he was told the girl was a sophomore in high school, according to the complaint.

"Hill also made the statement that the female was nearly half his age," the complaint states, adding he even admitted during a conversation that he was a police officer.

The conversations occurred between Dec. 24, 2021, and Dec. 27, 2021.

Hill was actually chatting with an undercover task force officer from Minnesota, the sheriff's office said, adding authorities in Minnesota alerted detectives in Boone County to Hill's online activity. Hill was living in Hebron at the time.

The detectives then conducted their own investigation.

Hill was one of three Augusta police officers assigned to Augusta Independent Schools. He began his assignment at the school in August 2021.

He was fired on the same day as his arrest in January 2022.

Since he'd only been with the department less than a year, Hill was in a probationary period as detailed in his contract, meaning he could be fired "without cause or recourse," Hill's termination letter reads.

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Hill's personnel file, obtained through a Kentucky Open Records Act request, shows that he worked as a Kenton County police officer from 2016 to 2020. Before that, Hill worked as a dispatcher for Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport police.

Hill's attorney has yet to respond to an email from The Enquirer seeking comment.

Court records show Hill is scheduled to appear before Judge Richard Brueggemann for sentencing on April 5.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former NKY cop admits sending 'explicit' messages in undercover sting
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday he will visit China in early April, in part to seek Chinese help with ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday and has put forward a 12-point peace plan.

"The fact that China engages in peace efforts is a good thing," Macron told reporters at an agricultural fair in Paris.

"China must help us put pressure on Russia so that it never uses chemical or nuclear weapons, (an effort) which China has already made, and that it stops its aggression as a precondition for talks," he added.

(Reporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
BENGALURU, India (AP)  A meeting of finance chiefs of the Group of 20 leading economies ended on Saturday without a consensus, with Russia and China objecting to the description of the war in Ukraine in a final document.

The meeting hosted by India issued the G-20 Chairs summary and an outcome document stating that there was no agreement on the wording of the war in Ukraine. The first day of the meeting took place on the anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The Group of Seven major industrial nations announced new sanctions against Russia on Friday, just as the talks of the G-20 group wrapped up in confusion in the Indian technology hub of Bengaluru.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen condemned the illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine at a session attended by Russian officials and reiterated calls for G-20 nations to do more to support Ukraine and hinder Moscows war effort.

At the last major G-20 meeting, in Bali, Indonesia, in November, leaders had strongly condemned the war, warning that the conflict was intensifying fragilities in the worlds economy. The group includes Russia and also countries like China and India that have significant trade with Moscow.

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters that the communique prepared for the Bengaluru meeting carried two paragraphs from the Bali declaration, but Russia and China demanded they be deleted and said they could not be part of the final document this time.

Their contention was they had approved the Bali declaration under the then prevailing circumstances, she said. "Now they didn't want it," Sitharaman said. She didn't give any other details.

The Bali declaration said that most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy  constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks.

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The declaration also said: "There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. G-20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy."

The second paragraph of the declaration, which is now unacceptable to Russia and China, said, "It is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. ... The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Todays era must not be of war."

Sitharaman said the meeting could not issue a communique because of the objections raised by Russia and China and decided to opt for a summary and an outcome document.



Sharma reported from New Delhi.
By Sarita Chaganti Singh and Christian Kraemer

BENGALURU (Reuters) - G20 finance chiefs have been unable to reach a consensus on describing the war in Ukraine and are likely to end a meeting in India on Saturday without a joint communique, delegates said.

The United States and its allies in the G7 group of nations have been adamant in demands that the communique squarely condemn Russia for the invasion of its neighbour, which has been opposed by the Russian and Chinese delegations, they said.

Russia, which is a member of the G20, refers to its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation", and avoids calling it an invasion or war.

Host India is also pressing the meeting to avoid using the word "war" in any communique, G20 officials have told Reuters. India, which holds the current G20 presidency, has kept a largely neutral stance on the war, declining to blame Russia for the invasion, seeking a diplomatic solution and sharply boosting its purchases of Russian oil.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there was no way the group could step back from a joint statement agreed at a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November, which said "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine" but also acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently.

"Either we have the same language or we do not sign on the final communique," Le Maire told reporters on Friday.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, speaking on the sidelines of the meeting on Friday, said the G20 must not fall behind its previous criticism of Russia.

"We need absolute clarity, this is a war initiated by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin," he said.

Such stand-offs have become increasingly common in the G20, a forum created over 20 years ago in response to past economic crises but which has recently been hobbled by differences between Western nations and others including China and Russia.

A senior G20 source said negotiations over the communique were difficult, with Russia and China blocking proposals made by Western countries. "India wants to stick to the Bali wording," the source said.

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The source and several other officials said barring a last-minute surprise, a consensus on the communique was unlikely, and that the meeting was likely to end with a statement by the host summarising the discussions.

"In the absence of a consensus, the option for India would be to issue a chair statement," one of the officials said.

India's foreign, finance and information ministries did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

(Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Shivangi Acharya, Aftab Ahmed and Sarita Chaganti Singh; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Aftab Ahmed, Shivangi Acharya and Sarita Chaganti Singh

BENGALURU, India (Reuters) - Finance chiefs of the world's largest economies strongly condemned Moscow for its war on Ukraine on Saturday, with only China and Russia itself declining to sign a joint statement.

India, which as chair of the Group of Twenty (G20) economies was hosting a meeting in the city of Bengaluru, was reluctant to raise the issue of the war but Western nations insisted they could not back any outcome that did not include a condemnation.

The lack of consensus among G20 members meant India resorted to issuing a "chair's summary and outcome document" in which it simply summed up the two days of talks and noted disagreements.

"Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy," it said, citing disruption of supply chains, risks to financial stability and continuing energy and food insecurity.

"There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions," it said, referring to measures put in place by the United States, European countries and others to punish Russia for the invasion and to starve it of revenues.

The outcome was similar to that of a G20 summit in Bali last November when host Indonesia also issued a final declaration acknowledging differences. The G20, formed over two decades to tackle economic crises, has increasingly struggled to reach the consensus needed to issue an official end-of-meeting communique.

"Although there was not what we would call a communique, but only an outcome statement, we still think we've made some progress in having all the ministers on board," Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said China's refusal to join the declaration was "regrettable".

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier told Reuters that it was "absolutely necessary" for any statement to condemn Russia. Two delegates told Reuters that Russia and China did not want the G20 platform to be used to discuss political matters.

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Russia, a member of the G20 but not of the G7, refers to its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation", and avoids calling it an invasion or war.

India has kept a largely neutral stance, declining to blame Russia for the invasion, seeking a diplomatic solution and sharply boosting its purchases of Russian oil.

China and India were among the nations that abstained on Thursday when U.N. voted overwhelmingly to demand Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine and stop fighting.

Besides the G7 nations, the G20 bloc also includes countries such as Australia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

"It's becoming difficult for the G20 to engage in constructive discussion because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is an act that shakes the foundations of the global order," Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters.

DEBT NEGOTIATIONS

On the sidelines, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held a meeting on Saturday with the World Bank, China, India, Saudi Arabia and the G7 on restructuring debt for distressed economies, but there too there were disagreements among members, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

"We just finished a session in which it was clear that there is a commitment to bridge differences for the benefit of countries," Georgieva, who co-chaired the roundtable with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, told reporters.

One delegate told Reuters that some initial progress was made, mostly on the language around the issue, but restructuring was not discussed in detail.

Yellen said there were no "deliverables" from the meeting, which was mostly organisational.

Further discussions are planned around the time of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in April.

Pressure has been building on China, the world's largest bilateral creditor, and other nations to take a large haircut in loans given to struggling developing nations.

In a video address to the G20 meeting on Friday, Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun reiterated Beijing's position that the World Bank and other multilateral development banks should also participate in debt relief by taking haircuts.

India's push for tougher regulation of private crypto assets won wider support at the meeting.

Georgieva said policymakers "should not take off the table" the option of outright bans if regulation failed. Yellen did not back such bans, but said it was critical to put in place a strong regulatory framework.

(Additional reporting by Leika Kihara, Christian Kraemer and David Lawder; Writing by Mark John and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by William Mallard, Frances Kerry and Alexander Smith)
Chicago Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara was 25 minutes into her speech last month at the City Club of Chicago before a packed room of housing developers, financiers and civic leaders when she turned to the most critical part of her message that day.

For the first time, Novara announced, City Hall will make financing available to housing developers who commit to creating permanent supportive housing for people leaving incarceration.

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Notably, before making her announcement, Novara spoke first about her late mother, who worked in community mental health decades ago and faced strong opposition to the movement, at that time, to transition people with developmental disabilities from institutions into group homes.

It was then that Novara, in her speech, turned her attention  and power  to the needs of returning residents, who experience high rates of homelessness and need that same allyship from government today.

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In addition to serving people meeting the traditional definition of homelessness, for the first time we are also reserving units for people leaving jail or prison, Novara said. If you are one of the 20,000 or so people who leave incarceration every year in Illinois and you dont have a safe and stable home to go to, our current federal guidelines mandate that you become homeless first before we can help you.

Novaras statement stands out to those of us advocating for housing for people leaving incarceration. It was the first public acknowledgment by a local or state housing official in Illinois of the barriers returning residents face to accessing permanent supportive housing programs. These programs provide affordable housing assistance with voluntary support services to address the needs of people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Novaras statement also signals the unambiguous commitment of Chicagos Department of Housing to leveraging its power to create permanent housing solutions for returning residents, who have suffered such disproportionately high rates of homelessness because housing strategies in Chicago have so far failed them.

For two years, the Department of Housing worked with the Illinois Reentry Council  consisting mostly of returning residents, advocates, community organizations and government leaders  to understand the obstacles returning residents face while seeking housing. Novaras announcement demonstrates her clear understanding of the inherent inequities in the Chicago Continuum of Care, known as the CoC, the main entity in Chicago that provides housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Nearly every metropolitan area in the U.S. is covered by its own CoC, a network that includes local governments, housing providers and service organizations that connect people who are homeless to affordable homes and services. The Chicago CoC receives federal resources to administer homeless programming for the city. It also determines who can access more than 16,000 federally subsidized beds under its control, a figure that amounts to almost 54% of all such beds in the entire state of Illinois.

Each year, around 11,000 people, mostly Black and Latino men, return to Chicago from state prisons. In 2020, City Hall estimated that of Chicagos unsheltered residents, approximately 59% of men and 38% of women were formerly incarcerated. Despite these salient figures and a need for solutions, local and state housing officials have offered few, if any, permanent housing opportunities for returning residents.

Federal regulations contribute to this problem. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments definition of chronic homelessness determines CoC program eligibility. That definition excludes people who have spent 90 consecutive days housed in a carceral setting, those who were not homeless before incarceration and those without an eligible mental health condition. This artificial definition is profoundly unfair because it likens ones incarceration experience to time spent in an actual home.

In Illinois, the average prison stay is four years. And just 14% of returning residents have qualifying mental health conditions. These factors prevent nearly all those leaving incarceration from qualifying for the 16,000 federally subsidized CoC beds that are available in the city  1,000 of which are vacant on any given day.

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But local solutions are possible, as Novara made clear in her announcement that there will be incentives for developers to include returning residents as their tenants both in partnership with the CoC and outside its network  if they want to apply to City Hall for this funding.

This news is welcomed by advocates who for years urged city and state government to take steps to create flexible housing options that can serve returning residents.

Research demonstrates that those returning from incarceration are more likely to successfully transition to communities when they have safe, stable and affordable housing. According to a 2019 Metropolitan Planning Council and Illinois Justice Project report, Illinois could save at least $100 million per year by investing in affordable housing programs for returning residents.

Providing housing for returning residents is the right policy choice. We all benefit when people leaving incarceration are able to successfully transition back home. So, I urge other housing officials, those with power, to take a lead from Novara, who told those gathered at the City Club that she is guided daily by lessons her mother taught her.

Some things that are right and good will make people angry and will disappoint them, Novara said during her speech. And you cant wait for their approval to keep going.

Ahmadou Drame is program director with the Illinois Justice Project, which focuses on criminal justice reform.

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BENGALURU (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Saturday it was "regrettable" that China had blocked a Group of 20 communique to condemn Russia's war on Ukraine.

"But for me it was more important that all the others adhered to a clear position of international law, multilateralism and the end of the war," he said.

Lindner was speaking to reporters after a meeting of finance leaders from the world's major economies in Bengaluru.

He said that he was cautiously optimistic that there could be progress this year on debt restructuring for highly indebted countries.

China is one of the largest creditors to poor nations in Africa and Asia.

"There was a cautious signal from China," Lindner said.

(Reporting by Christian Kraemer; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Mark Potter and Mike Harrison)
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Feb. 25 that Russia had lost 147,470 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, with 650 lost on Feb. 24.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 3,375 tanks, 6,609 armored fighting vehicles, 5,235 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,373 artillery systems, 475 multiple launch rocket systems, 247 air defense systems, 299 airplanes, 288 helicopters, 2,035 drones, and 18 boats.
Former President Donald Trump during a visit on Wednesday to East Palestine, Ohio. (Jabin Botsford/the Washington Post via Getty Images)

Shortly before Emily Kohrs, the foreperson on the Georgia grand jury investigating then-President Donald Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election, embarked upon a much-criticized media tour in which she described details of the panels work, the Georgia state judge overseeing the proceedings had called her and the other jurors to his chambers.

Judge Robert McBurney thanked the Fulton County special grand jury panel for their service and advised them on the rules of the road, instructing them what they could and couldnt say to the public about what they had been doing for the past seven months.

The oath they took is very clear, pretty narrow, McBurney, who presided over the special grand jury, said in a recent interview with Yahoo News. They cannot talk about their deliberations ... and so it would be inappropriate for them to talk about the processing they went through; What did you think about so-and-sos testimony? Well, thats really part of your deliberations.

But McBurney was more lenient in his guidance about talking to the press than the far stricter rules for federal grand juries or regular Georgia state grand juries. Unlike the Fulton County special grand jury, those have the power not just to make recommendations, but to issue actual indictments. As McBurney interpreted Georgia law and state precedent, the special grand jury was a different animal  an investigative body with subpoena power but no power to indict. Its work product, he concluded, was now a judicial document and the grand jurors were free to talk about what happened during their service so long as they didnt divulge their deliberations on what they thought of particular witnesses or how they reached their conclusions.

The Lewis R. Slaton Courthouse in Atlanta. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Everything else, McBurney said, was fair game. Asked if that included identifying who the grand jurors had recommended for indictment, he responded, Right. (Separately, McBurney told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the prohibition on speaking publicly applied only to conversations the grand jurors had among themselves, not what a witness or prosecutor in the room might have said.)

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Bowing to the request of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis not to jeopardize the rights of future defendants, McBurney released three sections of the special grand jury report last week, including passages in which the grand jurors said they believed one or more witnesses had perjured themselves. But he didnt release who those witnesses were or who the grand jury had voted to indict.

McBurneys comments to Yahoo News shed new light on the controversy that unfolded this week when Kohrs, 30, gave multiple press interviews that went further than McBurneys release. She revealed that the special grand jury had recommended that more than a dozen individuals be indicted. Asked directly if Trump himself was among them, Kohrs responded: Youre not going to be shocked. Its not rocket science.

Trumps chief lawyer in Georgia, Drew Findling, immediately went on the attack, saying that Kohrss interviews  during which she occasionally laughed and smirked  had poisoned the whole process, turned the grand jury inquiry into a carnival, clown-like atmosphere and could be grounds for a legal challenge.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis inside her office chambers in Atlanta on Sept. 20, 2022. (David Walter Banks)

The lens now provided by this foreperson into the lack of seriousness and respect for this process that existed behind the grand jury walls is truly shocking to the legal conscience, Findling and two of his co-counsels, Marissa Goldberg and Jennifer Little, said in a statement he shared with Yahoo News. What we have seen over the past 48-hours proves that whatever conclusions were drawn were not the result of an analytical, trustworthy, or credible investigation as one would expect in a matter of historic proportion such as this.

Asked by Yahoo News if he believed Kohrs had crossed a line in her interviews, McBurney demurred. Its not appropriate for me to comment on that, he said in an email.

But some legal experts say its unlikely that Trumps lawyers will get very far if they try to use Kohrss press interviews as grounds for derailing what is increasingly looking like an indictment of the former president, possibly as early as this spring.

Any attempt to dismiss the virtually certain indictment of Trump and his co-conspirators will fail under Georgia law, said Norm Eisen, the former White House ethics lawyer under President Barack Obama and the co-author of a Brookings Institution report last year that analyzed the Georgia investigation and concluded that Trump remains at a substantial risk of being charged under state law for election interference. Emily Kohrs is neither a member of the regular grand jury that is currently making the decision on indictment nor of the trial jury that will adjudicate it. Because those motions are doomed to fail, this whole flap is going to end up a blip on the radar screen.
By Ross Kerber

BOSTON (Reuters) - Tesla Inc investor Ross Gerber said on Friday he will end his run for the electric carmaker's board of directors, citing changes investors can expect to see next week.

Gerber said in a telephone interview that he decided to withdraw after Martin Viecha, Tesla's investor relations chief, told him the company has taken steps along the lines Gerber sought when he announced his board run Feb. 10.

Among other things Tesla will introduce more executives than usual at a March 1 investor day at its Austin, Texas headquarters, to show its managerial talent runs beyond CEO Elon Musk, Gerber said.

Tesla also will create more Twitter and promotional content, which could move the brand away from its close identification with Musk. "That's what I'm talking about, them having their own voice separate from Elon," Gerber said.

Gerber, a Los Angeles investment manager, is a longtime Tesla bull who initially cast his run as that of a "friendly activist." While his wealth-management firm had only about 440,000 shares of Tesla he has received backing from larger shareholders online.

Tesla shares closed on Friday at less than half their peak price in 2021 as rivals have gained ground while Musk pursued his purchase of the Twitter social media platform. Tesla has promised investors a look at "our most advanced production line" on March 1.

Gerber said Telsa did not ask him to withdraw. "They dont want to fight with me and I dont want to fight them," Gerber said. "It just makes sense to do this and not have an adversarial situation," he said.

Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to questions.

Gerber's decision was first reported by Bloomberg News, citing a person familiar with the matter.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by David Gregorio)
NEW DELHI (AP)  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sought assurances Saturday from India that it would support, or at least not block, Western efforts to isolate Russia for waging a devastating war against Ukraine.

Following his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Scholz stressed that developing countries were being negatively impacted by energy and food shortages resulting from the war and hopes that India will help secure critical supplies to Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Modi maintained his cautious approach and said India wanted the conflict to be ended through dialogue and diplomacy. "India is ready to make its contribution to any peace initiative," he added.

He has refrained from any overt criticism of Russia as Moscow is a major supplier of arms, oil and Indias other economic needs.

Scholz said that Russia's war against Ukraine "violated the fundamental principle to what we all agree of not changing borders through the use of violence."

While the two leaders took no questions from the media after their meeting, Scholz later told German reporters that he and Modi had discussed the war in Ukraine very extensively and very intensly, but declined to elaborate, citing the confidential nature of the talks.

Scholz, who arrived in the Indian capital on Saturday, also discussed with Modi ways to boost economic cooperation, including through a free trade agreement between the European Union and India. Scholz made clear he favors a free trade deal and said he personally will make sure that (the talks) do not drag on.

The trip is Scholz's first official visit to India, though it is his fourth meeting with Modi since taking office in 2021, underlining Germanys interest in reaching out to Delhi.

There is huge potential for intensified cooperation in sectors such as renewables, hydrogen, mobility, pharma and digital economy with India, Scholz said in an interview published by The Times of India newspaper on Saturday.

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After a videoconference with fellow leaders from the Group of Seven industrial powers on Friday, Scholz said before leaving Berlin that internationally, we are endeavoring to make clear that Russia stands alone in the world with its aggression against Ukraine.

Philipp Ackermann, the German ambassador to India, said he understands why India is buying large quantities of oil from Russia.

"Thats something that the Indian government decides and as you get it at a very, very low price, you know I cannot blame the Indian government for buying it, New Delhi Television cited Ackermann as saying.

Germany has been pushing to diversify its economic relations as it and other European countries try to avoid being dependent on China, a German official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.

Modi said the business delegation accompanying Scholz was firming up agreements with India in digital technology, the telecommunication sector and diversification of supply chains.

Scholz reiterated that Germany welcomes skilled workers from India, especially in information technology and software industries.

"We want to benefit from the Indian talent employed in Germany in the industrial sector," he said.

Speaking to reporters later Saturday, Scholz said Germany could help India achieve its ambitious goals when it comes to expanding renewable power generation.

India is set to receive $10.5 billion in aid by 2030 to boost the use of clean energy under agreements the two sides signed in May last year.

Scholz's delegation included several German business leaders, including the head of ThyssenKrupp, which is trying to sell further submarines to India.

Asked whether such a deal with India, which has been a major buyer of arms from Russia, could be struck, Scholz said he had the impression that the quality of German technology enjoys great recognition and appreciate here.

The two-day visit will also take Scholz to Indias information technology hub Bengaluru on Sunday.

___

Frank Jordans reported from Berlin.
Avdiivka, a city in eastern Donetsk Oblast, has been under heavy Russian fire over the past day, the oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Fab. 25.

Russian forces launched attacks on the city's civilian infrastructure using missiles, multiple launch rocket systems, and tanks, according to Kyrylenko.

One civilian was injured when a Russian missile struck the Avdiivka Coke Plant. The injured has been hospitalized, Head of the Avdiivka City Military Administration Vitalii Barabash told Suspilne news outlet.

Another Russian missile strike destroyed a local school, the governor said. The school was reopened after reconstruction funded by the Lithuanian government in 2021, according to Kyrylenko. It was "one of the best" schools in Donetsk Oblast, and "now there are just ruins," he said.

"This is the essence of the Russian world  to destroy what others have built for a long time and painstakingly," Kyrylenko wrote.

The industrial city of Avdiivka, located five kilometers north of Russian-occupied Donetsk, has been a target of Russian attacks since 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine.


Ald. Matt O'Shea, 19th, attends an event Sept. 9, 2021, to commemorate the conclusion of the O'Hare Modernization Program, which involved reconfiguring the airfield to reduce delays. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Ald. Matt OShea is feeling the squeeze from both sides as he runs to return to City Hall representing the Southwest Side political bastions of Beverly, Mount Greenwood and Morgan Park.

On the right in the 19th Ward race, Fraternal Order of Police-backed former Chicago police Sgt. Mike Cummings is hammering OShea, saying he has failed to support cops and take the steps necessary to make area residents and business owners feel safe.

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And on the left, computer consultant Tim Noonan argues the ward is far more racially, economically and politically diverse than OShea and other Southwest Side Democratic machine politicians in charge over the decades have accepted. Todays residents deserve a City Hall representative who better embraces those differences, he says.

OShea is positioning himself in his run for a fourth term as the middle-of-the-road realist who has worked with all kinds of people throughout the ward and has a record of accomplishments to prove it.

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At a moment of widening political polarization in the city, the Election Day question is: Will the incumbent successfully chart a path between his opponents or will the electorate from one side or the other carry their standard-bearer to a seat on the council? If none of the three candidates secures more than 50% of the vote on Feb. 28, the top two vote-getters will face off in the runoff election on April 4.

OShea noted that the eastern end of the ward tends to be more integrated and progressive, while Mount Greenwood to the southwest is more conservative. Overall, he said, his approach best fits the entirety of the 19th Ward, which is bracketed by suburbs to the west and south.

I have always tried to be, I would always describe myself as a moderate, as being pragmatic, being able to build relationships and work with everybody, no matter where youre coming from, OShea said. Not only do I do that in the City Council, but I do that here in the community.

OShea pointed to big recent investments in local public schools such as Morgan Park High School and Esmond Elementary School that have large Black student populations as evidence he appreciates the importance of making improvements to help people throughout the ward.

And on the public safety side, he said he has brought in technology to help police locally, such as observation cameras and license plate reader cameras, while also introducing legislation in the City Council aimed at speeding up the hiring of more officers and trying to convince those already on the force to stay.

What Im running on is a record of doing everything I can to work closely with law enforcement, the Chicago Police Department, the 22nd (police) district, making my community, having it continue to be, a safe place, OShea said.

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But like many communities in our city, were seeing an uptick in crime. Were seeing crimes we havent seen before. And thats alarming, and when some elected officials talk about, shootings are down, murders are down, people dont want to hear that, he said. Both reported crime and the perception of crime are up. People are afraid to be out at night.

Cummings said OShea only pays lip service to backing cops.

He retired from the Chicago Police Department in 2021 after 35 years. Cummings was in the spotlight in 2014, when the Police Department conducted an internal investigation into whether he told a band to cut short its set at McNallys bar in Morgan Park because there were too many Black people in the crowd, according to the Beverly Review.

The department also looked into whether Cummings owned McNallys in violation of Police Department rules. The investigation found the allegations were not sustained, according to the Review.

Cummings said he didnt make the comment about the crowd and didnt own the bar.

Mike Cummings is a candidate for aldermen in the Southwest Side 19th Ward. (Campaign photo)

Cummings said it became apparent during unrest in Chicago in 2020 following George Floyds murder by a Minneapolis police officer that OShea wouldnt go as far as he should to back police who were working long hours in tough circumstances.

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In 2020, with all the social unrest or rioting that was going on, I contacted our alderman and he didnt have any answers. He said, What do you want me to do?  Cummings said. And I asked him to take a vote of no-confidence against the superintendent and the mayor, and he said, It doesnt work that way.

Hes a 12-year incumbent, he claims hes pro-police. But at the end of the day, hes walked away from the police, Cummings added.

Chicago needs to attract more police by improving their working conditions, in part by doing a better job standardizing their days off, Cummings said. People want to be police officers. Right now they dont want to be Chicago police officers, he said.

OShea said Cummings doesnt offer real solutions. People want their elected officials to work together to find solutions, he said. All Ive heard from Mike Cummings in recent weeks and months is divisiveness.

Noonan, meanwhile, said the ward needs a new direction.

Both of my opponents are looking at public safety through blue-shaded glasses, if you will, he said. Im looking at it from a community standpoint, because I think the answers to our problems are in the community, not in the police station. Oftentimes, people speak of crime, and crime is a reactive thing, and public safety is proactive.

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19th Ward candidate Tim Noonan, right, shows a campaign flyer to Alex Gomez outside Kellogg Elementary School, 9241 S. Leavitt St., Feb. 22, 2023. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

A lot of police understand there needs to be community building between police and the community, Noonan said.

But there also needs to be a different understanding of who lives in the ward and what they want, he said.

Im running against two back the blue types, and going through the census data, first responders are not even the top five of the number of careers the citizens of the 19th Ward actually have, he said. And they are the loudest, no doubt about that. But they are not the most populous.

By bringing residents together to deal with issues rather than siloing 19th Ward neighborhoods and demanding they compete against each other for resources, Noonan said the ward can better take advantage of its talent.

He pointed to the campaign he and other residents successfully mounted to defeat a 2016 proposal to shutter Kellogg Elementary School in Beverly as part of a ward-wide public school restructuring plan meant to alleviate overcrowding at other area schools.

When we were doing the closing of the school, there were a few of the activists, there was a guy who did marketing work for companies, we had all these resources together that we didnt know that we had, and were able to fight to keep the school open, Noonan said. So we were able to tap into that and keep the school open. So theres a lot of diversity  not to mention race as well  but theres a lot of diversity across the board.

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While its more diverse than its long tradition of Irish political hegemony would suggest, the 19th Ward remains one of the whiter council districts. Under the new map approved by aldermen last year, the ward is about 61% white, 27% Black and 7% Latino, according to city records.

Noonan noted the irony of another white Irish guy running on a platform highlighting the wards diversity, and said he would have happily stepped aside if another progressive had shown interest in running. If we could have found somebody of color or a woman it would have been probably better, he said.

Its also a ward with a tradition of locally owned businesses catering to residents. But Cummings said that formerly thriving shopping scene is a shell of what it once was, with lots of vacant storefronts with brown paper over the windows and metal grates down over the doors along stretches of 95th Street and elsewhere.

It boils down to crime, he said. If youre going to be a retailer, youre not going to open up in Beverly or Mount Greenwood when you can go across the street into Oak Lawn and Evergreen Park and have the security of the police department. Theres just no economic development here.

Noonan likewise pointed to the struggles of neighborhood commercial corridors, and said he would fight to direct more city money to help independent stores rather than luring chains with property tax incentive packages.

A lot of businesses are closing, he said. A lot of support for mom-and-pop businesses, thats what they need here. We see a lot of these larger corporate businesses that are coming here, being wooed here with (tax-increment financing) money.

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OShea said its tough for neighborhoods on the edge of the city to compete with nearby suburbs that have many more tools that they can offer to businesses to locate there.

But he said he has worked with local business groups to attract retailers, and organized fundraisers to help stores weather the pandemic.

Thats been a battle long before the last few years, he said. There are significantly fewer vacancies in the 19th Ward today than there were when I started.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne
It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in Vysarn Limited's (ASX:VYS) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Vysarn

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Vysarn

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Non-Executive Chairman Peter Hutchinson bought AU$142k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.075 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of AU$0.09. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

While Vysarn insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Vysarn insiders own 37% of the company, worth about AU$13m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Vysarn Tell Us?

The fact that there have been no Vysarn insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Vysarn insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Vysarn. At Simply Wall St, we found 2 warning signs for Vysarn that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

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If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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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Hailie Jade kisses her fiancee Evan McClintock (Instagram/Hailie Jade Mathers)

Eminems daughter Hailie Jade Scotts fiance, Evan McClintock, has revealed how he approached the rapper to ask for his blessing before proposing to her.

Scott and McClintock announced their engagement earlier this month in an Instagram post showing photographs of McClintock down on one knee in front of her, as well as snaps of the engagement ring.

Appearing on the latest episode of Scotts podcast, McClintock said he had been searching for the right moment to get Eminems approval before 4 February, the day he proposed to her.

He explained on the Just A Little Shady podcast: Over the holidays, I was looking for an opportunity not to make it too obvious.

As Scotts birthday fell on Christmas Day, McClintock said he spotted an opportunity to speak to Eminem alone while he was preparing for the festivities.

I saw your dad go downstairs, and Im like, I gotta do it right now, or Im not doing it today, and Im gonna have to schedule another time, he said.

So I just followed him downstairs and thankfully, he was just down there getting your cake and made it happen.

McClintock also revealed that he started shopping around for the engagement ring during the Thanksgiving holidays in November, but, as luck would have it, he found the perfect oval-cut diamond ring the day after speaking to his future father-in-law.

Scott responded: The day after my birthday, you got it? Thats crazy.

Her fiance said he received help picking out the ring from Scotts sister, Alaina Marie Scott, adding: She basically told me what for sure not to get.

The podcast host laughed and said: Thats all I told her, so that makes sense.

The couple have been dating since 2016, after meeting as students at Michigan State University.

Eminem, whose birth name is Marshall Mathers III, shares three children with his ex-wife Kim Scott, including Hailie Jade, Alaina Marie, and Stevie Laine Scott.

In 2020, he spoke briefly about Scott during an appearance on the Hotboxin with Mike Tyson podcast.

In response to a questions about whether she had any children, Eminem said: No babies. Just a boyfriend. Shes doing good. Shes made me proud for sure.
Harry and Meghan (PA Wire)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could copy Donald Trump and invoke the fifth amendment if they are called to give a deposition, a leading lawyer has revealed.

Samantha Markle is currently suing the Duchess of Sussex accusing her of ridicule, contempt and disgrace for various comments she has made about her.

Earlier this month, a Florida judge refused a stay of discovery in the defamation lawsuit filed by Meghan Markles half-sister against the duchess.

This could leave Harry and Meghan having to give depositions - an out-of-court testimony a witness gives under oath before an officer authorized to administer oaths for use later in the proceeding - in the case.

Nathaniel Mack, a lawyer who has conducted hundreds of depositions during his 20-year career, said that while depositions can be like "torture" and last for hours, Harry and Meghan can go no comment to all of the questions.

Speaking to JamPrime.com, he added: The plaintiffs counsel has requested depositions of both defendants to take place before any motions to dismiss are considered.

Depositions can be seen as a form of torture, especially for high-profile individuals who may be asked to disclose private information.

They can also be a test of ones will and stamina.

High-profile cases involving Governor Cuomo and President Trump involved nine and 11-hour depositions.

But, if Harry and Meghan are forced to sit for a deposition, their testimony will more than likely be limited in scope and reveal few new details.

This will be more of a procession than anything else.

He explained that Samathas case is currently in the preliminary steps - known as the discovery stage.

(The Independent)

During this time, both sides have the chance to request information and evidence from the other side in preparation for a trial.

This involves written and oral discovery. The depositions that are in question are a form of oral discovery, he explained.

The case seems to have skipped the written discovery phase as the defendants may have refused to provide the requested answers.

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He also expressed surprise at the miniscule 62,000 ($75,000) that Samatha is suing for and why she picked Florida.

The amount she is seeking in compensation for her alleged injury is rather minuscule in comparison to her claims, he said.

However, her legal team seems committed to pushing this case forward.

The fact that she decided to file in Florida instead of a more liberal venue is interesting, considering the defendants are domiciled in California.

Nonetheless, the alleged defamatory statements being claimed by the plaintiff seem to be subjective.

(Getty Images forA 2022 Robert F.)

Samantha must substantiate the claims in her pleadings by meeting the burden of proof set forth under United States Federal Law.

If the case survives dismissal, it will be fascinating to see what type of evidence the plaintiff can introduce to support her claims."

The judge's ruling means that Samathas lawyers will question the prince and duchess before July if the case continues.

The deadline for disclosure of expert reports is 5 May, rebuttal is 5 June, and the discovery deadline is 3 July, according to court documents.

Samantha has taken issue with comments made in the royal couples bombshell 2021 interview with Oprah and the 2020 book Finding Freedom.

Her lawyers have presented the court with nearly 40 questions they want answered.

A mediator has also been appointed in the case with the hope of resolving the suit without a trial.
Harry Styles will be required to take part in the 2023 New Zealand census as his only concert in the country falls on the same date.

The census requires every person in the country to take part, including international visitors.

It is conducted every five years and will take place on 7 March when Styles is performing in Auckland, his final Love on Tour concert in Australasia.

The official 2023 Census account confirmed the news on Twitter on Wednesday (22 February), responding to someone asking if Styles would have to participate.

CCing the country, the account tweeted: Thank you for this important query. Everyone who is in Aotearoa New Zealand on census night (Tuesday 7 March), needs to be counted in the census. This includes tourists, visitors, and former members of One Direction.

Their tweet included an artists impression of Styles filling out his census form, which had been crudely added on Microsoft Paint.

Kia ora @coupdemain CC: the country. Thank you for this important query.



Everyone who is in Aotearoa New Zealand on census night (Tuesday 7 March), needs to be counted in the census. This includes tourists, visitors, and former members of One Direction.



Artist's impression: pic.twitter.com/e5yvh2B551  2023 Census | Aotearoa New Zealand | 7 March 2023 (@2023Census) February 23, 2023

The questions Styles is required to answer will include smoking habits, gender identity, sexual identity, and his income. Answers will, of course, remain confidential.

Anyone in the country who does not participate in the census can be fined up to NZ$2,000 (1,037).

On the Australian leg of his tour this month, Styles disgusted fans by performing a shoey  an Aussie tradition which requires a person to drink from their shoe

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After drinking water from his shoe, Styles addressed the crowd, saying: I feel like a different person, I feel ashamed of myself.

It feels so personal, such an intimate moment to be shared with so many people, he said. Ill be discussing this with my therapist at length.

The former One Direction stars second studio album Harrys House recently swept the Brit Awards days after it won Album of the Year at the Grammys.
(NEXSTAR)  Is it just you, or are headlights brighter than they used to be?

No, its not just you.

LED (light-emitting diode) headlights are increasingly replacing the previously popular types of lights used for vehicles  halogen and high-intensity discharge (HID) lights  as the go-to.

And youre likely noticing the difference.

AAA urges drivers to check for recalls after Honda Do Not Drive notice

Nearly a year ago, General Motors recalled several hundred thousand of its GMC Terrain SUVs after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found the vehicles headlights could make it harder for oncoming drivers to see.

So what gives?

One expert, Matt Kossoff, founder and chief product officer of The Retrofit Source, a vehicle light distributor, tells the New York Times headlights have absolutely gotten brighter.

The popularity of LED headlights can be attributed to a few advantages they have over previous types: they last longer; they are generally energy efficient; and they look newer. Because they debuted among luxury vehicles, they may also be perceived as higher quality.

Mark Rea, professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, explains that even though LED headlights are regulated the same way as other types, LED lights feel brighter to human eyes for very real physical reasons. Rea, who served as director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institutes Lighting Research Center for over 30 years, told Slate that when headlights are tested, theyre measured in units called lumens, which measure how parts of the eye are affected by brightness.

As Rea explained in previous research, human eyes are more sensitive to higher wavelength red lights than lower wavelength blue lights. This means that when LEDs and halogen lights are being measured, LED brightness increases and still retains the same measurement as that of halogen lights.

Imagine a car with two headlights: one halogen, one LED. Theyd both meet the requirement. The light meter would say theyre the same but the LED would look 40% brighter, Rea told Slate.

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Norovirus outbreaks: Where are you most at-risk?

In terms of lumens, Car and Driver reports LEDs can have between 9,000 and 10,000 lumens, while HIDs have around 8,000. Halogen lights measure even lower, the outlet says.

Other factors could also be at play. In conversation with Popular Science, Matthew Brumbelow, a senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said glare can be caused by unintentional misalignment of headlamps, which he says are near the end of the assembly line when factories are just trying to crank vehicles off.

And if youre also wondering whether headlights seem higher than they used to be, youre also not mistaken.

Tall pickups and SUVs and short, small cars are simultaneously popular, Daniel Stern, chief editor of Driving Vision News told the New York Times in 2019. The eyes in the low car are going to get zapped hard by the lamps mounted up high on the S.U.V. or truck every time.

Stern also said that headlights have also gotten smaller and that intensity appears brighter when its coming from a smaller device versus a larger one.

Given all these factors, you may be wondering: Are LED lights actually any better than halogen or HID lights?

Interestingly, Consumer Reports said in 2019 that testing showed that LED headlights, while being able to produce brighter, whiter light than halogen headlights and increase side-of-the-road visibility, did not produce better visibility in the road in front of a vehicle.

Even with the new technology, low-beam headlights dont always provide enough forward seeing distance for the driver to react to an object in the road and stop in time, said Jennifer Stockburger, director of operations at CRs Auto Test Center.

Man threatening to bomb Hollywood sign calls wrong police: report

Whats being done?

The NHTSA made a final ruling in February 2022 to allow automakers to install adaptive driving beam headlights on new vehicles. The ruling amends Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108., which is the rulebook for headlight brightness.

Adaptive driving beam headlights, also known as smart headlights, automatically adjust brightness for oncoming drivers. In many places overseas, these are already the standard.

Our headlamp standard balances two important, and competing, interests  adequate forward illumination so that drivers can see at night and limiting glare to other drivers. Adaptive driving beams offer exciting safety potential to optimize headlamp systems so that seeing distances can be significantly improved for drivers by using upper beam intensity in areas where no other vehicles are present, and also limiting intensity to lower beam limits where drivers may be glared, an NHTSA representative told Nexstar. NHTSA believes this approach will improve drivers ability to detect vulnerable road users at night without increasing glare.

Heres how to beat inflation at the grocery store

Currently, the Soft Lights Foundation, an activist organization aiming to ban blinding headlights, has over 37,000 signatures toward its 50,000 Change.org petition goal. According to the foundation, the petition would urge the NHTSA, the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Congress to properly regulate LEDs as spatially non-homogeneous, directed energy radiation.

Soft Lights founder and president Mark Baker recently gave an update on the petition, imploring supporters to contact their congresspeople to ask whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working to further regulate LEDs on the basis of optical radiation hazards. Baker points to the FDA standards for visible radiation, which is set to wavelengths of greater than 400 nanometers but less than or equal to 710 nm.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can manage to find investors. Unfortunately, these high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson. A loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the inflow of external capital may dry up.

Despite being in the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, many investors still adopt a more traditional strategy; buying shares in profitable companies like Reef Casino Trust (ASX:RCT). While profit isn't the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it's worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.

Check out our latest analysis for Reef Casino Trust

How Fast Is Reef Casino Trust Growing?

If a company can keep growing earnings per share (EPS) long enough, its share price should eventually follow. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. To the delight of shareholders, Reef Casino Trust has achieved impressive annual EPS growth of 39%, compound, over the last three years. That sort of growth rarely ever lasts long, but it is well worth paying attention to when it happens.

It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. The music to the ears of Reef Casino Trust shareholders is that EBIT margins have grown from 55% to 59% in the last 12 months and revenues are on an upwards trend as well. Both of which are great metrics to check off for potential growth.

In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.

Since Reef Casino Trust is no giant, with a market capitalisation of AU$74m, you should definitely check its cash and debt before getting too excited about its prospects.

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Are Reef Casino Trust Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

It's a good habit to check into a company's remuneration policies to ensure that the CEO and management team aren't putting their own interests before that of the shareholder with excessive salary packages. For companies with market capitalisations under AU$297m, like Reef Casino Trust, the median CEO pay is around AU$426k.

Reef Casino Trust offered total compensation worth AU$298k to its CEO in the year to December 2022. That seems pretty reasonable, especially given it's below the median for similar sized companies. CEO compensation is hardly the most important aspect of a company to consider, but when it's reasonable, that gives a little more confidence that leadership are looking out for shareholder interests. It can also be a sign of a culture of integrity, in a broader sense.

Does Reef Casino Trust Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist?

Reef Casino Trust's earnings have taken off in quite an impressive fashion. This appreciable increase in earnings could be a sign of an upward trajectory for the company. At the same time the reasonable CEO compensation reflects well on the board of directors. So faced with these facts, it seems that researching this stock a little more may lead you to discover an investment opportunity that meets your quality standards. You should always think about risks though. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Reef Casino Trust you should be aware of.

The beauty of investing is that you can invest in almost any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here is a list of companies with insider buying in the last three months.

Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Phoenix police.

Phoenix police are investigating an early Saturday morning fatal hit-and-run crash that happened near 7th and Elwood streets.

Police say the crash involved a male pedestrian and a white colored passenger car. Phoenix fire responded and pronounced the pedestrian dead on scene.

Detectives responded to take over the investigation and learned that the suspect vehicle was driving south on 7th Street when it collided with the victim who was walking across 7th Street outside of a marked crosswalk.

After the collision, the suspect vehicle left the area and was last seen driving south on 7th Street towards Broadway Road, police said.

Police identified the victim to be Juan Bazan, 31.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Phoenix Police Department, or Silent Witness (480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish Speakers).

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Hit-and-run in south Phoenix leaves 31-year-old man dead
Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) is urging the Arizona State Bar to launch an ethics investigation of former state Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) following a report that he worked to hide a report that refuted false claims of voter fraud affecting the states elections in 2020.

Bo Dul, the general counsel for Hobbss office, said in a letter to the chief counsel of the state bar obtained by The Washington Post that Brnovichs conduct was harmful to our democracy, our State, and the legal profession itself.

Dul directed the state bar to review files related to Brnovichs conduct on the website for the state attorney generals office.

I urge the State Bar to review these files and take any appropriate action, Dul said.

The letter comes after the Post reported on Wednesday that internal documents show Brnovich kept a March 2022 report that concluded claims of mistakes and wrongdoing were without merit private. Brnovich had begun an investigation into voting in Maricopa County, where some allies for former President Trump claimed voter fraud had cost him victory in the state, about a year after the election.

The former AG released an interim report in April 2022 that claimed that voting in the county was broke, but it did not include edits from those investigating that would have refuted his claims. He eventually organized an Election Review Summary in September that stated that evidence had not been presented to back up voter fraud claims, but it was not released before Brnovichs term in office ended last month.

Multiple audits and lawsuits filed in the aftermath of the 2020 election showed no evidence existed to back up claims from Trump and his supporters that widespread voter fraud or procedural issues cost him victory in Arizona or any other state.

The Post reported that the state bar said it has received at least eight complaints against Brnovich related to his investigation of voting in the 2020 election.

Brnovich denied the allegations that he hid the final report in a statement, reportedly telling local media outlets that he was pleased with the work his office did on election integrity.

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While subjected to severe criticism from all sides of the political spectrum during the course of our investigations, we did our due diligence to run all complaints to ground, he said. Where we were able to debunk rumors and conspiracies, we did so.

Nevertheless, we also identified areas we believe the legislature and county officials should address to ensure confidence in future elections, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Mayoral candidates Lori Lightfoot, clockwise from top left, Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson and Jesus Chuy Garcia, meet with voters over the weekend before Election Day on Feb. 28, 2023. (Chicago Tribune)

With days to go before Chicagos mayoral election  and a virtual certainty that no one will win the seat outright  candidates are focused on turning out their political bases to secure a spot in the April 4 runoff.

At least five of the nine candidates are seriously vying for the top two spots in Tuesdays mayors race, while others hope to shock the political establishment by breaking through the field, so crowded that its highly unlikely anyone will get more than half the vote needed to avoid a runoff.

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Early voter turnout, meanwhile, has far surpassed both the 2019 and 2015 municipal elections. More than 178,000 mail-in and in-person ballots had been cast as of Friday. Thats more than double the ballots cast at this time in the 2019 and 2015 cycles.

As Chicago enters the final days of voting in the elections first round, candidates have spent millions on TV ads trashing their opponents and building themselves up  but voter turnout will decide who wins. Although five candidates have raised more than $2 million for their campaigns, none has been able to build an overwhelming financial advantage like the one Mayor Rahm Emanuel stockpiled in 2015 to secure a second term.

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Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas enters the weekend in a strong position; turnout has been particularly high in areas where hes expected to do well, including conservative Northwest and Southwest side wards drawn to his law-and-order platform.

Vallas has also tried to appeal to white voters downtown and on the North Side by touting endorsements from aldermen Brendan Reilly and Tom Tunney in a TV ad where he also declares himself a Democrat, to rebut criticism from other candidates that he is funded by conservative donors and is a closet Republican.

As the incumbent, Mayor Lori Lightfoot holds a name recognition advantage but has struggled to counter criticism over high crime and her combative leadership style. She needs to turn out Black voters and sufficient numbers of white liberals who delivered her 2019 victory to make it to the second round this year.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who has surged in recent weeks, must capture Milwaukee Avenue progressives on the Northwest Side, gain support along the lakefront and win enough Black voters to make a runoff. U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia is counting on Latino voters and winning over white progressives, particularly along the lakefront.

Businessman Willie Wilson hopes he will retain his Black base, which gave him roughly 10% of the vote in the past two mayoral elections, and gain enough support from white conservatives on the Northwest Side to emerge a surprise winner.

Other candidates have less clear potential paths to a runoff. State Rep. Kambium Kam Buckner and Ald. Sophia King need to win big along lakefront areas they currently represent, while activist JaMal Green hopes for strong youth turnout supporting his candidacy. South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer could ride a wave of support from Black voters, though that is unlikely with six other Black candidates in the race and his low fundraising totals.

Chicago mayoral candidate Roderick Sawyer answers questions from Justin Kaufmann, left, and Monica Eng, right, at The Hideout in Chicago on Feb. 23, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Latinos and lakefront liberals

Heading into the campaigns final stretch, Garcia traversed lakefront wards, progressive Northwest Side neighborhoods and areas he hopes are his Latino strongholds for a string of retail political events aimed at shoring up support. The deluge of appearances underscored the pressure that the two-time mayoral candidate is under to gain ground after his campaign has underwhelmed.

Garcia strolled into the sunny atrium of a senior home earlier this month in Edgewater, where he focused much of his speech on his late mother, who he said had a penchant for singing and poetry.

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The safety of people who are elderly is important to me. You know why? Because my mother continues to  may she rest in peace  continues to be the most powerful force in what I do in public office. She raised me right, Garcia said. It is forces like that that give me the energy and the drive to want to serve everyone in the city of Chicago.

Mayoral candidate U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia greets supporters at a campaign event on Feb. 19, 2023, at Lago Banquet Hall in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

He also shared that the senior centers oatmeal cookies on the table were his favorite and said, I am a cookie monster and I think the mayor of Chicago should be a cookie monster. As Garcia maneuvered around the clusters of residents, an older woman flirted with him.

You look better in person, she said, eliciting a bashful chuckle from Garcia.

A hefty chunk of Garcias final stops have concentrated in Latino neighborhoods as he held rallies on the Southwest and Northwest sides. Last weekend, the Mexico-born candidate jumped on stage at a West Elsdon rally and asked the residents to call out their hometowns, drawing upon their shared sense of immigrant pride.

Johnson, who is backed by the teachers union, also made appearances aimed at drawing support from white progressives, including a candidates forum at the Hideout Chicago that also featured Garcia and Buckner.

All three were asked to define progressive, with Johnson beginning by reminding the crowd that he is the descendant of slaves.

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Progressive politics means that we are moving away from the status quo, embracing a progressive form of governance, so that equity and justice becomes the prevailing form of politics, Johnson said.

The subject of equity cropped up in many of his answers, including when he boldly proclaimed that I am complicit in reinforcing white supremacy.

Mayoral candidate and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson walks to the polls with voters on Feb. 20, 2023, in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

That was in response to a question on transforming Chicago Police Department culture, which he answered by bringing up that he administered standardized tests as a former Chicago Public Schools teacher. Then he traced the history of such tests to the eugenicist Henry Goddard, who brought an early version of intelligence testing to the U.S. in the early 1900s, with later iterations making their way into schools.

Some of these institutions, whether its law enforcement or education, have a long history of not just exacerbating but perpetuating the type of structures that have been harmful to people, Johnson said.

Johnson has also courted progressives at a Brandon is Literally Better improv showcase at the iO Theater as well as a Lakeview house party, and rolled out an endorsement from popular Rogers Park Ald. Maria Hadden.

Although Lightfoot is trying to win the Black vote, she has not given up on her 2019 lakefront base. Friday afternoon, she scanned the racks of the LGBTQ-owned Rattleback Records in Andersonville with her wife Amy Eshleman, carefully considering Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs and Sly and the Family Stone vinyls and greeting the stores owner, Paul Ruffino.

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I thought she handled things during the pandemic quite well, Ruffino said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot talks with colleagues and customers during a visit to Rattleback Records during a campaign stop on Feb. 24, 2023. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Afterward, Lightfoot held a short news conference, saying the areas LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities were very important to her strategy in the campaigns final days.

To the folks that are undecided: if you care about making sure that our city continues to move forward, if you care about the core democratic values that we hold in the city, then youre going to care about the fact that I am the only candidate on the ballot that can beat Paul Vallas, she said.

Battling for the South and West sides

As his campaign has gained momentum and as the only white candidate, Vallas has largely played it safe in recent weeks, visiting the Anti-Cruelty Society, where he posed for a picture with a dog, and attending the Get Behind the Vest pancake breakfast police fundraiser in Beverly, events that werent advertised to the press.

Vallas also stopped by an event last weekend for Black seniors in the 16th Ward, met with members of Englewood First Responders, attended the 2023 Black Creativity Gala and addressed the First Baptist Church in Roseland.

Mayoral candidate and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas greets people on Feb. 19, 2023, as he departs the Get Behind the Vest Pancake Breakfast at St. John Fisher Elementary School in Beverly. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

But winning the appeal of Black voters has been more complicated due to the seven African American candidates in the race. Lightfoot and Johnson, in particular, have spent the final leg of the campaign trail in a heated tug-of-war to win over Black voters.

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At a Woodlawn campaign stop last week, Johnson emphasized Black Chicagos influence on progressive politics, saying Black liberation and the clear consciousness of Black voters paved the way for todays sizable progressive movement. But he added that fortunes have waned in recent decades for Chicagos South and West sides..

Life has been incredibly difficult for Chicagoans, but particularly for Black Chicago, Johnson said. Theres a lot of discussion about Black folks disappearing or being forced out of the city of Chicago. I like to refer to it as the Negro Removal Act.

Lightfoots narrative of how Black neighborhoods have fared in recent times struck a far more optimistic tone as she attempted to make the case that she is the only candidate who has and will continue to deliver results. At a get-out-the-vote rally in Grand Crossing last weekend, former longtime U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush touted her leadership.

Our grass is already green, he said. And in the next four years, our grass is going to be shining green.

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Yet undertones of racial politics have shaded the themes of hope in the Black neighborhoods where Lightfoot has campaigned. She and Black campaign surrogates have frequently asserted that their community cannot afford to split the vote  or else they would give up their seat, as 28th Ward Ald. Jason Ervin warned at a West Garfield Park event Feb. 18.

Lightfoot also singled out her two non-Black rivals, Vallas and Garcia, telling a crowd in Austin, You know whats going to happen with them in charge. Theyre never going to see the West Side.

Biblical references have also appeared in Lightfoots latest messaging.

The mayor spoke at a West Garfield Park rally where she likened herself to Joshua, Moses successor who led the Israelites to topple the walls of Jericho.

This is our Jericho moment, Lightfoot said. We are breaking down the walls that have held back the West Side, the South Side and other people in our city who desperately needed a fighter in the mayors office.  There are people who are going to fight back, because they think that this is their city.

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Lightfoot and Johnson have also had to contend with Wilson, a proven African American vote-getter who recently zeroed in on the closure of in-person church services during COVID-19, positioning himself as protector of the faithful.

At a church in East Garfield Park, a slate of Black ministers stood behind Wilson last week and praised him for defending churches that violated the stay-at-home order.

I believe in religious freedom, Wilson said. The nerve to want to come into our churches and close them down. When I was sick, it wasnt a doctor that saved me, it was Jesus that saved me.

While he condemned the shutdown of churches  which, along with crime, was the main topic of his speech  Wilson questioned why cannabis dispensaries were allowed to stay open for business.

She gonna close down the churches, but wont close down the marijuana houses, Wilson said. In church, at least you come in walking straight. In a marijuana house, you come in  leaning all kind of ways.

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Mayoral candidate Willie Wilson speaks after a mayoral candidate forum on Feb. 9, 2023, in Chicago. (Shanna Madison / Chicago Tribune)

Pot shops were indeed deemed essential business at the start of the pandemic  but that was a decision made by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the city and state sometimes clashed with conflicting COVID rules, but Pritzkers authority on mitigations superseded Lightfoots.

Wilson wrapped up his appearance by saying, to raucous laughter, that he will order Chicago police to send cars and helicopters to Lightfoots house and escort her back to Ohio, where she grew up, once he gets elected mayor.

Tell her I said it, Wilson said, egging on reporters, while campaign adviser Richard Boykin quickly clarified that he was joking.

So anybody who attack our churches, I take it personal, and I will fight you, Wilson said. We will run them out of here. We will run them out of the United States.

Kings campaign trail included a stop at an Englewood coffee shop Friday to talk with undecided voters. When asked what her goal was for this final weekend before the election, King quipped, Can I get about 50,000 more voters on my side?

Chicago mayoral candidate Sophia King answers questions during a forum at The Hideout in Chicago on Feb. 23, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Shes now apparently down to 49,999 after she found a fan in Carl, a resident who declined to give his last name but was impressed by the candidates pitch.

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I think what sets me apart from, probably most everybody else is that I not only have experience, but I have a track record of really bringing people together to get things done, King said, noting her advocacy for the $15 minimum wage as well as developments including the Michael Reese Hospital site.

Youth vote

On the rainy Wednesday before Election Day, five of the candidates trickled into a freewheeling youth forum hosted by the activist group Good Kids Mad City at Northwestern Universitys downtown campus to court the elusive and underrepresented youth vote.

King, Johnson, Green, Buckner and Sawyer joined young people on stage, where they pledged to have paid youth advisers in their cabinet and to support the Peace Book ordinance the group authored.

Chicago mayoral candidate Kam Buckner answers questions during a forum at The Hideout in Chicago on Feb. 23, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

The proposal outlines a structure of peace commissions for various neighborhoods where youth-led anti-violence groups would be tapped to negotiate resolutions to conflict and provide community enrichment. Sawyer, who also worked on the successful push for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department, is one of the ordinances sponsors.

Some of the young people expressed frustration it has sat dormant in City Councils Rules Committee since July.

Activists and attendees quizzed candidates on their plans to address segregation, sexual violence and funding for violence prevention.

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Buckner twice encouraged the crowd to remember who hadnt come to the event. If they are not here for you tonight, they probably will not be here for you for the next four years, Buckner said.

King noted that, as alderman, shes held events with and engaged with GKMC, something shed continue as mayor. If young people dont have people to lead them, to guide them, to love them, chaos is the natural order, she said.

Green, who at 27 is by far the youngest candidate, argued this makes him most qualified to represent them.

Listen, the best thing we can do if we want to make sure that young voices are heard is to elect one, Green said. We got a lot of politicians that we continue to try to push to understand us and understand our values, and we can actually have somebody in the seat to understand what it means (to have) the connection to this generation and also the neighborhoods.

Chicago mayoral candidate JaMal Green answers questions during a forum at The Hideout in Chicago on Feb. 23, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Even so, Green verbally tussled with 15-year-old Catlyn Savado over a recent social media spat between the two, after which the teen said Green crossed a line when he made a tweet calling her Ms. Brandon Johnson supporter.

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Green at the forum apologized, and suggested that because of a generational gap between their times in activism, she mightve misunderstood his record, such as when he rose to prominence during protests against the police shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014.

Ive been in this city doing the work since I was a young teenager, way younger than a lot of people here, Green said.

ayin@chicagotribune.com

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Theres no argument: Jared Stephens committed a crime, and he deserved some form of punishment. Were not suggesting that child pornography isnt an evil act. Possessing it is a crime for good reason.

But the fight now in Florida courts to reduce the 150-year prison term Stephens received is about more than laws and sentences. Its about how how our judicial system treats defendants with serious mental illness. The question is whether the 32-year-old man diagnosed with schizophrenia  who talked in court about shutting off electricity in Russia with his mind  should spend the rest of his life in prison.

Stephens is a former Arizona State University wrestler who became homeless after suffering from untreated schizophrenia for years. In 2016, he walked into a Sweetwater Best Buy and snatched a laptop and other merchandise. When employees confronted him, he pulled out his own laptop, declaring, Look, I have child pornography! He began publicly showing his computer screen, lying down between two sets of sliding doors and perusing the illegal images as customers walked by.

His de facto life sentence appears outside of the norm. The Herald reported that between 2000 and 2017, people sent to prison for possession of child pornography in Miami-Dade County received a median term of three years; about one-third of defendants didnt go to prison.This is based on data from the Florida Department of Corrections that Stephens defense submitted in court.

Stephens could have gotten those three years, plus required treatment, had he accepted a plea deal from prosecutors on one count of child-porn possession  a charge that seems to fit the crime better, based on what we know. Stephens wasnt accused of producing or distributing the pornographic material.

He opted instead to go to trial, a decision his lawyers say was the result of his mental illness. The State Attorneys Office then upped the charges to 30 counts, based on a forensic analysis that found his computer contained a cache of illegal images. The state asked asked for a 21-year sentence.

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Still, thats not even close to the off-the-charts 150 years handed down by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Veronica Diaz with a minimum of public explanation, the Herald reported. Diaz applied the maximum sentence allowed under law.

Few options

Stephens defense has exhausted all avenues of appeal, the Herald reported. His only recourse is the possibility of a sentence reduction as the case goes before a different and, perhaps, more pragmatic, judge, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Altfield. A hearing is scheduled for March 1. A psychological evaluation Stephens defense submitted in court this month states hes unlikely to re-offend.

I want a sentence thats just and I want it as soon as possible, Stephens lawyer Fan Li, who took over the case from the public defenders office, told the Herald Editorial Board. I know too many cases like this get punted down the road.

Its hard not to wonder what Stephens fate would have been were he not homeless, mentally ill; if his family had been in court and not thousands of miles away in Michigan, where they didnt even know that he had been arrested; if Stephens werent Black, factors that historically have put defendants at a disadvantage.

Lack of treatment

In a perfect world, Stephens wouldve received treatment for his mental illness. He would have never become homeless or walked into that Best Buy. But virtually every day, people like him are arrested. Miami-Dade County spends $232 million a year to warehouse people with mental illness in jail, according to data from the Miami-Dade County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Stephens case might have flown under the radar were it not for Diazs egregious sentence.

Because of his schizophrenia, he refused to talk or cooperate with his lawyers during the trial, so they did not know about his traumatic past, how he saw his two younger brothers die in an apartment fire as a child. Once a promising college athlete and student, Stephens mental health began deteriorating in his early 20s. He dropped out of Arizona State University and disappeared from his familys life until he wrote a letter to his mother telling her about his sentence. His attorneys presented the new information to Diaz, but she refused to change his sentence.

With the question of the sentence now before Altfield, state prosecutors said at a Feb. 2 hearing that they supported keeping the century-and-a-half sentence in place because Stephens had been uncooperative and unwilling to undergo mental-health evaluations. (That rigid mindset remains despite an assistant state attorney admitting at a previous hearing she was taken aback by the sentence, the Herald reported.)

And thats a mighty curious change in stance by the State Attorneys Office: from three years in the plea to 21 years during the trial to 150 years today. State Attorneys Office spokesman Ed Griffith told the Herald Editorial Board that a plea agreement always offers defendants less prison time.

Second opinion

Stephens defense did convince him to undergo a a psychosexual evaluation and risk assessment by a forensic psychologist. The Feb. 3 report concluded that he is 97% likely to never have another arrest for any child pornography or hands-on offense and that his behavior at Best Buy was a result of schizophrenia.

Griffith said prosecutors were evaluating the report. Reaching an agreement on a sentence reduction is a possibility, but prosecutors might ask for a second expert opinion. Griffith also said the state must consider public safety before coming to a compromise with his defense. He pointed out that mental illness and competency  legal terms used to determine if someone is capable of participating in legal proceedings  often get convoluted. A person can have a mental disorder and still be deemed competent, he said.

Child pornography is one of the great concerns of our society right now, Griffith said. You have to take public safety into consideration.

Theres no doubt that public safety is a concern. But where were those concerns when the three-year plea deal was on the table?

If Stephens sentence is reduced, the question then becomes what will happen to him. Sending Stephens back into society with no help or resources would almost guarantee that he enters the street-to-jail pipeline that traps so many people with mental illness.

There is an impending alternative. The 208-bed Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery will treat people with mental illness before and after they get arrested. It is scheduled to open later this year.

There are no easy solutions for how our judicial system should treat people like Stephens. But does the lack of a perfect solution mean Stephens should be locked up for the rest of his life? Were not oblivious to the fact that his plight is not a popular cause. People should be held accountable for their crimes, but sentencing him to life behind bars smacks of punishment unfairly applied.
Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine's Minister of Energy, predicts a stable situation with the energy supply in the near future and hopes that the limits will no longer be needed.

Source: Halushchenko on national television

Quote: "I am very glad that now the system is operating in a deficit-free mode; it has already been the third week that electricity production fully covers consumption. We have considerable reserves.

There are plans to continue to support the power system in such a way that people do not experience supply constraints, so I really hope that in the near future we will not need limits at all for areas in terms of electricity consumption.''

Details: Answering the question if Ukraine is considering the possibility of resuming electricity exports, the minister said: "This is an important question now. We used imports, this is a very important mechanism to increase power supply to our system. If we will see a considerable surplus in the system, the question of export will certainly be considered, but for now the key for us is to restore electricity as much as possible to regions where there is still damage to the network."

However, Halushchenko said that Ukraine went through the most difficult heating season in history, during which about 50% of the energy system was damaged by Russian attacks.

Earlier: As of the morning of Saturday, 25 February, electricity consumption has fallen slightly due to the weekend, there is no power deficit in the system, but due to significant damage in the city of Odesa, hourly outages are still in effect.

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Julian Sharpe, left, and Elisa Scott, both 39, were gunned down Aug. 20, 2020 at a house on Central Avenue in Hopewell. On Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, a Hopewell jury convicted Maurice Eric Mulrain of first-degree murder for Sharpe's death and second-degree murder for Scott's death

HOPEWELL  The stillness in the courtroom weighed heavily on everyone inside as they waited for the jury of five men and seven women to walk in and take their seats. Moments later, the eerie silence was pierced as the family members of two Hopewell murder victims reacted with joy over the verdict: Guilty on three of five counts, including first- and second-degree murder.

Julian Sharpe's mother bowed her head and fist-pumped the air. Elisa Scott's mother also bowed her head and dabbed at her eyes with a wad of tissues. The 30-month nightmare they had been living through finally had its brightest moments.

On the other side of the courtroom, family and friends of Maurice Eric Mulrain sat stone-faced and silent as the verdicts were revealed. A few feet in front of them, Mulrain, the defendant, stood at the defense table motionless and emotionless, soaking in what Circuit Court Clerk Tammy Ward had just read.

Mulrain had been found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Sharpe, and guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Scott. Both victims were killed Aug. 20, 2020 in front of a house on Central Avenue, him over an alleged sexual encounter with one of the mothers of Mulrain's children, and her because she came to the door to see what the commotion outside was all about.

Both of the victims were 39 years old. Both had been shot multiple times all over their bodies, with some of the bullets even breaking bones. Sharpe died at the scene; Scott died about an hour later at VCU Medical Center in Richmond.

Outside the downtown Hopewell courthouse, the victims' mothers shared their relief at the verdicts.

"I will have peace. Closure, I have to work on inside myself," Carmen Sharpe said. "I will have to learn to live without him."

Inga Scott said she expected the verdict to be what it was. "I was pleased with the whole trial," she said.

She said the experience should serve as an example for Hopewell, which has already seen four homicides this year. Scott noted Sharpes doggedness in pushing both the investigation and the prosecution of the case.

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Mulrain's family and defense counsel left the courthouse without comment.

Mulrain, 32, will be sentenced June 21, and faces up to life in prison for Sharpes death and up to 40 years for Scotts. It will be up to the judge at the sentence hearing to determine if the punishments run concurrently or consecutively.

He also was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.

Co-prosecutor Robert Fierro called the outcome a good result.

Closing arguments and spilling emotions

The second day of the trial opened with the defense asking Circuit Judge Carson Saunders to throw out the commonwealths entire case that had rested late Thursday afternoon. Defense attorney Mary K. Martin claimed it was the defendants cousin, Shaquon Mulrain, who fired the fatal shots, and there was no proof they planned to murder anyone at the Central Avenue location. Co-prosecutor Jordan Grubbs maintained that Maurice Mulrain had gone to Kentucky the day before the shooting to pick up his cousin with the intent to confront and kill Sharpe because he claimed Sharpe "ran a train"  an expression for having sex  with a woman from Petersburg who had a child by Mulrain.

Circuit Court Judge Carson Saunders denied the defense motion.

In her closing argument, Martin told the jury that the prosecutions case was weak because it relied heavily on testimony from another woman who shared two children with Mulrain, and a neighbor across the street who witnessed the incident through her front window.

Tiffany Walker testified albeit unwillingly that she drove with Mulrain to pick up his cousin and then immediately drove back. She also said that Mulrain had told her it was the cousin, Shaquon, who squeezed the trigger, and she believed him.

The neighbor, Cassandra Vanderkief, testified she saw the two men with Sharpe in the front yard. One of the men shot Sharpe as he turned to walk inside the house, but she did not specify which one of them had the gun.

The commonwealth cannot wish these facts into evidence and expect you to believe them, Martin said. Of her client, Martin said, Its the wrong person sitting in this chair. Someone needs to be held accountable, but it is not this man.

Grubbs contended in his arguments that it was Maurice, not Shaquon, who shot Sharpe and Scott because it was Maurice Mulrain who had the beef with Sharpe, not Shaquon. Instead, the cousin was fetched from Kentucky because Maurice Mulrain felt he needed reinforcement when he went to confront Sharpe.

The reason he went to get Shaquon was to have a weapon, Grubbs said.

Pertaining to Walkers testimony the day before, Grubbs said the reason she said she believed what Mulrain told her was because of the kids they share.

She wants to see him in the best light possible, he told the jury.

The jury appeared to side with the defense about the actual shooter, acquiting Mulrain of two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The emotion of the closing arguments proved too much for the victims mothers. Carmen Sharpe began sobbing uncontrollably during Grubbs arguments and had to leave the courtroom for a few minutes. Later, while Martin was pleading her case, Inga Scott became annoyed with the tone and stormed out. She eventually returned.

Shaquon Mulrain, who faces the same charges as his cousin, is being held in a Kentucky prison on drugs and weapons charges unrelated to the Hopewell murders. Authorities in Hopewell and Kentucky are working to determine when he can be brought to Virginia to face trial.

More:A year later, an aching mother fights to find answers to her son's murder

More:Victim's mother: 'I cried with relief tears' when Hopewell Police arrested alleged killer

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell jury finds man guilty in 2020 double-murder
The off-campus residence where four University of Idaho students were found dead in November will be demolished, the school said Friday.

The owner of the three-story King Street House where the bodies of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were found offered it to the university.

The offer was accepted by the university. The school decided to get rid of the structure, which is located blocks away from campus, University President Scott Green said in a statement.

The slayings rocked the small community of Moscow, where investigators grappled with what the towns police chief would later describe as a very complex case.

This is a healing step and removes the physical structure where the crime that shook our community was committed, Green said. Demolition also removes efforts to further sensationalize the crime scene.

The university is also evaluating options where students may be involved in the future development of the property.

Scholarships in honor of three of the students have been established and a fourth is in the works, Green said. A plan to create a memorial is also being developed.

We will never forget Xana, Ethan, Madison and Kaylee, and I will do everything in my power to protect their dignity and respect their memory, Green said.

Three of the victims were roommates in the house, and Kernodles boyfriend, Chapin, was staying overnight, according to investigators.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested late last year in Pennsylvania and has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

The four charges of first-degree murder carry sentences that could include life in prison to the death penalty.

He is scheduled for a five-day preliminary hearing starting June 26.

At the time of the slayings, Kohberger was a doctoral student, studying criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, a short drive over the state line from Moscow. A WSU official has said Kohberger is no longer enrolled.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Airbnb dominates the short-term rental market, but the services success has started a new conversation: the companys impact on housing affordability, also known as the Airbnb effect. But it's a layered conversation, Michael Seiler, professor of real estate and finance at the College of William & Mary, told Fortune. The real effect to pay attention to, he said, is what Airbnb does to long-term rentals.

Seiler decided to go deeper in his research, with co-authorsPurdue University economics professor Ralph Siebert and The Chinese University of Hong Kong real estate professor Liuming Yangin a paper, Airbnb or Not Airbnb? That is the Question: How Airbnb Bans Disrupt Rental Markets, shared with Fortune. The paper is under revision for a top field journal in real estate, they said. The takeaway is clear, though.

If people are renting their place out short-term, well then that place is now no longer available for long-term, Seiler said. So theres a substitution effect, as we call it.

In order to understand this Airbnb effect on long-term rentals, the authors focused on legislative bans on short-term rentals in general, and an Airbnb ordinance in Irvine, California, in particular. Irvine is one of the few cities that strictly enforces such regulation and actually prohibits Airbnbs in residential zoning areas. And to further enforce its regulation, Irvine works with a property technology company to monitor and detect violations.

Irvine is therefore an ideal case study. Everyone wants to know the effects of Airbnb, thats just a hot topic, Seiler said. But with our data ability, we can actually study this thing in a legit way.

He explained that they were able to measure the effect using contracted long-term rental prices versus asking long-term rental prices, which previous Airbnb studies have useddespite the fact that anyone can ask for $10,000 per month for rent but that doesnt mean thats what theyll get.

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They found that the number of Airbnb listings in Irvine declined by 23.1% after the citys short-term rentals ordinanceconfirming that the ban was effective and had a drastic impact on Airbnb activities, the authors wrote.

So they dug a bit deeper and found that Irvines short-term rental ordinance led to a 2.7% decline in contracted long-term rental prices, on averagethat amounts to $101 relative to the mean value and a reduction of $72 million in annual total rental spending. In other words, $3,749 rent is $101 cheaper in Irvine thanks to the citys curb on the Airbnb effect.

When you take away Airbnbs, rents go down. Seiler told Fortune that was expected, considering theres a supply side effect thats cutting into the market, in that rents go down and rental units shift toward long-term rentals, which makes rent cheaper.

You have oversupplied the market, so people stopped renting their property short-term [and] they started renting it long-term, he said. Thats an increase in supply, and therefore that should put downward pressure on prices, and it did.

But its not just a universal thing, Seiler said. And thats a bit more surprising, if not shocking.

This is not true for all rental properties, Seiler said. Its mainly true for those properties that lend themselves kind of in the sweet spot of what Airbnb doesthats interesting because its a very specialized effect.

What he means is that the decline in rents was more pronounced for long-term rental units that had similar property characteristics as those listed through Airbnb and those located in areas with greater Airbnb exposure before the ban was enacted.

Still, theres a few things to consider rather than just looking at it as better off for society because short-term rental regulation reduced rents, Seiler told Fortune.

This is a source of revenue for people, he said. So when you set a policy, like an Airbnb policy, you need to be really concerned with the consistency of it. Theres people who buy real estate because they want to rent it out on the short-term, if that were to suddenly change, that money is gone.

So we have to be really careful about the reversal of policies and letting something happen and then restricting or banning it all together because that could really mess with peoples personal budget, Seiler said. And I don't think enough folks think about that.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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The Hughes County States Attorney will not take action on Sen. Tom Pischke's, R-Dell Rapids, request to have the 27 senators, who voted in favor of suspending Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, R-Rapid City, in January, criminally prosecuted.

Pischke filed a victim impact statement Friday to the Hughes County States Attorney, after holding a press conference Thursday to announce his intention to have the senators investigated.

In a signed victim impact statement and affidavit of senator in support of prosecution, Pischke wrote he believed Frye-Mueller's suspension was in violation of state law by "preventing a legislator from attending or voting." The violation is a class two misdemeanor.

More:Lawmaker set to file criminal complaint tied to Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller suspension

He added because Frye-Mueller was stripped of her committee assignments and lost access to her state email as a result of the disciplinary process, those actions also possibly violated another state law by "preventing a legislative member from meeting." That is punishable as a class four felony.

In a letter dated Friday by Jessica LaMie, the Hughes County State's Attorney wrote that the executive branch and the judicial branches of government cannot interfere with the legislative branch and internal matters.

"The law is clear in South Dakota," LaMie wrote, referencing a 2007 South Dakota State Supreme Court decision. "The Executive Branch, which includes States Attorneys, cannot interfere in the internal workings of the Legislature including the investigation and discipline of a legislator."

Frye-Muller was censored and reinstated to her duties as a senator, following allegations of workplace harassment between her and a Legislative staffer. She was not returned to her committee duties.

Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller returned to the floor of the Senate after being censured in Pierre on Feb. 1.

The staffer alleged Frye-Mueller came to her on Jan. 24 for a discussion about a proposed bill, with Frye-Mueller's husband present. The staffer said after the conversation about the bill, Frye-Mueller asked about her child and the conversation turned to vaccines and breastfeeding. The staffer alleged Frye-Mueller said the staffer's baby could "get Down syndrome or autism" or even die, because of childhood vaccinations.

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And when asked if the staffer was breastfeeding her baby, the staffer informed the senator she was using formula instead. Frye-Mueller then allegedly told the staffer how "(the staffer's) husband could 'suck on (the staffer's) breasts' to get milk to come in," according to the complaint.

Frye-Mueller denied the allegations in a public hearing.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Hughes County state's attorney won't take action on senator's criminal complaint
Tia Collin's family before her husband died. Courtesy of Tia Collin

Tia Collin's husband Ryan died at 39 from frontotemporal dementia.

The disease made him forget Collin and their four children.

This is Collin's story, as told to Kelly Burch.

I never believed in love at first sight. But when I met my husband Ryan there was an instant familiarity. I was a 20-year-old single mom recovering from a broken back. Ryan vowed to love my son and me, so we were married just seven months after meeting.

Ryan served in the Navy, but when I got pregnant with our fourth child, he faced a long deployment on an aircraft carrier. He couldn't be away from the family that long, so he retired from military service.

At the time, I was happy to have my husband home. Looking back, that decision is even more meaningful because I know what came next. Ryan died from frontotemporal dementia at 39. My kids didn't get much time with their dad. I'll forever be grateful he was with them when he could be.

Ryan was my best friend and the neighborhood dad

After leaving the Navy, Ryan joined the local sheriff's office. He was a great officer and a great father. When he pulled in the driveway not only our kids but the neighborhood children would flock to him. He was just that fun.

To me, Ryan was my best friend. My lover too, but it's our friendship that I will always miss. We had rich conversations about everything.

Ryan was the most laid back man. We were gently parenting before that was a thing, and we were always patient and kind with each other. Our time together was short, so I'm thankful we didn't spend much of it arguing.

Around 35, he started to change

All of that made it so shocking when Ryan started to change. He became completely apathetic. I thought it was job stress, so I organized a vacation to Disney World to give us a break. During that trip Ryan would walk off with our children but return without them. We were supposed to stay for two weeks but we left after one. I was so angry, because I thought Ryan was just being a jerk.

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At home, Ryan started having outbursts. He spent $35,000, our whole savings. I worried he was having an affair. We had vowed that our children would never fear us, but they started to be scared of Ryan.

That's when I asked him to leave. It was awful  Ryan just couldn't understand why I had kicked him out, but I had to hold the line for our children.

Ryan was misdiagnosed with mental illness

I didn't know that Ryan had also been having trouble at work. At 35, he failed a fit for duty test, psychological screening. With that he lost his job and our health insurance. His parents took him to a community mental health center, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and later depression with psychosis. Neither of those diagnoses sat right with me. Ryan had passed Navy and law enforcement psych screenings. He had no history of mental illness.

Meanwhile, Ryan was getting worse right in front of my eyes. When I visited him with his parents, the only thing he'd say was, "How are the kids?" He started repeating, then slurring that line. Eventually all he could muster was, "the kids?"

Within a year, Ryan was nonverbal and incontinent. He could barely swallow, and spent long stretches in the hospital. Everyone was ready to give up on him, pressuring me to send him to the state psychological hospital. But I had to keep fighting for him.

I found Ryan's diagnosis in a fiction book

During all this, I took the kids on a trip to see my family. On the way home, I picked up a fiction book. A minor character had frontotemporal dementia, and I saw Ryan on those pages. I was excited  we finally had an answer. But I realized this is a terrible prize.

I had to fight every step of the way to get Ryan tested. Finally, he saw a neuropsychologist. He couldn't talk at all, but she asked him to write a sentence. He scrawled two words: "the kids?"

When his diagnosis was confirmed, we got in the car. I asked Ryan if he had heard what the doctor said. He replied with the only word he still spoke: "yep." I said, "Ryan, do you know you are dying?"

"Yep," he replied.

I thought about all the conversations we had during our marriage. Now, Ryan was here with me, but not here. It was such a profound loss.

Ryan died two years later, at 39

Getting Ryan the care he needed was so challenging. No hospital wants to care for a dementia patient with military training. The VA was no help. Eventually, Ryan was put in hospice care an hour and a half away. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I would put the kids on the bus and go visit Ryan, just walking the halls with him.

We had talked about life support when Ryan was healthy. Don't make me stay alive, he'd told me. Now, he was forced to live while his brain shrunk, taking him further and further away. There was no option to end his suffering, so the least I could do was be there for him.

Ryan lived that way for two years. I watched our children become tweens and teens living in the shadow of a dying father. I read a lot about anticipatory grief during that time, but when Ryan finally died at 39, I was shattered. I wanted to tear the pages from every book on anticipatory grief.

Tia Collin's family today Courtesy of Tia Collin

That was nearly 14 years ago. Today, my children are doing well. I have two grandchildren. I'm turning 50 this spring, and excited for my future.

Our family was shaped by the pain of living through a diagnosis that had no hope. Ryan could never survive frontotemporal dementia, but I knew the rest of us needed to survive and continue living. That's the best way to honor who Ryan was.

Read the original article on Insider
The house where four college students were stabbed to death will be demolished, the University of Idaho confirmed in a statement on Friday.

Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead at an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, in mid-November. Nearly six weeks after the killings, Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

Scott Green, the universitys president, said they accepted an offer from the owner to give the King Street house to the college. Now, the structure will be torn down as a means of healing for the community.

This is a healing step and removes the physical structure where the crime that shook our community was committed, Green said in a statement. Demolition also removes efforts to further sensationalize the crime scene.

Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University, waived his extradition hearing after his court appearance on Dec. 31 and was brought to Idaho in January to face charges. Idaho police said they would no longer be communicating with the media and the public about Kohbergers case, per the judges order.

Idaho students struggled to regain their sense of safety following the killings, but efforts were made to support the community as they returned to the campus. Green said the college created scholarships in memory of the four students, and a campus memorial is also underway.

Sometimes it is hard to see beyond this tragedy. But the selfless acts, the deep engagement, and loving support of our entire Vandal Family remind me that there is so much good in the world, Green said. We will never forget Xana, Ethan, Madison and Kaylee, and I will do everything in my power to protect their dignity and respect their memory.

Related...
By Aftab Ahmed and Sarita Chaganti Singh

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Group of 20 (G20) nations have some disagreements over restructuring debt for distressed economies, the chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Saturday, adding that banning private cryptocurrencies should be an option.

India's G20 presidency comes as its South Asian neighbours Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan are seeking urgent IMF funds due to an economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

China, the world's largest bilateral creditor, urged the group of big economies on Friday to conduct a fair, objective and in-depth analysis of the causes of global debt issues as clamour grows for lenders to take a large haircut, or accept losses, on loans.

"On debt restructuring, while there are still some disagreements, we now have the global sovereign debt roundtable with consideration of all public and private creditors," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters after chairing the roundtable with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

"We just finished a session in which it was clear that there is a commitment to bridge differences for the benefit of countries."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said there were no "deliverables" from the meeting, which was mostly organisational.

Further discussions of the panel, which includes major bilateral creditors including China, India and the G7 countries, several debtor countries, are planned around the time of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in April.

"We certainly had that agreement that this is a useful forum," Yellen told Reuters in an interview. "We look forward to participating in it."

CRYPTO RESTRICTIONS

Apart from restructuring debt, regulating cryptocurrencies is another priority area for India, which Georgieva agreed with.

"We have to differentiate between central bank digital currencies that are backed by the state and stable coins, and crypto assets that are privately issued," Georgieva said.

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"There has to be very strong push for regulation... if regulation fails, if you're slow to do it, then we should not take off the table banning those assets, because they may create financial stability risk."

Yellen said she had not suggested the "outright banning of crypto activities, but it was critical to put in place a strong regulatory framework."

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed, Sarita Chaganti Singh and Shivangi Acharya; writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Krishna N. Das and William Mallard)
Then-Illinois Network of Charter Schools President Andrew Broy at a news conference at Chicago Public School headquarters in 2014. He's now the INCS CEO and treasurer of the Super PAC. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Super PACs arent just spending big in this years mayoral campaign, theyve so far dropped more than $1 million in ward races, in some cases rivaling what candidates raised on their own.

Three Super PACs  representing charter schools, realtors, and pro-business allies of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel  have spent more than $1.2 million on aldermanic races this cycle, largely on behalf of moderate incumbents or newcomers aligned with the PACs interests.

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Super PACs, also known as independent expenditure committees, are prohibited from coordinating with campaigns, meaning a candidate cant directly influence a PACs message. But the interest groups aligned with those PACs can  and do  send out questionnaires and hold interviews with candidates to gauge whether their interests align.

Realtors

The Illinois REALTORS Fund, which is funded by the Chicago, Illinois and National Associations of Realtors, has spent more than $400,000 supporting 20 aldermanic candidates via digital ads, mailers and field organizing. That sum surpasses what the group spent on aldermanic races at this point in the 2019 election cycle and its overall spending in 2015 races.

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In the six-way race to succeed retiring Ald. James Cappleman in the 46th Ward, Kim Walz, a former staffer for Rep. Mike Quigley whos now a regional manager for Walgreens, has benefited from about $65,000 in spending by the Realtors Fund.

The group has spent about $66,000 supporting 48th Ward candidate Andre Peloquin, a residential real estate broker, and roughly $56,000 supporting 4th Ward candidate Ebony Lucas, a real estate attorney.

Lightfoot appointees to the City Council  Monique Scott, 24th, Timmy Knudsen, 43rd, Anabel Abarca, 12th, and Nicole Lee, 11th  benefited from tens of thousands of dollars in spending by the realtor PAC as well.

Illinois Realtors CEO Jeff Baker, who is also chair of the Super PAC, said that for the associations 18,000 members working in Chicago, theres a lot at stake with the historic turnover on the City Council.

That includes a decadeslong worsening of the citys housing shortage that he said is making it harder for low- and middle-income earners to own. That, in turn, drives up rental demand and prices. The groups concerns include continued property tax increases, a potential hike in the real estate transfer tax and aldermanic support for state legislation that would lift the ban on rent control.

The group sends out questionnaires and interviews candidates to gather as much research and information as possible. At that point, the doors close, the walls go up. The association and its relevant political committees decide what we want to do, if were going to do anything, Baker said.

Its messaging is only positive, he points out, and focuses on a range of economic issues, not just property taxes. Unlike some other Super PACs where you may not be sure whos giving, in our case, 100% of our funding is realtors, Baker said.

Of the super PACs active in the mayoral race, two supporting Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas appear to be funded by dark money, where the individual contributor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown or heavily obscured.

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The realtors group is spending heavily in the 46th Ward, which has a long tradition of contentious debates over housing, because two candidates  Marianne Lalonde and Angela Clay  both support lifting the ban on rent control, Baker said.

Walzs concern for the burden on property owners and housing providers while also providing adequate, safe, suitable housing for renters in the city earned the PACs support, Baker said. Walz will not rely on property taxes as this endless well of financial support for the city and not continuously looking to overburden property owners with regulation, he said.

The PACs level of spending is hugely impactful, Lalonde told the Tribune, estimating one third of her time as a candidate is spent on fundraising. Lalonde started 2023 with about $80,000 cash on hand, according to the state elections board. In a short span, the Realtors sent out four mailers supporting Walz, highlighting not only her support for housing options for all residents of the 46th Ward but also her work with Walgreens during the pandemic and on prescription drug pricing.

Lalonde did not respond to the Realtors questionnaire, but said she supports lifting the rent control ban statewide not to mirror rules in place in San Francisco or New York, but to address unfettered increases that have displaced her neighbors.

She said hopes to protect the income diversity the ward is known for and agrees the current dependence on property taxes for city revenue is kind of out of control. If elected, she said she would slow the approval of further luxury developments, citing the thousands of higher-end studio and one bedroom rental units coming online soon.

Charter schools

The INCS Action Independent Committee, a Super PAC associated with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, has so far spent $270,000 on mailers and digital ads for just five candidates. Thats far less than at this point in the 2019 cycle, when they spent just over $440,000 supporting or opposing 17 candidates.

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Some of the candidates they supported in 2019 either lost their races or are retiring. Losing candidates included Pat OConnor in the 40th Ward and Joe Moore in the 49th. Ald. Ariel Reboyras, 30th, and Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, both supported by the PAC in 2019, opted for retirement rather than run again in 2023.

The group is again supporting Stephanie Coleman, 16th, Felix Cardona, 31st, and Emma Mitts, 37th, who all have charters in their ward. INCS is also supporting newcomer Jessica Gutierrez in the 30th Ward and incumbent 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas, who is being challenged by Lori Torres Whitt, a Chicago Teachers Union leader.

Like the Realtors, INCS sends out questionnaires and conducts interviews with prospective candidates, supporting those who back equitable funding for charter schools, access to facilities and a fair, transparent renewal process, said Andrew Broy, INCS CEO and treasurer of the Super PAC.

While aldermen are not often called upon to vote on charter specific issues, INCS does work with aldermen on zoning changes or additions for facilities, for their support for individual schools in front of the Chicago Board of Education on added enrollment or curricula.

Gutierrez was an INCS target in 2019, when she took Reboyras to a runoff. This time, shes benefited from more than $85,000 in help from INCS in the wards four-way race. Broy described her as a bright future leader of the council. The group has spent between $40,000 and $50,000 for the four incumbents its supporting.

The INCS Super PACs largest funders are James Frank, founder of the automotive fleet leasing and management company Wheels Inc., and Alice Walton and James Walton, siblings and heirs to the Walmart fortune. Together, they have given nearly $7 million in recent years. Those same donors are supportive of INCSs regular PAC, which has been more involved in state races.

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The Super PAC recently spent $65,000 opposing mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson after he unveiled a tax policy that Broy said the group believes would do substantial damage to the citys economic climate.

Not only does the group spend on digital ads and mailers, he said, it has a network of roughly 100 canvassers that call and knock on doors at the citys 62,000 charter households, which have 100,000 registered and proven voters, Broy said.

Looking past this election, Broy notes the upcoming transition to an elected school board in 2024 will be a major governance shift that has huge implications for CPS and the city broadly. We need more groups and more civic institutions to engage in that discussion, debate and process. INCS is already recruiting candidates for those races.

Is INCS spending less on aldermanic races to save up for the school board fight? I expect us to have sufficient resources to be engaged in school board races in 24 and in 26, Broy said. Certainly well turn attention to that after municipal elections are over on April 4.

Business interests

The highest profile Super PAC involved in this aldermanic cycle is Get Stuff Done, which has spent nearly $600,000 supporting 15 candidates and opposing two.

The group is chaired by a former adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Michael Ruemmler, who has previously told the Tribune the group is focused on electing pragmatic Obama Democrats to the City Council who are more focused on solutions-oriented legislating than ideology.

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The group has raised roughly $1.8 million since launching in early December, according to state records. $1 million came from Michael Sacks, another former Emanuel donor and confidant who is the board chairman and CEO of the investment firm Grosvenor Capital Management. Sacks and his wife Cari, have also donated more than $150,000 directly to 12 City Council candidates, according to WTTW.

The group received $200,000 from the political action committee for the laborers union, LiUNA. Henry Crown & Co. heir Lester Crown and his son James Crown each donated $100,000, and Sterling Bays Keating Crown, Lester Crowns grandson, gave $25,000. Duchossois Group CEO Craig Duchossois, the Illinois Restaurant Association, and the Building Owners and Managers Association have all contributed as well.

The group has spent more than $160,000 in the 25th Ward on the Southwest Side, where incumbent Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez is in a heated rematch against Aida Flores, an assistant principal at Darwin Elementary in Logan Square. Now that outside spending has exceeded $100,000, the campaign finance caps in the race have been lifted, meaning candidates can raise unlimited funds through Feb. 28.

The PAC has spent more than $62,000 opposing Sigcho-Lopez, an outspoken member of City Councils socialist caucus endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union and Brandon Johnson. It has spent nearly $100,000 on media and mailers supporting Flores, who is backed by several unions and Rep. Garcia.

In a release, Sigcho-Lopez decried the groups involvement. In my four years fighting for working-class residents, Ive never once heard from the likes of Michael Sacks, the Crown family or the Duchossois family about their apparently grave concerns for the people of the 25th Ward, he said.

They could use their money and influence to fund violence prevention efforts, or build affordable housing, but instead they spend money on political mail. Its modern-day colonialism and as a community we must reject their efforts to buy this election.

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PAC spokesman Ron Holmes defended the groups involvement.

Aida Flores has been endorsed by the 25th Wards elected Latino leaders because they agree that she offers the best chance to deliver for their constituents, Holmes said. It speaks volumes that those that have worked the closest with Ald. Sigcho-Lopez are calling for change.

Flores is backed by Garcia, a mayoral candidate, as well as Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya and state Sen. Celina Villanueva.

The group has spent nearly $90,000 opposing 48th Ward candidate Nick Ward, who like Sigcho-Lopez, is also endorsed by the Chicago Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. PAC ads have attacked Ward for his past support of police abolition.

The group has also spent about $65,000 supporting incumbent Ald. Samantha Nugent in the 39th Ward, $55,000 backing Lightfoot appointee Monique Scott in the crowded 24th Ward, and nearly $40,000 supporting 50th Ward. Ald. Deb Silverstein.

aquig@chicagotribune.com
A 23-year-old Tacoma man was charged with murder Friday for the death of his 4-month-old son. According to court documents, the infant suffered multiple brain bleeds in the last two weeks.

Samuel Bryon Kennedy was charged in Pierce County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree murder. The boy died Wednesday at Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital, one day after he was brought there in an unresponsive state from his parents West End apartment.

According to the probable cause document, preliminary results from a medical examiners autopsy determined he died of blunt force trauma to the head. The death was ruled a homicide, the sixth in Tacoma so far this year, and the second alleged to have occurred at the hands of a victims parent.

Pleas of not guilt were entered on Kennedys behalf at arraignment Friday afternoon. Judge Sabrina Ahrens set bail at $1.5 million.

In arguing for that amount of bail, deputy prosecutor Afton Gregson referred to the facts of the case and said the state was concerned Kennedy was a flight risk because he had ties to Idaho. He moved to Pierce County from there with his wife about a year ago. The couple have two other children, ages 3 and 2. According to court records, Kennedy does not have any prior convictions.

Kennedys wife attended the arraignment and requested the court not grant a no-contact order between her and her husband. Judge Ahrens said she wasnt inclined to allow contact, but the defense reserved the issue to be considered later.

Charging documents allege that Kennedy was home alone with his three children Tuesday afternoon when his wife left for work. The infant had allegedly been sick with a high fever for several days and was sleeping in a rocker while Kennedy sat on the couch. In interviews with Tacoma Police Department detectives, the defendant said his other son woke the infant by throwing a plastic bottle at him. Kennedy allegedly said he became frustrated and shook the infant, causing him to start gurgling.

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Kennedy brought his son to a downstairs neighbor for help. The two reportedly performed CPR on the infant, and the neighbor called 911.

The child was unresponsive when Tacoma Fire Department personnel went to the apartment in the 6300 block of North 26th Street at about 8:16 p.m, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. Emergency responders performed CPR on the boy and took him to the hospital.

His brain was scanned, and a pediatric neurosurgeon found a fresh brain bleed, retinal hemorrhaging and two hematomas that were 10-14 days old. All of the injuries were consistent with abusive head trauma, records state. The doctor advised that surgical intervention wasnt possible. About three hours after the infant was brought to the hospital, a social worker requested a police response.

The social worker reported on the fathers odd behavior, such as asking if CPS was being called, and asking if he was in trouble, prosecutors wrote in charging papers. He reportedly then became defensive, stating he did not strike or harm the child. According to social worker, the fathers attitude did not match the tragedy of his child.

Police officers found the infants parents in a waiting room and spoke with the mother privately, records state. The mother was sobbing and appeared distraught. She told police she had known Kennedy for nearly four years, and they married in December.

The mother said she left for work at 4 p.m. Tuesday and was at work for a couple of hours when her husband called, telling her to come home quickly because their baby wasnt breathing. Asked if she had any other concerns about the infant, she said she took him to a pediatric urgent care Sunday in Gig Harbor because he had been fussy, court records show. She was told the infant had an ear infection and was given Amoxicillin, which gave her son a temporary rash. She returned to the clinic and was given a different antibiotic.

Officers also spoke with Kennedy at the hospital. He initially denied ever shaking or dropping his son, repeatedly saying he would never hurt his children, according to the probable cause document. After he was arrested, Kennedy allegedly admitted to shaking the victim and causing his injuries.

In interviews with detectives, Kennedy allegedly said his son had been sick and was crying when he shook him. Its unclear how the child sustained his earlier injuries.

I didnt mean to kill him, Kennedy told police, according to charging papers. He demonstrated how he shook the victim, which the detectives described as shaking the victim vigorously, back and forth.
Smoking fire consumes the Branch Davidian Compound at end the 51-day standoff with group leader David Koresh and his followers. Greg Smith/Corbis/Getty Images

In 1993, a religious sect refused to cooperate with federal agents in Waco, Texas, after an initial raid ended with the deaths of 10 people.

The ATF suspected the group was building a weapons arsenal and a local report found the group leader was sexually abusing children.

The 51-day public standoff ended after an FBI tactic to force out members went haywire, killing 76 people.

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold the first rally of his presidential campaign at the Waco Regional Airport on March 25 as he faces a looming possible indictment related to an investigation into a "hush-money" payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The rally will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Waco siege, an infamous raid by law enforcement on a religious compound that was located just outside the Texas town.

The Waco Siege  and how it ended  was one of the most public and shocking law enforcement standoffs in recent history.

After a 51-day siege between federal agents and a religious group called the Branch Davidians, led by a man named David Koresh, federal agents blew holes in the compound's walls before pumping the building full of tear gas.

They wanted to force the remaining Branch Davidians out. Instead, the compound caught alight and burned down, killing 76 people inside.

It's been 30 years since one of the most public standoffs with the law ended in disaster. Here's how the tragedy unfolded.

In the early 1990s, about 13 miles outside of a town called Waco, Texas, a small religious community appeared to be living placidly on a 77-acre compound known as Mount Carmel. They were known as Branch Davidians and practiced a form of Christianity based on the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, on March 1, 1993. Ron Heflin/AP

Sources: SBS, Waco Tribune-Herald

Upon first glance, you probably wouldn't have suspected that a few years earlier, in 1988, a gun battle had broken out at the Branch Davidian compound between different factions of the church.

A woman with a cross walked down the road near the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. Rick Bowmer/AP

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Waco Tribune-Herald

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Two leaders had been vying for control of the Branch Davidians. One of those leaders was a man named David Koresh, who had reportedly changed his name from Vernon Howell to boost his music career.

David Koresh, his wife Rachel and their son Cyrus in front of their house in 1986. Elizabeth Baranyai/Sygma/Getty Images

Koresh and his followers went to trial for attempted murder after the gun battle, but they were acquitted.

Afterwards, they had their guns  seven semi-automatic guns, three rifles, two shotguns and ammunition  returned to them.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Waco Tribune-Herald

Things quieted down for the Branch Davidians for several years. But in 1992, editors at the local newspaper Waco Tribune-Herald launched an eight-month investigation into rumours about the group leader Koresh having sex with underage girls.

David Koresh, his wife Rachel and their two children Star and Cyrus in 1987. Elizabeth Baranyai/Sygma/Getty Images

Source: Waco Tribune-Herald

By then, Koresh had a devout following made up of people from all over the world  from England to Hawaii to New Zealand and Australia.

David Koresh puts his arm around Clive Doyle in 1986 during a recruiting trip to Australia. Elizabeth Baranyai/Sygma/Getty Images

In the 1980s, he travelled to Australia and England to recruit followers.

He told people in England that the revelation was coming, claiming he was the messiah and could save them if they lived with him and led a life of prayer and preparation at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco.

Sources: Waco Tribune-Herald, BBC

But the Waco Tribune-Herald's investigation found that the well-loved religious leader had abused children, had underage sex with girls, claimed to have more than 15 wives and said that God had given him the right to sleep with anyone's wife.

A photo of David Koresh taken at the Mount Carmel compound of the Branch Davidians cult near Waco, Texas in 1981. AP

The investigation also said he was gathering weapons and controlled his followers with mind control techniques.

Source: Waco Tribune-Herald

But at the time, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms had also been quietly conducting their own probe into the group for about a year. Officials believed Koresh was converting semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons and making grenades.

An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent stands in the rain at a barricade north of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas on Monday, March 22, 1993. George Widman/AP

Sources: SBS, Waco Tribune-Herald

The ATF tried to stop the newspaper running the story, but on Saturday, February 27, 1993, the Waco Tribune-Herald ran its investigation about Koresh, calling him "The Sinful Messiah."

A portrait of David Koresh at age 14. AP

The opening line of the article reads: "If you are a Branch Davidian, Christ lives on a threadbare piece of land 10 miles east of Waco called Mount Carmel."

According to the article, Koresh "has dimples, claims a ninth-grade education, married his legal wife when she was 14, enjoys a beer now and then, plays a mean guitar, reportedly packs a 9mm Glock and keeps an arsenal of military assault rifles, and willingly admits that he is a sinner without equal."

One private detective in the article stated he did not believe the authorities would act unless "someone is killed."

Source: Waco Tribune-Herald

The next morning, a Sunday in late February 1993, about 76 federal agents tried to search the grounds of the compound and arrest Koresh.

ATF agents standing at a checkpoint near the Branch Davidian compound in March 1993. Brian Bahr/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: PBS, Dallas Morning News, Mirror, SBS

For two hours, the agents fought the Branch Davidians. Four agents and six Branch Davidians were killed, while numerous others were injured.

Law enforcement agents and vehicles around the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Sygma/Getty Images

Before the battle, the ATF agents had stencilled their blood types onto their legs for quicker transfusions. This was not standard practice  they anticipated that the confrontation could get violent, according to SBS.

Sources: PBS, Mirror, SBS

Over the next 51 days, thanks to an amalgamation of stubbornness by Koresh and overzealousness by federal agents, a media campaign arose that created a two-dimensional narrative about the Branch Davidian community  Koresh as the crazy leader preaching about the end of the world and his mesmerized followers.

Protesters hold a sign that reads "Is your church ATF approved?" during a rally against the ATF during the siege in 1993. Steven Reece/Sygma/Getty Images

Sources: The Conversation, SBS

Two days later, on March 2, 1993, the FBI took over the siege, since the killing of the ATF agents was considered a federal crime. They cut off all access to the property and flew in negotiators and hostage rescue experts.

FBI agents unload from a truck in March 1993. Bob Pearson/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: Dallas Morning News, The Conversation, Los Angeles Times

On the same day, two women in their 70s and eight children left the compound. They took with them an audiotape Koresh wanted played on the radio. On the tape, he promised to come out before there was any more bloodshed. But he never did.

David Koreshs grandmother and her lawyer play a tape for the media in 1993 during the siege. Chris Wilkins/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Los Angeles Times

At this point, FBI negotiator Gary Noesner was working on getting people out. He helped 35 people  21 of whom were children  escape the compound.

FBI negotiator Gary Noesner in 2018. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Source: The Conversation

Yet even as Noesner's negotiations worked, the FBI got more and more forceful. They cut the compound's power and blasted the building with noise at night to ruin their sleep.

An officer surveys the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. David Ake/AFP/Getty Images

They cut off the phone lines so Koresh could only talk to them.

In response, Koresh said either restore the phone lines or live knowing they were the ones, "that killed these little children."

Noesner tried to get the FBI to change tactics, but instead he was taken off the case.

Sources: The Conversation, Dallas Morning News

The FBI also began to accuse the media of interfering. On March 11, 1993, after radio host Ron Engelman appealed to the compound to signal if they needed any help, the FBI told the media to stick to their job of reporting the facts.

A federal agent gestures at the media as a Branch Davidian member gets into a car after a hearing in 1993. Chris Wilkins/AFP/Getty Images

But Engelman didn't like being told what to do.

"I say to hell with them. Basically because there are two sides to every story," he said. "We're only hearing one side of the story."

Source: Washington Post

But Engelman had a point. The FBI were technically controlling the narrative, making sure the media stuck to its talking points  that Koresh was a cult leader, a liar, someone who could not be negotiated with.

Members of the press sit through an Easter Sunday Service in a media encampment near the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. Chris Wilkins/AFP/Getty Images

The FBI also withheld footage of the Branch Davidians to stop them from being humanized to the general public.

Source: The Conversation

Even so, as the siege continued, Koresh became famous. Despite his protestations, he was compared to Jim Jones, the cult leader responsible for the Jonestown Massacre.

Two women selling cult t-shirts near the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. Rick Bowmer/AP

Sources: The Conversation, SBS

The public took sides. Here, protesters led an anti-ATF rally.

Kerry Kinchen uses a bullhorn to lead protesters in an anti-ATF demonstration at the checkpoint leading to the remains of the Branch Davidian cult compound April 24, 1993. J. David Ake/AFP/Getty Images

While others showed their support for federal agents. One sign reads, "We support ATF, FBI, and local law."

Locals show their support for law enforcement during the Waco siege in 1993. Chris Wilkins/AFP Files/AFP/Getty Images

On March 24, 1993, the FBI offered Koresh another radio slot to air his beliefs in exchange for ending the siege. Koresh refused. By this point, 35 members had left the compound.

Branch Davidians members being led to court in 1993. Chris Wilkins/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 30, 1993, the FBI allowed Koresh's lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who was hired by Koresh's mother Bonnie Haldeman, to enter the compound to discuss ending the siege. Afterwards, he told reporters he was "very hopeful" it would be over soon.

Lawyer Dick Deguerin and Bonnie Haldeman speak to the press in 1993. STF/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Washington Post

But it didn't end. Meanwhile, siege tourists kept visiting a hill about three miles away known as "T-shirt Hill," a look-out spot where you could buy Koresh t-shirts, souvenirs, and food.

A boy and his aunt watch the Branch Davidian compound through a pair of binoculars in 1993 from a nearby hill. Chris Wilkins/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: The Conversation, Washington Post

But onlookers were oblivious to what was going on inside  Koresh had predicted that between April 6 to 13, 1993, they would all be killed. The FBI knew about his prediction, and both sides were watching and waiting.

Officers talk with an ATF agent outside the Branch Davidian compound on April 1. David Martin/AP

Source: The Conversation

But on April 14, 1993, Koresh cut a deal that once he had finished writing a religious tract based on the Book of Revelation, the final book of the Christian Bible, everyone would leave the compound through metal detectors. He said it would be within two weeks.

Lawyer Dick DeGuerin walks through media in 1993. Bob Daemmrich/AFP/Getty Images

That afternoon, DeGuerin relayed the news to two FBI agents named Bob Ricks and Jeffrey Jamar.

While Ricks was impatient, Jamar told DeGuerin they had all the time necessary.

But two years later, in 1995, officials dismissed the agreement as just another tactic to delay.

Sources: The Conversation, Los Angeles Times

Except the next day, officials pressured Attorney General Janet Reno to greenlight a tear-gas strategy.

Attorney General Janet Reno testifies about the siege in 1995. Win McNamee/Reuters

They advised her there was nothing further negotiators could do. It was going nowhere. A later report quoted an FBI negotiator stating that they had been at a "total impasse."

An investigative report also stated that "law enforcement personnel at the scene were getting tired, and their tempers were fraying."

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 19, 1993, nearly two months since the ATF's raid, the FBI launched its assault on the compound. They used tanks and tear gas. It was like a war zone.

Tanks in the underbrush about 200 yards from the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. STR/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: PBS, Mirror, SBS

Though what exactly happened during the attack is still under dispute, federal agents did fire explosives into the compound's walls to create holes, through which they funnelled tear gas to force everyone out of the building.

A battering ram on an armored vehicle ripped holes in the walls of the Branch Davidian compound. Ron Heflin/AP

Sources: SBS, New York Times

At some point, three separate fires erupted at the site. Aided by strong winds, the fire spread rapidly, and the compound burned to the ground, killing 76 people inside, including Koresh.

The Branch Davidian compound explodes on April 19, 1993. Shelly Katz/Liaison/Getty Images

Afterwards, The New York Times questioned the FBI about why there had been no fire engines at the scene.

A FBI spokesperson said there were no fire engines at the scene because they were not equipped to deal with gunfire but later conceded that no one had predicted there would be a fire.

Sources: SBS, New York Times

In the weeks afterwards, two narratives emerged: one was that Koresh and the Davidians had started the fires to induce a mass suicide.

A National Guard helicopter flies past the burning Branch Davidian compound on April 19, 1993. Tim Roberts/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: SBS, New York Times

The other narrative was that the FBI's tear gas was responsible. The FBI denied this.

An aerial shot of the Branch Davidian compound after it had burned down. Steven Reece/Sygma/Getty Images

According to an article published on April 20, 1993, in The New York Times, the FBI said Koresh had given the order to pour fuel over the compound and light matches.

The FBI insisted that the tear gas was not the cause of the fire.

Sources: SBS, New York Times

Six years later, in 1999, an independent inquiry found  despite the death toll and the fact the FBI ignored Koresh's agreement to come out in two weeks  other than misleading the public about its use of tear gas, the FBI had done nothing wrong.

An aerial view of the Branch Davidian compound on April 19, 1993. AP

Source: SBS

But not everyone agreed. Ramsay Clark, a lawyer who represented the surviving Branch Davidians, said history will remember the FBI's assault on the compound as "the greatest domestic law enforcement tragedy in the history of the United States."

A woman stands among crosses signifying the loss of life from the Waco Siege. Steven Reece/Sygma/Getty Images

Source: SBS

Read the original article on Insider
Many Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying versus if they selling is usually more beneficial, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Citigroup

Citigroup Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Michael Whitaker was the biggest sale of Citigroup shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$50.18. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.

Citigroup insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Citigroup Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Citigroup. In total, insiders sold US$1.4m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that Citigroup insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$173m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

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So What Does This Data Suggest About Citigroup Insiders?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Citigroup (including 1 which doesn't sit too well with us).

Of course Citigroup may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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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Key Insights

HOCHTIEF's estimated fair value is 105 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

HOCHTIEF is estimated to be 40% undervalued based on current share price of 62.90

Analyst price target for HOT is 65.93 which is 37% below our fair value estimate

Does the February share price for HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:HOT) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value 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. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for HOCHTIEF

Is HOCHTIEF Fairly Valued?

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. 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, 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 (, Millions) 489.4m 631.9m 766.0m 768.6m 770.9m 772.8m 774.5m 776.1m 777.6m 779.0m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x1 Est @ 0.35% Est @ 0.29% Est @ 0.25% Est @ 0.22% Est @ 0.20% Est @ 0.19% Est @ 0.18% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 9.4% 447 528 585 536 492 451 413 378 346 317

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 4.5b

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The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after 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 (0.2%) 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 9.4%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = 779m (1 + 0.2%)  (9.4% 0.2%) = 8.4b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 8.4b ( 1 + 9.4%)10= 3.4b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is 7.9b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of 62.9, the company appears quite good value at a 40% 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

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 HOCHTIEF 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 9.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.557. 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 HOCHTIEF

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Construction market.

Shareholders have been diluted in the past year.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the German market.

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, 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 example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For HOCHTIEF, there are three additional factors you should further research:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for HOCHTIEF you should know about. Future Earnings: How does HOT'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 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!

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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It might seem bad, but the worst that can happen when you buy a stock (without leverage) is that its share price goes to zero. But if you buy shares in a really great company, you can more than double your money. To wit, the Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) share price has flown 118% in the last three years. Most would be happy with that. On the other hand, we note it's down 9.8% in about a month. We note that the broader market is down 2.2% in the last month, and this may have impacted Halliburton's share price.

Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.

See our latest analysis for Halliburton

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Halliburton became profitable within the last three years. Given the importance of this milestone, it's not overly surprising that the share price has increased strongly.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

We know that Halliburton has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Halliburton's TSR for the last 3 years was 127%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

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A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Halliburton has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 15% in the last twelve months. That's including the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 2% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Halliburton better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Halliburton that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Long term investing is the way to go, but that doesn't mean you should hold every stock forever. It hits us in the gut when we see fellow investors suffer a loss. Anyone who held Time Out Group plc (LON:TMO) 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 32% in the last year. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 15% in the last 90 days.

So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

Check out our latest analysis for Time Out Group

Because Time Out Group made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

In the last half decade, Time Out Group saw its revenue increase by 4.9% per year. That's far from impressive given all the money it is losing. Nonetheless, it's fair to say the rapidly declining share price (down 12%, compound, over five years) suggests the market is very disappointed with this level of growth. While we're definitely wary of the stock, after that kind of performance, it could be an over-reaction. We'd recommend focussing any further research on the likelihood of profitability in the foreseeable future, given the muted revenue growth.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

Time Out Group shareholders are down 32% for the year, but the market itself is up 2.4%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. 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. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Time Out Group that you should be aware of.

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Of course Time Out Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on GB 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
Irans Crown Prince has urged the UK to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as arguing that this would be akin to pulling out the biggest tooth the regime has.

Reza Pahlavi - who is known to his most devoted followers His Imperial Majesty the Shah - has been living in exile since his father was deposed in 1979.

The prince, who is the son and heir to the last Shah of Iran, has spent almost half a century campaigning for a secular and democratic Iran and remains an important figurehead for the four million strong Iranian diaspora.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph during a brief trip to London, he said that when it comes to proscribing the IRGC, the West is being slow to act because it underestimates the significance of such a move.

He believes the hesitancy of the UK and other European powers to formally designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation is perhaps because they are yet to understand the impact it would have domestically in Iran.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - STR/AFP

Proscribing the IRGC would mean more pressure in paralysing the regime that is depending on this instrument of coercion at home and abroad to do the sinister deeds whether it is Syria or Lebanon, or in Iran itself, the prince said.

But he added that it would also have the crucial effect of increasing the chance of defection from within its own ranks - and as such, help to bring about the collapse of the Islamic Republic which he believes is now only a matter of time.

It will send a strong message to regime

It will send a strong message to the regime but at the same time to those who are still part of that organisation to say, maybe it's time for us to bail out. Because as long as we are stigmatised by being associated with it, our fate is sealed, the prince said.

In other words, you're pulling the biggest tooth that the regime has out, you're weakening it. And weakening the regime has a direct diametric effect of strengthening the people.

You simply are paralysing them as much as you can, limiting their capabilities while sending a very strong message to the nation and to the regime that we're not going to take this any longer.

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His intervention on the IRGC comes amid a major row in Whitehall over proscribing the group.

Crown Prince Reza Pahlav urges the UK to proscribe the IRGC - Clara Molden for The Daily Telegraph

Proscription would make it a criminal offence to belong to the IRGC, attend its meetings, carry its logo in public or encourage support of its activities.

The IRGC was founded as an ideological custodian of Irans 1979 revolution but has since morphed into a major military, political and economic force in the country.

The drive to proscribe the group, first revealed by The Telegraph, has been held up by a battle in Whitehall about the wisdom of taking the approach.

Home Office officials have been building the case against the IRGC, with the security services understood to have shared intelligence.

But it is understood that discussions about proscribing the organisation stalled after James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, raised concerns that pressing ahead with the measure could harm British interests.

Death to the dictator

The prince has spent the past week on a whistle stop tour of European cities including Munich, Paris and Brussels as well as London. He has been meeting with officials and politicians to discuss the situation in Iran, and to drum up support for regime change in Iran.

He believes that now - for the first time since the Iranian revolution - all the necessary conditions are in place for the Islamic Republic to fall. I think the alignment of stars is now there. The opportunity is right in front of us, he says.

Not only have the reformists of yesteryear from within Iran now come around to the idea of total regime change, but the West has also warmed to the idea, he explains.

Only a year ago, they were still in the mindset of maybe we should still press for reforming the regime, he said, referring to the regimes domestic critics. The same person now says, it isnt going to work. Its an important paradigm shift of thinking internally.

A whole nation now calls death to the dictator meaning an end to the regime. Before that you werent hearing more grievances about the lack of reform. Today the cry is a national cry for let's get rid of this system, we can't take it any longer. In other words, it's revolutionary. It's not just protests.

There has also been an important shift in thinking abroad, he says. Attitudes have changed following the regimes brutal repression of mass protests on the streets in Iran - prompted by the death of Mahsa Amini who was arrested by Irans morality police for wearing an improper hijab - as well as Irans role in supplying weapons to Russia to wage war against Ukraine.

Today, the mindset is that we have to go beyond the regime, and the world sees that the regime is the key problem for everything associated with it - whether it's the nuclear issue, whether it's terrorism, whether it is what they're doing right now with the Russians against Ukraine, the prince explains.

And in that context, the evolution of thinking is that we need to have fundamental change. We need to have complete change. As long as this regime is in place, nothing is going to happen. So the domestic narrative, that of the diaspora and those of us trying to bring it to a secular democratic option - it all now ties together.

He said there is now a window of opportunity to act while the world is prepared to think about an alternative to the regime.

Plans for new government

Such is his confidence that regime change is imminent, the prince and his supporters have already started mapping out the first 100 days of a new transitional government.

A lot of people question what can come after, rightfully so, he said. But I think that Iran has all the ingredients and tools to fill the void in terms of the intelligentsia, in terms of positions that they can immediately fill for transitional governance, specialists [in] the economy, environment, transitional justice as well as constitutional law.

What are the immediate concerns that the country will be faced with? What will the interim government need to anticipate and plan for in the first 100 days? These are the kinds of things that we can work with our western counterparts on [to ensure] that there is a plan and a strategy.

AFP_339K82U.jpg

One major issue for a new, secular government in Iran will be over the role of the military, the prince says. He points to the Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War, where only the top Nazi officers were prosecuted rather than going after all of those in the lower ranks.

There's always the question of where does the army stand or where does the paramilitary element stand - can they rejoin the nation? Can they survive a regime change? Is there a place for them beyond the current regime in the future? How are they going to be reintegrated? How many of them would have to face justice? How many of them could be forgiven in a process of truth and reconciliation, how are they going to be treated under a transitional justice system?

The prince is adamant that he does not believe in the restoration of the monarchy - instead, he wants the people of Iran to decide what kind of government there should be in the new state.

But he does regard himself as crucial to the future of Iran, not least, he says, because of the support he has within the Iranian diaspora.

Im not running for office or anything, butthere is certainly a viewpoint that believes that I certainly have a central role to play, he said. I'm not saying I'm the only one but I certainly am a critical element to bringing this coalition to a fruitful conclusion.

AFP_339K82Q.jpg

Looking back to 1979, the prince described it as a hectic and frenzied time. He was already abroad - training as a pilot in Texas - when the revolution broke out and his family were forced to flee Tehran.

I left in the summer of 1978, he recalled. In fact, on my way to America, I came to England. Queen Elizabeth was kind enough to host me at Buckingham Palace. I was here for about 10 days.

And the plan was for me to go through the training and then return to Iran. But of course, the revolution happened and ever since I've been living outside of Iran.

His memories of Iran, before he left when he was 17 years old, involve travelling around the country and carrying out official duties.

Now he is based in Washington with his family where he is a full-time campaigner for a democratic Iran. He denies reports that he has received funding from the CIA, saying this is absolutely false and is a false narrative, promoted by the Iranian regime in an attempt to smear him.

He also denies ever attempting to set up a government in exile with a view to reestablishing the monarch in Iran, saying this would be pointless given the de facto recognition of the current regime.

I'm not advocating one form [of government] versus the other, he said. Because, to me, it's a matter of democratic principles. If the majority thinks that they need to still have an institution above and beyond the practice of governance to bring an element of stability - which is the monarchist argument - it may be an argument but that needs to be decided by the people.
Thousands of Israeli protesters rally against the Netanyahu government's judicial overhaul bills in Jerusalem on Feb. 20, 2023.

Thousands of Israeli protesters rally against the Netanyahu government's judicial overhaul bills in Jerusalem on Feb. 20, 2023.

JERUSALEM  It was supposed to be a dazzling affair, a debutante ball to introduce Israels innovators to investors looking to make money off solutions to this regions mounting crises.

Three years after the pandemic halted global gatherings, a top Israeli tech conference was back and ready to wow capitalists venturing to the Jewish state for the first time. The message of the 10th annual OurCrowd summit was clear: Israelis prided themselves on transforming a desert country into a verdant agricultural powerhouse quenched with desalinated seawater, and now their startup nation, as homegrown Silicon Valley types are fond of calling the country, was ready to export planet-saving technologies to the rest of the world.

The lineup included companies with novel ways to make green hydrogen fuel, fresh spins on wind turbines, and drones that do everything from planting trees in remote forests to surveying farm fields. Included in OurCrowds audience for the first time were investors from rich, Muslim-majority nations such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which only recently normalized relations with Israel.

Standing amid gleaming exhibition booths and the buzzing crowd of angel investors and greentrepreneurs, you could be forgiven for forgetting that the conferences host country is in the midst of one of the biggest domestic political crises in its history.

The new far-right Israeli government is moving to reduce the power of the countrys Supreme Court, prompting an eruption of impassioned protests from Israeli moderates and liberals who feel that the changes endanger Israeli democracy. Occasionally, the political tensions poked through as members of Israels vibrant business community reckoned with the implications of the latest paroxysms for their bottom lines.

Conference attendees who landed in Tel Aviv the Monday before the summit found themselves in the middle of the biggest protests in Israels modern history. Cars honking and waving blue-and-white flags zoomed past taxis all afternoon on the one-hour drive east to Jerusalem from the airport. As many as 300,000 demonstrators filled the streets of the ancient city that evening to express outrage over the governments radical plan to change Israels legal system.

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Visitors looking for a sense of the new Israeli governments climate priorities might have traveled 90 minutes south the next day to the desert city of Beer Sheva, where Ben-Gurion University hosted a day-long climate conference and invited Idit Silman, who became the countrys top environmental regulator in January, to speak. The environment minister hardly uttered a paragraph of her speech before protesters dramatically shouted her offstage.

Israel's environment minister, Idit Silman, speaks at a climate summit at Ben-Gurion University on Tuesday before protesters shouted her off the stage.

Israel's environment minister, Idit Silman, speaks at a climate summit at Ben-Gurion University on Tuesday before protesters shouted her off the stage.

To supporters of the governments proposed legal changes, the Israeli judiciarys tradition of appointing its own judges has given it too much veto power over elected lawmakers while insulating the courts, which are widely seen as more liberal than the legislature, from the publics will.

To opponents, the move would strip the judiciary of its independence and allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hand-pick friendly judges as he faces criminal corruption charges and pursues controversial policies with the most ideologically extreme government in Israels 75-year history.

The impasse could spark a constitutional crisis in which the Knesset enacts the law limiting the courts power, the Supreme Court rules the legislation illegal  and the rest of the government must decide which branch gets the final say.

But when Israeli President Isaac Herzog strode onto the brightly lit stage in the auditorium of Jerusalems International Convention Center to address the OurCrowd conference attendees that Wednesday morning, he cast the fight over his countrys democracy as a family squabble.

Im very proud of my brothers and sisters, the Israelis who are taking an active role in the debate from all its sides, he said, speaking in English. He paused. All I can say about myself 

Applause erupted. He waited. Then the president, whose role is mostly ceremonial in Israel, gave the kind of pitch you might expect to hear in a boardroom where the stakes dont include the future of one of the worlds richest and most contested democracies.

All I can say about myself is that Im doing my best to direct the debate into a constructive dialogue that will lead to an agreed-upon result that will strengthen and foster and protect Israeli democracy, Herzog said.

I cannot promise 100% results. I can promise 100% effort, he later added.

That uncertainty hung over the conference like a cloud. Last month, Goldman Sachs cautioned in a memo that growing concern over Israels judicial reforms posed a threat to the value of the shekel. A week later, JPMorgan Chase warned that the political changes could trigger a credit downgrade like the one Poland suffered following its own judicial reforms in 2016.

Let me choose my words carefully: Everything that diminishes Israel as a democracy is going to have a negative impact on companies like H2Pro, on our ability to do business here, and on our ability to do business globally, said Talmon Marco, a prominent entrepreneur who now leads the hydrogen fuel startup H2Pro. We are concerned, as are most people in the business world.

Asked if there were any foreseeable scenario in which he might decide to relocate the companys headquarters outside of Israel, he sighed: Lets see what happens. Lets hope the current administration chooses to maintain Israel as a democratic country.

Talmon Marco, a prominent tech entrepreneur in Israel, speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2016 on May 10, 2016, in New York City.

Talmon Marco, a prominent tech entrepreneur in Israel, speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2016 on May 10, 2016, in New York City.

Little about the look of the conference suggested the confab was taking place in the capital of a nation undergoing such strife. Thousands packed vast convention halls on multiple floors, dining from buffets of star fruit and persimmon and queuing up for espresso. Company stalls with swag that included branded yarmulkes lined each room. More men paired suits with sneakers than ties. Everyone wore lanyards, the markings on which determined who was welcome in the more luxurious private lounges.

But politics pervaded discussions onstage as panelists from abroad hinted at solidarity with either side through vague platitudes about democracy and stability  and on sidelines as attendees swapped tips for avoiding protest-induced travel delays.

Companies like Taranis, a Tel Aviv-based startup whose package of software and hardware helps farmers conserve water and pesticides, feared that damage to Israels international reputation could drag down firms whose primary customers are overseas.

Startup nation appeals to some people in the Midwest, said Josh Weisman, the companys vice president of sustainability, referring to the U.S. region where Taranis has the most clients. If something happens that makes Israel less sexy, it could have some effect.

Some tech companies were openly participating in the protests, giving workers the day off that Monday to take part in the marches in Jerusalem and even funding some buses to transport employees to the demonstrations. That alone seemed striking to Doron Gez, a marketing executive with 20 years of experience in Israeli tech.

In the long run, there will still be great technology coming out of here, he said of his country. But this might have an effect on the near future.

Lets hope the current administration chooses to maintain Israel as a democratic country.Talmon Marco, H2Pro

If Herzog could actually broker a compromise with the new government, investors concerns would likely be allayed, said Michael Gordon, whose firm Blue Tree Technologies uses a custom filtration system to remove disease-triggering sugars from juices and malt drinks and plans to expand worldwide in the next year.

Money is always looking for stability. The president is aiming for stability. As long as theres stability, Israeli innovation will thrive, the chief executive said in front of Blue Trees booth on the convention floor. Im not a politician. I dont know how to keep stability. But as long as there is stability, there will be enough funding for Israeli innovation.

Stable demand for fruits and vegetables  and new ways to keep them fresh on what are frequently long journeys from plantations on one continent to grocery shelves on another  eased Nimrod Yavos fears as he considered Israels political woes.

If theres an economic problem, everything is affected, said Yavo, whose company Sufresca plans to sell its edible coating for keeping fruits and vegetables fresh in Europe and North America once regulators approve. But people need food. And were in the food business.

Since Jewish settlers declared an independent Jewish state in British-administered Palestine in 1948, Israel has weathered frequent political crises. The highly polarized nation went to the polls five times in the last three years as coalition governments failed repeatedly to hold narrow majorities together in the Knesset. Still, Israel ranked as the worlds fourth best-performing economy last year.

We have 81 countries coming here to talk about food tech and quantum computing and space and how do we feed the world and how do we save lives  these are big fish to fry, said Jon Medved, the chief executive of OurCrowd.

Israels shekel has been the only major currency to outperform the U.S. dollar in the last decade, and Israels credit ratings have always been superb, he said. This is not something Im losing sleep over.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks at the OurCrowd summit in Jerusalem on Feb. 15, 2023.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks at the OurCrowd summit in Jerusalem on Feb. 15, 2023.

Political turmoil has rarely taken a financial toll on Israel in recent years, even as calls have grown to boycott, divest or sanction the country over Israeli security forces killing Palestinian civilians, including the American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead by an Israeli sniper last September.

Last October, the financial research firm Morningstar, whose rankings guide investors on whether a companys environmental and social impacts are positive enough to qualify for special funds, changed the way it judges Israeli firms with operations in the occupied territories, according to a lengthy report by the New York-based magazine Jewish Currents.Morningstar stopped using data from the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of its calculus for Israeli companies, handing a victory to a little-known advocacy group campaigning to recast investor scrutiny of Israeli military brutality as antisemitism.

Israels Supreme Court has hardly stood in the way of the countrys more controversial laws governing the status of its non-Jewish citizens. Last summer, the high court upheld the legality of legislation to strip Israelis convicted of terrorism, treason or espionage of their citizenship, even if it renders the individual stateless.

But opponents of Netanyahus judicial reforms fear their passage will make it easier for Jewish settlers to build illegal towns on Palestinian land  and remove a key check on a government stacked with hard-line officials. Considered by many an anti-Arab bigot and political provocateur, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the new national security minister, hails from a far-right party with ties to the Jewish extremist group that in 1995 assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for forging a peace deal with Palestinians.

Whether the reforms pass or not, Matan Hazanov, the managing director of Toronto-based Verstra Ventures, said his venture capital firm would continue to invest in Israeli companies.

Its an ecosystem uniquely resilient to political machinations evidenced by its decades-long growth despite the frequent political controversies, whether real or manufactured, foreign or domestic, he wrote in an email. So long as Israelis keep innovating, and I believe they will, I dont think there will be a long-term negative impact to the tech ecosystem.

But Michael Sonnenfeldt, the American chairman of the clean-tech investment firm MUUS & Company, saw the current situation in starker terms. Speaking on stage at Ben-Gurion Universitys climate conference that Tuesday, Sonnenfeldt recalled how his father, a young Jewish refugee, had served as Nazi leader Hermann Goerings personal translator during the Nuremberg war crime trials that followed World War II.

Im very hesitant to make specific criticism as an outsider, he said in English, one of the only speakers who did not present in Hebrew. Its always easy to blame the government.

Still, and without drawing any direct parallels, he said: My father always said the downfall of Germany came the minute Hitler demanded that the judges swear allegiance to Hitler instead of the state.

Exactly one week later, the Knesset defied public outrage and voted overwhelmingly to advance the judicial reform legislation in a preliminary vote. The next day, at least 10 Palestinians died and 100 were wounded during an Israeli raid in the West Bank to arrest a suspected militant, bringing The Associated Press tally of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces since the start of 2023 to nearly 60.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that all the Palestinians killed in last Wednesdays raid were civilians. Most were suspected militants.

Related...
A painting by Calvin Gehm in the 1950s shows Ruth Van Sickle Ford in her Aurora home. (Aurora Historical Society / HANDOUT)

The life and work of artist and educator Ruth Van Sickle Ford will be the subject of the spring exhibit at the Aurora Historical Society at the Pierce Art and History Center, 20 E. Downer Place in downtown Aurora.

Auroras Own Ruth Van Sickle Ford will present her life story from her earliest days as the daughter of restaurateurs in Aurora to her distinguished career as both the owner of a major Chicago arts school and a respected watercolor artist, event organizers said.

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Ford, who was born in 1897, passed away in 1989.

Two dozen local collectors, some of whom studied painting under Ford, are loaning their favorite pieces for the exhibit, which will open on March 3 and run to May 13, Aurora Historical Society officials said in a press release Friday.

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The exhibit is free, although donations are welcome, Historical Society officials said.

Hours on opening day of the exhibit, which will take place during the First Fridays event downtown, will be 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibits regular hours will be noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays for the remainder of the show.

A special feature of the exhibit will be gallery talks by Fords biographer, Nancy Smith Hopp, and art conservator and Aurora Historical Society museum assistant Scott Sherwood. Dates and times of the talks will be posted to the Historical Societys website at www.aurorahistory.org, and to its Facebook page.

There will be a separate section of the exhibit devoted to the Bruce Goff-designed house that Ford and her husband, Sam, commissioned in 1949 and lived in for 12 years, according to the release.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has suggested that Russian authorities did not comment on the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, likely because Russia has failed to achieve any of its stated objectives.

Source: ISW

Details: The Kremlin did not comment on the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, likely because Russia has failed to achieve any of its stated objectives and has not made significant territorial gains since July 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration made no statements relating to the anniversary even though Putin has made numerous public appearances over the past three days.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, made inflammatory claims that Russia will win the war and reiterated that it is vital for Russia to achieve its goals to "push back the borders that threaten [Russia  ed.] as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland."

"Medvedev's statements highlight the fact that the Kremlin is continuing to pursue its unrealistic maximalist goals even though it has no meaningful successes to offer the Russian people after a year of costly war in Ukraine," ISWs report said.

The ISW suggested Russian officials are likely seeking support from Chinese defence manufacturers due to restrictions that international sanctions regimes have placed on Russia's defence industry.

The ISW reiterated that the UK government and the US Department of Treasury both announced new sanctions and export ban measures on 24 February, specifically targeting industries, entities, and individuals supporting Russian military capabilities.

In addition, Western governments made a variety of statements on the provision of military aid to Ukraine on 24 February.

The ISW also noted that the Kremlin escalated its information conditions-setting for a possible false-flag operation in Russian-occupied Transnistria (a non-recognised breakaway state bordering Moldova and Ukraine).

Story continues

Some Russian milbloggers amplified the Kremlin's rhetoric by claiming that the situation along the Ukrainian-Transnistrian border is becoming increasingly tense. But at the same time, Moldovan officials continued to deny Russian claims on 24 February, characterising the claims as "aggressive disinformation" or "a psychological operation".

Key Takeaways from 24 February:

The Kremlin did not comment on the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, likely because Russia has failed to achieve any of its stated objectives and has not made significant territorial gains since July 2022.

A Russian source capitalised on China's release of a 12-point peace plan to inaccurately portray China as supporting Russia's war in Ukraine.

US intelligence reportedly continues to assess that China is seriously considering sending lethal aid to Russia amid continued pressure from Western sanctions regimes on Russia's defence industrial base.

Western governments made a variety of statements on the provision of military aid to Ukraine on 24 February.

The Kremlin escalated its information condition-setting for a possible false-flag operation in occupied Transnistria (Moldova).

Russian forces continued to conduct ground attacks northwest of Svatove and near Kreminna.

Russian sources confirmed that Russian forces have split certain Airborne (VDV) force formations across at least two fronts of advance.

Russian forces made marginal territorial gains around Bakhmut and continued to conduct ground attacks across the Donetsk Oblast front line.

Ukrainian officials suggested that Russian forces may feel insecure in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast.

Russian authorities continue measures to expand the capacity of Russian peacekeepers.

Russian sources likely attempted to shift the blame for scandals associated with Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) commanders to the conventional Russian military.

Ukrainian partisans likely blew up a railway segment near Poshtove, Crimea.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Mikhaila pictured in London in 2019, left, and in Glasgow with friends in 2022. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I currently live in Glasgow, Scotland, but have also spent time in London and the US.

I've made friends in the most unlikely of places, including recently, on a random city bench.

Here's my best advice for making friends as an adult, whether abroad or in your hometown.

These days, I seem to make friends wherever I go, but this wasn't always the case.

I grew up in a small town outside Glasgow, Scotland, where I had my twin sister, Aimee, by my side for most of my childhood and adolescence. I didn't have to try very hard to make friends, because I was always with my sister. Meeting strangers is something I never had to do on my own.

But that changed when I became an adult, and I didn't have Aimee to lean on. A couple of years into my degree at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, I had the opportunity to spend a four-month exchange semester in Pennsylvania, where I knew nobody. Then, after graduating in 2018, I packed up my life and moved to London for work, where I also didn't know a soul. These experiences helped break me out of my comfort zone, particularly when it came to befriending strangers.

I moved back to Glasgow in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And even though I'm now in a city where many of my childhood friends reside, I've continued to use the skills I've learned to meet new people. Here are some of the most important things I've learned about befriending strangers, whether in a foreign city or in your hometown.

You have to treat it the same way you'd treat dating

I've made friends in some of the most unlikely places, from a rock-climbing course in Pennsylvania to a concert in Scotland.

And the most important lesson I've learned is that you should treat making friends the same way you would treat dating. You have to be open to meeting people where you'd least expect to. And then when you do meet them, it's about taking a leap of faith and having an open mind.

Last summer, I met a woman named Anshu while sitting on a bench in George Square in Glasgow. We were both reading our respective books, when a woman approached us and asked if we wanted free ice cream. We politely declined.

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Mikhaila and Anshu. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

After the woman left, Anshu turned to me.

"Does that usually happen in Glasgow?" she asked.

I laughed and told her no  but rather than stop the conversation there, I asked how long she had been in Glasgow. Anshu told me she's from India, and had just moved to Glasgow after previously relocating to London in 2019. That's all the information I required to give her my phone number, and I told her to let me know if she wanted to meet up sometime.

When I walked home, it dawned on me that I might have come across rather forward. What if she thought I was weird? What if she never texted?

I didn't have to worry though, as Anshu texted me a couple of days later. After meeting up a couple of times, I introduced her to my friend group. Now, we're very close, and we spend our weekends meeting up in coffee shops, bars, or at each other's apartments. None of our friends can imagine not having her around.

Mikhaila (right), with Anshu (center) and Elena (left). Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Everyone should live with strangers at least once in their life

Of course, I understand that befriending strangers on a random city bench doesn't work for everyone. One alternative suggestion I have is to live with strangers in a shared apartment, which was helpful for me when I lived away from home.

The first time I lived with strangers was during my semester abroad in 2016. I became fast friends with my roommates, as well as the other people who lived on my floor  many of whom I still keep in contact with to this day.

When I moved to London a few years later, living alone was an expense I couldn't afford. But due to the positive experience I had in the US, I had an open mind when it came to having roommates.

I ended up finding a room to rent in Shoreditch, East London, on SpareRoom, where I lived with two women who were a similar age to me. We got along extremely well, and I found myself spending more and more time with them after work and over the weekends.

Mikhaila photographed at a bar in London in September 2019. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Although I decided to leave London due to the pandemic, we still stay in touch. One of my former roommates, Cecile, has even come to visit me in Scotland, and we still speak on the phone regularly.

Join a local club, or if there are no clubs in your area, create one

Equally, I can understand if living with strangers is not your thing, or if you've heard too many roommate horror stories that make you want to live alone forever.

But even if you don't have roommates, that doesn't mean you can't get to know your neighbors.

I moved in with my partner in an apartment in Glasgow last year, and this year we relocated to another apartment just outside the city center. We've been here for a few weeks now, and I loved it instantly. The only thing that could make it better, I decided, is if I could make friends with my neighbors.

Luckily, there's already a Facebook group for residents of my building, so I used that to ask if anyone would be interested in joining a book group. There were at least a dozen responses from people of all ages and backgrounds.

We had our first meeting last week, so it's too early to tell if anyone from the group will become a lifelong friend. But sometimes, that's not even the point. It's about having the ability to put yourself out there  so that when the right person comes along, you won't be afraid to make the first move.

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Jake Paul has claimed Tommy Furys father called his lawyer to inform him he would not sign a contract for an audacious double or nothing bet on their fight.

The rivals meet in Saudi Arabia on Sunday in a fight two years in the making, with both men making weight on Saturday. Paul tipped the scales at 183.6 pounds, while Fury was slightly heavier at 184.5 pounds.

Paul had earlier pushed Fury to gamble his purse in a double or nothing bet on the outcome of the fight, with the fighter pausing before his father, John Fury, accepted on his behalf.

And as both men came together on stage at the weigh-in, Paul taunted Fury over his refusal to sign a contract.

You didnt want to sign the contract, he said. Your Dad called my manager and said you didnt want to sign the contract.

Youre getting knock out, Fury replied, before screaming out on multiple occasions.

Im not 50, Im coming to fight you. Its over, its over. His time is up, tomorrow night, his time is up. Im going to put this man away inside four rounds.

Its a dream come true. Tomorrow night, youll see why Im a Fury. Were the best at fighting thats ever lived.

Paul insists he is the calmer man and that it is his destiny to perform on this stage in a fight set to pay both men millions of dollars.

Hes acting, trying to act like his brother, Paul said. This professional boxer is going down, it's simple. It's what I do, he's never been in a moment like this.

He can't stop moving, he's nervous. I don't have to act. I'm from Ohio, Cleveland, a real dog. This is destiny, we do the biggest shows, and we knock people out.

We'll do another show in Saudi. 100 per cent (four rounds or less), the talk is over, it's time to figure out the truth.
Jake Paul has vowed to put Tommy Fury to sleep within four rounds when the rivals meet in Saudi Arabia.

The fight finally takes place on Sunday after two postponements in December 2021 and August 2022 due to Furys injury, illness and travel issues.

And two days out, the YouTuber-turned-boxer engaged in an intense back and forth conversation with Fury, half-brother of world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, before dismissing his opponent as a challenge.

This is the easiest fight since Ben Askren, for sure, Paul said. Its going to be refreshing because Ive had to go to war, once against Tyron, once against Anderson, and this is guy whos not as tough.

Maybe a better boxer but not as tough so I dont think its going to be a war, I think Im going to be able to put him to sleep within four rounds.

While Fury broke the fight down, insisting Paul brings nothing superior for the eight-round contest.

Fury said: Ability-wise Im 100 times better than him. Fitness-wise Im 100 times better than him.

Im faster than Jake, theres nothing this man poses  hes just another guy in the opposite corner. The only thing he does have more than me is a few followers on Instagram but that aint going to help him on fight night.

Im going to deal with this man, its going to be a public service announcement. This is going out for everybody, this man isnt going to box again  this will be the last time you see Jake Paul in a ring with a true professional anyway.
Jeremy Clarkson has been shown apologising to Oxfordshire villagers for calling them morons in an episode of Clarksons Farm season two.

In episode three of the new season, which arrived on Amazon Prime Video earlier this month, Clarkson arranges a Q&A for disgruntled locals in the village of Chadlington, West Yorkshire, who are unhappy with the impact of his farm and farm shop on the area of outstanding natural beauty.

The lady from the parish council says those that are angry, are really angry, he tells the camera as he drives to the village hall. Like, really angry.

He then says that the online Chadlington community board in essence says that Im the devil and that he doesnt want the villagers to come up his drive with pitchforks.

Clarkson says he hopes that the meeting will calm it down.

The Grand Tour presenter is then seen nervously arranging crisps, wine, and pineapple slices on a table at the hall.

We were completely overwhelmed by what happened when the show first aired, he tells the locals in attendance. Traffic and mud and chaos and speeding. Absolute nightmare, I agree. So how can we make this look great and bring people to the area so they can spend but not spoil anybodys life in the village?

In response, one villager tells him: You have shown no sympathy or empathy with the people who live in the village. Youve described us as morons. You said, Every village has one moron, I have six. I dont want to be called a moron and I think you should apologise for that.

Clarkson apologises, saying: You dont sound moronic at all and your points are valid. Some of the points raised on the West Oxfordshire District Council website, however, were moronic.

That lambing barn has never been used for lambing. Nothing is being produced on that farm. These things are silly things to say because obviously we do produce things on the farm.

Jeremy Clarkson (Prime Video)

Another detractor then chimes in, saying: But the fact is that ultimately youre not a farmer, youre a media personality. But were not Love Island.

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Much of the rest of the meeting is skipped over, but it ends with Clarkson promising to tidy up the site and look into traffic control, as well as offering VIP passes with discount for the shop to locals.

This row came before Clarkson was forced to close his controversial restaurant at Diddly Squat farm, after more criticism from locals.

He also later admitted that people couldnt get to Covid vaccinations because of traffic created by his farm shop.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  It was a Saturday of learning for U.S. first lady Jill Biden in Kenya.

She praised young adults for learning about safe sex and dating practices, attended a meeting of women who created their own banking system and chatted with local entrepreneurs who have been helped by a program that connects tractor owners and farmers.

All three programs aim to help women and young people take control of their lives so they can support themselves and their families. Biden has been highlighting U.S.-backed efforts to empower these groups during a five-day, two-country visit to Africa this week.

These are issues that really all people need to talk about and yet, somehow, they don't, and the consequences of not talking about it are so dire, Biden told dozens of young people after talking with them about safe sex, condom use and birth control at the Shujaaz Konnect Festival, a local youth empowerment event. So I love seeing the young people here."

At a tent where young people were having networking-like conversations, they showed her a questionnaire they use to spur discussion. The first question: "What would you say if I told you I had a condom in my pocket right now?

Biden laughed. And this is the first time they're meeting? she asked.

A Shujaaz representative said such blunt propositions help teenagers and young adults overcome shyness, saying that it's sometimes easier to ask strangers these types of questions.

Im surprised you dont start with like, Whats your biggest achievement? rather than, I have a condom in my pocket, the first lady said.

The festival is a collaboration with MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which works with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to help teach young Kenyans how to avoid becoming infected with HIV, which causes AIDS.

Biden, who is on the fourth day of her five-day trip to Namibia and Kenya, has spent the week promoting HIV/AIDS education programs and initiatives that teach woman and young people skills they need to find jobs or start businesses.

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Her visit is part of a commitment by President Joe Biden to deepen U.S. engagement with the nations of Africa, many of which feel overlooked by the United States. Part of that effort is also about countering China's influence on the continent that Beijing has achieved through increased trade and spending on roads and other public works projects.

Biden was scheduled to cap her visit by traveling on Sunday to an area near Kenya's border with Tanzania to raise awareness about a severe drought that is endangering lives and livelihoods.

Earlier Saturday, the first lady went to a government community center in Kibera, an informal settlement in Nairobi, to attend a meeting of women small-business owners who participate in the Joyful Women program. Founded in 2009 by Rachel Ruto, Kenya's first lady, the program promotes women's economic empowerment and financial inclusion.

Participants create table banking groups, pooling their resources so they can lend each other money they cannot get from traditional banks. Some of the women have used the loans to start businesses. One woman said she opened a day care center.

It's pretty ingenious that women found a way to support other women, to lift them up and to increase economic prosperity for families, right? said Biden, who visited a different empowerment program on a 2010 stop at Kibera.

I've always taught my own daughter and my granddaughter the importance of being financially independent and, so now, here, you've found a way to do your own banking system, which is pretty incredible, Biden said. Her granddaughter, Naomi, 29, sat nearby.

Before taking her seat at the table, Biden was wrapped from the waist down in an apron-like cloth known as a leso or kanga that women wear in the home.

At a separate event, Biden chatted with local entrepreneurs, small farmers and others who have been helped by Hello Tractor, which connects tractor owners and farmers who need the machinery.

The first lady also laid a wreath at August 7th Memorial Park to honor those who were killed the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. More than 200 people were killed, including 12 Americans. More than 4,500 people were wounded.
ABC

When Tom Cruise made a rare late-night TV appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live Friday night, there were no questions about his close ties to the Church of Scientology. But Jimmy Kimmel did spend much of the interview trying to get to the bottom of whether Cruise will eventually kill himself on screen in an attempt to pull off his latest death-defying stunt.

Did you risk your life today? Kimmel asked his guest, who came to the studio straight from shooting the upcoming Mission: Impossible film.

Well, I did get in a car in this weather, Cruise quipped, referring to the L.A. rain, so I think we all did.

Cruise was ostensibly on the show to promote Top Gun: Maverick, which is up for Best Picture at next months Oscars. He didnt hesitate to take credit for essentially saving movie theaters by waiting two years to release the film instead of dumping it on streaming as many in the business were urging him to do. He told Kimmel he would have held out for 10 years if he had to, and as the host pointed out, he was proven a billion and a half dollars right.

As for the stunts that Cruise has become known for, he humbly told the host, I just try to do everything I can, use every tool that I have, to entertain the audience, explaining that since he was a little kid he has been nearly killing himself just for the thrill of it.

Does your stunt double think youre his stunt double? Kimmel asked, to which Cruise smiled and replied, I dont have a stunt double.

And yet while Cruise is allowed to jump off a cliff on a motorcycle on screen, he lamented the fact that for insurance purposes, hes not allowed to snowboard, skateboard, or do anything remotely risky in his personal life.

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When Kimmel asked the 60-year-old actor if he thinks hell still be doing his own stunts at 80, Cruise one-upped him to say he plans on doing them at 100. Ive been doing it my whole life, he reiterated, adding, To me, it was just normal.

Ultimately, Kimmel ended his sit-down with Cruise by essentially asking him if theres anything he wouldnt do, from parasailing over an active volcano (been there, done that) to getting in a plane piloted by Harrison Ford (Yeah, I would, I trust Harrison) to running with scissors.

He didnt get one no.

Tom Cruise Ends 2022 by Hurtling Towards Earth for Mission: Impossible

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Ahead of his highly anticipated return to the UFC, Jon Jones has named his top five fighters of all time.

Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) returns from a more than three-year layoff when he takes on Ciryl Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) for the vacant heavyweight title in the UFC 285 headliner on March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Former light heavyweight champ Jones is widely considered as one of the greatest fighters of all time and thinks becoming a UFC champ-champ would solidify him as No. 1 all time.

Joining him on his list are four other fighters. Scroll below to see Jones top five from his interview with RMC France.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkies event hub for UFC 285.

Jon Jones

Jon Jones gets a pass for including himself, because few will disagree.

Jones collected 11 title defenses overall as light heavyweight champion and has never lost outside of a 2009 disqualification setback against Matt Hamill in a fight he was dominating. His wins include finishes of Alexander Gustafsson, Vitor Belfort, Lyoto Machida, Quinton Jackson, and Mauricio Rua.

Anderson Silva

The former UFC middleweight champion started off his octagon tenure at 16-0  a record thats yet to be beaten. Silva notched 10 title defenses as 185-pound champ and secured several finishes at light heavyweight. The Spider dazzled with memorable knockouts over the likes of Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin, Chael Sonnen, and Rich Franklin in title fights.

Georges St-Pierre

One of the most well rounded fighters to ever grace the octagon, St-Pierre defended his welterweight title nine times against the likes of B.J. Penn, Carlos Condit, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and Johny Hendricks. After stepping away from the sport for four years, St-Pierre returned to win a second UFC belt, dethroning Michael Bisping to become middleweight champion in November 2017 at UFC 217.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib Nurmagomedov retired as an undefeated, undisputed lightweight champion. The Eagles dominance has rarely been seen, and he appeared to only be getting better before deciding to hang up his gloves in October 2020.

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Nurmagomedov defended his lightweight title three times, finishing Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje.

Jose Aldo

Arguably the greatest featherweight of all time, Aldo is owner of the most successful title defenses in UFC featherweight history at seven. His title defenses included wins over Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, and Chan Sung Jung.

Aldo also reigned supreme over the WECs featherweight division before getting promoted as UFC champion, when he beat the likes of Cub Swanson, Mike Brown, and Urijah Faber.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez speaks during a press conference at the Nueces County Courthouse in April 2019.

A judge next month will consider whether a petition seeking the removal of Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez on the grounds of incompetency and official misconduct can move forward.

Any Texas resident seeking the removal of an elected official can file such a petition, but a state district judge has to accept it and the county attorney has to agree to try the case. Last week, Nueces County Attorney Jenny Dorsey filed court documents in support of prosecuting the case, fulfilling one of the requirements for removal proceedings to continue.

Dorsey's decision prompted a response from Gonzalez on social media, where the two-term district attorney characterized the effort to remove him as a "political stunt" meant to undo his 2020 electoral victory and levied personal attacks against the county attorney  who, during Gonzalez's first term, worked under him as a prosecutor.

The Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi on June 15, 2022.

The parties will argue before Senior Judge David Peeples, whom the Texas Supreme Court assigned to oversee the case following voluntary recusals from 319th District Judge David Stith and 5th Administrative Judge Missy Medary, on the morning of March 8 at the Nueces County Courthouse.

In a Feb. 20 email, Peeples said he will hear arguments on whether to issue a citation to Gonzalez, the next step for the case to proceed. The Bexar County judge said he would allow oral arguments and the submission of exhibits, but live testimony would be prohibited.

Allegations in petition

Colby Wiltse, a Nueces County conservative activist and Texas state director for County Citizens Defending Freedom, filed the petition on Jan. 20, alleging Gonzalez should be removed on the grounds of "incompetency, official misconduct, and failure to give bond."

The petition lists more than a half-dozen reasons to remove Gonzalez, including allegations he has mishandled and mismanaged" high-profile cases, including the prolonged capital murder cases related to the 2016 death of Breanna Wood.

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Last fall, a judge found there was "credible evidence of gross incompetence, negligence and/or carelessness on the part of the Nueces County District Attorney's Office" in the prosecution and investigation of the cases. The Texas Attorney General's Office is trying that case after the district attorney's office recused itself.

More on CCDF: Books are being challenged in Corpus Christi schools. Here's who's behind it.

More on CCDF: Activists ask Nueces County to scrap deal with nonprofit over LGBTQ, sexual wellness courses

Earlier this month, a judge dismissed charges against a Corpus Christi OB-GYN accused of sexually assaulting more than a dozen women following allegations the district attorney's office lost evidence. An appeal of the ruling is underway by the district attorney's office.

Other allegations in the petition include claims Gonzalez has mismanaged a ballooning court backlog, failed to address a shortage of prosecutors and advertised his restaurant from his office at the county courthouse.

Members of the public with firsthand knowledge or similar experiences to the allegations described in the petition are asked to contact the county attorney's office, said Dorsey, the county attorney.

The petition requests Gonzalez be indefinitely suspended as district attorney until a trial is held.

Gonzalez decries petition, county attorney

On Feb. 17, Dorsey filed court documents in support of the citation, which would start the removal proceedings. She wrote, "The original petition makes allegations that, if found true by a jury, would amount to incompetency or official misconduct or both."

Hours later, Gonzalez took to his personal Facebook page to condemn the county attorney and the petition. In the nearly 26-minute, profanity-laced livestream, Gonzalez, a Democrat, suggested the effort to remove him was politically and racially motivated.

"To me, it's political B.S.," Gonzalez said in the livestream. "I promise you. I think if I was a white guy, maybe without tattoos, this would not be happening to me."

The same removal process loomed over the former El Paso district attorney last year. Amid allegations of incompetence and misconduct and before proceedings got underway, the Democratic district attorney resigned before her term expired in 2024. After accepting her resignation, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed a Republican district attorney to the position.

Dorsey, a Republican, declined to comment on Gonzalez's claims, which are likely to be discussed in court. Her decision to prosecute was made after a "careful review of the petition and other evidence," she told the Caller-Times Thursday.

Gonzalez declined to expand on his claims in a statement to the Caller-Times, saying he would "let my video speak for itself." He only addressed the petition's claims about case dismissals and prosecutorial discretion with cases concerning abortion or transgender issues.

Before she was elected as county attorney, Dorsey worked as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office. In the Facebook video, Gonzalez said he regretted allowing Dorsey to remain when he was first elected in 2016.

Dorsey said her office examined whether her previous employment would affect her ability to try the case and found it would not. As a result, she said she would not recuse herself.

Jenny Dorsey, then a prosecutor in the Nueces County District Attorney's Office, presents an opening statement in a capital murder case in September 2018.

Gonzalez, who said he will approach the Nueces County Commissioners Court for legal counsel in the case, said he expects a court order to prevent him from speaking publicly about the case.

As a result, he called on his viewers and the public to "spread awareness" about his claims.

"There will be a gag order," he said during the video. "This is one of the reasons I am making this (Facebook) live. I am going to leave it here and I hope you guys share it, and I hope you do as much as you can to let it be known as to why I'm getting attacked."

Race for district attorney

In the Facebook video, Gonzalez claimed Dorsey's decision to pursue the case was politically motivated, in part, because her husband, Chris Dorsey, had planned to run for district attorney in 2024.

In light of the petition, Chris Dorsey said he would not seek the office and, should Gonzalez be removed, would not seek an interim appointment. The Corpus Christi defense attorney condemned Gonzalez for the Facebook video.

"The lead law enforcement officer in Nueces County should not be making unfounded personal attacks and unfounded claims of racial bias," Chris Dorsey told the Caller-Times Thursday.

Gonzalez has said he would not run for a third term, meaning the upcoming contest for district attorney in 2024 would be an open race.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Facing possible removal, Nueces DA accuses county attorney of political stunt
Gringo and Blondie co-owner Angelo Lollino shows off the vibrantly-colored posters decorating the walls of the Elmwood Park restaurant, which specializes in Mexican street food. Gringo and Blondie is among the 17 restaurants participating in "Dine-in Elmwood Park" restaurant week Feb. 17, 2023 to Feb. 26. (Rachel Hindery / Pioneer Press)

Seventeen restaurants in Elmwood Park are in the midst of offering discounts, prix-fixe menus and specials as part of a 10-day promotion in the village.

Dine-In Elmwood Park, which began Feb. 17 and continues through Sunday, is billed as including restaurants and deals that work for every budget.

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The annual food festival showcases the diverse dining offerings that can be found in the village, according to a village news release announcing the dining event.

Elmwood Park has long been known as a destination for good, authentic Italian food, said Village President Angelo Skip Saviano. While that still holds true, there are also dozens of other great restaurants featuring dishes from around the globe.

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Taking place on the heels of Chicagos restaurant week, Saviano said in the release that Dine-In Elmwood Park allows the public to continue the gastronomic celebration locally.

The village president said in the release that Elmwood Park as worked over the years to support local restaurateurs and to grow the towns dining scene. Saviano said diners who visit the participating restaurants will find good food in a more intimate, local setting as opposed to being in downtown Chicago

Dine-in Elmwood Park is a great way to promote some places you might pass up in the day-to-day, Circle Tavern owner Michael Jardine told Pioneer Press.

Opened in January 2021 Jardines establishment, at 18 W. Conti Parkway, is participating for a second year and offering 20% off for dine-in customers who mention the Restaurant Week special.

Restaurant Week can shine a light on something you might have missed previously, said Jardine, who grew up in River Grove and now lives in Des Plaines.

He said he jumped at the opportunity in late 2020 to buy the building from his uncle Rich Mazzulla, who operated Baciami, which primarily served Italian cuisine for 20 years at that location in the Circle area of Elmwood Park.

I wanted to get into this industry pretty much my whole life after watching him, Jardine said.

Circle Tavern, which launched Friday and Saturday lunch service Feb. 17, is Jardines first business.

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Our double smash burger is outstanding. Id highly recommend that to anyone who is a fan of the burger. I love burgers. Thats my favorite food, he said.

Its a quarter pound ball of ground beef that gets pressed into the flat top grill. It creates something called the Maillard reaction (with a) crispy outside, juicy inside. Its something that I fell in love with and wanted to bring to Elmwood Park.

Other Dine-In Elmwood Park participants include Bon Vivant, 7334 W. Diversey Ave.; Cafe Cubano, 7426 W. North Ave.; Culvers, 7542 W. Grand Ave.; Donny Gs, 7308 W. North Ave.; Eggsperience, 16 W. Conti Parkway; The Great American Bagel, 7230 W. North Ave.; and Jim and Petes, 7806 W. North Ave.

New Star Restaurant, 7444 W. North Ave.; Senor Jefe, 7446 W. North Ave.; Spizzico, 7446 W. North Ave.; The Sportz Nook, 7841 W. Grand Ave.; Tacos 2 Go, 7530 W. Grand Ave.; Tony Ds, 7725 W. Belmont Ave.; and Union Tap, 7707 Westwood Drive; are other businesses participating in the restaurant week.

Armands has been up and running for 13 years. We participate in Restaurant Week every single year its made available to us, Virgil Gerin of Armands Pizzeria in Elmwood Park, where he and Tony Gironda are owners/partners, told Pioneer Press.

The restaurant,at 7650 W. North Ave., is offering a lunch special of a $6 pizza slice (cheese, sausage or pepperoni) with soup or salad and drink, and a dinner special that features $8 Italian beef or sausage, or meatball sandwiches with choice of soup or salad, chips and drink.

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Its a great way, as we ease into spring, to remind people how great the opportunity is to dine on North Avenue in Elmwood Park, said Gerin, who lives in the village.

Restaurant Week specials at Armands Pizzeria in Elmwood Park are available for diners at one of its four indoor tables as well as customers of the primarily take-out and delivery operation.

The village has done a great job of promoting and really incentivizing restaurants to come to Elmwood Park and be a part of this, Gerin said.

According to Gerin, the Caringella and Cerola families were instrumental in bringing Armands Pizzeria, which closed in 2009 after 53 years at 7404 Grand Ave., back to Elmwood Park.

They had such a good reputation for having outstanding pizza as well as friendly customer service, Gerin said.

He said other dishes at Armands Pizzeria in Elmwood Park include baked clams and baby back ribs.

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We just want people to understand that we appreciate their business. We appreciate their loyalty. We know a lot of customers by name, Gerin said.

Dine-In Elmwood Park began in 2018.

Its a great opportunity to connect with the community and new customers. Theyre trying new restaurants because of the special promotions, Village Trustee Angelo Lollino, who co-owns Gringo & Blondie, told Pioneer Press.

Opened in 2019, the restaurant at 7514 W. North Ave. offers three tacos of choice with rice, beans, a drink and churros for $17; Macho nachos with choice of meat, a drink and churros for $17; meatless Macho nachos with a drink and churros for $14; and 30% off brunch with a $50 minimum order.

Brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays.

We pride ourselves on bringing in high-quality meats. Were using skirt steak for our tacos, said Lollino.

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He added that something new for Restaurant Week is tacos de birria consome, which includes cheese and a dipping sauce.

Elmwood Park is filled with some great iconic restaurants, the village trustee said.

A full list of deals is available at elmwoodpark.org/restaurantweek.

Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer.
Slovakia Obit Jakubisko (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Slovak filmmaker Juraj Jakubisko, who was named the best movie director of the 20th century in his country, has died at the age of 84.

Jakubisko died shortly before midnight on Friday 24 February in the Czech capital, Prague, where he had lived with his family since the 1993 split of Czechoslovakia, his daughter Janette told Slovak public radio and television. His death was also announced by the Czech Culture Ministry.

Jakubisko has dozens of feature films and shorts to his credit that won a number of awards at international film festivals.

For his movies, full of metaphors, symbols and poetry, he was sometimes called Fellini of the East, or Slovak Fellini after famed Italian director Federico Fellini.

Born April 30, 1938 in the village of Kojsov in what is now eastern Slovakia, Jakubisko graduated from Pragues Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in 1966.

He debuted with the critically acclaimed Crucial Years the following year. With that, as well as Deserters and Pilgrims (1968) and Birds, Orphans and Fools (1969), he cemented his place as part of the Czechoslovak New Wave in cinema together with a number of other young directors of the time, including Milos Forman and Vera Chytilova.

All those films were banned by the hard-line communist regime that was established following the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed a period of liberal reforms known as the Prague Spring.

For the next decade, he was allowed to make only documentary films. He returned to feature movies with Build a House, Plant a Tree in 1979  which was soon also banned.

Jakubisko

His major success was The Millennial Bee, in 1983, an epic family saga in the late 19th and early 20th century that won awards at film festivals in Seville, Spain, and Venice, Italy.

In 1985, Fellinis wife, Giulietta Masina, starred in Jakubisko's fairy tale for children The Feather Fairy.

His biggest box-office success after the 1989 collapse communism was Bathory in 2008, a historical drama starring English actress Anna Friel as Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian countess who according to legend used to kill virgins in order to bathe in their blood. It was at the time the most expensive motion picture production in Central Europe.
A statement from fallen Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntires wife, Ashley McIntire, was read after the Allegheny County district attorney released new information about his murder on Friday.

Jan. 2, 2023 is a day I will never forget, the statement began.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Brackenridge police chief killed, another officer injured in shooting; suspect shot, killed

It started out as just another typical day, but little did we know, two hours after Justins shift started our lives would be changed forever, it read.

Being a police wife I know the dangers of the job. I knew there was always a chance he may never come back home. Some say I chose to marry this life, but actually, I chose to marry him, not for this job but for the man he was. I chose him because he was so selfless and caring. He put not only me first, but everyone else before him. But, what I didnt know is that he actually wouldnt come back home at the end of his shift that night.

I will never forget watching the officers walk up my sidewalk with tears running down their faces and that feeling of disbelief that overcame me. As my heart broke into a million pieces, I begged them to tell me it wasnt true because the last thing I wanted to do was walk back through that front door and tell our children that their dad wasnt ever coming home. Something I pray no other parent will ever have to do.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: He made the ultimate sacrifice: Brackenridge police chief Justin McIntire killed in shooting

Justin wasnt ready to die. We had plans for tomorrow, next week, next month and for the next 50+ years but those plans were taken from us. They were taken from us because of a coward!

Justin died doing what he loved and I know if he could do it over again he would, just to protect us and his town because that is how selfless of a man he was. He will always be our hero.

Reminding the few of the ill they speak, not only Justin but all of these officers every single day are all that stand between these monsters and the weak. The hate they receive for just doing their job and upholding the law is heartbreaking, yet they dont think twice and still answer every single call they receive. So the next time you feel the need to speak ill of law enforcement, remember you will need them someday and yet they will still show up and risk their lives and take the chance of losing what they love thats standing behind them because they are heroes.

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Chief Justin McIntire left behind four children.

District Attorney Stephen Zappala released new information Friday about his murder, including that the chief never drew his gun on the man who allegedly killed him.

Click here to read what we learned from the new information released.

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The hashtag #asburyrevival has 77.9 million views on TikTok. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images.

Kentucky's health department linked a measles case in the state to a "revival" at Asbury University.

Hundreds of students and travelers gathered for an impromptu prayer service on the campus for days.

Anyone who attended the revival on Feb. 18 may have been exposed to measles, a health official said.

The impromptu religious "revival" at Asbury University that attracted hundreds of people from across the country after going viral on TikTok has now been linked to at least one case of measles, according to the state health officials.

Students started gathering at the small Christian college in Wilmore, Kentucky on February 8 for a regularly scheduled chapel service, but hundreds stayed inside the building for days in an act of impromptu group prayer. Videos of the event went viral on TikTok and prompted people to travel from across the country to participate in the group worship.

The university began disbanding the service on February 18 after crowds became too large. After the mass prayer at Asbury began to go viral on TikTok, students at other universities, such as Mississippi State University, started gathering for impromptu worship as well.

On Friday, the Kentucky Department for Public Health confirmed in a statement that a case of measles in a Jessamine County resident had been linked to the revival. The resident, who attended the revival on February 18, was unvaccinated, according to the health department.

"Anyone who attended the revival on Feb. 18 may have been exposed to measles," said Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH). "Attendees who are unvaccinated are encouraged to quarantine for 21 days and to seek immunization with the measles vaccine, which is safe and effective."

When reached for comment, an Asbury University spokesperson directed Insider to a statement on the university's website that said, in part, that "Asbury University is working with JCHD officials to ensure all precautions are taken to mitigate any further spread."

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Three cases of measles have been reported in Kentucky since December 2022, according to the state health department. Dr. Stack said that anyone who may have been exposed to measles at Asbury University  whether vaccinated or not  should isolate themselves from others and call their medical provider, an urgent care, or the local emergency department to get tested if they develop symptoms.

Early symptoms of measles are fever, cough, redness in the eyes, and runny nose, and a rash that appears three to five days after symptoms begin, according to the Kentucky's health department.

The MMR vaccine is safe and effective at preventing outbreaks of measles, mumps, and rubella virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends people get the first dose of the MMR vaccine at 12 to 15 months of age and the second dose at 4 to 6 years of age.

Read the original article on Insider
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who runs the Wagner Group, with Vladimir Putin. (AP)

Labour is calling for ministers to proscribe a Russian mercenary group involved in Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine as a terrorist organisation.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper have jointly demanded the UK Government formally label the Wagner Group a terror outfit after accusing it of committing appalling atrocities.

Labour said the move would make it a criminal offence to belong to the private military company, attend its meetings, encourage support or carry its logo in public.

The Wagner Group, led by warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been fighting bloody battles alongside the Russian Presidents armed forced in areas of eastern Ukraine.

The mercenaries, made up of contractors and recruited convicts, have battled to take the town of Soledar, a salt-mining town, and is currently involved in a casualty-heavy fight for the town of Bakhmut, also in the Donetsk region.

Labour wants ministers to follow the USs lead after Washington last month designated Wagner a significant transnational criminal organisation.

In a joint statement, Mr Lammy and Ms Cooper said: The Wagner Group is responsible for the appalling atrocities in Ukraine and across the world.

No-one in the UK should be allowed to belong to the Wagner Group, support it or promote it.

The push for Wagner to be proscribed comes after a Government department reportedly helped its millionaire owner Mr Prigozhin to circumvent UK sanctions to take a British journalist to court.

The Treasury is currently investigating how the department reportedly issued licences to allow lawyers to help Mr Prigozhin launch legal action against a Bellingcat journalist in the UK in 2021 while the Russian oligarch was subject to sanctions.

Labour last month pressed for Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be proscribed as a terror group following the execution of a dual British-Iranian national, Alireza Akbari.

A report in the Telegraph has since suggested the US is keen for Britain not to slap such a label on the special branch of Irans armed forces in order to serve as a diplomatic go-between for the White House and Tehran.

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Mr Lammy and Ms Cooper continued: One year on from Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine, we need to hold those responsible for supporting its barbaric agenda to account.

The Government should now proscribe the Wagner Group as terrorists  alongside finally taking action on the IRGC.

Mr Prigozhin, a millionaire with close ties to Mr Putin, has been vocally critical of the Kremlin in its treatment of his company of recruits.

The group has been involved in operations in Syria, across Africa, and was reportedly involved in a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the opening months of the conflict.

Sometimes dubbed Putins chef, Mr Prigozhin has been alleging for weeks that the Russian military does not provide his group with enough ammunition.

It comes after Wagners push to take over Bakhmut, a key target city for Moscow in the partially-occupied Donetsk region, stalled and turned into a grinding battle.

In an emotional audio statement released through his spokesman this week, Mr Prigozhin said the lack of support can be likened to high treason in the very moment when Wagner is fighting for Bakhmut, losing hundreds of its fighters every day.

It is the latest sign of tensions between Wagner, which has an unclear legal status as Russian law prohibits collaboration with private military companies, and the Kremlins military.

Labours demands come a week after leader Sir Keir Starmer visited Kyiv and met with Mr Zelensky.

He vowed that, should there be a change of Government after the next election, that UK support for Ukraine in its fight against the Kremlin would remain steadfast under his premiership.

A UK Government spokesman said: The UK already has considerable powers to sanction Russian entities, which we have used with our allies to significant effect, including designating Wagner Group in March 2022.

The UK has sanctioned over 1,500 individuals since the invasion, including over 120 oligarchs with an estimated global net worth of over 140 billion, in response to Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Home Office officials said they would not comment on organisations being considered for proscription.
(Bloomberg) --

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Labour holds a 17-point lead over the Conservative Party, setting up a potential landslide win at the next general election similar to Tony Blairs in 1997, according to a BMG survey for the i newspaper.

The poll shows voters favor Keir Starmers Labour Party on most issues, from the cost of living, housing and the National Health Service to traditional Tory priority areas like crime, defense and Brexit. The only area where Conservatives were favored was on the war in Ukraine.

When asked about their satisfaction with party leaders, respondents put Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at net approval of -20, compared to +3 for Starmer.

The survey was consistent with expectations for the Conservatives to face a wipe-out at the next general election, to be held no later than January 2025. Labour in 1997 won a 179-seat majority under Blairs leadership. Some projections see many top Tory MPs losing their seats.

If an election were to be held now, about 46% of the public would vote for Labour, 29% for the Conservatives, 9% for the Liberal Democrats, 6% for Reform UK, and 4% for the Green Party.

BMG Research polled 1,500 adults online from Feb. 21 to Feb. 23. No margin of error was given.

Starmer recently set out his partys five long-term missions for Britain if Labour wins power, and pledged that the UK would see the highest sustained growth in the Group of Seven nations, ensure the ailing NHS is rendered fit for the future, and make Britain a clean energy superpower.

Read more: Can Labours Pledges Get Britain to Top the G-7 Growth League?

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Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's Land Forces and Eastern Operational Command, visited embattled Bakmut in eastern Donetsk Oblast on Feb. 25 as Russian troops try to advance on the outskirts, the Land Forces reported on Telegram.

In his visit to command posts in the frontline city, Syrskyi assessed the state of units fighting in the area and listened to problems and requests raised by their commanders, the report said.

Intense fighting is ongoing around Bakhmut, already reaching the outskirts of the city, the brief said. 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.

Russia is incurring heavy losses amid its near round-the-clock assault on Bakhmut. Kremlin-backed private mercenary Wager Group and Russian-backed militant groups active in eastern Ukraine are losing up to 80% of some assault units, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.

Supported by Russian regular troops, Wagner forces have been attempting to capture Bakhmut for months as Russia tries to increase its grip over the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast, around half of which it currently occupies.

Ukraine continues to hold Bakhmut despite the seven-month-long Russian attempt to capture the city. Approximately 380 clashes have been recorded in the area since the beginning of February, General Oleksiy Hromov said on Feb. 23.

Russia has likely set a goal to capture Donetsk Oblast's "key settlements" in the nearest future and seize control of the Donbas  an industrial heartland composed of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts  before the summer, according to Hromov.
The venue once occupied by extremist Rep. Lauren Boeberts (R-Colo.) gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill, is being turned into a Mexican eatery.

Tapatios is taking over the spot in Rifle, Colorado, that had housed Boeberts business, receiving approval for a hotel and liquor license last week, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported Wednesday. Shooters Grill  known for its pistol-packing servers  closed in July after the buildings owners decided not to renew the lease.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert's Shooters Grill shuttered in 2022.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert's Shooters Grill shuttered in 2022.

Its unclear exactly when the new restaurant will open.

Boeberts business offered dishes such as the M16 Burrito, the Six Shooter and the Bump Stock. When it shuttered, the lawmaker said there was no political motivation behind the landlords decision.

The change of direction drew attention on social media, though, given Boeberts fierce support of stricter policies on the U.S.-Mexico border and former President Donald Trumps border wall.

Most recently, Boebert has backed a bill for the AR-15 rifle to be officially named the national gun of the United States, a move that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel slammed with a blistering response.

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Napoli Shkolnik has filed a lawsuit against one of its lawyers for breach of contract. Getty Images

Napoli Shkolnik, a law firm in New York, is suing one of its attorneys for "quiet quitting."

The firm said Heather Palmore breached her contract by also working for her own legal practice.

Her lawyer said Napoli Shkolnik filed the "bogus" lawsuit after she raised discrimination claims.

An attorney in New York is being sued by her own law firm for "quiet quitting"  a buzzy term for workers who do the bare minimum at their jobs without resigning.

Napoli Shkolnik, a personal injury litigation firm based in New York, has taken the action against Heather Palmore. She's accused of neglecting her duties at Napoli Shkolnik and breaching her contract by simultaneously working at her own practice, Palmore Law Group, P.C.

The complaint was filed on Thursday in the New York Supreme Court for Nassau County. It alleged that Palmore, who was first hired in October 2021, "took advantage of the new remote work environment to 'quiet quit' her job" at Napoli Shkolnik.

The firm's complaint explicitly references the pandemic-era "trend" of "quiet quitting." It also notes the "troubling trend" of employees "furtively" working more than one full-time job simultaneously.

In its complaint, Napoli Shkolnik said: "Ms. Palmore wrongfully joined both trends."

Napoli Shkolnik said that Palmore's computer records show she was "active" for "mere minutes a day" on the "overwhelming majority of workdays" in 2023  despite submitting timesheets that claimed she had "spent hours performing legal research and drafting and 'outlining' documents."

Moreover, in further evidence for its allegation of "quiet quitting," Napoli Shkolnik claims that Palmore gave an opening statement in a medical malpractice suit in November 2021 that "shockingly" lasted just eight minutes. Typical opening statements in such cases "are approximately one to two hours long," per Napoli Shkolnik.

The law firm wants to strike Palmore's compensation for her "period of her disloyalty"  meaning it wants her to return more than $400,000.

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It says she collected "one of the most substantial draws in the entire firm" while "performing little to no work" and "directly competing with the firm" by simultaneously running her own legal practice.

Palmore's attorney, David Gottlieb, told Law.com: "Napoli Shkolnik filed this completely bogus preemptive lawsuit only after Ms. Palmore raised serious claims of discrimination against the firm and was preparing to file her own action."

He continued: "This preemptive lawsuit is a transparent and ill-advised attempt to try to gain some perceived strategic advantage, but it is obviously an act of blatant retaliation. We will be moving forward with Ms. Palmore's lawsuit in short order, which will include claims based on this retaliatory conduct."

Lucas Markowitz of Offit Kurman, for Napoli Shkolnik, told Abovethelaw.com that Palmore "misrepresented her skillset, experience and book of business to obtain a position with Napoli Shkolnik. She then directly competed with Napoli Shkolnik by leading her own law firm."

Representatives for Palmore and Napoli Shkolnik did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
At the risk of sounding jaded, callous and cynical, the solution to mass shootings seems simple to me.

1) Change Congress, and

2) Change gun laws

Nothing will change until American voters vote the rascals out of office who are bought by the NRA and elect congressmen (and women) who want to change the laws.

The Second Amendment guarantees the right to own a weapon but does not guarantee the right to own a military-style assault rifle.

Dave Rohrer

Plymouth

Voting

I read recently that state Rep. Tim Wesco has authored a bill to make voting by mail in Indiana harder. I guess the 23 measures that our Secretary of State advertised that had made our elections safe and secure are not enough. We need to take even more measures to make voting even harder. I do not remember hearing or reading that there was any voter fraud in Indiana, so why is Indiana falling for conspiracy theories  or is it just an excuse to actually make voting harder?Being a property-owning white male, I am among the people the Constitution gave the right to vote to originally. I am disappointed that one of the only two major political parties we have is doing everything it can to make voting harder. Every person over the age of 18 who has not committed election fraud should have easy access to vote for the government representation they want.

Don't worry, I will figure out how to photocopy my drivers license to send in with my application to vote absent. Because I plan on always being out of town on Election Day, and voting by mail is easier and more secure  or at least it has been before the Republicans came along to change the laws.So, after you make voting by mail insecure, what is next? Voting Democrat? I wish I was able to move away from Indiana; this state is becoming increasingly hostile to fairness and equality, as the only people with a voice are fearmongering conspiracy theorists.

Howard Turner

Elkhart

Mass killings

Recent news shows we have more than 50 mass killings across our country this year. We are in the 21st century, and still have barbaric behavior in the USA. Contrary to political rhetoric, this indicates we are not the greatest country in the world, but compete with Second World. People are being killed by semiautomatic weapons in groups, there are daily shootings in our cities and even a 6-year-old shoots his teacher.

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Current gun rules are too shallow to be useful. Many in Congress are practicing hypocrites by what they do and dont do to make our country better. Leadership? What happened to respect? Many describe themselves as right to life, yet do nothing to diminish this problem of losing lives. The Second Amendment is 232 years old, antiquated and irrelevant. A reason to have a gun is to kill someone.

With all such killings, they have one thing in common: the tools they use are guns. To help solve this problem, we need to remove these tools from our society. Can we do it? It might be difficult but we are the USA and we can do anything if we wish. As a country, are we safer with no guns or if all of us have guns?

Tom Nowak

South Bend

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Letters sound off on gun violence and voting
A positive test run for Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 with a digital music program in its seven elementary schools means the School Board will vote March 13 on signing a five-year contract with QuaverMusic.

The district began a pilot program last fall in grades 1, 3 and 5. If approved by the board, the QuaverMusic offering will be used in grades kindergarten through fifth grades at the seven elementary schools, which serve about 2,300 students. It would begin with the 2023-24 school year.

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The feedback from the teachers who have been using it has been very positive, said Kathleen Robinson, assistant superintendent of Learning. We usually review things with an adult lens, but we wanted to also make sure with this that the kids are interested, and they are very interested in using it.

Robinson said the appeal of QuaverMusic both for students and teachers is that it provides a general understanding of music and is very interactive with different types. A digital platform has replaced textbooks in many cases, and the last time District 181 had a new textbook for music was in the 2008-09 school year, Robinson said.

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The kids are very excited to log in and use it, she said. Theres a lot of variety in it, including some historical piece, and students have access to it on their iPads, which means they can use it at home, too.

If approved, the contract with QuaverMusic calls for District 181 $57,330 for the five years, which includes a multiyear discount of $5,670 over the annual cost of $12,600.

QuaverMusic is taught in more than18,000 schools worldwide, with nearly 3 million students engaged in music education, according to information from the QuaverEd, Inc., an education technology company advancing the state-of-the-art in interactive resources and software functionality.

The company was founded in 2009 and operates out of Nashville, Tennessee, with more than 180 full-time staff members.

QuaverMusic offers a variety of animated songs with interactive scores, videos on musical elements, instruments, historical eras, musical styles, and more, according to the company. Also included are Quaver musicals, choral resources, recorder and ukulele lessons, assessment quizzes, and musical games.

This will give our elementary students a general knowledge of music they can use to decide what they might be interested in, musically, in middle school, Robinson said. Im excited that all of our elementary students will have a similar experience in music that is highly interactive. Robinson said Quaver Music is available to preview through March 13 at District 181 office, 115 W. 55th St., Clarendon Hills, in the Department of Learning office.

Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Celestino Arce - Getty Images

One year ago today, in the early morning, the air raid sirens were blaring in Kyiv. Smoke billowed above the skylines of Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia had invaded Ukraine. A year later, thousands upon thousands of people are deadincluding, by various U.S. government estimates, upwards of 180,000 Russian soldiers. The Ukrainians have likely lost more than 100,000, though sound numbers are hard to come by on both sides. 18 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, many of them displaced and seeking refugee status outside the country. For some Ukrainians, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths says, life has consisted of "daily shelling, daily attacks, homes bombed, freezing cold, electricity problems."

This is a moral atrocity perpetrated by Vladimir Putin and his government, even if you believe the United States made strategic errors in allowing NATO to expand too close to Russia's borders. (Also, such theories tend to erase the will of the people in, say, Latvia, who wanted to join NATO and the European Union. Self-determination is a core principle of liberal democratic life.) This has been a brutal attempt to retain proxy control over a neighbor that was turning toward the West, the culmination of a campaign that began in Crimea in 2014 and continued with the backing of separatist paramilitaries in Ukraine's eastern provinces years before the current invasion. Putin's generals told him this current invasion would be a cakewalk, but it has proved anything but. A year on, the Ukrainians are still defending their homeland valiantly, thanks in significant part to huge amounts of financial and military aid from Europe and the U.S.

Alongside the simple matter of the Ukrainians' right as a community of human beings to govern themselves, the best rationale for continuing to aid them is that they are defending all of Europe. If you give Putin this, what will he take next? We cannot afford to find out. He already seems to have flitted his gaze towards Moldova. But that doesn't mean the U.S. shouldn't be constantly re-evaluating its aid levels and, when possible, advocating for opportunities to make peacewhich can't at this point mean pushing to give away territory that was Ukraine before Russia began its most recent bout of aggression against this particular country back in 2014. Crimea may well be gone, and the Donbas is at serious risk, but that's not something we can tell Ukrainians to accept right now.

In the meantime, discussions of aid types and levels should be possible in the American public square without automatic accusations of Putin sympathies or of an insufficient commitment to democracy. It is not disloyal to the United States or counter to its national interests to question how much money we send, what kind of weapons, and whether we should provide precision guidance for Ukrainian missiles. That last bit constitutes the U.S. intervening in how the battles are fought against a fellow nuclear power, yet we only know about it because the Washington Post brought it to our attention.

SOPA Images - Getty Images

Decades of endless war in many lands at oncecountries in which Congress authorized various presidents to use military force and others less sohave battered and close to buried the founding principle that it's Congress that has the power to declare war. It's also the public's obligation to continually monitor what our government is doing with respect to other people's wars. In this case, we all have a duty to continue to bear witness to what Russia is doing in Ukraine; to offer humanitarian assistance to those who need it, including refugee status in the United States of America; and to continually re-evaluate what kinds of weapons we're sending and how many. The anti-tank Javelin missiles were a highly efficient success, but do we want to send tanks or planes? Have we really had a public discussion about that? President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted the U.S. to enforce a no-fly zone last year, but that did not make it the right thing to do. Americans should know nearly as well as the Russians that you cannot dump weapons into a country without consequences. Once they're there, you can't always control who gets hold of them. How many horrors have been perpetrated with AK-47s that wandered far from home? And by the way, we're shoveling money at the defense contractors faster than even they can crank out weapons to send over there.

The Russian government led by Vladimir Putin is way past any concerns about the whether and the why. He leads a hollowed-out economy with an until-now overrated military attached to it. From his earliest days as Russia's leader, the man has behaved with a kind of savagery you see on the world's stage only once or twice in a generation. From Grozny to Aleppo to Mariupol, few have been more willing to drop bombs on residential buildings than Vlad. At first, the world feared Ukraine would be just the latest land to be trampled by some self-appointed great man of history, but they've fought him to at least a draw. With each passing day, more young Russians come home in caskets and the threat grows that the West's sanctions regime will hit the Russian economy more solidly than it has so far. But the world isn't so united as the Western powers might like, and Putin's propaganda campaigns at home and abroad have left a murkier picture in much of Asia, Africa, and Russia itself. It is unclear whether his position is truly weakening.

SERGEI SUPINSKY - Getty Images

While the U.S. and its allies cannot seek regime change, it is important to stateall the time and without equivocationthat this man is responsible. It would help the reasonable critics of U.S. foreign policy to say so more often. A lot of American politicians and media stars seem unclear on what's going on. There seem to be a lot of anti-imperialists who have little issue with a guy openly preaching the glory of Russian empire while invading a neighbor. An authoritarian strongman with a record of outliving his political opponents and however many innocent civilians across however many countries (we've so far neglected to mention Georgia) is doing what he does.

But the Ukrainians are showing him something he still needed to learn even after Russia's experiences in Afghanistan, which came before America's experiences in Afghanistan but after our time in Vietnam: it is not easy to conquer and control a country. The locals don't like it. They will fight you, and usually, eventually, you're going to leave. The Soviets departed 14 countries as the union fell, and before that the Brits fled all the lands they'd conquered, and on and on and on. The difference here is that Ukraine has so far defeated Russia at that first hurdle: They have refused to be conquered in the first place. The citizens of a country as independent and belligerent as the United States ought to have some appreciation for that. We should help how we can, but not however we can.

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Former WSB-TV reporter and Atlantas first Black TV reporter Lorenzo Lo Jelks has passed away.

Jelks family confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that Jelks passed away overnight. He was 83.

His family has not commented on the cause of his death.

Jelks joined WSB-TV in 1967, making him the first Black television reporter in Atlanta, paving the way for many more broadcasters after him. He stayed with WSB-TV until 1976.

To have that honor of working in that kind of environment just thrilled me so, Jelks told Channel 2s Karyn Greer.

[PHOTOS: Lo Jelks through the years]

Once (WSB) took that opportunity of going with someone green like me, someone who had never been inside a television station, I think perhaps that helped with the other stations, said Jelks, 82, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Born in St. Petersburg, Fla., Jelks got his start in radio. He ran a weekly music radio show as a high school student in 1955.

He graduated from Clark College, now called Clark Atlanta University, in 1961 and was operations manager at WIGO-AM, a R&B station, in Atlanta when he get the call from WSB-TV.

Marty, the girls, and I were saddened to hear of Lo Jelks passing. As someone who made history for our state, he paved the way for other African Americans in media during a pivotal time. As we pray for his loved ones, were also remembering his valued contributions. https://t.co/5Tfi5lPkko  Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) February 25, 2023

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I remember [WSB-TV News Director Ray Moore] saying, Here we are talking about all these situations on air and we dont have a single Black person working here, Jelks recalled during WSB-TVs 75th Anniversary celebration.

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During his first year at WSB-TV, Jelks was not seen on air. Instead, he was only identified by his name on the screen. The next year, when Jelks was seen on air, station management was able to remind critics they had been hearing from Jelks for a year.

[Were] so grateful that hes had an opportunity to be celebrated so much in the last several months of his life, and thank you all for your kindness, friendship and support of him, Jelks family said in a statement to Channel 2 Action News.

Jelks was inducted into the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame last year.

Arrangements are still being finalized.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
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Current share price of RM0.28 suggests Berjaya Land Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

Berjaya Land Berhad's peers are currently trading at a premium of 308% on average

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Berjaya Land Berhad (KLSE:BJLAND) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. 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.

View our latest analysis for Berjaya Land Berhad

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. 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.

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:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM259.9m RM258.9m RM260.9m RM265.1m RM271.0m RM278.1m RM286.2m RM295.0m RM304.6m RM314.8m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ -2.11% Est @ -0.40% Est @ 0.79% Est @ 1.62% Est @ 2.21% Est @ 2.62% Est @ 2.90% Est @ 3.10% Est @ 3.24% Est @ 3.34% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 20% RM217 RM181 RM153 RM130 RM111 RM95.1 RM81.8 RM70.5 RM60.9 RM52.6

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM1.2b

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 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 20%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM315m (1 + 3.6%)  (20% 3.6%) = RM2.0b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM2.0b ( 1 + 20%)10= RM340m

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is RM1.5b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM0.3, the company appears about fair value at a 7.7% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

Important Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Berjaya Land 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 20%, 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.

SWOT Analysis for Berjaya Land Berhad

Strength

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Weakness

No major weaknesses identified for BJLAND.

Opportunity

Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows.

Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.

Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine BJLAND's earnings prospects.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Moving On:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. 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 Berjaya Land Berhad, there are three important factors you should further examine:

Risks: For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Berjaya Land Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here. 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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Key Insights

Unilever's estimated fair value is UK35.72 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

With UK41.92 share price, Unilever appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value

The 42.41 analyst price target for ULVR is 19% more than our estimate of fair value

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

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. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Unilever

Crunching The Numbers

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, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) 6.51b 7.11b 7.36b 7.78b 8.09b 8.34b 8.55b 8.73b 8.89b 9.03b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x11 Analyst x10 Analyst x8 Analyst x2 Est @ 3.94% Est @ 3.10% Est @ 2.52% Est @ 2.11% Est @ 1.82% Est @ 1.62% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 8.8% 6.0k 6.0k 5.7k 5.6k 5.3k 5.0k 4.7k 4.4k 4.2k 3.9k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 51b

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 (1.2%) 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 8.8%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = 9.0b (1 + 1.2%)  (8.8% 1.2%) = 120b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 120b ( 1 + 8.8%)10= 51b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is 102b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of UK41.9, 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

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 Unilever 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 8.8%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.096. 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 Unilever

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded its 5-year average.

Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Earnings growth over the past year underperformed the Personal Products industry.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Personal Products market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Good value based on P/E ratio compared to estimated Fair P/E ratio.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the British market.

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For Unilever, we've compiled three pertinent items you should explore:

Risks: As an example, we've found 2 warning signs for Unilever that you need to consider before investing here. Future Earnings: How does ULVR's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the LSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that when he arrived in Kherson after it had been liberated from Russia, he had the feeling that he had gone through the Looking-Glass.

Source: Zelenskyy in a documentary project by Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Komarov

Quote from Zelenskyy: "I went to Kherson and saw these [propaganda  ed.] posters; it was an unpleasant feeling.

It felt as if I had gone through the Looking-Glass.

I can imagine... For several months, this had been going on in Kherson Oblast, and I arrived, and the city had already been so transformed by these things.

These are small things, but these small things affect the whole atmosphere, and then I thought: what is it like in Donetsk?"

Previously: Zelenskyy arrived in Kherson on 14 November 2022 when it had just been liberated from the Russian invaders.

Background: On 9 November, Sergei Surovikin, the ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Russian occupying forces in Ukraine, reported that the Russian army was leaving the city of Kherson.

On 11 November, Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reported that Kherson was returning under Ukraines control and the Armed Forces of Ukraine were entering the city. The Russian occupiers retreat routes are under the fire control of the Ukrainian army.

As of 12 November, legitimate Oblast and City Military Administrations, as well as the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the National Police of Ukraine, began to work in liberated Kherson. A curfew has been imposed in the liberated city of Kherson from 17:00 to 08:00.

The authorities urged residents of the liberated area to evacuate.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Matt Arledge, center, of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's urban search-and-rescue team, uses a hyper-sensitive microphone to listen for signs of life in Adiyaman, Turkey, on Feb. 10. (Tom Nicholson / For The Times)

Search-and-rescue workers from Los Angeles have returned from Turkey after spending weeks assisting in the aftermath of the regions massive earthquake, which killed tens of thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

More than 80 Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel were dispatched Feb. 6 as part of the U.S. Agency for International Developments Disaster Assistance Response Team, which included a search-and-rescue squad from Fairfax, Va., after the magnitude 7.8 quake that devastated Turkey and northern Syria that day.

The L.A. County and Virginia crews are the only such teams in the country that qualify under the USAID program to assist in international disaster response.

DART led the effort to search for survivors in Adiyaman [Turkey] and surrounding areas by using sensitive cameras, listening devices, search-and-rescue canines, and other specialized equipment, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a news release Tuesday announcing the teams return.

The crew assessed more than 6,000 buildings, including hospitals and homes, surveying dozens of structures a day to determine whether they were safe for residents to move back inside.

Its a major psychological challenge, Joshua Svensson, a civil engineer with the L.A. County Department of Public Works who was dispatched to the region, recently told The Times. Its a heavy responsibility, but we will go to these houses and say, I would sleep here. Offering people that peace of mind is a big deal.

They also performed hours of tunneling work at buildings where they detected signs of life and consulted with local personnel on rescue attempts.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department also deployed seven members of its search-and-rescue program, who arrived in Turkey on Feb. 10, according to a news release.

They worked mainly in Antakya in Hatay province, one of the regions hit hardest by the quake, which has killed more than 47,000 people in the two countries. The workers returned to the U.S. on Feb. 15.

Story continues

Mike Leum, assistant director for the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, has been a search-and-rescue reserve deputy for 30 years.

It was a week of triumph and tragedy, Leum said. The team, he said, rescued three people: a 52-year-old mother and her 18-year-old son, as well as a 17-year-old boy. There were deceased people, but having three live finds were worth it, he said.

The Sheriffs Department search-and-rescue team worked with about 150 other personnel from Turkey and other countries, Leum said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Love Is Blind star Raven Ross has shared that she found out her ex-fiance SK Alagbada had cheated on her through TikTok.

During a recent episode of The Viall Files podcast, the pilates instructor spoke about her split from Alagbada and some of his cheating rumours after multiple women came forward on social media to accuse the data engineer of being unfaithful.

The couple initially got engaged in season three of Love Is Blind but did not walk down the aisle. They rekindled their romance when the show ended and got reengaged during the After the Altar special. Netflix later confirmed in the episode that the engagement ended and shared a clip of Ross revealing that SK had cheated on her.

Ross recalled to podcast host Nick Viall how she found out about Alagbadas infidelity through different women.

It started with one girl who hed actually met in San Francisco. When I found out about it, I found out with everyone else on TikTok, she said. This was right before Thanksgiving, he was at school and I was in Dallas.

She said her phone started going crazy and people began sending her the womans TikTok video, asking her if shed seen it. Ross said that after watching the video a few times, she realised that her then-boyfriend had sent both of them the same pictures.

Ross noted that those photos were taken in March 2022, while Alagbada was in Austin. She then claimed that her now-ex seemingly copied and pasted the messages that he sent her to the woman in San Francisco.

It was literally verbatim, the same exact selfie, the same exact words, she continued. I thought we had the strongest foundation, I trusted him with anything and everything.

She further explained how the womans message showed that Alagabada felt the same way about both of them before revealing that hed actually invited the woman to Austin.

We just went to Austin, he stayed, and then youre going to turn around and fly another girl out? she said. It ended up not happening and that was kind of his saving grace I didnt forgive him for it, but I was like: OK, its just a Hinge date. Not much came of it.

Story continues

Ross said that when she confronted Alagabada about the TikTok video, he didnt really own up to it, explaining: Any time there would be a moment like this, there would always be lots of hesitation. At this point, he didnt answer the phone for a while.

Despite the progress she and Alagbada made by November, another woman then spoke out about him on TikTok which Ross said was a far worse situation. After watching that video alongside her ex, she said that they then talked about how he had quite a long past with this woman.

So, he was able to use that to his advantage because a lot of the stuff she put in there was from 2018, 2019, right? she explained. I was like: OK, this has nothing to do with me.

Ross said that after filming ended in July 2021 and prior to their reconciliation, Alagbada asked her to go to Europe with him and she turned the offer down. She later discovered that he took the second woman who posted about him on TikTok on that trip.

This was really the hurtful part of it, she explained. I think he invited me just to invite me, but he knew I wasnt going to go. Because literally he invited me and the trip was like three days later. Like I cant do that.

She recalled that when she spoke to Alagbada about this, he pointed out that the Europe trip happened when they werent together so he hadnt cheated on her. While Ross understood his point, her issue was that he lied about how she actually got to Europe.

Ross went on to tell Viall that the womans TikTok video featured texts between her and Alagbada that were much more recent and proved that they were still in communication. Ross also claimed that the womans best friends reached out to her, encouraging her to take SK back and warning her that the woman was somewhat stalking her.

Ross verified that these people really were this womans group of friends and added that the woman went to Cabo with Alagbada in May 2022 while he was already dating Ross again.

He knew my intentions, she said. I was not interested in dating anyone else. We were very close, at this point I had already gone to San Francisco multiple times.

During the After the Altar special, which aired earlier this month, Ross reflected on her second engagement being called off.

That really sucks. Since then, a lot has changed, she said. My world is completely different because SK cheated on me and now our relationship is over.

She continued: I really was so invested in the person that everyone saw and everyone loved. Thats the person I saw and I loved every day too. To see everything that has happened since then is so hard. Because that was not the person that I thought that I was with.

While SK did not address the cheating rumours during the reunion special, he took to Instagram in November to describe the allegations as being falsely misrepresented with malicious intent to extort.

While our journey back together hasnt been straightforward, the unique emotional connection we developed from this experiment kept us together as friends and helped rekindle our relationship after the fact, he said. We are actively pursuing legal actions against the accuser.

Later that month, the couple shared a joint statement to announce that they had officially separated.

We are saddened to announce that we have decided to go our separate ways, the post read. Due to ongoing legal proceedings surrounding these allegations, we cannot provide additional details and ask that you please respect our privacy during this hard time. Thank you for following our love story and believing in us. This journey has forever shaped our lives and we are so grateful for everyone who has been a part of it. Your love and support means everything.

Earlier this week, Ross revealed that she has a new romance in her life.

Ive gone on quite a few dates [since SK], Ross told People in an interview. Actually, the guy that Im dating now sent me a message on Instagram. Its relatively new. But its going well, so knock on wood.
Belarusian dictator Alexander has reacted to a document, featured in a joint investigation by the Kyiv Independent and a group of U.S. and European media outlets, detailed Russia's future steps to take complete control of Belarusian political, economic, and military spheres by 2030.

Speaking to local journalists at a sporting event on Feb. 25, Lukashenko said the document allegedly detailing Russia's plans to overpower Belarus and dismantle its independence might have been written three years ago.

According to one of the sources cited in the investigation, an unnamed Western intelligence officer, the document was created in 2021 by the Kremlin's Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation.

According to the plan outlined in the document, by 2030, Belarus should have a single currency and tax system with Russia, and its military and media space will have come under Russian control.

Lukashenko told state-controlled news agency Belta that Belarus and Russia discussed the formation of integration roadmaps three years ago.

There were different points of view. Some said this way, and some said that way. Maybe some (in Putins administration) officials, a group of people, suggested which way they will go with Belarus, Lukashenko said on Feb. 25, adding that he sees Belarus as an independent and sovereign state.

Lukashenko claimed that the cross-border investigative report aims to divide Belarus and Russia.
Alexander Lukashenko, self-proclaimed President of Belarus, and Vladimir Putin, the Russian dictator "had a long conversation in the evening" on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 24 February.

Source: press service of Lukashenko

Quote from Lukashenko: "Let me tell you a secret, last night we had a long conversation with him on various topics.

Listen, we have this bond, God grant that it will always be like this.

And may it stay like this after I'm history."

Recall: The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assumes that the Russian authorities did not comment on the anniversary of their invasion of Ukraine because they failed to achieve any of their stated goals.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated to reflect that Macedonia has designated March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.

City Council continues to mull the donation of 5.8 acres at 9150 Valley View Road, which once housed the operations of Aerosol Systems.

Action to accept the donation offered by 9150 Group LLC was postponed Feb. 23. If accepted, the land would be used for future public purposes. The property has sat largely dormant since Aerosol Systems closed in 2002. The firm made degreasers and cleaners.

Law Director Mark Guidetti has said the city has worked with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency because of longstanding environmental issues on the property, and most of the issues have been resolved.

There are various approaches the city could take to finalize the remediation work, said Guidetti. That ranges from doing the bare minimum and seeing if nature takes its course to taking an aggressive stance [site injunctions], which would be more expensive.

He said estimated cost for the remediation is from $200,000 to $300,000. Theres a variety of scenarios, so I cant provide an exact amount of dollars, he said. A lot of the remediation work has already been done.

Other business

Council requested the director of the Ohio Department of Transportation to proceed with the Valley View Road resurfacing project from Twinsburg Road to the Hudson border.

The citys estimated share is $73,800, with federal funding through the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study slated to be about $292,500.

Council also authorized the sale via govdeals.com of a 2013 Dodge Charger and a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria that are no longer needed by the service department. The vehicles have logged 118,133 and 77,645 miles, respectively.

Minimum reserve pricing has been determined to be $4,500 for the Charger and $2,000 for the Crown Victoria.

Section 1 of the citys compensation schedule pertaining to non-union city employees was amended to create certain seasonal positions in the parks and recreation department.

Story continues

Amendments to the 2023 appropriations were approved. Finance Director John Veres said they include transferring $300,000 from the general to the emergency reserve fund, thus bringing the amount in the latter to $1 million.

He also said $250,000 will be transferred from the general fund to the municipal property fund to use for any improvements made to the property and building at the former Aerosol Systems site.

Action was postponed on an ordinance which would add a section to the city's laws requiring the registration of residential rental properties.

It would establish guidelines for a mandatory residential rental unit registration program in the R-1 residential zoning district. Failure to register would be a second-degree misdemeanor.

Building department director Bob Rodic said the city is awaiting a roster of local rental properties registered with Summit County, and Council can then act on the proposed ordinance.

An application to place a property at 9066 N. Bedford Road into an agricultural district was moved to second reading. The property is owned by Patrick Michael DeShane, and the placement would be good for five years.

The applicant claims the property consisting of 7.84 acres has been devoted exclusively to agricultural production, and the activities conducted there have produced an average yearly gross income of at least $2,500 in the last three years.

Mayor Nick Molnar read a proclamation designating March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.

Molnar reported three candidates for the open police chief position soon will be interviewed, and a Sephora beauty products store is planning to move into the final vacant space at Gateway Plaza on Route 82.

In addressing the recent major fire at I Schumann & Co. in Oakwood Village and the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, the mayor said the city and county have resources to deal with such emergency situations.

He said keeping Macedonia residents safe is a major priority, and the local safety forces are well-trained in responding to disasters. He added the fire and derailment have had no effect on the citys water and air quality.

Contact the newspaper at newsleader@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Macedonia Council postpones vote on accepting land donation
With thieves specifically targeting some Hyundai and Kia vehicle models, according to published reports, Oak Park is among a growing list of municipalities offering steering wheel locks to help curb the stealing.

Officials said in a news release that the Oak Park Police Department will host a steering wheel lock giveaway Saturday for Oak Park residents who own select Hyundai or Kia vehicles.

Advertisement

The Police Department is offering the giveaway in response to a sharp increase in vehicle thefts involving Hyundai and Kia models, officials said in the release.

Pre-registration is required since supplies are limited, according to the release. Residents are asked to email Community Policing Sergeant Robert Monty at rmonty@oak-park.us to request a steering wheel lock device.

Advertisement

The release states that the device will be given at no cost to residents if they own a Hyundai model manufactured between 2016 to 2021 or a 2011 to 2021 Kia model.

The steering wheel locks will be available for pickup Saturday in the police station lobby in the lower level of Village Hall, 123 Madison St, according to the release.

Officials said in the release that in 2022, there were 266 vehicle thefts in Oak Park, up from 71 the year before.

The uptick mirrors regional and nationwide trends where Hyundai and Kia vehicles are targeted because they use a mechanical key to start rather than a key fob and push-button, the release states. Law enforcement officials recommend Hyundai and Kia owners take extra security measures such as a steering wheel lock device or engine immobilizer. Hyundai and Kia owners can also contact the manufacturer to learn about additional safeguards such as a recent software update for some of the targeted models.

Additionally, police recommend that motorists park in a well-lit area if possible. Residents who park in a personal garage are urged to keep the overhead door closed and to lock service doors, according to the release.

All in the community are asked to call 911 if they see anyone attempting to break into a car or trying door handles, the release states.
It's Friday (or should I say, Fri-yay.) You've made it. Give yourself a pat on the back -- and then go read the rest of this issue of Week in Review, TechCrunch's newsletter summing up the past seven days in tech (sign up here to get it directly in your inbox every Saturday). I'll continue to be your WiR emcee for the next few weeks until Greg returns from parental leave. Goodness knows I lack his wit, but I'll try to make up for it in pith. Go easy on me, please.

First things first, I'm contractually obligated (not really... but maybe actually?) to highlight TechCrunch's upcoming events this calendar year.

TechCrunch Live is making a special (virtual) trip to Boston on February 27 for City Spotlight: Boston, and it'll be completely free. That's right -- free! No excuses for skipping out on this one. Beyond City Spotlight, TC will be back in Boston in April for Early Stage, which will feature expert-led sessions about growing an -- you guessed it -- early-stage company. Last but not least, mark your calendar for TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, which takes place in San Francisco from September 1921. It'll be one to remember.

With the PSAs out of the way, let's get on with the roundup:

most read

Erase your mistakes: One of Google Pixels best photo-editing features, "Magic Eraser," is now making its way to other Android and iOS devices. But it wont be free. This week, Google announced that the popular tool, which uses AI to remove unwanted content from images, will become available to Google One subscribers and to existing Pixel owners. Google One subscribers will receive a small handful of other editing tools as well, like a new HDR video effect, exclusive collage Styles and more.

Facebook jail: Sarah reports that Meta will be reforming its penalty system based on the recommendations from the Oversight Board, the independent body of experts, academics, civic leaders and lawyers who now weigh in on appeals decisions made by Meta. The social network says it will reform its system to focus less on penalizing users by restricting their ability to post and more on explaining the reasoning behind its content removals, which it believes will be a fairer and more effective means of moderating content on its platform.

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TikTok in cars: TikTok is making its way into vehicles, starting with the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class thats coming to market in fall 2023. The car's newly updated MBUX infotainment system, which will feature a "superscreen" that spans the entire dashboard, will allow drivers to click on the TikTok app and watch videos when the vehicle is parked. How's that for TikTok overload?

AI in my Spotify: Spotify this week launched a new AI feature called "DJ" to better personalize the music-listening experience for its users. Similar to a radio DJ, Spotifys DJ feature will deliver a curated selection of music alongside AI-powered spoken commentary about the tracks and artists you like, using what Spotify says is a "stunningly realistic voice." Neat!

Price drop: Netflix decreased its subscription costs in more than 100 territories over the past week as customers continue to contemplate which streaming services to keep amid price hikes. The company has been under fire lately after rolling out password-sharing rules to Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, but another potential reason for the price decrease is to fare better against competition such as Paramount+, Apple TV+, Disney+ and Hulu.

Military secrets: On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense secured an exposed server that had been spilling internal U.S. military emails to the open internet for the past two weeks. The server was hosted on Microsofts Azure government cloud for Department of Defense customers, which uses servers that are physically separated from other commercial customers and as such can be used to share sensitive but unclassified government data.

Compute by OpenAI: OpenAI is quietly launching a new developer platform that lets customers run the companys newer machine learning models, like GPT-3.5, on dedicated capacity. In screenshots of documentation published to Twitter by users with early access, OpenAI describes the forthcoming offering, called Foundry, as "designed for cutting-edge customers running larger workloads."

YouTube goes multilingual: YouTube announced this week that its rolling out support for multilanguage audio tracks, which will allow creators to add dubbing to their new and existing videos, helping them to reach an international audience. The company says the technology to support multilanguage audio tracks was built in-house at YouTube, but creators will need to partner directly with third-party dubbing providers to create their audio tracks.

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Here's your weekly reminder that TechCrunch has a diverse array of podcasts for your listening pleasure. This week on The TechCrunch Podcast, Haje stepped in for Darrell to talk with Taylor about the Supreme Court cases that could change the internet as we know it. On Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn interviewed Alex Adelman, the co-founder and CEO of Lolli, a bitcoin rewards app that lets people earn bitcoin or cash back when they shop online or in person at over 10,000 stores. The Found crew spoke with Michael Chime, the co-founder and CEO of Prepared, which is leading the charge to modernize 911 calls by providing access to video and photos. And over at Equity, the gang covered trends such as the possible return of IPOs and accelerators that back the startups of laid-off tech workers.

TechCrunch+

TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys  which you know if youre already a subscriber. If youre not, consider signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:

Ocean conservation: Tim investigates whether ocean conservation startups are the next big thing in sustainability. The takeaway? Even some of the most intractable and high-profile problems facing the worlds oceans, like plastic pollution, are inspiring investors to dive in (pun intended).

Making layoffs suck less: Leslie Crowe of Bain Capital Ventures writes about how to announce job cuts and retain top performers. With some thought and planning, she argues, founders can manage the layoff process well and come out the other side stronger.

Say goodbye to $100 million venture rounds: Startups hoping to raise a nine-figure round in the future had best temper their ambition. Alex writes that venture funding events worth $100 million or more are going extinct -- quickly.
The suspect in a stabbing near Microsofts campus in Redmond was charged Friday with one count of second-degree attempted murder, the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office announced.

According to court documents, police believe Joseph Cantrell randomly attacked a man at the corner of 156th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 28th Street on Wednesday. Cantrell was able to stab the victim more than a dozen times, also fracturing the mans skull, causing a brain bleed, according to police.

The victim was able to tell officers that he did not know the man who attacked him. He was transported to a nearby hospital with critical injuries.

Police said that after the stabbing, Cantrell barricaded himself inside his apartment a few blocks away from where the stabbing occurred. Members of North Sound Metro SWAT responded, and after executing a warrant, Cantrell was taken into custody at around 1 a.m. Thursday.

Cantrell recently moved to Seattle from Georgia.

Prosecutors requested he be held on $2 million bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 9.
A Mesa Police Department badge is seen here.

A man is jailed in a deadly shooting outside a Mesa bar, which court documents say was retaliation for money owed to the suspects girlfriend.

Darren Wayne Harper Jr., 35, of Peoria, is charged with second-degree murder on suspicion of gunning down Al-Hajjii Brooks, 42, on Sunday, according to court records. Harper is also charged with possession of a weapon by a prohibited person.

Court documents reveal that just before 7 p.m., officers in the area who heard gunshots and screaming from Mesa Drummer Bar & Grill, located at 1211 N. Country Club Drive, found bar patrons in the parking lot and were directed to a shooting victim lying on the ground with two gunshot wounds to his chest. The victim died at the scene, court documents said.

Detectives recovered two fired 10 mm casings with a fired projectile, according to court documents.

Witnesses and surveillance video pointed to Harper as the assailant following an argument, charging documents state. According to one witness, court documents state, Brooks and a woman argued over money he supposedly owed her.

A man, later said to be Harper, is seen on surveillance footage confronting Brooks at his car, court documents show. Surveillance footage captures the woman grabbing a gun and handing it to Harper who then shoots several times at Brooks as she watches before the pair drive off, charging documents reveal.

An anonymous tipster informed police about Harper and the woman, which led to the license plate identification of a black 2007 Mercury Milan as the suspects vehicle, according to court documents. This tipster told police Harper shot Brooks several times before fleeing. The tipster also said that the woman is the suspects girlfriend and that she and the victim argued over money he owed her over pills, according to charging documents.

Witnesses presented with a photo lineup positively identified Harper as the person who fatally shot Brooks, court documents show.

Police watched Harper outside his Peoria home walking from the Mercury Milan dressed just as he was the night of the shooting, according to witness description and surveillance video, charging documents reveal.

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On Wednesday during police interrogation, Harper admitted to being at the Mesa Drummer Bar & Grill with his girlfriend and the Mercury Milan, charging documents show. Harper admitted to there being a brief dispute over money Brooks owed his girlfriend, but he denied shooting the victim, according to court documents.

As of Friday afternoon, Harper was in custody on a $50,000 bond, according to jail and court records. His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, according to court records.

Harper was previously convicted of attempted murder in Nevada, according to Mesa police spokesman Detective Richard Encinas.

Court documents show Harper has also previously been convicted of unlawful discharge of a firearm, mayhem with a deadly weapon and domestic violence assault, court records show.

As of Friday, Harpers girlfriend had not been charged with a crime, Encinas said. It is unclear in charging documents how much money was being disputed between Brooks and Harpers girlfriend.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Darren Wayne Harper Jr. charged in fatal shooting of Al-Hajjii Brooks
Authorities are investigating a fire and a death at a homeless camp on Friday night.

Firefighters were called to reports of black smoke coming out from underneath a bridge at Piedmont Ave. NE and Monroe Dr. NE just before 6 p.m.

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

Crews were at the scene four minutes later and were able to find the cause of the smoke and put it out.

Investigators determined the location was a homeless camp and also found one person dead.

Officials have not commented on if the deceased person was involved in the fire.

TRENDING STORIES:

The victims identity has not been released.

The death and the cause of the fire remain under investigation.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
More than 800 medical marijuana farms tied to organized crime have been shut down over the past two years, the director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control said Friday.

"Many of the farms obtained their license by fraud, grow for the black markets around the United States and launder the illicit proceeds worldwide," Director Donnie Anderson said.

"They also have been linked to homicides, labor trafficking, sex trafficking and other crimes."

Oklahoma narcotics agents also have seized more than 600,000 pounds of illegal marijuana and made nearly 200 arrests over the past two years during pot investigations, he said.

A man was killed outside an Oklahoma marijuana grow facility. Here's why the shooter isn't going to prison

This cash was recovered Thursday during searches in Oklahoma City by state narcotics agents looking into illegal activities tied to medical marijuana.

The director gave the statistics in a news release about the latest arrests and an ongoing investigation.

Arrested Thursday were Jian Lin, 30, and Jianfa Zhou, 34, according to court records.

Agents made the two arrests and seized cash, a gun and the drug Ketamine during searches in Oklahoma City.

More than $49,000 in cash was found in Lin's bedroom and vehicle, an agent reported. More than $5,000 was found in Zhou's bedroom at the same apartment.

Two prostituted females were identified and removed from one of the locations that was used as a brothel, the narcotics bureau said in the news release.

Ketamine retrieved by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics from a human and drug trafficking linked to medical marijuana farms.

An investigation now underway is focused on "an Asian organized crime network" that provides services for several medical marijuana farms, a bureau spokesman said.

The investigation has uncovered evidence Asian females have been recruited for prostitution "that caters to managers and administrators of numerous marijuana farms around the state," the spokesman, Mark Woodward, said.

Fear, hope and recreational marijuana: Why Oklahoma business owners are torn over SQ 820

Voters go to the polls March 7 to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. As the election approaches, officials in law enforcement have warned expanding access to pot will endanger public safety even more.

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"One of the biggest current threats to public safety is the presence of Chinese nationals and other elements of organized crime in our medical marijuana industry," Oklahoma Attorney General Drummond said Feb. 16.

"I believe it would be a grave mistake to give these criminals a larger market to serve.

Oklahomans approved medical marijuana in 2018.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Narcotics bureau: Oklahoma medical marijuana brought sex trafficking
Mark Wahlberg at the Los Angeles premiere of "Me Time" in August 2022. David Livingston/Getty Images

Mark Walhberg, who is a longtime Catholic, discussed his faith in a recent interview.

Wahlberg's faith sometimes finds its way into his work, including the 2022 film "Father Stu."

"It's not popular in my industry, but you know, I cannot deny my faith," he said.

Mark Wahlberg will not hide the fact that he's a practicing Catholic, even if he feels it's "not popular" in Hollywood.

During a recent sitdown with Savannah Guthrie at "Today," the actor opened up about his faith, which he said has instilled in him a sense of discipline.

"Discipline has always been important to me in life," Wahlberg said. "Once I started getting into movies and transitioned from music, I realized I needed a lot of discipline in my life. And that discipline has afforded me so many other things."

Despite being a faithful Catholic, Wahlberg added that he doesn't want to "jam it down anybody's throat."

"It's not popular in my industry, but you know, I cannot deny my faith," he added. "It's important for me to share that with people. But I have friends from all walks of life and all different types of faiths and religions, so it's important to respect and honor them as well."

Wahlberg's faith has occasionally found its way into his work. In the 2022 film "Father Stu," which Wahlberg starred in and produced, the actor portrayed an amateur boxer-turned-Catholic priest. He is also a spokesperson for Hallow, a Catholic meditation, prayer, and sleep app.

The actor also discussed his eating habits during the 40-day season of Lent, which includes having one meal on Ash Wednesday and every Friday.

Wahlberg summed up his relationship with Catholicism as it being "everything" to him, but he and his family, who moved to Nevada in 2022, have also worked out an understanding about religion in the household.

"Again, I don't force it on them," he said of his four children. "Before, it was like 'OK, everybody's got to be in Catholic school. We've got to go to mass every Sunday.' But that can also create some resentment. I want them to gravitate towards it in a very natural way."

Read the original article on Insider
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) affirmed that U.S. aid to Ukraine is a direct investment in the countrys interests and against Russian President Vladimir Putins war machine on the first anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion.

The senate minority leader said in a statement on Friday that U.S. national security is tied to stability and security in Europe and preventing Russian forces from advancing in the continent.

As my fellow leading Republicans and I have explained, it is not an act of charity for the United States and our NATO allies to help supply the Ukrainian peoples self-defense, he said. It is a direct investment in our own core national interests.

McConnell added that the United States has largely been sending older weapons from its stockpile, allowing the U.S. to replenish its inventory with more modern versions of whats being sent abroad.

If Putin were given a green light to destabilize Europe, invading and killing at will, the long-term cost to the United States in both dollars and security risks would be astronomically higher than the miniscule fraction of our GDP that we have invested in Ukraines defense thus far, he said.

He called on the Biden administration and U.S. allies to act more decisively in ensuring that their combined assistance to Ukraine and investments in their own militaries happen at the speed of relevance. He said experience has shown that weakness and hesitation are what provokes Putin to act.

The road to peace lies in speedily surging Ukraine the tools they need to achieve victory as they define it, McConnell said.

The Kentucky Republican said that he has spent the past week traveling with some other GOP senators to meet with leaders of U.S. allies to assure them that the country will continue to invest in its military in order to keep the NATO alliance strong and push them to make greater investments in their defenses to reduce the burden on the U.S.

The country has shown strong bipartisan support for helping Ukraine throughout much of the war over the past year, but some GOP members of Congress  such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)  have called for ending U.S. aid to Ukraine.

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We dont pay taxes to fund foreign countrys wars who arent even NATO allys, Greene tweeted Monday.

But other Republican leaders, like McConnell, have been steadfast in maintaining support for Ukraine, telling participants of the Munich Security Conference last week that Reports about the death of Republican support for strong American leadership in the world have been greatly exaggerated.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Tucker Carlson. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images

A coalition of news outlets is demanding access to footage from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) shared exclusively with Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.

Attorney Charles Tobin sent a letter to Congress on Friday requesting the footage on behalf of Advance Publications, ABC News, Axios, CNN, CBS News, The E.W. Scripps Company, Gannett, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, and ProPublica.

The letter was addressed to McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill, Tobin wrote, "Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness." The letter added that this could cause "destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal investigations and prosecutions of Jan. 6 crimes."

In addition, NBC News reported that another group of news outlets had also filed a separate request seeking the footage. This group included NBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Associated Press, Telemundo, and others.

"There is no basis for further delaying granting this access  to these News Organizations or any other media outlets that make similar requests," this request said, per NBC.

The controversy stems from McCarthy's handing over of exclusive Jan. 6 footage to Carlson this past week. The Washington Post noted that Carlson "has repeatedly cast doubt on official accounts of what happened on Jan. 6 and has claimed it was a 'false flag' operation."

Many Democrats have raised concerns that Carlson could use the more than 41,000 hours of footage he obtained to twist the narrative of the attack.

Story continues

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Xi and his wife meet Cambodian king, queen mother

Xinhua) 09:04, February 25, 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan have a cordial meeting with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan had a cordial meeting with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday.

Xi pointed out that over the past 65 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Cambodia, no matter how the international landscape evolved, the China-Cambodia friendship has lasted and shown new vitality, and their bilateral relations have become a model of international relations.

This is due to the profound friendship forged and nurtured by the older generation of Chinese leaders and former King Norodom Sihanouk, Xi said.

Noting that King Norodom Sihamoni and the queen mother have witnessed China's reform and development, Xi said they have always cared about China's development and are good friends of the Chinese people.

Xi said the goal of awarding the Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China to the queen mother in 2020 was to thank her for her special contribution to China-Cambodia friendship.

"We should take over the baton of China-Cambodia friendship, let the ironclad friendship between the two countries be passed down from generation to generation, and write a new chapter in building the China-Cambodia community with a shared future," Xi added.

He emphasized that the Communist Party of China is uniting and leading the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization and is committed to peaceful development and win-win cooperation on the new journey of the new era.

China stands ready to work with Cambodia to build a cooperation framework in six major areas and supports Cambodia in building the "Industrial Development Corridor" and the "Fish and Rice Corridor," Xi said, adding that the country is also willing to accelerate the building of a China-Cambodia community with a shared future.

China will continue to support the Cambodian king's working group in bringing more benefits to the Cambodian people, he added.

Noting that China has provided selfless help and support to Cambodia for a long time, the Cambodian king and the queen mother said they have been paying close attention to China's development and are sincerely happy about China's achievements.

Cambodia appreciates the Belt and Road Initiative and the concept of building a community with a shared future for humankind, and is willing to work with China to take the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and China as an opportunity to deepen friendly exchanges and cooperation in various fields and pass on the traditional friendship from generation to generation, they said.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Valparaiso University students file into Heritage Hall Feb. 15, 2023, to deliver letters to president Jose Padilla to voice displeasure of the university's planned sale of artwork from the Brauer Museum of Art. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Despite mounting criticism from the campus community, Valparaiso University is holding firm on its decision to sell three cornerstone pieces of artwork from the Brauer Museum of Art to fund renovations at dorms for first-year students.

In a Friday email to the Post-Tribune, a university spokesperson said officials explored other funding options but the deaccession of the artwork, including a work by Georgia OKeeffe, provides the necessary money to move forward with the renovations on a timeline that works best for the university.

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The projected cost of renovating Brandt Hall and Wehrenberg Hall is approximately $8 million. The decision to explore a potential sale of artwork was made after extensive and prayerful consideration, with the goal to have access to the proceeds quickly, to meet an urgent need. Other avenues would not allow the University to stay on track to have this project completed by Fall 2024, Michael Fenton said.

We are proceeding carefully and evaluating many factors to best serve the needs of our students and Valparaisos future, and are continuing to conduct a comprehensive due diligence process.

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The plan includes selling OKeeffes Rust Red Hills, perhaps the museums famous work; Frederic E. Churchs Mountain Landscape and Childe Hassams The Silver Vale and the Golden Gate. Collectively, the paintings are worth millions of dollars.

Dick Brauer, founder of the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University, pauses while speaking at Pines Village Retirement Communities in Valparaiso, Indiana, Feb. 6, 2023. Brauer has said if the university plans to sell millions of dollars in artwork he wants his name removed from the museum. (Andy Lavalley/for the Post-Tribune)

Dick Brauer, the museums founding director and for whom it is named, has said he wants his name removed from the facility if the sale goes forward.

We are saddened by Mr. Brauers position  we hope that does not happen and that the museum can carry on his legacy, Fenton said. We deeply appreciate his service and dedication to our University. We are confident that the museum will continue to be an important destination for our region, for both artistic education and future exhibits.

While Valparaiso Mayor Matt Murphy issued a statement supporting Valparaiso University President Jose Padilla and the decision, students, faculty and alumni are outraged. Students marched to Padillas office to present their letters against the decision, faculty members drafted a letter to the Faculty Senate leadership decrying the move.

We recognize that outside groups and some community members may have different viewpoints, and we respect them, Fenton said. Our primary mission is to protect the best interests of our students and provide them with a world-class college experience. We are extremely grateful for the generosity of all the Universitys donors, which we expect to continue.

A summary of the Feb. 15 Faculty Senate meeting, during which the deaccession of the artwork dominated much of the conversation, provided more details of the administrations viewpoint as Padilla and five members of the administrative cabinet provided a rationale for the sale.

The presentation included housing numbers and loss of revenue over time, the cost/benefits of pursuing renovations, a case for the need for immediate capital, the authority of the President and Board in these matters, the issue of ethics, the managing of risk (around negative press, potential donor impacts, and possibility of censure), and a brief background of the museum, the meeting summary states.

In a resource-strapped environment, the institution will continue to investigate the reallocation of resources across campus to finance the Strategic Plan or provide for other institutional needs.

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Georgia OKeeffes Rust Red Hills seen through Richard Hunts stainless steel Becoming at the Brauer Museum of Art on the Valparaiso University campus in Valparaiso, Indiana. Campus and community members continue to react to announcement of the pending sale of OKeeffes and two other works to fund first-year student dorm renovations. (Andy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

University administrators also addressed concerns from members of the Faculty Senate, including redirecting funds from the universitys endowment for the dorm renovations. The restrictions on endowment do not leave enough flexibility to allocate funds beyond their intended uses, university officials said during the meeting.

Officials also said based on internal surveys of 2,000 students, housing conditions appear to be a primary negative factor in the student experience. As far as the trust of future donors, the risk of damaging donor relationships is real, but in practice across institutions, strategic imperative trumps the fear of that happening, according to the meeting summary.

Still, more than 90 current and former faculty members signed a letter written by Matthew Becker, a professor of theology at the university. Approximately one-third of the current faculty signed the letter. Jonathan Canning, the director of the Brauer Museum, also signed it. The announcement also has garnered criticism from the art world.

Please, do everything you can to reverse this imprudent action. We can find another way to avoid selling our most valued art treasures in order to improve resident halls, the Feb. 13 letter states.

The letter states faculty members were deeply hurt by a decision made without their consultation or the consultation of the museums collections committee and that selling the paintings, two of which were purchased through a restrictive trust, is unethical.

The lack of shared governance and of transparency about the process by which this decision was made has undermined our trust in the administration, the letter states, going on to say that its signees do not intend this letter to be a public rebuke of President Padilla. We want to support his efforts to lead our university.

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An online petition directed at Padilla and the universitys board of directors, www.artisacoreresource.com, also asks for a halt to the sale.

The Brauer is part of a venerable tradition of American university museums, many located in small communities like Valparaiso. They are vital resources. They foster intellectual curiosity in and between diverse disciplines; they encourage cross-cultural dialogue and promote inclusivity. The Brauer lies at the heart of the university, and we challenge any interpretation of the universitys strategic plan and core mission that envisions otherwise, the petition states.

alavalley@chicagotribune.com
Two men have been arrested in connection with the January robbery of an elderly woman who was followed to her south Sacramento home after leaving a casino, according to authorities.

Kesean Byron Edwards, 26, was arrested Feb. 10 in Oakland, where he is a resident. Jeral Wimberly, 23, of Antioch, was arrested Feb. 20 in Los Angeles, according to jail logs.

On Jan. 3, Sacramento County sheriffs deputies responded to the Vintage Park neighborhood and contacted the woman, 71, who said a man entered her garage and punched her in the face while she was sitting in her vehicle. The assailant then stole her purse, according to police.

Detectives who reviewed residential surveillance camera footage saw two people enter the womans garage while a third waited in a vehicle, authorities said.

Edwards is being held at Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of robbery and is ineligible for bail. His next court date is March 6.

Wimberly is being held at Los Angeles Countys Mens Central Jail, also on felony charges, with bail set at $100,000. He will be moved to Sacramento County.

The Sheriffs Office said detectives believe Edwards and Wimberly may be responsible for other robberies and are seeking the publics help in locating additional victims.

Detectives are asking anyone with information relating to this incident, to contact the office at 916-874-5115 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-HELP (4357).

Residents are reminded to be aware of their surroundings and watch for suspicious people/vehicles, especially when leaving places such as casinos, banks, jewelry stores and retail stores.

Authorities said people should avoid going home if they believe they are being followed and to call 911 whenever they feel they may be in danger.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's foreign ministry said on Saturday the country will maintain its diplomatic and consular representation in Peru and vowed to keep communication channels open, while regretting Peru's decision to remove its ambassador from Mexico.

Peru's newly installed President Dina Boluarte announced on Friday the withdrawal of the country's ambassador in Mexico, Manuel Gerardo Talavera, in response to comments from her Mexican counterpart branding her government as unconstitutional.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference on Friday that Mexico will keep supporting former President Pedro Castillo, saying he was democratically elected and illegally ousted by a deeply unpopular Congress and government that "rule with bayonets and repression, with force."

"We consider it a great injustice to have removed him (Castillo) from office because he was elected by the people. In addition, the conservatives of Peru, which are a minority, violated the constitution," Lopez Obrador said.

In a television address, Boluarte said the statements made on Friday by Lopez Obrador "violate the principle of international law about non-interference in internal affairs."

Castillo is being held for 18 months in pre-trial detention after attempting to close down Congress by decree to avoid an impeachment trial.

The removal of Castillo has sparked a wave of social protests demanding the resignation of Boluarte, the dissolution of Congress, changes to the constitution and Castillo's release.

At least 60 people have died in incidents related to protests, with many of the victims coming from the heavily indigenous southern regions of the country.

Human rights groups have accused authorities of using firearms on protesters and dropping smoke bombs from helicopters. The army accuses protesters of using weapons and homemade explosives.

A Reuters investigation found several cases of people who were shot dead in the city of Ayacucho after the military moved into the region to wrest back control.

Peru's top prosecutor's office last month said it had launched an inquiry into Boluarte and members of her cabinet over the protest deaths and their handling of the violence since early December.

(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
Michael Cohen arrives on earlier this month for his 15th sit-down with Manhattan District Attorney's Office prosecutors. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg can't seem to get enough of Michael Cohen.

Trump's fixer-turned-critic has met weekly with prosecutors probing Trump's finances.

It wasn't always so cozy. We track the ups and downs of Cohen's 3-year relationship with the probe.

For at least a month, witnesses in New York's criminal inquiry into the finances of Donald Trump have been quietly meeting with prosecutors, driving unseen in and out of a lower Manhattan office building through a guarded, gated service entrance.

But not Michael Cohen.

Cohen  once a senior Trump Organization executive, then Trump's personal lawyer for his first year in the White House, and ever since a bitter, continual critic  uses the front door.

"I refuse to hide," he told Insider. "I have nothing to hide from."

There are no security guards or obscuring metal gates when Cohen arrives for his weekly Trump probe sit-downs  just a dozen or so news cameras.

How many sit-downs? Cohen has kept a running count since the DA's inquiry began in 2019.

"Sixteen," he told a small group of reporters outside the DA's offices on a Thursday morning in mid-February, declaring, before anyone had asked, the precise number of times he has answered the call of the Manhattan district attorney's office.

"They are well versed, they are well informed," Cohen said glowingly of the probe's prosecutors, as the cameras clicked and flashed, and as Lanny Davis, his lawyer, stood by, wearing an amused expression.

"And we just will continue to cooperate" Cohen promised, before the two went inside. "Each and every time that they ask us."

Michael Cohen and DANY  short for the office of the District Attorney, New York county  are very much a thing these days, hot and heavy and in the public eye.

Cohen has been touting his newly rekindled relationship  he's been meeting weekly for a month with probe prosecutors  at every chance, including on his two podcasts, on Twitter, on cable news shows, and in these mini press confabs on the DA's own doorstep.

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It wasn't always so cozy.

Just a year ago, Manhattan's then new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, hit the brakes on the Trump probe he'd just inherited, reportedly saying he "could not see a world" in which prosecutors would ever call Cohen  an admitted Congressional perjurer and bank fraudster  to testify before a Manhattan jury.

Cohen, in turn, told The Daily Beast he was fed up with the balky Bragg and would never cooperate with him again.

"No," Cohen told The Daily Beast last April. "I'm not interested in any further investment of my time."

In a universal break-up gesture that likewise played out in public, Cohen demanded his boxes of stuff back from Bragg  all of the documents and other paperwork he'd given the probe under the prior district attorney, Cy Vance. (Insider subsequently learned that what DANY gave back were copies, keeping the originals.)

Twelve months after this nasty public breakup, Cohen and DANY are having a spotlit reunion.

DANY  understandably silent about a key witness who each week toggles between giving his press corps a sound bite and dashing inside to cooperate in an inquiry that could indict a former president  has only this to say about Cohen: "No comment."

Trump, meanwhile, consistently denies all accusations of financial crimes, calling them political, "witch hunt" fabrications motivated by racism.

'I don't ignore their calls'

To be fair, the press is hungry for news of Trump's criminal prospects. Cohen, the only probe insider doing any talking, is merely picking up his phone when CNN, MSNBC, and a host of other news outlets, including Insider, repeatedly seek him out.

"I don't ignore their calls," he told Insider on Friday.

"Because the American people want to have faith and confidence in justice," he added. "They want transparency. So that people don't lose all hope in the system."

And to be clear, Cohen is not giving away the store.

He has confirmed that prosecutors are looking at Trump's role in the 2016 Stormy Daniels "hush-money" payment, a matter he has always been in the middle of, first as self-described bag-man and now again as key witness.

But he scrupulously does not detail what evidence he has been discussing with Manhattan prosecutors over the past month.

There have been four such interviews since mid-January. (Cohen's tally becomes 17 when he includes interviews he gave prosecutors in 2019 and again in 2021, when Bragg's predecessor, Vance, was district attorney.)

He's especially guarded against talking about the related grand jury now hearing evidence, also in lower Manhattan.

"All that would do is help Donald," Cohen explains of not spilling investigation details. "I'm not here to help him. Those days are long over."

Instead, Cohen spends time in the public eye plugging his popular podcasts and best-selling books, including his most recent: "Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the Department of Justice Against His Critics."

He takes frequent shots at Trump, and seems to enjoy teasing that he knows far, far more than he can say.

"I don't think it looks good for the former guy at all," he said, remaining vague, during his most recent MSNBC appearance, about the chance that Trump will be indicted.

"Soon," he tweeted days later, when one of his 585,000 followers asked when an indictment will drop.

"I'm not teasing," he told Insider Friday, his hackles up again. "I'm stating a fact, to the extent that I can without revealing anything that would cause pause to the DA."

On, off, and on again

Above all, Cohen seems to be enjoying that his three-year, roller-coaster relationship with DANY has gotten serious once more, just like in its heady, early days, in the spring of 2019, after Cohen's explosive, televised Congressional testimony against the then-sitting president.

Cohen called Trump a "conman" who routinely lied about his worth to banks. He implicated Trump in the hush money scheme. And he produced signed checks and other financial documents backing both claims.

"He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair," Cohen told the House Oversight Committee, "and to lie about it to his wife, which I did,"

Cohen's 2019 testimony launched a fleet of federal and New York subpoenas to Trump's company, banks, and accountants.

Both the Manhattan DA's office and New York Attorney General Letitia James have cited the testimony as the catalyst for their parallel Trump inquiries. Some 900,000 subpoenaed documents later, James' probe has led to a massive financial fraud lawsuit, to be tried in October, that seeks to permanently bar the Trump family from doing business in New York.

Soon after Cohen's testimony, then-DA Vance sent teams of prosecutors to interview him three times at his prison in upstate New York. The early probe was code-named "The Fixer" in homage to Cohen's nickname and importance.

The relationship cooled for more than a year, as prosecutors battled in court with Trump's lawyers over evidence subpoenas, and, in 2020, as a pandemic brought the inquiry to a near standstill.

But Cohen and DANY picked up where they'd left off in early 2021.

After 10 more interviews, and with corroborating documentation newly in hand, Vance decided that Cohen would make a compelling witness, as former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz revealed this month in his tell-all book, "People vs. Donald Trump," his account of spending much of 2021 leading the probe.

"I thought Cohen was telling the truth, and what he told us had been corroborated," Pomerantz wrote. "I thought Cohen had liabilities as a witness, but virtually all cooperators have liabilities."

The perjury conviction was certainly a liability. Cohen had minimized Trump's involvement during the 2016 campaign in a failed deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. But Cohen convincingly argued he'd only done so to protect Trump, and at Trump's direction, Pomerantz wrote.

More of a liability, ultimately, was this: "Dealing with Cohen was like dealing with an explosive device," Pomerantz wrote.

"He could go off at any moment. He had already proved that it was difficult, if not completely impossible, to get him to stop talking to the press."

When Cohen came in for his first in-person interview with Pomerantz, on March 19, 2021, "the press was there," he wrote, "waiting to take pictures of him arriving at our office."

By Bragg's third week on the job, Susan Hoffinger, the new investigations chief, interrupted Pomerantz as he started to detail Cohen's potential financial fraud testimony against Trump.

Hoffinger brought out her phone, "to play a recording of one of Cohen's recent media appearances," Pomerantz recalled, in which he "crowed about his importance as a witness in the case."

By Bragg's sixth week on the job, the new DA, who'd never even met Cohen, told Pomerantz he "could not see a world" in which Cohen could be called as a DA witness.

But that was then. Cohen is now very much in Bragg's world.

The DA appears to have come to terms, after all, with his cautiously garrulous key witness.

And Cohen has become Bragg's biggest cheer leader, telling MSNBC's Joy Reid, "We have to give the guy a little room."

"Alvin Bragg is operating at Alvin Bragg's pace," Cohen told MSNBC on another appearance, after that 16th meeting.

"It's his office. At the end of the day, he's either going to get the accolades or the jeers."

Next week's tete-a-tete  not that he's confirming  would be sit-down number 18.

"The district attorney, and the team, I find them to be incredibly, incredibly competent and decent people," Cohen told Insider.

"And all they want is truth. And they want proper justice."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Michigan and Texas officials are complaining that they were not told in advance about the shipment of contaminated soil and water from East Palestine, Ohio  where a train derailment earlier this month has caused a public health and environmental crisis  to their states.

Officials said they had not heard about the plan until after it was already set.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who represents the city of Ann Arbor and parts of the highly populated Wayne County in the House, said in a statement on Friday that she learned of the plan from a public update from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), which said contaminated soil from the site was being moved by truck to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal in the town of Belleville.

We were not given a heads up on this reported action. Our priority is to always keep the people we represent safe, she said.

Dingell said she is reaching out to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Transportation Department (DOT), the train company Norfolk Southern, U.S. Ecology, the state of Ohio and others to learn what is being shipped. She also wants information on whether the facilities were approved to take the shipments, and on ways to keep Michigan residents safe.

Wayne County Executive Warren Evans also said at a press conference on Friday that he was not notified about the toxic material being sent from the East Palestine site. He said county officials had not been officially informed but heard that trucks were on their way with liquid waste that was to be injected into a site in the Detroit suburb of Romulus and with solid waste set to go to a site in Van Buren Township.

Evans said some of the shipments had already been delivered.

The fact that its here, and we havent been informed of the volume, we havent been informed of how it actually got here  Did it come by truck? Did it come by train? Did those transport vehicles, were they well-equipped to be able to deal with this? he said.

I dont know how you do that without contacting the local officials so that we can, number one, respond to our communities and, number two, give advice in terms of routes that you may take and those other sorts of things, he added.

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The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE) said in a statement that the shipments were paused by the EPA following the objections from local officials.

The department said the U.S. Ecology hazardous waste landfill where the shipment was set to go is subject to multiple environmental programs that multiple government agencies carry out, and the department conducts unannounced inspections and extensive monitoring of the facility.

We expect any shipment of Ohio soils and liquids to be handled in accordance with all laws and regulations as any other contaminated site material that is disposed of at the facilities, which are subject to extensive monitoring to ensure that hazardous waste does not present a threat to the environment or human health, The EGLE statement reads.

Leaders and residents of one Texas county are also expressing concerns about shipments being sent to near their community, as Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo confirmed that she was told that water used to fight fires at the site in East Palestine would be sent to Deer Park, one of the 34 cities in the county, to be disposed.

She said she learned about this from a member of the press instead of any regulatory agency or official authority, which she called unacceptable.

Hidalgo claimed the community does not know a lot of information about the situation that it should. She said that doesnt mean something is wrong, but it is worth noting.

The judge added that she has spoken with the waste disposal company receiving the water, several officials at the EPA and DOT and other agencies and experts.

Hidalgo said government officials have provided the information they have, but they dont seem to have all of the details.

Im not clear on who has the full picture of what is happening here, and that is a problem, she said.

Cleanup of the Ohio site where the Norfolk Southern train derailed is continuing weeks after hazardous materials leaked into the air and forced thousands of people to evacuate from the area for about five days.

State officials had said people could safely return home and use the water, but residents have reported rashes, difficulty breathing and feeling sick along with smelling noxious odors as they have come back.

Federal officials then began stepping in to conduct their own testing to determine the safety of the area.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former Vice President Mike Pence. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Mike Pence said he's "confident we'll have better choices" than former President Trump in 2024.

"Well, I think the times call for different leadership," he said during an interview with NBC News.

Pence said he hadn't spoken with Trump lately and added that he was still mulling over a 2024 bid.

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said he's "confident" there will be "better choices" than former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

Pence, who served under Trump from 2017 to 2021, said that the cohort of candidates who could potentially enter the Republican primary would offer an alternative to the former president, who still enjoys a high degree of popularity among the GOP base.

"Well, I think the times call for different leadership. And I'm confident we'll have better choices than my old running mate come 2024," the former vice president told NBC News during an interview.

As it relates to his own potential campaign, Pence said that he was still mulling over whether he'd pursue a 2024 bid.

"I'm always very humbled when, when people ask about our future. And we've been traveling around the country over the last few years, we've gotten a lot of encouragement to consider entering the race for President of the United States and we're giving a prayerful consideration," he said.

"I do think we have time. I like what Ronald Reagan said many years ago when he offered  the American people have a funny way of letting you know if they want you to run for president," he continued to say. "So, we're listening, we're reflecting, we're talking to friends."

Pence during the interview said that he had not spoken to Trump lately, but stated that many people across the country wanted to see a return to the former president's policies, which he played a major role in shaping during his time as vice president.

"As I've traveled around the country, I've heard two things. Number one, I've heard countless Americans tell me that they want to get back to the policies of the Trump-Pence administration," the former vice president said, pointing to the economy and tax reform.

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Pence noted that voters he has spoken to also "want to see us and our politics return to the kind of civility and respect that Americans show one another every day."

"I'm very confident that Republican primary voters are going to choose the right standard bearer for this moment in our nation's history," he added.

While Trump brought a no holds barred approach to the Oval Office, Pence often served as a negotiator who could broker legislative deals and further cultivate the sorts of congressional relationships that the then-president did not possess given his background outside of the government sphere.

If Pence does jump into the race in the coming weeks, he'll join Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the only two major candidates currently competing for the Republican presidential nomination.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday reiterated his belief that the GOP would have better choices than my old running mate Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

The times call for different leadership, Pence told NBC News Ali Vitali, in yet another clear bid to distance himself from his former boss.

Voters had told Pence they want to get back to the policies of the Trump-Pence administration, he said.

But they also want to see us and our politics return to the kind of civility and respect that Americans show one another every day, he added  a clear reference to the former presidents distinctly uncivil discourse.

Watch the video of Pences remarks here:

Trump declared his third consecutive run for the White House in November.

Hes since been joined in the race by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Pence is yet to officially launch a campaign.

Were listening, were reflecting, were talking to firms, he told Vitali. By the spring, our family expects to have a very clear sense of our calling.

Relations soured between Trump and Pence after the latter refused to overturn the 2020 election result, prompting some of the angry Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to call for Pences hanging.

Pence said he hasnt talked to Trump lately.

The former veep is currently fighting a grand jury subpoena for the Justice Department investigation into the 2021 insurrection.

Related...
Its a crying shame that families and businesses overpaying for electricity from the Modesto Irrigation District  most people reading this  wont get a dime back, according to a judges recent ruling.

In his Feb. 21 decision, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Sonny Sandhu agreed with a 2019 class-action ruling that MID had been overcharging its power customers. Both calls were absolutely right, by all legal and moral reasoning.

Any government agency forcing customers of one service (power) to subsidize another (farm water) is doing it wrong. Its a simple matter of fairness and, in recent years, of state law.

MID leaders have known about the inequity since at least 1995, when they quietly began a bookkeeping trick designed to hide the fact that MID was transferring tens of millions of dollars from the districts electricity side to its irrigation side.

After The Bee unveiled the practice, the district in 2013 dropped the rationale in its internal bookkeeping but continued to charge the same amount anyway.

In the class-action lawsuit, the district tried arguing that irrigation water is legally subsidized  not by overcharging for power, but from revenue MID gets by wholesaling surplus electricity on the open market. That was nothing more than another bookkeeping trick, and Stanislaus Judge Roger Beauchesne called MID on it the same day he retired, on New Years Eve 2019.

But Beauchesne did not say how much the utilitys charade had cost ratepayers, leaving that for another judge to decide. On Wednesday, Sandhu split the baby  confirming the evil of overcharging while declining to give customers a refund.

Sandhu must have known this would be viewed as a pyrrhic victory. He noted that the lawsuits forced MID in 2018 to do special studies to properly explain and justify its rate-making activity. (The lawsuit) put processes  which had previously been opaque  in the spotlight, creating much needed transparency. (The) success (of those suing) in this regard should be acknowledged  they prevailed, if not in whole, at least in significant part.

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That pat on the head from a judge in a milestone ruling is extraordinary.

Sandhu went on to order that MID pay the attorneys fees of those suing: Dave Thomas, who has moved to Tennessee, and Andrew Hobbs.

The lawyers are saying if you get a victory, you take it, Thomas said Friday by telephone. My question is how did what we win help the ratepayer  the waitress with three kids working two jobs, the vet limping around who cant get good health care?

Is this better than nothing? Unquestionably. Did it show that MID is a bunch of rascals? You could read that into it. But what the hell?

They get you coming and going

MID board members met Friday to discuss the decision behind closed doors, and emerged with no report, district spokeswoman Melissa Williams said.

It should be noted that three of the five board members  Bob Frobose, John Boer and Janice Keating  were elected in November, years after the lawsuits were brought. The three were sworn in only days after Larry Byrd, Nick Blom and outgoing directors raised electricity rates nearly 10%.

On Feb. 14, the board indicated willingness to raise farmers irrigation rates at an April 11 meeting. That absolutely should happen, as growers pay only a fraction of what their water is worth, according to the districts own studies.

But MID is tired of providing storm drainage in canals to Modesto City Hall for free. If the city agrees, families soon could pay more for that service on their water, sewer and trash bills.

In sum, 131,000 families and businesses  many struggling to make ends meet  are being hit with higher electricity prices, might soon pay for storm drains and are getting no power refund even though two judges said MID treated them unfairly.

No wonder people get fed up with government.
Molson Coors Canada Inc. (TSE:TPX.B) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 17th of March to $0.553. This makes the dividend yield about the same as the industry average at 2.7%.

Check out our latest analysis for Molson Coors Canada

Molson Coors Canada's Distributions May Be Difficult To Sustain

We like to see a healthy dividend yield, but that is only helpful to us if the payment can continue. While Molson Coors Canada is not profitable, it is paying out less than 75% of its free cash flow, which means that there is plenty left over for reinvestment into the business. In general, cash flows are more important than the more traditional measures of profit so we feel pretty comfortable with the dividend at this level.

Assuming the trend of the last few years continues, EPS will grow by 9.0% over the next 12 months. While it is good to see income moving in the right direction, it still looks like the company won't achieve profitability. However, the positive cash flow ratio gives us some comfort about the sustainability of the dividend.

Molson Coors Canada's Dividend Has Lacked Consistency

Even in its relatively short history, the company has reduced the dividend at least once. Due to this, we are a little bit cautious about the dividend consistency over a full economic cycle. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from $1.46 total annually to $1.46. Dividend payments have shrunk at a rate of less than 1% per annum over this time frame. Generally, we don't like to see a dividend that has been declining over time as this can degrade shareholders' returns and indicate that the company may be running into problems.

The Dividend Has Growth Potential

With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. We are encouraged to see that Molson Coors Canada has grown earnings per share at 9.0% per year over the past five years. It's not great that the company is not turning a profit, but the decent growth in recent years is certainly a positive sign. If the company can become profitable soon, continuing on this trajectory would bode well for the future of the dividend.

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In Summary

Overall, we always like to see the dividend being raised, but we don't think Molson Coors Canada will make a great income stock. The payments haven't been particularly stable and we don't see huge growth potential, but with the dividend well covered by cash flows it could prove to be reliable over the short term. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Molson Coors Canada that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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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Taylor Frankie Paul, the Mormon MomTok influencer who went viral last year after sharing her soft-swinging experiences, was arrested last week, officials said.

Paul, 28, was charged with three misdemeanors: assault, criminal mischief, and domestic violence in the presence of a child, according to Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office records. She was booked by Herriman, Utah, police at 1:56 a.m. on Saturday, records show.

Records also show Paul was released hours after her arrest. Representatives for Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Herriman City Police Department confirmed Pauls jail booking to NBC News.

Following her jail booking, detectives received additional video evidence related to this case that resulted in the case being referred to the Salt Lake County District Attorneys Office for screening of felony assault charges against Ms. Paul, the spokesperson said. This evidence also suggests that during the incident, Ms. Pauls minor child was injured by an action of Ms. Paul. Subsequently, our investigators are also screening a misdemeanor charge of reckless child abuse with the District Attorneys Office.

The police department also shared a news release about the incident on Twitter.

Statement regarding the arrest of Taylor Frankie Paul pic.twitter.com/nYPvZEnO79  Herriman PD (@HerrimanPolice) February 24, 2023

The Herriman City Police Department said in its statement: Once the screening process is complete with the District Attorneys Office, the case will proceed through the criminal justice system in either the Third District Court or the Herriman City Justice Court, depending on the decisions rendered during the screening process.

Paul is a popular TikTok influencer with 4 million followers who rose to prominence as part of the Mormon mom community on the platform.

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Last May, she went viral after revealing in a TikTok live stream that she and her then-husband, Tate Paul, were in a soft-swinging group with other MomTok creators, meaning they swapped sexual partners with other couples, but Paul said they agreed not to go all the way. Paul said that she did step out of that agreement, leading to her divorce and a few lost friendships.

In recent months, Paul has been open about her mental health struggles following her divorce, the soft-swinging fallout and a pregnancy loss she experienced with her boyfriend last year.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City, left, listens as State Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, speaks during the 2023 NWI School Superintendent Forum at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana Friday Feb. 24, 2023. The program was sponsored by the IUN School of Education. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Andy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

As the General Assembly reaches its halfway point next week, four local lawmakers updated area public school officials Friday on legislation under consideration that could impact their schools.

Hosted by Indiana University Northwest in Gary, the panel discussion touched upon a myriad bills including firearm training for teachers, the criminal prosecution of school librarians based on materials distributed, partisan school board elections and most importantly, state school funding.

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Next week, bills that passed the House move to the Senate and vice versa. The legislature is set to adjourn its two-year budget writing session on April 29.

The House is sending a $43.4 billion budget to the Senate with nearly half dedicated to K-12 education. While the budget reflects a $2 billion education increase, about one-third of the funding was earmarked for vouchers for students to attend private schools.

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Hammond Academy of Science and Technology school leader Sean Egan (center) listens during the 2023 NWI School Superintendent Forum at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana Friday Feb. 24, 2023. The program was sponsored by the IUN School of Education. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Andy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

For the first time, the budget also funds operations for charter schools with a $1,400 floor for charter and traditional public schools.

No Democrats in the House voted for the budget, which passed 66-29.

Under the House bill, the states voucher or Choice Scholarship program would cost state taxpayers about $500 million next year and $600 million in 2025.

In the 2021-22 school year, the state awarded about $241 million for tuition and fees at private schools.

Presently, a family of four making up to $154,000 annually can be eligible for a voucher. The new expansion allows families who make $220,000 annually to be eligible.

If you make nearly quarter a million dollars, you get vouchers, said state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary. And theres more money for charters. The argument is they dont get property taxes.

Smith was joined on the panel by state Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton; state Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond and state Rep. Pat Boy, D-Mich. City.

State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond speaks during the 2023 NWI School Superintendent Forum at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana Friday Feb. 24, 2023. The program was sponsored by the IUN School of Education. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Andy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

Lake Central School Corp. Superintendent Larry Veracco urged them to fight harder on the money issues.

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We tend to adjust, but if all they do is give a giant slice to private schools that well never get back  knowing we take all the kids, thats where we really get punished.

Pol voiced hope that the House voucher budget would be revised in the Senate based on remarks from Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, who criticized the voucher program for its lack of transparency last week. Mishler chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and is one of the chief budget authors.

Dont hold your breath that it will come out of the House as it is, but we need a unified voice.

Were going to be loud, but we also need others to be with us, he said.

Jackson detailed her bill that passed and is heading to the Senate. House Bill 1138 requires all preschools and child care businesses to test their water for lead.

State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary listens to fellow speakers during the 2023 NWI School Superintendent Forum at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana Friday Feb. 24, 2023. The program was sponsored by the IUN School of Education. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Andy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

Smiths House Bill 1483 requires schools to investigate complaints of bullying and tell the victims parents within three days and the parents of the alleged perpetrator within five days. The bill is up for final passage in the House on Monday.

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House Bill 1177 that provides firearm training for teachers passed along party lines.

The House also passed a bill that would require teachers to tell parents if a student changes their gender identity or preferred name. It stemmed from a Dont Say Gay measure passed in Florida.

The House defunded Indiana Universitys famed Kinsey Institute in its state budget with one Republican claiming some of Kinseys research amounted to child exploitation.

Bills still on the fence include House Bill 1428, which calls for partisan school board elections. It will be heard on final reading Monday.

Another bill awaiting a final reading Monday is Senate Bill 12 that could criminalize school librarians for books in the schools collection and ban some books.

Smith observed the House supermajority passed most of the culture war measures on its agenda. We passed the craziest bills, he said.

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Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
More than 450,000 Michigan locations remain without power Saturday following an ice storm that brought freezing temperatures to the state.

The power-outage tracking website poweroutage.us reported that more than 470,000 customers, mostly in the southeastern part of the state where the storm hit, are experiencing outages as of Saturday morning. Wayne County, which is home to Detroit, has the most reported outages with more than 170,000, while Hillsdale County has a higher level of outages than any other county, with more than 65 percent of the 21,000 customers tracked experiencing an outage.

The storm that hit the state earlier this week coated power lines, utility poles and tree branches with ice up to three quarters of an inch thick and knocked out power for as many as 820,000 customers. Officials have been working to restore power, lowering the number without electricity to 600,000 by Friday and planning to finish restoring power by Sunday.

But thousands of residents are dealing with ice-cold temperatures in the meantime without access to heat. Light snow is expected to continue through Saturday morning in the Detroit area, accumulating up to an inch.

At least one death in Michigan has been reported. A firefighter died on Wednesday after coming into contact with a downed power line.

Winter storms have also hit the West Coast of the United States hard this week, from Southern California up through Portland, Ore. A blizzard warning was issued for Los Angeles County for the first time since 1989 as the National Weather Service predicted that areas of high elevation could receive multiple feet on snow, making travel in the Los Angeles area impossible.

A freeze warning that expired Friday was also issued in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Portland is still facing icy roads that are expected to thaw on Saturday after receiving its second-heaviest snowfall ever earlier this week of almost 11 inches.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Port Canaveral is officially the worlds busiest cruise port, according to industry rankings released this week.

Canaveral had 4,072,396 multi-day passengers last year, narrowly topping PortMiamis 4,022,544.

Its great to have the industry back, Port Canaveral leader Cpt. John Murray said in a news conference.

READ: Happy birthday, I-4 Express: Celebrate with a toll-free trip on Sunday

Canaverals growth comes as huge new ships are choosing to make Canaveral home. Murray said in 2024, Allure of the Seas will begin a new schedule that will see embarkments happen more frequently.

Murray again mentioned the ports early plans to build a new cruise ship terminal to accommodate the growth.

READ: Lanes of Floridas Turnpike reopen 7 hours after double fatal crash in Lake County

Industry analysts believe Canaveral will lose its new crown soon, with Miami expected to grow to more than 8 million passengers by 2027.

However, Murray called the estimates for his port  6.4 million passengers by 2027  conservative.

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.
By Manuel Mucari

MAPUTO (Reuters) -Mozambicans took shelter on Friday as tropical storm Freddy made landfall in a small coastal town, with heavy rain expected to batter the country's southern provinces for several days.

French weather forecaster Meteo France, which has a cyclone-monitoring station on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, said Freddy hit the coast near the tourist town of Vilankulo in Inhambane province around 2 p.m. local time (1200 GMT).

The situation was calm two hours later, with no casualties reported although trees and rooftops had fallen, said Vilankulo district administrator Edmundo Galiza Matos in a statement.

Pictures posted by Matos on Facebook showed children and adults sitting on the floor in a crowded primary school classroom. He said in the statement that 183 people had taken shelter there.

"The Government of Vilankulo continues to monitor the situation on the ground and thanks the population for responding positively to the appeals of the authorities," the statement said.

The storm should weaken over the next few hours, but heavy rainfall will continue to pose a threat over the next few days in southern Mozambique and southeastern Zimbabwe, said Meteo France.

Some parts of northern South Africa are also at risk of flooding and wind damage, the South African government said in a separate statement.

Cornelder de Mocambique, a company that operates cargo terminals in Mozambique's main port Beira, said in a statement that the port was closed until 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Friday, subject to the weather conditions improving.

Up to 1.75 million people could be affected by the storm and severe flooding, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

"The confluence of multiple threats is compounding a severe humanitarian situation in Mozambique," said OCHA, adding that aid agencies were deploying staff to Inhambane and Gaza provinces.

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Mozambique has already been battling severe flooding in recent days, and the government has declared a state of "red alert" to expedite operations to tackle Freddy.

It hit Madagascar earlier this week as a tropical cyclone, destroying houses, displacing thousands and killing at least seven people.

Freddy weakened as it passed over Madagascar before strengthening again in the Mozambique Channel.

In Zimbabwe, which is expected to see heavy rain from Freddy, the education ministry has suspended school in six provinces.

(Reporting by Manuel Mucari in Maputo and Nyasha Chingono in Harare; Additional reporting by Lovasoa Rabary in Antananarivo; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian and Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alexander Winning, Susan Fenton, Bhargav Acharya and Tomasz Janowski)
When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in The Artisanal Spirits Company plc's (LON:ART) instance, it's good news for shareholders.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

See our latest analysis for Artisanal Spirits

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Artisanal Spirits

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board Mark Hunter bought UK240k worth of shares at a price of UK0.73 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of UK0.96. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

In the last twelve months Artisanal Spirits insiders were buying shares, but not selling. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Artisanal Spirits is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 29% of Artisanal Spirits shares, worth about UK20m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Artisanal Spirits Tell Us?

The fact that there have been no Artisanal Spirits insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders own shares in Artisanal Spirits and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Artisanal Spirits. At Simply Wall St, we found 2 warning signs for Artisanal Spirits that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

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If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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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Marine Cpl. Marshall Alex Luppke, 21, who lived in Yucca Valley, was laid to rest with full military honors in April 2021. Murder charges have been filed on Alicia Hegarty, 47, of Arizona, who is suspected of supplying him with drugs, which lead to his death, sheriff's officials said.

An Arizona woman is behind bars after being accused of giving drugs to a Marine who overdosed and died.

Alicia Hegarty, 47, of Sierra Vista, Arizona, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of the overdose murder of Marshall Alex Luppke, 21, of Yucca Valley, San Bernardino County sheriffs officials reported.

Sheriffs spokeswoman Gloria Huerta on Friday confirmed that Luppke was enlisted in the Marine Corps.

Hegartys arrest south of Tucson was in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, sheriffs officials said.

Hegarty is being held on $1 million bail and will face extradition from Arizona before being extradited to San Bernardino County.

On March 14, 2021, the department's Gangs/Narcotics Division's Overdose Response Team responded to the drug overdose death of Luppke in the 55200 block of Airlane Drive in Yucca Valley.

Investigators identified Hegarty as the suspect who gave the drugs to Luppke, sheriffs officials said.

After the investigation and autopsy results were received, the case was presented to San Bernardino County prosecutors. Murder charges were filed shortly after.

Sheriff's officials did not say what kind of drug caused the overdose.

Marine Cpl. Marshall Alex Luppke, 21, lived in Yucca Valley and served at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. He was laid to rest with full military honors in April 2021.

Cpl. Luppke

A native of Rapid City, South Dakota, Luppke lived in Lakeville, Minnesota, according to White Funeral Home.

Luppke later served at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms.

After his death, Luppkes family and the Marine Corps invited the SoCal Patriot Guard Riders to accompany their fallen hero to Ontario International Airport.

Cpl. Luppke was escorted to the airport, where his flag-draped body was placed into a white hearse, a video on the Honoring Our Fallen YouTube channel shows.

Luppke was then escorted by several Ontario Police vehicles to a Southwest Airlines plane, where the Marines and police conducted an Honorable Transfer Ceremony as the fallen Marine was placed into the aircraft.

A voice on the aircrafts public address system said, Today we have the honor and sad privilege of transporting an American veteran to their final resting place. This Marine devotedly served our nation, and we at Southwest Airlines express our sincere condolences to the family of this patriot.

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In Minnesota, Marines received Luppke from the aircraft and transported his flag-draped coffin to a waiting hearse, which took him to the funeral home. On April 1, 2021, Luppke was laid to rest with full military honors

He was a dedicated Marine who is spoken of highly by all who knew him and all that served alongside him, Honoring the Fallen officials said.

Addressing the overdose trend

In February 2021, the SBC Sheriff's Department created a pilot program in response to the growing epidemic of overdose deaths from opioids.

In July 2022, a full-time team was created, and additional resources were dedicated to the team. The team comprises investigators from the Sheriff's Department and the SBC District Attorney's Office Bureau of Investigation.

Sheriffs officials said drug trafficking organizations are producing counterfeit pharmaceutical pills containing fentanyl and putting fentanyl in drugs like cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.

Due to this trend, the sheriffs personnel are seeing an unprecedented rise in drug overdose deaths in SBC and across the country, especially among the youth.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked by the Sheriffs Department to contact the Gangs/Narcotics Division at 909-387-8400. Callers can remain anonymous by contacting We-Tip at 800-78CRIME or wetip.com.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Murder charges filed against woman suspected of giving drugs to Marine
LONDON (AP)  The latest folding-screen smartphones, immersive metaverse experiences, AI-powered chatbot avatars and other eye-catching technology are set to wow visitors at the annual MWC wireless trade fair that kicks off Monday.

The four-day show, held in a vast Barcelona conference center, is the worlds biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. The range of technology set to go on display illustrates how the show, also known as Mobile World Congress, has evolved from a forum for mobile phone standards into a showcase for new wireless tech.

Organizers are expecting as many as 80,000 visitors from as many as 200 countries and territories as the event resumes at full strength after several years of pandemic disruptions.

Here's a look at what to expect:

METAVERSE

There was a lot of buzz around the metaverse at last year's MWC and at other recent tech fairs like last month's CES in Las Vegas. Expect even more at this event.

A slew of companies are planning to show off their metaverse experiences that will allow users to connect with each other, attend events far away or enter fantastical new online worlds.

Software company Amdocs will use virtual and augmented reality to give users a metatour of Dubai. Other tech and telecom companies promise metaverse demos to help with physical rehab, virtually try on clothes or learn how to fix aircraft landing gear.

The metaverse's popularity exploded after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in late 2021 exalted it as the next big thing for the internet and his company. Lately, though, doubts have started to creep in.

All the business models around the metaverse are a big question mark right now, said John Strand, a veteran telecom industry consultant.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI has caught the tech world's attention thanks to the dramatic advances in new tools like ChatGPT that can hold conversations and generate readable text. Expect artificial intelligence to be deployed as an overused buzzword at MWC, said Ben Wood, principal analyst at CCS Insight.

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Companies are promising to show how they're using AI to make home Wi-Fi networks more energy efficient or sniff out fakes.

Microsoft's press representatives have hinted that they might have a demonstration of ChatGPT but haven't provided any details. The company added AI chatbot technology to its Bing search engine but scrambled to make fixes after it responded with insults or wrong answers to some users who got early access.

Startups will demo their own AI-powered chat technology: D-ID will show off their eerie digital human avatars, while Botslovers says its service promises to free humans from boring tasks.

NOT JUST SMARTPHONES

MWC hit its stride in the previous decade as the smartphone era boomed, with device makers competing for attention with glitzy product launches. Nowadays, smartphone innovation has hit a plateau and companies are increasingly debuting phones in other ways.

Attention at the show is focusing on potential uses for 5G, the next generation of ultrafast wireless technology that promises to unlock a wave of innovation beyond just smartphones, such as automated factories, driverless cars and smart cities.

Mobile phones will still be a hot topic at MWC, but theyve become a mature, iterative and almost boring category," Wood said. "The only excitement will come from the slew of foldable designs and prototypes, but the real size of the market for these premium products remains unclear.

Device launches will be dominated by a slew of lesser known Chinese brands such as OnePlus, Xiaomi, ZTE and Honor looking to take market share from the market leaders, Apple and Samsung.

CHINESE PRESENCE

Chinese technology giant Huawei will have a major presence at MWC, despite being blacklisted by the Western governments as part of a broader geopolitical battle between Washington and Beijing over technology and security.

Organizers say Huawei will have the biggest presence at the show among some 2,000 exhibitors. That's even after the U.S. pushed allies to get their mobile phone companies to block or restrict Huawei's networking equipment over concerns Beijing could induce the company to carry out cybersnooping or sabotage critical communications infrastructure.

Huawei, which has repeatedly denied those allegations, also has been squeezed by Western sanctions aimed at starving it of components like microchips.

Analysts say one message that Huawei could be sending with its oversized display is defiance to the West.
Germany, France and the UK are considering an agreement to give Ukraine much broader access to NATO's advanced military equipment, weapons and ammunition to defend itself once the war ends, but at the same time expects Ukraine to resume peace talks with Russia.

Source: Wall Street Journal, citing French, German and British officials

Details: The agreement envisions cooperation between Ukraine and NATO short of NATO membership, and seeks to secure Kyiv's commitment to start peace talks with Moscow.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was first to lay out a blueprint for the agreement and was later supported by France and Germany. But the three countries are doubtful that Ukraine will be able to expel the Russians from eastern Ukraine and Crimea, and believe that the West can only help sustain the war effort for so long, especially if the conflict settles into a stalemate.

"We keep repeating that Russia mustn't win, but what does that mean? If the war goes on for long enough with this intensity, Ukraine's losses will become unbearable. And no one believes they will be able to retrieve Crimea," a senior French official told WSJ.

According to WSJ, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he needed to start considering peace talks with Moscow when the three leaders met in Paris earlier this month.

Macron told Zelenskyy that even mortal enemies like France and Germany had to make peace after World War II. Macron also said that while Zelenskyy had been a great war leader, he would eventually have to shift into political statesmanship and make difficult decisions.

A British official said another goal of the NATO pact would be to show Moscow that the West is prepared to scale up its military assistance and commitments to Ukraine over time in order to help persuade Moscow that it can't achieve its military objectives. The pact is expected to be on the agenda of NATO's annual meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania in July.

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"The NATO summit must produce a clear offer to Ukraine, also to give Zelenskyy a political win that he can present at home as an incentive for negotiations," the British official said. "Russia's wars have a tendency to freeze and then unfreeze, and that is why Ukraine will need more guarantees from us."

NATO decisions are made by consensus, and the pact would have to secure the support of all member states. So far, Central European officials said, the proposal has only been discussed on the margins but they are broadly reluctant to sign off on any long-term NATO status for Ukraine that falls short of full membership in the alliance.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
City of South Fulton homeowners living in the Rose Crest subdivision say the outside of their townhomes look normal to the eye, but a closer glance reveals continued problems.

Im really disappointed that were still dealing with this in February, said resident Amber Miller.

Neighbors say theyre still battling their developer Ladi Banjo. They say no working electrical outlets, HVAC issues, and non-working plumbing are just a few of the problems.

Channel 2 Action News has investigated several flaws with the properties last fall. Since then, homeowners told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln that little has been done.

I havent been up in my attic because Im not sure if the floorboards are safe, because Im still having floorboards that are loose, homeowner Zanza Morris said.

TRENDING STORIES:

Lincoln spoke with Banjo over the phone who said he made necessary corrections to the property and he sees nothing wrong.

Georgia law requires all Georgia contractors working on projects over $2,500 to require a license.

Lincoln checked with the Secretary of States Office and records show Banjo is not licensed to build in the State of Georgia.

Banjo said he considers himself just an investor into the property and not a builder.

Mortgage documents from homeowners list Banjo as the builder for the townhomes.

An Inspector with the City of South Fulton approved the occupancy permit for the townhomes.

In emails given to Channel 2 Action News by the homeowners, the citys building inspector noted in one email the problems were warranty issues with the builder.

RELATED NEWS:
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP)  A member of Nepals largest political party filed his candidacy for next month's presidential election in a decision backed by the prime minister that now threatens to bring down his fragile coalition government.

Ram Chandra Poudel of the opposition Nepali Congress party is supported by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, but he is not a coalition partner.

The move angered the biggest party in the ruling coalition, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), which retaliated by nominating its own member to contest the presidential election scheduled for March 9.

Dahal was in danger of losing another coalition partner, after the National Democratic Party announced on Saturday it would withdraw from the government because of Dahal's support for Poudel.

The two parties are yet to officially announce their withdrawal of support for Dahal in Parliament. If they do, Dahal will have to seek a vote of confidence in the House of Representative, the lower house of Parliament.

Poudel told reporters that he will try to win support of all the parties and work for political unity.

Parliamentary elections were held in November but no party won a majority, leading to the formation of a coalition government headed by Dahal.

It was his third time in power since his Maoist group abandoned a decade-long armed revolt in which more than 17,000 people were killed and joined a U.N.-assisted peace process and mainstream politics in 2006.

The Maoists secured most parliamentary seats in 2008 elections and Dahal, also known as Prachanda, or the fierce one, became prime minister but quit a year later over differences with the president.
Nepal Politics (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A member of Nepals largest political party filed his candidacy for next month's presidential election in a decision backed by the prime minister that now threatens to bring down his fragile coalition government.

Ram Chandra Poudel of the opposition Nepali Congress party is supported by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, but he is not a coalition partner.

The move angered the biggest party in the ruling coalition, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), which retaliated by nominating its own member to contest the presidential election scheduled for March 9.

Dahal was in danger of losing another coalition partner, after the National Democratic Party announced on Saturday it would withdraw from the government because of Dahal's support for Poudel.

The two parties are yet to officially announce their withdrawal of support for Dahal in Parliament. If they do, Dahal will have to seek a vote of confidence in the House of Representative, the lower house of Parliament.

Poudel told reporters that he will try to win support of all the parties and work for political unity.

Parliamentary elections were held in November but no party won a majority, leading to the formation of a coalition government headed by Dahal.

It was his third time in power since his Maoist group abandoned a decade-long armed revolt in which more than 17,000 people were killed and joined a U.N.-assisted peace process and mainstream politics in 2006.

The Maoists secured most parliamentary seats in 2008 elections and Dahal, also known as Prachanda, or the fierce one, became prime minister but quit a year later over differences with the president.
Satellite Clerk Rolanda Shipp (center) gives instructions to voter Joan Simnick of Crown Point at the Government Center in Crown Point as early voting started in Indiana on Oct.12, 2022. New legislation would require more identification to vote by mail (John Smierciak/Post Tribune) (John Smierciak / Post-Tribune)

Indiana House Bill 1334, which would impose additional requirements on mail-in voting, was passed by the states House of Representatives on Wednesday and will now head to the senate.

Authored by Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, the bill would require that voters applying for an absentee ballot provide identifying information, like the last four digits of a Social Security number, an Indiana drivers license number, or another form of identification. The bill would also prevent anyone other than a voter or voters family member from requesting an absentee ballot on their behalf.

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The original version of the bill would have imposed additional restrictions on eligibility for absentee voting but those previsions were removed.

Wesco amended the bill again on Tuesday, removing a provision that barred election officials from marking or highlighting ballot applications mailed to voters.

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Ive heard from county clerks that want to make sure that people, when they submit the absentee ballot application, that theyre getting all of the essential information, especially in a primary, he explained on the House floor.

During the same session, House Republicans shot down an amendment proposed by Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, that would have allowed Indiana residents to apply for an absentee ballot without stating a reason.

I just always want as many people to vote as possible in the most safe and secure way, Pfaff told the house. Citizens have the constitutional right to vote and we as legislators have a responsibility to do everything in our power to make sure that every voter has the opportunity to cast a vote in a secure accessible way.

Wesco argued that access to absentee voting should be kept limited.

Our policy has always been to encourage voting in person wherever possible, he said. As we tighten up the security related to absentee voting by mail, I think this is a conversation that we might be able to continue to have in the future.

House Bill 1334 would require county election boards would to match at least one of the identifying numbers in a voters absentee ballot application to the voters registration record. In the absence of a match, the countys partisan clerk would mail the voter a new application with an note explaining the error.

Michelle Fajman, director of the Lake County Board of Elections, updates candidate filings before the noon filing deadline on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. (Carrie Napoleon / Post-Tribune)

Lake County Elections Director Michelle Fajman told the Post-Tribune that voter ID requirement would burden her office with unnecessary paperwork.

Youre going to be sitting there slowing down to count those 10 digits and make sure theyre all the same, she said. In a county of our size, where in some elections we may have 40,000 absentee ballots, its another 40,000 pieces of paper, potentially, for storage.

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Fajman also expressed concern that imposing additional requirements on mail-in voting would depress voter turnout, particularly among elderly, homebound voters who need to vote by mail but are unlikely to have an up-to-date drivers license. Only 41% of registered Indiana voters voted in the 2022 midterm elections, a nearly 20% decline from the 2018 figure and a source of frustration for activists and legislators seeking to expand access to the ballot.

We have one of the lowest turnouts in the country and here we are trying to make it more difficult, Fajman said. What are we afraid of?

Evidence of the large-scale voter fraud feared by advocates of stricter voting requirements, she said, has never emerged in Lake County.

The bill passed the House on Wednesday in a 64-28 vote.

adalton@chicagotribune.com
The newly elected president of the Czech Republic, ex-NATO general Petr Pavel believes that the Alliance should consider Ukraine's membership immediately after the end of the war on its territory.

Source: Pavel in the interview with Suspilne public broadcast

Quote: "From the perspective of international law, as soon as Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, while still in conflict, the Alliance will become a party to that conflict. One can only imagine how large-scale the conflict between NATO and Russia will be then, most likely even with the use of nuclear weapons. So, we need to wait for the end of the war and the restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty, and then the question of membership in NATO will arise.

And at this stage, I would support such a decision because I believe that Ukraine deserves to be considered as a new member of NATO  for maintaining standards, and for protecting values that are important to all of us. And the Ukrainian military will probably be the most experienced of all and would be a great advantage for NATO countries. Therefore, there is every reason why we should consider Ukraine's membership in NATO immediately after the war."

Details: Recalling the Munich Security Conference, Pavel noted that most of the discussions there "were too optimistic" about the war in Ukraine.

"There was a certain disregard for possible negative effects. I agree, you need to have good hopes. But it is much better to think about potentially worse results. That's why I said: let's do everything so that Ukraine wins this year, but let's also be prepared for other possible results. One of them could be a long war. Some scenarios could be that Ukraine  not only the people but also the political leadership  will realise that the benefits of returning all the territory will come at too high a cost, for example in terms of human lives," he said.

At the same time, Pavel emphasised that he does not call for pushing Ukraine to make concessions.

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"It is much easier to tell you: you must adhere to the principles to the last drop of blood. It sounds good, but it is not my blood, but yours. That is why I say, it is up to you. And on the other hand, we should not push Ukraine to make concessions while still, there are real chances of victory. That's why I say: let's support Ukraine by all means, but let's be realistic and leave the decision to the Ukrainians, regarding the conditions under which you are ready to start negotiations," he explained his position.

Commenting on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's peace plan, which provides for the full restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, Pavel expressed the opinion that Zelenskyy "has no other choice".

"Can you imagine a leader of a country that was subjected to aggression and who would say: 'Okay, let's accept the loss of territory.' when it suddenly turns out that the reality is different from what we would like, maybe there will be some corrections. But they can be made only by the Ukrainian people and your leader, not us," he said.

Background: On 18 February, at the Munich Security Conference, Pavel warned against such a victory for Ukraine, which would destroy the Russian Federation.

This statement provoked a response from Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and several European leaders, who responded to the Czech colleague's insinuations about Ukraine's concessions in the war.

Thereafter, Pavel explained that he still considered Ukraine's victory in the war realistic.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
A group of news outlets are demanding that they receive access to tens of thousands of hours of surveillance footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave to Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this week.

Attorney Charles Tobin sent a letter on Thursday on behalf of 10 media organizations to congressional leadership to request all closed-circuit camera footage recorded inside the Capitol and on the grounds outside the building as was given to Carlson.

The incredible public interest in understanding what transpired on January 6 crosses party lines, the letter states.

Tobin, who provided the letter to The Hill, noted comments that McCarthy has made saying that allowing the American public to review the tapes would let everybody make their own judgment on what happened and would be in the publics interest.

The outlets included in the coalition are Advance Publications, ABC, Axios, CNN, CBS, The E.W. Scripps Company, Gannett, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and ProPublica.

McCarthy has faced controversy over the past week for providing about 41,000 hours of the surveillance footage exclusively to Carlson and his team. Fox identifies Carlsons daily program as an opinion show, and Carlson has repeatedly questioned the significance of the attack and the conclusions from the House select committee investigating it.

McCarthy defended himself in a Wednesday interview with The New York Times on the disclosure, saying that he promised to release the footage.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has slammed McCarthys decision, saying that he is needlessly exposing the Capitol to security risks in showing how it is protected and giving information to people who might want to attack the Capitol in the future.

Tobin said that the outlets agree with McCarthy that the publics interest is in the release of the footage and cited a federal appeals court case that found the government cannot selectively exclude certain outlets from information that is otherwise publicly available.

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Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal investigations and prosecutions of January 6 crimes, the letter states.

The letter was sent to McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Tobin also sent an expedited request under the Freedom of Information Act on behalf of the 10 organizations, The Associated Press and The New York Times for the footage.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix



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Paradise on Earth may be the fictional town of Kildare for our favorite Pogues in Outer Banks. But in the third season of the shownow streaming on Netflixthe close-knit friend group finds itself tangled in treasure-led adventures at new locations near and far from home. As you savor the latest installment, or breeze through it knowing the show has already been renewed for a fourth season , take a look at everything we know about where it was filmed.

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Where Was Outer Banks Season 3 Filmed?

While the third season of OBX seems to take viewers to various locations (including the islands of Guadeloupe, Basseterre in St. Kitts, and Venezuela), it was filmed in Barbados and Charleston, South Carolina.

Barbados provides a backdrop for everything from the supposed deserted island dubbed Poguelandia to street scenes throughout the port city and island country's capital of Bridgetown. While not officially confirmed, it looks the church that plays a key role in the events that unfold on the island is portrayed by St. John Parish Church . The romantic, Gothic-inspired structure was first erected in 1645. It has been destroyed by a hurricane and rebuilt more than once since its inception, according to Visit Barbados . The existing building has stood since 1836.

Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

This isnt the first time the show has tapped Barbados for filming. The Caribbean islandand a mansion that you can actually rent on itwas used in the second season to portray the Camerons vacation home in the Bahamas.

Although the Outer Banks is off the coast of North Carolina in real life, the production was filmed in Charleston, South Carolina. Outer Banks co-creator Jonas Pate originally imagined filming the show in Wilmington, North Carolina, where other shows like Dawsons Creek and The Summer I Turned Pretty were filmed. The production opted for South Carolina instead due to a 2016 anti-LGBTQ bathroom bill that made it illegal in North Carolina to use a bathroom that doesnt align with the sex you were assigned at birth. Part of the law was repealed in 2017. A settlement was reached in 2019 that ruled no one can be prevented from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

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In South Carolina, we see many returning Charleston locations from previous seasonsincluding the Camerons Tanneyhill estate thats captured at the historic Lowndes Grove . This season's storyline also takes some of our favorite characters from the fictional version of the Outer Banks to Charleston, specifically the Charleston Museum. The real exterior of the Charleston Museum looks quite similar to the one that's featured in the show.

Whether you're itching for an island vacation (we suggest staying at the Hilton Barbados Resort that some of the OBX cast frequented) or looking for a stateside excursion in Charleston, either of the production's main filming locations is worth a spot on your travel bucket list.

You love filming locations. So do we. Lets obsess over them together.

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(Art of Charm)

Newspapers in Ohio and Texas have dropped the nationally syndicated cartoon Dilbert after its creator designated Black people as a hate group, seemed to favour segregation and made other racist comments on his online show.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer and San Antonio Express-News both announced that the papers would immediately stop publishing the cartoon following the comments this week by Scott Adams, 65. The cartoonists Dilbert began syndication in 1989 and has been popular worldwide for decades.

Adams, meanwhile, fanned the flames, tweeting on Saturday: Is it racist to avoid racists who are the same race as each other? Or is it only racist if the racists you are avoiding are white?

Elon Musk replied: Simultaneously, an interesting question and a tongue twister!

Simultaneously, an interesting question and a tongue twister!  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2023

Adams, whose cartoon forged a reputation on sarcasm about white-collar office life in America, has become more well known recently for controversial statements. He had expressed admiration for President Donald Trump while also suggesting that, following a Biden victory, there was a good chance Republicans would be hunted down and killed.

On Coffee with Scott Adams this week, he said that, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people. Just get the f*** away. Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because theres no fixing this. This cant be fixed.

Cleveland Plain Dealer editor Chris Quinn, in a letter to readers, described Adams online comments as mostly hateful and racist and said that it was not a difficult decision to drop the cartoon.

Its a staggering string of statements, all but certain to result in the loss of his livelihood, the editor wrote. I hate to quote him at all, but I do so to dissuade responses that this is a cancel culture decision.

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No, this is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve. We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.

In Texas, the editor and publisher of the Express-News decried the cartoonists hateful and discriminatory public comments.

These statements are offensive to our core values, they wrote. Dropping a comic strip from our pages is not censorship. Adams is entitled to his opinions. The Express-News is not obliged to give him a platform and financial support.

Because the comics section is published in advance, we cannot withdraw it from our pages immediately. Readers will find it in their Saturday and Sunday papers. But as of Monday, Dilbert will no longer appear in the Express-News.

Dilbert plotlines had also featured anti-woke themes more recently, and the cartoon had already been dropped in September from 77 newspapers by publisher Lee Enterprises.
Police stand guard in 2018 at a prison in Managua, Nicaragua, known as El Chipote, which was associated with torture during the Somoza dictatorship. (Alfredo Zuniga / Associated Press)

Nicaragua's authoritarian government freed 222 political prisoners and sent them to the United States on Thursday in a surprise move that appears aimed at easing stinging U.S. economic sanctions.

The former prisoners, some of whom spent years in jail, landed at Washington's Dulles International Airport, where a crowd of tearful friends and family members waited, clutching blue and white Nicaraguan flags.

The prisoner release was a stunning turn of events for Nicaragua, which has been punished by stiff sanctions after its ruler, former Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega, rigged elections, violently repressed protests and jailed hundreds of critics, including business and religious leaders, activists, journalists and presidential candidates.

The release was a "unilateral" action taken by Ortega, U.S. officials said, but it came after a lengthy campaign of public and private pressure on his government from Washington, the Vatican and countries across Latin America. U.S. officials said they promised nothing concrete in exchange for the release but praised the move for its potential to improve relations with Managua, with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken deeming the release "a constructive step" that "opens the door to further dialogue between the United States and Nicaragua."

News of the release was celebrated worldwide, yet for many Nicaraguans it was bittersweet.

"The political prisoners ... were put on a chartered plane and sent into exile at dawn in the same arbitrary manner in which they were detained," wrote famed writer and former Ortega ally Sergio Ramirez in a column in El Pais newspaper. Their release, he said, is a "small joy" for a country "that has not yet awakened from its long nightmare."

Hours after the prisoners were released, the country's legislature declared them traitors to the nation" and modified the constitution to strip them of their citizenship.

The prospect that the United States and Nicaragua could be inching toward rapprochement speaks not just to the severity of the sanctions in Nicaragua, already one of the poorest countries in the region, but also to a strategic shift by the Biden administration, which has shown new willingness to engage with Latin American autocracies long blacklisted by the U.S.

Story continues

The prisoner release, which Blinken atrributed to concerted American diplomacy," represents the Biden administrations latest engagement, however limited, with three socialist nations  Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela  that John Bolton, former national security advisor under President Trump, once labeled the troika of tyranny.

In Venezuela, the Biden White House has ditched the confrontational approach of the Trump administration, which fruitlessly sought to overthrow the government of Nicolas Maduro, and last year sent a high-level delegation to negotiate the release of several U.S. citizens detained there. Nine were eventually freed, and Maduros government agreed to renew talks with the opposition. In exchange, the U.S. slightly eased sanctions to allow energy giant Chevron to resume oil production in Venezuela, which is home to some of the worlds largest petroleum reserves.

Also last year, Washington relaxed some sanctions against communist-run Cuba, which has been the target of a six-decade U.S. trade embargo. Among other steps, the Biden administration agreed to bolster consular services in Havana, expand authorized travel to the island and increase limits on family remittances sent to Cuba.

Whether any sanctions relief will be forthcoming for Nicaragua remains to be seen.

The sanctions have targeted Ortega and his family, many of their backers and key industries including sugar production and gold mining.

The country's economic situation has become more precarious as one of its longtime backers  Russia  has been sapped by war in Ukraine and sanctions of its own.

Analysts said that while relaxing sanctions is of critical importance to Ortega, his motives may be more complex: Ortega may have decided that it is advantageous to have his most vocal opponents out of the country and disenfranchised.

"Its hard to read Ortegas mind," said Michael Shifter, senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank, who has tracked Central America for decades. "Perhaps he acted now because the costs of keeping these prisoners, with the chance that more would die, outweighed the benefits."

A former leader of the leftist Sandinista rebels, Ortega helped overthrow the countrys right-wing dictatorship in 1979.

He first served as president in the 1980s during a civil war that pitted Sandinista fighters against U.S.-backed Contra rebels. He was voted out in the 1990 presidential election but returned to power in 2007. By manipulating elections, he has remained president ever since, becoming the longest-serving leader in Latin America.

After violently suppressing pro-democracy protests in 2018, Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, cracked down further, imprisoning hundreds of people whom they derided as coup plotters, terrorists and termites.

Those jailed in recent years include presidential candidate Miguel Mora, two adult children of former President Violeta Chamorro and several Catholic priests. They also include some of Ortega's former leftist comrades, among them Dora Maria Tellez, a Sandinista commander who accused Ortega of betraying the revolution's promise of a socialist utopia and coming to resemble the dictator they once helped overthrow.

Nicaraguan authorities stand guard outside of a television station shuttered by the government in 2018. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Many were jailed at Managua's infamous El Chipote prison, where, according to people imprisoned there, torture was common and food and medical care was scant. At least one political prisoner, 77-year-old former Sandinista leader Hugo Torres, died while in custody.

Lucia Pineda, director of the 100% Noticias news channel, fled Nicaragua after being jailed for six months. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

News of a possible surprise release began circulating on Wednesday night.

Dolly Mora, a 30-year-old leader of the Nicaraguan University Alliance, a political youth movement, said she began hearing reports that inmates were being moved out of various prisons.

She was so excited she didn't sleep. The group that landed in Washington included four people from her university group who had been sentenced to years in prison, including for violating a sweeping treason law, she said.

We are happy that our friends and all the prisoners are going to be free, said Mora, who left Nicaragua last year  one of hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the country  and is living in the United States.

A banner shows an image of Daniel Ortega, who has led Nicaragua since 2007. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

But she added: This is not over. They freed the prisoners, but theres still the fight for freedom in Nicaragua.

Luis Carrillo, a Colombian priest who was forced to leave Nicaragua in 2020 after he had his permanent residency revoked for speaking out against the government, said the country's decision to strip the former prisoners of their nationality suggests there is a long road ahead in the quest of restoring the country's democracy.

"Simply for not thinking like them and not agreeing with all the barbarities and Machiavellian atrocities, today they are practically exiled, he said of the released prisoners.

Im very grateful to the United States for receiving them, he said. But it also hurts a lot.

Linthicum, McDonnell and Miller reported from Mexico City and Wilkinson from Washington.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The private specialist who aided in the search for Nicola Bulley has been removed from the National Crime Agencys list of experts.

Peter Faulding led a team of experts and divers to assist Lancashire Police in searching the river using specialist sonar equipment.

Their search took two and a half days, scanning a three-mile stretch of the river between St Michaels and Cartford Bridge, but did not yield any results.

Nicola Bulley was sadly pulled from the River Wyre last Sunday after members of the public alerted police to a suspected body, over three weeks after she was last sighted on 27 January.

The Specialist Group International (SGI) has been suspended this week whilst a review is conducted.

Throughout the investigation, Mr Faulding did not believe that she was in the water.

Meanwhile, a mural has been painted in memory of Nicola Bulley in her hometown as the family prepares for her funeral.

Almost 250 people gathered in the centre of South Woodham Ferrers, Essex on Thursday evening for a candlelit vigil. On Wednesday, local artist Danny Bench finalised a moving mural dedicated to Nicola on Hullbridge Road.

Key Points

Nicola Bulleys friends and neighbours join vigil

Over 20,000 raised to support family of Nicola Bulley with funeral costs

Inquest opened into Nicola Bulleys death

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Mural unveiled in Nicola Bulleys hometown by local artist and family friend

08:29 , Eleanor Noyce

A mural has been painted in memory of Nicola Bulley in her hometown as the family prepares for her funeral.

On Wednesday, local artist Danny Bench finalised a moving mural dedicated to Nicola on Hullbridge Road, having dedicated four hours on Wednesday to the bulk of the artwork.

Mr Bench was a friend of the family, with Nicolas sister, Louise Cunningham, approving the mural before he started work on it. He had attended William de Ferrers School alongside Nicola, taking two days off work to complete the piece.

Story continues

A lot of people were stopping and hanging out of the windows, Mr Bench told Manchester Evening News.

I finished it just before the school run and it went a bit crazy with everyone stopping and taking pictures and putting flowers down. It was really nice for people to stop and see it.

Underwater search specialist Peter Faulding removed from expert list

10:03 , Eleanor Noyce

The private specialist who aided in the search for Nicola Bulley has been removed from the National Crime Agencys list of experts.

Peter Faulding led a team of experts and divers to assist Lancashire Police in searching the river using specialist sonar equipment.

Their search took two and a half days, scanning a three-mile stretch of the river between St Michaels and Cartford Bridge, but did not yield any results.

Nicola Bulley was sadly pulled from the River Wyre last Sunday after members of the public alerted police to a suspected body, over three weeks after she was last sighted on 27 January.

The Specialist Group International (SGI) has been suspended this week whilst a review is conducted.

Throughout the investigation, Mr Faulding did not believe that she was in the water.

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

10:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Missing mother Nicola Bulley was finally found on Sunday, around a mile away from where she was last seen on the river in St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire.

Ms Bulley had disappeared on 27 January while walking her dog after dropping her children off at school earlier that morning.

Police said two walkers, who used a path well trodden by officers, found her and the body was formally identified the following day.

My colleague Matt Mathers reports:

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

09:29 , Eleanor Noyce

Since Nicola Bulley disappeared, the police, social media sleuths and the media have all received widespread criticism.

The 45-year-olds body was pulled from the River Wye in Lancashire on Sunday but a number of questions have been left unanswered.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what investigations have been launched since her body was recovered and why they are necessary.

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

TikTok takes action against Nicola Bulley conspiracy theorists who disrupted search

09:00 , Eleanor Noyce

TikTok has threatened to remove users who spread misinformation about Nicola Bulley after the social media app was criticised for allowing conspiracy theories to spread on its platform during the search for the mother-of-two.

The social media app said it would take action against people who violated its community guidelines when posting content about the case of Ms Bulley.

Police confirmed on Monday that a body found in the river around 1 mile from where Ms Bulley was last seen was that of the missing 45-year-old.

Ms Bulley had been missing for more than three weeks and amateur detectives, online sleuths and social media influencers descended on St Michaels on Wyre to look for her.

They posted content that included misinformation and baseless claims about Ms Bulley, some of which were viewed thousands of times.

My colleague Matt Mathers reports:

TikTok takes action against Nicola Bulley conspiracy theorists who disrupted search

Watchdog to probe welfare check at Nicola Bulleys home days before she vanished

08:00 , Eleanor Noyce

In case you missed it...

The police watchdog has launched an investigation after an officer conducted a welfare check at Nicola Bulleys family home days before she went missing.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was notified that an officer from Lancashire Police visited the address on January 10.

Ms Bulleys body was pulled from the River Wyre in Lancashire on Sunday, more than three weeks after she was last seen on January 27.

On Wednesday, an inquest opening heard how the 45-year-old mother-of-two was identified by her dental records.

Confirming it had launched an investigation, a spokesman for the IOPC said: Following a referral by Lancashire Constabulary on Thursday, we have started an independent investigation regarding contact the force had with Nicola Bulley on January 10, 2023.

Read the full story:

Watchdog to probe welfare check at Nicola Bulleys home days before she vanished

Nicola Bulley: Diver explains why his team failed to find body

07:26 , Eleanor Noyce

In case you missed it...

A diving expert involved in the search for missing mother Nicola Bulley has defended his teams involvement in the investigation.

A body was found in the River Wyre by two dog walkers not far from where the 45-year-old went missing three weeks ago.

Peter Faulding, head of Specialist Group International, led a team of experts and divers to assist Lancashire Police in searching the river using specialist sonar equipment.

Read more:

Nicola Bulley: Diver explains why his team failed to find body

Nicola Bulley: Lancashire Police investigated over death of another missing mother

Friday 24 February 2023 15:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

A police officer from the force criticised over the Nicola Bulley search is being investigated for gross misconduct after the death of a young mother who was also reported missing.

Kiena Dawes, 23, was hit by a train near Garstang, Lancashire last July just hours after she was reported missing.

Following her death, her family claimed she was let down by Lancashire Police.

Nicola Bulley: Lancashire Police officer accused of misconduct over Kiena Dawes death

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records after her body was pulled from river

Friday 24 February 2023 14:29 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Nicola Bulley was identified using her dental records, the opening of an inquest into her death has heard.

Preston Coroners Court was told surgeon Andrew Ian Edwards had examined the 45-year-olds dental records, which had been obtained by police from her dental surgery.

The hearing, which lasted about five minutes, was not attended by Ms Bulleys partner Paul Ansell or any other family.

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records after her body was pulled from river

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

Friday 24 February 2023 13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

Since Nicola Bulley disappeared, the police, social media sleuths and the media have all received widespread criticism.

The 45-year-olds body was pulled from the River Wye in Lancashire on Sunday but a number of questions have been left unanswered.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what investigations have been launched since her body was recovered and why they are necessary.

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Friday 24 February 2023 12:28 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Missing mother Nicola Bulley was finally found on Sunday, around a mile away from where she was last seen on the river in St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire.

Ms Bulley had disappeared on 27 January while walking her dog after dropping her children off at school earlier that morning.

Police said two walkers, who used a path well trodden by officers, found her and the body was formally identified the following day.

Experts have said there are a number of reasons why Ms Bulley might not have been found sooner.

Although the area where she was found is just within the tidal section, I doubt she moved up and down the river very far, a professor who studies rivers told The Telegraph.

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Social media algorithms fuelled online interest in Nicola Bulley case'

Friday 24 February 2023 10:50 , Emily Atkinson

Social media algorithms that reward and encourage controversial content fuelled the waves of online interest in the Nicola Bulley case, experts have claimed.

More on this story here:

Social media algorithms fuelled online interest in Nicola Bulley case  experts

ICYMI: Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer offer support to Nicola Bulleys family

Friday 24 February 2023 10:20 , Emily Atkinson

Public raise 10,000 for Nicola Bulleys family following tragic discovery of body

Friday 24 February 2023 09:50 , Emily Atkinson

The public has raised more than 10,000 for the family of Nicola Bulley after her body found in the River Wyre on Sunday was confirmed to be the mother of two.

Friends and family of Ms Bulley have launched a GoFund Me campaign to donate to funeral planning for the 45-year-old and provide financial support for her partner Paul Ansell and their two young daughters.

The body was discovered on Sunday morning around a mile from where the mortgage adviser was last seen three weeks ago, walking her dog.

Thomas Kingsley reports:

Public raise 10,000 for Nicola Bulleys family following tragic discovery of body

Lancashire Police investigated over death of another missing mother

Friday 24 February 2023 09:20 , Emily Atkinson

A police officer from the force criticised over the Nicola Bulley search is being investigated for gross misconduct after the death of a young mother who was also reported missing.

Kiena Dawes, 23, was hit by a train near Garstang, Lancashire last July just hours after she was reported missing.

Following her death, her family claimed she was let down by Lancashire Police.

Matt Mathers has more:

Nicola Bulley: Lancashire Police officer accused of misconduct over Kiena Dawes death

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

Friday 24 February 2023 08:50 , Emily Atkinson

Since Nicola Bulley disappeared, the police, social media sleuths and the media have all received widespread criticism.

The 45-year-olds body was pulled from the River Wye in Lancashire on Sunday but a number of questions have been left unanswered.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what investigations have been launched since her body was recovered and why they are necessary:

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

Tributes to Nicola Bulley adorn a footbridge over the River Wyre

Friday 24 February 2023 08:20 , Emily Atkinson

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Friday 24 February 2023 07:52 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Missing mother Nicola Bulley was finally found on Sunday, around a mile away from where she was last seen on the river in St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire.

Ms Bulley had disappeared on 27 January while walking her dog after dropping her children off at school earlier that morning.

Police said two walkers, who used a path well trodden by officers, found her and the body was formally identified the following day.

Experts have said there are a number of reasons why Ms Bulley might not have been found sooner.

Although the area where she was found is just within the tidal section, I doubt she moved up and down the river very far, a professor who studies rivers told The Telegraph.

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Map shows where police searched  and where her body was found

Friday 24 February 2023 07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A map showing the exact location where a body was found in the search for missing dog walker Nicola Bulley, compared to where she was last seen and where her phone was found, has been released.

Bulley was last seen walking along the towpath near Allotment Lane at around 9am on 27 January while the body was found in the River Wyre close to Rawcliffe Road at around 11.35am on Sunday.

Police searched the immediate vacinity around the area where the mortgage adviser was last seen, as well as Wyreside Farm caravan site and the caravans and an abandoned house.

Martha McHardy has the details.

Map shows where police searched and where body was found in Nicola Bulley search

Nicola Bulleys friends and neighbours join vigil

Friday 24 February 2023 06:05 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Nicola Bulleys friends and former neighbours took part in a candlelit vigil in her hometown yesterday.

The 45-year-olds body was pulled from the River Wyre in Lancashire on Sunday, more than three weeks after she was last seen on January 27.

She disappeared during a dog walk in St Michaels on Wyre after dropping off her two kids at school.

The vigil took place at the bandstand in her hometown of South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, from 8pm last night.

South Woodham Ferrers is a very close knit community. When unfortunately tragic events happen everyone kind of pulls together, family friend Kerry Linehan told EssexLive.

Theres a lot of people that still live in the community who know Nicola or her sister Louise. The family is well known and even though they moved up north, they still hold a massive piece of all of our hearts.

When Nicola went missing, we all felt so helpless being down south, but we all remained beside the family.

Police watchdog probes previous welfare check on Nicola Bulley

Friday 24 February 2023 06:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The police watchdog has launched an investigation into a welfare check on Nicola Bulley carried out by Lancashire Police on 10 January, days before she was last seen.

An IOPC spokesperson said: Following a referral by Lancashire Constabulary on 16 February we have started an independent investigation regarding contact the force had with Nicola Bulley on 10 January 2023.

We were notified by the force that an officer attended the family home on that date as part of a welfare check.

Thomas Kingsley reports.

Police watchdog probes welfare check on Nicola Bulley days before she went missing

Police investigated over death of another missing mother

Friday 24 February 2023 05:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A police officer from the force criticised over the Nicola Bulley search is being investigated for gross misconduct after the death of a young mother who was also reported missing.

Kiena Dawes, 23, was hit by a train near Garstang, Lancashire last July just hours after she was reported missing.Following her death, her family claimed she was let down by Lancashire Police.

The police watchdog said an officer from the force now faces investigation because a man was released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting Dawes 11 days before shedied.

Read more here.

Nicola Bulley: Lancashire Police officer accused of misconduct over Kiena Dawes death

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records

Friday 24 February 2023 05:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Nicola Bulley was identified using her dental records, the opening of an inquest into her death has heard.

Preston Coroners Court was told surgeon Andrew Ian Edwards had examined the 45-year-olds dental records, which had been obtained by police from her dental surgery.

Speaking at the opening of the inquest into the mother-of-twos death, senior coroner Dr James Adeley said: He examined the body that was located in the River Wyre near Rawcliffe Road in St Michaels on Wyre at 2.15pm on 20 February.

Dr Adeley said the surgeon found restorative work carried out was identical.

Thomas Kingsley reports.

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records after her body was pulled from river

Police handling of Nicola Bulley case to be under independent review

Friday 24 February 2023 04:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Lancashire Polices handling of the Nicola Bulley case is to be examined under a full independent review.

The countys police and crime commissioner announced the College of Policing will carry out the investigation.

Police commissioner Andrew Snowden said the public feel there remain questions about the handling of elements of the police investigation.

It comes after the police watchdog launched an investigation into a welfare check conducted by a Lancashire Constabulary officer at Bulleys family home days before she went missing.

Police handling of Nicola Bulley case to be under full independent review

Reasons why it may have taken so long to find Bulleys body

Friday 24 February 2023 04:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Missing mother Nicola Bulley was finally found on Sunday, around a mile away from where she was last seen on the river in St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire.

Experts have said there are a number of reasons why Bulley might not have been found sooner.

Although the area where she was found is just within the tidal section, I doubt she moved up and down the river very far, a professor who studies rivers told The Telegraph.

The professor, who did not want to be named, said he believed Bulley was most likely in the same spot throughout the search operation.

Matt Mathers has more.

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Public raise 26,000 for Nicola Bulleys family

Friday 24 February 2023 03:24 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Members of the public have raised 26,000 for the family of Nicola Bulley after a body found in the River Wyre on Sunday was confirmed to be the mother of two.

The friends and family of Bulley launched the GoFund Me campaign to donate to funeral planning for the 45-year-old and provide financial support for her partner Paul Ansell and their two young daughters.

As you can imagine, this is a situation that no one wishes to find themselves in, and we want to help the family through this awful time, the organisers wrote.

Crowd gathers for vigil in Essex

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:04 , Jane Dalton

A huge crowd held a candlelit vigil in Nicola Bulleys home town in Essex to remember her.

So many people wanted to leave flowers and tributes that they had to queue to lay them, according to local reporter Ellis Whitehouse.

Im at South Woodham Ferrers band stand this evening for a vigil being held for Nicola Bulley, who grew up in the town. The crowd of mourners is growing, as is the the huge number of touching tributes and flowers being left at the scene for the mum of two. pic.twitter.com/pEntXPnzAq  Ellis Whitehouse (@E_Whitehouse293) February 23, 2023

Street mural painted in home town

Thursday 23 February 2023 19:40 , Jane Dalton

A street artist has created a mural to Nicola Bulley in the town where she grew up, South Woodham Ferrers in Essex.

Danny Bench, who has completed the mural, went to William de Ferrers School with Ms Bulley, and was friends with her sister, Louise Cunningham, who approved the work before he started.

He told The Mirror he took two days off work to do it.

A mural to remember Nicola Bulley has appeared in the Essex town here she grew up. The community in South Woodham Ferrers will also gather for a vigil tonight to remember Nicola #HeartNews pic.twitter.com/Gup5e6RcnK  Heart News East (@HeartNewsEast) February 23, 2023

The investigations launched

Thursday 23 February 2023 19:15 , Jane Dalton

As well as the inquest, four official investigations have been launched. This is what they all are:

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

Social media algorithms fuelled online interest in case

Thursday 23 February 2023 18:50 , Jane Dalton

In case you missed it:

Social media algorithms that reward and encourage controversial content fuelled the waves of online interest in the case, experts have claimed.

Social media algorithms fuelled online interest in Nicola Bulley case  experts

Amazon books nothing short of disgusting'

Thursday 23 February 2023 18:02 , Jane Dalton

Publication on Amazon of books about Nicola Bulley has prompted anger and accusations of profiteering.

Three books were briefly advertised on the site, before being taken down.

Leader of Wyre Council, Cllr Michael Vincent, branded them nothing short of disgusting, saying whoever wrote them was capitalising on her death, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.

Others branded the books shameful and beyond disrespectful.

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:15 , Jane Dalton

In case you missed it:

Media watchdog Ofcom has asked ITV and Sky to explain their actions in Nicola Bulley reporting:

Media watchdog Ofcom asks ITV and Sky to explain actions in Nicola Bulley reporting

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

The family of Nicola Bulley have said they can let the mother of two rest now, as questions linger over why it took more than three weeks for her body to be discovered.

Ms Bulleys body was pulled from the River Wyre in Lancashire on Sunday after the 45-year-old was last seen on January 27.

She had been walking her dog in St Michaels on Wyre after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school.

Lancashire Police called a press conference on Monday, where the force did not address the widespread criticism it had received for releasing some aspects of Ms Bulleys private life into the public domain.

Police also did not disclose why it took 23 days to find her body in the river.

Nicola Bulleys family say she can finally rest, as questions remain over case

Man who says he found Nicola Bulleys body claims psychic gift led to discovery

Thursday 23 February 2023 15:52 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

A man who says he discovered Nicola Bulley claims he used his gifts as a medium to lead him to the missing mothers body.

Police confirmed on Monday that a body found in the river near in St Michael on Wyre, Lancashire was that of Ms Bulley.

Jason Rothwell, who describes himself as a spiritual medium, wrote on social media that yes, it is myself in the images in the media currently circulating.

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Thursday 23 February 2023 15:21 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Missing mother Nicola Bulley was finally found on Sunday, around a mile away from where she was last seen on the river in St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire.

Ms Bulley had disappeared on 27 January while walking her dog after dropping her children off at school earlier that morning.

Police said two walkers, who used a path well trodden by officers, found her and the body was formally identified the following day.

Experts have said there are a number of reasons why Ms Bulley might not have been found sooner.

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Nicola Bulleys former secondary school expresses deepest sympathies to family and friends

Thursday 23 February 2023 14:30 , Martha Mchardy

Nicola Bulleys former secondary school expressed its deepest sympathies to her family and friends.

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of former William de Ferrers student, Nicola Bulley, a spokesman for her former secondary school said in a statement.

Our hearts go out to Nicolas family and friends, many of whom live in our own South Woodham Ferrers community.

Nicola Bulley, 45, was missing for more than three weeks before her body was discovered in the River Wyre (Family Handout/PA) (PA Media)

Memorial service for Nicola Bulley to be help tonight in hometown

Thursday 23 February 2023 13:45 , Martha Mchardy

A memorial service will be held for Nicola Bulley tonight in her hometown.

The service will take place at the bandstand at Queen Elizabeth II Square in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Flowers with a message adorn a footbridge over the River Wyre in tribute to Nicola Bulley in St Michael's on Wyre (Getty Images)

A mural of the mother-of-two has also been painted in her Essex hometown.

The community always pulls together at times like this, Kerry Linehan, who helped organise the gathering, said. We are tomorrow night showing our love and paying our respect to the family.

People who remember the 45-year-old are invited to attend.

Over 20,000 raised to support family of Nicola Bulley with funeral costs

Thursday 23 February 2023 12:45 , Martha Mchardy

Over 20,000 has been raised to support the family of Nicola Bulley with funeral costs.

The GoFundMe page was set up two days ago by friends of Ms Bulley after the 45-year-olds body was found to support the family through funeral planning and to support her daughters.

Ms Bulleys friends originally aimed to raise 10,000, but raised the amount to 25,000 after surpassing their target.

In a statement posted on the GoFundMe page, they said: This is a situation that no one wishes to find themselves in, and we want to help the family through this awful time. The hope is that the funds raised will give the family one less worry, and will help Paul and their little girls now and into the future.

The beautiful Nicola Bulley was the most amazing person you could have ever met, a heart made of gold, that shined through in everything she did. Her kindness knew no bounds and her legacy will live on through her beautiful little girls and Paul.

Donate to the GoFundMe here.

Inquest opened into Nicola Bulleys death

Thursday 23 February 2023 11:45 , Martha Mchardy

A full independent review has been commissioned into Lancashire Polices handling of Nicola Bulleys disappearance.

Lancashires Police and Crime Commissioner has asked the College of Policing to investigate their handling of the disappearance of the 45-year-old.

Police and Crime Commissioner Andrew Snowden said: The public understandably feel that there remain questions about the handling of elements of the police investigation, how it was communicated, and the decision to release personal information, which need to be answered and explained.

Nicola Bulley (Family Handout/PA) (PA Media)

In my role as Commissioner, as the publics voice in policing in Lancashire, I also need to put in place the appropriate scrutiny to seek the right assurances and to ensure I am effectively holding the Constabulary to account.

I am sure there will be lessons to be learned for Lancashire Constabulary, the broader policing sector and others from this case, as there are from most major investigations and I will keep the public informed of the findings in due course.

It overrides the previous internal review by Lancashire Constabulary.

Friends of Nicola Bulley increase fundraising goal for family

Thursday 23 February 2023 11:09 , Martha Mchardy

Friends helping support Nicola Bulleys family have shared a moving update as their fundraiser surpassed its goal of 10,000.

The fundraiser, set up two days ago to support the family through funeral planning and to support her daughters, has now been increased to 25,000.

So far over 18,000 has been raised.

They said: We are so grateful for all of the support the fundraiser has received thus far.

Nikki was the most amazing person and has clearly impacted so many people. We are increasing the goal so that we can help the girls and Paul as much as possible. Thank you all again.

You can donate to the GoFundMe here.

Map: Where police searched  and where a body was found  after Nicola Bulleys disappearance

Thursday 23 February 2023 10:15 , Martha Mchardy

A map showing the exact location where a body was found in the search for missing dog walker Nicola Bulley, compared to where she was last seen and where her phone was found has been released.

A body was found in the River Wyre in the search for missing dog walker Nicola Bulley, Lancashire Police confirmed on Sunday.

The body, which has not yet been identified, was found by two dog walkers a mile from where Ms Bulley was last seen, who alerted the police.

Martha McHardy reports:

Map shows where police searched and where body was found in Nicola Bulley search

Nicola Bulley: Lancashire Police investigated over death of another missing mother

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A police officer from the force criticised over the Nicola Bulley search is being investigated for gross misconduct after the death of a young mother who was also reported missing.

Kiena Dawes, 23, was hit by a train near Garstang, Lancashire last July just hours after she was reported missing.

Following her death, her family claimed she was let down by Lancashire Police.

Matt Mathers has more:

Nicola Bulley: Lancashire Police officer accused of misconduct over Kiena Dawes death

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records after her body was pulled from river

Thursday 23 February 2023 08:52 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Nicola Bulley was identified using her dental records, an inquest has heard.

Opening an inquest into the death of the 45-year-old mother of two, senior coroner Dr James Adeley said he had contacted a consultant maxillofacial surgeon to ask for a comparison of her dental records.

He said: He examined the body that was located in the River Wyre near Rawcliffe Road in St Michaels on Wyre at 2.15pm on February 20.

Thomas Kingsley reports:

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records after her body was pulled from river

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Thursday 23 February 2023 08:11 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Missing mother Nicola Bulley was finally found on Sunday, around a mile away from where she was last seen on the river in St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire.

Ms Bulley had disappeared on 27 January while walking her dog after dropping her children off at school earlier that morning.

Police said two walkers, who used a path well trodden by officers, found her and the body was formally identified the following day.

Experts have said there are a number of reasons why Ms Bulley might not have been found sooner.

Matt Mathers reports:

Three reasons why it may have taken so long to find Nicola Bulleys body

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

Thursday 23 February 2023 07:36 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Since Nicola Bulley disappeared, the police, social media sleuths and the media have all received widespread criticism.

The 45-year-olds body was pulled from the River Wye in Lancashire on Sunday but a number of questions have been left unanswered.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what investigations have been launched since her body was recovered and why they are necessary.

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?

Memorial organised in Nicola Bulleys hometown

Thursday 23 February 2023 07:00 , Namita Singh

A memorial gathering is being organised in Nicola Bulleys hometown in Essex to pay respects to the 45-year-old.

The community always pulls together at times like this so we are tomorrow night showing our love and paying our respect to the family, Kerry Linehan, one of the organisers told BBC News.

We are a tight-knit community in South Woodham Ferrers and when things like this happen we always rally around and there is always something that will happen, said Jon Morter, who runs a local community Facebook page.

A local artist Danny Bench has also painted a mural in her honour, reported the BBC.

The memorial service will take place at Queen Elizabeth II Square in South Woodham Ferrers, around 8pm tonight.

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records after her body was pulled from river

Thursday 23 February 2023 06:30 , Namita Singh

Nicola Bulley was identified using her dental records, the opening of an inquest into her death has heard.

Preston Coroners Court was told surgeon Andrew Ian Edwards had examined the 45-year-olds dental records, which had been obtained by police from her dental surgery.

The hearing, which lasted about five minutes, was not attended by Bulleys partner Paul Ansell or any other family.

Thomas Kingsley reports:

Nicola Bulley identified by dental records after her body was pulled from river

Public raise 10,000 for Nicola Bulleys family following tragic discovery of body

Thursday 23 February 2023 06:00 , Namita Singh

The public has raised more than 10,000 for the family of Nicola Bulley after her body found in the River Wyre on Sunday was confirmed to be the mother of two.

Friends and family of Ms Bulley have launched a GoFund Me campaign to donate to funeral planning for the 45-year-old and provide financial support for her partner Paul Ansell and their two young daughters.

The body was discovered on Sunday morning around a mile from where the mortgage adviser was last seen three weeks ago, walking her dog.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley reports:

Public raise 10,000 for Nicola Bulleys family following tragic discovery of body

Full independent review commissioned into police handling of Nicola Bulley case

Thursday 23 February 2023 05:30 , Namita Singh

A full independent review is set to be carried out by the College of Policing into Lancashire Polices handling of the Nicola Bulley case, the countys police and crime commissioner said.

Conservative PCC Andrew Snowden said the public understandably feel that there remain questions about the handling of elements of the police investigation, how it was communicated and the decision to release personal information.

The force said it welcomes the independent review, adding that it is keen to take the opportunity to learn.

Report:

Full independent review commissioned into police handling of Nicola Bulley case

Voices: The Nicola Bulley armchair detectives have crossed a line

Thursday 23 February 2023 05:00 , Namita Singh

There are thousands of retired and former police officers whove had the good grace and emotional intelligence not to get involved in the runaway commentary that has surrounded Nicola Bulleys disappearance.

The only people who can claim to actually care about finding Nicola are her distraught loved ones and the 200 or so professionals who are on the ground in Lancashire, and have been for the past three weeks. Virtually everybody else who has invited themselves into the midst of these awful circumstances has done so for personal gain or validation.

Let me be clear: I am not referring to former cops who in good faith have tried to provide some insight into the rationale and investigation around high-risk missing person strategies.

Im instead talking about a handful of former police officers, who in my opinion have recklessly thrown in completely unfounded and entirely speculative theories, that have resulted in the press and media seizing upon them and spreading them as if they were the truth.

Mike Pannett writes:

Opinion: The Nicola Bulley armchair detectives have crossed a line

Police watchdog probes welfare check on Nicola Bulley days before she went missing

Thursday 23 February 2023 04:30 , Namita Singh

The police watchdog has launched an investigation into a welfare check on Nicola Bulley carried out by Lancashire Police on 10 January, days before she was last seen.

An IOPC spokesperson said: Following a referral by Lancashire Constabulary on Thursday (16 February) we have started an independent investigation regarding contact the force had with Nicola Bulley on 10 January 2023.

We were notified by the force that an officer attended the family home on that date as part of a welfare check.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley has more:

Police watchdog probes welfare check on Nicola Bulley days before she went missing

Nicola Bulleys body has tragically now been found  will it bring closure?

Thursday 23 February 2023 04:00 , Namita Singh

Nicola Bulleys body has been found in the River Wyre, after weeks of agonising searches.

The latest unwelcome news comes against a backdrop of intense speculation on social media and appeals for information, while a family attempted to put one foot in front of the other, terrified of what comes next.

The public relate to it. They have connected with this traumatic event, and have become desperate for resolution.

When a loved one goes missing, there are hundreds of questions left waiting to be answered. How could this happen? Where are they? Will they ever be found? Did they run away? Were they attacked? Is this a tragic accident? Did someone harm them? Are they suffering? Are they safe?

When a loved one goes missing, there are hundreds of questions left waiting to be answered, writes psychologist Dr Jessica Taylor:

Will finding Nicola Bulleys body bring her family closure?

What investigations have been launched in the Nicola Bulley case and why?

Thursday 23 February 2023 03:30 , Namita Singh

Since Nicola Bulley disappeared, the police, social media sleuths and the media have all received widespread criticism.

The 45-year-olds body was pulled from the River Wye in Lancashire on Sunday but a number of questions have been left unanswered.

Read this report to find out what investigations have been launched since her body was recovered and why they are necessary:

Nicola Bulley: What investigations have been launched and why?
Nigerians vote during their presidential election. MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images

Millions headed to the polls on Saturday to vote in Nigeria's presidential and parliamentary election, which could have ripple effects across the country and the African continent.

Nigerians will look to change their nation's fortunes with a new government after the current leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, announced he would step down after serving two terms. Despite having the largest economy in Africa, per Statista, Nigeria has been fraught with financial hardships and rising levels of violence under Buhari's tenure.

Nigeria "is struggling with Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom, conflict between herders and farmers, shortages of cash, fuel, and power, as well as deep-rooted corruption and poverty," per Reuters. An additional poll cited by The New York Times found that 89 percent of Nigerians felt their country was going in the wrong direction.

The two main candidates to succeed Buhari are Bola Tinubu from Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress, and Atiku Abubakar from the opposition People's Democratic Party. However, this year's election has another major contender, Peter Obi, a third-party candidate from the Labor Party.

The Times noted that Obi was leading in numerous polls heading into the election. His victory would be considered a major upset, NPR added. However, there are also a large number of undeclared voters, which could swing the election back toward one of the major party candidates.

Election day got off to a rocky start. While polls were scheduled to open across the country at 8:30 a.m. local time, many had delayed starts. Nigerian newspaper The Punch reported this was due to "insecurity in some states [that] led to delays as well as logistics issues."

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BARCELONA (Reuters) - HMD Global Oy, licensee of Nokia-brand smartphones, said on Saturday it is developing capabilities and processes this year to bring 5G device production to Europe.

Europe has no big smartphone manufacturing presence, as all the major companies, including Apple and Samsung, make their phones in Asia to cut costs.

Finland-based HMD said in a news release it was working with a number of IT security partners on software modifications and thorough testing as the first stages of manufacturing and testing smartphones in Europe.

The company did not disclose where in Europe it plans to setup its factory.

The European Union has been encouraging companies to set up production in key sectors, introducing laws and offering subsidies as the bloc did for semiconductors with the European Chips Act.

"While we can't discuss specific European subsidies, we collaborate with multiple parties in both the public and private sector in Europe to advocate for European manufacturing and R&D," HMD chief marketing officer Lars Silberbauer told Reuters.

HMD in 2016 signed an exclusive 10-year licensing agreement with Nokia Oyj, once the world's largest phone maker, to make Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets.

Nokia had by that time lost the smartphone war and sold its entire handset business to Microsoft in 2014. It now focuses on telecoms network equipment.

HMD used Nokia's remaining phone patents and manufacturing facilities of Taiwan's Foxconn to build a new line of smartphones to compete with other budget Android phone makers.

The company also unveiled three smartphones on Saturday - the Nokia G22, Nokia C32 and Nokia C22 - with three-day battery life and said it would begin repairing mobiles in collaboration with repair firm iFixit.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Barcelona; Editing by William Mallard)
WASHINGTON  The fire and chemical spill caused by the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in Ohio has renewed a more than decadelong battle in Washington over ways to bolster rail safety.

The cause of the derailment in East Palestine is still under investigation, with a preliminary report pointing to an overheated wheel bearing.

But as investigators search for the cause and how it could have been prevented, there has been growing speculation and finger-pointing among lawmakers and regulators. Congressional Republicans have questioned the Biden administrations record on rail safety over the past two years while administration officials say their efforts have been hindered by industry lawsuits and corporate lobbyists.

"The future must not resemble the past when it comes to your companys and your industrys follow-through on support for stringent safety policies," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a letter Sunday to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw. "Major derailments in the past have been followed by calls for reform  and by vigorous resistance by your industry to increased safety measures. This must change."

Major rail accidents have spurred Congress and federal regulators into action in the past, though the efforts have had mixed results. When a commuter train and a freight train collided head-on in Los Angeles in 2008, killing 25 people, Congress mandated that a safety system called positive train control be installed more widely across the rail system.

Several derailments during the Obama administration  including one in New Jersey that released thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride, the same chemical released in the recent Ohio accident  also prompted new safety proposals, but not all were enacted.

A rule proposed in 2015 for certain trains to be updated to electronically controlled pneumatic brakes was met with fierce opposition from the railway industry, which filed a string of lawsuits citing issues they had found with the braking system and questions around the Transportation Departments method for assessing the safety benefit.

Story continues

Later that year, amid lobbying from the railway industry, Congress stepped in to require that federal regulators revamp their testing of the braking system and reissue the rule if the brakes were still found to provide benefit, slowing down the process by years. By 2018, when the rule still hadnt been enacted, it was withdrawn by the Trump administration.

The last time we saw a series of high-profile incidents, we took strong action and we had an avalanche of lawsuits, said a Biden administration official in a call with reporters last week.

The American Association of Railroads, the industrys main lobbying group, said that electronically controlled pneumatic brakes were shown in testing to have a significant failure rate and that the required repair time was too long to make them practical. The group said the failure of the brake systems could leave trains unmovable on the tracks, disrupting the flow of other cargo.

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, said in a tweet last week that the braking system requirement wouldnt have applied to the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Ohio because it was classified as a mixed freight train, not a high hazard flammable train, which was what the rule covered.

Biden administration officials said they will wait until the NTSB completes its investigation in Ohio before proposing new safety measures, but ultimately they believe the quickest, most effective way to improve rail safety will be through congressional action.

The fastest way to address and get strengthened rules is for Congress to act, said the Biden administration official on Friday. If theres renewed interest from Congress, we absolutely welcome it and are ready to support their efforts. A rule-making typically takes years because it requires not just coming up with a rule but opening up for public comment, completing a cost benefit analysis, and then facing those legal battles, which often drags it out even further. Congress, on the other hand, can act unilaterally and basically avoid that process.

Members of Congress have been pointing the finger over who is to blame in Ohio, with Democrats attacking the railway industry and Republicans looking to raise questions about the Biden administration's oversight.

"Corporations do stock buybacks, they do big dividend checks, they lay off workers  thousands of workers have been laid off from Norfolk Southern  then they don't invest in safety rules and safety regulations, and this kind of things happens," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Sunday on CNN.

Republicans, including Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have accused the Biden administration of trying to shift the blame to the Trump administration. Vance, along with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have called on the Transportation Department to do more, including assessing minimum staffing levels on trains under a staffing model used by the industry called precision scheduled railroading (PSR). The senators said there were just two workers and a trainee on the 150-car train that derailed in Ohio.

"We have voiced concerns with PSR, as well as with this administrations prioritizing of efficiency over resilience in its national infrastructure and transportation systems," Vance and Rubio wrote. "By that token, it is not unreasonable to ask whether a crew of two rail workers, plus one trainee, is able to effectively monitor 150 cars."

The administration is in the process of finalizing a regulation introduced last year that would require a minimum of two crew members for most railroad operations. A similar effort was made under the Trump administration in 2016, but later withdrawn with the administration stating that it was no longer necessary.

Railway operators have been cutting staff over the past decade despite an increase in the amount of freight on the railways as the industry looks to trim costs, said current and former railway officials. The pandemic accelerated the problem as workers who were furloughed when the level of freight temporarily tumbled didnt return to their old jobs when demand snapped back.

A report last December from the Government Accountability Office found the overall number of staff among the seven largest freight railroads decreased by about 28% from 2011 through 2021, while the length of the trains has increased, adding more responsibility for fewer workers.

Management began to find ways to cut costs, drive cash to the bottom line, and eventually about 30% of the staff top to bottom had been laid off, said a former railway safety official during the Bush and Obama administrations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a frank assessment. Then 2020 happened and the great resignation people didnt come back when traffic came back. The industry found themselves truly in a difficult situation. They tried to staff back up, but in most cases, thats easier said than done.

The American Association of Railroads says it is urging the public to wait until the completion of the NTSB investigation before drawing conclusions.

As the NTSBs work continues, any speculation as to the cause or contributing factors that lead to the incident is just that  speculation  and undermines the overall fact-gathering process, the industry group said in a statement. Additionally, immediate pushes for legislative or regulatory action absent of NTSB results and in response to the accident is premature at best  and opportunistic at worst.

The group said that 99.9% of all hazmat shipments reach their destination without incident and that the hazmat accident rate has declined by 55% since 2012.

Aside from congressional action or new federal rules, administration officials said they are also hoping some of the $550 billion from the infrastructure law passed in 2021 will help with overall safety improvements to the railways. The law includes $4 billion in discretionary funds to improve rail safety and train crossings.

The Biden administration will also issue any civil fines to Norfolk Southern if the NTSB investigation reveals any laws were broken, Buttigieg said.

I want to make certain that you are aware that the U.S. Department of Transportations (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is conducting its own analysis to determine whether any safety violations occurred, he said in the letter to Norfolk Southern. Using this analysis and after receiving the findings from the NTSBs independent work, FRA will act with all of its legal authorities to hold Norfolk Southern responsible for any safety violations found to have contributed to this derailment.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Skokie native Lily Brasch, who lives with muscular dystrophy and encourages more fashion brands to show models with disabilities, appeared on a New York Fashion Week runway. - Original Credit: (Randhawa Fashion / HANDOUT)

Skokie native Lily Brasch recalls flipping through the pages of People Magazine, admiring the fashion and beauty filling its pages. However, the lack of disabled models made Brasch feel isolated from the magazines content.

This changed on Feb. 10 as Brasch, who has a form of muscular dystrophy, modeled on the New York Fashion Week runway for fashion brand Randhawa at the hiTechMODA show.

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Fashion drew my attention growing up. It has a very positive connotation, (young people) see all this attention on the fashion industry, Brasch said. Then you see people with disabilities. The connotations are negative, so Im really fascinated with... trying to eliminate negative connotations through fashion.

Muscular dystrophy is a condition causing progressive weakness and muscle mass loss, according to Mayo Clinic.

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Randhawa, a South Asian fashion brand based in the United States, invited Brasch to promote their products.

Amna Inam, Randhawas CEO, said a friend sent her Braschs video.

Shes so beautiful, and shes an inspiration, said Inam, who launched her company in 2021.

Skokie native Lily Brasch, who lives with muscular dystrophy and encourages more fashion brands to show models with disabilities, appeared on a New York Fashion Week runway. - Original Credit: (Randhawa Fashion / HANDOUT)

She was looking gorgeous and did a wonderful job. She did well for us.

Inam said the company used 95 models for its three New York Fashion Week shows with hiTech MODA.

The companys website says it tries to create clothing celebrating traditional South Asian values while also embracing the modern world.

Brasch said since shes grown older, creating representation for the next generation of people with muscular dystrophy has transformed into her passion.

All these people being celebrated and recognized in the media dont have a condition like mine, but I used to consume it and I think to myself, why (am I) feeling this way, she said. Now, as an adult, I no longer need that recognition.

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As a young kid, I needed to be recognized. I did need to get that push telling them theyre still beautiful, worthy and recognized. Thats what I want to be for the next child with a disability.

Brasch said it was peaceful growing up in her suburban Skokie hometown where she could enjoy the relatively quiet streets compared to New York City, where she studies psychology at Columbia University. However, she said it got lonely being one of her neighborhoods few living with a physical disability.

Growing up in a small community, I was probably one of the only ones with a visible physical disability, so (it) wasnt talked about. It wasnt shown. I completely felt alone, she said. Maybe around the Chicago area, there were (such) people but in my specific surroundings, there was nearly no one.

Skokie native Lily Brasch, who lives with muscular dystrophy and encourages more fashion brands to show models with disabilities, appeared on a New York Fashion Week runway. - Original Credit: (Randhawa Fashion / HANDOUT)

She said Skokie residents can strengthen efforts at a local level by embracing their disabled neighbors and by increasing representation at local businesses and organizations. Brasch said shed like to see displays at Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center, for example.

When I would go to Old Orchard, Id see all the poster boards, she said. Occasionally (there would be) someone with a physical disability, but there should be models who are not as visibly disabled with an explanation of why theyre modeling and what they stand for.

Brasch created a nonprofit called Born to Prove, which focuses on breaking boundaries and empowering those with physical limitations. Born to Prove has two documentaries in the works.
Reuters

A Norfolk Southern train derailed in North Carolina on Saturday morning, following a high-profile crash in Ohio earlier this month.

The Saturday derailment, in Lexington, North Carolina, occurred on a 132-car freight train. Only one of those cars derailed, Norfolk Southern said, and as of Saturday afternoon there were no reports of a hazardous materials situation.

A Norfolk Southern spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the incident occurred when literally one set of wheels on a car derailed, and that the car, as a whole, had not left the track. As of Saturday afternoon, the contents of the trains cargo had not been disclosed.

There are no reports of a hazmat situation or danger to the public. Our crew is safe and additional personnel are on their way to begin cleanup. We appreciate the publics patience and care near this area during the cleanup work, a spokesperson told Fox News.

The derailment has led to delays on passenger trains, according to alerts from Amtrak.

On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, leading to a large chemical fire and lingering concerns of environmental damage. The derailment prompted new scrutiny of rail companies like Norfolk Southern, which months ago lobbied to avoid a strike by railroad workers. Those workers had threatened to strike over what they described as unsustainable work practices, like lack of sick days.

Trains derail approximately 1,000 times each year in the U.S., but rarely result in chemical leaks like in East Palestine, the Washington Post reported.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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(Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden told ABC News in an interview on Friday that the idea China would be negotiating the outcome of the Ukraine war was not rational, following the release of Beijing's peace plan for the conflict.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's applauding it, so how could it be any good?" Biden told ABC News on the one-year anniversary of the war.

"I've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia, if the Chinese plan were followed."

"The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that's a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational."

China's plan urges both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warns against the use of nuclear weapons.

The plan, set out in a foreign ministry paper, was largely a reiteration of China's line since Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" on Feb. 24 last year.

Biden also repeated comments that he would not be sending F-16s to Ukraine for now, saying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not need the fighter jets for the moment.

"He doesn't need F-16s now," Biden said. I am ruling it out for now."

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Costas Pitas; Editing by Sandra Maler and Chris Reese)
Derailed train. Illustrated | Gettyimages

The derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, early this month spilled toxic chemicals into a river, and touched off a political battle in Washington. Potentially dangerous pollution got into the air when rail officials released and burned more chemicals to prevent an explosion, leaving residents in fear for their health. Republicans and conservative media accused Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of responding too slowly, using "images of the Feb. 3 wreck  including the flames, plumes of black smoke, and piles of dead fish  to lambaste his oversight of rail safety," Politico said. Buttigieg acknowledged he "could have spoken sooner about how strongly I felt about this incident," and visited the scene Thursday to talk with community members and local leaders.

Former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine Wednesday, beating Buttigieg to the site by a day. Trump, now running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, passed out Trump-branded drinking water in a nod to community concerns about the safety of the water supply, and accused the Biden administration of "indifference and betrayal" of the people affected by the accident. Democrats seized on Trump's visit to argue that he shared blame for the disaster, saying he and his fellow Republicans loosened regulations on railway safety, and made it harder for the federal government to respond to chemical spills. Is there any merit in all this partisan finger-pointing?

East Palestine needs solutions, not a 'blame game'

The "toxic political environment" is making the disaster worse, said David Raack, Chris Bowers, and Robert Alexander in The Columbus Dispatch. Instead of indulging in the "blame game," politicians at all levels of government should be working together to clean up the contamination and enact policies to "make rail transport of hazardous chemicals safer." This will take both "strengthening railroad safety requirements and improving transparency with state and local officials and the public."

A particularly "daunting" challenge "is to address residents' current distrust of official statements that their air, water, and homes are safe, and their apprehension about long-term health risks." The "deep polarization" of our politicians is fueling a "lack of faith in government officials," instead of reassuring the public in a time of need. "Citizens need solutions to big problems such as what we now have in East Palestine, not politicians looking to score political points."

Neither side is blameless

"Politicians aren't helping anyone in the town by exploiting the tragedy for their own ends," said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Trump "may have made matters worse by suggesting the tap water is unsafe." That undermined efforts by Gov. Mike DeWine and Environmental Protection Agency head Michael Regan to reassure the public by "drinking tap water themselves."

But Buttigieg and others in the Biden administration are just as guilty. They have "contributed to the mistrust with a cookie-cutter progressive narrative," pointing fingers at the Trump administration for rescinding an Obama-era rule on mandating Electronically Controlled Pneumatic brakes on some trains carrying dangerous liquids. Trouble is, there's "no evidence" the technology would have "prevented the derailment," or even applied to this train.

It's fair to call out Buttigieg

The slow response really was part of the problem, said Jim Garaghty in the National Review. An "unusual wrinkle" in this catastrophe was that it wasn't "entirely 'natural' like an earthquake, hurricane, or tornado," so many federal officials believe Norfolk Southern "should pay the entire cost of the cleanup. This led to an initial denial of assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

FEMA and Gov. DeWine quickly worked it out, and FEMA deployed senior officials to coordinate the early response and work out a long-term recovery plan. "But by then, the damage was done; the initial denial and delay of FEMA assistance quickly created a narrative that an administration that constantly boasts of its empathy and care for ordinary Americans was withholding help when it was needed most."

Public anger has had an impact

The main outcry over the derailment came from the public, said Erin B. Logan in the Los Angeles Times. Residents in the town of 5,000, many of whom were forced out of their homes, erupted in "fury" at a council meeting, demanding a faster response to the disaster. Vinyl chloride, a toxic chemical that can cause liver, brain, and lung cancers, spilled into rivers, killing fish and fueling concerns about whether drinking water supplies would become unsafe. The citizens of East Palestine demanded action.

This week, they started seeing some. Buttigieg "announced reforms, including requiring at least two crew members for most railroad operations, and initiating a safety inspection program focused on routes" for hazardous materials. EPA Adminstrator Michael Regan said federal regulators would lead the cleanup and make Norfolk Southern pay for it. If the company refuses, the government plans to "seek triple the damages from the company." "In no way shape or form will Norfolk Southern get off the hook for the mess they created," Regan said. And Norfolk Southern promised to create a $1 million fund for people in East Palestine. That's a big change for a company that previously spent millions "lobbying the federal government to relax safety rules."

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Crossword: February 24, 2023

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Arif Qazi / Insider

An Oklahoma teacher who helped students access banned books faced death threats.

Summer Boismier left her teaching job and now works at the Brooklyn Public Library.

The threats still rattle her, but she's more worried that teens and kids are losing access to books.

An Oklahoma teacher who said she lost her job after helping her students access banned books is speaking out against the growing movement to censor books in schools.

Summer Boismier used to work as a high school English teacher in Oklahoma.

In 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law to limit student engagement with critical race theory, gender identity, and sexuality in the classroom.

As soon as the bill was passed, Boismier gave her students a QR code that led them to the Brooklyn Public Library's Books Unbanned project, which allows them to read the very books that their own school officials deemed not appropriate. Books that have been popularly challenged are often about or feature people of color, LGBT people, and people with disabilities, according to the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association.

Boismier said she soon began receiving complaints, scary threats, and harassing messages across her social media platforms and emails.

"There've been countless individuals who've wanted me criminally charged, who've suggested at various points and times and comment sections across the internet," Boismier told Insider. "Individuals who've called for my prosecution and even my execution."

Some of them called for her sterilization, she said.

Boismier resigned from her teaching job and moved 1,500 miles away from her home to Brooklyn, New York, where she began working for the Brooklyn Public Library.

But the threats are still on her mind.

"They still rattle around in my brain and I feel like so often one rogue thought from utter disaster," she said.

Nowadays, Boismier still thinks of herself as a teacher  just one who instructs and educates outside of the classroom.

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She's working with teens to help them combat book bans as part of a collaborative effort with PEN America called the Freedom to Read Advocacy Institute.

In this role, Boismier said she gets a front-row seat to how book bans continue to negatively affect teens.

"There's very much a desire amongst young people for connection and community," she said. "Those two things are very much things that can be experienced and contained through texts, through reading."

Books that help young readers feel a sense of belonging and community are being pulled from library and classroom shelves all over the country, she said.

Since last August, she's been experiencing "almost near constant panic attacks," she said. She has trouble sleeping through the night.

But Boismier said her own mental health challenges are no match for what teens across the country are facing.

"I think the struggle is greater for our young people walking into classrooms, seeing their stories removed from library shelves, from bookshelves and classrooms as well, and getting the message from some of the adults who are in positions to protect them, getting the message that their story stories don't matter, ergo their lives don't either," she said.

As threats come in, so do messages of support, love, and encouragement, Boismier said. Parents and grandparents and community members all over the US have reached out in support of her. Even former students of hers have been reaching out to thank her for her efforts.

But some students, in fearful messages and emails to Boismier, express a sense of hopelessness.

"They run along the lines of 'I don't know what to do,'" she said.

Since the Books Unbanned program first launched, thousands of people from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have requested digital library cards to access the books, said Fritzi Bodenheimer, spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library.

That alone shows how much of a demand there is for legislators to stop censoring books, Boismier said.

"It should be raising countless alarm bells," she said.

"While our students should very much be at the center of this conversation and their voices should very much be the voices we're listening to, we need the adults in the room to do something," she said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
New York, NY, United States - (NewMediaWire) - February 25, 2023 - (King NewsWire) - OpenGo assists people with top-notch financial management services. OpenGo aims to revolutionize financial management services by integrating Ai technologies into its financial platform to enable users to make transactions with greater ease and speed.





OpenGo features the intelligent AlphaGo arbitrage function, and returns gained from AlphaGo arbitrage get automatically routed to user's deposit account. As part of AlphaGo's brick, and-mortar arbitrage, the platform identifies the trading volume, activity, and price difference of major trading platforms around the world.





OpenGo Platform serves its users with versatile and realtime updates of financial market position across multiple sectors with sizeable market caps. Its effectiveness has been successfully proven through multiple simulated and live trade settings. Regardless of equity market fluctuations, OpenGo systems ensures net gains are distributed across users in realtime. By vigorously developing the web3 ecology, the OpenGo platform allows members to form DAO communities, share profits, and manage jointly. In view of real-time market fluctuations.

The company aims at accomplishing its strategic goal by providing artificial intelligence quantitative trading port to all users and reaching 5 million registered members by the end of this year. In addition to neural learning algorithms, iterative models, and Al quantitative trading, OpenGo can also serve as a key link in the group's application in artificial intelligence, blockchain, web, and other fields, and complete its entry into the financial Metaverse web 3.0 Vision.

About OpenGo

Founded in 2018, the company has gained solid credibility and has a US MSB digital currency operating license, along with the MSB registration number.

The company management is thankful to its proficient and highly skilled technical and operational team, which includes 1955 employees, 18 doctors, and 698 master's students. Its core team members have served various companies that ranked among the top 100 artificial intelligence technology, blockchain exchanges, and Metaverse web 3.0 architecture development companies.

Story continues

For further information, visit: https://www.opg.tech.

Media Contact

Company Name: OpenGo LLC

Contact Person: Romero Michael

Email: support@opengo.tech

Website: https://www.opg.tech

State: New York

Country: United States
Letters from Coretta Scott King and Malcolm X and a poem for President Obama are among papers belonging to poet Maya Angelou displayed in 2010 by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library. (Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press)

I teach history, but I am not a historian  at least not in a traditional sense. Ive defended no dissertations and have no Ph.D. But for the past decade, I have been poring over primary source documents, conducting interviews and compiling my findings to create an ever-evolving historical archive.

That places me within a long legacy of Black public historians and citizen scholars constructing Black history beyond academia, away from the claustrophobic confines of the ivory tower. Black independent scholars have always existed, driven by a desire to recover lost narratives  while redefining what it means to be a historian.

Institutional racism has long excluded Black scholars from the academy. Out of almost 2,000 history doctorates awarded by 1935, only six were given to Black people. The desegregation of public schools in the 1950s, 60s and 70s included colleges and universities, meaning that until that era, Black students were locked out of many of these institutions. As a result, the white men who maintained a monopoly on the subject have dictated a vast swath of American history. These have been the authorities gatekeeping our understanding of the past. They have had the most years of access to backroom archives, special papers and original documents and been best-positioned to get lucrative grants and funding from endowments.

Even in more recent years, within a still largely unequal history field, it is primarily white scholars who gain access to subscription-only services distributing millions of digital books, documents, photos and journals for research. Where they find an open door to the past, Black scholars have often stood keyless, in front of a closed door with a deadbolt.

Yet rogue scholars have still managed to uncover hidden history. One was Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, who in the early 20th century became one of his era's most meticulous curators and scholars  and did so without an advanced degree. Eventually, his prolific collection laid the foundation for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, currently part of the New York Public Library. One longtime director of that center said that Schomburg amassed a collection in part to dispel white myths of Black inferiority and to show that Black people had history and culture, which had largely been ignored. Despite having to work in segregated libraries, Schomburg and many of his peers built on one another to create an interconnected Black historical universe.

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So much has changed, and yet so much has stayed the same. One disheartening analysis found that only 7% of U.S. history professors are Black, and that Black scholars have the lowest average salary compared to any other racial demographic of history professors. This speaks to the ways Black voices continue to be marginalized despite our being part of Americas cultural fabric.

The challenges dont stop there. Black historians have often found the support missing within traditional history departments in the African American studies field  which is under assault, with Florida rejecting the College Boards Advanced Placement African American studies class and other states now scrutinizing the course.

Such barriers could have caused many to give up  but curses can also be gifts. Exclusion unintentionally created space for Black public historians to tell history on their own terms, without the restrictions and limitations  including misconceptions about Black stories  imposed by the profession. As a result, these historians have fostered a direct and authentic engagement with those whose stories they are documenting. My research focuses on telling the stories of historically unheard people often left out of U.S. narratives. While working with schools, public institutions such as libraries and museums and directly with communities, I have seen firsthand how learning about the past can enrich peoples lives.

The stories told in textbooks, museums and other educational materials can profoundly impact how we view ourselves and our society. If Black historians are not granted the recognition and support they need  and deserve  the historical record will remain incomplete, and our understanding of our collective past will remain limited.

This can be done by universities and other institutions funding and supporting community-based historical projects, creating more inclusive academic departments that recognize and celebrate Black historians' contributions, and promoting civic scholars' work through independent publishers and social media. Black public historians have already played a vital role in documenting the past. We should support these efforts to keep uncovering the rich stories of Black history  and to support the broader definition of a historian that they exemplify.

Jermaine Fowler is the founder and managing editor of The Humanity Archive and author of the forthcoming book The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Carlos Watson, the CEO of the digital media company Ozy Media, denied wrongdoing on Friday as he faces fraud charges, saying I am not now and never have been a con man.

Watson said on Twitter that he has been a hard-working entrepreneur who helped build the company from scratch and he plans to fight these charges with everything I have.

I have worked around the clock for 10 years to build this company and devoted my life savings to help get us through rough patches, he tweeted. This has been a lifes work and I am proud of what I, my family, and my team have been able to accomplish.

Im not saying I havent made mistakes  I have. But its fair to ask, why Ive been singled out? OZY is a real and valuable company that was built through an enormous amount of hard work and sacrifice, he continued.

Watson was charged with conspiring to commit securities fraud and conspiring to commit wire fraud after another top Ozy Media executive, Samir Rao, pleaded guilty earlier this week to charges of fraud and identity theft in a Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court.

Watson pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors allege that he made material misrepresentations and omissions about the company as part of a scheme to defraud investors, lenders and potential investors, acquirers and lenders.

The company and Watson have been under federal investigation since The New York Times reported in 2021 that Rao impersonated a top YouTube official in a conference call with possible investors from Goldman Sachs and praised Ozy Medias success.

Watson has said he was not involved with the plan at all.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Paris Hilton has opened up about her and husband Carter Reums decision to keep the arrival of their newborn son a secret, revealing that her own mother didnt know about the babys birth until he was a week old.

The Paris: The Memoir author, 42, revealed on 24 January that she and Reum had expanded their family with the birth of their son, Phoenix.

You are already loved beyond words, Hilton captioned an Instagram photo of herself holding the newborns hand.

In addition to surprising her fans and followers with the announcement, the babys arrival also came as a surprise to the DJs mother, Kathy Hilton.

Paris Hilton revealed during her latest episode of her podcast This Is Paris that she and Reum waited a week before they told anyone their surrogate had given birth.

Were just so excited to start our family and cant wait for you to see him. But for now, weve just been keeping everything really private, Hilton explained during the podcast, during which she also shared the newborns name for the first time. Not even my mom or my sister or my best friends, no one knew, literally, until he was over a week old.

Hilton said it was really nice for her and Reum to have the first week with their son be [their] own journey together.

Hilton also revealed that she wanted to keep the babys birth private because so much of her life has been public.

I just feel that my life has been so public, and Ive never really had anything just be mine, she said. I feel like just my life in so many ways has been invaded. I just really felt that I wanted to have this journey be us only.

Although Hilton admitted that it was hard keeping the secret from their families, she said that it meant the news wasnt leaked before the couple had had a chance to share it themselves.

It was hard to keep that in because we were so excited and wanted to tell our families, but youre just nervous because if you tell one person then you know they tell someone and then all of a sudden its in TMZ or Page Six, she explained. And Ive had enough of my life like that.

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Hilton said she and Reum even decided to make a pact that they would not tell anyone.

During the podcast, the heiress then reminisced on the moment she introduced her mother to her grandson, recalling the look on her [mothers] face.

She was so surprised, the look on her face was just priceless, she said.

Although the couple chose to keep the babys arrival a secret, Hilton has since shared the newborns name and the meaning behind it, as well as the first photos of her son.
You are here: China

Two Chinese law enforcement vessels returned to Guanlei Port in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday, concluding the 126th joint Mekong River patrol by China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Six vessels from the four countries traveled over 550 km for four days and three nights, focusing on tackling cross-border crimes to ensure safety and stability along the river, according to the Yunnan provincial public security department.

The Mekong River, known as the Lancang River in China, is a vital waterway for cross-border shipping.

China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand have been conducting joint patrols of the river since December 2011.
Paris Hilton has described a terrifying ordeal involving Harvey Weinstein, saying he followed her into a bathroom when she was 19.

Hiltons recollection of the encounter in a Glamour UK cover story was published Thursday, on the day the disgraced producer was sentenced to 16 years in prison in a Los Angeles case.

Weinstein  who is already serving 23 years after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in a New York trial  was convicted of the rape and sexual assault of an Italian actor in 2013.

Weinstein plans to appeal both convictions, Variety reported.

Hilton told the publication that she was 19 when she met Weinstein before he hosted the amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) gala that took place during the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.

She said Weinstein, who approached her and a friend while the two were at lunch, asked whether she had Hollywood aspirations and invited her up to his room to read scripts.

I just didnt want to go, so I never went, Hilton said.

Later, on the night of the gala, Weinstein followed her to a restroom and screamed, Ya wanna be a star? Hilton said.

I went into the bathroom and then he followed me, she said.

He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it. And I wouldnt open it, because I was like, Im in a stall, why do you want to come in here? And I just wouldnt open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like [shouting], This is my party, going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out.

She told the publication that she was aware of rumors about Weinsteins behavior and everyone was terrified of him, then a producer with enormous power in Hollywood.

I didnt even want to say anything about it because I was like, I dont want people getting mad at me for saying anything, because it was just a known thing, Hilton said.

He was just like that and people were like, OK, just turn a blind eye.

Paris Hilton, shown here Feb. 4 at a pre-Grammy gala in Beverly Hills, said she was told turn a

Paris Hilton, shown here Feb. 4 at a pre-Grammy gala in Beverly Hills, said she was told turn a "blind eye" to Harvey Weinstein's behavior with her.

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Glamour UK did not receive a comment from Weinsteins representatives, but a spokesperson told Variety that Weinstein said the encounter never happened between him and Hilton.

He had always treated Paris Hilton with the utmost respect and kindness, and always believed they had a cordial relationship. There were many people at AmFar, and this is probably false, the spokesperson said.

Unfortunately, Paris Hilton is trying to get in on the current news cycle using his name with yet another creative story. Too bad its all too convenient and seemingly popular to just say it without anything backing it up.

The latest allegations against Weinstein come as Evgeniya Chernyshova, who testified that she was raped by Weinstein in the 2013 case, revealed that she was Jane Doe 1 and said she wants her life back in a story by The Hollywood Reporter.

Chernyshova told the publication that she believes all of the four women who accused the disgraced producer of rape in the Los Angeles trial.

This is not only my victory, this is our victory, Chernyshova said of the conviction.

She later added: I finally have a voice and I can speak. As much as I was trying to destroy myself, to punish myself, I will do as much to rebuild myself. And to help other people.

Related...
Paris Hilton spoke about an encounter with Harvey Weinstein in Glamour UK. Dan Boczarski/NBC via Getty Images

Paris Hilton recalled an encounter with Harvey Weinstein in an interview with Glamour UK.

Hilton said Weinstein followed her into the bathroom while screaming, "Ya wanna be a star?"

On Thursday, Weinstein received a 16-year sentence, after he was previously sentenced to 23 years.

Paris Hilton recalled an encounter with disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival in an interview with Glamour UK published Thursday.

Hilton shared details with the outlet, saying the incident took place when she was 19 at the festival's annual amfAR gala. Hilton told Glamour UK that she met Weinstein the day before the gala, which he hosted that year.

"I was at lunch with my girlfriend and he came up to the table and was like, 'Oh, you want to be an actress?' And I said, "Yeah, I really want to be in a movie,'" Hilton told Glamour UK. "I was a teenager, so I was impressed by him. I was like, 'Oh my god, Harvey Weinstein is so cool!' and he said, 'Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts' and I just didn't want to go, so I never went."

Paris Hilton said Harvey Weinstein tried to open her bathroom stall door during an event at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Mike Coppola / Getty Images

Hilton continued that Weinstein became hostile towards her at the gala by following her into the women's bathroom screaming, "Ya wanna be a star?"

"I went into the bathroom and then he followed me. He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it," Hilton told the outlet. "And I wouldn't open it, because I was like, 'I'm in a stall, why do you want to come in here?' And I just wouldn't open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like [shouting], 'This is my party,' going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out."

Hilton told Glamour UK said heard rumors at the time about Weinstein, but most people in the industry turned a "blind eye."

Harvey Weinstein enters a Manhattan court house February 24, 2020 in New York City. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

"Yeah, and it was just someone so powerful in Hollywood who everyone was terrified of," Hilton said. "I didn't even want to say anything about it because I was like, 'I don't want people getting mad at me for saying anything,' because it was just a known thing. He was just like that and people were like, 'OK, just turn a blind eye.'"

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The outlet reported that Weinstein denied the bathroom incident and Hilton's allegations.

In the same interview, Hilton said she was drugged and raped by an older man when she was 15.

On Thursday, Hilton revealed that she and her husband Carter Reum named their son Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum after welcoming the child via surrogate in January. That same day, a judge sentenced Weinstein to 16 years in a Los Angeles County prison after he was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and rape in December 2022.

Harvey Weinstein listens in court during a pre-trial hearing for his Los Angeles sexual misconduct trial on July 29, 2021. ETIENNE LAURENT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Weinstein's Los Angeles prison sentence will be served after his 23-year New York prison sentence. In February 2020, a New York jury found Weinstein guilty of rape and criminal sexual act.

Weinstein first faced backlash in October 2017 after The New Yorker published an expose featuring 13 women who alleged Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Of those 13, three accused Weinstein of rape.

More than 80 people have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Lupita Nyong'o, and Rose McGowan.

Read the original article on Insider
Paris Hilton, seen in 2019, has opened up about her past. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Paris Hilton has revealed she was drugged and raped as a teenager in a new interview published Thursday.

Talking to Glamour UK, the reality-TV star, hotel heiress and pop-culture icon detailed the assault along with other incidents of abuse and sexual trauma. She also discussed a harrowing encounter with a high school teacher and a frightening run-in with convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.

Hilton described hanging with her friends at the Century City mall in Los Angeles as a teen. It was their favorite thing to do, and where she met a group of older men, one of whom later raped her.

Paris Hilton photographed at home in Beverly Hills in 2019. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

One day, they invited us to their house and were drinking these berry wine coolers, she told Glamour UK. I didnt drink or anything back then, but then when I had maybe one or two sips, I just immediately started feeling dizzy and woozy. I dont know what he put in there, Im assuming it was a roofie.

Paris said she woke up hours later and knew something bad had happened to her. I remembered it. I have visions of him on top of me, covering my mouth, being like, Youre dreaming, youre dreaming, and whispering that in my ear.

It was her first sexual experience, but not the first time shed encountered abusive behavior at the hands of an older man.

I was just such a young girl and I got manipulated by my teacher, she told Glamour UK. He took advantage of a young girl and that was something I blocked out as well, I didnt remember it until years later. He would call me on the phone all the time, just flirting with me, trying to put in my mind that I was this mature woman.

One night, he showed up to her home and persuaded her to sit in his car with him, until her parents arrived home and he sped off with Hilton still in the car.

We only kissed, but if my parents didnt come, imagine what he wouldve tried to do. We literally drove through Bel-Air at like 100 miles an hour. We were going so fast and somehow we got away from them through a red light. He was freaking out and drove me back home to Bel-Air, where he was like, Get out.

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To this day, Ive not talked about it with my family. Ive never told anyone, she said. I dont know what it was, I just felt so ashamed by the whole situation  just from the beginning at such a young age and it really stuck with me in a weird way.

In the 2020 YouTube documentary This Is Paris, Hilton opened up about the sexual and psychological trauma shed grappled with when attending Provo Canyon School in Utah, a boarding school where she spent 11 months. She endured a leaked sex-tape scandal in 2004. And when she was 19, she encountered a belligerent Harvey Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival.

I was at lunch with my girlfriend and he came up to the table and was like, Oh, you want to be an actress? And I said, 'Yeah, I really want to be in a movie, she told Glamour UK. I was a teenager, so I was impressed by him. I was like, Oh my God, Harvey Weinstein is so cool! and he said, Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts and I just didnt want to go, so I never went.

The next evening, she alleged, Weinstein followed her to the women's restroom.

I went into the bathroom and then he followed me, she said. He tried to open the door, he was hammering on the door, banging on it. And I wouldnt open it, because I was like, Im in a stall, why do you want to come in here? And I just wouldnt open it. And security came and literally carried him away and he was like [shouting], This is my party, going nuts. It scared me and freaked me out.

Hilton's forthcoming book, Paris: The Memoir, hits shelves March 14.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A minibus burned down in Sumy Oblast

As noted by law enforcement officers, the enemy took aim at the minibus from the territory of the Russian Federation. The bus was traveling from the village of Vodolahy of the Khotin Territorial Community of Sumy District and had traveled about 500 meters in the direction of the city of Sumy.

Read also: Russia launches about 100 attacks on Sumy Oblast in the past day

Vodolahy is about 2.5 kilometers south of the Ukrainian-Russian border.

According to preliminary information, the Russian military used an anti-tank guided missile to attack the passenger bus.

Read also: One injured as seven districts in Sumy Oblast struck 97 times by Russian shelling in past day

The Sumy Oblast Prosecutors Office has started a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war under Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Mike Pence gave a full-throated defense of assistance to Ukraine and criticized those in his party who have praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, exposing a fault line in the emerging 2024 Republican race between traditional GOP hawks and those skeptical of US support for Kyiv.

Most Read from Bloomberg

While some in my party have taken a somewhat different view, let me be clear: There can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin, Pence said Friday at the University of Texas at Austin Clements Center for National Security. There can only be room for champions of freedom.

Pence said Putin was solely to blame for the war in Ukraine. While Pence didnt mention his onetime boss and potential 2024 rival Donald Trump by name, the former president repeatedly praised Putins strategy before the invasion, including calling the Russian leader a genius.

Pence called for the US and allies to ramp up sanctions on Moscow and continue providing military equipment and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as Russias invasion enters its second year.

If we surrender to the siren song of those in this country who argue that America has no interest in freedoms cause, history teaches we may soon send our own into harms way to defend our freedom and the freedom of nations in our alliance, he said.

Former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who like Pence is considering a run for the 2024 nomination, and former South Carolina Governor and Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who launched her campaign last week, have supported US assistance to Ukraine.

But Trump, who launched his candidacy in November, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whos widely expected to join the race, have said President Joe Biden should be more concerned about domestic matters such as illegal immigration and drug smuggling at the southern border.

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A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Feb. 3 found that half of Republicans think the US is doing too much to support Ukraine in its war with Russia, with only 28% saying its the right amount and 13% saying its too little.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Former Vice President Mike Pence told NBC News Ali Vitali that he believes that by spring his family expects to have a very clear sense of [their] calling, hinting at an announcement for a 2024 election bid.

Pence also took aim at former President Trump, telling NBC that the times call for different leadership, and Im confident well have better choices than my old running mate come 2024.

The former Indiana governor also reaffirmed his stance that he would not comply with a subpoena from the Department of Justices special counsel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, even if he were compelled to testify by a federal judge.

He then reiterated to NBC News that he believes it would be unconstitutional for him to testify against Trump, as he served in the Trump administration.

Last week, a former federal judge  who once served as an informal adviser to Pence  raised doubts about Pences reasoning for opposing a subpoena to testify.

J. Michael Luttig argued that any constitutional right Pence had to not testify should yield to the process of a criminal investigation.

Pence and his team say that since he was serving as the former president of the Senate at the time of the insurrection, that it essentially made him a member of the legislative branch and he would therefore be shielded from the subpoena under the speech and debate clause of the Constitution.

Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are the only two high-profile candidates to enter the 2024 race for the Republican nomination thus far. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tim Scott are also on the list of potential GOP candidates.

On the Democrat side, President Joe Biden has yet to announce his plans for reelection, but First Lady Jill Biden alluded during a trip to Kenya that it would be coming soon. Marianne Williamson, a prominent progressive who ran for president in 2020, confirmed on Thursday that she will run again for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former vice president Mike Pence insisted that the 2024 Republican presidential field will offer better choices than his old boss, Donald Trump.

I think the times call for different leadership, Pence told NBCs Ali Vitali in an interview that aired Friday. Im confident well have better choices than my old running mate.

Im very confident that Republican primary voters are going to choose the right standard bearer for this moment in our nations history, Pence added. Someone that can provide not only the policies in leadership but the style of leadership that will help bring our nation back.

In recent months, Pence has become increasingly vocal in his criticism of Trump. Following Election Day 2022, during which Trump-endorsed candidates had a poor showing, Pence condemned the former presidents actions surrounding January 6 and the Capitol riots.

The presidents words and actions in and around January 6 were reckless. The tweet that he issued the day [of], Pence said in an interview on Face The Nation, endangered my family and endangered people that were in the Capitol and was indefensible.

The interview was part of a promotional tour for Pences new memoir, So Help Me God, that shed new light on the events of January 6.

Without naming names, in a recent speech, Pence further denounced Republicans who have turned a blind eye to Russia. While some in my party have taken a somewhat different view, let me be clear: There can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin, Pence said.

So far, only Trump, his former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy have announced their campaigns for the nomination.

Weve celebrated our diversity so much that we forgot all the ways were really the same as Americans, bound by ideals that united a divided, headstrong group of people 250 years ago. I believe deep in my bones those ideals still exist. Im running for President to revive them. pic.twitter.com/bz5Qtt4tmm  Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) February 22, 2023

Ramaswamy, the author of Woke Inc., told National Review on Tuesday: I am launching not only a political campaign but a cultural movement to create a new American Dream  one that is not only about money but about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence itself.

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Although Pence has yet to formally declare his candidacy, he has been on a media blitz to establish his public profile. Late last year, he quietly met with financial donors in a bid to seemingly shore up support ahead of the race.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Republican congressman's court battle to protect his cellphone records has prevented federal investigators from reviewing over 2,200 documents in their investigation of then-President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election, according to newly unsealed court documents.

Judge Beryl Howell, chief judge for the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, unsealed four opinions in which she found that "powerful public interest" outweighed Republican Representative Scott Perry's asserted need for secrecy under the U.S. Constitution. The documents were released late on Friday.

Perry - a Trump ally who helped spread false claims that the 2020 election was stolen through widespread voting fraud - has sought to prevent the Justice Department from reviewing the contents of his cellphone since it was seized last summer.

The lawmaker maintains that his cellphone's contents are shielded from disclosure under a constitutional provision that gives members of Congress immunity from civil litigation or criminal prosecution for actions arising in the course of their legislative duties.

Perry's conduct is under scrutiny by Special Counsel Jack Smith's office because of the prominent role Perry played in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by thousands of Trump supporters trying to block Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.

An investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives' Jan. 6 committee last year revealed Perry was in frequent contact with Trump White House officials in the weeks before the attack.

On Thursday, an attorney for Perry asked an appellate court to reverse Judge Howell's lower court ruling that his communications were not within a "legitimate legislative sphere." A Justice Department attorney urged the judicial panel not to block the congressman's cellphone from investigators.

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Howell had ordered Perry to turn over 2,055 SMS text messages, emails and attachments out of 2,219 documents contained on his phone, after concluding that they were only incidentally related to his status as a lawmaker and not central to that role as a member of Congress.

She said Perry had sought to protect "random musings with private individuals" as well as "political discussions with attorneys from a presidential campaign" and "state legislators concerning hearings before them about possible local election fraud."

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Jonathan Oatis)
Around 11:50 p.m., Jacksonville Sheriffs Office responded to a person shot on 900 King Street.

When JSO arrived, a male was suffering from a gunshot wound in the forearm. He is not suffering from life threatening injuries.

After further investigating, officers revealed the victim was involved in a fight inside of a business. After being escorted out, the victim was shot by an unknown male.

According to JSO, there is no current description of the male.

The victim was released from the hospital after receiving treatment.

The investigation is still ongoing.

Anyone with information related to this incident please contact the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office at 904-630-0500 or via email at JSOCRIMETIPS@JAXSHERIFF.ORG or call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-866-845-TIPS.

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Read: Family identifies man killed in Atlantic Boulevard hit-and-run

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LIMA, Peru (AP)  Peruvian President Dina Boluarte announced on Friday the withdrawal of her country's ambassador to Mexico in response to criticism from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whom she reproached for hurting ties in order to privilege ideological affinities.

In his regular morning press conference, Mexico's president said he had seen polls where the spurious president (Boluarte) has 15% acceptance and 85% disapprove of her.

He also said that members of Peru's Parliament have even less approval. They have 90% of the rejection and even so they rule with bayonets and with repression, force.

Later Friday, Boluarte rejected Lopez Obrador's comments on the internal affairs of Peru and the unacceptable questions that he repeatedly formulates about the constitutional and democratic origin of my government.

With the ambassadors withdrawal, diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico formally remain at the level of charge daffaires, the president said in a statement at the presidential palace in Lima.

Dina Boluarte took office on Dec. 7 after then-president Pedro Castillo was ousted by Parliament and jailed after trying to dissolve Congress to avoid a vote on his removal from office.

Since then, there have been almost three months of protests that have left 60 dead, 48 of them due to direct clashes with the police. One policeman was burned to death in a patrol car.

Lopez Obrador has frequently expressed his support for Castillo.
In interviews from his hospital room, a wounded news photographer has described surviving the harrowing shooting on Wednesday that killed his fellow Florida journalist while they reported on an earlier shooting allegedly committed by the same attacker.

The photographer, Jesse Walden, said that he and his colleague Dylan Lyons had just arrived at a street in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Orlando where a local woman, Nathacha Augustin, had been murdered earlier the same day.

It was no longer an active crime scene, and Walden and Lyons believed the area was safe. While removing his camera from the trunk of a car, Walden suddenly heard gunshots and felt a bullet puncture his groin.

When he saw a man shooting toward him, Walden initially thought hed been caught in a gang shooting. I was assuming he was shooting at a house or something behind me, and I just happened to catch a bullet, Walden told the news station KOB. But he kept shooting at me.

Walden shouted to call 911, he said in an interview with the local television news outlet WOFL, not realizing that Lyons had also been shot, and dove behind a car wheel. The gunman kept advancing on their vehicle and shot Lyons, who was sitting in the passenger seat, to death.

Neighbors eventually rushed to help, Walden said, and a photographer from another station pressed down on his wound to staunch the flow of blood. Walden is hospitalized in stable condition.

Police say that Keith Kelvin Moses, 19, killed Augustin, then returned to the area four or five hours later and shot Walden, Moses and two people in a nearby house  Brandi Major and her nine-year-old daughter, Tyonna Major. Tyonna was also killed.

Mosess alleged motive is unclear. Police said that he was arrested in possession of a Glock 40 semiautomatic handgun and that there are no other suspects.

The grim surreality of a teenager allegedly murdering a journalist working on a report on gun violence did not escape the White House. During a briefing on Thursday, the presidents press officer, Karine Jean-Pierre, condemned the shooting and reiterated Joe Bidens administrations call for stronger gun laws.

Our hearts go out to the family of Dylan Lyons, Jean-Pierre said, and to the families of the other two community members who were killed by the same shooter, including a nine-year-old girl with her whole life in front of her. Too many lives are being ripped apart by gun violence. The president continues to call on Congress to act on gun safety and for state officials to take action at the state level.

I lost one of my best friends, Dylan, yesterday, Walden wrote on Facebook. Im very lucky to be alive.
Bishop David Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh addresses members of the media near the Tree of Life Synagogue, the scene of a mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 27, 2018. DUSTIN FRANZ/AFP via Getty Images

Bishop David Zubik told Catholics they can eat meat during St. Patrick's Day this year.

The holiday falls on a Friday during Lent, when Catholics are meant to avoid meat.

Zubik suggested congregants consider a different sacrifice if they celebrate with a meaty meal.

A Pittsburgh bishop is allowing his congregants a religious "cheat day" next month when the feast of Saint Patrick falls on a Friday  the day of the week during which Catholics abstain from eating meat during the Lenten season.

Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik announced in a Friday letter that members of his religious community will be dispensed from the typical obligation to forgo meat on Friday, March 17 in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

"It is my hope that those who choose to avail themselves of the dispensation may do so in a spirit that reflects this holy season," Zubik wrote, citing the "great impact" Saint Patrick made on the people of Ireland and his own diocese.

Saint Patrick is known for spreading Christianity throughout Ireland during the fifth century.

During the Lenten season, which runs from Ash Wednesday up through Easter Sunday, many Catholics choose to abstain from meat on Fridays as a symbolic representation of their belief that Jesus sacrificed his flesh for humanity.

American celebrants of St. Patrick's Day often eat corned beef to celebrate the holiday, a cheap substitute for pork that early Irish immigrants made a tradition.

Zubik did however encourage any of his congregants who do choose to take advantage of the meat pass to consider some other sacrifice to make up for their imbibing.

"Might I suggest that those who take advantage of the dispensation consider some additional act of Lenten discipline on that day," he wrote.

Read the original article on Insider
An arrest warrant is out for a Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student.

According to the criminal complaint, James Ziegler, 41, is a teacher at Pittsburghs Faison K-5.

Court documents said Ziegler allegedly forced the student to perform sex acts during lunch detentions.

This allegedly happened multiple times.

Ziegler is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, sexual assault, institutional sexual assault, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

11 News reached out to Pittsburgh Public schools regarding these allegations. A representative said Ziegler has been out on administrative leave since Dec. 21.

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John Belfield (L) is wanted on the suspicion of murdering Thomas Campbell (R). (Greater Manchester Police)

Police have appealed for help finding a suspect wanted for the killing of a man who was tortured to death.

Thomas Campbell, 38, was attacked inside his home in Mossley, Greater Manchester, after being ambushed when he opened his front door last July.

John Belfield, 28, of Openshaw, Greater Manchester, is still wanted on suspicion of his murder.

On Wednesday at Bolton Crown Court, Mr Campbell's ex-wife Coleen Campbell, Stephen Cleworth, 38, and Reece Steven, 29, were jailed for a total of 62 years for their involvement in his death.

Reece Steven and Stephen Cleworth were jailed for the killing of Thomas Campbell. (Greater Manchester Police)

Mr Campbells body was found by a neighbour at his home on Riverside at around 10.40am on Saturday 3 July 2022.

He was fatally assaulted the previous night and died because of the injuries he sustained.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are still looking for Belfield in connection with the incident and have warned people not to approach him as he is "dangerous".

Police said he has links to Greater Manchester and Lancashire, but now believe that he has left the UK and could possibly be in Spain or Tenerife.

The conspiracy to murder Mr Campbell was meticulously thought out and used those closest to Thomas to track his every move, police said.

Those involved in his murder formulated a plan for the attack that focussed on his daily routine, which was known well by Campbell.

Police added she was recruited to share the information that they needed to carry out the attack.

She provided the exact locations of the whereabouts of Mr Campbell, through phone messages and calls to another member of the group.

Detectives found the location of a tracker placed on Thomas van.

Campbell told the Jury that she believed the plan was only to rob her ex-husband of his property - namely of two Rolex watches, whose whereabouts remain unknown to police at this time.

Campbell was jailed for 13 years and Cleworth was sentenced to 12 years after they were found guilty of manslaughter with conspiracy to rob.

Steven was found guilty of murder with conspiracy to rob and jailed for life with a minimum of 37 years.

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Detective Inspector Mark Davis, of GMPs Major Incident Team, said: Thomas suffered significant injuries over a period of time, and I must stress that we do not want members of the public to approach Belfield.

If you become aware of his whereabouts, please do nothing more than dial 999, quoting Operation Ravensburg.

He is thought to be a dangerous individual who must not be approached."

He warned members of the public and Belfields associates that assisting an offender was a criminal offence and anyone convicted of this faces up to 10 years imprisonment.
Cookie Monster on Friday, May 31, 2019 Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Police have warned people not to approach a potentially dangerous man dressed as the Cookie Monster.

Police named the man as Adam Sandler  no relation to the famous "Uncut Gems" actor.

He was previously dubbed "evil Elmo" after going on an antisemitic rant dressed as Elmo from "Sesame Street."

Police in California has warned people not to approach a man dressed as "Sesame Street"'s Cookie Monster.

The Santa Cruz Police Department identified the costume-clad man as Adam Sandler, who they confirm has no relation to the famous "Uncut Gems" actor.

A police statement on Facebook reads that locals have described the man as "creepy," and have said he's made uncomfortable comments.

The SCPD added that children may want to take a photo with the man if they are fans of the "Sesame Street" cartoons but warned that Sandler has a history of "unpredictable, vulgar comments and troublesome behavior."

Sandler has not committed a crime in the City of Santa Cruz, police said.

Sandler has previously been dubbed "evil Elmo," according to the New York Post. It reported that Sandler was arrested at the Crossroads of the World in New York City in September 2012 after dressing as the popular "Sesame Street" character and going on an anti-semitic rant.

According to the Post, Sandler, 59, was trying to get tips from passers-by while screaming, "the Jews are responsible for everything that's wrong with the world!" and "I hate Jews!"

Read the original article on Insider
Leo Varadkar has said talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol are inching towards a conclusion (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Wire)

Negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol are inching towards conclusion, the Irish Taoiseach has indicated.

Leo Varadkar was speaking as speculation mounts that a deal may be announced in the coming days.

Talks between the UK and EU to fix issues with the post-Brexit trading arrangements have been ongoing.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had been expected to travel to Britain on Saturday, and was to meet the King at Windsor Castle.

UK Government sources confirmed Ms von der Leyens trip was called off raising questions over whether Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had torpedoed the plan.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary and senior member of the Tory Eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG), had said of the planned meeting: If there were a plan to bring the King in before there is domestic political agreement, it would border on constitutional impropriety.

Meawhile the DUP has pressed the UK Government to act on unionist concerns around the impact of the protocol on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and impact on the union.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has demanded action on the protocol before his party re-enters devolved government.

Speaking in Galway on Saturday, Mr Varadkar commended the level of engagement in recent months.

He said he was cautious about saying anything that might risk the process, but indicated he believes there is a possibility of agreement in the next few days.

Certainly the deal isnt done yet, Mr Varadkar told RTE.

But I do think we are inching towards conclusion and I really want to thank the UK Government and the European Commission and the Northern Ireland parties for the level of engagement that theyve done in recent months to get us to this point.

I would just encourage everyone to go the extra mile to come to an agreement because the benefits are huge.

They allow us to have the Northern Ireland Assembly back up and running in the north and the Good Friday Agreement working properly again, and also to put relations between the United Kingdom and Ireland and the European Union on a much more positive footing.

Meanwhile Sunak has said his government was giving it everything to strike a deal, adding it was vital to ensure a return to power-sharing.

Theres unfinished business on Brexit and I want to get the job done, the prime minister told The Sunday Times.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and journalist Dmytro Komarov

The footage of the Ukrainian presidents wartime accommodation was aired on Feb. 24.

Read also: At their latest meeting, Macron and Scholz urged Zelenskyy to negotiate with Russia

Frame from the video

"This is my home, I've been living here for a year," the president said.

Frame from the video

We are used to always turning off the lights here because were saving electricity. It's like a habit.

Frame from the video

Zelenskyy also showed a framed family photo with his wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, son Kyrylo and daughter Oleksandra on his desk. "It's very beautiful," commented Dmytro Komarov.

Frame from the video

"The kids wanted a Superman. We will not forget about the war even after the war," the president said.

Frame from the video

After the outbreak of full-scale war, Zelenskyy completely abandoned the official dress code and now opts for a comfortable casual look.

Frame from the video

Read also: President Zelenskyy on his greatest regret of the war so far

"I have a small wardrobe," the president admitted.

There are all the same clothes. This is what I wear. Normal things.

Zelenskyy also showed the jacket he will wear after Ukraine's victory.

"This is a symbol, he said.

It means that the war will end soon, we will win soon. So we will use it. It will come.

Read also: UK will provide Ukraine with long-range weapons, Zelenskyy says

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Feb. 24WILKES-BARRE  Luzerne County prosecutors withdrew rape related charges against a Wilkes-Barre man who was accused by a woman of sexually assaulting her in 2021.

Wilkes-Barre police charged James McIver, 27, of North Sherman Street, after a woman alleged he walked with her from the downtown area to Stanton Street where he sexually assaulted her on Sept. 5, and took her to a residence on Parrish Street where the assault continued.

Prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case against McIver on Dec. 29.

Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. on Thursday granted the motion dismissing two counts of rape and one count each of sexual assault, indecent assault and unlawful restraint.

First Assistant District Attorney Anthony Ross said the case was withdrawn when a video was discovered during the investigation showing the sexual relations were consensual.

Attorney Demetrius Fannick represented McIver.
Putins original goal had been to put a puppet regime in power in Kyiv (Getty)

It is impossible yet to know for sure when and how the war in Ukraine will end, but it is clear that Vladimir Putin will not achieve either his original grandiose goal of installing a puppet regime in Kyiv, nor his fallback of conquering all the regions of south-eastern Ukraine.

Even retaining the territories he was occupying before the February 2022 invasion looks like a difficult, if not wholly impossible task.

Although his myth is irretrievably tarnished and his system of control is in decay, Mr Putin could conceivably survive defeat, and the trajectory of a post-Putin Russia is equally uncertain. Three main variables will be crucial: the fate of Crimea (which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014), the speed of that victory, and Western policies.

After all, any leader who cannot hold Crimea is unlikely to be able to hold the Kremlin, and Mr Putin knows this. After all, while it is legally Ukrainian, many Russians feel that it is rightly theirs. The prospect of a direct Ukrainian offensive into Crimea could well panic Mr Putin  a man who doesn't make decisions quickly, and tends towards clumsy over-reaction when he does  into some dangerous escalation. If it simply becomes impossible to sustain, though, because the Ukrainians can cut the overland, sea and bridge connections to the peninsula, then he will face an almost impossible policy dilemma.

The speed of Russian defeat is also likely to be important. Ironically, it may not be the case that the quicker is the better for Ukraine and the world. A rapid collapse of the Russian lines may likewise panic Mr Putin into escalation, whether sending in the 180,000 or so conscripts he has hitherto held back for political reasons or, most worryingly if also least plausibly, using tactical nuclear weapons.

It might also panic the security elite, who are increasingly split, into feeling they have to rally round Mr Putin. Just as importantly, a slow defeat is most likely to demonstrate conclusively to Russia's elite and people alike that Mr Putin's war was as unwinnable as it was unwise.

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In the long term, security across Europe is best achieved with a Russia that has finally shed its great power ambitions and come to terms with its post-imperial status. A quick defeat could too easily breed a 'stab in the back' myth that blames incompetent generals or weak politicians, implying that Russia could and should have won, and can do so in the future.

The final obvious variable is Western policy. At the Munich Security Conference last week, France's president, Emmanuel Macron, rightly warned that every attempt at enforced regime change has been a disaster. This is not just about what to do with Mr Putin, though, but all Russians.

If people across the country are all treated as Mr Putin's willing co-conspirators in aggression and abuse, this actually strengthens his hand. Central to his propaganda is the conceit that the West simply hates Russians, and so like it or not, they must resist, something the sanctions regime has perversely only reinforced. It also ensures that a new generation of nationalists will likely rise when he does go.

It will be a delicate political challenge, to hold Mr Putin and his regime to task, while trying to ensure Russians as a whole realise we are judging people by their actions, not their passports. Nonetheless, this challenge is also a huge opportunity: by doing what we can to reach out to ordinary Russians, however little that admittedly is at present, we not only build the foundations for more productive future relations after Mr Putin, we also undermine him while he remains in power.

It will ultimately be Mr Putin's constitution or the Russian people who decide when he will go. Meanwhile, he is, after all, losing both on the battlefield and at home. We are doing what we can for the former cause, but there is more we can do for the latter.

Professor Mark Galeotti is an honorary professor at the UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies and author of Putin's Wars: from Chechnya to Ukraine (Bloomsbury, 2022)
Putnam County Fire Rescue is on scene of an escaped trash fire that is reportedly endangering nearby structures in Interlachen.

Engine 7 and District 72 arrived on scene to a brush fire that is approximately 100ft in diameter near another camper.

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Currently, the Florida Forest Service is on scene assisting.

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Radisson Hotel Northeast Philadelphia on Old Lincoln Highway in Trevose. TJM Properties, Inc., out the property up for auction in February 2023.

The fate of the six-story, 274-room Radisson Northeast Philadelphia is in limbo as the 49-year-old hotel and banquet hall heads to the auction block.

The current opening bid is $4.65 million for the prime location at the border of Philadelphia and Bucks County, according to several real estate auction houses. Bidding is open now.

Radisson Hotel Northeast Philadelphia details

The Radisson, built in 1974 at 2400 Old Lincoln Highway in the Trevose section of Bensalem, also known as Route 1, is managed by Clearwater, Florida-based TJM Properties, Inc.

TJM Properties did not return calls and emails requesting comment. As of this week, TJM Properties website still lists Radisson Northeast as open for business and under its managerial umbrella. The hotel is a spot for weddings, conventions and hotel guests. It includes a bar and restaurant.

Records indicate TJM Properties purchased the hotel in 2015 for $10.5 million.

Interior of Radisson Hotel Northeast Philadelphia at 2400 Old Lincoln Highway in Trevose. Florida-based TJM Properties, Inc., has put the property up for auction in February 2023.

Langhorne Hotel for sale:Langhorne Hotel, among Bucks' oldest inns, is for sale. History, charm part of $2.5M asking price

Possible usages for 2400 Old Lincoln Highway, auction impact

The eight-acre site sits in a G-C/General Commerce District zone, which provides any new owners great leeway in determining the next use of the property.

According to the Bensalem code, general commercial districts provide for the special requirements of retail commercial establishments, and are designed to encourage attractive, compact retail commercial development in locations close to local residences, yet near arterial roads or major thoroughfares.

The Radisson property sits just a few miles from entrances to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 95 and the busy Street Road and Roosevelt Boulevard corridors.

New developments in Bristol Township:Bristol Township to get Starbucks, new hotel and more on long-vacant land near I-95

The impact the impending auction will have on tourism in Bucks County remains to be seen.

Visit Bucks County, Bucks County's official tourism bureau, referred questions to TJM Properties and otherwise declined to comment. However, Visit Bucks County showcases the hotel on its website, promoting it as one of Sesame Place's official hotels and its proximity to Route 1 and Interstate 95.

Bensalem Mayor Joe DiGirolamo, a proponent of redevelopment, hasn't returned requests for comment.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Radisson Hotel in Trevose up for sale; bids start of $4.65 million
(Getty Images)

Junior Firpo struck a second-half winner as Leeds beat Premier League relegation rivals Southampton 1-0 to climb out of the bottom three.

Left-back Firpos first top-flight goal halted Leeds 10-game winless league run and ensured a winning start for new boss Javi Gracia in his first game in charge.

Leeds appointed former Watford manager Gracia on Tuesday after last weeks defeat at Everton left them in the relegation zone and his side responded with their first league win since November.

There had been the prospect of Leeds former boss Jesse Marsch returning to Elland Road in charge of Southampton for this key relegation match.

But talks between the south-coast club and the American broke down last week and the Saints then won at Chelsea before appointing interim boss Ruben Selles until the summer.

Leeds had slipped into the bottom three after a dismal display at Everton last week and the first-half action was typical of a crunch relegation encounter.

The home side were roared on by an anxious full house and it was they who forced the issue. But for all their huffing and puffing they rarely threatened Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.

Brenden Aaronson and Jack Harrison pulled efforts wide after promising moves for Leeds, while Stuart Armstrong fluffed the Saints best chance after cutting past Luke Ayling into the penalty area.

Saints striker Paul Onuachu forced Illan Meslier into the games first real save with a curling shot in the 39th minute and Leeds midfielder Weston McKennie blazed over from 12 yards out.

Firpo was Leeds hero at Elland Road (PA Wire)

Leeds loud appeals for a penalty were ignored by referee Peter Bankes inside the opening minute of the second period after Patrick Bamford went to ground under Jan Bednareks challenge.

The home faithful increased the volume as Leeds pinned the visitors in their own half, but Southampton remained organised and dogged opposition.

James Ward-Prowse, who equalled Jason Dodds record of 329 Premier League appearances for Southampton, fired straight at Meslier to relieve some of the pressure.

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Saints substitute Kyle Walker-Peters summed up his sides collective spirit moments after stepping into the action when blocking Crysencio Summervilles shot inside the penalty area.

But Saints stubborn defence was finally breached in the 77th minute. Harrisons clever backheel set Firpo free in the area and the left-back scored his first Premier League goal by squeezing a low shot under Bazunu.

Summerville spurned a chance to kill the game in added time when he fired wide, but Leeds held on to send Southampton to a 16th league defeat of the season and winless at Elland Road since 1998.
Ray Liottas daughter reflected on his legacy Friday as she accepted a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on his behalf in Los Angeles.

Liotta, who died suddenly in his sleep in May, was recognized as a one-of-a-kind actor by Karsen Liotta during a ceremony attended by his fiancee, his Black Bird co-star Taron Egerton and director Elizabeth Banks.

I couldnt be more proud of him, his daughter said, adding that the Goodfellas and Field of Dreams actor was the best friend, brother and father anyone could have asked for.

She looked up at the sky and said she lucked out with her father.

If you have a Ray in your life, youre lucky, she said. Thank you for your work and the imprint you left on me and all of those who love you. Everyone deserves a Ray in their life.

Karsen Liotta, who appeared in A Rumor of Angels and Hubie Halloween alongside her dad, has spoken about her appreciation for him on Instagram since his death.

Those who knew him, loved him, she wrote in June.

At this weeks ceremony, Banks offered her own tribute to Ray Liotta, who plays a lead role in her recently released comedy thriller, Cocaine Bear.

The filmmaker said she always admired Liottas acting but also genuinely enjoyed him as a human.

Although hes known for playing tough guys, I found him to be charming and a little mischievous, Banks said, adding that this made him truly perfect for Cocaine Bear.

When any actor of Rays caliber puts trust in you as a director, its a gift. But Ray gave me so much more, she continued. Rays respect for me as a director, as his boss on set, meant everything to me, because if you can direct Henry Hill, you can do fucking anything in this town.

Related...
The highly-anticipated new season of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip has dropped its first trailer featuring Gizelle Bryant, Candiace Dillard Bassett, and in her Housewives return, Porsha Williams.

Season 3 of the Housewives franchise mashup series will premiere on Peacock on March 23. The series first three episodes will be available to stream the day of premiere and additional episodes will premiere weekly.

The post The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip Season 3 Trailer: Porsha, Candiace, Gizelle And More Have Thailand Drama! appeared first on Shadow And Act.

This seasons ladies will be vacationing in Thailand for a trip of a lifetime. Season three will include housewives Gizelle Bryant and Candice Dillard Basset from The Real Housewives of Potomac, Alexia Nepola and Marysol Patton of The Real Housewives of Miami, Heather Gay and Whitney Rose of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Leah Mcsweeney of The Real Housewives of New York City, and in her Housewives return, Porsha Williams from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The series has become a fan favorite.

While the ladies are having fun and vacationing in paradise trouble is right around the corner.

There will be yelling, tears threats and drama during the trip.

In the trailer, you can see several arguments take place including Gizelle and Candiace and Whitney and Heather. Any leftover beef these ladies had in the past was packed in their suitcase and bought to Thailand. With eight women with different personalities, this is sure to be a bumpy ride.

Watch the trailer below:
Russians change personal details of the children abducted from Ukraine in order to complicate the process of finding them.

In particular, there are cases when Russians have added several years to the actual age of children whom they brought to "reeducation camps" in temporarily occupied Crimea.

Source: Kateryna Rashevska, expert at the Regional Centre for Human Rights, at a briefing in the Mediacentre Ukraine on 24 February

Quote from Rashevska: "I cannot guarantee that they [Russians  ed.] are doing this all the time. However, we have detected cases when they changed the childrens personal information, for instance, while transferring them to the so-called reeducation camps in order not to be obliged to get an approval from parents.

They have practically added years to their age and then taken them to Crimea. A child was kept there without a possibility to go back, as he/she was no longer a child, as per their documents. Freedom of movement was unlawfully restricted by the Russian Federation."

Kateryna Rashevska has spoken about Russian "reeducation camps"

Details: There are also very young children who cannot remember their real names because of trauma they suffered.

Kateryna Rashevska has spoken about Russian "reeducation camps" that are "camps of Russification, militarisation and indoctrination", so to say. There are seven of such camps on the Crimean peninsula, and 43 more in Russia.

"In some of them, there were children, taken without their parents permission and with forged documents. There were also situations when about 200 children were brought and accommodated in the camps," Rashevska said.

Ukraine has already notified the International Criminal Court of the actions of Maria Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Childrens Rights in Russia, who "adopted" Filip, a Ukrainian boy from Mariupol.

"During her last meeting with Putin, Maria Lvova-Belova forgot something or intentionally manipulated Filip's age by saying he was 15 years old.

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At the same time, she said almost a year ago that Filip was 16. And if we compare the information she provided, we will get that he is 17. Because she said that Filip lost his mother in 2017, when he was 11," Rashevska added.

Rashevska has pointed out that such misrepresentation of the information occurs pretty often, and childrens personal details are changed not just during the adoption process.

According to the human rights activist, registers that were in the temporarily occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as the information that the occupiers stole from orphanages in newly occupied territories, are synchronised with the federal database about orphans of the Russian Federation.

Kateryna Rashevska has highlighted that Ukraine will need to make enormous efforts in order to identify such children, find families that took them and repatriate the children back to Ukraine.

"We have an issue with identification  and it is the first problem that the state needs to resolve," she added.

Ukraine has succeeded in identifying 16,000 of the deported children. In 2022, 400 children were sent to Russian families; this information is available on the Children of War portal.

"We need to try and develop a single legal mechanism to get such children back. We cannot wait for a year or two, or till the end of the war, as some children are already reaching the age of 18, and it means that boys can be called up to the Russian army," Rashevska stressed.

In addition, human rights activists have found out that the Russians take children with an excuse of "clinical examination" that means medical intervention by the Russian doctors.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
TOKYO (AP)  Dmytro Remez quietly shows on his laptop before and after photos of buildings, clicking to once elegant offices and hotels that turned into lopsided abandoned rubble.

One crumbling building was right in front of his home in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine.

Remez, 24, a fledgling medical doctor studying at Juntendo University, is among the 2,291 Ukrainians who have moved to Japan since the war with Russia began a year ago.

Its ridiculous. The main purpose is to destroy everything. If you look at the cities for which they are fighting, the cities are totally destroyed, he said, sitting in his tiny, but clean, modern dorm in Tokyo.

No one will live in the cities in the future. So for what? Why? Why do you do this?

His flight-to-safety story is a rare one in a nation that has a reputation for closing its doors to asylum seekers.

Japan accepted just 74 refugees, mostly from African nations in 2021, the latest year for which such data are available, according to the Justice Ministry. That's fewer than 1% of 2,413 applicants.

Technically, Ukrainians arent even categorized as refugees, but called evacuees. The system for accepting Ukrainians works without Japan having to change its overall refugee policy. The Japanese government has repeatedly expressed its solidarity with the U.S. and other Western nations in supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.

A significant portion of the money helping Ukrainians in Japan has come from Nippon Foundation, a nonprofit that directs motorboat racing revenue to philanthropy. Nippon Foundation initially committed 5 billion yen ($37 million) to help Ukrainians, including travel costs, housing and living expenses, and has since raised the amount to 8.58 billion yen ($64 million) over three years.

It's among the largest donations made in reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, with other major gifts in cash and services coming from American technology companies like Microsoft as well as European foundations and companies with a charitable mission. Private donations tallied by the U.S. nonprofit Candid found that $1.2 billion was donated since the outbreak of the war. For comparison, the U.N. has received $3.4 billion in commitments or donations mostly from governments to fund its humanitarian response to the war.

Story continues

Nippon Foundation, founded by politician and businessman Ryoichi Sasakawa in 1962, has now given aid to 1,921 Ukrainians in Japan. The group has been honored with various international awards.

The organization is now headed by Yohei Sasakawa, Ryoichi Sasakawas son. Its charity work includes fighting leprosy, disaster relief, help for people with disabilities and various scholarships, under its motto to achieve a society in which all people support one another.

Ayako Niijima, who oversees protection and assistance at the Japan Association for Refugees, says the way Japan grants refugee status is very narrow, and the procedure difficult, compared to the global standard.

Her organization helps refugees in Japan in partnership with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR.

Niijima said that dozens of people hoping to live in Japan are now homeless. Those numbers are expected to grow, since entry restrictions for the coronavirus pandemic were lifted in October.

There is definitely a big difference in treatment for Ukrainians, Niijima said, while noting she is supportive of all people who seek safety in Japan, including Ukrainians.

Remez doesnt appear overly interested in the inner workings of his aid package. He is just grateful for the support he's received, especially from the university and his professors, and all that he is learning, going every day to the university hospital.

The other day, he learned about the CT scan. Another day, he had fun taking part in a relay running race with nurses and doctors, the only Ukrainian on the team.

The full-tuition opportunity, complete with plane tickets, to continue his studies was the only such option he found online. It just happened to be Japan, he recalled with a smile.

And he considers himself lucky. The people are friendly. If he gets lost, people go out of their way to help him.

His wife, Oleksandra Horbulova, a violinist whom he dated for several years and married shortly before the war began, has also gotten into Japan, but through a different program unrelated to Juntendo.

They live apart for now but see each other on weekends. She does charity concerts and teaches music to children. They plan to have children, once they save enough money.

Remez has learned to love ramen noodles and sushi, although he still loves to cook. His borscht is delicious, he boasts. He is learning Japanese.

Being a doctor was always his dream because he wanted to help people. Its a challenge, like solving a crime, except what you are fighting is disease, he said.

He hopes to go into general practice in Japan. There are people to help here as well, and Japan is prone to natural disasters.

You know, we are still trying to find new ways of killing each other. We have disasters that can kill thousands of people. Why are we killing each other? Its stupid, said Remez.

His father, a lawyer and government worker, still lives in Ukraine. He missed being killed by 15 minutes, when his workplace was bombed before he arrived. His father is really brave, Remez says. He lost his mother to kidney failure, shortly before the war began. He has no siblings.

Remez acknowledged he was never one of those overly fascinated by samurai, ninja or other things Japan, although he has watched Studio Ghibli animation films by Hayao Miyazaki.

These days, he is startled by how Japan and Ukraine have so much in common. Instead of individualism, driven by a desire to get ahead, he senses a peaceful community spirit in both nations.

When he visited a nearby shrine over New Years, the celebration of life there reminded him of Easter in Ukrainian churches.

Being a doctor, Remez also thinks about how the historical connection among doctors lies deep between the nations in studying and treating the effects of radiation. Chernobyl happened in Ukraine; Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima in Japan, Remez said thoughtfully.

Ukrainian doctors helped in Fukushima after the 2011 tsunami, quake and nuclear disaster. Japanese doctors performed lifesaving cancer surgery on children after the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.

We are the only two countries that suffered nuclear disaster, he said. Japanese people have suffered. They really want to help.

___

Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
 Flash

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for preventing further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and giving peace "a chance."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C, Front) speaks at a high-level meeting on Ukraine at the UN headquarters in New York, on Feb. 24, 2023. Guterres on Friday called for preventing further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and giving peace "a chance." (Xinhua/Xie E)

"We must prevent further escalation," he told a Security Council high-level meeting on Ukraine, which was convened on the first anniversary of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and attended by about 30 foreign ministers and diplomats.

"We must all encourage every meaningful effort to end the bloodshed and, at long last, give peace a chance," said Guterres.

Noting the Security Council has held more than 40 debates on Ukraine over the past year, he said that "the guns are talking now, but in the end we all know that the path of diplomacy and accountability is the road to a just and sustainable peace."

"Protection of civilians must remain the top priority," Guterres stressed, also calling for actions to ensure safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, invest in Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction, as well as to avoid nuclear risks.

He gave an update on the progress made under the Black Sea Grain Initiative and renewed calls for the deal's extension.

On July 22, 2022, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict.

The deal, due to expire on Nov. 19, 2022, was extended for another 120 days.

Under the deal, more than 20 million metric tons of foodstuffs have now been safely reconnected to global supply chains on more than 700 ships, helping to bring down prices around the world, Guterres said.

"I want to underscore the importance of all parties remaining engaged in this initiative, and reiterate our call for it to be extended beyond March 2023," he said.

Guterres added that the United Nations is firmly committed to working to remove remaining obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer exports, including ammonia.

These efforts demonstrated that international cooperation is essential, valuable and possible, "even in the midst of conflict," the UN chief said.
Three Republican lawmakers sent letters on Friday to the co-chairs of President Bidens Supreme Court commission requesting documents and communications related to the panels work.

Biden formed the 34-member commission in April 2021 to study potential reforms to the Supreme Court, including Court-packing. The group issued a nearly 300-page final report in December 2021 and took no position on the issue of Court-packing and offered arguments for and against judicial term limits and other matters related to the high Court but did not provide any recommendations.

Now, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Senators Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) are calling on Robert Bauer and Cristina Rodriguez, the panels co-chairs, to turn over documents and communications they had with other commissions members, the White House, the Department of Justice, and several progressive judicial-advocacy groups, including Demand Justice, the American Constitution Society and the Unrig the Courts Coalition.

While the Commissions work has concluded, questions remain about the Commissions work, deliberations, and true purpose, the Republicans wrote in the letters, which were first reported by Politico.

The lawmakers gave Bauer and Rodriguez until March 10 to turn over the requested information. Bauer previously served as White House counsel for President Barack Obama and has been representing Biden in the investigation into the presidents handling of classified documents, while Rodriguez is a Yale Law School professor who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel under the Obama administration.

Biden promised to form the bipartisan commission during the 2020 campaign as he repeatedly dodged questions regarding his stance on expanding the Supreme Court. At that time, progressives had thrust Court-packing to the forefront of political debate with calls to add more justices to the nine-judge Court after Republicans moved forward with Justice Amy Coney Barretts confirmation hearings just weeks before the 2020 election, creating a 6-3 conservative majority on the court.

More from National Review
Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Researchers found Russian oil exporters are selling oil above a price cap set by Western countries.

The European Union banned seaborne imports of Russian crude oil in December 2022.

Russia redirected crude oil exports to markets such as India, China, and Turkey, per the report.

Russian oil companies made more money than previously thought after Western countries imposed an oil price cap on the country in December, according to a group of researchers.

"We find that Russia was able to redirect crude oil exports from Europe to alternative markets such as India, China, and Turkey," according to the report from researchers at Columbia University, the Institute of International Finance, University of California, Los Angles, and IE University.

The report noted that oil export earnings were still "curbed substantially" by the discounts that Russian oil exporters "had to accept in market segments where the impeding EU embargo lowered demand."

Western countries set a price cap of $60 on Russian oil on December 5, 2022, the same day that the European Union banned seaborne imports of Russian crude oil and barred European companies from insuring Russian oil shipments. Oil historian Gregory Brew previously told Insider that China, India, and other countries in Asia would not feel obligated to commit to the price cap at the time.

The researchers recommended that the EU not lift its sanctions on Russia going forward because they are "critical" to keeping Russian oil prices discounted.

"Most importantly, our findings suggest that going forward, the enforcement of sanctions on Russian oil exports is critical  including ensuring compliance with price cap-related restrictions on shipping, maritime insurance, and other services," the report read.

The authors of the report recommended that sanctions be strictly enforced moving forward and called for "further investigation" of Russian oil transactions.

"Moreover, our surprising finding of a significant share of Russian crude oil being sold well-above the price cap level of $60/barrel urgently calls for further investigation of these transactions and reinforces the need for stepped-up enforcement," the report read.

Read the original article on Insider
A Johnson County respiratory therapist who has long been suspected of playing a role in nine mysterious deaths at a Chillicothe, Missouri, medical center is charged with a second count of first-degree murder stemming from a patient death that occurred more than 20 years ago.

Livingston County prosecutors charged Jennifer Hall, 42, on Tuesday for the alleged killing of David Wesley Harper, a 37-year-old man who died at Hedrick Medical Center in 2002 while being treated for pneumonia. Hall has been jailed without bond since her May arrest on a first-degree murder charge in the death of 75-year-old Fern Franco.

In both cases, authorities allege the patients were given succinylcholine, a muscle relaxing drug that Hall had access to. She allegedly had a vial containing the drug in her pocket at the time Harper suddenly died, according to charging documents filed in Livingston County Circuit Court.

According to medical records, succinylcholine was not used during the attempt to resuscitate Mr. Harper. Succinylcholine was stocked on the crash cart to which Hall had access and was one of the substances identified as causing the death of Fern Franco four weeks after Mr. Harpers murder, a Chillicothe police officer wrote in a probable-cause affidavit seeking criminal charges against Hill.

From December 2001 through May 2002, Hall worked as a respiratory therapist at the 49-bed medical center where six others died amid a sequence of events deemed medically suspicious, according to charging documents for Hall.

A total of 18 cardiac or respiratory arrests, also called Code Blue events, were logged during Halls time working there. Before then the medical center averaged one per year.

Doctors and nurses suspected for months that a killer walked the halls of their small hospital as patients died at an alarming rate. Hall was ultimately placed on administrative leave on May 21, 2002.

In 2010, the families of five patients who died during that period brought wrongful-death claims against the hospital. They accused Hall of being a serial killer who poisoned their loved ones while they were being treated. But the Missouri Supreme Court ultimately found that the statute of limitations had expired for civil action, and tossed out the lawsuit.

Story continues

In 2012, Livingston County Prosecutor Adam Warren pledged to reopen a criminal investigation. Ten years later, on May 4, Hall was first criminally charged in connection with the death of Franco, whose body had been exhumed and examined by the Livingston County coroner in 2002. Traces of the muscle relaxant and morphine were found, which  when combined  would have caused her to suffocate, the coroner found.

The Star wrote at length about Hall in 2015. At the time, Hall denied causing anyones death. She has also pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge in Francos death.

A criminal defense attorney representing Hall could not be immediately reached for comment late Friday.

The Stars Mike Hendricks and Eric Adler contributed to this report.
The European Council announced in a statement on Feb. 25 that they had adopted the 10th package of sanctions against Russia and those who support its war against Ukraine.

"Today's 10th package of sanctions targets those who are instrumental in the continuation of this brutal war. We are taking more measures, tackling the banking sector, access to dual-use technology and advanced technologies," the European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said, as quoted by the statement.

On Twitter, Borrell wrote that the new sanctions package targets 121 individuals and entities, and also includes significant new import and export restrictions, and bans Russian propaganda outlets.

"We remain united in our determination to dent Russia's war machine," he wrote.

According to the statement, seven Iranian entities that manufacture drones Russia has been using to attack Ukraine are coming under EU sanctions for the first time.

Russia has been using Iranian-made kamikaze drones to attack Ukraine since September, launching attacks against civilians and destroying energy facilities nationwide.

The new sanctions package also "imposes further export bans on critical technology and industrial goods, such as electronics, specialized vehicles, machine parts, spare parts for trucks and jet engines, as well as goods for the construction sector, which can be directed to Russia's military, such as antennas or cranes."

Also, further restrictions are imposed on imports of goods that "generate significant revenues for Russia, such as asphalt and synthetic rubber." The new sanctions also prohibit providing gas storage capacity to Russian nationals.

The Council said they had also started the process for suspending the broadcasting licenses of RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic media outlets since Russia has been using them for its "continuous and concerted disinformation and war propaganda actions."

According to Borrell, the new sanctions also target those responsible for the deportation and forced adoption of "at least 6.000 Ukrainian children."

Story continues

"This is a clear violation of international law, including the Geneva convention, as I raised at UN Security Council yesterday," Borrell wrote.

On Feb. 24, the U.S. also introduced an additional package of sanctions against Russia, targeting banks and key suppliers of the Russian military sector. Restrictions will be imposed on more than 200 individuals and entities within Russia and worldwide "to further degrade Russia's economy and diminish its ability to wage war against Ukraine."

Earlier on Feb. 22, Politico reported, citing three unnamed diplomats familiar with the matter, that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened to veto the extension of EU sanctions against Russia, which must be renewed every six months.
Ricky Gervais attends the "After Life" For Your Consideration Event on March 7, 2019. Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Comedian Ricky Gervais weighed in on the ongoing Roald Dahl censorship debate Friday.

In a tweet, Gervais wrote that he wondered if his jokes would be censored after he died.

The Telegraph reported that Dahl's publisher removed words like "fat" and "crazy" from Dahl's books.

On Friday, British comedian Ricky Gervais weighed in on the debate surrounding edits made to late author Roald Dahl's children's books.

Gervais took to Twitter to "ponder" whether or not his work would be changed after he died to "spare" certain people.

Gervais shared a black-and-white photo of himself with a serious expression to accompany his tweet. His caption read, "This is me pondering whether they'll change any of the words I've used in my work after I'm dead, to spare those who are fragile and easily offended."

"Words like 'fat' and 'ugly'. And 'cunt' and 'fuck'. And 'fat, ugly, greedy, pathetic little stupid fucking cunt'. Stuff like that," he continued.

Gervais followed his original tweet with another that same day. The comedian shared a selfie from an upward angle, where his stomach and face could be seen. "I've changed my mind. I think we should ban the words 'fat' and 'ugly'. No reason," Gervais wrote.

Gervais' comments come after The Telegraph reported on February 17 that publishing house Puffin edited Dahl's children's books to remove words like "fat," "crazy," and "ugly." According to the outlet, hundreds of changes were made to Dahl's work.

"This book was written many years ago, and so we regularly review the language to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today," reads a statement on the copyright page of the latest editions of Dahl's books, per The Telegraph.

Story continues

The Roald Dahl Story Company worked together with Puffin to make the changes to his books, Insider reported. The organization manages the copyright of Dahl's work and told Insider that "the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit" of Dahl's writing had not been lost.

"Any changes made have been small and carefully considered," a representative for the Roald Dahl Story Company told Insider in a statement.

On Friday, Puffin UK announced that the original version of Roald Dahl's work would be released in "The Roald Dahl Classic Collection." The Telegraph reported that the publishing house "listened to the debate" and recognized "the importance of keeping Dahl's classic texts in print."

The Roald Dahl Story Company told the UK-based outlet they were "deeply moved" by the strong reaction from the public.

Read the original article on Insider
Russia has sent 200 police officers from the Akhmat Special Operations Regiment to the Bakhmut front, where intense fighting continues, in order to deter deserters.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Quote form the General Staff: "Forced mobilisation is continuing in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation.

Up to 200 police officers from the Akhmat Special Operations Regiment were deployed on the Bakhmut front on 23 February to prevent mobilised soldiers from potentially deserting the front or [conducting acts of sabotage]."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Ukrainian servicemen of the 28th Independent Mechanised Brigade prepare to fire 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer, near the frontline town of Bakhmut, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Donetsk region, Ukraine February 25, 2023. REUTERS/Marko Djuricaa - REUTERS/Marko Djuricaa

Vladimir Putin will eventually be killed by a member of his inner circle, Volodymyr Zelensky believes.



As Russia is subject to increasingly tough economic sanctions, Putin's regime will become ever more fragile and provoke his rivals to get rid of him, he told the journalist Dmytro Komarov in a documentary.



"There will certainly be a moment when the fragility of Putins regime is felt in Russia," he said.

"Then carnivores will eat a carnivore. It is very important, and they will need a reason to justify this.



They will remember. They will find a reason to kill a killer.



Will it work? Yes. When? I dont know."

Putin keeps a close circle, impenetrable but to a few close advisers whose loyalty stretches back decades. However, a rift has emerged between the Russian army and the Wagner mercenaries as each blames the other for failures on the battlefield while trying to claim credit for triumphs for themselves.

05:05 PM

Today's top stories

That's it for today. Here are the day's big news:

A Russian mercenary from the Wagner Group who escaped to Norway from Russia has been arrested for attacking a policeman

Ukraine has reportedly struck a Russian ammunition depot and other military equipment in the occupied city of Mariupol

Russia has likely run out of its kamikaze drones which have wreaked havoc on Ukrainian cities by attacking energy infrastructure and acting as decoys for heavier weapons

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would visit China in early April and called on Beijing to "help us pressure Russia" to end the war in Ukraine

Polish energy group PKN Orlen announced that it had stopped receiving Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline, which under its last contract accounted for 10 percent of Orlen's needs

Finance chiefs of the world's largest economies strongly condemned Moscow for its war on Ukraine on Saturday, with only China and Russia itself declining to sign a joint

04:48 PM

Life on the frontline: Rebuilding Bucha a year after Russia's massacre

British humanitarian group Vans Without Borders were one of the first to visit Bucha and Irpin and saw the devastation Russia had unleashed, writes Valerie Browne.

Story continues

Vans Without Borders (VWB) is a British humanitarian group, that delivers essential food and medical supplies to civilians who are left with no choice but to live near the Ukrainian-Russian frontline. The team have been braving countless dangers and driving down bombed-out roads since March 2022. Bringing relief to vulnerable people, recently liberated from Russian occupation and left to starve in the wake of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. VWB were one of the first humanitarian groups to visit Bucha and Irpin after the March 2022 massacre. They witnessed the devastation the Russian army had unleashed upon the local population during their occupation. Watch the video

04:33 PM

Zelensky expects 'decisive steps against Rosatom' as new sanctions imposed

The 10th  sanctions package targets russian military industry, propaganda & financial system. The pressure on russian aggressor must increase: we expect decisive steps against Rosatom & russian nuclear industry, more pressure on military & banking.    (@ZelenskyyUa) February 25, 2023

04:27 PM

Russia has taken little land since July last year, says ISW

The #Kremlin did not comment on the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of #Ukraine on February 24, likely because #Russia has failed to achieve any of its stated objectives and has not made significant territorial gains since July 2022.https://t.co/aDX0jN482i pic.twitter.com/D1IkKRV5ct  ISW (@TheStudyofWar) February 25, 2023

03:54 PM

Polish group says Russia stopped oil pipeline deliveries

Polish energy group PKN Orlen announced that it had stopped receiving Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline, which under its last contract accounted for 10 percent of Orlen's needs.

"Deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline towards Poland were stopped by the Russian side," the Polish company said in a statement to AFP.

Orlen said the move would not impact supply to Polish clients and that all oil deliveries would now come by sea.

Until now, PKN Orlen had imported about 10 percent of its oil needs through the pipeline from Russia and the rest from other countries through maritime routes.

03:41 PM

How Ukraine and Russia will analyse each other's next steps

The Telegraph's associate defence editor uses a British Army exercise to break down what the next few months might hold

Military planning is a tricky pastime. The British Army teaches that when grappling with the thorny issue of what a resourceful, capable and adaptable enemy is going to do, two extremes of action should be planned for: the Most Likely Course Of Action and the Most Dangerous (MLCOA and MDCOA). The wave that eventually breaks upon you is likely to be somewhere in the middle of these two scenarios. To be right is not the point. Instead, the process of examining ones vulnerabilities and an enemys desires from every angle  including the enemys  should allow a commander and military staff to foresee problems before they occur  and have a plan up their sleeves for each potential scenario just in case. Read the ful analysis

03:26 PM

Protest in Berlin over arming Ukraine against Russia draws thousands

A demonstration against supplying Ukraine with weapons for war with Russia attracted 10,000 people on Saturday, drawing criticism from top German government officials and a large police presence to maintain order.

Organised by a prominent left-wing German politician, the protest comes a day after the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which drew promises of more weapons from western allies, fresh sanctions against Russia and shows of support for Kyiv across the globe.

"We call on the German chancellor to stop the escalation of arms deliveries. Now!...Because every day lost costs up to 1,000 more lives - and brings us closer to a 3rd world war," the protest's organisers said on their website.

 Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters are demonstrating in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin this afternoon.



Speakers at the rally call for immediate peace talks, an end to Germany's support for Ukraine and halting any further NATO enlargement. pic.twitter.com/HVHBP0Cjje  dana (@dana916) February 25, 2023

03:05 PM

'Ukraine strikes out-of-reach Mariupol'

Ukraine has reportedly struck a Russian ammunition depot and other military equipment in the occupied city of Mariupol.



The strikes, which happened at night, set off big explosions, according to the Ukrinform news agency, and suggest Ukraine is using new weapons with an extended reach.



According to a local official, Russian targets were struck in the villages of Yalta and Yurivka where there is a large concentration of occupiers.



Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the Mariupol city mayor, posted on Telegram that he has verified the reports and that the occupiers are struck. Its a good trend."



Mariupol held out for more than two months out against Russian assaults before it was eventually captured by Moscow. The city had been previously of range of Ukrainian cannon and missiles, but Nataliya Humeniuk, a senior spokeswoman for the Ukrainian army, said that is no longer the case.



At this stage, we can only state that inaccessibility is a very relative concept. What is considered so remote that it is unreachable, is not always so. The direction of Mariupol is no longer completely unreachable for us.

02:59 PM

Lithuanians raise 14 mn euros to buy radars for Ukraine

Lithuanians have donated 14 million euros (12.30 million) to buy air defence radars for Ukraine in a month-long fundraising drive, the organisers said Saturday.

"At this crucial moment, we must do all that is possible to guarantee our backing for the Ukrainian people," President Gitanas Nauseda said on Friday.

Lithuania has been a major backer of Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February last year. The money raised will be used to buy 14 radars, the organisers said.

"14 million euros from Lithuanians to buy radars to protect Ukraine. In four weeks. It's from us. For now. We'll be back,' television presenter Andrius Tapinas, one of the organisers, tweeted.

"Many call these donations but I say it's an investment ... for our security and that of our children," Tapinas told AFP.

02:25 PM

Here is the G20 statement in full

All member countries except Russia and China agreed to statement on Ukraine adapted from G20 Bali Leaders Declaration: G20 Chair's summary and Outcome Document on Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting pic.twitter.com/rLyKrgZ6Ue  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2023

02:18 PM

Germany regrets China's position on Ukraine war

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said it was "regrettable" that China had blocked a Group of 20 communique to condemn Russia's war on Ukraine.

"But for me it was more important that all the others adhered to a clear position of international law, multilateralism and the end of the war," he said.

Mr Lindner was speaking to reporters after a meeting of finance leaders from the world's major economies in Bengaluru.

01:58 PM

Watch: Vladimir Klitschko drive a German leopard tank

'Thank you, Germany! Thank you, the free world for all you do for us Ukrainians!' - world boxing champion Volodymyr @Klitschko tried out the Leopard tanks. pic.twitter.com/P7zPWj1cX7  Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 25, 2023

01:55 PM

Lithuanians raise 14 mn euros to buy radars for Ukraine

Lithuanians have donated 14 million euros (12.3 million) to buy air defence radars for Ukraine in a month-long fundraising drive, the organisers said Saturday.

The Baltic country, a member of both the European Union and Nato, has been a major backer of Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February last year.

"At this crucial moment, we must do all that is possible to guarantee our backing for the Ukrainian people," President Gitanas Nauseda said on Friday, the last day of the month-long collection drive.

01:32 PM

Most G20 nations condemn Russia for war but China stays silent

Finance chiefs of the world's largest economies strongly condemned Moscow for its war on Ukraine on Saturday, with only China and Russia itself declining to sign a joint statement.

India, which as chair of the Group of Twenty (G20) economies was hosting a meeting in the city of Bengaluru, was reluctant to raise the issue of the war but Western nations insisted they could not back any outcome that did not include a condemnation.

The lack of full consensus among G20 members meant that India resorted to issuing a "chair's summary" in which it simply summed up the two days of talks and noted the disagreements.

12:58 PM

Belarus leader Lukashenko says he had long chat with Putin on war anniversary

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he held a long conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday.

"I'll tell you a secret, last night he and I spoke for a long time on various topics," a social media channel linked to Lukashenko's press service quoted him as telling reporters, without giving details.

The Kremlin has yet to provide any statement about the conversation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pose for a photo prior to their talks at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (Vladimir Astapkovich, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) - Vladimir Astapkovich, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

12:44 PM

Latest on the war fom the MoD

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 February 2023



Find out more about Defence Intelligence: https://t.co/dnK9iMITD3



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/vozmOE36aJ  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 25, 2023

12:24 PM

EU adopts fresh sanctions amid vow to ramp up pressure on Moscow

The European Union vowed to increase pressure on Moscow "until Ukraine is liberated" as it adopted a tenth package of sanctions on Russia on Saturday, a day after the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

"We now have the most far-reaching sanctions ever - depleting Russia's war arsenal and biting deep into its economy," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter, adding the bloc was turning up the pressure on those trying to circumvent EU sanctions.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned the bloc would continue to pile more sanctions on Moscow.

12:14 PM

German leader seeks Indian support for Russia's isolation

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany wants to get India to support, or at least not block, Western efforts to isolate Russia for waging a devastating war against Ukraine.

Following his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Scholz stressed that developing countries were being negatively impacted by energy and food shortages resulting from the war and hopes that India will help secure critical supplies to Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Mr Modi maintained his cautious approach and said India wanted the conflict to be ended through dialogue and diplomacy. "India is ready to make its contribution to any peace initiative," he added.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by HARISH TYAGI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13782493ae) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) during the ceremonial reception at the Presidential House in New Delhi, India, 25 February 2023. Scholz is on his two days first state visit to India, focused on economic ties, green technology, Indo-Pacific strategy and scheduled to meet top Indian leadership. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits India, New Delhi - 25 Feb 2023 - HARISH TYAGI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

11:59 AM

Escaped Wagner mercenary arrested for attacking policeman

A Russian mercenary from the Wagner Group who escaped to Norway from Russia has been arrested for attacking a policeman, writes James Kilner

Andrey Medvedev, 26, is alleged to have had a drunken brawl in an Oslo bar and then punched police when they intervened, less than six weeks after his escape.



Norwegian prosecutors have charged Medvedev and a court will hear his case on April 25.



Medvedev has said that he joined Wagner in July and served for four months as a commander in its army of mainly ex-convicts fighting in Bakhmut, east Ukraine.



He said that he fled after being told to stay on despite only signing up for four months. After a couple of months lying low, Medvedev escaped to Norway in mid-January.



Since fleeing to Norway, Medvedev has detailed how he witnessed the murder of at least two Russian mercenaries by Wagner commanders for refusing to fight. He is considered a potentially valuable witness to Russian brutality and war crimes.

A man walks by a drawn again mural depicting the logo of Russia's Wagner Group on a wall in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. A friendly, fellow-Slavic nation, Serbia has welcomed the fleeing Russians who need visas to travel to much richer Western European states. But in Serbia, they have not escaped the long reach of Putin's hardline regime influence.A (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) - AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

11:40 AM

Moscow 'runs out of drones'

Russia has likely run out of its kamikaze drones which have wreaked havoc on Ukrainian cities by attacking energy infrastructure and acting as decoys for heavier weapons.

The Ministry of Defence said Russia will be looking to resupply its stock and comes amid Nato fears that Beijing is looking to aid Moscows war machine with a shipment of weapons.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the supply could include as many as 100 kamikaze drones that can carry warheads of up to 50kg, similar to the Iranian-made Shahed-136.

The MoD said its findings were based on the absence of reports of Shahed-136 drones being used in Ukraine since February 15 suggests Russia has run down its current stock.

11:34 AM

China must pressure Russia into avoiding chemical and nuclear weapons, says Macron

President Macron suggested China's engagment in peace in Ukraine could help pressure Moscow into avoiding escalation of the war.

"The fact that China engages in peace efforts is a good thing," Mr Macron told reporters at an agricultural fair in Paris.

"China must help us put pressure on Russia so that it never uses chemical or nuclear weapons, (an effort) which China has already made, and that it stops its aggression as a precondition for talks," he added.

11:15 AM

Russia doubled number of ships in Black Sea, strikes possible, says Ukraine

Ukraine's military said Russia had doubled the number of ships on active duty in the Black Sea on Friday and predicted this could be a preparation for more missile strikes.

Russia's navy has regularly launched missiles from its Black Sea Fleet as part of an effort by Moscow to target Ukrainian critical infrastructure and power generating facilities.

"In the Black Sea, the fleet of warships has doubled compared to this morning -- it is now eight ships," the military command in the southern region said in a Facebook update.

10:49 AM

Russia's Medvedev says defence factories meeting demand, denies missile shortage

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said the country's factories are working round the clock to meet an exponential increase in defence orders, mocking the idea that Moscow's forces in Ukraine were running out of missiles.

Mr Medvedev said Moscow had increased military production "by tens of times" at some factories and was closely studying weapons fired into Russian-held areas from the Ukrainian side in an effort to gain an advantage.

10:30 AM

Macron says will visit China in 'early April'

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would visit China in early April and called on Beijing to "help us pressure Russia" to end the war in Ukraine.

Speaking a day after China called for urgent peace talks as it released its plan to end the war in Ukraine, Mr Macron said on Saturday that peace was only possible if "the Russian aggression was halted, troops withdrawn and territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and its people was respected".

10:15 AM

Yellen says 'absolutely necessary' for G20 to condemn war in Ukraine

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that a strong statement condemning Russia's war in Ukraine was "absolutely necessary" for a communique from the G20 finance leaders' meeting in India concluding on Saturday.

Ms Yellen told Reuters in an interview that leaving a war condemnation out of the communique would be a step back from a statement made by G20 leaders last November on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Volodymyr Zelenksy Ukraine China Russia invasion war Europe Asia weapons - Andy Davey

Russia is expanding its defence production and introducing the latest technologies in its weapons factories, according to a key ally of Vladimir Putin.

It came amid further signs that Moscow is cosying up to Beijing, with Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, set to visit China in the coming days following reports that a drone deal may be under way.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, mocked Western intelligence reports that Moscow was running short of weapons and ammunition, and having to fall back on basic Cold War kit.

Instead, he said that factories in Russia had boosted their output tenfold and were improving weapons with hi-tech Western kit captured on the battlefield.

We are not just expanding production, but also introducing the latest technologies, perfecting them literally on the march, he said in an article published in the monthly National Defence magazine.

Dmitry Medvedev Russia Kremlin invasion war Ukraine weapons - Ekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Mr Medvedev, now deputy head of the Russian Security Council, boasted that Russian engineers and scientists were learning from Western weapons captured in Ukraine.

He said: We have also studied enemy weapons quite well, which were taken as trophies and dismantled to the last screw at our military construction bureaux. We turned the enemys experience to our own advantage.

Despite Western sanctions that are starving Russia of vital microchips, the Kremlin has shifted its economy onto a war footing. Employees at weapons factories work triple shifts and are protected from being mobilised.

There have been reports of shopping centres being turned into munitions factories.

The comments came as the British Ministry of Defence said that Russia had nearly run out of Iranian drones after 24 were shot down by Ukraine at the start of February.

Russia has run down its current stock. Russia will likely seek a resupply, it said.

But rather than manufacturing its own, there have been reports that the Kremlin is looking to China for fresh stocks.

Alexander Lukashenko Belarus Ukraine invasion war Russia Europe weapons China visit - Sputnik/Vladimir Astapkovich/Kremlin via Reuters

Mr Lukashenko announced that he is set to visit China this week. Officially, his three-day trip is aimed at improving bilateral relations with China.

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However, analysts have said that Belarus is little more than a Russian vassal state and Mr Lukashenko often acts as an emissary for Putin on his foreign visits and relaying messages from the Kremlin  raising the possibility that he will seek to seal a deal on drones or other weapons.

US officials have warned China of consequences if it supports the Kremlins war in Ukraine.

While Beijing has not officially backed Putin, it has refused to criticise him either.

On Saturday, China blocked a G20 joint communique that would have included a condemnation of the invasion  a decision that Christian Lindner, the German finance minister, described as regrettable.

This week, Beijing has tried to put itself increasingly at the centre of the efforts to end the conflict, even offering up a 12-point peace plan that was widely derided by Ukraines allies.

But Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, welcomed the initiative and said he would like to meet Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.

Macron to visit China in April

Emmanuel Macron also announced that he would visit China in early April in order to urge Beijing to help put pressure on Russia to end the war.

The fact that China is engaging in peace efforts is a good thing, the French president said, while urging Beijing not to supply any arms to Russia.

Separately, the European Union vowed to increase pressure on Moscow until Ukraine is liberated as it adopted a 10th package of sanctions on Russia.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, tweeted:

I welcome the formal adoption of our 10th sanctions package against Russia.



We now have the most far-reaching sanctions ever - depleting Russia's war arsenal and biting deep into its economy.



We are also turning up the pressure on those trying to circumvent our sanctions. https://t.co/hh74CxvbCx  Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 25, 2023

The latest measures mainly target Moscows access to technology that can be used for civilian and military purposes, as well as advanced technologies.

The package adds electronic components used in Russian weapons systems retrieved on the battlefield, including drones, missiles, helicopters, as well as specific rare earth materials, electronic integrated circuits and thermal cameras to the list of banned exports.

It also imposes tighter export restrictions on another 96 entities for supporting Russias military and industrial complex including, for the first time, seven Iranian entities manufacturing military drones used by Moscow.

The Kremlin bought hundreds of Iranian kamikaze drones last summer and set them into action against Ukrainian cities. When they were first deployed last August, Western analysts said that they were being used to protect Russias low stocks of missiles.

Russia has signed a deal with Iran to build a drone factory near Kazan, central Russia, but this is supposedly some months away from starting production.

The intensity of the fighting in Ukraine has meant that both sides have used up huge arsenals.

Nato officials have also warned that Ukraines army was firing ammunition faster than it could be resupplied.
 Flash

China on Friday blamed the United States for violating its obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as Chicago Convention, and multiple basic principles of international law, as it has slanderously described China's civilian unmanned airship as a "spy balloon" and engaged in the abuse of force.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, made the accusation at a press briefing in response to a query about the U.S. ongoing "analysis and investigation into" the unmanned airship that was shot down by the U.S. military after its unexpected entry into the U.S. airspace.

Wang said that China has explicitly told the U.S. side multiple times that the entry of the Chinese civilian unmanned airship was an entirely unintended, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure.

From salvaging the wreckage to analyzing the debris, the U.S. side has been operating unilaterally and secretly, said Wang.

He added that China has, through the channel of consular protection, requested the U.S. side to report on the progress, to which the United States failed to respond.

China has to strongly question the independence, openness and transparency of the so-called investigation, the spokesperson said. "What credibility does such an investigation have?"

"The U.S. position on the incident has long been preset. It has been completely hijacked by domestic politics and serves the strategy of containing and suppressing China," Wang noted.

He questioned whether, just as U.S. President Biden gave the order to shoot down the civilian airship by force as early as Feb. 1, the so-called investigation report has already been concocted.

"The so-called conclusions in the report are nothing more than repeating the false statements and groundless accusations that the U.S. side often spreads these days," said Wang. "What value can such a report have other than to slander and attack China?"
Russian forces deployed heavy artillery to shell the Nikopol district (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) nine times over the course of the night of 2425 February: they damaged gas pipelines and power lines, several private businesses, over 30 residential buildings, three schools and several other buildings.

Source: Serhii Lysak, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram; Mykola Lukashuk, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council, on Telegram

Quote from Lysak: "Deadly shells hit Nikopol and Marhanets. There were no casualties. There was significant destruction."

Details: Three specialised high schools were damaged in Nikopol, as well as an administrative building, two private businesses and a shop.

Ten multi-storey apartment blocks, 11 private homes, several outbuildings and cars were also damaged there. Gas pipelines and a power line sustained damage.

Twelve private houses, 10 outbuildings, a gas pipeline and a power line were damaged in Marhanets. A civilian car caught fire, which was later extinguished by emergency workers.

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Mikhail Abdalkin shared a video of himself watching Vladimir Putin's speech with noodles hanging off his ears. Mikhail Abdalkin/VK

A lawmaker shared a video of himself with noodles hung on his ears while watching Putin's speech.

In Russia, the idiom "to hang noodles on someone's ears" means to tell lies.

A spokesman for the Russian Communist Party said they would be looking into the incident.

A Russian lawmaker who hung noodles on his ears during a speech by President Vladimir Putin could face punishment.

Mikhail Abdalkin, a deputy of the Russian Duma, shared a video on social media of himself watching Putin's state of the nation address and nodding with noodles hanging off his ears.

In Russia, the idiom "to hang noodles on someone's ears" means to tell lies.

"I fully support. I agree with everything. Great speech. Haven't heard anything like that in 23 years. Pleasantly surprised," he wrote in the caption, according to a translation by the UK newspaper The Telegraph.

In the two-hour speech on Tuesday, Putin blamed the West and Ukraine for the war and promised a Russian "victory."

Abdalkin's act was a rare moment of defiance, as Russia has made criticizing the war illegal, and people have been jailed or fined for it.

A spokesman for the Russian Communist Party, Alexander Yushchenko, said on Thursday that the party would be investigating the noodle video and "won't leave it without attention," The Telegraph reported.

Russian journalist and politician Alexander Khinshtein criticized Abdalkin's move.

"This is an odd, to put it mildly, escapade which would be more suitable for a Ukrainian, not a Russian lawmaker," Khinshtein said, according to The Telegraph.

"I do hope the Communist Party's leadership will get him in line  that is, if their pledges to support the president and rally behind him are not just words."

Read the original article on Business Insider
On Saturday, Russian troops attacked Kramatorsk and Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast. At least two people have been injured as a result of the shelling.

Source: Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of Donetsk Oblast Military Administration, on Facebook

Quote: "At least one person was injured as a result of the missile attack on Kramatorsk by the Ruscist occupying forces. The Russians hit a residential building. They hit and destroyed the local outpatient clinic."

Details: Kyrylenko also reported that Russian troops deployed artillery to attack Avdiivka twice, deployed tanks to attack once, launched an airstrike and a strike using a Grad missile launcher.

Quote: "Projectiles and missiles flew over residential neighbourhoods and an industrial zone  at least one person was injured.

Russians carried out an airstrike that destroyed school No. 2  the main school in the hromada [a 'hromada' is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.], which we opened only in 2021 after a complete renovation. The Lithuanian government helped us a lot with its renovation  it allocated more than 700,000 euros for the newest equipment for the school. The school was one of the best in the oblast, but now just ruins remain."

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Russian propaganda at a rally-concert in Luzhniki in support of the war against Ukraine used children from Mariupol, whose mother was killed by Russian shelling.

Source: Russian publication Vazhnye Istorii [Important Stories]

Details: On 22 February, Yuriy Gagarin, a Chelyabinsk "volunteer" in the Russian army with the callsign Angel performed at a pro-war rally-concert in Moscow. He was presented as the saviour of 367 children from Mariupol. Some of the children were on stage and thanked him.

In particular, 15-year-old Anya Naumenko said from the stage: "Thank you to Uncle Yuri for saving me, my sister and hundreds of thousands of children from Mariupol." Karolina, Anya's younger sister, also stood on the stage  she covered her ears from the loud sounds.

As the publication writes, Anya Naumenko and her sister really come from Mariupol. Ten months ago, during the occupation of the city, the girls' mother was killed by shrapnel.

Olha Naumenko with her children and Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko before the war

Vazhnye Istorii with a reference to social networks

When the war started, the Naumenkp family,  Olha with her common-law husband Artur and children Anya, Karolina and Danya,  first hid from the shelling in the Livoberezhnyi Cultural Centre [Former Palace of Culture of Builders - ed.], and then in the building of the Livoberezhnyi administration [district executive committee -ed.].

Olha died in early April  according to eyewitnesses, she "ran out to get cigarettes" and was killed by shrapnel not far from the 4th hospital. She was buried right on the territory of the hospital.

A relative of Artur, the common-law husband of the deceased mother of the children, told Vazhnye Istorii that the boy Danylo stayed with his grandmother, Karolina with her biological father, and another guardian was appointed for Anya.

Another boy, Kostya Vashchyshyn, who stood on the stage in a black cap and a grey jacket, hid from the shelling in the same places as the Naumenko family with his parents: first in the Palace of Culture of Builders, then in the administration of the Livoberezhnyi district.

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The whole family: 37-year-old Ihor and Khrystyna and their 10-year-old son Kostya survived. Judging by the photos in the parents' Instagram accounts, they are in Mariupol.

The publication also notes that at least three children who were brought to the stage in Luzhniki are taken from show to show with "Uncle Yura" together with their mothers.

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Russian occupiers have built a torture chamber in the occupied city of Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where they are holding local residents who support Ukraine.

Source: Report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Quote: "Russian occupiers are intensifying pressure on civilians and conducting searches of homes in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts.

It is known that the Russians have built a torture chamber in the city of Vasylivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where they are holding local residents who support Ukraine."

Details: The General Staff has reported that units of so-called "security forces" of Donetsk Oblast will begin abiding by Russian laws starting on 1 March 2023.

"In connection with this, it was announced that soldiers from the 1st ArmyCorps (Horlivka) who have reached the end of their military service contracts would be discharged," the report says.

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The Russian occupiers have lost a company of their troops while storming the Kreminna front, Serhii Haidai, Head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, has said.

Source: Haidai during the 24/7 national joint newscast

Quote from Haidai: "There was a powerful offensive attempt on the Kreminna front; three Russian companies went on the offensive, but the defence forces held their ground there.

Out of three companies, only two returned to their positions.

About 70 Cargo 200 [Russian military code for dead soldiers] were left behind by the Russians, and the same number of wounded."

Details: According to Haidai, the situation in the oblast is "difficult, but under control".

Reminder: Over the course of the past 24 hours, Ukraines defence forces repelled 70 Russian attacks on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk fronts.

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Russians are more optimistic than pessimistic about the outlook for their local economy despite a years worth of significant sanctions related to the countrys invasion of Ukraine, according to a new poll.

A Gallup poll released Friday found that 44 percent of Russians surveyed between August and November said their local economic situation is getting better, while 29 percent said it is getting worse.

The United States and many of its Western allies supporting Ukraine have placed sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion, which began one year ago on Friday. Numerous major companies also pulled their operations out of Russia in response.

Gallup noted that this caused the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to predict Russian gross domestic product would drop between 2 and 4 percent in 2022. But local economic perceptions among Russians still improved in the poll compared to 2021 by 4 points.

Gallup posited in its analysis that the optimistic outlook has two possible explanations. The first is that sanctions are not impacting the Russian economy as much as the West has hoped, while the second is that Russians are experiencing a rally round the flag effect that raises positive polling numbers during a time of national crisis.

Gallup said countries like China and India have increased their purchases of Russian oil and are paying in local currencies, while much of Europe is still reliant on Russian natural gas.

It reported that a majority of people living in every region across Russia are satisfied with their standard of living for the first time on record.

Pollsters also found that two-thirds of respondents approve of their countrys leadership, while only 21 percent disapprove.

Gallup Editor-in-Chief Mohamed Younis told CNNs Michael Smerconish in an interview on Saturday that Russia has paid an enormous cost in terms of lives lost during the war, but economic pain does not seem to be settling among the Russian population, at least so far.

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Gallup noted that approval for Russian leadership consistently fell in the years following Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and intervention in the Syrian Civil War, so the intended effect of economic sanctions might become clearer if a similar trend happens now.

The poll was conducted from Aug. 13 to Nov. 2, 2022, among 2,000 Russians aged 15 and older. The margin of error was 2.6 points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Poland has agreed to a compromise based on the fulfilment of six mandatory conditions during discussions on the tenth package of sanctions.

Source: DW with reference to European diplomats

Details: The issue of importing synthetic rubber from Russia caused the discussions. Poland insisted on tough restrictions, but one of the countries refused the proposed mechanism of monthly reduction of the limit.

In the end, Warsaw agreed to terms that included sanctions against those responsible for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation; sanctions against the import of Russian diamonds; further work on restrictive measures against Russia's nuclear sector, and the launch of a process for punitive measures against 150 Russian propagandists according to the list proposed by Poland.

One of the points concerns synthetic rubber imports: in the coming days, the European Commission is to present a special mechanism for controlling the diversification level of purchases of this material, which provides for quarterly inspections.

In addition, the EU is intensifying work on sanctions against the Belarusian regime.

Background: EU countries have approved a tenth package of sanctions against Russia late on Friday, 24 February, one year after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine.

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In audio from a 2017 court appearance at a bail hearing for a "family friend," George Santos can be heard telling a Seattle judge, "I'm an aspiring politician and I work for Goldman Sachs."

The first part was true  five years later, Santos would be indeed be gainfully employed as a politician, representing New York's 3rd Congressional District. But it is now widely known that the second part was not. He never worked for the famous investment firm.

"You work for Goldman Sachs in New York?" the judge asked.

"Yup," Santos said. In the audio, which was first obtained by Politico, Santos appears to address the court without being sworn in.

The false claim during an obscure Seattle, Washington, arraignment hearing was an early glimpse of a lie Santos would continue to spread as he campaigned for Congress in 2020 and 2022. He claimed to be a Goldman Sachs banker on the stump in New York and on a resume released in January by the local GOP, along with other debunked claims about graduating from college and working elsewhere on Wall Street. Santos admitted in a December New York Post interview that he "never worked directly" for the firm.

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Capitol Hill on Jan. 31, 2023. / Credit: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / REUTERS

The newly uncovered recording of his court appearance was also a reminder of how little is known about his connection to a man at the center of a wide-ranging credit card fraud case that involved stealing peoples' ATM card information and delivering it to Brazilian accomplices. Santos has declined to answer questions about the case. Representatives of Santos did not return a request for comment about the audio.

Santos was appearing at a May 15, 2017 bail hearing for Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, a Brazilian national who was arrested the month before for installing a skimming device on an ATM.

Beyond that, only a patchwork of details have emerged that connect Santos, tangentially, to the Trelha case.

Santos was interviewed as part of the investigation, a law enforcement source confirmed to CBS News. The source said Santos was contacted because inside Trelha's rental car detectives found an empty FedEx package with a sender address matching a Florida apartment where Santos had recently lived, according to police records, including an evidence photo of the package obtained by CBS News.

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"There obviously was not enough evidence to associate Santos as an accomplice to the skimming case," the source said. Santos was not charged in the case, nor was he a suspect.

At Trelha's bail hearing, Santos identified himself as a "family friend" who was helping him to arrange "a long extended-stay apartment through Airbnb, or whatever website."

"We're family friends. Our parents know each other from Brazil," Santos said.

King County Superior Court Judge Sean O'Donnell reduced Trelha's bail from $250,000 to $75,000, a sum Trelha was still unable to post. His case was later moved to federal court, where he entered a guilty plea to one count of felony access device fraud.

Trelha told investigators he was working for a credit card fraud group based in Brazil and Florida. Prosecutors said they had evidence Trelha had compromised nearly 300 accounts with the card skimmer in just three days in Seattle.

Calling the operation "sophisticated," a prosecutor said investigators believed it was just "the tip of the iceberg," according to a court transcript. Trelha was sentenced to time served, having already spent more than seven months in jail and was then turned over to immigration authorities.

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Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) falsely told a judge in 2017 that he worked for the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, multiple outlets reported Friday based on audio of a hearing they obtained and published.

Politico first obtained the audio recording of the Seattle bail hearing for a family friend of Santos named Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha. After the judge asked Santos where he worked, he can be heard responding, I am an aspiring politician and I work for Goldman Sachs.

You work for Goldman Sachs in New York? the judge clarified, which Santos confirmed.

CBS also obtained audio and confirmed that Santos made the false claim at the hearing.

Santos said during the hearing that he knew Trelha through family as their parents knew each other from Brazil.

But Trelha told Politico that Santos also lied about their connection, saying through a translator that they met through a Facebook group for Brazilians living in Orlando, Fla., in 2016. He said he moved into Santos apartment in Winter Park, Fla., in November of that year.

The Hill has reached out to Santos office for comment.

Trelha eventually pleaded guilty to a felony charge of access device fraud and served seven months in jail before being deported to Brazil in 2018, according to Politico.

The outlet reported that Trelha was initially arrested after a security camera caught him removing skimming equipment from a Chase ATM in Seattle. Documents revealed that officials found a fake ID and 10 potentially fraudulent cards in Trelhas hotel room, according to Politico.

The reports are the latest in a series of revelations about false statements Santos has made about his educational, personal and professional background, a number of which came while he was running for office. He told Piers Morgan in an interview that was released earlier this week that he did not think the public would learn about his fabrications because he got away with them during his unsuccessful 2020 campaign for the House.

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The claims Santos has made about himself that have been revealed to be false include that he worked for Goldman Sachs, received a bachelors degree from Baruch College and is Jewish.

He has stepped aside from his committee assignments but so far refused to resign from his House seat.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Dovbushanka - Nature reserve of Gorgana

Skhemy asked for expert comments on the impact of the war on the environment.

Read also: Russian invasion causing colossal damage to Ukrainian environment

According to the State Environmental Inspectorate, as of January 2023, the losses during the 11 months of Russia's military aggression amounted to more than UAH 1.743 trillion ($47.6 billion).

"Currently, Ukraine is only able to calculate losses only from the direct damage of military aggression: missile attacks on businesses and civilian objects, large-scale shelling, and fires," said Andriy Vahin, Deputy Head of the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Kyiv District.

We are still making a preliminary assessment of the environmental damage. As for the temporarily occupied territories, this is only possible with the help of satellite images  it will be finalized only after there is access to these territories and the relevant research is done. With proper funding, we will be able to fully assess the environmental damage in 10 years, or perhaps less.

Read also: The war is wreaking havoc on Ukraines environment

Dam on the Irpin River, Kyiv Oblast

According to journalists, in order to make the movement of Russian troops towards Kyiv more difficult, the Ukrainian army blew up a dam on the Irpin River in the spring of 2022. This helped stop the enemy's offensive.

In a podcast by the Modern War Institute, Colonel John Spencer, who heads the MWI's Urban Warfare Project, spoke about the consequences of the breaking of the dam.

"Only when we arrived on the scene did we realize how ingeniously the Ukrainians used their rivers to defend Kyiv," Spencer stated.

They could have simply blown up the dams and flooded everything. But they invited water engineers to calculate how much the dams needed to be opened to make the land impassable, but not flood all the villages at the same time.

In this way, the Irpin River held back Russian troops, but still flooded several villages: Demydiv, Kozarovychi, Chervone, Huta-Mezhyhirska, Horenka and Moshchun.

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Using Planet Labs satellite imagery, Skhemy journalists were able to calculate the approximate extent of the flooding at the time  more than 25 square kilometers, which is twice the size of the city of Vyshhorod in Kyiv Oblast.

Irpin River, Kyiv Oblast, February 28, 2022 RFE/RL

Irpin River, Kyiv Oblast, March 15, 2022 RFE/RL

According to the State Environmental Inspectorate, the flooded area later increased to 46 square kilometers. Pesticides and agrochemicals from agricultural land, construction materials from construction sites, paints from the metalworking shop, and heavy metals from the electrical infrastructure were washed away.

"There was a risk that the Irpin River would be significantly polluted due to the runoff of fertilizers and other chemical elements, but, according to our data, this fortunately did not happen," says Andriy Vahin.

Oil depot, Lviv

One of the first attacks on Lviv took place on March 26, when Russian troops fired a missile at an oil refinery.

According to reports from the Lviv Oblast State Administration, the oil depot was completely destroyed, and the tanks that stored oil products were also damaged. A fire broke out, which rescuers managed to extinguish overnight.

Skhemy journalists compared satellite images of the area: from March 17, before the missile hit, and from May 5, afterwards. The May photos show spills of oil on the ground around the base.

Oil depot, Lviv, March 17, 2022 RFE/RL

Oil depot, Lviv, May 5, 2022 RFE/RL

The State Environmental Inspectorate calls the consequences of strikes on such enterprises one of the most dangerous for the environment in Ukraine. They explain this by saying that spilled oil gets into the soil and then into the groundwater, which is why almost all living things in the ground die.

Izyum forest, Kharkiv Oblast

The Izyum forest in Kharkiv Oblast was also heavily damaged by the fighting. Most of it has burned down, especially after the fires in the summer of 2022.

Izyum forest, Kharkiv Oblast, July 28, 2021 RFE/RL

Izyum forest, Kharkiv Oblast, July 6, 2022 RFE/RL

"We need to understand that the trees that burned there were on average 30-40 years old," says Andriy Vahin.

This is not a (managed wood), but a forest, and it will take decades to restore it. It is not yet possible to fully assess the damage caused to the Izyum forest, but we can already see from satellite images that the environmental damage was significant.

Hanna Dobchenko, Forests project manager at WWF-Ukraine, adds: "Deforestation is the loss of habitats for various species of plants and animals. But, above all, a forest fire is the release of CO2 equivalent (greenhouse gases), which exacerbates the ongoing climate change. Given the active hostilities in the Izyum forests, this means disturbance of the soil cover, in particular, due to the passage of heavy equipment, compaction occurs, which means disruption of air and moisture exchange processes and deterioration of the prerequisites for forest cover restoration."

Kinburn Peninsula, Mykolaiv Oblast

The peninsula and spit have been completely seized by the Russian forces since June 2022. This territory is still controlled by the Russian military.

As a result of the hostilities, large-scale fires have repeatedly broken out on the peninsula itself. These included fires on the territory of protected areas, namely the Kinburn Spit Regional Landscape Park, the Volyzhyn Forest area (part of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve), and the Sviatoslav Biloberezhzhia National Nature Park. The burned areas can be seen from the satellite along almost the entire peninsula.

Kinburn Peninsula, Mykolaiv Oblast, July 30, 2021 RFE/RL

Kinburn Peninsula, Mykolaiv Oblast, July 31, 2022 RFE/RL

"It is currently impossible to assess which of the protected areas has suffered the most," Olesya Petrovych, conservation manager at WWF-Ukraine, explains in a comment to Skhemy.

We do not have access to this area and cannot collect accurate data. The Ministry of Environment has approved a special procedure for determining damage and losses for the nature reserve fund, according to which the figures will be determined after the war. Ultimately, this assessment will help nature reserves receive contributions and organize nature restoration.

Zaporizhzhya NPP, Enerhodar

As a result of the hostilities in August last year, a fire broke out in the green zone bordering the NPP territory.

Zaporizhzhya NPP, Enerhodar, August 22, 2021 RFE/RL

Zaporizhzhya NPP, Enerhodar, August 24, 2022 RFE/RL

Later, another fire broke out due to Russian shelling. According to Energoatom, the ferroalloy line, "that is, the last line connecting the ZNPP/ZTPP node with the Ukrainian power grid, was disconnected."

As a result, reactor No. 6, which supplied Zaporizhzhya NPP's own needs, was temporarily shut down, which could have destabilized the nuclear power plant. However, the power supply was later restored.

Fields of Kherson Oblast

In 2022, due to Russian shelling, fires often broke out on agricultural land throughout Ukraine.

Fields of Kherson Oblast, July 28, 2021 RFE/RL

Fields of Kherson Oblast, July 14, 2022 RFE/RL

Using Planet Labs satellite imagery, Skhemy journalists compared what the farmland northwest of Kherson looked like in the summer of 2021, before the full-scale Russian invasion, and in the same period in 2022. The consequences of numerous fires in the photo are in the form of dark spots of burnt fields.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy, together with analysts from the Kyiv School of Economics, calculated indirect losses in agriculture due to the war. As of November 2022, the losses amounted to more than $34 billion.

Areas under fire

Environmentalists consider craters formed by shell hits during bombardment to be another serious environmental problem.

Areas under fire from left to right: Lyman, May 25, 2022; Solvyansk, June 6, 2022; Bakhmut, January 7, 2023; Pavlivka February 10, 2023 RFE/RL

The State Environmental Inspectorate explains that pollutants, including metal and chemical residues from shells, get into the soil and subsequently into groundwater.

For example, the melange contained in Russian projectiles, when released into water, causes a reaction with the release of large amounts of highly toxic nitric oxide, a process that is extremely harmful to the soil and all living things in it.

Fortifications

In a full-scale war, Russia massively uses the so-called "dragon's teeth"  defensive structures in the form of concrete cones laid out in a line to stop light vehicles and hinder infantry advance  and fills the trenches with concrete.

Such fortifications have appeared in most of the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine. The Skhemy project uses satellite imagery to show a great number of these structures near the village of Baranykivka, Luhansk Oblast, not far from the town of Svatove.

Fortifications, the village of Baranykivka, Luhansk Oblast, December 4, 2022 RFE/RL

Fortifications, the village of Baranykivka, Luhansk Oblast, January 27, 2023 RFE/RL

The State Environmental Inspectorate, recalling similar structures used during World War II, says that removing the "dragon's teeth" may not be economically viable and they may remain in place. In Karelia in Russia, the Mannerheim Line built by Finland to protect itself from Soviet attack during the Winter War of 1939-40, such structures still stand.

Read also: Zelenskyy calls environmental devastation in Ukraine ecocide by Russian invaders

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell marked the first anniversary of Russias attack on Ukraine and expressed Seattles ongoing solidarity with the Ukrainian people by making February 24 Day of Solidarity with the People of Ukraine, the Mayor said in a media release on Friday.

The unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops and the devastating toll it has had on innocent lives has been heartbreaking to follow over the last year, and our city undeniably condemns this senseless act of aggression, said Mayor Harrell. Our vision for One Seattle includes being an inclusive, welcoming place for immigrant and refugee communities, and we will continue to support and stand in solidarity with our Ukrainian neighbors and the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country and freedom.

In the days following the invasion last year, Mayor Harrell met with Honorary Consul of Ukraine Valeriy Goloborodko and the local Ukrainian community to reiterate Seattles support for Ukraine. He also discussed the immediate and long-term steps to stand with Ukraine.

In March 2022, he issued an executive order to support the Ukrainian community in Seattle and in Ukraine. He directed City departments to assist impacted communities.

One year ago families throughout Ukraine sleeping in their beds woke up to rockets exploding around them, hearing what no one in this world should be experiencing in the 21st century. Russian leadership unlawfully and unjustly attacked a democratic country trying to take its land, and break peoples will and spirit. Ukraine however stood strong defending principles of freedom and democracy not only for itself but for the whole world, said Valeriy Goloborodko, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Seattle. What was meant to destroy, unified people of goodwill, and people of values and principles. Friends like the City of Seattle came together to support us and stand with us in the battle of civilizations. The leadership of Mayor Harrell has been outstanding. Ukrainians heroically fight on the frontlines, while Seattleites do so much to help with having our backs. We are grateful for all that the City of Seattle and its residents have done for the people of Ukraine both in Ukraine and here in Washington. Together we will celebrate the victory of good over evil.

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In April 2022, Mayor Harrell led efforts to host The Mayors Concert for Ukraine and Refugees Worldwide with the Seattle Symphony and local Ukrainian artists. Proceeds from the concert benefitted the Seattle Refugee Fund, which was created to benefit relief efforts for the people of Ukraine and other refugees in Seattle-King County.

The concert raised around $429,000, with 70% of the funds going toward organizations helping Ukrainians abroad and in King County. 30% went toward nonprofits assisting other refugees locally.

The City also partnered with the Ukrainian Association of Washington, Port of Seattle, and the Governors Office to coordinate a shipment of $3.5 million worth of emergency medical supplies to Ukraine.

The Space Needle also announced that they will be lighting up blue Friday night to display a bright message of solidarity for Ukraine.




Lt. Philip Wigal of the Town & Country Fire District was killed at a crash scene along Interstate 71 on April 4, 2022.

WOOSTER  The Florida truck driver accused of causing a crash that killed a Town & Country firefighter in 2022 is due back in court next month.

Edyt Hernandez, 41, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to one count of vehicular manslaughter, a misdemeanor in the second degree, in the death of fire Lt. Philip Wigal, according to Wayne County Municipal Court records.

Firefighting:Family, friends and first responders honor Lt. Philip Wigal in Good Friday funeral service

Hernandez, a resident of Hialeah, Florida, is awaiting his trial, which is now set for April 17. Wayne County Municipal Court Judge Michael Rickett has set another court hearing for March 2.

If convicted, Hernandez could face up to 90 days in jail, a fine of $750, and a driver's license suspension of three months to two years, said Angela Wypasek, Wayne County prosecutor.

A message seeking comment was left Friday with his attorney.

A fatal crash on I-71 in Congress Township

Hernandez was heading south on Interstate 71 in Congress Township in a semitrailer on April 11.

Investigators said his vehicle struck a parked fire engine involved in an ongoing traffic crash investigation along I-71. The fire vehicle was partially blocking the right lane and shoulder while emergency crews helped out at a prior crash, according to court records.

After hitting the fire vehicle, the semitrailer went off the right side off the road and struck a parked Highway Patrol cruiser, the vehicle involved in the initial crash and Wigal. The vehicle in the initial crash was pushed, injuring a Highway Patrol trooper.

Wigal died at the scene. The trooper was hospitalized for injuries that were not life-threatening.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Semitrailer driver pleads not guilty in death of Lt. Philip Wigal
Serhii Deineko knows what war is and what occupation is. In 2014, the incumbent head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine was in charge of the Luhansk Border Guard Detachment, which took on Russian terrorist forces in June.

Subsequently, the border guards had to retreat, and part of Luhansk Oblast close to Deineko remained under occupation for years.

It was the soldiers of the Luhansk Border Guard Detachment who were the first to meet the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February last year.

It was through Ukrainian border guards that the first symbol of this war appeared: the direction that the "Russian warship" was instructed to go towards.

And this interview with Serhii Deineko is also the first one since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

He told Ukrainska Pravda (UP) how the war began, whether to expect an attack from Belarus, and when Luhansk will be free again.

"I sent an SMS to Zelenskyy personally at 5:17, saying that the invasion was underway"

We are meeting on the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale invasion. There was a lot of information about how Western intelligence warned about such Russian plans. The border guards had their data and had to react to these signals. How did you prepare for the Russian offensive in February 2022?

Yes, Western intelligence warned us. And we were attentive to this information. We have our own border intelligence, which works very effectively, especially in our neighbouring countries: the Russian Federation and its satellite, Belarus.

We knew about the planned invasion. Of course, now there is a lot of information that "everyone knew" and "everyone was preparing". However, the Border Guard Service informed the highest military leadership of the state. I reported to the president two weeks before the full-scale invasion that there would be a war, that Russia would certainly attack the territory of Ukraine from the Republic of Belarus through the Chornobyl zone.

We had this information, and for a long time, we had full control over certain representatives of the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation. We had video footage, photos, we knew the plan in detail. Therefore, this allowed us to prepare well.

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Two weeks before the start of the full-scale invasion, we completely evacuated all secret documentation of personal and housing files of our staff from Mariupol, Kramatorsk, Lysychansk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr

...Kherson?

I'll mention Kherson.

So also from Lutsk, Kyiv, Boryspil, Berdiansk, Odesa, and Kherson...

I hesitated and thought about whether to evacuate this documentation from the Crimean direction, because until the last moment, I did not believe that there could be an invasion from the Crimea.

We know Putin and his weakness for using "false flags," miners, and so on. We clearly understood that the invasion would come from Belarus, from the Chornobyl direction. We also clearly understood what would happen on the border of Kharkiv and Luhansk Oblasts, where the enemy would enter the territory of Ukraine to surround and eliminate our group in the Joint Forces Operation area [the area of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts under the control of Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists  ed.].

Therefore, we responded as best we could with our combat reserves and have been moving our rapid response border guard commandant's offices.

However, to be honest, the Armed Forces did not reach us in time, just as they did not reach the border in 2014.

You said that you expected the Russians to attack from Chornobyl, but you did not expect them to enter from Crimea. It is clear that it was possible to attack from Donbas under false flags. But from Belarus?

From Donbas along the contact line, it was absolutely clear. From the territory of Belarus, they could attack not as a Russian army, but with the chevrons of Belarus, in Belarusian uniforms. And concerning the attack from Crimea, there are only Russians there, no one else. That's why I had my doubts about [them] entering from Crimea until the very end. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

On 21 February, I informed all the higher authorities in writing that there would be a war. Yes, the date of the full-scale offensive was postponed. First it was 19 February, then 22 February, and the last one was 24 February.

Do you understand why the date was postponed?

The enemy was waiting. They were on standby. We recorded that the Russian troops who were on the territory of Belarus for the so-called "exercises" started calling their relatives and actually saying goodbye to them as early as 12 February.

We intercepted these conversations, and it was clear from their contents and nature that the invasion was just days away.

Is that why you had a conversation with your Belarusian counterpart on the eve of the invasion?

On 19 February, on the president's command, I met with my counterpart at the border. I told him about our information and asked him to pass it on to self-proclaimed President Lukashenko, especially since he is also a border guard. Lukashenko served in the border troops of the USSR's KGB as a conscript. Therefore, he should have understood that border guards are supposed to prevent border violations, not organise and facilitate them.



My counterpart assured me that this was "definitely not possible". But by his reaction, I could tell that he was lying. It was our last meeting and our last conversation with him.

I gave him some materials to listen to and intercepted conversations of Russian soldiers. He turned pale, then red, then green, and promised that he would report to Lukashenko that evening. And then we saw what happened.

What helped us in Ukraine to keep the situation under control, especially in the first days, was the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted drills in February, as opposed to the drills of the so-called union state of Belarus and Russia.

I had a conversation with Defence Minister Reznikov and Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhnyi. I am very glad that these drills were conducted, our military units were raised, deployed, and during the armed invasion of Russia, they were already able to resist and inflict fire damage.

Are you talking about the drills in Rivne Oblast, which the president visited?

The President was in Rivne, and we were with him on 17 February, exactly one week before the invasion. Before that, there were drills in Kherson. And then, on the same day, the president met with ambassadors. We were just in Mariupol at a military unit of the National Guard.

It was the border guards who first met the Russian invasion on 24 February. Can you remember how you informed the top political leadership that the invasion had begun?

Everyone thinks that the invasion started at 4 o'clock. This is not very correct.

The invasion began at 3:40, in the area of the Luhansk border guard detachment, in Milove district.

Is that the detachment that you headed in 2014?

Yes, thats my detachment. [Stationed in] the village of Zorynivka. A Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group attacked a border checkpoint there, and a battle broke out. The first soldier to be killed in the full-scale aggression was killed there.

We received reports [from other units], and around four in the morning I reported to Denys Monastyrskyi, the Minister of Internal Affairs, that my men were fighting and columns [of Russian forces] were approaching. My understanding was that he reported to the president.

I sent a text message to Zelenskyy at 05:17, as the invasion was unfolding across most of the state border.

What was in that text?

You probably have a sense of why so many people did not take the threat of this war seriously. Its because no one in their right mind could believe that such a war was possible in the centre of Europe in the 21st century. When a great power like the Russian Federation brutally attacks an entirely peaceful country like Ukraine, without any reason.

That missiles would be deployed, that thousands of tanks would enter the country, that peaceful cities would be shelled from the Russian territory using Grads [multiple-launch rocket systems - ed.] and other heavy weapons  who could believe that?

So what was in your text to the president?

Let me find it. I told him it was a full-scale invasion. Oh, here it is:

"Good morning, dear Mr President. Allow me to report. This is a full-scale military aggression on behalf of the Russian Federation. Several checkpoints on the border with Russia were shelled; rockets from Grads are being fired from their territory. Jet aircraft can be heard flying over the Chornobyl area. Grad rockets are also being fired from Crimea. There are five casualties so far. My units are taking positions."

That was at 05:17 in the morning. In effect, I reported that it was not a false-flag operation, but a full-scale invasion.

There is a lot of talk now about a possible offensive from Belarus. We are building fortifications. Are we prepared for an offensive from that side, if it does take place?

Lets be honest: no fortifications can put a complete halt to enemy forces. Theyll be able to delay them and slow down the pace of their advance. Thats why they are being built. So that when enemy forces approach our fortifications and are forced to undertake a certain amount of work, we can strike them and disrupt their plans.

Considering whats been done this year, we are far better prepared for a possible new offensive from the territory of Belarus, on any front.

Do you personally believe that such an offensive will take place?

As of today, I see no threat from Belarus. If you ask me to guarantee that it wont happen, I cant do that. Because I dont know what it will be like in two weeks time. If in the next two weeks, the situation develops and our intelligence does its job and obtains the enemys plans, maps, charts, and their idea about how to conduct an offensive, then I will have to make new conclusions and relate them to the military-political command.

But as of today, they dont have sufficient forces there to successfully conduct an offensive operation in our country. If they try to enter from Belarus, then they will all remain lying there [dead], I have no doubt about that.

Could it be a decoy?

It could. All of their military exercises, aircraft exercises, are designed to demonstrate their presence so that we keep our reserve troops here, on the northern border instead of deploying them on the eastern front.

"I was sent the last photo of the Moskva ship before it sank"

Border guards became the heroes of resistance on the very first day [of the full-scale invasion]. Im talking about the Zmiinyi (Snake) Island. One of your men uttered the famous phrase, which you also have displayed here. [There is a photograph of the Snake Island in Deinekos office, which bears the inscription: "Russian military ship, go fuck yourself", which is what the Ukrainian border guards responded to the Russian proposal to surrender  ed.]

This photo has been here from day one. I told everyone that Ill take it down on the day of our victory or Ill let the person who might replace me in this position take it down, if theyre up to it.

At first people were saying that it was a marine who told Moskva to go to hell, even his name was circulated. Then it turned out it was a border guard. You didnt offer any comments for a long time. Why is there so little clarity around this incident?

Look, the most important thing for me is a persons life. Ill start from your last question: Why has the heros name not been revealed? The thing is, there are still some security issues around this guy who might have done something quite brash.

I have an agreement with him: before these issues are resolved, I wont do anything that would compromise his safety.

It was our radio wave and no representative of any other service could have used it to go live. So how Roman Hrybov got involved When I saw that information on Facebook, we decided not to intervene at all at first. Then we saw that Hrybov was one of the people included in the first prisoner swap, and the whole saga with people being told that Hrybov was the hero began

We even had to conduct an examination to prove that an entirely different person uttered that statement.

Did you ever get your hands on that famous recording?

Yes, the head of the regional command sent me the recording at 17:58, if Im not mistaken. As well as a picture of Moskva [cruiser], taken from the island, at three in the afternoon. It was the last photo of the ship before it sank.

Do you still have the photo? Can we see it?

I have it on my phone, I have all sorts of things on my phone. This is the last picture of the Moskva ship: 14:55, 24 February.

Were many border guards taken prisoner then? Have all of them been freed?

Around 80 of Ukraines defenders and civilians were taken prisoner then, including 28 border guards. As of now, 12 of them have been freed and 16 remain prisoners.

Unfortunately, we cannot affect these lists [of people to be swapped as part of Ukrainian-Russian prisoner exchanges  ed.] in any way. Russia gives back whoever it wants to give back. I can see no logic in its decisions. Some people have been held in Russian captivity since the first day of the war.

"We cannot abandon Bakhmut: it really is a fortress"

We cant not ask you. During the first days, rank and file soldiers showed real courage. But at the same time, many people were fleeing the country. There were unexplained border crossings by, for example, men of conscription age with large amounts of cash and without appropriate documents. Have those cases led to any changes?

During the first days, we really did see large crowds of people at the border, mostly women and children, refugees fleeing the territory of Ukraine to escape the war.

As for those shameful incidents you described, with men trying to illegally cross the border  of course there were those incidents. There were also certain border guards

We are members of society and there are heroes among us, but, sadly, there are also criminals. Everyone we, or other law enforcement agencies, were able to find  trust me, they are all subject to criminal proceedings.

During the very first day [of the full-scale invasion], I warned all of the personnel under my command: if anyone is caught [deserting], our conversation with them will be brief. No one will serve exclusively at the border, everyone will take part in hostilities.

I am not using deployment to the front to punish people. Defending your country is an honourable duty. But I want those who find themselves in more comfortable conditions to appreciate it. I want them to understand the conditions that the guys and girls who are risking their lives to defend our country on the front find themselves in.

Regarding the topic of men leaving the country...

I believe that we did the most important thing: we did not allow the understanding of the Ukrainian refugee abroad to change. Because the average Ukrainian refugee, as for today, is a woman with one or two children and elderly parents. I don't talk about such refugees like the Monaco battalion and all the rest.

But, for the sake of your understanding, 90 percent of all those who left  I have letters, they may have documents that they either have a disability or accompany a person with a disability. So they do have legal grounds [for leaving].

Every day, we do not let 50-70 people who were registered through Shliakh [the system of issuing permits to travel abroad for drivers, volunteers, etc.  ed.] leave.

Only the Ministry of Infrastructure and oblast military administrations permit [people] to leave, and various carriers can do it, too.

We have repeatedly detained people who paid money for being registered as truck drivers, while not even having a driver's licence of this category.

We examine them, interview them, and they say, "Yes, I paid 2,000 euros, so they had me registered". Of course, we hand these people over to the National Police of Ukraine.

Recently, checkups have become stricter...

We just see there is an increase. I see how many people aged 18 to 60 leave per day. Yes, there is an increase, so that means we need to understand which documents and which grounds we need to examine. The system works.

We have a department of operational and investigative activities, we have our internal security divisions. But at the same time, some people think from time to time that they are smarter than others.

Unfortunately, we note that female servicemen understand that they will not go to war, and have been misusing this for some time. They thought that no one would find out. We did.

We know that you visit your units in different locations on the front line. Which part of the front line defended by border guards is the toughest spot?

Fortress Bakhmut, no exaggeration. The situation is the hottest and the guys there do everything possible to hold those positions. Every day, they kill Russian soldiers and officers who are trying to capture Bakhmut and then achieve the administrative borders of Donetsk Oblast.

But you can't leave Bakhmut either. You can't, because it is a real fortress. Our heroes kill these Wagner Group soldiers, the regular Russian army, every day there.

Do you understand the Russians' morale? This war is sacred for us, but it is something completely incomprehensible for them. It is possible to try to "get rid of the Nazism and the threat of NATO" after listening to Russian television. But you must understand that there are not many such people who believe propaganda.

Now, unfortunately, the Russians come here to kill for money. It is no longer something immoral for them. Therefore, many people go to war to solve their financial problems, to pay off loans... And that decision to involve prisoners from the Wagner PMC, excuse me, what is it anyway?

Our boys are very combative. Two weeks ago, a unit of the Luhansk border detachment shot down 2 Russian Su-25 planes in 5 days.

Has anyone thought before the start of the full-scale aggression that the border guards would take prisoners, that they would shoot down aircrafts, that they would fire mortars? And now our mortar crews work very well, no worse than those of Ukraines Armed Forces.

But formally you do not belong to the Armed Forces...

...we are under operational subordination.

And so there is the question of ensuring how you get paid, for example, how different is your salary from the one received by the Armed Forces?

We have our own budget. But all payments must be identical to the Armed Forces' financial support, especially in the combat areas. If something happens in a different way, it should already be on the conscience of those commanders who allow illegal payments, for example.

What about ammunition? For example, there is a big difference in support between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces, even if they are fighting on the same front. Which situation do the border guards have?

Of course, the Armed Forces definitely have better provision, because they are the main beneficiary of receiving international technical assistance, as it goes mainly through the Defence Ministry. But we make the appropriate requests, and our units are supplied with the stuff we ask for.

What is the greatest need now? Maybe we can voice it.

The greatest need of our state is for him to die [points with his hand to the poster saying "Putin  d***head"  ed.]. I think it will solve all our problems. We wouldn't need mines, shells, or quadcopters.

But yes, there is always a need, because when you have the opportunity, say, to use 10 mines, you always want to have 15 of them. Because every Russian must become a "good Russian" [i.e. to die]. And the more opportunities we have, the more effectively we will use them.

Or the drones  unfortunately, there are days when we lose two or three. Their electronic warfare operates very actively. They also lose some, we shoot them down. But no drone is more expensive than a soldier's life. It protects their lives. So I'm ready to lose all drones in order to save one life.

Finally, we wanted to ask you something. You surely have a story of hope. Can you tell us? How not to go crazy, if we can say so?

No, everything is absolutely okay. You know, you dont go crazy. You just have to learn to appreciate what you have. I have such an ideology, I look for the bright side in everything. For example, a person is walking, then slips, falls and breaks their arm. It's good, because he/she had the opportunity to break one's neck. And here is just the arm, it will recover.

That's why I'm always positive. I do not use any stimulation pills, no sedatives. I must always feel the full impression.

You just can't feel sorry for yourself. And if someone says that he is not afraid, don't believe it, everyone is afraid. We were in Bakhmut. Terrible? Terrible. There are strikes. But you are a commander, you have no right to show your fear.

It's scarier to be here and listen to these reports about the boys that are there [at the front line  ed.], but you cant help them in any way. I'm better off there, I don't want to go back. It's all mine. That's why I rush there for at least two days. Just to see the boys, and that sparkle in their eyes.

You once worked in the Luhansk [border guard] detachment, you have a lot of things that connect you with Luhansk. When will we return to Luhansk? Do you have your own prediction?

Last year, about October, I predicted that we would win this year, in October-November, no later. I havent changed my mind yet.



Sevgil Musaieva, Roman Romaniuk, Ukrainska Pravda

Translated by Anton Strii, Olya Loza and Tetiana Buchkovska

Edited by Ivan Zhezhera
After powerful storms spawned at least severe tornadoes and caused substantial damage in Texas and Oklahoma on Sunday, AccuWeather forecasters caution that more is on the way into Monday night. With a strong storm system moving through, severe storms are set to fire up in the Midwest, and more tornadoes are likely to be spawned.

The storm of interest began its cross-country journey on the West Coast, where it plunged southward across the area and brought blizzard conditions to the mountains of Southern California on Thursday, and Friday, widespread power outages and swaths of drenching rainfall. On Saturday, portions of Los Angeles and San Diego were still bearing the brunt of the storms' rampage with continued rounds of torrential rain. At 3 p.m. PST on Saturday, over 35,000 customers across Southern California from San Luis Obispo County to San Diego County were without power, according to PowerOutage.us, with the statewide outages over 100,000.

As this storm gradually pushed across New Mexico on Sunday, strong winds began to pick up on the back side. Dust storm warnings were issued in portions of New Mexico as the strong winds picked up dust.

Storms through Sunday night wrecked havoc across the Plains, with more than 9 confirmed tornado reports and dozens of wind reports causing damage to the area.

The National Weather Service reported a confirmed tornado to the northwest of Kalvesta, Kansas, located to the east of Garden City, Kansas, at 5:22 p.m. CST. Another confirmed tornado was reported east of Vinson, Oklahoma, located in the southeastern part of the state.

We are OK in Norman. Tornado missed us barely and did damage to the NCED, Hwy 9 Hospital and our Church. This is from earlier just north of my house. Power is out and power lines are down. Damage on SE side of Norman is signifigant. pic.twitter.com/NUFwJqI4tM  Darren Alexander (@DarrenAlexand17) February 27, 2023

A 114-mph thunderstorm wind gust was reported in Memphis, Texas, at 6:37 p.m. CST on Sunday. Wind driven hail also knocked out windows in the town, according to the National Weather Service.

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The weather is not expected to let up in the coming days, with at least two more opportunities for severe weather on the docket.

The same storm that produced the damaging conditions over the weekend will continue to bring the risk of severe thunderstorms into Monday evening across the Ohio Valley.

The severe threat is expected to continue into the evening hours and threaten cities like Indianapolis, Louisville, Kentucky and Columbus, Ohio, in this zone.

In addition to the severe weather threat, this storm will bring yet another round of wintry weather to the Great Lakes and Northeast, with ice and snow expected to impact the region into Tuesday.

Behind this destructive storm, yet another powerful storm is expected to spread across the central and eastern U.S. In addition to bringing more wintry weather, another round of severe is also in the offing.

The potency of the storm is expected to bring a clash of both fresh, cold air and warm moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, increasing the likelihood of severe thunderstorms on Thursday. The risk for severe weather may also extend eastward into the southeast Atlantic Coast through the end of the week.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Pasadena, California, resident Nikki High was only a teenager when she first picked up a copy of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

High doesnt remember how she first came across the 1979 novel, but the book created a lasting impression. It was the first time she had read a science fiction novel written by someone who looked like her.

I had read some science fiction before and it struck me as odd that there were no people of color from the books I read prior to that, High says.

High poses outside her new bookstore in Pasadena, California. (Rania Soetirto / TODAY)

To honor Butlers legacy, High opened Octavias Bookshelf, a bookstore named after the author. The bookstore, which opened on Feb. 18, specifically carries books by minority authors, fulfilling Highs vision to create a space that celebrates the works of people of color.

There are some fabulous bookstores in Pasadena, but none of them were prioritizing Black, Indigenous and people of color, High says. And I just thought how neat would it be to have a space where that is the priority every day.

In addition to carrying Butlers work, which will have its own special bookcase, High says she also curates books from international BIPOC authors.

I just thought that it was time to honor her work. Shes a legend here and beyond. So I just wanted to honor what she meant to me as a teenager, she says.

Books and gifts line the shelves at the new bookstore. (Rania Soetirto / TODAY)

Born in Pasadena in 1947, Butler was a science fiction writer and a recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards  both considered to be the most distinguished American science fiction awards. Her work is credited for its discussion on racism, gender and Afrofuturism  a concept that imagines the future through a black lens.

During the pandemic, Butlers work underwent a renaissance. In 2020, her novel Parable of the Sower became a New York Times bestseller, making it to the list 27 years after the novels original publication. Parable of the Sower is the first novel of a planned series. However, Butler died in 2006 before she could complete them.

Shes really the first African American woman who people acknowledged as a science fiction writer and has gained attention, respect and was awarded for her writing, said Tarshia Stanley, the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Wagner College. Shes really the first person to receive those kinds of accolades and that acknowledgement.

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In her hometown of Pasadena, Butler remains a cultural and literary icon. Michelle Banks, an English Professor at Pasadena City College, Butlers alma mater, said she teaches Butlers work in her classes while also encouraging her students to find inspiration through Butler.

Were always letting our students know that she is an alumna, particularly in the English department, Banks says.Most of the teachers, as I said, do speak of her and teach her work. And I think thats the way to keep the legacy going.

High says she has conceptualized the idea of opening a bookstore in homage to Butler for some time, however it was her grandmothers death in 2022 that finally pushed her to quit her full-time job as a customer communications director to open her own bookstore.

Her grandmother, whom High describes as her person in life, had encouraged Highs love for politics and reading. She had also been an Octavia Butler fan.

High is not alone in dedicating a tribute to Butler. Last year, the nearby Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy changed its name to Octavia E. Butler Magnet, becoming the first school in the nation to be named after the author. Butler had been an alumna.

She got her start by entering contests from a very young age, Natalie Daily, the school librarian, says. She actually started writing science fiction while she was a student here.

Daily says she has been in contact with High and is planning future partnerships with Octavias Bookshelf to encourage students and children in the area to be interested in reading. Like many in the community, Daily has heard about the bookstore from social media or from word of mouth as excitement began to spread locally.

I took the leap and quit my job to open my very own bookstore. Octavias Bookshelf will open in February and features books written by BIPOC authors in Pasadena, Ca https://t.co/yJeGAZJKNq pic.twitter.com/YZbONk0fXp  Auntie Nikki is a Virgo  (@gofetchgretch) December 31, 2022

In December of last year, Highs announcement for the bookstore went viral on Twitter. Her GoFundMe campaign was flooded with messages of support and has raised over $20,000.

Were showing up, Josh Evans, a local poet from Pasadena, tells TODAY.com. Theres genuine love and excitement here.

In a video shared on Instagram, a long line of visitors could be seen queuing outside the store during its opening.

Although Pasadena is known for its literary scene, with its coffee shops, the Huntington library and its reading culture, Banks said there hasnt been a bookstore in Pasadena that focuses specifically on African American literature. Being the first bookstore of its kind in Pasadena, Evans and others in the community hope Octavias Bookshelf could be a safe harbor for children of color and a creative space where the community can interact and have fun.

I think its an absolute game changer in every sense of the word. We have many indie bookstores, but weve not had one that is owned by a black person, a black woman thats meant to center around the BIPOC community and really put the community first, Evans says. He also did a reading during the bookstores opening.

High herself has big hopes for the bookstore. Aside from its mission to spotlight authors of color, High wants the store to be a forum for the community to thrive and connect, especially in a place like Pasadena with its multitude of readers and creatives.

Im really excited for really beautiful community oriented moments that I know the bookstore and Nikki are going to cultivate, Arielle Astoria, a local poet, says.

Planning for the future, High has plans to create after school programs and internships for students who are interested in learning to manage a bookstore. She is also interested in partnering with local schools.

I hope that this becomes a place where we can come together as a community and discuss books, ideas and learn more about one another. In our everyday busy lives we have very few chances to connect with each other and I think this bookstore will serve to be a place for that, she says.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Sturdy concrete buildings far enough away from the nuclear blast are your best bet for survival beyond an underground bunker. Mirifada / Getty Images

Scientists simulated a nuclear explosion about 37 times more powerful than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The simulation helped them identify safe and unsafe indoor spots to shelter during a nuclear attack.

This is the first study that shows the impact that nuclear shockwaves could have on humans indoors.

If a nuclear bomb were dropped in your city tomorrow, would you know where to take cover? Nuclear war is a terrifying thought, but for a team of researchers at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, it's top of mind.

In a recent study, the researchers calculated how the blast from a nuclear explosion could affect people sheltering indoors, and found that even if you're at a safe distance from the explosion to survive the blast, you may still be in immediate peril.

"It is important to understand the impact on humans indoors to provide recommendations for protecting people and assets," said co-author Dimitri Drikakis. "For example, we can design structures that offer more protection."

Avoid hallways and doors. Seek out corners of windowless rooms.

An illustration of the shockwave of a 750-kt nuclear bomb 10 seconds after detonation. The wave has already traveled 2.8 miles (4.6 km). I. Kokkinakis and D. Drikakis, University of Nicosia, Cyprus

When a nuclear bomb detonates, it generates not only radiation in the form of a bright, blinding light and scorching heat, but also powerful shockwaves that can travel for tens of miles.

It's these shockwaves that are potentially lethal for people at a safe enough distance from the fireball.

The team simulated a nuclear explosion from a 750-kiloton atomic bomb. For reference, the bombs the US dropped at Hiroshima was 15 kilotons and at Nagasaki was 25 kilotons. So, on average, that's about 37 times smaller than the bomb in the researchers' simulation.

A warhead of this magnitude would likely obliterate everything within 2.5 miles, but people beyond that radius may stand a chance if they're sheltering in the right location of a sturdy structure.

Where that right location is, however, is where the researchers' results get interesting.

"The explosion was simulated using high-resolution and high-order computational fluid dynamics," based on three decades of experiments and theory, Drikakis told Insider.

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Using these models, they computed how the shockwave would move through buildings  including rooms, walls, corners, doors, corridors, windows, and doorways  at distances of 2.5 miles to 30 miles from the detonation site.

Illustration of how the shockwave would move through a room indoors with narrow corridors increasing the speed and pressure. I. Kokkinakis and D. Drikakis, University of Nicosia, Cyprus

They reported that narrow pockets inside buildings like doorways and hallways could act like a windtunnel, accelerating the shockwave to dangerous pressures of up to 18 times a human's body weight  easily enough to crush bones.

"The most dangerous critical indoor locations to avoid are the windows, the corridors, and the doors," said co-author Ioannis William Kokkinakis.

The best location is in the half of the building farthest from the blast, in a room with no windows. But, "even in the front room facing the explosion, one can be safe from the high airspeeds if positioned at the corners of the wall facing the blast," Kokkinakis told Insider.

It's also worth noting that the building itself is important. You don't want to take cover in a log cabin, for example.

"As the paper noted, if you're too close to the blast there's not much that can be done. However, at a distance building structures particularly stone or concrete or other stout, noncombustible materials can provide some degree of protection from the blast," said Kathryn Higley, a professor of radiation biology at Oregon State University who was not involved in the study.

Preparing for an uncertain future

A Russian attack on Ukraine with drones. Reuters

The researchers said they modeled the detonation of a 750-kiloton bomb after Russia's Sarmat, an ICBM the Kremlin test-fired last April.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns that we may be inching closer to nuclear war, and one of their prime motivations for the study was "the growing rhetoric about the use of nuclear weapons," Drikakis said.

"A nuclear war is a serious matter that will lead to widespread destruction. For several decades, the international community has considered that such a possibility will not arise. However, the rhetoric around the globe has changed," Drikakis said.

The authors believe these findings could help nuclear safety experts devise better strategies to mitigate the damage from atomic explosions and radiation leaks. They hope the results from the study might also guide the development of nuclear-blast-proof buildings in the future.

"The wide-scale implication of this research is that it can add to the understanding of how to best protect yourself in the event of a nuclear detonation," Higley said.

Never mind the nuclear fallout and apocalyptic lifestyle you may face after the fact. Surviving that is a different sort of study, entirely.

Read the original article on Business Insider
U.S. fabrication on China's airship violates int'l obligations: FM spokesperson

Xinhua) 09:15, February 25, 2023

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday blamed the United States for violating its obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as Chicago Convention, and multiple basic principles of international law, as it has slanderously described China's civilian unmanned airship as a "spy balloon" and engaged in the abuse of force.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, made the accusation at a press briefing in response to a query about the U.S. ongoing "analysis and investigation into" the unmanned airship that was shot down by the U.S. military after its unexpected entry into the U.S. airspace.

Wang said that China has explicitly told the U.S. side multiple times that the entry of the Chinese civilian unmanned airship was an entirely unintended, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure.

From salvaging the wreckage to analyzing the debris, the U.S. side has been operating unilaterally and secretly, said Wang.

He added that China has, through the channel of consular protection, requested the U.S. side to report on the progress, to which the United States failed to respond.

China has to strongly question the independence, openness and transparency of the so-called investigation, the spokesperson said. "What credibility does such an investigation have?"

"The U.S. position on the incident has long been preset. It has been completely hijacked by domestic politics and serves the strategy of containing and suppressing China," Wang noted.

He questioned whether, just as U.S. President Biden gave the order to shoot down the civilian airship by force as early as Feb. 1, the so-called investigation report has already been concocted.

"The so-called conclusions in the report are nothing more than repeating the false statements and groundless accusations that the U.S. side often spreads these days," said Wang. "What value can such a report have other than to slander and attack China?"

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liu Ning)
Oregon Coast resident Eric Davis and his daughter, Indra Davis, 5, took advantage of the recent rare big snowfall on the Oregon Coast to go snowboarding at Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area in Pacific City.

When Eric Davis lived in Montana, he went snowboarding as often as possible  sometimes on a daily basis.

Ever since the 39-year-old moved to the Oregon Coast, not so much.

Our closest resort is not close at all, and coastal (snowstorms) are pretty rare, he said.

But this past week, Davis, who owns and runs Oregon Coast Agates, an Instagram page where he posts information about the states most beautiful rocks, got to combine his love of the coast with his love of snowboarding after a rare snowstorm dumped 4 to 6 inches of fresh snow above the beach.

Davis and his 5-year-old daughter Indra didnt waste the opportunity, loading up their snowboards and heading to Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area early Thursday morning.

Once there, they climbed up the Great Dune, a massive hill of mudstone and sandstone layers normally cloaked with sand. On this day, however, it was white.

We were at the top of the dunes in blizzard conditions, he said. The usually sandy rolling hills were covered in a hearty dusting and looked like the mountain backcountry.

The roar of the ocean was the only reminder we were indeed at a beach.

Then they started riding, carving down the sides of the dune, above the churn of the Pacific Ocean, and then hiking back up.

It was a riot and for a coastie like me its so satisfying to really be able to bomb down or really carve around, he said. Theres no lift or magic carpet to get back up the 240 foot dune, so in a way its very similar to backcountry snowboarding. You could bring trekking poles with powder baskets too (and we have), it saves your legs and conserves energy just like they would in the backcountry.

Davis said hes snowboarded the coast once before, enjoying a few hour window of time before the flakes had melted away, he said.

In this case, he and Indra were able to ride for hours.

Snow blankets the sand at the beach in Pacific City.

Both Davis and Indra also sandboard, but there was something special about making it happen on the snow, and he recommended anyone on the coast give it a try.

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Keep a look out for the next time snow might be at the coast, and get prepped beforehand, because experiencing the feeling like you are both in the Cascades while being at the Oregon Coast is a truly surreal experience, he said.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. Urness is the author of Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon and Hiking Southern Oregon. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or 503-399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Rare major snowfall allows Oregon Coast snowboarding at Cape Kiwanda
Trump lawyer Sidney Powell dodged being disbarred after a Texas judge tossed the case against her.

Republican Judge Andrea Bouressa said the evidence exhibits in the case were incorrectly numbered.

Powel was one of several attorneys who peddled false claims about the 2020 presidential election.

Sidney Powell, a Trump lawyer who peddled false claims about the 2020 presidential election, avoided disbarment after a Texas judge tossed the case against her because some of the plaintiff's evidence exhibits were out of order.

According to court documents filed Thursday, Collin County District Court Judge Andrea Bouressa gave Powell a temporary reprieve after dismissing the case brought by the Texas State Bar's attempt to discipline her for conduct during and after the 2020 presidential election.

Bouressa, a Republican, said in her ruling that the Commission for Lawyer Discipline had "failed to meet its burden" in part because of "difficulty locating materials cited in the Commission's brief."

The judge said the commission's motion had listed exhibits A through F, but the "actual documents attached to the response were marked Exhibits A through H, and did not match the documents described in the brief." When the court contacted the Commission about the errors, the latter responded that "no corrective action was necessary," according to Bouressa's ruling.

She added that in "light of the numerous defects in the Commissions exhibits," she did not consider much of the submitted exhibits. As a result, just two of the documents cited by the Commission were considered, Bouressa wrote in Thursday's order. The decision is appealable, the judge said.

It is unclear if the commission plans to appeal. Powell may still face repercussions from her voter fraud claims as several other Trump lawyers have faced sanctions, criminal charges, and suspensions, according to Forbes.

Representatives for Powell and for the commission did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Saturday.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Jamie Grill/Getty Images

Daily cannabis users have a higher risk of coronary artery disease compared to non-users.

CAD is the most common form of heart disease in the US, and it can cause a heart attack.

People who used weed once a month or less did not have an increased risk of heart disease.

People who use cannabis daily have a higher risk of coronary artery disease (CAD)  the leading cause of heart attack in the US  compared to those who have never used the drug, according to a news release from the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers found that those who self-identified as daily cannabis consumers were 34% more likely to be diagnosed with CAD, compared to those who reported no history of cannabis use.

CAD is the most common form of heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is characterized by cholesterol buildup on the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. While some people with CAD experience warning signs like chest pain or shortness of breath, for other people the disease can cause a heart attack seemingly out of nowhere.

"There seems to be a dose-response relationship in that more frequent cannabis use is associated with a higher risk of CAD," lead researcher Ishan Paranjpe, a resident physician at Stanford University, said in the news release.

People who smoke weed daily are at highest risk

Cannabis is now legal either recreationally or medically in 38 states, but researchers are still learning about the potential consequences of long-term use.

Paranjpe and his team used data from the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program, which surveyed the health and habits of 175,000 Americans, to find the most recent link between heart health and cannabis use.

They considered how often participants reported using cannabis and ruled out other risk factors for CAD, like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for age and sex, they found daily cannabis users had an increased risk of developing heart disease.

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The researchers also considered the risk associated with cannabis use disorder, which is defined by continued, frequent use of cannabis despite physical, psychological, or social problems.

Since cannabis use disorder has been studied before, the researchers were able to use previously identified gene variations associated with the disorder in their analysis. That information helped them conclude that cannabis use disorder is linked to an increase in heart disease risk.

People who smoke once a month or less have no increased risk of heart disease

People who used weed only once a month or less had no significant risk of heart disease related to their cannabis consumption. The study did not differentiate between smoking cannabis and other forms of consumption, such as taking edibles.

The researchers noted that the findings of similar studies have been mixed. One study from the UK published in 2022 found that people who smoked weed more than once per month were more likely to have their first heart attack before age 50 compared to less frequent smokers and non-smokers.

The American Heart Association's official stance on cannabis includes a warning that smoking or vaping any substance, including cannabis products, comes with a risk of harm to the heart, lungs, and blood vessels.

Paranjpe will present the complete findings of the study at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting on March 5. Until then, only preliminary results are available online.

Read the original article on Insider
South Park has made headlines for its controversial depiction of Harry and Meghan.

In a recent episode of the adult animated series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the royal couple are lampooned with a series of jokes referencing events from the last few years.

Viewers have branded the episode brutal, and it was reported on Tuesday (21 February), that Markle herself was left upset by its content.

A representative for the couple denied reports that they were considering a lawsuit, calling the speculation nonsense.

Still, the episode, in true South Park form, doesnt hold back. Here are the references you might have missed.

The social media candle furore

The writers drew from Queen Elizabeths IIs funeral for one small joke featured early in the episode.

The characters based on Harry and Meghan attend the funeral of the Canadian Queen, and as they arrive, they walk past a candle identical to the one that became the source of social media discussions back in September.

Following the televised broadcast of the Queens funeral, unverified claims suggested that the royal family intentionally sat Markle behind a candle; many viewers said all they could see of Markle during the broadcast was her black hat.

If anything, the candles appearance in South Park was designed to send up the social media furore as opposed to Markle.

South Park referenced the candle furore following Queens funeral (Paramount Plus)

Harrys memoir

Perhaps an obvious one  the book Harry is promoting in the episode is titled WAAAGH, which is a nod to his memoir Spare, which was published in January.

In the book, which The Independent said sets fire to the royal family, Harry spoke of his hatred of the press, his strained relationship with his brother William and grappling with loneliness, trauma and PTSD.

At one stage in the episode, South Park characte Kyle tells his friends: They have this huge jet parked in front of my house and they keep on wanting me to buy their book.

Michelle Obama

In the episode, the characters based on Harry and Meghan meet with a brand manager, who labels Meghan as a sorority girl, actress, influencer and victim. Meanwhile, Harry is described as royal prince, millionaire, world traveller victim.

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Meghans profile is also shown, and eagle-eyed viewers have noticed the phrases Lawyer Pretending and First Lady Botherer among her list of hobbies., The former is a nod to Meghans role in legal drama Suits, while the latter references quotes made by royal expert Tom Bower in Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors.

South Park hints at claims surrounding Meghans relationship with Michelle Obama (Paramount Plus)

Bower claims that Obama was alarmed following a series of meetings with Markle, who was allegedly unsure how to find her place within the royal family. He claimed that Obama told Markle: Take some time and dont be in a hurry to do anything.

TV interviews

South Park poked fun at Harry and Meghans TV appearances (Paramount Plus)

Harry and Meghans several TV appearances, including a sitdown with Oprah Winfrey and appearance on ITV News, were sent up in the episode. The characters based on the pair appear on Good Morning Canada to insist they want privacy  however, its pointed out by the host that Meghan is holding a sign reading: Do not look at us. Harrys sign states: We do not want privacy.

When the host asks the prince if he hates journalists, he replies: Thats right. We just want to be normal people  all this attention is so hard.

They end up walking off the show.

Their move to California

In the episode, the royal couple give up their duties to move to South Park, with the character based on Meghan exclaiming: If we moved here, people would think were really serious about wanting to be normal.

This is a direct reference to the couples move to California after announcing they would step down as senior royals in 2020.

Their move to South Park angers the lead characters, with Kyle telling accusing the princes wife of bossing him around, adding: Im sick of hearing about them! I cant get away from them! They are in my f***ing face!

Characters based on Harry and Meghan move to South Park (Paramount Plus)

Harrys frost-bitten penis

After moving to South Park, the Harry and Meghan characters are furious after realising photos of their new home have been leaked to the media.

When Kyle clashes with the couple, his new neighbours, the Meghan character accused him of victiminsing her, with Harry stepping in to defend his wife, by saying: This is an outrage  we will just see how he deals with my blue penis.

This is a reference to Harrys revelation in his memoir that he was suffering from a frostbitten penis at his brother Williams wedding to Kate Middleton, following a 200-mile expedition to the North Pole in March 2011.

Meghans GQ magazine cover

In a tiny moment featured in the episode, several magazine covers appear on the screen, many of which sends up Meghans interviews with Vogue and The Cut.

However, its her GQ one, published in 2018, that is raising eyebrows. Written on the actual cover of the magazine was Meghans annus mirabilis, which, translated from Latin, means Meghans wonderful year.

The Latin phrasing itself was a nod to a speech given by the Queen in 1992, referred to as her annus horribilis. The speech, which featured in the most recent season of The Crown, came after a particulary bad year for the monarchy.

Parker and Stone eyed an opportunity, and instead of annus mirabilis, used the phrase Princess Anus on the fictional version of the magazine cover.

South Park is available to stream in the UK on Paramount Plus.
The author in the lobby of the Westin hotel. Alison Datko

I spent $375 on a one-night stay at the Westin at Denver International Airport.

The heated pool and unique architecture exceeded my expectations for amenities in an airport hotel.

Although pricey, I'd splurge on a one-night stay again for the convenience.

During a recent cross-country trip to visit friends in Colorado, I spent $375 for a one-night stay at the Westin at Denver International Airport.

The hotels glass walls were visible from inside the airport security checkpoint. Alison Datko

I flew from Orlando into DIA on Southwest en route to visit friends who live in a suburb of the city. I'd booked a short stay at the airport Westin so I could work from the room, sleep off my jet lag, and pick up my rental car before venturing into town the next day.

My plane touched down at the C concourse, then I rode the airport tram to Jeppesen Terminal, which is DIA's sole terminal. From there, I quickly spotted signs that led me toward the hotel, which I could see from inside the airport.

I followed signs that said "Westin Hotel" to an outdoor plaza between the airport terminal and the hotel.

There were clearly marked signs with arrows leading to the hotel. Alison Datko

The signs led me from the tram at the center of the terminal to a set of escalators, which went downstairs toward baggage claim and the terminal exit.

At first, I was unsure if I was heading in the right direction, because the security area and the exit were so close to each other. However, I squeezed past a long line of people who were waiting to enter the terminal through security, and eventually spotted the door that led out to the plaza.

In the plaza, I saw a striking glass canopy covering a set of escalators, with the hotel in the background.

The outdoor plaza included escalators leading to a lower-level transit station. Alison Datko

I walked into the outdoor courtyard area between the airport and the hotel, which was partially covered by a curved glass canopy. At the center of the plaza, I saw escalators leading down to a station for the RTD train, which is Denver's light rail system.

There was also a sign with arrows leading to restaurants, which I soon realized referred to the restaurants inside the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel was built to sit above the plaza, and there were tables and chairs underneath it.

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The author in front of the hotel lobby (L) and the patio outside the hotel entrance (R). Alison Datko

It only took a minute for me to walk across the plaza to the hotel, which I thought looked beautiful from the outside. It was made of glass and built to resemble the letter "W," according to an employee I spoke with later.

The center of the building was raised off the ground, and underneath it there was a spacious patio with tables and chairs overlooking the transit station below.

I walked through a set of glass doors and entered the hotel, where I saw elevators and escalators leading up to the lobby.

Signs pointed up to the lobby on the sixth floor. Alison Datko.

Around the corner, there was also a restaurant and a grab-and-go market.

According to the signs I saw, I'd entered at the fifth floor. I realized that according to the hotel's floor numbering system, the lobby was sixth floor, the terminal entrance is fifth floor, and the transit station, many stories below, was considered ground level.

I rode upstairs to the sixth floor and entered the lobby, which I thought looked gorgeous.

The lobby had a unique, modern design and plenty of natural light. Alison Datko

Inside the hotel, the lobby had high, curved ceilings and an ultra-modern atmosphere that I thought felt surprisingly sleek. It reminded me of the architecture of the airport.

It was a large, airy space with glossy white lounge areas, a bar, arched walls made of windows, and a high, curved ceiling. I also saw two accent walls made of live plants, which I thought added a fun pop of color to the otherwise sleek and futuristic vibe.

For me, the check-in process was smooth and pleasant. The front desk attendant told me about various amenities like a fitness center upstairs and guest services like a baggage drop area downstairs, where airline passengers can check their luggage before heading to the airport. She also let me know that the Wi-Fi would be free for me since I'm a member of the free Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program, but told me there was a $14.95 charge for non-members.

I appreciated the floor-to-ceiling windows placed throughout the hotel, and thought they showed impressive views of the Colorado landscape.

The elevator corridors had windows overlooking the Eastern Plains. Alison Datko

The hotel had two sets of elevators, one for each wing of the hotel. I headed to the one on the east wing, to the left of the check-in area.

There was a large floor-to-ceiling window next to the elevators, which I thought offered an attractive view of the Eastern Plains. As I got closer, I could see the word "Westin" printed in small white font at the center of the window. I thought it was a nice subtle touch because it looked like the word was floating just above the horizon.

I booked a high-floor room, which had a king bed and an attractive view of the Front Range mountains in the distance.

The room was decorated with subtle, earthy tones. Alison Datko

I took the elevator to the 11th floor, and found my room located down the hall from the pool and fitness center on the same floor.

The hallways were decorated with warm tan tones and carpeted hallways, which I thought had a cozier feeling than the futuristic aesthetic I'd seen downstairs. The room itself was also decorated in soft shades of tan and white.

My traditional king room included a desk, a chaise lounge, and mountain-themed artwork. I thought it was a simple but comfortable and calming space.

In the early afternoon, the room glowed with sunlight. Alison Datko

My room had amenities like a work space, a coffee maker, and a mini-fridge, plus helpful touches like built-in reading lights on the headboard of the bed.

While other parts of the hotel reflected the modern airport setting, the room decor seemed to me to pay homage to Denver's natural landscape. I thought it felt simple, clean, and peaceful.

I was happy with the bathroom in my room, which had a tiled shower and a contemporary design.

The walk-in shower included full-size toiletries and a rainfall shower head. Alison Datko

The bathroom had a tiled shower with a glass door, along with a rainfall shower head and a separate shower wand. There were also full-size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash mounted to the wall, which I appreciated. Overall, I thought the bathroom felt spacious and modern.

The wall-to-wall window, which had distant views of the mountains, was my favorite part of the room.

The large window filled my room with sunlight during the day. Alison Datko

The huge window in my room had a ledge that was wide enough to sit on, and I enjoyed relaxing there and looking out at the horizon. From my room I could see the highway, along with downtown Denver and the Front Range mountains in the distance.

I sat at the window while calling my husband back home to let him know I'd arrived at the hotel, and it's also where I sat the next day to enjoy my morning coffee.

After taking a post-flight power nap, my first stop was the fitness center, where I found machines like treadmills, stationary bikes, and free weights.

At the gym, a row of workout machines overlooked the roof of the airport terminal. Alison Datko

In the afternoon, I walked down the hall to the 24-hour fitness center which had a gym, an indoor heated pool, and a set of bathrooms.

I first went into the gym, where I saw around a dozen machines like treadmills, Pelotons, and ellipticals, along with a set of free weights. There were a few other people already using the gym when I arrived. I spent 30 minutes working out on the machines, which faced a wall of windows overlooking DIA Airport's tent-like roof.

I greatly enjoyed this view, especially because a cloud of fog rolled in during my visit and made me feel like I was working out on a mountain top.

Swimming in the heated pool with a large wall of windows felt relaxing and was a highlight of my stay.

The pool area was decorated with tile and metal beams. Alison Datko

Next, I went to the pool, which was in a large room that had an enormous glass wall and lounge seating. I also saw a shower near the pool deck for rinsing off, and a hot tub.

The water temperature felt a little cool to me, but the pool was heated. I spent a half-hour swimming laps in comfortable silence, as I was the only person in the pool area.

Before leaving, I took a relaxing dip in the hot tub, where I enjoyed a view of the late-afternoon sun setting over the snowy plains, which by then had turned the sky from blue to pink.

Before dinner, I grabbed a drink at the lobby bar, which had a welcoming and conversational atmosphere.

The lobby bar, Sky Lounge, at the Westin opened at 5 p.m. Alison Datko

In the evening, I went to check out the Sky Lounge, which was a triangle-shaped bar in the lobby open daily from 5 p.m. to midnight.

The sun had started to set by the time I went downstairs, and I found the lobby lit up with warm atmospheric lighting, which I thought gave it an inviting and cozy vibe.

Lobby bars like this one are a plus for me as a solo traveler, since I enjoy seeking out watering holes with friendly company and good conversation.

The lobby bar had seating overlooking the airport terminal. Alison Datko

I ordered a glass of wine at the bar and watched many people come and go, nearly all of whom struck up conversations with the bartender or other customers, including me. I enjoyed a great conversation with a group of fellow guests from Montana who were visiting for business.

It may have been due to the merging of travelers on that particular evening, but the Sky Lounge felt to me like a welcoming spot where the hotel guests gathered to learn about one another's adventures.

There were also plenty of lounge chairs around the bar, and a few tables with charging stations where people could sit with their laptops and work. I thought it was nice the room had these options for guests preferring alone time or more intimate conversation.

After happy hour, I ate dinner at the hotel's on-site restaurant, located downstairs from the lobby.

Green chile soup with a Caesar salad at Grill & Vine restaurant. Alison Datko

For dinner I walked downstairs to the hotel's restaurant, Grill & Vine, which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I sat at the bar here, too. I started with a mezcal cocktail called the Smoky Paloma, which was served in a sugar-rimmed glass with a slice of blood orange, and was delicious.

The dinner menu had a range of American fare, from sandwiches to an aged rib eye and spinach and mushroom ravioli. Everything sounded great, so I asked the bartender for his recommendation. He suggested I try the salmon, the green chile, or the steak.

I opted for a Caesar salad and a cup of the green chile soup, which is a regional favorite. I enjoyed the salad and was glad I ordered it. The green chile was good, but it wasn't my favorite rendition that I've tried.

I ordered dessert to go and enjoyed it in my room before a peaceful night of sleep.

The opera torte from Grill & Vine came served with a dollop of cream and fresh blueberries. Alison Datko

For dessert, I picked the opera torte and a tawny port wine, which I ordered to go and carried up to my room. I enjoyed both in front of my room's wall-to-wall window with a view of the night sky, which made for a relaxing end to the day.

Because I like to keep my bedroom temperature cool at night, I was happy to discover a spare, cozy blanket folded in a closet, which I spread across the comfortable bed. I also appreciated the fact that I couldn't hear any outside noise through the window, despite being so close to the airport. I settled in easily for the night and fell asleep quickly.

The next morning, I woke before dawn and enjoyed the sunrise from my room.

A view of the morning sky from the hotel room window. Alison Datko

One of my favorite things to do when visiting the American West is to wake up early and enjoy the glow of the morning sky, so I was thankful my room had a good view. Because I was visiting in February, the sun came up right around 7 a.m. over the plains.

I made coffee using the in-room coffee maker, which came with Starbucks-branded pods.

The coffee cups in the room had cardboard sleeves that were stamped with the Starbucks logo. Alison Datko

Coffee is a must-have part of my morning routine, but I don't consider myself incredibly picky about it. The coffee station in my room included four Starbucks coffee pods, two caffeinated and two decaf, and two sets of powdered cream and sugar packets.

The coffee maker was easy to use, and the brew tasted OK to me. However, I think people who prefer higher-quality coffees would probably better enjoy a made-to-order cup from the hotel's market downstairs.

For breakfast, I opted for a quick bite from the hotel's grab-and-go market.

The market had a large selection of healthy prepackaged foods. Alison Datko

I stopped by the hotel's grab-and-go market on the fifth floor, just below the lobby. I noticed it had a few indoor seats and tables where customers were working on laptops, along with a coffee counter and access to an outdoor patio with more seating.

The market sold refrigerated items like sodas, juices, wraps, sandwiches, and salads, as well as snacks like chips and granola bars. I was pleased with the variety of options, which was more diverse than I've experienced at similar markets at other airport hotels.

Since I usually prefer a light breakfast, I chose a juice and a prepackaged fruit-and-cheese plate. Despite being prepackaged, I thought the fruit was surprisingly fresh.

After breakfast, I explored the lower levels of the hotel, which included meeting spaces and access to Denver's RTD transit station.

The conference center had a large glass wall and gold art installations. Alison Datko

While waiting for my rental car appointment, I spent the rest of my morning exploring more of the hotel, including the conference center and the ground-level transit station and baggage drop, which were located on the lower floors.

I rode a long escalator down to the conference center, which was an enormous, airy space that I thought felt stately and sophisticated. I also walked by several meeting and banquet rooms which were mostly closed and required keycards to enter.

According to the hotel website, guests can book these rooms for private events like conferences and business meetings.

On the lowest level of the hotel, I came across an interesting scale model of the hotel, encased in glass.

A model showed what the hotel and airport look like from a birds-eye-view. Alison Datko

I walked down another set of escalators to the lowest level of the hotel, where I found a colorfully painted hallway leading to the transit station outside. On my short walk to the station, I came across a glass case containing a scale model of the hotel and airport.

I stopped for a few minutes to observe the piece, which gave me a better sense of my surroundings. It also put into perspective just how large and grandiose the hotel looked compared to the airport terminal, which it towered over.

Later, I explored the transit center and baggage drop area.

The transit station below the airport and the hotel. Alison Datko

The transit center services Denver's A Line commuter train and also had stops for various bus routes.

I thought it was convenient to have a station at the airport for visitors who want to travel to and from the airport by train or bus and save on a taxi.

In the station, I saw the baggage drop area. The hotel check-in attendant told me this is where guests can drop off luggage before their flight.

The baggage drop area for hotel guests was in the transit center. Alison Datko

The hotel check-in attendant told me overnight guests can drop their luggage off at this spot rather than rolling it over to the airport, as long as the bags are dropped at least 90 minutes prior to their departure time.

Because of the multiple escalators required to reach the airline check-in desks, I thought this could be a helpful option for people traveling with large bags or bulky items like snow skis, which I spotted multiple times during my trip through the airport.

I grabbed lunch at a second restaurant in the hotel, which was also a brewery.

The Tivoli bar had a large selection of beers on tap. Alison Datko

I ate lunch at Tivoli Tap House in the west wing of the hotel, which was a second location for the Denver brewery that dates back to 1859, according to the company website.

I thought the airport location was beautiful, with a long bar and an attractive mix of metallic and natural wood decor. The menu at Tivoli had casual options like burgers, wraps, and salads. I sat at a table next to the window and enjoyed a flatbread topped with cheese and artichokes.

The service was wonderful and the ambiance was casual and perfect, in my opinion, for a quick meal before heading out into town.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed my stay at the hotel, and wouldn't hesitate to book again if I had an early-morning flight.

The author in the lobby. Alison Datko

From the modern design to views of the surrounding plains and mountains, I thought the Westin felt like a serene retreat amid the busy airport setting.

The heated pool, ample common areas, and unique architecture exceeded my expectations for amenities in an airport hotel. The price of $375 seemed a little steep for the room itself, in my opinion, which I thought was mostly typical compared to other airport hotel rooms I've visited.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience and think the real value of this hotel is its convenient location and relaxing public spaces. The next time I fly through Denver with a long layover or an early flight, I'll probably splurge on another one-night stay at the Westin.

Read the original article on Insider
Insider's reporter spent a week exploring Italy by train, from Venice, to Rome, to Milan. Joey Hadden/Insider

Italy is a European country I always dreamed of visiting, until 2022, when that dream came true.

I spent six days exploring Venice, Rome, and Milan; and I thought some moments felt magical.

From an art sculpture Airbnb to a gondola ride, here's what I'll never forget about my trip.

Growing up with my half-Italian family in a Manhattan suburb, I always dreamed of going to Italy.

The author dreams of Italy in her grandparents' suburban home. Joey Hadden/Insider

My dream finally came true in October 2022, when I spent six days exploring Venice, Rome, and Milan for the first time.

(From left to right): The author visits Venice, Rome, and Milan, in October 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read more: I visited Rome for the first time and only had 48 hours to explore the city. Here are 8 reasons why that wasn't nearly enough time.

Four months after my Italian adventure, I'm still thinking about eight moments that felt magical and made the long-awaited trip everything I hoped it would be.

The author enjoys her time in Rome. Joey Hadden/Insider

I visited Italy during a two-week train trip through Europe. To get to the country, I took an overnight train from Vienna to Venice.

The author gets ready to board a Trenitalia train in Venice, Italy. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read more: I backpacked across Europe for 2 weeks and slept on trains and in budget Airbnbs. 10 things surprised me about this type of travel.

Then I traveled by train to Rome and Milan. I spent two days exploring each city.

A map of Italy shows where Milan, Venice, and Rome are located. Google Maps

Read more: I've spent more than 100 hours riding the rails in the US and Europe. Here are 8 differences I noticed between train travel in each place.

While taking trains between cities, I remember looking out the windows and being stunned by the Italian countryside.

Business-class seating on a train from Venice to Rome. Joey Hadden/Insider

I found the rolling hills to be one of the most picturesque views I'd ever seen from a train. The scene looked like something straight out of my dreams.

A view out the window of a train traveling from Venice to Rome in Italy. Joey Hadden/Insider

My first stop in Italy was Venice, a 1,200-year-old city made up of islands connected by bridges on the northwestern edge of the Adriatic Sea, according to Britannica.

Gondolas line the water on the coast of Venice. Joey Hadden/Insider

Source: Britannica

I'd heard of Venice's canals and car-free streets, but I'll never forget the moment I saw the city myself for the first time. I felt like I'd just stepped into a storybook with colorful buildings lining the canals.

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A canal runs through Venice. Joey Hadden/Insider

After wandering the streets of Venice, I took a gondola tour to see the city from a different perspective.

A view of Venice from a gondola. Joey Hadden/Insider

I remember one moment during the ride when we were on a quiet, narrow path, and I began to notice how much more intimately I could see Venice from the canal.

Views from the author's gondola ride. Joey Hadden/Insider

Being in a narrow canal allowed me to see homes from inches away, and seeing their foundations immersed in the water felt surreal to me.

The author views homes from inside a gondola. Joey Hadden/Insider

For my stay in Venice, I booked an Airbnb stay at Castello de Roncade, a castle and winery just outside of the city.

The author wanders the castle grounds surrounding her Airbnb stay. Joey Hadden/Insider

Source: Castello de Roncade

I had another magical moment while wandering the castle's stunning grounds. They were filled with perfectly-placed plants and sculptures that I thought looked enchanting.

The grounds of Castello de Roncade outside of Venice, Italy. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read more: I stayed in a castle for the first time and it wasn't anything like I've seen in the movies. Here are 6 things that surprised me about the experience.

My favorite part of the grounds was a massive tree I found alluring. It was a 250-year-old Lebanon Cedar tree, a representative for Castello de Roncade told me. Looking up from underneath it made me feel tiny.

The grounds of Castello de Roncade. Joey Hadden/Insider

From Venice, I traveled to Rome, a nearly 3,000-year-old city known for its rich history and romantic vibes.

Archaeological sites and historic buildings in Rome. Joey Hadden/Insider

Source: Insider

During my stay, I slept in a livable art sculpture I found on Airbnb, and I thought it was the most unique accommodation I'd ever experienced.

A livable sculpture in Rome that the author found on Airbnb. Joey Hadden/Insider

Source: Airbnb

My host, Alessandro, told me he built the livable sculpture on the roof of his villa using recycled materials like car windows, scrap wood, and pieces of broken tiles.

Inside the livable art sculpture. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read more: I slept in 10 unique Airbnbs in 2022, but this art sculpture in Rome was the coolest place I stayed all year

Before booking this Airbnb, I'd never even heard of a sculpture home. I imagined it would feel like sleeping in a giant piece of art, with quirky design elements in every corner. Turns out, I was right.

The kitchen inside the Airbnb. Joey Hadden/Insider

I'll never forget how amazing it felt to wake up inside this Airbnb with sunlight pouring in thanks to all the windows. I wish I could start every day with a moment like that.

The author enjoys the outdoor patio at her Airbnb. Joey Hadden/Insider

While exploring the city on foot, I remember two special moments when I spotted artists sharing their work with people directly on the streets of Rome.

Narrow alleys in Rome. Joey Hadden/Insider

Under the shade of a tree near the Roman Forum, I watched an artist paint a chapel across the street. Seeing him in his own world in a public space among so many people was remarkable and inspiring to me.

A man in Rome paints the 15th-century catholic chapel in front of him  Santa Maria di Loreto. Joey Hadden/Insider

I had a similar feeling a few minutes later when I spotted another artist sculpting dogs from sand. I thought this was such a unique form of art and found it fascinating to watch.

An artist sculpts dogs from sand on the streets of Rome. Joey Hadden/Insider

The last stop of my trip was Milan, a northern Italian city known for being a world capital of fashion and finance, according to Britannica. But my most magical moment in this city had nothing to do with these things.

Snapshots of Milan in October 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

Source: Britannica

Instead, it came from an aimless walk around the city when I stumbled upon a red, brick castle that looked massive.

The entrance gates of Castello Sforzesco in Milan. Joey Hadden/Insider

It was Castello Sforzesco, a 15th-century castle built by Francesco Sforza, a duke of Milan who founded the Sforza Dynasty, according to Britannica.

The castle viewed from Sempione Park on a misty, foggy morning in Milan. Joey Hadden/Insider

Source: Britannica

I thought the castle looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale, and since I wasn't expecting to find it in urban Milan, happening upon it by chance felt like magic to me.

Snapshots of Castello Sforzesco in Milan. Joey Hadden/Insider

Thanks to these special moments, I don't think I'll ever forget my first trip to Italy.

The author enjoys her time in Italy. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read the original article on Insider
Defense Intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov in his office

When asked by the journalist about the hunt for the spy chief, Budanov replied: "Well, so what?"

Read also: Budanov elaborates on special operations, past and future

I like it. First of all, it is a sign of recognition, it shows that I am basically doing my job right.

Budanov says he is not afraid of such threats in his work, adding that he attends church "when things get really hard."

"Im a believer," he said.

Im only afraid of God's punishment. But to be afraid of that Russia would be ridiculous.

Read also: Budanov says number of Ukrainian intelligence agents in Putin's entourage is growing

The spy chief also mentioned that an enemy missiles had hit a building of the Main Intelligence Directorate in Kyiv on Rybalskyi Island, without specifying the date of the attack.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
If the reports emerging from the Central California Womens Facility (CCWF) about rampant sexual violence and abuses of power were being reported from anywhere else, there would be outrage across the state. But because these survivors are locked inside Californias largest womens prison, no one seems to care. The silence is deafening.

Whats worse is that these unacceptable conditions have not changed in the near decade I have been working with criminalized survivors preparing for their parole hearings. They must change

CCWFs failure to protect people in womens prisons from abuse by prison staff is well-known and documented. I have witnessed how this abuse impacts my clients on a daily basis. Usually, those impacts are outside of the scope of my work preparing clients to appear before the parole board. But today, its different. Former Correctional Officer Greg Rodriguez, the man accused of raping over 20 women at CCWF, was stationed in the area of the prison most connected to someones freedom: the area in which people are interviewed by psychologists in preparation for hearings, where attorneys meet with clients and where a lucky few are granted their release.

Opinion

In California, people sentenced to life sentences must appear before the Board of Parole Hearings to get out of prison. Their liberty depends on an extensive interview during which parole commissioners aim to determine if someone poses a risk to public safety by asking questions about every harm they have experienced or inflicted. This process is arduous and emotionally devastating, and few succeed; in 2022, only 14% of the more than 9,000 parole hearings scheduled in California resulted in a parole grant, despite the fact that once released, only about 3% of people who have served these lengthy sentences will ever return to prison. For formerly incarcerated women, return rates are even lower.

For people whose crimes are related to experiences of intimate partner violence, the parole board is supposed to give great weight to the impact of intimate partner battering if it appears the criminal behavior was the result of that victimization. Despite this requirement, in practice, the board gives this special consideration little credence. The idea that an abusive relationship may have impacted a persons decision to commit violence runs counter to the boards general requirement of full responsibility.

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For survivors of sexual abuse whose past violence is directly related to their victimization, the boards questions become even more invasive: Why didnt you leave? Why didnt you stop the abuse? Why didnt you get a divorce? Traumatic experiences are twisted, leaving many to wish that they had never shared them.

My clients stories are not isolated: 93% of incarcerated women in the U.S. experienced trauma or violence prior to their incarceration. In California, a 2014 study found nearly 100% of women incarcerated for the homicide of an intimate partner were abused by the person they killed. Most indicated that the homicide resulted from an attempt to protect themselves or their children.

More appalling is the fact that while facing the dehumanizing gauntlet of the parole board, my clients must now weather the indignity of attempting to secure their liberty in a place where someone wielding a badge of authority is accused of raping dozens of their peers. Already, I have clients who are more frightened to participate in the parole process than ever before; frightened not only of what parole commissioners may force them to relive, but also of doing so in an environment where the brutality of our prison system is on fresh display. The very institutions tasked with maintaining public safety have failed to protect my clients at every turn, both before and during their incarceration.

The parole board  which requires my clients to acknowledge the harm they have caused, show remorse and make amends  has been silent in the face of these allegations. Every survivor of sexual violence deserves to be believed and to have access to healing. This will only happen when our prisons and those who run them are finally held accountable for perpetrating harm and degrading real community safety. My clients deserve no less.

Lilli Paratore is the managing attorney at UnCommon Law, where she directly represents clients navigating the discretionary parole process in California. She has worked with people in prison for nearly a decade, including at the Death Penalty Clinic, the East Bay Community Law Centers Clean Slate Practice, the Prison Law Office and the Orleans Public Defenders.
Massachusetts State Police have been involved in a shooting on Union and Main Street in Springfield that left a man dead.

According to the Hampden District Attorneys Office, around 2 a.m., members of the MSP Gaming Enforcement Unit and Springfield Police Department officers were called to the scene for reports of a 48-year-old man acting aggressively toward others in the casino.

Upon arrival, investigators attempted to locate the individual as he was leaving the casino heading in the direction of Main and Union Streets.

When investigators found him, it prompted a foot pursuit. During the pursuit, shots were fired and exchanged between the man and the officers, according to the District Attorneys Office.

The man was struck during the pursuit. Officers called an ambulance and rendered medical aid. He was transported to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield where he later passed away.

The victims identification will be released once proper notification has been made to the family.

Patrick McNamara, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, released the following statement in response to the shooting:

A critical incident is never easy. Our members go to work every day in service to the citizens of the Commonwealth. None of our members go to work expecting or wanting to discharge their firearm. This mornings incident in Springfield is another example of the dangers our members face daily, and we are thankful the involved Troopers are safe, uninjured, and able to go home to their families. As more details are released regarding the incident itself, we are confident it will become clear that our members reacted as they are trained and expected to.

The shooting is being investigated by the Hampden District Attorneys Office, Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit and the Springfield Police Departments Detective Bureau.

The DAs office is using body-worn camera footage, public and private video recording systems, witness statements, investigative reports, 9-1-1 calls, and dispatch logs as evidence in their investigation.

Story continues

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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by Dana Halawi

BEIRUT, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- "I've lost the will to live," said Raed Dandachi, a Lebanese man in his 50s who lost his wife and two of his children on the night of April 23, 2022 during a failed attempt to migrate to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.

Dandachi and his family were attempting to escape Lebanon's economic collapse to seek a better life in Europe, but their dream was shattered when the boat carrying them sank off the coast of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on that tragic night.

"Unfortunately, I lost my wife and two of my children as well as the 5,000 U.S. dollars I had borrowed and collected from selling my furniture to pay for the trip," Dandachi, a blacksmith living in the poor neighborhood of Bab al Tabbaneh in Tripoli, told Xinhua.

Since the beginning of the Lebanese economic crisis in 2019, the Dandachi family's living conditions have deteriorated as he could not secure food for his family sometimes.

"I have been unemployed for the past three months; I cannot even afford to buy bread for my children," Dandachi said, adding that he would pay his arrears now and then if he gets a job.

He confessed that he resorted to illegal immigration as he lost hope for a better future for his children in Lebanon amid the country's persisting economic and political crises.

Raed Dandachi's brother, A'amid, who lost his three children aboard the same boat that sunk on April 23, 2022, said that he had no other choice as he lost faith in the country's future.

"My monthly income dropped to 200 U.S. dollars after the crisis; I could not provide my children with enough food, education and healthcare," he told Xinhua.

"I knew we were going to die anyway, so I thought: why not try to escape on a boat?" he added.

Dina Makkouk, a clinical psychologist, told Xinhua that many of those who consider illegal immigration to Europe utter one typical sentence: "We are dead here anyway," which reflects depressive features.

Makkouk noted that the dire economic crisis contributed to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness among many Lebanese and Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon.

"Low tolerance to frustration, high risk-taking behaviors, and the desire to escape to better circumstances prompted some people to find a way out," she said.

Over the past three years, Lebanon witnessed rising attempts at illegal immigration by sea to Europe amid the country's financial crisis which has plunged many Lebanese families into poverty.

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad al-Makari revealed earlier this year that Lebanon's authorities registered 155 illegal immigration attempts in the third quarter of 2022, involving 4,637 immigrants, leading to the death of at least 214 people and the disappearance of 225 others.

Tripoli, the second largest city in Lebanon, has become a center for protests since October 2019, as its economy was severely impacted by the economic collapse.

Ayman Omar, director of the Ishraq Center for Studies and an economist, told Xinhua that six out of 10 families in Tripoli already suffered from poverty ahead of Lebanon's economic crisis, according to a study released in 2015 by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).

"The economic crisis deepened Tripolitans' suffering and increased its intensity, so it is only natural to witness a rise in illegal immigration from this city," Omar said.

Omar urged Lebanese authorities to activate the city's different public facilities, including the Tripoli port, Tripoli International Fair, Klayaat Airport, the Deir Ammar power plant, and others that can contribute to revitalizing the economy, providing job opportunities, and improving the social situation in the northern city.

To curb illegal immigration, an initiative was recently launched by the Lebanese Center for Justice, an independent institution that works on spreading the concept of justice and raising awareness of the importance of citizens' rights.

Fadi Obeid, a member of the advisory body at the center, told Xinhua that the center's employees and volunteers have visited families in Tripoli to raise awareness about the risks of illegal migration.

He added that the center's doctors offer psychological support for those who have tried to immigrate illegally and developed psychological complications after failed attempts.

Another initiative was recently launched by Rola Fadel, head of the non-governmental ACUA Foundation that aims to foster a feeling of belonging for Lebanese by helping them reach their full potential.

Speaking at a seminar on Feb. 13, Fadel said her foundation will soon launch an awareness campaign with the Jusoor media platform to reduce illegal immigration by alerting people about the dangers, through organizing a series of TV programs and seminars.

Fadel added that her foundation will prepare a draft bill to criminalize all people who participate in organizing illegal immigration trips.

In late September 2022, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi announced proactive administrative, judicial, security, and intelligence measures to curb illegal immigration via the sea. Among the measures are the regular registration of boats at the ports in Lebanon and confiscation of unregistered boats.

Preemptive measures are also being taken by all security agencies, in addition to increased naval patrols, to combat illegal immigration. 
photograph of Cindy Starfall posing in Italy

After starting to make adult content on OnlyFans, Cindy Starfall stopped making porn videos for other platforms.Cindy Starfall

Cindy Starfall ran away from home aged 15 to escape an arranged marriage to a stranger.

Years later, after attending college, she started doing porn to support herself financially.

She describes why she prefers making adult content on OnlyFans to making adult films.

This as-told-to article is based on a conversation with a 33-year-old porn star and OnlyFans creator who uses the stage name Cindy Starfall. Insider has verified her earnings with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I became a porn star when I was 21 to support myself financially.

My family has always been very strict and sex is not something we talked about. My real mother left me when I was two years old and I was raised by her sister, my aunt, who I call mom. Two months ago, she let it slip that my biological mom had found out that I do porn.



My family is not accepting of me being a sex worker. When my aunt found out, she said she thought I'd been forced into the business.

I'm not embarrassed about it. When I decided to do porn I already made peace with the fact that videos of me would still be online years later and that people I know may find out. It's something I've had to accept.

But they don't understand that I like the job  it brings in good money and I get to be independent. I want them to know that it's just a job and porn stars are still people who are capable of having a normal life. It's tough knowing my family doesn't support me.

Growing up, I was told that at 18 I would be set up for an arranged marriage and all I would do is be a housewife. I didn't want that: I wanted to travel and build my own business, even if it was in porn, so I ran away from home at the age of 15.

Cindy Starfall became a porn star at 21. Cindy Starfall

My family said the guy they had picked out for me was Taiwanese and from a good family, but I didn't know him.



One day when my mom was on vacation I packed my bags and had my friend pick me up. I stayed at my friend's house until I could support myself.

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It was a sink-or-swim situation

I didn't want to go crawling back, so I worked multiple jobs and funded myself through college. Then at 21 I joined the porn business after I met an industry executive at a party who asked if I had ever done nude videos. I started out as a webcam girl on MyFreeCams and then started doing porn videos.

I took the opportunity and decided to save money and not depend on anyone. After opening an OnlyFans account three years ago, I stopped doing porn for other sites because it only pays a flat fee and the production company owns the content. I started making really good money on OnlyFans as my fans wanted to connect with me directly and they liked how I shot my own videos.



I work every day from 9-5 and I spend that time engaging with fans. I shoot content about twice a month and have it ready for the following month. I shoot my content using my phone and a tripod. If I'm shooting whilst traveling, I sometimes ask my friends to help.

One thing I love about OnlyFans is that I can keep my distance by being behind a screen. If someone is being rude I can block them, but if I'm on set and something doesn't go right, my agent is too far away.

I get to work when I want and I don't have to be on set for hours. My fans love it because they feel a closer connection with me. They feel like they're on a trip with me when I shoot my content while traveling. Now I make about $20,000 a month and I've earned enough to buy a house.

Read the original article on Business Insider
An oil tanker is moored at the Sheskharis complex, part of Chernomortransneft JSC, a subsidiary of Transneft PJSC, in Novorossiysk, Russia, - AP

One year on from Vladimir Putins murderous invasion and nine years into Russias aggression, Ukraine stands strong, united and determined. The Kremlin underestimated the bravery and heroism of the Ukrainian people. Our whole nation is grateful to the British people, Government and Parliament for assisting our defence against Putins neo-imperialist regime. This war has become a common fight for democratic values, rules-based order, sustainable peace and security.

Victory is in our grasp if five goals are met: more modern weapons and military systems, including tanks, fighter jets and long-range artillery; more sanctions pressure to drain Russia of the resources to wage its war of aggression; bringing Putins regime to international justice for its crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine; strengthening Ukraines resilience through aid and reforms; and Ukrainian membership of the European Union and Nato.

Emptying Russias energy wallet is critical to our success. The energy trade is at the root of Putins power, threatening global order and security. Refusing Russian oil and gas for good would make the nations of Europe more resilient and secure. It would undercut Putins pernicious strategy.

There are two ways to achieve this. Firstly, by sanctioning the whole Russian energy sector, including nuclear, and its international trade capacity. Putin remains emboldened by his malign influence on European and global energy markets. Since the invasion, the UKs energy policies have deprived Putins war machine of 4.5 billion by ending all its gas, oil and coal imports. However, Russia still earns about 460 million a day through international trade in fossil fuels. And we cannot forget Russias malign influence in nuclear technologies. It generates enormous revenues and helped Russia earn political capital for decades.

More energy sanctions are needed to ensure Russia does not continue to profit from oil and gas. Countries which continue to buy Russian fossil fuels should only pay the production price  denying Putin a profit. The price cap has helped, but it is not enough. Russia must also be denied the ability to use its shadow fleet of tankers to avoid sanctions and keep trading its oil. It is intolerable that Russia went from selling less than 3 million oil barrels in November to more than 9 million last month. If we are serious about limiting Russian revenues, we must stop the hundred oil tankers still carrying Russian oil and ensure they never do so again. We must target the trade in Russian liquefied natural gas, making it impossible for ships to export it and shutting down the Druzhba oil pipeline. These are two obvious steps that have yet to be implemented a full year into the war.

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Secondly, we should accelerate the transition to green energy. Replacing fossil fuels with renewables is one of the most efficient ways to strengthen Europes energy security and ensure free nations are independent of energy supplies from autocratic anti-Western regimes. What was once only about climate change is now also about democracy. Europe and the world need clean energy to escape Putins grasp. With every wind turbine we build and every solar panel we install, Europe will be less vulnerable to Russias energy warfare.

When we win the war and look to rebuild, Ukraine must also embrace the opportunities of clean energy and green technologies to create a resilient, free and prosperous nation.

We look to the UK to help end Russias influence that flows from its oil and gas. For your country, it will bring benefits including cheap power. For Europe, it will help end their dependence on Russian supplies. For Ukraine, it will help defund Putin so we can win the war on the battlefield and in the long run.

Petro Poroshenko was president of Ukraine from 2014-2019
Feb. 24ANDERSON  With a large turnout of parents, the second grade students at Anderson Elementary School celebrated Black history.

Teacher Christin Brown organized the Friday event that included singing, dancing and a play, all performed by students.

"We can't let a year go by without acknowledging all the famous African Americans that made a difference to our world," Brown said. "We want to make sure our kids learn about them and not forget about them."

Brown has been organizing Black history events for 23 years.

"I teach second grade, so these are all second-grade students except one," she said. "The kids are so happy to be a part of this."

Brown said a lot of the students know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but need to know more about the contributions of other Black people.

Kaelyn Golden sang the African American national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and the Rising Star Dance Team performed to "I Am the Dream."

The Rising Star Reader's Theater Club presented a play entitled "The Rainbow Fish."

Damon Golden, a teacher at Anderson Preparatory Academy, was the guest speaker. His remarks focused on the importance of dreams.

"Kids teach us," Golden said. "We learn from you."

His theme was "The dreams still work."

He said as people get older and deal with life's ups and downs, they no longer dream.

"This community is a place of dreams," Golden said.

Golden said faith is needed to believe that the impossible is in fact possible.

He noted someone had a dream to create electricity, the light bulb and gas-powered vehicles.

Golden said accomplishing a dream takes a plan to guide a person and keep them on track.

"You need a plan to reach your destination, so you know where you're going," he said.

A final ingredient is action, he said, because a it's just a dream unless a person works toward a goal.

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Golden ended by telling the students about Henry Box Brown, a slave living in Virginia who in 1849, had himself mailed to Philadelphia to gain his freedom.

"People probably thought he was crazy," he said. "But he made his dream a reality. Don't let people discourage you from seeking your dream."

Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
TAIPEI (Reuters) - The U.S.-led "Fab 4" semiconductor alliance of Taiwan, the United States, Japan and South Korea held its first video meeting of senior officials last week focused on supply chain resilience, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The United States last September convened the first meeting of the working group, colloquially called "Fab 4" or "Chip 4", to discuss how to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain, after a global chip crunch caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The semiconductor shortage, which forced some carmakers to halt production, thrust chip powerhouse Taiwan into the spotlight and has made supply chain management a bigger priority for governments around the world.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said the "U.S.-East Asia Semiconductor Supply Chain Resilience Working Group", or "Fab 4", had after many months of coordination held the first video meeting of senior officials from its working group on Feb. 16.

"The focus of the discussions of the participating quartet at the meeting was mainly on how to maintain the resilience of the semiconductor supply chain and explore the possible future cooperation directions of all parties," the ministry said in a statement.

"As an important member of the Indo-Pacific region, our country also plays a key role in the global semiconductor industry, and has deep economic and trade relations with countries in the region."

The ministry did not elaborate on which officials took part in the meeting.

President Tsai Ing-wen has said that Taiwan is committed to ensuring its partners have reliable supplies of semiconductors, which she has called "democracy chips", and has urged allies to boost collaboration amid intensified threats from China.

Beijing views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory.

The "Fab" in the name refers to a shorthand industry expression for the fabrication plants where chips, used in everything from fridges and smartphones to fighter jets, are made.

The group's members are home to the world's largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, South Korean memory chip giants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix, and key Japanese suppliers of semiconductor materials and equipment.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Paul has previously described "struggling" with monogamy as a Mormon in her TikToks. Taylor Frankie Paul/TikTok/Instagram

Taylor Frankie Paul, a Mormon "#MomTok" influencer and "soft swinger," was arrested on February 17.

The Herriman City Police Department said Paul was arrested on charges relating to domestic violence.

Police said one of Paul's two children "was injured by an action" of the 28-year-old.

Taylor Frankie Paul, a Mormon #MomTok influencer with four million followers on the social-media app, was arrested outside of Salt Lake City last week on charges relating to domestic violence.

Police arrested Paul on February 17 for "the misdemeanor charges of assault, criminal mischief and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child," according to a statement the Herriman City Police Department released on Friday afternoon.

She was taken into custody and booked in the Salt Lake County Jail.

Following the 28-year-old's arrest, detectives received "additional video evidence" that was referred to the District Attorney's Office of Salt Lake County to be screened for felony-assault charges, as well as a misdemeanor charge of reckless child abuse, the statement said.

"This evidence also suggests that during the incident, Ms. Paul's minor child was injured by an action of Ms. Paul," the statement continues.

Paul did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Paul, who shares two children with her ex-husband, Tate Paul, is a prominent figure on "#MomTok," a subcommunity where mothers document the ins and outs of parenthood. Paul refers to herself as Mormon in her TikTok videos, saying in some that she "struggles" with monogamy but is "still a member."

As Insider previously reported, the influencer became the center of a controversy last year when she revealed her and her ex-husband's involvement in a "soft-swinging" community. Per Paul's description, she and her ex-husband could be sexually intimate with other members, but agreed not to go "all the way" with anyone other than their spouse.

According to a TikTok livestream posted in May 2022, Paul implied that she slept with another community member without her husband's consent, thus leading to their divorce.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks with reporters during a series of the votes at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Ted Cruz said Democrats are virtue signaling with their Ukrainian support, and Biden lacks a "national objective."

Cruz added that Republicans in the House will be more skeptical of financial aid to Ukraine.

In a surprise visit to Ukraine, Biden committed to an additional $500 million in military aid.

Sen. Ted Cruz said the Biden administration lacks a "strategic national objective" in helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia's war efforts, and that Democrats are virtue signaling with their support.

On his podcast, "Verdict with Ted Cruz," the junior senator from Texas said the Republican majority in the House will bring about increased skepticism about American financial support for Ukraine.

"For the Democrats, this has become a virtue signal," Cruz said. "They wear a Ukrainian flag. Zelenskyy has become, I think People magazine is going to name the sexiest man alive, they're in love with him... a Ukrainian flag has become like a Covid mask. It's a sign to show your virtue."

Cruz said that there are conservatives who "want Putin to lose" but who are disaffected with being on the same side as liberals.

"As we see all these leftists preening around with Ukrainian flags, and you know almost dancing with their fealty to" Zelenskyy, Cruz said, "it is driving millions of Americans away and saying, 'All right, if they're for it, I ain't for it.'"

Republicans have upped their criticisms of the Biden administration and US aid to Ukraine, with some calling for an end to all military and financial aid to the country.

Many denounced President Joe Biden's surprise visit to Ukraine last week, suggesting he should have instead visited the US-Mexico border or East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a recent toxic chemical release resulting from a train derailment.

Biden committed an additional $500 million in military aid during his Ukrainian visit.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Kansas child welfare contractor is accused of placing a teen in an unsafe home where she was molested in 2017, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Wyandotte County District Court.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 15 by the now 22-year-old woman, alleges that at 16 years old she was repeatedly sexually abused and then assaulted by her foster parent, a 37-year-old man recruited to provide foster care services for KVC Behavioral Healthcare Inc, the states largest foster care provider.

The organization placed her with the foster parent in November 2016. In June of the following year, the foster parent called KVC to confess that he sexually abused the teen, but it took five months for state officials to revoke his foster care license, according to the lawsuit.

The foster parent had acted inappropriately in a sexual manner toward female children on more than one occasion, the lawsuit said. A criminal charge filed against the man in Wyandotte County in 2018 was later dropped.

The Star generally does not name victims of sexual assault without their permission. It is not naming the man because he is not currently charged with a crime.

KVC spokeswoman Jenny Kutz said the foster care provider is aware of the case but will not comment on ongoing litigation.

I can tell you that as a nonprofit child and family-serving organization, our highest priority is the safety and well-being of every child we serve, she said in an email.

This is the second lawsuit in the last two weeks to accuse KVC of contributing to the harm of a child by placing them in an ill-fitting foster home.

In the previous case, an infant suffered a severe head injury in 2018 at a KVC foster home, according to a Feb. 6 lawsuit. The childs family alleges that KVC brought the months-old baby into a dangerously overcrowded foster home and failed to provide any safety planning services.

The plaintiffs attorney for both cases did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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A severe lack of judgment

The 37-year-old Kansas City Kansas, man applied for a foster care license, sponsored by KVC. The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) approved his application by April 2014, according to the Feb. 15 lawsuit.

KVC monitored his license over the next three years. But in that time period, KVC learned that he repeatedly acted in an inappropriate, sexual manner and exercised a severe lack of judgment toward female children, the lawsuit said.

The state contractor placed a 16-year-old girl in the care of his Wyandotte County foster home on Nov. 21, 2016.

He sexually abused her multiple times, in a variety of locations around Kansas City, Kansas. Then, he sexually assaulted her within the foster home on June 15, 2017, according to the lawsuit.

The man allegedly called a KVC employee and confessed to sexually abusing the teen four days later.

DCF revoked his license around Nov. 26, 2017, after discovering he had committed acts that were sexual in nature to the foster youth placed in his home.

There are legal procedures to remove a foster parents license and a person can appeal or choose to take the case to court, according to child welfare attorney Lori Burns-Bucklew.

But I would be very concerned if I were to hear that there were foster children in that home as due process was being pursued, she said.

It is unclear why his license was not revoked earlier and whether he still had foster children. A DCF spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the case.

A 2018 criminal case in Wyandotte County accused the foster parent of misdemeanor sexual battery. The charges were dismissed shortly after. He cannot be found on any sex offender registry.

The teenager is now a 22-year-old woman who no longer resides in Kansas City, Kansas. She says the abuse left her suffering from injuries that she is still trying to understand through therapy. She did not recognize the severity of the abuse. As a teen, she had already been subjected to extreme housing disruption and other factors beyond [her] control.

Her lawsuit is seeking $75,000 in damages from the foster care provider.

Accountability

Burns-Bucklew filed a class action lawsuit in 2018 on behalf of many foster care kids who were being shuttled from foster home to foster home and in need of mental health services.

The federal court filing alleged that some children had been treated so poorly in foster care that they ran away from their foster homes or suffered mentally. In certain cases, children were trafficked for sex, sexually abused inside adoptive homes or in one instance reportedly raped inside a KVC child welfare office.

A lack of foster homes even led to some children sleeping in welfare offices.

I have concerns in general on whether or not the contractors are being held sufficiently accountable by the state, Burns-Bucklew said.

Kansas was first in the country to privatize their foster care system, allowing different providers, like KVC Kansas, to compete with other organizations for state contracts.

KVC Kansas spokeswoman Jenny Kutz explained in a prior interview that the group has come a long way in prioritizing mental health services and recruiting foster families since the unprecedented surge of foster children between 2017 and 2019.

Due to multiple factors including state policy changes and juvenile justice reform, a record number of Kansas children were in foster care, Kutz said of the time.

But the lack of foster homes has been a problem in Kansas for a long time, according to Burns-Bucklew.

There have not been enough foster homes in Kansas for over a decade, she said.
YINCHUAN, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, welcomed a group of "special guests" late Wednesday with the arrival of the city's first international flight following China's optimized COVID-19 response.

It was a chartered plane carrying over 1,700 sheep from New Zealand that marked a new beginning as the pandemic had caused a three-year hiatus in Ningxia's international cargo flights.

After undergoing a 45-day quarantine and examination, this batch of imported sheep will be transported to animal husbandry enterprises in the neighboring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Ningxia has been chosen as the designated isolation location for imported breeding animals for its proximity to Inner Mongolia, and climatic advantages boasting abundant sunshine, less rainfall and ample forage grass, which guarantee a high survival rate for such animals.

On Thursday, another flock of more than 1,300 New Zealand breeding sheep followed suit and were transported via a chartered flight to Yinchuan.

These sheep arrived at a time when Ningxia is experiencing a surge in overseas trade activities, partly attributable to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that took effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

The RCEP, which was signed by 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, has served as a stimulus for increased economic cooperation and trade.

According to Yinchuan Customs, Ningxia registered trade transactions under the RCEP worth 839 million yuan (about 121.8 million U.S. dollars) in 2022, resulting in a customs tax concession of 25 million yuan. The beneficiaries of this concession include producers of machinery, clean energy and agricultural products.

"The implementation of the RCEP has brought advantages in terms of customs clearance and tax incentives, and further reduced our costs. Now simply holding an RCEP certificate of origin would qualify us for the corresponding preferential tariff policies," said a staffer with Ningxia Tiandi Benniu Industrial Group Co., Ltd.

Since the RCEP came into effect, the company has declared goods exceeding 56 million yuan under the RCEP, and enjoyed a tariff concession of nearly 1.7 million yuan.

The RCEP has also boosted the export of Ningxia's specialty and high-quality agricultural products such as goji berries, rice and potato.

"Our featured products such as goji berry, jujube and day lily are mainly exported to Japan. The RCEP has helped us explore more overseas markets and acquire many new orders," said Hu Wenjing, who works with Ningxia Hong Rising Biological Technology Co., Ltd., adding that their products are now entitled to a tax reduction ranging from 8 percent to 12 percent.

The RCEP has expanded its list of tax relief items to include auto parts, mechanical, electrical, and steel products, among others. As a result, enterprises in Ningxia that specialize in equipment manufacturing and clean energy will likely see a boost in revenue and take advantage of new opportunities.

In 2022, customs authorities in Ningxia issued 652 RCEP certificates of origin to 45 companies, which exempted them from an estimated 22 million yuan in tariff.

"While consolidating traditional trade markets such as the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, we will actively explore potential markets such as Africa, South America and the Arab region to further help Ningxia expand its friend circle," said Chen Yan, an official of the Yinchuan Customs. 
According to new survey data, 18% of teen girls in 2021 reported experiencing sexual violence in the preceding year.

According to new survey data, 18% of teen girls in 2021 reported experiencing sexual violence in the preceding year.

Parents  particularly those of us raising daughters  would like to think that the world is a less dangerous place for girls today than it was when we were young.

By some measures, it is. The teen birth rate, declining since 1991, has reached record lows. A survey report released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which included data from 17,232 questionnaires completed by high school students in 2021 as well as similar data collected over the preceding 10 years, shows that fewer students are engaging in risky sexual activity. The percentage of teens drinking alcohol is also steadily decreasing.

But other statistics from the report are alarming. In 2021, 14% of female student respondents reported being forced to engage in sex. This rate increased, going up from 12% in 2011. Meanwhile, 18% of females reported experiencing sexual violence in the preceding year, also up from a 2011 rate of 15%.

A clear trend throughout the report is the disproportionate suffering of girls and teens who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer. (The 2021 survey did not provide a way for transgender students to identify themselves, but the reports authors note in the introduction that future iterations of the survey will.) These students were all more likely to experience violence, experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, consider suicide, drink alcohol and use other substances.

Kathleen Ethier, the director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the CDC and one of the researchers who worked on the survey, told HuffPost, When I looked at this data for the first time, I was just overwhelmed with how

much more impacted girls and LGBQ youth are than their peers  consistently across all of the substance use measures, all of the violence measures, all of the mental health and suicidal behavior measures.

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Its enough to bring parents to despair. But rather than feeling paralyzed by the numbers, we can take action to increase the likelihood that our daughters and LGBTQ-plus children will come to us for support if they experience sexual violence.

Sustain Open Channels Of Communication

You cant always prevent someone from hurting your child, but there are measures you can take to raise the odds that they will come to you for help.

Dr. Emily Haas, a psychiatrist at Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut, told HuffPost that the environment kids grow up in will dictate how open they are to sharing these traumatic experiences. An environment where nobody ever talks about feelings or where, when feelings come up, theyre shut down will dissuade them from confiding in you, as will any history of disbelief, she said.

Has something bad happened to them in the past and nobody believed them? Haas asked.

Its never too early to talk with children about consent and bodily autonomy. Its also important to begin early with conversations about mental health.

For small children, this can start with something as simple as helping them notice when they feel happy or sad.

Being able to express those emotions, label them and then talk to somebody about them, whether theyre good or negative, is an important thing to start with your kids as early as you can, said Ethier.

Then when you get to adolescence, youre not starting from scratch and they have the language to talk to you, she continued.

The benefits of family connectedness, or how close teens feel to their families, extend 20 and 30 years into the future, said Ethier. Other ways to support this connection include staying involved in their lives, knowing where they are and who they are with at all times, and maintaining relationships with the parents of their friends.

Working to create that kind of engagement and involvement and closeness is really an extremely protective approach, said Ethier.

Model Caring For Your Own Mental Health

The more parents can help their own mental health and make sure that theyre demonstrating and modeling to their kids how to safely talk about feelings, how to safely express feelings, the more the communication is going to be easier, said Haas.

You dont want to burden your kids with your problems, but you can identify your feelings and note when youre struggling. You want to create a safe space to talk about these topics.

Caring for your own mental health, with therapy or whatever other form that takes, is also important if your child has experienced trauma.

A big thing parents can do for kids is make sure that their mental health is being taken care of too. If parents are not emotionally stable, its going to be a lot harder for the kids to cope with that and have a support at home to go to, said Haas.

Be Alert To Signs Of Trauma

Sometimes when a kid is sad or anxious or not doing well in school, we think, well, they just have depression, they have anxiety or they have ADHD [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder]. But ... those are symptoms of trauma as well, said Haas.

The most common reaction to experiencing trauma of any kind is to develop symptoms of depression, she said. This is one interpretation of why so many teen girls are experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.

Any change in your childs usual behavior is also cause for concern. This might be reflected in their school performance, mood, and eating or sleeping habits.

On the more severe end of the spectrum, teens may exhibit obsessive-compulsive behaviors, disordered eating, substance abuse or self-harm, such as cutting. These are ways that some kids may try to regain a sense of control when a traumatic event makes them feel as though they have none.

Its important to get teens help for their immediate suffering and also to prevent long-term consequences of trauma. We know absolutely, from years of research, that experience of trauma  particularly violence and sexual violence  has long-term, potentially lifelong implications for the mental health of anyone who experiences it, said Ethier.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety disorder, eating disorders and substance use disorders are all possible long-term consequences.

Beyond mental health diagnoses and symptoms, a person may also develop attachment issues, said Hass. The ability to have safe, trusting relationships later in life can dramatically be impacted by an assault in childhood, she said.

Some young people experience more than one trauma, compounding the effects.

When there are multiple forms of violence that a young person experiences, it exacerbates the mental health implications, said Ethier.

In addition to sexual violence, girls may experience physical violence at home or at school. In the CDC survey, 17% of female students said they had been bullied at school in the preceding year, and 10% reported not going to school because of safety concerns.

While the report cant prove a causal relationship between the violence teens experience and their mental health issues, it is impossible to take away from this that its not at least partially to blame for what were seeing in terms of mental health and suicidal thoughts, said Ethier.

The data shows that teen girls struggle with mental health in high numbers, and those are going up. Fifty-seven percent of girls (compared with 29% of boys) reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness  an indicator of depression. Thirty percent said they considered suicide, 24% made a plan for suicide and 13% attempted suicide. Each of those numbers rose over the preceding decade.

Believe Your Child

Its critical that you take your child seriously when they come to you with a trauma like sexual assault. You need to put aside your own shock or disbelief and listen receptively to what they have to say.

An empathetic, concerned response and a loving, supportive response is the most helpful thing you can do, said Haas.

Often, behavior changes are easier to see in hindsight, and we need to recognize that its possible we didnt catch a childs signs of struggle, she noted.

In my experience, I have seen so many people who come to me as adults that were not believed as children, said Haas. This compounds their trauma, discouraging them from telling anyone else.

Even the slightest questioning of their account can be invalidating for the person and make them reluctant to receive treatment, said Haas.

Reach Out For Professional Help

Good mental health care after an assault can most certainly impact the development of symptoms later, said Haas.

When seeking help for your child, dont overlook that fact that you too may need support at this time.

Sometimes its really hard for the parents to grieve the fact that this happened to their children, or they have feelings of taking responsibility for it happening because they werent there, they didnt protect them, Haas said.

If parents are struggling with these feelings, or perhaps showing signs of depression, its going to make it harder for the kids to cope because they feel like, Oh, no, I cant talk about it because Mom is really depressed and Im going to make her more upset, Haas said.

Again, your own mental health, and the way your kids see you caring for yourself, can have a huge impact on your children.

Advocate For LGBTQ-Inclusive School Policies And Teaching Consent

Ethier said there are two lenses through which we can view the problem: Do we want to prevent girls from being raped, or prevent boys and men from perpetrating sexual violence? Who are we putting the onus on, and is it fair?

One of the things to remember about all of the violence measures that we include in this report is that they are the experience of violence. What that means is that the behavior is being perpetrated by others, said Ethier.

We have to think about this data in terms of how to impact aggression, or how to impact perpetration of violence. I am very concerned that we not turn this report into a way to say, Whats wrong with girls? she added.

School-based education programs, said Ethier, should emphasize the meaning and importance of consent.

Adolescence is a time when young people are having their first romantic relationships. We know that, and so we need to ensure that those relationships happen in a healthy way, she said.

We have to have some real conversations with young people about what consent is and what it looks like, and how that how that plays out, she continued, noting that girls experience violence across a range of behaviors that include but are not limited to rape.

A CDC program called What Works in Schools has shown to be successful, according to Ethier. Initiatives such as this one, which promote inclusivity for LGBTQ youth, benefit the mental health of all students, she said.

When schools are less toxic for the most vulnerable youth, then we see improvement in all of the students who go to those schools, said Ethier.

The actions that schools can take dont cost a lot of money. They include professional development for teachers to help them manage mental health issues in the classroom, connecting students with programs and mentors in the community, making schools inclusive for LGBTQ students, and providing health education that teaches consent.

Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.

For substance use disorder or mental health issues, call 800-662-HELP (4357) in the U.S. for the SAMHSA National Helpline.

If youre struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

Dial 988 or call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also get support via text by visiting suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

Related...
Representative of Russia to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/ Getty Images

Russia's ambassador to the UN broke a minute of silence honoring victims of the Ukraine war.

Nebenzya said the council should honor "all victims of what happened in Ukraine, starting in 2014."

This comes a day after the UN voted for Russia to withdraw its troops immediately from the country.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations repeatedly tapped his microphone and interrupted a minute of silence for "victims of aggression" in the Ukraine war in a tense moment on Friday.

Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed members of the UN Security Council in New York, asking them to stand and observe a minute of silence for those who had died on the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Video shows members standing in silence when Vasily Nebenzya requested to make a statement, and representatives sat down again to listen.

Nebenzya emphasized that the council should honor "all victims of what happened in Ukraine, starting in 2014."

"All of those who perished, all lives are priceless," he said.

At the end of his statement, Nebenzya stood again, and he appeared to gesture for others to do the same  but the other representatives awkwardly remained seated until Nebenzya was thanked for his statement.



The rest of the members eventually stood once again, and the minute resumed, showing that even a moment meant to honor the dead presented possibilities for conflict.

Nebenzya's mention of 2014 is likely referring to Russians who died during the country's invasion and illegal annexation of Crimea.

This comes a day after the UN General Assembly voted that Russia should withdraw its troops immediately from the country. 141 members voted in support, while seven voted against and 32 abstained, according to the Associated Press.

Kuleba said on Thursday the overwhelming majority of the country's voting in favor of the resolution shows the widespread international support of the country.

"This vote defies the argument that the global south does not stand on Ukraine's side. Many countries representing Latin America, Africa, Asia voted in favor," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Democrats got a shot in the arm this week with Sen. Jon Testers (D-Mont.) decision to seek reelection.

His announcement hands Democrats a real chance at retaining a seat in GOP territory and puts them on Joe Manchin-watch as the West Virginia Democratic senator weighs his own future in a ruby-red state.

Tester, who announced his decision on Wednesday, is the first major domino to fall for Democrats, who are nervous about maintaining their one-seat majority.

Its huge, said Rodell Mollineau, who served as a top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). It means it gives us our best opportunity to hold onto the U.S. Senate.  Its about holding onto seats that might otherwise turn red with no future forecast of how theyd turn blue again.

Democrats still face an ominous road ahead this cycle.

They control 23 of the seats up for grabs in 2024, compared to 10 for Republicans who still have a number of paths open to nab the two seats  or just one if they win the White House  needed to take back the majority. And there are fights brewing across the map.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) addresses reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 to discuss climate change provisions in the Build Back Better Act.

Testers reelection bid will give Democrats a solid chance at retaining a seat in GOP territory. (Greg Nash)

Question marks surround Arizonas contest after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema became an Independent. Sen. Debbie Stabenows (D) retirement in Michigan is set to spark a rough and tumble battle on both sides of the aisle to replace her.

Sen. Sherrod Brown  Ohios lone statewide elected Democrat  said he would run for reelection, but the state has increasingly trended red over the past several years. And Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is recovering from prostate cancer surgery and has yet to make his 2024 plans official, though he is expected to run once again in one of the preeminent swing states in a presidential cycle.

But Montana and West Virginia, two solidly red states with Democratic senators, were thought by many to be the easiest pickup opportunities for Republicans  depending on Tester and Manchins plans.

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Pressed by a local West Virginia radio host on Wednesday whether hell seek a third full term, the West Virginia centrist maintained that he wasnt sure.

I dont know, Manchin said, emphasizing each word.

Testers decision heaps pressure on Republicans, who struggled mightily on the candidate quality front in 2022 and are looking to reverse their fortunes this cycle in Montana.

Reps. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) are considered the main contenders to take on Tester next year, but worries persist about both. Zinke has ethics troubles from his time as Interior secretary, while Rosendale lost to Tester in 2018, in addition to losing to Zinke in a 2014 House primary.

Even Republicans acknowledge it could take a formidable opponent to unseat Tester.

Tester is better at this than most. He knows how to speak in Montana in a way that covers up his voting record. A generic Republican gets beat by Jon Tester despite the fact that whoever is on the top of the ticket on the presidential side wins comfortably, one GOP operative told The Hill. We screwed this up five years ago. You cant let an opportunity like this go to waste while in the minority.

Of the two, Republicans worry more about the possibility of Rosendale emerging from a primary and a repeat of the 2018 contest when Tester defeated him by more than three percentage points two years after former President Trump carried the state by more than 20 points.

Jon Tester beats Matt Rosendale. We saw this in 2018. We cant just have a guy with an R next to his name, the GOP operative continued, bringing up the often-used line about Rosendales accent. Hes from Maryland, and he sounds like it. They should have put that guy into speech therapy and beat the hell out of [his accent].

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) speaks to reporters regarding the bipartisan infrastructure negotiations as he arrives to the Capitol for a vote on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

Even Republicans admit that ousting Tester will not be easy to achieve. (Greg Nash)

Zinke, according to one source, is in no rush to make a decision, and he likely has more than a year to do so. Multiple sources also indicated Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) is looking into a potential campaign.

However, Republicans this time around believe they have an ace up their sleeve in Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) this cycle and has made it a priority to defeat his Big Sky state colleague.

I dont think anyone should underestimate [Tester], but I believe his luck is going to run out this cycle because theres no one who knows his playbook better than the Daines team, said Brian Walsh, who served as the NRSCs communications director in 2012 when Tester won his first reelection bid. Hes been very fortunate the last three times to face a candidate who was ultimately not the best candidate Republicans could put forward. If Republicans put up a decent candidate, they should win the race.

Tester, however, has some positive winds blowing in his direction. According to a Morning Consult survey taken in January, 60 percent of Montanan respondents approve of Testers work. In addition, a recent poll conducted by a GOP firm shows him leading both Zinke and Rosendale, and holding a 1-point advantage over Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R), who has yet to announce whether he will seek reelection in 2024.

Operatives in the state and nation are convinced that absent Tester, no other Democrat in the state could put up much of a fight, let alone win this race.

Could someone meet that moment? Absolutely not, one Montana Democratic operative told The Hill. Unless theres someone hidden under a rock no ones seen so far, no.

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

(Reuters) - Local prosecutors in Texas cannot use state laws that are more than 60 years old to prosecute organizations that help fund and arrange travel for Texans to obtain abortions in other states where it is legal, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin said that 1961 state abortion laws, which were rendered unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade establishing a nationwide right to abortion, were not revived when the Supreme Court overturned Roe last June.

The pre-Roe laws include criminal penalties for people who help others obtain an abortion.

Pitman's order, which is preliminary, will remain in place while abortion funding groups, including Fund Texas Choice, The North Texas Equal Access Fund and The Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, move forward with a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of the laws.

The order applies only to five individual local prosecutors who are named as defendants in the case, though the groups have said they will seek to expand their case to include a class of all local prosecutors in the state. Pitman said that he could issue an order applying to a broader group of prosecutors in the future, after they have had a chance to appear in court.

Pitman, who was appointed to the bench by Democratic former President Barack Obama, dismissed claims the groups had brought against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying he did not have the authority to enforce the pre-Roe laws.

Paxton's office and lawyers for the abortion funds and for the local prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The groups filed their lawsuit not long after last June's Supreme Court ruling, saying they risked prosecution for helping Texans obtain legal abortions in other states. They cited statements by Paxton and by some state lawmakers suggesting that the pre-Roe laws criminalized funding or facilitating such abortions.

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Pitman wrote that while the pre-Roe laws could be read to criminalize helping with out-of state abortions, they were implicitly repealed when Texas passed new abortion restrictions after Roe.

He said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had found as much in a 2004 decision rejecting a lawsuit seeking to overturn Roe by the original plaintiff in Roe, Norma McCorvey, who later became an anti-abortion activist.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)
Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH) is about to go ex-dividend in just four days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Accordingly, Textainer Group Holdings investors that purchase the stock on or after the 2nd of March will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of March.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.30 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.20 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that Textainer Group Holdings has a trailing yield of 3.7% on the current share price of $32.56. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Textainer Group Holdings's dividend is reliable and sustainable. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

View our latest analysis for Textainer Group Holdings

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Textainer Group Holdings has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 17% of its income after tax. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. The good news is it paid out just 19% of its free cash flow in the last year.

It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

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Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. That's why it's comforting to see Textainer Group Holdings's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 81% per annum for the past five years. Textainer Group Holdings earnings per share have been sprinting ahead like the Road Runner at a track and field day; scarcely stopping even for a cheeky "beep-beep". We also like that it is reinvesting most of its profits in its business.'

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Textainer Group Holdings's dividend payments per share have declined at 2.8% per year on average over the past 10 years, which is uninspiring. Textainer Group Holdings is a rare case where dividends have been decreasing at the same time as earnings per share have been improving. It's unusual to see, and could point to unstable conditions in the core business, or more rarely an intensified focus on reinvesting profits.

The Bottom Line

Is Textainer Group Holdings worth buying for its dividend? Textainer Group Holdings has grown its earnings per share while simultaneously reinvesting in the business. Unfortunately it's cut the dividend at least once in the past 10 years, but the conservative payout ratio makes the current dividend look sustainable. There's a lot to like about Textainer Group Holdings, and we would prioritise taking a closer look at it.

While it's tempting to invest in Textainer Group Holdings for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. We've identified 3 warning signs with Textainer Group Holdings (at least 2 which are a bit concerning), and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Bank of America's shares on or after the 2nd of March, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 31st of March.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.22 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$0.88 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Bank of America has a trailing yield of approximately 2.6% on its current stock price of $34.21. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

View our latest analysis for Bank of America

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. That's why it's good to see Bank of America paying out a modest 27% of its earnings.

Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Fortunately for readers, Bank of America's earnings per share have been growing at 15% a year for the past five years.

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The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Bank of America has lifted its dividend by approximately 36% a year on average. It's exciting to see that both earnings and dividends per share have grown rapidly over the past few years.

The Bottom Line

Is Bank of America an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Companies like Bank of America that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. Overall, Bank of America looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.

With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Bank of America you should know about.

A common investing mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a full list of high-yield dividend stocks.

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

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Family Day at the Orchestra

The Sarasota Orchestra recently welcomed more than 500 children and family members to Holley Hall for a free afternoon of symphonic fun. Led by guest conductor Chelsea Gallo, the Orchestra performed two 60-minute concerts featuring "Peter and the Wolf," a symphonic folk tale by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, narrated by Casey Murphy. Families also participated in educational activities, including an instrument "petting zoo," arts and crafts, and the opportunity to meet a musician. For more about the Orchestra's programs for young people, visit sarasotaorchestra.org.

Tidewell Signature Luncheon puts focus on veterans care

The Tidewell Foundation will honor veterans during its 14th annual Signature Luncheon on March 3 at The Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota featuring former Army Major and 1st Battalion Surgeon Sudip Bose.

Sudip Bose is recognized worldwide for medical techniques he developed during combat that are now used in emergency rooms.

Bose, a Bronze Star recipient in the Iraq War, is recognized worldwide for techniques he developed in the battlefield that are now used in emergency rooms. He was chosen to treat Saddam Hussein after the dictator was captured by the U.S. Army in 2003. He is a physician, a medical correspondent for major news outlets, and an entrepreneur. He also received the the Combat Medical Badge and the U.S. Army Commendation Medal.

His remarkable life and service will impress everyone, said Delesa Morris, interim president of the Tidewell Foundation. His message about calm in the face of chaos draws on the strength, courage and resilience we all have inside.

The luncheon also will recognize the Tidewell Honors Veterans Program, which provides specialized care for veterans and their families, serving 1,079 veterans last year. Tickets are available at tidewellfoundation.org or by calling 941-552-7569. Bose also will take part in a free event (TidewellEvent@eventbrite.com) honoring veterans on March 3 at 4 p.m. at the Robert Toale & Sons Celebration Center, 4310 Solutions Lane, Bradenton.

Boys & Girls Clubs begins summer programs signup

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties has opened online registration for summer programs. Youth ages 6 to 18 are invited to apply for the 2023 Great Futures Academy Summer Program.

The Great Futures Academy will run Monday through Friday from May 30 to Aug. 4 at Boys & Girls Clubs across Sarasota and DeSoto counties, including the Gene Matthews Club, 6851 S. Biscayne Drive, North Port; Lee Wetherington Club, 3100 Fruitville Road, Sarasota; Louis and Gloria Flanzer Club, 18 School Ave., Arcadia; Newtown Estates Park Club, 2800 Newtown Blvd., Sarasota; Robert and Joan Lee Club, 920 Gulf Coast Blvd., Venice; and Roy McBean Club, 1790 21st St., Sarasota,.

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Youth will have access to adult mentors and opportunities that encourage academic excellence, leadership development, healthy habits and success after high school graduation. The Great Futures Academy Summer Program includes daily education, field trips, art demonstrations, physical fitness activities, technology instruction, and career exploration. Meals will be provided.

Middle and high school students are also invited to participate in specialized programs in leadership training, volunteerism, entrepreneurism, college and career readiness, and workforce development. For the online application, program details, and calendars, visit bgcsdc.org.

All Star Children's Foundation receives $40,000 BofA grant

The All Star Children's Foundation has been awarded a $40,000 grant through the Bank of America Client Foundations Frederic W. and Margaret E. Kurtz Fund.

Kristin Hoffman is chief program officer for the All Star Children's Foundation.

The funding supports the continued implementation of All Stars trauma-informed programs for children and families in the 12th Judicial Circuits foster care system. The programs include evidence-based mental health interventions, foster parent support, birth family engagement, trauma support, and enrichment programs.

The Bank of America Client Foundation support will enable All Star to positively impact more children in the foster care system, ASCF chief program officer Kristin Hoffman said. To learn more about the All Star Childrens Foundation, visit allstarchildren.org.

Around and about ...

The League of Women Voters of Sarasota County is hosting a Voter Expo today from 1-4 p.m. at the Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Library, 2801 Newtown Blvd. The event, co-sponsored by the Suncoast Women of Action, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and NAACP. Participants can register to vote and vote by mail and learn about Florida's Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to most Floridians with prior convictions.

 The Sarasota Festival of the Arts is today and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at J.D. Hamel Park, 199 Bayfront Drive. More than 70 artisans will display their painting, sculpture, jewelry, photography, glass, ceramics, fiber and wearable art, mixed-media, metalwork, graphics, woodworking and more. Info: paragonfestivals.com.

 Phillippi Estate Park, 5500 S. Tamiami Trail, will host History Day in the Park on March 25 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event includes the Sarasota Concert Band, the Sailor Circus, a Civil War reenactment, a classic car show, antique toy dealers, raffles, and food trucks. Info: facebook.com/HistoryDayinThePark and historydayinthepark.com.

Submissions by Audrey Dunne, Ashley Parker, Erin Guzzo, Su Byron, Kathy McEachran, Hillary Reynolds, Jane Kirschner, Angela Molineux.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Former Army combat surgeon Sudip Bose to headline Tidewell fundraiser
The heads of the House and Senate foreign policy committees on Friday issued a bipartisan condemnation of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors efforts to defund his countrys electoral authority.

As Chairs of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, we reject President Lopez Obradors repeated attempts to sabotage Mexicos democratic institutions, said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) in a joint statement.

The criticism comes two days after the Mexican Senate approved an electoral reform widely known as Plan B that would starve the countrys elections authority, the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE), a stalwart of Mexicos longest period of electoral democracy.

The Plan B approach, spearheaded by Lopez Obradors party in the countrys Congress, came after it was unable to pass a constitutional amendment that would have fully dismantled the INE.

By approving President Lopez Obradors proposal to slash the National Electoral Institutes funding and oversight capabilities, the Mexican Congress has imperiled the future of its countrys democratic institutions, Menendez and McCaul said.

The lawmakers compared Lopez Obradors moves to the pseudo-democratic regime that held Mexico under one-party rule for most of the 20th century and warned of its effects on bilateral affairs.

Returning Mexico to its dark past of presidentially controlled elections not only sets the clock back on its democracy, but also U.S.-Mexico relations, they said.

The INE was created in 1990, essentially reverse-engineering a complex infrastructure of electoral fraud built by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), the party that held power from 1929 to 2000.

Lopez Obrador, who got his start in politics as a PRI apparatchik before leaving the party with a left-leaning splinter group in 1988, has often voiced disdain for the INE.

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Lopez Obradors main beef with the electoral authority likely stems from the 2006 presidential election, which he lost to former President Felipe Calderon by less than 300,000 votes.

Still, Lopez Obrador, a budget hawk, argues that Mexicos billion-dollar electoral system is wasteful and that the money would be better spent on social programs.

The INEs defenders say it is an essential institution for Mexico to continue on a democratic track.

The people of Mexico deserve an independent electoral authority capable of conducting free and fair elections and to be governed by leaders who respect the rule of law, said Menendez and McCaul.

In spite of his hope to be remembered as a democrat and champion for the countrys most vulnerable, President Lopez Obradors ongoing efforts to undermine INEs autonomy and independence will assuredly cement his legacy as just the opposite.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
by Martina Fuchs

DAKAR, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Senegal, Africa's westernmost country and a former colonial trading post, is counting on ecotourism and its biodiversity jewels to attract foreign visitors to help develop its economic potential in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a population of roughly 17 million, the French-speaking country borders Mauritania, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

RECOVERING TOURISM

Industry consultancy Tourism Economics estimated that travel and tourism represented roughly 9 percent of the country's GDP in 2019, contributing 800 million U.S. dollars to the economy.

However, the global pandemic closed borders and brought West Africa's tourism industry to a standstill three years ago.

"Since last year, tourism in Senegal is recovering. That's why it's very difficult to find even a single hotel room. Everything is fully booked at the moment. The demand is much higher than the offer," Mamadou Cisse, manager of Senegal Global Tours told Xinhua.

Tourism -- along with mining, construction and fishing -- is a vital part of this West African country that boasts several national parks, UNESCO World Heritage sites, tranquil sandy beaches, camping locations and bird-watching hotspots.

"The outlook is very positive because we have many investors now," Cisse said. "Many countries are interested in investing in Senegal's oil and gas industry, plus the tourism sector."

Located 65 km from Senegal's capital Dakar is the Bandia wildlife reserve, another ecological treasure of the country covering an area of 3,500 hectares.

It is home to many of Africa's big animals, such as giraffes, zebras, white rhinos, crocodiles, buffalos, antelopes, ostriches and over 120 species of birds.

"Most of the animals are imported from South Africa but some of them are native ... The only carnivores are hyenas and crocodiles, and all the other animals are herbivorous," tour guide Alassane Sow told Xinhua in the shade of a baobab tree.

International travellers were slowly but surely coming back, Sow said.

"Chinese visitors like to go to Australia and New Zealand. A major attraction is Europe ... I think there is a tendency to go further afield now," said Julia Simpson, president and CEO of the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council, who believes there's a trend of travelling in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives, and Mauritius.

WETLANDS REQUIRE PROTECTION

Sine-Saloum is one of the nine sites in Senegal designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 159,137 hectares.

In total, the country has some 185,000 hectares of mangrove estuaries mainly in the regions of Casamance and Sine-Saloum, but they have been disappearing at an alarming rate.

"The wetlands are the green lung of our country," Cisse said. "We have to do everything we can to protect them for us and our future generations."

A quarter of the total surface area of mangroves in Senegal has already been lost since the 1970s due to cycles of droughts, deforestation of mangroves for timber, and the blockage of waterways by road construction.

Dr. Musonda Mumba, secretary general of the Convention on Wetlands, told Xinhua that indigenous and traditional people "have depended on this wetland ecosystems for medicine, for food, for fish, but also really the microclimate of this region."

"We've seen how climate change has affected this region, all the droughts and very extreme weather events. As a result, we'll begin to see what it means when we lose wetlands." 
Investors who take an interest in Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) should definitely note that the Senior Vice President of Capital Markets & Business Development, Stuart Lochray, recently paid CA$55.56 per share to buy CA$194k worth of the stock. That's a very solid buy in our book, and increased their holding by a noteworthy 43%.

Check out our latest analysis for Fortis

Fortis Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by President David Hutchens for CA$1.0m worth of shares, at about CA$53.33 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is CA$54.80. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Fortis share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 33.31k shares for CA$1.8m. But insiders sold 2.85k shares worth CA$156k. Overall, Fortis insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 0.09% of Fortis shares, worth about CA$25m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

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So What Do The Fortis Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Insiders do have a stake in Fortis and their transactions don't cause us concern. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Fortis (including 1 which is significant).

Of course Fortis may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Three defendants from an extended family arrested in a 2018 law enforcement raid on a ramshackle desert encampment rejected compromise offers from prosecutors to resolve kidnapping, terrorism and weapons charges in proceedings Friday at U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

The U.S. government's case against sisters Hujrah and Subhannah Wahhaj, along with Subhannah's husband Lucas Morton, will proceed toward a likely trial scheduled for September after the defendants affirmed their rejection of confidential offers to plead guilty in return for specific sanctions.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Fashing asked each one a series of questions to verify that they had reviewed and understood the plea offers and consequences of rejecting them and proceeding toward trial.

Did anybody threaten you or force you to take the position that you did not want to accept the governments plea offer? Fashing asked.

No. ... It was my decision, Hujrah Wahhaj said.

Plea offers are still in limbo for two additional defendants in the case. Siraj Ibn Wahhaj is expected to reject a plea offer but did not attend Friday's hearing because of health issues.

Jany Leveille has agreed to accept a potential prison sentence of 12-15 years with the dismissal of kidnapping and terrorism-related charges  but prosecutors may withdraw the offer based on responses from other defendants, under terms of a global plea proposal. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque declined to comment further Friday.

The five defendants were arrested in August 2018 as state agents searched for a sickly 3-year-old who had been reported missing by his mother in Georgia. Sheriffs deputies and state agents initially found 11 hungry children and a small arsenal of ammunition and guns on a remote compound in Taos County, New Mexico. After days of searching, the deputies and agents recovered the decomposed remains of the 3-year-old in an underground tunnel.

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Authorities have said the deceased child, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, suffered from untreated disabilities as father Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille performed daily prayer rituals over him  even as he cried and foamed at the mouth. Authorities also said Leveille believed medication suppressed the groups Muslim beliefs.

Forensic specialists determined the child died several months prior to the recovery of his body.

Kidnapping charges have not been filed against Siraj Ibn Wahhaj in the alleged abduction of Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj because they are father and son.

Leveille is accused of flouting prohibitions on firearms possession and transportation based on her status as a Haitian national without legal standing in the U.S. after she overstayed a visa without seeking renewal. Convictions also could result in her removal from the U.S.

An initial grand jury indictment alleged Leveille and her partner instructed people at the compound to be prepared to engage in jihad and die as martyrs and that one more relative was invited to bring money and firearms.

All five defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and providing material support to each other as potential terrorists by crossing state lines with firearms and training at the New Mexico compound.

Defense attorneys have said their clients would not be facing terrorism-related charges if they were not Muslim.

Morton is acting as his own legal counsel after declining his right to a public attorney.

Morton told the judge Friday that a security lockdown within the Cibola County Correctional Center at Milan was interfering with his access to a law library to prepare for his defense in court.
Used boxes of mifepristone pills, the first drug used in a two-drug medical abortion protocol, fill a bin at Alamo Womens Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (REUTERS)

The future of abortion access for the most common form of abortion care is in the hands of a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump.

A right-wing group that has supported anti-abortion litigation across the US, including the landmark US Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v Wade last year, is challenging the US Food and Drug Administration to reverse its approval of a commonly used abortion drug.

An imminent decision from US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that would block access to mifepristone, even temporarily, could significantly disrupt access to medication abortion nationwide.

A coalition of anti-abortion advocates under the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, with support from dozens of Republican elected officials and the influential right-wing legal group Alliance for Defending Freedom, asked the judge for a preliminary injunction to take mifepristone off the market. The lawsuit also challenges recent federal actions to make the drug available through telemedicine prescriptions that patients can receive by mail or pick up at a pharmacy.

There are now partisan and political attacks attempting to question the legitimacy of a group of scientists and doctors who have studied the significance of this drug, Vice President Kamala Harris said during a White House meeting on reproductive health on 24 February. This is not just an attack on womens fundamental freedoms, it is an attack on the very foundation of our public health system.

Approved by the FDA more than two decades ago, mifepristone is one of a two-drug protocol for medication abortion, a procedure that accounts for more than half of all abortions nationwide.

It is also commonly used to treat miscarriages. Mifepristone and misoprostol are the only drugs recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to treat an early pregnancy loss.

The Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in Amarillo, Texas on 18 November against the FDA claiming that the federal agency does not have authority to approve the drug, which the plaintiffs claim is dangerous.

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A filing from the plaintiffs in Alliance of Hippocratic Medicine v FDA on 24 February claims unlawful actions to approve chemical abortion drugs and remove necessary safeguards have harmed countless women and girls.

Mifepristone was approved for use by the FDA in most cases up to 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2000. Multiple studies have determined they are overwhelmingly safe and effective, and have been used in roughly 54 per cent of all abortions. A vast majority of abortions occur within the first nine weeks. In 2019, nearly 93 per cent of all abortions were performed before the 13th week.

Abortion rights protesters march in Amarillo, Texas to demonstrate against a lawsuit seeking to revoke access to a critical medication abortion drug. (AP)

In 2021, the FDA permanently lifted the in-person requirement for medication abortion prescriptions, allowing patients to access the drugs via telehealth appointments and online pharmacies so patients can take the drugs from the comfort of their homes.

After the US Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v Jackson Womens Health Organization to strike down the constitutional right to abortion care, anti-abortion state legislators filed dozens of bills to restrict the availability and distribution of abortion drugs, or have sought to ban them altogether.

A group of 22 Republican attorneys general and 67 congressional Republicans have also joined the effort to revoke the FDAs approval of mifepristone.

Meanwhile, a separate coalition of attorneys general are suing President Joe Bidens administration to loosen restrictions on mifepristone, setting up the possibility of conflicting rulings on the same drug, and underscoring the fractured state of abortion care in the wake of the Dobbs decision.

Nineteen states have restricted access to the drug, but a ruling from Judge Kacsmaryk could jeopardise access in the 31 states where medication abortion is already legally protected, or could reverse federal guidance and force patients in protected states to receive the drug only during in-person visits.

In either case, a ruling against the FDA would have a dramatic impact on abortion care in a post-Dobbs America where access to care already is fragmented by patchwork, state-by-state regulations or criminal statutes.

More than a dozen states have effectively outlawed abortion care for nearly all pregnancies. Such disparities in abortion care  and whether a patient or provider is prosecuted or protected with resources from the state  depends largely on where one lives.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward and former chief legal officer and general counsel for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the Supreme Courts decision in the Dobbs case opened the door for a wave of legal challenges intended to undermine federal protections, a campaign from special interests and extreme right-wing attorneys general to deprive people of federal protections, including protections that continue to exist post Dobbs.

We are seeing a mosaic of laws and policies posed by these extreme forces that are seeking to undermine federal protections, including access to medication abortion, she told The Independent in a phone interview last month.

The Dobbs decision has been devastating to individuals and communities to millions of Americans throughout the country in depriving people of a constitutional right, she told The Independent. But there does remain other federal protections that protect peoples access to abortion in emergency situations and with respect to the medication they use. And its unfortunate that were seeing in the post-Dobbs landscape the same forces that were active in seeking to overturn a constitutional right now seeking to overturn other remaining federal protections.

That movement is creating havoc for medical professionals, the healthcare industry, as well as the patients and committees across the country and putting providers and patients in a very difficult situation where its hard to navigate, she added.

Its increasingly hard for people or impossible for people to access care that we know is essential and that we know is needed, she said. Medical professionals who have dedicated their lives to being able to care for others are now unable to provide essential care consistent with their medical judgment, consistent with the needs of people, because of this extremism.

The FDA responded to the lawsuit in a filing last month noting that an injunction against the medication would upend the status quo and the reliance interests of patients and doctors who depend on mifepristone, as well as businesses involved with mifepristone distribution.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who chairs a reproductive health task force, said that a reversal in this case would cause severe harm to all who rely on the medication.

A coalition of state attorneys general led by New Yorks Letitia James also warned in a filing that a reversal of the FDAs approval would have devastating consequences for patients across the US, regardless of their home states protections.

Misoprostol is one of two drugs used for medication abortions, the most common form of abortion care in the US. (PLAN C/AFP via Getty Images)

The federal agency also said such a ruling would set a dangerous precedent by signaling the vulnerability of scientists and researchers who closely study and approve other drugs that millions of Americans depend on.

If longstanding FDA drug approvals were so easily enjoined, even decades after being issued, pharmaceutical companies would be unable to confidently rely on FDA approval decisions to develop the pharmaceutical-drug infrastructure that Americans depend on to treat a variety of health conditions, according to the FDA.

Those who would attack this process and the ability of the FDA to make these decisions ought to look at their own medicine cabinets to figure out whether theyre prepared to say that those medications that they need  should no longer be available to them, because that is what they are talking about, Vice President Harris said from the White House on 24 February.

Abortion rights advocates have accused their opponents of forum shopping by sending their challenge to a court with a judge who would be most likely to side with the plaintiffs.

Before he was confirmed to federal court in Amarillo, Judge Kacsmaryk was a deputy general counsel at the First Liberty Institute, where he worked onreligious liberty litigation in federal courts and amicus briefs in the US Supreme Court, according to his White House biography.

An appeal in the case would then land in the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana, teeing up another Supreme Court challenge to abortion care less than a year after the high courts conservative majority overturned constitutional protections affirmed by the 50-year-old decision in Roe v Wade.

This is all about hot-wiring the system in order to produce an anti-abortion ruling  which is what his whole career has been about, Senator Ron Wyden told Rolling Stone. If he wanted to be a legislator, he should have run for office.

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, virtual and mobile clinics, mutual aid organisers, abortion rights advocates and overseas aid groups mobilised to help connect patients to abortion drugs that they otherwise could not legally obtain.

At least 20,000 packets of abortion pills were reportedly shipped to people across the US in the six months after the Dobbs decision.

Meanwhile, six leading reproductive rights organisations established the Abortion Defense Network to connect patients and providers facing legal threats related to abortion care with trusted attorneys who provide legal advice and representation in civil and criminal proceedings.

Politicians who dont respect the dignity of pregnant people will stop at nothing to advance their anti-abortion agenda, including using the legal system as a weapon against people who provide and support abortion care, Cassie Ehrenberg, senior counsel for pro bono initiatives at the Lawyering Project, said in a statement.

Right-wing legal groups and Republican officials advancing policies to curtail abortion rights also are advancing election rules aimed at voting rights and consolidating electoral power, measures that amount to an extremism that is seeking to undermine democracy and undermine what people in this country want for themselves, for their children, for their communities, Ms Perryman told The Independent.
via Fox News

Tulsi Gabbard on Friday made the wild claim that theres a historical connection between Nazism and the diversity-minded personnel choices made by the Biden administrationa statement that Fox News host Jesse Watters couldnt get behind.

Gabbard, who seemingly hasnt missed a chance to bash the Democratic Party as a Fox News contributor since she announced her departure from it last October, said identity politics was one factor in her decision.

You see how their agenda of identity politics is directly undermining the traditional democratic values that were expressed so beautifully and clearly by Dr. Martin Luther King: that we should judge each other not based on the color of our skin, but based on our character, Gabbard said, citing what was recently dubbed the rights favorite MLK quote.

And yetthey are proud to be judging people, hiring people, selecting people based on race, she continued, reminiscent of some conservative commentators disapproval of Bidens pledge to nominate the first Black Supreme Court justice. Lets be clear how serious of a problem this is. Its based on genetics, race, based on your blood, your genes; and where do we see that connection? Well, these are the very same geneticist core principles embodied by Nazism and Adolf Hitler.

Watters, likely sensing the inherent problem with Gabbards comment, followed up: You are saying the focus on genetics is in a way similar to what was going on in Germany?

Gabbard, who is no stranger to making comparisons between Biden and Hitler, made clear that this was no misstatement.

You look at the core values and core principles of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. What is it based on? Its based on genetics, the former Hawaii congresswoman said.

This is that philosophy of geneticism and discriminating against people based on their genes. And thats the issue here really when you cut to the core of it. When they are standing there saying, Hey, we are proud to be selecting people solely based on race, that is alarming to me on so many levels.

Story continues

Watters didnt buy Gabbards comparison.

Im not sure about the German thing, but I think you are right on this point, he said before sticking to a more palatable stance.

They care about what the administration looks like, but they dont care about what we look like. And were out here saying, Hey, we need this, we need that, and theyre not even looking at us. Theyre just looking at themselves.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Close-up of embryos being selected under microscope in laboratory before implantation. Photo by Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Two couples are suing a biotech company, alleging a "toxic" batch of embryo oil destroyed their embryos.

Fujifilm Irvine Scientific Inc. recalled four lots of oil, three of which tested positive for toxicity.

A lawyer told Insider he's fielded about 50 calls from people who say their embryos were impacted.

Two "devastated" couples undergoing IVF in the hopes of having children are now suing a global biotechnology company after their embryos were destroyed upon coming into contact with defective lots of the manufacturer's protective embryo oil, according to court documents obtained by Insider.

A Los Angeles-based couple filed a lawsuit against Fujifilm Irvine Scientific, Inc. earlier this month, alleging the company acted with disregard toward their "precious and irreplaceable embryos" by failing to sufficiently test or inspect its embryo culture oil  a substance used in IVF processes around the globe to help prevent evaporation and keep pH levels stable among the cultures.

The oil, which was meant to protect the embryos and ensure their survival, instead led to their destruction, said Adam Wolf, an attorney for the anonymous couple, wrote in the lawsuit filed in Orange County earlier this month.

"They may no longer be able to have children with their genetic material as a result," Wolf told Insider.

Joseph Metzger, a spokesperson for Fujifilm, said in a statement to Insider that the company will respond to legal claims in the legal process.

A second couple based in Idaho, who also lost embryos after they came into contact with the toxic oil, also filed a lawsuit against Fujifilm, Wolf told Insider. Since filing the complaints, Wolf said his firm has fielded approximately 50 calls from additional people who say their embryos were also compromised by Fujifilm's oil.

"People quite understandably become emotionally attached to their embryos," Wolf said. "These embryos represent their hopes and dreams of having children and it's devastating to people when they find out that their embryos were killed by contaminated oil through no fault of their own and no fault of their fertility clinic, but due to misconduct of the manufacturer of this oil."

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In mid-January, Fujifilm recalled four lots of its embryo culture oil including lots that came into contact with the plaintiff couples' embryos, according to the lawsuits obtained by Insider.

The recall was prompted by consumer complaints about the oil's impact on embryos, Fujifilm said in a January press release. The California-based manufacturer said it then tested the reported lots and discovered "oil toxicity" in three of the four recalled lots, all of which were derived from the same raw material.

Metzger told Insider the company issued the recall in "consideration of customer complaints," as well as "out of an abundance of caution," and based on the results of its internal investigation.

Embryos didn't survive the storage process

"When people go through fertility treatments they know that there is a possibility, through no fault of anybody, that their treatment may not be successful," Wolf said. "But what they don't sign up for is a near certainty of failure due to the inexcusable conduct of the oil manufacturer."

Many couples were informed by clinics that their embryos didn't survive the storing process prior to Fujifilm's recall notice, according to Wolf. It was only after Fujifilm announced the recall that several clinics reached back out and said "we finally have an explanation as to why this happened," Wolf said.

The embryos belonging to both couples who are suing Fujifilm were viable prior to coming into contact with the toxic oil, the lawsuits allege.

The company sent a letter to all clinics and labs that purchased product from the four recalled lots, instructing them to quarantine, return, or destroy any remaining oil they had in inventory.

Both lawsuits allege Fujifilm was negligent in failing to recall the four lots of oil earlier than it did.

"I think it's vitally important that we get accountability from Fujifilm so that it doesn't commit the same misconduct against and so that other companies are likewise more careful in the future," Wolf said.

"No amount of money will make this fully right, but it is one thing that is in Fujifilm's control," Wolf said.

Read the original article on Insider
"Pages of history" features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News, The Morning News and the Evening Journal.

Feb. 26, 1973, The Morning News

U.S. steps up Cambodian air war as enemy attacks mount

The American air war over Cambodia was stepped up yesterday and heavy bombers were used for the first time in nearly a month, military officials reported.

The Pacific Military Commands statement said that U.S. aircraft, including B52s, conducted operations over Cambodia at the request of the Cambodian government.

Front page of The Morning News from Feb. 26, 1973.

The Cambodian Communists have launched a nationwide offensive, zeroing in on government strongholds along Highway 3 from Phnom Penh to Cambodias only deepwater seaport at Kompong Som, and Highway 2 from the capital toward the Mekong Delta. It was the largest offensive ever by the Khmer Rouge.

A battalion of Cambodian government troops, upset because payday never came, has defected and joined the Communist rebels, soldiers in the field reported. Their report was the first in Cambodias three-year-old war to describe such a large-scale defection. A Cambodian battalion usually has 200 to 500 men.

The government soldiers said the battalion was bitter because it had not been paid in four months.

Feb. 27, 1993, The News Journal

Trade center blast kills 7

New York  A massive bomb explosion rocked the World Trade Center Friday, killing at least seven people, injuring more than 600 and plunging the worlds second-tallest skyscrapers into an urban hell of falling rubble and thick black smoke.

Front page of The News Journal from Feb. 27, 1993.

Thousands of workers staggered down smoke-filled, pitch-black stairways from as high as 107 stories for hours after the 12:18 p.m. explosion, while six others  including a pregnant woman  were plucked from the roof by a police helicopter.

FBI sources said that between 500 and 1,000 pounds of plastic explosive  believed to be C-4, a putty-like substance considered to be the most powerful non-nuclear explosive  was packed into a van parked in the garage under the Vista Hotel and World Trade Center towers.

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The official word from Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly Friday night was that we have not determined the origin of the explosion.

March 1, 1940, Wilmington Morning News

Visiting the schools  Beacom College update

Harold Warren, principal of the department of penmanship at Beacom College, has submitted a large number of specimens of students work to the Zaner-Blozer School of Writing for criticism. All penmanship records at the college have been broken this year under Mr. Warrens instruction.

Page 26 of the Wilmington Morning News, March 1, 1940.

Doc Viohls orchestra will furnish the music for the spring dance of the college in the Hotel DuPont on April 5. Committee appointments will be made next week at a meeting to be conducted by Thomas S. Lodge, faculty adviser of the dance.

J. Marvin Turner has been elected president of the Beacom Y Club. Other officers are: vice president William Doto, secretary John Deeds and treasurer James Broad.

March 1, 1971, Evening Journal

Bomb rips Capitol wing

A bomb was set off on the ground floor of the U.S. Capitol early today, causing extensive damage and opening what Capitol Police Chief James Powell said appeared to be a serious crack in the already weakened West Front.

Front page of the Evening Journal from March 1, 1971.

There were no injuries in the explosion. It took place on the Senate side of the building in an unmarked mens washroom usually used by senators, about 60 feet from an exhibit area immediately below the well of the Great Rotunda of the Capitol.

At 12:59 p.m., the Capitol switchboard received a call, apparently from a man, saying a bomb would go off in the Capitol in half an hour. The caller said: Evacuate the building. You many have received other calls like this one, but this one is real. Evacuate the building immediately. This is the real thing. This is in retaliation for the Laos decision. The bomb will go off in 30 minutes.

March 2, 1932, Wilmington Morning News

Lindbergh baby kidnapped

Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., 20-months-old son of the flying colonel, was kidnapped last night from his nursery in the Lindbergh country home near Hopewell, N.J.

Police said he apparently was spirited away in an automobile which they have not yet identified. An automobile which contained two men stopped at least two persons prior to the kidnapping, and its occupants asked directions to the isolated Lindbergh home.

Front page of the Wilmington Morning News from March 2, 1932.

Within an hour after Col. Lindbergh himself telephoned the first alarm, police squad cars blockaded every Jersey road for miles.

The child, clad in a blue sleeping robe, was put to bed at the usual hour, 7:30 p.m. At about 10 p.m., when the nurse peered into the nursery, the crib was empty.

The window near his crib, which was open when his nurse went into the room, is 30 feet from the ground. On the window sill, police said, a note was found, and, though they would not divulge its contents, it was indicated it contained a demand for ransom. A three-piece ladder was found 100 feet from the house.

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: New York bombing, Lindbergh kidnapping: News Journal archives Feb. 26
(Reuters) - Raytheon Technologies Corp said on Friday the U.S. government has cleared its Pratt and Whitney unit to resume deliveries of its F-135 engine for the F-35 fighter jet, after a halt was put in place in December following the discovery of a safety concern.

The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement its engineers worked alongside Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin to develop "mitigations for a rare system phenomenon involving harmonic resonance to develop a path forward for safe operation of the F135 in flight".

"The actions the government and industry team are taking will ensure incorporation of mitigation measures that will fully address/resolve this rare phenomenon in impacted F135 engines," it added.

The JPO also said the government was working on drawing up instructions for safely resuming flight operations for impacted and new production aircraft.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru)
Uber customers at risk of fare rise after HMRC review

Uber customers are facing the prospect of a price increase after tax authorities launched a review of the taxi app.

HMRC is reviewing whether Uber is underpaying VAT under changes forced on the business last year, raising the prospect of additional charges that would ultimately be passed on to passengers.

Uber said in US stock market filings that HMRC was reviewing our VAT filings as part of ongoing discussions between the app and the authority.

The business started charging VAT on rides last year as part of changes forced on the company after a High Court defeat. However, it only collects the tax on the commission it takes from drivers, 25pc of the total fare, rather than the whole booking.

HMRC is reviewing whether this complies with legislation and the tax authority may disagree, the company said. If Uber applied the VAT rate on the whole booking, this could add more than 10pc to the cost consumers pay for a ride.

Uber said VAT legislation allowed it to collect tax on a calculated margin of rides, but that it was unclear what the result of HMRCs review or any legal challenge would be.

It said: Due to the complexity and uncertainty of these matters and the judicial processes, any reasonably possible loss or range of loss cannot be estimated."

Uber historically charged no VAT on rides in the UK, saying that drivers, not the company, were the ones contracting with passengers. The arrangement was declared illegal in London by the High Court in December 2021, and Uber changed its business model across the UK last March as a result.

The company paid 613m towards the end of last year to settle an investigation related to it previously not charging VAT. Rivals such as Bolt and FreeNow have made similar business model changes.

As a result of its business model changes last year, Uber is now registering all sales and profits derived from its UK business in Britain, ending an arrangement in which it moved revenues abroad and minimised corporation tax payments.

Many US tech companies book UK revenues in foreign subsidiaries in order to minimise their British tax bills, but such an arrangement is not possible under Ubers business model changes. The changes mean that Uber is likely to pay a substantial corporation tax bill for the first time in 2022.

Uber did not comment beyond the disclosures in its annual report. HMRC said it did not comment on individual companies.
 

He noted that these weapons will be utilized defensively  to protect Ukraines population centers.

Read also: China could be preparing to supply Russia with weapons, NATO head says

We need to explain that long-range weapons are the defense of the civilian population, said Zelenskyy.

We agreed with Britain. Its a different type (of missile than ATACMS), but it is a long-range weapon."

The president stressed yet again that Ukraine wouldnt use it for strikes on Russian territory.

Read also: US reportedly agreed to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles

The narrative is spreading among our partners, that long-range weapons are allegedly necessary for strikes against Russia, Zelenskyy explained.

However, Russia has placed its weapons on the territory of Ukraine at such a distance that they can hit the civilian population. For example, they constantly bomb Kherson, knowing that the Armed Forces of Ukraine dont have the arms to respond to them.

Read also: Ukraine will ultimately join NATO, UK PM Sunak says

At the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 18, UK PM Rishi Sunak said the UK will be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons. Subsequent media reports suggested the transfer could include Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles with a range of 250 kilometers, as it should be relatively straightforward to modify them to launch from Ukraines Soviet-era warplanes.

At the same time, Zelenskyy confirmed that the UK and several other unnamed countries are ready to start training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, which suggests that Kyivs Western partners will eventually decide to include modern warplanes in their security assistance to Ukraine.

Read also: At their latest meeting, Macron and Scholz urged Zelenskyy to negotiate with Russia

The United States has so far remained reluctant to transfer ATACMS missiles, which can be launched from Ukraine-operated HIMARS rocket artillery systems and can strike targets 305 kilometers away.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukraine largely fought off the barrage of Russian cyberattacks in the first 12 months of the war. But those tracking cyber threats say Russian hackers are primed to ramp up again  and Kyiv may find it tougher to fend off the attacks in the year ahead.

In recent weeks, two threat intelligence firms have warned that Russia is set to escalate its cyberattacks in Ukraine. Googles Threat Analysis Group said last week it had high confidence that Moscow will increase disruptive and destructive attacks in 2023 if the war shifts fundamentally in Ukraines favor. Cyber threat intelligence firm Recorded Future predicted this month that Russian cybercriminals will almost certainly support Russias next big military push against Ukraine.

Were entering a new phase of the war, said Gabby Roncone, technical threat intelligence analyst at Google-owned Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm. Despite all of the successes that defenders have had with stopping Russian cyberattacks, the GRU is very persistent, she added, referring to Russias military intelligence arm. Other Kremlin hacking groups continue to present a threat to Ukraine, too, she said.

Were just sort of bracing for what comes next and hoping that we can help, Roncone said.

A renewed cyber offensive could also expand the war into regions of Ukraine that Russia has been unable to take with physical force, deepening the conflict even as Kyiv bolsters its armies with new weaponry from NATO allies. Major attacks could even spill over into NATO allies.

Ukraine has done better than expected so far. While the Russian government and cyber criminal groups repeatedly attacked Ukraine through everything from government agencies to television stations to energy substations in 2022, Ukraine thwarted many of those and was able to recover from others quickly.

They were better prepared, more resilient, more prepared to get networks that were successfully attacked back up and running quickly, said Tom Burt, Microsofts corporate vice president of customer security and trust.

Story continues

And fears that Russia would take down Ukraines energy grid or shut down military communications didnt come to pass.

But Russia has now had months to prepare, learn and reconsider its strategy.



In February of 2022, Russian cyber forces didnt have a lot of time to carry out sophisticated attacks, said Mark Montgomery, senior fellow on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Russian forces had the same level of warning about the invasion that those outside Putins inner circle had, he said. They had no time to plan  and they thought the war would be over soon anyway.

In the ensuing months, Russian hackers resorted to attacks that were less sophisticated and easier to launch, such as crude data-destroying wiper attacks and distributed denial-of-service attacks, which overwhelm servers until they temporarily crash, said Ciaran Martin, former CEO of the U.K.s National Cyber Security Centre and current Paladin Capital Group managing director. Martin described the attacks as improvised, fast paced  quite harassing attacks on the Ukrainian infrastructure.

Russias struggles throughout the year may have resulted from a failure to properly staff or train its cyber forces, said Jon Bateman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But as the war continues, Russia has time to adapt, Bateman said.

Russia could compensate for those shortcomings with short bursts of intense [cyber] fires. Timed right and properly coordinated with kinetic attacks  an admittedly tall order, qualified Bateman  cyber operations could be really consequential.

With added time Russia could also be planning more sophisticated attacks.

Id love to say were completely out of the woods, but I still have memories of the NotPetya attack years ago, and its not like theyve stopped, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in an interview. He was referring to a 2017 Russian attack that used sophisticated malware to tunnel into Ukrainian networks across multiple industries and government agencies and caused an estimated $10 billion in damages worldwide.

And as Russia gets further backed into a corner, it may be less concerned in 2023 that a cyberattack would end up affecting countries outside Ukraine and prompt them to provide more military support to Kyiv.



Russia learned in 2017 that an attack targeted at Ukraine could spill into other countries, when the NotPetya hack spread to computer systems worldwide.That experience might have encouraged Russia to tightly control its digital offensive in the first year of the warr, said Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future.

Why would he want to get NATO involved, if hes invading a specific country? Ahlberg said.

Now NATO is committing itself further in Ukraine. In recent weeks, alliance members have agreed to send main battle tanks to Kyiv  a threshold that seemed unthinkable at the wars outset  and they are now weighing sending advanced fighter aircraft. And on Friday, the one year anniversary of the war, the U.S. announced an additional $2 billion tranche of long-term security assistance to Ukraine that will include ammunition and high-tech drones.

That said, Ukraines cyber defenses have held strong against an onslaught from Russia that is much bigger than many realized. Dutch intelligence disclosed this week that there have been many more Russian cyberattacks against NATO and Ukraine than have been made public  and that Ukraine has largely fended those off.

Still, officials in both the U.S. and Ukraine warn that success so far at blocking attacks shouldnt be seen as evidence the threat is handled.

We should not take our shields down, Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters this month. It is very unpredictable what is going on in that space.

We can say one thing for sure, for certain, that we wont have fewer attacks this year, Yurii Shchyhol, Ukraines top cybersecurity official, told POLITICO in January.

A year into the war, many officials have far more confidence in Kyivs ability to blunt Russian cyber attacks than they did before Russia invaded.

But knowing how much work went into securing Ukrainian networks, Microsofts Burt said cyberattacks  Russian or otherwise  could have a game-changing impact in future conflicts.

Over history, when youve seen a new form of weapon deployed in a conflict, what you tend to see is that in the next major conflict that form of weaponry has been significantly evolved and advanced and has become more destructive, he said.
SUVA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Pacific leaders on Friday wrapped up the two-day Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Special Leaders' Retreat in Fiji, where Japan's Fukushima wastewater release plan was in the limelight.

The PIF rotating chair underlined in a statement that science and data should guide political decisions on Japan's proposed discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

The outgoing chair and Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, together with other PIF leaders, believes the decision is not as simple as a domestic issue of Japan, but concerns the South Pacific island countries and beyond.

Given that related data and evidence provided by Japan are far from independent or verifiable, the PIF has called on the country repeatedly to delay the discharge plan.

CRITICISM FROM INT'L COMMUNITY

Civil society groups in Japan and many international organizations have also voiced objections to the plan, citing a lack of a practical demonstration and its potential threat to society and marine ecology.

Over the past years, fishermen in neighboring countries have staged several rallies, calling for immediate stop to the "grave criminal act" of releasing radioactive water into the sea. Within Japan, local civic groups have organized protests outside the government house of Fukushima Prefecture.

Japan's unilateral push to discharge radioactive wastewater from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean is irresponsible and harmful, South Korean green activists have said.

"The Pacific Ocean is not the sea of Japan, but the sea of everybody ... Pollutants will flow to neighboring countries in a situation that a lot of radioactive materials have already been released and contaminated (the marine ecosystem)," Ahn Jae-hun, energy and climate change director at the Korea Federation for Environment Movement, told Xinhua.

The Japanese government's decision to discharge the contaminated water into the sea when there are alternatives such as long-term storage violates the precautionary principle recognized by the international community, Greenpeace Seoul Office has said. Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network for environment protection.

"We must prevent action that will lead or mislead us toward another major nuclear contamination disaster at the hands of others," said PIF Secretary General Henry Puna.

Take a look at how Japan proceeded with that.

The Japanese government decided in April 2021 to release more than one million tons of treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean this spring.

Three months later, Japan greenlit the discharge plan while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s task force was still conducting the review mission.

Earlier this year, Japan unilaterally announced that it would start discharging the radioactive water in spring or summer, just before the agency's task force arrives in Japan for review.

PACIFIC OPPOSITION

Pacific island countries unanimously oppose Japan's release plan for multiple reasons, citing ecological fragility, economic dependence on the fisheries industry, and the devastating effects of radioactive pollution caused by Western nuclear testing.

First, Pacific island countries are concerned that the released radioactive substances will spread with ocean currents and tides, risking contaminating fish. As more than half of the world's tuna comes from the Pacific Ocean, a potentially contaminated environment could hurt the fisheries that those countries rely on.

Second, the Pacific Ocean's delicate ecology may come under threat. If the wastewater release leads to an ecological disaster, the vulnerable island residents will leave their homes, causing an ecological and survival crisis that will deal a heavy blow to the entire Pacific region.

Last, Western countries have conducted a dazzling array of nuclear tests in the Pacific since the mid-20th century, resulting in shocking radioactive pollution and ecological disasters. These have left painful memories for islanders, who have been sensitive to the wastewater issue.

Analysts believe that Japan should not ignore the concerns and livelihoods of Pacific islanders. Neither should it dump the wastewater into the sea until disputes are settled over the legitimacy of the discharge plan, the reliability of radioactivity data, the effectiveness of purification equipment and the uncertainty of environmental impact, they added. 
(Bloomberg) --

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A senior Ukrainian army general visited the embattled city of Bakhmut in a show of support for its defenders after months of Russian attacks in the yearlong war.

Group of 20 finance chiefs failed to agree on a joint statement after Russia and China balked at wording on the war that G-20 leaders had backed in November. PKN Orlen, Polands largest oil company, reported that inflows via from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline had stopped, while saying that customers wont be affected.

European Union governments backed 10th set of sanctions against Russia on Friday, including new export restrictions on dual-use and advanced technology that contributes to Russias war effort.

Russias War in Ukraine: Key Events and How Its Unfolding

You can follow all our special coverage of the one year mark of Russias invasion via our website, on Twitter and on Bloomberg Television, including live broadcasts from Kyiv. You can also read our biggest pieces from the past week on Flipboard.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Listen to our special conversations from this week, including our Twitter Space yesterday analyzing Zelenskiys press conference as it happened. We also discussed the military strategies of the war, the impact on energy and the environment, the effect of sanctions including on the wealth of Russias oligarchs and what the future holds for Ukrainian refugees.

Big Take Podcast: How Does Ukraine Continue to Beat Back Russia?

Key Developments

More Ukrainians Are Settling Abroad as War Grinds On

Biden Rules Out Giving Ukraine F-16s For Now

Sweden, Germany Pledge Almost 30 Tanks to Arm Ukraine Battalion

Poland Says Russia Stops Oil Flows Via Key Druzhba Pipeline

Russias Invasion of Ukraine: A Political Year in Photos

Story continues

On the Ground:

Russias main efforts continue to be focused on conducting offensive operations on the Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarske axes, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook. Russia carried out 27 airstrikes and 75 attacks from MLRS. Around Bakhmut, Kremlin troops are actively conducting aerial reconnaissance to adjust artillery fire. Russian troops shelled towns in Dnipropetrovsk region with heavy artillery, damaging three schools, 10 apartment buildings, 11 private houses, electricity lines and local gas transportation pipelines.

(All times CET)

CIA Head Reinforces Warning to China (12:08 a.m.)

CIA Director William Burns said the Biden administration is confident that Chinas leaders are considering providing lethal equipment to Russia in its war against Ukraine, echoing comments by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden over the past week.

China hasnt made a decision yet and the US hasnt seen evidence of such shipments, Burns said in an interview with CBSs Face the Nation recorded Friday. Thats why Blinken and Biden have thought it important to make very clear what the consequences of that would be as well, Burns said.

Russia to G-20: New Power Centers Needed (6:30 p.m.)

Russia accused the collective West of undermining the Group of 20, saying the US, European Union and other Group of Seven countries are seeking to blame Russia for global economic and security problems.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement responding to this weeks meeting of G-20 finance chiefs called for the recognition of new centers of power, including Russia.

Ukrainian General Visits Embattled Bakhmut (4:21 p.m.)

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, commander of Ukraines ground forces, visited the contested city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on Saturday, the forces said on Facebook.

Russian troops have been trying since August to capture the city as a springboard to wider territorial gains in Ukraines east. Fighting continues on the outskirts of Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of about 70,000, and around it, the Ground Forces said.

Kremlin forces likely made marginal territorial gains in the area on Friday, according to the Institute for the Study of War, which noted that Russian sources are again claiming the capture of nearby villages.

G-20 Finance Chiefs Fail to Reach Agreement (2:44 p.m.)

Group of 20 finance chiefs failed to agree on a consensus statement at their meeting in Bengaluru due to an impasse over language on Russias war in Ukraine.

The issuance of a chairs summary, as opposed to a traditional communique, was a backtrack after a joint statement had been agreed at Novembers leaders summit in Indonesia.

Read more: Russias War Sees G-20 Finance Chiefs End With No Communique

Hungarys NATO Expansion Vote Seen in Late March (2:30 p.m.)

Hungary may not cast its final vote to ratify Finlands and Swedens NATO membership bids until the second half of March, following separate talks with each country, said Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyas.

The nation is the only European Union member that hasnt yet nodded to the NATO enlargement plans. Turkey is the other member of the North Atlantic treaty that so far hasnt approved the accession of the Nordic countries.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday he supports NATO enlargement.

Polands Says Russia Cuts Oil Deliveries (1:36 p.m.)

PKN Orlen SA, Polands biggest oil company, stopped receiving oil via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Obajtek said in a tweet. Orlen said consumers wont be impacted by the halt, which it said it prepared for. No reason was given for the halt.

Read more: Polands Orlen Says Russia Cuts Oil Supply Via Key Pipeline

Russias Foreign Ministry Denies Swiss Talks (1:14 p.m.)

Russia isnt holding negotiations on the Ukrainian situation in Switzerland since it no longer considers the country neutral after it joined anti-Russian sanctions, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in comments on the ministry website.

Zakhorova was referring to comments this week by Ignazio Cassis, the Swiss foreign minister, who told the Le Temps newspaper this week that secret, non-high-level talks on trying to reach a peace settlement are under way in Geneva.

Switzerland can no longer pretend to play any intermediary role, including providing a venue for talks, Zakharova said.

Scholz Says Chinas Proposal Has Light and Shadow (1:05 p.m.)

The German chancellor, whos in India for two days, said Chinas position paper on ways toward a cease-fire in Ukraine contained both light and shadow. The 12-point plan has been roundly dismissed as offering clear benefits to Russia.

Olaf Scholz said he welcomed the red lines described by Beijing on the use of nuclear weapons, but criticized the lack of any demand by China that Russia pull its troops out of occupied territory in Ukraine. A dictated peace manufactured by Russia isnt an option, Scholz said.

Read more: China Cease-Fire Proposal for Ukraine Falls Flat With US, Allies

EU Adopts 10th Sanctions Package Against Russia (12 p.m.)

EU member states formally adopted a 10th package of sanctions on Moscow including tighter export restrictions and technology controls, as well as requiring banks to report information on Russian Central Bank and other sanctioned assets they hold.

The blocs envoys signed off on the measures late Friday ahead of its final ratification. The EU also imposed measures against individuals and entities supporting the war, spreading the propaganda, or delivering drones by Russia.

The measures come amid a push to better enforce existing sanctions and crack down on companies circumventing them.

Macron to Visit China in April, Urges Russia Out (11:30 a.m.)

Emmanuel Macron will visit China in early April, the French president told reporters on Saturday.

He praised Chinas move to become involved in efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, while reiterating that peace is possible only if it comes first with an end to Russian aggression, withdrawal of troops and respect for the territorial sovereignty of the Ukrainian people.

China must now help us to put pressure on Russia, of course, so that it never uses chemical or nuclear weapons, which China has already done, but that it stops this aggression as a prelude to negotiations, Macron said.

Ukrainians Are Moving Abroad for Good (9:30 a.m.)

More than 8 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, fled the country after Russias invasion a year ago - and many are staying away.

The United Nations has called it Europes biggest refugee crisis since World War II, and Ukraine has been tipped into a spiral of demographic decline thats likely to damage its postwar growth prospects as well.

On Friday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy implored Ukrainians to return once its safe to do so.

Read more: More Ukrainians Are Settling Abroad as War Grinds On

Russia Running Low on Iranian Drones, UK Says (9 a.m.)

Consistent with this weeks reporting from Bloomberg, the UK defense ministry said Russia has depleted its stock of Iranian-made drones and will likely seek a new batch.

There have been no reports of Iranian one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVs) being used in Ukraine since about Feb. 15, the ministry said on Twitter.

Although the weapons dont have a good record in destroying their intended targets, Russia likely sees them as useful decoys which can divert Ukrainian air defenses from more effective Russian cruise missiles, according to the ministry.

Read more: Russia May Be Running Low on Iranian Drones, Awaits New Supplies

Russia, China Naval Drills Under Way Off South Africa (7:30 a.m.)

Joint naval exercises involving China, Russia and South Africa are under way as planned, TASS reported, citing the African nations defense ministry. The operation is expected to run through Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said in a statement on Friday that Ukraine was deeply concerned about the drills and said South Africa was adopting the experience of the Russian war machine.

We call on the Republic of South Africa not to encourage further Russian aggression and its sense of impunity, he said.

Read more: Russia, South Africa, China to Simulate Air Attacks in Exercise

Biden Rules Out Giving Ukraine F-16s For Now (4:10 a.m.)

President Joe Biden said he is ruling out Ukraines request for F-16 fighter jets at this time, despite increased pressure from Zelenskiy.

He doesnt need F-16s now, Biden said in an interview with ABC News broadcast Friday evening. I am ruling it out for now.

The US has resisted sending Ukraine F-16 warplanes over concerns their delivery could further escalate the war.

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A Ukrainian lawmaker urged the United States on Friday to use the money it has seized from Russian oligarchs to support Ukraine with additional aid.

Kira Rudik, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, told Fox News Neil Cavuto in an interview that she and others have been pushing for a plan to use money from Russian oligarchs and central banks to support Ukraines defenses. She said this amount would total more than $500 billion.

Rudik noted that Congress already approved legislation at the end of last year to use this money for Ukrainian defense, reconstruction and reparation.

So we are waiting for it to be sent, but we need to go further and actually execute on this legislation, because I believe it will be the fair and logical thing to do, she said.

Rudik said doing this will send the right message to other authoritarian rulers that they were face significant financial punishment if they take similar actions to Putin.

Her remarks come as federal prosecutors are looking to seize six properties located in Florida and New York owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York alleged in a complaint on Friday that the properties were involved in sanctions evasion and money laundering.

Some Republicans have voiced opposition to providing further financial support to Ukraine, saying that U.S. money should be used for domestic concerns. But Rudik said taking the money from the Russian sources will help the public avoid having to pay the costs of Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Taxpayers of the countries that support us should not be paying for Putins crimes, should not be, she said. Putin should be paying for his own deeds.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukraine and NATO

This agreement would have provided Ukraine with broader access to Western military equipment. At the same time, it obliges Kyiv to start peace negotiations with Moscow.

Read also: UK will provide Ukraine with long-range weapons, Zelenskyy says

This proposal was made by UK PM Rishi Sunak, later supported by Berlin and Paris. According to the WSJ, these countries have doubts that Ukraine will be able to force the Russians out of their territories by military means. They also believe that Western partners wont be able to support Ukraine with military assistance if the conflict reaches a stalemate.

We keep repeating that Russia mustnt win, but what does that mean? a senior French official said.

If the war goes on for long enough with this intensity, Ukraines losses will become unbearable. And no one believes they will be able to retrieve Crimea.

Read also: No quality leap expected in Russias war effort as Putin tries to win time, Estonian intelligence says

According to the WSJ, Macron and Scholz told Zelenskyy about the need to consider the possibility of peace negotiations with Moscow. At the same time, the source claims that this agreement should show Russia the readiness of the West to increase its military assistance to Ukraine over time. This is what may convince the Kremlin that it wont be able to achieve its military goal of subjugating the country.

The NATO summit must produce a clear offer to Ukraine, also to give Zelenskyy a political win that he can present at home as an incentive for negotiations, a UK official told WSJ. Russias wars have a tendency to freeze and then unfreeze, and that is why Ukraine will need more (security) guarantees from us.

Read also: EU and NATO discuss providing Ukraine with Western fighter jets

Any such decision must ultimately be supported by all NATO members, however.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraines Minister of Foreign Affairs, said on Friday that Ukraine was studying the Chinese proposal to end Russias full-scale war against Ukraine. He explained that this and all other such proposals must comply with the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly.

Source: Kuleba after the UN Security Council meeting dedicated to the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale war in Ukraine

Quote from Kuleba: "We saw the final version of the plan last night. We agree with some of its elements. But there is at least one element that we disagree with, the one concerning unilateral sanctions. We believe that sanctions are an important tool. Overall it is an interesting document. We are studying it, we have to go through it from start to end and make our own conclusions."

Details: Kuleba praised the fact that China "comprehensively set out its own position on this war".

"We have to state loud and clear: yesterday 141 countries voted in favour of a resolution that outlines the key elements of what the end of the war has to look like. Any proposals that exist outside of the resolution have to comply with it," he stressed.

Background: On 24 February, the Chinese Foreign Ministry published a so-called "peace plan" with its ideas for the settlement of Russia's war against Ukraine. The plan comprises 12 points and calls for a ceasefire and a resumption of peace talks, but does not offer concrete steps to achieving that.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Chinas "peace plan" could offer a way forward, though he disagrees with some of the elements it contains.

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HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, Britain's aircraft carriers, together in their home port of Portsmouth

After a year of fighting, tanks and trenches dominate the press coverage of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Less noticed is the quieter but equally essential maritime war being waged for the survival of Ukraines economy  one that should send shivers down the spines of Britains defence officials.

The war in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov doesnt look anything like the battle of Jutland, with titanic warships locked in combat. Much of it doesnt have anything to do with direct maritime combat at all, instead focusing on denying the use of sea lanes.

In oceanic terms, this is a small area. But it is flanked by both combatants, and from a Ukrainian perspective its the point of transit for 90% of the countrys exports, from wheat and corn through to steel and fertilisers. Russias maritime blockade is having a crippling impact on the Ukrainian economy, and starving the countries which depended on its exports of grain.

Meanwhile, in the Baltic Sea, public debate is still focusing on who was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. Regardless of responsibility, the action shows the range of options someone with mastery of the maritime environment has at its disposal  and the threat posed to the UKs national interests by Moscow, now and in the future.

Control of the seas will always be critical to both Britain and Ukraines national security so long as shipping is the easiest way to move large items around the world. For the UK, there are also critical fixed assets from the data cables running under the North Atlantic  monitored by the Russian navy for decades  to power infrastructure from oil and gas extraction to wind and tidal generation requiring our protection.

Britains nuclear deterrent is in use every single day, without ever being deployed. In much the same way, the Navy keeps us safe everywhere, every day. And yet successive governments have cut and cut this vital national security asset, just as they have squeezed resources for the Army and RAF.

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What was meant to be 12 destroyers became eight, and then six. They are now having their well-publicised mechanical defects repaired over a period of several years. Of our two aircraft carriers, only one is functional, and we only have 30 F35Bs capable of flying from them. Our frigates are venerable workhorses but beginning to show their age, and too many are not fully equipped.

And once again, numbers are being cut; we are moving from 13 frigates to eight without ship-launched torpedo capacity, plus five general purpose frigates not capable of fully matching their role. Our mine-hunting capability, world-leading for decades, is being traded for new technologies which have yet to prove themselves at scale and in conflict.

Below these surface problems are mounting concerns over critical enabling capabilities. Ammunition stocks are grabbing the headlines, but we also dont have enough helicopters, long range air surveillance aircraft, people, or accommodation to put them in. The list is as long as it is depressing.

The Treasurys response to requests for more money from each service always centres on the objection that they cant be trusted not to waste it. This is a line that works better for regulating a childs pocket money than for the defence of the realm, and it isnt one that theyve ever applied to the monumental waste in the NHS. Waste must be fixed, but can't be used as an excuse.

The shipbuilding pipeline is more promising. Nuclear attack and missile submarines, specialist anti-submarine and general purpose frigates and large support values are all in train. If they arrive on time and fully armed  and that is a big if  then by the back end of this decade we may scrape through in numerical terms.

In the meantime, even with a war on our doorstep, an increasingly aggressive superpower on the other side of the world, and a demonstrably less stable global commons, the Treasury and its political masters appear to believe there aren't enough votes in defence to justify spending more in general, let alone on the Royal Navy. We will need to think hard about how to do more with less.

Tom Sharpe OBE is partner at Special Project Partners. He previously spent 20 years in the Royal Navy during which time he commanded four warships
Key developments on Feb. 24:

As Ukraine marks the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion, the first batch of Leopard 2 tanks finally arrived in Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Feb. 24.

Poland sent four Leopard 2 tanks, according to Shmyhal. He shared photos of him standing alongside Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in front of the Leopards at an unidentified location in Ukraine.

A year ago, tanks drove into Ukraine to deprive Ukrainians of their freedom, Shmyhal said in a Telegram post. Tanks have also arrived in Ukraine today, but in order to protect freedom.

However, the delivery timeframe of more Leopards expected from other NATO countries  such as Germany, Spain, Finland, and Portugal  is unclear.

Ukrainian service members had begun training on the Leopards shortly after Berlin gave the green light to transfer the German-made tanks to Ukraine amid mounting pressure from its allies and authorized other countries, such as Poland, to follow suit.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Feb. 24 that his country would increase the promised number of Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine from 14 to 18, but he didnt elaborate on when they will reach Ukraine.

He said last month that the equipment would likely arrive in Ukraine at the end of March or the start of April.

Berlin is coordinating to supply Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine, and Warsaw is working on a battalion made of Leopard 2A4 tanks.

Pistoriuss announcement would allow Germany to organize a full battalion for the Ukrainians, together with the tanks pledged by Sweden and Portugal.

Sweden said on Feb. 24 it would send up to 10 Leopards to Ukraine, and Portugal pledged three to be delivered in March.

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With Ukraine and Russia currently relying on Soviet-designed tanks, the Western-provided ones would give Kyiv a major equipment advantage.

Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Feb. 24 that he is in talks with his American counterpart Joe Biden regarding the possible ammunition production in Poland for Ukraine.

The Polish president said it was among the topics discussed with Biden in person in Warsaw.

Ammunition scarcity has put a strain on Ukrainian forces braving brutal Russian assaults.

One year mark

President Volodymyr Zelensky held a press conference in Kyiv on Feb. 24, marking the one-year anniversary of Russias all-out war.

Ukraines successes in the war  such as the liberation of Kherson in the countrys south and northeastern Kharkiv Oblast  came with horrifying tragedies, as law enforcement discovered mounting evidence of Russian war crimes in liberated areas.

Zelensky said that the most terrifying day since the start of the all-out war was the day he visited Bucha, a Kyiv suburb that underwent a few weeks-long Russian occupation, in April.

Bucha, located some 25 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, was captured by the advancing Russian troops in the early days of the full-scale invasion.

After the Russians were forced out, hundreds of bodies of civilians, with hands tied, were strewn across the town. A mass grave was found in the town.

Local authorities say that 458 bodies of Bucha residents were discovered in what came to be known as the Bucha Massacre.

It was very scary; We saw that the devil is not out there, it is here on the ground, Zelensky said.

At some points, Zelensky spoke frankly about how he felt.

He said, I am sure that I make mistakes every day since I am a living person, but the main thing is that I, as a president, should not make fatal mistakes.

Ukainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) speaks to the press in the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, on April 4, 2022. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Zelensky called on Russia again to withdraw and stop bombing Ukrainian cities and villages.

Respect our right to live on our land, Zelensky said.

Russian forces continue to launch indiscriminate attacks against civilians across the country.

The liberated areas in southern Ukraine came under yet another attack, with Russians shelling a kindergarten in Kherson, according to the regional military administration.

Authorities added that there were no casualties.

There is no end in sight to Russias war against Ukraine.

Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence, predicted on Feb. 24 that the spring and summer seasons would be very difficult. He added that Ukraine is preparing.

We are ready for any development of the situation, we are strengthening our capabilities, and we have the experience and strong support of our partners, Skibitsky said.

The spring-summer campaign will be aimed at achieving a result. For us to achieve results, Skibitsky said, signaling that Ukraine may be preparing a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months.

As fierce fighting continues in the east and south of Ukraine, Zelensky thanked soldiers for defending the country.

I want to say to all of you who are fighting for Ukraine, Zelensky said earlier in the day during a ceremony near the St. Sophia Cathedral in central Kyiv.

I am proud of you. We all, each and every one, are proud of you!
Ukrainian defenders destroyed dozens of pieces of Russian military equipment, including 9 tanks and 9 armoured combat vehicles, during the day on 24 February.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Details: Total combat losses of the Russian forces between 24 February 2022 and 25 February 2023 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses  ed.]:

approximately 147,470 (+650) military personnel;

3,375 (+12) tanks;

6,609 (+9) armoured combat vehicles;

2,373 (+10) artillery systems;

475 (+1) multiple-launch rocket systems;

247 (+0) air defence systems;

299 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft;

288 (+1) helicopters;

2,035 (+2) operational-tactical UAVs;

873 (+0) cruise missiles;

18 (+0) ships/boats;

5,235 (+11) vehicles and tankers;

230 (+1) special vehicles and other equipment.

The data is being confirmed.

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Over the course of the past 24 hours, Ukraines defence forces repelled 70 Russian attacks on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk fronts.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 25 February

Quote: "The enemy forces are focusing their main efforts on conducting offensive operations on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk fronts. Over the past 24 hours, our defence forces have repelled around 70 attacks on those fronts."

"Russian invaders are searching civilian homes and seizing boats and other watercraft on the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson Oblast. Earlier, such actions were observed before [the Russian forces] withdrawal from Kherson Oblasts right bank or before sabotage operations."

"Having destroyed 80% of housing stock in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, enemy forces are now offering the victims of those bombings housing in newbuilds on the outskirts of the destroyed city. But despite the fact that many people lost documents confirming their ownership when their homes were destroyed, the occupiers have cynically mandated that those who want to obtain new housing must be in possession of property ownership documents."

Details: Russian occupation forces have carried out 27 airstrikes over the past 24 hours, as well as 75 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), causing damage and destruction in cities and villages and injuring civilians. There is an ongoing threat of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine.

Occupation forces deployed mortars and artillery to attack Mykhalchyna Sloboda (Chernihiv Oblast); Yunakivka, Vodolahy and Boiaro-Lezhachi (Sumy Oblast), and areas in and around 23 settlements in Kharkiv Oblast, including Lemishchyne, Oleksandrivka, Starytsia, Vovchansk, Vilkhuvatka, Ohirtseve and Bolohivka.

On the Kupiansk and Lyman fronts, Russian forces attempted to improve their tactical positions near Masiutivka and to drive Ukrainian units out of the Serebriansk forestry. They shelled areas in and around 17 civilian settlements, including Hrianykivka, Kupiansk and Berestove (Kharkiv Oblast) and Stelmakhivka, Makiivka, Dibrova and Bilohorivka (Luhansk Oblast).

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On the Bakhmut front, Russian forces continued to attack the positions of Ukrainian troops and carried out several unsuccessful offensive operations in the vicinities of Berkhivka, Ivanivske and Pivnichne (Donetsk Oblast). Russian forces are conducting aerial reconnaissance to adjust artillery fire. Sixteen settlements were shelled, including Spirne, Vesele, Ivanivske, Bakhmut, Kurdiumivka and Ozarianivka (Donetsk Oblast).

Russian forces also conducted several unsuccessful offensive operations on the Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk fronts, in particular near Pervomaiske, Nevelske and Marinka. Seventeen settlements were shelled, including Avdiivka, Vodiane, Prechystivka, Marinka, Vuhledar and Velyka Novosilka.

Areas in and around 20 civilian settlements came under Russian fire on the Zaporizhzhia front, including Vremivka and Novopil (Donetsk Oblast) and Olhivske, Huliaipole, Orikhiv and Bilohiria (Zaporizhzhia Oblast).

On the Kherson front, Russian occupation forces deployed artillery to shell areas in and around 34 Ukrainian cities, towns and villages, including Dudchany, Beryslav, Sadove, Kachkarivka, Antonivka and Kherson (Kherson Oblast).

Over the past 24 hours, Ukraines defence forces destroyed one Russian Mi-24 attack helicopter and four Russian UAVs (one Orlan-10, one Zala and two Lancet-3 drones).

Ukraines Air Force carried out 20 airstrikes on concentrations of Russian troops and equipment and two on Russian anti-aircraft missile systems. Ukraines Rocket Forces and Artillery struck a command post, two concentrations of Russian troops and three ammunition storage facilities.

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ISLAMABAD, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Two Pakistani nationals who were detained in the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention facility were released and repatriated to the country on Feb. 24, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The foreign ministry coordinated an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate the repatriation of the two detainees, Muhammad Ahmad Rabbani and Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, the ministry said in a statement on Friday night.

"We are pleased that these Pakistani nationals have finally reunited with their families," it added.

Earlier on Friday, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, chairman of the human rights committee in the upper house of Pakistan's parliament, congratulated the two brothers on their release on his official Twitter account.

"These innocents remained imprisoned for 21 years. There was no trial, no court proceedings and no charges against them," he added.

After the transfer, 32 detainees remain at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a notorious U.S. military prison set up in 2002 as part of the United States' war on terrorism.

Critics say the facility has been plagued by crimes of torture. 
Early last October, a smiling senior Kremlin official named Maria Lvova-Belova disembarked from a Russian military jet in Moscow with 53 children she claimed were orphans shed rescued from the war zone in the contested Donbas region of Ukraine.

The "orphans," ranging in age from nine months to five years, would soon join 350 others who had been adopted, and begin their new lives in Russia, the Kremlin said, as part of President Vladimir Putins ambitious effort to place children from war-torn Ukraine with families in Russia.

According to Putin's office , the head of the Russian-occupied Donetsk oblast had requested their evacuation to safe areas of the country, claiming that some of the children need lifesaving assistance and rehabilitation.

More: International Criminal Court issues first Ukraine-related war crimes arrest warrant. For Vladimir Putin

U.S. and Ukrainian officials portray the trip by Lvova-Belova, Putins presidential commissioner for childrens rights, as something far more sinister. They say Lvova-Belova is the public face of one of the most distressing consequences of Russias year-long war in Ukraine: The deportation, including by coercion and force, of potentially tens of thousands of Ukrainian children without their families.

On Friday, The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Lvova-Belova over their alleged involvement in the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

The ICC, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, alleges Putin and Lvova-Belova are responsible for war crimes.

More: 'We will never be the same': Displaced Ukrainian children risk erosion in school, mental health

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Maria Lvova-Belova, on Feb. 16.

The numbers vary widely, from a conservative estimate of 6,000 by one recent U.S.-funded study to more than 400,000 when taking into account the full scope of activities by Russian proxies like community leaders in Kremlin-held areas of Ukraine.

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Some children have been returned, often after protests and intervention by Ukrainian authorities or non-governmental child advocacy organizations. But an unknown but large number of them  ranging in age from four-month-old infants to teenagers as old as 17  may never be reunited with their loved ones back home, according to those officials and humanitarian groups focused on Ukraine.

Hundreds of the youngest victims, they say, already have been adopted by Russians, with Putins encouragement, while thousands of others are being fed Kremlin propaganda in pro-Russia re-education camps.

U.S. and allied authorities say they are only now beginning to comprehend the true scale of the crisis given the intentionally opaque nature of an organized Russian effort that has been underway since before tanks and troops first crossed the border a year ago.

'We need to keep living': What life is like for Ukrainians a year into Russia's invasion

Thats especially the case because Russia has refused to permit the kind of independent centralized registration system thats required by the international laws of armed conflict to track and protect children in war zones, humanitarian and legal experts told USA TODAY.

We know the numbers reported are very low and that they will rise significantly, said Nathaniel Raymond, a war crimes investigator and executive director of the Yale School of Public Healths Humanitarian Research Lab.

There's a lot more of the iceberg, Raymond said , and we're just beginning to learn how to see it.

A Russian 're-education' effort

Avaaz members and Ukrainian refugees install thousands of kids teddy bears and toys in front of the European Commission to highlight the reported abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children by Russia on Thursday in Brussels, Belgium.

Some of the new information has come to light after the Yale center released a State Department-funded report last week saying Russia has sent as many as 6,000 Ukrainian children to a network of at least 43 re-education facilities that stretch from the Black Sea coast all the way to Siberia.

Using satellite data, Telegram channel communications and other investigative tools, lab investigators found that Moscow's goal is to make Ukrainian children "more pro-Russia in their personal and political views."

Putin's war in Ukraine is driving a hidden horror: Sex trafficking of women and children

The report, titled Russias systematic program for the re-education and adoption of Ukraines children, represents the most detailed public accounting to date of what has happened to Ukraines children during the war..

Public citations of the report, including by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have drummed up additional information about deported children and potential avenues of investigation into related malign Russian activities, Raymond said.

Some of the camps are in Ukrainian territory that Russia now holds, Blinken said on CBS News Face the Nation last Sunday. Others, he said, are in Russia, and closer to Alaska than they are to Ukraine.

Separating them from their families and then having them adopted by Russians; this is in and of itself, horrific, Blinken said of the Ukrainian children. It also speaks to the fact that President Putin has been trying from day one to erase Ukraine's identity, to erase its future.

Russias embassy in Washington dismissed as absurd the U.S. accusation that it has engaged in the forced transfer of Ukrainian children.

More: 'It's hard, but they're holding on': On the ground in Ukraine, the war depends on U.S. weapons

Russia accepted children who had been forced to flee with their families from the shelling and atrocities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the embassy said in a statement. 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.

Parallels to Nazis' 'Germanization' program

U.S. and Ukrainian officials say that denial is contradicted by the public statements of Putin and senior Russian officials. And some Russian and Ukrainian estimates are far higher than those contained in the U.S.-affiliated Yale report.

A website operated by the Ukrainian government, Children of War, is updated daily and puts the number at 16,221 children deported as of Feb. 23. Only 307 of them, it says, have been returned, while another 461 children have been confirmed killed by the fighting and another 926 wounded.

Michael Scharf, a human rights lawyer who tries cases at the ICC , said the real number is likely closer to 400,000 children. That's based, he said, on numerous reports of Russian forces seizing children from orphanages, schools and hospitals in areas of Ukraine under Russian occupation and transferring them to Russia where they are sent to foster families to be transformed into Russians.

The reported estimates of transferred Ukrainian children likely dwarf those from all other 21st-century conflicts combined, said Scharf, the dean of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Children who fled the war in Ukraine together with their mothers watch cartoons and play at the Green Hotel on Thursday in Jerzmanowice, Poland.

The only conflict comparable to the situation in Ukraine has been World War II, when about 200,000 Polish children were taken to Germany by the Nazis under Heinrich Himmler's notorious "Germanization program," said Scharf and former Justice Department child exploitation prosecutor Kayla Brochu.

The Russians may try to justify their actions as necessary to safeguard children found in an area of combat. But that does not permit deportation back to the occupying state unless no other alternative is available, Scharf said, citing international laws requiring that children be sent to a neutral third country for protection, and so they wont be used as bargaining chips in prisoner swap and end-of-hostility negotiations.

Moreover, Scharf said, there are public statements of Russian officials indicating that the reason for these transfers was to transform the children into Russians, which indicates that any justification is merely pretext.

Brochu, now an international human rights lawyer, said parallels to the Nazis' Germanization program are especially chilling because of the long-lasting damage it caused.

The children were deported to Germany and  German families then adopted them, Brochu said. Close to a century later, social justice advocates are still trying to uncoil the branches of those mangled family trees.

Months after the onset of war, the Biden administration accused Putin and his generals of committing war crimes in Ukraine, citing numerous violations of the Geneva Conventions including attacks on population centers and the rape and murder of civilians. But last Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris brought up the child deportation issue in accusing Russia of committing crimes against humanity, an even more serious breach of international law.

"We have examined the evidence. We know the legal standards," Harris told world leaders in a speech at the Munich Security Conference. And I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes and to their superiors who are complicit in these crimes: You will be held to account.

A massive and coordinated effort

Reports of Russias program of child deportation have surfaced since the onset of war.

Ukraine's ombudswoman, Lyudmyla Denisova, said in May that Russia had relocated more than 210,000 children during the conflict and that she was treating it as a war crime.

In its report, the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab described the Russian effort as a massive and coordinated logistical undertaking that involves both civilian and military leaders in Russia and in Russian-occupied and contested areas of Ukraine.

Its team found that Russia began systematically transporting Ukrainian children to Russia even before the full-scale invasion began.

The military effort to take children from Ukrainian institutions expanded as Russia secured more territory. And while some of those children were indeed orphans without parents, many more of them had parents or guardians, but were mentally or physically disabled, or kids who had come from abusive homes and were in foster care type situations. Others, he said, were street kids or kids in transitional housing whose parents or guardians were never told what happened to them.

Meanwhile, an even more insidious campaign was also underway, in which Ukrainian parents were being persuaded to send their kids to summer camp facilities so theyd be out of harms way, the Yale report said.

You're talking about parents who are in a desperate situation, often who have local people they can trust including teachers and members of village councils coming to them and saying we can give your kids a vacation, or needed medical services or evacuation to safer parts of Ukraine, Raymond told USA TODAY. Were hearing story after story where the mother is saying I shouldn't have sent my kid but I just wanted to get her out of the fighting.

Many of those parents, Raymond said, were effectively tricked into signing consent forms, and Russian authorities often prevented them from contacting their children or from being told that theyd been moved from nearby camps to re-education facilities potentially hundreds of miles away.

Putins patriotic patronage campaign

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual state of the nation address at the Gostiny Dvor conference centre in central Moscow on February 21, 2023.

Until last year, Russia forbade its citizens from adopting foreign children. But Putin waived that and encouraged Russian cities and individuals to support a patronage program to help  and adopt  Ukrainian children in Kremlin-held territory.

Putin also personally appointed many of the figures involved in this program and publicly supports their efforts, the Yale investigators, part of a State Department war crimes investigation collaboration, concluded. That's especially the case, they said, with Lvova-Belova..

A telegenic late-thirtysomething, Lvova-Belova has traveled widely through the Russian-held parts of Ukraine, documenting via video and social media her purported campaign to save vulnerable children caught in the crossfire.

Raymond, however, says Lvova-Belovas real mission is to proselytize, recruit and take children.

Last September, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Lvova-Belova for her role in deporting Ukrainian children, saying that working directly under Putin, (she) has led Russias efforts to deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Her efforts, Treasury said, specifically include the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called patriotic education of Ukrainian children, legislative changes to expedite the provision of Russian Federation citizenship to Ukrainian children, and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russias forces.

Many other Russian leaders identified in the Yale report and by other researchers have so far evaded sanctions or other reprisals by Washington and its European allies.

In January 2023, Putin doubled down, directing Lvova-Belova to take additional measures to identify minors living in the occupied territories left without parental care, and to promptly provide them with state social assistance.

Dig deeper:: The War in Ukraine - One Year Later

Last week, Putin noted that Russian authorities are planning a major expansion of the so-called Happy Childhood relief effort this spring. And he asked Lvova-Belova if she had adopted a child for herself from Mariupol.

Yes, Mr President, thanks to you, she replied.

Is he small?, Putin asked.

No, he is 15 years old, Lvova-Belova replied. Now I know what it means to be a mother of a child from Donbas  it is a difficult job but we love each other, that is for sure.

This, Putin replied, is the main point.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine children deported to Russia painfully echoes Nazi practice
Fire defeat of the Russian invaders

On Feb. 24, the Ukrainian military destroyed one Mi-24 attack helicopter and four enemy UAVs: one Orlan-10, one Zala, and two Lancet-3 strike drones.

Read also: Ukrainian defenders repel about 90 enemy attacks in 24 hours

Ukrainian aviation carried out 20 strikes on concentrations of Russian personnel and military equipment, as well as two strikes on anti-aircraft missile systems at their firing points.

Ukrainian artillery and rocket launchers also hit a Russian command post, two concentrations of enemy manpower, and three ammunition depots.

Over the past day, the Russian forces conducted 27 air strikes and fired 75 times from multiple launch rocket systems.

Read also: US volunteer aid worker killed in Bakhmut while helping civilians

Situation at the frontline

According to the General Staff, the enemy is focusing its main efforts on conducting offensive operations on the Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Shakhtarsk sections of the front.

On the Volyn, Polissia, Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi sections of the front in the north and east of Ukraine, the operational situation has not changed significantly. The enemy continues to maintain its military presence near the state border of Ukraine, is training its reserves, but no signs of the formation of offensive groups have been detected.

During the day, the enemy fired mortar and artillery shells at the settlements of Mykhalchyna Sloboda in Chernihiv Oblast; Yunakivka, Vodolahy and Boyaro-Lezhachi in Sumy Oblast, as well as areas of 23 settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.

Read also: Different scenarios for Bakhmut possible, including capture by enemy, says Donetsk regional governor

On the Kupyansk and Lyman sections of the front, the enemy tried to improve its tactical situation in the area of Masiutivka and to drive Ukrainian units out of the Serebryanske forested area. The Russian army fired artillery in the vicinity of 17 settlements.



In particular, Hryanykivka, Kupyansk and Berestove in Kharkiv Oblast, and Stelmakhivka, Makiyivka, Dibrova and Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast were hit.

Story continues

On the Bakhmut section of the front, the enemy continues to attack the positions of Ukrainian troops, launching several unsuccessful attacks near Berkhivka, Ivanivske and Pivnichne in Donetsk Oblast. The enemy is actively conducting aerial reconnaissance to adjust artillery fire. Sixteen localities came under fire, including Spirne and Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.

Read also: SBU identifies two collaborators in liberated Kupyansk

On the Avdiyivka and Shakhtarsk sections of the front, the aggressor conducted unsuccessful offensives in the areas of Pervomaiske, Nevelske and Maryinka. Russian artillery attacks were registered in 17 localities. Among them are Avdiyivka, Vodiane, Maryinka, and Vuhledar.

On the Zaporizhzhya section of the front, 20 localities came under fire, including Vremivka and Novopil in Donetsk Oblast and Olhivske, Hulyaypole, Orikhiv and Bilohirya in Zaporizhzhya Oblast.

On the Kherson section of the front, 34 settlements in Kherson Oblast were hit by Russian artillery fire. Among them are Dudchany, Beryslav, Sadove, Kachkarivka, Antonivka and Kherson.

Read also: Invaders launched 65 attacks on Kherson Oblast in the past 24 hours, killing two and injuring nine

According to the General Staff, in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast, Russian forces are searching houses and seizing boats and other watercraft. Previously, such actions were taken before the withdrawal from the west-bank part of the region and for sabotage activities.

Having destroyed more than 80% of the housing stock in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, the Russian administration is offering the victims of these bombings to get housing in new buildings on the outskirts of the destroyed city. However, knowing that documents confirming ownership were destroyed along with the housing, the occupation authorities cynically impose the provision of them as a mandatory condition for obtaining new apartments.

The General Staff added that forced mobilization continues in Russias Chechen Republic. To prevent possible desertion of those mobilized from the front, on Feb. 23 up to 200 additional police officers from the Ahmat special forces regiment were sent to the Bakhmut section of the front.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The fighting continues in Ukraine one year after Russia launched what it called a special military operation disguised as a full out war.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

A local couple in Atlantic Beach is continuing to host a Ukrainian family.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

Action News Jax spoke with the Ukrainian refugee who is a mom of three daughters.

It was very scary when you hold your baby and you see tanks and soldiers in the street, Ukrainian refugee Lesia Yakovets said.

Lesia welcomed her third daughter into the world on Feb. 22 of last year. Two days later she learned her country would never be the same.

We are lucky to be safe, Lesia said.

One year ago today, Russia invaded Ukraine on multiple fronts. According to U.S. government officials, hundreds of thousands have been killed or injured and millions of Ukrainians have had to flee their homes -- or were forcibly deported to Russia.

Watch: Local dentist aiding Ukraine during war

For Lesias childrens safety, she knew she needed to leave.

After staying with a relative, squeezing seven people inside a two-bedroom apartment in Jacksonville, Pat murphy, and her husband Steve didnt think twice to host Lesia and her girls.

It was an easy decision, Pat Murphy said.

Their Atlantic Beach home has become a safe haven for them.

There were the two of us living by ourselves and now we have a big family. The kids are awesome, and Lesia is awesome, Pat said.

Steve Murphy said he can play the role of a grandfather figure and has a special bond with Lesias two-year-old daughter, Polya.

Read: Ukraine invasion reshaped global alliances, renewed fears

She enjoys spending time with me and playing and to the point where shes asked me to take her up the street to see some of the other kids while mom is busy, Steve said.

Meanwhile, Lesias husband is still in Ukraine.

Its very hard but we always try to stay in touch, Lesia said.

Story continues

She and her three daughters are continuing their life here in the U.S.

I can be working, my children can go to school and daycare, and I can study, Lesia said.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Lesia and her girls plan to make this community their permanent home as they await the arrival of her husband from Ukraine.

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories
Editors Note: This is issue 76 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from Feb. 18-24, 2023. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission.

Ukrainian SOE Weekly is an independent weekly digest based on a compilation of the most important news related to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state-owned banks in Ukraine. This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union within the project Supporting Ukraine in rebuilding and recovery implemented by the KSE Institute. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the editorial team of the Ukrainian SOE Weekly and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Corporate governance of SOEs

CEO of GTSOU still not appointed. The supervisory board of the Main Gas Pipelines of Ukraine  Mahistralni Gazoprovody Ukrainy (MGU) has yet to appoint a new CEO for the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), more than five months after the dismissal of the previous CEO, Serhiy Makogon, in September 2022.

The MGUs supervisory board announced a competitive selection on Nov. 25, 2022. No further information has been released publicly, including how many candidates applied or when the selection would be completed.

According to Ukraines current law, the CEO candidate for the GTSOU must be first approved by the Cabinet of Ministers and only then appointed by the MGUs supervisory board. No public information is available on whether MGUs board has selected a candidate via a competitive process and submitted that candidacy for the Cabinets approval, nor whether the Cabinet has approved such a candidate.

The MGU is the owner of the GTSOU, and the MGUs supervisory board acts as the general meeting of the GTSOU. It is in that role that the MGUs supervisory board was running the competitive selection for the GTSOUs CEO.

Story continues

In SOE Weekly (Issue 67), we reported that the candidate list was leaked to the media. According to Ekonomichna Pravdas sources, 19 candidates were longlisted. The submission deadline was Dec. 12, suggesting that all applicants were screened, and the longlist was drawn up in less than a week.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 67), we reported that the previous CEO, Makogon, was dismissed by the MGUs supervisory board on Sept. 16. Makogon was succeeded by acting CEO Pawe Jozef Stanczak. Prior to that, Stanczak worked as the GTSOUs Deputy CEO for Development and Transformation.

Makogon criticized the new competitive selection, noting that the longlist included no foreign candidates. He said that the selection procedure was for show, and he had no doubt as to who would be shortlisted. Makogon said that many reputable candidates, who were contacted by the executive search company supporting the selection (Odgers Berndtson), flatly refused to apply.

Earlier, Makogon said that before his dismissal, the MGU wanted to establish an executive board, allegedly aiming at diluting Makogons powers without dismissing him. However, now that he has been dismissed, the MGU no longer requires any executive board and merely wants to appoint a loyal CEO, Makogon claimed.

According to media reports, in June, the MGUs supervisory board formally proposed Serhiy Oleksiyenko and Andriy Khomenko as CEO candidates without a competitive selection, but the Cabinet did not approve either.

Ukrainian security issuers are now required to disclose information about their ties with Russia and its satellites. On Feb. 21, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) established a procedure for security issuers to disclose information on their ties with risk-zone countries, namely Russia, Belarus, Iran, and North Korea.

The NSSMCs new decision mandates that security issuers (which include SOEs and state-owned banks registered as joint-stock companies) should submit this information to the NSSMC by April 30 April.

The disclosure must include any material information on the companys engagements with or in Russia and its satellites. Specifically, the disclosure should state whether:

the companys owners include risk-zone countries citizens, residents, or legal entities;

the companys governing bodies include risk-zone countries citizens or residents;

the company has any commercial relations with risk-zone countries counterparties, including legal entities controlled by risk-zone countries;

the company has any subsidiaries, branches, representative offices, or other units operating in risk-zone countries;

the company has any joint ventures with risk-zone countries citizens, residents, or legal entities;

the company has any equity stakes (shares) in a legal entity domiciled in or controlled by risk-zone countries;

the company holds any securities other than shares of a legal entity domiciled in or controlled by risk-zone countries.

In addition, the same requirement is included in the new draft of the NSSMC regulation on disclosure.

The initiative to establish disclosure rules for business ties with the aggressor state and its satellites evolved from the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions, driven by its members Oleksandr Lysenko and Andriy Boytsun. Later, Lysenko developed specific disclosure rules together with the NSSMC.

These rules aim at increasing awareness of companies and banks investors, creditors, clients, and other stakeholders of ties with aggressor states. Exposing such business ties can significantly increase the reputational risks for these organizations and make their reputational costs prohibitive, causing them to sever their links with Russia and its satellites.

Note that the NSSMCs decision and draft regulation on Disclosure only cover the NSSMCs supervisees. In other words, it does not cover uncorporatized SOEs (such as state unitary enterprises) or private companies that do not issue securities. A similar legal framework for these entities needs to be developed and adopted.

Energy

Naftogaz takes over another few gas distribution companies. On Feb. 17, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the transfer of shares in several gas distribution companies to Chornomornaftogaz, a Naftogaz subsidiary, to prevent the risk of an emergency in the energy sector.

The said shares of these companies were seized in criminal proceedings earlier. According to media reports, they include:

61% of shares in Ternopilgaz;

81.36% of shares in Korostyshivgaz;

32.9% of shares in Kirovohradgaz;

14.68% of shares in Khmelnytskgaz;

65.77% of shares in Melitopolgaz;

one share in each of a number of other gas distribution companies.

The media reports did not specify the names of the other gas distribution companies. It is also unclear why exactly one share in each of them had to be seized.

The controlling stake (51% of shares) in Kirovohradgaz is already owned by Naftogaz.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 71), we reported that Naftogaz changed the management of regional gas distribution companies Kharkivgaz and Dniprogaz on Jan. 16. Both were part of oligarch Dmytro Firtashs RGC Group.

The RGC accused Naftogaz of an attempted raid. In response, Naftogaz referred to the Cabinet of Ministers decision dated May 28, which transferred the corporate rights of about 20 regional gas distribution companies to its subsidiary Chornomornaftogaz.

Earlier in May, Kyivs Pechersk Court seized shares of Firtashs regional gas companies because they evaded payment for the use of gas networks. (After that, the Cabinet transferred these rights to Chornomornaftogaz.) The RGC then filed lawsuits to overturn the Pechersk Courts decision. This significantly delayed the process of changing management.

In September, Naftogaz established a new subsidiary named Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine LLC to consolidate the regional gas distribution companies.

Ekonomichna Pravda wrote earlier that, besides the transfer of shares of the gas distribution companies to the Naftogaz group, their gas networks are being transferred to Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine, also part of the Naftogaz group (or such transfers are planned). At the same time, the debts of the gas distribution companies are not transferred along with their networks. According to the publication, Naftogaz is doing this in order to clear itself of these companies debt and impose that debt on the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU).

Infrastructure

Former Infrastructure Minister Pyvovarsky charged with causing more than $30 million in damage to the state. On Feb. 22, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) charged Andriy Pyvovarsky, the former minister of infrastructure, with abuse of power, which allegedly caused more than $30 million in damage in 2015. Pyvovarsky served as the Minister of Infrastructure in the Arseniy Yatsenyiuk government from December 2014 to April 2016.

Volodymyr Shulmeister, who was the first deputy minister of infrastructure, as well as chaired the ministrys tariff council at the time, was also charged in absentia.

According to the NABU, in 2015, Pyvovarsky and Shulmeister issued an order allowing private companies to charge half the harbour dues at the Pivdenny (Southern) seaport. The water area of this port is state property in the use of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA). Only a state enterprise has the right to charge harbour dues, the NABU said.

Due to Pyvovarskys order, the state received only part of the funds it was owed; the rest was collected by private companies. As a result, the state suffered $30 million in damages, which experts confirmed, the NABU claimed.

According to the NABU, the order was adopted without proper economic justification and contrary to the comments of the department of economics and finance of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the USPA.

Pyvovarsky responded on Facebook that according to the law on sea ports of Ukraine, proceeds from tonnage tax are distributed between the user of the ports harbour (the USPA in this case) and the owner of the operational harbour (in this case, private company TIS). He argued that the ministrys order was therefore not a crime.

Pyvovarsky added that the order, which changed the procedure for distributing ship dues, was previously approved by a number of ministries and agencies, including a Cabinet of Ministers meeting and discussion at the tariff council.

The order was also cleared by the Ministry of Justice, and therefore checked for compliance with the current legislation of Ukraine, Pyvovarsky said.

Note that the Ministry of infrastructure effectively fulfils three roles for USPA: owner, policymaker, and regulator. According to the OECD Guidelines on the Corporate Governance of SOEs, the states roles as owner, policymaker, and regulator should be separated.

In particular, tariffs should instead be set by an independent regulatory body, with no influence from the Minister of Infrastructure. No such regulator has been established for the transport sector in Ukraine to date, despite calls to do so by experts since at least 2016 and intentions of the Ministry of Infrastructure since 2017.

Note also that such a regulator should be independent and must ensure a level playing field for both SOEs and private companies. This implies that if a private player is legally entitled to collect certain payments, it should not face discrimination relative to SOEs.

If such an independent regulator with proper governance had been installed, there would be fewer reasons for the law enforcement agencies to be involved in cases related to establishing tariffs.

Ukrzaliznytsia to receive a $25 million grant from the World Bank. On Feb. 21, Ukrzaliznytsias CEO Oleksandr Kamyshin reported that the company would receive a $25 million grant from the World Bank to buy and build container platforms.

According to Kamyshin, Ukrzaliznytsia has not yet received these funds.

The grant is part of a $50 million pledged by the World Bank for the repair and restoration of Ukraines transportation network. This is in addition to the World Banks $535 million loan approved earlier, Kamyshin said.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 72), we reported that Ukrzaliznytsia took losses of Hr 10.8 billion ($295 million) in 2022. The loss from passenger transportation was Hr 13.3 billion ($364 million), suggesting that the companys other segments, such as cargo transportation, made a profit of Hr 2.5 billion ($68 million).

Ukrzaliznytsia also expects to lose Hr 20.2 billion ($553 million) in 2023 due to the large social burden and restrictions on cargo transportation.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 68), we reported that after Russias invasion, the Ukrainian government effectively gave Ukrzaliznytsia new tasks. We also provided details of the financial support that the government, Ukrgasbank, and international partners provided to Ukrzaliznytsia throughout 2022.

Ukrzaliznytsia may set up a cargo carrier to operate in Europe. On Feb. 21, Ukrzaliznytsias CEO Oleksandr Kamyshin reported that Ukrazaliznytsia may establish a company to transport cargo in Europe by the end of 2023.

The need for such a company outside Ukraine has been driven by Ukrainian cargo carriers difficulties in working with European carriers, Kamyshin said.

He added that it is necessary not only to purchase rolling stock, but also to obtain a license, registration, and recruit a team, in order to establish a cargo carrier.

There is hope, and we are doing everything to make it come true (by the end of 2023), but we would like (the speed of approvals in Europe) to be faster, Ukrzaliznytsias CEO said.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 10), we reported that according to the then Director of Ukrzaliznytsia Cargo Business Unit Irakli Ezugbaia, the rail operator would establish a separate entity for its cargo business called UZ Cargo during the companys reform. Ezugbaia said back then that cargo transportation remained the only profitable segment for Ukrzaliznytsia. The immediate task was to ensure a transparent, efficient structure for UZ Cargo.

Based on publicly available information, the plans to unbundle the cargo business in a new entity havent been implemented. In establishing a separate cargo transportation entity outside Ukraine, it may be useful to get back to the idea of unbundling all Ukrzaliznytsias cargo operations in a separate entity.

Privatization

Large-scale privatization to be launched through online auctions. On Feb 21, the Cabinet of Ministers approved an electronic auction procedure for the sale of large-scale privatization objects  defined as having assets worth more than Hr 250 million ($6.8 million).

Previously, large-scale privatization objects were sold at offline auctions, unlike small-scale ones.

According to the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU), in order to fully launch large-scale privatization, the Verkhovna Rada needs to pass a decision allowing the SPFU to set requirements for potential investors.

It is unclear what the SPFU meant by this. The fund did not specify what obstacles prevented it from setting requirements for potential investors, if any. The SPFU also did not say what type of decision it wanted the Verkhovna Rada needs to pass, and whether the Fund drafted such a decision.

Note that the large privatization procedure was introduced by the law on privatization adopted in 2018. Since that time, only one auction was completed, when the First Kyiv Machine-Building Plant (commonly known as the Bilshovyk) was sold for Hr 1.429 billion ($39 million) in October 2021.

As we wrote in SOE Weeklys Issue 49, various media have suggested that the formal auction participants may have colluded in the bidding (see articles by NV Business and Ekonomichna Pravda).

In SOE Weekly (Issue 50), in November 2021, we reported that the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) announced an enquiry into possible collusion in response to these media reports. Based on publicly available information, in almost 1.5 years, the enquiry hasnt been completed.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 55), we reported that the auction winner, General Commerce LLC, paid the Hr 1.4 billion ($39 million) that it had bid at the privatization auction. The money went into the state budget on Dec. 7, 2021, Dmytro Sennychenko, then Head of the State Property Fund said on Facebook.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 65), we reported that, based on a motion from State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), the court seized 44 real estate objects of the Bilshovyk in January 2022, since they were recognized as material evidence in the criminal proceedings.

Note also that according to a 2018 analysis by two SOE Weekly team members, Andriy Boytsun and Dmytro Yablonovskyi, the second sale of Kryvorizhstal in 2005 was the last and probably the only example of a successful large-scale privatization in the history of Ukraine.

Since the adoption of the new privatisation law in 2018, many large SOEs were put up for sale or prepared for privatization  such as the UMCC, Centrenergo, President Hotel, OPZ, Indar, Krasnolymanksa Coal Mine, and many others  but all these attempts have failed at various stages.

SPFU prepares for privatization of ZTMK, ZALK, and Kremniypolimer. On Feb. 22, the SPFU announced preparations for privatization of three large enterprises comprising the mining and steel complex in Zaporizhzhia. These include:

Zaporizhzhia Titanium-Magnesium Plant (ZTMK), the only producer of spongy titanium in Europe;

Zaporizhzhia Industrial Aluminium Plant (ZALK), the only producer of primary aluminium in Ukraine;

Kremniypolimer, the only producer of organosilicon products in Ukraine.

According to the SPFU, electricity at the ZTMK has not been paid for years, and as a result, the company owed more than Hr 1.2 billion ($33 million) in 2020. In 2018 and 2019, the companys losses were Hr 787 million ($21.5 million) and HR 656 million ($18 million), respectively. According to Ekonomichna Pravdas sources, the ZTMK was deliberately dragged into debt. These facts indicate that the ZTMK will be difficult to privatize.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 38), we reported that the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) said that the ZTMK had been returned to state ownership. The ZTMK previously belonged to the sanctioned oligarch Dmytro Firtash.

According to the SAPO, the Commercial Court of Zaporizhzhia Oblast made the ruling, to satisfy the SAPOs claim against Firtashs Tolexis Trading Limited and the ZTMK.

The SAPO said that the court had already made a similar decision in July 2018, which was upheld on appeal. However, the Supreme Court remanded the case for retrial. So far, the court of first instance fully satisfied the SAPOs claim and returned the plant to state ownership.

Later, Tolexis Trading Limiteds lawyer Roman Chyshinsky said that the decision to return the ZTMK to state ownership would be challenged in the court of appeal. According to him, the decision was biased and unfair.

On May 23, the Commercial Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court definitively upheld the rulings in favour of the state.

In turn, the ZALK was nationalized in 2015, when Supreme Court returned 68.01% of the companys shares to state ownership due to their owners not fulfilling their investment obligations.

The former owner, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, tried to challenge Ukraines decision in international arbitration, but he lost his last shares in the company in February, when the HACC confiscated all of its Ukrainian assets, as we reported in SOE Weekly (Issue 75).

Confiscation of the aggressor states assets, nationalization, and asset seizure

Head of the Servant of the People faction proposes to dissolve ARMA and transfer seized assets to SPFU for public sale. On Feb. 22, David Arakhamia, head of the ruling Servant of the People parliamentary faction, suggested that the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) should be dissolved, and the seized assets under ARMA should be transferred to the SPFU, where it would be listed in a transparent registry.

According to Arakhamia, ARMA was established to meet one of the conditions for a visa-free regime with the EU, but in the end, it turned into a closed cabal, where there are a lot of seized assets, and everything is opaque.

SOE Weekly has reported on ARMAs dismal performance in early 2021. In Issue 18, we wrote that in 2020, ARMA obtained a meagre profit of Hr 15.7 million ($429,000) (transferred to the state budget). This implied an almost zero return (namely, 0.5%) on the assets under ARMAs management, which ARMA said were more than Hr 3 billion ($82 million) at the time. ARMAs own budget for 2020 was Hr 190.45 million ($5.2 million), implying that the above profit only covered as little as 8% of the agencys own operational budget.

According to Ekonomichna Pravda, the SPFU wants to transform itself into a sovereign fund to manage the largest SOEs and confiscated Russian assets.
Republicans have spent most of this year complaining about last Decembers $1.7 trillion spending bill.

While that bill has been called a budget-busting, inflation-fanning boondoggle by Republicans, a bipartisan group of party leaders added money to the Ukraine war-related part of the bill while it was being negotiated, boosting it from $38 billion to $45 billion, with the blessing and encouragement of some key Republicans.

We have to look at what the Republicans who are in power are saying and doing, said Mykola Murskyj, director of government affairs with Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based civil society group.

By beefing up the supplemental appropriations request from the President, by demanding the president send these more advanced systems  long-range systems, tanks, drones that the administration doesnt want to send  its the Republicans that are leading the charge for the administration to send these items, he said.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of Ukraines parliament from the Odesa region, said there was some initial worry when the House went to Republicans, including some who have vowed Ukraine will not get any more money from the United States.

I dont want to lie, some Ukrainians were really afraid that after Republicans became the majority in the House of Representatives, something might not change for the better, Goncharenko said in an email. But we clearly see that this did not happen.

Still, signs of Ukraine fatigue  weariness of continued support for the country that observed Friday the one-year anniversary of being brutally invaded by Russia  have grown overall, but particularly among Republicans. A late January poll found only 39% of Republicans approve of sending weapons to Ukraine, and only 21% approve of sending money there.

But for Ukrainians and their allies, the hope is that the loudest voices on the far-right  House Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and presidential candidate Donald Trump  do not reflect the sentiment of the vast majority of the party itself ahead.

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That may be an increasingly slim reed to cling to, given recent weeks, though.

In a Feb. 2 interview with talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump all but explicitly said aid should be cut off from the Ukrainians to force them to the bargaining table.

Asked directly if the U.S. should cease aiding Ukraine, Trump said, This thing has to stop, and its got to stop now. And its not going to stop if we continue to just load something up.

Even more recently, Trump has warned the U.S. is edging closer to World War III, pointing to Russian President Vladimir Putins threats to use nuclear weapons in the conflict.

This thing has to stop, and its got to stop now. And its not going to stop if we continue to just load something up.Former President Donald Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an unannounced but likely rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has recently taken a softer line on Russia, telling Fox News, I dont think its in our interest to be getting into a proxy war with China, getting involved over things like the borderlands or over Crimea. (The borderlands DeSantis referred to have been internationally recognized borders since 1991.)

In the House, the concern is the same group of hard-right Republican lawmakers who extracted various promises from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in exchange for allowing him to have the gavel will also pressure him to cut help for Ukraine. McCarthy has said Ukraine will not have a blank check.

Greene has proposed the administration be forced to turn over papers and communications about aid deliberations, and several Republicans criticized President Joe Bidens surprise trip to Kyiv ahead of the anniversary of the war.

But Ukrainians say those remain outliers and that the support for Ukraine largely is still bipartisan, even as the amount of money spent has increased. The Council on Foreign Relations has estimated $46.6 billion has been sent to Ukraine in the form of military aid through January, with additional amounts for humanitarian and financial assistance.

From Left: Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. listens as U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power speaks Friday at a press conference marking the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

From Left: Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. listens as U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power speaks Friday at a press conference marking the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Republican critics have often cited a $113 billion figure, neglecting to mention that that amount includes aid to Ukraine but also aid to surrounding countries to help them deal with the influx of Ukrainian refugees, buying new weapons for the U.S. to replace equipment loaned or sent to Ukraine, and money to reposition NATO forces within Europe in response to the war.

Oksana Markarova, Ukraines ambassador to the United States, notably made no distinction regarding Republicans when asked Friday about waning GOP support in an appearance with U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power.

I think the arguments to the American people, they are the same, regardless of whether they are Democrats or Republicans or independents, she said.

Those arguments are that it is the right thing to do morally to help repel Russia and that it is also existential for the rule of international law that Russia be defeated, she said. It also provides the best bang for the buck in defense spending, she added.

God forbid if [Putin] goes into other countries, especially the NATO countries, its going to be much more expensive, she said.

Walking away from Ukraine now would have terrible consequences, Power said. I do think that that, as well, is going to help us retain the very, very strong bipartisan majorities that we have seen for support over the course of this year, she said.

God forbid if [Putin] goes into other countries, especially the NATO countries, it's going to be much more expensive.Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States

Razoms Murskyj said too much attention had been focused on the loud but minority opposition within House Republicans and not enough on what he called the three Mikes, Reps. Mike McCaul (Texas), Mike Turner (Ohio) and Mike Rogers (Ala.), chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Armed Services, respectively.

He said all three support Ukraine, have considerable sway within the party, and unlike many Ukraine critics, they have congressional jurisdictions relating to Ukraine.

Goncharenko also pointed to one of the Mikes, McCaul, who he met at the recent Munich Security Conference. Rep. McCaul is very determined to support Ukraine, he said.

In a joint statement Thursday, the trio of House GOP lawmakers urged the Biden White House to go further with providing weapons:

President Biden needs to stop dragging his feet on providing the lethal aid necessary to end this war. Continued half-measures by the Biden administration will only drive up the cost of this war in lives and dollars.

Related...
By William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was "giving it everything" to strike a new post-Brexit deal with the European Union on Northern Ireland's trade arrangements, calling it vital to ensuring a return to power-sharing in the province.

"There's unfinished business on Brexit and I want to get the job done," Sunak told The Sunday Times newspaper, which said the announcement of a deal was expected as soon as Monday.

That is when lawmakers in Sunak's Conservative Party have been told to be in parliament.

As part of its 2020 agreement for leaving the EU, Britain reached an accord with Brussels known as the Northern Ireland Protocol to avoid imposing politically contentious checks along the 500 kilometre (300 mile) land border with EU member Ireland.

But the protocol effectively created a border in the Irish Sea for some goods moving from Britain because it kept Northern Ireland in the European Union's single market for goods.

Sunak said he would try to resolve the concerns about the deal expressed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is worried about the EU retaining influence over Northern Ireland.

Ireland's prime minister Leo Varadkar told reporters earlier on Saturday that Britain and the EU were inching forwards.

Sunak said he was hopeful of a positive outcome to the talks and he would spend the weekend trying to finish them.

In a nod to the DUP, he said the 1998 Good Friday peace deal for Northern Ireland had been unbalanced by the protocol, which has prompted the DUP to boycott Northern Ireland's assembly.

"If we want to restore the power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland, which I very much want to do and I think that's what people need and deserve, then we need to resolve the issues of the protocol," Sunak said.

He said Wednesday's shooting of a police officer "reminds us of the delicate situation in Northern Ireland, the fragility of it, and we shouldnt take it for granted. And thats why getting power-sharing up and running is really important."

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The officer is in critical condition in hospital.

The Sunday Times said Sunak was confident the deal met all the DUP's conditions but the party was unhappy that Northern Ireland would have to apply some EU single-market legislation, unlike the rest of the United Kingdom.

The DUP's leader Jeffrey Donaldson was "minded to reject the deal," the newspaper said.

Asked about anger among DUP and some Conservative lawmakers - including former prime minister Boris Johnson - over being kept in the dark about the deal, Sunak said: "I know, people will always want to know every single detail, but ultimately you can't conduct a very complicated negotiation in public."

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Ambassador Julianne Smith, the US Permanent Representative to NATO, said that although Russia is increasing its presence in Ukraine, there is no evidence that it is capable of achieving success on the battlefield.

Source: Julianne Smith in an interview with Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty)

Quote from Smith: "Strategically, they cannot achieve their goals. They have issues with logistics, ammunition shortages, and, crucially, problems with morale and leadership.

Ukraine has exceptional leadership and innovations. And to reiterate, we will ensure that they have what they need  the equipment and ammunition they need to succeed."

Details: The US Permanent Representative to NATO said that Ukraine was planning a spring offensive, "which can begin any moment in the coming weeks".

However, Smith said she did not want to make specific predictions concerning Ukraine's ability to win the war this year, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested at the opening of the Munich Security Conference.

Quote from Smith: "It's difficult to say how exactly the situation will develop. One thing we do know for certain is that Putin could bring this war to an end today if he wanted to. He started this and he could end it. He could withdraw all Russian troops from Ukraine.

We want to continue putting pressure on Moscow to convince him to do that. We hope that this spring Ukrainian forces will continue to see major successes on the battlefield, which will aggravate Putins strategic miscalculation."

Previously: Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence, predicted that decisive battles will be fought on the front in Ukraine in mid to late spring. He said it would be a "turning point" in the war.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who took part in the most recent Ramstein-format meeting, said that Ukraine has a good shot at taking initiative on the battlefield. He reiterated the importance of helping Ukraine prepare for the spring counteroffensive.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The US-China confrontation over Russia's war on Ukraine ratcheted up on several fronts on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the invasion's start, as Washington and its allies largely rejected a peace plan by Beijing and the US announced new sanctions on Chinese companies it charged were helping to fuel the conflict.

The debate over China's peace proposal also carried over to a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan dismissed the 12-point peace proposal China released earlier on Friday, telling CNN that Beijing should have ended it after the first point, which calls for "respecting the sovereignty of all countries".

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Among its other elements, the plan calls for a ceasefire, which would freeze Russian troops in place on Ukrainian territory, and for an immediate end to all sanctions not endorsed by the UN Security Council, where Russia holds veto power.

Sullivan's rebuff was in line with that of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who implied that Beijing's proposal had not changed their view that China had taken Russia's side.

Eurasia Group analysts Clayton Allen and Anna Ashton said that China's proposal was biased towards Moscow - even if it was less hostile to Washington and its allies compared to the comments that Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi had for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Germany last week.

"Although several of the 12 points revealed Chinese concerns over actions primarily associated with Russia, it continued to echo Russia's justifications for invasion and can largely be framed by Russia as supporting Moscow's positions," Allen and Ashton said in a research note.

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"China's approach suggests that they are walking a diplomatic tightrope of strengthening ties to Russia - a key geostrategic ally and counterbalance to the West - while avoiding a position that is seen as openly hostile to Western aims," they added.

Asked whether US President Joe Biden's administration saw China's proposal as a "gimmick", National Security Council spokesman John Kirby echoed Sullivan's comment that the document should have stopped after the call to respect sovereignty. He declined to characterise it further.

In New York, in the UN Security Council on Friday, the US remained committed to a Ukrainian victory, while China put forward its plan.

Describing long-term diplomatic negotiations as the "only right way" to resolve the crisis, China's representative, Dai Bing, urged the international community to create platforms for Russia and Ukraine to hold talks without any preconditions.

"Bringing parties to the conflict back to the negotiating table is not going to be easy, but it is the first step toward a political solution", Dai, charge d'affaires at the Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN, said.

Blinken, though, warned that it was critical to ensure that Russia was not allowed to utilise any temporary "unconditional" ceasefire in fighting to "rest, rearm and relaunch".

"Council members should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire," Blinken said.

"Russia will use any pause in fighting to consolidate control over the territories illegally seized and replenish its forces for further attacks," he added.

Voicing China's strong opposition to unilateral sanctions, Dai said that developing countries were paying a high price due to the war's impact on global supply chains, exacerbating food, energy and financial crises: "We hope that the relevant parties take responsible actions and stop abusing unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction".

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday. Photo: Reuters alt=US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday. Photo: Reuters>

There was more unity among the Group of 7 industrialised nations, which also issued a strong condemnation of Russia's war on Friday.

Traditionally allied with Washington, the G7 pledged "unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes" and called on Russia to "completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine".

In an apparent reference to China, Iran, North Korea and other countries that Washington accuses of assisting Russia economically or militarily, the group called on "third-countries or other international actors who seek to evade or undermine our measures to cease providing material support to Russia's war, or face severe costs.

"To deter this activity around the world, we are taking actions against third-country actors materially supporting Russia's war in Ukraine," the statement added.

Washington announced such deterrence earlier on Friday.

Building on sanctions announced last year on Chinese companies suspected of helping Russia, the US Commerce Department added five Chinese firms to its entity list: AOOK Technology Ltd; Beijing Ti-Tech Science and Technology Development Co; Beijing Yunze Technology Co; China HEAD Aerospace Technology Co; and Spacety Co.

The list also added two subsidiaries of China HEAD Aerospace Technology in France and the Netherlands, and an affiliate of Spacety in Luxembourg.

The department said that the additions were based on information that "these companies significantly contribute to Russia's military and/or defence industrial base and are involved in activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy interests".

The action, which also sanctioned nearly 80 Russian companies involved in the country's "defence-industrial sector and war effort", follows several warnings by Washington that Beijing would suffer "consequences" were it to supply weapons to Moscow.

Blinken has contended in a series of interviews this week that China is "strongly" considering providing lethal assistance to Russia. Beijing rejected the claim, accusing Washington of "spreading false information".

A Pentagon spokesperson acknowledged on Wednesday that the US has not yet seen China giving weapons or other lethal aid to Russia, but that Beijing had not yet taken that aid off the table.

Concerning the new sanctions, Alan Estevez, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, said on Friday that "as our export controls continue to bite, Putin and his cronies will become more desperate in seeking the means to sustain this illegal war".

"Today's package of rules shows that our commitment - and that of our allies - is not wavering, and that we will meet whatever Russia, Belarus, Iran, private firms such as those from China or anyone globally who seeks to support them can muster, with strong, coordinated action."

The additions to the trade blacklist were part of new, sweeping cross-department sanctions the US announced on Friday in its latest response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a separate expression of US support for Kyiv, Blinken announced US$10 billion in "energy assistance to support Ukrainians suffering from Russia's attacks" and monies to keep government functions running.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
(Bloomberg) -- Steel is threatening to become the latest area of commercial conflict between the US and Mexico after a bipartisan group of US lawmakers called on the Biden administration to restore Trump-era tariffs if necessary to stem a surge in imports.

Most Read from Bloomberg

A group of more than a dozen US senators, including Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio, wrote to and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai last week, asking them to engage Mexico in talks over rising US steel imports. They cited an almost sevenfold jump in imports of steel conduit used in construction.

The lawmakers suggest applying quotas, but raised the possibility of reimposing duties used previously by the Trump administration that were removed in May 2019.

Mexican senators shot back this week, passing a resolution calling on the nations economy ministry to start gathering information about US exports to Mexico in order to consider retaliatory measures if Washington were to reimpose the duties.

Despite the senators complaints, it would be surprising if USTR or Commerce move forward on requesting consultations given the number of disputes already in progress, said Juan Carlos Baker, a founding partner of consulting firm Ansley Consultores Internacionales and one of the top negotiators for the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement that took effect in 2020.

Mexico and the US are already discussing some serious issues, he said. Im sure that nobody really wants to add more trouble to a relationship that already is being tested.

A Commerce official said that the department had received the senators letter and will respond through appropriate channels. A USTR spokesman also confirmed receipt, saying the agency is reviewing it.

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List of Issues

Should the US request consultations, steel would join a growing list of trade issues between the neighbors: talks on Mexicos nationalist energy policy are now in their sixth month, and there is a brewing dispute over corn.

Mexico is the second-largest US trade partner, with the nations trading almost $800 billion of goods in 2022 alone.

While the percentage of US steel imports arriving from Mexico has risen, its because Covid-19 disruptions and the Ukraine war have made Mexico a more reliable provider, replacing other exporters like Russia, Mexican industry association Canacero said on Friday.

The US lawmakers appear to be threatening to disrupt efforts by both countries to cooperate in shortening supply chains to enhance national security, economic growth and employment, the Mexican chamber said.

The complaints come as US steelmakers are seeing profits cool significantly from the records they enjoyed in 2021 and 2022. Domestic steel prices are down about 47% from historic highs reached in August 2021. And steel mill-utilization is now at just 74% of full capacity, according to American Iron and Steel Institute data.

Steel executives have long argued that utilization must be above 80% for the industrys long-term viability and financial health. Compounding the issue is that monthly raw-steel production by the nations mills are at the lowest since the pandemic, when demand all but evaporated as countries across the globe shuttered economic activity and imposed lockdowns.

The Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on steel from Mexico and a number of countries under section 232 of Americas Trade Expansion Act of 1962, saying that the imports posed a threat to national security. Those duties were dropped in 2019, with the caveat that they could be reimposed if imports from Mexico surged meaningfully beyond historic volumes of trade.

The US lawmakers cite a 73% increase in the volume of US iron and steel imports since the 2015-17 period, while inward-bound shipments of semi-finished steel and long products have more than doubled.

They say that Mexican imports have contributed to the loss of more than 200 steel jobs in California and led to the closing of one of fewer than a dozen American factories that produce steel conduit.

Many steel producers are concerned that additional production cuts, layoffs and plant closures are imminent, the senators said. The administration must act now to avoid further damage.

The US senators appeal was cheered by the Coalition for a Prosperous America, an organization that represents import-threatened companies and unions.

--With assistance from Joe Deaux.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of the Treasury announced over US$10 billion in budgetary assistance on Friday, 24 February 2023.

Source: press statement by the US Department of State

Details: The majority of the sum  US$9.9 billion  is grant financing disbursed via the World Bank's Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) mechanism on a reimbursement basis once expenses have been verified.

"These funds are crucial to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia and ensures the Ukrainian government can continue to meet the critical needs of its citizens, including healthcare, education, and emergency services," the press release read.

The US will provide additional energy assistance to Ukraine, a US$250 million contribution that will help keep schools open, power generators for hospitals running, and keep homes and shelters across Ukraine warm.

"This assistance builds on the US$270 million the United States has already committed to bolster Ukraines energy security over the last year," the Department of State explained.

Background: Earlier on Friday, the US Department of Defence announced a new aid package for Ukraine worth US$2 billion that will help it strengthen air defence.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
by Yan Jie & Yang Yunqi

MANILA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines will embrace new opportunities to foster economic growth from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, a Philippine envoy to China has said.

"It's like an opening of a door to competition. However, there will be challenges among players and business people. But as everybody says, there is also an opportunity every time there is a challenge," Benito Techico, Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos' special envoy to China for trade, investments, and tourism told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The Philippine Senate ratified RCEP on Feb. 21, a massive free trade agreement involving Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

It is the world's largest free trade area representing 30 percent of the global gross domestic product.

Philippine officials said RCEP covers roughly 50.4 percent of the Philippines' export markets, 67.3 percent of the country's import sources, and 58 percent of foreign direct investment.

According to Techico, Philippine consumers will reap tangible benefits from competitions brought by the RCEP member countries. Preferential import tariffs for Philippine exports, such as agricultural and tourism products, would also give the Southeast Asian country more access to bigger markets.

"I think joining RCEP will encourage local businessmen to be more innovative. There will probably be new industries and innovations that would arise from the new generations," Techico said.

He stressed the need for the Philippines to fully use its geographic dividend as a strategic location in Asia to attract more foreign investment in manufacturing and logistics.

"Technically, we have more access in terms of logistics. We could have more opportunities because those factories or the regional investors might want to take advantage of the country's location and set up a regional logistic hub in Asia," Techico said.

As the newly-appointed special envoy to China for trade, investments, and tourism, he believed RCEP catalyzes long-term trade and investment growth between the Philippines and China.

"I would expect more guidance or support from China in terms of coming up with manufacturing facilities and investment. Moreover, if there are more partnerships between Philippine farmers and the Chinese technology provider, it will be great for agriculture," he said.

Economic and trade cooperation between the Philippines and China has yielded fruitful results in recent years.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, by the end of 2021, China had been the Philippines' largest trading partner for six consecutive years and had emerged as the Philippines' second-largest export destination.

For the first 11 months of 2022, the bilateral trade volume hit 80.41 billion U.S. dollars, up 8.3 percent year on year. 
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett published his annual letter to shareholders on Saturday, taking on some of his favorite topics in share buybacks, taxes, corporate accounting, and his long-term optimism about the U.S. economy.

Writing about the "American Tailwind" theme Buffett has so often referenced in recent years, the 92-year-old wrote: "At Berkshire we hope and expect to pay much more in taxes during the next decade. We owe the country no less: Americas dynamism has made a huge contribution to whatever success Berkshire has achieved  a contribution Berkshire will always need. We count on the American Tailwind and, though it has been becalmed from time to time, its propelling force has always returned."

Elsewhere in his letter, Buffett criticized those critical of share buybacks, slammed Wall Street's obsession with earnings "beats," and outlined how the spirit of Berkshire will live on after he and vice chairman Charlie Munger are gone.

Here are seven top takeaways from Buffett's annual letter.

'At Berkshire, there will be no finish line.'

At Berkshire Hathaway's 2021 annual meeting, Buffett told shareholders what many had long suspected  Greg Abel, currently CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, will succeed Buffett as CEO.

Though Buffett and Munger, who turned 99 on Jan. 1, continue to show the spirit and enthusiasm of men much younger than them, life for Berkshire Hathaway after Warren and Charlie remains a key focus for investors.

In his latest annual letter, Buffett offered shareholders a brief history of Berkshire's corporate story, which began with the ill-fated purchase of textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 and continues today with a collection of businesses and investments that earned $30.8 billion in operating profits in 2022.

"Berkshire now enjoys major ownership in an unmatched collection of huge and diversified businesses," Buffett wrote. Buffett noted that in 2021, there were 128 companies in the S&P 500 that earned more than $3 billion in profits  and Berkshire was the largest shareholder in 8 of these businesses: American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron (CVX), Coca-Cola (KO), HP Inc. (HPQ), Moodys (MCO), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), and Paramount Global (PARA).

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A cutout photo of Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett welcomes investors and guests as they shop for deals during the first in-person annual meeting since 2019 of Berkshire Hathaway Inc in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. April 29, 2022. REUTERS/Scott Morgan

Adding in Berkshire's wholly owned subsidiaries BNSF and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Buffett wrote: "All told, our 10 controlled and non-controlled behemoths leave Berkshire more broadly aligned with the country's economic future than is the case at any other U.S. company."

"As for the future, Berkshire will always hold a boatload of cash and U.S. Treasury bills along with a wide array of businesses," Buffett wrote. "We will also avoid behavior that could result in any uncomfortable cash needs at inconvenient times, including financial panics and unprecedented insurance losses. Our CEO will always be the Chief Risk Officer  a task it is irresponsible to delegate. Additionally, our future CEOs will have a significant part of their net worth in Berkshire shares, bought with their own money. And yes, our shareholders will continue to save and prosper by retaining earnings.

"At Berkshire, there will be no finish line."

On buybacks, 'the math isn't complicated'

In 2022, Berkshire Hathaway repurchased 1.2% of its outstanding shares, a move Buffett told shareholders "directly increased your interest in our unique collection of businesses."

Buffett also noted buybacks at AmEx and Apple (AAPL)  Berkshire's largest position at the end of last year  increased the company's ownership in each firm.

"The math isnt complicated: When the share count goes down, your interest in our many businesses goes up," Buffett wrote. "Every small bit helps if repurchases are made at value-accretive prices."

In recent months, as ever, share repurchases have remained a hot button political issue, with a new 1% tax on share buybacks taking effect in January and President Joe Biden floating a 4% tax on this activity in his State of the Union address earlier this year.

Actions and criticisms for which Buffett had no kind words.

"When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive)," Buffett wrote.

President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington, as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., listen. Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS

Dividends and Berkshire's 'secret sauce'

Investors have pored over Buffett's writings for decades looking for ways to imitate his investment process and generate the kinds of returns Berkshire shareholders have enjoyed for three generations.

Writing about Berkshire's "secret sauce" in this year's letter, Buffett pointed to a simple variable: time.

Citing Berkshire's longstanding investments in Coca-Cola and American Express, Buffett noted that positions in both companies completed nearly 30 years ago earned Berkshire dividends in 2022 worth more than $1 billion.

"These dividend gains, though pleasing, are far from spectacular," he wrote. "But they bring with them important gains in stock prices. At yearend, our Coke investment was valued at $25 billion while Amex was recorded at $22 billion. Each holding now accounts for roughly 5% of Berkshires net worth, akin to its weighting long ago."

Berkshire's initial stake in both companies cost the company $1.3 billion.

"The lesson for investors: The weeds wither away in significance as the flowers bloom," Buffett wrote. "Over time, it takes just a few winners to work wonders. And, yes, it helps to start early and live into your 90s as well."

'Bold imaginative accounting' as 'one of the shames of capitalism'

For Wall Street analysts and the business media alike, quarterly earnings are the most calendar markers for following any company.

But these four-times-per-year looks at a business  and the snap judgements investors can often make as a result  do not offer the kind of long-term perspective Buffett sees forming the framework of successful investing.

And moreover, the current focus on whether a company's results beat expectations or not turn into a game that is just that  a game.

In 2022, Berkshire Hathaway reported operating earnings of $30.8 billion. Its GAAP earnings, which are required to take into account fluctuations in the value of its stock portfolio, showed Berkshire lost $22.8 billion last year.

Buffett called these GAAP losses "100% misleading," noting that in future years he expects the results will be positive though the message stays the same: "Their quarter-by-quarter gyrations, regularly and mindlessly headlined by media, totally misinform investors."

Even the "operating earnings" Buffett prefers to look at, however, fall short of offering investors the kind of clean view of a company's results investors must make for themselves.

"Finally, an important warning: Even the operating earnings figure that we favor can easily be manipulated by managers who wish to do so," Buffett wrote. "Such tampering is often thought of as sophisticated by CEOs, directors and their advisors. Reporters and analysts embrace its existence as well. Beating 'expectations' is heralded as a managerial triumph.

"That activity is disgusting. It requires no talent to manipulate numbers: Only a deep desire to deceive is required. 'Bold imaginative accounting,' as a CEO once described his deception to me, has become one of the shames of capitalism."

Taxes, the deficit, and 'consequences'

In this year's annual letter to shareholders, Buffett highlighted the taxes paid by Berkshire to the U.S. government over the years  and the taxes Berkshire expects to pay in the future.

From 2012-2021, Buffett said Berkshire paid some $32 billion in taxes, which he noted is almost exactly 0.1% of all tax payments taken in by the Treasury Department over that time.

"At Berkshire we hope and expect to pay much more in taxes during the next decade," Buffett wrote. "We owe the country no less: Americas dynamism has made a huge contribution to whatever success Berkshire has achieved  a contribution Berkshire will always need."

Buffett also noted over that period, the U.S. government took in about $32 trillion in tax receipts while spending closer to $44 trillion.

And though Buffett wrote he and Munger "plead ignorance" on the matter of the country's fiscal imbalances, Buffett warned: "Huge and entrenched fiscal deficits have consequences."

Munger's wisdom

Though they've been business partners for over 40 years, Buffett remains a fan of Charlie Munger's witticisms like so many of the rest of us.

In this year's annual letter, Buffett used a full page to pull out Munger one-liners from a recent podcast:

"All I want to know is where Im going to die, so I'll never go there. And a related thought: Early on, write your desired obituary  and then behave accordingly."

"You can learn a lot from dead people. Read of the deceased you admire and detest."

"There is no such thing as a 100% sure thing when investing."

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett (left) and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger are seen at the annual Berkshire shareholder shopping day in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 3, 2019. REUTERS/Scott Morgan

Always selling

As always, Buffett took the final section of this year's letter to both invite shareholders to Omaha, Nebraska, for the annual shareholder meeting  and to shamelessly plug some of Berkshire's portfolio companies that spend the weekend hawking wares to shareholders eager to spend their money where they've invested it.

"Charlie and I are shameless," Buffett wrote. "Last year, at our first shareholder get-together in three years, we greeted you with our usual commercial hustle."

Nearly 7,000 transactions were completed at the See's Candies booth at the Berkshire annual meeting last year, good for a pace of 10 sales per minute.

Buffett wrote See's is "selling products that havent been materially altered in 101 years. What worked for Sees in the days of Henry Fords model T works now."

On May 5-6, Buffett will greet shareholders once again.

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Dr. Damian J. Fernandez will be Warren Wilson's tenth president, effective June 1.

Warren Wilson College will have a new president come June 1, Dr. Damian J. Fernandez.

Im ecstatic, Fernandez said. Ive had a crush on Warren Wilson for many years and all of a sudden Im president, so one is doing the happy dance.

Fernandez comes to Warren Wilson as its 10th president from Eckerd College in Florida where he served as president.

He began his teaching career at Colorado College in 1986 and went on to serve at other small liberal arts colleges like Warren Wilson as well as public research universities like Pennsylvania State University and Florida International University. He has also been the head of school at Fieldston School in New York City.

Ive been provost, Ive been chancellor, Ive been president, Fernandez said. Now I am joining Warren Wilson. My experience has been wide-ranging in terms of beginning as a faculty member and racing through the ranks until becoming president.

In total, Fernandez has more than three decades of experience. A first-generation college student, he is a Cuban immigrant who grew up in Puerto Rico. According to Director of Communications Mary Bates, this makes Fernandez Warren Wilsons first Latino president. She said he is also the colleges first openly gay president.

Fernandez said he is excited to join Warren Wilson.

Warren Wilson is a place that engages students in the real world, Fernandez said. Engaging students in the real world is the best way to learn. This is liberal arts for the here and now, and research shows that students get better outcomes when they are very much involved in their own learning.

Warren Wilson is one of nine colleges in the country where students are required to work on campus in exchange for money toward their tuition. Students are also required to engage in community service, something Fernandez said goes hand-in-hand with academics.

Its also a place that brings academic and education into service, and I think thats a moral imperative, Fernandez said. To realize that there is something higher and bigger than oneself. I think Warren Wilson does that very well. It brings excellence, and it also brings access. We are a place that is open to students regardless of background economics.

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Fernandez said he has big plans for the college. He said he wants Warren Wilson to be known as the liberal arts college of the future and teach students by doing. He said he also wants to further the connection the college has with the community in addition to changing the business model for a small liberal arts college.

We need to be entrepreneurial, Fernandez said. We need to seek partnerships. We need to be creative in funding.

For Fernandez, he said it is important to keep liberal arts impactful, and he can do that by facing any challenge Warren Wilson has head-on and seeing them as opportunities rather than challenges.

He also said it is important for him to keep Warren Wilson accessible to all students, regardless of their socioeconomic status or other identities.

I also want to make sure that we open our doors as wide as possible for students of talent, regardless of their means, Fernandez said. I myself am a first-generation college graduate. I know that if you can provide students the opportunity to learn, they will thrive. I want to be that democratic place that welcomes all these different students with talent to explore their potential and to deliver on that potential.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Warren Wilson names 10th president, 1st Latino and openly gay leader
A mixed martial arts coach and his trainees have offered to stand guard at a local restaurant so it can host a drag show in peace.

MMA fighter Jonathan Haught made the offer in a public Facebook post after a drag brunch scheduled at a West Virginia restaurant was canceled due to the amount of threats the event organizers received.

Jonathan Haught, second from left, and fighters from Ohio Valley MMA. (Courtesy Jonathan Haught)

Im not afraid to stand up to people, and I train to fight people all day, every day, so if somebody really wants to attack somebody, let them attack me instead, Haught, the owner of Ohio Valley MMA in Wheeling, West Virginia, said. Dont attack the drag queens.

The drag brunch was due to take place on Sunday at Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar, in Triadelphia, West Virginia, about six miles from Haughts MMA studio. The event was organized by S&S Productions, a Pennsylvania-based LGBTQ production company that hosts drag events in the region.

But as word got out about the event, threats were made toward the restaurant, the drag performers and even the patrons, S&S Productions announced on its Facebook page, leading the company to cancel the event.

We hope in the near future we can try to bring another brunch to the area, S&S Productions wrote. We were only 2 tables away from a fabulous sold-out event so we know yall want us there!

Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar did not immediately respond to NBC News request for comment.

While a rescheduled drag brunch at Primanti Bros. has not been confirmed, Haught said he and his trainees will be ready if and when it does happen.

I volunteer myself and my fighters to stand guard so that people can do exactly what they want to do,he said.

While drag is an art form that dates back centuries, it has only recently been thrust into the center of the American culture war. In recent months, Republican lawmakers in at least 15 states  including West Virginia  have proposed restricting where and in front of whom drag shows can be performed. And on Thursday, lawmakers in Tennessee became the first to pass such a bill, which will head to the governors desk.

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Haught, who said he has attended drag shows in the past, said those who have a problem with drag dont actually know anything about it.

The basis of this is ignorance, he said. The politicians that fight against drag shows, theyve never been to a drag show.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A Ukrainian family who fled Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 24, 2022, wait with their luggage before being allowed to cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry into the United States to seek asylum on March 22, 2022 in Tijuana, Mexico. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The Biden administration this week unveiled a plan to impose new restrictions on who can seek asylum in the United States, by penalizing migrants who cross the border without authorization or fail to apply for protections in another country if they pass through one en route.

The proposed regulation, which will make it easier to quickly deport asylum seekers who are disqualified under the new rule, was widely condemned by immigration and human rights advocates. They compared it to a 2019 Trump administration measure known as the asylum transit ban, a policy that required asylum seekers from anywhere but Mexico to request asylum in one of the other countries they traveled through before reaching the United States.

Instead of reversing the previous administrations cruel attacks on the immigration system, the Biden administration is now leading its own shameful assault on refugees seeking safety, said Laurie Ball Cooper, U.S. legal services director at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Kimiko Hirota, a policy adviser at the Womens Refugee Commission, said in a statement that she and her colleagues are horrified by this updated version of President Trumps transit ban, calling the proposal a slap in the face to families seeking safety and to U.S. and international law.

Speaking to reporters on background Tuesday, Biden administration officials rejected comparisons to the Trump transit ban, which was eventually struck down in federal court, insisting that the proposal is not a categorical bar on asylum eligibility.

Rather, officials said the Biden administration is trying to discourage vulnerable migrants from relying on dangerous routes and ruthless smugglers to help them cross the border illegally, by offering them safe and legal pathways to the U.S.

As we have seen time and time again, individuals who are provided a safe, orderly, and lawful path to the United States are less likely to risk their lives traversing thousands of miles in the hands of ruthless smugglers, only to arrive at our southern border and face the legal consequences of unlawful entry, the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, said in a statement.

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Administration officials framed the proposal as the best option for preventing what they predict will be a surge in migration to the southern border after the end of Title 42, the pandemic-era public health restriction that has been used to turn away migrants, including asylum seekers, at the southern border more than 2 million times since March 2020. The termination of Title 42 has been repeatedly delayed, due to multiple ongoing lawsuits from Republican-led states who want to keep it in place. Its currently expected to be lifted on May 11, the day the new asylum rule is slated to take effect.

But first, the government has opened the proposed rule to a 30-day public comment period. So far, the proposal hasnt yielded public support from Republicans, who have tried to frame Bidens immigration policies as a wedge issue ahead of the upcoming 2024 elections.

Heres what you should know about the new proposal, and some of the key questions surrounding it.

Former President Donald Trump addresses the New Hampshire Republican State Committee's annual meeting on Jan. 28 in Salem, N.H. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

What was the Trump transit ban?

Throughout his time in the White House, former President Donald Trump set out to put in place a number of policies to block access to asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border  policies, which advocates point out, that Biden promised to reverse as president.

Among those policies was a rule introduced in 2019 that, with limited exceptions, made anyone who had to pass through another country to get to the U.S. (i.e., everyone except Mexican nationals) ineligible for asylum if they had not applied for and been denied safe harbor in another country along the way.

Advocacy groups successfully sued to block implementation of the transit ban, arguing that it violated U.S. law, which guarantees the right to seek asylum for anyone on U.S. soil who expresses a credible fear of persecution in their home country, regardless of how they reached the country. It has since been repeatedly struck down in federal court.

President Biden gives a speech in the Royal Castle Arcades in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb. 21. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

How is Bidens plan different?

On a call with reporters this week, Biden administration officials pushed back on the suggestion that the new asylum proposal is simply a continuation of Trumps policies, insisting that This is definitely different.

The purpose of this is not to cut off people from seeking asylum the way the Trump administration was trying to do, said one official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

For one thing, the officials also noted that the Biden administration proposal does not apply to unaccompanied children, and allows for various humanitarian exemptions, including for migrants with acute medical conditions, human trafficking victims and those fleeing "imminent and extreme" danger. They also emphasized that the presumption of asylum ineligibility created by the new rule is rebuttable, meaning that migrants can overcome that presumption by proving that they were denied refuge in another country before reaching the U.S. or were unable to schedule an appointment at an official port of entry before arriving at the border.

Advocates and attorneys who work with asylum seekers have said that while they welcome the exceptions outlined in the Biden proposal, they remain skeptical how easy it will be for those who qualify to access those exceptions.

The problem with the exceptions is that most of them are legally complex, and you're dealing with an area of the law where literally 99% of these folks do not have representation, said Jeremy McKinney, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

McKinney told Yahoo News that even with the exceptions, the Biden administration is opening itself up to the kind of legal challenges that the Trump ban faced, by restricting asylum in a way that, he said, clearly violates federal law.

It's just creating a complicating factor on asylum seekers that is not present in the statute, McKinney said. And that, ultimately, is the problem.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks for identification of immigrants as they wait to be processed after crossing the border from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2022, in Yuma, Ariz. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

What 'legal pathways' are the Biden administration providing for asylum seekers at the border?

Central to the Biden administrations new asylum rule  and the argument that its different from the earlier Trump bans  is the promise that the new restrictions will be offset by expanded access to legal, orderly pathways to the United States, and specifically, the ability to request asylum at an official port of entry along the southern border.

Where Trumps transit ban applied to migrants who tried to seek asylum anywhere along the southwest border, under the proposed Biden rule, migrants who fail to seek protection in a third country would only be considered ineligible for asylum in the U.S. if they tried to cross the border unlawfully, between ports of entry.

Those who present themselves at an official port of entry, on the other hand, would only be considered ineligible for asylum if they failed to schedule an appointment in advance through a smartphone app called CBP One.

Originally introduced two years ago, to help commercial truckers schedule cargo inspections, the CBP One app is now being used by migrants requesting exemptions to Title 42 restrictions, as well as those who have been granted temporary humanitarian parole under a new program that promises to welcome up to 30,000 migrants a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Under the proposed rule published this week, the administration soon plans to expand implementation of the app to allow an increasing number of migrants who may wish to claim asylum to request an available time and location to present and be inspected and processed at certain ports of entry.

Advocates and attorneys who work with migrants along the southern border, however, have raised concerns about the plans reliance on the CBP One app, which they criticize as exclusionary and riddled with glitches.

While the Biden administration has launched a smartphone app for asylum appointments and expanded a temporary parole option for an extremely limited subset of four nationalities, these measures are no substitute for the legal right to seek asylum, regardless of manner of entry, Krish OMara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement Tuesday. It is generally the most vulnerable asylum seekers who are least likely to be able to navigate a complex app plagued by technical issues, language barriers and overwhelming demand.

Internal CBP reports obtained by Yahoo News provide further detail on the problems with the CPB One app.

Thousands of migrants in northern Mexico were unable to schedule CBP One appointments for Title 42 exceptions due to lack of availability, migration stakeholders reported, states the CBP Indications and Warnings Daily report dated Feb 12.

The same report notes that some migrants were using auto-clicker applications to get appointments as soon as they become available, and slots filled within minutes every morning. The platforms process for scheduling appointments also put families at a disadvantage compared to single adults.

The Feb. 4 version of the same CBP daily report says that migrants are increasingly frustrated with the app, citing error messages and issues with connectivity and photo uploads.

The report also notes that Shelter activists are continuing to warn these issues are leaving migrants susceptible to extortion by actors attempting to monetize the application process.

Hours before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice announced the release of the proposed asylum rule on Tuesday, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter to DHS urging that it shelve the CBP One app immediately, writing that This expanded use of the CBP One app raises troubling issues of inequitable access to  and impermissible limits on  asylum, and has been plagued by significant technical problems and privacy concerns.

Rather than mandating use of an app that is inaccessible to many migrants, and violates both their privacy and international law, DHS should instead implement a compassionate, lawful, and human rights centered approach for those seeking asylum in the United States, Markey wrote.

A CBP spokesperson referred Yahoo Newss request for comment to DHS, which declined to address the specific issues with the app highlighted in the internal CBP reports, citing a policy against commenting on leaked documents.

Instead, DHS provided a general statement on the use of the app.

CBP continues to make improvements to the app based on stakeholder feedback, including updates this week that are specifically intended to make it easier for family units to secure appointments as a group, a DHS spokesperson told Yahoo News. The CBP One app is a transparent and publicly accessible way to schedule appointments for migrants seeking to arrive at a land Port of Entry, which disincentivizes illegal crossing in between ports.

While DHS officials acknowledged that users may experience delays due to the fact that demand for appointments is far greater than the slots available, theyve also pushed back on claims that the apps facial recognition technology or language features put any one group at a disadvantage. A DHS official told Yahoo News that even before a Haitian Creole version of the app was launched last week, 40% of migrants who applied for Title 42 exceptions through the CBP One app were Haitian.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks immigrants' ID as they wait to be processed after crossing the border from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2022, in Yuma, Ariz. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

'The implementation is going to be really key'

In addition to addressing the problems with the CBP One app, McKinney, of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said the Biden administration will have to drastically increase staffing, operating hours and physical capacity at ports of entry, to accommodate the increased demand this new rule is going to create.

Right now, he said, the demand for people seeking the protection and safety of the United States is relatively spread out, because people can seek asylum in between ports of entry. But, he warned, that will change when everyone who wants to seek asylum is being funneled to the ports.

At the end of the day, Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said: What this rule really means for access to asylum at the border completely depends on how possible it will be to get an appointment at a port of entry.

If those appointments are really restricted, and then, everyone who can't get an appointment (and comes between ports of entry or comes to the port without an appointment) has a really tough road to asylum, then that's really restricting access to asylum, she added. If the appointments are easy to get, they keep improving the app, making it available in more languages, fixing the bugs, making the error messages be not in English, but in the language the person is using, all of those things, that could be quite an expansive pathway through which many people can come to into the United States and seek asylum.

The implementation is going to be really key, she said.
People march through downtown Amarillo to protest a lawsuit in federal court to ban the abortion drug mifepristone Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, in Amarillo, Texas. (AP Photo/Justin Rex)

People march through downtown Amarillo to protest a lawsuit in federal court to ban the abortion drug mifepristone Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, in Amarillo, Texas. (AP Photo/Justin Rex)

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administration is preparing for a worst-case scenario if a conservative federal judge rules in favor of a lawsuit seeking to restrict access to one of the two drugs typically used to induce a medicated abortion.

Two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, can be taken by women at home and are used for just over half of U.S. abortions. But that could be quickly changed by a lawsuit filed by an anti-abortion group in Texas that claims the Food and Drug Administration wrongly approved mifepristone for use more than 23 years ago.

The case is before a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump. A ruling in favor of the abortion opponents could immediately shut down the sale of the drug, but women would still have access to medicated abortions with a regimen of misoprostol.

Vice President Kamala Harris promised on Friday that the White House would push back on efforts to ban the drug, as she gathered a group of nearly a dozen doctors and abortion rights advocates to discuss a plan for responding to the looming threat to access to medical abortions.

There are now partisan and political attacks attempting to question the legitimacy of a group of scientists and doctors who have studied the significance of this drug, Harris said. There is now an attempt by politicians to remove it from the ability of doctors to prescribe and the ability of people to receive.

The lawsuit against mifepristone was filed by the Alliance for Defending Freedom, which was also involved in the Mississippi case that led to Roe v. Wade being overturned. Its the latest fallout in the struggle over reproductive care that the Democratic administration must grapple with since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion last year.

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Harris did not publicly lay out how the administration plans to respond if a ruling that halts the sale of the drug nationwide comes down on Friday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, meanwhile, was in California on Friday to meet leaders from Planned Parenthood to talk about access to the abortion drugs.

Dr. Kristyn Brandi said she told the vice president Friday that the ruling could trigger widespread confusion over the accessibility of medicated abortion in the U.S. Brandi, who is chair of the Physicians for Reproductive Health, said she already fields calls at her New Jersey clinic from women asking if medicated abortion is legal in the state.

Its a really important thing to communicate with people: medication abortion is not going away, Brandi said.

She added that Harris expressed support for immediately challenging the ruling if it shuts down access to mifepristone.

Clinics and telehealth providers have been preparing for a ruling that shuts down access to mifepristone, ordering more doses of misoprostol so they can offer medication abortions with just that one drug. They will have to change the way they counsel patients, telling them that misoprostol-only abortions are slightly less effective and sometimes more painful than abortions done with both drugs.

Abortions using both drugs can be as effective as 98% or more, while misoprostol-only abortions are up to about 95% effective, Melissa Grant, chief operating officer of the Carafem abortion clinic, told The Associated Press.

Mifepristone dilates the cervix and blocks the action of the hormone progesterone, which enables a pregnancy to continue. Misoprostol causes contractions that empty the uterus. Typically, mifepristone is taken by mouth first, followed by misoprostol a day or two later.

Studies show medication abortions are safe and effective, though with a slightly lower success rate than ones done by procedure in a clinic.

With the Texas decision pending, a dozen Democratic-controlled states filed their own lawsuit in federal court against the FDA on Thursday in Washington. The lawsuit seeks to make it easier for woman to access the drug and alleges that several FDA requirements for prescribing and dispensing it are burdensome, harmful and unnecessary.

When the FDA approved mifepristone in 2000 it placed several safety restrictions on its use, including limiting dispensing to specialty clinics and requiring women to pick up the drug in person. The Biden administration had sought to expand access to medicated abortions in light of the Supreme Courts ruling, with an FDA announcement this year that broadened the pills access through retail and mail-order pharmacies.

But several limitations remain, such as one that doctors must be specially certified to prescribe the drug.

Several medical groups have long opposed those requirements, pointing to the low rate of side effects seen with mifepristone compared with other medications that dont carry any certification requirements.

___

Health writer Matthew Perrone in Washington and national medical writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this report.
A west Charlotte woman said flooding is destroying her property and starting to damage her home. She told Channel 9s Almiya White shes tried everything to fix the issue herself. Now, she wants the city to step in and help.

Patricia Jacksons home sits down a hill. She moved into it in 2002 through Habitat for Humanity and, nearly 22 years later, she says she had her fair share of issues.

I worry about my foundation. I worry about it every time it rains, Jackson said.

ALSO READ: Kannapolis family who experienced homelessness gets new house

She said any amount of rain causes her yard to flood, and said a culvert right in front of her home isnt helping. The culvert is filled with debris and vegetation.

Jackson sent White a video showing what her yard looks like every time it pours.

We cant even step out in front of our porches without the water being passed over our feet, she said.

She said a creek just feet away from her home is not maintained and is in dire need of cleaning.

That hole is halfway filled with debris, vegetation, and dirt, so its limited space for the water to flow, she told White.

This issue stretches from her front yard to the back, so, White got a look for herself. Jackson first showed her pipe drains she placed in her yard herself to try to keep the water out.

Just so that it wont go into my crawlspace, she explained.

ALSO READ: Been a nightmare: Concord family says flooding bad for home, dangerous for their dogs

Her crawlspace is where White headed to next, where Jackson said water has also settled in there.

I had to invest in a pump for the basement to keep the water from filling up in my crawlspace, she told White.

Its just a lot of damage being done to my home, Jackson said.

That includes damage to the inside of her home. She took White to her kitchen where you can see the separation between her sink and the wall, leaving a gap.

I know its coming from my foundation not being balanced, she said.

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Jackson said she wants to be able to enjoy her yard but she fears this situation will only get worse.

As Habitat homeowners I dont think we should be responsible for culverts like that, Jackson said.

ALSO READ: Nonprofit helps displaced seniors whose apartments were flooded after pipes burst

Jackson said shes reached out to the City of Charlotte repeatedly to clean out the drainage ditch. White also contacted the city as well as Stormwater Services Friday, who sent the following statement: Staff has previously investigated this concern and met with both the resident and Habitat for Humanity representatives. The property receives runoff from neighboring private properties. This is a private property concern and it is not eligible for the Storm Water Services Program.

Advice from Action 9

Action 9s Jason Stoogenke says if runoff floods your house, you may have more recourse than if it just floods your yard. If youre worried about flooding, you may consider buying flood insurance.

Jason says just remember three things:

Make sure the policy covers your concern. Be sure it doesnt kick in right away -- it takes 30 days. It only covers up to $250,000 on your home and $100,000 of its contents.

(WATCH BELOW: God did this: Man thankful for nonprofit that helped save deteriorating home)
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects real steps from the European Union in regards to sanctioning Russia's nuclear industry.

Source: Zelenskyy's evening address

Quote: "Our diplomats, the whole state is working on strengthening the global,  in particular European  sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry, Rosatom [Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation - ed.], everyone who is involved in the nuclear program and nuclear blackmail of the terrorist state.

There are some steps already made by our partners  the US, UK, and we are expecting them from the European Union also."

Details: Zelenskyy reiterated that the tenth sanctions package against Russia was approved in the EU, and "evidently, it is not the last".

"Now the tenth sanctions package contains powerful steps in terms of limiting the military industry, financial sector of the terrorist state that plunged Russian society into a war, and that is trying to spread its lies around the world. They will not succeed.", the President emphasised.

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

BENGALURU (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters that a strong statement condemning Russia's war in Ukraine was "absolutely necessary" for a communique from the G20 finance leaders' meeting in India concluding on Saturday.

Yellen said in an interview that leaving a war condemnation out of the communique would be a step back from a statement made by G20 leaders last November on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Asked whether there would be no communique from the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting without such a statement, Yellen said negotiations were continuing.

The meeting on the outskirts of India's Bengaluru tech hub was due to end late on Saturday.

"I think there has to be a statement in the communique condemning Russia's war. We've had it in the past, in Bali and it's something that I think is absolutely necessary," Yellen said.

"And I think the G7 is certainly united on that, so it's something that I would expect and I think is necessary and appropriate."

Yellen's comments, however, came as hopes were fading that the group would be able to produce a joint statement in its final hours.

G20 chair India is pressing the meeting to avoid using the word "war" in any communique, G20 officials have told Reuters. India, which holds the current G20 presidency, has kept a largely neutral stance on the war, declining to blame Russia for the invasion, seeking a diplomatic solution and sharply boosting its purchases of Russian oil.

In Bali, the G20 leaders issued a statement that read: "Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine," signaling that Russia, a member of G20, had opposed the wording.

The Bali declaration added: "There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Mark Potter and William Mallard)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 24)  More than 100 senior police officials have so far been vetted by the five-man advisory group tasked to review the records of over 900 full colonels and generals who submitted their courtesy resignations in a bid to rid the ranks of illegal drug ties.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Public Information Office chief PCol Redrico Maranan, on Friday said 118 have already been "processed," and the panel has agreed to conduct meetings twice a week to screen the remaining police officials.

"Rest assured that the advisory group will be keen on the assessment of all reports against these senior officers and at the same time will be fair, objective and judicious in every step of the process to realize the very purpose of this noble endeavor," Maranan added.

This was panel's second formal meeting, where it also finalized and adapted the guidelines and procedures for its review.

PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., retired police general and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Office of the Presidential Adviser on Military Affairs Undersecretary Isagani Nerez, former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, and retired Court of Appeals Justice Melchor Sadang form part of the advisory group.

Maranan said Sadang was absent in the Feb. 24 meeting.

After the advisory group's evaluation, the National Police Commission will conduct another round of verification before submitting its recommendations to the president.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled he is somewhat open to working with China on its cease-fire plan for the war between Russia and Ukraine.

I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad, but the question is what follows the words, Zelensky said at a press conference on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

China released a 12-point plan for trying to find a resolution in the conflict as the one-year anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine arrived. The plan includes points calling for respecting all countries sovereignty, ending hostilities, resuming peace talks and resolving the humanitarian crisis that has been created by the war.

Zelensky said Chinas plan seems to call for protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine, noting that while it does not mention the country specifically, Ukraines territory is the one that has been breached. He said Chinas call for nuclear security is in line with Ukrainian and international interests.

He said he disagrees with some proposals, but Ukraine should look to work with a plan that respects international law and territorial integrity. He also reportedly said he wants to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Volodymyr Fesenko, the leader of the independent think tank Penta Center in Kyiv, told the AP that he believes Zelensky will try to work with China to prevent Beijing from increasing its ties to Russia.

U.S. officials have warned that China has sent nonlethal aid to support Russia despite officially being neutral in the conflict and is considering sending lethal aid as well. The Pentagon has warned that China will face consequences if it sends weapons or munitions to Russia.

As long as China comes up with peacemaker initiatives, it will be forced to maintain neutrality and to abstain from supplying weapons and direct military assistance to Russia, Fesenko said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he wants to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping to discuss his peace proposal for ending the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.

Speaking on the first anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion, Mr Zelensky said that he plans to meet Chinas president to discuss Beijings peace proposals.

I really want to believe that China will not supply weapons to Russia, he said.

China has offered a 12-point peace proposal to end the fighting in Ukraine one year into Russias war.

In the proposal, China has called for a ceasefire and peace talks, and an end to Western sanctions against Russia. It says relevant countries should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and do their share in de-escalating the Ukraine crisis.

It says the sovereignty of all countries should be upheld, though it doesnt specify what that would look like for Ukraine, and the land taken from it since Russia seized Crimea in 2014.

The proposal also condemns Cold War mentality, a rebuke of the United States and NATO, the US-European military alliance.

So far, there has been no response from the Chinese side to Mr Zelenskys call for a meeting with Mr Xi.

Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden dismissed Chinas peace plan and said theres nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia.

In an interview with ABC News, Mr Biden said: If Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good? Im not being facetious. Im being deadly earnest.

Mr Zelensky also said Ukraines victory will inevitably await us if allies respect their promises and deadlines. It was also reported that Mr Biden has refused to give Ukraine advanced fighter jets for now. In an interview, Mr Biden added: Look, were sending him what our seasoned military thinks he needs now. He needs tanks, he needs artillery, he needs air defence, including another HIMAR(s).
As his country's bitter war with Russia reached the one year-mark, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wanted to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to discuss Beijing's proposals for ending the conflict.

China historically respects our territorial integrity, and it should therefore do everything for Russia to leave the territory of Ukraine, Zelenskyy told a news conference Friday.

He said that he planned to meet with Xi and believed this would benefit our countries and security in the world.

His comments came after China put forward a 12-point peace plan that called for both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation, keep nuclear facilities safe, establish humanitarian corridors and prevent attacks on civilian populations.

Conflict and war benefit no one. All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control, the plan said.

It said that dialogue and negotiationwere the only viable solution. Although it offered no details on what form potential talks could take, it said that China would play a constructive role in facilitating negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine (Genya Savilov / AFP via Getty Images)

Zelenskyy said his main goal was ensuring that China had not supplied weapons to Russia, alluding to U.S. allegations last week that China may be providing Russia with nonlethal military assistance, and that it may even be considering sending lethal aid. Beijing has denied this.

He did not say if a meeting with Xi had been arranged or give any indication of when it might take place.

But less than 24 hours after his speech, China's Foreign Ministry announced that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko would visit Beijing later this month.

A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko, who is often referred to as Europes last dictator, is beholden to Putin for shoring him up in 2020 after mass protests broke out against a presidential election that the Belarus opposition and Western governments accused the veteran leader of rigging.

Story continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a video meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow (Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images file)

French President Emmanuel Macron also said Saturday that he would visit China in early April, in part to seek Beijing's help with ending the war.

Macron has repeatedly called for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, and is one of the only European Union leaders to have kept up contact with Putin since the war began.

President Joe Biden and European leaders appeared skeptical about Beijing's proposals.

Describing the idea as just not rational, Biden told ABC News on Friday that he had seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia.

Speaking at a news conference in Estonia on Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said that China did not have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine.

He added that Xi signed an agreement on a limitless partnership between China and Russia days before the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

At the same news conference European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that European leaders would look at the Chinese principles for peace against the backdrop that China has already taken sides.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed where he has lived since the start of the Russian invasion for the first time.

Source: A documentary by Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Komarov; Tabloid (Ukrainian outlet)

In Komarovs documentary, the president gave him and his cameraman a tour of his apartment on Bankova street in the centre of Kyiv, showed his military wardrobe and a photo on his desk.

On the morning of 24 February, the president immediately went to Bankova. Later, his wife and children joined him, as it was dangerous for them to stay at home.

Since then, Zelenskyy has been living in one of the rooms in the Presidents Administration.

"I had what I used to go to the front in, I have a small wardrobe here. It's just the same clothes," said Zelenskyy, who changed his business suit to khaki clothes in the first days of the full-scale invasion.

There's a blazer that is waiting for Ukraines victory, when its owner will wear it again

"This is my home. I lived here for a year", Zelenskyy said to Komarov, showing his room.

Zelenskyys modest living space for the duration of war

And where is the bunker?

Photo that is standing on Zelenskyys desk, with him dressed as Superman, together with his wife and children

Responding to Komarovs remark on how his appearance changed over the course of the war, especially his eyes, the president said "Cannot give any orders to my eyes. It is what it is."

In July 2020, Zelenskyy and his family moved into a government-run dacha in the settlement of Koncha-Zaspa, causing an outrage among the citizens of Ukraine.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Vice Mayor Chris Faraldi filed paperwork this past week to begin the process of placing a referendum on the ballot for Lynchburg residents to vote on whether to change the city's appointed school board to an elected body, and city leaders and community members are weighing in on what such a referendum could mean for the Hill City.

On Wednesday, Faraldi announced he had filed paperwork with the Clerk of Court to initiate the process. He will need signatures from 10% of the city's registered voters, or a little more than 5,500 signatures, in order to place the referendum on the ballot this November. The signatures must be obtained prior to the mid-July deadline.

Currently, Lynchburg City Council handles the appointment process for the nine-member Lynchburg City School Board.

At the end of June, the terms of three current Lynchburg City School Board members  Chairman James Coleman, Vice Chairman Dr. Bob Brennan and District 2 Representative Kimberly Sinha  are set to expire, opening the door for more appointments to the board.

In the news release, Faraldi called for "... no more closed-door appointments or meetings, no more disgust for parental oversight  no more. It's time to call a spade a spade  the appointment system is backward and wrong.

"Let's put an end to a school board system that keeps board members more accountable to members of the council" and instead institute a system that holds them accountable to the "will of the people," Faraldi said.

Filing the paperwork is the latest step in fulfilling a Republican campaign promise. This past November's election saw three GOP newcomers elected, all of whom signed Faraldi's "Lynchburg Pledge," which, among other things, calls for an elected school board.

At least four of the five Republicans on the seven-member council have said they supported elected school boards. Ward III Councilor Jeff Helgeson has in the past said he favors appointing members to the board who are going to "address the issues" in the schools; Helgeson could not be reached for comment for this story.

But while Faraldi, who represents Ward IV on council, initiated the process, the petition doesn't require council's support at all.

Instead, it will be up to the voters of Lynchburg, who can choose whether to sign the petition, and, if the referendum does appear on the ballot this November, can choose whether to approve the change.

Faraldi's announcement came only days after the Virginia Senate shot down a bill sponsored by Virginia Del. Wendell Walker, R-Lynchburg, that would have allowed a locality's governing body, such as Lynchburg City Council, to directly seek such a referendum without needing thousands of signatures.

Ward II Councilor Sterling Wilder said in an interview Thursday he was not surprised Faraldi is bringing forth this petition, as its been talked about for a long time. But said he is a little bit surprised at the timing considering the climate in our community with politics.

Youve seen the chaos, Wilder said. How the Republicans are fighting one another. Theres so much chaos right now. I think we need to concentrate and focus on healing our city and bringing our city together.

A nine-year member of the Lynchburg City School Board, and the only current councilor who attended Lynchburg City Schools, Wilder is afraid of politicization on the school board similar to what he sees on council.

Our city right now can barely function, cant even agree on an agenda. But now you want to bring that to school board meetings? That doesnt make sense.

The councilman also said hes worried about how a potential election over the school board seats would play out.

To be on the school board is a non-paid position as a volunteer. And do you have the financial resources to run a campaign? Wilder asked, citing the more than $300,000 spent collectively by seven candidates in the 2022 at-large Lynchburg City Council elections, when three seats were up for grabs.

If you want people to make the decision, thats not going to be the regular people. Its going to be the wealthy that can make a decision, Wilder said.

Gary Taylor, a Lynchburg resident who said he's been an advocate for elected school boards for several years, disagrees.

"In an appointed, partisan, cronyism school board, that now the far right is going to control, you can't do nothing about that," Taylor said, adding both extremes of the left-right political spectrum are bad for the school board.

"But an elected school board, maybe you don't have that representation now, but you can vote those people out."

In August, Robert Barnette, president of the Virginia NAACP, announced the "Why We Can't Wait" campaign, an initiative by the organization to lead efforts in transitioning appointed school boards in Virginia to elected.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, there are 16 localities in Virginia that appoint their school board members rather than electing them, with Lynchburg being one of them.

Karl Loos, president of the Lynchburg Education Association, said his organization doesn't "particularly have any issues with moving forward to an elected school board."

But in the case the board moves to an election process, Loos said, "they do have to make sure that they create something that's just not a popularity contest or some political machine pushing candidates through.

"They need to create districts in which people can be represented equally. Because they do need a voice."

When asked if the LEA would be concerned over the potential politicization of the school board should it become elected, Loos said, "I think you get that somewhat anyway, when you have an appointed school board, it's just politics by proxy, I guess you would say.

"But if everybody has an equal voice, and if they stagger the elections, like they have staggered the appointments, you don't get a super swing one way or the other. That way, it stays a little more consistent. And I think consistency is something that we really benefit from when it comes to our school board."

Currently on the school board, members are appointed to serve three-year terms, with one member from each of the school division's three districts being up for appointment on a yearly basis.

Loos added he hopes if the board were to change from appointed to elected, it wouldn't affect the relationship between the education association and the board, and those seeking positions still would have what's best for the students of LCS in mind.

Faraldi's announcement said he will be going door to door until the July deadline to garner signatures.

"By signing on to the petition, folks are not expressing favor or opposition to the question itself but allowing the public to respond to the question directly," Faraldi said. "Given everything we have seen in the realms of education in the last two years, it's time to call the question."

To learn more about Faraldi's petition and referendum, visit: VoteLynchburg.com
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 24)  The human rights situation in the Philippines is "better" than it was during the previous administration, the European Parliament said on Friday.

"It is better than it was under President [Rodrigo] Duterte, I think that we can clearly state," parliament member Hannah Neumann said in a media briefing with other European lawmakers when asked to assess the state of the country.

"We clearly had the impression that everyone was willing to discuss human rights issues with us," she added.

Neumann also said there are "pronouncements" from the Philippine side "that could indeed improve things if they were implemented."

"Will they be implemented? We can't tell you. We can only observe," she stressed.

During their stay in the Philippines for the past week, Neumann and other members of the European Parliament held dialogues on human rights with several officials - including the Department of Justice and their counterparts in Congress.

READ: DOJ chief, EU lawmakers tackle human rights, ICC probe in Manila meeting

While the EU delegates praised the government's "promising first steps" to improve the rights situation in the country, they still floated some suggestions.

The lawmakers, for instance, called for an end to red-tagging and abuse of the anti-terrorism law, and also pushed for measures to protect rights defenders.
Morocco is the fourth most attractive African country and 50th worldwide for trade, according to a ranking published by Spanish consulting firm Bloom Consulting.

The Spanish consulting firm, specializing in Nation Branding, has published its report Country Brand Ranking Trade  Edition 2022-2023. In this ranking, the kingdom is in fourth place in Africa, behind Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana.

The study combines economic performance, nation branding strategy, and online presence of countries on trade-related topics to gauge their attractiveness in the field. Morocco, in this world ranking of the most attractive countries for trade, is overtaken on the continent by Nigeria (1st in Africa and 36th in the world), South Africa (39th in the world) and Ghana (48th in the world). Morocco stands before Egypt both continentally and globally.

Ethiopia (58th worldwide), Kenya (71st), Tanzania (76th), Uganda (80th), and Tunisia (86th) are in the African top ten.

In North Africa, Libya occupies the last place as 34th in Africa and 146th globally. Algeria continues to fall in rankings both globally and continentally, ranking 17th in Africa and 109th in the world. Algeria lost 7 spots compared to the previous ranking.

At the global level, the United Kingdom is in the lead ahead of the United States, India, France and Germany. Brazil, China, Australia, Singapore and Canada occupy the second half of the top 10.

Before this latest ranking, the United States was at the top of the six editions of the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Trade Ranking. The firm sees that Brexit did not affect the United Kingdom, which capped the ranking that the US led for many editions.

Bloom Consulting believes China will continue to suffer from the Covid-19 crisis in terms of commercial and investment attractiveness.The Asian giant fell by four ranks, and dragged with it Hong Kong, even if it is still considered one of the most attractive markets in the world. Canada, for its part, fell two places.

Every year since 2003, Bloom Consulting publishes the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking in two distinct versions. One edition relates to Tourism while the second relates to Trade. The ranking determines a countrys position according to its economic performance based on previous economic history.
The African Union (AU) has joined the voices that have condemned remarks by Tunisias authoritarian president targeting Sub-Saharan migrants in his country and have warned against this hate speech that could bring harm.

President Kais Saied sparked an outcry this week after he made extremely hateful and racist remarks against African migrants who arrive in his country on their way to Europe.

After castigating and making racist remarks against African immigrants, who seek refuge in Europe because of poverty, famine and conflicts in their countries, the Tunisian president went so far as to say that the undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to turn Tunisia into a purely African country that has no belonging to the Arab and Islamic nations, he was quoted as saying in a Presidency statement issued after a Security Council meeting.

In a statement, the AU Commission said it called Tunisias representative for an urgent meeting to register deep shock and concern at the form and substance of the remarks on behalf of the continent-wide bloc.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemns the shocking statement issued by Tunisian authorities targeting fellow Africans which go against the letter and the spirit of our organization and founding principles, read the statement issued by the AU Commission on Friday.

Faki said AU member states were obligated to treat all migrants with dignity, wherever they come from, refrain from racialized hate speech that could bring people to harm and prioritize their safety and human rights.

Tunisian rights groups accused Saied of hate speech, but the president said those accusing him of racism want division and discord and seek to damage our relations with our brothers.

Saied, who has seized almost total power since a dramatic July 2021 move against parliament, urged his national security council on Tuesday to take urgent measures to tackle irregular migration.

Several other politicians and organizations slammed Saieds racist remarks. It is a racist approach just like the campaigns in Europe the presidential campaign aims to create an imaginary enemy for Tunisians to distract them from their basic problems, Ramadan Ben Amor, spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, told Reuters.

The Tunisian president, university professor, should not ignore that migration is an enrichment for the host society and the fact of asserting that Africans are the primary cause of Tunisias problems shows a serious ignorance of the Tunisian reality.

Claiming that sub-Saharan migrants threaten the countrys identity is a nameless aberration.

With a simple glance at the world map, the author of these remarks would have realized that Tunisia is already on the African continent. It is as African as Niger, Congo or Tanzania.

On Thursday, Kais Saied backtracked on his racist remarks on Sub- Saharans, telling his Interior Minister that the migrants, legally established in Tunisia, must not fear anything. But the damage is done!

According to official figures quoted by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, Tunisia  which has a population of some 12 million people  is home to not more than 21,000 citizens from sub-Saharan African countries, most of them being in an irregular situation.
The Toomers Corner Sit-In protest reaches an unprecedented milestone this weekend. Saturday marks 1,000 days of protesting in downtown Auburn for the small, dedicated group of advocates.

To celebrate their 1,000 days of sitting in, the group plans to give back to the community.

Beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, the group will hold a food drive on Toomers Corner to benefit both the Food Bank of East Alabama and the Auburn University Summer Sustenance Program. Non-perishable food items will go to the food bank, and cash and Venmo donations will go toward the Summer Sustenance Program.

We wanted to have a way to celebrate that was very true to our nature, very true to our spirit, said Kelli Thompson, the originator of the Toomers Corner Sit-In. We are encouraging folks that come to celebrate with us to donate in one of two ways to local efforts.

Saturdays food drive wont be the first time the Toomers Corner sit-in regulars have helped with causes outside of their protest. Around the 200-day mark they held a fundraiser for the Alabama chapter of the ACLU. Thompson said they have also helped several homeless individuals find shelter through local churches.

That has been really, really incredible to see, Thompson said regarding her groups efforts. Once you become visible and youre willing to meet needs, things can happen naturally. Its been cool.

The Toomers Corner Sit-In has been a highly visible presence in downtown Auburn over the last two and half years. Typically seen just outside the entrance to Auburn University in the early evenings, the group has been peacefully protesting for social change since the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

Thompson said she had attended the 2020 George Floyd protest in downtown Auburn and was concerned that interest would drop off after the initial event. Thompson returned to Toomers Corner the following day with her stop racism now sign a reprint of a famous 1970s design with the intent to keep the anti-racism cause at the forefront of the publics attention.

Im used to going to protests. It wouldnt have been my first or last, Thomson said. I knew how frustrating it is when people get fired up about an event like this, and then just go back to their lives. Theres this kind of big void that happens after all of this energy and I was just fearful of that happening again.

The sit-in started singularly, with just Thompson and her sign. But over the first week, people began having conversations with her. Thompson stayed her course and other protestors eventually began to join as well.

Other social justice causes were added to the protest as more people joined. The group now frequently advocates for abortion rights, racism awareness, climate change, and transgender rights.

A thousand days after it began, the activists are still going strong. Thompson said they have faced criticism, particularly in regard to the abortion debate. She said people have yelled at them before and that it has been scary at times. However, she said sees a lot of good as well.

We have so many women, men, everyone who comes up, Christians, non-Christians who come up to the signs and we have a lot of incredible, incredible conversations as well, Thompson said. We dont have to agree, but we can have a conversation and we can understand each other because we live in this community together.
China has reopened its doors following its long zero-Covid policy. But now governments and energy firms around the world are waiting to see what this means both for the energy industry and global supply chains. Experts are uncertain if the reopening of Chinas borders means that business will resume as usual or whether ongoing disruptions will be seen due to years of closures and industry challenges.

The executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, stated earlier this month that Chinas reopening poses the biggest uncertainty for global energy markets. He suggested that, at present, oil markets are balanced, but producers are currently unsure how great the change in demand will be as the worlds largest crude oil importer opens up.

Birol explained, For me, the biggest answer to the energy markets in the next months to come is [from] China. He added, Chinas economy is rebounding now, Birol noted. How strong this advantage will be will decide the oil and gas market dynamics, and If its a very strong rebound, there may be a need that oil producers will increase their production.

The global oil demand fell significantly as China imposed strict pandemic restrictions, that limited industrial activity and movement. But now that many activities will resume, experts are worried that the current global oil output will not meet the needs of the Asian superpower. The IEA estimates oil deliveries to increase by 1.1 million bpd to reach 7.2 million bpd during 2023. Producers in major oil-producing regions, such as the U.S., Brazil, and Guyana, are expected to increase their crude output throughout the year to meet the rise in demand. But uncertainties around the worlds oil needs make it difficult to ensure the necessary oil supply.

And this uncertainty has already affected oil prices, as the Brent benchmark soared in January upon the announcement that China would be ending its zero-Covid policy, with investors anticipating a steep spike in demand for crude in 2023. However, experts believe that China likely accelerated the pace of crude oil stockpiling last year, meaning that its initial demand for oil may not be as high as many predict. But China doesnt report crude oil inventories, which means there are simply too many variables adding to the uncertainty of what Chinas opening up means for the worlds energy.

The IEA suggested that two wild cards dominate the 2023 oil market outlook: Russia and China. While Chinas oil demand is set to rise, the future of Russias actions is unknown. The worlds energy could centre largely around whether Russia calls an end to its war on Ukraine and if more countries around the globe, including China, decide to continue importing Russian crude.

However, when it comes to natural gas, Europe may not have to worry too much about increased demand from China. Beijing's energy policy, which seeks to increase pipeline imports, use more coal, and boost domestic gas production, is expected to suppress Chinas demand for natural gas in 2023. This could help Europe maintain its limited gas supply, to battle against the cold next winter, when the region expects to face shortages once again. Having imposed sanctions on Russian gas, Europe has raced to ensure its energy supply in recent months, after imposing strict gas use limits to reduce demand and provide enough for basic consumer needs.

After being the worlds biggest LNG buyer in 2021, Chinas LNG imports fell by 20 percent to 88 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2022. Meanwhile, EU imports of LNG rose to 131 bcm of LNG last year, around 60 percent more than in 2021. This year, Chinese LNG imports are expected to increase by just 7 percent, to 94 bcm, temporarily alleviating pressure on the EU to battle even harder to find more suppliers.

And while Chinas energy demand may be of concern, the recommencing of its industrial activities will likely support global economic growth this year. Chinas GDP is expected to increase by 6.5 percent in 2023, which could help raise global GDP by 1 percent by the end of the year. GS Researchs Joseph Briggs and Devesh Kodnani explained, The global growth backdrop has brightened. Briggs and Kodnani added, While we already expected most major economies to avoid recession and China to see a growth rebound from an end to zero-Covid, the more rapid pace of Chinas reopening since thenalong with a waning drag from global financial conditions and lower European gas priceshas prompted us to upgrade our expectations further.

While uncertainty over the future of Chinas energy demand is concerning for the global energy market, and may well lead to energy shortages and higher oil and gas prices, the reopening of Chinese industry will support global economic growth, which will likely help countries to better confront this challenge.

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By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Iraq has been saying it wants to produce more oil and gas for a while now but turning stated ambitions into reality has taken a while.

This week, the country took a big step towards that reality when it signed a slew of deals with foreign companies as part of plans to boost both crude oil and natural gas production considerably.

Gas production growth appears to be especially important because right now, Iraq is heavily reliant on neighbor Iran for its gas needs, which puts it into a vulnerable position.

The government in Baghdad inked deals with one Emirati company and two Chinese ones, aiming for oil production growth of a quarter of a million barrels daily and additional natural gas output of 800 million cu ft daily.

Iraq is OPECs second-largest oil producer, pumping 4.5 million barrels every day. In previous years government officials have said production capacity could grow to 5 million bpd and even 6 million bpd but little has been done to advance these plans.

The reasons for that slow progress include the politically unstable situation in the country, the dynamics of the oil industry that has seen companies prioritize low-cost, fast-return projects after the last two downturns, and predictions of peak oil demand.

Several oil majors, including Exxon, left Iraq altogether in the past few years, citing the uncertain outlook for its oil industry. Yet successive governments did not give up their plans for greater oil production despite the OPEC+ output quotas, and significantly higher natural gas production.

Related: The 13 U.S. States That Raised Gasoline Taxes For 2023



One of the companies that will be helping Iraq advance these plans is UAE-based Crescent Petroleum. The firm signed three long-term contracts for the exploration and development of three oil and gas fields.

Two of these fieldsGilabat-Qumar and Khashim, in the province of Dyalaare expected to begin producing natural gas within 18 months at a rate of 250 million cu ft daily, Crescent Petroleum said. The third field that Crescent Petroleum will explore is in the province of Basra.

The second of Baghdads new oil and gas development partners, Chinese United Energy Group inked a deal with the government to develop the Sindbad oil field, also in Basra.

The third company that signed a deal with the Iraqi government was also Chinese, Geo-Jade Petroleum Co. It will develop the Huwaiza oil field and the Naft Khana field, both near the Iranian border, Reuters noted in a report on the news.

All the contracts signed this week have a duration of 20 years and should help boost Iraqs energy security in the natural gas department, reducing its bill for gas imports from Iran at a time when its economy is struggling to remain operational.

As a result of the deals signed this week, Iraq could suspend natural gas imports in three years, according to Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani. Commenting on the deals, Al-Sudani said gas imports from Iran are costing the Baghdad budget between $5.5 and $6.8 billion a year, Zawya reported.

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We have decided to enter the global gas market and we will push ahead with projects to develop our gas resources and stop gas flaring because shortages in domestic gas supply are the main cause of our electricity supply problems, Al-Sudani said.

To further these plans, Iraq will also launch tenders for exploration blocks in the northern, western and central parts of the country in the near future, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said this week.

Oil output should also grow. According to the IMF, this year, Iraq could produce 4.6 million bpd, up from 4.4 million bpd last year, The National reported. By 2027, oil production could reach 5 million bpd, the IMF also forecast. Perhaps Iraqs oil and gas ambitions finally have a chance of panning out.



By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 25) Thirty-seven years since the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled his father's regime, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday offered a hand of reconciliation" to those with "different political persuasions.

I once again offer my hand of reconciliation to those with different political persuasions to come together as one in forging a better society  one that will pursue progress and peace and a better life for all Filipinos, Marcos said in a statement on the anniversary of the peaceful 1986 revolt.

This is his first time commemorating the event as the Philippine leader.

Marcos also said he joins the country in remembering the uprising, and mentioned that Filipinos turned out to be more united after the events.

As we look back to a time in our history that divided the Filipino people, I am one with the nation in remembering those times of tribulation and how we came out of them stronger as a nation, the chief executive said.

Filipinos took to the streets decades ago for the four-day bloodless revolt which led to the ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

The elder Marcos, whose two-decades-long regime had been marred by corruption and human rights abuses, then fled with his family to Hawaii.

Meanwhile, various groups and protesters trooped to EDSA during the day to mark the People Power anniversary.

The Aquino family  whose matriarch Corazon Aquino was catapulted to the presidency after the revolution  also remembered their countrymens heroism, saying the spirit of EDSA lives on.

No reconciliation?

Some groups and personalities, however, pushed back against Marcos' statement.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel said there should be no reconciliation as long as the Marcos family "continues to deny their crimes and refuses to apologize."

The pronouncement was echoed by Albay Rep. and Liberal Party president Edcel Lagman, who stressed that there must first be an "admission" of the human rights violations that took place during his father's martial law regime.

"Truth and atonement are conditions precedent to reconciliation," he said.

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro also highlighted the need to serve justice to the victims of the reported abuses during the era.

"Madaling magsabi ng reconciliation at unity pero dapat ding gawin ang mga rekisitos para tunay na makamit ang pagkakaisa," Castro said.

[Translation: It's easy to call for reconciliation and unity but we should still do these requisites to really achieve this unity.]
By late 2022 there were considerable concerns and doubts surrounding Surinames burgeoning offshore oil boom. Conflicting drilling results and seismic data saw 50% partners in Block 58 offshore Suriname Apache and TotalEnergies delay their financial investment decision, known as a FID. It is estimated that it could take as much as $10 billion to successfully develop the block, justifying the energy companies caution. That development is threatening Surinames burgeoning oil boom with the tiny South American nation thought to possess oil potential in its territorial waters which rivals that of neighboring Guyana. Recent news indicates the headwinds buffeting Surinames fledgling offshore oil boom may not be as severe as initially perceived.

TotalEnergies, the operator, and 50% partner Apache have made five commercial oil discoveries in Block 58 between January 2020 and February 2022, the last being with the Krabdagu exploration well.

Source: TotalEnergies.

While those discoveries support estimates that Block 58 could contain as much as 6.5 billion barrels of oil resources, poor drilling results and high development costs are weighing on the blocks future prospects. A recent slew of dry wells and sub-commercial discoveries in Block 58 sparked considerable concern for TotalEnergies. Among the most recent was the August 2022 announcement that the Dikkop wildcat well had struck water-bearing sandstone seeing it capped and abandoned. That was followed by Awari exploration well drilled in the northwest of Block 58 where the oil discovered was deemed to be non-commercial.

Those poor drilling results combined with conflicting seismic data saw TotalEnergies baulk at proceeding with the FID during 2022, as originally anticipated, until further testing was conducted. During early October 2022 TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne stated:

a lack of confidence in understanding the reservoirs discovered to date, driven by a mismatch between what seismic data shows and the results of the delineation wells.

This is complicated by large amounts of natural gas being found in many of the discoveries. Environmentally damaging flaring, which is a major industry producer of carbon emissions, is not an option for emission-sensitive oil companies seeking to significantly reduce damaging carbon discharges from their operations. For that reason, TotalEnergies, as the operator, must find an alternate means of disposing of the gas produced adding to the costs and complexities associated with developing as well as operating oilfields in Block 58.

Rising uncertainty as to the volume of commercially exploitable oil in place and growing complexities associated with field development are weighing on whether a FID will be eventually made by TotalEnergies and Apache. Those concerns are amplified by the fact that will take anywhere between $6 billion to $10 billion to bring Block 58 to production, which is a significant investment for an unproven offshore region.

The strict fiscal conditions attached to developing deepwater offshore oil acreage in Suriname, which are not as favorable as the terms secured by Exxon Mobil in neighboring Guyana, are also impacting that decision. The Block 58 production sharing contract gives Suriname state-controlled Staatsolie a 20% participation right, but it is unclear whether the national oil company possesses the necessary capital to exercise that clause. Cost recovery oil from Block 58, which is the petroleum that can be used to recoup development and operating capital, is capped at 80% and ring-fenced to the development area. There is also a 6.25% royalty payable on the petroleum produced and sold which incidentally is more than three-times higher than the 2% applied to the neighboring Stabroek Block in offshore Guyana.

Those headwinds have already delayed planned first oil from Block 58 by at least two year with analysts estimating it will not occur until 2027, compared to 2025 in earlier forecasts. There is also the potential for the growing risks surrounding Block 58 to derail Surinames oil boom and much anticipated petroleum windfall altogether. TotalEnergies CEO Pouyanne, in the companys February 8 2022 earnings report, indicated the FID may not even be made during 2023 because of the substantial risks identified, especially with earlier appraisal drilling not finding the volumes of recoverable oil anticipated. If that occurs, it will potentially herald the end of Surinames nascent oil boom before it truly begins.

It is not, however, all doom and gloom, with the latest announcement by Apache indicating that Block 58 potentially possesses the substantial oil potential initially believed. On February 8, 2023, the U.S. based driller announced the second successful flow test at the Sapakara South oil discovery in Block 58. The Sapakara South-2 appraisal well encountered 118 feet, or 36 meters, of net oil pay with flow testing indicating a resource of over 200 million barrels of oil in place.

Apache CEO John J Christmann stated:

Results from the SPS-2 drilling and flow tests are consistent with our pre-drill expectations, confirm our geologic, geophysical, and reservoir models, and, importantly, add substantial resources towards a potential development

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This is particularly good news considering TotalEnergies reasoning for delaying the Block 58 FID. The positive news regarding the Sapakara South-2 appraisal well came on the back of the flow testing of the Sapakara South-1 well. While Apache in a November 16, 2021 media release described it as a successful test it did not appear to confirm the reservoirs and volume of oil resources anticipated. The Sapakara South-1 appraisal well identified 98 feet, that is 38 meters, of net oil pay with a single reservoir containing an estimated 325 million to 375 million barrels of oil in place. Evaluation drilling in Block 58 is continuing with two appraisal wells planned for the Krabdagu discovery. Apache indicated that the Krabdagu-2 well was being drilled at the time of its announcement and stated that the Krabdagu-3 well will be spudded later in the month.

The considerable uncertainties surrounding Block 58 are weighing on the outlook for Surinames fledgling oil boom. A recent slew of sub-commercial discoveries underscore the reason behind TotalEnergies decision to delay the FID, originally expected during 2022, especially with offshore Suriname being an unproven and risk as well as highly regulated are in which to operate. The latest flow testing at Sapakara South does, nevertheless, ease the emerging concerns surrounding the viability of developing Block 58 and bring it to production. For these reasons, Suriname likely will not see first oil before 2027 and perhaps even later, with still no clear commitment from TotalEnergies and Apache that they will proceed with developing Block 58.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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According to the 2022 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Venezuela has more proved oil reserves than any other country in the world. Venezuelas 304 billion barrels of proved reserves just edges out Saudi Arabias 298 billion barrels. Both are far ahead of U.S. proved reserves of 69 billion barrels.

But the Top 3 oil producers in 2021 were the U.S. at 11.1 million barrels per day (BPD), Russia at 10.5 million BPD, and Saudi Arabia at 9.4 million BPD. Venezuela was way down the list, at #25 with 605,000 BPD.

Venezuelas heavy crude oil is especially prized by U.S. refiners. How is it that a country with so much oil produces so little? And why has the country seen its oil production plummet by more than 75% over the past decade?

One reason for the decline of Venezuelas oil industry is that many countries  including the U.S.  have placed various sanctions on Venezuela over the years. Most recently, the Trump Administration placed Venezuelas oil sector under sanction in 2019.

But the steep decline, which preceded the Trump sanctions, was largely a result of Venezuelas own policies.

During the first decade of this century, oil prices skyrocketed. From an annual average of $26 a barrel in 2002, by 2007 global prices had reached $80/bbl. The Venezuelan government, led by the late Hugo Chavez, sought a larger share of the revenue as investments made by international oil companies began to pay off. The government already siphoned a substantial amount of money from the oil industry to pay for social programs, but it wasnt enough.

Venezuela demanded changes to the agreements made by the international oil companies that would give PDVSA majority control of the projects. ExxonMobil XOM and ConocoPhillips COP refused, and as a result their assets were expropriated. These expropriations were later ruled to be illegal, and compensation was granted to both companies.

Most of Venezuelas proved oil reserves consists of extra-heavy crude oil in the Orinoco Belt. That oil requires a higher level of technical expertise to develop, which international companies possess. However, the implications were that most international companies were essentially kicked out of the country. Further, the Chavez government had fired many experienced PDVSA employees in 2003 and filled those positions with Chavez loyalists.

The net result of a loss of expertise, international sanctions, failure to reinvest in the oil industry, and falling oil prices in 2015 resulted in the steep decline seen in the graphic above.

This production decline has particularly impacted U.S. refiners. Venezuelas oil is heavy, which means it requires more processing by refiners. But U.S. refiners have invested billions of dollars into processing heavy oil. This oil sells at a discount to lighter oil, and as a result refiners make more money processing this crude oil into finished products.

But, the U.S. government recently loosened the sanctions a bit, allowing Chevron to expand production in a joint venture with PDVSA, and to ship that oil to the U.S. Reuters reported last week that Chevron obtained a license from the U.S. Treasury Department that will allow it to ship more than 100,000 BPD of Venezuelan crude to the U.S. this month.

This deal may finally help Venezuela grow its oil production after more than a decade of decline. On paper, Venezuela alone could meet global oil demand for nearly a decade. The country could grow wealthy in the process. But its got some work to do.

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By Robert Rapier

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LINCOLN  While debate continues about running a streetcar line from downtown Omaha west to 42nd Street, one Omaha lawmaker pitched a plan Friday to add a second line going north to Eppley Airfield.

State Sen. Justin Wayne outlined a vision for a North Omaha line at a hearing before the Appropriations Committee. He introduced Legislative Bill 477 to put $100 million of state funds into the proposal.

Wayne said the proposed new line would spur economic development, bring jobs and support affordable housing in some of the citys poorest areas. He said it could transport workers and provide air travelers with a way to get downtown.

Under his plan, the North Omaha streetcar would run north from Farnam Street along 19th Street/Florence Boulevard for about a mile, then jog east to 16th Street and continue north. At Fort Street, it would turn and head east to the airport.

The line would pass the $60 million airport business park that is in the works, using American Rescue Plan Act dollars. Wayne got funding for the park last year, after touting its potential as a major employment center for North Omaha.

On Friday, he said the North Omaha streetcar line would rely on the same type of tax-increment financing that city officials have proposed using for the east-west line.

Tax-increment financing uses the increase in property tax revenues created by a development to help pay for that development, such as by paying for associated infrastructure.

Supporters of the original streetcar plan have argued that the financing method can pay for the streetcar and associated development. Wayne said he is working on legislation that would allow it to pay for construction of affordable housing along the streetcar as well.

Steve Jensen and Jacquelyn Morrison, who work in Omaha Mayor Jean Stotherts office, both spoke in support of Waynes proposal.

Jensen said streetcars spur investment in developed urban cores because they decrease the need for parking. That, in turn, means development projects can be done at less cost. He also argued that a streetcar would increase property values along its route.

Morrison said that the increased development can help fund schools and other local needs. Local governments see increased tax revenues when the tax-increment financing period ends.

Stephen Osberg, speaking for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, also backed the proposal. He said a North Omaha line fits within the chambers transportation and urban core strategies, which call for providing better access to jobs.

No one appeared in opposition to LB 477. The bill does not specify the source of the $100 million. The state is projected to have more than $2.3 billion in its cash reserve fund after the current fiscal year ends on June 30.

The original streetcars planned route runs east along Harney Street and then turns north along 10th Street up to about Cass Street near the CHI Health Center. The streetcars then would head back south on 10th to Capitol Avenue.

From there, the route would run a couple of blocks east to Eighth Street near the citys riverfront before turning west onto Farnam Street. The cars then would travel to the routes western terminus at 42nd Street near the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

If all goes as planned, the first streetcar vehicles would be delivered to Omaha in July 2025. The streetcar system would open for operation in 2026.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
BLOOMINGTON  In its last emailed COVID update on Friday, the McLean County Health Department reported 131 new cases in the past week.

The county remains at low community level, as do all surrounding counties except for Tazewell County, which is listed as medium community level, under metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 131 new cases since Feb. 17 bring the county to 64,026 total cases since the pandemic began. A plurality, 22, of the new cases were in people in their 70s, followed by 19 cases in people in their 30s. The update did not include any new deaths, leaving that total at 418.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 11,248 new cases of COVID statewide in the week ending Feb. 19, along with 37 deaths. Twenty counties in the state are at medium community level and none are at high community level.

In cooperation with Southern Illinois University Medicine, the state is rolling out a new telehealth service for people with COVID-19. Those who test positive can call 217-545-5100 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday or 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to schedule a telehealth appointment to see if they should seek further medical treatment.

MCHD continues to offer free COVID testing every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon on the fourth floor of the McLean County Health Department offices at 200 W. Front St., Bloomington. Other testing options, as well as information about vaccinations and boosters, can be found on the MCHD website at health.mcleancountyil.gov.

The website will also host the departments COVID data going forward, MCHD said in its update on Friday. Starting March 3, the department will end its weekly emails and written reports and post the data solely on its website, including links to information about symptoms, testing and vaccinations, treatments and links to CDC and IDPH data. The website will be updated on Fridays.

In the update, MCHD cited the upcoming end of the nation and state emergency declarations, which are both expected to end May 11. As MCHD continues to monitor COVID in the county, it may shift back to emailed updates.

The page can be found under COVID-19 Resources/Updates tab on the MCHD website.
NORMAL  A Normal woman is suing the town's police department in federal court after she said officers used excessive force and arrested her without probable cause.

In the complaint filed Thursday, plaintiff Taylor Brown alleges that the incident unfolded Feb. 9 after a fire broke out in her apartment. She said her Fourth Amendment rights were violated and she was battered during the encounter that left her with bruises, sore muscles, cuts to her wrists and emotional trauma.

"It was a humiliating experience for her that most certainly never should have happened," Abby D. Bakos, an attorney for Brown, said Friday.

She is seeking "an award of reasonable compensatory and punitive damages, plus costs," according to the complaint.

Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli referred questions to the town's legal counsel. Town attorney Brian Day said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment Friday.

Defendants are identified as "unknown Normal police officers." Bakos said she planned to seek a subpoena to identify the officers, as police had already denied a request to obtain related records.

She confirmed that the fire referenced in the lawsuit was on Parktrail Road. The Normal Fire Department previously said crews were dispatched at 12:42 a.m. Feb. 9 to respond to that incident, which led to the displacement of four residents. The department said at the time that the cause remained under investigation.

A fire department spokesman on Friday said that investigation is still ongoing and no further information could be released.

The lawsuit describes the events as follows:

Brown's roommate called 911 after the fire broke out. Responding officers asked Brown, a college student, to join them at the police station to answer questions. She agreed to do so after being told that it would not take long. After she arrived, however, she was left in a room for 40 minutes before she asked to be taken back to her vehicle.

After being told to wait in the lobby, Brown was approached by another officer who asked for her cell phone and said it was being seized as evidence. Police did not have a warrant, according to the lawsuit.

Brown began a FaceTime video call with her mother, a Chicago police officer. While they were talking, several officers began to surround Brown, who told her mother that she was scared, she said.

According to the complaint, officers grabbed Brown's wrist, applied pressure to the back of her ear, pulled her to the ground and placed a knee in her back. She said she was handcuffed and taken to jail, where she was required to strip before an employee searched her for contraband, and was not released until 1 p.m. Feb. 9.

Brown was never charged with any crimes related to the fire or her actions at the station, according to the lawsuit. A check of McLean County court records also does not show any 2023 charges under that name. Police seized her phone but returned it around 3:30 p.m. Feb. 9 after they were unable to obtain a search warrant, the lawsuit said.

Brown is seeking a jury trial.

Photos from President Biden's speech in Warsaw
PEORIA  Reditus Laboratories CEO Aaron Rossi has new bond conditions for the second time in the federal case charging him with tax and mail fraud.

Rossi admitted to violating the conditions of his pretrial release when methamphetamine was found in his system last year. His attorneys and the prosecutors agreed evidence could be presented that meets the burden of proof that he violated the conditions of his bond through drug use.

In a hearing Thursday, Judge Sara Darrow issued a second modified order setting the conditions of his release, according to court records.

The conditions now include GPS monitoring and a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. at the discretion of the federal probation office.

The judge had previously modified the order in October after marijuana metabolites were found in his system. At that time she ruled that he be prohibited from using CBD products.

According to court records, Darrow also addressed a motion to enforce a protective order that was filed by the U.S. Attorneys Office on Wednesday. The motion asked the judge to require Rossi to provide details related to a breach in a protective order that has been in effect since April 2022.

According to the prosecutors, discovery documents had been used outside the bounds of the protective order and were filed in an unrelated civil litigation involving Rossi in state court.

Rossi and his attorneys have until March 14 to respond to the motion, and the prosecution has until March 21 to reply.

Rossi had been scheduled to go to trial in this case next month, but that trial date was vacated at his request Thursday.

A new trial date will be set at the pretrial conference scheduled for March 23.

Today in history: Feb. 24 1868: Andrew Johnson 1981: Jean Harris 1988: Rev. Jerry Falwell 1989: Emperor Hirohito 1993: Brian Mulroney 2002: Salt Lake City Olympics 2008: Raul Castro 2011: Discovery 2012: Jan Berenstain 2015: George Zimmerman 2020: Harvey Weinstein 2021: Lady Gaga 2022: Russia Ukraine War
NORMAL  Two McLean County teachers are among just 14 in the state to be honored as regional or special subject teachers of the year. Both said their work is driven by the students they teach.

The Illinois State Board of Education named Ricardo King, an English as a Second Language teacher at Normal Community High School, the 2023 Bilingual Teacher of the Year for the state. Katherine Bruemmer, an English and career and college readiness teacher at Heyworth High School, was named the East Central Regional Teacher of the Year.

Its an honor, King said. I wanted it to be more of a reflection on my students and the work that I do in Normal Community and not so much as a reflection on me, but its interesting seeing my face on the Unit 5 website.

Bruemmer is a candidate for the yet-to-be-named statewide teacher of the year, which is limited to teachers who have five or more years of experience. King has not been teaching long enough to qualify.

Bruemmer found out about the award the same day that she had taken a group of students, an education dual credit class, to visit the education program at Normal Community High School. Her principal, April Hicklin, was insistent that Bruemmer be back for a meeting with the state that afternoon, which ended up being then-State Superintendent Carmen Ayala informing her of the award.

Im generally one to try to not seek attention, she said. That parts been flattering, for sure, but a little overwhelming.

King was initially nominated for Early Educator of the Year, and then in February he found out hed been moved over to Bilingual Teacher of the Year, he said.

While Im doing fantastic work according to the Illinois State Board of Education and some of my colleagues, those students learning English, and learning the content that were asking them to learn in English and in their native languages, theyre doing most of the legwork, King said.

For Bruemmer, too, it is the students who make the job worth it. She initially got into teaching out of a love for sharing stories with others, she said.

Theyre at such a space in their lives where theyre living and learning and trying things out. And to be one of the people in their lives that they ask questions of and I can help them in some way, is super satisfying, she said.

One of the bigger challenges is having ESL students and English language learners who do not speak any of the languages that he does, King said. He starts by using translation tools as the first step, but then finds ways to integrate different visuals or auditory and pedagogical tools to help students learn.

Working as an English and social studies teacher, King said he works with students from a broad array of first languages, including Spanish and French.

King is from Brookfield and graduated from Illinois State University in 2020, receiving double education major in history and English.

I kind of fell in love with teaching grammar, the English language and English culture to students learning English for the first time, he said.

Bruemmer grew up in the Peoria area and attended Illinois Central College before going to University of Illinois for English and special education. After graduation, she felt inspired to teach outside of her Central Illinois bubble and taught in Chicago, where she saw what she described as savage inequalities in resources.

She has also taught in Champaign and in St. Louis, at a private school. Unlike some stereotypes of private schools, her schools graduates generally went on to be firefighters, police officers or Anheuser-Busch factory workers.

In her 16 years at Heyworth, her role has changed somewhat, including teaching English, credit recovery classes and now splitting her time between dual-credit programs and college and career readiness. In the meantime, she has also gotten two graduate degrees.

Its been a career with a lot of wonderful opportunities, Bruemmer said.

Kings family immigrated to Chicago from Monterrey, in northern Mexico. He grew up with his grandfather and father speaking Spanish, but he primarily spoke English growing up.

He felt isolated and disconnected from Spanish-speaking family members, especially his grandmother, King said. Learning Spanish has helped him connect with them.

Now being able to speak Spanish fluently, King said it not only allows him to reconnect with his grandmother and other family members, but also with part of his Mexican heritage and identity.

It allowed me to reconnect with my grandmother and with that part of my identity, which is nice to reclaim because it always felt like I lost that, King said. Then occupying two spaces, where Im Hispanic in the eyes of white Americans, but then in Hispanic and Spanish-speaking communities, Im white.

King said he wanted to thank Cedar Ridge Elementary Assistant Principal Rocio Fisher, who helped nominate him for the award; his U.S. history colleague, Meghan Hawkins, who has taught the class with him for the last three years; and the ESL department at Normal Community High School.

The recognition has been a moment to reflect on Bruemmers career and the community at Heyworth, she said.

Its been a lovely career, she said. () This school community is very supportive.

10 skills rated most important for kindergarten teachers 10 skills rated most important for kindergarten teachers #10. Service orientation #9. Time management and flexibility #8. Reading comprehension #7. Coordination #6. Speaking #5. Monitoring #4. Development and implementation of lessons #3. Communication and active listening skills #2. Social perceptiveness #1. Instructing
How Time Flies is a daily feature looking back at Pantagraph archives to revisit what was happening in our community and region.

100 years ago

Feb. 25, 1923: The committee to promote an ornamental lighting system on South Main Street will stake out the position of poles by the end of the week. The committee expects to raise about $400 by subscriptions. With the $902 to be paid by the city, arrangements are being made that the sum needed can be raised.

75 years ago

Feb. 25, 1948: A 3% cost of living bonus increase will be included in the next pay for State Farm Insurance companies employees, said G.E. Mecherle, secretary and director of personnel. The increase brings the total cost of living bonus to 52% of base pay. The new figure is an all-time high.

50 years ago

Feb. 25, 1973: The McLean County Bank will double the size of its facilities with a $600,000 addition and renovation of drive-in facilities, Board Chairman Darwin L. Rust announced. It will be joined to the north end of the existing building constructed in 1960.

25 years ago

Feb. 25, 1998: A week after adopting a constitution, the Illinois State University governing board said it would add a provision saying the university will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. The statement is already included in current student and faculty handbooks, university catalogues and the ISU Board of Trustees governing document. But the constitution, written to reflect state statute, contained no such clause.

101 years ago: See vintage Pantagraph ads from 1922 Gerthart's Union Gas and Electric Co. Hoover Dr. J.A. Moore Dentists Moberly & Klenner W.P. Garretson W.H. Roland Pease's Candy Thor 32 Electric Washing Machine The Kaiser's Story of the War Ike Livingston & Sons Gossard Corsets Cat'n Fiddle 'Stolen Moments' Case Model X The Johnson Transfer & Fuel Co. The Pantagraph want ads Franklin Motor Car Co. 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' Calumet Baking Powder Mayer Livingston & Co. Newsmarket 'The Emperor Jones' 'California Fig Syrup'